OPERATION: DATE ESCAPE (10 page)

A stack of
sale flyers tucked in the crook of her arm and her cross body ‘shopping’ purse in place, Nanci was in shop until you drop mode.  She rounded the car and swung open the passenger door, popping her head in with a smile.  “Hi.”

“Hi back.
”

She
settled onto the passenger seat, laying the store ads on her lap while she buckled her seatbelt.  “Hope you wore comfy shoes.  This is no shopping trip for the fainthearted.”

Oh, goody.  “Can’t wait,” she told Nanci with a forced smile. 
“By the way, not one word to my mother about my date.”

Nanci flashed
a toothy, know-it-all smile.  “Are you referring to the date you’ve agreed to go on with Worthington Fire Department’s calendar hunk?”

“Yes.  That’s information my mother really doesn’t need to know.”

“My lips are sealed,” she said, running pinched fingers across the seam of her mouth. 

She could only be so lucky.  Kelsie smiled. 
“Thanks.”

“At least around your mom,”
Nanci added as she settled back against her seat.  “They’ll be fully functioning tonight when I see the man I love.”

Kelsie’s head snapped around.  “
Love?”

Her friend nodded.

“You mean lust?”

“That, too?”

Nanci had never used the word ‘love’ when referring to any man.  “Who?”

“Joe.”

“Cole’s friend?”

She sighed softly. 
“That’s him.  Killer blue eyes.  Nice ass.  We talked on the phone for about two hours last night after you left.”

“Just talked?”
she asked as she pulled out onto the street.

Nanci smiled.  “It was a phone date.”

She couldn’t resist.  “As in phone sex kind of phone date?”

Her friend
clicked her tongue.  “You know me better than that.  I never sleep with a guy on our first phone call.”

“But you wanted to.”

“You have no idea.  That’s not saying things didn’t get hot and heavy.” 

“I’ve never seen you like this before.

“That’s because I’ve never met anyone quite like Joe before.”

Kelsie laughed.  “Something tells me he’s never met anyone like you before either.”

“What can I say?  I’m one of a kind.”

“You’ll get no argument from me
on that statement.”

“Hey,” Nanci said excitedly
, “maybe the four of us can go out together sometime.  You and Cole.  Me and Joe.”

“I wouldn’t hold your breath.  The only reason I’m going out with Cole is b
ecause you told him I would
and
I wanted my shoes back.”

Nanci rolled her eyes.  “Why is it some people choose to live in such denial?”

“Call it what you will.  I’m telling you, I don’t want to go out with Cole.”  And she didn’t want to feel that flutter that moved through her stomach every time she thought about Cole Maxwell.

“
Fine.  Call him and tell him you changed your mind.  It’s not like you don’t know how to reach the guy.”

“I don’t like to hurt people’s feelings.  You know that.” 

“That’s the only reason, huh?”

There was no fooling her best friend.

“Yes,” she answered anyway.  Sometimes the truth was too hard to accept.

Nanci glanced out the passenger window.  “So where are you two going on your date?”

“I have no idea.  We didn’t exactly have a chance to discuss it the other night.  If you recall, I was sitting in the back of that rescue ambulance, hiding from reporters.”

Her friend’s smile widened.  “
I suppose a bedroom date is out of the question.”

She shot her friend a warning look. 

“Maybe Cole will surprise you with some place romantic.  A candlelit restaurant can set the mood for your date.”

Something
she did
not
want.  In fact, she wanted the date to be as unromantic as possible, seeing as how she became a puddle of sexual need every time she saw him.  Even his voice turned her on.  That meant their date needed to be somewhere loud where she wouldn’t have to hear that sexy voice and dark so she wouldn’t be tempted by his ‘calendar hunk’ face.  But where?

A
passing billboard caught her eye.  An advertisement for a theater chain.  A light went off in her head.  That was it!  A movie.  It was perfect.  Cole wouldn’t be able to talk to her in a crowded movie theater.  At least, not much.  And she wouldn’t be nearly as distracted by that sexy grin of his in a near darkened room. 

