He was definitely experiencing a feeling of relief, Jake admitted to himself. Relief that there was no competition to butt up against.
But that was ridiculous.
Calista was in a completely different decade than he was. She was a whole twelve years younger. Twelve years difference when you’re ninety meant nothing. But at this point, it did, he silently insisted. For Calista, life was just beginning, promising a whole spectrum of adventures, of sensations she’d yet to experience, while he’d already had some of those adventures and was now thinking that settling down wouldn’t be such a bad idea. He told himself that he was ready for a different stage of life than Calista was, a far less exciting, more stable one.
Marlie burped. Calista smiled and patted the little back one last time. “Good job,” she told the baby cheerfully.
She just offered to marry you, how much more stable than that can you get? he silently demanded.
“Good thing,” he heard himself murmuring as Calista rose to her feet. She raised a quizzical eyebrow, asking for an explanation, before she crossed to the crib and placed Marlie down on her back. “Because if you were in any kind of a relationship,” he explained, “there might be some guy out there looking to clean my clock for stealing his girl.”
“Don’t worry,” she told him. “If there was such a guy, which there’s not,” she underscored, “I wouldn’t let him ‘clean your clock.’” She couldn’t help smiling at the strange expression he’d just used, even as she echoed it. The words were a tad old-fashioned. She wouldn’t have thought it of him just by looking at the man.
He looked, she thought, like trouble. The kind of trouble most women prayed all their lives to run into, at least fleetingly. A “bad boy” who was two steps away from being converted to a good guy.
There she went again, letting her mind wander and take flight. She had to stop having fantasies about this man. There was no point and it would only wind up leading to frustration.
Turning from the crib, she found herself accidentally brushing up against Jake. The unexpected contact sent strong currents of electricity coursing through her veins. They turned out to be so strong that they all but took her breath away.
Startled, her eyes widened as she looked at him.
Dealing with his own rather intense response to the split-second brushing of body against body, Jake took a step back.
“I’m sorry,” he apologized, not wanting her to think he’d stood there in her way specifically so that this could happen.
Her eyes locked with his. She was going to say something casual and dismissive like “That’s okay,” or “No harm done.” How the words “I’m not” emerged from her lips instead, riding on a sultry whisper, she had absolutely no idea.
The next moment, an all-encompassing wave of embarrassment washed over her. It would have completely obliterated her if it had had the chance. But as it turned out, it was pushed to the background by what occurred next.
Time seemed to literally stand still as Jake cupped her chin in his hand.
Then, leaning in, he brushed his lips against hers and kissed her.
And very effectively, set fire to her little world as she knew it.
Chapter Nine
Calista melted. Quickly.
A moment before she would have attained the chemical composition of a bowl of soft ice cream, she slipped her arms around Jake’s neck, leaning into his, seeking strength.
Seeking sustenance.
Seeking heat.
Because she could feel it all radiating from him, drawing her in, offering her shelter.
Her head was spinning madly.
Meanwhile, wild, wonderful things were happening all through her. She hadn’t exactly been living under a rock for the last twenty-two years but she might as well have been, she thought. Because nothing she’d ever experienced before could compare to this. It was as if she’d been taken apart, molecule by molecule, and then entirely rebuilt.
Thrilled, eager, delighted, with her last measure of strength Calista deepened the kiss, letting him know as best she could that if this was some sort of a happy accident, a momentary slip on his part, that he hadn’t offended her or taken advantage of her. She wanted him to know that she enjoyed being kissed by him. Moreover, that she didn’t want this to be the last time that he did kiss her.
Wow.
The single word lit up in large, powerful neon lights inside his head. All Jake could think was that for such a little thing, Calista packed one hell of a wallop. It had certainly knocked him for a loop. Who would have thought that beneath that sweet exterior something akin to a tigress existed?
Amid the swirling storm of emotions and the impact of her kiss, common sense burrowed mightily up to the surface. Intent on holding him accountable.
What the hell was he doing? his common sense demanded as he struggled to do his level best to extricate himself from the jaws of unadulterated pleasure.
The answer to the question was that he didn’t know. He’d just meant to quickly brush his lips against hers, to thank her and let her know that he appreciated her earlier offer and that he thought that she’d been genuinely generous to make it.
He’d had absolutely no intentions of getting lost in her kiss, or even to kiss her like this, with every single emotion he possessed suddenly rising to the surface and jumping into the fray. He certainly hadn’t intended to knock his socks off in the process.
She was hardly more than a kid, he silently insisted. How could he be having these feelings about her?
The answer, he told himself, was simple. He wasn’t having these feelings. What was happening was simply a rebound reaction. He’d been in love with Maggie and she had closed herself off from him and then she’d died, leaving him with all these feelings, all this love, all of it unresolved.
Forcing him to take them all elsewhere.
But he wasn’t really feeling what he thought he was feeling. It was all just an illusion, a trick of the mind. A distraction engineered by his psyche to allow all those hurt feelings he was carrying around to heal.
