Spring Secrets: Pine Point, Book 3 (10 page)

Chapter Nineteen

The week passed without incident, mostly because Al Halloran didn’t step foot inside Springer Fitness. The one time Mike did see him, Al was driving a rundown white truck and heading south toward Albany.

Good. Maybe he’ll keep driving that way and never come back.

He saw Sienna briefly when she came in Wednesday night to work on the Nautilus machines and Thursday night to take the kickboxing class, and each time a dopey grin spread over his face before he could stop it. Each time though, she gave him a wide smile but nothing else. Didn’t slow down at the desk, didn’t stop to chat, nothing. Of course, he supposed he couldn’t blame her. He’d sent her about a dozen mixed messages in the last couple of weeks. Sure, let’s go out. Yes, I’ll kiss you until neither of us can breathe normally. Nope, changed my mind. Let’s just be friends. Oh, hey, would you like to go to a Saturday night fundraiser with me? No, not as my date. Just as…

Jesus, I’m like a goddamn indecisive, hormonal teenage girl.

Finally Friday rolled around. By eight he was at the gym, by noon he’d finished a workout and all his paperwork, and just before two, he pulled on his coat and hat. “I’ll be back by four,” he told Hans. The kid nodded, eyes fastened to his phone.

“Hey.” Mike stopped and rapped his knuckles on the desk. “I’m not paying you to text your girlfriend. Put it away.”

Hans looked up with a hurt expression. “Sorry, boss.”

“Listen, I know how it is when you first meet someone,” Mike said, softening. “But you can play a little hard to get too.” Was that what he’d been doing with Sienna? It seemed so stupid now.

Hans grinned and put his phone into his pocket. “Tell Sienna I said hi.”

“How’d you know?”

“’Cause you got that happy look on your face you only get when she comes in here.”

Mike flipped him the bird and walked out into a brilliant day, complete with sunshine and blue skies.

“Back again?” Eva Hadley asked when he walked into the school a few minutes later.

“Yep.” He scrawled his name on the visitors’ log and made his way down the hall. Most of the doors were closed, including Sienna’s. He took a moment to peek inside. She sat on the rocker with the Turner kid on her lap and the other three boys sitting on the rug in front of her. Hell, she looked at ease in that classroom. More than he would have guessed.

He knocked.

“Mr. Mike!” One of the twins jumped up and ran over to let him in. “You came to read-along.”

“Yes, I did.” He glanced at Sienna. She’d dropped the book to her lap and was marking her place with one finger. Her cheeks darkened. He hoped that meant she was happy to see him. She wore her dark hair down and loose, with a pink sweater and black jeans hugging her curves. Silver earrings dangled from her ears.

“We’re glad you’re here,” she said. She motioned to the corner behind him, and when he turned he saw the silent little girl sitting in a beanbag chair.

The boy tugged at his hand. “Come over and sit with us.”

“Ah, okay.” He took off his jacket and looked around.

“You can hang it over there,” said Caleb. He pointed at some hooks on the wall below the window.

Mike hung up his jacket and then joined the boys on the rug. Shit. He hadn’t sat cross-legged in a long time. His knees and legs didn’t work the way they had twenty years ago. He hoped he’d be able to get up later. He glanced at the girl again. She stared at him. He smiled, and she ducked her chin.
Oh, well.
He fastened his gaze on Sienna instead and listened to her read about a raccoon family that lived in the forest.

Hope there isn’t a quiz on this
, he thought absently, because his mind wandered after a few seconds. All he could focus on was the movement of Sienna’s lips. He wanted to taste them. He wanted her tongue inside his mouth and her hands sliding down his back.

Mike shifted position on the rug. Getting an erection in an elementary school classroom was a sure way to get him thrown right back in jail. With effort, he returned his attention to the story.

“When one day, Mother Raccoon came home to find that Rocky had disappeared.” Sienna raised her eyebrows and made a big O with her mouth. “What do you think happened to him?” she asked.