She
made a mental note to check and see what was playing at the movies the second she got home from shopping.  A romance was out of the running, because it would probably have her wanting to reenact the love scenes afterwards.  Maybe a comedy.  Whatever it was, she could handle it. 

But what if she couldn’t?  What if her lips wandered over to Cole’s in the dark?  What if she reached over for popcorn and missed the bucket?

She groaned.    

“Judging by that fantasy-induced look on your face,
” Nanci said, pulling her from her heated thoughts, “I’d say skip the date and go right to bed with the guy.  Get him out of your system.”

Bed was the last place she wanted to be with Cole.  Okay, so maybe she really wouldn’t mind being there with him.  She just couldn’t. 
She gave an exasperated sigh as she turned to look at her friend.  “Have you heard anything I’ve said about not wanting any kind of relationship with Cole?” 

“Every
word.  Fortunately, I know you well enough to also hear what it is you’re not saying.”

“And that would be?”

“That you’re really hot for this guy.  And for good reason.  Putting fires out might be his job, but men like Cole are capable of starting the kind of fires that can singe a hole right through a woman’s panties.”

Kelsie groaned again.  That’s exactly what she was afraid of.  It had been so long since she’d been with a man
, Cole could prove to be too much of a temptation.  She was in so much trouble.

“You’re caving...” Nanci said, her tone teasing.

“Am not.”  She would keep her head on straight where Cole Maxwell was concerned. “I’m going out with him to fulfill an agreement, nothing more.  In fact, I’ll call you the moment I get home from our date just to prove to you that I didn’t fall into bed with Cole like you seem to think I’m going to.”

“I
’ll be sure not to hold my breath waiting for that call.”

She
would prove her friend wrong.  Show her that she could and would resist the hunky fireman who kept invading her thoughts.  Another perfect man just lying in wait to tear her heart in two.  Just as Kyle had.  She’d never forget the day she stopped by Kyle’s office to surprise him with dinner plans for their anniversary.  Only the surprise had been on her.  She’d walked in to find her then husband and the office cleaning bimbo going at it on his desk.  The woman apparently thought getting paid to polish things meant ‘polishing’ her employer’s fully erect body part as well.  The jerk.

“If you ask me, I think Cole’s the perfect man for you,” Nanci said, breaking the silence
.

Kelsie rolled her eyes.  “Oh, please.  You don’t even know the guy.”

“Okay, let’s look at what I do know.  He’s incredibly sexy.  Any argument there?”

“No
,” she grumbled. 

“He risks his life to save others.”

“It goes with the job,” Kelsie replied nonchalantly, but in all truth she admired men like Cole.

Ignoring her, Nanci went on, “He’s got a great smile
which I know for a fact you’ve already taken notice of.  And for the cherry on top of that sweet dish of a man, he throws candy to kids at parades.”

“And how would you know that?”

“Hey, I’ve been to parades before.  Cole’s a firefighter and they always throw candy from their trucks when they go past kids.  In fact, last July I wrestled a kid to the ground for a snack size Reese’s Cup.”

She
shot her friend a questioning look.  “You did what?”

Nanci pointed a finger at her.  “Now don’t go looking at me like I’m that ugly old witch who rides the bike in the Wizard of Oz.  That candy was mine.  They threw it to me and this kid came charging out of nowhere to steal it.  And during PMS week
nobody
takes my chocolate.”

Kelsie could relate to that, but taking candy from a kid...  “Hope it was worth it.”

“Not really.  By the time I got it back it was all smooshed.”

“I’m sure it still tasted good.”

“I wouldn’t know.  I gave it to the kid.”

“Let me get this straight.  You wrestled him for
the candy and then gave it back?”

Nanci
nodded.  “I certainly couldn’t eat it that way.  There’s a method to eating a Reese’s Cup, you know.  You bite all around the outside edge first, saving the center for last.  You can’t do that when the cup is smooshed.  Now, getting back to you and Cole...”

“
It would never work between us.”

“How do you know?  You haven’t even given the guy a chance.”  Nanci pulled a half empty pack of sugar-free Dentyne from her purse and held it out to Kelsie.  “Gum?”

