Sparring Partners

by Leigh Morgan

  Hearing Lily giggle was almost as invigorating as having her push him down as she climbed on top of him. "You're lucky I love you, Mr. Bennett."

  Yes he was, very lucky indeed. William sent out a silent prayer, hoping Jordon would chose to be as lucky.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Reed wasn't sure she should talk about the subject of sexy men and going on dates with her aunt. Finn dated all the time, if openly seeking younger men to spend quality sheet time with could be considered dating. She certainly didn't understand that her younger niece, who was surrounded by good looking men every time she entered the dojo, didn't date every chance she got.

  "You've got a date?" Finn's bright blue eyes flashed in surprise at the news.

  Reed shrugged, wondering why she even brought it up. She insulted the guy and acted like a bitch with more chip than shoulder to support it. If she were him, she wouldn't come, would she? Probably not.

  "If he shows up. I wasn't my normal charming self when we met, so he probably won't." Reed said, as if it didn't matter whether he showed or not. She wanted to see him again. She'd been thinking of him and checking her watch all day.

  "What turned you from charming to not?" Finn asked.

  "I thought he was going to lay into Jesse for ruining his clothes. You know how vulnerable Jesse is. I'd rather have a stranger think I'm a world class witch than have Jesse get hurt."

  Finn shot her the same look she'd been shooting across the kitchen table since Reed came to live with her after Reed's mother died. That look said: for someone so smart you sure can play dumb. Half pity, half exasperation. That look usually cut through Reed's self-imposed stupidity.

  "What I know" Finn said, "is that it's been two and a half years since Jesse came here to live with us. I know he rarely has nightmares anymore. I know he smiles all the time now. Jesse calls Potters Woods his home, not just the place where he happens to live this week. I know Jesse can handle himself without you and your sparring gloves constantly backing him up."

  Reed threw a juicy slice of mandarin orange soaked in homemade raspberry dressing from her salad across the kitchen table at Finn. Finn made the salad and the dressing and everything that made Potters Woods home for Reed, Jesse, and Charlie. Finn made them a family and Reed loved her for it. She also hated the fact that Finn was right. Jesse was almost seventeen. He was happy. He no longer needed or deserved Reed playing mama bear.

  "Don't you ever get sick of being right?" Reed said, knowing she needed to back off when it came to Jesse before she hurt him or herself.

  Batting away the sticky fruit before it hit her perfectly messed playboy bunny hair, Finn said, "I'll get sick of being right the day you get sick of bringing home strays. Now stop throwing your lunch at me and eat it. You're too thin."

  "We can't all be built like a brick.... house." Reed muttered, taking another bite of salad, sorry she hadn't inherited Finn's impressive chest. Finn's height and perfect skin would have been nice too, but then Reed had a low center of gravity that helped her kick tail on the dojo floor. Something had to make up for her not quite B cup.

  Mr. Dark and Dangerous looking didn't seem to mind when he appraised her figure this morning at the art museum, Reed thought, remembering how his gaze seemed to linger on her trim waste and gently curved chest. Maybe he would show up for their date.

  Shoveling a fork-full of mixed greens, bell peppers and walnuts into her mouth, Reed wondered just when it was she'd given up the dream of a husband and a child of her own; a real family.

  A sudden jolt of guilt made Reed choke on her salad. The family she had was real enough. She was too old to expect more. Finn had been trying to mother her since Reed showed up at her door, fifteen, homeless, and pregnant. Thinking of her mother and what came after her death brought tears to Reed's eyes. Looking down, she forced another bite of food down her throat as she willed away pain that went too deep to examine. Ever. She changed the subject instead.

  "Exactly what strays do I bring home?" Reed asked, trying to change the subject before Finn caught her sadness.

  Finn held up a long elegant hand and started ticking off examples, one perfectly manicured finger at a time. "Let's start with the latest additions to our family, shall we? One half-starved kitten that now looks like a full grown tiger." Up went fingers two through five. "A barn owl with a broken wing. Not one, but three rescue deerhounds who eat more than Jesse packs away in a week. And don't even get me started on Charlie."

  "I married Charlie."

  "Don't remind me."

