Basic Attraction (11 page)

She juggled Greedy’s nervous weight in her arms and started toward the house. Once in the back door, she set the cat down, who scooted off in the direction of the living room, probably to take a much-needed nap after his trauma.

“Come into the bathroom.”

She noticed that Luke was walking tenderly on the balls of his feet. Stubborn man. She was guessing his feet were as torn up as his back was. Climbing a tree in socks. Seriously?

There wasn’t much to work with in the bathroom, just plain old soap and a towel, but she gently washed the dirt, bark, and blood off of him as best she could while he complained.

“You’re hurting me.”

“Don’t be a baby.”

“I’m not.” He struggled to turn his head and see what she was doing. “But you’re digging your fingernails into a gaping wound. It hurts.”

She rolled her eyes but dropped a kiss onto his shoulder. She was starting to suspect that Luke liked to complain in the place of other, more tender emotions. It explained why she had thought he was such a bully to his sisters. His complaining was his way of showing he cared.

“I’m sorry. I’ll try to be gentle, and if you’re a brave boy, I’ll have a reward for you at the end.”

His muscles clenched beneath her. “I can be brave. What’s the reward?”

“It’s a surprise.”

His breath hitched. She knew exactly what he was thinking, and she didn’t feel inclined to tell him otherwise.

“It’s clean. Now sit down on the tub and let’s see your feet.” She rinsed the towel out.

He sat but shook his head. “I don’t want you touching my feet. That’s weird.”

She raised an eyebrow. “I’ve touched weirder things on you than your
feet
.”

He laughed. She bent over and pulled his dirty socks off. Just as she had suspected, his feet were scratched and bleeding. He let her clean them up without any complaints, and when she was satisfied, she dried them off and leaned back.

“There. All better. Though it won’t be too comfortable to walk for a day or two.”

“Was I brave?” He lounged on the edge of the tub, watching her from under his scruffy bangs. His legs were drawn out, and his jeans were riding low on his waist, giving her a teasing view of the blond hair below his rock-solid abdominals.

“Very brave,” she told him solemnly. She leaned forward and gave him a light kiss then moved away, folding the towel she had used.

He gave a grunt. “That’s it? That’s all I get?”

Trying to look innocent, she stared at him. “What were you expecting?”

“More than that,” he said, standing up.

She recognized the gleam in his eyes as he stalked towards her. Giving a laugh, she darted out of the bathroom just as his phone rang.

Heading into the bedroom, she said, “Oh, your phone’s ringing. You’d better answer it.”

“I don’t care.” He was already reaching for her.

“I’ll answer it then. Look, it’s Angel, so it could be important.” Picking his phone up off the floor, she swiped her finger across the screen and lifted it to her ear. “Hello?”

“Sheri?” Angel’s surprised voice came over the phone.

Luke made a face at her. She gave him a teasing smile. “Hi, Angel. How are you?” She cleared her throat, hoping she didn’t sound guilty.

She wasn’t sure why, but she didn’t want Angel to know she was with Luke—as in
with
him. Not wearing a bra. Having just had sex with him.

“I’m fine. I was just calling Luke to check up on the carpet install. Why did you answer his phone?”

“Luke’s outside, and I thought I would answer it for him.”

Sheri rolled her eyes, silently cursing. Why would Angel believe that? Cell phones were like genitalia. You didn’t touch someone else’s unless they gave you permission.

She tried to divert Angel’s attention. “The new carpet looks great.”

It seemed to work. Angel said, “Good. You know I didn’t want to accept that money from my dad, but Rick rightly said if my dad wanted to give it away, we could put it to good use.” She laughed. “So is the new carpet worth my pride?”

Sheri ran her toe over the carpet. “Definitely. It’s very plush.”

“Can I talk to Luke now? I’ll call you later on tonight when you’re at your apartment, okay?”