“Thanks.”  She helped herself to a piece, unwrapping it as she drove.  “For your information, I don’t have to give Cole a chance for me to know it wouldn’t work between us.”

“Why?”

She popped the stick of cinnamon gum into her mouth, and then tossed the wrapper into her purse, which was lying between the bucket seats.  “Well, for one thing, he’s too good looking.”

Nanci arched a brow.  “And you prefer ugly?”

“Kyle was hot and look where that got me.”

“Your ex
’s being an asshole has nothing to do with his looks.  Besides, Cole seems like a genuinely nice guy.  Your mom’s going to love him,” she added as they turned onto the street where Kelsie’s mother lived.

Kelsie
felt a rush of panic at the mention of her mother.   “No she won’t.”

Her friend
laughed.  “Of course, she will.”

“She won’t have a chance to ‘love’ him, because she’s not going to find out about my going out with Cole. 
Your lips are sealed, remember?”

Laughing softly, Nanci
pretended to zip her lips shut again, murmuring, “She won’t find out from me.”

Unfortunately for Kelsie, sealed lips in Nanci’s case was in reference to the glossy topcoat her friend had applied over her bright pink lipstick.  Because the first thing out of her friend’s mouth when her mother slid into the backseat behind them was, “Good morning!  Nothing’s new with me.  You might check with your daughter though.”

“I’ve already heard,” Kelsie’s mother replied.

She had?  Kelsie met her mother’s gaze in the rearview mirror, surprised to find her frowning.  Of all people, she would have expected her mother to be beaming with delight over the news. 

“What on earth were you thinking?” he mother scolded.  “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about it.”

“You’re upset about it?” Kelsie said in surprise as she pulled back out onto the main street. 

“Of course, I’m upset.  What mother wouldn’t be?”

Who was this woman in her car and what had she done with her real mother?  “I thought you wanted me to date,” she said in confusion.

“What?”

“How did you find out about Cole asking me out?”

“Cole?”

“The hunk she’s going out with Saturday night,” Nanci happily chimed in.

Her mother shot forward in her seat, her expression changing to one of surprise.  “You’re going on a real date?”

As opposed to all those awful blind dates her mother and Nanci had set her up on?  “You said you knew.”

“Not about that,” her mother said, easing back again in the seat.  “It appears you’ve been keeping a lot of things from me lately, young lady,” she added in that perfected guilt-inducing tone all mothers knew how to use.

Then it dawned on her what her mother had actually said.  She hadn’t known about her date with Cole, so what other secret was she supposed to be keeping from her mother.  “What were you talking about?”

Her mother reached into her purse and pulled out a folded newspaper page, shoving it through the opening between the two front seats.  “I was referring to this.” 

Her gaze shifted from the road to the paper her mother was waving beside her.  There on the front page of the local newspaper was the picture of her in Cole’s arms after he’d rescued her from the tree.

“LOCAL FIREMAN RESCUES DAMSEL IN DISTRESS,” Nanci read with a giggle.  “And it goes on to say the unidentified female victim had gotten herself stuck in a tree after climbing out of one of the second story windows at the Touch of Spice lounge.”

“Aaaah!” Kelsie groaned, glancing down once more at the picture of her staring up all cow-eyed at Cole.  “I can’t believe they actually put this in the paper.” 

“Red light!” her mother shrieked.

Her gaze snapped up to see the rapidly approaching light.  With a gasp, she stomped on the brake, leaving a set of tire marks behind them on the road.  By some miracle, she managed to stop just behind the white line as a car passed by on the crossroad.  “Shit.”

“Shit is right,” Nanc
i said.  “I can’t be in an accident today.  I wore my shopping undies instead of my thong.”

Leave it to Nanci to worry more about what her ass would look like to rescuers instead of just how bad this could have turned out.

“Maybe we should forget this whole shopping thing,” Kelsie suggested.

“After I went and had my hair done this morning just for our little outing?” her mother muttered.

“Fine, but it’s not going to be an all-day event,” Kelsie told them.  “I feel like something the cat dragged in.”

“At least you don’t look like you feel today in this picture with Cole,” Nanci remarked, studying the paper more closely.  “You look great, all things considered.” 

