Great! Just the piece of information he needed to call this night a total screwup.
Sue’s alarm went off at seven. She hit snooze twice. Last night she had tossed and turned enough to get an aerobic pulse rate going. If it wasn’t for her grandfather’s appointment, she’d pull the covers over her head.
Oh yeah, she needed a veg day, a whole twenty-four hours of breaking every rule in the book. Hibernating under the sheets until the smell of her own breath brought her out of a dead sleep. Eating chocolate for lunch and Cheetos for dinner. Looking at old albums with pictures of her and her dad, and having one of those cathartic crying jags. Maybe watching chick flicks, reading an entire romance novel. And depending on how good the novel was, getting out the electronic equipment that made her feel less deprived.
“Damn! Damn! Damn!” The fact she’d just broken her no cussing rule proved how badly she needed a veg day.
Had she really been going to give in last night? Yup, she had. And she’d been saved by the bell. Good old AT&T. If Jason hadn’t gotten that call…as Kathy so poetically put it, Sue would have joined the fornicating masses. Forcing a deep breath, she felt her morning haze begin to defog.
Had the call last night been from his girlfriend—the one who’d called him at his house yesterday? She shook herself. What was wrong with her? She hadn’t even broken up with her married boyfriend, and here she was considering getting involved with another guy who had a girlfriend.
Possibly had a girlfriend, she told herself, admitting she didn’t know for sure.
She jerked back the covers and got up. Cracking open the door, she caught the smell of coffee wafting down the hall. Coffee?
She shouldn’t be surprised, not after the killer grilled cheeses he’d whipped up for lunch yesterday. But this was another reason not to get involved with him. A woman should never date a man whose domestic skills outmatched her own. Of course, for her, that pretty much cut out 99 percent of the male population. Good thing she wasn’t picky. Oh yeah, she’d go for just about anything: married car thieves, bank robbers, and then there was Collin.
Don’t go there.
The smell of coffee filled her nose again. A hot cup before a shower would be heavenly. Listening and not sensing Jason’s presence, she decided to go for it. If he got within a few feet of her, she could always breathe on him. Her morning breath would knock him cold.
She tiptoed down the hall. Hitchcock looked up from his spot on the table, where he sipped from a coffee cup.
Not believing it, Sue went over and, sure enough, the cup held a small amount of coffee with lots of cream. Jason had served Hitchcock his morning brew.
Sue gave her feline his morning ear rub, then filled a mug for herself, added cream, and was mid-hall when she heard footsteps. Was she ready to face him? Heck no. Did she have a choice? No.
Deep breath. She could do this. Just a quick hello and “I’ll be ready in a snap.”
Slowly she turned around, prepared to meet temptation. Prepared to have her pulse rushing at the sight of him, maybe without his shirt, maybe with his hair still damp from the shower. But—what the hell?
No temptation.
It wasn’t Jason. Not unless his hair had grown dark, shaggy, and he’d acquired that paunch she’d wanted to find on him yesterday.
Sue’s frown grew.
It wasn’t this man’s extra thirty pounds or the missed hair appointment that unnerved her. It was the fact that he had her computer in his hands. And Mr. Needs-a-Haircut had his gaze on her front door. Was she being robbed?
“Stop right there!” She set her coffee down and ran across the room to barricade the door. Holding her arms out and her chin high, she attempted to look like a force not to be reckoned with. This was not easy to pull off when wearing pink bicycling-bear pajamas.
The man lowered her computer from the front of his face. “Excuse me, but I need to get this to my car.” He seemed awfully calm for a robber.
“Jason?” Sue yelled, suspicious. She pointed a finger at the man holding her computer. “Who are you and what do you think you’re doing with my computer?”
“I’m Bob. And this is kind of cumbersome.”
“Sue. It’s okay.” Jason appeared behind the seeming computer thief. “I meant to talk to you about this last night.”
“Talk to me about what?”
“We need to figure out who sent that e-mail.”
“We know who sent it,” Sue said. “The person who wants to kill me sent the e-mail.”
