“But you don’t know anything about cars,” Emma said.
Kelly sighed. “That’s what he said, but I can still help him with a marketing plan.”
“Sorry, Kell. You’re right; I don’t doubt you.”
“That’s more like it. So, what about you? What are you and Zack up to today?”
“Funny you should ask, because that’s why I called. Do you have plans tonight?”
“No, but thanks for reminding me.”
Emma ignored her sarcasm and forged ahead. “How would you like to babysit your new niece?”
Kelly must have hesitated for a bit too long, because Emma hurriedly continued. “It would only be for a couple of hours. Just long enough for Zack and I to go out to dinner. We haven’t had a date in what feels like forever, and…”
“I’d love to, Em.”
“Really?”
“Yes. You don’t need to convince me. I would love to watch Ava for you.”
Emma breathed an audible sigh of relief. “Great! Can you be here at six?”
“Sure. Will Gracie be there too?”
“No, she’s with her mom this weekend. It’ll just be you and Ava.”
Kelly felt a flicker of nervousness, but she quickly squashed it. She didn’t have much experience with kids, not having any nieces or nephews by blood, but she had already formed an attachment to Gracie and Ava. Besides, it was only for two hours. How hard could it be?
“Ok. I’ll be there at six.”
“Thanks, Kell. I really appreciate it.”
Now that Kelly had something scheduled for the evening, she was able to relax and enjoy the rest of the afternoon. She escaped into her new romance novel, which was an angst-filled story of forbidden love between a boss and his secretary. Cheesy, yes, but engaging nonetheless!
She drove into the Village of Clarkston for lunch at her favorite deli and returned home to accomplish a few housekeeping chores. All in all, it wasn’t a bad day, and she only looked out the window for Damian three or four times. Not too bad!
When she knocked on Emma’s door at six o’clock, Zack and Emma were standing in the foyer, anxiously waiting for her.
“Geez. You two act like you’ve never been out of the house,” Kelly teased. “Where’s the baby?”
“She’s sleeping in her bouncy seat in the living room, but she’ll probably wake up soon. Bottles are in the fridge, and instructions on how to heat them up are on the counter. I just changed her diaper a little bit ago, so you should be all set for a while,” Emma said in a rush.
Kelly thought they were both acting a little strange, but she could understand their need to be alone. She hugged Emma goodbye and pushed them out the door, calling, “Don’t worry. Go out and have fun!”
Kelly shut the door behind them and tiptoed into the living room to have a look at her beautiful niece. Ava was sleeping peacefully in her pink and purple bouncy seat, with a fuzzy pink blanket tucked right up under her chin. Her skin looked like porcelain compared to the shock of thick black hair that stuck straight up from her tiny head. The hair had obviously come from the Kostas’s side, but the baby’s face reminded her of Emma. Amazed that a sleeping baby held her so rapt, she was startled when the doorbell rang, and Ava’s eyes jerked open.
Kelly scowled as she rushed to the door. Whoever was there obviously didn’t know that a baby lived here; otherwise, they never would have rung the doorbell! Ava started to whimper while Kelly quickly swung open the door. She shook her head at Damian, who was the culprit for the second time that day.
“What are you doing here? You just woke up the baby,” she scolded.
Ava’s cries became louder, and Kelly walked away, leaving Damian to trail after her.
“I came over to babysit. What are you doing here?” he asked.
Kelly bent over and carefully lifted Ava out of her seat. The minute she was in Kelly’s arms, Ava’s cries died down to a soft whimper. “I’m babysitting. What does it look like?”
Damian shoved his hands in his pockets and gave her that irritating smirk, the one that made him look like he had a secret. “Oh, I get it. I’m going to kill Zack!”
Damian plopped down on the leather couch while Kelly paced back and forth in an effort to soothe the baby. “What do you mean? What did Zack do?”
“He called me about an hour ago and asked if I could babysit, but he didn’t say anything about you being here.”
“That’s odd, because Emma called me this morning. Unless…”
“Bingo! They’re trying to play matchmaker,” Damian said without a hint of anger in his voice. If anything, he almost sounded pleased.
“Well, that’s ridiculous,” Kelly muttered. “Ava doesn’t need two babysitters, so you’re welcome to leave if you want to.”
Damian quirked an eyebrow at her. “Why should I leave? She’s my niece,” he reminded her.
“Just because you’re related by blood doesn’t mean that I love her any less,” Kelly huffed. With that, Ava emitted a burp that instantly eased the tension and caused them both to laugh.
“See, even her burps are adorable,” Kelly said.
Damian chuckled. “We’re mature adults, Kell. Why don’t we both stay?”
Kelly stared at him for a few seconds before caving in. “Ok, fine.” She stopped pacing and took a seat on the opposite end of the couch from Damian.
He promptly closed the gap between them.
“What…what are you doing?”
“I can’t see her face from over there,” he explained. “Relax, Kell. I don’t bite. Well, maybe in some situations…”
Kelly swatted him on the arm—the right one with the lightning bolt tattoo up by his shoulder. She loved that tattoo for some inexplicable reason, and she used to trace her finger over it whenever they were…
“It’s my turn to hold her,” Damian said, and Kelly tried not to flinch when she transferred the baby into his arms. He was sitting so close to her that their thighs touched, and she suddenly felt very warm.
