by Marie Harte
He shuddered, forced himself to stop thinking about sex, and glanced at his cell phone. Six o’clock on the dot. He knocked on her door and waited, praying for an option Foley hadn’t mentioned. One where Johnny got the girl and lived happily ever after—or at least until her dumping him didn’t hurt so much.
Chapter 9
The door opened. An adorable little girl with blond hair and big brown eyes stared up at him.
“Ah…” He checked the number on the door again. 307. Nope. Right place.
“Who are you?” The girl planted her hands on her hips and waited, watching with suspicion.
“I’m Johnny.” In the background, he heard cartoons and…splashing?
She pursed her lips. Wearing a pair of pink tights under a jean skirt and a purple fuzzy sweatshirt, she looked like a miniature doll. Her blond hair lay in waves around her face, and he imagined the little boys in her class tugging at it to get her attention.
When the girl just stood there, staring, he tried again. “Is Lara here?”
“Maybe.”
“Amelia, get back here!” Lara yelled from somewhere in her apartment. Youthful giggling followed, and he watched over the girl’s head in front of him as a naked streaker covered in bubbles raced into the living room, circled the coffee table a few times, dodged Lara to round the dining table, then darted back down the hallway.
Lara froze when she saw him. “Oh, shit.”
The door guard looked shocked. “Aunt Lara.”
“I meant shoot.” Lara scowled at the girl. “Kay, what did I tell you about opening the door to strangers?”
Kay said, all innocence, “But Aunt Lara, I know him. This is Johnny.” She grabbed his hand and tugged him inside.
Her much-smaller palm felt warm in his, and he smiled down at her. “I’m no stranger. I’m standing here with Kay—your niece.” Putting the pieces together quickly, he added, “And Amelia is slippery and wet and, I imagine, not wanting the bath she’s supposed to be in.”
“You got that right.” Lara expelled a loud breath. She wore wet jeans with holes in them and a faded T-shirt. Water had molded the shirt to her breasts, and he did his best not to leer and pant like a dog. “I’m so sorry. I ended up covering for my sister’s babysitter tonight—”
“She means Grandma,” Kay said, still holding on to Johnny.
“Right.” Amused, he watched as Lara flushed and continued her apology.
“My mom had to work the same shift as Kristin, because someone called in sick. And Dad was busy—”
“Playin’ poker with his friends. But why he plays when he has no money, Grandma will never understand,” Kay said.
Lara threw up her hands. “Stop interrupting.”
“Yes, Aunt Lara,” Kay agreed in a sickly sweet voice.
Johnny did his best to keep his mirth to himself.
“That really means ‘go suck an egg,’ I know.” Lara didn’t seem upset with Kay’s tone. She looked like she was trying not to laugh herself. “If you can get your sister back in the bathtub, I’ll give you fifty cents.”
Kay narrowed her eyes. “A dollar.”
“Seventy-five cents. Take it or leave it.”
“It’s a deal.” Kay let go of Johnny and tore down the hallway, shouting for her sister.
Lara stood there, obviously frazzled. Even her trademark ponytail was half falling out of its band. “I should have called, and I meant to, but then I forgot. My demonic nieces sucked my brains clean out without even trying.” She leaned her butt against the arm of the couch. “And don’t even get me started on the papers I have due this term.”
“Did you eat yet?” He didn’t see anything cooking on the stove. Closing the door behind him, he walked to her tiny open kitchen and looked around. Nothing on the counters. Across from the low divider separating the small room from the rest of the apartment, he saw a few books, crayons, and a doll sitting in a neon purple backpack on a dining chair. From a pink backpack, an assortment of stuffed animals spilled onto the table. He also noted a few spiral notebooks and what looked like medical texts lying near a green bear with button eyes.
“I was planning dinner when Amelia spilled chocolate milk down her dress and somehow got it into her hair. So the plan was a quick cleanup then food.” Laughter and splashing came from the hallway. “You can see how that turned out.”
“Aunt Laaarrraaaa,” Kay sang.
