What a Woman
Page 26
Mac caught him mid-flight. “Gotcha, you little monster.” She held out her hand. “Here. Let me have the others. I think we’re going to need that chicken wire lid as a permanent structure.
Jared handed the two squirmy things over. “Look. Moe’s still in there. Wonder why she didn’t tag along.”
Mac raised her eyebrows. “Is that supposed to mean something?”
“Huh?” He looked at her, then at Moe. “Oh. Wow. I didn’t mean anything by it. I was just saying that if three cats are headed somewhere, I’d expect the fourth to go along, too. It had nothing to do with you and your brothers.”
He studied her for a few seconds, then brushed his fingertips down her cheek and she wanted to turn into that caress and make it something more.
“Ow.” Thankfully, Larry clawed her arm, demanding her attention before she could. For all the shoe-falling-off action last night, Jared’s soft touch didn’t mean she was Cinderella, and he was not going to fall in love with her overnight.
“Way to ruin a moment, Larry.” Jared picked up the mini Freddy Krueger and tapped him on the nose. “Seriously, cat. I gotta teach you a few things about women.”
“Oh and you know so much about them?”
Jared shook his head. “No way am I answering that question. I just got you to like me again.”
No he hadn’t; she’d never stopped.
“Come on, Mac. Let’s get those daisies in water and these guys locked up nice and safe in that pen so we can enjoy our day together. I promise you, you’ll have fun.”
* * *
AND she did. From the limo that pulled up outside Mildred’s home five minutes after they’d finished with the kittens, with a bottle of sparkling grape juice on ice inside, to the pair of shorts, T-shirt, and sneakers from a snazzy shop downtown, to the arm he kept around her the entire ride, Mac was putting this day on par with last night’s dinner.
“Where are we going?” She looked up at him and wanted to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.
Nope. She wasn’t.
He smiled that sexy sideways smile. “I’m not telling.”
“Is it the zoo?”
“Not telling.”
“Applewood Gardens?”
“Not telling.”
“La Maison?” The most expensive restaurant in the area.
He arched an eyebrow. “Dream big or go home; good for you. But no. Now sit back and enjoy the ride. I promise you’re going to like it.”
He had that right; she’d love it because he’d planned it and he was with her.
She never saw the hot air balloon ride coming. “We’re going in that?”
“Don’t tell me you’re scared, Mac. You were the one blasting me over a motocross track.”
“I’m not scared. I just hadn’t expected this. It’s so . . .”
“Scary? Weird? Crazy?”
“Romantic.”
“Good. Exactly what I was going for.”
She honestly didn’t know how to reply to that.
Thankfully, the limo stopped and one of the balloon crew opened the door before she had to.
“Welcome to In-Flight Extravaganza where we hope you’ll have the flight of your lives.”
She’d been on that ride since opening her door at six o’clock last night.
* * *
THE sights were amazing, the feeling of floating in the basket was how she felt when she dreamed she was flying, and having Jared beside her made the ride an unforgettable experience.
“Look. There’s your house.” Jared wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pointed to the tiny house where she’d grown up. She used to imagine leaving it to live in a bigger place, but now with Gran gone and being on her own, she thought better of it. The house was full of memories. She was never going to sell it and looked forward to raising her family there.
She looked up at Jared who was squinting into the sun. With him perhaps?
She wanted it to be him. Nothing had changed. Jared had stolen her heart years ago and it was still his.
The champagne when they touched down in a farmer’s field was the perfect end to a perfect morning.
But Jared still had other tricks up his sleeve.
A tour of a local vineyard, with drinks on the terrace afterward. Then another limo ride to an outdoor restaurant that overlooked the town center lake with its water fountains, and finally, back to Mildred’s house.
“Have fun?” Jared asked as the limo drove away.
“You know I did.” She leaned against his shoulder. He’d barely taken his arm from around her all day and she hadn’t complained. She liked Jared touching her. God knew, she liked touching him.
“Want to have more?”
She could think of so many ways . . . But she wasn’t sure they should take it to the next step. After all, while she’d been in love with him forever, he was only just starting to feel something for her. He wasn’t quite where she was in the what-if arena. “What did you have in mind?”
“Home movies.”
It was the perfect end to a perfect day. Watching how it all began, knowing that they’d end up here.
* * *
IT was hard for Jared to concentrate on the images on the screen. He remembered those days as if they were yesterday, but he had a whole new perspective on them now that he had Mac on the sofa beside him.
He was in love with her. It shouldn’t be a surprise, and wasn’t. Not really. The surprise was that he hadn’t realized it sooner. He considered himself a smart guy, but he’d been so blinded by his resentment of her that he hadn’t seen her. Who she was.
He’d been an idiot. Mac knew the value of family. There was a reason he was friends with her brothers, so there should be no surprise that she had those same qualities.