Her mother gasped.  “Cole?  The same Cole you have a date with tomorrow?” 

“Every mouthwatering inch of him,” Nanci wasted no time confirming.

Kelsie groaned.  What were the odds that if she took a really sharp left turn her friend would fly out the open window and take her big mouth with her?  She was seriously tempted to find out. 

“And to think I worry about you choosing men who are all wrong for you,” her mother said as she reached between the seats to snatch the paper back. 

Kelsie fought the urge to laugh.  Most of the ‘wrong’ men in her life lately had been chosen by her mother.

“Mmm...he’s a real looker,” her mother muttered appreciatively from the backseat.  “Glad you finally took the bull by the horns and asked a man out.”

“I didn’t ask him,” she told her mother, not wanting her to think she had any real interest in Cole.  “He asked me out.”

“Ooh, even better,” her mother squealed in delight.  “He clearly likes what he’s seen.”

“He should,” Nanci said with a smile.  “The guy had a great view of her backside from that rescue box he went up after her in.”

Kelsie shot her the ‘evil eye’, something she seemed to be doing a lot more of lately. 

“Honey, you really shouldn’t scrunch your eyebrows up that way,” her mother chided.  “It’ll give you premature wrinkles.”

“I wasn’t scrunching.”  Scowling.  Maybe.  Throwing eye darts.  Definitely.  But she had a good reason to.  Her best friend had a big fat mouth! 

“I don’t know what you’re so upset about,” she said, holding up the newspaper for Kelsie to see in the rearview mirror.  “This is a really good picture of you.”

“Too good,” Nanci agreed.  “Guess it’s safe to say you won’t remain unidentified for very long.”

“Just what I need,” Kelsie groaned.  “People I know wondering what in the world I was doing in up a tree outside of a strip club.”

“Strip club?” her mother blurted out. 

She nodded.  “However, I didn’t know it until I was already inside.”

“What on earth were you doing there in the first place?”

“Meeting her date,” Nanci answered for her.

“The one you set me up with,” she reminded her mother.  “But that’s beside the point.  The issue I’m more concerned with now is what my patients are going to think when they see that picture of me in the paper?”

Nanci raised her hand, waving off her concern.  “Chances are they won’t even realize it’s you with Cole’s hunky face front and center.  And you can pretty much guarantee that most of the women who read this are going to be wishing they had thought of your plan to catch a tall, dark and incredibly sexy firefighter first.”

“You’re the one who called 9-1-1.  Not me.  And I certainly didn’t plan on having my strip club fiasco picture plastered all over Worthington.”

Her mother laughed.  “I should hope not.  But at least something good came from it.  You’ve got a date with a really handsome firefighter.  I think you should be thanking Nanci.”

She didn’t have to glance her way to know her friend was wearing an
I’m-waiting-for-your gratitude
smile.

“No thanks needed,” Nanci chirped.  “Just be sure to name yours and Cole’s firstborn daughter after me.”

“Cole and I are not going to be having babies together,” Kelsie said determinedly. 

“But you to would make such pretty babies,” Nanci carried on.

Kelsie groaned in frustration, her head starting to pound.

“What in Heaven’s name were you doing up in that tree anyway?” her mother demanded.  “And behind a strip club of all places.  I didn’t even know there were any of those in Worthington.”

“There aren’t.  At least, there won’t be once the good citizens of our town get wind of it.  And, to answer your question as to why I was in the tree in the first place, I was trying to get away from Jack the perverted jeweler.”

Her mother’s eyes widened.  “You mean that nice man I set you up with?  The one who owns a jewelry store?”

“I guess that depends on what you consider nice,” Nanci said, glancing back between the seats.  “The guy had your daughter meet him at a strip club.  Then the creep went on and on about how he was looking forward to doing the nasty with a real redhead.  I think I would have skipped the tree and just jumped out of the window at that point.”

“He what?” her mother shrieked.  “Why that perverted little slime ball!”

A week ago, that same slime ball was on her mother’s list of possible future son-in-laws.  “It’s alright, Mom.  I handled it.”

