Dinner First, Me Later?

by Candy Halliday

  But Alicia’s guilt-ridden Oh, no! quickly turned into a highly perturbed He had a late date! Well! He certainly didn’t have to worry about her messing up his after-dinner booty call.

  As soon as they saw Zada and baby Lizzie, she was going to grab Jake’s arm by his flipping bulging bicep. She was going to keep the pedal to the metal all the way back to Woodberry Park. And she was going to deposit his Jake the Rake fine-looking-in-his-underwear ass right back in front of his babe-magnet red Corvette!

  Jake waited until everyone had left the elevator before he stepped through the elevator doors himself. He also dropped back a bit, letting the others make their way down the corridor to Zada’s hospital room.

  He could hear the endearing oohs and aahs coming from the girls before he even made it to the door. Jake took a deep breath, and walked into the room.

  Alicia’s icy glare froze him right where he stood.

  Jesus! What was up with this woman? She had her hand on his knee one minute. And the next minute she looked as if she wanted to bitch-slap him to his knees.

  She turned her back on him with her nose in the air, which suited Jake just fine. And when Alicia took her turn making cooing noises over Zada and the baby, Jake moved to the opposite side of the bed where Joe and Charlie were standing. It was also as far away from Alicia as possible, but he was careful not to crowd anyone.

  He was, after all, the outsider in the room. The new guy on the block. A guy they all barely knew. He only hoped Rick and Zada weren’t both wondering what the hell he was even doing there.

  “Welcome to the world Elizabeth Ann Clark,” Jen said, all misty-eyed. She looked at Zada. “Lizzie looks just like you, Zada.”

  “Let’s just hope she has Rick’s personality,” Tish teased. “One Zada in Woodberry Park is enough.”

  They all laughed.

  “God only made one Zada,” Rick said, his expression filled with love as he looked down at his wife. “And I thank God every day that He gave her to me.”

  More oohs and aahs from the girls.

  Jake stepped back a little farther, but Joe turned and put his arm around Jake’s shoulder. “Come on, Jake,” Joe said. “You’re one of us now. No need to be shy, buddy.”

  Jake wasn’t prepared to be pushed up next to the bed.

  Nor was he prepared for what the sight of a dark-haired mother holding a baby girl with the same dark hair would do to him. He’d been the proud father once, his heart filled to capacity with love for his wife and his baby daughter. The nostalgic moment caught him off guard.

  But Jake finally managed to say, “Congratulations, Mom and Dad. She’s beautiful.”

  Zada smiled up at him and Rick’s chest puffed out when he grinned and said, “Thanks, Jake. Let’s hope we can persuade your beautiful daughter to babysit for us now and then.”

  “Nothing doing,” Tish said, shaking her head. “I have first dibs on any babysitting.”

  Jen said, “Over my dead body. If Danielle babysits the twins first, you’ll ruin that option for Sonya and Lizzie. Poor Danielle will swear off babysitting for good.”

  Tish punched Jen playfully with her elbow.

  And again, Jake was a bit overwhelmed. These people hadn’t even met Danielle, yet they were already willing to include his daughter in their lives and accept her into their neighborhood the same way they had done for him. These were good people. Good neighbors. And they would be good family role models for Danielle.

  If Danielle would give them a chance.

  Jake stepped back, allowing Charlie to take his place at the head of Zada’s hospital bed. That’s when he chanced another look across the small hospital room at Alicia. She had also moved into the background, giving Jen her chance to get closer to the happy family.

  At least Alicia wasn’t glaring at him now, Jake decided. He still wasn’t sure what he’d done to deserve such a hateful look when he’d first walked into the room. Okay, so maybe he hadn’t been overtly friendly in the car, but that sure hadn’t stopped her from messing with his mind with all that talk about naughty housewives and secret desires.

  It crossed his mind that maybe he should stop avoiding the situation and be direct with Alicia. She’d certainly had no trouble being direct with him from that first day she’d bounced into Tish’s kitchen claiming bad boys like him had never been her type.