Since she had no plans to go back to her apartment tonight, she hedged. “Oh, that’s okay. I know you’re busy. Spend your time with Rick and Kiri, not gabbing on the phone with me. I’ll see you when you get back. Saturday, right?”

“Yes. Thanks, Sheri.”

“No problem.” She handed the phone to Luke, who had lain down on the mattress and was yawning. Dammit, he looked so cute. He really needed to stop doing that. “It’s your sister.”

“I sort of figured as much.” He grinned up at her, melting her insides. “So mum’s the word, huh?”

She slapped her hand over his, pushing his phone down onto his chest. “Shhh. She’ll hear you.”

He raised an eyebrow. “I’m just clarifying that I’m not supposed to say anything about us. That I’m supposed to be your naughty little secret.”

That wasn’t what she’d meant. Not really. She just didn’t think it was appropriate to say anything to Angel when she didn’t even know what there was between them. Why say anything if Luke was leaving on Saturday never to return?

The thought made her cranky. Maybe he would come down to visit his sister again next summer, but that was irrelevant. It was highly likely she wouldn’t see him again unless she made it clear that she wanted to keep in touch.

She wasn’t sure she was ballsy enough to do that.

Not to mention that she was supposed to be breaking that pattern anyway. No attaching unless there was good reason.

So maybe there was good reason?

Gah, she was hopeless.

“I’m going to get a drink.” Turning her back on his soft laughter, she went into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator.

Staring at its mostly empty contents, she wondered what Luke had been eating. The only things in there were a six-pack of beer, a twelve-pack of Coke, and a half-gallon of milk. Luke lived on liquids alone, apparently.

Of course, he had been eating dinner out with her almost every night.

After grabbing a Coke, she was popping the tap when he strolled in. Not waiting for him to speak, she said, “You know we’ve got to try and find Mookie.”

“What? How are we going to do that?” He fished his own Coke out of the fridge.

“We should ask the neighbors if they’ve seen him. Call the pound.” She bit her lip, scolding herself for forgetting about poor Mookie. She was an untrustworthy friend.

“We can call the pound, but he wasn’t there when we were the other day. And I’m not knocking on doors all up and down the street.”

As usual, his casualness distressed her. “Well, we have to do something! Angel loves that cat. We can put flyers up around the neighborhood.”

He sighed but capitulated. “Okay. I can do that.”

It was a good thing he was falling in love with Sheri. Otherwise he would not be able to forgive her for sending him on a fool’s errand up and down Squirrel Hollow Lane.

He had sat with her and used a black marker to write out Missing Cat signs on notebook-sized paper. He had wanted to write ‘ugly, fat cat missing,’ but Sheri hadn’t found his joke funny.

Instead, he was holding three signs that stated, “Cat Missing. Male, orange stripes, large, with green eyes. Owner desperate to find.” His cell phone number was listed.

As he stuck a thumbtack into the utility pole, anchoring his flyer, he said, “You know, people are probably going to call me to see if I’ll take their cats instead.”

“No, they won’t.” Sheri frowned at him. “Who would do that?”

“Lots of people.”

They were on the corner of Squirrel Hollow and Beechnut Drive, three houses down from Rick and Angel’s. He surveyed the neighborhood, wondering if Mookie was hiding under a bush somewhere, laughing hysterically at them. He wouldn’t put it past him. Cats seemed to have a streak of evil in them.

Sheri was turning and walking up the driveway of the house on the corner. Her hips swayed in her denim shorts, and his mouth went dry. For no one else would he waste an entire afternoon knocking on doors. Well, he would do it for his sisters too. But no one else after that. He had to draw the line somewhere.

As Sheri started to knock, he felt overpowering jealousy. He didn’t want a man to open the door and see her, which was insane. He wasn’t known for jealousy. In fact, he found it a sign of insecurity. Which he was, he could admit. He’d never done this before—started a something with a woman that had no definition, no plan other than he wanted her and she was allowing him to have sex with her. Beyond that? He had no idea what Sheri was thinking, and he hated that he couldn’t control that. However, he could control who leered at her. Jogging up the drive, he pulled at his sticky T-shirt, huffing in the heat, and skidded to a stop beside her.

