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Mark watched the boys gathering apples, they worked fast, he was proud of the boys, they both had taken the punishment well, with no complaints.
Even Tucker, who was a handful, was a good kid, he was just one of those kids that sorta fell into trouble, both boys just needed their dad, that still stuck in his craw, that a father could just turn his back on his kids.
"C'mom guys, take a break." He called.
The two boys ran over and Mark handed them a water and they sat down in the grass.
"Mr. Mark, are you married?" Chase asked.
Mark looked down at the boy. "No, I'm not."
Chase smiled and Mark pushed his brown curls off his forehead. "Looks like you need a haircut."
"Yeah,its time, Mommy usually does it, she just hasn't had time." he said.
The blond boy tugged at his arm. "Do you have kids?" he asked.
Mark turned to focus on Tucker. "No." He said wondering where all this questions were coming from.
Tucker grinned. "Do you like kids?"
"Yeah sure." He said.
Tucker looked up at the big man. "I need a haircut too."
Mark could see he did, his blond hair was falling in his eyes. "Yeah." he would ask Brianna if he could take them to get a haircut this week, it was all well and good for their mama to cut their hair, but it would be good for them to go to a barber and get the whole experience of getting their haircut.
"Mr. Mark , you coming to dinner tonight?" Chase asked.
"Yeah, sure am, your mama is a good cook." Mark said.
The boys grinned at each other, this was going to be easy. Mark wondered what was up with the twenty questions, but shrugged, he knew kids asked questions all the time.
Mark came by to drop the kids off, he found Brianna cutting bars of soap with a huge cutter. He watched her work and looked over to see Cam playing with his cars and Keely was taking a nap on a small cot, that Brianna had set up in the corner.
He waited till Brianna was through and walked over. "Hey."
Brianna looked up at smiled at him. "Hey."
"The boys are in the house getting something to drink." he said.
Cam ran over and hugged Mark's legs. "Hey."
"Hey big guy." Mark said lifting the boy in his arms. "Me and Cam are going to take off, we won't be gone longer than a couple of hours."
Brianna nodded. Mark held the boy down so Brianna could give him a kiss. "You be a good boy." She said.
"I will mommy." Cam said excited to be going with Mark.
Tucker came running in the barn. "Hey Mommy."
She smiled. "Have a good morning?"
The boy nodded. "Yeah."
"Okay, I'm going to take off." Mark said.
Tucker frowned. "Where are you going with Cam?"
Mark shifted th boy in his arms. "We're just taking a trip to town." He said. "I'll be back to finish the porch in a little while."
"Can I go?" Tucker asked.
Mark stopped. "Not this time Tucker." Tucker's lips trembled. "Please?"
Brianna got up and put her hand on Tucker's shoulder. "Tucker, you been a good boy all day, lets not ruin it, you're not going today." She said firmly.
Tucker swallowed hard, he wanted to throw a fit, but he remembered Mark's words last night, he had awfully big hands, he didn't want a spanking. "Okay."
Brianna sighed and Mark bent down and patted the boy's shoulder. "I'll be back soon and you and Chase can help me work on the porch."
"Really?" Tucker asked excited.
"Yeah, but you have to listen to me, and not touch a thing, unless I tell you too." Mark said.
Tucker grinned. "Okay..I'm going to tell Chase." he said and took off for the house.
Brianna saw how quickly Mark defused the situation, she was grateful. "Mark I really appreciate you being so nice to the kids, it means a lot to me."
Mark looked at the woman, she needed help so bad , and he vowed he would help her with the kids.
She needed a friend, not a lover, and he was going to be that friend. "Thats what friends are for, I want you to think of me that way, and if you need anything, just ask." He bent and kissed her cheek, and the he was gone.
Brianna sat down hard, friends? Yeah she could use a friend, but the problem was when she was near him, she wasn't having friendly thoughts, it had been a long time since she had sex, a long time since sex even crossed her mind, but that man brought up feelings she thought were long gone, but obviously he didn't feel the same way, God she was pathetic, she had some school girl crush on Mark, and he was just trying to be nice, he liked the kids, they needed a man around, as long as they were friends there would be no complications.
Brianna shook her head and went back to work.
Mark and Cam wonder the isles of the toy store, Mark hadn't spent any time in toy stores and he was as fascinated as Cam, there was so much stuff.
Mark seen all kind of things the kids would love. He picked up Cam. "Let's get a cart and find your blocks."
