Sweet but Sexy Boxed Set

by Maddie James

  Kelly walked toward the fireplace and stared at a framed photograph on the mantle of C.B. and Daniel on their wedding day.

  My little girl has grown up.

  Inhaling a deep breath, Kelly surveyed the second framed photo, also from the wedding, of the couple and their immediate families. Flanking Daniel were his two parents and three sisters with their spouses and a varied assortment of nieces and nephews. Only her mother and Kelly stood beside C.B.

  The contrast was stark.

  Kelly swallowed the lump in her throat along with another double dose of regret.

  Pull yourself together!

  Kelly tamped down the pang of guilt swirling in her head and went into the guest room. Opening the closet, she sorted through her clothes, scraping the hangers along the wooden rod. Nothing really worked. She would stop by Macy’s before going back to Lanham and find something that didn’t make her look like a dowdy schoolmarm.

  Stop it! Stop feeling sorry for yourself!

  Children married and left home. Parents got on with their lives, even if they didn’t have a life to get on with. What about Rob? He’d missed out on so many things in C.B.’s life, and he didn’t even know it. Decisions long ago affected so many lives today. Ironic, wasn’t it? Especially now that Rob had appeared again as if out of the blue and wanted to get to know her again.

  There was danger in tonight. Getting to know Rob again was not a smart idea. She could never tell him the truth. There would always be this secret between them—a secret he didn’t know existed.

  Right or wrong, she’d made her choices long ago. Rob would probably never forgive her if he found out about C.B.

  Deep down a niggling fear caused her heart to ache as if a heavy hand had closed around it. Kelly paused in the living room to take another look around. Her daughter had created a comfortable home for herself and her husband. There was a sense of family here, of hope for the future. Of love. Despite her own feeling of inadequacy, she was truly happy for C.B. She and Aunt Bess had raised her right. That was something to congratulate herself about. Wasn’t it? So why did the fear remain?

  Her throat closed. What if, after learning the truth, C.B. never forgave her?

  ****

  Awesome! Kelly was absolutely awesome. Rob looked her up and down when she came to the door, his stomach muscles tightening as if he’d been punched.

  “What?”

  She was self-conscious. It amused him. And that touch of shyness coupled with her quick temper sparked his interest. Jessica would never have responded that way. He mentally shrugged. Maybe that was the trouble with their relationship, his ex-wife’s lack of humility and disinterest. He would take Kelly’s hostility any day compared to his wife’s indifference.

  “That blouse is really nice,” he said, complimenting the relaxed, black and white tunic she wore over tight-fitting jeans. It fell below her slim hips and had a tantalizing scooped neckline. Jess had taught him about fashion, that and unfaithfulness.

  “It’s new.” She shrugged off the flattery with a toss of her red hair and came out of the house, pulling the door shut.

  How could she not know how beautiful she was?

  They walked to the street, and he saw her eyeing his Beemer parked at the curb. “I thought we’d walk to the square,” he said. “It’s not far, and it’s a nice evening.”

  Another shrug. “Sure, why not?”

  He politely touched the small of her back through the black and white blouse as they walked away from the house. His pulse surged. Was it corny to admit his fingers tingled from the touch and that he was acutely, physically aware of her? She smelled like a field of flowers, her essence warm and romantic. Her hair, the color of copper, glinted with sun, and her body rippled with athletic grace as she walked.

  Pure, raw sexual attraction, the first he felt since his divorce, drew him toward her. God, this was good and getting better each time he was with her. How had he forgotten this feeling of excitement? Like he was seventeen again and hiding the fact that a shy, homely girl gave him a hard-on?

  A block before the square, he turned to her. “I wish I’d had the guts to openly ask you out years ago,” he said.

  She glanced askance but kept walking. “You know that wasn’t possible.”

  “Your old man would have gone ballistic,” he agreed.

  “To say the least.”

  “Yet I wonder what would have happened, if I had mustered up the guts.”

  Kelly stopped, her gaze fastened on his face. She trained her features into a blank mask. “That wasn’t possible. You and I were from different backgrounds. You had a college scholarship to look forward to.”