He didn’t feel things for this bright-eyed woman with the silver laugh. Wasn’t reacting to her. Wasn’t feeling that strong pull inside him toward her. He just thought he was.
But first, he told himself, he had to stop kissing her because it was fogging up his mind.
With effort, Jake took hold of her hands and removed them from around his neck. Then, their lips still sealed to one another, he put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back gently, driving the all-important wedge between them and ushering in light, space and air.
Calista blinked, realizing that her lungs were seriously depleted of oxygen. She drew in a breath as unobtrusively as she could.
At least she wasn’t panting, she congratulated herself.
Looking at Jake, she thought she saw regret flash in his eyes. Was that regret that he’d kissed her, or regret that he’d stopped?
She knew which side she was voting for.
“You’re not going to say you’re sorry again, are you?” she asked, bracing herself for the worst, hoping for the best.
Had he recovered more quickly, the apology would have already been out there. But she clearly didn’t want to hear him say that, Jake could tell by the apprehensive expression on her face. He was lucky she’d taken his breath away like that, otherwise he would have said he was sorry and that, he could see, would have insulted her. She definitely wasn’t acting as if he’d forced himself on her, so that was a relief.
“Wasn’t planning on it,” he replied, instincts now telling him what she’d want to hear. It was a relief to be honest.
“Good,” she told him with an approving nod. “Because I would have hated to have to punch you out after we’d just shared something so special.”
The second the words were out, she realized that she was being too honest for her own good. But then again, that was a flaw of hers. She’d never gotten good at those mind games people her age were supposed to
engage in. She didn’t believe in them and most likely, she probably wouldn’t be any good at them even if she subscribed to playing those kinds of games.
“I didn’t mean to embarrass you,” she added on after a beat. “My sisters are always telling me that I have a tendency to be too honest. They say that it gets annoying.”
“I’m not annoyed,” he told her. “And honest is good.” His tone said he gave the trait very high marks. “That way, there’s no confusion, no wondering if I’ve offended you and you’re just being nice.”
“I’m always nice,” she was quick to tell him. Amusement danced in her eyes. “And you didn’t offend me,” she assured him. “As a matter of fact, I’m so far from offended, if I were a train, I’d be stationed in the next county.”
It took him a second to wrap his head around the metaphor. That had to be a first, a woman comparing herself to a train. Charmed, Jake laughed, shaking his head. “Calista, I have a feeling that you’re one of a kind.”
“I’d ask you if that was good or bad, but I think I’d better quit while I’m ahead.”
“Good,” he told her. Then, in case she misunderstood, he elaborated further. “It’s good.”
Jake glanced at his watch. It wasn’t even nine o’clock yet. He no longer needed Calista’s services tonight and the best thing right now would be just to send her home so that she could salvage some of the evening for herself, but he found himself really loathe to have her leave just yet. He liked her company, liked talking to her.
He searched for a way to detain her a little while. And then his stomach growled. He went with that. “Did you have dinner before you came?”
She shook her head. There hadn’t been time. “I came straight here from the mayor’s office.” While she liked to cook for her siblings, the idea of cooking just for herself aroused no pleasure. Takeout was a good way to go. “I’ll just pick up something on my way home,” she told him.
Corey and Erin had left for the movies the moment the lawyer had driven away. That left them alone in a house that was large enough to house a full three-ring circus with room to spare. He didn’t want to be in the house alone just yet.
“If you want to stick around for a while,” he proposed, “I can make us something to eat. It’s the least I can do.”
She was surprised by the offer. “You cook?” He didn’t seem like the type who ventured into the kitchen for any other reason than to get a beer.
He didn’t want her expecting miracles. “I did use the word least,” he reminded her. “But yeah, I do cook. Not well,” he admitted, then quickly added, “but passionately.”
His usual method was to start out with a recipe, then just take off creatively. However, in this case, he figured he should rein himself in a little when it came to the seasonings he added. A lot of people didn’t like hot, spicy food the way he did.
Calista definitely liked the way he said that. “Passion is good.”
He looked at her for a long moment. Coming from her, the word took on a whole different meaning. “Yeah,” he agreed quietly, “it is.”
A warm shiver danced up and down her spine. For a second, she almost gave in to impulse and kissed him, but she stopped herself at the last moment.
This was by no means over, she promised herself.
“C’mon, let’s go downstairs,” Jake urged.
She murmured, “Okay,” as she fell into step beside him.
As he crossed to the doorway, Jake paused a moment to pick up one of the receivers that went with the baby monitor.
“It’s a big house,” he explained as he eased the bedroom door closed behind them. “I might not hear Marlie when she cries and because there’s no one else home right now who might be able to hear her cry and alert me, having the monitor on is the next best thing.” He raised a quizzical brow as he looked at her. “You don’t mind, do you?”