Cam grinned. "Blocks?"
"Yeah big guy."
Mark loaded the back of his truck and closed the bed, he got in beside Cam. "Want to grab a bite, maybe a ice cream?" He asked Cam
The little boys bounced in his seat. "Yeah." he said clapping his hands. Mark smiled and started the truck, he never knew kids could be so much fun.
Brianna was fixing dinner when she heard the truck pull up. She smiled as she heard the boys stomping down the stairs. Keely was in her highchair, she saw the boys stomp through the kitchen and out the door. "Me Mak."
Brianna smiled, looks like thats as close as the baby could get to Mr. Mark. "He'll be in a a minute." She told her daughter.
She heard the kids squealing and Keely decided she didn't want to wait, she stiffened her body in the high chair and decided to throw one of world class tantrums. For the most part Brianna ignored tantrums, she thought focusing on them just encouraged them. The high pitched screaming was nerve racking though. "Keely, you need to calm down." She said turning to look at her screaming kicking daughter.
All she got was more screaming. The back door burst open and Mark ran in. Whats wrong." he asked with a worried look. Brianna couldn't help but laugh. "She's throwing a tantrum, shes fine."
Mark looked at her like she was crazy. "No way she's fine." He pulled out the highchair and lifted the screaming child in his arms. "Angel..shhh its okay, whats wrong?"
Brianna shook her head, he would learn. Keely stopped screaming and wrapped her little arms around Mark's big neck as far as they would go. "Me Mak."
Mark smiled. "She said my name."
"Uhh huh and she's got your number too." Brianna said.
Mark just shook his head. "She was just upset."
Brianna rolled her eyes, she could see Mark was going to be a sucker for little girls, just like a daddy should be, when the thought crossed her mind, she turned away, what the hell she was she thinking, she would do good to keep thoughts like that out of her head.
"Can you leave dinner for a minute." He asked still cradling the baby in his arms. "Sure." She said turning down the temp on the oven, the lasagna was almost done.
They went out the back door and before they went in the yard, Mark took her arm. "Don't be mad okay?"
Brianna looked at him wondering what he had done, she didn't have to wonder long, when she rounded the corner, she seen the older boys on new bikes and Cam was sitting on the grass playing with his new blocks and there was still stuff in the back of the truck.
Mark carried Keely over and pulled a little car out, he put her in it and smiled as she used her little feet to push the car around.
Brianna just shook her head as Mark walked back over. "Mark its not Christmas..."
"Before you get mad, I just went to get Cam some blocks, and well, we got to looking around, I don't think I ever been in a toy store, and we started seeing all this cool stuff, it just seemed like a good idea." He finished.
"Mommy look, spiderman." Tucker yelled holding up several spiderman action figures.
Brianna seen how happy the kids were and shut her mouth, she wished she could do this for them, but she couldn't not now anyway.
Mark looked down at her. "You're mad aren't you?" Brianna looked up at the big man. "No, I'm not mad, you're a very sweet man Mark, just no more toys for a while, okay?"
He grinned. "They wont need no more for a while, theres more in the back."
Brianna started laughing, she reached up and hugged the big man. "Thank you Mark."
"You're welcome darlin."
Brianna leaned against him for a moment, loving the feel of his big hands rubbing her back. She sighed and pulled loose. "I got to get the food ready, can you herd them all in , in twenty minutes?"
Mark nodded. "Yeah, go ahead."
Mark sat down on one of the repaired steps, he would just stay tonight till he was finished, he wanted to get this done and start on the roof, he watched the kids playing and smiled.
He never thought kids could make someone happy, but just watching them, seeing the happiness on their faces, gave him a lot of pleasure.
Keely ran over and jumped on his lap. "Me Mak."
He just grinned and hugged her.
"Mommy, why cant I ride my bike after dinner?" Tucker whined from his place at the dinner table.
Brianna looked at him. "Because you're still grounded, you and Chase have two more days of being grounded, I didn't say anything before dinner, because I knew you were excited, Mark will put them in the garage for you and when you're grounding is over, you can ride them.
Tucker sat back with a loud sigh. "Not fair."
"Tucker, no arguments, thats the way it is" Brianna said taking a bite of food
"Butttt Mommmmmy..." He started.
Mark put his big hand on Tucker's shoulder. "Thats enough boy, no bike, I don't want to hear another word."
