7. Allie
Allie
O llie looked cute as hell in his woolen hat and jacket. I grinned at him. Thank God it was Saturday and my day off.
The sun was shining, but the air was cold.
I stared up at the bright-blue sky. We’d get our first snow soon.
One thing I loved about Windward was its four distinct seasons.
When I got sick of the hot weather, winter rolled in.
And when I’d had enough of snow, the trees turned green, and summer would appear.
But right now, I was enjoying the fall. Halloween was coming up and I wanted to make it fun for Ollie.
He and I walked down the main part of the town. The main streets were pedestrian only, and lined with stores selling art, clothes, souvenirs. On the weekends, the stores were busy. Day trippers from Denver filled the shops and bustling cafés.
“Have you decided on a costume for the Halloween Spooktacular next week?”
His nose wrinkled. “Not yet.”
“A superhero, something spooky, a Jedi?” I’d been peppering him with options for weeks.
He made a non-committal noise.
Okay, I’d have another run at that later. “You want to go and play in the playground?”
Ollie glanced over at the colorful playground equipment that was crawling with kids. “No, thanks.”
I kept my face even. “All right, well, we can get a coffee at Mountain Brew.”
He rolled his eyes. “Allie, I’m too young for coffee.”
“You are? Hmm. Well, what else can we do?”
“Get ice cream.”
Now I rolled my eyes. The kid had a one-track mind when it came to ice cream. Summer or winter, hot or cold, he wanted ice cream.
I felt that familiar prickle of guilt. I should be feeding him less sugar. “I don’t know, Ol-ster.” That’s when I noticed he was glancing at some older kids throwing a baseball. “Are you keen to play baseball?”
He looked away. “No.”
God, parenting should come with a manual. How to Read Kids 101 . Along with How Not to Screw Kids Up 102 .
We wandered a bit more, moving close to the trail that ran along the bottom of the mountain and along a pretty, burbling creek. My gaze snagged on a man running along the trail, and I forgot all about my urgent need for coffee. I forgot about Ollie and eating too much sugar. Hell, I forgot my name.
He wore black running shorts and no shirt, although I could see it was tucked into his back pocket.
He had powerful legs and abs, and so many sweat-slicked muscles I didn’t know where to look first. He moved with athletic grace and ease, obviously knowing the limits of his body.
Something told me that he could run all day, if he needed to.
My gaze drifted higher, and I noted he had ear buds in his ear, and that’s all I got before I noted dark eyes that were locked on me.
Caden .
Oh, God.
My lovely appreciation of his hot, muscled body turned to pure lust. It arrowed through my belly and between my legs.
Now, I was imagining that powerful body moving on mine, inside mine, my hands digging into hard muscle. I watched as he ran toward me.
“Allie?”
Ollie’s voice jolted me out of… Whatever the hell my hormone-saturated brain was doing. “Yeah?” My voice was one level above a squeak.
“Are you okay?”
“Yep. Yes. I’m fine. Really fine.”
Caden stopped in front of us, giving me an up-close view of his slick chest. I almost whimpered. I’d guessed he was fit, but had no idea he was hiding all of this under his suits.
He took the earbuds out. “Hey, Allie.”
“Hi, Broody.”
His lips quirked. “I have a real name.”
“But Broody suits you better. You run?”
“Yes.”
My gaze started to drift lower before I jerked it back up. “A lot.”
“Yes.” His gaze dropped to Ollie.
Get your brain cells functioning, Allie . “Um, Caden, this is my nephew, Oliver, Ollie, the Ol-ster.”
“Al- lie ,” Ollie complained.
“He usually just goes by Ollie. Ollie, this is Caden. He works at the Langston Windward.”
Caden crouched and held out a hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Ollie gingerly took his hand and shook. “You work with Aunt Allie?”
“I do.”
My nephew cocked his head. “In housekeeping?”
Caden rose, a tiny smile on his rugged face. “No, in security.”
Ollie’s eyes went wide. “Security. Cool. So you stop bad guys in the hotel?”
“Sometimes. My job is to keep everyone safe. The guests—” his gaze hit mine “—and the staff. Your aunt.”
Those words shouldn’t give me tingles.
“What are you two doing today?” Caden asked.
“We’re going to get ice cream. Wanna come?” Ollie looked up at Caden with hope in his gray eyes.
Hell, I knew he missed his dad. Here was a prime male specimen with a cool job. I was pretty sure that body didn’t consume much ice cream. I tried to imagine Caden holding an ice cream cone… Nope.
“Caden’s probably busy, Ollie, I?—”
“Ice cream sounds great. My treat.”
I blinked at him. What the hell?
Ollie beamed.
I blinked again, my heart squeezing. I hadn’t seen him smile like that in a long time.