“I have to make sure Amelia doesn’t drown herself, or worse, get drowned by her sister. I’m really sorry.” She straightened. “Can we do dinner another night? I’ll cook, I promise.”
“Sure. No worries.”
“Great. Thanks, Johnny. Call me.” She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek that hit him right in the gut, then scurried toward the sounds of an escalating fight while he stood, wondering what to do next. He’d geared himself up for a night of learning about Lara. He had nothing better to do than hang out and stare at her. Hell, she didn’t even have to talk if she didn’t want to, though silence would not help him on his fact-finding mission.
And yet… A slow grin worked its way over his face. What better way to see what she was really like than to watch her with her nieces? If seventy-five cents would buy the older girl, imagine how easily the little one might narc for a quarter.
He’d figure out this thing with Lara. And now that he had a second date on the hook, it was time to put it to good use. Even better, he had no worries of sex to distract him with the girls underfoot. Pleased things were looking up, he pulled out his cell phone and started Googling pizza places. Time to get some food before his stomach ate itself.
* * *
Lara felt terrible, despite her amusement. How the hell had she forgotten to cancel her big date with Johnny? Oh, right. Kristin had needed her help, and Amelia had made them late to ballet class. Lara had been playing catch-up ever since when she should have cancelled her date.
Then again, this gave her an insight into his character. She might have expected a bit of attitude. God knew she wouldn’t have been pleased to get all dressed and cleaned up only to be cancelled on at the last minute. Johnny had taken the news with good humor and patience. She sighed. So much to like about this guy.
“I like Johnny, Aunt Lara. He’s pretty.” Kay smiled. And…another one bites the dust.
“He’s gross. He’s a boy.” Amelia pouted and cried again when Lara rubbed her wet hair.
“Um, Amelia?” Lara called on her patience. “You might want to save the tears until after I put the shampoo in your hair. It can’t fall into your eyes if it’s not on you, can it?”
“I’m practicing.” Amelia glowered. Darker where Kay was light, she and her sister looked enough like each other to obviously be siblings. They were smart, beautiful, and loving…most of the time.
And devious as hell.
“I’m hungry.” Kay rubbed her belly.
“Me too.” Amelia squeezed her eyes shut when she saw the bottle of kid shampoo in Lara’s hands. “And Johnny isn’t pretty. Boys are ugly.”
“Even Josh?” Kay taunted.
“Not Daddy. The others are though. Sean is.” Amelia stuck out her tongue.
“Nuh-uh. He’s the best dad there is. Better than stupid Josh,” Kay fumed, and her eyes filled. “You take that back.”
“No.”
Sensitive about their paternity, the girls could always be counted on to engage each other in a knockdown fight if yapping about their fathers. Of Kristin’s baby-daddies, Lara preferred Sean, who sent his monthly child support without issue and had begged to be involved in his daughter’s life when he’d been living in the city. But after years of no possibility of reconnecting with Kristin and having to work around an impossible schedule to see his daughter, he’d eventually moved out of state to a better job.
Josh wanted nothing to do with either Kristin or his child. He sent his support payments and did nothing more than the law demanded of him. Poor Amelia had been only a baby when he’d left, so she didn’t exactly
miss him. Lara might have grown up without much in the way of material things, but she’d had a father who loved her and still did. “Girls, no more fighting. If you’re good, popcorn for snack later. Okay?” Lara had no problem bribing them. She’d had her share of drama today, dealing with an unexpected snag with her registration at the college. Her financial aid had hit a hiccup, and dealing with the registrar had given her a headache. So jumping to Kristin’s aid hadn’t helped her frustration level any.
“I won’t fight.” Kay rocked on her heels and glared at her sister. “You should give me the popcorn. But not any for Amelia-Eelia. Eel-girl.”
“I’m not an eel!”
“Slimy and fishy and smelly. Ew.”
Dear Jesus. “Kay, enough.” When Lara used the firm voice, the girls usually stopped. Kay shut her mouth and said no more. “I’m going to finish with Amelia’s bath. Kay, you can watch TV, since you already finished your reading. Then we’ll play a game together. But if you keep fighting, I’ll make you baked beans for dinner”—which they hated—“and put you to bed early. Got it?”