Jason’s grim expression darkened. “We need to know his name.”
“Details. That’s just details!” Her gaze slapped back on Bob. “Take it back in the study.”
“Sue, we have to do this,” Jason said. “I brought my laptop over last night. It’s got all the bells and whistles. You can check your e-mail. You can use it until they finish. And Bob’s going to fix your computer while he’s checking it out.”
Thinking with a caffeine-free brain so early in the morning wasn’t easy, but Sue tried. “No one but Mr. Howard, my computer wizard, has ever touched my computer. It’s old, it’s temperamental, and requires TLC.”
“Bob here will be tender. Won’t you, Bob?” Jason said.
“Tender,” the man repeated, his meat-hook hands curled around her PC. The unit slipped a few inches.
Sue and Jason lunged at the same time, bumping into each other. Mr. Tender caught the computer. Jason caught Sue. Held her practically chest to chest.
His hair appeared freshly-showered damp. He smelled of toothpaste and coffee, both of which she needed desperately. She stepped back.
“You want this freak caught, don’t you?” he said.
“Yes, but—”
“Then let me do what I have to do.” Jason held up his hands. “If something happens to your computer, I’ll hold myself personally responsible. I’ll buy you a new computer.”
“I don’t want a new computer.”
“Sue.” He took a step closer. “It’s your safety I’m worried about. Computers are a dime a dozen, but I’m certain the Sue Finley mold was broken right after you graced the earth.”
Even mad, she couldn’t ignore the compliment.
“Please?” He straightened the collar of her pajama top. “I’ll even buy you chocolate today.”
“Excuse me,” Bob muttered. “You two are mighty sweet, but this is heavy. And I’m trying to be tender.”
Sue backed away from the door. Then she swung around on the balls of her feet, grabbed her coffee, and called over her shoulder, “My grandfather’s appointment is in two hours. And if something happens to my computer, it’ll be your prostate that needs to be checked!”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“I’m not really superstitious, but I’ve written every book I’ve sold on that computer. Okay, I am superstitious. I went to a fortune-teller…”
Jason sat in the front seat of Sue’s Honda, watching her drive as she chatted. Or rattled. This was more than a chat.
He wasn’t sure what had her so uptight. Unless it was the same thing that tied him in knots? Her outfit didn’t help. The light blue, snug-fitting capri pants and cotton sweater matched the color of her eyes and fit her body like shrink-wrap.
His gaze traveled up that masterpiece of a body to her face. She’d tried to cover the dark circles under her eyes with makeup. She hadn’t slept any better than he had. If his phone hadn’t interrupted them, they probably wouldn’t have had any more sleep, but they’d have been a hell of a lot more relaxed.
“Anyway,” she continued, “I didn’t really believe it because…” Today she wore her hair down and every few minutes pushed it behind her ears. She had nice ears. Small, dainty…sexy. Yeah, she had sexy ears.
Out of left field came a mental picture of the foot doctor running his tongue inside Sue’s dainty, sexy ear. Grinding his teeth, Jason stared out the rearview mirror, checking for gold Saturns. He needed to forget about the foot doctor. Last night he’d spent hours chasing s
imilar visions out of his head. Never had he suffered jealousy for the women he dated. Hell, he normally liked them experienced and well practiced. It was safer that way.
“Does that work for you?” she asked.
“Does what work for me?” If it had anything to do with himself and Sue naked, he felt certain it worked.
“The cover?”
“What cover?” He glanced out at the side-view mirror again.
“I said we’d tell them that you were just a friend of a friend. No. We probably should just say you’re friends with Chase. Yeah, that’s better.”
He was both lost and disappointed that her plan didn’t involve getting naked. “Tell who?”
“My grandparents.” She shot him an annoyed look. “We’ll say that you ran over a board with nails in it last night on the way to feed their animals. Or maybe you ran out for cat food and that’s when you ran over it. Yeah, that sounds better.”
She brushed her hair back again, giving him a peek at her right ear. He felt his arousal grow. Freaking hell, when had he gotten an ear fetish?
