Completely Smitten

by Susan Mallery

  Glancing past the racks of white and ivory accessories for the ceremony, she saw that the back of the store was stocked with silk nighties and crystal vials of perfume for the wedding night. Her breath rippled out of her in a lusty sigh. Although she couldn’t quite picture herself at the front of a church pledging her life to a man, it was disturbingly easy to imagine Josh carrying her over the threshold of a honeymoon suite where they’d make love all night.

  Daphne led Piper past a platform surrounded by mirrors to a row of dressing rooms. Mandy stood outside one of the small rooms with her sister, Stella, and their mother.

  “Piper!” Mandy rushed forward for a hug. “I haven’t seen you in ages!”

  Mandy’s mother stood to the side, her lips pursed. “We weren’t sure you’d make it.”

  “I said I would.”

  Her aunt sniffed. “Yes, well. Come on, Mandy. Go ahead and try on your dress.”

  Mandy happily ducked into one of the dressing rooms, accompanied by one of the boutique’s attendants.

  “You know,” Stella remarked to no one in particular, “I don’t even know why she went through the expense of buying a dress. I have three perfectly good ones, and I told her she could take her pick.”

  Stella was a victim of the warped a-woman-isn’t-complete-without-a-man philosophy. As a result, she’d made hasty marital decisions to avoid being alone.

  Piper whispered to her sister, “Stella seeing anyone these days?”

  “No. Come to think of it, she’ll be ‘uncoupled’ at the shower, too, so Charlie will help round things out. She didn’t want to come, but as the sister of the bride…”

  Piper started to say that there was no shame in being single, citing herself as an example, but then realized she couldn’t. As far as her family knew, she was with Josh. Still, her feminist ideals refused to be completely contained.

  “Has anyone told Stella that there’s nothing wrong with not having a man in her life?”

  Daphne raised an eyebrow. “Of course there’s nothing wrong with not having a man in your life. But think about how happy Josh makes you. Stella just wants that happiness, too. She’s lonely.”

  “Loneliness is no reason to get married three times.”

  “Well, no, but there are plenty of great reasons to get married. You guys talking about it at all yet?”

  “You sound like Mom.” Piper had meant it to be a joke, but there was more accusation than humor in her words. And they both heard it.

  “Something you want to get off your chest?” Daphne demanded.

  This was hardly the time or place, but since it had come up…. “You threw me last night with your decision to stay at home with the twins. That isn’t like you.”

  Her sister scowled. “First of all, I haven’t made a final decision yet. Second, as little as you bother to call or visit these days, you don’t know what’s like me. Third, you’re a damn hypocrite.”

  “Excuse me?” Piper knew her aunt and Stella were shooting curious glances their way, but she was unable to keep her voice from rising slightly.

  “You and your talk about women having more choices. Am I only entitled to make choices if they’re the ones you’d make?”

  “Of course not!”

  “Really? Because you seem awfully judgmental of anyone who—”

  “Okay,” a voice from the dressing room chirped at them, “this is it.” The door swung open and Mandy emerged, turning to Piper. “What do you think?”

  Hardly seeing the dress, Piper made an automatic “it’s gorgeous” response. The truth was, she didn’t know what to think anymore.

  Sandwiched in a pickup truck between Piper’s father and ex-boyfriend, Josh gritted his teeth as they made their way down what could only loosely be called a street. Mr. Jamieson, claiming there was no use having a truck if you couldn’t take the roads less traveled, said the back way would get them to the other side of town faster. Not that Josh was in any hurry to join the Jamieson women at a bridal-baby shower.

  At least the shower would mean his time alone with Charlie and Mr. Jamieson was almost over. They’d played a couple hands of poker—during which Josh had been more than happy to win some of the mayor’s money—and Mr. Jamieson had then pulled out a family album, showing Josh childhood pictures of Piper, which Josh fully intended to tease her about later. Still, the morning had been uncomfortable. Charlie had inserted a number of observations as he glanced over Josh’s shoulder at photographs.

