Getting Hotter (6 page)

“You need help?” He was already marching to the door. “I can be there in fifteen.”

“No, it’s fine. Really, Seth, don’t come here. The other teachers and I can handle it. We just need to bundle up the kids, pack up their stuff, and then we’re getting everyone home. I just can’t leave until Jase gets here.”

“Who’s Jase?”

Her tone took on a bit of an edge. “Jason. My son.”

Right. Her kid. Why did he keep forgetting she had one? Wait, make that two.

Probably because you don’t
want
to remember.

He ignored the internal taunt. Fine, so he wasn’t particularly thrilled that Miranda had two children, but that slice of misfortune wouldn’t stop him from doing his damndest to get her in bed. He’d already made it clear he wasn’t applying for the position of her baby-daddy, and he also wasn’t going to pretend to like kids just to sleep with the woman. Still, acknowledging the rugrats’ existence couldn’t hurt his cause.

“Your son’s not with you?”

She sounded upset. “No, he was at a friend’s house. The parents are dropping him at the school. They just called to say they’re ten minutes away.”

“Good. Once they arrive, get everyone home. The roads aren’t too bad yet, but the weather reports are saying there’s some risk of flooding.” He paused. “Might be some power outages too. You got candles and flashlights at home?”

“Yes, Seth. I also have canned food and bottled water and something called common sense and basic survival knowledge.” Her sarcasm reverberated through the line.

“Good,” he said again. “Call or text when you get home.”

“If I remember.”

“Don’t fucking give me that. If I don’t hear from you in an hour, I’ll get in my car and—”

“Fine,” she interjected. “I’ll call you.”

With that, she hung up, leaving him staring at the phone in frustration. That woman drove him absolutely insane. So fucking independent, determined to do everything on her own, even when she desperately needed help.

He could see why his mother had worried about Miranda moving out here. The women who danced at the Paradis were like a close-knit family, always looking out for one another. They’d mothered Seth to the point of exasperation when he was a kid, and he knew Miranda had experienced that same maternal attention and sisterly devotion. He also knew she hadn’t once asked any of them for help in the four years she’d worked there.

Now that she’d left the Strip, she was completely on her own, raising two kids alone, and Seth worried that she’d never be able to swallow her pride and seek him out if she was truly in trouble.

Or at least that’s what he thought before the doorbell rang nearly an hour later.

Dylan, who’d been watching the storm coverage on the living room television, glanced at Seth in bewilderment. “Expecting anyone?”

He shook his head, getting a sinking feeling that he wasn’t going to like what he found on his doorstep.

Setting his beer bottle on the pine coffee table, he rose from the couch and headed to the front hall. He’d only intended to open the door a crack, but a gust of wind blew it open, almost smashing him in the face. He stopped it just in time, then took a second to gape at the three bedraggled creatures huddled on the front stoop.

Miranda’s dark hair was drenched, wet strands glued to her forehead and whipping around in the wind. In her leggings and T-shirt, which were soaked, she wasn’t dressed for the weather, but the children plastered to her were. Two of them, wearing matching yellow raincoats with the hoods up, clinging to Miranda’s legs and wobbling each time they got blasted by a rainy gust.

“You just going to stand there or are you going to let us in?” Miranda yelled, her voice tinny amidst the persistent drumbeat of the rain.

Seth blinked, recovering fast. He ushered her and the children inside, then struggled to shut the door. He was yet again drenched, and new puddles were forming on the hardwood.

He focused on Miranda, whose hazel eyes looked a tad wild as she pushed hair off her face.

“You okay?” he demanded. “What happened?”

She blinked a few times. Glanced around the small entrance, as if she couldn’t comprehend what she was doing there. Then she opened her mouth and said, “My apartment is…”

Seth waited. When she didn’t finish the sentence, he sighed. “Your apartment is what?” he prompted.

