With This Ring (Windswept Bay Book 6) Read online

“I believe it’s time for me to go.” He told her.

  The little girl whose mother had called him a hunk and wanted to kiss him jumped from her chair. “My mom is not going to be happy.”

  Levi did not even answer; he just got out of there as fast as his shoes would carry him. Show-and-tell had not been a good idea.

  Not a good idea at all.

  Chapter Two

  Mortified, Jessica watched Levi Sinclair stride out of her class without a backward glance. Her spirits plunged a little further down than they’d already plummeted when her son had ambushed the poor man.

  “Quiet down, class,” she urged.

  Lana Presley, her co-teacher in the classroom, had come forward to help regain control of the class. “Okay that’s enough kids. It’s time to get out your paper and draw a picture of your favorite show-and-tell of the week. I think we’ve had enough fun for the morning.”

  When the kids started to talk she backed them down firmly and to Jessica’s relief despite a few grumbles they did as they were told.

  “Thank you,” Jessica said as Lana turned to her and gave her a teasing grin.

  “Kids will be kids. So, how does it feel to be marrying the hunky chief of police?” she drawled in her deep Texas accent.

  Lana was from a big family and had five brothers back on the ranch in Texas. Like Jessica, Lana had had her own reasons for moving to Windswept Bay—like finding a life that wasn’t overrun by all the men in her family. With their similar longing for independence, she and Jessica were becoming really good friends. But she did love to tease, and now was a prime opportunity, it seemed.

  “Your humor is not appreciated,” Jessica said in a soft hiss.

  Lana chuckled and leaned close. “Especially now that you know, according to the kids, that all the single moms in your class have the hunky police chief on their radars?”

  Jessica didn’t laugh. “This is bad, Lana. What am I going to do? When all these kids go home and start talking, you and I both know rumors are going to be rampant.”

  “It’ll be fine. Stop worrying. I was just teasing and hey, he is handsome. And obviously Kevin likes him.”

  Jessica gasped. “I’m so embarrassed. Poor guy got ambushed. I’ve barely settled into life at Windswept Bay and now I’m going to be the talk of the town. But the worst of it is, I don’t know what’s going on with Kevin.”

  Lana knew what Kevin had done over the holidays and gave her a sympathetic, “Yeah, that’s bad.”

  “I thought he was doing better since the Christmas disaster but obviously he hadn’t forgotten at all. He chose his gift when he met Levi yesterday. That’s what he’s been so excited about for the last twenty-four hours.” She rubbed her temple and the ache that was throbbing there. It was going to be a long day and probably a long week.

  Lana patted her arm. “I was just teasing you. As my daddy loves to say, ‘This too shall pass.’ Really, Jessica, you’re tough and you can endure some gossip until it dies away. And it always does. Of course, the smaller the town, the longer it hangs on…I can tell you from personal experience about that one.”

  “I believe you. But that still leaves me with, what was or is my child thinking?”

  “He’s a boy who naturally wants a daddy. He’d just got his hopes up. And well, maybe it’s a sign that you should start dating. You know, at least try.”

  Jessica sighed. “I’ll do that when I’m ready.” She just wasn’t sure when that would be.

  “What is up with you?” Ryan asked the minute Levi stormed into the police station. Ryan had been Levi’s best friend growing up and now was one of his deputies and also his brother-in-law. If anyone knew Levi, it was Ryan.

  Levi narrowed his gaze at his friend, the friend who he really thought had set him up on this little ambush. “Do you really want to know what happened? Because when you brought Kevin in here yesterday and started telling the kid that I was the one he should be asking to do the show-and-tell, I should have known something was up. Did you know something I didn’t know?”

  Ryan leaned back in the desk chair and grinned. “What is wrong with you? Kevin needed someone for show-and-tell and I just thought the chief of police would be a better choice.”

  Levi paced the office, looked toward the dispatch office and then he hissed so that only Ryan could hear. “The kid set me up.”

