Spring Secrets: Pine Point, Book 3 (12 page)

Chapter Twenty-Three

All week long, the sun shined. Six more people signed up for gym memberships, and Pine Point got four inches of snow Wednesday night. That brief storm turned into a few hundred dollars in Mike’s pocket after he spent a few hours plowing and pulling drivers out of snow banks. Friday morning, he caught himself whistling as he cleaned the blender and checked the protein powder supplies.

“Man, she’s that good?” Hans asked with a grin.

Mike knew the kid probably meant in bed, but he nodded without saying anything. It wasn’t just the way she turned him on. Having Sienna in Pine Point was like having the sun come out after weeks of cold and gray. Seeing her name on his phone when she texted or called made him feel like a teenager again, all thumbs as he fumbled to respond. They hadn’t slept together since last weekend, between his long hours and her schoolwork and research, and they’d had dinner together only once at the diner. But they talked every night, and she came into the gym almost every afternoon.

Mike’s chin twitched as he took a sidelong look at his office. He didn’t spend much time in there, but she’d given him one hell of a blow job up against the desk yesterday evening, and he couldn’t even glance that way today without getting hard. A stack of plastic cups slipped from his hands and tumbled across the ground.

“I got ’em,” Hans said.

“Thanks.” Mike rubbed the back of his neck and tried to keep his focus on the business. He spent the rest of the morning talking to the local cable station about a low-budget ad, training two clients, and counting the hours until he could leave. At ten minutes of two, he headed out the door. “Back by four,” he called over his shoulder. Hans nodded, eyes on his phone as usual.

“Mr. Mike!” Caleb met him at the door of Room Eighteen. “Miss Cruz, you were right. Mr. Mike came for read-along time today.”

Sienna smiled from across the room. She wore a plain blue button-down shirt with the tails out over blue and black print leggings. Chunky black ankle boots on her feet, and her hair up in a messy bun. Mike’s fingers twitched. How he’d like to pull out whatever pins held it in place and let her hair fall around her face. Then he’d take her right on the desk. Or maybe the rocking chair. Or maybe both.

He wiped a hand over his face as one of the twins tugged at his hand. “You come over here.” Obedient, he followed the boy to the rocking chair and sat.

“What am I reading today?”

The other twin carried over three books and dropped them in Mike’s lap. “Here. We picked these out for you.”

“Three?”

“They’re short,” Sienna said with a laugh. She sank into the chair at her desk and propped her chin on one hand.

Not short enough, he wanted to answer. Shit. He hoped they didn’t have any tricky words in them. A sweat broke out across his forehead.
They’re just kids
, he reminded himself.
They won’t know if you screw up or skip a page.
But he’d never loved reading as a kid. He’d never even liked it. The irony of his reading to a group of kids in the hopes of impressing their teacher wasn’t lost on him. Mike opened the cover of the first book.

“Sally Goes to the Store,” he began. Well, that sounded easy enough. As long as Sally wasn’t shopping for avocados or paprikash, he could make it through this one. He took his time, trying to make sure he held the book so the kids could see the pictures. About halfway through the story, Sally tried to sneak a carton of ice cream into her mother’s shopping cart. The boys burst out laughing. Mike looked up, surprised.

“Look what she’s doing!” crowed one of the twins. He kicked his feet and laughed again. His brother joined in. Silas clapped and laughed louder than both of them. Even Caleb smiled. Only Dawn remained silent in her beanbag on the other side of the room.

With a smile, Mike finished the story. The kids clapped, and before he knew it, one of the twins was leaning on his leg and pushing another book into his hands. “Read this one next.”

“Billy, please be polite.” Sienna said from her desk. “I don’t think Mr. Mike wants you sitting on his lap.”

“It’s okay,” Mike said. Sometime in the last twenty minutes, his anxiety had dissolved. Even the presence of sticky fingers and curious eyes didn’t unnerve him as it once had. “So this one next, buddy?”

The boy nodded.

Before Mike had realized it, he’d finished all three books, and almost forty minutes had passed. Sienna stood. “Let’s give Mr. Mike a big round of applause for reading to us today.”

They smacked their hands together, and Silas whooped as he jumped up and down with glee.

“My gosh, that’s more of a reception than I usually get,” Sienna said to him.

Mike stood in the middle of the room, unsure of what to do or say. He’d never gotten a reception like that in his life. Amazing that a group of quirky eight-year-olds could make him feel better about himself than most people he’d known as an adult.

Sienna clapped her hands. “Fifteen minutes until we get ready for dismissal. That means Billy, Bailey, Caleb, and Dawn, you have bathroom time, and then please put your backpacks out so I can check what you’re taking home.” She put her hand on Silas’s shoulder. “And you, my handsome man, need to finish coloring the last sheet in your packet.” She directed him to the table. “Silas is our lover of all things having to do with baseball,” she explained.

