Handsome Flirt

by Lori Wilde

  “Is this your lab?” she asked.

  Andrew walked over to a desk in the corner and picked up a small picture frame. “Yes. I do behavioral research with animals, mostly mice.”

  Dani leaned down and looked into one of the cages. A pair of mice were cuddled around each other and sound asleep. “What kind of behavior do you study?”

  “Bonding.” Andrew handed her the picture.

  Dani looked at the happy family. Yes, indeed, this was going to help their case. It was obvious Andrew Knightly and his family all cared deeply about each other.

  Perfect.

  From across the room, Travis asked, “What exactly do you mean by bonding? Like children bonding to a parent?”

  Dani glanced over at him. He was studying a chart on the wall.

  “In a way. Certainly, that's the traditional meaning of bonding, but I'm looking into how bonding impacts the mating ritual of mice,” Andrew said.

  In the back of Dani's mind, a wary feeling started to grow. She tried to push it away, but it kept getting stronger.

  “In what way?” she finally asked, now certain she wasn't going to like the answer.

  “I know it seems odd, but I'm convinced mice mate for reasons more complicated than mere instinct. I think they form bonds with each other and that these bonds are based on more than mere proximity during mating periods.”

  Dani sat on the backless wooden stool behind her. “What do you think these bonds are?”

  “Love, and that's the part that perpetually confuses me,” Andrew said with a smile. But as soon as he said the words, silence fell on the room and his smile faded.

  ”Oh, you don't seriously think that Freda's curse had anything to do with the fact that I'm baffled by the bonding that takes place between mice, do you?” Andrew frowned. “Of course, I do often compare this bonding to the act of humans falling in love, but her curse didn't have a thing to do with it.”

  Travis moved back to stand next to Dani. He patted her shoulder as he said to Dr. Knightly, “I have to admit, I never thought of mice as falling in love. I thought they just...combined when appropriate.”

  Andrew nodded. “Most people think that, but I feel there's more at work than simple instinct. I believe that mice form a bond and this bond is similar to what we humans call love.”

  Dani glanced at the mice in the cages. “So have you been able to prove your theory?”

  “Not really. Over the years, my theories have proven hard to show. But I live in hope that soon I'll find a way to prove what I'm sure is fact,” he said.

  As he wandered over to the big group of cages near the window, Dani glanced up at Travis. He seemed as sad as she felt.

  “Love has constantly confused him,” she said softly.

  “I don't think it's the same thing,” Travis insisted.

  Andrew turned to face them. “Absolutely. It's not the same thing at all. I don't think that's what your grandmother had in mind. In fact, I'm sure it isn't. I'm sure she was speaking about human love, which has never baffled me.”

  Despite his words, he didn't sound any more confident than Dani felt. Carl's attorney could easily use this against them.

  Dani rubbed her left temple. “I'm afraid we won't be able to use you after all.”

  He actually looked disappointed. “That's a shame, but I can see how this would complicate matters. Funny, up until you pointed this out, I never even considered her curse as being true. But if you take what she said verbatim, then I guess it's true that love has baffled me my entire life. It just isn't human love that's the culprit.”

  “Maybe we can find a way to use you still,” Travis offered. “Your family life is a real plus.”

  “But it's not enough,” Dani said, unable to believe that once again, her grandmother's curse had come true. This was insane. Freda didn't possess any magical powers. She had no way of making these rantings come true.

  Instead, these were coincidences. Strange little cosmic quirks. Normally, Dani would find this situation amusing. After all, it was funny that everything Freda had said seemed to come true.

  But she was running out of time to help her grandmother. She needed to pack and get ready for her move. She didn't have time to keep searching all over the place for someone who hadn't had the curse come true.

  Still, whether she had time for this or not, she was going to have to keep looking. Because so far, she hadn't accomplished a blasted thing.

  “I THINK YOU SHOULD use the happy angle,” Travis said as they pulled out of the parking lot. “Andrew is happy. Peggy is happy. The curses haven't made their lives miserable. They've made them happy.”

