“Great sex does that for you,” he teased, draping an arm across her and pulling her back up against his chest.
Angelina sighed from sheer pleasure, wishing they could freeze the moment and isolate it from past or future. She liked having his arms around her, liked the illusion of security his strength created. If only this mellow afterglow came with guarantees instead of uncertainty and the potential for heartbreak and disappointment.
She was already in way too deep. What if he turned out to be a jerk, or if she found out he had a wife and three kids? She didn’t have the emotional stamina to deal with that kind of disaster. And there was Lily to consider. She didn’t want her daughter hurt by any mistakes she made in her own personal life.
“So what are we doing today?” he asked, pressing his lips to her temple. “Want to find brunch somewhere?”
“No. I...Lily will be home after lunch, and I like to spend time with her after she’s been away.”
“The three of us could do something together. Something she’d enjoy.”
Suddenly, the floor was hard beneath her hip. Angelina rolled onto her back and turned her head so she could see his face. She forced what she hoped was a cheerful smile. “You have your choice between French toast or homemade waffles, Dr. Calder, and then I’m kicking you out.”
“What—did I snore?” he quipped.
She answered him with silence.
“Want to tell me why?”
“This is all new to me. I need some time and space to deal with everything before Lily gets home, and I don’t want to bring her into this just yet.”
“Into this?”
“I don’t know how she’s going to react to you.”
“She adores me,” he said. “I’m her raccoon reference.”
“She adores you as her raccoon reference. But I don’t know how she’s going to react to my...to you and me...and I don’t think the Sunday after she gets back from a weekend with her father is a good time to spring a new idea on her.”
Don’t ask! a protective instinct screamed in Mike’s head. She’s given you an escape hatch. You don’t want to know about the problems with her daughter and her ex-husband.
A shaft of light from the window above them landed in her dark hair, making it glisten. He knew how soft her hair was, what it felt like against his skin, the way it slipped between his fingers like liquid. “Does she...is there a problem with her father?”
She tensed. A long moment of contemplative silence passed before she replied, “She loves her father. It’s his stepsons she has a problem with.”
“He’s remarried?”
She sighed drearily. “His primary objective in leaving me was marrying the woman he left me for.”
“He’s a fool.”
“Lily had a hard enough time trying to understand why her father would go away without her. But when she realized two strange children—two boys—were living with him, she felt like she’d been thrown away. Because she was a girl.”
“Poor kid.”
“She’s a houseguest in her father’s house, and the boys live there. She’s over the shock now, but she’s always a little subdued when she comes home.”
“It’s a lot for a child to understand.”
“It’s a lot for an adult,” Angelina said softly.
“Are you—” He exhaled heavily. “I can’t believe I’m asking this, but do you still...is that why—”
“I’m not pining after him, if that’s what you want to know. That’s not why I haven’t...”
She paused to gather her thoughts. “He was my first true love. Looking back on it, I can see that we had been growing apart for some time and I...I guess I just chose not to recognize it. I thought it was normal, that it happened to all couples and they just lived with it because they were married. In my family, marriage was forever.”
“Things would sure be simpler if it worked that way.”
Angelina’s forehead creased. “Especially for the children. I can forgive him for finding another woman, but I’ll never be able to forgive him for what he’s done to Lily.”
“Maybe as she gets to know her stepbrothers—”
“Things have eased a bit since her half brother was born.”
“Your ex and his wife have a baby?”
Angelina grew very still, and when she spoke, her words were measured and controlled. “It was the cruelest betrayal. I wanted more children. I’d been pressuring him to start another baby when—”
She exhaled heavily. “Well, I guess we know why he was stalling.”
She rolled onto her side and drove her fist into the pillow. “For him to have a baby with her, when she already had two children, and my clock was ticking away—”
He ran his forefinger down her arm from the shoulder to the elbow. “Your clock’s not ticking all that fast, is it? You have plenty of time. Years.”
She rotated her head to look at him. “It’s not that simple.”
Why not? he wanted to ask and, as if she’d read his mind, she answered the unspoken question. “There’s more than just fertility involved.”
She might as well have split open his chest and crawled inside his heart; her yearning for a child and a traditional home was almost palpable, and it so clearly mirrored his own frustrated longings. It took every modicum of restraint he could gather to keep from pulling her under him and begging her to make love with him without protection, to let him give her a baby—
His baby.
Their baby. He could picture them as a family. It would work. He, Angelina, Lily, a baby. As many babies as she wanted. He could afford a big family. It would make all those years of studying mean something more than a shingle on the side of a building with his name on it if he had kids to take care of and a wife to come home to every night, to grow old with.
Not just a wife, he amended automatically. Angelina.
“At least this way, Lily has a brother,” Angelina said, oblivious to his musings. God, she would think he was certifiably insane if she could read his thoughts!
“She likes the baby. She helps take care of him,” Angelina continued. “It gives her something to focus on besides being the odd kid out with her stepmother’s boys.”
A prolonged silence followed. Finally, she pushed herself up on one elbow. “So what’ll it be—French toast or waffles?”
