Glancing up at Leo, she blushed. She had a feeling she’d soon find out if sex with the man lived up to, or surpassed, all the dreams and fantasies she’d had about him for years.
Chapter Twelve
A week after enrolling Mario in his new cheerleading class, Gramps stood in the hallway in the basement at Silverstone Towing and watched Cassidy for a long moment. She was busy entertaining a little girl named Betty and watching Taylor’s boy, Kevin.
He’d talked to the guys, and they were fully supportive of his plan. He had been going to talk to her about it later, but he couldn’t wait even a moment longer.
“Hey, Cass, can I talk to you for a sec?”
She looked up—and he immediately regretted not waiting. She looked worried, as if whatever he wanted to talk to her about was something bad.
There were days when she seemed to be settling into her new life without any issues, but other times, like now, a simple comment seemed to throw her right back to how she’d felt while living in Michael Coke’s house. Worried that she’d said or done something wrong . . . and that at any time, she and her son could suffer the consequences.
He tried not to take it personally. It would take her a while to shake off the automatic reaction to someone taking her by surprise.
“Nothing’s wrong,” he said quickly.
He saw her shoulders relax a fraction as she nodded.
Molly came down the stairs and smiled at Cassidy. “Hey, girl.” She gave her a quick hug. “Gramps asked if I wouldn’t mind watching these two angels while you guys talk.”
Betty, one of their employees’ kids, who was around three or four—Gramps couldn’t remember—jumped up from the floor where she’d been playing with Cassidy and hugged Molly. Kevin was asleep on a blanket on the floor, oblivious to the goings-on around him.
“Um . . . okay, sure. No problem,” Cassidy said.
Gramps hated seeing her so uncertain. He pulled her close and speared his hands into her hair, tilting her head up so she had no choice but to look at him. “Nothing’s wrong,” he repeated.
“Okay.”
“Shit,” Gramps said, knowing she wasn’t going to feel better until she heard his proposal. “Thanks for looking after the kids for a second,” he told Molly, then towed Cassidy toward the safe room.
He opened the door with his fingerprint and pulled Cass into the room behind him. Bull, Eagle, and Smoke were still sitting at the table where he’d left them a minute or so ago to go get Cassidy. The three men all stood when they entered.
“What’s wrong?” Bull asked.
“Is Kevin okay?” Eagle questioned.
“Molly’s all right, yeah?” Smoke asked.
Gramps couldn’t help but smile. His friends had most definitely changed. In the past, they would’ve been more worried about who their next target might be and where their mission might take them. Now they were almost exclusively focused on their wives . . . which was exactly how it should be. It was certainly how he felt.
“Everything’s fine,” Gramps said as he led Cassidy over to a chair.
“Then why does Cassidy look so worried?” Eagle asked.
“I’m guessing because every time someone in that fucking house in Jamaica said they needed to talk to her, it wasn’t good,” Gramps explained. “She just has to get used to the idea that she and her son are safe here and no one is gonna make them do anything they don’t want to,” Gramps said, holding the back of her chair as Cassidy sat. He pulled another chair up next to her and held her hand. He didn’t want to prolong this, especially not in light of how worried Cassidy seemed.
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be so . . . uncertain,” she apologized.
“No one blames you,” Gramps said. “You’ll figure out in your own time that nothing bad is gonna happen to you when you’re with us. Anyway, what I wanted to say is that we want to hire you,” Gramps told her. “Silverstone Towing, that is. Many of our employees have kids, and affordable childcare is tough to find. We’ve talked about either adding to this building or putting up a smaller structure between here and the first garage. It probably wouldn’t be full time at first, but that’s our goal for the long term. We’d like you to be the director. You’d probably be the only staff member to start, but depending on how much use the center gets, we’d hire people to help as necessary.”
Cassidy stared at him in surprise.
“You’d be given full benefits, just like all our other employees,” Bull added. “Health insurance, retirement—all the usual stuff.”
“Once we hire more staff, your hours can be flexible, so you can still help out at Mario’s school and be there for him if he gets sick or whatever,” Eagle added.
“And, of course, after school he’s always welcome to come here to hang out,” Smoke said.
“I . . . I don’t know what to say,” Cassidy stammered.
“It’s obvious you love kids, and you’re really good with them. And this offer has nothing to do with the two of us,” Gramps said. “I mean, if we don’t work out—which I can’t see happening, but I can’t see into the future—this job will still be yours. There aren’t any strings attached.”
Cassidy swallowed hard, and Gramps saw tears form in her eyes.
“Shit,” he muttered as he reached for her. Gramps hauled her into his lap. “Talk to me,” he ordered. “What’s wrong? If you don’t want the job, it’s okay—we’ll find you something else.”
“Not want the job?” Cassidy asked through her tears. “Of course I want it. I can’t believe this is happening.”
“You’ll probably need to look into certificates and licenses,” Eagle said. “We want to be as aboveboard as possible.”
Cassidy nodded. “Of course. I got my undergraduate degree online when I was living in El Paso. But Indiana might have different regulations than Texas when it comes to childcare.”
“We’re not quite ready to open shop yet,” Gramps told her. “We need to meet with an architect and see what he or she thinks will work best for a dedicated space, so there’s time to figure out all the legalities.”
Cassidy looked around the table, but made no move to get off Gramps’s lap. “Thank you so much.”
Everyone shrugged off her thanks.
“No, seriously,” she pressed. “This is all so much. I never expected any of it.”
“We’re getting just as much out of hiring you,” Bull told her.
Cassidy shook her head. “No, you aren’t.”
“We are,” he insisted. “Archer is an amazing cook, and he was being underutilized at the diner where he worked. Hiring him makes all our employees happy, and happy employees means they’ll work harder, will be more loyal, and won’t mind working overtime or longer shifts if we need them to. Adding childcare will mean moving around schedules and additional overhead, but the last thing we want is our employees worrying about their kids while they’re working. That’s opening the door for someone to be careless and increases the possibility of injuries.”