Shit Kickers & Stilettos (Heiresses In Aprons) (8 page)

Dade paced around the office trying to decide what he should do. It was downright scary how good he and Rosie were getting along. Since the afternoon two weeks ago when they had sex they had slept together every night. Some nights they were in her bed, some in his, even a few on the couch when they’d fallen asleep watching TV.
The truth was he was getting used to sleeping with Rosie.

Maybe he was growing a little too comfortable, because the idea of them staying together wasn’t as crazy as it once sounded. And it wasn’t just the sex making him think it
either, because sleeping wasn’t the only thing they were doing together. They’d taken to living like an actual couple. Somewhere between the sheet and the breakfast table a change had taken place. Suddenly they were in a new place. Rosie told him all kinds of things about her life and asked him dozens of questions about growing up with her uncle. He told her stuff that no else, not even Teddy knew.

Dade had never considered what it would be like to have anyone know him so intimately. Probably because he hadn’t wanted
anyone enough yet to really put himself out there. Rosie hadn’t given him a choice.

It wasn’t hard to want Rosie. Just being around her he felt lighter than he ever had, even before his parents had died. She
was always smiling at him. When she wasn’t in the study working he could find her in the kitchen. She was either cooking or baking, so the house smelled amazing. Dade figured he’d gained about five pounds. He was going to have to start watching how much he ate, or start really working out. It was worth it though, because he loved watching her prance around in those purely feminine aprons.

When she left —he was sure she was going to at some point, because even though she was happy there he’d seen her in the city and she loved it there— the place was going to seem emptier than ever. Teddy had always said the house needed and deserved to have the laughter of children carrying throughout the halls. Sadly both times Teddy had found love it hadn’t lasted long enough to give him that. Dade wondered if he moved out and let Rosie have the house if she would ever make Teddy’s dream a reality. He knew the only way he’d find out was to ask her.

There would be a possibility she’d give him an answer he didn’t want to hear. It occurred to him that it could go even worse and she might feel as though he was pressuring her for a commitment to him. He was pretty sure neither of them was ready for that.

“You’re going to end up with some serious lines if you don’t stop frowning.” Her voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

“How long have you been there?” Dade asked.

Rosie walked into the room as if she belonged and sat in his chair.
“Long enough to see that you’re worried about something.”

He didn’t know what he wanted to say to that. He watched silently as she popped her feet up on the desk and crossed them at her ankles. She had on another pair of those stilettos she favored. This time they were a leopard print. She waggled her foot and he wondered if she was waiting for him to make a
comment. There were a few that sprang to mind, but he held them back.

“You wanna talk about it?” He appreciated her offer.

“Not really.” He glanced at his watch. “Are you still planning on going to meet Sophia for dinner?”

“Yeah.
That’s what I came to talk to you about.”

“What’s up?”

“I’m not sure. All I know is Sophia needs to talk to me about something. So I have no idea how long I’m going to be. I just wanted to let you know if it’s late I’ll probably stay in the city for the night, but I’ll call and let you know for sure.”

His first thought was she might be tired of sleeping with him, but then he figured it was probably a smart idea not to drive back out there if it got late. “Okay.”

“That’s it, just okay.”

“What else can I say?” Was he supposed to demand that she be home and in his bed by midnight?

The smile that curved her lips made them even more kissable. “You could say you’re gonna miss having me.”

“I thought that was obvious.” He meant it
wholeheartedly.

“Nothing with you is obvious.” She tipped her head and narrowed her eyes as she stared at him. “Is that what you were frowning because you were thinking about me leaving?”

He nodded and she laughed. “Liar. You were probably thinking about work.”

“Nope, my mind has been on you since lunch.”

“More like your belly.” Dade knew she might be a little right with that assumption, but there were other parts of his body that made him think about her even more. “I bet you were wondering what you were going to do for dinner. Don’t worry it’s all set in the fridge. I taped the directions on top take them off before you put it in the oven.”

He sighed. “You didn’t have to do that.”

She shrugged and her cheeks took on a pretty pink tinge as she blushed. “I know, but I wanted to.”

“Why aren’t you married yet?” The question just came out without him really thinking about it.

“Whoa!” She leaned way back in the chair and held up her hands, and Dade feared he’d made a big mistake.

“I’m sorry.” Truly he was because this was a dangerous direction to take their conversation in right now. “You don’t have to answer.”

