Jack’s jaw dropped.
“Again,” Dean added.
Jack picked up his beer, finished it, and signaled for the waiter. “Another round and bring me a shot of whiskey.”
“Did you want—”
Jack’s eyes never left Dean’s. “Doesn’t matter. Whatever’s on the top shelf is fine.”
The waiter left the table and Dean opened his mouth. “I need to—”
Jack held up his hand. “Wait.”
Dean took another swig of his drink and contemplated what was going on in Jack’s head. How would Dean have reacted if Tom or Mikey wanted to date one of his sisters? Syrie was married, but Ella was twenty-four and beautiful.
After replenishing their drinks, Jack tipped back the shot glass and closed his eyes. “OK…I’m ready.”
“You sure you don’t want another one?” Dean teased.
“Do I need another one?”
“You might.”
“You’re stalling.”
Yes, he was. “I have feelings for your sister. And I think she has them for me, too.”
“You think?”
“I know she does. She might not want to, but she does.” He thought of their kiss, the way she melted in his arms. “I need to see if we have a chance, Jack. Only this time I need you to know about it.”
“This time?”
It was Dean’s turn to finish his beer. “Yeah. You see, a year ago…over a year ago actually, Katie and I…we, uh…”
“Do I want to hear this?”
“Probably not. Let’s just say we figured out that we were attracted to each other. We both decided to keep our relationship under wraps. No need to involve you or our friends. We snuck around, which was fun for a while.” Dean smiled at the memory but Jack was frowning into his beer.
Dean stopped grinning.
“What happened?”
Dean knew he was blowing his agreement with Katie talking to Jack about their past, but he figured if everything worked out, Jack would eventually find out. Telling his best friend the extent of what had happened between him and Katie, however, wasn’t necessary.
“Katie wasn’t willing to move forward.” Which wasn’t a lie. Dean had suggested after they learned of her inability to have a baby that they stop hiding and let their families know they were seeing each other. Her response to that was to get close and personal with someone other than him, and to say he was “off the hook” when it came to her.
“What makes you think she’s any more ready now?”
That was a good question. “You saw her today. She’s settling into a job she loves. We both know she doesn’t have to work but she’s doing it anyway. She’s grounded in a way I’ve not seen before.” She wasn’t with the same group of friends, wasn’t playing at night in the clubs…at least not that he knew. Her face hadn’t been in a tabloid in months.
Jack nodded and sat back in the booth. “Maybe Katie is growing up.”
“She’s all grown up, Jack. It’s not like we’re kids.”
“She’s still my kid sister.”
“And I’m your best friend.”
“My best friend who seven months ago was ready to marry someone else. I remember the bachelor party, Dean. All the nauseating Maggie is the best thing that ever happened to me crap! Then I nursed your sorry ass after a weekend binge when she left you. If you cared about my sister so much, why were you ready to commit to someone else?”
Dean glanced at the TV across the bar showing the local baseball game. “I’ve had a lot of time to think about that.”
“And?”
“I met Maggie after Katie all but dumped me. I hate to say she was a rebound chick, but there’s no other way to put it. I cared about Maggie, don’t get me wrong. When she broke off our engagement…I don’t know, it was a blow to my ego, my manhood. I’m a class A asshole for saying that, but it’s true. I didn’t want her back after that.”
“But that’s changed with Katie. You want her back?”
Dean met Jack’s eyes and held them. “Yeah. I do. I can’t do that sneaking around or pretending I don’t care about her. I wanted to do the noble thing and ask your permission…but fuck that. It’s Katie’s permission I need, not yours. I do, however, want your support, Jack.”
“And if it doesn’t work out?”
Dean hated the thought of that. It left him cold again. The way he’d felt since she walked away the first time. “We’re all adults. We’ll figure it out.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes, drinking their beers.
“You have my support,” Jack finally said.
Dean started to smile.
“I’ll kick your ass if you hurt her.”
“Wouldn’t expect anything less.”
“I mean it, Dean. Emergency room ass kicking.”
Dean stopped the waiter and asked for another round and a menu. “Now that we’re done talking about our feelings, like we’re fucking women or something, I need you to do me a favor.”
Jack shot him a killer look. “I haven’t done enough?”
“I need you to keep quiet about this with Katie. If she thinks I’ve blabbed all of this to you, she’s gonna start off pissed with me. I don’t need that.”
“Well, shit, Dean.”
“C’mon. It won’t be for long. I’m not willing to date her privately this time. If she wants to keep us hidden, then we won’t stand a chance anyway. Just for a little while, Jack. When the time is right, I’ll tell her we talked.”
“Keeping secrets from each other backfires.” Jack had kept the fact he was a rich man from Jessie when they first started dating. All because Jessie refused to date him because she assumed he was dirt-poor. When she found out he was a millionaire, she ran away. Apparently, trust was more important than money. Jack had to do some serious groveling to win her back.
“Just for a while.”
“You’re testing our friendship,” Jack warned with a smile on his face.
“We’ve been through worse.”
“No, we haven’t.”
Dean relaxed. This is good.
