Thankfully, Ryan took matters into his hands, sweeping up his niece and explaining in an amazingly calm voice, “This is my girlfriend Jordan, Joey. Do you want to say hello?”
“Hello,” the pretty little girl’s said in a high-pitched voice. She smiled and presented a gap in her teeth.
Jordan forced herself to smile back. “Hello.”
“Your girlfriend?” Ryan’s mother repeated warily, looking back and forth between them.
“Yes, Mom. My girlfriend.”
When her boss’s mother frowned disbelievingly, Jordan wanted to drown herself in the toilet. “What do you mean, your girlfriend?”
“Well, how would you define the woman who emerges from my room in the morning and who I introduce as my girlfriend?”
Jordan knew he was putting on an act for his mom, but she flinched anyway.
“I honestly don’t know.” His mom raised her shoulders and exhaled. “With you, anything is possible …”
“Mom!” She had to give it to Ryan, he was very good at playing the ingénue. He shook his head chidingly. “Do we really have to discuss my relationship with Jordan in front of Joey? I don’t think Jordan feels comfortable under your scrutiny …”
He was so good at playing the considerate boyfriend that Jordan had to wonder whether he had experience deflecting situations like this. When he assured his mother Jordan’s presence in his apartment was due to their budding relationship, not a one-night stand, he lied so convincingly that Mrs. Fitzpatrick actually blushed and apologized.
While Ryan nodded gracefully and accepted her apology, Jordan felt like a criminal. She was also embarrassed to be standing around in her underwear and a tiny tee, with Ryan in nothing but his boxers. The mere thought of her boss hearing that his mom and daughter had found her in his brother’s apartment like this made her want to chew her fingernails to deflect her panic.
“Don’t you need to go to your meeting, Mom?”
“Oh!” Mrs. Fitzpatrick slapped her forehead and gave Jordan an apologetic smile. “I almost forgot that now! Well, it’s nice of you to watch Joey until I get back. I’ll pick her up before eleven.”
“No problem.” Ryan waved a generous hand, set Joey down, and stroked her brown curls. “I don’t need to be at the station until twelve, so don’t stress about it.”
“Good. Well …” His mother looked back and forth between them with an indecisive expression. “I didn’t mean to disturb you,” she whispered. “If I had known you were … oh well …”
“It’s okay, Mom,” Ryan ground out, while Jordan felt herself turn beet-red. She wanted to simultaneously cover both her ears and her eyes. The fact that Ryan’s mom assumed she’d interrupted sex would probably keep Jordan from having sex with anyone for the next ten years. While the woman might have been almost correct in her assumption, Jordan didn’t want to imagine what she thought about her son’s and his alleged girlfriend’s sex life.
Apart from that, Jordan found it was funny that their sleeping together had suddenly become okay once the woman was convinced they were in a relationship.
“Okay, I am sorry,” his mom said again.
Ryan’s voice could hardly have sounded dryer if he’d been a financial advisor. “We’ll be back at it in no time, Mom.”
“Ryan,” Jordan hissed sheepishly, avoiding his mother’s eyes.
Mrs. Fitzpatrick giggled and gave Jordan a confidential wink, which made her blush all over again. “Don’t worry, honey. Ryan’s comments have long ceased to shock me.” She nodded, looking for assent. “You’re coming along to dinner on Sunday, right? Do you like meat loaf?”
Panicking again, Jordan looked at Ryan for help. To her great annoyance, he announced calmly, “Of course she’s coming, Mom. Now get out, or you’ll miss your meeting.”
As soon as his mother had finished her barrage of motherly advice on the care of five-year-olds and left, Jordan watched Ryan turn on the TV and hand his niece the remote, even though “no TV” had been among the many rules his mother had managed to rattle off in the space of a minute. Thus, two minutes after Mrs. Fitzpatrick had left, a cartoon blared through the apartment at an ear-splitting volume.
Nervous and confused, Jordan watched as the man she’d spent the night with left his little niece sitting on the couch and went into the kitchen, still wearing nothing but his boxers. He looked back over his shoulder and asked, “Coffee?”
