Lexy’s Little Matchmaker

by Lynda Sandoval

  She sat back. “It’s nice to see that you’re doing well after this morning’s excitement. You gave us quite a scare today. Didn’t he, Ian?”

  “Yeah. I already told him not to do it ever again. He forgot the medicine shot and he’s not s’posed to.”

  Drew conceded the point with a half shrug, then adjusted the blanket over his body. He felt vaguely vulnerable in his hospital garb. Uncomfortable. “Yeah. Well, I owe both of you a huge debt of gratitude. You especially, Lexy. Ian told me your voice was the only thing that kept him from being terrified.”

  “It’s true.” Ian’s serious eyes met hers.

  “Aw.” Lexy kissed the top of his head. “You kept me from being terrified, too,” she said to the boy.

  “Nuh-uh, you’re not a-scared at all,” Ian said, with an air of reverence, his spine straight, tone earnest. “You know how to save lives.”

  “In case it escaped your attention, he’s your number-one fan,” Drew said, in an amused tone. “I dearly hope you count a superhero cape as one of your favorite garments.”

  “No cape.” Lexy tossed her hair and smiled, then addressed Ian. “I’m not a superhero, sweetie. I’m just a one-hundred-percent regular woman.”

  The words caused Drew’s abdomen to contract. An air of awareness hung in the room like fog.

  One-hundred-percent woman? Definitely.

  Regular? No way.

  His pulse deepened as an unexpected pull toward this woman gripped him. Not solely because of the easy, loving manner she had with his son, either, although that was definitely a plus. But aside from that, Lexy Cabrera was, quite frankly, stunning. She wore jeans and a red tank top that showed off tanned and super-toned arms and shoulders. She reminded him of an exotic Marilyn Monroe, all dark, tumbled hair, slanted bedroom eyes and creamy cappuccino skin. Super-sexy without even trying.

  Yeah, Lexy was leaps and bounds beyond regular.

  But he shouldn’t be focusing on that.

  “I knew you’d be pretty,” Ian told her, as if reading his father’s thoughts. “Daddy, isn’t Miss Lexy pretty?”

  Heat exploded through Drew’s body, half embarrassment, half…something else. Because he had been looking, and he had noticed. And she was…hell, yeah, she was. “I…uh—”

  “I tol’ him you sounded nice and pretty on the phone, and he said, ‘You can’t hear pretty, pal,’ and I said, ‘Yuh-huh, you can, ’cuz I did, and I know Lexy’s gonna be pretty.’ And see? I was right,” Ian declared with triumph.

  At least he’d saved Drew from having to answer.

  “Well, aren’t you the sweetest thing?” Lexy crooned, her face flushing. She pulled Ian into a tight squeeze that made him giggle and squirm, then released him and smoothed down his cowlick. As if it were the most natural thing in the world…

  “You look like Jasmine. Doesn’t she, Daddy?”

  She cast a quizzical look at Drew. “Jasmine?”

  Drew opened his mouth to answer, but Ian beat him to it. “You know! The princess from Aladdin.”

  “She’s an, uh, animated cartoon, actually,” Drew added, immediately chastising himself in his head. Why in the hell had he said that? For God’s sake, his six-year-old son had more game than he did. You’d think I’d never spoken to an attractive woman in my life, Drew thought with disgust.

  “’Cept, Jasmine’s just a plain old princess. She’s real pretty and stuff, but she doesn’t save lives. She does ride on a magic carpet, though.”

  Lexy laughed, the sound effervescent. “You’ve raised quite the little charmer, Drew.”

  “Don’t I know it. The kid’s smoother than I’ll ever be.” His gaze tangled with Lexy’s for one breathless moment, then she looked away.

  “I’ll have to look into a magic carpet,” she told Ian. “Much cooler than the minivan I drive.”

  Ian, clearly under the same spell as his father, blushed crimson and gulped, momentarily shy. “Miss Lexy? Are you somebody’s mommy?”

  Inwardly, Drew groaned. The boy was the worst kind of wingman. “Geez, Ian. Enough with the interrogation.”

  Ian scrunched his nose and blinked at him in confusion. “What’s that?”

  Awkward. What could he say? It’s when you hammer someone with question after godawful question, until your dad’s so mortified he wants to disappear? He cast a pleading look toward their visitor. “At the risk of repeating myself, I’m sorry for the twenty questions.” He lifted his arms and let them drop helplessly to the bed. “He’s…six.”

