“What do you mean?”
“I mean no man is really an island. What happens when you get older? Aren’t you going to end up alone, and lonely?”
It was a little spooky that their thoughts had followed a similar trajectory.
“Not necessarily,” he said, both touched and annoyed that she felt concern for him.
She twisted to look at him in the darkness. “I hate to be the one to break it to you, but one of these days, it won’t be so easy for you to get laid.”
“Point being that I was just turned down for the first time in a long time.”
“Everyone gets older, Kyle, even you.”
“I might not. Not everyone does.”
“How so?”
He was thinking of Ryan and of Dave possibly being deployed. “I might die young.”
“Not you.” Lauren was confident of that, which intrigued him, but then she curled back against him. “I’d rethink that life plan if I were you. It sounds lonely, and I say that as a friend,” was the last thing she said before she did fall asleep.
In contrast, Kyle was wide awake. He held Lauren close and listened to her breathing, and wondered whether people really could change.
He supposed it was a question of motivation.
* * *
Lauren awakened to a rhythmic sound that she couldn’t identify. Although there was a dent in the pillow beside her own, she was alone in Kyle’s bed.
Wearing nothing but his shirt.
She got up and peeked into the main room. Kyle was using the rowing machine, which explained the noise, and he had his headset on. He stared out over the city as he worked out. She admired the view of his muscles flexing for longer than she knew she should. The two boys were still asleep, Jason sprawled in blankets on the rug and Noah curled into Kyle’s favorite of the club chairs like a puppy. Someone had tucked them both in, probably recently, and that made her smile.
For someone who worried that he’d ruin the lives of kids, Kyle seemed to be a natural.
She liked that he’d kept his word and not launched a sneak attack on her. On the other hand, she watched as he rowed and wondered if she was an idiot for declining the pleasure he could offer.
Impatient with herself, Lauren washed and dressed. It wasn’t until the smell of fresh coffee filled the apartment that Kyle realized she was up. She’d found a French press in one cupboard, still in the box.
Kyle glanced over his shoulder, smiled, then quit rowing. When he came into the kitchen with his muscles all pumped, the space seemed much smaller to Lauren. There was a gleam of perspiration on his skin and the sight of him—the heat of him—made her acutely aware of what they hadn’t done the night before.
“Good morning,” he said as he tugged out his earphones. “I think I still owe you for last night.”
“Don’t you remember?”
“I do, but it doesn’t seem balanced. I’ll grant you another wish.”
“That sounds dangerous,” she teased.
“Anything you want.” He pulled on a T-shirt then looked her in the eye, those baby blues smoldering. “Any thing.”
“Let me guess. You have a suggestion.”
“I was thinking sex in the shower after I ditch the rug rats.”
“I thought you had a class to teach.”
“I do. How about a wedding date?”
Lauren wrinkled her nose. “Ty warned me that you’d want a bonus if you covered for me.”
Kyle laughed easily, but his eyes gleamed.
She saw immediately how it would be. She’d have no ability to resist him after a night of his undivided attention. She’d fall hard, or harder than she’d already fallen, and she’d be devastated when he walked away.
He would walk away. He’d warned her a hundred times.
Friends without benefits it had to be.
“We said we’d talk about it thirty days out,” he reminded her
Lauren shrugged and looked down at her coffee. “I think I’m going to go alone.”
“Alone?”
“Without a date. Stag. You’ve heard of it, I’m sure.”
“I have, but I thought you didn’t want to be getting fixed up by your relatives.”
Maybe they’d make better choices than I did.” She smiled and kept her tone light. “It’s one night. How bad can it be? I might even have fun.”
“But...”
“They do say that a lot of people meet their future spouses at weddings. I think it might be better to go without a date.”
“I see,” Kyle said and Lauren glanced back at the change in his tone. Was he disappointed? He couldn’t be. She was letting him off the hook. He could pick up anyone he wanted and have a first time with someone else that night. He glanced at her, his eyes bright, but Lauren spoke before he could.
“So, I’ve been thinking,” she said.
“When? We only went to sleep five hours ago.”
“This morning. You said Dave was the one person you could count on.”
Kyle’s sidelong glance was wary. “True.” He filled a glass with milk from the fridge and drank it, watching her.
“And probably he counts on you.”
Kyle nodded.
“You’ve let your island be invaded by his kids already. What if you actually left the island to mingle with the greater world?”
“I’m not that much of a recluse.”
“But you’re private, as you prefer to say. You don’t reach out. You could make this trip to the Big Apple be a memory for Dave and his wife and kids forever.”
“They have plans.”
“Are they going to see the real city? Find the hidden gems? Learn why you love it here?”
Kyle frowned.
Lauren stepped closer to him. “You always worry about being a negative influence on kids. What about choosing to be a positive one?”
Kyle stared at her and looked like he might say something, but suddenly they weren’t alone anymore.
Eleven
“What’s for breakfast?” Jason asked, appearing on the other side of the counter. He climbed onto one of the stools.
“Toasted bagels and bananas,” Lauren said. “Milk.”
“Are you going to make the bagels?”
Lauren laughed that he seemed to think she could cook anything. “No. I don’t know how.”
