Jason looked up and his dad nodded. He picked up the flower and moved closer to Lilith, watching Ralph carefully. The sun sparkled on the bird’s red throat like it did on some cars.
Ralph suddenly darted back and seemed to face him for a long moment. Jason understood that the bird was checking him out. He offered the flower very slowly, just like Lilith said.
He held his breath.
In the blink of an eye, Ralph zoomed closer. He was right there! Jason could have touched him, but he was afraid to even move. Ralph stuck his beak into the flower, then pulled back.
“Breakfast!” Nana called, slamming the kitchen door behind herself. “Who’s up for chocolate cake?”
Ralph zipped skyward.
Jason spun to face his grandmother and yelled as he almost never did. “Nana! You scared Ralph!”
Nana looked confused. “What?”
“Jason was feeding a hummingbird,” Dad told Nana and she bit her lip.
“Oh, honey, I’m sorry…” and then Nana gasped. She jumped back and Jason almost laughed.
Because Ralph was hovering beside Nana’s shoulder, giving her the same look he had given Jason.
“It’s the flowers on her shirt,” Lilith whispered with a smile. “He’s not sure if they’re real.”
And it seemed he wasn’t. Nana was wearing one of her bright shirts from Hawaii, this one covered with big pink flowers. Ralph took only a moment to decide they weren’t worth the trouble, then zinged over the house and disappeared.
“That was neat!” Jason declared.
Lilith smiled. “Yes, I like Ralph.”
“Does he really come all the time?”
Lilith nodded. “Every day.”
“Can I come see him again?”
“Jason!” Dad objected, but Lilith just nodded.
“Of course you can!” She leaned closer. “But you know what you might like even better?” Jason shook his head. “What if Ralph came to your yard too?”
Jason looked at their yard and didn’t see anything like the long pointy flowers Ralph liked. “But we don’t have any flowers for him.”
“Not yet.” Lilith turned the red flower. “This is called beebalm. Ralph looks for bright flowers and ones that are long with nectar at the bottom.” She handed it to Jason. “If you put this in water, it will probably root. Then you’ll have a whole new plant for your garden.”
“What about yours?”
Lilith touched the spot where the plant came out of the ground. “Beebalm is a perennial. That means the top dies but the root lives through the winter and it grows again every spring. It just gets a little bigger every year. My beebalm will come back.”
Jason frowned. “But it wouldn’t be fair if Ralph stopped coming to your flowers.”
Lilith smiled. “I don’t have enough flowers for Ralph. He needs to eat a lot of nectar, so that he can keep flying so fast.” She touched Jason’s arm with one fingertip. “You can help make sure that he gets enough to eat.”
Jason liked the idea of that. He decided it would be pretty neat if Ralph came to his yard every day. He turned the plant in his hands and it smelled a bit sweet.
No wonder Ralph liked it.
“Do you like birds?” Lilith asked.
“I like Ralph.” Jason nodded. “And I like bugs. A lot.”
“Well, bumblebees like a lot of the same things that Ralph likes. What do you say we get your garden started?” She looked at Dad. “If that’s okay with you?”
Dad grinned. “That would be more than okay.”
“Well, then, that’s that. Jason, if you go back there” - Lilith pointed to the end of her yard - “you’ll find some plastic buckets. We’ll put some water in them, then some of these flowers.”
This was so neat! He was going to have bugs and Ralph and everything, right in his own backyard! Jason set out for the back of Lilith’s lot with purpose.
“But please don’t step on the toad!” she called after him.
Toad? She had a toad?
Wow!
Beebalm clenched in his fist, Jason inched toward the back of Lilith’s yard. He frowned at the path, determined not to miss the toad or anything else of interest.
He liked their new house already.
*
Mitch cleared his throat. Here he was supposed to be apologizing to Lilith, he was expecting her to be furious with him, yet she was being nice to his son.
“Look, Lilith, it’s really nice, but you don’t have to do this.”
She smiled at Mitch and his heart took a little flip-flop. The sapphire dress she wore swirled around her ankles as she stepped closer. Her hair was in a ponytail, the way she had it tied up revealing the graceful curve of her nape.
