Dating for Two (Matchmaking Mamas) (16 page)

He’d found the woman he had been looking for. All he’d had to do, he realized with a touch of irony, was stop looking.

Now, of course, it got a little more complicated. Now he had to find a way for her to
want
to be his and remain his.

One step at a time,
he cautioned himself as he went on to make love with her.
One slow, deliberate step at a time.

Chapter Fifteen

“H
e’s kind of a boring guy,” A.J. informed Steve. After two weeks of surveillance, the private investigator had worked up Wade Baker’s schedule and now placed it on Steve’s desk. “One day is pretty much like another. For the most part, it almost looks like his part-time job interferes with his real vocation in life—drinking.”

Steve turned the schedule around so he could examine it more carefully. There was little variation from one day to the next except for the weekends, when the man appeared to open the bar as well as close it down.

Why had Erin even hired Baker in the first place? She must have seen something in the man but for the life of him, he certainly didn’t see it.

“This is just a hunch, but since you had me draw up this guy’s itinerary, I get the feeling that you don’t want to waste precious time and resources fighting his suit in the court. You want to have some sense talked into the guy in person.”

“Valid hunch,” Steve granted.

A.J. nodded his head. “If you want, I could go to his place of work or that bar, have a talk with Baker, tell him that it might be in his best interest to back off before you make certain things public.”

Steve seriously considered A.J.’s offer for exactly five seconds. Ordinarily, he wouldn’t have even thought twice about the matter. Confrontations outside the courtroom or boardroom were something that he felt were A.J.’s purview.

“Thanks and no offense, but this one I want to handle personally,” he told the detective.

“None taken,” A.J. assured him. “But what if this guy wants to take a swing at that pretty face of yours? People get nervous if their lawyer shows up to represent their interest sporting a black eye.”

He supposed if someone looked at the two of them, A.J. was the one who appeared as if he could handle himself in a situation. However, he wasn’t exactly a novice in this department. He’d gotten in an altercation or two—and won—despite the expensive suits he wore.

“I didn’t spend my years in college with my head constantly buried in a book. I can take care of myself if need be,” he assured the investigator. “But thanks for the concern.”

A.J. inclined his head. “Well, you know how to reach me if you need backup or change your mind.”

In response, Steve patted the pocket where he kept his cell phone. “Yeah, I do.”

* * *

Rather than go to Wade Baker’s apartment or his place of work, Steve decided to do a little surveillance himself. So he went to the bar A.J. had said he frequented.

Sitting at a table for one over in the corner that was bathed in shadow, Steve nursed a beer for the better part of two hours until, apparently out of money and out of friends, the man he was observing decided to boisterously call it a night.

Steve walked behind the man for the two and a half blocks that existed between the bar and Baker’s third-floor walk-up.

Just before the man got his keys out to unlock the main door that led into the tiny foyer and the stairs to his studio apartment, Steve tapped him on the shoulder.

Taking no chances, Baker turned around prepared to swing. Ready for him, Steve instantly pushed the other man back, slamming Baker’s torso up against the wall.

Trapped between the wall and the hold Steve had on him, his face pressed against the building’s aged brick exterior, Baker frantically protested, “Hey, buddy, if you’re looking to mug me, it’s your unlucky day. I’m tapped out. The bar’s got all my money.”

Steve was in no hurry to release him. Keeping him like this against the wall was also a way to keep his own anger in check. Because for two cents, he’d turn the man around and make him pay for intimidating Erin.

“I’m not looking to mug you, you sorry piece of wasted flesh. I’m looking to give you a warning. Just one,” Steve told him, his voice coldly menacing. “Stay away from Erin O’Brien. Don’t call her, don’t see her. Don’t text, Tweet, email or even so much as
think
about her. Because if you do, if you try to have any contact with her whatsoever, I’ll have you thrown in jail on blackmail charges so fast you’ll get whiplash.”

Furious as well as frustrated, Baker snarled, “You can’t prove anything!”

Steve spun Baker around to face him, making sure he kept a tight hold on his shirt collar. The man’s complexion grew considerably redder.