One of the twins shot up his hand.

“Yes, Billy? And thank you for raising your hand.”

Billy beamed. “I think Rocky went to play with his friends even though his mother told him not to.”

Sienna turned the page but kept the illustration hidden. “Should we find out?”

They all nodded. Sienna pointed to Billy’s twin. “Bailey, it’s your turn to read.”

Mike’s mind went into a tailspin again. Her fingers in his hair. Unzipping his jeans. Working their way down his bare abdomen until they reached—

Think about lost raccoons.

He forced himself to listen to Bailey read the next page in halting rhythm. It took the kid almost ten minutes to get through twenty words, but when he finished, Sienna gave him a high five.

“Good job! And you were right, Billy. Rocky went off to play with his friends without asking permission.” She swept the room with a serious gaze. “Should you ever go off to play without asking permission from an adult? Do you think that’s a smart thing to do?”

“No,” they crowed in unison. Mike looked again at the girl. She hadn’t spoken a word, but she looked rapt at the storytelling. This time when their eyes met, she didn’t look away or duck her chin.

Sienna finished the last page and closed the book. “I think we have time for one more today,” she said. “Who wants to choose?”

“I think Mr. Mike should choose,” Caleb said.

Sienna smiled. “Oh, really?”

“Yes, yes,” the other boys agreed. Even the Turner boy nodded and clapped his hands.

Sienna pointed at the bookcase. “It’s all yours.”

Well, shit. How had this happened? “Thought I’d just drop by and watch,” he mumbled as he creaked to his feet. That extra set of squats and lunges was killing him right about now.

“Nope, we like to put visitors right to work,” she said.

He ran his finger along the spines of the books. Many were so worn he could barely read the titles. A few looked brand new. Finally, he came to a title he recognized.
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel.
“Aw, man,” he said aloud. “My mom used to read me this one all the time.” He wondered where his own dog-eared copy had ended up.

Sienna stood and patted the rocker. “It’s all yours.”

He arched a brow. “Thanks.”

“My pleasure.” Laughter touched her light brown eyes, and an unfamiliar feeling turned over inside Mike’s chest. Not pure desire, but something else, something deeper.

He sat, opened the book, and read the opening lines. His voice sounded rough to his own ears. When had he read a kid’s book aloud? Never. He glanced at his audience, who waited expectantly. Caleb folded his hands under his chin like he was listening to the president of the United States speak.
If these kids really knew my past…

He forced the thoughts away. Blood crawled up Mike’s cheeks, and his tongue felt thick inside his mouth.
C’mon, Springer, get it together.
He glued his eyes to the pages and kept them there. The minutes seemed interminably long, but somehow he reached the end of the book. His back and hands were damp with sweat.

“Is that your favorite book because your name is Mike too?” Caleb asked.

“Well, I think that’s part of it.”

Sienna stood. “That was wonderful, wasn’t it?” She looked at the clock. “I’m not sure we have any more—” She stopped. Mike followed her gaze to the back of the room.

Dawn had gotten out of her beanbag chair and walked to the bookcase. She scanned the books with a furrowed brow and then pulled one off the bottom shelf. Carrying it in both hands like it was a serving platter, she walked over to Mike and held it out.

He didn’t speak. Neither did she.
Am I supposed to read this one too?
He wasn’t sure his nerves could handle it. But the girl was studying him with blue eyes so serious he didn’t dare say no. “Ah, thank you,” he said as he took the book. She scuttled back to her corner, but not before something that looked like a smile passed across her face.

“I can’t believe it,” Sienna said a few minutes later, when he’d finished reading. The room was filled with the chatter of voices and the sound of bags being packed up to take home. “Dawn’s never done that. And I mean never. She barely interacts with me most days. I’ve never seen her come up to a stranger.” She pushed her hair off her face, and Mike was about to take the one strand she’d missed and tuck it behind her ear when Caleb’s thin voice piped up behind them.

