Her Every Fantasy (5 page)

“Well, this is a surprise, stranger, and I must say that you are absolutely insane calling me this early in the morning on the weekend.”

She laughed at her sister’s sarcasm. It was late enough for most reasonable people to be up, but considering the fact that Keirra wasn’t reasonable, she wasn’t shocked. “Well, the situation is about to get better.”

Keirra sighed. “Unless you are going to pass a cup of coffee through the phone, how do you figure?”

Kayla shook her head and chuckled. She loved her sister and missed her coffee fetish. “I don’t have any coffee ready, but I can provide something just as interesting. Take a guess at what happened when I opened my front door twenty minutes ago.”

Keirra took two guesses, and both were incorrect. Kayla finally informed her sister that James and his three daughters had shown up on her front porch and were now sitting on the living room couch trying to convince her that she should go out with James.

Keirra was laughing by the time she was finished. “What in the world are you doing on the phone with me then? Isn’t this like a dream come true for you?”

She laughed. “You know that it is, but I had to make it look good.”

Keirra yawned. “Well, get your butt off of my phone and go have some fun.”

“Thank you. I will.”

Kayla said good-bye to her sister and hung up the phone prior to turning to look at what
was
now four expectant faces instead of three. The sight was comical, and she would have laughed, but her stomach was in knots with nerves. She had been looking forward to this day for a long time. James was everything that she wanted, but was he everything that she needed, everything that she had ever fantasized about? He came with baggage whether he wanted to or not.

Jamie was the first to break the silence and speak up. “What did they say?”

Kayla sighed heavily as if it were killing her to admit that her sisters were on their side. She was going to play this up to the fullest. Have a little fun with them but only a little. She liked the trio and didn’t want to torture them too much.

“Both of my sisters think that it is a good idea.”

Jenna jumped up and did a little dance.
“
All right!”

Kayla folded her arms across her chest. “But I’m still not convinced that this is a good idea.”

Jana dropped her face into her hands. Jamie, on the other hand, narrowed her eyes as if she was starting to catch on to the fact that something was amiss.

“What will it take to convince you to go out with our dad?”

Kayla looked over at James who, until this point, had been completely quiet. She struggled to contain her smile when his eyes narrowed. The spotlight was on him, and he knew it, judging by his expression.

“I want your father to plead his own case. I need him to tell me why he is interested in me. What makes him want to go out with me?”

He stared at her for a moment, and she wondered if he was going to respond. She watched as James stood up and came to a stop in front of her.

“I am interested in you because you are beautiful, you have a strange sense of humor, you are intelligent, I like you, and you have to the ability to stand up to those three.”

She smiled when he nodded in Jamie, Jana, and Jenna’s direction. She was satisfied with the answer that she received. The man had captured her attention when she saw him in town a little over two months ago. Even if things didn’t work out between them, she had a feeling that this was going to be fun. Grinning, she winked at Jamie. “I agree to one date with your father. Any that follow will be based on how well the first goes.”

“You had better make it good, Dad,” Jana warned.

James didn’t break eye contact with Kayla when he spoke. “I plan on it.”

“I can’t believe that we let ourselves be talked into this.” Kayla looked over at James who was driving them toward the city park.

He grinned. “Well, I can. Those three are always talking me into something.”

He made another turn prior to pulling them into a secluded spot. He shut off the engine. Luckily, there were no other cars up there with them. “This looks like a good spot.”

She gave him a questioning look. “Now why are we here again?”

He exhaled deeply as if nervous about what he was about to reveal.
“Because I have always wanted to go to a secluded spot with a beautiful woman and enjoy her company.
I also thought this would be a good place to talk without interruptions or loud music.”

She shot him a look of warning. “Well, then I guess that is okay as long as you don’t try any funny business.”

His expression was full of sincerity when he responded. “I won’t do anything that you don’t want me to do.”

She had to keep her mouth closed. The problem was that she wanted him to do a lot to her. She would also die of embarrassment if Randy or any of his deputies caught her up here. Instead, she finished the subject off as quickly as she could. “Make sure that you remember that.”

