The rumble of the garage door made him check the time. Lori had been gone for just under an hour. Things must’ve not gone so well.
He debated turning the channel rather than having to eat crow when Lori saw him watching the movie without the kids. But the movie was awesome, so he’d take his licks.
Lori appeared a few minutes later, her eyes red and puffy, holding a pizza box in her hands. “Hi. Did you guys eat?”
“The kids ate right after you left. I was just about to grab something. Are you okay?”
She shook her head as she laid the box on the coffee table. “I’m going to change. Be right back.” Lori disappeared and then returned a moment later with tears in her eyes. “I need help with my zipper. Please.” The defeat in her voice sent a dagger to his heart.
After pausing the movie, he jumped up from the couch. As he slowly tugged the zipper lower, he whispered, “Do I need to go beat up Jason?” He’d do it in a heartbeat for her. He loved the time they’d spent together every day. There wasn’t anything he’d rather do than be with Lori. When she smiled at him, he felt like Superman. She made him happy.
She glanced over her shoulder and smiled sadly. “While you have the physique, I’m guessing you’ve never hit anyone in your life, Deek.”
“Untrue. I took boxing in college. I studied hours of film looking for proper techniques and practiced until I had the muscle memory. Came in second in our division.”
Her right brow arched. “I’m impressed. Be right back. Help yourself to some pizza.”
What had Jason Pederson done to hurt Lori? Digging into Jason’s private on-line life might give some clues about what kind of guy he was.
Deek grabbed the laptop he’d brought along and was about to do something that wasn’t entirely legal, but the chances of being caught were slim. He’d never go public with what he’d find, so he’d risk it. If there were any dirt to find on Jason, Deek would find it.
As he tapped away, he uncovered a gold mine of what Jason surely thought were private pictures. They told an interesting tale. And the number of women he’d posed with showed he was a major player.
Lori joined him on the couch wearing gray sweats and a pink T-shirt that clung nicely to her curves. She picked up the remote and hit Play, and then grabbed two pieces of pizza. She put one on a napkin for him, then dug into her piece.
He paused his computer search. “What happened?”
She took a big bite and then closed her eyes. “I ran into the woman Joe had an affair with before his last deployment. And my date was more interested in the color of my dress than me.”
“Then he’s blind. I’ll never forget the first time we volunteered in the kids’ classroom together. I thought you were the prettiest woman I’d ever met. It was just a bonus that you were always nice, and easy to talk to. And the only single mom who didn’t flirt with me at school.”
“Really?” Lori looked puzzled. “Thank you. I think you’re very attractive and easy to talk to as well. Not to mention handy to have around. Apparently, Jason doesn’t think the same things that you do about me.”
“It’s his loss, not yours.” He took a big bite of pizza as he debated telling her what he’d found. The guy was all wrong for Lori. But would she think less of him for hacking?
“It doesn’t matter. I don’t think I was ready to date again, anyway. Especially a guy so handsome he could model for GQ. You can’t trust those types. Joe was very Ken-doll handsome too. I need someone nice, who won’t look at me with censure for eating cookies because I couldn’t resist.”
No way could he let Lori think Jason’s lack of interest was because of the way she looked. He picked up the remote and paused the movie. “I think you should see something I found—”
“Besides, I think I mentioned that my sister Rachel is moving back home tomorrow. She’ll be living here until she finds her own house. She plans to help me fix up this money pit—like you’ve been so kind to do, Deek. The house is what I need to focus on now.” She took another huge bite of pizza, then mumbled around it, “Men can go suck it.”
Did that mean all men? Him too? “Okay. I’ll go, but not until after I show— ”
Lori grabbed his arm. “No. You’re fine. I’m talking about men who are in my dating pool. Not you, Deek.”
Should he be offended by that? Annie obviously felt the same. “Annie’s obsession with sleeping with other men and her asking me to sleep with other women was already making me wonder if all my sex research had been wrong. But now I’m not dating material?”
“Only for me because you want Annie… Wait. Sex research?” Lori finished off her first piece of pizza and started in on the second.