  Hey! That’s it, Jake decided. The only way to put a stop to whatever was going on with Alicia was to be direct with her. He was going to tell Alicia up front that as much as he would love to fulfill each and every one of her secret desires, it wasn’t going to happen.

  At least, not anytime soon.

  The more Jake thought about his direct approach idea, the better he liked it. Until the stern face of his prim and proper case worker flashed through his mind for a second. Ms. Brown—and the woman had emphasized the Ms. part with great clarity on the day that he met her—was a stout, gray-haired woman somewhere in her early sixties, with the personality of a pit bull and no sense of humor whatsoever.

  Jake could just imagine her piercing black eyes narrowing as Alicia cocked her pretty head to the side and said, “You know, Ms. Brown, now that I think about it, Jake Sims did tell me once that he’d love to fulfill each and every one of my secret desires.”

  Not a notation I need on my fit father profile! Jake reminded himself and looked across the room again.

  Alicia was looking straight at him. Icy? Or spicy? Jake wasn’t sure. But he had decided he was going to put the direct approach idea on the shelf for the time being. With Alicia’s crazy mood swings, being direct could possibly backfire on him. Avoidance, it appeared, was going to have to be his only line of defense.

  Secret desires—his or hers—would have to wait.

  When Jake stepped back from Zada’s hospital bed, Alicia saw her chance. She opened her mouth to tell Zada she was leaving, but Tish beat her to the punch.

  “What you need now,” Tish told Zada, “is some rest.” Tish looked around the room. “And that, boys and girls, is our cue to get out of here and give Mommy and Daddy a chance for some alone time with baby Lizzie.”

  Dammit! Alicia thought when Jake said a quick good-bye to Rick and Zada and bolted from the room.

  She started to charge out of the room after him, but she did the right thing and said her good-byes with everyone else. Her ride down in the elevator, however, was spent devising ways to torture Jake if he had the nerve to disappear on her. He saved himself from a long and agonizing death when Alicia found him waiting for everyone back on the first floor by the hospital entrance.

  Joe looked down at his watch, then back at all of them. “It’s only eleven,” he said. “I think we should all go out and have a drink to toast the newest addition to Woodberry Park. Any takers on that suggestion?”

  “I’m game,” said Charlie. “And all of our kids are already spending the night with grandparents tonight. It’s not like we’re watching the clock.”

  Tish and Jen both nodded eagerly in agreement.

  Jake wasted no time saying, “Thanks, but I’m going to have to pass on the drink, guys.” He looked straight at Alicia. “I’ll get a taxi, Alicia. You go ahead with everyone else.”

  Oh, really?

  Well, your teeth are obviously brighter than you are!

  How dare Jake think he could dismiss her so easily. She’d brought him to the hospital—against his will, maybe—but that was beside the point. And she, by damn, was taking him back home!

  Alicia faked a yawn and said, “Count me out, too, guys. I’m ready to call it a night.”

  Alicia ignored Tish’s accusing smirk. She also ignored the surprised look on Jen’s face. And she ignored Jake altogether when she walked past him.

  But she did look back over her shoulder at Jake long enough to say, “Coming, Jake?”

  Chapter 7

  Ms. Pit Bull case worker, be damned! Jake thought. He was over dealing with Alicia’s snotty attitude! He left the hospital right behind her, bloo
d in his eye.

  “Wait up, Alicia,” he called out.

  She ignored him and kept walking.

  “Alicia,” he called out again.

  She didn’t even bother to look over her tanned, too-sexy-to-ignore bare shoulder.

  Jake finally yelled, “Alicia! Stop. Right now.”

  She stopped abruptly, but her turnaround was slow and deliberate. Hands on her hips, she hit him with, “I. Beg. Your. Pardon!”

  Jake walked up to her so close a credit card would have barely fit between them. “I don’t know what kind of bug you have up your shapely ass,” he told her, “but I’m tired of you acting like I’m the one who put it there!”

  Alicia stood up a little straighter.

  But she looked more amused than intimidated.

  Until Tish yelled out, “Is everything okay you two?”

  Her face instantly flushed. “You’re embarrassing me in front of our neighbors,” she said through clenched teeth.