He turned on the interior light and reached for the bag holding their fast food. Handing the Tater Tots to her, he placed the
french
fries on the dashboard. “This should be yours.”

She took the burger that he handed her and unwrapped it before nodding. It looked like the burger that she ordered. “Yes, it is. Thank you.”

She took a bite of the burger and closed her eyes in pleasure. The burger was great. Reaching for a tator tot, she said, “I thought that we were going to the movies.”

“We are. Do you want to watch the movie while we eat or afterward?”

She gave him a puzzled look. “The last time I checked, you can’t take outside food into the movie theater.”

“Well, in this one you can.”

He slipped out of the car and walked around to her side. He held out his hand for her food. She handed it to him and stepped out of the vehicle as he indicated for her to. Once she did, he led her to the back of the vehicle. He asked her to get inside and she did. When she was seated, he went back to the front and gathered up his food and the drinks. After closing the doors, he joined her in the back, and they were in their own private movie theater, or at least they were when he handed her a case of DVDs and opened up the DVD player.

She smiled brightly. “Smart, very smart, but we could have gone to my place to watch a movie, and we would have had just as much privacy, if not more.”

He chuckled. “Thank you for the offer, but I didn’t want to face that sort of temptation on a first date. Now, if you are ready, feel free to pick a movie, and we can watch it.”

She nodded, opened up the bag, and chose to ignore the revealing statement that he had just made. It was refreshing to know that he was as physically attracted to her as she was to him. Surprise registered at the choices that he had made. Her preferences were for more than blood and guts. She chose
Hitch,
a movie starring Will Smith. It was a funny movie that she also thought was pretty good from what she’d seen of it. She handed the movie to him, and he grinned.

“Good choice.”

Leaning forward, he set the movie up, and when it started, he sat back and resumed eating. Within minutes, they were both laughing. He finished eating first and put his trash back in the bag.
A short while later, she was finished eating, and he took her trash and put it away.

They both settled into the movie, and she ended up laughing so hard that she found it hard to catch her breath. When the movie ended, she shook her head. “That movie is hilarious. I am surprised that they haven’t made a sequel. It looks like they would have enough of a storyline to do so.”

James chuckled. “I can only imagine what a sequel would be like.”

She didn’t think that she could laugh any harder than she already had without passing out. There was already a stitch in her side.

“I am glad that you enjoyed the movie.”

He gathered up their trash and turned off the DVD player before stepping out of the SUV. She followed behind him, and they both returned to the front seat of the vehicle.

Fortunately, no one had pulled into the parking lot and shined a flashlight through the windows. It was definitely one of the most interesting dates she ever had. He received points for originality and smelling good. It had been hard to resist touching him more than she already had, but at least he’d confirmed one of her suspicions. The man had a dynamite body. She snuck a feel when he placed his arm around her during the movie.

He took off the emergency brake, and they pulled out of their secluded spot. She noticed that there were more cars now. Maybe the park idea hadn’t been an original idea. As they drove by, she spotted foggy windows that could only mean one thing.

“I hope that the kids are being safe. I already have two pregnant students in my class.”

James grimaced at the thought. “Well, I started talking to Jamie when she became interested in boys in middle school.”

“I’m glad.”

“So am I, as uncomfortable as the conversation was. I also think that having Josh around helps out a lot.”

Kayla looked over at him. “Why do you say that?”

He sighed. “Jamie has had to help out with him a lot.
Much more than I would like.
I try not to put too much pressure on her, but being the oldest puts her in that position sometimes.”

He shrugged. “The good thing is she knows how hard it is to raise a child even when you have help. I also think that she is going to avoid doing anything that could put her in the position of having a child before she is ready.”

Kayla nodded. She had to agree. Jamie was a pretty rational teenager who always thought things through. This morning was an example of that. She didn’t see Jamie making the mistakes that some of her other students were making.

A short while later, James parked in her driveway.
He shut off the engine, hopped out, and darted around the SUV to help her out. At her front door, she searched a moment for her keys, and then they stepped inside together after she unlocked the door. Closing the door behind him, she turned and walked toward the living room.

