Dating A Saint

by Donna McDonald

  “Temporary insanity,” Regina said on a laugh, running her fingertips up Ben’s thigh and earning herself a smoldering glance.

  “So, Lauren, have you seen any good movies lately?” Casey said, smiling at Lauren.

  “None you’d probably like. I only watch chick flicks and comedies,” Lauren replied.

  “Really? I had you pegged as a closet martial arts fan,” Casey joked.

  “Why in the world would you think that about me?” Lauren asked on a laugh, shaking her head at the silliness of the question, her silver blond hair flying.

  “I thought I heard you had an interest in marital arts,” Casey said as casually as possible, picking up his beer as he watched Lauren tilt her head in confusion at the question.

  With her hair cut longer in the front now, Casey thought Lauren looked more like a cute purse dog than a martial arts master. He just couldn’t bring up the visual of her putting a man the size of Gallagher on her kitchen floor. Jim had to be either exaggerating or outright lying.

  Lauren looked at her hands. “Excuse me,” she said to the group. “I stopped for gas on the way and need to go wash. Ben, be a sweetie and save my seat for me.”

  She elbowed Ben as she got up to leave.

  “Sure thing cutie pie,” Ben said, answering her tease.

  As Lauren rounded the corner to the restrooms, Alexa backhanded Casey on the arm. “What the hell was that all about?”

  “Ouch, that hurt. You’re not going to get physical with me in Lucinda’s are you?” Casey complained, smiling at her irritation.

  “Stop stalling and tell me exactly what’s going on. One of you needs to start talking now,” Alexa demanded. She swung her gaze to Ben when Casey didn’t answer. “Ben?”

  Ben ignored Alexa and looked at Casey instead. “I don’t get it. Why would Jim lie to us?” he whispered. “I look at Lauren, but just don’t see her doing that.”

  “Me neither,” Casey agreed, shaking his head.

  “What?” Alexa and Regina demanded, making Casey laugh. Good to know he and Ben weren’t the only ones doing the mind-reading stereo-talking thing.

  “Jim confessed he made a pass at Lauren this morning and didn’t follow through. According to him, Lauren got really mad and slammed him to the floor with a martial arts move of some sort. He could barely walk when we saw him, but we still think he may have been yanking our chains. We thought if we got Lauren talking, she might let the truth slip. Frankly, I just don’t see it,” Casey said.

  Disgusted with them, Alexa looked at Regina, who just laughed. Lauren’s butt had barely hit the chair before Regina spoke.

  “Lauren, these morons we’re in love with want to know if you used your kung fu powers on Jim this morning,” Regina told her, laughing at Ben and Casey both squirming in their chairs. “They were afraid to just ask.”

  Lauren closed her eyes and swore. Great, she thought. Jim wouldn’t tell her anything about himself, but he told Ben and Casey about this morning. Her face flamed as she wondered how much Jim had said. She couldn’t look either of the men in the eye thinking about it.

  “So Jim told you about this morning?” Lauren asked carefully, her hand nervously lifting the glass of ice water in front of her to take a bracing sip. Lauren wished she had the nerve to just dump the cold contents over her own head. Maybe the ice water would cool her flaming cheeks.

  “Not exactly. Jim was limping—,” Casey explained.

  “—limping?” Lauren squeaked. Had she thrown him that hard?

  “Only a little bit,” Ben said quickly, reaching to pat Lauren’s hand lying on the table top. “We noticed he was having to be careful how he moved—,”

  “He—he’s hurt?” Lauren asked, her face turning redder.

  Ben removed his hand, wondering if they’d said too much.

  Casey reached over to pat. “Jim’s fine, honey. Really. I’m sure his pride is bruised more than anything else.”

  “I just reacted before I could stop myself,” Lauren said, her eyes tearing as she looked helplessly at Alexa and Regina.

  Alexa suddenly wanted to beat Jim Gallagher with a big stick. Regina dug in her purse and passed a tissue across Ben to Lauren, who used it to dab at her eyes.

  “Jim was still on the kitchen floor when I went upstairs to take a shower. I didn’t check to see if he was hurt. I was too mad,” Lauren wiped her nose and fought not to cry.