Lori was off limits for him too, so why not explain? “Before I had sex with Annie because she was my first, I did extensive research on how to please a woman. You know. The study of angles, techniques, and erogenous zones to achieve the most intense orgasms.”
Lori choked on her pizza.
He patted her back until she was able to breathe normally again. “Are you okay? Do you need some water?”
“More like a stiff drink.” She shook her head and laid her slice down. “Stiff might have been the wrong word. I’m good now. Go on.”
“I’m thirsty too. Be right back.” He finished off his first slice and then rose and snagged two of the beers Lori had been stocking for him in her fridge, before sitting back down. “Cheers.” He tapped his bottle against hers.
“Salute.” After she had tapped back, she asked. “So, did your research work?”
He shrugged. “Turns out, Annie hadn’t slept with anyone else either, so I was never sure. At least not until she’d left for her dig. She’d insisted we both date and sleep with other people since we’d only ever been with each other. Then we’d know for sure if we wanted to settle down together. By the other women’s comments and feedback, it became apparent that my research had been accurate.”
“Um…wow. That’s…interesting.” Lori’s forehead wrinkled as if she was distressed again before she took a long pull from her bottle.
But she’d said it was interesting, so he elaborated. “For instance. Did you know that the skin on your lips is the most sensitive part of your body? Therefore, when kissing, it’s generally much more gratifying if you angle your heads—it might just be easier to show you. As friends, of course. May I?”
Lori swallowed hard. “You want to show me how to kiss?”
“How to optimize a kiss.” She looked confused. It was a simple concept.
“Um. Okay. Why not?” She laid her beer on the coffee table. “It’s just science, right?”
“Exactly.” He slid closer and laid his hand on her warm, smooth cheek. “To achieve the best results, relaxation is the key…” He tilted her head just right and then did the same to his and laid his lips on hers.
Lori’s lips were soft, warm, yielding, and tasted of his two favorite things—pizza and beer. Perfect. But then something unexpected happened. The heat from their simple experiment shot through his body, setting his cells on red alert, all the way to his toes. He hadn’t meant to add what he’d learned about tongue maneuvers—that just sort of happened on its own. She seemed to have done similar research because her responses to his stimuli were…perfect.
He’d never had a kiss so invigorating.
He pulled her closer, wanting every part of her body touching every part of his. Her fingers tunneling through his hair made his scalp feel as if it was on fire. Then she softly moaned and crawled into his lap.
Her soft curves snuggled against him made him forget about the friendly part of their experiment altogether. While he took pleasure in her hot kisses, his hands explored her enticing curves. She was soft in all the right places and made his Princess Lori fantasies come to life like an Imax theater experience.
Asher’s voice called out, “Dad? Can we go home now?”
Reality hit like a wrecking ball to the head. “Absolutely.” Deek stood up so fast, Lori would�
�ve toppled if he hadn’t caught her and saved her from a pizza box face plant. “Why don’t you go get our coats, Ash?”
Dammit. Had he just crossed a line with Lori? He studied her face, but she looked more dazed than anything else. Or was she pondering how to end their friendship?
He’d hate that. She was the first woman he’d ever truly enjoyed just hanging out with. Worse, he’d enjoyed that kiss more than any with Annie. Or any woman.
He’d have to tell Annie that he’d messed up. He hadn’t meant to, though. So did it still count?
Had he just ruined his relationship with both women?
6
YOU MIGHT BE ABLE TO FOOL THE WORLD—BUT NEVER YOUR SISTER.
Lori wasn’t sure what had just happened between them with that incredible kiss, but Deek’s face had turned pale as he waited for Asher to return with their coats.
He laid his hands on her shoulders and stared into her eyes. “I didn’t mean for that to get so out of control.” His fingers gently rubbed at the knots in her shoulders and neck, still there from her tense evening. “Are you mad at me?”
“No. It was…nice. Did you study massage too? You’re very good at it.”
He jerked his hands away. “Sorry. I’ve noticed over these past weeks that you carry your tension in your shoulders and neck. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“No worries. What’s wrong, Deek?” He was acting like the world was about to end, when all she could focus on was if he’d like to kiss her again.