“Would you like anything to drink?”

He shook his head, and she smiled at the sight of him leaning against her door, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his jeans. Jeans that, despite being loose, couldn’t hide the fact that there was a muscular frame underneath them.

“No, thank you.”

“Make
yourself
at home,” she called out as she disappeared into the kitchen. Setting her purse on the counter, she leaned her hip against it and tried to slow down her racing thoughts. She had remained cool so far—she could last a little longer. Tonight had been a lot of fun, and she was looking forward to seeing how they would progress from here.

She poured herself a glass of water and drank it slowly, giving herself time to resettle herself. Taking a deep breath, she headed back into the living room. James had taken her advice and moved from the foyer into the living room. He was standing there leaning against the sofa, and she smiled at him. It was almost a reflex when it came to him. The man was so sexy that the only thing she could do was grin at him when she saw him.

He spoke first. “I hope that you really did have a good time tonight.”

“I really did.”

He straightened up and walked toward her. “So you would be interested in going out again?”

She watched him approach her, locking her knees and trying her best not to collapse onto the floor. His effect on her was dangerous, but she managed to force her throat to work. “Yes, I would.”

“How about next Saturday?”

She nodded without hesitation, not caring what was on her schedule. If it wasn’t important, she would clear it.
“Sounds good to me.”

He took a step closer to her. “Would you be offended if I kissed you good night?”

She closed the rest of the distance between them wrapping her arms around his neck. She was glad for her height at this moment. That was a first in a long time.

“I would be offended if you didn’t.”

He stared at her for a moment and then lowered his lips to hers. His hands came up to graze her throat. He traced the curve of her jaw before moving his fingers upward, threading them through her hair. She felt him tug at the band that held her hair up until her hair came down. A moan escaped her as his hands found her scalp underneath the thick mane. Her limbs seemed to be turning into liquid. The pounding of her heart increased wildly, and she felt on edge. She moaned again at the loss of his lips when he pulled back. He’d made her lose complete control with that one kiss.

“Wow,” she breathed softly.

James pulled back and looked at her. His expression told her that he’d been just as affected by the kiss. “I think that was putting it lightly.”

Kayla studied him, desire surging through her. Her lips felt swollen from their kiss. She could only imagine how wanton she looked.

“You look beautiful.” He brought his hand up to touch her hair. “I love your hair.”

Kayla made a face. “I don’t. I was just contemplating cutting this stuff off.”

“That would be a big mistake.”

She gave him a strange look, but he continued. “You can’t cut your hair. Your hair is beautiful the way that it is.”

The corners of her mouth tilted upward. Maybe cutting her hair would be a bad idea. Her sisters would kill her if they knew that she’d been contemplating it. It was not that she didn’t like her hair. She just wanted hair that was manageable. She and her sisters had inherited their curly hair from their father and the thickness from their mother.

Those were the main reasons that she didn’t cut her hair after countless threats to do so. She’d inherited the traits from her parents, and she was happy to have them.

“Okay, maybe I will get it styled differently,” she said, more to herself than him.

James nodded and then stepped back. He looked down at his watch and grimaced. “I need to get going. My dad is probably asleep by now, and I don’t want the kids up too late, especially by themselves. You have no idea how much trouble three girls can get into.”

She gave him a look and laughed. “Actually I would.”

He chuckled when he realized what he’d said. “I meant to say that you might know better than most, and maybe you can give me some pointers.”

“Some things you have to figure out for yourself,” she teased.

He laughed.
“Along with everything else when it comes to parenting, or so it seems.”

“By the way, how is your father?”

James sighed. “He is getting better. Still stubborn about what the doctor says to do when it comes to certain things, but he is fine.”

“I am glad to hear that. I need to stop by and see him.”

“He mentioned that you and your sisters were the main people to come by and check on him after his heart attack. I don’t think that I thanked you for that, but it is very much appreciated.”

Kayla shook her head. “Your father is a good man. We would do it for him anytime.”

He placed a brief kiss on her lips. “Well, thank you anyway.”

Her smile was genuine. “You are welcome.”