Unexpected Ride by Rebecca Avery

here and insisted he was fine, so thank you for suggesting it.  Had the idea come from me, he would probably have refused outright,” Becca said when Carla sat down next to her.
    “I feel just terrible about what happened and I know Ben does as well,” Carla said.
    “There is no need to feel bad.  Greg told Ben to tackle him and by the time Greg realized the error of his ways, the boy had nailed him a good one,” Dickie said, smiling.  “Chuck’s right… that kid is a natural.”
    They talked for a bit longer until Greg came out into the lobby area and upon seeing her sitting there, he frowned.  He walked over with some papers and handed them to her.  Was he angry at her for making him come here? 
    If he hadn’t yet again interfered with her decisions where the boys were concerned, there wouldn’t have been a need to visit the emergency room.  She could feel her own anger over the situation mounting.
    Becca looked between them and said, “Did it cause more damage?”
    “No, it just hurts like hell,” Greg replied.
    “We were going to take the girls out for dinner this evening so we need to get going.  Did you want us to take you to the beach house?” Becca asked him.
    Greg glanced at Carla and she could feel the return of the tension that had been building between them since yesterday when she had washed his hair.  The feeling was urgent, needy and a little overwhelming but his anger over the situation didn’t give him the right to constantly butt into her business.  The image of Gretchen bossing the boys around came to mind… maybe the little girl had the right of it.
    “I can drop him off or take him back with me.  You guys go on ahead and have a good evening with the girls,” she replied in place of Greg.  Somehow being bossy sounded better coming from Gretchen but Carla squared her shoulders just the same and braced for his refusal to allow her to help.
    To her surprise Greg nodded his acceptance to Becca who leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.  Then taking Dickie’s hand, she led him outside to the parking lot. 
    When the big automatic double doors closed behind them, Carla turned back to where Greg stood and all the anger she felt over this whole incident rushed into her face, heating it to the boiling point.  Angry or not her eyes were again drawn to his mouth which now contained a lopsided grin.
    “You know if you’d listened when I told you no football for Ben, this wouldn’t have happened.  I expect it out of Ben… he’s six!  Even from Matt I could understand it, but from you?  I do not need anything… any help from you so please,” she started, but quit when he grabbed ahold of her arm with his good hand.
    “I am not one of your kids whose behavior needs corrected so you can just stop mothering me.  If you want to help me then I’ll tell you what you can do to help… but this coddling me has to stop,” he said.
    “Fine… what do you need then?  Are you hurting?” she asked a little breathless from her agitation and the feel of his hand touching the bare skin of her arm.  Stop staring at his mouth!
    “My arm is fine but God I ache… even worse than last night… and all I need from you is just a little… taste,” he whispered before pulling her to him and capturing her mouth with his incredibly soft lips.
    Before she completely lost herself in the amazing feel of his lips moving against hers… that was surely going to make it hard to sleep tonight… she pulled back away from him.  She forced her eyes away from that mouth of his that felt so good and up to meet his gaze.  Somehow she’d known those lips would feel like that… it was the reason she stared at them.
    “Are you ready to go?” she said, attempting to collect her scattered thoughts.
    “You don’t feel that?” he asked with a look of disbelief on his handsome face.
    “What?” she asked as her gaze slipped back to his mouth.  God that felt good.
    Those beautiful lips turned into a