CHAPTER 14 Liam Bradley
Cap’n Crunch
“I can’t believe you said that,” she whisper-giggles after she closes the door behind me. She moves to her tiptoes to press a kiss to my lips.
“Is this where you’ve been staying?” I ask, looking around her bedroom. It’s nice enough, but it’s not a primary bedroom. It’s obviously a guest room that she escaped to.
She nods. “I just need to throw some clothes in a bag. My essentials are still packed from the weekend. And I need to go pack the boys.”
“What can I do?” I ask.
“Just sit there and look pretty.”
I chuckle as I perch on the edge of her bed, and I reach for her, pulling her between my legs. “Ever wanted to fuck another man in this house?”
Her eyes darken as they look down on me. “If you’re the one offering, yes. Like you wouldn’t believe. But I just want to get the hell out of here. Maybe we can find time at your place once the boys are settled in.”
“Sounds like a plan.” I offer a wicked smile, and then I let her go so she can finish up. She packs the boys, too, and doesn’t ask anyone for any help at all. Soon enough, the four of us are on our way to my place, and the boys are fighting in the backseat like she never left.
“That’s my Hulk wall walker!” Sammy yells.
First of all, what the fuck is a wall walker? I glance at Penny, who’s silently concentrating on the road and decidedly ignoring the yelling in the backseat.
“It’s in my hand now!” Benji retorts. “That means it’s mine now!”
“Gimme it!” Sammy yells, and when I turn around to see what’s going on, I see Sammy reach for the toy, which is essentially a green, slimy, sticky figure with a body that stretches.
Sammy pulls and stretches the thing until it looks like it’s going to snap in half, and then he lets it go so it ricochets back at his brother’s hands.
Benji starts to cry, Penny looks flustered, and Sammy has a little evil gleam in his eyes.
I stare him down, and when he glances over and his eyes meet mine, the gleam seems to disappear.
“I totally saw that,” I say quietly to Sammy.
He looks scared, like he’s going to get in trouble. Like I’m going to tell his mom.
“Let him have a turn, and then you can have it back,” I suggest. “Deal?”
Sammy shakes his head. “It’s mine!”
“Be the big brother, bud,” I suggest calmly.
“Fine. I get it next car ride,” Sammy says.
“Okay,” Benji sniffs, and Sammy grabs some other toy and starts playing with it, the entire fight forgotten.
I glance over at Penny as I realize we’re stopped at a light, and she’s staring at me.
Thank you, she mouths at me.
I tilt my head and offer a small tip of my lips. I don’t really feel like I did anything to warrant a thank you. I just handled the situation without stepping on Penny’s authority.
When we get to my place, I direct Penny toward the guest parking spot in my parking garage, and I grab our luggage.
The boys each handle their own suitcases, and Penny carries their school backpacks plus a bag with their favorite toys.
She drags her suitcase behind her, and I carry my duffel bag plus her suitcase from our trip to Vegas.
I realize I haven’t been home and also haven’t touched base with Dolores, so I have no idea what to expect, but I trust that she took care of every last detail.
After all, she has grandkids the age of Penny’s kids.
She knows what they’ll need, but just as importantly, she knows what they’ll want to make this feel like home for them.
“How long are we sleeping over at Uncle Liam’s?” Sammy asks.
I chuckle at the title. I guess it makes sense since they call my sister Auntie Everleigh. Actually calling me uncle means he’s already got his familial relationships down, which seems pretty damn smart for a seven-year-old.
Penny glances at me. We’ve never discussed an end date.
“As long as you need,” I murmur.
“It’s open-ended for now, boys,” Penny says. “I’m not really sure. It’s nice and close to school, and Liam is leaving for San Diego soon, and he said we can stay there a while.”
“What’s open-ended mean?” Benji asks.
“It means I don’t have an exact date yet,” Penny tells him. We walk into the building and head for the elevators, and the boys look around the lobby with a bit of awe in their eyes.
It’s just home to me, so I guess I sort of forget that it’s actually pretty damn impressive with its crystal chandeliers and gold-plated details.
“Whoa,” they both breathe.
We walk to the elevator, and Sammy yells, “I call inside!”
I’m not sure what that means, but Benji huffs.
“I wanted inside!” Benji says, and I’m starting to think they fight over just about everything.
“Too bad. You get outside,” Sammy tells him.
“Inside?” I ask. “Outside?”
“The elevator buttons,” Penny clarifies.