  "Charlie helped us buy this house, and it was his idea to try our hand at elder care. Without Charlie, Irma wouldn't be moving in and we wouldn't be able to offer the elder day-care activities he helped structure. Without Charlie, we'd be broke."

  "My point exactly. No more strays. We can't afford them."

  "Irma will be paying her way."

  "I mean it, Reed. Unless this guy is a billionaire in hiding, don't adopt him. We've got all the strays, and the bills they create, we can handle. I had to sell another painting to pay the mortgage this month."

  Reed sighed. As much as she enjoyed getting Finn all riled up, the mortgage payment wasn't something to joke about. Finn hated to part with her paintings and she'd sold four of them so far this year to fund Potters Woods and their elder-care expansion. Someday, Reed swore, she was going to buy them all back, she just needed to figure out how. It was easier when she had a consistent paycheck, but that left when Jesse came. Water under the bridge for both of them now, and well worth the price. There were other ways to make a buck. She and Finn would find them.

  Irma's rent would cover the mortgage while they figured out how to cover the rest of their expenses. Getting rid of Jesse, Charlie or the dogs was out of the question. Reed smiled, at least she could relieve Finn's worry over her bringing the man from the museum home as a 'stray'.

  "I have no intention of adopting him. I don't even know his name." Reed grinned at Finn, unable to resist yanking her chain a little. "He's cute though. If you like big, dark, brooding types with crooked smiles and come-get-me eyes. He'd look great lounging in my bedroom, fresh from the bath, a fluffy towel slung low on his hips."

  "Reed!" Finn threw a walnut from her salad at Reed's head. Walnuts make better weapons than mini orange slices. Reed didn't duck in time and it hit her smack-dab in the middle of her forehead. "Don't even think about it. I mean it. Jesse is the last male we're adopting. We cannot afford any more."

  Reed got up and kissed the top of her aunt's head. "No worries, Finn. You can't adopt what you can't name. And I very much doubt he's a billionaire in hiding just waiting for me to sweep him off his feet."

  ...

  Jordon rang the bell on Reed's front door wondering what it was about her that had him standing here at the bottom of the proverbial rabbit hole wanting a date for dinner instead of searching for a bride. It didn't make immediate sense to him, but then again some of the best producing companies he acquired seemed unlikely to turn a profit when he first looked at them.

  Jordon rang the bell again.

  A small man, in his early sixties, opened the door. His white mustache and goatee were cut close to his face and freshly combed. He was wearing a bright purple smoking jacket with flaming red trim, black silk pajama bottoms underneath, and crimson slippers with the letter 'c' in flamboyant script detailed in gold thread. The pipe in his hand was unlit, but carried the scent of fresh tobacco.

  He looked Jordon up and down, his gray eyes lingering a bit too long below Jordon's belt buckle before snapping back up to meet Jordon's less than pleased gaze. The man winked at him before stepping aside and gesturing for Jordon to come in.

  "Don't worry, boy. I never steal Reed's dates." He said. The boy comment made Jordon's eyes narrow, but he didn't respond, a female voice cut in before he had a chance.

  "Who are you kidding, Charlie? You don't date. You devour prey."

  The man chuckled and led Jordon deeper into the foyer which was large, open,
and welcoming. As the woman approached, Jordon could have sworn he saw the older man rub his hand over his unlit pipe in a gesture Jordon could only describe as glee. "Why thank you, Finn. It's good to be appreciated at my age. Even if only from the fairer sex."

  "That wasn't appreciation, Charlie, it was apprehension. Two totally different things." Finn said, holding her hand out to Jordon. He shook it. "I'm Finn Mohr, Reed's aunt. That's her...a...that's Charlie."

  "I can speak for myself, Finn. And don't hog the boy, give him some space. He's too old for you, anyway."

  Finn ignored Charlie's thinly veiled insult and motioned with one long hand for Jordon to come further into the room. There was a long bench for him sit on, but he preferred to stand, just in case he decided to make a run for the door.

