Taming Lucinda by Normandie Alleman

Chapter 17

Cole

It had been days since Lucinda talked to me—or even looked at me—so I was surprised to see her name show up in my missed calls.

There were three of them and a whole string of texts.

I'm sorry.

Can you answer?

I need your help.

S.O.S.

"Shit," I muttered, trying to dial her back with my ocean-pruned fingers. "Come on, come on." I couldn't help but think of all the worst-case scenarios. What if she'd hurt herself? Or someone got past her security?

"Please..."

"Cole!" she answered, breathless.

"Are you okay? I was surfing and my phone was in the truck—"

"Can you come over?"

"Are you okay?" I asked again, the knot of worry in my chest starting to loosen. She didn't sound like someone who was being held hostage or bleeding out in her foyer. Of course S.O.S. would mean something different to Lucinda. I should have remembered her flair for the dramatic.

"Barely," she answered. "Eden and Nick left their twins with me for the night and..." Her voice lowered to a whisper, "How do you know if a child is possessed?"

"Have you seen any horns? Are they speaking Latin in a weirdly deep voice?"

"Make fun of me all you want, but can you do it here?"

"I'm surprised you want me around," I answered, raking my hand through my wet hair. It had been so nice to get out on the waves again. My workdays were a lot shorter when I wasn't sticking around to fuck Lucinda into delirium every night.

"Can we talk about that later? I could really use some help over here. This is the first time they've trusted me to do this so I can't call and say I can't do it, and Dynassy and Bridger are too glued to their phone waiting to hear about the surrogate going into labor—you're the only person I've got. Please."

Hearing Lucinda Barnes ask for something so desperately was impossible to resist. It was something she didn't do lightly, and I knew how hard it must have been for her to swallow her pride to call me. I didn't know why she'd been shunning me, but I knew she had her reasons, and to overcome those convictions was no small thing.

"All right," I sighed. "I'll be there soon."

"Thank you!" The joy in her voice made my heart slam against my ribcage, a smile spreading across my face in spite of myself.

I was powerless when it came to her. She could let me tie her up and spank her, she could let me manhandle her and use her for my pleasure, but the moment she crooked her finger, I came running.

There was no question who really had the upper hand. And I was too far gone to give a damn. As much as she confused and infuriated me, she impressed and intrigued me even more.

As I started up my truck, it hit me: I was in love with her.

"You dumbass." I'd done a lot of stupid things since I started seeing Lucinda Barnes—seeing her at all was probably first on the list—but falling for her definitely took the cake.

If I had an ounce of sense, I would've turned off the highway and headed back to my place, left Lucinda to clean up her own messes.

I went straight to her place, still a little damp when I stopped in front of her door. The sounds of squealing children made it all the way outside, so I took that as my cue that no one would be coming to the door if I rang the bell.

"Hello?" I called into the house. Far off, I heard Lucinda's feeble pleas, the laughter and squeals of the twins seemed to be moving through the house. It sounded like they'd run Lucinda ragged.

It also sounded like one of the giggling children was on a direct path to me.

"Did someone order a kid-catcher?"

The giggling tornado collided with my shins in a puff of white dust.

What the...?

I knew Lucinda had a wild side, but sure she wouldn't...

I shoved that thought aside, focusing instead on wrangling the little tornado in my grasp.

"Caught one!"

"Noooo!" The little boy squirmed and wriggled and did everything he could to break out of my hold, but I held on tight.

I hefted him up over my shoulder where he couldn't get away, and then I followed the sound of Lucinda's voice into the kitchen.

"I believe this is yours, ma'am?" I asked, going in with the intention to amuse the kids with the cowboy bit. That was forgotten the moment I caught sight of Lucinda's kitchen.

It was a disaster.

Thankfully, the white powder was flour, and it wasn't just the little boy that was coated in it—everything was. The counters, the floors, the cabinets and walls. Even Lucinda.

That was how I knew she'd lost the battle.

But the war wasn't over.

"Where's the other one?"

A small giggle broke out in one of the cabinets.

"She's fast," Lucinda said. Her hair was wild, dusted with flour, sticking out at odd angles and she was using the kitchen island for support, slowly slumping until she fully sank down to the ground too exhausted to put up any more resistance.

"Hmm...I guess I should probably just give up then and take the one. It was nice meeting you folks—"

"Hey! You can't take him!" The voice was small, but the girl had inherited her grandmother's fiery personality.

"Wait," I said, brow furrowing as I set the boy down. "Are you trying to trick me, lady? You told me you had a couple kids for me to catch and these are pretty clearly ghosts. I'm no ghost-catcher."

"We're not ghosts!" the girl insisted.

"I don't know. You look just like some other ghosts I saw—"

"It's flour! Grandma, tell him!"

"He's just teasing, Annabelle. This is Grandma's friend Cole."

Annabelle was not impressed. "You're not a kid-catcher?"

I shrugged. "I caught your brother, didn't I?"

"Albert's slow," she said.

"Am not."

"Slower than me."

"Am not!"

"What happened here?" I asked, surveying the damage.

"We tried to make cookies," Lucinda answered, her voice flat like she was the one who'd seen a ghost.

"First time?" It was hard not to laugh.

"No," she said defensively. "Just the first time in a while," she admitted. "And baking with kids..."

"Yeah, you were kind of asking for it," I teased. "Go clean yourself up, I can handle this."

She looked skeptical. "You sure?"

"Yep. Go on. De-gluten."

She gave me a weak smile and let me help her up to her feet.