The woman was so lethally sexy that Mitch just wanted to eat her up with a spoon. A night’s sleep had done nothing to diminish her appeal.
“But I want to show him!” she protested with a smooth smile. “He’s so interested and it’s nice to share what you know with someone who wants to learn.”
Mitch couldn’t argue with that. “Well, yeah. Jason will listen to you for as long as you keep talking to him.” He grinned at her. “Forewarned is forearmed. Just send him home if you get done with it.”
“He’s just like a little sponge!” Andrea interjected pertly. Mitch blinked, having forgotten his stepmother’s presence. Andrea peeked around the end of the fence that Mitch was fixing and smiled sunnily at Lilith.
Lilith smiled back. “Well, hello.”
“Andrea Davison. Mitch is my stepson.” She shook Lilith’s hand and practically bounced in anticipation.
“Pleased to meet you.” Lilith’s gaze slid to Mitch and her eyes danced with mischief. “You must be the one interested in having your fortune told.”
Mitch opened his mouth to interrupt, but neither woman was listening to him.
“Oh, yes! Tarot cards, tea leaves, it doesn’t matter to me.” Andrea giggled, then leaned closer to Lilith. “Can you really predict lovematches?”
“Of course.”
Mitch stifled his snort of disdain. Of course?
The women ignored him.
Andrea bounced with impatience. “Do you think you might have time to do a reading for me this weekend?”
That was enough.
“Andrea! Cooley has just trashed Lilith’s fence and Jason is moving into her yard.” Mitch threw out his hands in exasperation. “I think we’re wearing out our welcome.”
But Lilith laughed. Her low laughter coaxed that ember lingering in Mitch’s belly back to a flame. Had he ever met a more attractive woman?
That thought led naturally to the recollection of their first meet and Mitch had a hard time keeping his thoughts straight after that. It didn’t help that Lilith was watching him as though she knew what he was thinking.
And smiling that seductive, secretive smile that made his ears feel hot.
“It wouldn’t be any problem at all,” she conceded. “How about this afternoon?”
“Oh! That would be perfect!” Andrea playfully punched Mitch in the shoulder. “See? I told you.” She rolled her eyes and smiled back at Lilith. “He worries so much about everything. I’ll just pop over when the kids have their nap.”
“I’ll look forward to seeing you.”
A plaintive cry came from the second floor and Mitch suddenly realized that Jen was not only awake but confused.
He stepped away from the fence, but Andrea was on the porch in record time. “I’ll get her,” she said quickly. “I shouldn’t have even left her, but I just – well, I just had to meet you.” Andrea beamed. “Well, I’ll see you this afternoon.”
As Jen began to wail, Andrea ran.
Mitch had a hard time staying put, even knowing that Andrea could manage. He really didn’t like hearing his little girl cry. He fidgeted and glanced anxiously to the house.
“Two kids?” Lilith asked softly. She was beside him again, her eyes impossibly wide and dark.
“Yeah. Fiv
e and three.” Mitch managed to smile. “Busy, busy, busy.”
Jen stopped crying and Andrea’s dulcet tones carried through the open upstairs window. Mitch felt relief slide through him just as Lilith leaned against the restored fence. “I’ll bet.”
To Mitch’s relief, she seemed disinterested in the whole sordid story of how he had ended up with kids but no wife. Lilith’s gaze ran over the chunks of fence scattered across his yard, then paused on the banished Cooley.
She glanced back to Mitch, her eyes dancing. “Am I right to guess your dog finally coaxed these old fence posts to break?”
“Oh yeah.” Mitch lined up a final nail and hammered it home, welcoming the change of subject. He tested the fence. The shims around the rotten posts seemed to be holding well enough.
At least for the short term.
“He’s like a freight train once he gets moving,” Mitch acknowledged.
“And probably just as hard to stop.”
They looked to the dog in unison, who lifted his head hopefully. “Cooley the wolfhound,” Mitch said by way of introduction. “Seldom bites and never very hard.”