  A muscle worked in his jaw as he considered her view of things. “Strange, isn’t it, that our parents have overcome the so-called differences in their backgrounds,” he said quietly. “My guess is social class didn’t matter as much as you thought.”

  Her eyes hardened. “I got knocked up. You had no business with someone like me.”

  A swift jab of jealousy hit him. “What was he like, your daughter’s father?”

  Kelly’s shoulders stiffened, and she lifted her chin a determined notch. “Why bring this up?”

  “Curiosity.”

  “What’s done is done. It’s history. You and I can never go back.”

  “Maybe we can go forward.”

  “Look, I agreed to dinner, nothing more. Don’t we have reservations?” Kelly turned on her heel and stalked away.

  Rob caught up and lightly caught her left elbow where the balloon sleeve gathered. It was a gentleman’s touch, but it connected them together whether Kelly wanted it or not.

  ****

  Dinner turned out to be fun. Odd how a couple of margaritas could loosen up even the most reluctant dinner partner, Rob thought, and more than once hid a wicked smile. They devoured corn chips and hot salsa and then took on fat beef and bean burritos drenched in red enchilada sauce.

  The key to Kelly opening up, besides the margaritas, was asking her about her daughter. Rob discovered C.B. had been a communications major at the University of Louisville and worked in an entry level job for a healthcare insurance company. Her husband Daniel was in med school at U of L. C.B. had ridden Saddlebred horses as a child, but they could never afford to own one. Daniel was scared of horses, although he wanted to get a dog some day.

  “Do you ride too?” Rob asked, liking the half-shy look in her eyes that gazed up at him under bronze eyelashes.

  “I didn’t want to live my life through my daughter.” There was a tremor of satisfaction in her voice. “I took lessons too. It was fun.”

  Rob sat forward, intrigued. “Come with me Wednesday afternoon. I want to show you a project I’ve been working on for the children’s club. It involves horses.”

  Kelly cocked her head, her gaze never leaving his. “Another date?”

  “No, although another date wouldn’t be a bad idea.” He shrugged. “Come dressed to ride. We might be able to.”

  She placed an elbow on the table and rested her chin on her hand. “I suppose anything is better than being bored at my mother’s.”

  He smiled with amusement. “That bad, huh?”

  Kelly nodded, and continued resting her chin on the back of her hand, regarding him skeptically. “That bad.”

  They were quiet a minute, both concentrating on each other across the table. Kelly sat back and reached for her drink.

  “What does C.B. stand for?” Rob asked.

  “Colleen Baron,” she replied and took a sip gazing at him over the rim of the stemmed glass.

  “Colleen is a pretty name, but you shortened it to C.B.”

  “I’ve called her C.B. all her life.”

  He didn’t ask why. Instead he studied her.

  She crinkled her nose at him and placed her drink on the table. “You’re staring again.”

  “I like to stare at you. You’re good eye-candy,” he said teasing.

  “And you’ve become a pain in my side.
”

  “No place else?”

  “I was being polite,” she came back.

  “At least I mean something to you.”

  Kelly crossed her arms defensively. “Don’t count on it.”

  Mary Beth Jameson chose that moment to show up followed by her two teenage sons and ex-football player husband. They followed the hostess to a table, passing Kelly and Rob on the way to the back of the restaurant. Rob nodded. “Bruce,” he said, acknowledging the non-verbal greeting from Mary Beth’s husband.

  Of course the woman stopped to chat. “Why, if it isn’t Kelly Baron and Rob Scott,” she exclaimed, her voice pitched high. “Fancy meeting you here.” She winked at Kelly.

  “Hello, Mary Beth,” Kelly said.

  “How are you?” Rob asked his high school classmate. He noted Kelly’s stiff posture. Was she embarrassed being here with him?

  “Are you two out on a date?” Mary Beth asked, her eyes wide with curiosity.

  Kelly’s eyes were smoldering. “We’re just having dinner.”