  He thought his argument made a lot of sense, but Dani apparently didn't buy it. She shook her head.

  “That won't fly. I can't tell this man that, hey, sure the curse worked, but you should be like everyone else Freda cursed—happy.” She did a mock shudder. “It would take Carl's lawyer a month to stop laughing.”

  Travis stopped at a traffic light and looked over at Dani. He could practically feel the tension coming off her. She was under a lot of stress, and so far, nothing they'd tried had helped alleviate that.

  “Okay, so then we keep looking,” he said. “Sooner or later, we are going to find someone who can help.”

  “Probably,” she said, but he knew she didn't mean it.

  “Definitely. So next up is Sarah Davenport. She's a childhood friend of your grandmother's who came to the United States the same year Freda did. Apparently, they were friends for many, many years. When I spoke to Sarah, she said Freda cursed her one time when they were arguing over a boy. The curse was that love would amaze her. Although Sarah maintains she does find love an amazing emotion, she said that absolutely nothing about the curse has come true in her life. I think she may be perfect for the case.”

  The light changed, so Travis headed them south toward the small town where Sarah lived. Next to him, Dani was silent, apparently thinking about what he'd just said. He mentally crossed his fingers that Sarah was as good as she sounded, and hey, wasn't it about time they had some good luck? Cursing someone that love would constantly amaze them was like saying the sky was usually blue.

  This one should be a slam dunk.

  “I guess it won't hurt to talk to her,” Dani finally said. “I'm just feeling so defeated with all these setbacks.”

  “Yeah, well, the curses are kind of general, so in a way, it's how we're interpreting them that's making it look like they came true.”

  The look she shot him was priceless. “You can't be serious. Anyone is going to interpret Peggy's curse the way we did. The woman has seven children. If that's not love in excess, I don't know what is.”

  “Okay, sure, maybe in her case,” he relented. “But in Andrew's case, you can make a strong argument that studying the mating habits of mice is hardly the same thing as being baffled and confused by love.

  And I'm certain when Freda cursed him, the last thing she was thinking about was him being baffled by mice.”

  He had a good point, and he could tell she knew it. She leaned her head back against the headrest and sighed.

  “You're right. I'm sure Nana wasn't thinking about mice when she cursed Andrew,” Dani said. “And if worse comes to worse, I suppose I can use him. If they bring up the mice thing, I can always argue that Freda hates mice and would never have anything to do with them.”

  “Exactly.” Travis studied her. She looked a little happier now.

  “So if we end up absolutely stuck, I guess we'll use Andrew.” Dani sat up straight in her seat.

  “That's the spirit.” He exited the interstate and then turned into the parking lot of a restaurant. Time for food. But before they got out of the car, he reached over and patted her leg. “Things will work out.”

  He'd intended the pat to be one of comfort. Bad mistake. Instead of a friendly gesture, the second his hand touched her bare skin, desire shot through him like a charge of electricity.

  He found his willful h
and lingering, and the pat he'd intended quickly turned into a caress. Damn hand. It should know better.

  But it didn't, so Travis kept expecting Dani to grab his hand and move it while she simultaneously gave him a lecture on how they'd agreed to be friends only.

  Unfortunately, she didn't do either of those things. Instead, she covered his hand with her own.

  “We need to stop doing things like this,” she said, her voice soft and seductive.

  Travis nodded and continued to caress her leg. “Absolutely.”

  “It's not smart.”

  “Not a bit.” He slid his hand higher on her leg.

  “So we'll stop,” she said, but since her voice was raspy with desire, he knew she didn't mean a word she'd said.

  He felt like a high school kid all over again, as if he were trying to get away with something. As if he were trying to impress the girl with his moves.

  Yeah, but there was nothing smooth or cool about this situation. And he was way too old for games, especially with someone like Dani.

