"I can do one better. I'll drive you to the city and then pick you up."
"No, that would be too much trouble." She was tempted to accept his help, but what if he wasn't around? There would come a time she had to do these things alone. In fact, she had promised herself when she moved to Crystal City the time was now.
"I don't mind. I would feel better than letting you drive that car even if I worked on it."
"I can't let you." Tess caught the tensing of his mouth, a nerve twitching in his jaw line.
"Why not?"
"Because," she paused, searching her mind for a plausible reason, "because you're a busy man and it's an almost four hour trip one way."
"It would be fun for Emily and I to drive you down to Oklahoma City. I can take my daughter to the zoo before heading back." His gaze snared Tess's. "Are you going to deny my daughter a chance to see the animals?"
Underneath his seemingly neutral expression, she sensed a man determined to have his way. No would be unacceptable to him and she found in that instant to her also. She didn't want to drive for nearly four hours by herself in a car ready to die at a moment's notice.
"Fine, if you're sure," Tess said, drawn to the diamond like glitter in Zachariah's eyes.
"Dad, I want to go, too," Lance broke in, his declaration pulling Zachariah's attention away from Tess.
"Me, too, Mom," Wesley chimed in.
"Sorry, kids." Zachariah held up his hand as though to ward off an attack. "It's a school day and school comes first."
"Why?" Shaun asked, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Mommie, can I have seconds?" Katie tugged on Tess's arm.
She looked down at her daughter and noticed most of her food was still untouched. "You can't until you've cleaned your plate first." Tess cut a piece of steak and ate it, taking her time chewing the meat. She listened as Zachariah tried to explain to the boys the importance of school while they argued for going on the trip to Oklahoma City.
Out of the corner of her eye, Tess saw Katie slip off the bench and take her plate toward the trashcan. Just when her daughter was about to dump her food into the garbage, Tess shouted, "Katie! What are you doing?"
Her daughter turned around, one hand on her hip. "Cleaning my plate. You told me to," she said as if it were perfectly obvious what she was doing.
Everyone stopped talking and looked at Tess then Katie. For a few seconds silence reigned in the backyard.
Tess went to her daughter and took the plate from her hand. "Darling, I meant you had to finish eating everything before you can have seconds."
"Well, why didn't you say so?" Katie flounced over to the picnic table and plopped down, folding her arms across her chest, a pout forming on her lips.
Zachariah smiled at Tess, then resumed his conversation with the boys. "Sorry, you all can't go. School's too important. Besides, it will be boring driving in the car for all those hours with nothing to do but talk. Now, is everyone ready for some dessert?"
Tess sat very still while the children erupted as if they were tiny volcanoes. Zachariah's comment about nothing to do but talk in the car alarmed her. Very likely she would have his full attention for hours and he would have hers. A captive audience, she thought, realizing she wouldn't be able to get up and walk away when he probed too deeply, not when they would be going sixty-five miles an hour. Somehow she doubted Emily would be enough of a diversion.
* * *
Tess closed the door on Wesley's room and walked toward the phone. Something happened at the soccer game earlier that day, the one time she hadn't gone because Katie wasn't feeling well. Tess didn't want to talk to Zachariah about this. She wanted to take care of this problem on her own, but her son wasn't talking about it.
Her heart thudded as the phone rang again then again. Her palms were sweaty while she switched the receiver to the other ear. She was almost positive that Wesley must have missed a goal. She had been afraid this would happen, that he would react negatively to what he perceived was letting the team down.
"Hello," Zachariah said, and instantly a picture of the man came to her mind.
She swallowed several times. "Zachariah, this is Tess."
"Hi, I missed you today at the game."
The sexy cadence of his voice sent her heartbeat galloping. She shifted the receiver back to the other ear and wiped her hand on her jeans, trying to ignore the thought that he had missed her. That thought excited her, and she didn't want to handle the implications of that feeling.
"How's Katie? Wesley told me she was sick."
"Much better thankfully." She closed her eyes for a few seconds. Why did the very sound of his voice melt her insides? "I'm calling you about Wesley. He's despondent ever since he came home this afternoon. What happened at the game?"
"He missed a goal, but he saved several and we won. I saw him afterward and we talked. He seemed fine."
"Well, he isn't." She couldn't keep the "I told you so" tone out of her voice.
"I'll be over."
Before Tess could tell him not to come, he had hung up. She listened to the dial tone for a long moment, then slowly replaced the receiver in its cradle. She had only wanted to know what had happened so she could talk to Wesley about it. Now she had to contend with Zachariah and she wasn't emotionally prepared, not after dealing with Katie throwing up all night and morning, not after dealing with Wesley near tears all evening.