  Mary Beth winked again. “Catching up on old times?”

  Kelly looked as if she was gritting her teeth or at least biting her tongue. Rob spoke up to break the tension, “We’re discussing our parents’ upcoming wedding.”

  “I’m so sorry they’re not having a big wedding,” Mary Beth commented. “But given their age, I’m sure a private family ceremony will be just the right thing.”

  “Yes, we think so,” Rob remarked dryly.

  “Well, I see Bruce waving. Got to go.” Mary Beth bent low over the table and in a theatrical whisper said, “You make a cute couple.”

  Kelly waited until Mary Beth was seated and then said between clenched teeth, “That woman gets on my nerves.”

  Rob chuckled. “Ah, the disadvantages of a small town. Jessica could never quite accommodate herself to it.” He sat back preferring to observe Kelly’s reaction than to worry about the gossip Mary Beth was sure to stir up.

  Kelly eyed her nearly empty glass. “Why did you bring Jessica to Lanham?”

  Rob watched her lift the glass to her lips and take a sip. Why was that motion sexy when Kelly did it? He swallowed hard, trying to douse his sudden need to taste those lips. To lick them dry of alcohol. For a moment, he envied that margarita glass.

  Rob shook himself mentally, trying to refocus. “I was tired of Chicago,” he said. “The crowds, the trains, the politics. I even came to hate the rivalry between the Cubs and the White Sox.”

  “Why Lanham, though?” She cocked her head. “Why not live in a small city such as Louisville?”

  He glanced away, feeling her probing gaze. “Would you believe it if I told you I was homesick?” He turned and met her eyes once more.

  “No.” She paused thoughtfully. “But I’ve never been homesick. I never wanted to come home.”

  “I felt out of my league in Chicago.” He paused. Kelly was the first person he had ever revealed that to. “I had a successful law firm, an expensive house in Highland Park, a happy marriage, so I thought, but at heart I remained a small town boy from Indiana.”

  “You seem happy here.”

  “Happy enough.” Rob lifted his hand for the waitress to bring the bill.

  Kelly drained the last of her drink and placed her rumpled napkin on the table.

  “Good thing you’re not driving,” he quipped.

  “You’re assuming I can walk?”

  He laughed and pushed his chair back in watching Kelly’s face blush pink. “You’re good for me, Kelly Baron,” he said. “Thanks for coming back to town.”

  They strolled in silence up the hill to Kelly’s house. He held her elbow as if to steady her perfectly steady gait. She didn’t pull away. Why?

  He wondered about many things, especially her much beloved daughter C.B. He wanted to ask Kelly more about the grown girl. He was cautious. What happened in Kelly’s past was none of his business. Apparently she hadn’t been the nun most guys had thought. He knew about one time. Must have been more times with other guys.

  All he knew is that he liked the grownup Kelly and didn’t want the night to end. “Care to sit on the swing?”

  “No, I’d better go in.”

  “Curfew?”

  “No, silly.” She turned at the door and stared at him. A tiny smile curved her lips.

  “Scared?”

  Her smile faded. “Yes.”

  A rising swell of desire flooded through his body. He wanted her.

  Rob touched her upper arms lightly. “Of me?”

  “Of many things. Myself, especially.”

  “Then I’ll say good night.” He didn’t want to push her. She looked as if she were a filly about to break and run.

  Very carefully Rob reached up and tenderly touched Kelly’s cheek with a fingertip, leaving a symbolic kiss and the promise of more to come.

  Chapter Eight

  Tuesday morning

  Today I’m forty.

  Kelly tried to ignore the fact as she stared at herself in the bathroom mirror the next morning and plucked a gray hair from her forehead. For some reason being forty seemed so old. Yet she felt the same, and as Rachel kept reminding her, she had her whole life ahead of her.

  Kelly could no longer ignore the inevitable when she entered her mother’s sparse kitchen ten minutes later and discovered a colorful, wrapped birthday gift setting on the table.