The waiter returned and took their order. As he left, Jack said. “Manhood. You said manhood.”
“Fuck you.”
Jack popped some peanuts into his mouth. “You’re not my type.”
It’s all good.
“He kissed me.”
Monica shifted her attention away from the TV. “Dean?”
“Of course, Dean.” Katie closed the door to the apartment and tossed her purse on the kitchen counter. Unlike the first time Dean had made moves on her, this time Katie had a close enough friend to talk to. There was only so much room for secrets inside her head anyway and Savannah was taking up the entire secret room.
Monica turned off the set. “Ooh la la…please tell.”
“We were eating lunch. There was barbeque sauce. He kissed me. Oh, Monica, this is awful.”
Monica closed her eyes and shook her head. “Excuse me? Why is this awful? Dean is yummy with a capital Y. How can him kissing you be anything but amazing?”
Katie motioned toward the bedroom where she assumed Savannah was sleeping. “Baby. Hellooo? Kissing leads to more kissing, then there’s stroking, and hand holding. Phone calls and then midnight booty calls. I can’t let this happen again.”
“OK, I get it. You’re scared he’ll find out about Savannah. It’s only a matter of time before he does anyway.”
She knew that. “Not now. I still don’t know who her mother is. He’s not going to understand.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do. He’s fiercely loyal to his brother and sisters. Family means everything to him. If he thinks I’m remotely responsible for Savannah not being with her real mom, he’d be…”
“He’d be what?”
“I don’t know. He’d be something. Not a good something. His timing sucks.”
Monica snickered.
“What?”
“Is his timing the only thing bothering you?�
��
“Yes. No. I don’t know.” His kiss haunted her all day. When Jack had arrived, Katie swore she blushed like a virgin being caught kissing a boy in church. Yet there was no way Jack could have known that she and Dean had shared a brief, intimate moment.
“If Dean would have pursued you before Savannah, or months from now…would you run away?”
“There were reasons we didn’t work the first time, Monica. Good reasons.”
“You didn’t care for him?”
“We’ve been friends forever. Of course I care for him.”
Monica rolled her eyes. “I’m not talking about a platonic caring and you know it.”
“I cared.”
“So you broke it off because he wanted kids. A family. And you couldn’t give that to him.”
“I still can’t.” That hadn’t changed.
“Bullshit. Look in that room and tell me you can’t be a mom.”
Katie’s jaw snapped shut.
“You have a stronger backbone than most, Katelyn. Don’t short-change yourself because your uterus isn’t perfect. Lots of women can’t have kids.”
“Dean wants his own.”
“Really? You asked him that? He told you he didn’t want you because you can’t have his babies?” Monica bit out her questions and scowled.
Katie ground her back teeth together. No. They never had that conversation. She knew she wouldn’t survive it so she broke it off. Didn’t change the fact that Dean wanted to be a father. A father to his own children.
Monica approached her and lowered her voice. “Think about this, Katelyn Morrison. Three people in this world know you can’t have kids. You, Dean, and me. If Dean’s making moves on you, then apparently he’s not thinking about your infertility.”
“Maybe he’s just horny.”
“Men who want to scratch an itch don’t do it with their best friend’s sister. Did he push you to jump in the sack today?”
“No.” I won’t push.
“Were you interrupted by someone?”
“No.”
“Did he say he was sorry for kissing you? That it shouldn’t have happened?”
“No.” Those had been her words. Yet she didn’t stop him.
“He’s into you, Katie. What you need to ask yourself is, if you’re into him.”
“Ah! God, I haven’t been so indecisive my entire life. What the hell is wrong with me?”
Monica patted her on the shoulder before walking away. “You’re a mom now. You have to think about someone else and that isn’t easy. I watched Jessie do it for years. You think you’re indecisive? Jessie was downright manic at times. You wouldn’t believe the conversations we had about your brother.”
“She thought my brother was a drifter and a broke one at that.”
“Yet she fell in love with him anyway. You know Dean isn’t a loser. If he’s daddy material, then I don’t see the problem.”
But it did matter. What if she allowed him into her life and Savannah’s mom showed up and took her away? If Dean abandoned her then…
“I can’t risk it. Not now. Not yet.”
“It’s your decision.”
The expression on Monica’s face wasn’t resolved.
“But?”
“But I don’t think he’s gonna back off.”
Katie didn’t think so either.
An hour later, the phone rang and Monica answered it.
“Hey, Jack. Jessie told me you were coming back.”
Katie looked at Monica with wide eyes. She shook her head and mouthed the words I’m not here.
“Ah, huh? Yeah.”
She listened to one side of the conversation and fished her cell phone out of her purse. Sure enough, there was a missed call from Jack’s cell.
“Ah, no. She’s not here. I told her she could stay here to keep out of your hair, but I haven’t seen her.”
Oh, good. Monica remembered to keep the men guessing about where Katie was staying. The last thing they needed was Jack or Dean showing up at Monica’s.
Monica and Jack chatted for a few minutes before she hung up.
“Now you have your brother and Dean checking up on you. This is gonna get sticky in a heartbeat,” Monica pledged.
