"For some reason that answer doesn't surprise me." He sighed, making a big production out of it. "Well, in that case, I hope I can at least have some sugar." With a big, silly grin on his face, he moved his eyebrows up and down. "No pun intended."
"I'm sure you didn't intend one." Tess moved to the side to allow Zachariah into the house, her grip still tight on the door.
He advanced to the threshold and peered inside. "Before I come in, where's Bruce?"
"With Shaun and Wesley in their room."
"Good." Zachariah strode into the house. "I haven't gotten over the last time he greeted me."
"Yes, Wesley told me about how Bruce launched himself at you and knocked you through the doorway. Is that why you honk now?" That's it. I'll make sure Bruce is by my side at all times.
"If I've learned one thing as a cop, it's that you can't be too careful."
"You don't have to be a cop to learn that lesson."
"Yes, you could probably give me a few on being cautious."
Tess turned at the kitchen entrance. She glared at him, her hands on her hips. "For someone who wants something, you sure have a funny way of endearing yourself to me."
All amusement fled his features. "You're right I want something from you and it sure isn't sugar, at least not the kind that comes in a package. Why else would a man jog two extra blocks and doesn't know how in the world he's going to jog home with a cup full of sugar?"
A grin flirted with the corners of her mouth as she backed into the kitchen. "Walk."
"Walk?"
"Yes, you should walk home and hold the cup carefully."
His tension evaporated as he propped himself against the doorjamb. "You could always drive me home."
The idea tempted her for about one second. "I have three children to get to bed."
"I'll bring you some fudge tomorrow night."
He dangled a temptation that was impossible to resist. "I can't be gone longer than five minutes."
"No problem."
Tess took his measuring cup and filled it with sugar, then handed it back. "Promise?"
"You've got the keys. You're in control."
That innocent expression of his heightened her suspicion. In control? She doubted it, but she snatched up her purse and headed for the back door, amazed at the length she would go for a piece of chocolate.
"It still sounds okay. That's good," he said when she started the engine.
"Definitely since I can't afford to repair it. I still haven't paid off the last time and won't for a while."
"If you need any help, I—"
"No," she said quickly, then added, "thank you but I'm fine."
"Look, Tess, I know how expensive children can be."
"That's my problem." Her voice indicated the subject wasn't up for further discussion.
"Doesn't your ex help with child support?"
Tess clenched her jaw. Her hands grasped the steering wheel until her knuckles whitened.
"Never mind. You don't need to answer that one. Obviously he doesn't."
She slanted a look toward Zachariah. His face was set in a grim expression, his attention on the road ahead. The tension in the car thickened. They still had to get through tomorrow evening because she owed him a dinner. She wasn't sure how she was going to manage. He wanted to know too much about her, and she didn't want to relinquish even a small bit of herself.
She would have missed his driveway if he hadn't spoken up. She wasn't even sure how she ended up on the right street, let alone in front of his house. She didn't turn the engine off but waited for him to climb out of the car.
Zachariah didn't. He turned toward her, his arm sliding along the back of the seat, his hand dangerously close to her. "Not all men are like your ex. Not all men abandon their families."
The tension became palpable and hung in the air between them. She gritted her teeth so tightly that pain shot down her neck. "I wouldn't know about all men, only my husband and father." She stared straight ahead. "Now if you don't mind, I need to get home."
She counted a full, agonizing minute before he left. She didn't wait for him to walk up to his house. After throwing the car into reverse, she backed out of the driveway at a sedate twenty-five-miles-an-hour in two seconds flat.
Zachariah stood on his porch and watched her speed away. Every bit of information concerning Tess that he learned was like pulling a tooth with a set of pliers— painful and excruciatingly slow. But tonight he had discovered why she was so wary. Now all he had to do was build a foundation of trust, and he suspected it would be brick by brick.
* * *
"Hi, come in. Mommie isn't ready yet," Katie said, then whirled about to go into the living room. She ran to the couch and plopped down as though waiting for Zachariah to have a seat next to her. "I'm supposed to keep you enter—busy until she's ready."
He eased himself down onto the sofa, leaning back against the cushion with his foil-covered plate of fudge in his lap. The aroma of orange mingling with a strong scent of flowers permeated the room, but he couldn't find any in a vase. The interesting mix of odors intrigued him. He would have to ask Tess about them.
"How long will your mom be?" he asked when he discovered the little girl staring up at him.
Katie shrugged. "Don't know. She just got out of the shower. We had an accident earlier." She pointed to the plate in his lap. "What's dat?"
"Fudge. An accident? What happened?"
"I spilled Mommie's perfume." Katie stuck her thumb in her mouth. "It stinks." She waved her small hand toward a place behind a chair, her nose wrinkling. "Mommie wasn't too happy."
