by Nora Roberts
“Well, you got me where you wanted.” He lowered his head to give her a quick, nipping kiss. “Thanks.”
“Oh, my pleasure.”
“And since I’m here…” He moved his lips to the side of her throat, nuzzled.
Her laughing response turned to a gasp as she felt him harden inside her. Begin to move inside her.
“Hope you don’t mind. I’ve got a lot of lost time to make up for.”
“No.” Her body woke, and pulsed. “Be my guest.”
It wasn’t easy, Brody discovered, to have a relationship—at least the physical part of it—with a woman when you had a child. Not that he’d change anything, but it took considerable ingenuity to juggle the demands of the man and the demands of the father.
He was grateful that Kate seemed to enjoy Jack, and didn’t appear to resent spending time with him, or the time Brody devoted to him. The fact was, if she hadn’t accepted the boundaries and responsibilities that went along with Jack, there wouldn’t have been a relationship—physical or otherwise—to explore for long.
He guessed he was having an affair. That was a first. He’d never considered his relationship with Connie as an affair. Kids didn’t have affairs at twenty-one. They had romances. He had to remind himself not to romanticize his situation with Kate.
They liked each other, they wanted each other, they enjoyed each other. Neither of them had indicated anything more than warm feelings, and lust. And that was for the best, he decided.
He was, first and last, a father. He didn’t imagine most young women—career women with dozens of options ahead of them—generally chose to settle down with a man and his six-year-old son.
In any case, he wasn’t looking for anything more than what there was. If he had been, he’d have to start tackling the problem of changes, adjustments and compromises for all three of them. That was bound to be messy.
Certainly a grown man was entitled to a simple affair with a like-minded woman without crowding it in with plans for a future.
Everybody was happy this way.
He stepped back, lowering his nail gun to examine the trim he’d just finished on Kate’s office. It was a rich, elegant look, he decided. Classy. And it suited the woman.
He wondered where she was, what she was doing. And if they could manage to steal an hour alone before he had to go home and tackle the dinosaur poster Jack had to do for a school project.
Sex, carpentry and first grade, he thought as he moved over to start trimming the window. A man never knew what kind of mix was going to stir up his life.
“He’ll love this.” Kate examined the fierce, snapping jaws of the plastic predator.
“Dinosaurs are a no-fail choice.” Annie rearranged toys that didn’t need rearranging, and slid her gaze toward Kate. “That Jack O’Connell’s as cute as they come.”
“Mmm.”
“His father’s not shabby, either.”
“No, they both ring the bell on the cute scale. And yes, we’re still seeing each other.”
“I didn’t say a word.” Annie folded her lips. “I never pry.”
“No, you just poke.” She tucked the dinosaur under her arm. “That’s what I love about you. Now, I’m going to go back and say hi to Mama before I go.”
“Want me to wrap that beast up for you?”
“No. Wrapped it’s a gift. Unwrapped I can sneak it in as a research tool for his school project.”
“You always were a smart one, Katie.”
Smart enough Katie thought, to know what she wanted and how to get it. It had been two weeks since she’d made love with Brody for the first time. Since then they’d had one other evening alone and a handful of hours here and there.
She wanted a lot more than that.
They’d taken Jack to the movies, shared a few meals as a trio, and had engaged in the mother of all snowball battles the previous Saturday when a solid foot of snow had fallen.
She wanted a lot more than that as far as Jack was concerned, too.
She knocked on her mother’s office door, poked her head in.
Natasha was at her desk, her hair scooped up and the phone at her ear. She curved her finger in a come-ahead gesture. “Yes, thank you. I’ll expect delivery next week.”
She tapped a few keys at her computer, hung up and sighed. “Perfect timing,” she told Kate. “I need a cup of tea and a conversation that doesn’t involve dolls.”
“Happy to oblige. I’ll even make the tea.” Kate set the dinosaur on her mother’s desk before turning to the teapot.
Natasha eyed the toy, then her daughter. “For Jack?”
