by Kaitlyn Rice
“Wise decision, Abby,” Sharon said on her way back to the dressing room. “That dress would probably get your handsome roommate too worked up, anyway. Leave it alone.”
Five minutes later, Abby stared in the mirror at a sultry version of herself she’d never known existed. The gown fit her curves so perfectly it was as if someone had made it for her. “If I was going, I’d want to wear this,” she whispered, turning her hips to make the skirt swing around her thighs.
The door opened, and the clerk peeped in. “Your friend was right,” she stated. “That’s your dress.”
Sharon crowded in behind the clerk, and her smile turned gargantuan.
“It’s too expensive,” Abby said, to both of them. She might have let herself fall for Sharon’s obvious psychological ploy, but the price tag made resisting easier.
“I’ll give you a thirty percent discount on this dress and any other item in the store,” the clerk announced.
Abby squinted at her.
“Fifty percent, for you and your friend,” the woman said. “Two items apiece, at fifty percent off.”
Abby looked past the clerk’s shoulder at Sharon, who was nodding forcefully and pointing to the pretty ocean-blue dress she was wearing.
Abby sighed. “Do you carry overalls?”
SHE FOUND JACK on the kitchen floor several hours later. He was lying flat on his back next to the high chairs, with his knees bent into twin arches and his hands cradled underneath his head. His eyes were closed.
She tiptoed up and put her shopping bag on the counter next to where he lay. “I’m home,” she said quietly, in case he was asleep.
“Mmm-hmm.”
She stood over him, looking for signs of trouble. Although his eyes were still shut, he was breathing evenly, and it didn’t look as if he’d fallen.
A quick scan of the room didn’t reveal too much amiss, either, unless you counted the fact that his elbow was resting next to a bucket of gray water with a yellow sponge floating in it.
“Jack? Are you okay?” she asked, a little louder.
“Um-hmm.”
“Where are Rosie and Wyatt?”
At last he opened his mouth, so she knew he was awake. But it took a few seconds for the sound to come out. “Naps,” he said, and breathed a couple of times. “Finally.”
“It’s almost five o’clock! Did they start late?”
“Oh, yeah.”
She surveyed the room again, starting to smile, and tittered when she saw the array of baby food jars stacked next to the sink. “I hadn’t introduced them to baby food meats yet,” she said, hunkering down. “Did they like it?”
“Not a bit.” Finally, he opened his eyes. And stared at her hair.
“Where’s your company?” she asked.
“Company?”
“Zuzu.”
“Oh. Well, Zuzu left right after you did, about a hundred years ago. She said she only came to meet you.”
“You’re kidding.” Abby bit her lip to keep from chuckling, but a sigh escaped when she felt her entire body relax and a hundred taut nerves and muscles untangle themselves.
“I’m not kidding at all,” Jack answered, springing to his feet.
She followed him up, and he stood before her, whistling under his breath at her new hairstyle.
She ignored the whistle.
She’d tried desperately to pull her hair back into a braid after Sharon’s daredevil stylist had finished snipping. The scores of layers kept falling out of the band to curl softly around her face. She’d had to leave it down.
“Why would she want to meet me?” Abby asked, just noticing his hair. It was actually wilder than usual, with bits of pinkish food strewn among the curls. She bit down on her lip again.
“Zuzu has her own way of doing things,” Jack explained, circling her slowly and with intense interest.
“I noticed that.”
As he came back around in front of her, she noticed his shirt, too. She would have thought the pretty chestnut shade would camouflage most flavors of baby goop, but the evidence of his ill fortune was visible in the crusty smears.
She thought he’d never looked sexier.
“Did you have a good day?” she asked sweetly. She tried to keep a straight face, but wound up bursting into a fit of giggles.
He stuck his hands in his pockets and rocked on his heels, smiling at her enjoyment. “Oh, the twins did,” he said. Then he added, “Your new hairstyle is phenomenal.”
She ignored the comment. “What did they do?”