Zachariah could just imagine what happened. He was about to comment on the incident when he heard a commotion from the back of the house. He looked from the little girl to the doorway into the hallway just as Bruce came bounding into the room with a bra dangling from his mouth.
Tess was right behind the Great Dane, yelling, "Come back here with that." She slid to a stop inside the room, her gaze colliding with Zachariah's. "I didn't know you were here. You're—" she glanced down at her watch, "on time." Crimson flooded her cheeks as she grasped the gaping front of her short terry cloth robe and started backing out of the room.
Bruce lumbered over to Zachariah, dropped the bra at his feet and laved his face. "Good dog. That's enough." He pushed at the Great Dane and finally dislodged Bruce from his lap. When Zachariah looked around the dog to seek help from Tess, she was gone from the doorway. What in the world was he supposed to do with this hellhound? he asked himself as he continued to shove the big brute away, the squashed plate of fudge slipping off his lap to land on the couch next to him.
Bruce backed up into the coffee table while Zachariah held him off. Katie bounced off the couch, giggling, and threw her arms around the dog's neck. Bruce wagged his tail and cleared the table of the three magazines and the TV remote control.
"Why don't you take Bruce to your room?" Zachariah asked as he scooted to the side, his hand still securely fastened onto the dog's collar in case the Great Dane changed his mind and decided to become his close personal buddy again.
"Can I have some fudge?"
He was about to say if her mother said it was okay, then changed his mind. He wasn't beneath offering a reward if it would get the Great Dane out of his face. "Sure." Unwrapping the foil, he withdrew a flattened piece of fudge from the plate and handed it to Katie who immediately popped the whole thing into her mouth.
While the little girl led the big dog from the room, Zachariah wondered how much money it would take to build Tess a fence. He could get a few friends to help with the labor. Maybe he could convince the neighbors who bordered the yard to help with buying the lumber. Then all he had to do was persuade Tess to let him do it. Probably moving the Great Pyramid would be an easier feat.
He bent over and retrieved the bra from the floor. He held the flimsy piece of lace in his hand, rubbing the delicate material between his forefinger and thumb. Images of Tess taking a shower,
of drying herself off, of getting dressed, flashed across the screen of his mind in vivid Technicolor. Rising, he began to pace, energy surging through him. A finely-honed tension gripped him as he shook those pictures from his thoughts. He would never make it through the evening if he kept that fantasy going. He would be a basket case before the salad was served.
He heard someone coming. He quickly stuffed the bra into his pants' pocket, as though caught doing something wrong, and spun toward the entrance into the hallway, praying his sexual fantasy wasn't written all over his face.
But that was going to be a hard feat when she looked so sexy, Zachariah thought as he took in her long sleeved but short red dress that hugged her curves like a second skin. Her slender legs seemed to go on forever as he allowed his gaze to coast down her length. The leisurely trek produced a tightening in his groin.
***
The first thing Tess saw when she entered was Zachariah standing by a chair with a grin plastered on his face. Immediately she thought of how she had burst into the living room only five minutes before dressed in her terry cloth robe that left little to the imagination. After escaping back to her bedroom, she had set a record getting ready. She just wanted this evening over with before she flung herself into his arms and said, "Take me."
"Hi, you look great," Zachariah said, clasping the back of the chair near him.
As his gaze slowly traversed her body in an upward sweep, she felt the heat in her cheeks rivaling the color of her dress. Why had she chosen to wear something so revealing, to give in to the feminine side of her psyche? Chalk it up to a moment of madness, she decided. "How long have you've been waiting? I didn't hear the doorbell earlier."
"I didn't ring it. Katie opened the door before I had a chance to. But I haven't been here long. I had just arrived when—" he paused, his eyes taking on a silvery liquid look, "when you came after Bruce."
"At least I had on my robe," Tess said, laughter bubbling up in her. "That dog has a nasty little habit of stealing clothes if you turn your back on him for one second. I had everything I was going to wear lying on my bed." She glanced around the living room. "By the way where is Bruce?"
"He's with Katie in her room. I bribed her with a piece of fudge." Zachariah gestured toward the plate on the couch. "Your share is slightly mashed but still edible if Katie is any indication."
"Not really. She'd eat anything that's chocolate. Definitely my daughter has taken after me. I'd better hide the rest, or she will have the whole plate cleared before you can say the word, no." Tess took the fudge into the kitchen and stashed it in her hiding place that her children hadn't managed to find yet.
As she reentered the living room, Tess remembered what had caused her mad dash out of her bedroom. She scanned the area, a frown wrinkling her brow. "Where's my—" She let her question fade into silence as her gaze linked with Zachariah's.
"Your bra?"
She nodded.
