Flynn's In (Lexi Frost Series) (31 page)

“You think she
’s going to wake up in the night and want to read?” Flynn joked when she closed the bedroom door.

“Hmm? No. Sophie and I met when I caught her shoplifting at a bookstore. The owner went over the top.
”

“She
’s living on the street and stealing books? That’s unexpected to say the least.”

“I know.
The Jungle Book
. She had several others in her backpack,
Moby Dick
,
Oliver Twist
,
Pride and Prejudice
.”

Flynn frowned. “She
’s
not even ten yet
. For starters, aren’t those a bit over her head? Also, aren’t they the kind of books sadistic English teachers assign? They’re not the kind kids
choose
to read.”

“They
’re classics,” Teri bristled.

“The questions remain valid. Granted
Oliver Twist
might seem like
Cinderella
to a kid on the street. The story I mean, but the actual book?”

“Sophie admitted to having trouble with some of it
, but she’s trying to improve her mind. She’s reading them
because
they’re classics, Flynn.”

“Okay
, brownie points for the effort.” Flynn slowly walked over to Teri, backing her against the wall. “But she has to fit in with kids at school in the here and now. Tomorrow I’m getting her some teenage vampire drama or a book about a dragon or something.” He let his lips brush against her cheek as he spoke.

“Flynn
, I don’t . . .” Teri whispered. He pressed his mouth against hers, effectively stopping her protest. Letting his hands wander over her body, he pulled her hips close against his. Teri shuddered and let one foot trail up the back of his leg, opening her own legs for him.

Pressing his hard-on against her
, he lifted her other leg, wrapping both around him and holding her against the wall with the force of his body and hands under her thighs. Rubbing against her, Flynn felt like he was going to explode. What were the odds of Teri letting this happen? Not in the living room against the wall to Sophie’s room, he reasoned.

Making sure he wasn
’t going to drop her, Flynn pulled away from the wall and carried Teri across the apartment to his room, kicking the door shut behind him.

“But Sophie
—” Teri whispered when he laid her on the bed. He ground his groin against hers.

“She won
’t miss you for a while yet.”

Flynn kissed her
, desperately, passionately as he skillfully undressed her. Teri wanted this, she’d wanted it for a long time now. Her maternal instincts were at odds with her desire and he knew she was rationalizing that Sophie was asleep, they’d be quiet, quick, it was okay. He’d been through the same rationalization, but still knew it was a gamble. His hunger for her said it was worth it.

He had Teri undressed and stood up to pull his polo shirt off over his head. As he looked down at her
, Flynn hesitated. Teri’s round breasts displayed nipples as hard as he was. Her curves led his eyes to where her legs lay hanging off the edge of the bed, spread apart invitingly for him. She lifted one hand and gave him a beckoning come here motion with a single finger, a small smile playing on her lips.

Flynn hastened to unbuckle his belt.

A scream rang out across the apartment. Teri was on her feet before the second scream reached them. Flynn caught her before she opened the door, pulling his bathrobe from the hook behind the bedroom door and wrapping it around her. She tied the belt on the run and was gone.

Flynn turned and lay down on the bed
, the unreleased urgency almost painful. He sighed, trying to will the night to simply be over.

Chapter Fifteen

The next morning, Sophie woke snuggled up to Teri. She was sure last night had been a dream. Sort of. She already missed Tommy and his skateboard tricks, but Teri was nice and she was engaged to an actual rock star. Sophie eased off the bed carefully so she didn’t wake Teri and went to find Flynn.

The apartment was silent and empty. She peeked in his room to find the bed empty and made. Frowning
, she looked in the bathroom and walk-in closet, but he wasn’t there either. She glanced across the dining room to where it opened into the kitchen area. The living room was obviously empty, but on her way back through, she saw the opposite wall was made almost entirely of glass.

Mesmerized
, Sophie walked over to the window. A skyscraper blocked her view too far one direction, but she could look down at the rooftop gardens on buildings to the left, and watch the cars crawling through the streets below. The sky was gray and it was raining a little. As she watched, a rainbow appeared over the city.

The sound of a key in the lock broke her fascination with the sight
, and she turned as Flynn opened the door with a bag of groceries.

“Good morning
, rainbow,” he called. “Are you hungry?”

Sophie nodded and followed Flynn into the kitchen. “I have cereal if you prefer
, although I was planning on french toast and bacon.”

“I like bacon.
” Sophie grinned. It’d been awhile since she had eaten an actual breakfast.

“Well that
’s settled then. Teri’s still out, I imagine?”

“Yeah
, she’s sleeping late.”

“Not really.
” Flynn proceeded to explain about time zones. Then he had to back up and explain geography. By the time Teri woke, the coffee was brewed, the bacon was crisp, the french toast was mostly done, and Flynn was explaining about planetary movements and the phases of the moon.

