Free Crown's Chance at Love by Mayra Statham, Nicole Louise Page A

an open book like I am right now with her.
    “I’m sorry. That must have been difficult to understand as a twelve year old,” she says and I keep being surprised by her. She didn’t make it a big deal, she didn’t press me on anything.
    “Do you have any siblings?” I ask trying to get the focus on her and away from me.
    “Yeah a brother and a sister. My brother Jake lives in London and my sister, Cara and her husband live in Newport.”
    “Are you guys close?”
    “My sister and I are. Her husband Jerry and her are saints! They help me out a ton with the kids, they actually took the kids to Disneyland yesterday after Mark’s game.”
    “What about with your brother?” I ask curiously. I knew about her sister and her sister’s husband; they had come up on the file my PI had given me. They were extremely close to Sabrina and the kids, and were expecting a baby soon, but I didn’t know anything about her brother which surprised me.
    “It’s… complicated. He lives in London, so with the time difference and other things, its tough to keep in touch,” she says, but I feel like she is holding back a little but I don’t push it. “My parents live like fifteen minutes away and my best friend Emmi is literally walking distance from here, so the kids have tons of family around them. Plus, my best guy friend Nick fly’s in frequently from Denver,” she shares.
    I watch her as she moves flawlessly around her kitchen gathering all sorts of things from the fridge and pantry. Nick Riley was another one of the people the PI had noted was always around. Even though he lived in Denver, he frequently visited Sabrina, usually staying there with them. I had thought that maybe there had been something going on between them, but maybe they were just friends?
    “That must be helpful with the kids,” I chime in.
    “It is,” she says as she places a heavy looking cast iron pan on the stove and starts to preheat it.
    “Can I help with anything?” I ask and she looks at me mischievously.
    “If you want… I mean meatballs can be messy,” she says smiling and I can’t seem to help myself around her. I go over to wash my hands and once I’m done I go stand by her. She looks up at me and damn if it isn’t sexy how she looks looking up at me with her big brown eyes. She seems tiny standing next to me, and all I want to do is shield and protect her, something I have never really felt around a woman.
    “Do you think I don’t know my way around a kitchen?” I ask smiling. “You insinuating I don’t know how to cook?”
    “Hey you said it, not me…” she says laughing and I bump her with my hip.
    “Okay Rachel Ray what do you want me to do?”
    “She doesn’t like Rachel Ray… Mom would be more of a Giada or younger version of Paula Deen,” Penny says as she walks in, her ponytail swinging back and forth. Her hair is the same shade of Sabrina’s maple brown hair, only in wild curls.
    ***
    Sabrina
    “Penny…” I start to say.
    “It’s true. Mom can make you any Italian or Southern food with her eyes closed,” Penny says smiling. I’m not really sure what she is up to, but she’s being cute and sweet so I let her stay.
    “Is that true?” Mike asks his eyes filled with amusement.
    “When I have time I guess you could say that,” I say shrugging off Penny’s compliments. “Here why don’t you mix all this together?” I tell him and he smiles and nods at me.
    I watch his big strong hands go into the bowl, and even though he is only mixing ground beef with a couple of ingredients, he is incredibly sexy.
    “Mom can we go get frozen yogurt later?” Penny asks as a lightbulb turns on. I figured out why my girl was being sweet and throwing the compliments right and left.
    “We’ll see okay babe.”
    “Do you like FroYo Mr. Crown?” she asks politely, and suddenly I think she is up to more than just scoring icre cream after dinner.
    “Call me Mike, and yes I like FroYo,” he says as he works mixing up