“Just don’t imagine there’s peanut butter for your bagel,” Kyle said.
“I don’t ever want to eat peanut butter again,” Jason said grimly. “I’ve eaten enough for my whole life.”
Lauren blinked because that sounded familiar. Kyle paused in the act of heading to the shower and glanced back. “When did you get sick of peanut butter?” he asked quietly.
Too quietly.
Jason shrugged but dropped his gaze. “When I ate too much of it. Duh.”
Kyle pivoted and came back to the kitchen, leaning on the counter beside Jason. There was a gleam of intent in his eyes. “But Olivia makes all those creative and healthy lunches. Bento box stuff. Do you swap your lunch for PB&J?”
Jason gave him a dark look. “Not by choice.”
“How often?”
“Every day.”
Kyle ran a hand through his hair, clearly exasperated. “Seriously? Every day?”
“Every day.” Jason stared at his hands, looking a lot smaller than he had before.
Lauren didn’t understand, but it was clear that Kyle did. He sat down on the other bar stool. “Have you told Dave that you’re being bullied?”
Lauren’s eyes widened in surprise, but she stayed out of it, just listening as she sipped her coffee.
Jason made a sound as if the idea was too dumb to contemplate. “No!”
“Why not?”
“Because he wouldn’t understand.”
“You might be surprised.”
“No way. He nails everything the first time,” Jason said with frustration. “He wins every game. He makes every shot. He’s the best at every single sport, even if he’s never play
ed it before! He took me to his boxing club once but I hated it. I hurt my hand. If I told him, he’d just think I was a loser.” He sighed and pushed up his glasses. “Maybe I am.”
Lauren’s heart tore a little.
“But you’re telling me,” Kyle noted.
“Well, because you screw things up, Uncle Kyle.” Jason spoke as if this was self-evident.
Kyle appeared to be so startled that Lauren had to bite back her laughter.
Jason continued without noticing either of their reactions. “Grandma is always mad at you for not getting married or having kids or getting a real job, and you mess stuff up all the time. Like, you fell off the skateboard last Christmas because you were looking at that girl.”
“I did that on purpose,” Kyle protested. “To make you laugh.”
“Please, I’m not that dumb.” Jason’s sidelong glance was pitying. Then he frowned. “I didn’t really choose to tell you, not exactly, but it’s okay that I did because I think you know what it’s like to be a loser.”
Kyle raised his gaze to meet Lauren’s and she didn’t dare say a word.
She saw in his eyes that he did know, though.
How interesting. Jason had guessed something about Kyle that she would never have imagined was the case. She thought about Kyle’s confession of the night before and wondered about the impact of all those moves upon a young boy.
As a result, she wasn’t truly surprised that Kyle leaned closer to Jason and gave him a nudge. “You’re right. When I was eleven, I looked pretty much like you, but no carrots. Skinny, scrawny. Glasses, too.”
“Get out. Why don’t you have glasses now?”
“I had surgery on my eyes so I wouldn’t need them anymore.”
“Cool!”
“But before that, there was this punk who stole my lunch every single day, so there’s something else we have in common.”
Jason looked up.
Kyle grimaced. “He’d punch me in the gut to get it, then leave me with his loser peanut butter sandwiches.” He shuddered in mock horror. “Or bologna. I could never decide which was worse.”
Aha.
“My mom made these awesome sandwiches, and this jerk wanted my lunch instead of his.”
“And because he was bigger, he just took it,” Jason said. Lauren could almost see the bond building between the two of them.
“Right,” Kyle agreed. “Until I got tired of it.”
Interest lit Jason’s eyes. “What did you do?”
“I started to exercise, so I’d be stronger.”
Jason shook his head. “It’s not going to work.”
“Your punk is taller than you?”
Jason nodded.
“Bigger than you?”
He nodded again, dejected.
“So, you can’t win by force.” Kyle tapped Jason on the forehead. “I’m going to bet that you’re smarter than he is.”
“She,” Jason corrected and Kyle looked so horrified that Lauren clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud.
“You’re being bullied by a girl?”
“Reyna’s popular and pretty and big...”
The poor kid looked so downtrodden that Lauren didn’t know what to say.
Kyle said it. “And you kind of like that she pays attention to you.”
Jason blushed. “I hate peanut butter, though. I might like it if I got to choose it.”
“Do you play any sports at all?”
“I’m in the chess club.”
“That is not a sport.”
“It’s what I can do! I can’t shoot baskets for anything. Not like Dave.”
Kyle surveyed the kitchen and Lauren knew he was making a plan. “Okay, eat up. You’re going to spend the morning with Mr. Lee, and I’ll warn you now that he’s no pushover.”
“Who’s Mr. Lee?”
“He teaches martial arts at F5 some mornings, including Fridays, so we already know that your timing rocks. I’m thinking maybe jujitsu might be right for you, but Mr. Lee will help you find a good fit.” He glanced at the clock. “I have a session at seven, so get it in gear. We’ll drop Noah at the hotel and head down to the club.”
Jason stood up, eyes wide. “You’re taking me to work with you?”