  Finn, he noticed, was as unusually tall as Charlie was small. Even though she was barefoot, Finn stood only a few inches shorter than Jordon's six foot two. He was used to tall women who looked like sticks. This one didn't. Finn would never be called willowy. She had the blond hair, but she was definitely more Raquel Welch than Pamela Anderson. Her body may have screamed sex kitten, but her eyes, as she openly appraised him, didn't. She was in no way pleased to have him there.

  "If there's any way you can make it through the night without telling Reed your name, I'll give you fifty bucks." She seemed to think about it before sweetening her offer. "And I'll throw in a jar of homemade raspberry salad dressing. It's organic."

  Jordon seriously considered walking out. He'd already lost eight hours in his wife search, and landing in Wonderland had never been part of his dinner plan. He turned to go and three hairy canine monsters blocked the door. They just stood there, regal, silent and huge. How they got there, Jordon hadn't a clue. Had they followed him in? Jordon wasn't scared exactly, he just didn't want to turn his back on them.

  "Mo, Curly, Larry. Come on girls out back."

  Reed's voice filled the entry hall easing the knot between Jordon's shoulder blades he hadn't realized was there until it left with her voice, and the dogs' departure. Jordon's hands unfisted when the dogs sauntered past him silently heading toward the backyard. He turned back toward Reed's voice and there they were, Reed's family, in a line in front of her, blocking her way. Crazy Charlie, amazon Finn, Jesse the over-grown teenager with eyes a decade older than his sixteen years, standing shoulder to shoulder like an offensive line protecting their quarterback. Reed nudged Jesse and managed to get between Jordon and the menagerie she called family. She took a step closer to him and he relaxed, knowing he wasn't going anywhere without her.

  Reed was dressed in another over-sized concert t-shirt with a logo of a band Jordon didn't recognize. It was long enough that it had been made into a fitted dress that cut in at her waist, but didn't cling to her curves, stopping just below mid-thigh. Not nearly short enough to suit him. What Jordon could see of her thighs indicated strength that suggested years of intense exercise. She didn't wear heels, she chose open-toed sandals with straps that wound around her delicate ankles and ended in a bow half way up her well defined calves. The effect wasn't off the runways of Paris or Milan, but that didn't matter to Jordon, and it certainly didn't distract his eyes from her slim, but powerfully built body.

  The dress itself was a study in contrasts, part rock-n-roll, part Vera Wang and all red-headed elf. The sleeves had been cut to accentuate her shoulders, the small 'v' just below her collar bone was held together with tiny silver chains, with even tinier silver bells attached in the center. It revealed very little and yet it was sexy as hell. Reed looked fifty times better than she had this morning and totally different from any other woman he'd ever dated. She sparkled with life, and an almost childlike exuberance Jordon found contagious. She spun gracefully on tip-toes for him, making the tiny bells at her chest ring softly.

  "Do you like my dress?"

  I like you.

  "Yes." He said, telling her the truth. " It's like nothing I've ever seen."

  She beamed at him. "Thanks. Finn and I made it. I thought the bells were a little over the top, but she insisted."

  "Finn was right."

  Reed blinked and changed the subject, obviously not one to hammer a compliment into the ground. That too was a new experience for Jordon, one he wasn't sure he liked. Jordon enjoyed flattering women, he was good at it. But, he supposed he could get used to a woman who didn't require it every five minutes.

  "So," she asked, still light hearted but more serious now, "How much did Finn promise to pay you if you don't tell me your name?"

  "Fifty bucks."

  "You going to take it?"

  Four pairs of inquisitive eyes stared at him. Charlie looked like he was trying to place Jordon but couldn't quite get there. The old guy was definitely smarter than his clothes gave him credit for. Time to leave before it all clicked in Charlie's gray matter, and Jordon was outed before he could do the deed himself.

  "The jury's still out." Jordon answered, before changing the subject, mainly because he didn't get the big deal about his name or why anyone would pay him not to give it.

  "Do you like Mexican food?" He asked.

  "As long as there's no tequila." Reed grimaced. "We've met, we danced, we don't get along. I love Mexican food though. There are some great places on Mitchell Street in Milwaukee if you're game."

  Jordon held his hand out to her. "I'm more than game."