“Mmm. He has a school project. I figured this might earn him some extra points, and be fun.”
“He’s a delightful little boy.”
“Yes, I think so.” Kate poured the hot water into cups. “Brody’s done a wonderful job with him—though he had terrific material to work with.”
“Yes, I agree. Still, it’s never easy to raise a child alone.”
“I don’t intend for him to finish the job alone.” Kate set her mother’s cup on the desk, sat down with her own. “I’m in love with Brody, Mama, and I’m going to marry him.”
“Oh, Kate!” Tears flooded Natasha’s eyes even as she leaped up to embrace her daughter. “This is wonderful. I’m so happy for you. For all of us. My baby’s getting married.”
She crouched down to kiss both of Kate’s cheeks. “You’ll be the most beautiful bride. Have you set the date? We’ll have so much planning to do. Wait until we tell your father.”
“Wait, wait, wait.” Laughing, Kate set her tea aside to grab Natasha’s hand. “We haven’t set a date, because I haven’t convinced him to ask me yet.”
“But—”
“I’m certain a man like Brody—he’s really a traditional guy under it all—wants to do the asking. All I have to do is give him a nudge to the next stage so he’ll ask, then we can get on with it.”
As worry strangled the excitement, Natasha sat back on her heels. “Katie. Brody isn’t a project that has stages.”
“I didn’t mean it exactly like that. But still, Mama, relationships have stages, don’t they? And people in them work through those stages.”
“Darling.” Natasha straightened, sat on the corner of her desk. “I’ve always applauded your logic, your practicality and your sheer determination to earn a goal. But love, marriage, family—these things don’t always run on logic. In fact, they rarely do.”
“Mama, I love him,” Katie said simply, and tears swam into her mother’s eyes again.
“Yes, I know you do. I’ve seen it. And believe me, if you want him, I want him for you. But—”
“I want to be Jack’s mother.” Now Kate’s voice thickened. “I didn’t know I’d want that so much. At first he was just a delightful little boy, as you said. I enjoyed him, but I enjoy children. Mama, I’m falling in love with him. I’m just falling head over heels for that little boy.”
Natasha picked up the dinosaur, smiled as she turned it in her hands. “I know what it is to fall in love with a child who didn’t come from you. One who walks into your life already formed and makes such a difference in your life. I don’t question that you would love him as your own, Katie.”
“Then why are you worried?”
“Because you’re my baby,” Natasha said as she set the toy aside. “I don’t want you to be hurt. You’re ready to open your heart and your life. But that doesn’t mean Brody is.”
“He cares for me.” She was sure of it. She couldn’t be mistaken. But the worry niggled at her. “He’s just cautious.”
“He’s a good man, and I have no doubt he cares for and about you. But, Katie, you don’t say he loves you.”
“I don’t know if he does.” Frustrated, Kate got to her feet. “Or if he loves me, if he knows it himself. That’s why I’m trying to be patient. I’m trying to be practical. But, Mama, I ache.”
“Baby.” Murmuring, Natasha drew Kate into her arms, stroked he
r hair. “Love isn’t tidy. It won’t be, not even for you.”
“I can be patient. For a little while,” she added on a watery laugh. “I’m going to make it work.” She closed her eyes tight. “I can make it work.”
It was hard not to go over to the job site. She’d had to stop herself a half a dozen times from strolling over and seeing the progress. And seeing Brody. She made it easier on herself by spending part of the afternoon making and receiving calls in response to the ad she’d taken for her school.
The Kimball School of Dance would open in April, and she already had six potential students. There was an interview scheduled for the following week for an article in the local paper. That, she was sure, would generate more interest, more calls, more students.
A few more weeks, she thought as she pulled up behind Brody’s truck in his driveway, and a new phase of her professional life would begin. She didn’t intend for the next phase of her personal life to lag far behind.
He came to the door in his bare feet and smelling of crayons. The fact that she could find that both sexy and endearing in a grown man showed her just how far gone she was already.
