Love So Unexpected (The Lawson Brothers Book 6) (14 page)

Then they began to walk down the aisle to the man she knew she’d spend the rest of her life with.

––––––––

T
hree years later

Evening was Caleb’s favorite time of day. Sofia and the kids would already be in the kitchen, his parents at the table, too. At Sofia’s insistence, after the honeymoon, they moved into the farmhouse.

Before he would have minded, but now that he was older, he understood things a younger man couldn’t.

Like how he could still have his independence surrounded by family. He didn’t have to choose between the two.

“Hey beautiful,” he said, taking off his work boots at the door. His shoulders were sore from wrestling with a cow more stubborn than Mule had ever been.

“Hi yourself.” To his surprise, there was no one in the kitchen but Sofia. “Where is everyone?”

“David and Dinah took the kids to Brody and Sydney’s house to play with their primos.”

“That means it’s just us.”

“Si.”

He loved they way she sprinkled Spanish while talking to him. He’d never told her though. “Don’t bother cooking for us tonight.”

“Why is that?”

He encircled her waist with his arms. “Because I’m going to take my pretty wife out dancing, then when we’re hot and sweaty, I figured we could go skinny dipping.”

“You still want to skinny dip with me after two babies?” She tipped up her chin, and he couldn’t help but kiss her.

“Two babies. Four babies. Ten grandkids. I’ll always want to skinny dip with you.”

“You always know what I need to hear,” she said softly.

“Only saying what I mean. And Mrs. Lawson, I love you.”

Thank you for reading LOVE SO UNEXPECTED. If you enjoyed Sofia and Caleb’s story, please consider leaving a review to let others know. If you’d like to be notified of my newest releases, sales, cover reveals, and giveaways, please sign up for my
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Keep going to read the first TWO CHAPTERS of how it all began in LOVE SO HOT (Book #1), where Fire Captain Brody Lawson is just as in love with his best friend Sydney McKnight as she is with him. Only neither want to risk their friendship by admitting it. Then Sydney works up the nerve to ask Brody to teach her how to properly seduce a man and everything starts to change...

The Lawsons

Book 1

Chapter One

B
rody Lawson couldn’t remember a time when he didn’t want to be a firefighter. He wanted to rescue people from skyscrapers, farms animals from burning barns, and use the Jaws of Life to pry open cars. By the time he was fifteen, and allowed to see uncut version of
Backdraft
, he knew every line of the movie by heart.

He made it his mission to be everyone’s friend, everyone’s champion, and the guy that everyone could always count on to do the right thing. His parents had encouraged that line of thinking, cheering him on when he gave up a baseball scholarship to go to Fire Fighter Academy.

Nothing had given him more pleasure than to see his entire family—parents, brothers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins—at his swearing-in ceremony.

But, no one had informed him that his duty as a fireman would to be to climb up a knobby pine tree that had seen better days. The damned thing swayed so badly that he was sure it would break in half at any moment.

“Come on, sweetheart, just a little closer,” he crooned to the four-year-old, who was currently stuck in said tree. “Just slide down to the next branch.”

Fat tears rolled down her rosy cheeks. “I can’t,” she wailed.

“Yes, you can,” he said. She had to move closer. The tree limbs at the top were too slender to hold his weight and the truck with the ladder that could reach this high was being used for training purposes.

A plaintive cry came from beside him. He adjusted his stance on the branch below him, scraping his forearms in the process and sucking in air. Pine bark hurt like a son of a gun.

“Kitty,” Jena Lynn squealed, nearly tumbling from the branch. Her little fingers dug into the bark. “My kitty!”

So that was why she’d climbed up this far. He should have known.

“C’mon down, Jena,” her mother shouted from below.

Brody glanced at the woman, who had concern etched on her face. He knew her mother would have been up here herself, but she’d broken her arm last week, sliding into home while playing on the county’s softball league. Since Brody was co-captain, he felt responsible for her broken arm and it was why he’d come himself, instead of sending one of the newbies to help.

“I want my daddy,” Jena Lynn said, her little nose scrunching up. “I want my kitty and my daddy.”