  Once again, he reminded himself that she was a friend. A client. The last woman he should be fooling around with in his car.

  That did it. Reluctantly, he removed his hand.

  “You know, I haven't a clue what's going on between us,” he admitted. “But I haven't given up on the theory that I've lost my mind.”

  “Then I've lost mine, too,” she said, her gaze holding his. “Is insanity contagious?”

  He sighed. “I don't know. I'm beginning to think so. In high school, there was never anything between us. Zip. Nothing.” He glanced at the restaurant door and then back at her. “Unless I missed something.”

  She shook her head. “No. I know all the girls were wild about you, but honestly, Travis, to me you were just a friend.”

  “So where's all this attraction coming from now?”

  “Haven't a clue,” she admitted.

  “Well, if you don't know and I don't know, who does?”

  She shrugged. “Beats me.”

  “We certainly can't ask Dr. Knightly because we already know love and attraction baffle him.”

  His nonsense had the expected result. She laughed, breaking the weird sexual tension.

  “True,” she finally managed to say. “I have a suggestion. I say we ignore the annoying attraction. I'm sure after a while it will go away.”

  “Think we can do it?” He honestly didn't think it would work. Normally, he felt in complete control when it came to relationships. He kept them light. He kept them simple. If they started to be complicated, he pulled the plug.

  But this attraction he felt for Dani was different. It went way beyond the typical isn't-she-hot attraction. Sure, Dani was cute. But she was also fun and funny and smart. He really admired and respected her.

  And that made him nervous as hell.

  “I think we can. Want to give it a try?” she asked.

  “I guess. Plus, what do we have to lose?”

  Chapter Five

  Life really had it in for her, Dani decided as she finished filling out the paperwork for a room at the Sleepy Inn, a small bed and breakfast on the outskirts of town. She and Travis had just agreed to ignore the attraction between them when Sarah called and asked to postpone their meeting until the morning. Since it was too far to drive back home now, they'd been left with no choice but to find a place to stay.

  Although they would have preferred a modern hotel, there was a local football game tonight that had filled up all the cheaper places. In fact, the only reason they'd been able to get a room at the Sleepy Inn was because of a last-minute cancellation.

  “People don't miss the chance to see the Tigers play the Cougars,” the owner of the Sleepy Inn, Louise Reardon, said as she led them up the winding stairs to their rooms. “This is a rivalry that goes back decades. I'm sure you'll want to go to the game even if you're not from around here. It's the event of the year. Those boys go at it.”

  “Really,” Dani said, only partially listening. Her attention was focused on the man following her. Although she and Travis had agreed to ignore the attraction between them, an overnight stay at a hotel wouldn't make things any easier.

  “Oh, yes.” Louise laughed, her white curls bobbing. “Personally, I don't care who wins because it's all green money to me. The inn is packed on Tiger-Cougar weekend. Anyhoo, you really should go to the game. Neither team is that good, but they're about equally bad, so it's interesting. And the crowd goes crazy. That in itself is the best reason to go.”

  “I'm not sure we can make it,” Dani said.

  She glanced at Travis, who shrugged. She felt bad for him. He was carrying a lot. First, he had the bag of things she'd bought at a local store when they'd realized they were going to have to spend the night here. Then he had a duffel bag with his spare clothes that he thankfully carried in his truck at all times. When Dani had teased him about it, he'd explained it was left over from his days as a P.I., when he never knew what was going to happen and liked to be prepared.

  In addition to their things, he also had two boxes Louise had asked him to bring upstairs. Dani had offered several times to help and had tried in vain to grab her things before he did, but in typical macho male fashion, he'd picked up everything and was now pretending it wasn't killing him carrying it all up the narrow, winding steps.

  Poor baby.

  “If you need tickets, just stop by the front desk later, and I'll give you a couple,” Louise prattled on, apparently unconcerned that they might be damaging Travis’ back forever.

