When he reached the back stoop, Larry smashed his nose against the screen door, as if trying to escape the kitchen to relieve his ears. “It’s okay, boy,” Matt assured the dog. In disagreement, Larry tilted his head back, stuck his nose in the air, and howled out his own rendition.
Matt laughed to himself as he yanked on the door handle. He entered the mudroom, the screen door latching behind him with a bang. He ran a comforting hand along the dog’s back.
Dani spun around in midscreech, her hand clutched to her heart. “Oh, hey.”
Matt pulled in a slow, deep breath. She stood at the stove wearing a gray zippered sweatshirt and black shorts that clung to her lower body in all the right ways. Her hair was heaped on top of her head in a haphazard pile. He’d never considered himself chauvinistic, but something about her standing in his kitchen barefoot jacked up the room’s temperature. He’d be taking a cold shower tonight, and it had nothing to do with the day’s heat index. Get a grip, Reagan.
“Didn’t mean to startle you. Guess you didn’t hear me over the sound of”—he couldn’t call it singing—“the radio.” He tossed his keys on the counter.
“I made coleslaw earlier and just finished the barbecued beef. I’m about to make a fruit salad. Want anything?”
“I’ll take whatever you’re offering.” He let his words linger in the air just long enough that it may or may not be considered suggestive. He watched with amusement as her face took on the color of a stop sign. “How did Sam do this evening?” he asked.
“Great. His blood sugars were stable, and he loved dinner.” She wiped her hands on a dishtowel. “He declared he wasn’t scared of needles anymore. I think he wanted to show me that he’s brave.”
“How’d the rest go?” Matt worked open the first few buttons of his shirt. “I kept waiting for a distress call.”
“It went well.”
“Why, wasn’t my mother around?”
Dani laughed. “I think your mother and I have come to an understanding.”
“You didn’t practice any martial arts on her, did you?” he teased.
“Nope, but Sam is thrilled to be learning Tae Kwon Do.”
“I’d like to check on him and take a shower before eating.” He removed his gun and holster from his belt. “If you want to call it a night, just tell me what you want done with the food.”
Dani glanced at the clock. “I’m usually ready to eat now, too. I’ll make the salad while you shower.”
He nodded, then headed down the hallway. A night light from the bathroom allowed him to see into Sam’s room. Larry raced ahead, bumped the door wide, and curled up at the foot of the bed. Sam lay flat on his back wearing striped boxers, clutching a sheaf of papers depicting various martial arts stances. Matt wheedled them out of Sam’s grip.
He blinked sleepy eyes in Matt’s direction. “Dad, is Larry sick? I think he was crying.”
Matt smiled. “Nope. You heard Ms. Sullivan singing.”
Sam flashed a grin that had as many teeth as it did gaps. “She’s gonna teach me Kung Fu.” He snuggled into his pillow looking like everything was right in his world.
“Tae Kwon Do.” Matt ruffled Sam’s hair.
“Yeah, that.”
“You know, pal, she’s only here for a short time. When Grandma and I know how to care for you on our own, Ms. Sullivan won’t keep coming over.”
“I know.”
“Plus she’s leaving at the end of summer.”
“Maybe you could talk her into staying longer.”
“Bud…”
Had it been a mistake to have her here with them? When she left, would Sam be thankful for the time he’d spent with Dani, or would he mourn one more female who’d left his life?
Sam peered at Matt with pleading eyes. “You’re good at talking people into stuff. I hate doing homework, but you always get me to do it.”
“Ms. Sullivan’s only here for the summer, Sam.” Both Reagan men needed to remember that. Matt brushed a kiss across his son’s forehead. “It’s late. Better get to sleep.”
…
“Smells great in here,” Matt said.
Dani stopped, midreach of the silverware drawer, as he reentered the kitchen freshly showered with damp hair and khaki cargo shorts that hung dangerously low on his hips. They were all he wore. No shirt. No shoes. What else had he neglected to dress? She took a few deep breaths, her lungs filling with the scent of soap, and focused on the bare skin of his torso. “Sure does.”