He rubbed his chin. “Let’s see. They crawled around the living room and had a diaper change. They played in their room and had a diaper change. A late lunch, a bath and an eternity of play. And that brings them around to their nap.”
“Sounds like a long day.”
“Did I mention the word eternity?” His smile was huge.
She grabbed her shopping bag from the counter behind him. “You look wiped out,” she said. “I’ll repay the favor when I can, but I still have a few deliveries to make in the morning.”
His comment was interrupted by a faint, husky cry.
One of the babies was awake. Abby headed up, and only realized Jack was following when she was nearing the landing.
“You didn’t get finished?” he asked from two steps down.
“No.” Abby glanced back at him and ran a finger across her shortened bangs. “Sharon was in a makeover mood.”
“You look as sexy as you-know-what,” he said, lowering his voice as they entered the nursery. “I can’t wait to show up at that party with you on my arm.”
Abby picked up Wyatt, who was sidestepping along the rail of his crib. “I’ll probably feel like staying home to rest tomorrow night,” she whispered. “You go have fun.”
At first Jack seemed dismayed by this news, but he recovered quickly. “You agreed to go to the party with me,” he whispered back.
“I seem to remember being bullied into it.”
Jack stepped in close and put his lips near her ear to murmur, “Agreed—bullied or dragged along by the elbow—the results are the same. I’m collecting my favor.”
THIS YEAR’S HARVEST PARTY was being held at the stately home of Art and Nancy Klein, who had propped up a scarecrow between the sculpted shrubs of their front lawn and pointed one of his grassy fingers toward their back terrace. The simulated usher was dressed to the nines, with a crisp white shirt and a black bow tie. His only concession to scarecrow tradition was the tattered straw hat that threatened to fly off in the wind.
Abby grinned at the Kleins’ flair for whimsy as she pulled Rosie from her car seat and paused on the lawn to let the baby girl chatter at the scarecrow’s inked-in face.
“We just got here, and already you’re eyeing some other man,” Jack said as he walked up with Wyatt. “Have you no discretion?”
“I was only thinking about swiping his hat,” Abby said as they started together down a pumpkin lined path to the back. “Do you think anyone would notice?”
A movement in the front window caught their attention, and they both waved at several party guests who were watching their arrival.
Jack didn’t respond to her question until they reached a secluded spot beside the house. Then he swooped his free arm around her shoulders, turning her to face him. “You’d manage to make that raggedy old hat look sexy,” he said, and pressed a firm kiss against her lips. “Before we join the party, I want to thank you for giving in.”
“Giving in?”
“Agreeing to be my date.”
“Well, there’s still time to escape,” she teased, looking back toward his car.
He chuckled, but his grip tightened as he piloted her on along the walkway. “We’ve already been spotted,” he argued. “And your mother’s probably waiting to show off the babies.”
“All right,” Abby said with a sigh. “But only if you agree that we’re attending as platonic roommates. No repeats of that kiss in front of the others.”
&
nbsp; He stopped again. “No repeats?” He slipped a palm under a strap of her dress to turn her around again.
She started to protest but he was ready with a kiss that, despite its brevity, managed to melt her defenses. The heat of it reminded her of his middle-of-the-night visit to her bed last night. It had begun soon after Wyatt had cried and been calmed, and hadn’t ended until hours later when both babies woke for their breakfast.
“I suppose that one will have to tide me over,” Jack said gruffly, just before he winked and let go of her.
Abby shifted Rosie higher on her hip as they rounded the corner to the terrace, and waited for her stomach muscles to clench when she saw the crowd. She’d always felt out of place at parties.
But the terrace was vacant. Although it had been adorned with arrangements of hay bale seats and pumpkin votives, the unseasonably hot and windy weather made it less inviting. The tall sepia candles were unlit, and beyond the terrace a glistening pool seemed to dare the bravest souls to shed their clothes and swim under the harvest moon.
The back door stood open, and the lighted rooms within beckoned guests to enter.