“I’ll go heat up her bottle,” Kelly said, jumping up. Any excuse to get away from him for a few minutes.
“I’ll come with you.”
“Why? It’ll only take a minute. I’ll be right back.” Damian stayed seated, but she swore she felt his eyes on her while she walked away.
She took her time in the kitchen and tried to ignore the cooing sounds that Damian made in the next room. He was a man of many contrasts: tough on the outside, yet soft and gentle around kids and in the bedroom. Although he could be rough sometimes too. STOP IT, she scolded herself.
“You ok in there?” Damian called.
“Yep, I’m good,” she yelled. She took a couple of deep breaths, extracted the bottle from the microwave, and returned to the living room.
Ava was cradled in Damian’s beefy arms, sound asleep. “You must have the magic touch,” Kelly said and then instantly regretted her choice of words.
“You would know,” Damian said gruffly.
“Are you flirting with me?”
“Maybe.”
“Why?”
“Why not?”
Kelly glared at him. “I thought we weren’t going down this path again.”
Damian sighed. “Just because we called a truce doesn’t mean that I don’t want you.”
Kelly felt a surge of heat in her loins, but she ignored it. “I’m still mad at you.”
“I know.”
“And I don’t want to be the woman that you just mess around with. Not this time.”
“I get that.”
“Do you, Damian? Do you really?”
He stood up and gently placed Ava back in her bouncy seat. Kelly was still standing in the middle of the room, clutching Ava’s bottle tightly in her hands.
He walked toward her, and she inhaled sharply as he reached out and took the bottle out of her hands. He set it down on the coffee table and then took one step closer until she could feel the heat between their bodies.
“What do
you want from me, Kell?”
You. I want you. She swallowed nervously, but she looked him straight in his golden-brown eyes and said, “I want the whole package, the courtship, the romantic gestures, the…”
“Hearts and flowers?”
“Yeah, maybe.” It was hard for her to think straight with him standing this close.
“I didn’t know you cared about that stuff.”
He reached out and tugged on a strand of her hair, and continued to stare at her with at least one recognizable emotion in his eyes—lust. But she was determined not to give in—not this time.
“Well, I do…sometimes.” Right now, she would settle for a kiss, but a kiss would lead to another, and then another…
“I made it too easy for you the first time around,” she added.
Damian took a step back. “Too easy? Ha!”
“You disagree?”
“Yes. Nothing about you is easy.”
Kelly felt her dander rising to a dangerously high level. “Are you saying that I’m difficult?”
Damian took another step back. “Well, you’re not easy, that’s for sure!”
Kelly gaped at him and racked her brain for a retort, but she appeared to be fresh out of them. Instead, she turned on her heel and stomped out of the room. Damian followed two steps behind.
“Where are you going?”
“Home,” she replied, swinging her purse over her shoulder.
“Come on, Kell…”
“Don’t Kell me,” she hissed and threw the door open. “Oh, and by the way, when you leave your apartment at seven thirty on a Saturday morning, you don’t need to rev your engine. You may not believe this, but some people were still trying to sleep!”
She shoved out the door without waiting for a response, but he yelled one out anyway.
“How did you know I revved my engine if you were sleeping?”
Kelly threw her hands in the air and got into her car before she dared spew anything else at him. That cocky, arrogant, son-of-a… Kelly stopped herself before she finished that thought. Along with promising Emma that she would be nice to Damian, she had promised to curb her swearing! Great—that made two promises that would be impossible to keep!
Chapter 7
Kelly braced herself for Emma’s phone call, which came as expected a short time later.
“What in the hell happened between you and Damian?” Emma began.
“Oh, so it’s ok for you to swear, but not me?”
“Answer the question, Kell.”
Kelly gave her the short version and ended the story with, “I don’t think I can do this, Em.”
“Do what?”
“Stand up in your wedding with…him!”
“I’m not hearing this. I am not hearing this,” Emma repeated emphatically.
“I’m sorry. You know I love you, but if Damian and I can’t be in a room together for more than fifteen minutes without blowing up, how are we going to make it through your wedding day?”
“I’ll tell you how. You two are going to suck it up and behave like rational adults, that’s how! I will not have either one of you ruining my wedding.”
And then the phone went silent. Emma had hung up on her. Perfect. Now Kelly was the bad guy, and Damian had probably gotten off scot-free.
Kelly did the only thing she could think of to relieve stress (that didn’t involve alcohol or men). She retrieved her iPod from the bedroom, stripped naked, and poured herself a steaming hot bath. She sank into the water up to her neck and let herself get lost in the tunes of yesteryear. She could always count on the boy bands to make her feel better, and when she finally stepped out of the tub, she felt like her old self again.
Kelly wrapped the towel snugly over her breasts and padded out of the bathroom at the exact moment that her doorbell rang. Now what?