He glanced over her shoulder at the food on the counter before settling his gaze on her. “Can’t wait to have a taste.” He smiled, and it transformed his looks from handsome to hot.
“Me, too.” Mesmerized, she wondered how his skin would taste, what the texture would be like if she ran her hands and lips across the wide expanse of his chest. “How many sandwiches do you want?”
“Two.”
“I’ll get the bed.” She shook her head to clear away the lust. “Uh, bread.” When she glanced his way, she saw him smiling.
His attention shifted down her body to lock onto her shorts. “I’d prefer buns.”
She burst out laughing. “I’ve heard a lot of dumb lines, but I think that was the worst.” She turned off the radio then switched on the small kitchen TV. Nothing like the news to crank down lustful thoughts. She used the remote to flip to a cable weather channel. A curvy blonde weathergirl smiled at the TV audience.
“Turn up the volume,” Matt said. “This chick gives great weather.”
She wore a bright red skirt and jacket that fit as tight as a wetsuit. “She must be scuba diving after her shift.” Dani carried silverware and napkins to the table.
“Good evening. I’m Kandi Kane with your local weather.” She flashed a blinding toothpaste-commercial smile. The camera inched closer until her head filled the screen. “Watch out. It’s going to get hot.” She winked suggestively.
“Give me a break. What did she do before weather, strip on stage?” Dani pulled two bottles of beer from the fridge. She slapped one into Matt’s outstretched hand.
He screwed off the cap. “Just want to know if it’s going to rain tomorrow.” He flashed her a dimpled grin.
She glared at him. “When you wake up in the morning, stick your head out the window. If you get wet, you’ll know it’s raining.”
He leaned an elbow onto the counter and cupped his chin in his hand, his attention glued to the screen. “Shhh. You’re interrupting Kandi’s forecast.”
Dani snorted. “Sheriff, you’re a sick man.”
“Shhh.” He took a sip of his beer without looking away from the TV.
The camera panned back to reveal a local map. “An impressive warm front will move from the south and push its way north tonight, thrusting through this tight spot.” The blonde pointed to a highlighted section of Lake Bliss. “We’ll need to endure the repeated push of this front for several days. The penetration of hot air could potentially cause an electrical discharge near the region of entrance.”
Dani rolled her eyes. “Like she can’t just say lightning?”
“Shhh. Can’t miss the extended forecast.”
“The National Weather Service may also issue an excessive heat warning.”
Dani pushed up the arms of her sweatshirt and lowered the zipper an inch. Maybe the weather chick was on to something—it was getting warmer by the second.
“Lack of protection as the thunderstorms explode could result in…”
“Unwanted baby storms?” Dani added. She dug in a kitchen drawer, pulled out a bottle opener, and flipped off the cap of her beer.
“…stationary front.”
She had just put the bottle to her mouth when Matt leaned in from behind. He whispered in a sandpapery voice, “Just so you know, I’ve never had that problem.”
Good thing she hadn’t taken a sip yet or she’d have choked.
“…dissipate rather quickly throughout the evening hours.”
“That’s happened on p
lenty of dates,” Dani admitted.
“Accompanying the clouds and precipitation will be a depression…”
Dani snorted. “Had that after a date, too.”
Matt chuckled.
“We’ll keep an eye out for regions of strong moisture convergence.”
Dani squirmed when she conjured up a mental image of various ways moisture could converge. And it had nothing to do with the weather.
“A precipitation shaft will slowly rotate…”
“I’ve heard enough.” Dani punched the off button and tried to ignore Matt’s grin.
“So it’s going to be hot and rainy the next few days?” Matt asked.
“I have no idea.”
Chapter Nine
Now that Matt knew the forecast—and if he’d correctly read Dani’s expression when she’d stared at his bare chest—they were definitely in store for a heat wave. Without even going outside.