“Oh, but I can, and I will. Especially since this isn’t your first go-round with blackmail charges.” Steve’s eyes narrowed. “You’re not nearly as clever as you think you are.”

“Who the hell are you?” Baker demanded.

Steve took his time answering, continuing to grasp Baker’s collar, keeping him in place. “I’m the guy who’s got a whole file of sworn statements signed by people willing to testify that Erin created all those dinosaur characters her company manufactures long before she ever knew you. So if you know what’s good for you and you value your health, you will forget you ever knew Erin O’Brien. As of
now,
” Steve emphasized.

There was a line of perspiration along the man’s forehead, but he didn’t go down easily. “Or what?” he challenged.

Steve had always been good at reading people, at detecting their small tells that allowed him to see beneath the facades they tried to maintain. It wasn’t difficult for him to ascertain that Wade Baker was a coward. The other man got his way only by intimidating people who were weaker and smaller than he was. Any sort of threat from someone his own size or slightly bigger—which, fortunately, he was, Steve noted—had him backing off. It was only a matter of time—and not much time, at that.

Now, Steve was willing to bet, was no exception.

“Or I’ll make you regret the day you were born,” he told Baker evenly. “I’m serious about getting you tossed in jail on blackmail charges—if there’s anything left of you after we have our little one-on-one ‘discussion.’” He allowed his words to sink in before continuing. “Now, first thing tomorrow morning, you’re calling your cousin, that shyster lawyer, and you’re telling him that you’ve decided to change your mind. You’re dropping the suit against Erin O’Brien and her company, Imagine That. Do I make myself clear?” he asked. When Baker didn’t respond instantly, Steve got in his face. “Well, do I?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Baker managed to croak out. “Perfectly clear.”

With a look of sheer disgust, Steve released his grip on the other man’s collar. Baker stumbled to the side, then darted into the foyer and ran up the stairs, presumably all the way up to his apartment.

Steve smiled to himself as he walked back the two and a half blocks to where he’d left his vehicle parked right outside the bar.

Sometimes, he thought, it felt good to get physical and get his hands a little dirty. He hadn’t fully appreciated that until just now.

* * *

This time, as she stepped off the elevator on the floor where Steve’s law firm was located, she didn’t feel like an impostor. Didn’t feel in the least bit nervous. She felt as if she were floating on air.

It hadn’t even occurred to her that Steve might not be in his office until just now. Oh, she knew she could have just picked up her phone and called him about this new, unexpected turn of events, but she wanted to surprise him—and tell him in person.

Still, not finding him in would have been a bigger surprise, one she had definitely
not
counted on.

Luckily, she didn’t have to. The receptionist, Ruby, smiled at her broadly when she asked if Steve was in.

“Yes, he is.”

The woman was about to pick up her phone to notify Steve that he had someone waiting for him in the hall, but Erin stopped her.

“I want to surprise him,” she said with such enthusiasm that Ruby allowed her to break the rules and waved her on in.

“You’re not going to believe this,” Erin declared once she let herself into the office and shut the door, leaning against it as she made her announcement. Her heart was hammering wildly in her chest. She’d rushed over here the moment she’d gotten the news.

“Believe what?” Steve asked innocently as he allowed himself a minute just to appreciate the very sight of her. Her cheeks were glowing and her hair was just the tiniest bit windblown. His mind started weaving fantasies and he found that he had to really struggle to keep his thoughts in check.

“Wade’s lawyer just came by our office to tell me that Wade has decided to drop the suit,” she told him, still stunned that the threat was really over.

“Oh?”

“Yes. According to the lawyer, Wade said some crazy man made him see the error of his ways and he wanted me to know that he wasn’t going to be bothering me anymore. That he’d made a mistake about Tex and the other dinosaurs, that they weren’t anything like the characters he’d been thinking of putting out.”

Steve saw a mixture of elation and confusion in her eyes. “So I guess that’s it,” he concluded. “You won’t be needing my services anymore.”

That
hadn’t
been the first thing she’d thought of. Actually, she hadn’t thought of that consequence at all. Now that he’d mentioned it, though, she had to.

“I guess not.” Erin paused, wondering if he was subtly telling her that he wasn’t going to be seeing her any longer. But right now she had another question to clear up. “Would you know anything about this?”