“Really?” Mike looked at the paper in front of the boy. Baseballs, gloves, bats, and containers of popcorn and peanuts covered the page. Silas caught his tongue between his teeth as he drew lines to match the pairs. “You know what?” Mike asked. Silas looked up. “I love baseball too.”

A huge grin broke out on Silas’s face.

“Maybe I could bring in a glove once the weather gets nice,” Mike went on. “Throw around some balls.” His face flushed. Everything he said around Sienna seemed to have a sexual connotation.

She lifted a brow and smiled. “I’d like that. I’m sure they would too. I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on some balls either.”

* * * * *

Sienna resisted the urge to grab Mike and give him a smokin’ kiss in front of everyone as the buses pulled away. As it was, the heat between them drove her half-crazy, and she had to keep back a few feet or her hands would do things without consulting her brain. She waved goodbye and watched him walk to his truck. In three hours, she was meeting him for dinner. She could wait that long to jump his perfect body. She hoped.

She walked down to the library and picked out some new books for her students, looking for titles related to baseball. The boys would love playing catch with Mike. Billy, Bailey, and Silas already adored him, and Caleb was warming up in his own way. Dawn—well, Sienna hoped Dawn would come around. At least she didn’t hide in the closet when Mike came by.

Sienna headed back through the lobby, empty except for Eva Hadley sitting at the visitors’ desk. “Hey, Eva.”

“Hey, Sienna.”

“Have a good weekend.”

“You too.” She gave Sienna a curious look. “So, you and Mike?” she asked.

Sienna stopped walking. “Me and Mike what?”

“You’re…” She flipped her manicured fingers in the air. “You’re, like, together now?”

“We’re spending some time together,” Sienna said. She had no idea what
together
meant in Eva’s world, and she wasn’t about to analyze it in her own. “He’s a good guy.”

“Yeah, he is. Too bad he was married before.”

Sienna’s face flamed. “What?”
He wasn’t. I would have known. He would have mentioned it.
Everything inside her dropped, and she wasn’t sure which feeling hurt worse, the embarrassment that Eva had told her or the disappointment that Mike hadn’t trusted her enough to tell her himself.

“Oh, yeah. You knew that, right?” Eva made a tsking sound. “I always try to keep my distance from divorced guys. You never know what went wrong the first time around.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

“Hey, Ma?” Mike called from the driveway. Loretta bustled around the open garage, moving boxes from one shelf to another. He walked inside. “What are you doing?”

“Putting away the Christmas decorations.” She turned and pointed. “Can you see on that top shelf? Are my Easter things up there?”

He strained to read the writing on a cardboard box. “I think so.”

Loretta dragged over a step stool, but as she climbed up the first two steps, he took her around the waist and stopped her. “Ma. I’ll get the boxes.”

“I am perfectly capable of getting them myself.”

“I know you are.” He steered her to the floor. “But I’m your son, and you’re letting me live here rent free. I like to earn my keep when I can.”

She crossed her arms, but a smile worked its way onto her face. “Fine. I just want those two closest to the front.”

“Okay.” He climbed the step stool and retrieved them. “Where do you want them?” he asked, but Loretta didn’t answer. When Mike looked over his shoulder, he saw that she’d walked out to the road. Without so much as a coat or a hat. Grumbling, he put down the boxes and went after her.

A sleek black Mercedes had slowed at the end of their driveway, and Doc Halloran rolled down the window. “Loretta, Mike, how you both doing?”

Mike backpedaled a step or two and lifted a hand. He knew Doc hadn’t had any contact with Al in over a decade. He knew the retired doctor probably felt the same way about his son as Mike did. But still, seeing the same Halloran eyes and the same lazy grin made Mike’s gut twist.

Loretta beamed. “It’s good to see you. When are you going to stop by for dinner?”

“Well, now, I do have Rotary meetings on Tuesdays, and every other Thursday I…”

Mike watched the conversation with mild interest.
Is Ma flirting with Doc
? Huh. He’d wondered a few times if his mother might ever marry, but she’d never seemed interested in the idea. Her cheeks pinked as she talked to Doc though, and she rested a hand on the door close to the old man’s.

Good for her. Good for both of them.
Mike chuckled and turned to go when Doc called him over. “Got a gym question for you, my good man,” he said with a wink at Loretta. She backed up the driveway, her eyes on Doc the whole time.

“Sure, what’s up?” he asked. He’d never seen Doc step foot inside Springer Fitness. The sixty-year-old walked five miles a day and did pushups and crunches on his front porch in all kinds of weather. Someone like that didn’t need a gym membership.

Doc lowered his voice. “I’m sure you’ve seen my son in town.”

Mike froze, eyes on the ground. “Yeah. Once or twice.” He took a deep breath and forced himself to look Doc in the eye. Wasn’t the old man’s fault Al had shot Mike’s life to shit.

