“Mrs. Danvers is having trouble with her A/C again,” Barb said.

“Okay.”

“And the tenant in 5c says there’s some kind of animal scampering around the attic.”

“Got it.”

“And that new family in Building 6 says the toilet won’t flush right.”

“No problem.”

“Why the hell are you so cheerful?”

I grinned. I’d only known Barb since buying the apartment complex earlier in the year, but from Day 1, she’d never let me get away with anything. Not even once.

“Holy hell, I think I preferred you all mopey with too much time on your hands. This new, efficient, happy thing you’ve got going is downright creepy.”

I laughed. “I wasn’t that bad.”

“Yeah, you were. So, are you going to tell me or not?”

“Not.”

“No problem,” Barb said, and her evil grin worried me. “Nikki’s been floating around on Cloud 9, too. I’ll just ask her when she gets in.”

“You wouldn’t. I’ll fire you.”

“No you won’t.”

“I’ll pick you up and dump you in the lake.”

“No, you won’t.

Shit. Why did Barb have the ability to see right through me? “Okay, okay, Nikki and I are dating.”

“Duh. Everyone within a five-mile radius has figured that out. I want to know how it’s going.”

“It’s going well. We’re, umm, taking things slow. Spending a lot of time with Cole. But we’ve been on a couple of official dates.”

There. That was all the detail she was going to get. She didn’t need to know about the evenings when Nikki and I would sit out by the lake and talk long into the night. The long, slow kisses. The touching. The caresses.

At least I hoped Barb didn’t know about those things.

And yeah, I wanted more… but I could wait. We were taking things slow. Doing things right. Nikki, Cole, and I were becoming a unit—and that’s exactly how I wanted it to be.

“Well, anything that makes you happy to fix toilets is a good thing in my book.”

Her words were flippant, but I knew she wished us well. “Thanks, Barb.” I kissed her on the cheek, grinning as she smacked me away.

Then I headed out to the lake to wait for my two favorite people to arrive.

* * *

“Nice throw, Cole.” Nikki set her purse down on the bench by the lake. Cole and I were tossing the ball back and forth. She’d had been right—Cole loved learning about baseball. He was going to try out for a little league team next month.

“Nikki! She’s here, Dad. Can we do the race now?”

“After you catch ten more. And I’m not going to make them easy ones either. Some will be over your head. Some off to the right or left. A few may land in the lake.”

Cole laughed, but his attention was on Nikki. I didn’t blame him.

“Where are your tennis shoes, Nikki?”

“I’m getting them,” she said good naturedly. She was wearing pink Capri pants and a white shirt with a scoop neckline. Little cut out areas around the edges showcased her creamy skin.

She went inside the office for a minute or two as I threw balls for Cole to field. He did well, catching 10 out of 13. By the time Nikki emerged, Cole had put away our gloves and was waiting impatiently by the door. He grabbed her by the hand and led her over to the obstacle course I’d set up for them.

“Wow. This looks like a hard one,” she said.

“Not as hard as the one from last week,” Cole said. Then his face fell. “I wish you could’ve seen me get first place.”

Now Nikki’s face fell as well. “I really wanted to, but I had that job interview. ”I’m definitely coming to the next one.”

Nikki hadn’t said very much about the interview she’d gone to for an entry-level position in an accounting firm, but I gathered that it hadn’t gone well. It was a shame. She was such a bright young woman. Much too bright to work in that ancient store or even here, for that matter. She had the brains to do Barb’s position, not just work at the front desk.

Shaking that thought off, I walked them through the course, showing what they had to do at each point. In some spots, the rules differed. For example, Cole had to walk on his hands for about ten feet, while Nikki only had to do a handstand and hold it for fifteen seconds.