Dani stood at the counter, cutting green grapes in half. She scooped them up, then placed them in a bowl of blueberries.
He grabbed the T-shirt he’d tossed on the counter after his shower and tugged it over his head, switched the radio to a jazz station, and scanned the room. Multiple candles glowed from the center of the table with a few scattered on the counter. Near the window, a glass jug held a bunch of herbs. “This is nice. Most nights when I get home late, I just eat at the kitchen sink.”
“I wouldn’t want to disrupt your routine.” Dani peered at him over her shoulder, one corner of her mouth hitched up. “Want me to sidle up next to you there? We can let the crumbs fall into the sink and just rinse them away. In fact,” she said, her voice filled with humor, “if you ever remodel the kitchen, you could skip the table and chairs and just build a long row of sinks. Think how economical it’d be.”
He grinned and moved next to her. “You’re a lot of fun to be around. I like your sense of humor.”
Dani paused hulling strawberries. “Openly discussing your feelings, Sheriff? And here I assumed you were a guy.”
He leaned closer to speak directly in her ear, his tone seductive. “Are you confused about my anatomy, Nurse Sullivan?” He deliberately allowed his arm to skim her exposed forearms as he reached around her to snatch a berry. “Maybe you need a refresher course.” Matt popped the fruit in his mouth.
She muttered something that sounded a lot like “wise guy” before she returned her attention to the berries.
“I told you before I don’t hold back my feelings. I believe in honesty, both on the job and in my personal life.” He kept his attention fixed on her while he wiped at the corner of his mouth with his thumb. She flicked him an uneasy glance and then focused hard on her task, avoiding further eye contact. Sam had given Matt an identical expression last year when he’d questioned how the garage window had gotten busted.
Interesting. His nurse was holding back. Something to think about.
He snatched a peach wedge that she’d just quartered. The fruit was sweet and juicy, and he had to admit the taste was a whole lot better than what came in a can. At the moment, though, food wasn’t his priority. “Do you do everything this well?” His gaze coasted down her body and took a leisurely route back to her face.
“If I’m passionate about something, I give it everything I’ve got.” Now she threw him a frisky smile. At this rate, he doubted he’d survive their first meal together.
He covered a groan with a cough. “I know you’re a nurse. You like to cook. What else would I want to know?”
Body language was part of his job, and hers screamed that his line of questioning made her uncomfortable. She paused before she answered, as if trying to decide what she wanted to divulge. “Not much else to tell.”
Doubtful. Yet she didn’t owe him any explanation, so he’d keep the subject light. “How’d your late-night schedule come about?”
She turned and leaned back against the counter, legs crossed at the ankles. “When my mom’s health deteriorated to the point where she couldn’t live alone, I sold my condo and moved in with her. I worked evenings, getting home about midnight. My mom loved to stay up late and sleep till midmorning.”
“So you come by it naturally.”
Dani smiled, and Matt experienced it all the way to his gut. The woman was gorgeous. But when she smiled, she glowed like she was mentally dancing in place.
“We got into a habit of cooking and talking late into the night. For whatever reason, that’s when Mom was at her best. We both loved music, so we’d take turns choosing songs. We cooked by candlelight because she found it relaxing. When her health worsened a year later, I took a leave of absence from my job. I had the money from the sale of my condo to live on. We continued the routine up until her death.”
“When did she pass?”
Her voice went soft. “Four months ago. She had a heart attack. Died in her sleep.”
He placed an arm around her. “I’m sorry.” She leaned into him.
“And the rest I know. You came here to write your next cookbook and unwind. I guess you didn’t have much of a chance to do either when I asked you to spend your time helping us.”
“I want to be here.” Matt believed the sincerity in her eyes. His heart warmed for this woman so willing to give of herself. Dani was racking up the points.
She headed back to the sink. She snipped a few herbs from the jar, then returned to the fruit bowl.
“You’re putting green stuff in our fruit?”
“Relax. It’s mint.”
“I don’t expect you to spend every minute cooking.”