As soon as Jack pulled the screen door open, they were greeted by Abby’s mother. She offered both adults a kiss on the cheek before claiming the twins and hurrying off into the house. Jack and Abby followed the lure of jazz guitar music into a large den, where much of the crowd had congregated.
Abby loved the solicitous feel of his hand on her back as she introduced him around to her friends. Featherlight against her skin, his touch was warm and arousing.
Somehow, with a rub of his thumb and a squeeze of his fingers, he communicated volumes. He said he wanted to be there, by her side. Touching her. And that he wanted to keep touching her when they were alone.
The promise of that hand was every bit as sensual as the new red dress she wore.
It had started with that spark in his eye in the farmhouse kitchen, no more than a half hour ago, when she’d come in wearing her dress. The naked desire in his expression had sent an intense jolt of need throbbing through her body. And another piece of her heart had shifted, just a little.
Just enough.
It could simply be the fact that she hadn’t been to a party since her sister’s wedding reception. Or maybe it had something to do with her dress and hair. She supposed it could be the strange tidal forces of that big orange moon hanging in the sky.
Whatever the reason, she felt different tonight.
She felt a few hormones sexier and a few impulses wilder. And she was very glad she didn’t have to resist something that her heart and body craved, when everyone around her kept telling her to relax and enjoy life.
Tonight she’d respond to Jack out of pure, hedonistic pleasure. She’d allow him his clandestine touches and whispered flirtation.
And later on at home, when they were alone, she’d respond to him again, in all the ways she wanted to.
“Did I tell you how amazing you look in that dress?” Jack murmured next to her ear as his fingers traced the straps in back.
Abby smiled brazenly, grabbing hold of his taupe silk tie to straighten it and then using it to pull him a step closer. “You look good, too,” she whispered.
A pair of teenage girls giggled from their spot on the sofa, so Jack led her toward a quieter corner. “I’ve been waiting for a good time to tell you something,” he said.
Abby twirled a long strand of her newly liberated hair, and wondered at his seriousness.
“What happened in the cellar the other day was a real eye-opener for me,” he said. And paused when their host passed by, intent on some social errand.
Abby felt her cheeks color. “For me, too.”
Jack pulled her closer and whispered, “I’ll never intentionally hurt you, Abby.”
She wasn’t at all sure what he meant, but she said, “I don’t want to hurt you, either.”
Although his hand still rested boldly against the small of her back, his forehead furrowed and his lips parted. He seemed surprised.
“You in here, Abby?” called her mother from the doorway.
Abby offered Jack a shrug and a smile before plunging back through the crowd. “I’m here, Mom.”
“I told Nancy I’d help set up the buffet,” her mother said as she handed Rosie to her. “And this darling girl needs a diaper change. Thanks, dear. Your dad has Wyatt.”
Abby found a vacant bedroom to change Rosie, and by the time she came out, Jack was huddled with a group of men, talking.
She had only taken a step in his direction before she was stopped by Sharon, who was enchanted by Rosie’s party dress. Soon Sharon was whisking the baby away to show her husband, and Abby’s attention was claimed by another group of acquaintances.
Though she and Jack spent the next half hour mingling in different circles, she was always aware of his presence in the room. She was listening to a group of farmers discuss the prospects of this year’s winter wheat when she felt a tingle run up her spine and knew he was watching her. She grinned when his laughter sounded out above the music and chatter.
That’s when she realized she was smiling constantly, at everything and nothing. She was having a great time, and that dreaded old feeling of being lost in the crowd was absent.
She felt connected to Jack, even when he wasn’t at her side. Heaven help her, but it felt good.
By the time the buffet line started forming, Abby had Rosie on her hip again.
“Come on,” Jack said, on his way to the kitchen. “If we share a plate, juggling a baby and eating shouldn’t be too complicated.”
With his hand on her back once more, he escorted her to the dining room. “Much better,” he said next to her ear, as soon as they’d found a place at the back of the line.
