Tori was standing to his left, but moved to the other side of the car with urgency and another muttered curse when he did this. Standing up, he glanced in her direction as she stood, having retrieved something—no someone—from the backseat. It wasn’t until he saw that head full of brownish-red curls that he realized why she moved so quickly.
He watched as she soothed the baby girl, who had that bottom lip extended as if she was still deciding whether or not she wanted to cry. It was a face he had seen on his nieces plenty of times, and it always filled him with the need to give them whatever would make them happy. Toys, money, food, a pony. He was a big sucker for babies, and he knew it. Allie never hesitated to give him shit over it, but he didn’t care.
Tori bounced the little one as she nestled into the crook of her neck, snuggling in to go back to sleep. Jason watched, waiting to make sure she was okay. Not that she could’ve been hurt or anything, but she was obviously startled by the car’s movements. When Tori looked up at him, he said, “Sorry again. I didn’t know you had a baby in the car. Is she okay?”
She gave him a small smile as she continued her movements, soothing the baby. “Yeah, she’s fine. I think she’s teething, and she didn’t sleep well, so she seems oversensitive today.” Leaning down, she pressed her lips to the now calm and possibly sleeping child.
Jason got a little irritated at the fact that this woman, and her child, were out there trying to change a flat tire—alone. He didn’t care if she didn’t need a man, there had to be one somewhere considering she had a child. Not wanting to pry, or come across as a total asshole, he reined in his irritation and asked, “Why isn’t your husband here changing the tire for you?”
She stilled her rocking and gave him an odd look, one he couldn’t figure out before she covered it up and began her gentle swaying again. “My husband is no longer around, that’s why. If it’s a problem, I’m sure I can do it myself.”
Realizing that even though he didn’t want to sound like an asshole, he did. Giving his head a shake, he found himself once again apologizing to this redheaded beauty. I guess third times the charm, or would it be three strikes and you’re out?
“No, of course it’s not a problem. I just figured if there’s a child, there should be a man nearby. And call me old-fashioned, but there are just some things a man should make sure are done for his woman.” He finished the statement with a shrug before squatting back down to complete the job at hand, all the while crossing his fingers he could get it done without shoving his giant shoe in his mouth. Again.
TORI watched as the man who had a starring role in last night’s dreams disappeared from her view. She could hear the noise of metal on metal as he got to work on changing her tire. Her defensive tone when he asked about her husband was uncalled for—she knew this—but for some reason he had her on edge. Maybe it was the combination of Lexi being up multiple times last night, or the fact she couldn’t get back to sleep because when she closed her eyes, her dreams repeated getting her worked up in ways she hadn’t been in a while. Regardless of why, she knew it was her turn to apologize.
Making her way back to the other side of the car, she struggled to maintain a groan as she caught sight of Jason’s broad shoulders flexing beneath the tightly pulled fabric of his shirt. He certainly was a sight to behold, and a little distracting, too. Deciding to move over by the driver’s door so she could avoid the distraction of his strong back and shoulder muscles hard at work, she said, “I’m sorry for sounding so snappy. It’s not like you’re the first person to assume there was a father or husband around. You’re doing me a favor, and I was rude, so I apologize.”
She watched as his corded arms deftly loosened the lug nuts that she was unable to budge. When he looked up and smirked at her, her pulse sped up. He was so damn masculine and sexy it brought out the lonely female who had been hiding inside for almost two years. She could only hope her reaction to his presence wasn’t written all over her face.
“There’s nothing for you to apologize about. I asked a question that was none of my business, and you responded appropriately,” he said as his smirk turned into a smile, and he returned his attention to the tire. She was about to say something when she heard a little boy’s voice call out.
“Uncle Jason?”
Jason responded, “Over here, guys, I’m two cars down.” But he never stopped doing what he was doing. When two of the little boys she remembered from last night appeared at the back of her car with questioning looks on their faces, it made her wonder why he was there to rescue her from her flat tire that morning.