“I’m a waffle man,” he said. “But—”
He left the thought hanging until, a moment later, she prompted, “But what?”
“How do you feel about appetizers?” he said.
“Before breakfast?”
He grinned with unmistakable intent. “The appetizer I have in mind is a perfect prelude to breakfast in bed.”
“Who said anything about breakfast in bed?” she asked. “I said I’d cook. I didn’t say I’d serve it in bed.”
He guided her onto her back and rolled until his body was pressing down on hers. “That’s all right. Just to show you what a nice, agreeable fellow I am, you can have the appetizer anyway.”
Her voice took on a sultry quality as her gaze met his. “What if I’m not hungry?”
“You will be,” he answered, lowering his mouth to hers.
10
ANGELINA WAS NOWHERE in sight when Mike entered the print shop. A young man digging into the guts of a sizable copy machine which sat against one wall looked up long enough to say, “I’ll be right with you.”
The man pulled a crumpled sheet of paper from the paper path and wadded it into a ball, then snapped the machine closed. Turning to the woman who’d been making copies, he said, “It should work now. Just wait until this green ready light comes back on.”
The woman nodded, and the young man walked around the counter and directed his attention to Mike. “What can I help you with?”
“I’m looking for Mrs. Winters. I need to talk to her about a print job.”
“Mrs. Winters?” the young man asked. “Oh. You mean Angelina. She’s probably in her cubicle. I’ll tell
her someone wants to see her.”
He disappeared through a door leading into the interior of the building and reappeared a few seconds later. “She’ll be right out.”
It was worth the trouble of driving to the shop to see her face light up when she walked through the doorway and saw him. “Mike!” she said. “What are you doing here?”
“I hope it’s not a bad time,” he said. “I need your help. Professionally.”
She gave a small shrug. “Well, come on back. Step into my office.”
He followed her past a printing press, where a pressman was feeding stacks of glossy paper into the jaws of an ominous-looking, noisy machine, to a small cubicle equipped with a desk, computer and laser printer. An aging work counter held a set of In and Out trays, loose-leaf clip-art books in tall plastic binders and a plastic utility basket filled with scissors, glue stick, liquid correction fluid and a couple of paper-cutting knives with wicked-looking blades. “So this is where you work,” he said.
“It’s more like a cubbyhole than an office, but at least there’s a window.”
Grinning, he reached for Angelina’s hand. “How private is it?”
“Private enough for a kiss, if we stay away from the door,” she said, smiling slyly. “Harvey—that’s the pressman—can’t see around corners.”
“Works for me,” Mike said, taking a step backward and pulling her with him.
The kiss was short and sweet. Chuckling softly, Angelina wiped a smudge of lipstick from his lip with her thumb. She lifted an eyebrow inquisitively. “What was it you were saying about needing my help?”
“It’s a favor for my sister.”
“Have a seat,” she suggested, gesturing to a molded plastic chair. She settled into the chair behind her desk. “What kind of favor?”
“Wedding announcements,” he replied, releasing a small sigh of bewilderment. “My sister’s getting married in a few weeks and since my father’s deceased, I’m giving the bride away.”
“And she wants you to take care of the wedding announcements?”
“That’s about the size of it. She called me this morning in hysterics. She and her fiancé are both going to school in Gainesville, so they decided to have the wedding there because so many of their friends are also in school. Anyway, my mother has decided that since they weren’t getting married in our hometown and so many of her friends and older relatives can’t make the trip, she’d like to send out announcements.”
“Announcements are so...personal,” Angelina said. “Doesn’t your sister want to—”
“My sister’s in vet school, and it’s a rough semester. She and Josh just wanted a small, simple ceremony with close friends and family. They didn’t want formal invitations, much less formal announcements. My sister just wants to placate Mother.”
“Then your mother—”
“She insisted that the bride and groom pick them out. We’re, uh, going to fudge a little. I’m sending them to Tracy, and she’ll forward them to Mother. I have all the information, names and the date and place.” He gave her a winning smile. “I told Tracy I had a friend who’d know just what she needed.”
Angelina contemplated the challenge a moment. “You’ll have to pick out the card before I can set the type. Did she give you any suggestions?”
“She said to look for something with hearts.”
“Something with hearts,” she mused aloud. “I think I know just the one. It’s called Tumbling Hearts. The sample books are out front. I’ll show you.”
“It’s nice,” Mike said a few minutes later, when she pointed out the trifold card with embossed hearts along the edges which overlapped when the card was folded. “I think Tracy will like it.”
“The hearts come in sweetheart pink, buttercream yellow or ice blue. Does your sister have a color preference? “
“The bridesmaids are wearing pink,” Mike said.
“Pink it is, then,” Angelina said, taking an order pad from behind the counter. “There’s a minimum order of fifty, with increments of twenty-five.” Her forehead crinkled. “Did I say something funny?”
“I’ve just never seen you in business mode before,” he said. “You’re very efficient.”