When the doorbell rang a few minutes later, Tess stiffened, drew in a fortifying breath and went to answer it "You didn't have to come."
"I wanted to. I told you I would take care of any problems that arose because of making Wesley a goalie."
"And I told you I could take care of my son."
"I'm not doubting that, Tess, but I feel responsible for anything that happens to one of my players. I would do this for any team member." Zachariah ran his hand through his hair. "Wesley's missed some goals before so I'm not sure what's going on. May I see him?"
Tess gestured toward the hallway. "He's in his room. Shaun's spending the night at a friend's so Wesley's alone."
After he left, Tess waited a full minute before she headed back to Wesley's bedroom, intending to be a part of the discussion between Zachariah and her son. But Wesley's words stopped her in the doorway.
"At Braum's Billie's mom said the only reason you pay attention to me and work with me is because you like my mom."
Zachariah sat on the bed next to her son, the room dim with only the light from the closet on. "That's not true."
"You don't like my mom?"
"That part is true, but not the part about paying attention to you and working with you. You're special and that has nothing to do with your mother."
A lump lodged in Tess's throat. Glad neither one had seen her, she backed away from the door and retraced her steps into the living room, a coldness embedding itself deep inside of her. This evening with Wesley was about needing reassurances that he was important in Zachariah's life. She had known that her son had a good case of hero worship, but the situation was worse than she had thought. In six weeks Zachariah had become critical to Wesley's happiness. She was in trouble. When soccer season ended in another few weeks, how was her son going to handle not seeing Zachariah on a daily basis?
How was she going to handle it?
She and Zachariah needed to talk.
She prowled the living room, glancing at her watch, expecting him to come out of her son's bedroom any moment. When thirty minutes passed and still no sign of the man, she decided to investigate again. Carefully she pushed open the door to Wesley's room a few inches and was surprised to find Zachariah sitting on her son's bed, reading him a story. Wesley's eyelids drooped closed, and his head sagged to the side on his pillow.
Zachariah looked up and caught her staring at him. He smiled. The blood in her veins turned to molten lava, and she grasped the doorjamb to steady herself. He could ignite passion in her as quickly as a match tossed into a pile of dry leaves.
> Carefully, so as not to awaken her son, Zachariah placed the book on the nightstand and strode from the room.
Out in the hallway he took her hand without a word and led her into the living room.
"Everything's all right now," he said while gently tugging her toward the couch.
"I heard some of it. Wait till I get my hands on Billie's mother."
"No, that pleasure is all mine."
"Why?" She heard the protective ring to his words, and a part of her rejoiced, a part of her rebelled.
"I don't like what she's insinuating. I need to put a stop to her and that filthy little mind of hers before she really starts spreading rumors."
"She can't take there might be some other child on the team as good as her son. You go right ahead and do what you must, but I'm still going to say something to her."
"Such a tigress. That's one of the things I like about you. You'll defend your family no matter what"
"You better believe that. No one will hurt my children. I can forgive a lot of things, but never someone causing one of my children any pain."
Zachariah slipped his arm around her shoulders and pressed her back against his side. "Thank goodness we're on the same team."
Cradled along his length, Tess relaxed her tensed muscles and allowed herself to relish his warmth that chased away the chill of earlier. "Who's watching Emily and Lance?"
"Nora, the best neighbor a guy could have. I told her I might be a while. After all, this is Saturday night Have any ideas what we might do now that everything's back to normal?"
Normal? Around Zachariah? Her life hadn't been normal since the day he had given her the warning. "Let's see. I haven't gotten to houseclean yet. Wanna help?"
"I'll pass. I have my own to do tomorrow. You could grow flowers in the dust I have on my furniture."
"There's always TV."
"Yeah, I'm sure there's a football game on some channel."
Tess shook her head. "Over my dead body."
He tilted up her face so she was looking into his eyes that glinted with passion. "I wouldn't want that." His voice smoked while his finger traced the outline of her mouth, slowly, mesmerizingly. "I think I can come up with something we both will enjoy."
His lips were only inches from hers. His breath tingled over her hypersensitive skin, and she shivered. He flattened her even more against him while his thumb tortured the column of her neck, its rough textured pad sliding down toward the pulse beat at her throat.
"Where's Katie and your grandmother?" he whispered, his head moving a fraction closer to hers.
"Who?" She couldn't seem to focus on what he was saying.
"Katie, your daughter. Granny Kime, your grandmother."
His mouth feathered over hers, and she thought she would scream when he pulled back a few inches. "Katie's asleep. Granny Kime is playing bingo until late."
"So we're alone, so to speak."
"Something like that if you call two children in the other room alone."
"In my book it's probably about the closest I'll come to being alone with you for a while."