“And when you woke up this morning, you had a flat. Because you were staying at Lacy’s house you called me. I agreed to take you to get a tire. But we’ll say I didn’t want to make two trips, so I insisted you come with me and after I take them home I’m taking you to get a tire.” She finally took a breath, but it was a short one. “Where do you normally buy tires?”
Jason shook his head, finding her conversation harder and harder to follow. “Why?”
“Why what?” she asked.
He held out his hands. “Why are you making all this up?”
“They don’t know about the rat, and I don’t want them to. What size tires do you take?”
Laughing, he stared at her. “Why don’t you just tell them I’m a friend? This isn’t a novel; you don’t need a whole plot.”
She cut her gaze to him. “You don’t know my grandparents. If I tell them you’re just a friend they won’t believe it. They’ll think we’re dating. And if we don’t have our stories straight, they’ll catch us in a lie. They’re in their eighties but sharper than toothpicks.”
He stared at the tiny, sexy, gold hoop earrings she wore. “What would be so bad about them thinking we’re dating?”
“We’re not.” She refocused on the road.
Disappointment built in his chest. “I know. It’s the whole tattoo-Pap smear-Pope schedule. But I was hoping after last night—”
“Last night didn’t happen.” She turned a corner too fast and frowned. “If they thought we were dating, you’d be interrogated. And not the nice kind of interrogation, but torture. And if you passed their tests, they’d bring out all my nude baby pictures to embarrass me.”
Ha! He shouldered back in his seat. “How bad is the torture? Because the nude pictures might be worth it.” The smile he shot her earned him one in return.
But it faded. “I’m serious.” She pulled into a driveway of the white brick one-story home and then got out of her car. “Just remember, you’re a friend of a friend and you had a flat.”
A flat tire. But his memory scattered when she walked in front of him and his gaze caught the gentle sway of her backside.
He followed her to the door. He’d follow her anywhere.
She knocked. “Oh, and if you value your life, don’t eat anything my grandmother offers.”
“Why?” He ran his finger over the curve of her right ear, and she swatted his hand back.
“She poisons people.”
“She what?”
“Accidentally, of course. And if my grandfather asks you to look at his roach collection, say no.”
“His what?” Jason blinked. “Your grandfather smokes pot?”
Her mouth dropped open, and she laughed. Damn pretty laugh, too. He had the strongest desire to kiss her.
But then the door opened and a man who looked like an elderly version of Kramer on Seinfeld stood there. His light blue eyes, eyes that resembled Sue’s, homed in on Jason like two sniper rifles taking aim.
“Hi.” Sue stood on her tiptoes and kissed the man’s cheek.
The sweetness with which Sue delivered that kiss made Jason jealous.
The feeling must have been mutual, for the man, whom Sue quickly introduced as Terrence White, her grandfather, seemed not so friendly.
Sue must have noticed the man’s stern interest in Jason, because she began to fidget. And damn if Jason didn’t feel a bit like fidgeting himself. He hadn’t been checked out by a father figure in years. He hadn’t missed this type of perusal, either. Father figures weren’t keen on foster kids.
The tapping of Sue’s sandal on the porch filled the silence. “Jason is a friend of Chase. He’s pet-sitting, and he went out to get cat food and ran over a nail. After his coffee this morning, he discovered he had a flat tire and called me to take him to get a new tire.”
The man’s gaze still didn’t ease up, but finally he looked at Sue. “Where were you going to buy this tire?”
Jason almost laughed.
Sue grew pale. Her mouth opened but nothing came out.
“Mmm,” the old man said, and his keen gaze shot back to Jason. “So, you’re dating my granddaughter, are you?”
Now Jason couldn’t stop from laughing, though he got it under control when Mr. White didn’t seem to appreciate the humor.
Jason offered his hand. “Nice to meet you, sir.”
Sue finally spoke. “We’re not dating.”
“Yeah, and I’m not going in to have my prostate checked and be asked to cough, either.” Grandpa eyed her.
Sue started to flush. “Where’s Grandma?”