“Miss Cruz! It’s time for us to walk out to the buses.”

“Ah, yes, so it is.” She lowered her voice. “Can you wait around a few minutes? Or do you have to get back to work?”

“I can wait around.” He stuffed his hands inside his pockets and tried to make it seem as though he was taking in the sights of the room as she shuffled the students out the door. But as soon as she was gone, he collapsed back in the rocker.
Teaching sure is one hell of a tough job.
He could understand why Sienna didn’t want to do it long-term, even though she seemed good at it.

He rocked back and forth and wondered if she’d found what she was looking for when it came to her research. Small towns and personalities, something like that. Hell, she’d have a shit show to write about if she ever found out about Al and the things he and Mike had done together out west. He cracked his knuckles.
Have to make sure that never happens.

Less than ten minutes later, she returned, cheeks pink and hair tousled from the winter wind.

“Still cold out there?”

She laughed. “Isn’t it always?”

He stood. “I should go. I mean, since read-along time is officially over and all.”

“You did a really good job.” She crossed to her desk and straightened some papers.

“I thought I was going to pass out,” he confessed.

She looked up in surprise. “Why?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever read a book out loud in my life.” He spread his arms wide. “I’m not exactly the intellectual type, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

“Hmm.” She put one finger to her cheek and walked over to him.

Her proximity, her perfume, the way she fastened her eyes on his, sent his thoughts and hormones spinning.

“So what type are you?” she asked. One hand dropped inside his, as if to shake it. “The friend type?”

He cleared his throat, and she tightened her hand in his.

“Or the maybe-something-more-but-I’m-not-sure-how-to-say-it type?” She slipped her other hand to his waist, and before he knew it, one finger had teased its way inside the top of his jeans. “I know what you said before. I know what I agreed to. Friends only. And if you want, we’ll keep it just like that.”

He swallowed. If she moved her hand an inch or two lower, she’d know his answer.

“But I kind of think there’s more going on here,” she said. She took another step closer to him. “I like you. A lot.”

At that, he bent and kissed her. He tugged the hair at the back of her neck, took that soft pink mouth he’d been staring at for the last hour and tasted it. His hands went to the small of her back, and he pulled her close and nestled himself against her. “I like you too,” he whispered, “in case you couldn’t tell.”

She slipped her hands to his ass and began to rock against him in infinitely small motions as she kissed him again. Her tongue trailed from his mouth to his jawline to his ear and back again. Still she moved, making him harder with every passing moment, until finally, he pulled away.

“You’re gonna make me come like a goddamn teenager,” he said. He swiped a hand over his forehead.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…” Her gaze moved down his body. “I get a little carried away around you, Mike Springer.”

He smiled, and pleasure lit every last inch of him. “Can you hold that thought until tomorrow night?”

She reached out and traced the bulge in his jeans. “As long as we can pick this up where we left off.”

Chapter Twenty

Sienna changed her clothes three times on Saturday. At ten minutes to six, she was standing in her bathroom, bra and panties only, when her phone buzzed with a text.

“I’m outside. I know I’m early. Can I come up?”

Sienna fumbled with the phone and dropped it on the floor, where it slid under the vanity. “Oh, for God’s sake…” She dropped to her hands and knees to fetch it.

“I’ll meet you downstairs,”
she finally texted back a few moments later.
“Not quite ready.”

“I could help you with that,”
came Mike’s response, followed by a winky face.

Oh, boy could he. Wicked thoughts whirled through Sienna’s mind, all of them involving skin and tongue and her bedroom. She ran her thumb over the keyboard. Would it be the worst idea in the world to skip the fundraiser?

Mike texted again before she could answer, settling the debate between her head and her hormones.
“I’ll go fill up the truck with gas. Be back in ten minutes.”