"Here." Zachariah actually looked sheepish as he withdrew the lacy bit of material from his front pants' pocket
"Oh," Tess murmured as she watched the bra slowly appear in his large hand. She thought about him handling it and couldn't help the blush that returned.
Flustered, she snatched the piece of lace from his outstretched palm and looked about for a place to put it. Finally she opened her big purse and crammed it down into the bottom of the bag. She was seriously thinking of burning her favorite bra, not because she was a feminist but because she didn't think she could ever wear it again and not conjure up a picture of Zachariah touching it. The image was way too intimate and hinted at the difficulty that laid ahead for her this evening.
"We'd better go. Our reservations are for seven thirty." Tess snapped her purse shut.
"Reservations? Definitely not McDonald's then. Where are we going?"
"Flanagan's."
Zachariah stared down at her for a full minute, then started laughing. "I should have known you'd pick a place like that."
"Whatever do you mean?" Grinning, she batted her eyelashes at him as she sailed past him out onto the porch.
"It's the noisiest, most crowded restaurant in town. The waiters don't know the meaning of leaving you alone. Privacy is unheard of at Flanagan's."
"It is? I heard the food is excellent."
Zachariah opened the car door for her. "And you want to keep your mouth full at all times. It's not going to work, Tess Morgan. Did I tell you I was a detective in Chicago?"
"I should have known. You have that interrogating bit down pat," she said when he sat behind the wheel and started the car. "Why aren't you one here?"
"The hours are too long. I'd get a case and it would consume me. With two kids to raise I can't afford to do that. I need to be there for them."
Tess remembered his comment about all men not abandoning their families and felt another thread wind around her and bind her to him. This man would never walk away from his children.
"Besides, the police force in Crystal City is far different than in Chicago."
"What made you go to Chicago in the first place?"
"I wanted to try the big city, but I've decided you can't take the country out of me. I like a smaller town. I feel more human here. Why did you move here?"
"Granny Kime gave me an offer I couldn't refuse."
When she didn't elaborate, Zachariah asked, "What offer?"
"A roof over our heads. Have you been to Flanagan's before?"
He chuckled. "Yes, twice."
"Did you enjoy it?"
"I don't think nearly as much as I will tonight. About where you lived—"
"Oh, I see we're here already," Tess interrupted. "I'm looking forward to the food."
"Is that all?"
"The entertainment, too."
* * *
Twenty minutes later Tess knew for entertainment the juggling busboy and the singing waitress couldn't compare to the man sitting across from her at the most private table possible in the rowdy restaurant. How had he managed to secure the one table hidden from the rest of the patrons by a big potted plant? Tess scanned the large room. The bright lights were even dimmer in this corner, the noise level high with laughter and merriment.
After Zachariah gave their order to the waitress who in turn sang it back to them, he lifted his water glass, his gaze touching hers and making a mockery of her plan not to be affected by this man. "To a fun evening, Tess."
She somehow managed to raise her glass and click it against his. To a short evening. By the way had she told him she turned into a pumpkin at nine o'clock?
"How's your work coming along?" Zachariah asked as he put his glass on the table.
"Great. I'm enjoying it. In fact, the company will be sending me to a seminar in Oklahoma City for a few days next month." Tess ran her finger along the rim of her glass. "Of course, I haven't been away from the kids except when I was in the hospital having Katie and Wesley."
"They'll do fine."
"I'm not worrying about them, it's Granny Kime. In case you haven't noticed, my children can be a handful."
"Nah." Laughter glittered in the gray depths of his eyes. "If it will make you feel any better, I'll drop in and check on them. Besides, Wesley will have practice so that will give me a good reason to be around. Your grandmother will never know."
Tess wanted to tell him they could handle everything by themselves, but she wasn't the only one involved here. Granny Kime was seventy-five years old, and Tess had to think of her first, not her pride. "Don't bet on it She's one sharp cookie, but I don't think she would mind the extra pair of hands."
"I just have one favor to ask."
"What?"
"Take your perfume with you. If I had to clean up that kind of mess, I'm afraid the boys at the station would never let me live it down."
"Katie told you about that?"
"It was obvious. Just one good whiff and you knew something wasn't quite right. Flowers and orange definitely are an usual combination."
"The orang
e scent you smelled wasn't the perfume."
"What happened? Did the boys have a fight with oranges?"
Tess waved her hand in the air. "Nothing like that. At least not this time. I use different kinds of aromas for different kinds of effects. The orange scent is a sedative."
Zachariah chuckled. "Did you put it on after the perfume was spilled or before?"
"After. I had to do something. I really should have known something was up. Katie had been eyeing it for days. I noticed it was gone when I got out of the shower. It didn't take me long to figure out what happened. I heard a crash in the living room and knew my only bottle of perfume had bit the dust."
Yours, Mine and Ours (Second Chances) Page 7