That was one of his favorite things about her.

But she was vulnerable now, right this minute, tucked up against him. Vulnerable and oddly trusting him in a way she hadn’t allowed before, which had a surge of protectiveness going through him. Until River had come clean, he hadn’t known Lanie’s story. What had happened to River sucked. But it’d happened to Lanie too. She’d been with a man, her husband, thinking that she was the one and only woman in his life, but there’d been more. And she hadn’t known.

Her takeaway from that had been to close herself off.

The same lesson she’d learned at home growing up.

And now he had her in his arms, this amazing, prickly, suspicious, hardheaded woman that he was falling for in spite of himself because she was also sweet and kind and had the biggest heart of anyone he’d ever met.

Falling hard.

It was going to take a lot to convince her that he was a good idea, although he was pretty sure her body might’ve already made its decision.

He had no idea what it would take to persuade the rest of her.

LANIE WOKE UP to a little man hammering at her eyeballs from inside her head. “Ouch,” she said on a moan.

Someone giggled, but then it was muffled, and Lanie froze. “I know that giggle,” she whispered, because talking in a normal voice hurt.

This caused another giggle.

Lanie groaned and sat up. A big mistake because she had to put her hands on her head to hold it on her shoulders.

There was a man in her kitchenette. He was in his uniform and he was—be still, her heart—flipping pancakes like he’d been born to the task.

Sam and Sierra were sitting cross-legged on her counter eating what appeared to be pancakes rolled up so they could do it without utensils.

“Lanie! You missed the first round!” Sam yelled.

Lanie moaned and took a hand off her head to point at the girl. “I’m going to need your inside voice.”

Samantha grinned her toothless grin. “You’re funny.”

“I’m actually not funny. I’m just really mean and people always think I’m joking.” Lanie managed to sit up and stagger out of bed, realizing at the last minute that she didn’t remember getting into bed so she looked down to make sure she was dressed.

She was in a very large T-shirt that fell to her thighs. The same T-shirt that Mark had been wearing when he’d rescued her from jail. Still had on her panties. That was good news, since the twins were watching her every move. She whimpered her way to the table where she’d left her sunglasses and put them on.

Better.

The girls giggled again and Lanie pointed at them again, which only made them giggle some more.

“You gotta go to bed earlier,” Samantha said in all her six-year-old wisdom. “That’s what Grandma says when we wake up grumpy.”

“Your grandma is very wise.” She met Mark’s amused gaze. “Blanks,” she said. “Fill them in.”

“We got back an hour ago,” he said. “You needed a nap.”

He said this with an utterly straight face. She sighed and slid onto a stool at the counter. She looked over at the girls and realized their pancakes were rolled with peanut butter in the middle.

“Daddy doesn’t let us have syrup in the morning,” Samantha said. “It makes our teachers not like us.”

“Your daddy is also wise.” She turned to Mark. “But I don’t have a teacher, so I’m hoping for syrup.”

“It’ll cost you,” he said.

She met his gaze and got a hot flash. Two seconds later he slid a plate in front of her. Then he held up a bottle of syrup in one hand and a jar of peanut butter in the other.

She pointed to the syrup.

He went brows up, smiled, and handed her the syrup. She’d pay later.

In private . . . and she’d have no regrets.

Chapter 24

I put the “I” in anxiety.

River knew she couldn’t ambush Lanie and force her to go back to being . . . whatever they’d been. Almost close friends? Yes, River was sure of it, and she missed her, wishing . . . well, wishing for a lot of things.

She’d never in a million years have imagined that coming here to Wildstone would lead to the most amazing time of her life, to the most amazing people she’d ever met, Lanie being the most amazing of them all.

Not that Lanie felt the same way at the moment. And River couldn’t relax until she’d made things right.

But she had no idea how to do that.

For days now she’d tried to catch Lanie when she was on the move in the hallway between the offices, employee room, or bathroom. But it was as if the woman was wearing her own invisibility cloak.

Finally, Mia gave River a long look when she paced the hallway for the thousandth time. “You okay?”

“Fine,” River said. “Why?”

“Because you’ve walked ten miles in the past few days.”

River managed a smile. “The baby’s restless.”

“Or . . . ?”

River blinked. “Or what?”

“Or you’re waiting for Lanie so you can beg her to be your friend again.”

River sagged. “How did you know?”

“Because you talk to yourself.”

“I talk to the baby.”

“Oh.” Mia looked sympathetic. “Look, I like you. A lot. So I’m going to talk to the baby too, okay? And if you happen to listen, well, then, that’s not really my fault, right?”

“Um . . . right,” River said, surprised when Mia hooked a chair with her foot and dragged it close, then sat in it. Head lowered, she lightly knocked on River’s belly. “Hello, anyone here?”

River laughed. “You know she can’t answer yet, right?”

Mia lifted her head. “She?”

“That’s what the sonogram says.”

Mia smiled and then started talking to River’s belly. “First of all, you should know you’ve got a great mommy. Maybe she’s made a few mistakes, but she’s trying real hard to fix them. Which is amazing because most people don’t own up to their wrongs, much less try and right them. I hope you learn from her, ’cuz she’s pretty great. But if you could do one thing for me . . . maybe tell your mommy she’s not alone. She’s never alone.” Mia lifted her gaze to River’s.

River tried not to cry. And failed. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“For what?” Mia got to her feet. “Just saying hi to the baby so she recognizes me when she comes out. This one’s going to have a lot of people who care about her.”

River’s throat was too tight to speak, so she just nodded as Mia headed out. “Mia,” she managed.

Mia turned back.

“Do you think she’ll ever forgive me?”

“I think Lanie’s a very smart woman. When she gives it some time, she’ll get it.” Then Mia pulled a candy bar from her pocket and handed it to River. A Snickers.

Lanie’s not-so-secret favorite.

“You think I can bribe her into being friends again?” River asked, amused in spite of herself. “Because I stalked her, got a job where she works, and got close to her, all without telling her that oh yeah, we shared a rat-fink bastard of a husband and I was here only to steal back my ring.”