Accidental Family

by Fasano, Donna

  His fear seemed to lessen a tiny degree. She reached out and touched his cheek. Tony's eyes glistened with sudden tears.

  Robin lowered her hand to her side.

  "Now, look," Jonas said, his unwavering voice was balanced with just the right softness to get the baby's attention. "Aunt Robin is going to be here with us, Tony."

  Then Jonas did the most astounding thing; he draped his free arm over her shoulders.

  "I like Aunt Robin," he proclaimed. "And I know you're going to like her too."

  Robin felt blanketed in the male warmth emanating from Jonas. She could feel the heat of his arm penetrating the thin cotton fabric of her housecoat. There was a tiny, sensitive pulsing right at the back of her neck where his bare skin touched hers. It felt hot enough and disturbing enough to make her want to flinch, but now wasn't the time for a reaction like that.

  A nice, woodsy aroma wafted around her and she inhaled deeply. Her heart pitter-pattered beneath her ribs. She was enjoying Jonas's closeness too much, and just as she was about to chastise herself, she smelled something else... a light and fresh fragrance. Baby powder. She smelled baby powder.

  Darting a quick glance at Jonas's hand where it dangled from her shoulder, she saw a pale white film of powder on his palm.

  The dark, woodsy scent of his cologne mixed with baby powder wouldn't normally bring to mind the idea of a sensual aroma, but Robin was totally surprised when she found the smell quite sexy. So sexy, in fact, that her mouth pulled back in a grin she wasn't able to suppress.

  Helplessly she looked up into Jonas's face and felt an immense relief to find his attention focused on Tony. She turned her gaze on little Tony and saw that he was studying her. She let her grin broaden into a full-fledged smile. It mattered not one whit that her smile had been caused by her reaction to Jonas's nearness… and his sexy scent. It only mattered that a smile was what her nephew needed to see from her right now.

  The corners of Tony's mouth tipped up timidly.

  "There it is," Jonas whispered. "Let's see that smile grow bigger and bigger, little man."

  His arm muscle contracted, pulling her even closer to him, and before she knew what was happening, she felt Jonas's firm, warm lips on her lower jaw. The kiss was over before she could blink, but her reaction to it lingered. Heat suffused her face and her whole body broke out in feverish, prickly tremors.

  Robin swallowed and tried to keep the smile from sliding from her lips. She reached around behind her and grasped the edge of the counter for support.

  "Robin is my friend," Jonas told Tony.

  He's lying. The thought soared through her head like a careering asteroid.

  She knew he was telling bald-faced lies. He really didn't think she was nice. He really didn't think of her as a friend. He was only trying to win Tony's trust. But the weight of his arm slung across her shoulder, the sound of his voice when he complimented her, the feel of his heartbeat where her skin was pressed against his chest were making her insides jitter with an undercurrent of...

  No words would come to describe what she was feeling by being so near to Jonas, by feeling the warmth of him, by hearing his voice.

  "She's your friend too. Do you want to give Aunt Robin a kiss?" Jonas asked Tony.

  The toddler's smile faded.

  Robin shrugged out of Jonas's embrace. "I appreciate what you're doing, Jonas," she said. "But don't push it. He'll come around." To Tony, she said, "How about some breakfast?"

  Tony pressed his little hand to Jonas's cheek and looked into his uncle's eyes. "Fooooooood," he demanded.

  Jonas and Robin worked together to loosen the tray from the high chair. By the time the two of them had secured Tony in the seat, the child was losing all patience.

  "Juice, juice." He pointed to the blue plastic sippy cup.

  Robin set the cup and spoon on the tray and Tony promptly picked up the juice and took a long drink. She stood near the high chair, the bowl of oatmeal in hand.

  "Can he feed himself?" she asked Jonas.

  He blinked several times. Finally he admitted, "I have no idea."

  "Tony. Foooood." The toddler slapped his hand on the wide expanse of the white plastic tray and the spoon clattered loudly.

  Robin shrugged. "We'll just have to find out. Here goes nothing."

  She set down the bowl in front of him.