“It’s a limited time offer,” Kyle said, peeling off his shirt on the threshold of the bathroom. “By the time I shower and eat, you’ve got to be ready to go. There’s some cheese in the fridge. It’s good on bagels.”
“I’d rather just have cookies.”
“Well, you’re out of luck,” Kyle said firmly. “Cookies have been moved to afternoon snack. Eat a nutritious breakfast this morning because you have work to do.” He shut the bathroom door and Lauren heard the water running.
For someone who said he didn’t know anything about kids, Kyle was learning fast. Jason came around the counter and put a bagel in the toaster, then looked in the fridge. He got the cheese out, then set out plates for the bagels. Noah yawned and stretched, then paddled to the kitchen with his hair standing on end. He was so adorable that Lauren wanted to pick him up and give him a squeeze. Instead, she gave him a glass of milk.
When Kyle came out of the bedroom, dressed and ready to go, he looked determined in a new way. “Why don’t you leave your things here?” he suggested to Lauren. “I’ll pack them all up and bring them to your place tonight.”
It was a nice offer, but Lauren knew her limits. If Kyle did something nice for her and came to her place, she could guess what would happen next.
Friends, she reminded herself silently. And only friends. No benefits.
“But it’s Friday,” she noted, continuing to pack her tote bag. “You’ll be working tonight at the club.” She jammed in the last cookie sheet and hefted the bag. “Thanks, but it’s no trouble. I’ve got it.”
“Then let me get you a cab.”
“I already called for one.” Lauren grabbed her jacket and headed for the door.
“Well, thanks for helping out,” Kyle said, following her.
“No problem!”
“And thanks for the challenge,” he said with a smile that nearly melted her resistance.
Their gazes locked and held, her heart skipped, and she turned her back on him. Kyle was the past, not the future.
“Have fun with Mr. Lee this morning,” she said to Jason, who nodded. “Nice to meet both of you. Bye, Kyle.” She ducked out the door, her heart racing as if she’d just made a grand escape, and kept on going.
Keeping her distance was the very best way to be just friends with Kyle.
Even if it was a lot less exciting that way.
* * *
Kyle didn’t like that Lauren had left.
He disliked it even more that she had turned him down. That was a first and an unwelcome one.
That bothered Kyle.
A lot.
What particularly burned was that he didn’t have a good reason to contact her again. There were, he thought, a limited number of times a guy could throw himself at a woman’s mercy.
He didn’t like the awareness that no matter what he did or said, Lauren would assume he just wanted more sex.
He did.
But on this particular morning, he realized that he wanted more than that. That was new and troublesome, since that inclination could only lead to trouble.
Kyle got to the hotel with the boys on time and without doing injury to either of them. Apparently, Lauren was a calming influence because a food fight erupted as soon as she left his apartment. He avoided the temptation of losing either of them deliberately in the morning rush of Manhattan, although Jason nearly gave him a heart attack in the subway when he bent down to tie his shoelace and disappeared in the throng of commuters.
After that, Kyle held onto both of them, the back of one boy’s shirt clutched in each hand.
Jason wanted to know about the subway tunnels, where they went, and how many secret passages there were. He talked about some book called Neverwhere, but Kyle w
as too focused on his mission—getting them to the hotel on time—to think about it much.
They found Florence in the hotel lobby, looking grim, and drinking coffee. She roused herself to kiss the boys and ask after their night, no apology to Kyle, and he could tell by the simmer in her eyes that she had something to say.
“Do you think I look matronly?” Florence asked when the boys were distracted. There was poison in her tone and Kyle guessed that Kenneth had made a potentially fatal faux-pas.
“No, why?”
“That’s what he said,” she fumed. “That he expected someone less matronly. I’m sixty-two, Kyle. Matronly is a good decade away, if I ever get there.”
“So, Kenneth wasn’t worth the drive.”
“Oh, he’ll be worth the drive. We did have a pleasant time, even if there was no spark. He’s seventy,” she added bitterly. “He had no business treating me like a friend of his mother’s.”
“I’m going to guess that you have a plan for vengeance.”
“Of course I do! We’re going out again tonight. I will be devastating. He will want me like nobody’s business, and I will tell him that I don’t do old men.” She finished her coffee and threw the cup toward the nearest trash bin, scoring a slam-dunk from fifteen feet away. She turned glittering eyes on Kyle. “You must know a stylist who kicks butt.”
Aha. A connection.
It was a weak one, but Kyle would take it.
“Why don’t you go and see Lauren?” He gave his mother the address and number of the salon.
His mother studied the address. “The same Lauren who made cookies for the boys?” she guessed, having just heard that story.
“The very same.”
Florence’s gaze brightened. “Oh, I see.”
“No, you don’t see. She’s just a friend.”
Florence laughed.
“She’s the sister of one of my partners,” Kyle insisted and took refuge in a partial truth. “She’s off-limits.”
“I’ll bet that makes her interesting,” his mother mused.
Kyle pulled back his phone. “Never mind then. Go find some stylist on the upper east side.”
“No, no, no,” his mom said. “I’ve decided. I’m going to take your advice and see Lauren.”
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