Lilith chuckled. “He looks very friendly.” Cooley’s tail thumped against the ground.
“You stay there,” Mitch advised the dog. “You’re still in trouble.”
“In the doghouse,” Lilith corrected, a smile lurking in her voice.
Mitch chuckled, met her dancing gaze and was snared for a long hot moment. When he realized what he was doing, he deliberately turned to frown at the remnants of the fence. “Well, I’ve got a buddy who’s a real carpenter. He’s coming up next weekend to help me decide where to start inside, but we’ll replace this fence first.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“But I want to.” Mitch was suddenly very serious. “I’m really sorry, Lilith. Again.”
Lilith folded her arms across her chest, a smile playing over her full lips. “The fence was bound to go sooner or later. The posts were really getting rotten.”
“But I wish it hadn’t fallen on your plants.”
Lilith shrugged philosophically. “Well, cut flowers all around. I’ll give you some for your kitchen.”
The woman was just too nice to be believed! “Lilith, you don’t have to do that.”
“We might as well enjoy them. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, right? And at least some of the cuttings can start your garden.” She wrinkled her nose, her dark gaze fixing intently on Mitch and making him feel hotter than he was. “Are you sure you don’t mind about Jason starting a garden? It’s a lot of work.”
Mitch gave her his best smile, immensely relieved that she had accepted his apology. “I’d kind of like to have a garden. Grow some vegetables that aren’t doused in pesticides, you know?” Lilith nodded easy agreement. “But I don’t know how to start.”
“I’d be glad to help.” They shared a smile so warm that it curled Mitch’s toes.
Then Lilith waved a hand at the fence. “But why bother to fix the fence now? You could just leave it down until the weekend.”
Mitch granted his dog a significant glance. “We’ll all sleep better with a fence around him.” He dared to meet the lady’s gaze again. “I’ll pay for the whole thing, so don’t worry about that.”
“Mitch! That’s not fair.”
“It sure is.” Mitch cleared his throat, unwilling to name the precise reason he felt so guilty. “Look, Lilith, we haven’t started out on the right foot here.” He couldn’t hold her gaze, so frowned and stared at the nail in his hand. “I, uh, I’m not proud of how I behaved yesterday. I usually have more self-control.”
She took a step closer, the curve of her shoulder in his peripheral vision. Mitch didn’t look up.
“Do you regret what happened?” she asked, her voice low and sweet.
Mitch closed his eyes, certain the temperature in the yard had just doubled.
Maybe trebled.
But he couldn’t lie to Lilith. He’d never guessed that sex could be so hot and impetuous. He’d never imagined that he could want a woman so desperately - or that a woman could want him the same way. Just thinking about it made his shorts tight again.
But that didn’t mean he could accept his own behavior. Mitch forced himself to meet her gaze steadily. “No,” he admitted. “But that doesn’t change anything. We’re probably going to be neighbors for a while and I want to make this right. I want to do this, Lilith. Let me.”
She bit her lip and seemed suddenly very young. A flush rose over her cheeks, a feminine blush that made everything inside Mitch go tight. She looked away and he took advantage of the opportunity to study the soft sweep of her jaw line, the lush thickness of her ebony lashes. She then impaled him with a bright glance, those lips quirking in a smile once more.
“I shouldn’t let you,” she said quietly, a mischievous glint in her eye. “But it’s just too tempting. That would be really nice, Mitch.”
His name sounded impossibly exotic on her tongue. Mitch felt his neck heat, but told himself it was just the sun. “To have a new fence?” he asked as evenly as he could manage. He lined up another nail, fully expecting her agreement.
She grinned mischievously. “Well, that too. I was thinking about having a handsome man toiling in the yard,” she teased. Mitch nearly missed the nail when her fingertips fluttered unexpectedly against his shoulder. “Promise me,” she whispered wickedly “that you won’t wear a shirt this weekend either.”
Mitch caught his breath in surprise, Lilith laughed, then she stepped away as Jason reappeared, lugging a pair of pails. Her feet flashed under the hem of her skirt, the bare soles slightly dirty.