  “So you think Jillian and I set you up?”

  Levi did not hold anything back. “That’s exactly what I’m thinking. I think you knew that that little boy wants a daddy really badly. Poor kid.”

  Ryan’s expression turned serious. “Yeah, I kind of knew that. So maybe I did set you up a little. Jessica is a great gal. And I just thought I’d set you up to at least meet her. That’s all I was thinking, though. You’re both adults. Once you meet, it’s between the two of you.”

  “Well you did a great job,” he muttered, the scene in that classroom replaying in his mind.

  Ryan frowned. “Levi, what happened? Why are you acting like this?”

  “Because, I was not there to be Kevin’s show-and-tell as the police chief. I was there for Kevin to introduce me to his class as his new daddy.”

  Ryan busted into laughter. “He introduced you as his daddy?”

  “No, sorry—I’m a little out of it at the moment. He told the kids that I was going to be his new daddy. And then all the little kids started telling me that their single mothers were going to be upset because they wanted to kiss me and thought I was a hunk. A hot hunk.”

  Ryan’s expression drooped into disbelief. “I had no idea that was going to happen. This is bad.”

  Levi scowled. “Tell me about it.”

  Betty Lou, the dispatcher, stuck her head out the door of the dispatch room. “Hey, boss, this could be real fun. Heaven knows you need a wife. You should take the kid up on his offer and marry his mama.”

  “Betty Lou, don’t you have a switchboard or something to operate?”

  The older woman just laughed. “I’ll get to that. This was too good to ignore. I’m already surprised you don’t get pancakes and love letters dropped off here on a regular basis. You being a hunky dude and all.”

  “Hey, cut it out.”

  “You did say all those children’s moms said you were hot and hunky. I’m just wondering why none of them brought you baked goods. You know the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Even one as flat as yours.”

  Ryan’s shoulders shook, he was laughing so hard.

  “You two are a barrel of laughs. I think I’ll go make some rounds…and get some fresh air.”

  He was being ridiculous, he knew, but this was not in his job description. And then there was the fact that Jessica had been very attractive. And something about the way he felt when her eyes met his spoke to him—really made him realize that it had been awhile since he had been out on a date. Despite the fact that he had plenty of opportunities he’d been focused on his career.

  After this fiasco, it might be a lifetime before he went out on another date. If there was one thing he did not like, it was the spotlight. He tried to keep his town out of the spotlight and his personal life too.

  His gut told him things were going to change…at least for a little while. Maybe there wouldn’t be any fallout from this but his instincts were good and they told him this was not over by a longshot.

  Jessica asked Lana to watch both classes as she took Kevin out into the hallway. After Adam had passed away, she’d gotten him counseling for a few months but he seemed to be handling things well and they’d stopped. This new obsession with a new daddy had just started within the last couple of months. Until he had asked Santa for a daddy, she hadn’t realized that he had become fixated on this new topic. And she had thought that they had handled it until now. In the hallway, she bent down so that she could look him in the eye. He looked at her with expectation in his bright eyes.

  “You don’t look happy, Momma.” His eyes searched hers. “Don’t you like Chief Levi?”

/>   There were so many things she could say to him. But what was the right thing to say? Parenting was not easy. Parenting under hard circumstances was even harder and more complex. What did one say to a six-year-old longing so hard for a daddy that he would do this? “Kevin, honey, I love you. You know that, right?”

  He nodded. “I know you do, Momma.”

  “Can you tell me why you suddenly want a daddy so bad? You know that when the time is right, I’ll find you a new daddy.”

  That serious expression that made him look so much like Adam came across his little face. “Levi is him. Don’t you like him?”

  Her patience strained. “Kevin, I don’t know him. I just met him today when he came here for you. You can’t just tell someone they’re going to be your daddy. I know you want a daddy but it’s not that easy. So please don’t do that again, okay?”

