Divorced, Desperate and Daring

by Christie Craig

  Fortunately—or rather unfortunately—the sound of the feminine voice coming from the other side of the shower pretty much took care of it.

  “Happy birthday. How’s my little girl?”

  Danny peered through the fogged glass doors and could see the shape of a woman. The “little girl” comment told him it must be Sheri’s mom. Suddenly unsure if she could see him, his hands went straight to his half-mast dick.

  “I brought us some Starbucks and chocolate croissants.”

  The smell of coffee filled the bathroom. That sounded really good, his caffeine-deprived mind said.

  “When you get out, let’s visit. I’m leaving your coffee on the counter. Okay?”

  He stood still, didn’t breathe and suddenly heard his phone ringing back in the extra bedroom.

  “Sheri? You hear me, babe?” There was a pause. “Did you change your ring tone?”

  Oh, he was so screwed!

  “Sheri?” The figure took a step closer to the fogged glass.

  Yup. Screwed.

  • • •

  “Shit! Shit! Shit!” Sheri spotted her mom’s car and pulled into her designated parking spot as fast as she could. Beside it was Danny’s car. Because her mom often fed Taco for her, she had a key to Sheri’s apartment and never hesitated to use it. All sorts of scenarios filled Sheri’s head. Including the one where her mom tried some kickboxing techniques on a stranger she found in her daughter’s condo.

  Sheri had woken up to find a message from her mom saying she was skipping her morning yoga class and was on her way to Sheri’s condo with a birthday breakfast.

  She’d called right back, but her mom’s phone was already turned off. She was always afraid she’d be distracted by a call while driving. Sheri had tried calling Danny, but no one answered. She’d left a message, or rather a warning. “My mom’s on her way. She has a key. Do not . . . do not tell her about someone wanting a Sheri Thompson dead!”

  Sheri knew her mom. She’d freak. And a freaked Lilly Thompson was not pretty.

  Chloe and Cary had still been in bed, so Sheri had grabbed her keys and purse and drove like a bat out of hell. She got up and out so fast, she forgot she was still wearing her Cinderella pajamas.

  She rushed up to her porch and was searching for her key when she remembered she’d given it to Danny. Her finger started for the doorbell when she decided to see if the door was open.

  It was.

  “Hello?” She walked in, afraid of what she might find. Taco came running out of the kitchen to greet her.

  “In here,” her mom’s voice answered.

  Sheri’s pulse raced. Was Danny still asleep in her office and her mom hadn’t even seen him? Was that too much to hope for? Oh, please don’t let it be too much. I’ll never hit another opossum!

  She eased into the kitchen. It was too much.

  Danny and her mom sat at the kitchen table, each with a Starbucks cup in hand.

  “He took your coffee,” her mom said.

  “Sorry,” Danny said. His hair was wet. And she could see his shirt was buttoned wrong. What the hell had happened?

  “That’s okay.” She dropped her purse on the counter and inched closer. “I’ll just drink yours.” She took her mom’s cup from her hand and downed a big swallow of caffeine, hoping it would help her addled brain.

  “That’s one option.” Her mom smiled. “Good thing I brought three croissants.” She pushed over the deli box.

  Sheri nodded. “Thanks.”

  Her mom’s brow wrinkled. “Why are you wearing pajamas?”

  Sheri saw a smile pull at Danny’s lips, and she frowned. “I . . . I got your text.”

  “Oh . . . And you wanted coffee that bad?” her mom asked, her tone a little off, her smile now even more suspicious. “Danny was just telling me how sweet you were to let him stay here while his apartment is being painted. So you stayed at Chloe’s house, huh?”

  Danny touched his phone that was sitting by him on the table as if to say he’d gotten her message.

  “Yes.” Sheri gulped down another swallow of lukewarm coffee.

  “I wanted to drop off one of your gifts since today is your birthday and we’re not doing dinner until tomorrow night.” Her gaze shifted to Danny. “We’re going to Perry’s. Their steaks are aged and out of this world. Who would’ve ever thought old meat would be better than fresh, but oh brother, it is. Would you like to join us?”