“I don’t, but I’m going to. The easy answer is no one’s asked me.” She took a breath and sort of huffed it out. “If I dig a little deeper I guess that’s because I haven’t encouraged anyone to want more than I’m willing to give.”

“Or maybe it’s just that no one has come along that made you want to settle down?” Dade wondered if he was projecting his own issues on her.

“I’m only twenty-five. It never seemed like there was any rush.”

“There still isn’t. You still have plenty of time.” They both did, or at least they had before Teddy’s request.

“What about you?” Rosie asked.

He knew turn at some point she’d turn this back on him. “I’m only thirty, I have time.”

“No,” She laughed and shook her head. “Why haven’t you gotten married?”

He cocked his head to the side and pretended to think
of an answer. “Well, no one has asked me.”

“Are you expecting some woman to walk in off the street and propose?” The question was in jest, but he noticed that her foot had stopped waggling.

“Maybe?” He gave her a one shoulder shrug.

“And you’d consider saying yes?” If she was looking for encouragement he’d give it to her.

He nodded. “If she had the right qualities.”

“This I need to hear. What is it you’re looking for in a woman?” Dade walked over and eased his hip onto the desk by her feet.

“She needs to be caring, giving, and able to deal with me working all the time.” He put his hand on top of her foot and slid it toward her bare ankle.

“That’s all?” Her voice was a little shaky.

“If she was sexy as hell it wouldn’t hurt.” He lifted her foot in his hand and slipped off her shoe. “And now that I’ve gotten used to having a wonderful cook feed me she’d have to be passable in the kitchen.”

“Not asking for too much huh?” She sighed when he pressed his thumbs into her arch and rubbed in little circles.

“Nope.” Dade really didn’t think so.

“What about kids?” He stilled his ministrations for just a few seconds.

“This might sound strange, but I’d prefer she have mine.” He gave her a wink and she laughed.

“That’s not a bad thing, but I meant how many do you want?”

“I’d have to discuss it with the lucky woman.” Rosie wiggled her toes making the blue polish on her nails sparkle.

“So already having a kid is a deal breaker huh?”

“Not totally. If she had enough of the other qualities I might bend a bit on that last one. You hinted to your mother that you want kids. How many?”

She shrugged her shoulders and glanced at the floor then back up at him. “You know I was an only child, which was good because I don’t think my parents could have handled more than that. Growing up I was bored most of the time. I’d like to have a couple of kids, maybe three, so they’d have someone to play with on rainy days.”

“I remember my grandmother telling me once that my parent’s tried for years to have another kid. They finally gave up and showered me with all of their attention, and bam my mother got pregnant. Unfortunately she died before she could have the baby. Sometimes I wish I had a brother or sister to share the memories of them with.” Man that was sappy. What the hell was she doing to him?

“Here we are wishing for siblings, when I’m ninety percent sure the reason Sophia’s spazzing is because her little sister has done something to freak her out again. And poor Tiffany, her and her sister are like night and day. They barely talk unless it’s about business.” She tugged her foot from his hands.

“Are you saying having more than one kid isn’t necessarily a good idea?” Dade picked up her shoe and held it out.

She took it and slid it back on her foot.
“Not at all. I’ve seen Nicolette’s family in action and though they argue and tease each other it’s done with love.”

“So you think it’s a good idea?”

She laughed. “I’m saying no matter how many kids you have you need to raise them with love, affection, and discipline. It might be hard not to give them whatever they want if you can afford it, but it’s important not to spoil them. From what I’ve seen mostly kids just need to know they’re loved and be taught right from wrong.”

Dade considered what she said. Not some much the words, though she made sense, but it was the passionate way she said
it. He knew she was speaking from personal experiences. Any kids were going to be lucky to have her for a mom. He hoped the father would be worthy of her too. It bothered him more than it should that he might not ever be in the running. Suddenly he didn’t want to talk about this anymore.

“So when are you leaving?” He asked hoping to switch the subject.

She shrugged, and sighed as she got to her feet. “Now is as good a time as any.”

“I’ll walk you out.” He laid his hand on her lower back and they headed for the door.

They paused by the door and he picked up the black leather overnight bag. Neither of them spoke as he walked her to her car. He opened the driver’s door and tossed the bag onto the passenger seat. He stepped back and she slipped in between him and the car. Dade hooked his arm around her waist and pulled her against him. Her hands went to his chest. He lowered his head and covered her mouth with his. She yielded to him allowing him to ravage her mouth. Dade kissed her until he could feel the pressure in his chest telling him he needed air.