And the fact that he could barely keep his hands off her today . . . He’d intertwined their fingers every chance he got so he wouldn’t kiss her until they couldn’t see straight. He’d love nothing more than to spend the next week or so locked in his bedroom with her, but Mac had to be able to trust him and what he was feeling for her. He was wracking his brain trying to figure out how to get rid of Camille.
“Hey, I remember that day. We had so much fun.” Mac took a handful of the microwave popcorn she’d made before they’d settled down with the bucket and four kittens. “You won that stuffed frog for me.”
Jared focused on the screen where he was handing over a giant green amphibian that was almost as big as she was. “I forgot about that. What’d you do with it?”
“Kept it of course.”
The unspoken because you gave it to me lingered in the air.
“What’d you name it?”
Mac exhaled and looked away, but he saw a smile on her lips. “Jared.”
“Ah. I guess I was a frog, huh?”
“No, you were supposed to be the prince the frog turned into.”
“But that’d mean you would’ve had to kiss it.”
“How do you think I practiced?”
He groaned. “God, I really was stupid, wasn’t I? All the kissing practice I could’ve wanted, and I handed you my replacement.” He moved the bucket of popcorn to the table and slid his left arm along the back of the sofa behind her. “Any chance I can get a rain check?”
“It’s not raining.”
“Then a sun check?”
“It’s night time.”
“How about a goodnight kiss?”
She slicked a piece of hair back behind her ear with a smirk. “Oh well that’s okay, I guess.”
It sure as hell was. Better than okay. It was a kiss and so much more.
Mac had seeped through his veins when he hadn’t even been looking. She’d been there all along and it was only now, when his life had twisted sideways, that he could finally see clearly.
She stiffened.
Damn damn damn. So much for his vow to take this slow. And his promise—bet—with Liam.
That last one was the least of his worries. “Wait. I—”
She put a finger on his lips. “Sssh. Don’t talk, Jared. Just kiss me.”
He was more than happy to oblige.
He shifted closer, dislodging the kittens and for once Larry didn’t cause a problem, settling down on the pillow at the far end with his siblings.
Jared scooped Mac onto his lap, never breaking the kiss, the feel of her arms going around him one of the best feelings in the world.
She threaded her fingers through his hair, pulling him closer, and Jared went willingly.
But it wasn’t enough. And seated where she was, she had to know it. Had to know how she affected him. How he wanted her.
He shifted her to ease the ache, but it didn’t do any good. He could move Mac to the other side of the room and he’d still want her as badly.
“Mac, this isn’t going to work.”
She scrambled off him so fast he didn’t have a chance to explain until she was on the other side of the room. “Okay. Fine. Whatever. Where are my keys?”
“Wait. Hang on.” His leg made it difficult to get off this sofa. “You misunderstood.”
“Don’t get up, Jared. I know my way out.”
“Damn it, Mac. Hang on a second, will you?’ He shoved off the sofa but his damn knee gave out, so he fell back onto it. “I didn’t mean this—us—isn’t going to work. I meant kissing you on the sofa wasn’t going to work.”
“Oh.”
He held out his hand. “Please, Mac. Come back here.”
She didn’t move. But she didn’t leave, either.
Go slow, Nolan.
“I . . . I care about you, sweetheart. I don’t want to hurt you. Never again.”
He held his breath as she looked at him. He wished he really could hear her thinking because he wanted to know what was going through her mind.
She took a step toward him.
Then another.
But then she picked up her keys on the projector table. “I want to believe you, Jared. You can’t really know how much I want to. But I should go home. We should both sleep on it. See how we feel tomorrow.”
“I know how I’m going to feel tomorrow, Mac.”
“That makes one of us.” She clenched the keys in her fist. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Jared. We’ll talk then.”
Chapter Twenty-nine
THE smell of bacon greeted her when she opened Jared’s front door the next morning.
The tang of freshly squeezed orange juice got her taste buds going, and the sweet scent of melted butter had her mouth watering.
As did Jared in only a pair of basketball shorts, a jersey, and flip-flops as he carried a breakfast tray into the foyer, complete with another daisy in a vase on it.
“What’s this?”
He lifted the tray. “Breakfast. I thought we’d have it out front.”
“Since when do you cook?”
“Since I want to prove that I’m not a self-centered jerk who doesn’t think of others’ feelings.”
“That’s not what I said.”
“But it’s what you thought. I know, Mac, and I get it. I didn’t consider your feelings back then, so you have no way of trusting that I do now. I’m going to change that.”
She was happy to let him try.
She’d spent a very lonely and very frustrated night in the room she’d grown up in, looking around, remembering all her hopes and dreams concerning Jared, and she’d kicked herself six ways to Sunday for walking out of here last night.
But yesterday had been almost too good to believe. And then when he’d said it wouldn’t work . . . All her old insecurities had choked her and she’d needed some distance.