  The coffee sliding down Sheri’s throat went down the wrong pipe. She coughed and may have even spewed some out of her nose.

  “Oh, not pretty,” her mom said grinning and handed her a napkin.

  “Well?” her mom asked and looked back at Danny as Sheri continued to try to catch her breath. “Will you join us?”

  Danny’s gaze shifted to Sheri. She took a step behind her mom and shook her head no. He frowned. “I should check my calendar.”

  “Great.” Her mom grabbed her phone from her purse. “What’s your number? I’ll call you later to remind you.”

  Danny’s gaze went back to Sheri. No, she mouthed the word.

  “I’m ready,” her mom said.

  Looking pressured, Danny recited his number.

  Her mom typed it in and then popped up from her chair. She gazed at Sheri. “Your surprise is on your bed. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, I haven’t read it.”

  “Read what?” she managed to say in a strangled voice.

  “You’ll see.”

  Sheri just nodded.

  “I should be going if I’m going to make my kickboxing class.” Her mom glanced from Sheri to Danny. “What can I say, young man . . .,” her face brightened. “It’s been the most . . . interesting morning.”

  Sheri wasn’t sure, but it almost looked as if Danny blushed.

  Her mom headed for the door, and Sheri followed but shot Danny a what-the-hell look over her shoulder.

  He shrugged but looked guilty as hell.

  Her mom got to the door and then leaned in. In a low voice she said, “Call me later and tell me what’s really going on.” Her gaze shifted toward the kitchen. “And hold on to him, Sweetie. He’s . . . he’s definitely a keeper.” She fanned her face with both her hands.

  When her mom walked out, Sheri shot back into the kitchen. “Define interesting.”

  Danny pulled the deli box closer to him.

  “Don’t touch my croissant,” she snapped.

  He held up his hand in surrender.

  “What happened?” she demanded.

  He leaned back. “You want the short or the long version?”

  “Tell me.”

  “Okay, short. Me. In the shower. Then I heard—”

  “Naked?” she asked. “You were in the shower naked?”

  “That’s usually the way I do it,” he said.

  Her mouth dropped open. “And my mom . . . Did she . . . she didn’t . . . ?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, she did.” He passed a hand over his face. “You should really keep towels out in your bathroom. Because your pink robe doesn’t fit me. It barely covered anything.”

  “You wore my . . . She . . . ?”

  “To your mom’s credit, she stopped screaming after about two minutes.” Laughter suddenly spilled out of his mouth. Deep laughter. The kind that brought on tears.

  “You think this is funny?” she asked.

  He wiped his mouth as if to stop the laughter. “While it was happening, I didn’t see a bit of humor in it, but now . . . Yeah, it’s hilarious.”

  Another chuckle left him, and the sound echoed inside Sheri. “If you could have seen your mom’s face.”

  “So you walked out of the shower naked when my mom was in my bathroom?”

  “No, I wouldn’t have done that.” His smiled widened. “She opened the shower door. She came in the bathroom to let you know she was there, and when I wouldn’t answer her . . . She . . . I think she worried something was wrong. So she opened the door. And she freaked. I freaked. I grabbed the robe . . .” He c
huckled. “I tried putting it on, but it didn’t help and just made it a little more awkward. So I just used it to cover up . . . parts.”

  He started laughing again. All of a sudden, it was contagious.

  When they stopped, both of them had tears in their eyes. He pulled the deli box closer. “How about I split it with you?”

  “No!” She snatched the box back, picked up the croissant and took a big bite. Then feeling bad, she pulled off a piece and handed it to him.

  “Thank you.” He ate it. “I’ll buy you some more.” His grin widened, and his blue eyes grew bright with humor and . . . heat. The moment took her back. Back to their night. To them sharing food. To them . . . naked. To them laughing.

  “Happy birthday,” he said.