Ah. Of course.
“If you fight over it, I get both,” I tell them.
Two little heads whip in my direction, both with jaws dropped, and Penny laughs.
“Going up, Sammy gets inside. Going down, Benji gets inside. Deal?” I ask.
“That’s a great idea, Liam,” Penny says.
I chuckle, but it’s the confidence boost I need.
I’ve never really dealt with kids before, and I have two wins in the last fifteen minutes.
I can’t fool myself into believing it’s some magical power or anything.
It’s clear they’re only listening to me because they don’t know me, and it won’t always be this easy. But I’ll take the W.
We head up to my place, and I open the door, allowing Penny to enter first, followed by the kids. I head up the rear, and I hear Penny’s gasp when she walks in and looks around.
My head whips up, and I see why she’s gasping.
Dolores went a tad overboard.
The entry is normal, and so is the staircase to my left. But the formal living room that’s open to the entryway has been transformed into the ultimate kids’ playroom.
A television always adorned the wall, but the console is new.
Now it’s an organized wall unit of cubbies presumably filled with toys, and beanbag chairs have been added to the décor.
A small climbing wall has been attached beside the television, and a small ninja-type course has been added in one of the corners.
There’s also a table that’s kid-sized and has brand-new boxes of Lego sets stacked on top, with one stack that’s appropriate for kids ages five-plus and the other appropriate for seven-plus.
In the center of the coffee table is a huge basket filled with snacks of all kinds, including bags of chips, popcorn, pretzels, and candy—with both types of Doritos and Nerds gummies, of course.
“Liam, oh my goodness! This is way too much!” Penny says.
Oops.
“This is awesome!” the boys yell at the same time.
Okay, so it’s another W from the kids.
“Let’s check out your room,” I suggest, a little nervous about what the hell Dolores might’ve done in there, too.
“Which room?” Penny asks, and I point down the hallway.
“First door on the right.”
The boys scramble down the hallway.
“Wait, which way is right?” Sammy asks, stopping in front of a door.
“That one,” I say, nodding where he’s standing, and he peeks in the room first.
And then he punches a fist into the air. “Yes!” he cheers.
Benji is right behind him. “Whoa!”
I pull a face at Penny, cringing a little.
“What did you do?” she demands.
“Sorry,” I whisper.
She moves toward the doorway and looks in, and then she turns back to me. “You made it so they’ll never want to leave,” she murmurs.
I tilt my head and lift a shoulder. “Is that such a bad thing?”
She narrows her eyes at me, and we both walk into the room.
Dolores apparently understood the assignment.
Two loft beds sit in my office now, one with a shark comforter and sheets and the other with dinosaurs.
Instead of desks beneath the beds, there are little play stations.
One station is a gaming zone with a small television hung under it and two kid-sized chairs pointed at it with a Nintendo Switch and several game options.
The other is a reading nook with bean bag chairs, a bookshelf, and cushions.
I can guess which will get more use. There are also curtains hung along the bottom of the loft so the boys can pull them down and feel like they’re in a fort.
In the center of the room is a huge car track rug, and there are bins already filled with toy cars and action figures.
All in all, Dolores killed it.
“Mom, can we, can we, can we?” Sammy shouts as he picks up one of the Switch remotes.
“Go for it, boys,” she says. She looks at me and lowers her voice. “You’re spoiling my boys.”
“And you,” I say, already knowing without even looking that Dolores somehow transformed the guest room for Penny. “They’re going through a hard time, too. Might as well give them some joy. Shall we take a look at your room?”
She raises a brow. The boys can’t hear us over their heated discussion for which game they should play first, but she keeps her voice low and just for me anyway. “I’m not staying with you?”
I chuckle, knowing she’s just joking around. “Any weekend they’re at your ex’s.”
Her lips tip up. “Looking forward to it.”
So am I.
We walk to the room next door, and I peek in before she does.
Jesus, Dolores is getting a raise.
The bed is made with luxury hotel comfort, from the extra pillows to the soft blankets to the plush towels folded in a little basket toward the foot of the bed.
Fresh flowers sit on the bedside table along with a small selection of books, and a new recliner rocking chair is in the corner with a table beside it that has an assortment of candles on it with another blanket draped over the chair.
It even smells good in here. A soft, sweet scent. Vanilla, maybe. The whole room gives off a relaxing, indulgent, sexy vibe. It very nearly makes me want to take this room and give her mine, but I’m guessing the boys will want her close.