“Even if you handled it by getting yourself stuck in a tree...” Nanci taunted.

“One more word and you’re going to be riding the rest of the way to the mall in the truck of my car.”

Her mother scooted forward to lean between the bucket seats.  “You two can fight later.  Right now I want to hear all about this hunky firefighter who asked my daughter out.  After all, he might just end up being the father of my future grandchildren.”

Oh, God, her mother’s mental wheels were turning.  Kelsie made a mental note to keep her away from the engraving store at the mall or she’d be pre-ordering wedding invitations and engraved cake servers. 

“Mom, Cole asked me to go out to dinner with him, not to have his children.”

“You never know what might come from dessert afterwards,” Nanci threw in with a smile. 

“I do and that would be nothing,” Kelsie said firmly, not that anyone was listening.  They had already moved on to their own in-depth discussion about Cole Maxwell and his more-than-impressive physical attributes.

*              *              *

By the time they arrived at the
Eastland Mall, Kelsie’s mother knew everything there was to know about her adventures with Cole Maxwell.  That is, with the exception of the heated kiss she and Cole had shared the day he’d taken her home from the emergency room.  That was about the only piece of information Nanci hadn’t let slip through those loose lips of hers.  Even so, her dear, soon-to-be-ex best friend, had provided more than enough information as far as Cole Maxwell was concerned to start her mother’s matchmaking wheels turning. 

“Okay,
enough about Cole.  I want to relax and enjoy this shopping trip,” Kelsie told her mother and Nanci as she drove through the busy parking lot looking for an empty space to park in.  Not that she really thought they’d listen to her request, but it was worth a try.

“There’s one
,” Nanci said, pointing to a minivan that was backing out of a parking place about twenty feet ahead of them.

“Put your turn signal on
,” her mother said excitedly.  

She did, waiting
patiently while the van backed out.  Only another car whipped around the end of the aisle and turned into the space the minivan had just vacated.

“Bitch,” Nanc
i hissed.

Kelsie sighed in frustration.  The longer it took to park, the longer it would take to get this shopping trip over with.  She wasn’t anywhere near the shopaholic Nanci was. 
“We’ll find another one.”

“
We shouldn’t have to find another spot,” her friend fumed.  “That bitch saw us waiting for that parking space.  Let me out.  I’ll kick her ass.”

You didn’t want to mess with Nanci when she was pissed.  She’d grown up in foster homes and knew how to take care of herself.  That included not putting up with anyone else’s crap.  The woman
having stolen their parking space was beyond crappy, but the need to avoid adding any more stress to her day overrode the urge to let Nanci out to ‘handle’ things. 

T
wenty minutes later, Kelsie followed her mother and Nanci into the mall’s entrance, wondering if her day could get any worse. 

“
Where do you want to start?” Nanci asked as they made their way through the shopping complex. 

“How about
Macy’s?” Kelsie suggested.  “They’re having a big sale this weekend.”

“
Uh, uh, uh,” her mother said, shaking her head.  “First things first.  We need to find you something special to wear on your date with your fireman.”

She
looked at her mother.  “He’s not
my
fireman.  And Macy’s happens to carry some really nice clothes.”

“Pfft
!  Who needs clothes?” her mother replied with a wave of her manicured hand.  “You’ve got a date with a really sexy firefighter.  You need to be prepared.”

“Good point,
” Nanci agreed.  “But something tells me we won’t find any stores that carry condoms in this mall.

“Nanci,” Kelsie said, shushing her.

“Nanci’s right,” her mother said with a smile.  “You should take some protection with you on your date with Cole just in case.  Although I highly doubt a man whose job is making sure people stay safe is going to forget to bring protection with him.”

Please,
Kelsie silently prayed,
don’t let anyone be overhearing this conversation.

“
She’s right,” Nanci agreed.  “I think their motto is ‘safety first’.  Cole will have the protection part covered.”

“Will you guys cut it out!
” Kelsie hissed, keeping her voice low.  “I have no intention of having sex with Cole.”  Not that she hadn’t fantasized about it.  But fantasy was on a whole different level from reality.  It was safe.