But she came back because sometime in the early dawn hours she’d realized that she had to take this chance. Because if Jared did mean it, if he wanted this—wanted her—then she’d be tossing it away by being afraid.
“Can you get the door?” He nodded toward the screen.
“Sure.” She walked out first and held it open. “Are we sitting on the steps?”
“Over there.”
She followed his nod and saw the table that used to be by the door under the cherry tree with two chairs beside it.
One was the wicker one from the back porch.
“Here, let me carry that.” She took the tray from him.
“Thanks. Didn’t want to have to do the butt thing again,” he said as he limped down the steps in front of her. “You’re looking at my butt, aren’t you?”
Yes. “No.”
“Liar. Remember, I can hear you thinking.”
Jared had always been able to make her smile.
She set the tray on the table. He’d put a cushion from the living room in the wicker chair. “You sure this isn’t going to cave under me when I sit on it?”
He arched an eyebrow. “Didn’t I just say this whole breakfast thing is a trust issue? How trustworthy would I be if I didn’t make sure your chair was safe? Sit, Mac. Eat your eggs before they get cold. I’ve been slaving for hours over a hot stove.”
The sweat glistening on his skin attested to that.
It also sparked an appetite that had nothing to do with eggs.
Yes, she was definitely going to give this—them—a shot, and if it blew up in her face, well at least she’d have the memories. And no more what-ifs to bother her.
“How are your eggs? Dippy enough for you?”
She took a bite. Over easy, just how she liked them. He’d had breakfast at her house often enough growing up to know that, but she was surprised he remembered. “They’re perfect. Almost as good as Gran’s.”
“Almost?”
She shrugged and shoveled in another forkful. They actually were as good as Gran’s, but after last night, she was playing her cards close to the vest until she figured out exactly where this was going.
“So, Mac. About yesterday.”
“Yes?”
“I had a good time.”
“Me, too.”
“I’d like to do it again.”
“You would.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Today? Now? This week?”
“Why?”
“Why?” He dropped his fork. “Were you not an active participant in that make-out session on the sofa last night? Or the other times we’ve kissed? Hell, woman, at the very least we have chemistry. That alone is worth exploring.”
“But just because we have chemistry doesn’t mean there’s an us.”
His eyes narrowed and Mac recognized that look. That was the look he got right before he—
“Wanna bet?”
Dared someone.
“You’re daring me to find out if there’s an us?”
“Yes.”
Here it was, her chance. Their chance. Go big or go home. “Okay, Jared. You’re on. What do you propose? Gin rummy?”
He leaned in. “I thought poker was your game of choice.”
“But I’m good at it. You willing to risk losing?”
“I’m not planning to lose, Mac.”
Words designed to melt her bones and they did so very nicely. “All right then, you’re on. Five-card stud.”
He smiled that utterly sexy smile of his. “Princess, I’ll be any kind of stud you want me to be.”
She couldn’t help the smirk. “Does that line really work for you?”
“You tell me.” His leaned over and brushed her cheek with his lips.
Damn he smelled good and not just because of the bacon. No, Jared smelled . . . Like Jared.
“
You sure you’re up for this game?”
“Mac, we’ve been playing a game our whole lives,” he whispered. “At least now, we know the rules.”
“I’m glad you do because I don’t have a clue what the rules to this game are.”
“Sure you do,” he said. “Five cards, best hand.”
He had great hands. “Do I get to finish my breakfast first?”
“Do you want to?”
Not with his face close enough to kiss, but she wasn’t going to just throw herself at him and hope for the best when it all shook out, like a game of fifty-two pickup. “Yes. I do want to finish. And then we’re going to play that game. Best out of seven wins.”
“Best out of one.”
“Five.”
Jared ran his index finger down her nose and her lips, tracing over her chin, barely touching her as his finger followed that line right to the base of her throat where he fluttered his fingers over her collarbone in a tantalizingly sexy barely there touch, bringing goose bumps with it. “One.”
“Three. And that’s my last offer.” She worked to put some strength behind her words. If there was going to be an us, it had to be equal, each having as much power in the relationship as the other, or they’d never be partners. She’d already been on the powerless side; it wasn’t a fun place to be.
He studied her for a few seconds, then smiled. “Three, then. And what does the winner win?”
“You proposed this game. What’d you have in mind?”
“You.”
One word. So many possibilities.
Talk about high stakes. “And if I win?”
“Then you get me.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
“Like you, Mac, I don’t go into a game if I don’t have a chance of winning.”
His green eyes were practically boring a hole through her; it was as if he could see into her soul and find every secret desire she’d ever had. But since they’d all been about him, it wasn’t as if they were any surprises.
“Eat, Mac.”
“Huh?”
He picked up her fork, shoveled some eggs onto it, and held it to her mouth.
“Eat. The sooner you finish, the sooner we can begin.”