“Boys, I know you have manners, so introduce yourself to the ladies,” Jason instructed them. They both smiled up at her before moving in her direction.
The first one held his hand out. “Hi, I’m Dylan.”
Then the second one followed suit. “Hi, I’m Ryan.” She shook both of their hands before responding, “Nice to meet you. My name’s Tori.”
“Your baby’s cute. What’s her name? She looks like she’s the same age as our sister,” Dylan said before Ryan confirmed his statement with a smile. “That’s what I was going to say. She’s the same size as Ladybug.”
Ladybug? What a strange name, she thought. They were cute boys, and since they had a baby sister, she assumed they were brothers. Since they looked to be the same age, she had to wonder if they were fraternal twins.
“Thanks, her name is Alexis, but I call her Lexi. And she’s ten months old. How old is your sister?” Tori asked, wanting to keep up the conversation with these boys instead of ogling their Uncle Jason.
“Oh, she’s older. Ella is only nine months old, right Uncle Jason?” Dylan answered. And he called his sister Ella, which meant that Ladybug was a nickname. Thank God. She would never understand why people sometimes named their kids such weird names.
Jason responded, “That’s right, she’s nine months old.”
The quieter of the two boys, Ryan, reached up and rubbed Lexi’s back in a soothing fashion. Clearly, he was a good big brother. Smiling down at him she said, “You must be a great big brother, you know just how to do that.”
He smiled proudly and said, “Mom says that I have the magic touch with Ella.”
How sweet, she thought a second before she was saddened that Lexi didn’t have a big brother like him to look after her. Shaking that thought off, she asked, “So, why are you guys here today? You don’t look like you partied here all night?”
Ryan giggled and Dylan sported an embarrassed look. Jason was the one to answer. “Nope, we didn’t party all night. But one of the knucklehead twins over there,” he started as he gestured to Dylan while making his way to her trunk to pull out the spare tire. When he brought it back to the area he was working in, he continued, “He was careless and forgot his iPod last night. So we came back looking for it today.”
She remembered one of her crew finding it, and she told them to turn it in to the office, so she was glad that they did. She was about to say so when Ryan spoke up, “Hey, I thought we were the goofball twins?”
Jason chuckled. “You were both demoted when knucklehead number one there forgot his iPod. You’ll have to work to gain the goofball title back.”
They both groaned at their new title, while Tori just laughed. “So, you are twins. I was wondering about that.”
When they both looked at her and shook their heads, Dylan spoke up and said, “No, we’re cousins.”
And then Ryan said, “But we’re brothers now, too.”
Confused, Tori looked to Jason who had just stood up from his task. He was dusting his hands off when he laughed and looked lovingly at his nephews. “I’m confused,” she said.
Jason leaned against her car and explained. “Ryan is my brother’s boy, and Dylan is Logan and Gillian’s son. The two of them grew up together and have been practically inseparable. In fact, we are pretty sure they share the same brain.” He laughed before continuing, “They have always called each other cousins, but yesterday, they bec
ame brothers by marriage when my brother, Jake, married Gillian.”
“Okay, I think I get it, and Ella is whose sister?” she asked.
“She’s both of ours,” they said together. Jason chuckled again and clarified. “Ella is Jake and Gillian’s daughter. So she is half-sister to both boys.”
Dylan added, “Yeah, and I have a whole sister and brother, too.”
Ryan defended, “They said they’re my brother and sister, too, Dylan.”
Jason moved away from the car and put his hand on Ryan’s back. “Of course they are, big guy. Dylan didn’t mean they weren’t. He was only adding them to the equation to confuse Tori a little more.”
Tori responded, “Well, he did. But I think I got it figured out. It’s like a modern-day Brady Bunch.”
Jason smiled big. “That about sums it up. But we don’t have an Alice.”
Ryan said proudly, “We have an Allie, though.”
