What a Woman Needs (22 page)

He took another sip. “You all have to go on the Whirling Dervish with me.”

“Maggie can’t. She’s too small.”

“Then you’ll have to do another ride with me, Maggie. Twice.”

Maggie’s frown turned into a grin just as he knew it would. “Okay. We can do the teacup ride. They go round in circles.”

Beth half choked behind her napkin and her eyes were sparkling. “I hope you don’t get motion sickness.”

“Trust me. With some of the stunts I’ve done, the teacups will be nothing.”

“If you say so.”

So it was settled. He was going to the amusement park with them tomorrow. Then he’d start back again at Beth’s house on Monday. Twelve days in a row with the Hamilton clan.

Something was telling Bryan this wasn’t a good idea, but there was no way to back out now.

Besides, whatever was telling him to run, something else was equally vocal, compelling him to stay.

It was a no-brainer which one he’d listen to.

T
HIS
was the best day Beth had had in the past two years.

Her kids were smiling and laughing and chasing each other with such carefree exuberance and happiness that it was almost as if the plane crash had never happened.

Almost.

Because instead of Mike, their father, there was Bryan. Their housekeeper.

Beth giggled. He always looked awfully cute in the green pants and shirt his sister had chosen as uniforms, but he looked even better today in cargo shorts and a T-shirt. He readjusted his baseball cap—it, surprisingly, had kept the stares at bay because no one would expect
the
Bryan Manley to be hanging out at Martinson’s with a passel of kids.

“Come on, slowpokes!” he hollered to Beth and Maggie and Kelsey at the back of the pack. “We’re going to leave you in the dust.”

“There’s no dust, Mommy,” said Maggie, looking very perplexed as she glanced around. “It’s all pavement.”

“It’s a saying, Mags.” Kelsey was still tweeting her friends continuously, but she’d promised Bryan that she wouldn’t mention him being with them. It was killing her teenage daughter, but Beth was proud of her for resisting temptation.

It was probably only the thought of having her picture snapped while she had amusement-ride hair that stopped her, but Beth would take whatever did the trick. Today was just for them. A chance for Bryan to be just Bryan, Mac’s brother, her kids’ friend, and her . . . well, whatever he was. It was just nice to not have to worry about the reporters and the cameras and whether someone was recording something that could be taken out of context for a story. She didn’t understand how he could live in such a fishbowl, but it was a good thing he could since it came with the territory.

And she definitely hadn’t been upset when Dena had called to say her son had a fever and they couldn’t join them, but maybe they could do it another time? Beth hadn’t reminded Dena that there wouldn’t be another time with Bryan once he left.

Bryan jogged back and scooped Maggie up in his arms. “Come on, Mags. You need to lead us.”

“Yay! I like doing that. I did it in school once. I was the leader of the Halloween parade.”

That’d been the last Halloween Mike had been alive. Obviously, they hadn’t known it then, but God, how Beth remembered it now. They’d both been beside themselves with indulgent laughter and tears as Maggie, dressed in her favorite princess costume, had perfected the royal wave as she’d led her classmates around the parade route at preschool. Then she’d stopped right in front of them, curtsied, and blew them a kiss with, “I love you, Mommy and Daddy,” loud enough for all the parents to hear. Even now, Beth’s heart thudded at the memory. Sometimes God gave you gifts in ways you never expected, and it was those moments that always caught her off guard and made her appreciate them that much more.

Like now. Bryan had her daughter on his shoulders and her head was thrown back as she laughed her infectious belly laugh. It got the boys laughing, too, then filtered back to her and Kelsey. A moment in time she’d cherish forever; when a new man had come into her life and brought the laughter back.

“I wanna do the log flume!”

For about a minute.

“I want to do the rock wall!”

“No, the net climb!”

“The spider!”

“Ferris wheel!”

“Guys,” said Bryan, commanding their attention with that one word in a way no one else could. “We’ll be here all day. We’ve got time for all of it. So let’s do what Maggie wants first, then take turns doing what everyone else does. Including your mom.”

Bryan smiled at her and Beth felt her knees melt.

“So what do
you
want to do, Beth?”