Sienna sighed and set her phone aside. Better this way. They still had this tenuous, maybe-we-should-just-be-friends thing going on. Jumping him ten minutes into their date might be a little presumptuous, despite yesterday’s scorching-hot kiss.

Nine minutes later, she pulled on her winter coat and locked her door behind her. She’d gone back to her first outfit of the afternoon—black velvet jeans and a maroon sweater with a deep vee-neck. A long silver chain hung around her neck and matched the earrings that dangled to her shoulders. High-heeled black boots and a winter-white scarf and gloves completed the outfit. She’d never been to an animal shelter fundraiser before and hoped she wouldn’t look entirely out of place.

The look in Mike’s eyes when he jumped out of his truck to help her into the passenger side told her she’d chosen right. “Hi,” he said. “You look great.”

“Thanks. So do you.” He wore a leather jacket, khaki pants, and what looked like a dark-blue button-down shirt and black tie underneath.

“One step up from gym attire, huh?” he asked as he climbed back in the driver’s side.

“I’d say two or three steps up.” She leaned ever so slightly toward him in case he wanted to kiss her, but he kept his eyes on the road as he pulled onto Main Street. Sienna pulled off her gloves instead and watched the shadows slide by outside. “Where is this place again?”

“Silver Valley. Villa Venezia. It’s only a couple years old. Very fancy.” They started to climb the long hill that would take them up and into Silver Valley.

“I think I saw your mom in Zeb’s the other night,” Sienna said.

“Probably. She goes there every chance she gets.” He glanced over. “She says she remembers you from when you were a kid. She worked with your mom.”

“Does she?” Sienna’s voice grew husky. “She came to the hospital the day my mom died. I think she might have come there
with
my mom.”

“That sounds right. She never told me much about it.”

“She got me a soda from the machine in the waiting room. And she was there when Doc Halloran told me—” Sienna stopped. “Anyway, tell her thank you. I don’t know if I ever did.” She stared at the shadowy hills outside the truck.

“She was pretty young, right? Your mom?”

“Thirty-three. Way too young to have a heart attack.” Even if she had been working fourteen-hour days. “She wasn’t overweight. We didn’t eat steak and eggs every night for dinner.”
Some nights, we didn’t eat much.

Mike flipped on the high beams as two deer scampered along the shoulder. “There’s no heart disease in your family?”

“Not that I know of. She never mentioned it. She was never sick either, not that I can remember. The only thing was that she started having back pain from working so much. Doc Halloran put her on meds, but she hated them. She didn’t even like taking aspirin.”

He reached over and squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry.”

Me too
, she wanted to say. Sorry she’d missed out on knowing her mother as an adult, on having a confidant through the lonely years of high school and college. “Thank you.”

“What about the rest of your family? They all live in North Carolina?”

Sienna continued to stare into the darkness. Without a single streetlight or star above, the landscape outside resembled humpbacked ogres, dark lumps of hillside that rose into the air around them and swallowed the truck. “If you can call it family. It’s not much of one, to be honest. My father’s down there, yes, but we aren’t that close. I have a half brother I met a couple of times. He lives in Texas with his wife.”

Silence filled the truck, the only sound the crunch of snow under the tires. They crested the hill and began the long descent into Silver Valley. In the distance, Sienna could see the glimmer of lights, a pale blanket spread over the dark land. “What about your dad?” she asked. “Is he in the picture?”

Mike gave a wry chuckle. “Nope. He knocked up my mom and took off before I was born. Nice guy, huh?”

“So your mom did the single-mother thing too.”

“She did her best. I wasn’t an angel of a kid.”

“Who is? We all do the best we can, right?”

“Right.” He turned up the radio as a hard-rock song came on. The lights of Silver Valley spread out like a quilt in front of them. “Now what do you say we forget about everything else except having a good time tonight?”

“I say that sounds perfect.”