  Tony picked up the spoon and awkwardly dipped into the oatmeal. Robin couldn't help but chuckle as her nephew tried to fit the rounded edge of the spoon into his mouth. Oatmeal smeared over his upper lip and fell with a plop back into the bowl. Meaning to help him guide the second scoopful into his mouth, Robin took his little hand in hers.

  "Me do," Tony said. "Me do."

  "Okay," Robin said softly. "But let me get just a little bit in first." He did allow her to help him with one bite before he shook off her grasp.

  He played happily in the oatmeal, getting more of the sticky cereal on his face than in his stomach. And about every third spoonful, Robin gave him a little help.

  She noticed Jonas's intoxicating scent before she heard his voice as he bent close to her ear to whisper, "You're doing great. If I can slip off without him noticing, I'm going to go shower and change."

  Robin nodded without looking at him.

  It pleased her to see that she and her nephew had formed what she hoped could be called the beginnings of a relationship, albeit fragile. And she knew very well that Tony's hunger was the main reason he'd lost himself in the task of eating to the point that he'd forgotten to be afraid of her.

  She made an extra-special effort to engage Tony's attention so he wouldn't notice his uncle had left the two of them alone.

  Dropping the spoon onto the tray of the high chair, Tony picked up the blue cup in both his sticky hands and took a long swig of apple juice.

  Robin gazed at her nephew's head-full of curly red hair. Unable to help herself, she reached out and fingered one silky, tightly curled lock. With his fiery hair and big brown eyes, Tony looked so much like his father.

  Jeff had hated his unruly curls. Robin had been so much younger than her brother. She'd still been in elementary school when he'd started high school, but she remembered how the teenage girls had called the house every night for her brother. Robin's mother used to tease him that all those girls were in love with his curly red hair.

  A memory! She remembered how her brother had rued his curly hair. A wave of elation washed over her. Robin closed her eyes and envisioned how Jeff had flushed a deep red when his mother had joked with him about his girlfriends.

  If there was one memory in her brain that could help fill that deep, wide void inside her, there must be others. There must be!

  But as Robin absently helped little Tony spoon a scoop of oatmeal into his mouth, she couldn't come up with anything. The sound of her brother's voice. His favorite color. What foods he liked to eat. She couldn't even remember what his room had looked like.

  Suddenly the black hole inside her seemed as empty as ever. She sighed and fought to focus on the here and now, rather than the past. Too late, she noticed that because she hadn't been talking to Tony, the child had lost interest in his breakfast and was gazing around the kitchen.

  "Here, Tony," she said, hoping to regain his attention and keep him from noticing Jonas's absence. "Would you like another bite? It's good."

  She loaded the spoon with oatmeal and waved it in front of Tony's eyes. When that ploy failed to work, she made amateur airplane noises by pursing her lips and exhaling through them.

  Robin expected her nephew to laugh, or at least smile at her. But Tony did neither of those things. A moment of curiosity crossed his features, however, the emotion passed quickly and he simply stared at her as though she'd grown a second nose. Then, he craned his neck to look behind him.

  "Look, Tony," she said, her tone louder. "Look at Aunt Robin."

  He ignored her.

  "Unka?"

  The desperation in his voice ripped through her like a j
agged-edged knife. Yet she could hear the shower still running on the second floor and knew that Jonas couldn't rescue her this time.

  "It's okay." She tried to keep her tone as calm as possible, but the panic that rose in her throat made her efforts practically hopeless. "Please don't be afraid of me, sweetheart."

  She reached out and touched Tony on the arm.

  The high-pitched scream that lacerated the air nearly pierced her eardrum.

  "Tony, Tony," she crooned. "Honey, please..."

  Please what? she wondered. He was scared of the stranger that sat in front of him. There was nothing she could say that would calm him. Nothing whatsoever.

  Huge tears coursed down his cheeks as he sobbed. He twisted and pushed and strained to get out of the high chair, chanting, "Unka, Unka," in a heart-wrenching tone that made Robin's throat swell with emotion. Then he started calling for his mother.

  Her sight blurred as painful tears prickled her eyelids. She had to get this child to Jonas, shower or no shower. She couldn't allow Tony to feel afraid one moment longer than he had to.

  Tears rolled down her face as she fumbled to unlock the tray from the chair.