He was asking her this and Beth, to her shame, went right for a bed and the two of them naked.

“Log flume.” That was a no-brainer. She needed something to cool herself off.

Which was how she found herself walking behind Bryan again, this time with his shorts plastered to his backside, thoroughly enjoying the show and making no bones about it to herself. Being a slowpoke had its advantages.

The Ferris wheel came next so they could scope out the rest of the park—
and
because making Maggie wait would be torture for all of them.

Beth and Bryan rode in one car with Maggie and the twins, while Kelsey and Jason got their own car with a stern admonition to behave themselves from Bryan.

Beth hid her smile. Those two knew better than to do something stupid on a Ferris wheel. She had about another year and a half before Jason reverted back to stupid teenage boy stunts, but right now, fear continued to be his motivating factor. Still, Bryan looking out for her kids made the butterflies start fluttering again.

“Ooh, look at our van down there!” said Maggie, leaning a little too excitedly over the edge of their car. “It looks like one of Mark and Tommy’s play cars.”

Beth went to grab for her, but Bryan had a good grip on the waistband of her shorts.

“Where?” Tommy climbed onto the seat and Beth had to lunge to keep him from going over. “Thomas John Hamilton, sit down in your seat this instant.”

“Aww, but Mom, then I won’t be able to see our van.”

“If you go sailing over the edge, you’re
never
going to see it.” Bryan tugged Tommy’s leg. “Sit.”

Not one word of protest left Tommy’s lips. With her, he’d argue and rationalize his actions. She was sure he was going to be an attorney when he grew up.

“Yeah, Tommy, you’re supposed to sit down in Ferris wheels,” said his brother, smugly. “Don’t you know anything?”

“I know that you’re a dufus.”

Maggie giggled, which didn’t help matters.

“Am not.”

“Are too.”

“Guys.”

And just like that, the boys shut up. Even Maggie stopped giggling at Bryan’s tone. They were good kids and usually listened to her, even if it took a little more effort for her than Bryan had to make. But he was new to them. A novelty. His word carried more weight than hers, since they’d listened to her for so long. She’d forgotten how much easier it was with a partner to balance parenting duties.

A
thud
landed in her stomach. Parenting duties. That’s exactly what this was like. Had been, since Bryan had shown up this morning. It’d been all about the kids. He’d spared her a quick smile—a quick,
devastating
, smile that had set all sorts of
what if
scenarios into action—then had started working on getting everyone ready and into the van for the park as if they’d done it a dozen times before. Beth was amazed—and worried. How quickly she—and they—had accepted it.

The ride ended with a plan in place for the rest of the morning’s rides and then lunch. With five kids, someone was always hungry and usually it was Jason. Beth couldn’t imagine the day when all three of the boys were teenagers. She’d have to get a second job just to feed them.

“I’m gonna get three hotdogs for lunch, too.” Of course Mark would because Jason had just said he was going to, and Mark had taken to emulating his older brother since Mike’s death. Before then, he’d been all about being just like Mike.

Mark needed a dad. As did Tommy. So did Jason.

And the girls . . . girls needed their father.

“Race you, Bryan!”

Kelsey was challenging Bryan to a race? Kelsey didn’t run—it messed up her hair and made her sweat. She hated to sweat. The only reason she hadn’t piled on the eyeliner and mascara she liked to wear—that she’d pilfered from someone because Beth wasn’t a fan of twelve-year-olds in makeup—was the threat of raccoon eyes from the heat.

But apparently all that went by the wayside with Bryan around, and her daughter’s long brown hair flew behind her like a horse’s tail as she took off toward the Tilt-A-Whirl, long legs eating up the ground.

She was going to be gorgeous. All the signs were there and the interest in looking good for boys . . . Beth only had to watch her daughter look at Bryan to see that hormones had kicked in.

A girl should have a father to help her navigate the tricky world of hormonal teenage boys.

Stop it
.
You are not putting Bryan Manley in that role. He’s leaving, remember? Has a life that doesn’t include your five children. Or you. Get that through your head and you’ll be a lot happier. Kara didn’t know what the hell she was talking about.