“Hi. Sorry to drop by unannounced, but I have something for Jack.”
“No, that’s okay.” He wiped at the magic marker staining his fingertips. “We’re just in the middle… In the kitchen,” he said, gesturing. “But it isn’t pretty.”
“The process of school projects rarely is.”
It surprised him that she’d remembered the project. Had he talked about it too much? Brody wondered as he followed her back to the kitchen. He was pretty sure he’d only mentioned it—maybe moaned a little—in passing.
She stepped into the kitchen ahead of him. Surveyed the scene.
Jack was kneeling on a chair at the kitchen table, hunkered over a sheet of poster board and busily applying his crayon to the inside of an outline that resembled a large pig—as seen by Salvador Dalí.
Several picture books on dinosaurs were open on the table, along with illustrations probably printed off the computer. There was a scatter of plastic and rubber toys as well, and a forest of crayons, markers, pencils.
A pair of work boots and a pair of child’s sneakers were kicked into a corner. A large pitcher half full of some violently red liquid sat on the counter. As Jack’s mouth was liberally stained the same color, Kate assumed it was a beverage and not paint.
As she stepped in, her shoe stuck to the floor, then released with a little sucking sound.
“We just had a little accident with Kool-Aid,” Brody explained when she glanced down. “I guess I missed a couple spots on the cleanup.”
“Hi, Kate.” Jack looked up and bounced. “I’m making dinosaurs.”
“So I see. And what kind is this?”
“It’s a Stag-e-o-saurous. See? Here he is in the book. Me and Dad, we don’t draw very good.”
“But you color really well,” she said, admiring the bright green head on his current drawing.
“You gotta stay inside the lines. That’s why we drew them really thick.”
“Very sensible.” She rested her chin on the top of his head and studied the poster.
She saw the light pencil marks where Brody had drawn straight lines for the lettering of the header. Jack had titled his piece A Parade Of Dinosaurs. She found it apt, as his drawings marched over the poster in a long squiggly dance.
“You’re doing such a good job, I don’t think you’re going to need the tool I brought along for you.”
“Is it a hammer?”
“Afraid not.” She reached into her bag, pulled it out. “It’s a deadly predator.”
“It’s a T-Rex! Look, Dad. They ate everybody.”
“Very scary,” Brody agreed and laid a hand on his son’s shoulder.
“Can I take it into school? ’Cause look, its arms and legs move and everything. His mouth goes chomp. Can I?”
“I think it’d be a good visual aid to your project, don’t you, Dad? And there’s this little booklet here that talks about how he lived, and when, and how he ate everybody.”
“Couldn’t hurt. Jack, aren’t you going to thank Kate?”
“Thanks, Kate.” Jack marched the dinosaur across the poster. “Thanks a lot. He’s really good.”
“You’re welcome a lot. How about a kiss?”
He grinned and covered his face with his hands. “Nuh-uh.”
“Okay, I’ll just kiss your dad.” She turned her head before Brody could react and closed her mouth firmly over his.
He avoided kissing her, touching her, when Jack was around. That, Kate decided, deliberately sliding her arms around Brody’s waist, would have to change.
Jack made gagging noises behind his hands. But he was watching carefully, and there was a funny fluttering in his stomach.
“A woman’s got to take her kisses where she finds them,” Kate stated, easing back while Brody stood flustered. “Now, my work is done, I have to go.”
“Aw, can’t you stay? You can help draw the dinosaurs. We’re going to have sloppy burgers for dinner.”
“As delightful as that is, I can’t. I have an appointment in town.” Which was true. But she thought the ambush—the drop-by, she corrected—would be more effective if she kept it brief and casual. “Maybe, this weekend if you’re not busy, we can go to the movies again.”
“All right!”
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Brody. No, no,” she said when he turned. “I know the way out. Get back to your dinosaurs.”
“Thanks for coming by,” he said, and said nothing else, not even when he heard her close the front door.