  Jake stepped even closer. “You’ve embarrassed me in front of our neighbors before,” he reminded her.

  “I thought you said you weren’t that easily embarrassed,” Alicia said right back.

  “That was before I ran into you,” Jake told her.

  Alicia looked past him again. This time she paled slightly. “Could we please have this discussion in the car?” Her eyes were pleading now. “I mean it, Jake. They’re all four headed straight for us!”

  Jake turned around. “Everything’s fine,” he called out and waved for everyone to go back.

  Tish still looked skeptical, but Joe got the message and came to his rescue. He grabbed Tish by the arm and began leading her off in the opposite direction toward their minivan, Tish still arguing with him ninety miles a minute. Charlie also took the hint and led Jen off by the hand toward the minivan as well.

  When Jake turned back around, Alicia had almost made it to the Mercedes. Damn! Jake sprinted across the parking lot after her. He reached the car at the same time Alicia clicked the remote to unlock the doors.

  “I thought you were taking a taxi,” Alicia snipped when they reached for the car door handles at the same time.

  “And I thought we were going to continue our discussion in the car,” Jake reminded her.

  She got into the car and slammed the door.

  So did Jake.

  He just wasn’t prepared when Alicia threw the Mercedes into reverse, backed up, and tore out of the parking lot like a bat out of hell. Jake bumped his head on the car roof when she jumped a speed bump. And he was still fumbling to fasten his seat belt when she hit the main street doing sixty.

  “Would you mind slowing down?” Jake said, nervously watching the speedometer climb to seventy-five.

  Alicia never said a word. She had both hands on the wheel, eyes straight ahead. That glazed-over look had Jake worried. He closed his own eyes when she barreled through a caution light.

  “Jesus, Alicia! You’re going to get us both killed.”

  “Only the good die young,” she said, never once looking at him. “Your bad-boy ass in the car guarantees us a safe ride home.”

  “There you go with that bad-boy crap again,” Jake shouted. “What the hell is your problem? You agreed we were going to discuss it in the car.”

  “There isn’t anything to discuss,” she insisted.

  “Oh, yes there is,” Jake said. “Like a trip to the insane asylum and a straitjacket for you, maybe?”

  Her foot pressed down harder on the pedal.

  “Okay, okay,” Jake said. “Forget the discussion. But in all fairness, Alicia, you don’t even know me. So back off on the bad-boy crap, okay? That’s not who I am.”

  She laughed. “Says Jake the Rake Sims.”

  “For your information,” Jake said, “I got the nickname ‘The Rake’ when I raked in a record number of double plays my first year in the National League and won the Rookie of the Year Award.”

  She looked over at him. “That isn’t what you told Barbara Walters.”

  “Barbara Walters?” Jake was stunned. What the hell does Barbara Walters have to do with anything?

  She said, “You told Barbara you got the nickname ‘The Rake’ because of your famous pickup lines. And when Barbara asked you to name your current favorite pickup line, you smiled into the camera and said, ‘Dinner first, me later?’ It made me want to vomit.”

  Jake exploded. “And that’s what this is all about? Some comment I made in an interview a hundred years ago?” He shook his head in disbelief. “Look, Alicia. I was young, I was stupid, and I was trying to prove to the world that I wasn’t devastated because my wife had just walked out on me, okay? But if you’re claiming that some stupid pickup line is the reason for your obviously psychotic behavior tonight, then all I know to tell you to do is call my lawyer and sue me!”

  Well! You didn’t have to put it like that! Alicia thought, but she didn’t say another word. Neither did Jake. Alicia did, however, slow down.

  Ten minutes later, she was driving through the stone gated entryway to Woodberry Park. Two seconds more and she was making a left turn onto Owls Roost Road. Alicia didn’t look at Jake again until she came to a slow stop in front of his driveway and turned off the ignition.

  The security lamp in the cul-de-sac provided enough light to see the completely disgusted look on his completely handsome face. Jake wouldn’t even look at her. He unfastened his seat belt and reached for the door handle.

  Alicia was quicker.