Jason said, “Yeah, we do, but let’s not overwhelm Tori here.”
“Oh, Allie. I remember her from last night. She’s the pretty one with the purple streak who had a thing for my hair.”
Jason nodded. “That’s her.”
“Okay, I think I got it figured out. Sort of,” she said with amusement.
“It usually takes more than one lesson and possibly a diagram to figure it all out,” Jason said.
She just gave him a laugh before her gaze met his, and they stared at each other silently for a few moments. Jason cleared his throat and broke the trance that seemed to be settling over them. “Okay, so I have some good news and some bad news. Which do you want first?”
Tori groaned. Of course there was bad news. “Okay, give me the bad news first.”
“All right, the bad news is that your spare is also flat.”
“Seriously?” she asked as she looked at the offending tire lying on the ground before looking back up at him.
Jason nodded. “Afraid so. But the good news is that your flat tire just looks to be a nail, which can be repaired easily. Did the flat happen today or do you have another car here?”
She grumbled inwardly at how things could go from fine to complicated at warp speed. “No, I found the flat last night. My landlord dropped me off this morning on his way to the store.”
Jason sounded irritated when he said, “What kind of man drops a woman off to take care of a flat tire on her own with an infant in the backseat?”
She wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. Chivalrous men were few and far between, but clearly Jason was one of them. Why couldn’t he be the kind of man she had found instead of Damien? Shaking her head at the direction of her thoughts, she responded, “My landlord is a seventy year old, cane-wielding man with terrible arthritis. I’m quite certain if he was physically capable to fix it for me, he would have.”
Jason dropped his shoulders and gave her a nod. “Okay, he gets a pass then.”
“Good, he deserves it,” she said with affection as she thought of how lucky she was to have found her landlord, Hal. She wasn’t sure how she would’ve made it without him. He didn’t charge her rent, but rather she helped him prepare meals and did some small household tasks he couldn’t perform. Hal was like having a grandfather around, and that was something she never had the luxury of. She cherished the experience now. For her, it felt like two people who needed one another found each other at just the right time.
Jason interrupted her thoughts. “Okay then, how about we take you to get this repaired?”
“Oh, I couldn’t interrupt your day like that. I’ll figure something out. Surely you boys have plans today,” Tori said quickly, feeling bad for his time she had already wasted.
“Nonsense. This is the kind of stuff we stupid men like to do,” he replied with a smirk.
“You’re gonna keep reminding me of that, aren’t you?” she asked with feigned annoyance.
“Sure am,” he assured with humor before adding, “Besides, there’s a crew of women in my family who would totally kick my ass if I didn’t help a lady in distress out.”
“Lady in distress?” she scoffed as she rubbed the sore spot on her butt. “I don’t think I was in distress until you knocked me on my ass.”
Jason barked out a laugh and said, “Good point. And it only reinforces my requirement to assist you.”
“Maybe, but you’re basically a stranger to me. What kind of lesson would we be teaching these impressionable boys if I were to just get in a car with you?” Even though what she was saying was true, she hoped he caught the humor she added. Considering her options, she was going to have to accept his offer, but she wasn’t an ignorant person. He was a stranger, but the fact that she met him last night and he had two young boys with him made her much less worried.
He smiled brightly. “Very good response, Tori. You’re right, I am a stranger. So …” He paused and pulled his wallet out and retrieved a business card from it. Holding his hand out, he continued, “Here is my business card, which has all my information on it. Bring it inside to the receptionist and tell her that I’m helping you with your flat tire.”
Taking the card from his hand, her fingers brushed his, and she smiled when she could see the muscles in his arm tighten. It was good to know she wasn’t the only one affected by their proximity. Lifting the card up to examine it, she gave him a questioning look. “And telling them in the office that you’re fixing my flat tire will accomplish?”