“Okay. I’ll be good. Promise.” Kay skipped out of the room while Lara finished fighting Amelia in the tub. Of course the girl got soap in her eyes from squirming, despite Lara telling her to hold still. The water had run down her face, bringing the soap along with it. Cartoon laughter came from the living room, drowning out the girl’s wails.
Ten minutes later, she’d dried Amelia and shoved her into pink fleece footed-pajamas decked out with dancing unicorns. She carried the cranky girl into the living room, grateful at least Kay had calmed down.
“Kay, how about a pizza for—You’re still here?” She hugged Amelia tighter and stared at Kay and Johnny sitting on the floor, looking at Kay’s books.
“Well, hello there. You must be the streaker,” Johnny said to Amelia.
She picked her head off Lara’s shoulder to study him. “He’s not pretty,” she mumbled and turned her head away.
Johnny smirked.
“I didn’t say you were,” Lara said. “That was Kay.”
“You are. For a boy, you’re pretty.” Kay didn’t seem to mind Johnny, which Lara found interesting. Since dealing with so many of Kristin’s husbands and boyfriends, she pretty much either ignored or disdained anything male, with the exception of her grandfather. But she sat close to Johnny and had let him near her precious books.
“Thanks. I’m not only pretty, though. I’m super awesome. Did you know I beat your aunt at War?”
“No way.” Kay’s eyes widened. “That’s pretty good. I beat her once, but Amelia never wins.”
“I do too.” Amelia struggled to be put down.
Lara dropped her mutinous niece to her feet and watched her stomp over to her sister and Johnny.
“Oh, wow. Are those unicorns?” He blinked. “And pink too? That’s my favorite color.”
“It—huh?” Amelia’s tirade stopped before it had begun. “Really?”
“Yep. A lot of people think pink is only a girl’s color, but I once saw a smokin’ hot Mustang in a bright pink, and it was amazing. Great detail work on the car, but I mean, the color helped.”
“Really? A pink car?” Amelia sidled closer to Johnny.
“Yep. And unicorns are legendary.”
Lara would never have guessed he would be so natural with children. Johnny didn’t use a fake voice or talk down to the girls. He simply talked to them on their level. She listened for a good two minutes while he and Amelia discussed the magic of a unicorn’s horn, the animal’s size, and favorite unicorn color before she had to cut in.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but, Johnny, why are you still here?”
“I’m hungry.”
“Me too.” Amelia sat down next to him.
“We’re having pizza,” Kay announced from Johnny’s other side. She picked up a book and held it out to him. “This one, okay?”
He glanced at it. “Well, I don’t know. Are you sure that’s age appropriate?”
Lara looked at the book, saw it had Kay’s favorite characters on the cover, and then saw Kay blush.
“Yes. Skadi fights monsters. She’s a half-giant. And she—”
“Johnny?” Lara cut in. When Kay got started on her favorite series, the girl could talk without cease.
“Hey, you said I could go home. Not that I should.” He put on a wounded face. “Do you want me to go? And after I ordered pizza for us all?”
“No, Aunt Lara,” Kay disagreed. “He should stay.”
Amelia nodded. “He’s kind of pretty now. And he likes unicorns. And he got pizza.”
“Well, I mean, I’m fine with it. I just didn’t think you’d, ah, want to.” She felt foolish. But what grown man wanted to play with little girls unless he had sordid inclinations? Though she could be way wrong, Johnny didn’t seem the type.
“I came over to play with you,” he emphasized with a grin, as if reading her mind. “But I can share. How about we all eat pizza, and while we wait, Kay reads me this story about Sara—”
“Skadi,” Kay corrected.
“Right. Skadi. When the pizza comes, we’ll eat and talk about unicorns and whatever else little girls like. Then you and I can play War again.”
“You really want to?” Baffling. Maybe he had meant all that bullshit about not having sex again and getting to know her.
“Yep. I have nothing else to do.”
“You can play with us,” Kay offered.