Then he did a little skip in the direction of the ice cream shop and motioned for Caden to follow. Caden froze for a second, then he fell into step with Ollie.
The pair walked ahead of me and for some reason, seeing him walking with my nephew was just as hot as seeing his bare chest and abs.
Jeez, Allie, get a grip.
We reached the ice cream shop—Sunday Sundae—and Caden took a second to pull his T-shirt on. It was a crying shame. There was seating inside and outside, and it was busy, even with the cooler weather. We joined the line inside.
“What’s your flavor, Ollie?” Caden asked.
“Chocolate.”
“Good choice. I like chocolate, too.”
“You do?”
“Yep.” He glanced at me. “Allie?”
“Hazelnut.”
He nodded and ordered. Soon, I was doing something I’d never imagined when I’d first met Caden Castro—sitting in the sunshine, eating ice cream with him.
“You have the day off?” I asked.
He gave me a clipped nod. “I’ll do a few hours of work this afternoon.”
“It must be hard to switch off when you live at your workplace.”
“I like it. It suits me.”
“You live in a hotel?” Ollie asked.
“I do, bud.”
“That’s cool.” Ollie gave his ice cream a giant lick. He had chocolate all around his mouth. “So you live in Windward?”
“For now. My job takes me to hotels all over the world.”
“Oh.” Ollie stilled. “So you’ll leave?”
“Eventually.”
I gave my ice cream cone a long lick. When I glanced up, Caden’s gaze was locked on me.
Those damn tingles hit again. Then I did something I shouldn’t have. I gave my ice cream another long, delicate lick.
Heat flared in Caden’s eyes.
Oh God . My belly clenched.
“Have you always worked in hotels?”
Ollie’s voice cut through the tension.
Caden cleared his throat and looked at my nephew. “No, before I worked at Langston, I was in the Army.”
Ollie’s eyes went round. “Really?”
Caden gave him a faint smile before he took a bite of his ice cream. “Really.”
“Did you shoot people?”
I noticed a faint stiffening of Caden’s shoulders. “Ollie, you don’t ask things like that.”
My nephew screwed up his face. “But he was a soldier.”
“I was,” Caden said quietly. “I fought for my country and to help others. It’s not always easy.
And I can tell you something, bud. Shooting someone is the hardest thing a person ever has to do.
” There was something in his voice. A touch of darkness.
His gaze met mine for a long beat, then he focused back on Ollie.
“It’s a hard job, but an important one. Now, I’m lucky because my job at Langston Hotels isn’t so dangerous.
I can still help people and keep them safe. ”
Ollie nodded.
I felt…something. Not sympathy, exactly. A man like Caden didn’t need or want that, but something.
“It’s important to keep people safe,” Ollie said. “Someone shot my mommy and daddy.”
My throat closed. God .
Caden stilled. “I’m sorry, buddy, that’s tough.”
Ollie nodded. “I miss them.”
I cleared my throat. “Lick that ice cream, little man. It’s going to melt.”
Soon, our ice creams were all finished.
“We’d better go.” I wiped my sticky fingers on my napkin, then wiped Ollie’s mouth. “We need to head to the grocery store.”
Caden rose with a nod. “I need to get back.”
“Thanks for the ice cream, Mr. Caden.”
“You’re welcome, Ollie.”
Then my nephew looked up at me. “Can I go to the playground?”
“Go.” I watched him dart away. He seemed lighter than he’d been in ages.
“He’s a good kid,” Caden said.
“He is. Sometimes, I think he’s teaching me more than I’m teaching him.”
Suddenly, Caden reached out. He touched the corner of my mouth, and I sucked in a breath. A tingling sensation spread over my cheek.
“You had a bit of ice cream there.” His voice sounded deeper, grittier.
“Oh.”
Then I watched him stick his thumb in his mouth and suck it clean.
My womb spasmed. I couldn’t breathe. I felt the urgent and desperate need to jump him.
I swallowed.
Caden gave me a long look, then nodded. “I’ll see you at work.”
He turned and moved into a powerful jog, and I watched him move away. Okay, I watched his ass. It was a damn fine one.
I pressed a palm to my chest. Oh, this was bad.
I was in lust with Caden “Broody” Castro.
Crap . I shook my head. I needed a cold shower—which I sure as hell wouldn’t do because I liked my showers scalding hot. But I did need to get a grip on this madness.
From the playground, Ollie waved. I needed to focus on Ollie and not the dark, muscled man that was getting under my skin.
Why were Mondays at the hotel always crazy?
I hustled down the corridor, carrying a stack of muddy towels. My quiet weekend with Ollie seemed like a distant memory. I’d spent most of Sunday cleaning the condo and doing laundry. How one small five year old got so many clothes dirty was still a mystery I hadn’t solved.