Jordan glanced cautiously at the little girl, who sat on the couch and watched her cartoon, utterly oblivious to her half-naked uncle and his half-naked companion. Jordan tiptoed into the kitchen, clueless as to what Ryan expected from her now. “What about your niece?” she whispered nervously.
“What about her?” He shrugged and spooned ground coffee into the filter.
“Hello?” Jordan said in a furious whisper, jabbing his arm. “She thinks I’m your girlfriend. And the same goes for your mom! Why …”
His chuckle irritated her. “What else could I have told my mom? That she spoiled my morning blow job—ouch!”
Jordan had jabbed him again, her eyes wide as she pointed to the little girl giggling on the sofa, not out of earshot. “Shhh! There’s a child in your living room!”
“A child who can hear and see nothing but that idiotic cartoon right now,” Ryan pointed out, rubbing his arm where she’d hit him. “Joey’s five years old. She doesn’t know what a”—he lowered his voice—“blow job is.”
Jordan narrowed her eyes. “Your mom invited me to dinner!”
“She’s an amazing cook.”
“Ryan!” She was close to losing it, so she pinched his hip. “You lied to your mother, and now she thinks we’re a couple! And she expects me to go to your family dinner!”
He rolled his eyes at her and switched the coffeemaker on. “It’s not such a big deal, Jordan. Just come along on Sunday—”
“What?” Her eyes bugged out.
Ryan acted as if being caught red-handed by his own mother was nothing special.
“What is the big deal?” he said dismissively. “You come with me on Sunday, my mom will be happy, and afterwards, nobody will ever mention it again.”
Jordan crossed her arms in front of her chest. “You’re going to introduce me to your family as your girlfriend?”
He grinned, presenting two rows of gleaming white teeth, and admitted, “Nobody but my mom is going to believe it, anyway.” He shook his head. “You’re just my alibi so my mom doesn’t run off to church again to pray for my immortal soul. The story with the handcuffs really distressed her.”
Jordan had no idea whether Ryan was telling her the truth. But this was not the moment to pester him further, because his niece had gotten bored with her cartoon and needed his attention.
Chapter 9
As Jordan walked beside Ryan through the well-tended front yard of his childhood home, she finally realized the one glaring fact that she had overlooked until now: she was about to come face to face with her boss, who would inevitably realize that she’d slept with his brother. The mess couldn’t have been bigger if her parents had been invited as well.
She tugged nervously at Ryan’s sleeve, keeping him from climbing the three steps that led to the wooden front porch. Her Romeo, who had picked her up like a true gentleman, sitting in his car in front of her house and honking his horn, gave her a questioning look.
“I just realized your brother will be in there, too,” she murmured and chewed on her lower lip.
“Which brother? I have three of them you know?”
“Which one do you think?” she hissed, getting more and more annoyed with how obtuse he was sometimes. She felt like an idiot for getting into this mess, and all just because she wanted to have some fun with Ryan Fitzpatrick. Now she was standing in front of a stranger’s door, dressed up and holding a bouquet, about to pretend she was Ryan’s girlfriend for the sake of his mother’s peace of mind. All because the woman had caught them in his apartment … naked.
Jordan wouldn’t hav
e squeezed herself into this uncomfortable dress for her own mother. It was beige, with short sleeves and a full skirt, and she’d bought it last year for her brother’s engagement party. She wore it now only to impress Ellen Fitzpatrick. She’d also spent half an hour blow-drying her hair and applying makeup before squeezing her feet into equally uncomfortable ballet flats.
All this fuss, for what, exactly?
When she’d gotten in his car, Ryan hadn’t even noticed she wasn’t wearing soot-covered work clothes. Not that she cared what Ryan Fitzpatrick thought about the way she looked, but she felt at least a little appreciation was in order, since this farce was his fault after all. And she had put a lot of effort into looking nice.
“If you’re talking about Heath, of course he’ll be here, he’s a glutton!” Ryan said. “He loves Mom’s meat loaf, though his wife’s is also delicious.”
Jordan narrowed her eyes at him. “Have you forgotten that he’s my boss?” she reminded him. “Won’t it be embarrassing when he finds out we had sex?”