  "We'll go find Uncle Jonas," she promised him. "We'll go right now."

  Picking the toddler up, she had to turn her head as a fresh wave of shrieks ripped through the air. She rushed out of the kitchen and down the hallway toward the steps that led upstairs, constantly murmuring reassurances she knew Tony wasn't interested in hearing.

  She felt his moist, sticky palm press against her jaw as he attempted to escape her, but the oatmeal that coated his skin only caused his small hand to slide right off her face. The gooey residue he left behind felt cold and clammy, but Robin didn't have enough of her wits about her to even attempt to wipe it off.

  Tony kicked his feet and she clamped his thighs to her with one forearm, supporting his back with her free hand as she climbed up the long staircase.

  Five more steps, she thought, aiming for the closed bathroom door as though it were an entrance to heaven itself. Four more steps. Three more. Two. One.

  She pounded on the door, sobbing now almost as hard as the baby was.

  "Let us in, Jonas!" she cried. "Tony needs you."

  Her heart was pounding and blood rushed through her ears like waves crashing on a storm-tossed beach. Tony's screams hadn't subsided one decibel and his little body trembled.

  The water stopped running and she banged on the door again.

  "Jonas!"

  "One second," he called. "What happened? Is he hurt?"

  Jonas jerked open the door and Tony launched himself at his uncle.

  "Whoa there, partner," Jonas said. "What's all this? He looks okay." He turned his questioning gaze on Robin. "With all the shouting and tears, I expected to see a broken bone or at least little blood."

  She ignored his teasing. "It's all my fault." Robin could hardly speak, her throat was so constricted with emotion. "I got all wrapped up in thinking about how much Tony looks like Jeff, and I should have been keeping him busy so he wouldn't notice that you weren't around…" she took a hiccupy inhalation "…he looked around for you and I couldn't get him to eat any more and I even tried to make an airplane but... but..."

  "Come here," Jonas said softly.

  He pulled her to him with his free arm, murmuring assurances. Tony nestled against one of Jonas's shoulders and Robin melted into the other. He felt so good, so warm, so secure. Fresh tears gathered in her eyes and slipped down her cheeks. She felt them, cool against her skin in the steamy air of the small room.

  She listened to Jonas's voice, soothing and calm, as he consoled Tony. As he spoke to the baby, his hand trailed absently up and down her arm. He was sturdy and strong as she leaned against him, and she gratefully drank in every bit of comfort he offered.

  The tension in the atmosphere diminished by degree until it was nearly imperceptible. Robin inhaled deeply and then exhaled the remaining distress from her body.

  Finally she heard him say, "What am I going to do with you two?"

  She heard a sucking sound and knew that Tony had found at least some of his security in his thumb. She'd found a great deal of consolation in the clean, soapy aroma wafting all around her.

  "We're going to work this out."

  Robin almost smiled as she realized Jonas's promise was as much for her as it was for little Tony.

  "But I gotta tell you," he went on, "it's really not fair to actually pull me out of the shower dripping wet."

  His chuckle rumbled deep in his chest, and Robin enjoyed the feel of it against her cheek and the flat of her palm.

  Her eyes flew open.

  Yes, her hand was resting against his bare chest all right. The dark, springy hairs glistened with water droplets. She stepped away from him so fast that her heel struck the wicker wastebasket in the corner. It wobbled and then fell over on its side.

  "I'm sorry," she said, unable to take her eyes off his broad chest, his muscular shoulders, still deliciously damp.

  Ever so slowly, she raised her gaze. His sandy brown hair was tousled and soaking wet, fat drops of water from his shower still ran down his face and neck. Her helpless gaze followed one particular water droplet on its slow, arduous trek down his chest, over a powerful pec, down definitely wavy abdominal muscles. She watched it narrowly escape the small trap his navel created. The bead of water collected strength as it captured other droplets that had been tangled in the curly hairs of Jonas's lower stomach.

  Absently her tongue traveled slowly across her lips as the oval pearl gathered speed and then was soaked up by the fluffy terry-cloth towel secured around his hips. She blinked and then stared at the spot where the moisture had disappeared. Drawing her bottom lip between her teeth, she brazenly appraised the slice of muscular thigh disclosed by the too-small towel.