His thumb returned to brush across her lips while his other hand glided down her back. Her eyes slid closed while delicious feelings spiraled outward from his touches. She was definitely experiencing a meltdown.
"You don't have to do everything by yourself," he murmured right before he crushed his lips against hers, his tongue pushing its way into her mouth much as the man had into her life, boldly, commandingly.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, she matched his passionate fire stroke for stroke. The driving possession of his mouth, the sensual probe of his tongue fired her senses and claimed a part of her locked away from others.
Their bodies meshed as he tipped her back to lie on the couch, his length covering hers. She felt his heart beat against hers as though they had melded and become one. He made slow love to her with his mouth, his hands.
Somewhere in the dark recesses of her mind she knew she needed to barricade herself against him. She couldn't She didn't want to. She wanted this man to wipe away years of feeling self-doubt, of feeling rejected. She wanted Zachariah Smith.
She lost all sense of where she was. She became totally attuned to what he was making her feel—alive, womanly and desired.
Suddenly he stiffened. "What in the world!"
Bruce's woof echoed through Tess's disoriented mind. She saw her dog plopped on top of Zachariah. He scrambled off her while trying to fend off the Great Dane. Barking, the dog cornered him with his big paws on his shoulders, Bruce's body trapping Zachariah against the couch.
"Bruce! Get away." Tess yanked on the dog's collar to get him to move.
While Tess held the Great Dane, his eyes still trained on Zachariah, he slid as far away on the sofa as possible. "I thought you told me he was just a great big teddy bear. Couldn't harm a fly."
"He usually is. I forgot about his jealousy."
"Jealousy? A dog?" Zachariah eyed the Great Dane warily.
"Afraid so. He never liked Brad to hug me or kiss on me. He would try to break us up."
"I guess the dog isn't all bad," Zachariah muttered.
"I thought he was in Katie's bedroom. I'd better go check on her."
Before Tess could rise from the couch, her hand still clasping Bruce's collar, her daughter sauntered into the living room, rubbing her eyes. "Mommie, I want some water."
"Be right back," Tess said, dragging a reluctant dog behind her as she followed Katie from the room.
Zachariah sat on the couch, shaking his head. He could still taste Tess on his lips. He could still smell her in his nostrils. She affected his senses, making it impossible to think straight around the woman. His hands itched to hold her again. None of his desire cooled as he waited for her to return.
"Sorry about Bruce," Tess said when she reentered the living room, minus the dog. "Katie went right back to bed. I left him with her."
Zachariah could tell by the tone of Tess's voice that the spell had been broken. The cautious look was back in her eyes. She kept her distance across the room, standing near a chair, her hands gripping the back of it.
"It's been a long day, Zachariah. I didn't get much sleep last night."
He rose, wishing he didn't feel as if he had lost the clue that would unlock an important case he had been working on for months. "I'll see you Monday morning at five."
"Yes, Oklahoma City." She didn't follow him to the door but remained by the chair, her knuckles turning white.
He almost went to her, but he knew she would run. Just as he thought he was making progress, she would retreat even further into her shell. He hadn't meant to slam the door on his way out, but the sound reverberated through the stillness of the night.
Frustration churned his stomach. He wanted much more than being friends.
This cinched it. Something had to be done about that dog. He would put up a fence next week while Tess was gone and surprise her when she returned. He had some friends who owed him a few favors, and he was sure he could talk the neighbors into helping with paying for the lumber. Next time he found himself this close to heaven that Great Dane was going to be outside where he belonged. And there would be a next time.
Chapter Nine
Tess could see the sign for Oklahoma City ahead of her. She had spent almost four hours alone with Zachariah in the car and had survived. When he had come to pick her up, she had almost refused to go with him. At the last minute Emily's aunt had wanted her to stay over the night before and play with her daughter who was two. Tess knew that an eighteen-month-old couldn't really be a chaperon, but after what had nearly happened the other night in her living room, she was desperate.
The man was tearing down her defenses one by one, making her depend on him emotionally. First, he had offered her friendship. Now, he offered her the chance to go much further than that into territory that in the past had left her vulnerable, wounded.
"How about lunch before I take you to the hotel?" Zacha
riah asked, switching lanes on the highway in order to exit.
"That sounds fine," Tess answered absently, her attention focused on the passing scenery while her mind churned.
What if she took another risk and plunged into a relationship with Zachariah? The urge to put the past behind her was strong and growing stronger with each day she was with him. Zachariah wasn't her father. He wasn't Brad. Zachariah was forceful, sometimes overwhelming, but he always considered her feelings and listened to her. He wouldn't take over her life to the exclusion of herself.
He pulled into the parking lot of a small cafe. "Are you sure you don't need me to come pick you up Thursday?"
Yours, Mine and Ours (Second Chances) Page 12