He eased away. “Have a nice visit.”

Rosie nodded. He wanted to tell her he’d miss her, but instead he just turned and walked away.

Rosie pulled up in front of Sophia’s townhouse and shut the car off. She sat there for another minute or two, not that she thought it was going to help her. She’d just spent two hours listening to the radio and trying to decide what this thing going on between her and Dade was. Was there even a name for what they were doing?

She had a friend who lived with her boyfriend for years before they’d finally gotten married. Rosie’s mother always called her ‘the one who was playing house’. She wondered if Dade thought that was what they were doing. They were acting like a married couple to a point. Dade had even managed to breach a few of the walls she purposefully had in place to keep most people at bay.

She didn’t have time to sit there and dwell on her situation with Dade. Rosie had a little over three months to figure things out and right now Sophia needed her. She got out of the car and started for the steps, but a pizza delivery boy got there first. Rosie started to follow him. A noise behind her had her looking over her shoulder. A young man was coming up behind her with a
takeout bag from the Chinese restaurant down the street. Rosie groaned, but kept moving. She reached the top step as the door opened and Sophia appeared.

The kid handed her the pizza and took the cash she held out. Rosie took the box from her as she went inside and waited for Sophia to pay the other delivery guy.

Once the door was closed and they were alone Rosie said, “It’s a double delivery kind of problem?”

“Worse, but I stopped myself from ordering anything else.” Sophia walked into the dining room and started unpacking the food.

There was no doubt in Rosie’s mind where Sophia’s angst was coming from. “What did your sister do this time?”

“Gina has decided she wants to give back.” Sophia rolled her eyes.

“To who?” Rosie asked.

Sophia snorted with a toss of her hair. “I don’t think she even knows.”

“Okay” Rosie wasn’t going to look at this like a problem just yet. “So we’ll find her something to do where she can’t get into too much trouble.”

Sophia dropped into a chair and groaned. “It’s too late she already signed on to do some cooking competition. If she wins the charity will get twenty-five thousand dollars. Five if she loses.”

“So she’s guaranteeing them five grand. I’m not seeing the downside yet.” Rosie might not, but she knew it was there.

“It’s going to be televised over a series of weeks, and my father has decided I should watch over her.” Sophia snatched up a piece of pizza. “You can imagine how well that went over.”

“So what was her threat this time? Is she running off to live in the mountains again?” At least Gina’s ultimatums kept them entertained.

“Her idea of the mountains was a chalet with her friends in Aspen, on daddy’s credit.” Sophia laughed.

“What about the time she threatened to cut off all her hair if your father didn’t get her an appointment with Haviar.”

This time Sophia came to her sister’s defense. “She was only twelve.”

Rosie knew that Sophia was always going to be on her sister’s side no matter what happened. Right now she just needed some support.

“Things have gotten progressively worse as she’s gotten older.” And Sophia always bailed her out. “So what’s she holding over your head this time?”

“Nothing. She willingly gave me the contracts to read. Not that I can do anything now, because she already signed them. In a month she’ll be assigned a professional chef as her partner and then we’ll know more.”

“So for a month she’s going to let you wonder what she’s going to do to screw up.” Rosie wasn’t about to let that happen.

“No. For a month I need to keep her from getting in trouble.” Which they both knew could be a full time job at times. “Then for the span of her time on the show I’ll have to be at her beck and call.”

“What the hell was your father thinking?” If he had been thinking about anything but avoiding a showdown with Gina Rosie would be surprised.

“Don’t get mad at him. You know that he hates putting me in these positions,” Sophia sighed and reached for her drink. “It’s just that he knows that no one else can control her.”

“Nobody else even tries.” Rosie wanted to take the words back as she said them, because the last thing she wanted was to make Sophia feel even worse. “Okay new plan. You check out the contracts. Hopefully there are no issues, but if there is maybe someone is involved that we’ve had contact with in the past and we can get it fixed. As for your sister what if we give her some kind of project.”

Sophia perked up a little at that suggestion. “Like what?”

“What’s she good at?”

“Shopping.” They both said and started laughing.

“Oh
… I’ve got it. We’re sponsoring that Keep Kids Warm program again this year. We need someone to make calls to the director and get numbers for how many coats, hat and glove sets, and pairs of boots we need. We did twenty five hundred last year. I think it’ll be higher this year since they’ve opened it up to more schools. We could give her the information and have her start shopping by age.”