  She hit the driver’s side panel, locking all doors.

  Jake groaned and rested his head back against the seat with his eyes closed. “Now what?”

  Alicia said, “Do you really want to know what my problem is tonight?”

  Eyes still closed, he said, “I thought you didn’t want to discuss it.”

  Alicia said, “Have you ever fantasized about being with someone famous, even though you knew the chances were that it would never happen?”

  He opened his left eye and looked at her.

  “And don’t lie,” Alicia said. “We all do it.”

  Jake sat up and ran a hand through his thick, dark hair. “Yeah,” he finally said. “I fantasized about someone famous once. Until I married her.”

  Alicia said, “And when Carla disappointed you, you got over her. Right?”

  Jake nodded. “Right.”

  Alicia took a deep breath and said, “I can’t believe I’m telling you this, but you were the famous person I fantasized about when I was a teenager, Jake. And after that interview with Barbara Walters, I got over the crush I had on you. That’s my problem.”

  He turned sideways in his seat to face her.

  Alicia did the same, turning to face him.

  “Really?” he said, an amused smile forming on his lips. “You really had a teenage crush on me?”

  “Had and teenage are the operative words in that sentence,” Alicia said for emphasis. “Let’s move on.”

  He sent her a puzzled look. “But if you got over your teenage crush, Alicia, I don’t understand. What’s the problem?”

  “My problem,” Alicia said, “is that now, all these years later, you show up right across the street playing Mr. Nice Guy. And I’m sorry, but I don’t want you to be a nice guy! I need you to be the bad boy I got over in that interview fourteen years ago.”

  Jake looked more confused than ever.

  Alicia said, “Bad boys turn me off, okay? And I need to stay turned off where you’re concerned. You have your daughter to think about. And for the first time ever I have my life all straightened out and a new business to run. I don’t have time for some silly infatuation any more than you have time for anyone other than your daughter. It’s as simple as that.”

  When he still didn’t comment, Alicia said, “I don’t blame you for thinking I’m psychotic the way I’ve been acting tonight. But all I was trying to do was give you a window of opportunity to come on to me. Just once. You would have turned me off completely, and I never w
ould have looked your way again. But when I realized you just weren’t attracted to me, I . . .”

  Jake broke in and said, “You think I’m not attracted to you?” He laughed. “Are you kidding me? I’ve been calculating all night how long it would take me to get you out of that dress you’re wearing.”

  Alicia looked at him for a second. “Oh,” she said, starting to smile herself. “Right. I see what you’re doing, Jake. Good one.”

  “I wasn’t joking,” he said, his voice dropping to a husky octave. “And after I got you out of your dress, there’s nothing I would have liked better than satisfying a few secret desires even your Housewives Fantasy Club couldn’t dream up.”

  He leaned toward her, his eyes focused on her mouth.

  Alicia leaned back, groping for the door panel.

  CLICK! went the side panel, unlocking the door.

  “Well, that sure did it for me,” Alicia said, backpedaling as fast as possible. “Wow. Thanks. You’re completely dead to me now.”

  A definite bad-boy grin sauntered across his mouth. “You know,” he said, “speaking of windows of opportunity, I just realized we still have a small window of opportunity right now. An opportunity for me to be that bad boy for you one last time. Just to make sure, of course,” he added, “that I’m completely dead to you.”

  Alicia scooted so far back against the door, the door handle was painfully poking her in the butt.

  Jake said, “I’m serious, Alicia. Think about it. Rick and Zada are at the hospital. Our other neighbors are off at some bar. My daughter doesn’t arrive until tomorrow.” He leaned close to her ear and whispered, “One night of passion. No strings attached. And no one will ever know.”

  Jake didn’t laugh when the car door swung open and Alicia had to catch herself to keep from falling backward out of the car. But he wanted to laugh his ass off. The flustered look on her face was priceless.

  She finally got herself repositioned and the car door closed again. The second she was back in the driver’s seat, Alicia turned on the ignition. His signal, Jake knew, that any window of opportunity—joking or otherwise—had been permanently slammed shut.