At her questioning glance, he said, “This,” and rubbed his hand back and forth across her skin. “Touching you again.”
“Shh!” Abby hissed, but she couldn’t manage a frown.
When their turn came, Jack filled a plate with a sampling from every serving dish, then led her to a spot near the window.
“What do you want to try first?” he asked, surveying the overfilled plate. “Some sort of veggie bruschetta, or coconut shrimp?”
“The bruschetta,” Abby said, stretching her free hand toward the plate. But he was already lifting a round to her mouth, and when she opened it to protest, he slipped the crusty morsel in.
Abby blushed hotly and bit into it, glaring at him as she chewed.
His teeth flashed whitely as he popped the rest into his own mouth, seemingly unconcerned by her distress. He offered a bit of bread to Rosie, and was ready with a plump shrimp as soon as Abby swallowed.
Abby opened her mouth to take the shrimp, but leaned forward at the last second to nip his finger, too. She’d meant it as a reprimand, but she knew her teasing had backfired when he stared at her lips and neglected to pull his finger away.
The next few minutes had Abby trying to smother her laughter, to escape attention. Every time she tried to grab the plate with her free hand, he held it up over her head; every time she finished a bite, he was ready with another.
When her dad appeared through the crowd, she clamped her mouth shut on a bite of stuffed zucchini and backed away, telling herself she was relieved by the interruption.
“The ladies are feeding Wyatt pumpkin custard in the kitchen,” her dad said with his arms outstretched. “Your mother asked me to bring Rosie.”
“I’ll come help,” Abby said, even as she handed Rosie across.
Her dad chuckled. “Wyatt already has four women feeding him, and there’s hardly room for another body in there. Get yourself a drink and relax.”
When her dad left, Abby glanced at Jack, who immediately plucked the last remaining shrimp from the plate and dangled it in front of her face.
She laughed softly and shook her head. “I couldn’t eat another bite,” she said. “Let’s follow Dad’s advice.”
They found the bar and made
their drink selections, and were soon immersed in conversation with Sharon and several others. An old school chum of Abby’s broke into the circle, and stared so pointedly at Jack that eventually the entire discussion halted.
“Your friend is so familiar,” she said to Abby. “But I can’t quite place him.”
Jack extended his hand. “I’m Jack Kimball,” he said. “My brother, Brian, was married to Abby’s sister.”
“My word, that’s right!” the woman exclaimed, and sobered dramatically. “How awful for both of you. Are you okay?”
“We’re handling it,” Abby said, and glanced over in time to catch Jack’s nod. “Paige and Brian would have wanted us to get on with our lives.”
“I couldn’t believe how it happened,” the woman continued. “They were so young, and the crash was so violent. I get upset just thinking about it.”
When several other members of the group joined in a lengthy retelling of the details of that night, Sharon caught Abby’s eye and backed out of the circle.
Abby took Jack’s hand to pull him away, too. “It’s time for my escape,” she said softly.
He led her outside beyond the patio, to the pool deck. They stood together, sipping their drinks and staring at the shimmer of moonlight on the crystal-blue water. “Our being here together would bring it all to mind, wouldn’t it?” she said, without bothering to elaborate further. He knew what she was saying.
“I guess it would,” he agreed, taking her hand to squeeze it. “I miss them, too, but it defeats the spirit of the party if people spend time dwelling on it. This is supposed to be a celebration.”
“I’m ready to go home, anyway,” she said. “I’ll tell the Kleins we’re leaving. Will you get Rosie and Wyatt?”
“Wait…listen,” Jack said, tilting his head to the faint sound of the stereo. “I think that’s a waltz. How about a dance before we go?”
“No one’s dancing, Jack.”
His gaze swept down her body, causing a thrill everywhere it touched. “Now that would be a perfect waste of that dress.” He took both their glasses and set them near the edge of the pool.
Abby looked up into those brilliant eyes and knew that, at least for this moment, she was the woman for Jack.