“It could work,” Sophia didn’t sound totally sold on the idea. “But I don’t know if she’d be interested.”

“Listen she’s saying she wants to give back this will show her you’re willing to believe her. If she’s says no then you’ll know there’s something else going on.”

Sophia twirled her fork in the Lo Mein. “I guess. I just wished she’d talked to me before she agreed to do this.”

“That would have given you the power to shoot it down.” Rosie shook her head. “We both know she’d never willingly give you that much control.”

“This has to work.” Sophia took another huge bite of her slice of pizza.

Rosie had no idea how Sophia’s parents had managed to raise two such different daughters. One serious and one… well flaky was the only way to describe her sister Gina. Sophia managed to shy away from the limelight, while Gina did her best to find her way into it.

“It will. We’ll make it work. Who knows maybe she really does want to make a change.” It wasn’t likely, but it was possible.

Sophia looked at the food spread out on the table. Rosie saw the regret in her eyes. She only ordered takeout like this went she was upset. Normally she picked up salads, stir-fry, or other healthy stuff. Rosie knew if she went to the fridge right now she’d find eggs, cheese, water, mayonnaise, a bag of baby carrots, maybe milk, and soda. The soda was Sophia’s one guilty pleasure and she limited herself to having it once or twice a week. There was bread and tuna in the cabinet.

“Don’t do it.” Rosie commanded. “Guilt is not an option. You’re allowed to splurge every now and then.”

“It’s not guilt. I’ll work it off tomorrow. I was just thinking that pizza and Chinese are Gina’s favorites. My subconscious might be trying to tell me something.” They both laughed.

“Yeah, that someday you’re going to need to stop letting her get to you.” Rosie and Sophia took what was left of the food and the bottle of wine Sophia had opened and migrated into the living room.

“I’m working on it. Now let’s talk about something totally different. Something that has nothing to do with my family.” Sophia put the stuff in her hands on the coffee table and walked to the shelf of DVDs.

She held up a romantic comedy that had the new sexy Scottish actor. Since Rosie was missing Dade he might be able to get him
off her mind for a while. If not they’d at least get a laugh or two out of it. Rosie nodded and Sophia stuck in the DVD player.

“What would you like to talk about?” Rosie asked.

Sophia dropped onto the opposite end of the couch sitting facing Rosie. “How about you tell me how Dade is in bed?”

“Whoa,” Rosie said around her mouthful Lo Mein.
“Sophia, what the hell?”

“What?” The look on Sophia’s face portrayed innocence, yet guilt at the same time.

“You had to know I was going to ask.”

Rosie had, but not like this. “I thought you would have eased into it.”

“Does he ease into it?” The way Sophia drew out the word ease made Rosie laugh.

Rosie finally caught her breath and said, “Sometimes. God, I can’t believe we’re sitting here talking about this.”

“Why not?” Sophia seemed genuinely surprised. “We always talk about this stuff. What’s different this time?”

“For one I’m on the receiving end.” Rosie pressed her hand to her chest.

“You’ve been there before. Even though the rest of us think there were far too many times in between.” Sophia’s long term memory was too damn good.

“Yeah well, it’s easier when I’m the one doing the questioning, not being the one who has to answer.” Rosie quickly stuffed more noodles into her mouth.

“Quit stalling. All that sex should have you relaxed, but you’re not. So why don’t you tell me what’s got you so tensed up.” Sometimes her friend read her too well.

“Everything.”
Rosie dropped her fork into the box with a sigh. “I mean the whole way here I was trying to figure out exactly what the situation between me and Dade is. We’re living together, sleeping together, doing just about everything together, yet we’re not together. Does that make any kind of sense at all?”

Sophia shrugged. “Sometimes the best things don’t make sense. I think part of your problem is you’re thinking too much. You need to shut your brain off and just enjoy him.”

Sophia was probably right, because at some point this was all going to come to a crashing halt. Rosie had been pushing that thought out of her head for days. She knew that when it came time to leave Dade it was going to be one of the hardest things she’d ever have to do. Her friends would be there for her. Which was a good thing because she had the feeling she might need a little help to get past it.

“Stop thinking
,” Sophia groused. “I can practically smell the smoke leaking out of your ears.”

“Shut up and watch the movie.” Rosie said and they both laughed.