  She nodded. How that man could look sexy with his shirt on wonky, his damp hair sticking up and a little chocolate on his chin was beyond her. But he managed it. Oh brother, did he manage it. With the taste of dark, sweet chocolate lingering on her tongue, she remembered what his lips had tasted like that night they’d spent together.

  “I like your pajamas,” he said in a sexy tone. “I didn’t know Cinderella could be sexy.”

  She rolled her eyes at him. “Your shirt’s buttoned wrong.”

  He looked down. “It was hard to get dressed and talk your mom out of calling the police at the same time.”

  Sheri lost it again.

  When they sobered this time, he started rebuttoning his shirt. She got a glimpse of his chest. Just enough dark blond hair to make him look manly but not Neanderthalish. She looked up and found him staring again, in a soft, all-about-you kind of gaze. The kind of look that could pretty much turn most girls’ insides to mush.

  Considering the slow heat building inside her, she definitely fell into the most girls category. But hadn’t she already been there, done that and bore the scar on her once-mushy heart?

  Hadn’t she decided that love might not be worth the risk?

  “I should . . .” What should she do? Part of her said, grab him by the collar of his half-buttoned shirt and pull him into the bedroom. Have him strip her of her fairytale pajamas and make her feel as if fairytales could come true. Give her at least another twenty-four hours to forget what it felt like to be lonely.

  “Should what?” he asked.

  She jumped up to throw away the coffee cup. Anything to reboot her emotional direction. “I should . . . call Chloe.” Swinging around to snag her phone out of her purse, she ran right into him.

  His arms came out to steady her. The touch came with bolts of emotion that actually hurt. Real physical pain.

  How did he have the power to hurt her like this when they’d only had one night? Then she remembered the half a dozen times she’d met Danny at Kathy’s parties. They’d talk, laugh and flirt. Not much flirting because she’d been engaged. She wouldn’t have cheated on Kevin, but that feeling had been there. The attraction. The lure. The oh-if-I-wasn’t-engaged feeling.

  With his arms still holding her, she lowered her gaze and stared at the V of his open shirt. Then she felt Taco lean against them as if for a group hug. But it wasn’t a hug. Any second now, she was going to break away.

  Yup. She really needed to do that.

  He lowered his face. His forehead came down to rest on the top of her head. She felt his breath whisper across her hairline. “I know what I did was wrong. I got scared. I know it sounds stupid, but if you’d just let me explain.”

  Sheri closed her eyes. Two sounds rang at the same time. No, make that three. Her doorbell resonated, her phone chirped and her heart chimed in with warning bells. This wasn’t just pheromones. Somehow, someway, Danny had gotten under her skin. Not love. It couldn’t be love.

  She stepped away. She heard him exhale with frustration.

  She went for her phone. He and Taco went for the door.

  She’d answer to her heart later.

  Chapter Ten

  Sheri saw Chloe’s number on her phone. “I was just about to call you.”

  “Where are you?” Panic sounded in Chloe’s voice and kept Sheri from being worried about who was at the door.

  “Home. My mom texted that she was on her way to my apartment, and I didn’t want her to . . . to find Danny here. You were asleep, and I didn’t have time to write a note.”

  “You nearly gave me a heart attack. When I saw your bed empty, all I could think about was someone making good on that hit.”

  “I’m sorry. But remember, Danny arrested a known hit man last night. Danny’s pretty certain I’m not the Sheri Thompson someone wants dead.”

  “Pretty sure isn’t good enough for me. Are you alone?”

  “No. Danny’s still here.” Obviously pretty sure wasn’t good enough for Danny either because he still hadn’t opened her door. Instead, he went to the window and peered out as if concerned it might be a killer.

  “Sheri?” Chloe’s voice rang out.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “Are you coming back? I’ve got our whole day planned. Your birthday gift, and it’s on me.”

  Sheri tried to think, but her heart got in the way with the memory of her and Danny laughing. Of her leaning against him. And damn, but that was so easy. She shifted to the left to see if she could see through the window behind Danny. “Uh, why don’t you meet me here?”

  “Okay, I’ll pick you up around eleven. You’re gonna love this,” Chloe said.

