Four Flames for Angela

“We all like you, Angela. We want a friendship and maybe more with you if you’re willing,” Hunter said, walking over to stand with his brothers. When did he come in?

“You do?” Angela asked quietly. She hadn’t dated often and wasn’t used to any guys being attracted to her, let alone four hot firemen.

“Yes we do,” River answered this time. “Alvin is busy measuring the porch and writing down what he needs. We all like you and Todd, Angela, and would like to explore and see if anything might come of this. Would you be willing to explore it with us and see what happens?”

“How…how would we go about that?” Angela was curious. She’d never thought about dating, especially since Todd came to live with her, and now there were four men who wanted to explore a relationship with her.

“We want to spend time with you. Get to know you and you get to know us. We want to go out on a date, go for dinner, maybe see a movie. Things like that.” Rock was the one speaking now.

“What about…” Angela looked at Todd.

“Sometimes he could go with us, and other times we would find someone he could stay with. Our parents live here in town, and Mom would love to have Todd around. We also have sisters with children close to his age he could hang with. Mom and Dad are having a cookout tomorrow. Why don’t you and Todd plan on coming with us? We can see how Todd likes the farm and spend

some time together. He can meet Mom and Dad and the rest of our family, and so can you. Then if you’re not comfortable with Todd staying with them while we explore this, we’ll figure something else out.” Hunter looked deep into her eyes and smiled, and Angie’s heart melted a little.

“Todd, does that sound like fun? Would you like to go?” Angela asked, watching Todd to see his reaction.

“I’m going to check on Alvin. You guys make all the arrangements for tomorrow,” Hunter said, walking out the door.

“What about Spot and Tag? What would they do?” Todd had learned that the puppies couldn’t go everywhere.

“Mom and Dad have a lot of land, and the puppies would be more than welcome. They have a couple dogs that would get along fine with these two,” Sawyer answered and patted one of the puppies on the head.

It’s a date then,” Sawyer said and squeezed Angela’s knee. “I better get back out there and see how Alvin’s doing.” He jumped up and started to walk to the door, turning to wink at Angela.

“We’ll have fun. There won’t be a lot of people there, just the family. Well, there are a lot of us, but it will be okay and there will be a few kids Todd can play with. I better get out there, too. If we don’t watch Hunter, he’ll have Alvin replacing the siding, too, and I know you’re not ready for that.” Sawyer leaned down and brushed a soft kiss against her lips, then ruffled the hair on Todd’s head before heading out the door.

“It will be fun. Don’t worry about anything. We’ll make sure you have fun. Trust us.” Rock smiled. And when he did the whole room lit up. Angela smiled back. Maybe this would work.

“You’re gonna love the farm. There’s all kinds of animals you can play with.” River looked at Todd, lifting the boy off of Angela’s lap. He leaned close to Angela and cupped her cheek with his hand. “Don’t worry, honey, we won’t let anyone hurt you or Todd. Let us take care of it.” Then he turned and followed his brothers out the door.

Angela could hear them talking on the porch and felt like she should go out and talk to Alvin about what she needed, but wanted to take a minute to absorb everything that had happened. Wow, they liked her and were willing to take on not only her and Todd but Thomas, too. The day had just gotten a whole lot better. Now, what was she going to wear for her first date with four men?

Chapter Five

The next day Angie was up early, full of nervous energy. What if Thomas caused more trouble? She had no way of knowing where he was or when he’d show up. Even though the guys had told her not to worry, she couldn’t help but. They couldn’t be with her all the time, and Thomas could appear whenever he wanted to. She didn’t know how she’d handle him if he tried to hurt Todd or herself. She wasn’t crazy about weapons, especially around Todd, but maybe she needed something to defend herself with. So many questions, and no answers.

Todd was excited about going with the guys and kept her busy all morning, asking questions and keeping track of him and the puppies. She really didn’t want him out of her sight now that Thomas was in the picture.

She stared at the clothes in her closet, trying to decide what to wear. It was a beautiful warm day, and she wanted to look nice. She finally decided on a bright blue sundress that matched her eyes and looked great with her black hair. It was a halter top, but not too low cut. Her breasts weren’t huge, and she could get away without a bra. Since she didn’t have one that would work with the dress and it had an open back, that was what she decided to do.

The day was a little cool, so she grabbed a shawl to throw over her shoulders and left her hair down. She let Todd paint her toenails a bright pink and slipped on a pair of strappy sandals with a low heel. She was ready.

She checked on Todd and threw an extra set of clothes in a bag for him. He could get dirty quicker than anyone she’d ever known, and who knew what he was going to find to get into at a farm? Better to be prepared.

Angela was so nervous she was ready early. “How soon are they coming, Angie?” Todd asked, jumping up and down with excitement.

“It will be a while. We are really early, but I don’t want you getting into anything. Try to stay clean until the guys get here,” Angie said and looked around nervously. She felt like she was forgetting something, but didn’t know what it could be.

“Can I take the puppies out?” Todd asked, looking around for the leashes they used to walk the dogs. He started going through things and making a mess.

“What are you doing? I just straightened all that up.” Angie went behind him, picking things up.

“I gotta find the leash to take the puppies out!” Todd was starting to get frustrated and making a bigger mess.

Angie took a deep breath. “Slow down. Where did you have them last?” She really didn’t need Todd having a meltdown now. Please not now.

“I don’t know!” Todd yelled, starting to cry.