* * * * *

Mike hadn’t stopped thinking about their kiss in the classroom. Now, with Sienna beside him looking drop-dead gorgeous and smelling like something he wanted to eat in slow, deliberate bites, all he could think about was continuing that kiss. Later. In her apartment. And letting that kiss lead to something else. As they walked into Villa Venezia, he touched the small of her back.

“Wow. This place looks awesome.” Sienna looked around the ballroom. Long tables lined two of the walls, and auction prizes covered them, fancy wrapped gift baskets and over-sized gift certificates mounted in frames.
Pet Me! Love Me! Take Me Home!
appeared everywhere Mike looked, which did nothing to ease the ache in his groin.
Have to tell Becca to choose a motto with less innuendo next year.

“Hey, man, thanks for coming.” Zane materialized from a group of men near the bar and shook Mike’s hand. “Sienna, you’re looking gorgeous as always.”

“Thanks. You’re not so bad yourself.”

Zane tugged at his tie. “These things always choke me.”

“I know how you feel,” Mike agreed. “Want a drink?” he said into Sienna’s ear.

“Sure. White wine would be perfect.”

He followed Zane to the bar and watched as Sienna walked along the tables of prizes. She took her time, touching a few and smiling as she read the names of the donors. He wondered what she thought of all this. With the upscale decor, open bar, and band warming up in the corner, it was fancy by Pine Point terms, but he didn’t know what kind of life Sienna lived down South. Maybe she attended things like this all the time. She’d scrapped her way through high school, that was for damn sure, but the way she carried herself now, she looked like someone who was used to the best. Educated. Intelligent. Classier than most women he knew, let alone dated.

Mike’s hand jerked as the bartender slid over a glass of wine and a beer. What the hell did he have to offer her?

“So how’s that friends-only thing working out?” Zane asked.

Mike gave him a lopsided grin and shrugged.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. You’re both consenting adults. ‘Long as you both know you’re not heading down the aisle, what’s the harm in having a little fun?”

Sienna looked over at him and smiled, and Mike’s thoughts turned X-rated. She was classy, yes. Out of his league, probably. But she’d come here with him tonight, and that counted for something, right? He wasn’t looking for a serious girlfriend. She wasn’t looking for a serious boyfriend. “No harm at all.”

Becca walked over and slipped her arm through Zane’s. She looked like a little girl dressed up for her first ball, in heels that wobbled and a tight black dress. “Thanks for coming tonight, Mike. And thanks for the donation.”

“No problem. Good luck. Hope you make lots of money.” He took his beer and Sienna’s wine and was about to walk away. Then he remembered and turned back. “Hey, those stray cats over on Park Place Run—are you feeding them?”

Alarm creased her face. “I didn’t know about them. They’re strays? You’re sure? You’ve seen them?”

“A couple, yeah. They didn’t look like they belonged to anybody. But someone put out shelters and food for ’em. Thought it was you.”

“It wasn’t. But thanks. I’ll check it out first thing tomorrow.”

“Maybe not first thing,” Zane said and nuzzled her ear. Becca turned red.

“Get a room, you two,” Mike muttered as he turned away.

Sienna offered him some appetizers from the plate in front of her. “Becca’s done a great job. The shelter should make a lot of money tonight.”

“Hope so.”

The band started playing a fast rock tune, and Sienna jumped up. “Want to dance?”

“Ah, no. Sorry. I’m not the dancing type.”

She rolled her eyes and tugged at his shirt sleeve. “Come on.”

He grumbled but followed her to the dance floor. “I usually look like an idiot when I try this.”

She began to move, all sinewy hips and arms and legs that sent his mind straight back to the bedroom. “Then you haven’t had the right partner.”

“Isn’t that the truth.” Hard, angry memories of Edie rushed in like waves. They’d never danced together. Drank, gotten high, gone skinny dipping, stolen from a 7-Eleven, gotten married on a whim out in Vegas, yes. But they’d never done this. He focused on Sienna, who worked her way closer to him, until her hands skimmed his hips every so often and he could smell her perfume.