“I can do the talking.”

“Oh, really?” She snorted at him but stepped back.

The door opened. A woman about their age stood there, a child on her hip. He was relieved. Mothers of toddlers were easy to talk to, desperate for a little contact with the outside world.

He smiled.

She smiled back, her eyes lighting up in a manner inappropriate for a woman with small children and most likely a husband. “Hi,” she said, leaning forward. “What can I do for you?”

Okay, maybe a little too desperate for outside contact. It was then he noticed that she was in full makeup and wearing shorts that made Sheri’s look conservative. When she shifted the child, he caught a glimpse of her stomach, tan and firm. Was this where the term ‘hot mama’ had come from? He said, “I’m just house sitting for my sister two houses down, and her cat is missing. I was wondering if you’d seen it? It’s orange, kind of big.”

She shook her head, her blond hair staying firmly in place. “No, I haven’t. But you’re welcome to look in the backyard. The gate is locked, so you can come on through the house.”

Not if he could help it. But before he could speak, Sheri pushed him out of the way, her arms crossed across her chest. “Thanks, but that’s okay. We wouldn’t want to put you to any trouble.”

“No trouble.” The women stared at each other, lips pressed in phony smiles, sizing each other up.

He watched, mystified. What was Sheri doing? The woman was a
mother
. She was just a little bored, that’s all. No need for a suburban smackdown.

Sheri said, “If you see him, we’d appreciate if you let us know.
We’re
staying in the white house with black shutters.”

The little boy sucked his pacifier and watched the exchange. Luke felt a kinship. It was not for men to ever understand what exactly was going on in a woman’s mind. Sheri, who had refused to tell Angel about their relationship, looked capable of circling the woman with a growl before leaping on her and wrestling her to the ground.

Over him.

He was gloating just a little as they turned and headed back down the driveway. “What was that all about?”

“What?”

“The attitude. Poor thing was only trying to help.”

She snorted, eating up the concrete with long strides of her muscular legs. “Help is not what I would call it.”

“You’re jealous.” He didn’t even try to keep the triumph out of his voice.

“Hah! You’re dreaming.” She clutched her flyers tightly.

He didn’t say anything as he strolled behind her. He’d put flyers up on every street in this neighborhood from Fox Den Court to Running Deer Trail if he got to see Sheri acting like this.

She liked him whether she was willing to admit it or not.

With a little luck, they might just find the cat along the way.

Angel set the cat carrier down on the sidewalk and looked with pleasure at her new house. She was pleased to finally be moving in. She and Rick had been together just a few months, and they’d been crammed in his apartment over his parents’ garage the whole time. But now with the new house they would be building a real home together.

Glancing back at Rick and Kiri getting out of the pickup, she liberated Mookie from the carrier. Holding his rather large bulk in her arms, she realized she needed to ditch the carrier or Luke would be suspicious. Awkwardly, she bent over, grabbed the plastic handle, and headed back to the truck. So maybe it hadn’t been the kindest thing to do to her brother, but she’d wanted him to open his eyes and see what a prize Sheri was, and what better way to do that than force them together? Hopefully they’d been searching for her cat and falling in love.

It was a plan fraught with as many holes as swiss cheese in it, but it was a start.

Rick took the carrier from her with a grin. “So, uh, you going to come clean with Luke?”

“No way!” The very thought was horrifying. Luke would skin her alive if he found out she had conned him. “And maybe you should take Kiri to see the backyard first, if you catch my drift.” So his daughter wouldn’t see her new uncle screaming at Angel if he put two and two together. She smiled at Kiri. “You want to check out the yard? Then you can pick out your room.”

“Sure.” Kiri shrugged and, with a sticky hand, petted Mookie’s head in a manner that more closely resembled a smack. She headed around the side of the house. “Come on, Daddy!”