Miranda wasn’t the one to respond. Rather, it was one of the dark-haired imps by her side, a little girl with pigtails and big brown eyes peeking out of that yellow hood.

“Underwater,” the girl announced.

He furrowed his brows. “What?”

“We live underwater now.”

Chapter Four

“Like
The Little Mermaid
, ’cept it wasn’t like
The Little Mermaid
at all,” Sophie explained in dismay. “It was cold and wet and icky and—”

Miranda snapped out of her shocked trance and placed a hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “Hush, Soph. I can explain it to Mr. Masterson—”

Seth snorted.

“To Seth,” she amended, meeting his amused gray eyes. “I’m so sorry to just show up like this. I had your address in my phone and I didn’t want to drive all the way back to the school when your house was so much closer. Imperial Beach is closer to Coronado than it is to the city—” Wonderful, now she was giving him a geography lesson. “And I couldn’t call because there was no signal and—” she gulped, trying to collect her composure, “—Ginny and Elsa live in studio apartments and I didn’t want to put them out, but I remember you saying you had a spare room and…”

She was too mortified to keep going, so she stopped talking altogether.

Seth’s voice was oddly gentle. “It’s okay. Tell me what happened when you got home.”

“Our place flooded. I opened the front door to find three feet of water in our hallway.” She gestured to her soaking-wet leggings and ballet flats. “I waded in there to assess the damage…” Her throat closed up, making it hard to continue. “I guess a few sewers overflowed, and there was also something wrong with my building’s gutters—my landlord said something about downspouts draining too close to the foundation.”

Seth’s expression turned grim. “How bad was it?”

“Bad. All four ground-floor apartments flooded, and with the rain not easing up out there, it’s bound to get worse.”

A wave of panic suddenly hit her. Oh God. Their entire life was in that apartment. What the hell was she supposed to do now?

Her landlord, a sweet Italian man named Marco, was already at the building when Miranda and the kids got home. One of the other tenants whose apartment flooded had called him, and although Marco had assured the affected residents that insurance would cover their lost belongings and no one would have to pay for the renovations, that didn’t solve the dilemma of where she and her children were supposed to live for the next week or so. The only people she knew in town were the teachers who worked for her at the dance school, and she didn’t feel comfortable asking any of them for a place to stay.

And she certainly couldn’t stay with Seth. It was bad enough that she was about to ask him to spend the night. But a whole week, maybe more? No way.

Miranda forced herself to gain some control over the panic swirling in her belly and focused on Seth, who was watching her with concern. Funny, he hadn’t made a single smartass remark since she’d showed up. He also hadn’t paid a lick of attention to her kids, who were beginning to whine.

“Mom, my shoes are wet,” Jason said miserably.

“And I want Belinda!” Sophie whimpered.

Miranda stifled a sigh. She wasn’t looking forward to telling Sophie that her favorite doll had been floating in the murky lake that used to be their home.

Rather than answer the twins, she looked imploringly at Seth. “I hate to ask this, but can we…do you mind if we stay here tonight? With you?”

“Mommy, I want Belinda!”

“My feet are cold!”

What could only be described as terror flared in Seth’s normally unfazed expression. She didn’t blame him. The stress of the day was finally taking its toll on the twins, whose voices were increasing in volume.

“I. Want. Belinda.” A sob slipped from Sophie’s trembling lips.

“Seth?” Miranda asked quietly, studying his face.

“Of course you can crash here tonight,” a male voice announced.

A tall, blond man in his late twenties appeared in the hallway, his handsome features creased with displeasure as he glanced at Seth. Then his face relaxed and he squatted down, shooting a big smile at Sophie, who made loud hiccupping sounds as she cried and clutched Miranda’s hand. Even Jason’s eyes were shining with tears, and her son was normally
way
too macho to cry in public.

“Hey there, squirts,” the blond guy said cheerfully. “Why you all wet? Is it raining out there or something?”

Neither child said a word for a moment, and then Sophie giggled.