  “We'll think about it,” Dani said, sending another concerned look over her shoulder at Travis. She had to admit, he didn't seem to be struggling even though she knew those boxes Louise had given him weighed a ton. He must work out, or maybe all the work he did on the ranch made him strong.

  Of course, that would explain the muscles she'd felt the night he'd kissed her. As they'd kissed, she'd placed her left hand on his arm and had definitely been impressed by the muscles she'd felt. In fact, those biceps had been almost as impressive as the kiss. And thinking back on it, the kiss had been—

  “Anything I can help you with?” Travis asked, coming up to stand close to her. He must have had some inkling as to what she was thinking about because he had a fairly cocky look on his face.

  Dani blinked and looked around. Drat. Apparently she was indeed impressed by his biceps since she'd stopped in her tracks while she'd considered them.

  She turned and saw Louise had reached the top of the stairs and was looking at her with concern.

  “Are you having a mini-stroke?” Louise asked her. Before Dani could answer, the older woman continued, “My cousin, Eugenia, had a mini-stroke once. We went for a walk, and I was talking about this thing on my right foot that I thought might be a bunion. See, I had a friend whose cousin was married to a man who used to live next door to a fellow whose aunt knew a man who had a bunion that grew so big, it eventually killed him.” She made a tsking noise. “So sad. I don't want to go that way.”

  Dani opened her mouth to say that story didn't sound very plausible to her, when Louise started talking again.

  “So naturally, I was concerned that I might have a bunion. Anyhoo, after about twenty minutes, Eugenia froze like a stream during January. She just stopped walking and talking and kind of stared off into space like she was dreaming. Kinda the way you did just now, Dani. I kept talking to her for the longest time before I realized something was wrong. Finally, she looked at me and said she thought she'd had a mini-stroke and that she needed quiet for a while.” Louise tipped her head and studied Dani. “Do you think you might have had a mini-stroke?”

  A muffled laugh floated over Dani's shoulders. She bit back the smile that was threatening to form on her face and told Louise in the most serious voice she could manage, “No. I'm fine. I was...thinking about something.”

  She knew Travis had guessed correctly as to what that something she'd been thinking about was, but she refused to look at him.
Instead, she finished climbing the stairs and then walked next to Louise, her gaze remaining fixed in front of her.

  “You two are lucky you're not having to share a room,” Louise said. “We normally don't get couples wanting separate rooms. I know you said you're just friends, but usually when people are friends, it means that they still like to...” She waved both hands in the air and then winked with great exaggeration at Dani. “Get ex-er-cise.”

  Dani stopped and stared at the woman. “Um...”

  Louise kept on walking down the hallway, so Dani hurried to catch up. “See, I saw a talk show once that said it used to be years ago that you waited until you were married to, you know, exercise, and then you only exercised with the person you'd married.”

  She glanced at Dani, obviously expecting some sort of response, but the best Dani could manage was “hmmm.”

  Fortunately, that seemed to be enough for Louise, because she just kept talking. “Then in the sixties and seventies, people exercised with all sorts of other people, but we all know where that ended up.”

  Again, she stopped and looked at Dani. This time, Dani was ready for her. She managed to say, “Interesting,” which wasn't much, but it was better than “hmmm.”

  Louise started walking once more. “Now they say that when young people aren't ready to settle down, they find a friend they really like, someone special, and they exercise with that person until they find the person they want to marry and spend their lives with. They call it friends with benefits. Isn't that sweet?”

  This time when Louise looked at Dani for a response, she couldn't think of a single thing to say. Her mind was a complete blank. Instead, she just stared at the older woman. Louise looked as though she should be on the cover of a package of old-fashioned chocolate chip cookies instead of discussing sex.

  Louise smiled a dreamy sort of smile. “Anyhoo, that's what Frank and I decided to do. After my Henry died eight years ago, I figured I’d given up exercise. But then I saw this show and realized that Frank and I are great friends. Sure, we'll never get married or anything, but we like each other, so why not exercise together?”