Page 56 of The Troublemaker

One thing is for certain, even though we set the rules, over the last week, I became invested in her, in more ways than one. She’s everything and then some and I think the longer we’re together, the better and better I get at expressing myself. The opposite of every other girl I’ve been with and if that doesn’t tell me something, nothing will.

“Pizza, pizza, pizza,” the kids all chant and they pound their hands on the large picnic table. Well, everyone except Casey who is too busy drinking a sugary soda, something Nina doesn’t normally let him have. But I’m guessing she’s getting him all hyped up for me tonight. I’m on to her scheme, but I don’t care. I’m looking forward to hanging with the boys, and Kinsley seems on board, too, which means I plan to let them stay up late and sleep in.

I glance at Daisy, who gives Kinsley a huge smile as Kins slides a flatbread onto her plate. Kinsley compliments Daisy on her bright pink hair, and the child beams in response. I love how Daisy wants to emulate her. Kinsley is a good role model. She’s definitely going to be a great mother, once she moves beyond past hurts and opens herself up to love again.

Love?

Yeah, man. Love. That’s exactly what I feel for this woman and pray to fucking God, she starts to feel that way about me. I’ll do whatever it takes to gain her trust, show her that I’m not going to run away, because she’s making her own choices, even if they don’t mesh with my agenda. Compromise is what relationships are about, right? Alyssa and Alek did long-term in order to make it work.

“What are you grinning about, asshole?” Cole says as he hands me a beer.

“All your bug bites,” I tell him and tip the bottle to my mouth. He shoves me and I nearly choke as I swallow. But maybe I deserve to be shoved. I did take my time getting back to the lake.

“Dude, you left us hanging. What kind of a team player are you?”

I give a casual shrug and dangle the bottle between my legs. “I had some things that needed taken care of. I told you that.”

“Glad it only took five minutes.” He smirks at

me and I make a mental note to kill my sister. “Otherwise we would have been eaten alive.”

“Fuck,” I mumble and glance at Nina who is grinning at me. I point to her in warning and she just saunters off to help Kinsley put the food in front of all the hungry kids.

“She fits right in,” Cole says as he drops into a fold out chair beside me.

“Uh huh,” I say as the warm summer breeze blowing in off the water rustles Kinsley’s hair, and flutters around the T-shirt I plan to remove from her body later.

Cole waves his hand in front of my face and I whack it away. “Think I should be worried about losing my car?”

“Uh huh.”

“What’s this about losing your car?” Liam asks, coming up to us. He scratches his balls. “Oh, right. I remember.” He points to Cole. “Your car,” he stops to point to me. “Or you don’t get laid for six months.”

I glare at him. “Shut up, Liam. How the fuck does he know?” I ask Cole. Shit, if anyone else got wind of this, I can’t imagine Kinsley would like it much. Or at all.

“He overheard on the phone the other night. He won’t say anything. Right, Liam?”

Liam opens his mouth like he’s about to say more, but someone on the beach, who happens to be in a tiny bikini, catches his attention, and he says, “Be right back.”

“You like her, huh?” Cole says when we’re alone.

“Uh huh.”

“Enough to stick around for a whole month.”

I slowly turn to him and grin as I hold my hand out, palm up. “Get ready to hand the keys over my friend.”

“What happens after the month is over, when you’ve helped her out and she no longer needs you?” he asks.

My entire body stiffens, and the air in my lungs goes cold. Is that what’s going to happen? When she no longer needs me, she’s going to walk away? I can’t let that happen. “Working on it.”

He leans into me, his face serious. “Don’t fuck this up.”

His words hit like a slap and slam around my brain. Wait. Why wouldn’t he want me to fuck it up? His car is on the line. He needs me to fuck it up. “I won’t,” I say adamantly, although there is a measure of unease racing through my veins.

“We’ll see.”

“I won’t,” I say again.

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