“Astronomy? Weren
’t you the one who said
Moby Dick
was too old for her?” Teri asked.

“That
’s whaling, revenge, and obsession; this is science,” Flynn explained as if that settled it.

Sophie giggled. It surprised her Flynn was cooking breakfast
. She assumed he had people to do things like that for him. He seemed to know what he was doing too. It fascinated her that he knew so much about everything. Flynn didn’t mention music once.

Sophie had been eating the bacon and french toast as Flynn cooked it. He made her experiment with three different types of syrup
, plain sugar, and powdered sugar with lemon juice on her french toast.

“Have a seat
, love, Sophie hasn’t quite managed to eat us out of house and home yet.” Flynn gestured to a place at the bar.

“Well this is better than one of those sugary cereals the kids eat all the time at home.
” Teri looked over Sophie’s plate.

“I picked one up at the store
, we haven’t gotten that far yet. It has those little crunchy things they call marshmallows in it. I don’t understand that, marshmallows aren’t supposed to be crunchy.” Flynn frowned.

Sophie laughed
, but there was something wrong. There was tension between Flynn and Teri. He was joking and she was smiling, but it wasn’t like yesterday.

“I
’m going to get some real clothes on first.” Teri turned to leave.

Sophie noticed that Teri was in just a
T-shirt and underwear. Maybe Flynn was mad because Teri slept with her instead of with him last night. He didn’t seem mad though. Sophie watched him carefully.

“No
, stay as you are, it’s perfect breakfast attire,” Flynn protested with a shake of his head.

“I wouldn
’t wear this at home.”

“You have a house full of teenage boys at home. When they leave
, I hope to see more of this.” Flynn gestured to her bare legs.

“That
’ll give you something to look forward to then. For now I don’t want to encourage ideas.” Teri walked back into the bedroom and Sophie watched her go. Flynn sighed and she turned her attention back to him.

“I
’m in the way, aren’t I?”

Flynn faced her
, evidently surprised. Then he smiled. “No, rainbow, you’re fine.”

“Something
’s wrong though.”

“Your female intuition is kicking in a bit young
, heaven help us. Listen, after you get to know Dev, he’s going to be your big brother, give him a hand, will you? He doesn’t pick up on women and relationships very well. But don’t tell him I told you,” Flynn winked.

“Teri said she has two kids and then all their friends.
”

“From Teri you
’ll officially have Cassie and Dev, unofficially you’ll get Tiff, Jess, Kenny and Bryan.” Flynn stopped. “From me you’ll get Saffron and Simone, but they won’t live with us. I have a stepdaughter, Mindy, but I doubt you’ll meet her. She’s not talking to me at the moment.”

“But if you
’re marrying Teri, how can Mindy be your stepdaughter if she’s not Teri’s daughter?”

“Ex wife. We divorced on reasonably good terms. I raised Mindy as much or more than she did so
, even though I’m not legally related any longer, I still see her as a daughter.”

“So you have three girls?
”

“Yup. All three of them princesses. I can
’t wait to see what you’re going to be.”

“What?
”

“Some girls are princesses
, some are tomboys. You’ve been a survivor so far, which almost certainly falls on the tomboy side, but you should have a choice.”

“So how do I know?
”

Flynn smiled. “Go with what you like
, rainbow. If you want a pink bedroom, fine. Play baseball, fine. Ballet, fine. Try out a few things and see what you enjoy. And it’s not set in stone, you can switch, or land somewhere in between.”

“What would Teri want me to be?
” Sophie whispered.

Flynn looked over her shoulder to make sure Teri wasn
’t coming yet and leaned forward. “Yourself,” he whispered back.

• • •

“Come sit.” Flynn pointed to the empty seat at the breakfast bar when Teri returned.

As Teri sat
, Sophie hopped down. “I’ll give you two some time alone. I’ll go get dressed.”

She ran off before Teri could question it and Flynn watched her go with amusement in his eyes.

“What was that about? Give us time alone? What have you been talking about?” she demanded. Flynn said he’d be on board with this, but this little interaction made her nervous.

Flynn didn
’t answer immediately. He finished dishing a plate for Teri, set it down in front of her, and walked around to take Sophie’s seat.

“She asked if she was in the way. I told her she wasn
’t, but she persisted and said there was something wrong between us.”

Teri caught her breath. “Flynn
—”

“Relax. I distracted her. I shouldn
’t have risked it last night anyway. It was a gamble and I knew better.” Flynn leaned forward and kissed her forehead.

Tears welled in Teri
’s eyes. Sophie was fragile right now.

“I won
’t make you choose, Teri. Sophie comes first. Children always come first, I know that,” Flynn continued, interrupting her breakdown. “Now, keeping that in mind, this sexual tension between us is ridiculous.”