  “I remember that picture—a high school dance. In college, we used to go dancing practically every week. Lord, that woman can move. You guys go out dancing a lot?”

  Not that Charlie had paused in his Piper-and-I remembrances long enough for Josh to ever answer a supposed question about his own relationship with her. Since Piper’s parents, for whatever unfathomable reason, liked Charlie, Josh had refrained from being openly hostile to the mayor while under the Jamiesons’ roof. Piper’s father had compensated with his own friendly acceptance, but that had only made Josh feel guilty over his lie to her family. Every time Piper’s dad called him “son” in that accepting manner, Josh’s deception seemed a bit less innocent.

  They think I care about Piper.

  He cared about her. Just not in that white-picket fence way the Jamiesons thought she deserved. What they didn’t seem to realize was that Piper would go stir-crazy behind a white-picket fence. Still, if she ever did decide to let a man into her life, she deserved one who could commit to her fully.

  One like Charlie?

  The thought was more painful than the bone-jarring jolt of the pickup bouncing through another pothole big enough to warrant its own zip code.

  It wasn’t only Josh’s dislike for the mayor that made him reject the idea of Piper and Charlie. Josh had never felt possessive of a woman before, but the thought of Piper with any man… You never should have kissed her. It had done nothing to sate his hunger for her.

  On the contrary, the incident in her parents’ kitchen had only whetted an appetite he’d fought for months to deny. The memory of Piper’s kiss had kept him up all night.

  A smarter man would have learned his lesson from that kiss, backed away, regrouped—the way he’d tried to last night, when he’d gone back to his own room unkissed and rock hard. But this morning, Josh had found himself once again weakening in the face of temptation, as unwise as a moth darting gleefully into a flame. He’d jumped into the fire with both feet, tormenting himself by teasing Piper. Kissing the curve of her neck? Suggesting body lotions? He’d behaved with all the self-preservation instincts of a lemming.

  A year ago, his flirting with her had been a harmless habit. He reasoned that if he stopped now, she’d know something was wrong. Besides, he enjoyed bantering with her. The flush in her cheeks, the way her turquoise eyes glimmered, never knowing ahead of time whether she’d give him hell right back or get embarrassed… This morning, he would have sworn her reaction had been arousal.

  Aroused? The same woman who’d called their kiss last night “no big deal”? Suddenly, a relationship that had always been clear-cut was full of mixed signals and potential land mines.

  “So, son,” Fred Jamieson began, startling Josh from his frustrated thoughts. “Tell me about this sideline contracting you do.”

  Josh expounded on his business gratefully, glad to be thinking about more wholesome activities. As he spoke, he became slowly aware of just how successful the freelancing was, generating so much extra work that it had the potential to become a second full-time job if he let it. Maybe his being so busy with work was why he hadn’t dated much lately.

  Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, buddy.

  Oh, he dated. But at some indefinable point his dates had started ending with alarmingly G-rated exchanges. Maybe an occasional PG-13 slipped in there from time to time, but it had been too damn long since he’d had a really good R-rated evening.

  Mr. Jamieson muttered something about having to attend a girls’ party, then clapped Josh on the
arm. “Hell of a way to spend the afternoon, isn’t it? But Astrid would have my hide if I missed it. I am terrified of that woman.” His tone made it clear he was nuts about her.

  “I know how you feel,” Josh commiserated.

  Piper’s father grinned. “I believe you do, son. I believe you do.”

  Piper drummed her fingers on the armrest of her green plastic chair and glanced around the obstetrician’s waiting room, which was full of women with rounded stomachs and I-could-blow-at-any-minute expressions. Most of the ladies returned her gaze with friendly smiles. The glowering woman seated next to Piper—Daphne—was the exception.

  Apologizing had never been Piper’s strong suit, and it was even harder to do when she still felt she had a good point. She knew Daphne had a point, too, though, and the last thing Piper had wanted was to upset her pregnant sister, putting her in a bad mood before a party in her honor.

