It was situation normal in the playroom, but Lorine caught the concerned glances from the staff. Annie was sitting on the floor, chatting with Zach, when Lorine walked into the sleeping area. She paused and opened her arms, but her son didn’t budge.
“Hi, Mommy.”
“Hi, buddy. Annie tells me you don’t want to get out of bed.”
“Stay here.”
“How come?”
Zach shrugged.
He had to be hungry. “I’m in the mood for pancakes. You want to help me make pancakes?” The mess would be worth it if it got him out of bed.
He nodded, his smile bright. She’d never seen this combination of stubborn and happy on him.
“Let’s go, then.”
“Hafta stay here.”
“But we can’t make pancakes in bed.”
His face fell.
Lorine signaled Annie to give them a minute. “Can I sit by you?”
He scooted over and wiggled a little more than necessary.
“You have to pee?”
“Uh-huh.”
But still he wouldn’t leave the bed. She searched for the right angle to break through his odd stubbornness. “Zach, why do you have to stay?”
“He told me stay there.”
Dread coiled like a snake in her belly. “We don’t have to obey the people in our dreams.”
“Not dreamin’.”
As the potty dance got worse, Lorine resigned herself to the fight of dragging him to the bathroom against orders.
Orders. He was acting like a new recruit.
“Who told you ‘stay there’?” She listed all the names of the day-care staff. He shook his head at each one, clutching his bunny to his chest. “Who, Zach?”
“The big man.”
An image of Zach’s father popped into her head. She dismissed that as impossible. No one got in the warehouse uninvited, not even dead people. The ridiculous thought only showed how exhausted she was.
She struggled for calm. “When did the big man talk to you?”
He shrugged.
“Where?”
“At the window.”
She made a mental note to double-check with security. There had to be a camera with a record of the interaction. “No one wants you to pee in the bed. Go on to the potty.”
“No!” Tears brimmed in his big eyes. “Said stay there.”
She barely restrained her temper. “Who is a smart boy?”
“Me.”
“That’s right. Do the smart thing. Go potty, and come straight back here.”
“Big Jim said stay there.”
Jim? “Mommy says go now.”
Lorine suffered a wealth of emotions in the long seconds Zach weighed her authority over Jim’s. When her son rocketed from the bed, triumph was short-lived, quickly replaced by a quiet fury. She wanted a piece of Jim and she wanted it now.
When Zach returned, she gave him new orders, and promised him pancakes for lunch.
Leaving a happy son and relieved staff in her wake, she stormed down to Jim’s apartment.
She didn’t bother with the comm system, she pounded on the door until it opened and Jim’s wide palm caught her fist before it landed on his chest.
His bare chest.
“Lorine? Wh— What the— ” His gaze drifted down her body, lighting little fires along the way.
She yanked her hand back to her side and thought she might have exercised her intelligence by pausing to put on a bra first.
Then she thought of Zach in his dinosaur pajamas nearly wetting the bed because he was following orders, and her temper boiled over once more. “I demand an explanation.”
“Huh?” He rubbed a hand over the stubble shadowing his jaw.
“My son! What did you do?”
In the blink of an eye, he pulled her inside and she was all too close to that broad chest. He slammed the door closed behind her. He had her wrist cuffed in one hand and braced himself against the door with the other. The man was too close. Too big. But she couldn’t stop her eyes from taking a foolish journey over that perfectly sculpted arm.
“Explain. Slowly,” he said.
“Zach.” Her throat dry, she tried again. “He refused to get out of bed or cooperate with the day-care staff because you ordered him to ‘stay there’.” She put it in air quotes. “When and why would you have anything to do with my son?”
He scowled. Not at her, rather through her. In a rush, he dropped her hand and pushed away from the door, turning his back as if the mere sight of her offended him.
“Jim, I expect an answer,” she said when she could form words. His back might be his best side, from a purely anatomical standpoint, barring the flat white scars that splashed from shoulder to hip. At some point in the past he’d been doused with scalding water. Accident or abuse? From the little she knew about him, he’d likely been protecting someone.
She shook off the surge of sympathy. His past problems or heroics didn’t give him the right to upset Zach.
“I don’t know what happened, Lorine.”
“My son gave me the impression he was following your orders.”
Jim turned, his face pale. “When I was walking by, he just showed up. I told him to go back to bed and he did.”
“He was at the window?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re lying. I’d just looked in on him. He was sound asleep.”
“Maybe you woke him.” He winced under her harsh glare. “Okay, maybe not. I was tired. When he showed up, I just sent him back to bed. Seemed safest.”
That she believed. Jim was all about security all the time. Something she’d been grateful for until this morning. “What else?”
“Huh?”
She wished he’d put on a shirt. It was hard to stay mad when the man put a kick in her pulse this way.
“Why were you near the day care?” She made herself ask the more pertinent question. “What do you know about Zach?”
He shook his head. “Nothing. Other than I’m slated to help you move.” He slumped onto the couch and rested his elbows on his knees. “I’m sorry I upset your kid. I like him.”
“He likes you, too.” Which was probably why he’d been so persistent about following orders. “You didn’t do any manly little soldier routine, did you?”
“No way.” Jim shook his head, but he didn’t meet her eye.
“Any chance you can go by the day care with me and confirm your orders are lifted?”
“Sure.” He pushed to his feet. “Give me a second.” True to his word, Jim returned within moments wearing a gray sweatshirt and running shoes. Lorine tugged her cardigan tighter around her as they walked to the elevator.
“Sorry I came on so strong,” she said as they waited.
“You’re a good mom.” He gestured for her to board first, and punched the button.
“Thanks. I know I’m overprotective.” For good reason, she didn’t add. “And I’m a little wired from working third shift.”
“It happens.”
The doors parted and they stepped out, but she stopped him with the merest brush of her hand against his arm. “Why are you being so nice about this?”
“Fastest way to get to bed.” He grinned, then his words sank in and his eyes went wide. “That’s not . . .
Aw, hell. I meant— ”
She laughed. “I get it. You want to get back to sleep. Me too.” She ignored the sneaky bit of disappointment that she didn’t ignite his desire the way he ignited hers. She’d always been a sucker for a fine chest, and his would forever be the gold standard. Not that romance was on the agenda until Zach was grown. She refused to let her hormones lead her into a temptation that might jeopardize her son’s safety.