Before he knew it, his feet began to move. His hips followed, not with any great style, but at least he wasn’t standing like a statue in the middle of the dance floor. Enough people had joined them by now, and the lights had dimmed, so he hoped no one could see him.

“Ah, you do have a move or two,” she said into his ear. She danced up to him and then away, teasing him with every movement, until finally he grabbed her hips and held her in place. Her brows lifted, and pleasure darkened her eyes.

The song slowed, and suddenly her arms were around his neck. Her entire body fused to his. Mike turned hard.
Oh, hell. If she feels that…

She must have, because she leaned back far enough to give him a look. Then she circled her hips in tiny motions, the way she had when she’d kissed him in her classroom. God, he wanted her. Now. He didn’t care who saw them. He didn’t care what might happen tomorrow or the next day.

She moved one hand along his ear, tracing the ridge with a feather-light touch. A rumble grew in his throat, and he had to bite his lip to keep it in.

“Now this is more like it,” she said against his cheek. Mike closed his eyes and rested his forehead to hers.

He was a goner, a dead goner, and he didn’t even care. He hadn’t touched a woman, held a woman close like this, in almost three years. The sensations swept over him, mixing with a faint dread in his gut that getting involved would be a bad idea.

She isn’t Edie
, he argued with himself.
She’s not even close.

The song ended too soon, and Sienna stepped out of his arms.

“While you’re helping yourself to the buffet,” Becca said from the podium at the front of the ballroom, “I want to thank all the sponsors tonight, as well as let you know…”

He didn’t hear her. He didn’t hear anything except his heart pounding as they filled their plates and joined Zane and a couple of bigwigs from Mountain Glen at a table near the back. Introductions went around, and Mike busied himself with finishing the chicken marsala and roasted potatoes and going back for seconds.

“How does Sienna like teaching?” Zane asked when everyone else had left to mingle.

Mike watched her talk to some women near the bar. “I guess she likes it all right. She’s good with those kids.”

Zane dipped his roll in some gravy and gave him a long look. “Heard Al’s back in town.”

Bile rose into Mike’s throat. “Yeah.”

“He staying?”

Mike shrugged. “Not if I can help it.”

“He was in longer than you?”

Besides his mother, only Zane knew the truth about L.A. “He had weed on him when the cops pulled us over. Got an extra seven months.” Wasn’t long enough, not by a long shot, but at least it had bought Mike some time back in Pine Point to get his own life on track.

“You ever hear from your ex?”

“Fuck, no.”

Zane finished his roll and took a long swig of beer. “She never got charged with anything?”

Mike shook his head. “Just smart enough to not get caught.” He shoved back his chair, done with talking about the past. “Gotta get another drink.”

“Hurry back,” Zane said with a grin. “The auction’s about to start.”

But Mike wasn’t interested in who might be buying or selling tonight. He’d put in his time. The only thing he wanted now was to get the hell home. He walked over and put one arm around Sienna’s waist. “You want to get out of here?”

She looked up in surprise. Then her expression morphed into a grin. “Sure.” She glanced at Becca, who was fiddling with the microphone. “Should we say goodbye?”

“Already did.” He gave Zane a wave as they headed for the lobby. Outside, light snow fell, silhouetted by the lights. Mike tucked Sienna’s hand into his as they waited for the coat-check attendant and the valet. Ten seconds with her skin against his, and all his desire from the dance floor returned. She hadn’t said a word. He had no idea whether he was taking her back to his place or hers. All he knew was the magnetism drawing him to her.

She tugged on his hand.

“I think the attendant—” he started to say, but she crooked a finger and beckoned him across the lobby. With a quick glance left and right and then one lifted brow, she pulled him into the ladies’ room.

“What the hell are you—?” he began, but the next thing he knew, her mouth was on his, and he stopped caring about anything else.