“In college I dated three guys and one of my teachers and none knew about the other. I can handle two.”
“That’s because three of them were probably dating your roommate.”
“Probably.”
“A teacher…really?”
“He was super hot and fresh out of college himself.”
“Can’t complain about überhot.”
“What about you, Monica? How come you’re not dating? There’s got to be some hot doctors at the hospital.”
Monica curled her legs under her on the couch. It was late and they were watching a sitcom and eating popcorn. Savannah was awake and playful…sucking on her fist.
“I’m not all that interested. I don’t mind some hot, meaningless sex once in a while. But relationships? Naw. Not for me.”
“Not even a date?”
“Dating is harder than sex.”
She couldn’t dispute that.
“And before you ask…no. There wasn’t someone who screwed up men for me.”
“Oh, then what did? I know you don’t like girls.”
Monica tossed back her head and laughed.
Savannah jumped.
“Maybe I do.”
“Oh, hon…if you were into women, you wouldn’t be able to keep your hands off this.” Katie ran a hand down the castoff T-shirt she’d borrowed from Monica’s closet after Savannah had spit up half her dinner. There were bags under her eyes for the first time in ever and she could use a trip to the salon. She looked like hell.
“You’re one confident broad.”
“Yes, I am.” They both laughed. “Really, why swear off men?”
“Have you met my mom?”
“You know I have.”
“We don’t get along. She’s dragged one man after the other into our lives. She’s never happy unless she’s shacking up with someone to give her life meaning.”
“It doesn’t have to be that way with you.”
“I know. The way I figure it…if you don’t get close, they can’t screw you up. I need to take care of myself financially and emotionally. I don’t want a man messing that up for me.”
“It doesn’t have to be that bleak.”
“Oh, yeah…have you forgotten our earlier conversation? If Dean were just a booty call, as you put it, then you wouldn’t be torn right now. It’s a problem because you care. I choose not to care. People at work are starting to call me the Ice Queen. I figure, what the hell, I’ll go with it.”
“Careful, Monica. That’s the path to being alone with a house full of cats when you’re seventy.”
“No, that means I’m in the red hat club with weekends in Vegas.”
Katie picked up a rattle and wiggled it in front of Savannah’s face. “What about kids?”
“I’m too young for my biological clock to tick.”
“Doesn’t mean it won’t…someday.”
“Someday isn’t today. Even then, you and Jessie have shown me you don’t need a man to be a mom.”
Katie’s thoughts turned to Dean.
No, but it would help.
Chapter Fourteen
“I’m flying home tomorrow,” Jack told her. “And I haven’t seen you here this entire week.” They were standing in the living room of the suite at the hotel. She’d made a point of showing up on what she knew was his last day in California.
Katelyn almost felt guilty for deceiving her brother…almost. “What’s the matter, Jack? Miss your kid sister hanging around and getting in your way?”
“It hasn’t been that way with us in years.”
“That’s because we don’t live under the same roof. If I was here cramping your style, you’d hate me within three days.”
“I’m a married man. You can’t cramp my style
if my wife isn’t here.”
Katie lifted her hand. “Let me rephrase then, you’d cramp my style.”
The entire week had gone without a hitch. Jack had arrived and intervened between her and Dean at every turn. Each day she would make an appearance at the job site and then go back to the hotel long enough to pick up clothes and drop off dirties. Every night was spent at Monica’s with Savannah. So far, her brother and anyone else watching were clueless.
“I’m just saying that you don’t have to find another place to stay if you wanna come home.”
She pictured Savannah. “Home isn’t a hotel, Jack. I know it’s been like that for both of us most of our lives, but is that really any way to live? There’s something to be said for preparing your own meals and making your own bed.”
Jack regarded her with narrow eyes. “Is that what you’re doing? Preparing your own meals and making your own bed?”
She didn’t meet his eyes. “In a way.”
“Where?”
“Excuse me?”
“Where? Where are you doing this? Cuz I’ve not seen the backside of you walking out the door all week and I don’t think you’ve bought a house.”
Oh, no…this isn’t good. “I have friends.”
“Male friends?”
She hadn’t seen that coming. “Maybe. What’s this about, Jack? Since when do you dig into my personal life?”
“Dammit, Katie, you know I care. You dug into my personal life not too long ago and I couldn’t be happier for it. I want to see you find the same happiness.”
She’d talked with Monica for the first time when Jack had gotten pissing drunk after he’d asked Jessie to marry him and she’d refused. It was comical, really. Jack had posed as a waiter…a broke waiter working at The Morrison and not the son of the Morrison. As a single mom, Jessie wanted nothing to do with dating or marrying a man who had no bigger aspirations than waiting tables. And Jack, the fool, posed as a broke loser because he was tired of women going after him for his money. The two of them had nearly lost their future together because they hadn’t been honest with each other. Sure, Jessie might have been honest about not wanting to fall in love with Jack…but she was in love. It took Monica and Katie working together to hook them up to make it all happily ever after in the end.
“I’m going through a few changes right now, Jack. I’m going to be fine.”
Not Quite Mine (Not Quite series) Page 12