  “So it’s true?” Ben asked, amazed. “You really did put James Gallagher on the floor.”

  Lauren bobbed her head up and down, sniffling into the tissue.

  “Wow,” Ben said. “We were sure Jim was making the story up.”

  “Damn,” Casey said. “Wish I could have seen you do that. Want to come to work for my security company? I could use you as a bodyguard.”

  “Hell, no. She doesn’t want to work for you, Carter,” a man’s angry voice said near them. “Good grief. It’s bad enough you two harassed me all morning. Leave Lauren alone.”

  Jim walked to Lauren, who was still sniffling into her tissue. “Hi,” he said, handing her a single red rose. “Sorry I didn’t make it in time to prevent the interrogation.”

  Lauren took the beautiful flower automatically. She looked up at Jim still sniffling, her lower lip trembling.

  “Hi,” she said, gaze searching his body before coming back to his face. “Are you okay?

  Lauren’s toughness this morning had scared the hell out of him. Now her vulnerability made him want to scoop her into his lap to comfort her. Instead, he leaned down and kissed her. It seemed the only thing he could reasonably do to comfort both of them.

  “I’m going to be fine,” he said softly, meaning it for the first time that day.

  The hostess was hurrying to the table with an extra chair for Jim as he straightened.

  “Thank you.” Jim said, taking the chair from her and putting it next to Lauren’s. He eased himself carefully into it.

  Lauren started to tear up again watching Jim sit down slowly, realizing what Ben and Casey had said about him being hurt was true.

  “I’m really sorry,” Lauren said to Jim, uncaring of audience. She cared only that Jim not hate her.

  “You can’t be half as sorry as I am,” Jim told Lauren lightly, tipping her chin with his finger to make sure she met his gaze. “It’s bad enough I deserved what you did to me. Now I’m told I should be ashamed for getting my ass kicked by a girl.”

  She sniffed again. “There’s probably some exception to that rule when the girl has three black belts,” Lauren said matter-of-factly. “And I just started kickboxing.”

  Jim leaned over again and kissed her cheek, enjoying Lauren’s quick in-drawn breath. Holy hell—black belts, Jim thought. Lauren smelled like feminine flowers and had the martial arts training to kill him. What a contradiction.

  “If you accept my apology, I may have some better ideas about occupying your free time in the future,” he teased her, wiping away a stray tear with his thumb. “I am really sorry.”

  “Apology accepted,” Lauren replied instantly, still a bit shocked Jim was being so open with her in front her friends, but mostly just glad he and she were okay.

  “Thank you for forgiving me,” Jim said sincerely. He glanced around the table, noting the four smiling faces Lauren wasn’t seeing because she continued to look only at him.

  “What are you—I mean, how did you know I was here?” Lauren asked cautiously.

  Jim’s eyes darted down the table to receive a quick nod of approval.

  “When you weren’t home, I called Alexa to see where you were. She invited me to join everyone for dinner,” Jim said, chewing the side of his lip to keep from laughing at the shock on Ben’s and Casey’s faces.

  He put an arm around Lauren’s shoulders intending to offer a quick reassuring hug, but ended up leaving it around her. It felt so right to be sitting with her at dinner. He wished they could do it every day.

  Lauren put a cautious hand on his leg. Jim pulled his arm
back, covering her hand with his to hold it in place. The pleasure of the touch made them both sigh.

  “I invited Jim because I knew Casey was up to something when he asked to join us. It is good to be fifty and wise,” Alexa said, smiling at Jim.

  Jim smiled back at Alexa, tightening his hand on Lauren’s.

  “Wise—” Casey said, once again admiring the audacity of the woman he couldn’t wait to be married to next weekend, “—and extremely hot.”

  “Well, that’s good too.” Alexa agreed, with a sparkling smile just for Casey.

  “So what’s good to eat here, Alexa?” Jim asked, trying to segue the conversation to food because he was suddenly famished now that he and Lauren were okay again. “I don’t think I’ve been here since you and I—.”

  Jim stopped, his face flushing at what he’d been about to say, even though he and Alexa had been nothing more than friends. It took all his strength to retain Lauren’s hand in his as she tried to tug it free. He couldn’t meet her gaze, but he wasn’t turning loose either.