"Thank you, Cole."

"Don't mention it." She said we'd talk about it later, so I'd save my other comments for later.

"Who wants to go swimming?"

"Ooh! Me!" Annabelle said, ignoring the concerned look from her brother.

"Okay, let's go hose off first. Do you want to run through the water hose with us, Albert?"

He perked up with that offer, then nodded. "Okay!"

Lucinda was still lingering in the doorway, her jaw slack, trying to understand what was going on. I'd never seen her look so exhausted.

I almost felt bad for hanging around the beach for that extra set. Almost. Sometimes it was nice to see the human side of superwoman.

"Go," I said again. "I've got this."

By the time Lucinda rejoined us, I'd hosed off the kids, helped them find their swimming stuff in the bags their mom packed, and stood anxiously outside the bathroom door while they changed, waiting in the wings in case there were any disasters. Annabelle was swimming around on her own with bright pink floaties on her arms. Albert was taking some more coaxing, but I'd finally convinced him to come fully off the steps.

"I ordered pizza," Lucinda said, sitting on the edge of a lounge chair. "I think the kitchen is going to be out of commission for a little while."

"Oh, it's not that bad. Just a little flour."

"A little?" she asked, incredulous.

"Okay, a lot of flour. How many cookies were you planning on making, anyway?"

She shrugged, uncharacteristically sheepish. "I've missed out on a lot of Grandma-ing, okay?"

"Albert, do you think you can jump here? Right into my arms?" I asked, seeing he was all the way back up on the steps again.

He hesitated, shuffling his feet nervously.

"I'll catch you, I promise."

"You can do it Albert!" Annabelle cheered, doggy paddling nearby.

Albert took a deep breath, set his shoulders back, and then flung himself forward into the pool.

Right into my arms.

"Yay!" Annabelle cheered.

"Way to go, buddy!" I said, helping him back to the steps.

"You did it!" Lucinda cheered.

"Come on, let's go get dried off and changed before the pizza gets here," I said, urging Annabelle toward the steps too.

Lucinda quickly supplied towels, and while the kids were drying off, she came to me.

"I don't know how you did that," she said. "Albert's been terrified of the pool forever. Nick and Eden have tried all sorts of lessons—"

"I spent a few summers as a camp counselor when I was a teenager. Every Californian kid should know how to swim."

"You have a magic touch," she said, smiling at me.

"Sometimes," I agreed, heading inside to dry off. I was stuck in my boardshorts, but they would dry before too long.

We picked out a movie to watch while we waited for the pizza—some LSD-colored animated fever dream—and by the time we got everyone settled in with their pajamas, their stuffed animals, their pizza and juice, it was already getting late. They each ate a slice of pizza before starting to nod off, and they were both sleeping before the movie hit the halfway point.

"They're a lot cuter when they're asleep," Lucinda said with a heavy sigh.

"They're pretty cute awake too. Quieter, though, for sure."

"They sure do wear you out, though. I forgot how much. Or maybe I just got too old for it. You're amazing with them, though," she said. "A natural, really. Haven't you ever wanted kids?"

I shook my head, smiling down at the little angels. They were sweet now, but once they were well-rested, they'd be hellions again.

"I like kids, but I've never really wanted my own. I had fun being a counselor, but that need to be a parent never hit me. I only want that one person to spend my life with. To be my person."

Lucinda frowned, stroking her grandson's pale blond hair back from his forehead. "Help me get them to bed?"

"Yeah, okay," I answered, trying to hide my disappointment.

I just wanted to know where we'd gone wrong. Things seemed to be so perfect with Lucinda. So right.

Maybe it was too perfect.

Maybe I'd expected too much.

But we never had a big fight. She didn't tell me she was through with me. She just...stopped caring.

At least, that was what it felt like. She was a busy woman, and she was planning Ivy's wedding reception. Could that be it? Was she just too busy for me at the moment?

She sure was quick to call me when she needed help.

With the kids safely tucked into bed, Lucinda stood in the hallway, swaying on her feet with exhaustion.

"Are you staying?" she asked.

Those three words were enough to dissolve all my bitterness and anger. I was weak.

I wanted her.

I loved her.

There was no denying it.

"Do you want me to?" I asked.

"Yes please," she answered, reaching for my arm, looping hers through mine, using me for support as we headed toward her bedroom.

"You really saved my ass tonight, Cole. You didn't have to."

"Yeah, I did," I argued, pulling back her duvet, guiding her down to the mattress.

"No. You didn't. You could've told me to fuck off."

"I could never do that to you," I promised, snuggling in next to her, pulling her against me.

It felt so good to have her in my arms again. I was like an addict who knew how bad it was for them and couldn't help it anyway.

"I'll always be there for you, you know that." I kissed the back of her head, my throat getting tighter with every passing second. My heart burned with the need for answers. Why had she turned on me? Why had she been ignoring me?

What had I done wrong?

The fun night with the kids made it easy to forget the gulf Lucinda had put between us. Funnily enough, it was with her in my arms that I was most confronted with the wall she'd constructed. She was far too tired to have any kind of meaningful discussion tonight, but I was going to make her talk to me.

She was going to tell me what was going on.

And once I got her to admit that she was just pushing me away because she was scared of the real feelings developing between us, I was going to propose to her.

The thought struck me out of nowhere, but as it sat there, it sank in deeper. It spread roots. It dug in and cemented itself in my mind.

Of course Lucinda was scared. It explained everything.

Lucky for her, I wasn't going to be deterred that easily.