“Dad?”
“Hmm.”
“Do you like kissing Kate?”
“Yeah. I mean…” Okay, Brody thought, here we go. Because Jack was watching him carefully, he sat. “It’s kind of hard to explain, but when you get older… Most guys like kissing girls.”
“Just the pretty ones?”
“No, well, no. But girls you like.”
“And we like Kate, right?”
“Sure we do.” Brody breathed a sigh of relief that the discussion hadn’t deepened into some stickier area of sex education. Not yet, he thought. Not quite yet.
“Dad?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you going to marry Kate?”
“Am I—” His shock was no less than if Jack had suddenly kicked his chair out from under him. “Jeez, Jack, where did that come from?”
“’Cause you like her, and you like kissing her, and you don’t have a wife. Rod’s mom and dad, sometimes they kiss each other in the kitchen, too.”
“Not everybody…people kiss without getting married.” Oh, man. “Marriage is a really important thing. You should know somebody really well, and understand them, and like them.”
“You know Kate, and you like her.”
Brody distinctly felt a single line of sweat dribble down his spine. “Sure I do. Yeah. But I know a lot of people, Jacks.” Feeling trapped, Brody pushed away from the table and got down two clean glasses. “I don’t marry them. You need to love someone to marry them.”
“Don’t you love Kate?”
He opened his mouth, closed it again. Funny, he thought, how much tougher it was to lie to your son than it was to lie to yourself. The simplest answer was that he didn’t know. He wasn’t sure what was building inside him when it came to Kate Kimball.
“It’s complicated, Jack.”
“How come?”
Questions about sex, Brody decided, would have been easier after all. He set the glasses down, came back to sit. “I loved your mother. You know that, right?”
“Uh-huh. She was pretty, too. And you took care of each other and me until she had to go to heaven. I wish she didn’t have to go.”
“I know. Me, too. The thing is, Jack, after she had to go, it was really good for me to just concentrate on loving you. That worked really well for me. And we’ve done all right, haven’t we?”
“Yea
h. We’re a team.”
“You bet we are.” Brody held out his hand so Jack could give him a high five. “Now let’s see what this team can do with dinosaurs.”
“Okay.” Jack picked up his crayon. His eyes darted up to his father’s face once. He liked that they were a team. But he liked to pretend that maybe Kate was part of the team, too.
Chapter Eight
Brody set the first base cabinet in place, checked his level. He could hear, if he paid attention, the whirl of the drill from downstairs as one of his crew finished up the punch-out work on the main level. Up here there was the whoosh and thunk of nail guns and the whirl of saws, as other men worked in the bedroom of Kate’s apartment.
It was going to be a hell of a nice space, Brody thought. The perfect apartment for a single, or a couple without children. It was a little too tight to offer a family a comfortable fit, he thought as he crouched to adjust his level.
Then he just stayed there, staring into space.
Are you going to marry her?
Why the devil had Jack put that idea into the air? Made everything sticky. He wasn’t thinking about marriage. Couldn’t afford to think about it. He had a kid to consider, and his business was just getting off the ground. He had a rambling, drafty old house that was barely half finished.
It simply wasn’t the time to start thinking of adding someone else to the mix by getting married.
He’d jumped into that situation once before. He didn’t regret it, not a minute of it. But he had to admit the timing had been lousy, the situation difficult for everyone involved. What was the point of heading back in that sort of direction when his life was still so much in flux?
Just asking for trouble, he decided.
Besides, Kate wouldn’t be thinking about marriage. Would she? Of course not. She’d barely settled back into town herself. She had her school to think about. She had her freedom.
She spoke French, he thought irrelevantly. She’d been to France. And England and Russia. She might want to go back. Why wouldn’t she want that? And he was anchored in West Virginia with a child.
Anyway, he and Connie had been stupid in love. Young and stupid, he thought with a gentle tug of sentiment. He and Kate were grown-ups. Sensible people who enjoyed each other’s company.