Grinning at me, she tucked her shirt in, something that produced mixed feelings in me. Half the time I hoped she’d forget because I loved the way her face flushed when she accidentally flashed me. But the other half of me loved seeing her hand slide into her pants when she tucked the shirt in. And she knew that—I could tell by the way she was pushing her hand in a little farther than necessary. She caught me looking and winked. I’d pay her back for turning me on later tonight when we were alone.

At another spot in the course, Cole would have to do some chin ups using a tree branch while Nikki would have to do ten pushups. She was getting stronger every day, but she still needed to focus on upper body strength.

Finally, after bickering over their positions at the start line, they were ready to begin. The way they kidded each other, it sometimes made me feel like I had two children. But then Nikki would smile her mega-watt grin at me, and I’d be very glad she wasn’t a child.

“On your mark… get set… go!”

Nikki and Cole took off, Cole a small darting figure and Nikki more like a strong warrior woman. Her hair flowed behind her as she raced through the course. We still went to that crappy gym three or four times a week, and the cardio and strength-training she was doing was really paying off. No thanks to the morons who worked there.

They were at the tire obstacle now, and Cole was ahead. That was good… that meant he wouldn’t see the way I stared at Nikki as she jogged her way through the tires on the ground. Each time she brought her knees up high, her full breasts bounced in a way that mesmerized me. If I didn’t think she’d figure out the reason, I’d make an entire obstacle course just consisting of tires for her to jog through.

Nikki and Cole were finishing up the final obstacle, so I put my hands out on either side. The first one to give me a high-five was the winner.

Cole reached me first, though Nikki wasn’t far behind. She really was getting stronger, but I was pleased that she still had her gorgeous curves. I hoped she always would.

Both of them were panting, walking around in little circles, Nikki shaking her arms out. They stopped when I opened my mouth, trying to look important.

“First place goes to Mr. Cole Hayes.” Cole jumped up and down while Nikki clapped for him. “The first place prize is… inside. Go see Barb,” I told my son.

He raced off, and I hugged my sweet girl to me.

“What’s the second place prize?”

“You’ll find that out later.” I pinched her ass, causing her to squeal. God, she felt good pressed against me.

But Cole was heading back, three ice cream sandwiches in his hands. As we ate by the lake, Cole told Nikki all about the obstacle course he’d won last week at school. She listened attentively even though she’d heard the story several times already. I listened less attentively—I kept getting distracted by the sight of Nikki’s cute pink tongue darting out to lick at the rapidly melting ice cream.

“And Dad’s going to run in one, too.”

This got Nikki’s attention. “He is?” She looked over at me and I nodded.

“Yeah, it’s not until next year, but it’s super cool. It’s got water obstacles, and mud pits, and things you have to climb on and everything. I wish I could do it.”

“Can’t you?” Nikki asked.

“Nope,” I answered. “It’s only for people eighteen or older. That’s why I only signed up you and me.”

“Too bad,” Nikki said, turning back to Cole. Then she stopped dead, a drop of vanilla ice-cream dripping onto her thigh. “You what?”

“I signed us up.”

She looked at me as if I were crazy. “Why?”

“Because you’ll be good at it. There’s a women’s division and a men’s one. And because it’s six months away. We have plenty of time to train for it.”

“But… but… is it like the ones on TV?”

“Something like that, yes.” I spoke over Cole as he started to launch into a list of all the obstacles that might be present. No need to scare Nikki to death at this point. “We can train for it. It’s good to have a goal in mind when you’re trying to get in better shape. We’ll break that goal into smaller steps that can serve as checkpoints along the way. And like any goal, we’ll set up some incentives.”

“Like what?” Nikki said doubtfully.

“I’m sure if we put our heads together, we can come up with some suitable rewards… and punishments.”

Nikki’s sweet face flushed, leaving me no doubt that she knew what I meant.

“I’m sure we can,” she said, suddenly noticing that her ice cream sandwich was melting all over the place. But I saw her grin as she looked me in the eye and then licked her fingers, one by one.

Oh yes… I was definitely going to pay her back for her teasing when we were alone later on.