Tucker looked at Mark and nodded and went back to eating. Brianna wasn't all that surprised, he seemed to listen to Mark.
After dinner Brianna got the two little ones a bath and got them ready for bed, Mark had taken Tucker and Chase outside to help him work on the front porch.
"Mr. Mark can I use the nail gun." Tucker asked eying it.
"No Tucker, thats dangerous, you help Chase hold that board in place, we're almost done, Mark pulled off his shirt and tossed it, it was hot.
Tucker and Chase looked at each other and done the same and Mark suppressed a grin, it was cute the way they tried to act like him.
The boys held the board steady while Mark used the gun to shoot nails into each side. "Mr Mark?"
Mark looked at Chase. "Yeah?"
"Mommy's pretty ain't she?" Chase said smiling at the big man.
Mark grinned. "yeah she sure is."
Tucker gave Chase a thumbs up. "She cooks good too."
Mark nodded as he put the last board in place. "Hold it steady boys."
Mark had the last board in place and stood. "Okay, good job boys, we're done."The boys jumped up and Mark smiled at the two of them. "You guys did a great job, thanks for the help."
Chase beamed. "We like helping you."
"Yeah." Tucker said.
"You guys better get on up and get a bath, its getting late." He said.
He was surprised when Tucker wrapped his arms around him. "Thank you for the bike."
Mark bent and lifted the boy and hugged him. "You're welcome."
He set the boy back down. "Now scoot."
Tucker grinned and ran in the house.
Chase looked up at Mark. "Thank you Mr. Mark."
Mark bent down and hugged the boy. "You're welcome."
"Are you going home?" he asked.
Mark nodded. "I'm just going to say goodnight to your mama."
"Do you have to go, you could stay here, I mean you always come early anyway and pick us up." Chase said leaning on Mark, he really didn't want him to go.
"Yeah, I do..but I'll see ya in the morning, I'm too big to sleep on your couch." Mark said teasing him.
Chase looked up at Mark. "You could sleep in Mommy's bed."
Mark was so shocked that he didn't say anything for a full minute. "Chase, look kid, thats not something, well its just not proper, I mean your mama and I are friends and well friends, don't just share a bed." Mark felt like a idiot, but he wasn't quite sure what to say.
Chase frowned, he had to get Mark to stay. "Well you could kiss her, then it would be okay."
Mark looked hard at Chase. "Kiss her?"
"Yeah you know, she kisses us all the time, maybe she'll give you kisses too if you stay."
Mark didn't like the tone of the conversation, he wondered what in the world Chase was thinking.
Just then Brianna walked out. "The porch looks great, thank you Mark."
"You're welcome, Chase get on and take a bath and to bed, I'll be here early."
Chase hugged his mother and ran in the house.
Brianna sat on the top step and Mark parked himself beside her."Dinner was great thanks."
Brianna smiled. "You're more than welcome, you've done so much for me and the kids, Mark I really appreciate it."
Mark nodded. "I don't mind, the kids are great, I like hanging out with them." he admitted.
"Well I guess I should get going, I'll see you in the morning." Mark said but made no move to get up. He looked at Brianna, she had on denim shorts and a tank top, her feet were bare, god she was cute, she looked up to see him watching and even in the dim light he could see her blush.
Mark scooted right next to her. "Would you mind if I kissed you?"
Brianna laughed and the sound ran down Mark's spine with a tingle. "Since you asked so nicely, yes."
Mark smiled and put one big hand behind her head, his fingers shifting through her thick silky curls. He gently urged her forward and he slowly lowered his head, when there lips touched they both were jolted, then Mark nuzzled closer, his mouth covering hers. She found her arms around his neck urging him closer.
Brianna found herself dizzy from a sweet gentle kiss, he kissed her for a few minutes, but the kiss was nothing but sweet and innocent, he made no move to take the kiss any further. He finally drew back and kissed her forehead. "You're very sweet."
Brianna kissed his cheek and let him go. He made her feel like a woman again, like someone could find her attractive. The kiss was perfect and seemed to be what both had needed at the moment. Mark put his arm around her, but made no move to kiss her again.
Two little heads peeked out Tucker's window. "he kissed her."
Chase grinned. "Yeah I know, now we just have to get him to marry her, then we'll have a daddy."
Tucker sighed. "He'll be a good daddy, he wont go way."
Chase looked at his little brother. "I hope not."