“Duh,” Jason said, his tears all but forgotten.

“Weird. I hadn’t noticed. I’m Dylan, by the way. But you can call me Mr. Awesome.”

Sophie giggled again.

Miranda gawked at the gorgeous man—Seth’s roommate, she deduced—grateful for his successful defusing of the tears-and-tantrum bomb that had almost detonated.

“I’m Miranda,” she said, extending her hand in his direction. “And this is Sophie and Jason.”

“Pleasure to meet you, honey.” Dylan leaned in for the handshake. His grip was strong, his palm warm, and his green eyes twinkled with genuine delight as he graciously shook her kids’ hands too, eliciting yet another high-pitched laugh from Sophie.

“Did you see, Mom? We shaked hands! Like
grown-ups
,” Sophie bubbled.

“Shook hands,” Miranda corrected. “And now how about we get you out of those rain slickers and see if Seth and Dylan would be willing to feed us?”

She was probably being presumptuous, especially since Seth hadn’t said a single word in the past five minutes, but clearly his roommate was okay with her and the twins being here, so technically she didn’t need the green light from Seth. Besides, wasn’t he the one who kept checking up on her and offering to help her out?

Well, he finally got his wish—she needed his help, even though it killed her to admit it. If there was one thing she hated doing, it was relying on other people. For
anything
. Her friends in Vegas used to tease her about her inability to accept outside assistance. They accused her of being stubborn and proud, but the reason she preferred doing things on her own wasn’t because she didn’t want to feel like a charity case. It was because she didn’t trust anyone but herself to get shit done. She’d placed her faith in far too many people who had let her down, and she refused to be the one left holding the bag ever again.

But at the moment, she had no choice. Her apartment had turned into Atlantis and all of her belongings were most likely destroyed. Her only possessions in the world were the clothes on her back, her purse and the Ford sedan parked in Seth’s driveway, provided it didn’t float away.

“I think we can scrounge up something for us to eat,” Dylan replied, flashing another one of those endearing smiles.

Jeez, the man ought to open up his own charm school. Miranda had never met a more pleasant, likable person, and she’d only known the dude five minutes.

Seth, on the other hand, was the furthest thing from
pleasant
and
likable
. He was leaning against the wall, his sweatpants and tank top wet and plastered to his strong body, the expression in his gray eyes as turbulent as the wind shrieking beyond the door. And yet, rather than cower under that harsh gaze, she was inexplicably drawn to it.

Their eyes locked, and for a moment, Miranda’s surroundings faded. She forgot all about how cold she was, how wet and tired and hungry. This was not the time to feel even the slightest bit aroused, yet Seth’s presence coaxed the response from her. He was the sexiest man she’d ever met—tall, muscular, imposing. So blatantly masculine with his scruffy beard and unruly hair, his roped forearms and corded biceps radiating strength.

She’d be lying if she said she hadn’t fantasized about having sex with the man. Because she had. Many, many times.

“Mo-om,” Sophie said in a plaintive voice.

Flustered, Miranda wrenched her gaze away and knelt down to help the twins out of their rain gear. She felt more than saw Seth leave the hallway, and a strange sense of disappointment rippled through her. Along with a jolt of disapproval.

He didn’t want her children here.

That was the only explanation for his distant behavior, and it seriously grated that he hadn’t even taken the time to introduce himself to her kids. For someone who was consistently and relentlessly trying to sleep with her, he was sure going about it the wrong way. Because completely ignoring a pair of wet, shivering six-year-olds? Definitely not the kind of behavior that would make her fall into bed with a man.

Leaving their wet shoes and coats in the hall to dry, Miranda took Sophie and Jason by the hand, and the three of them followed Dylan down the corridor toward the kitchen.

As a peal of children’s laughter drifted into the hallway, Seth cringed and ducked back into his bedroom. It was the third time he’d left his room intending to join everyone in the kitchen, only to change his mind and retreat.