Sympathy flooded Brody. Jena Lynn’s father wouldn’t be coming home for at least two more months. He was serving in Afghanistan for the third time. “I know you do, baby girl, but right now, your momma needs you to come down because—” He paused. There was no way he could tell the little girl that her mother was scared. That would only cause more panic for both of them. “It’s time to eat lunch,” he hastily improvised.

“I’m not hungry.”

“Your kitty is.” The kitty chose that moment to sink its claws into his bicep. He gritted his teeth a little.

“No, she’s not.”

Brody winced. “I’m hungry.”

“Then go eat.”

He swallowed a laugh. Jena Lynn had definitely inherited her dad’s stubborn ways, but she had also inherited her mother’s sense of empathy. “Can I tell you a secret?” he asked the little girl.

She eyed him. “Mommy says adults shouldn’t ask kids to keep a secret. It’s not safe.”

He nodded. “Your mom is smart. But, this secret you can share with her and your daddy—just don’t tell my brothers. Okay?”

That was exactly the thing to say to her because she nodded and smiled. “Okay. I’m telling Mommy and Daddy, but not your brothers. Not even at circle time when Mr. Tristan asks us to share something cool about our day.”

“Thanks,” he said wryly. His brother, a former officer in the Marines, had recently become the head librarian for the town. Tristan had gone from handling guns and serving in a war to shelving books and heading up Mom’s Morning Out.

“I’m listening,” she sang out, no longer crying.

“I need you to come a little closer to me, so I can whisper it to you.”

Jena Lynn climbed down exactly one branch. She was still higher than he could safely reach, but it was a start.

“It’s kind of embarrassing,” he said in a loud whisper.

“Like peeing in your bed at night?” she asked.

“Yeah, like that.”

Jena Lyn’s eyes got wide. “
You
still pee in your bed?” she asked in a voice loud enough to be heard three counties over.

Her mother chortled below them.

“No,” he almost shouted, and then gentled his voice. “I’m afraid of heights.”

“Then why did you climb up my tree?” she asked, looking at him like he was the dumbest thing on the planet.

So much for empathy
, he thought.

“Because you and your kitty needed help. It’s my job to rescue people and animals,” he said solemnly. “But, now I need
your
help getting down.”

“Oh.” She seemed to consider his words and then extended one leg. “I’ll save you.”

He bit back his grin. “Thank you.”

The kitten scampered off his arm and up the tree, distracting Jena Lynn. “My kitty,” she screeched, lunging for it.

Ah, hell.

The branch cracked under her weight, and she began to fall. Her mother screamed. Brody grabbed for her, somehow catching the little girl under her arm.

“Got you, baby girl.” He pulled her up to him. She wrapped her chubby, little legs and arms around him, her tiny body racked with tears and shudders. “It’s okay. I’m here. Now, I’m going to climb down and take you to your momma.”

“Oh thank God,” her mother cried as he gingerly made his way down the tall pine tree. She rushed to him as soon as his feet hit the ground, taking her daughter while scolding and loving on her.

“I’m sorry,” Jena Lyn kept saying over and over.

He rubbed her back to help calm her down and glanced up the tree. The cause of all their problems jumped from branch to branch until it landed neatly on the ground. The cat stalked away, tail twitching in the air.

“No appreciation at all,” he grunted. Turning to Jena Lyn’s mother, he asked, “Is there anything else I can do?”

She shook her head. “Thank you, but no. You’ve already done enough. Is there anything we can do for you?”

“Get Jena Lynn a dog?” he suggested. “They’re less ornery.”

The woman’s tears turned to laughter. “We didn’t get her the cat. It’s a stray.”

This time, Brody shook his head in disbelief. “Make sure she tells her daddy what happened. I think Max would love to hear the story.”

“I know he would.”

Jena Lynn lifted her head from her mother’s shoulder to peek at him. He ruffled her hair and winked. “Keep climbing trees, baby girl. Just pick ones with better branches next time.”

She nodded. The two of them walked inside, waving at Brody before the door shut behind them.

Inspecting his arm, he walked back to his truck. The kitten’s claws had run deep and the pine bark had scratched most of his skin off. But, it wasn’t anything that couldn’t be fixed up. Although, the EMT might recommend he get tested for rabies. He groaned. Those shots hurt like a son of a gun.

The last time he had to get them, he was sore for a week.

“Thanks for the help, Rookie,” he said.