“Two things actually. First, it will help prevent them from towing your car while we’re gone. Second, it will leave a trail if something were to happen to you—someone knows who you were with. Therefore, proving that you have nothing to worry about when you get in my car.” He gave her a smug smile as if he was so smart. Nothing to worry about? Yeah right. She had a feeling that being near this man was a dangerous thing, and not for the Silence of the Lambs kind of reason, but more like the Love Potion No.9 kind of problem.
Even though she had already decided she would accept his help, she made it look like she was still considering it. She wasn’t sure if this was her way of playing hard to get with the first man who evoked a reaction from her in a long time, but she had a feeling he would appreciate that she was thinking about it. His praise a few minutes ago, and the fact that he seemed irritated that she was doing this alone with her daughter in tow, told her that he was that kind of guy who cared about people in general.
She turned and leaned into the car, lifting and shouldering her purse as she turned back to him. “Would you mind grabbing the car seat for me while I run your business card inside?”
His smile spread wide as he nodded. “Sure thing.”
The smile he was wearing transformed his face from a strong masculine man to a carefree young man. It wasn’t as though he hadn’t given her a smile already, but that one, it was different. It was mesmerizing. Shaking her head to break the spell she was falling under, she said, “I’ll be right back.”
“We’ll be waiting for you, Tori.”
CHAPTER FIVE
JASON watched as Tori walked away, taking in the subtle sway of her curved hips. He couldn’t look away from the heavenly sight, and he felt his body tighten as he imagined what it would feel like to run his hands over those curves. Taking a deep breath, he absorbed the vision and let the euphoric sensation that came with it spread through his body. He wasn’t sure what it was about this woman that had him reacting this way, but he knew he wanted to feel a whole lot more of it. When she finally disappeared into the same office he and the boys had visited earlier, he managed to pull his gaze from the closed door.
As he looked down at his nephews, he willed his body to calm down. “Okay, boys, looks like we get to take two ladies out to eat this morning.” He said as he walked toward his car with the flat tire. Loading one and then the other in his trunk before moving to the back seat of Tori’s car, where he retrieved the infant seat and base to move into his. Closing the door, he made sure to grab her keys and what looked like a diaper bag sitting on th
e front seat before locking the rest of the doors.
Dylan asked, “I thought we were taking her to fix her tire? Do they have food there too?”
Jason laughed. “No knucklehead, they don’t. But it’ll take a little time to get the tire fixed so what better thing to do then escort the ladies to an early lunch.” He motioned to his car, telling the boys to head that way. Once there, he secured the base and seat in the middle, thankful he recently got a lesson from Jake on how to do it properly. Not that he was an idiot or anything, but since Jake was a paramedic, he helped at the firehouse when they held open houses allowing parents to have their car seat installation checked to make sure it was done properly. Prior to that, Jason had no idea how important it was to make sure a seat was level.
After he finished, the boys climbed in on either side of the seat, and Jason drove his car around the lot. Pulling up in front of the doors Tori had gone into with the baby, he got out and positioned himself on the passenger side of the car to wait for her. No way was he gonna just wait in the car and not open her door for her. His mother raised him to be a gentleman, so he made sure to always act the part.
It was natural for him to open doors for a woman, escort her through rooms, pull out her chair, and stand when she left the table. He never hesitated to act on those instincts. He not only wanted to open doors for Tori, he wanted to carry her through those doors so she wouldn’t have to worry about tripping or stubbing her toe.
Jason knew these feelings were completely irrational and would have to be examined more closely. But for now, he was going to gather information on the green-eyed beauty who’d cast a spell over him. Nope, no need to track her down since she managed to fall on her butt right in front of him today.
TORI chatted with Darlene, the office receptionist, for a moment as she tried to slow the excitement that was making a circuit through her body. The sudden warmth she was feeling had nothing to do with the temperature outside. The older woman smiled and talked the customary baby talk that seemed to take over composed adults when a baby was in their company. There was just something about little ones that brought out the best side of people, and Tori loved having a front row seat to it.
Love Required (The Real Love Series) Page 5