  “But—”

  Tears of frustration, uncertainty, and anguish welled in her eyes. “No buts. This is a decision you can’t make, honey.” She pulled him into her arms and hugged him tightly. He squirmed almost immediately and she let him go. “Let’s go back in the classroom and finish out this day. Also, remember that tomorrow we are going to go help with the puppy adoption at the park. That will be fun.”

  “Okay,” he said, not sounding convinced.

  And she wasn’t either. This was too complicated. The only thing she knew at this moment was that she owed Levi Sinclair a huge apology for what had happened and probably for what was about to happen. Thank goodness it was Friday. Hopefully by Monday morning the kids would have forgotten all about show-and-tell and things would move forward.

  Did she really believe that? Not for one second, but a girl could dream.

  Chapter Three

  On Saturday morning, Levi went for his jog along the beach, really glad that today was his day off. It had been a long night. He had dealt with a lot of problems over the years but a little kid doing what Kevin had done yesterday was a first. It had weighed on him all day and night. Levi wasn’t sure he had handled it in the best way that he could have, but he wasn’t sure what else he could’ve done. Thus a sleepless night and a hard jog this morning.

  As he reached the back steps of his home, he pulled the towel from the banister where he always left it for when he got back from his run. He dried his face as he stared out across the ocean. He loved Windswept Bay and always had. Loved his job too, but he was starting to feel restless. He’d always put his career first. Always told himself that when he got settled, he would start looking for a wife…but that time had just not come. Instead, he had settled into bachelorhood and unless something major happened, he felt as though he could happily retire as the police chief of Windswept Bay. So what was holding him back from taking the next step in his life?

  Nothing except finding the right woman. And why had a little boy and his mother grabbed Levi by the throat and refused to let go? There was obviously something going on there that Levi wasn’t sure he wanted to get involved with. And yet the startled expression of Jessica Price when her son had dropped his bomb stuck with Levi. He’d really felt for her.

  She’d lost her husband and now her son was struggling. She obviously had a lot on her plate.

  He grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator as he passed on his way to the shower and glanced at the clock on the wall. He needed to hurry if he was going to make it to the park.

  He’d decided it was time to get a dog. Maybe that would help him fill the hole that was suddenly looming in his life. A hole that might have begun while watching his four sisters get married over the last few months. They were happier than he’d ever seen them. Ryan also seemed happier than Levi had ever known him to be.

  But Levi was a firm believer that they’d all found happiness when the time had been right. It wasn’t as if he was unhappy. And even if he was, he couldn’t just go out and find the woman of his dreams just because he decided it was time.

  For one, he hadn’t decided any such thing. He was just feeling restless.

  He took his shower and was dressed and out the front door within thirty minutes. A small puppy to train was just what he needed. The timing was perfect.

  A puppy would help.

  Jessica watched Kevin and Roscoe run across the large park area with a couple of the children from the other workers from the shelter. She was so glad to have had this to distract him with today. She’d given everything a long hard look last night and what she come up with was that their situation had been amplified and she had put a lot on him this year by taking this job and moving him away from family and friends.

  Making decisions like that lay squarely on her shoulders. It had been less stressful when she could share that burden with Adam. That was one of the things she missed most about Adam: he was so solid, so strong and capable. She sighed. She missed him. Every day, she missed him.

  And so why wouldn’t it be even harder for Kevin to lose his dad and adjust to his loss?

  Watching Kevin laughing and playing did her heart good but it ached. She wanted him to have as normal a life as he could have. And one day she would remarry—if she found a good man who would be wonderful for Kevin.

  She’d decided later today she would run by the police station and apologize to Levi again. This time, out of view of the alert six-year-olds.

  Her neighbor had agreed to watch Kevin for a few minutes and that was all the time she needed.

  His handsome face filled her thoughts as she straightened the clipboards with the waiting forms on them. The college students who were running the event from the shelter were busy talking with potential adoptive doggy parents about certain dogs they were interested in. They were showing each puppy or dog and trying to make the perfect fit. She was in charge of making sure the paperwork was filled out. And this was the best job for her because if she had her way, she would adopt all the dogs and then be unable to feed them or take care of them, and that wouldn’t be a good thing.