She might have believed her subconscious if it hadn’t added that last part. Kara had known
exactly
what she was doing, both in hiring Bryan specifically and in spilling her guts at the happy hour, thereby putting the idea in Beth’s head. Well, making the idea
bigger
in Beth’s head.

Shaking the thought
out
of her head, or at least into the far recesses, she hurried up to her kids and Bryan at the ride. She used to love this one as a kid.

“Mom, you have to ride with Bryan and Maggie or it’ll be uneven from the weight.”

“Are you saying I weigh what Bryan does?” She ruffled her hand through Kelsey’s hair.

Kelsey pulled away. “Mom! My hair’s going to get all messy.”

“Duh, it already is.” Maggie rolled her eyes with such a worldliness Beth was afraid to ask where it’d come from. “You were running.”

“Bryan beat you, you know,” said Jason, finally catching up to them with his distinctive lope he never changed for anyone or anything.

“Nuh-uh. I won. Right, Bryan?” Kelsey’s hand went on Bryan’s arm and the smile on her face was so genuine, Beth’s breath caught . How natural it was for her daughter to touch him, to ask him a question, to have that camaraderie between them.

If only he wasn’t going to leave. If only he could stay and have a normal life with them.

If onlys
were as useless to let into her life as
what ifs
, so Beth slammed that mental door shut and focused on the fact that she was about to get onto a ride that would have her smashing up against the hottest man in the world. Was there a downside to this?

They climbed in and pulled the safety bar back. Beth was in the middle, Bryan to her right, and Maggie on her left to allow for the centrifugal force that would send them slamming into him.

Beth tried not to. She did, but the ride was too strong, and after the first time they were whipped around the cabin, her wrists straining from the death grip she had on the safety bar, Beth gave up. His shoulders were big and strong enough to take her weight. He’d known what he was signing up for when he’d gotten on the ride.

Maggie was squealing as the second slam hit them before they changed direction. Beth wrapped her arm around her youngest as the force sent her careening back into Bryan again.

His chest was just as strong as those shoulders. And, oh my, what his flexing muscles felt like against her back . . .

And then there was the arm he wrapped around her shoulders, plastering her to his side.

“Stay here,” he said in her ear, the loud music and children’s squeals making it seem like a whisper—complete with a skin-shivering breath across the back of her neck. “Hang on to Maggie and we’ll just go with the flow.”

She wanted to go with the flow all right.

“Relax, Beth. I’m not going to bite, I promise.” He laughed when he said it, reminding her how he’d said it under the gazebo when he’d kissed her.

The ride spun them around again, and Bryan’s other hand landed next to hers on the safety bar and, ohmygod, the skin shivers ratcheted up to quaking. And then he shifted his foot to brace himself in place, his calf brushing hers, and Beth couldn’t stop some quivering.

Seriously? She quivered?

“You okay?” he said in her ear again, giving her yet
more
shivers.

Hell, she hated that Kara’s idea had merit. She
should
just have a fling with him. She obviously had needs and Bryan could definitely meet them.

Could
she do that? Have a fling?

Duh . . .

Okay, so physically she obviously could, but mentally? Emotionally? She’d never done that before. She was a commitment sort of person. What would it be like to just, for once, take the adventure and live a little?

“Beth?”

She looked at him over her shoulder and at that moment, the ride shifted, and somehow Beth’s lips ended up on his.

Holy moly, it was amazing.

The hand he’d had on her shoulder keeping her against his side now became buried in her hair. Bryan didn’t let her move (not that she was planning to) as he did some delicious skin-shivering, toe-curling moves with his lips on hers.

What might have started out because of centrifugal force was continuing thanks to the force of nature.

 • • • 

H
E
was kissing Beth.

He shouldn’t.

He needed to stop.

This wasn’t a good idea.

All of this ran through his mind, but Bryan didn’t stop. Couldn’t. This was . . .

It was Beth.

The ride shifted again, but Bryan refused to let it separate them. He flexed his fingers in her hair, keeping her head right where it was so he could keep her lips right where they were—right where he wanted them—and he grasped her other hand on the safety bar, the most physical contact he could get right now. He wanted more, but he’d take what he could get.