Page 55 of Act of Brotherhood
“Neat. Do you have a sword?” asked the boy.
“All Vikings have swords,” returned the little girl with an exasperated sigh. “Boys. Really. Who doesn’t know that all Vikings have swords?”
Garth gave her a sideways look. “You’re a very smart three-year-old.”
She put her hands on her hips and gave him a hard look. “I’m four.”
“Noted,” said Garth with a nod.
She stopped glaring at him.
Nicolette clapped her hands. “Children, take your seats, please.”
They did, but not before grabbing Garth and dragging him in the direction of a table. There was no way he was going to fit in one of those chairs. He didn’t even bother to try. Instead, he stood there as the children began to eat their cupcakes.
Some ate happily. Others made funny faces to indicate they weren’t so sure about what they were eating, and a few outright stopped chewing and spit the cupcakes out. The boy nearest Garth turned around, a desperate look on his little face, his cheeks puffed.
Garth bent and put his hand out, permitting the boy to spit the chewed cupcake into his hand. He nodded to the boy. “I understand, and don’t blame you in the least. Want to go rinse your mouth out with water now?”
The boy nodded.
“Off with you, then,” he said, standing to find Nicolette watching him.
Garth tried to hide the chewed cupcake from her line of sight but since it was in his hand, that didn’t exactly go as planned, either. He blushed. “You can’t blame the boy. They’re not exactly cupcakes.”
She laughed. “That’s two days in a row you’ve gotten cupcake all over you.”
He winked, and then headed for the lower-than-normal sink. He had to bend to wash his hands.
Nicolette pulled fruit from a small refrigerator in the room and the children all picked at it, laughing and singing more songs.
Garth found himself leaning partially against the low counter, putting his feet out, crossing one leg over the other, and watching the festivities. The longer it went on, the more he thought about possibly having his own children.
His sights set on Nicolette.
She’d make an amazing mother and mate.
He pulled his cell out and texted James back, wanting to know how long the drugs he’d been given would remain in his system. It felt like forever before James responded. The answer surprised Garth.
Apparently, the drugs should have already been out of his system, with the low dose he’d been given.
Strange.
They didn’t feel like they were out of his system.
Chapter Fourteen
Nicolette heldher cup of mint chocolate chip ice cream and sat on the bench in the park, watching as Garth spoke on the phone with someone from work. The sun was setting behind him, casting him in the perfect light. She adjusted her crossover bag, propping the weighted portion on the bench next to her while the strap was still over her left shoulder.
When she’d found out Garth’s friend was doing much better, she’d been thrilled for him and had expected him to leave. He hadn’t. He’d stuck around the school for the first half of the day, and then he’d gone to lunch with Cody. The two men had resurfaced at the end of her work day, seeming to have set aside whatever tensions had been between them earlier. Garth had been surprised that children as young as three and four went to school at all, let alone for full days. It was adorable and made her wonder where he’d grown up.
She took another bite of ice cream, still unable to believe she’d collided with the perfect man. A man whom a close friend of hers trusted and knew fully. A man who had let a four-year-old spit chewed cupcake into his hand without so much as blinking.
Butterflies fluttered low in her abdomen as she looked at Garth, pacing as he spoke, moving in and out of English and French. Whoever he was speaking to was someone he really didn’t like. Already he’d called the other guy every choice name in the book as he demanded to speak to someone named James. He’d also told the man to dropdeadermore than once.
Garth ran a hand into the back of his hair as he faced the other direction, looking agitated. The muscles in his arm flexed and the quickening in her lower stomach returned. It was as if her girl parts were very aware of the perfect specimen of male in the vicinity.
He hung up and put his phone in his pocket before turning to face her. A slight breeze caught his long hair, blowing it forward a touch. He covered the distance to her in several powerful strides, basically leaking maleness all along the way.