She shrugged. “The kitchen is my favorite room.”
With the right woman, the kitchen could be his preferred room, too. Who was he kidding? With the right woman, any room in his house could become his favorite. In every room, they could share love and laughter. His lust-soaked imagination conjured up a slide show of all the ways he and the right woman could enjoy all the kitchen had to offer. But in his imagination, Dani stood in for the right woman. A rush of heat awakened a long-neglected part of his anatomy.
Leave it alone, man.
…
Dani set the fruit bowl on the kitchen table. Matt’s heated expression sank right through her.
The music matched the night air and the candlelit kitchen.
Sultry.
Seductive.
Maybe she should blow out the candles. Turn on the lights. Turn off the music. Go back to her cottage.
But instead of thinking about curling up for a night of solid sleep, her fickle brain conjured up other images of her in bed. With Matt. With his hard, naked body moving over hers. Somehow through the fun and flirting, she’d learned to trust the sheriff, a feat not lost on Dani. And just as surprising, she admitted to herself that she wanted him.
She closed her eyes and drew a cleansing breath. They’d eat their late-night dinner, and then she’d go to sleep—alone. Her goal was to help her son, not help herself to the sheriff.
Simple as that.
She picked up two plates of food and then headed for the table. Matt stood a few feet away and focused on her with such heat in his eyes, Dani forgot how to breathe. Her pulse hiked at the blatant arousal in his eyes.
He walked her backward until she bumped against the cupboards.
“It’s time to eat.” She held up the plates as evidence.
In an instant, the dishes were out of her hands. He boxed her in, his palms planted on either side of her. She remembered the night at the video store when she’d mistakenly suspected he was going to kiss her. She had no intention of thinking like a fool a second time. “Something on the counter you want?”
“Not yet.” Using his big hands, he encircled her waist, picked her up, and settled her onto the beige laminate countertop. With the difference in their height reduced, every breath she inhaled was filled with his scent. In a deep, smoky voice, he said, “Now there is.”
Matt stepped between her legs. The width of his stance spread her thighs. His shorts, w
arm from contact with his skin, slid along her sensitive flesh. Her disloyal limbs had their own agenda, holding him in place. He lowered his head until his mouth was a fraction away from her lips.
She turned her head away.
He nuzzled a sensitive place behind her ear.
Her eyes closed. Traitors.
The hammering of her heart spiked until she couldn’t feel any in-between beats. Maybe she had an arousal-induced cardiac condition.
“Just a taste,” he coaxed. “One kiss.”
Who was he kidding? It’d be like trying to eat one French fry. In a nanosecond, she’d be knocking back the super-size. “I came here to help you—not kiss you,” she managed to say.
“I took you for a multitasker.” His warm lips nipped along her necklace, his long-past-five-o’clock shadow rasping against her flesh. He groaned like she was the best thing he’d ever tasted. She shivered, an involuntary response that had her worried how long it would take for her to lose complete control. He worked his way to her collarbone, leaving a trail of his clean scent. She tried to ignore the impulse to wrestle him to the floor and have her fill.
For the sake of her health, Dani smashed her lips together.
His soft laughter whispered across her skin. “This would work a lot better if you participated, sweetheart.”
No doubt. But Matt Reagan was the last man on the planet she should play kissy face with. She turned to argue, but he pressed his mouth to hers. Her objections caught in her throat.
His lips were soft. Warm. He teased. Tormented. He shifted the pressure on her mouth, drawing out the kiss. Her nose grazed his whiskers, releasing his scent like he was a human Scratch’n Sniff.
Her hands coasted across his chest. When had he pulled on a T-shirt? The need to burrow under the soft cotton and take possession of his sculpted body darn near bordered on obsession.
She needed to think about something else. Something other than her craving to travel her hands along his body to experience each and every surface. Think about food, she told herself. Something undesirable, like liver. She moved her hands in the general area of Matt’s liver and discovered his stomach—flat and rippled with muscle.
Just for the Summer Page 9