  Alexa snorted and laughed at the sudden fire in Lauren’s eyes.

  “Don’t get any ideas about using your kung fu on me,” she said, pointing a finger at Lauren. “I told you about dating Jim a long time ago. It was perfectly platonic. And I would be ever so grateful if you’d stop dating the men I’ve dated until after Casey marries me.”

  Casey reached over and pinched Alexa’s thigh. She retaliated by punching his arm. “Stop it. I was not flirting,” Alexa told her husband-to-be.

  “No,” Casey agreed. “But you’re certainly enjoying the situation.”

  “Hello?” Alexa said, smacking him arm and then pointing to herself. “Bride here? I may be old, but I want my day just like every other woman. I didn’t even get to feel up the stripper at my bachelorette party.”

  “Stripper? You didn’t mention any stripper the night you went out,” Casey said, his temper shooting up.

  “Okay, I’m going to stop talking now,” Alexa said, picking up the menu.

  To distract Lauren from remembering their own fight over the stripper, Jim leaned over to whisper in Lauren’s ear. “Are they going to fight much longer? I haven’t eaten all day.”

  She turned slightly to whisper back to him, mollified by Alexa’s reminder about her relationship to Jim being platonic.

  “It’s Casey’s and Ben’s fault,” Lauren whispered back. “Normally, we order food right away. Regina likes to eat.”

  Jim’s laughter drew attention to them again.

  “Care to share the joke with the rest of us?” Alexa asked, the desperate look in her eyes begging Lauren to help neutralize the conversation.

  “I was just telling Jim I might have to take Casey up on his job offer,” Lauren said smoothly. “What’s a bodyguard worth these days?”

  Lauren looked at Casey, who reluctantly turned his attention away from Alexa. When she began explaining her martial arts degrees, all the men were enthralled by her stories.

  Regina leaned over to whisper to Alexa. “Better cancel the blind date for the wedding,” she said to Alexa.

  “Already done,” Alexa whispered back. “I did it after Jim showed up and decided to stay with her last night.”

  Regina squeezed Alexa’s arm and pointed down the table with her gaze. “By the way, good work, Mom. I guess you get to keep the wise old lady label in our group after all. Did you lecture Mr. Gallagher on how to treat your baby?”

  Alexa raised her middle finger to Regina, who laughed. Ben reached over and pinched Regina, who yelped.

  “What was that about? And why didn’t you tell me you were into S&M before we were married?” Regina demanded, her distinct voice carrying to the other diners, making Ben cringe. It was all he could to do to hold Regina’s laughing gaze.

  “It seems to work for Casey. I thought I’d try it when you start picking fights at dinner,” Ben said.

  “Yes, well it makes Alexa want to kill Casey. It has a different effect on me all together. Don’t start something you can’t finish, Benjamin,” Regina said, eyes twinkling.

  Lauren stopped mid-sentence in her response to Casey and swung a very direct gaze to Regina. “I have a martial arts move guaranteed to cure that problem,” she said loudly.

  Regina had to bite her lip at the shock on Ben’s face, not to mention Jim’s. Jim looked stricken, but oh—so respectful. She laughed and patted Ben’s leg as she bounded up from her seat, dashing to throw her arms around Lauren, who squealed at her purring and cuddling.

  “I’m so proud of you, honey. You keep right on kicking ass if anyone disappoints you. I have my own methods, but thank you so much for wanting to help me,” Regina said, kissing the protesting Lauren soundly on both cheeks before returning to sit sedately at Ben’s side.

  “I am so looking forward to our contract renegotiation meeting tomorrow morning,” Jim said smoothly to the men at the table, enthused at the prospect of making them squirm now that he knew how their women handled them. “This is turning out to be a very enlightening dinner whether we end up eating or not.”

  Ben and Casey both put their faces in their hands while Regina and Alexa looked on smiling.

  Jim’s loud laughter drew the attention of the entire restaurant. When he turned his laughing face to Lauren, she was beaming at him as well as holding his hand. Seeing her pleasure, Jim could no longer remember his remaining doubts about getting involved with her. Not that all the doubts in the world would have stopped him from coming tonight so he could apologize.