“Annie’s going to dump me when I tell her.” He winced.
“Annie still says you should date others, so I doubt she’ll dump you.”
Deek closed his eyes. “She’s said that before, but then when I started dating, she got short and pissy with me. She has a major double standard.”
That he was more worried about Annie than the mind-blowing kiss they just shared showed her the attraction was still one-sided. She needed to do the right thing by him. “It was my fault, not yours. I shouldn’t have kissed you back. It’s just been a while, and I wasn’t thinking.”
He blinked at her. “I liked that you kissed—”
“Here, Dad.” Asher shoved a coat at Deek.
He slipped into his jacket. “I don’t want to give you the wrong idea, Lori. About us.”
Another rejection. She couldn’t take any more in one day. “We’re fine. And still friends?”
“Absolutely.” Relief made Deek’s handsome face relax. “We’d better go.”
Lori walked the guys to the front door. “Thanks for babysitting. See you on Tuesday for the field trip?”
“I forgot about that.” His usual cute grin formed again. “Want me to pick you up? You’re on the way.”
She should say no, to keep things uncomplicated. But something about Deek centered her and made her feel…happy. It wasn’t a crime to want to be with him as friends. “Okay. See you around ten?”
“It’s a date.” He walked behind Asher to the car but then stopped and turned around. “I shouldn’t have said date. Technically, it’s just more efficient to save gas—”
“Got it. See you Tuesday, Deek. Bye, Asher.”
Asher ran back and gave her a tight hug. “Bye, Princess Lori.”
She smiled. A hug was nice after the day she’d had. “Thanks for keeping Em company. We’ll see you soon.”
Lori released Asher and waited until they were all loaded up. She waved as they pulled away in their fancy new SUV and then shivered from the cold as she closed and locked her front door behind her.
Emily stood in the hall with her arms crossed. “You kissed Mr. Cooper?”
Crap. That was what had taken Asher so long to return with Deek’s coat. He’d stopped to tell Em. “Yes. But he was just showing me something. It wasn’t a real kiss. But these are.” She scooped up Emily and loudly laid kisses all over her cheeks.
“Mom! Stop!”
“If I must.” Lori carried an uncontrollably giggling kid to her bedroom. “Let’s get you all tucked in. And in the morning, Aunt Rachel will be here to see you.”
“Yay! Aunt Rachel.”
Lori hovered Em over her bed so she could grab her PJ’s. When Lori’s cell rang in the den, she laid her daughter on the mattress. “Brush your teeth, and get ready. I’ll be right back.”
“’Kay. But I declare it national rewind night. So we have to do everything backward.” Emily walked on all fours backward to her bathroom down the hall, like a dizzy dog.
Smiling at how goofy Em could be, and thankful for how easy it’d been to distract her, Lori walked backward toward the den to appease Emily’s silliness. She flopped backward onto the couch while grabbing another piece of pizza from the coffee table. She answered the phone, expecting it to be her traveling sister. “Hola?” She took a big, decadent, tomato, yeasty, pepperoni-and-mushroom infused bite and moaned with pleasure.
“Hi. It’s Jason. Just wanted to be sure you were all right?”
That was nice. She didn’t think he’d ever call her again.
Lori quickly swallowed. Then she laid down the pizza, calculating how much time in the gym she’d have to put in to offset the carb and fat content. “I’m feeling much better now. Honestly, I think I was just having first-time-back-in-the-saddle jitters. Thanks for checking in.”
“Absolutely. Glad you’re okay. And since you’re feeling better…” An awkward silence filled the air for a moment until he cleared his throat. “I was wondering if you’d be free to go to a fundraiser with me Monday evening? But before you answer, you need to know that my parents will be there. I’m sure they’ll fawn over you in an obnoxious way, being you’re so pretty. And nice.”
“Thank you.” She’d been so sure he wasn’t interested in her. Was her radar out of synch after all these years?