  So she had learned a long time ago that the best thing she could do was to help out the shelter when possible to get the animals adopted by good humans rather than try to save the world.

  Two different people were looking at the dogs right now, so she set out two clipboards with the required paperwork just in case they were needed. When she looked up, she saw a man getting out of a truck in the parking lot. He wore jeans and a dark T-shirt. His dark hair was covered with a ball cap. But even from a hundred yards away, she recognized Levi.

  Her stomach dropped and her pulse jumped. How she recognized him from this distance with the ball cap on told her that she had taken notice of him more as a man than she was comfortable admitting. What was he doing here?

  He entered the fenced area and was halfway to her when he stopped and his gaze locked onto hers. It was more than obvious that he was startled to see her. To his credit, he didn’t turn and run but instead continued on to where she stood.

  Jessica glanced toward Kevin and prayed he wouldn’t look in this direction. And if he did, she prayed harder that the ball cap that Levi wore would conceal his identity from Kevin at this distance. She took a deep breath and forced a smile.

  “Police Chief Sinclair, what are you doing here?” She cringed at her greeting. It wasn’t exactly the right way to ask; there had to be a more diplomatic way of—

  “I could ask you the same thing.” His gaze flickered to where hers had been moments before and he saw Kevin rolling on the ground with Roscoe.

  She looked from Kevin to Levi and their gazes met. He had serious navy eyes and dark lashes she noticed… “I, um, I’m here helping with the adoption program.”

  “And I just happen to be here to adopt a puppy.”

  From all accounts, Levi Sinclair was a good guy. Of course, the fact that he was the police chief added to that. It was a very safe community—which was probably a reflection of not only the small community of Windswept Bay but also the fact that he probably did a great job. And that, compounded with the fact he was here
to adopt a puppy, made him almost irresistible…If she were interested or thinking about that sort of thing.

  “That’s wonderful. They brought the dogs that need adopting the most here today. Our goal is not to leave until all ten of them have families, so I really hope you find one you can’t live without. But first I really need to apologize to you. I had planned to come by your office this afternoon. Kevin doesn’t really understand what he said yesterday.” She could not bring herself to repeat the words to him out loud.

  “You don’t need to keep apologizing. It sounds like Kevin’s had a rough go of it. I have broad shoulders and can handle whatever he throws my direction.” He gave a smile of encouragement.

  “You’re sure, Chief Sinclair?”

  “Really, it’s okay. Don’t worry about me. And you can call me Levi. I think yesterday put us on first-name terms, don’t you think?”

  The man was charming. “I think you’re right. I’m Jessica.”

  “Levi!” A screech of joy pierced the air as Kevin raced toward them.

  Panic filled Jessica and she met Levi’s gaze.

  Levi touched her arm with his fingertips. “It’s okay, I understand.”

  The panic eased slightly. “Thank you,” she said just as Kevin came to a halt right in front of Levi.

  “I didn’t know you were gonna be here. Are you getting a dog?” Kevin cocked his head to the side but kept his bright, star-struck gaze on Levi.

  “Is this your dog?” Levi crouched down. He .took the dog’s big head between his hands and scratched Roscoe’s ears. The dog ate it up like fresh bones; his head lolled to the side and his tongue drooped out.

  It was very obvious that Levi knew how to handle dogs. Did he know how to handle children?

  Chapter Four

  Levi hadn’t expected to see Jessica and Kevin here. It seemed that his town had suddenly grown very small. But as he rubbed the huge dog’s ears, instead of worrying about what the little kid was going to do next or think or want from him, Levi found his gaze lifting up to meet Jessica’s again. The panic he’d seen on Jessica’s face had caused his heart to clench and he’d reached out and touched her. He’d wanted to reassure her everything was going to be okay. But was it? Did he know that?