  “Daphne, I—”

  “It’s okay.”

  Piper blinked. “It is?”

  “I know how much you hate saying you’re sorry,” Daphne said with an unexpected grin, “so I decided to spare you. Besides, it was my fault, too. Rampaging hormones and all that.”

  “So we’re all right?”

  “Yeah.”

  Yet despite apologies on both sides and exchanged smiles, the situation still felt strained. Unsure how to set it right, Piper was relieved when Daphne changed the subject.

  “Do you mind stopping by my place for a minute when we’re finished here? Blaine and I were running late this morning, and I was in a hurry to go help Mom with those cakes for the shower. I forgot Mandy’s gift.”

  “No problem. I wanted to see the nursery, anyway.”

  “Great. While we’re there, you can rifle through my closet and see if there’s anything you want to wear.”

  Piper fidgeted. “What’s wrong with what I’ve got on? The sweater’s nice and the jeans are brand-new.” Practically dressy for a small Texas town.

  “I’m not criticizing, honest, just trying to save you from an afternoon of Mom following you around, clucking her tongue and—”

  “Delivering the When Did Young Women Stop Dressing Like Women Speech.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Good point. I’ll change.” Wanting to seal the truce with her sister, Piper asked, “Do we have a few minutes for you to help me with my hair and makeup, too? You’ve always been better at that stuff than I am.”

  Daphne glanced at the clock over the windowed receptionist area. “As long as they get me in to see the doctor soon. The appointment itself will be over in seconds. They’re just measuring me and checking the heartbeats, no sonogram today. But I have pictures…if you’d like to see them.”

  “Of course.” She was surprised Daphne hadn’t offered sooner. Just because Piper wasn’t in a hurry to knit boo-ties herself didn’t mean she wasn’t excited for her sister. Being an aunt might even be fun.

  Daphne reached for her purse, then held out small grainy black-and-white pictures.

  “This is from the very first ultrasound.” Daphne’s tone was thick with unshed tears that might fall at any second. “My sons. Aren’t they beautiful?”

  “Er, beautiful.” What am I supposed to be seeing here? If she squinted, Piper thought she could make out a turtle.

  Daphne handed her another photo. “This one they took four months later, the day they told us we were having boys.”

  “My God.” This picture was much clearer, obviously a shot of two babies. Piper could make out profiles of tiny faces and even saw fingers on tiny hands. “Daph, I don’t know what to say.” Her hand went almost wistfully to her abdomen.

  “I know. I’m going to be a mom.”

  “Daphne Wallace?” a nurse in a baggy uniform called out. “The doctor is ready to see you now.”

  Daphne struggled to pry herself out of her chair and regain her balance. Piper rose, too, following her sister and the nurse. She stood to the side while Daphne’s blood pressure and weight were checked.

  Piper remembered her younger sister as being so full of dreams. Daphne had talked about wanting to travel, about exotic careers. She’d wanted to be everything from a politician to an artist. Teaching was great, but now Daphne was even talking about giving that up. Was that really what she wanted?

  Blaine obviously loved his wife, but Piper didn’t see him making a lot of sacrifices. He’d inherited the family farm and gone about life as usual, while Daphne was the one bearing his children and possibly losing her career.

  Piper watched as her smiling sister chatted with the nurse and described the cribs that had been selected for the twins. Daph hardly seemed filled with regret over any of her decisions. But hadn’t she and Piper always said that they didn’t want to end up like their mother, who had married at seventeen and never lived anywhere but Rebecca?

  Mulling over the choices women in her family had made, Piper accompanied her sister into a cramped examining room where the doctor measured Daphne’s ever-growing stomach. Then he pressed a white hand-held device to her distended belly and a small echoing sound suddenly filled the room. Whump whump whump whump.

  Piper turned to Daphne. “Their heartbeats?”

  She nodded, eyes wide with joy.