She’d have a built-in babysitter with her sister staying. So why not? “What time and where?”
He gave her the details. “Thanks, Lori. You’ll be doing me a great favor. See you then.”
“I’ll look forward to it. Night.”
“Good night.”
Maybe he’d been as nervous as she’d been at dinner. Was that what she’d been picking up on, instead of ambivalence? That he called showed a lot of compassion, and she liked that in a man.
Shrugging at her miscalculation, she rose from the couch to tuck Emily in. Jason might not be so bad after all. And if she were lucky, he’d kiss as well as Deek.
At home, Deek tucked Asher in, still kicking himself for kissing Lori like that. And for liking it so much. “Night, bud. Sleep tight.” He rose and headed for the light switch before he got peppered with any more questions about why he’d kissed Lori like that. It was the “like that” part he wasn’t sure how to explain. Pretty hard for Asher not to have noticed that Lori had been in Deek’s lap and he’d had both hands filled with her enticing rear end.
Asher called out, “I think Mrs. Went is nice, Dad. And very pretty.”
“Yep.” He couldn’t argue with either of those things. “Good night, Asher.”
“Mr. Raymond smiles funny at Mrs. Went the same way you do.”
Asher and Emily’s teacher liked Lori? “I don’t smile funny at Lori. GO. TO. SLEEP. ASHER!”
Deek closed Asher’s bedroom door. Just as Deek started for his downstairs study, he heard a small voice say, “YES. YOU. DO!”
He chuckled as he walked toward the steps. He probably did smile funny at Lori. Especially after that hot kiss. He’d better find a way to cover up his affection for her when Annie came home.
Soon. Hopefully.
Guilt crept further into his gut with every step he took toward his study. He shouldn’t have kissed Lori like that. Should he come clean with Annie and confess? Or would it cause more problems between them? He hadn’t meant for it to happen. That he enjoyed it so much wasn’t technically his fault. It was simply the result of an experiment.
Nope.
He was lying to himself. He was as much attracted to Lor
i as he genuinely liked being with her. Might as well admit it. And be sure nothing like that kiss ever happened again. A grown man could control his hormones. Even the intense ones that had raced through his veins as if he’d still been a horny teenager. He needed to table what he wanted, to be with Lori every day for the rest of his life, and do the right thing. Get Annie home so Asher would have his mother in his life again.
Deek pondered how to go about doing that as he sat down behind his desk and got back to digging into Jason Pederson’s background. There had been hints of more hidden data, and he had better snooping equipment at home rather than on his laptop. Top-notch equipment that rivaled mission control in Houston. His incredible electronics were the one area he geeked out the most but had zero guilt about it. He needed it all for his gaming software design. Well, most of it anyway. Now he’d use the most advanced parts for a good cause. Lori.
Grateful he’d been recruited in grad school to help develop profile programs for government agencies, and even more so that he’d quit because it seemed so intrusive, he put those skills to work.
As his machine ran a mining algorithm that automatically dug into Jason’s online life, thoughts of kissing Lori again made it hard to concentrate. But then, the results popped up on his screen and drew him right back into his mission. The information intrigued him. Seems Jason had access to sources who charged big money to bury data. But Deek was better and found that Jason had been engaged twice before. Two beautiful, dark-haired, very rich women, but the reasons the engagements abruptly ended were mysteriously never mentioned.
The next set of unearthed photos were so sexually charged and explicit, it was no wonder someone had paid to bury them.
Earlier, Jason had looked like a player on the surface, someone who’d dated dozens of beautiful women in different stages of undress and drunkenness. The sheer number of women made Deek conclude that Jason would tire quickly of a kind woman like Lori; however, the new pictures added a different dimension. Whips, chains, restraints, and men and women engaged in violent orgies filled his screen. A sense of darkness made a shiver run up his spine. The vibe was…vile, not a dress-up party for bored, rich people. Was that a true reflection of Jason’s sexual preferences? If so, why would he want a sweet, single mom who wears sexy yoga pants instead of leather?
Matched For Love (Rocky Mountain Matchmaker Book 3) Page 6