  Robin swallowed, shocked by the rate at which her heart was thudding. She didn't even like this man. In fact, he had a way of irritating her, getting under her skin, as no one else could. Why then was she standing here gawking at his nearly naked body? Why was she experiencing these strange... desires?

  No, she told herself. She did not desire Jonas. No way, no how.

  She dragged her gaze back to his face. The smirk smeared across his face made her want to crawl into a corner somewhere and hide.

  Here it comes, she thought. He's going to open his mouth and say something asinine. Something humiliating.

  Jonas didn't disappoint her.

  "You know, I think there's an old wives' tale that says if you stare at the opposite sex long enough with that look in your eye…" his grin widened "…you just might go blind."

  Chapter Four

  That look in your eye... the words clanged through her head like the irritating peal of a large, incessant bell. The fact that Jonas had witnessed her ogling his wet, towel-clad body mortified her. And even worse, he'd recognized the desire that had flooded through her and caused her to stare like…like…like some kind of sex-starved floozy.

  Dear Lord, she'd never live this down.

  The wonderful security Jonas had engendered only seconds before melted under the heat of the embarrassment that roiled in the pit of her gut. Her eyes narrowed. Her teeth clenched tightly. Her shoulders stiffened until the muscles screamed with tension. She wanted to smack that smirk right off his handsome face.

  How could she ever, ever have found this man appealing?

  She glared at him.

  "What?" he said.

  Her eyes narrowed even further. Her jaw jutted out in disgust.

  "Oh, come on." Jonas laughed. "I was only joking, Robin. I was trying to lighten the mood."

  Lighten the mood, indeed, she thought. His idea of lightening the mood was to humiliate the first person who came into view. He'd done it before, as she had been most personally aware.

  She pressed her lips together, refusing to spit out the perfect rejoinder that would reveal just what she thought of him and his mood lightening tactics. S
he wanted desperately to put him in his place, but the stress of seeing the two of them fighting would only cause more anxiety in little Tony.

  "Come on, Robin," Jonas coaxed, lighthearted laughter still tinting his voice and crinkling the corners of his eyes.

  Tony chose that moment to chuckle merrily.

  Her gaze darted to her nephew's face. The child still had tears in his eyes as a result of spending a few lousy minutes alone with her, but he was happy as he could be nestled in his uncle's arms.

  Focusing her attention on Jonas's glittering green eyes, Robin felt her irritation bubbling up from inside her, nearly erupting in a rumble deep in her throat.

  She turned and stormed out of the bathroom. The urge to slam her bedroom door was great, but she went to war with it and won.

  Okay, so maybe she was also frustrated by Tony's lack of trust in her. And, yes, she was probably acting like a fourteen month old, herself, but, Lord Almighty, that man made her angry! She was shaking, inside and out.

  Robin tore off her robe and tossed it across the unmade bed. The top button of the nightgown proved difficult, but she jerked it free then tugged the gown from her shoulders and over her head.

  "Lighten the mood," she muttered under her breath, slinging the gown.

  As she pulled on a pair of jeans, a quiet voice inside her head whispered, Well, Jonas did calm the baby down. And not only that, he had made Tony laugh.

  "Oh, shut up," she grumbled and stuffed her head through the opening of a green knit top, then she slipped her feet into white canvas sneakers.

  Sitting down on the edge of the mattress to tie her shoes, she felt totally exhausted.

  The shower in the hallway bathroom turned back on, and Robin guessed that Jonas had taken Tony in with him. That was good because the baby needed cleaning up after all the oatmeal he'd plastered over his face and hands.

  She sighed heavily and didn't seem to have the energy to get up off the bed. It was no wonder she was stressed out. She'd had not one, but two unnerving experiences with Tony this morning. Those alone would have been enough to dishearten anyone, but her emotions had continued the roller-coaster ride when she'd enjoyed a few happy moments feeding the baby, only to feel saddened with memories, or lack of them, of her brother, and then her blood pressure had shot through the roof at the sight of Jonas's naked chest. All of these things taken together were enough to fell a bull.