Harlequin Special Edition April 2015 - Box Set 1 of 2: The Taming of Delaney Fortune\Meant-to-Be Mom\His Secret Son by Michelle Major

Author:Michelle Major
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Harlequin Presents
Publisher: Harlequin

Chapter Eight

By the time they’d determined the church kitchen wasn’t in egregious violation of any health department code, everyone was starving. But when Brooke pleaded with Sabrina to join them at the local burger joint where they used to hang out in high school—and which still made the best burgers in Jersey, far as Cole was concerned—she’d begged off, insisting she was so tired after the long day she wasn’t even hungry.

A big fat lie if ever he’d heard one. But probably just as well, since between his girl-child’s glomming on to the woman and his son’s obvious distrust—not to mention Cole’s own conflicted feelings—spending more time together probably wasn’t in any of their best interests.

That look she’d given him, back at the church...

Yeah. Meaning he guessed he wasn’t the only conflicted one. Also, that all that unresolved crap was apparently going to remain unresolved, because that was life. His, hers, everybody’s.

Even so, he thought as he knocked on his old bedroom door, interrupting Wes’s Xbox gaming spree, he couldn’t deny how good it felt to see Brooke smiling, to hear her laugh. Even if the reason for those smiles, that laughter, was only a jump-start. Not a permanent solution.

Hence the rampant ambivalence.

“Yeah?” Wes said, not taking his eyes off the small TV screen, assorted comatose pugs sprawled around him.

“Your hour’s up, kid. Time to wind down and get ready for bed, anyway.”

“Dad. I’m not a little kid. And it’s summer—”

“And I’m not raising a vampire. Eleven is plenty late for a thirteen-year-old.”

Clearly disgusted, Wes stabbed at the controller’s buttons to exit the game, then tossed it on the floor, jerking awake the nearest dog. “I don’t get it,” he said as the dog stiffly rose, came over for reassurance. “Nana said you used to play Mario Brothers all the time when you were my age—”

“Not all the time, but far more than was good for me. Because I had no clue how to interact with actual human beings. Meaning my real life sucked. Not letting that happen to you.”

Brandishing his best grump face, the kid slouched down in Cole’s old beanbag chair—because his mother threw out nothing—his arms clamped across his chest. Yawning, the dog lay down again, immediately passing out once more. “Sounds like it didn’t suck that much.”

“Because I basically had no supervision whatsoever?”

“Well...yeah. You could do whatever you wanted, right? And anyway, if you hadn’t played games so much, you probably wouldn’t have been able to make up your own.”

And the problem with having smart kids was...

“Maybe. But if I’d known then what I do now, I would’ve said the trade-off wasn’t worth it. It’s about balance, you know? The all-or-nothing approach rarely works out well, in the end.”

“So why’d they let you do it?”

Feeling both out of his depth and grateful for being forced to learn how to swim, Cole sat on the edge of his old bed—complete with the same navy blue comforter—leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. “I think because they were both raised with too many rules.

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