“About what?” he asked as innocently as he could.

The look on his face almost clinched it for her. This was his doing—she’d bet on it.

“About the crazy person who made Wade see the error of his ways?”

It was growing more and more difficult for him not to laugh. “Why would I?”

“Well, for one thing,” she told him, “I don’t see Wade as the type to suddenly have an epiphany in the middle of the street.”

Steve shrugged. “Maybe it wasn’t in the middle of the street. Maybe he had the epiphany in the bar. Or in the foyer of his apartment building.”

The last detail had her eyeing Steve even more suspiciously. “How would you know he had a foyer?”

This time the shrug didn’t look quite so innocent to Erin. “Just a guess. Does he?”

She wasn’t buying this innocent act anymore. “It
was
you, wasn’t it?”

“Was me what?” Steve bit back a grin.

She saw right through him. “You made him drop the suit.”

Steve grew serious now. What Baker had tried to do was nothing more than a crime. “It wasn’t a suit—it was blackmail disguised as a suit.”

She smiled warmly at him. He’d made a difference in her life and no matter what lay ahead, she was always going to be grateful to him for that. “Did I tell you that I’m going ahead with that lawyer dinosaur? I’m thinking of calling him Steve.”

“What happened to Clarence Darrow-Dinosaur?” he asked.

“I like Steve better,” she answered.

He nodded. “Kind of partial to that myself,” he commented. “Listen, since I’m not your lawyer anymore, what do you say to going out and celebrating your victory?”

“I’d love it,” she said enthusiastically. Her next question completely caught him off guard—and further convinced him that he was
so
right about this woman. “You’re bringing Jason with you, right?”

“Just clear up something for me first,” he requested. “Is my seven-year-old son going to give me some competition?”

Steve Kendall was a man who
had
no competition. “Not a chance.” She laughed.

“Then yes, I’ll bring him along with me. With us,” he corrected because the pronoun sounded so good out loud. “Where would you like to go to celebrate?” he asked, then named several high-class restaurants that were in the area.

“Well,” she said, “to be honest, I was actually thinking more along the lines of going to the Orange Country Fair.”

“You like deep-fried food?” he questioned in disbelief. In his experience, that was practically all there was to eat at the fair.

“I wasn’t thinking of food,” she told him. “I was thinking about the various rides. I think Jason would have a lot of fun going on some of them.”

He smiled into her eyes. “I think Jason would have fun being anywhere as long as you were there, too.”

Erin looked at him, touched as well as surprised. “What a sweet thing to say.”

“I have a lot of good qualities I’d like to show you,” he told her.

They hadn’t reached the end of their relationship, she thought in relief. She intended to remain in this for the long haul, however long—or short—that actually was. “Sounds good to me.”

“And,” Steve went on, never taking his eyes off her, “I’d like to spend the rest of my life showing you what they are.”

Stunned, she stared at him. “Just what are you saying?” Erin asked.

For once in her life she was afraid to let her imagination take off without any restraints on it. Afraid that because she wanted something so very much, failing to get it would be too devastating. So she waited for an answer, refusing to provide it herself, no matter how tempting.

He paused for a moment, picking up the phone receiver and calling the receptionist out front.

“Ruby, hold my calls until further notice.” He didn’t wait for the receptionist to acknowledge the instruction, hanging up instead.

He looked at the woman sitting before him. At times, he was still convinced he had dreamed her up. She fit
that
perfectly into his world.

When Steve finally spoke, he chose his words carefully.

“I was one of those guys who was certain that love came just once in a lifetime—if it came at all. I’d had my once. But because I had a son who needed a mother, I made myself start looking for someone who would be able to fill that position.

“What I found instead were a lot of women—beautiful, intelligent women—who had no desire to share their lives on a long-term basis with a man who had a child. They were far too interested in their careers and themselves to venture beyond that. After a few months of trying to get back into the swing of things, I decided I didn’t
want
to swing. That I’d had my one true love and I was just out of luck.

“And then you happened by when I least expected it. You with your boundless imagination and your empathy and that heart of yours that seemed as big as the great outdoors. You made me rethink my planned exodus into a hermitage.”