Teresa Hill – Single Mum Seeking...: A Daddy for Her Sons / Marriage for Her Baby / Single Mom Seeks... (страница 20)
“Where’s your mother now?” she asked.
He shrugged. “I’m not sure. I think she moved to Florida to live with her sister, but we don’t keep in touch.”
She thought that was a mistake, but she held her tongue. Maybe later she would try to talk to him about how much could be lost when you lost your parents. Instead of going into it directly, she decided to tell him about her background.
“Here’s what happened to me,” she said. “And Sara. When my mother was alive, we were a happy family. At least, that’s the way I remember it. But my father’s second marriage was a horror show right from the beginning. That’s why Sara and I never warmed to our stepmother, Lorraine.” She shook her head.
“She was such a terrible choice for him. And it probably didn’t help the marriage that we couldn’t like her. He was a good guy, gentle, warm. And she was a shrew.”
“Wow,” he said, somewhat taken aback. He wasn’t used to such strong disapproval from Jill. “That’s a pretty negative judgment on the woman.”
She shrugged. “Of course, I saw the whole thing through the perspective of a child who had lost her mother and found her father bringing home a new, updated version that didn’t please her at all. We were very resentful and probably didn’t give her much of a chance, especially after she had a baby. Little Kelly was cute, but it didn’t make up for Lorraine. And she didn’t like us any better than we liked her and she made it pretty obvious.”
“Little Kelly is the one who died last week in a car crash?”
She nodded. “The one I wish we’d been kinder to.” She shrugged, but her eyes were sad and haunted. “Too late now.” She looked at him again. “And that’s what I want you to think about. Don’t wait until it’s too late to contact your mother again.”
He gave her a quizzical look. “Okay. Point taken.”
She nodded, then yawned. He smiled.
“You look like a sleepy princess.”
She’d traded in her uniform for a short fuzzy robe over the long lacy white nightgown and she looked adorable to him.
“What?” she said, laughing.
“In that gown thing. Even with the little robe over it. You look like you should be in a castle.”
She was blushing. Connor had a way of letting her know how pretty he thought she was and she was so hungry for that, it almost brought tears to her eyes.
She smiled back. “I guess we’d better go to bed.”
“You’re right. We need sleep. I’m only glad we survived the day.”
He rose and turned to pull her up beside him and he didn’t let go of her hands once they were standing face-to-face, looking at each other.
“I’m glad you came back,” she told him, her breath catching in her throat as her pulse began to race. Was he going to kiss her? Or was she going to have to do it herself?
“Me, too.” His eyes went so dark, they could have been black instead of blue. He leaned closer, pulling her body up hard against his. “Jill...” he began, and at the same moment, the cell phone in his pocket began to vibrate.
She felt it right away. Sharply drawing in her breath, she stepped back and looked at him. He pulled the phone out, looking for a place to set it down. She reached out and took it from him. Flipping it up, she glanced at the screen and handed it back to him.
“Message for you,” she said, and her voice showed no emotion. “How interesting. It’s Brad.” Her face didn’t reveal a thing, but her eyes were strangely hooded as she turned away and started for the stairs. “Good night,” she said over her shoulder.
He cringed, though he wouldn’t show it. He stuck the phone back in his pocket and didn’t answer it. He hadn’t been answering Brad’s calls all day. Why should he start now?
But he wished she hadn’t seen that.
SLEEPING ON THE couch was getting old fast. Connor stretched and hit the armrest before he had his legs out straight.
“Ouch,” he muttered grumpily, wondering why he was awake so early when he was still so tired. Then he noticed the problem. The twins were running around the furniture and yelling at the top of their lungs. He groaned. He really preferred a normal alarm clock.
He opened his eyes just enough to see them. They were pretty cute. But loud. He was going to have to give up any chance for more sleep. He stretched again.
“Great game, kids,” he told them groggily, swinging his legs over the side of the couch and sitting up with a yawn.
The boys stopped and stared at him. He stared back. Tanner pretended to bark like a puppy. Timmy made a sound like a growling monster. He shook his head. They wanted him to respond. He could tell. And he couldn’t resist.
Just like the day before, he burst up off the couch, waving the covers to make himself look huge, and gave them a monster growl they wouldn’t soon forget.
They screamed with scared happiness and charged out of the room, pushing and shoving to both fit through the door at once.
Jill came in and glared at him. “They won’t be able to eat their breakfast if you rile them up too much,” she warned.
He waved his sheet-covered arms at her and growled. She shook her head and rolled her eyes.
“How come you’re not scared?” he complained.
“Because you look so ridiculous,” she told him. She laughed softly, letting her gaze slide over his beautiful body. What on earth did he do in Singapore that kept him so fit? His muscles were hard and rounded and tan and a lot of that was on display. His chest was all male and his pajama bottoms hung low on his hips. He took her breath away.
“But you do look cute as a scary monster,” she allowed, trying to avoid an overdose of his sexiness by looking away. “We might be able to use your skills at Halloween.”
“Hey, no fair,” he said as he looked her over sleepily. “You already changed out of your princess dress.”
“I’m going incognito for the day,” she told him. “They don’t let princesses bake Bundt cakes.”
“They should.”
“I know.” She smiled at him then asked with false cheerfulness, “What did Brad want last night?”
He shrugged. “I didn’t answer it.”
She stared at him for a moment, then looked away. “I just checked my email. There are already two more orders from people who had cake last night. That makes four who want their cakes today, and two more for the weekend.”
“I said you had star power. Didn’t I?”
She reached out to take the sheet from him and he leaned forward and dropped a quick kiss on her mouth before she could draw back. She looked up into his eyes and the room began to swim around her.
“They should let princesses do whatever they want,” he said softly, and then he reached out and pulled her closer and she slipped her arms around his neck and his mouth found hers.
Finally!
She’d been waiting for this kiss forever—or anyway, it seemed that way. She melted in his arms, taking in his taste and letting her body feel every hard part of him it could manage. His rounded muscles turned her on and his warm, musky smell sent her senses reeling.
And then the doorbell rang.
She collapsed against him, laughing and shaking her head. “Why does fate hate me?” she protested.
He held her close and buried his face in her hair, then let her go.
A timer went off.
“Oh, no, I’ve got to check that,” she said.
“I’ll go to the door,” he offered.
“Really?” She looked at him skeptically, wondering who was going to get a stunning view of that magnificent chest and hoping it wasn’t the church people. Then she rushed on into the kitchen to check her cake.
It definitely needed to come out. She set it on the cooling rack and looked around at the mess that still existed from yesterday. She usually made it a practice never to go to bed with a dirty pan left in the sink, but she’d broken that rule last night. Now she had a couple of counters full of pans that needed washing. She was working on that when Connor came into the kitchen.
“Who’s at the door?” she asked distractedly.
Connor made a face. “The Health Department Inspector.”
She turned to stare at him. “What? He just came last week.”
He shrugged. “I guess he’s back.”
And so he was, coming into the kitchen and looking around with massive disapproval all over his face. Tall and thin, he wore glasses and had a large, fluffy mustache, along with a pinched look, that made him look like a bureaucratic force to be reckoned with.
Connor made a face at her and left to put on some clothes. The inspector sniffed at him as he left, then looked back at the kitchen.
“What the hell is going on here?” he demanded, looking at the pot and pan strewn counters.
Jill had a smart-alecky answer right on the tip of her tongue, but she held it back. This was the health inspector. He could ruin her if he wanted to. Shut her down. She had to be nice to him, much as it stuck in her craw.