Kyle Davidson sat on the passenger side with a smirk on his face and a cell phone in his hand. “You had everything handled. Besides, I figured if you needed my help, you would have ordered me over there.”

That was true. Brody had told Kyle to stay in the truck and wait, because it wouldn’t take long to get her. But, that had been almost an hour ago.

Sweat trickled down his back, making it itch. His hands were sticky from the sap, too. He would have to take a shower before he could eat lunch.

Kyle waited until Brody slid inside and had clicked his seatbelt in place before replaying the video. “You pee in your bed?” could be clearly heard.

Kyle’s smirk got bigger. “I’m trying to decide if this should go on the town’s Facebook page or ours. Maybe both.”

“YouTube doesn’t have enough subscribers for you?” Brody deadpanned.

“It’s already there, Captain.”

Brody put the truck in drive and headed out to the highway. “Maybe it’s time to rethink hiring self-starters.”

Kyle barked out a laugh. “You would have done the same to me.”

The rookie had a point. Brody loved a good joke as much as the next guy. “Did you at least get the part where I caught her?”

“Yeah. I like having a job.”

“Smart man.”

“Big plans tonight?” Kyle asked.

“Spend some time with Cherry.”

“Nice.” Kyle got quiet. Too quiet for Brody’s liking. The guy never shut up long enough to breathe.

“Something on your mind?”

“You won’t like it.”

“Try me.”

“It’s Sydney McKnight.” Yeah, Kyle was right—he wouldn’t like that at all.

“What about her?” he asked, trying to keep his tone conversational. No need to kill the kid before his probationary period was up.

“I was thinking of asking her out—maybe to the Fireman’s Auction, but, uh... since she’s your best bud and all, I wanted to check with you first.”

“Like I’m her dad?”

“Yeah. Exactly,” Kyle said, clearly happy. “I mean, she’s a little older than me, but the body is—”

“Don’t finish that thought. Keep it safely tucked away in your brain,” Brody practically growled.

Kyle cleared his throat. “She’s a great-looking woman and has a personality to match.”

“She’s seeing someone,” Brody snapped. He couldn’t help it. While Kyle might be a good guy, he was still some kid looking to get laid. As Sydney’s best friend, it was Brody’s job to keep guys like that away from her. She deserved better, and he knew for a fact she wanted more than that.

“Who?” Kyle asked. “I checked her Facebook page, and it says she’s single.”

Son of a gun.
Reason number five hundred not to like social media. Nothing was private. “That’s because she hasn’t updated her Facebook page in six months. This is fairly new.” So new that Sydney didn’t even know about it.

“Well, damn. Guess I’ll ask Apple McCoy, then.”

“Yeah, ask her. She’s... available.” Or at least he thought Cherry’s sister was. Either way, Kyle could set his sights on another woman.

“Dude. We could double date, and then later, once Sydney discovers how awesome I am, I’ll gently let Apple down. Then we can hang out and you can give your blessing. Like the Pope.” He made an
ah, ah, ah
sound, like he was singing in a church choir.

First, Kyle compared him to being Sydney’s dad and now he morphed into a celibate religious figure? This conversation was quickly going downhill.

“We could, but we won’t,” Brody said.
Twenty, the kid was barely twenty
, he reminded himself. Too young to know better. Too young to recognize that he needed to shut up about Sydney. “And I’m pretty sure comparing me to the Pope is blasphemous.” Brody wasn’t Catholic, but even he knew you didn’t say stuff like that.

“Nah, this Pope is cool. He’s Super Pope.”

Brody rolled his eyes. “If you say so.”

“Maybe once my probationary period is over and I’ve earned it?” Kyle asked hopefully.

Feeling like a first-class jerk for lying, Brody forced himself to nod. “Yeah. You have to earn it first.”

“Sweet.” Kyle picked up the scanner and called into dispatch to let them know they were headed back. “You’re positive about Sydney?” he asked. “I really like her. She’s so easy to talk to, and it feels right being around her.”

Brody’s jaw clenched. The kid wasn’t giving up—a trait that had been one of the main reasons Brody had hired him. “Sydney has that effect on everyone.” Including him. “There isn’t a man alive who can’t see himself with her.”

“Except for you,” Kyle said. “Best friend zone and all that.”