  Maternal feelings Piper hadn’t known she possessed welled within her. She must have been channeling from someone else in the building. Okay, yes, there were some really great things to be said for motherhood, but there were other achievements in life, too. Like Piper’s career.

  Not that her job took her out on her birthday or cheered her up when her day stunk, or watched old movies with her on television. But Josh did all of that. She’d joked before that one reason she didn’t need a man in her life was because she had him.

  Oh, no. What if Josh was the man in her life?

  Ridiculous. Hormones were one thing—after this weekend, she couldn’t deny Josh aroused her to a degree she’d never thought possible—but lust wasn’t love. She needed to keep that in mind for her heart’s sake.

  Chapter Eight

  Mr. Jamieson parked his truck amid the half-dozen vehicles already present outside the community hall. “Well, come on, fellas,” he said in the weary voice of a soldier commanding his troops into hostile territory.

  As the three men crossed the blacktop, Astrid Jamieson bustled out the main doors. “Fred, you’re late!”

  “Doesn’t start for another twenty minutes,” he contended.

  “Yes,” she scolded as she got closer, “but I asked you to be here forty-five minutes early to help set up, remember?”

  “Would you settle for an apology and a kiss?” He scooped her into an embrace that should definitely get him out of the doghouse.

  Josh and Charlie both looked away, sharing a moment of mutual discomfort and amusement.

  “You guys made it.” Piper’s voice drifted across the parking lot.

  Josh glanced up and immediately did a double take. Her radically changed appearance was like a disorienting blow to the head. She wore a blue skirt that revealed very shapely calves, and a matching sweater that made her eyes glow like the Caribbean Sea. Her hair was loose, curling against the tops of her shoulders and shining red-gold in the sun, and he’d never seen a more beautiful woman. Next to him, Charlie also gaped.

  With three long strides, Josh met Piper on the sidewalk. He didn’t want the mayor getting any ideas about her. Plus, Piper was hot—plenty of motivation for him to grab her by the waist and pull her up against him as he leaned down to kiss her.

  The thoughts and feelings he’d been fighting since kissing her last night poured through him, into his actions. He traced her lips with something bordering on reverence, then delved into her mouth with emotions that were much more primal. Everything blended together in a wave of need.

  After a slight gasp, Piper kissed him back, and he found the taste of her as alluring as her heady summery scent. Her tongue slid against his in an intimate caress, and desire roared through him. He
pulled back slightly to suck on that lower lip he was always staring at. If they’d been alone, he would have—

  Oh, hell. They weren’t alone. He reluctantly broke off the kiss and looked down at the angel in his arms. She was breathing hard, her eyes unreadable. With effort, he glanced away from her flushed face and tempting lips. Everyone else had gone inside.

  “Wow,” Piper finally said, the single syllable more a sigh than a word.

  “Yeah.” NC-17 at least. And that had just been a kiss. Imagine if—no, he should not let himself imagine that. “You look incredible, by the way. I didn’t even know you owned a skirt.”

  “It’s Daphne’s, actually.” She spoke again, her voice more abrupt than dreamy. “Look, Josh, it’s great of you to help me out this weekend by pretending we’re a couple. Really. You don’t have to kiss me like that, though. A quick peck every now and then would probably work.”

  Not exactly what a man liked to hear. But she was only telling him what he already knew, that they shouldn’t fan the flames of the small fire that had sparked between them. He was sure now that she felt the pull of attraction, too—sure enough that he could push the issue, but why? What would happen when things didn’t work out between them? And with his track record, what reason could he possibly have for believing they could work out?

  He’d lost too many people. If he couldn’t have Piper in his bed, he could at least keep her in his life. As long as he kept his hands to himself.

  “Don’t worry. I won’t kiss you like that again.” Yet no sooner had the words left his mouth than he found another excuse to touch her. He caught one sunset-colored curl between his fingers, and it slid over his skin like silk. “I’ve never seen your hair down before.”

  “In two years?” Her forehead puckered as she frowned. “Of course you have.”

  “It’s always in a ponytail or braid or something.”