“He’s not here on my asking,” Doc said. “Just wanted you to know that. He called me up, said he wanted to make amends. I told him until I saw proof he’d been clean for a year, I wasn’t interested in anything he had to say.” The man talked in controlled tones, but the blood that rose into his cheeks belied his composure. Had to be tough as hell, turning his back on his own flesh and blood. Mike nodded.

“Now, I don’t know all the details about what happened with the two of you out in California, and I’m not sure I want to. But I see what you’ve done here with that gym, and I know you’re a good man with a good head on his shoulders. Just want you to know that.” He peered into his rear view mirror. “If you see him around here, I’d appreciate a heads up. I told him he wasn’t welcome, but if he’s desperate for a place to sleep or something to eat, he might end up here.”

“Will do.” Mike cracked his knuckles. “How’s Arthur doing?” At least the younger Halloran son had made a decent life for himself.

Doc’s face brightened. “Just fine. Living down near New York City and working for a good law firm. His wife’s about to have a baby, so I’ll be heading down there as soon as she does.”

“That’s wonderful. Glad to hear it.” Always nice when a little yin did balance out the yang. Mike waved goodbye as Doc rolled up his window and continued down the street.

Sure takes all kinds of people to make up the world,
he thought as he walked to his apartment. Inside, he checked the clock on the stove. Only about ten minutes until Sienna arrived. He hadn’t told his mother about them yet, but he thought tonight would be as good a time as any. He pulled off his shirt and turned on the shower. He was just about to drop his jeans and boxers when someone knocked at the door. He checked the peephole and grinned.

“You’re early,” he said as he pulled it open.
Want to join me in the shower?
he was about to add, but the disappointment on Sienna’s face stopped him. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

She didn’t step inside. She didn’t even take off her gloves. “Why didn’t you tell me you’d been married?”

Damn. Why did Mike have to be half-naked? She swallowed hard and focused on his eyes, not a great choice considering they pierced through her and sent her thoughts spiraling into the bedroom, but that was better than the alternative of letting her gaze skate across his pecs and down his flat stomach.

“Sienna.” He only said her name at first, and his mouth drew down. He reached for her hand. “Come inside.”

She didn’t take his hand, but she did step across the threshold. She could hear the shower running a few feet away.

“Hang on,” he said, and went to shut off the water. When he returned, he pulled out a kitchen chair, sat, and folded his hands on the table. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. It was one of the biggest mistakes of my life. I try not to think about it.” He rubbed the back of his neck and stared at the table. “Her name was Edie, and Al introduced us.”

She sat too. “Al Halloran?”

Mike nodded. “He had a big group of friends out there—” he snorted, “—if you can call ’em friends. Anyway, he knew a lot of people, put it that way. I’d been living out there about two years when I went to a party, and she was there.”

“What was she like?” Part of Sienna didn’t want to know. But she couldn’t help asking. She’d never pictured Mike as the marrying type. Someone pretty special must have knocked his socks off.

He shrugged. “Long blond hair and a good body. Like everyone else living in L.A.” He finally looked up at Sienna. “But we had some good conversations at the beginning. She wasn’t from around there either. She grew up in the Midwest and was trying to make it as an actress.” He raised one hand. “And before you say anything, yes, most of the women out there are. Not much else to say,” he continued. “We started hanging out, one thing led to another, I was lonely, the lease was up on her apartment, so we drove to Vegas one weekend, and got hitched.” He rolled his neck from side to side.

“How long were you with her?”

He blew out a breath. “We dated for about a year. We were married for three and a half.”

Longer than she’d imagined. Slivers of jealousy moved through her, no matter how much she tried to tell herself it didn’t matter and she didn’t care. “So what happened?”

“What can I say? When you’re young and dumb, you think things are gonna last forever. Found out about three years in that she was cheating on me with an old boyfriend. Maybe the whole time, I don’t know and don’t want to know.” He waved a hand as if to dismiss Edie’s infidelity, the marriage, this whole conversation. “Wasn’t just that either. Would’ve been bad enough if it was, but she cleaned out my bank account and took my Mustang.”

“What?” At that, all her earlier disappointment fled.

“Live and learn.” His voice sounded casual, but his hands tightened. “I put her name on everything, so I couldn’t do much legally.” He started to say something else but stopped. “Like I said, live and learn. Last I heard, she’d gotten hooked hard on heroin, so it’s just as well things didn’t work out. People make bad choices, me included.” His gaze flicked to hers. “I don’t talk about my marriage because I’m embarrassed by it.”

Sienna reached across the table. “I’m sorry. That’s a pretty shitty story. I wouldn’t tell people either.”

“Does that mean you forgive me?”

She pulled off her hat and gloves. “It means I wish I’d known before Eva Hadley told me, but, yes, I forgive you.”

He wound his fingers through hers. “Good.”

“Do me a favor though.”

“What’s that?” He stroked the back of her hand with his thumb, sending tingles through her.

“If there are any other skeletons in your closet, do you think you could mention them to me before one of the Hadley sisters does?”

He paused only a half second before answering. “You got it.”