  “Hey, age isn’t a factor. Any guy who thinks I look like a Disney princess is okay in my book,” she teased. “Looking like a princess is every girl’s secret fantasy, you know. That kind of flattery will get him places.”

  Good to know, Drew thought, before he could stop himself. What was wrong with him? He really had gone without oxygen for too long that day.

  She tweaked Ian’s nose. “No, hon, I’m not anybody’s mommy. But I’m the favorite aunt to my best friends’ kids.”

  “They’re lucky,” Ian said. He let his gaze drift to the floor. “I don’t have a mommy no more. She’s dead.”

  Thud.

  And there it was. The awkward bomb.

  The tone of the conversation completely changed.

  For a moment, Drew thought the only sounds in the room were the nearly imperceptible whir of the air-filtration system, the hum-zap of the fluorescent lights and the blood pounding in his temples.

  Her sobered gaze shot to his face and held, and something about the warm understanding in her eyes made Drew swallow past a suddenly tight throat.

  “I’m so sorry to hear that,” she said, her words soft and sincere.

  He pressed his lips together and nodded. He knew the comment was intended for Ian, but he took a little bit of it into his own heart anyway. “Mommy is your guardian angel, pal. Remember?” he told his son, gently.

  “I know.” A pause. “But she’s not here to tuck me in or play with me,” he said.

  A strained beat passed. “No, she isn’t.”

  “Daddy? I kinda wish I had an angel mommy and a real one who can play and bake cookies.” He paused, and Drew could see the ideas clicking in his six-year-old brain.

  Sirens wailed inside Drew’s.

  Oh, no.

  No!

  He could follow Ian’s train of thought, but didn’t know how to stop him. And if he thought he’d been embarrassed by Ian’s nosy questions so far—“Hey!” Ian’s eyes brightened. “Miss Lexy doesn’t have no kids. She could be my new mommy.”

  “Ian,” Drew stammered, just as Lexy blushed crimson and said, “Oh,” with a whoosh of air. Her hand fluttered up to her locket.

  Just then, the nurse with the pens in her hair tapped on the door and raised her eyebrows at Lexy. “Your five minutes were up ten minutes ago, rule-breaker,” she said firmly, peering over her reading glasses.

  Drew glanced between the two women. Clearly they knew each other.

  “Yvette, I was just—”

  The nurse crossed her arms and shook her head. “Just nothing. Visiting hours are long gone, and my patient needs his rest.”

  “Okay, okay.” Lexy kissed Ian on the temple. “Jump down, kiddo, before she gives me a shot or something.”

  He jumped down, but spun to face her. “Miss Lexy, you can’t leave!”

  Lexy aimed a thumb toward the other woman. “Tell that to Nurse Ratched.”

  “Ha-ha,” the nurse said, with a playful warning scowl toward Lexy. “Your dad needs his rest, little mister,” she added, arching her brows at Ian. “And I’m sure it’s past your bedtime, too. Miss Lexy,” she added, in a pointed tone only the adults caught, “shouldn’t be keeping you up so late, and she knows it.”

  Lexy held up her palms in surrender. “She’s right. I’m a horrible influence. I’m going, I’m going. But I’ll see you real soon, Ian.”

  “You will? Where?”

  “Yvette—” Lexy waved her in “—come here for one second. I just h
ave to tell Ian and his dad the news I came here to share in the first place, and then I’ll skedaddle.”

  “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Yvette moved closer and crossed her arms. “So, what’s the big news?”

  Drew felt Lexy’s excitement building. She smiled at his son before aiming those alluring cat eyes his way. “The town has decided to honor Ian as a Troublesome Gulch Hero for saving your life,” she said.

  Ian began jumping up and down, then bounded up onto the bed. “Daddy! I’m a hero! I’m a hero!”

  Drew laughed, in spite of himself, at Ian’s unbridled delight. The two ladies joined in. He snuggled Ian close. “You’re definitely my hero, pal. That’s great,” he said, kissing Ian on the cheek before looking toward Lexy. “Wow. So, the hero award. How did this come about? And what does it mean?”

  “Well, the police chief suggested it initially. The mayor wants to hold a ceremony in the town square next Saturday, if that works for you,” Lexy said. “They asked me to check before the formal announcement goes out.”