When Ryan merely shrugged, she wanted to throttle him. “Well, I’m not embarrassed—”
“But maybe I am!” She pressed her lips together.
“Jesus, Jordan.”
“What?”
His arrogant grin made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. “Heath may look like a conservative family man, but he’s really pretty cool. He’s not going to make you scrub the toilet for allowing his brother to do the naughty with you.”
She snorted. “New recruits are responsible for cleaning the bathrooms and toilets anyway.”
He laughed. “Then you have nothing to fear.”
“I’m serious, Ryan,” she whispered urgently. “This isn’t a good idea.”
He put an arm around her shoulder, absolutely unfazed by her worries. “Nobody in this house will doubt that the only reason you agreed to come here today is to alleviate my mother’s concern about me and my heathen ways. Just remember, you’re doing me a favor—my brother won’t take it the wrong way.”
His smile and the warm look he gave her made her feel queasy. Maybe her unease had something to do with the way his arm rested so comfortingly on her shoulder, while the smell of skin and aftershave wrapped around her.
It felt far too good to stand so close to Ryan Fitzpatrick.
Her voice was a little unsteady as she asked, “So if I’m doing you a favor, we can forget the blow job, right?”
“You wish,” he replied with a shake of his head. “I insist on that blow job!”
Just as he finished that sentence, the door opened and his doppelganger appeared. Jordan’s jaw dropped. The man who stepped out on the porch raised a hand in greeting, looking exactly like Ryan.
“Hey! Mom’s waiting for you.” The man, whose hair was a bit shorter than Ryan’s, put on his jacket and came down the steps to shake Jordan’s hand. “I’m Kyle—and if my brother has a shred of decency left in his depraved mind, you must be Jordan.”
Mechanically, she shook his hand and stared into his face, before turning to the same face, whose owner still had his arm around her shoulder.
“Why didn’t you tell me you have a twin?”
Ryan’s brother grinned mischievously. “Ha! Already trouble in paradise?”
“Shut your trap, Kyle,” Ryan said good-naturedly. Then he looked at Jordan and said in a lazy, swaggering voice, “We haven’t gotten to a lot of talking yet.”
She wanted to stomp on his foot, but since she was wearing those damn ballet flats with their thin soles, she stopped herself.
His brother seemed to prefer to fight his battles with words alone. “Don’t take it personally, Jordan.” Kyle shrugged, striking her as similarly charming as Ryan. He gave her a smile but continued to tease his brother. “Ryan likes to keep me a secret from his women because he knows it would blow all his chances if they found out he has a twin who looks exactly like him but also possesses manners and charm.”
“Charm?” Ryan snorted loudly. “Where do you hide your fabled charm?”
“At least I haven’t been chained to my bed and left to rot by an angry woman. It’s the other way around for me—women tend to chain themselves to my bed.”
“In your dreams, dear brother! Once you open your mouth, women run away screaming because all that medical stuff makes them scared you’re going to gut them like some young Hannibal Lecter.”
With great interest, Jordan watched the brothers tease each other, surprised to see Ryan’s cheeks blush. He kept giving her cautious side glances, but she didn’t understand why.
“Where are you going anyway?” Ryan asked his brother when they finally seemed to have had enough of ribbing each other about their various conquests. “I thought dinner would be ready in half an hour.”
“The hospital called.” Kyle Fitzpatrick ran a hand through his short blond hair and practically beamed with excitement. “If I hurry, I might get a chance to assist in a hernia repair surgery. That would sure beat Mom’s meat loaf.”
“No details,” Ryan pleaded, making a retching noise. “Get out of here before I vomit again.”
His brother rolled his eyes and winked at Jordan. “Enjoy your dinner, and don’t believe anything my brother tells you.”
“Don’t worry,” Jordan replied and shucked off Ryan’s arm demonstratively. “Knowledge of human nature is my forte.”
Kyle uttered a mock cough. “Why do I sense today’s family dinner might be more interesting and instructive than my hernia surgery?”
“Beat it and go annoy your patients.” Ryan grabbed Jordan’s hand and pressed it, almost like a warning.