She glanced at the kitchen clock on her way past—nine o’clock—flicked on her outside light, and peered through the peephole. Damian stood there, looking skittish as he transferred his weight from one foot to the other. He reached his arm out like he was about to ring the bell again, but he stopped when she said, “What?”
He looked straight into the peephole and muttered, “Can I come in?”
Kelly glanced down at her towel and then back through the hole. “I’m kind of busy right now.”
“Please. I’ll only stay a minute.”
Well, when he put it like that and when he gave her that sheepish look… She yanked open the door, making sure to keep her body shielded behind it, and once he was inside, she quickly slammed it shut.
Oh boy. This is a big mistake. Damian looked her over like he might have with a new car, inspecting all the nooks and crannies. By the time their eyes met, his were fogged over; a look that she was intimately familiar with.
Now who’s in the driver’s seat? “What do you want?” she asked, fully aware of the double entendre.
Damian swallowed hard and shook his head as if to clear it. Kelly was still warm from the bath, and she felt a trickle of perspiration roll down her back. She waited somewhat impatiently for him to speak.
“I…um…came over to…apologize.”
Progress. “Go on,” she said, aware that her towel was starting to slip. She quickly placed one hand above her breasts to keep the towel in place, which drew Damian’s attention right there.
He swallowed again and said, “I didn’t mean to imply that you’re…difficult.”
She started to soften—damn it! For Damian to set aside his pride and apologize to her when she hadn’t made it easy on him… ok, so maybe she was a little difficult.
“Ok,” she replied and gave him a slight smile.
“Ok?”
She nodded. “Ok.”
“So, we’re good?”
“For now. Just don’t wake me up at seven-thirty tomorrow morning, and we’re good.”
Damian smirked. “I’ll try not to.”
An awkward silence fell over them, and Damian put his hand on the doorknob. “I should go.”
“You probably should,” she replied, although part of her wanted to yell, “No, don’t!”
He searched her eyes and must have sensed her uncertainty, because he pulled the door open and slid out before any more words could be said.
After he left, Kelly leaned back against the door and exhaled loudly. “That was a close one!”
A few minutes later, she was tucked in bed, her current romance novel by her side. She reached over to the bedside table to silence her phone, and it buzzed with an incoming text.
You can answer the door in a towel anytime.
Kelly’s smile stretched across her face, and she read the text three more times while deciding how to reply.
But not for everyone. Just for me.
Kelly giggled at that and then wondered if he really meant it. Had he been jealous when he had seen her out with Ken? Or was this just a strategy for getting her back in his bed?
You’re lucky I answered the door. (She didn’t want him getting too cocky!)
I agree.
He agrees? Hmm…what is his angle? Before she could respond, her phone pinged again.
Sweet dreams, Kell.
Kelly dropped the phone like a hot potato. If he only knew about the dream she had had the other night! She picked up the phone and typed:
You too!
And then she hurriedly shut it off. There would be no more flirting tonight—except between the sexy boss and his hot secretary in her romance novel. Just what she needed to read about before bed—not!
“Try this,” he said and reached across the table with a sample of Szechuan chicken between his chopsticks.
She opened her mouth wide, and he slid the chopsticks inside. He watched her carefully as she chewed the piece of meat and then licked the sauce off her lips.
“Pretty good,” she said. “But how do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Hold those things. I’ve never learned how.”
&n
bsp; “It’s pretty simple. Give me your hand.”
She reached her hand across the table and watched it get swallowed up in his strong grip. He placed the chopsticks between her fingers just so and clamped down on them.
“There. Just like that.”
But he didn’t let go of her hand, and she felt her pulse quicken.
“Kell,” he whispered and leaned close enough that she could see the gold flecks dancing in his eyes.
She didn’t have to reply, because their lips crashed together of their own volition. She tasted the remnants of their meal on his lips and opened her mouth wider to accept his tongue. She was no longer aware of anything else but this—the warmth of his lips, her hand still locked in his, the heat of their bodies, and then…
Her brain registered the rumble of his damn truck! Kelly blinked her eyelids rapidly until they opened all the way, and she noticed the light shining in through the slats in her blinds. “It better not be seven-thirty,” she hissed as the engine revved again.
She leaned over and peered at her alarm clock. Eight o’clock! Ok, so he’d done as she had asked. How could she be mad at him? But still, this was the second time he’d interrupted her sleep, not to mention her sexy dream.
Kelly reluctantly crawled out of bed, grabbed her robe, and headed out to see what he was up to. She peeked out the living room blinds, but this time, he looked right up at her and waved.
Pulling her robe tighter around her, she opened her front door and stepped onto the landing. Nobody seemed to be stirring except for him, and a few squirrels who chased each other around a nearby tree.
Kelly cupped her hands around her mouth and called, “Where are you off to so early?”
“Church,” he replied, like she should have known.
But she had no idea that he went to church, and she couldn’t help but be a touch surprised.
“This early?”
Damian chuckled. “I’m having breakfast with my parents first, and then we’re going to church together.”
“Oh,” Kelly said, slightly miffed at herself for being so nosy.
“Sorry for waking you up again.”
“At least it wasn’t seven-thirty,” she said and smiled.
Twice as Tempting Page 4