  “Can we, Daddy? Next Saturday?”

  “Hmm, I don’t know. Don’t you have homework?” Drew teased.

  “It’s summer!”

  “That’s right. I think we can mark it on our calendars,” Drew said, in a playful tone.

  “Tell the police guys yes, Miss Lexy,” Ian said.

  She laughed. “I will. You’ll get a medal from the mayor at the ceremony, plus you get to ride on a fire engine, and your picture will be in the paper. They’ll even engrave your name on the hero plaque in city hall.”

  “And a cake, too?” he asked, bouncing his stocking feet on the bed.

  The nurse grinned. “Now, there’s a kid after my own heart. Plaques, medals and fire trucks are one thing, but give me baked goods any day.”

  Lexy shook her head and smiled. “I’m sure we can arrange for a cake, Ian. It’s not every day we have a real live hero to celebrate, after all.”

  “Yay!”

  A few minutes later, after Lexy and Yvette had said good-night to the Kimball men, they headed toward the nurse’s station side by side. Lexy blew out a breath.

  “Long day?”

  “The longest.”

  “Stick around for a few minutes and tell me about it,” Yvette said. “I’ll cut you a piece of that bribe pie.”

  “You have no idea how good that sounds,” Lexy said, with a groan. “Peach pie. And coffee?”

  “I’ve got that, too.”

  They settled in with their steaming mugs. Yvette opened the bakery box and took to the pie with a plastic knife. “Whew! What an absolute doll that one is,” she mused, lifting the first slice out onto a paper plate and pushing it toward Lexy. She sucked a bit of peach filling from her thumb.

  “No kidding.” Lexy turned her pie so the crust faced her and forked into the back side. She liked to keep the tip for last. “Give that boy about ten years, and he’s going to break teenage hearts left and right.”

  The plastic knife stilled in Yvette’s hand, and she blinked. “Oh, Ian? Sorry, I was talking about the older male in the room. The tall, sexy, muscular one? He takes ‘hot daddy’ to a new level.”

  “Yvette!” Lexy shot a glance toward Drew’s door and laid a finger across her lips.

  “What? They’re not going to hear me.” She sniffed, finished cutting, then plopped the second wedge onto a plate for herself. “Plus, don’t avoid the subject.”

  “What subject? I didn’t even know we were talking about Drew.”

  Yvette pinned her with a droll stare. “Even you have to admit, he’s the most gorgeous new resident to cross the city limits of Troublesome Gulch in a good long time.” She leaned in. “And he’s single,” she stage-whispered, before waggling her eyebrows suggestively.

  “He’s not single. He’s widowed.”

  “Same difference.”

  Lexy plucked at the seam of her jeans, feeling overheated and itchy. “Whatever. Anyway, I wouldn’t know,” she fibbed. “I wasn’t looking at him. I don’t date.”

  “No?” Yvette raised her eyebrows. “Well, perhaps you should, cupcake. The bloom’s not off your rose yet.”

  Lexy’s tummy plunged and fluttered, but she did her best to hide it. She glared at Yvette. “Eat your pie, Nurse Ratched. I’m not looking for a date.”

  “More’s the pity,” Yvette said, after swallowing her bite of pie. In a fake southern drawl, she added, “If I looked like you, Miss Lexy, I’d have a new one every weekend.”

  “You are pure evil.” Lexy stuffed a bite of pie into her mouth and concentrated on chewing. Truthfully? She’d gotten an eyeful of Drew Kimball herself, and yes, the man made her pulse race. But she wasn’t sure he had any interest in dating after all she’d heard about his late wife. Clearly, he hadn’t moved on.

  As if she had?

  Her palms went cold at the thought. Okay, so she hadn’t dated since Randy, but that had been her choice. After a couple years, she hadn’t wanted to. Hadn’t even thought about it. It just dried up, that desire. She’d had other, more important things on her mind.

  But, what if she wanted to?

  You don’t deserve it, Lexy.

  She shivered, pushed away the omnipresent thought that ribboned through her head. Maybe she didn’t feel deserving, but if she did, would she really set her sights on a widower and his young son whose favorite hobby was hiking, for God’s sake? Couldn’t they at least be avid swimmers?