  He meant what he’d told Barrett about wanting to marry her, but Jim didn’t want to hurt Lauren in the process of getting there. His hand tightened on hers.

  “I promise what we have is worth waiting for,” Jim said to Lauren, leaning to kiss her mouth again, pleased when she moaned a little against his lips.

  When Jim pulled away, he expected to see another beaming smile. Instead, he saw a very determined look on Lauren’s face. He became more nervous when Lauren lifted her chin, licked her lips, and cleared her throat. Too late, Jim recognized the same woman who’d thrown him on the floor this morning.

  “I’m sure you’re worth a lot, but I’m tired of waiting, Jim,” Lauren said to him, not sparing a glance at anyone else at their table. “I won’t force you to do anything you don’t want, but I’m not going to let you control everything either. There’s going to come a time soon when I’m going to be tired of waiting and you’re going to have to follow through. You need to come to terms with that fact.”

  It was an echo of what she’d said while standing over him this morning. Jim felt her hand unfold under his, felt her palm move up his leg, and felt his reaction to her stroke despite the crowded restaurant and her friends looking on.

  “Are you issuing an ultimatum?” Jim asked softly, his gaze unable to tear itself from hers. Lauren was definitely not hiding how much she wanted him from anyone in this group.

  “More like putting you on notice,” Lauren said quietly, her tone serious. “I intend to have everything I want from you, James Gallagher.”

  “No doubt,” Jim said, trying not to be embarrassed as he tried to cover it with a joke. “Can I at least have dinner first?”

  “If you like red meat, you should think about trying the beef medallions. Lucinda’s chef does an excellent job with those,” Lauren said easily, lifting her menu to study it so she could pretend she wasn’t scared about his reaction to her boldness.

  “Since you apologized so nicely about this morning, you can have another week to think about when you want to take our relationship to the next level.”

  At the end of the table, Alexa raised an eyebrow in surprise, while Regina bit her lip to hold in her shout of jubilation.

  Ben and Casey looked at Lauren like they’d never seen her before and sent Jim a sympathetic gaze. They looked at each other, grinned, and picked up menus.

  No help was coming from those two wimps, Jim concluded.

  “One thing I’ve learned in bus
iness is true success is about the quality of the compromise,” Jim said carefully, setting his menu down as the waiter appeared at the table. He looked at the waiter, who was smiling. “I’ll have the crow this evening and so will Ms. McCarthy.”

  Lauren looked at Jim and narrowed her eyes. “There’s no crow on the menu.”

  “There might be a week from now,” Jim said easily, giving Lauren his best stare. “Tonight, I respect your need to be in control. Why don’t you order for both of us?”

  “Betting pool time,” Casey whispered under his breath. Ben laughed and nodded.

  “Fifty on Lauren,” Alexa said softly.

  Regina’s gaze went back and forth between Jim and Lauren. “I have the advantage of knowing the outcome. I have to sit this one out.”

  “You can’t possibly know,” Ben whispered, annoyed with his wife. Regina just looked back at him. “Fine,” Ben said, “are you going to help me out here or watch me lose fifty dollars?”

  Regina patted Ben’s leg and smiled sadly. “I love you, but I have to abstain.”

  “Fifty on Lauren,” Lauren said from the end of the table, her voice penetrating their whispers. “Mr. Gallagher and I will have the filet medallions, the asparagus, red potatoes, and the house salad. Jim can choose his own drink.”

  “Thank you, darling.” Jim smiled at Lauren, narrowing his eyes. She might be able to kick his ass, but he wasn’t going to make it easy for her. “I’ll have two fingers of the best whiskey you have at the bar. Oh, and please bring Ms McCarthy a glass of mineral water. She’s off the sauce until she learns to control her nasty temper.”

  Lauren closed her menu and handed it to the waiter. “Thanks for the moral support, darling,” she said sarcastically.

  “My fifty is on Jim,” Casey said, grinning and rubbing his hands together.

  Chapter 8

  After spending the morning on the Whispering Pines contract, the three men drove up to the facility in the afternoon to meet with the hospital administrator about specific needs and to settle on a timeframe for the work. Jim cleared his schedule to ride along with Ben and Casey.

  Sam showed up at the door of the conference room. Having expected him, Jim rose and walked out with him into the hallway.