She had called him handsome.
Mitch concentrated on hammering that nail home, telling himself her comment just didn’t matter. It didn’t matter that she really wanted him, it didn’t matter that she was so sweet and helpful, it didn’t matter that her eyes twinkled in a way that made him want to stare into them forever.
Lilith was a New Age nut, after all.
Although it was awfully hard to remember that right now.
“Well, consider it done,” Mitch concluded in his most businesslike voice, unwilling to examine why he wanted to snare Lilith’s attention again. “If you want it different from the last one, just say the word. Taller, shorter, lattice on top, whatever.”
“Whatever you want to do.” She laughed over her shoulder. “You know better what will stop that freight train special of yours.”
Mitch grimaced. “Sinking the posts into concrete for a start.”
“Are you sure you should start this weekend? You have so much to do at your place.”
Mitch arched a skeptical brow and feigned astonishment. “Is it that obvious?”
Lilith laughed aloud, the hearty sound coaxing Mitch’s own grin. “Uh huh.”
“Well, it’ll wait. Righting wrongs is always first on the agenda.” Mitch picked up the next section of fence and set it into position. He looked around for his assistant, but Jason appeared to have found the toad. The boy was hunkered down, the pots abandoned, his concentration fixed on a dark shadow.
Mitch looked at Lilith. “Would you mind holding that for a minute? I’ve just got to get a couple of nails and I seem to have lost my helper.” He inclined his head toward Jason and Lilith smiled.
She gripped the fence where he told her, their hands brushing in the transaction. Mitch tingled, knowing he didn’t imagine the luscious scent of her perfume.
Or the sweet undertone that had to be the scent of Lilith’s own skin. Mitch was well aware of her gaze following him as he bent over.
He really, really hoped he didn’t have plumber’s butt.
“We’re nothing compared to toads,” Lilith commented drily just as Mitch got a pair of nails between his teeth. He nearly spit them in the grass as her unexpected comment, and glanced back to find her grinning.
His heart skipped a beat. Mitch let himself forget for the moment that Lilith was ban
anas. Instead, he stood beside her, nailing the fence into place, and let himself enjoy the moment. The thing was, Mitch had a weakness for funny, clever, sexy women and it wasn’t nearly often enough that one crossed his path.
Even one who was convinced that she was a real, live witch.
The section of fence stood on its own and Mitch was trying to think of something clever to say when Jen’s howl from the kitchen effectively ended the moment.
“Daddy!”
And there was nothing else in Mitch’s world. He dropped his hammer and bounded to the porch at one glimpse of Jen’s tear-streaked face. Even Andrea looked alarmed, as well as incapable of settling her tiny stricken charge.
Mitch scooped Jen into his arms, Bun and all, and bounced her on his hip as he murmured to her. “It’s okay, I’m right here.” Jen’s plump arms locked around his neck and she sobbed as though her heart had been ripped in two. Her fair hair curled against Mitch’s chin like soft down, her weeping made him cringe.
“It’s okay, we’re all right here. See? There’s nothing to worry about.” Mitch sat on the step and cuddled his daughter close, intent on consoling her. He should never have left her sleeping. He should have guessed that she would be frightened. Jen was always afraid of being left alone, left behind, and Mitch knew exactly why.
Knowing it was all his fault never made him feel any better.
“We were right here,” Jason said with five-year-old scorn. Jen ignored him as she sniffled and peeked, taking silent inventory of everyone in attendance. Mitch gently stroked her blond curls back from her brow. Meanwhile, Andrea skillfully steered the little boy over to the buckets he had dropped and the fallen plants, leaving Mitch to make everything better.
As usual. Fortunately he’d gotten pretty good at it.
“See? Everything’s just fine.” Mitch tickled Jen under the chin. She squirmed and wiped her tears with Bun’s blue ear. “Guess what I did this morning?”
Jen flicked a glance at him and sniffed.
Mitch took that tiny hint of curiosity as encouragement. “I made fruit salad,” he tapped the end of her nose, “just for you.”
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