  It didn’t matter anyway, because once Drew found out about her, about what she’d done, he’d realize just what kind of a person she was and it would be game over. Plus, there was the rest of it. She hadn’t been with anyone since the accident….

  A cloying awfulness stole her breath. Oh, my God. For the first time in a decade, Lexy was rocked by the realization that she felt self-conscious of her chair, resentful of the very tool that she used to stay mobile, active and independent.

  And that simple fact left her awash in shame. Her friends and family loved her; the chair didn’t matter to them. It didn’t matter to her, either. In fact, quite the opposite—she appreciated it. If the simple idea of dating a man made her worry about her chair? Well, then, she’d rather not bother. She didn’t need romance to make her life complete. Didn’t deserve a boyfriend nor did she need a hobby. And no, she wasn’t anyone’s superwoman.

  She was fine with her life exactly as it was.

  Ask anyone.

  That traitorous voice inside her whispered, who exactly are you trying to convince?

  Chapter Five

  Deep down, Drew knew something had changed for him.

  On the surface, his life appeared normal. Status quo. Business as usual. Same Drew, different day. He’d like to blame his current, inane train of thought on Ian’s hero worship and mommy obsession and nonstop chatter about the woman who could “save lives,” but a man could only lie to himself for so long.

  This was about Lexy, not Ian.

  He’d seen her once, right? Once. And he hadn’t stopped thinking about her since. Drew wracked his brain. Honestly, he hadn’t thought of a woman—any woman—since Gina had died, not even when his former colleagues had tried to nudge him back into the deep end of the dating pool six months ago.

  You aren’t getting any younger, Kimball.

  She’s hot, and she really wants to meet you.

  What could it hurt? Might do you good.

  He’d loved Gina, sure, but she’d been a bright, dangerous flame, and he’d wound up burned. He’d always claimed Ian wasn’t ready for a new female in his life, but the truth was, no one, not even the so-called “hot ones,” had intrigued him enough to pull him out of his comfort zone. No one, that is, until now. But was Lexy even interested?

  Drew engaged his blinker, looked both ways, turned left. “Stupid.”

  “Huh?”

  Drew glanced into the rearview mirror; Ian stared up from his little handheld video game. “Nothing, pal. Just thinking out loud.”

  Ian went
back to his game, Drew to his inane thoughts. The thing was, he didn’t even know Lexy, not really. Didn’t know if she dated, if she even had any interest. Didn’t know what dating a woman with her physical differences would entail. He’d be lying if he said that hadn’t crossed his mind. Yes, she seemed worth pursuing, and anyone with eyes and a libido could see her beauty. He’d even paid attention earlier that week when Ian had played his Aladdin DVD, just to get a glimpse of Princess Jasmine. The “animated cartoon character” Ian thought she resembled.

  God. Had Drew really said that to her?

  Clearly, he was delusional.

  But, the sobering fact was, Lexy had set up camp in his mind since she had visited him and Ian in the hospital, and he wanted to know more. Those slanted green eyes, the easy way she had with his son. Her hair. God, her hair.

  He was curious about her, about the way she lived, if she had someone special in her life. He wanted to hear more about her accident, more about her athletic pursuits, more about everything that made Lexy…Lexy.

  “Stupid,” he muttered.

  “Thinkin’ out loud again?” Ian asked.

  Drew hadn’t even realized he’d spoken. “Yeah, I guess so.” He claimed Ian was starry-eyed about the woman, but then again, everyone always said the boy had his eyes.

  “Are we there yet?” Ian asked, with a seriously put-upon sigh.

  Drew glanced at the clock on his dashboard. Fifteen minutes until the Troublesome Gulch Hero ceremony kicked off, which set his nerves alight beneath his skin. He tightened his grip on the wheel. “Almost.”

  “Why’s it always take forever to get someplace when you’re excited?” Ian groused.

  So, so true. His boy was nothing if not astute.

  “It’s called anticipation.”

  “Well, I don’t like it.”

  “Me neither, pal.” Just like fear, anticipation stretched time until it was nearly unbearable. The boy had been looking forward to this event for a week, but Drew knew it had felt like an eternity. Hell, it had felt like an eternity to Drew, all because of Lexy. Ian wanted his medal and all the hero trimmings, for sure, but he was most excited to see Lexy, too.

  Drew smirked. Like son, like father.