She shrugged away the compliment. “I do this all the time. Although, I must say, the last thing I expected today was to be picking out wedding announcements with you.”
She must have seen how off guard the remark caught him, because she said, somewhat sharply, “That was a joke. You can breathe again.”
“It wasn’t that,” he said. “It was...this whole wedding business gets on my nerves. Weddings in general make me edgy.”
“Well, that explains why an eligible bachelor like you has remained eligible for so long.”
If only you knew, Mike thought, realizing that he was going to have to tell her all about his close encounter with matrimony soon.
“Do you want to look at typefaces, or do you want me to choose one?”
“I trust your judgment.”
She nodded. “I’ll use something flowing and delicate.”
“Have you mentioned the zoo trip to Lily?” he asked as she filled out the order blank.
After much discussion, she had finally agreed that they could go on an outing and include Lily. Mike had suggested the zoo because of Lily’s affection for animals.
“She’s looking forward to it.”
“What did she say about my coming along?”
“She said you ought to be able to tell her all about the animals. How many announcements do you need?”
“A hundred and fifty. Can we finish this in your office?”
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“On whether or not you have ulterior motives unrelated to your sister’s wedding announcements.”
“I most certainly do have an ulterior motive,” he said. “I want to kiss you within an inch of your life.”
“I was hoping you’d say that,” she said, smiling brightly. “Follow me, sir.”
Mike loved her so much at that moment that he almost shouted it.
* * *
THE CENTRAL FLORIDA ZOO was small but more than adequate to excite and fuel the imagination of a seven-year-old, especially a seven-year-old who had a personal guide to provide fascinating information about each animal.
Especially a seven-year-old girl who felt as though she’d been ousted from her father’s life and was hungry for daddy-like attention. Angelina observed the bond developing between Lily and Mike almost as though it were a physical linking instead of an emotional one.
Mike did all the “daddy” things. He lifted Lily to his shoulders when height gave her a better vantage point. He made a growling sound and poked Lily in the ribs when she was staring spellbound at a bear. He mimicked a monkey as they stood in front of the monkey cages. He helped Lily pronounce the English and Latin animal names posted on the signs marking each exhibit. He bought special food pellets for her to feed the animals in the petting pen, then he dashed into the gift shop for a disposable camera so he could photograph Lily with the goats and llamas and the tame crow who begged for food. On the way out of the park, he dropped quarters into one vending machine after another so Lily could “make” plastic models of the animals she’d seen.
While Lily left the zoo exhilarated, with an armful of souvenirs, Angelina left with a heart full of conflicting emotions. She was glad of his rapport with Lily, and yet she was also terrified of it. What if Lily grew attached to him and he suddenly disappeared from her life because it didn’t work out between him and Angelina? It wasn’t fair to her daughter to put the child’s emotional health in such jeopardy.
And what if you get attached to him and he suddenly disappears? she asked herself. Her own risk of getting hurt was as great as Lily’s, if not greater.
But you’re an adult. You understand the situation. You have a choice whether to take the chance. Lily doesn’t.
And the more time she spent with Mike, the more she re
alized that her risk was indeed great. She could so easily fall in love with him. Because, even as he did all the “daddy” things with Lily, he was doing all the “lover” things with Angelina. Secret glances. Knowing smiles. Furtive touches that seemed innocent but held the promise of much more. Looks that said, “Wait until we’re alone.”
No one said it would be easy, she thought. It wasn’t fair, either. She’d never planned on being divorced, or having all the problems single motherhood presented.
“Zoos always make me hungry,” Mike announced in the car. “But it’s too early for dinner, so I’ll have to settle for ice cream. How about you, Lily? Does the zoo make you hungry for ice cream?”
“Yeah!” Lily said with such a note of awe that an observer would think she hadn’t had ice cream in at least five years.
It was settled before they went into the ice-cream parlor that Lily would get a double-decker cone with a scoop of both caramel turtle and bubble-gum ice cream. Mike went to the counter to order, and Angelina herded Lily into the bathroom to wash the billy goat and llama germs off her hands. Mike was still waiting his turn in line when they returned to the dining area.
“You guys go ahead and find a table,” he suggested.
Lily chose a booth and slid in across from Angelina. She propped her elbow on the table and sighed so forcefully that her entire body vibrated. “Mommy?”
“What, sweetie?” Angelina asked, her maternal instinct piqued by the gravity in the way her daughter had said the word.
“You know how you said that sometimes after people got divorced they met people and fell in love and that’s how come I got a stepmother? Because Daddy married Denise?”
“Yes, sweetie,” Angelina replied, trying not to let her apprehension show. She had a sinking feeling that she knew exactly where the conversation was headed.
“Denise was a mommy when she fell in love with Daddy, wasn’t she?”
“Yes, she was. She was Timmy and Morgan’s mommy.”
Lily’s lips compressed as she mentally linked ideas.
“Then sometimes mommies fall in love, too, just like daddies?”
“That’s the way it works.”
Lily hesitated a long time before asking, “Are you going to fall in love?”
Not This Guy! Page 13