“In the bedroom. Her bra broke. She wants you to fix it. She also wants you to comb the back of her hair. She says there’s a hole in it.”
Sue moved past them and went into the house. Her grandfather’s gaze scrubbed down Jason like sandpaper, ending and staying on Jason’s shoes. Jason glanced down and wondered if the man had something against Reeboks.
Finally, Sue’s grandpa raised his eyes. “You the foot doctor?”
That explained the shoe inspection. “No. I really am friends with Chase.”
One of the old man’s bushy eyebrows rose. “And I suppose you’re really not dating my Susie, either?”
Jason considered how to answer. “Well, sir, I’ve asked, but she turned me down.”
Surprise pulled at the man’s eyes. “Must have stung like the dickens.”
Jason fought back another chuckle. “Yes, sir. It did.”
The man’s gaze did another cross-examination. “You don’t look much like a boy who gives up.”
“I’m not,” Jason admitted.
Mr. White moved away from the door, motioning for Jason to follow. “Susie turned you down, but she brought you today. Don’t make much sense.”
“Like you said. I don’t give up.”
The man stopped in the middle of the entryway. “I may look like an ol’ buzzard, but I’m not about to let anyone hurt one of my girls.”
Jason didn’t flinch. “I wouldn’t think of hurting Sue.”
The man crossed his arms over his concave chest. “Chase is that cop fellow, right?”
“Yes, sir.”
He stroked his chin between his thumb and forefinger. “You a cop, too?”
When Jason nodded, something changed in the man’s expression. “What’s going on?”
The directness of the question had Jason’s neck itching. “What do you mean?”
“I just talked to Susie’s mother. She let something slip.
Then she tried to cover it up, but she’s as bad at lying as her daughter. Maybe you can clear things up for me.”
Discomfort crawled around Jason’s chest. Sue had asked him not to mention the rat. “What’s that, sir?”
“Something about Susie receiving a threat.”
Jason hesitated. “Maybe you should ask Sue.”
“So that’s why you’re here, huh?” Worry f
illed the old man’s eyes. “Is someone trying to hurt my girl?”
Jason shifted his shoulders. “I…”
The man held up his hand. “Don’t say any more. Susie has obviously asked you not to. And I don’t want her grandma to hear. But you take care of Susie. A more precious angel doesn’t exist.”
“I will.” Jason decided right then that he liked the old man, even if the man didn’t like him.
Sue’s grandfather’s gaze pinched. “You sleeping at her place?”
Jason considered his answer. “On the sofa.”
“Stay on the sofa.”
“Grandpa?” Sue called out. “Did you take your vitamin C this morning?”
“Yup!” Her grandpa stepped into the living room.
Jason followed, and something about the scent of bacon and Lemon Pledge made the house smell like a home. When Jason’s gaze lit on Sue, his steps faltered. She stood behind an elderly woman, as if checking the zipper of the woman’s dress. Sue’s hands moved gently across the woman’s back, the same gentleness reflected on Sue’s expression. For some crazy reason the sight made Jason’s chest ache.
“You should throw this one away.” Sue patted her grandmother’s shoulder.
“Nothing wrong with that bra,” the lady said. “It’s barely ten years old.” She passed a hairbrush over her shoulder. “They don’t make them like they used to.” After Sue took the brush from her grandmother and ran it through the thin gray hair, Sue said, “Perfect.”
A rush of emotion went straight to Jason’s heart. Sue’s devotion to these people was so alive it crowded the room.
Sue leaned over and kissed the woman’s cheek. “You look beautiful.” From Sue’s tone, there was no doubt she meant it. The moment could have been filmed as a Hallmark commercial.
Which explained why he felt like an intruder. Hallmark moments weren’t part of Jason’s life.
Then, he wasn’t sure why, he remembered being young and hearing his classmates talk about their grandparents. He’d always wondered what it might have been like to have had some older couple who cared about his sorry ass. Someone who took him fishing or cooked his favorite meals. That crowded feeling hit again. And a part of him wanted to turn and run.
Divorced, Desperate And Dating Page 15