  "What am I supposed to call you until you make up your mind about taking Finn's money?" Reed asked, crossing to him, placing her hand in his. "Yogurt man?"

  Jordon grinned down at her, enjoying himself for the first time in a long time. "That'll do. For now. At least until we see if I can cover dinner without your aunt's money."

  CHAPTER FIVE

  When the ocean comes to you as a lover,

  marry, at once, quickly,

  for God's sake!

  Don't postpone it!

  Existence has no better gift...

  Rumi ~ 13th Century

  The restaurant wasn't much to look at from the street, but the open air bistro in the back, the thirty-seven kinds of tequila, and the outstanding food, more than made up for the peeling paint. The air was clear and comfortably warm, the stickiness of the day disappearing with the sun. The chili pepper and margarita glass patio lights glowed softly as the sky turned from orange to purple, then midnight blue. Milwaukee summer evenings were spectacular in their beauty, Jordon thought. One more thing to add to his short list of things he liked about Wisconsin.

  The salsa music surrounding them, playing just loudly enough to be felt, filled the night with a sense of expectation. Fresh cilantro, lime, and spice teased the air with fragrance, whetting Jordon's appetite.

  His stomach growled, but he was hungry for more than food. Reed smiled provocatively at him from across their small table. Jordon didn't think she was doing it on purpose. That was just the way she smiled when she meant it, from the tips of her sparkly pink toenails all the way to the full corners of her mouth. She was just one of those people who felt every emotion they showed the world from the core out. And she was too far away from him. Close enough to touch if he reached, but not nearly close enough to suit him.

  Drops of sweat from Reed's beer bottle hit her chest, rolling slowly down as she drank. She'd declined a glass, something he hadn't seen a woman do since he left Jackson. The motion of her throat as she swallowed and the small ahh sound she made when she was done had Jordon's pants tightening around his groin. He didn't believe Reed was trying to seduce him, she just seemed to be enjoying his company. That too was something he hadn't experienced with anyone but Henry in far too long. Jordon allowed himself to simply enjoy the moment for what it was, a good time, a welcome diversion.

  "So, what do I call you? Yogurt man sounds just plain dumb."

  Jordon laughed, it did sound dumb. "My name's Jordon."

  She cocked her head at him and set down the chip she'd been about to dunk into the pot of mild salsa. She left the spicy stuff for him, which
suited Jordon just fine. He was quickly finding out he liked more than his salsa spicy.

  "That's a great name. If it were mine, I wouldn't be shy about using it." She said, saying his name aloud, letting it roll off her tongue like a caress.

  "Jordon. I like it. Does it have any significance beyond the fact that it sounds great and it seems to suit you?"

  "It does. Have significance I mean. At least it does for me." And I'd like to hear you say it again. Naked.

  Reed grinned, obviously oblivious to what he was imagining, and bowed her head dramatically toward him. "Care to enlighten me o' secretive one?"

  She was cute when she flirted, Jordon thought, reaching across the table to slowly trail one finger the length of her beer bottle. Watching as the pulse beating at the hollow of her throat became more erratic. His gaze captured her startled eyes, watching closely as they bled from soft blue-gray to black. Her lips parted and those soft eyes flared as Jordon dropped his gaze to her mouth.

  Jordon rubbed his dampened finger lightly over her exposed collar bone. So fragile. So feminine. He wanted to bury his face there. He wanted to inhale deeply and lick her skin where it moved with her heartbeat. He wanted to sink into her more than he wanted any woman in a very long time. Her eyes closed at his touch, and a tiny sound she couldn't stifle escaped her slightly parted lips. Not quite a moan, but close enough to give him hope for something more.

  Jordon pulled back and waited for her to open those glorious eyes before he licked the remaining moisture from his finger, tasting the salt from her skin. She flushed beautifully from her chest to her temples.

  "Give me a kiss and I'll tell you." He said.

  "Do you bargain for everything?"

  Absolutely.

  Her voice deepened, and Jordon knew he was getting to her. Reed wanted him to touch her, but instead of giving in, she kept asking questions. Interesting. He wasn't dealing with a woman who wanted him for his money or his body. Not solely, anyway. She seemed to be interested in who he was underneath all of that.