She had no idea what he was trying to tell her with the gesture, so she kept silent, but vowed to ask him about it later—if she hadn’t killed him by then.
“I love you, too, brother,” Kyle chirped. “It was nice to meet you, Jordan. And here’s a little pointer: If you ever want to get rid of my brother, tell him a bloody story. He’s a terrible sissy in that respect.”
“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.” Amused, she watched Ryan’s twin walk down the path whistling, and then he hopped on a bike leaning against the fence.
When he was out of sight, Jordan turned to Ryan, who was still holding her hand. “You could have told me you have a twin! I must have stared like a moron.”
He didn’t reply but walked up the steps, pulling her along. “And you could have told me you were going to wear a dress. Then I could have prepared myself mentally and wouldn’t have been struggling with an erection the last half hour.”
Jordan gaped at him, but before she could say anything, Ryan opened the door and stepped into his childhood home. He pulled her into the cozy-looking house. Loud laughter made it sound as if most of the family was already there.
Still taken aback by his last confession, Jordan took a look around the spacious corridor, whose walls were lined with countless family photos. When she heard her lieutenant’s laughter, she took a deep breath to still her confusion.
Her stomach felt queasy, but when she heard footsteps overhead, she forced herself to look up and face Heath Fitzpatrick, who came down the stairs with a small child with blond curls in his arms.
Her lieutenant was wearing slacks just like Ryan’s, but his shirt looked rather formal, making her glad she’d chosen to wear the only presentable dress she owned. It seemed the Sunday dinners in the Fitzpatrick residence were more formal affairs than those in her family.
Ryan’s next words destroyed that impression immediately. “Since when do you dress like that, Heath? I almost didn’t recognize my own brother!”
Heath paused on the last step and kissed the little girl in his arm. “Mom wanted to make sure we’re all dressed in a way that would befit the occasion,” he answered dryly. “It’s a real novelty after all, Ryan Fitzpatrick introducing a girlfriend.”
Jordan swallowed hard. It was obvious Heath disapproved of putting on a show for his mother. She asked herself what she was doing here, staring dow
n at the bouquet in her hand and aching to kick Ryan in the shin for maneuvering her into this situation.
But the detective, who held on to her hand despite his brother’s penetrating gaze, was once again innocence incarnate. “How nice of you to be so considerate of Jordan.”
When Heath’s gaze fixed on her, she hastened to explain, “It wasn’t my idea, Lieutenant. I—”
He cut her off with a laugh and raised his free hand. “Hey, I don’t care what you guys are up to, as long as it doesn’t end with you chaining Ryan to our truck.”
“Could you drop the cuff jokes already, Heath?” Ryan snapped.
His brother shrugged. “Okay. But only for today, baby brother.”
“And don’t call me baby brother,” Ryan demanded. Jordan noticed he was blushing again. She was surprised to find she liked the feeling of her hand in his more and more with each passing minute. “I’m a grown-ass man.”
“A grown-up man who introduces a fake girlfriend to his mom because he’s embarrassed by his sex life,” his brother shot back with a snort.
Jordan took a nervous breath. “It was a bad idea, Ryan,” she urged in a whiny whisper. “I don’t think we should lie to your mother. She was so nice to me and gave me her chicken recipe …”
Ryan rolled his eyes. “Jordan, stop it already with the damn chicken. Why are you so obsessed with that?”
She glared at him. “At least your mom gave me that recipe without expecting sex in return! That’s more than some people here can claim.”
As soon as she’d said it, her eyes widened in horror. She’d forgotten for an instant that her boss was holding a small girl, who was playing with his shirt buttons. She wanted to disappear into thin air, but Heath burst into snorting laughter. He grinned at his younger brother. “What the hell is wrong with you? First the handcuffs and now a recipe? Jesus, bro …”
Ryan made a face like he’d bitten into a lemon. “Thank you, Jordan. You really know how to compliment a man.”
Jordan considered the drama that was already unfolding before she’d even met the rest of the family. “Maybe I should just leave,” she said sheepishly. “This evening is going to be a disaster.”
All Tied Up (The Boston Five Series #4) Page 10
