Page 6 of Summer of Love (Costas Sisters 2)
She met his gaze and smiled, a full, honest, interested smile. Ryan didn’t find trouble often, but he’d found it with Zoe Costas.
“Do you want to meet Sam? See for yourself how happy she is with my parents?” Her voice was a touch hoarser than before. The desire and awareness between them might be unspoken, but it was now a tangible thing.
He nodded. “I’d like to meet her.”
“Sam!” Zoe called, and the girl came running.
Her eyes lit up as she reached Zoe. “Hey, sis. Having fun?”
Sis. He shuddered at the memory the word evoked and at the fact that his niece obviously already felt like part of the family.
“The best. I want you to meet someone.” Zoe gestured toward Ryan.
He straightened his shoulders, suddenly feeling stiff and uncomfortable as Sam looked him over from head to toe, then frowned. “I hope he’s not your boyfriend.” She wrinkled her nose in the disgust only a teenager could demonstrate.
Clearly, he’d come up lacking. He tried not to let it bother him since she didn’t know him yet.
“Sam, that’s not nice,” Zoe chided. “And Mr. Baldwin happens to be Katherine’s replacement. He’s your social worker, not my boyfriend.”
“Oh, man, I’m sorry.” The young girl glanced down and began fingering old keys that dangled from a chain around her neck.
Scared? Chastised? He wasn’t sure but finally she looked up again, meeting his gaze.
“Hey, mister, I bet I can tell you where you got them shoes,” Sam said, her joke an obvious attempt at bravado in the face of her mistake.
He shot Zoe a questioning look.
She grinned, clearly amused but not giving away any of Sam’s secrets.
He shrugged. “Okay, I’ll play. Where’d I get my shoes?”
“You got ’em on your feet,” Sam said and burst into belly-aching laughter at her own joke.
He didn’t catch on immediately, and when he did, he realized Zoe was laughing along with Sam.
Zoe shook her head and tried to control herself. Sam’s old, tired joke wasn’t what had her laughing but poor Ryan Baldwin and his blank, lost stare. She wondered if it was painful to be that uptight and straitlaced. Oh, well. As Sam’s new social worker, a couple of days with the Costas clan would cure him in no time.
She had to admit that his sandy-blond hair and brown eyes made for a darn cute package, despite that he was a social worker and by definition a stickler for rules. She reminded herself that he was a man who would no doubt make her feel strangled and constrained way more than even the safe house had done. Still, she found herself tempted to test the waters and wondered how he’d react if she reached out and pinched his—
“He’s got a stick up his butt—” Sam said in a stage whisper.
Ryan’s eyes opened in shock.
Zoe refrained from laughing and instead leveled Sam with a stern glare. Thankfully Sam got the message and gazed downward, appearing contrite for Ryan’s sake. Zoe knew she was probably anything but.
“Sorry,” she muttered.
“That’s okay,” Ryan said.
“I’ve got to go talk to my friend Stacey,” Sam said.
Zoe nodded. “That’s a good idea.”
Before leaving, Sam glanced at Ryan. “Nice meeting you, Mr. Baldwin. You’re gonna let me stay with Elena and Nicholas, right?”
Zoe’s heart clenched, not just at Sam’s plea but at her sudden polite tone. That wasn’t who Sam was, and Zoe hated the anxiety and insecurity Sam was forced to live with every single day.
“Go have fun. Nobody’s making any decisions today.” Zoe ruffled the girl’s long hair, and after Sam had sped away, she turned to Ryan.
“If there’s anything you can do to speed this process along, it’ll be better for everyone, believe me. In the best interest of the child,” she said, parroting Katherine and everyone else in the government bureaucracy. “I mean since that’s what you’re all about, and we are what Sam wants…” Zoe trailed off as Ryan’s expression shut down.
Apparently, she’d crossed the line. The Costas clan tended to do that too often. Pleasing the social worker and worrying about conforming to someone else’s standards was the one thing that had the entire family on edge. They were an out-of-the-box sort of group and nothing, not even adopting a child, could change that.
Thankfully Social Services had agreed to the foster placement and the past few months had been uneventful. Now if she could just get her mother to stall Sam’s birthday present until Ryan Baldwin left, she’d feel much better.
“I’m sorry. No more pushing. I promise. So, how about a tour of the house?” she asked with forced cheer, recalling that had been one of the first things the other social worker had requested.
He seemed to relax and even crack a smile. “Has anyone ever told you you’re just like your mother?”
She cocked her head to one side. “If you mean because I’m pushy, tend to ramble, and usually get what I want, then yeah, people do think my mother and I are alike.”
