Broken Lion by Devon Hartford Page A

for a month to month plan, which I did, and paid with a credit card. Lion swiped my card through a machine beside his computer and handed it to me with the receipt for me to sign.
    He grinned. “I guess this means I’ll be seeing a lot more of you, Brigid. You too, Dan the Man.”
    Daniel was smiling and kicking his legs up and down in his chair.
    My heart swelled. “Looks like it.”
    Lion finished stapling all the receipts together and handed everything to me.
    Robert, the young instructor, stuck his head in the office.
    “Everything is cleaned up, Sensei. I’m gonna take off.”
    “Sounds great, Rob. I’ll lock up on my way out.”
    I watched Robert and Melanie walk out the front doors together. They were laughing at something I couldn’t hear and smiling at each other. Were they an item? They sure seemed like it.
    Lion caught me watching. He muttered, “Young love,” and winked at me.
    I felt a sudden rush but pushed it away. “Thank you again, Lion. I think Daniel is really going to love karate class.”
    He grinned, “It’s technically a modified form of jiu-jitsu, but we do include aspects of Shorinji kenpo and traditional Shotokan karate in our curriculum.”
    “Who’s the librarian now,” I smirked.
    He chuckled. “When it comes to martial arts, yeah, I’m kind of a librarian about it.”
    Daniel said, “I wanna be a karate librarian!”
    “Don’t worry, Dan the Man, if you stick with it, you will.” Lion stood up. “Well, that’s about it.”
    I stood too. I was reluctant to leave.
    Daniel hopped out of his chair and ran to the front doors.
    Lion grabbed his crutches from the corner and we made our way toward the doors. “I don’t know about you two, but I’m ready for some lunch. Wanna join me?”
    “I’m hungry,” Daniel said. “Can we go with him, Mom?”
    Lion’s adorable grin was back. Not the sexy-as-sin grin. “There’s a great sandwich shop two blocks from here, and there’s a park around the corner. It has a pretty sweet playground.”
    Daniel gasped, “It’s got a playground?!”
    “And a climbing wall.”
    “Mom! Please? Can we?”
    I looked at Lion. Was this a mistake? Was I breaking a rule? I wasn’t sure. But I knew one thing, lunch wasn’t sexual misconduct. It was just lunch.
    “Okay. What can it hurt?”
    “Cool. I just need to change real quick and we can head out.”

Chapter 10

    BRIGID

    Lion wore a plain white T-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops. He had his knee brace on again. Every inch of him was deeply tanned and muscled. I’d never seen a man look so incredibly handsome in such a simple outfit. I did my best to ignore it while we bought sandwiches, but I may have peeked once or twice.
    At the park, the sun was high in the blue sky. A dozen or more kids were playing tag on the colorful playground equipment, running, climbing, jumping, and hollering with happy abandon. Lion, Daniel, and I sat at a cement picnic table eating submarine sandwiches while watching.
    Daniel wolfed his down. “I’m finished, Mom. Can I go play now?”
    “Okay, but drink the rest of your water first.”
    He gulped the entire bottle in two seconds and slammed it down on the table with a satisfied Ahh!
    “You sure powered through that,” Lion said with approval.
    “Yup,” Daniel smiled, obviously enjoying the praise. “Now can I go, Mom?”
    “Yes.”
    He climbed out of the picnic table bench and scampered straight to the playground.
    “Cute kid.”
    “Thanks,” I grinned. “I like him.”
    “Me too. Reminds me of his mom.”
    “Oh? How?” Daniel didn’t have my red hair and green eyes. He had Donald’s blond hair and blue eyes.
    “Strong and smart. He picked up things today quicker than a lot of kids. He’s got a talent for it.”
    “He probably got that from his father.”
    “You sure?”
    “I’m not very coordinated.”
    “Aren’t you a surgeon? That takes coordination.”
    “That’s different. It’s not a sport. I was never the girl on the track