  She paused. The aroma of brewing coffee filled the room. A clock ticked on the wall. Kelly slowly lifted the small, flat box and stared at it. Decorated in pink and purple paper with a purple bow on top, the box looked professionally wrapped. Something about it said “expensive.”

  Her mother came in. “Open it,” she urged.

  Kelly glanced up. “You didn’t have to buy me a gift. I’ve been trying to avoid this day.”

  “I wanted to get you something. Something special. You’re my daughter.”

  Smiling slightly, Kelly fought back a strange sadness. When had her mother made such a big deal out of her birthday? In the past when controlled by her strict husband, her mother didn’t make this day special. What was different this year? Her father was gone, of course, and Howie was in the picture. Maybe that was it.

  Kelly’s throat tightened and she slipped the tape from the end of the package with a fingernail, peeling off the paper. She lifted the lid. On a cushion of cotton rested a pair of diamond teardrop earrings.

  “They’re fourteen karat white gold,” her mother said, apprehension in her voice.

  Kelly glanced up to meet the nervousness in her mother’s eyes. She so wanted to please. “You shouldn’t have done this,” she said, shaking her head. “You don’t have this kind of money, Mother.”

  “Howie helped me pick them out and pay for them.”

  Was this in reality a gift from her soon-to-be stepfather? A way to buy her consent to this whole miserable affair? Kelly didn’t want these flashy earrings any more than she wanted to be here. Unfortunately, she had to accept them. If she turned the gift down, she would hurt her mother’s feelings. Kelly didn’t want to do that. She loved her mother.

  Looking down, Kelly picked an earring from the box and held it up, meeting her mother’s eyes again. “These are lovely. Thank you.”

  “Do you really like them?” Her mother hovered near, almost wringing her hands in relief. “I was so afraid you wouldn’t. Maybe you can wear them to the wedding.”

  “Yes, maybe I can.”

  With a heavy heart, Kelly slowly inserted the stud into her earlobe. The earring was light. It tickled her cheek when she moved her head. She picked up the other earring and inserted it. Her mother’s eyes were alight with pleasure.

  “What do you think?” Kelly cocked her head to one side and smiled.

  “They’re beautiful. You’re beautiful. I love you so much.”

  “I love you too, Mother. Thank you.”

  Her mother hesitated. Then she took a step forward and hugged Kelly.

  Why couldn’
t you have done this when I really needed it?

  Kelly shut her eyes and returned the hug, sorrow overwhelming her.

  ****

  Later in her room, Kelly finished packing away all of the old items she didn’t want. She stripped the pink and purple flowered bedspread from the Jenny Lind bed leaving only the sheets and the blanket, and packed them into a box to donate, probably to Rob’s yard sale. The bed was perfect for C.B.’s new house. Kelly’s heart warmed as she envisioned it in a child’s bedroom.

  With the drawers empty and the old clothes in the closet packed away, only the Cabbage Patch doll skipped the donation pile. It sat forlornly on the bed by itself.

  As she stood in the middle of the room surveying the footlocker, which she still needed to address, Kelly’s iPhone played a “Danny Boy” ringtone. She picked it up from the dresser. “Hi, C.B.”

  “Happy birthday, Mom!”

  “Thank you.” Kelly couldn’t keep the grin from her voice. She loved hearing from her daughter.

  “I’m sorry Daniel and I can’t make it up there today, but we’ll see you Friday night and bring our gift then.”

  “I understand.” Kelly sat down on the bed. “I’m trying to ignore my birthday anyway.”

  “Ah, Mom.”

  Kelly changed the subject quickly. “Would you like my old Jenny Lind bed for your guest room? I can have it moved.”

  They talked a minute about the bed and her mother’s plans for the house. Kelly didn’t mention Rachel’s idea. Staying in Lanham and running a bed and breakfast was a non-starter as far as she was concerned. Yet she still didn’t have any plans for what she’d do after Friday night’s wedding. She refused to think that far.

  “Mom?”

  C.B.’s voice was full of indecision. “What, pumpkin?”

  “There’s a girl at work who recently found her birth father,” C.B. said out of the blue.