  Sheri started to answer but then Danny opened the door.

  “Oh, shit,” she muttered.

  “Shit what?” Chloe asked.

  “Kevin’s here.”

  Danny held his position in front of the door as if to stop Kevin from entering. But Kevin’s gaze shot over Danny’s shoulders.

  “We need to talk,” Kevin said to her, ignoring Danny and his unhappy stance blocking the door.

  “Did I not tell you to stay away?” Danny spit out.

  “Kevin’s there now?” Chloe asked. “Cary said Danny told him not to come around.”

  “He obviously didn’t listen,” Sheri said. “I’d better go.” She hung up and walked into the living room, stopping beside Danny. “What do you want, Kevin?”

  “I . . .” Kevin looked from Sheri to Danny. “Do you mind?”

  “Yeah I do, but go ahead. Just pretend like I’m not here.”

  Kevin frowned and focused on her again. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

  She tilted up her chin. “I’m not yours to worry about anymore.”

  He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, nervously. “I’m going to cut to the chase, here. I think our breakup was a mistake.”

  Danny made a snorting sound, and Kevin shot him another glare.

  “Maybe cheating on me was a mistake, too,” she said.

  He frowned. “I didn’t . . .”

  “Don’t lie,” she said, her tone low and graveled.

  “Okay, yeah, I slipped up.”

  Slipped? The word, her daddy’s word, pushed her over the edge.

  “Slipped up? You slip on a damn banana peel, Kevin. You slip on a patch of ice. You don’t slip into an affair when you’re engaged.” You don’t slip up and take a drink when you know it’s going to hurt people who love you.

  He exhaled. “You’re right. It was a mistake. A big one. But . . . she came on to me. I was . . . She was attractive, and . . .”

  “Oh, then that makes it okay, right?” She shook her head. “I was attracted to guys when we were engaged, too, but I didn’t go to bed with them.” Her gaze shot to Danny. “At least not until later!” When she realized she’d said that aloud, she shut her eyes and cringed. She cringed more when she heard Danny chuckle.

  When she opened her eyes, Kevin was still staring and looking hurt. As if he had the right to be hurt.

  “See, we both made mistakes.”

  “I wasn’t engaged to you when I slept with him!”

  “Does that really matter?” he asked.

&nb
sp; “Are you an idiot? Of course it matters!” she seethed.

  “Look, ever since I saw you two weeks ago, I can’t stop reminiscing on what we had. It was too good to just throw away. I know you still have feelings, too.”

  She inhaled. “Hmm, let me think. Do I still have feelings?” She bit down on her lip as if concentrating. “Yeah, you’re right, I have feelings.”

  She stared him straight in the eyes. “I feel anger. I feel hurt. I feel betrayed. And I feel sorry for the girl you’ve dumped this time. I’m not sure she deserves my sympathy, because she was the other woman, but I still feel it. You wanna know what I don’t feel?” She waved a hand between them. “I don’t feel this. We are over, Kevin.”

  “We can find it again. We were that good. Give me another try?”

  “You mean, give the guy who cheated on me, who postponed my wedding twice and then broke it off completely, another try? I need to think again.” She went into her bad acting mode and tapped her finger to her temple. “Nope, not happening. Good-bye, Kevin.” She shut the door on him.

  The loud whack actually felt good.

  She stood there in a daze and listened to his footsteps moving away from her door. For one second, she almost expected to feel a little regret. Just a little. Nope.

  Chloe was right. It felt damn good telling Kevin off.

  “You okay?” Danny met her gaze.

  “Fine.” But suddenly it felt wrong. Not that she’d told Kevin to take a hike, but the fact that she’d done it in front of Danny—another guy who’d hurt her.

  He reared back on his bare feet, and a slight grin appeared in his eyes. “So you were attracted to me when we first met, huh?”

  She frowned. Her heart played dodge ball with too many emotions. “I think you should leave, too.”

  She headed for her bedroom.

  “The case isn’t really solved,” he said.