“Mind?” she repeated. How could he possibly think that she’d mind his being a responsible parent? He just went up ten more points in her book, bringing him to an almost-perfect score. “I think it’s wonderful. And I think that Marlie’s grandparents are absolutely crazy to try to take her away from a father who’s as caring as you are.”
He shrugged away the compliment. Words of praise, whether in the form of a commendation at work or something more personal in nature on the private front, always embarrassed him. He never knew how to respond and he’d never been one for the limelight.
He deflected the compliment by saying, “I’ve got a lot of faults.”
Well, it was obvious that a swelled head wasn’t among them, Calista thought. “Last time I looked, that was part of being human.”
“Definitely using you for a character witness if the O’Sheas decide to drag me into court,” he told her as he walked down the stairs behind her.
She fervently prayed that it wouldn’t come to that for him. But if it did, she was going to convince him that her earlier offer definitely still stood.
He’d intended to cook while she took it easy. It didn’t turn out that way.
Less than three minutes into the project, he discovered that, like him, Calista didn’t do sitting on the sidelines very well. He’d barely begun to put together his own version of a Spanish omelet, gathering eggs, potatoes, onions and a small, lethal jalapeño pepper when Calista got off the stool and began plucking additional ingredients out of the pantry and the refrigerator.
Not only that, but somehow amid all this she also managed to clean the bowls, wire whisks and measuring utensils practically at the same time they were being pressed into use.
When Jake was finished creating his spicy masterpiece and the end result was neatly divided between two dinner plates, waiting for her verdict as well as for consumption, he looked around the kitchen and marveled at its immaculate state. Everything was washed and dried and back in its place.
The woman was a magician, he thought.
Or a witch.
A very sexy, enticing witch.
“You know, usually when I cook it looks as if a hurricane had come through, following me around,” he confided. The description had come from Maggie, who had been on the receiving end of his culinary efforts several times. He glanced around again, still awed by how swiftly this slip of a thing could work and move. Calista was nothing if not full of surprises. “This doesn’t even look as if I was here.” He laughed. “I think Erin’s seriously going to consider adopting you.”
“I’m a little too old for that,” she answered, amused. “But I don’t do sitting on my hands, idle, well,” she told him. “I like to pitch in and help.” She couldn’t remember a time when she didn’t.
“You’re holding down two jobs and helping me out by watching Marlie. As far as I can see, you don’t have any idle time. Which reminds me.” He put his plate down on the counter and dug into his back pocket. Taking out his wallet, he flipped it open. “I haven’t paid you for tonight yet.” So saying, he took out several tens. But before he could give them to her, Calista pushed his hand back. He looked from the money to her, puzzled. “Not enough?”
“Too much,” she countered. Before he could ask how that was possible, she went on to say, “Tonight’s on the house. I really wasn’t here long enough to charge you any money.”
She was wrong, he thought. On purpose? But why? “By my calculation, you were here watching Marlie for more than two hours. You’re still here,” he added with an amused grin.
“Not exactly babysitting right now, am I? Chalk it up to one friend helping out another,” she told him. A friend who managed to curl another friend’s toes. How can I take your money after you did that? “Besides,” she said out loud, “you’re feeding me.”
She hadn’t tasted the end product yet. “According to my sister, you might want to charge me extra after you taste my efforts.”
Now he was just being super-modest, she thought. “If it’s that bad, you wouldn’t have offered to cook dinner in the first place,” she pointed out.
He
laughed. She had him there, he supposed. “You’re pretty sharp.”
“For what?” Calista pressed. His tone indicated that there was more to the phrase than that, a part he’d left unsaid. “For a girl?” she supplied, then suggested, “For an intern?”
Why would she think that he would insult her by saying that? “I was going to say you were pretty sharp for someone so young.”
He made it sound as if she was in kindergarten. “Not so young,” she corrected. “And you’re not exactly approaching social security anytime soon, you know.” Then, in case Erin hadn’t mentioned it, she told him her age. “Jake, I’m twenty-two.”
He already knew that and it was what kept eating at him. He found the age difference between them a huge chasm. It only made him feel guiltier about these budding feelings that refused to be pushed aside or shut away. “Exactly, and I’m thirty-four.”
Her eyes widened as if she’d been utterly knocked off her feet. “And you’re not using a walker? Isn’t that taking a huge risk? Does your caretaker know what a daredevil you are?”
“I didn’t realize that you were such a wise guy,” he told her.
She looked at him for a long, pregnant moment, letting it draw out before telling him, “There are a lot of things about me you probably didn’t realize.” A Mona Lisa kind of smile graced her lips. She indicated the two plates resting on the counter beside the baby monitor. “Now, let’s eat before your creation starts to get cold,” she urged.
“Good point.”
Sitting down beside her at the extended bar facing the other side of the work island, Jake watched her beneath hooded eyes as she took her first bite.
He waited to see her reaction, wondering if her eyes were going to water or if he’d be able to detect a trace of a telltale frown fleetingly creasing her lips.
There was neither.
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