Teri flushed and started to protest but Flynn held up a hand to stop her. She glanced back over her shoulder to make sure Sophie wasn
’t in earshot.

“I
’m keeping an eye out. This whole thing, the way I proposed, last night, nothing about this weekend has gone right. Don’t make a face, it’s not your fault or Sophie’s either. I like her, I was willing to do this for you because you wanted this — adopting her, but I really do like her. I want to do this. But there are some details we need to sort out.”

“Now isn
’t —”

“Now is
,” he said firmly. “For today’s itinerary: you call the girls and invite them over. Introduce Sophie, explain things, talk them into babysitting tonight. I’m going by Kyle’s office, sign some papers, get a hotel room. If those clothes fit, I’ll pick up something else for Sophie, she deserves to play flower girl. We’ll have an unromantic elopement at city hall, but it’ll be done. That should make Kyle’s job a little easier.”

“But she just got here
, we can’t —”

“Teri
, I get it. Sophie will be fine getting to know her new sisters for one night. I suppressed the urge to ravage you for months. I traded a reasonably romantic proposal for a hurried whispered discussion because there was a cop and public servant in the other room. I was always okay with eloping if that’s what you wanted.” Flynn stood up and slipped behind Teri, wrapping his arms around her waist and nuzzling her neck. “I’ll postpone the honeymoon, but I’m not giving up our wedding night.”

“Oh!
” Sophie’s reappearance made Teri turn quickly, blushing and speechless. Sophie looked startled and embarrassed to catch Flynn holding Teri closely, but Flynn merely relaxed his hold slightly and smiled at her.

“That dress is perfect. Spin around
,” he said smoothly as Teri fought to catch her breath again. Sophie obediently turned, a pale pink sundress with sunflowers embroidered randomly over the crisp linen accented her golden curls beautifully.

“So if I
’m wearing pink, does that mean I’m a princess?” she asked Flynn.

“A definite step in that direction. Of course you have a limited wardrobe. Tomorrow maybe we
’ll take you shopping for real and let you pick and choose as you like.”

“Tomorrow?
”

“Today is booked.
” Flynn turned to Teri. “Finish your breakfast and call Cassie. I’ll head out and be back as soon as I can.”

Teri simply looked at him
, then Sophie, indecisive. Flynn leaned over and whispered to her. “You need this too, love. I could detail everything I want to do to you, but you’d turn a pink several shades darker than Sophie’s dress before you realized we need a night without interruption. She’ll be fine.”

Teri felt the blood rushing to her face and quickly turned back to her breakfast with a curt nod.

Flynn stood silently behind her for a moment, then Teri heard him dialing.

“Tiff? How was your first night in the big city?
”

He laughed and Teri turned to face him.

“Not a bad start, but Teri beat you. Grab Cassie and come on over . . . No, not telling, but pack for a sleepover and wear or bring something nice . . . Dresses . . . That’ll work. See you in awhile.”

He turned to Teri. “There
, now all you have to do is wait. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“What about the boys?
”

“Oh
, I should mention Dev broke his shoulder, I didn’t want to tell you last night in front of the witnesses we had. He’s fine. Jess fell off the sofa and has a concussion, but he’s fine too. See? Even with adult supervision, boys will be boys. And little fiascos like that can alleviate any guilt you might have about them not being here. I doubt they’re interested anyway. Dev already knew I was proposing, we discussed it a few days ago. You can call and tell them the rest of the big news if you like, or I’ll fly back and bring them out tomorrow or the next day and tell them then. It’s up to you.”

“Dev broke his shoulder? How? Why didn
’t you tell me after everyone left?”

“Other things on both our minds. He did it skateboarding. Don
’t get all agitated about it, please. He hates it that you worry.”

“And this is why!
”

“Dev skateboards? Like Tommy?
” Sophie asked, her big blue eyes kept Teri from arguing with Flynn about Dev’s chosen sport or that he was too easy on the boys.

Flynn took the distraction and slipped out with just a wave goodbye
, leaving Teri to try to answer Sophie’s questions despite not having seen Dev on a skateboard in nearly three years.

• • •

Teri waited until Cassie and Tiffany arrived and were spending time gossiping with Sophie before calling home to check on the boys. That the girls would embrace the idea of Teri adopting Sophie was never a concern, but Teri wasn’t sure how Dev was going to take it. She let him report on the various injuries and activities before mentioning it.

“Dev
, baby —”

“Mom
, don’t call me that.”

“Actually
, I probably won’t be able to much longer,” Teri conceded.

“I
’m sixteen, you should have stopped a long time ago.”

“It
’s not that, honey. You’re my baby. You always will be, but you might not be the youngest in the family for much longer.”