10. Rory

10

Rory

R ory kissed the top of her head and said, “I didn’t know it would be your first time.”

“Surprise,” she said.

“You have no idea how hot you are. How amazing. I’ve been attracted to you from the first time I laid eyes on you,” he said.

He loved the feeling of her back pressed against his chest. She wiggled her ass against him.

“Unless you are up for a second go-round, I suggest you stop that,” he said.

“I would be, but I think that I need to adjust. I didn’t know they made those things that big.”

“Surprise,” he said back to her.

She giggled.

“I wouldn’t have if I had known,” he said.

“I wanted to. I’ve been fantasizing about you since the first time I saw you naked.”

“You have, huh? You’ll have to tell me about these fantasies,” he said.

“We had a great start tonight.” She giggled.

“I aim to please,” Rory said.

“Boy howdy, you did that,” Savvy said. “It was better than I ever thought it would be.”

“Sex in general or sex with me?”

“All of the above.”

“Good. I’m glad that your first time was an enjoyable experience. I have to say that you felt really good, and it was the best I’ve ever had.”

She grinned and said, “I’ve always read that experienced men hate having sex with virgins. They don’t know what to do and there is always that awkwardness afterward.”

“You did great for a first-timer,” he teased. “What do you mean experienced? Are you calling me a dog? Just because I’m a biker doesn’t mean I spread my favors around.”

“Well, you’ve done the deed at least twice, and I’m guessing you aren’t a monk. And you are a wolf.”

He laughed.

“What are you going to do about the rug?” she asked.

“I’ll go outside and get some dirt to rub into it. It’ll be dirty so she’ll wash it.”

“That’s underhanded.”

“Do you want me to tell her the truth?”

“Are you getting the dirt, or should I?” Savvy asked.

Rory laughed. “I’ll take care of it.”

“I guess I’m going to head upstairs for a shower and bed. I have children to chase around tomorrow.”

Rory got the dirt for the rug and then went upstairs for a shower.

“What in the hell did you just do?” he asked himself as the hot water rained down on him. “You just fucked the nanny and took her virginity.”

The voice in the back of his head reminded him that she was a willing participant and that she was an adult.

“She is my nanny. My employee. She takes care of my children.”

Rory had to admit that there was something about her that pulled him to her. Even after a long, hot shower, he could smell her scent. It flooded through him, tantalizing him. She haunted him. He willed himself to go to sleep, forcefully pushing her out of his mind.

The next morning the kids were wide awake and full of energy by the time he made it down for coffee.

“Can we go for a run this morning?” Cat asked.

“Yeah. Cat and I are going to beat you in a race.”

“Sure,” he said. “I don’t have any appointments this morning.”

“Yay,” Drake shouted.

“Woohoo,” Cat yelled.

Rosa shook her head and laughed as the kids started undressing. “How many times have I told you that we don’t get naked in the kitchen?”

“In the shifter world, people stay naked in all the rooms,” Cat said solemnly.

“I’m sure that’s true, but we aren’t in the shifter world, and the kitchen is my domain.”

The kids realized that they were beaten so they ran outside and undressed. They folded their clothes and put them in a plastic sack just like he taught them. While their clothes were safe at the house, it was a good idea to get in the practice of taking care of their clothes so they would know what to do when they shifted and ran somewhere else.

He grinned when he noticed that Savvy wasn’t outside with them when he undressed. Rory wasn’t sure whether she was shy or had her fill of him the night before. He’d been glad to see that there wasn’t any awkwardness this morning. She acted just like she always did.

Drake and Cat ran hard for about half an hour until they finally started to run out of steam. They had several races. Cat wasn’t happy when she discovered they were instantly matched. She was the older sibling, so she should have won.

On the way back, Drake and Cat told him about Helen Keller, and how she couldn’t hear or see but became someone famous.

“Helen was always mad when she was little because she couldn’t understand the world around her,” Cat said.

“Her teacher taught her to understand words when she got Helen’s hand wet and taught her how to say it in sign language,” Drake told him.

“After that, she didn’t stop learning,” Cat said. “Just like us.”

“It sounds like you are learning a lot,” Rory said.

“We are. She makes us do science, math, reading, and social studies every day,” Drake said.

“She also has us doing art. We play a lot,” Cat added. “She’s so much fun. I love her.”