“Why not? Since Johnny obviously has nothing better to do.” She felt jealous of his free time. There. I admit it. I want to have nothing to do too. But homework was a mainstay in her life, for the next three terms at least. Just think, one more year.
“Nope, not a thing,” he said. “Not even some studying for…what is that? Abnormal psychology?”
“That’s an older book I was looking through. I have lecture and clinicals now.”
“Aunt Lara’s going to be a nurse,” Kay said with pride. “She’s smart.”
Johnny stared at her with such intensity she felt the burn of his attention all the way to her bones. “So I hear.” Then he gave her that naughty grin that did bad things to her libido. “I can’t wait to see her in her uniform.”
The girls turned to him, and she gave him a subtle finger.
He chuckled and answered the girls’ questions about what he thought nurses and doctors did, most of which he’d obviously gleaned from Grey’s Anatomy.
The pizza was due to arrive twenty minutes later, and throughout their wait, Lara watched Johnny charm her nieces with little effort. He knew enough about mythology to entertain and ask the right questions of Kay, and his love of all things pink had already endeared him to Amelia. The girl sat in his lap, for goodness sake.
Yet through it all, he continued to glance from her to the girls. Seeking a resemblance, maybe? It was weird, and it made her feel funny. More maternal.
Hell no. No biological ticking time bomb. Just. No.
A knock at the door distracted her from her fixation on the devilish Johnny Devlin, and she moved to answer it. But Johnny nudged Amelia to the floor and vaulted to his feet to meet her at the door. “I’ll get it.”
“But—”
“Kay’s reading. Cover for me.” He nudged her back to Kay.
“Fine. But I’m paying.” She tried to hand him a credit card, which he refused.
“Don’t worry. We’ll settle up after.”
Mollified if not pleased at his taking charge—because damn it, she liked being taken care of by someone else—she sat and listened to Kay read through to the end of her chapter.
By the time Kay had finished, Johnny had the pizza on plates, and cups of water and juice at the table. Amelia rushed over to help him set the napkins. Kay joined them, and the three sat and waited for Lara.
She sat with the small group, watching him and waiting for his next move. Charming the girls? Nicely done. Arranging for dinner? Smooth. But setting the table and being polite, then
getting her nieces to follow his lead? Priceless.
She swallowed a lump in her throat, knowing the girls might never have this with a man they could call Dad. “Thank you, Johnny.” She gave the girls a look.
They both thanked him and dug into the pizza.
He’d ordered extra cheese pizza from her favorite place. She ate a slice and had to force herself not to inhale the rest of the pie. When Amelia needed another napkin, Lara left the table to fetch it. On her way back, she leaned close to whisper in his ear, “Don’t think this is getting you bonus points, buddy. I’m on to you.” Not really, but she felt at a disadvantage for some reason.
When she sat and saw his wide smile, she knew she’d been right about…something.
“You know, girls, your aunt is pretty smart. But she’s too slow when it comes to pizza.” He stole a slice when she would have put it on her plate.
“You’ll pay for that.” She tried to appear stern but couldn’t stop smiling.
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Be careful, Johnny,” Kay said. “Aunt Lara always gets even. Mom said she’s a real pain. Even grown-up.”
“Your mother is such a flatterer.” Lara wanted to shove a boot up Kristin’s butt. At least the woman was working, but Kristin could have done a better job than taking for granted that her family would always watch her kids. Lara loved them, no question, but she didn’t have free time out the ass. Hell, no one in her family did. Her dad’s one concession to slowing down in his later years was to play poker once a month with “the guys.” Whoop-dee-friggin’-doo.
Johnny wolfed down his slice and eyed another piece.
“Go ahead.” She nodded to it. “They’ll eat maybe one more piece between them. And I can only eat one more. You’re a growing boy. You need it.”
“You don’t have to twist my arm.” He grabbed the pizza and ate while they all watched.
“Wow. He eats more than Grandpa.”
“Cause he’s big.” Amelia nodded. “Ron was big.”
Johnny snorted. “Ron’s a dick.”