“So do I,” Drake declared.

“I’m really glad,” Rory said. “She is a great person, and I like her, too.”

A little too much. Maybe I need to stop hanging out with her so much. I could send her to her room when I want to hang out with the kids.

He knew that the kids would protest and that Savvy didn’t deserve that. I’m just going to have to man up and keep my hands off of her.

After dropping the kids off and getting redressed, he headed to the office. Rory was focused on a file and developing his defense strategy when his cell phone rang. He didn’t recognize the number, but answered it, figuring it might be a client or someone else he needed to talk to.

“This is Rory Garner, Attorney at Law.”

“Rory, this is Eva.”

There was dead silence.

“Are you there?”

“Yes. Why are you calling? I haven’t heard from you in four years.”

“I know and I’m very sorry. I’m leaving the soap opera. I’ve got a contract to do a sitcom that will air in the evenings.”

“Congratulations.”

“I’ve been thinking a lot about you and the kids lately. I miss you guys, so much.”

“You don’t even know who we are. Cat was two and Drake was one when you left. They’ve grown so much.”

“I know. I’m so sorry that I missed out on all of that,” she said. “I was wondering if we could meet for lunch.”

“No.”

She sighed heavily. “Okay. I understand. I hope that I get to see you soon. Take care of yourself, Rory, and give the kids a hug from me.” She hung up the phone before Rory could reply.

Not likely. I’m not even going to mention you to the kids.

Rory ran his hand over his face and through his hair. Her calling him out of the blue like that could only mean trouble. He was certain that no court in the country would give her custody of the kids, although they might work out visitation. He wouldn’t have a problem with that, except that he was afraid that she would come back into the kids’ lives for a while and then leave when she got bored again. There was no way in the world that she would stick around. Angel’s Creek was way too slow and tame for her. That was the reason why she had left to begin with.

He looked at the file he was working on and closed his computer. There was no way in the world that he was going to get anything done.

Rory grabbed his phone and called Sebastian. “What are you doing?”

“Paperwork,” Sebastian said.

“How about a beer at Howlers ’? I’ll buy.”

“Can’t pass that up,” Sebastian said.

Rory changed into his jeans and t-shirt that he always kept handy at the office and headed to the bar.

“What’s up, Brother? It’s not like you to play hooky from work,” Sebastian said.

“Eva called.”

“Really? What did she want?”

“My guess is that she’s going to try to find a way back into our lives. She told me that she wasn’t going to do the soap opera anymore. Instead, she is going to do a sitcom that will air in the evenings.”

“Yay for her,” Sebastian said sarcastically.

“She said that she had been thinking about us a lot lately and missed us.”

“She doesn’t even know you or the kids anymore.”

“That’s what I told her. Then, she asked if we could go to lunch. I just said ‘No’ without an explanation or excuse.”

“What did she say to that?”

“That she hoped to see me soon and to give the kids a hug for her.”

“Wow. She has some balls, I gotta give her that.”

“She wasn’t much of a mother before she left to go on that reality show and then soap opera. Eva never wanted to stay home and be with the kids. Shopping and partying were much more entertaining. She’d go to Albuquerque, Santa Fe, or some other place to go shopping or to the clubs, or she would hit a casino. Hell, Savvy’s spent more time with the kids since I hired her than Eva ever did during the first year of Drake’s life.”

“Do you think that she’s going to try something stupid, like get custody of the kids?”

“She might, but the most she’ll get is visitation. I’ll do my best to limit that, at least until she can prove that she isn’t going to just run off and destroy the kids’ lives.”

“Do they even know who she is?”

“No. She didn’t want to be a part of their lives. What could I do? Show them who she is on television and then explain that she would rather be on television than be in their lives? When they ask about her, I just tell them that she loves them, but has a job that takes her far away. They usually don’t, though, and haven’t in a long time.”

“I guess Savvy is doing a good job playing the role for them.”

“She is. She’s incredible.”

Sebastian looked at Rory and said, “You had sex with her.”

“Yeah.”

“What in the hell were you thinking?”

“I wasn’t. It just happened. It turned out that she was a virgin.”

“Oh, hell,” Sebastian said.

“I’ve already yelled at myself. It’s not going to happen again.”

If only I believed me.