Sweet Deal (4 page)

Her eyes widened. “Omigod. Really?”

“You bet. I’m the youngest. They tortured me with unbelievable cruelty when we were kids. Curled my hair, painted my nails.”

She choked on a laugh and eyed his large masculine shape. “That seems very unbelievable.”

“I wasn’t always this size.” One big shoulder lifted and the smile still hovered on his lips. “There was a time when all three of them were bigger than me. No longer, I’m happy to say, and they don’t get away with that shit anymore.”

She sensed the affection for his sisters in his tone and dammit, she liked it. She liked the confidence he had in himself and his masculinity to share something like that with her.

“They’re all married now and I have eight nieces and nephews.”

She tipped her head to one side. “Holy crap. That must make for some crazy family get-togethers.”

“Well. We don’t get together that much.” He looked down at his beer, then back up. “We kind of lost touch when I was about fourteen. My mom left and took my sisters with her.”

Shelby could only blink at him in disbelief and dismay. “She took your sisters with her? But not you?”

He gave a careless shrug. “Yeah. She said she didn’t know what to do with a teenage boy. Thought I’d be better off with my dad. Who she didn’t want to be married to anymore.”

Her heart squeezed. She knew what it was like to feel unwanted, but that was just because her parents had basically ignored her. To be the one child left behind…how awful. How rejected and abandoned he must have felt.

“But I’ve connected with my sisters again,” he said with a smile. “It wasn’t their fault, what happened. My mom’s gone now, but I see my sisters and all my nieces and nephews sometimes.”

“That’s good.”

“What about you?”

“I’m an only child and my parents are separated. For the time being.”

He lifted an eyebrow.

“They have an unusual relationship,” she said carefully. “I guess what you’d call a love-hate relationship. When they’re together, they’re crazy for each other, then they start fighting, like,
really
fighting—doors slamming, things being thrown, smashing dishes—and then they split up. But when they’re apart, they’re even more miserable, so it usually doesn’t last long. I think this might be the seventh or eighth time they’ve split up.”

“Wow.”

“I know.” She smiled ruefully and hitched a shoulder. “What can you do?”

“Your hobbies?” he asked.

“I don’t have time for much fun these days. Too busy working. I do things with my girlfriends. I guess they’re kind of like my family. I’ve never been athletic, like you, but I do run to stay fit.”

“Do we run together?” he asked, arching a brow. She laughed at the crazy question.

“No.” She gave her head a firm shake. “You’d leave me in the dust with those long legs. But I am pretty good at poker and I like dancing.”

“Dancing. Ugh.”

Their eyes met and even though they had different opinions on dancing, amusement shimmered between them.

“I’m trying to get you to take ballroom dancing lessons with me,” she said, tapping her chin. “Because we watch Dancing with the Stars together and I want to dance like that.”

Now he gave a shout of laughter. “Dancing with the Stars, huh? Okay, honey.”

This was fun. Even though it wasn’t real. Maybe
because
it wasn’t real, it took away all the pressure of a real date, of really trying to get to know someone. Shelby had never felt so relaxed with a guy. Though awareness of him did create a few tingles. His big hands holding the beer bottle were lightly sprinkled with dark brown hair, his fingers long, nails neat and trimmed short, but definitely not manicured. The cuffs of his loose button-up shirt were folded back on strong forearms and she swallowed hard as her eyes moved over bulging biceps and the open neck of his shirt.

“So how long have we known each other?” he asked.

“Hmm. When do you think we first saw each other at Java the Hut?”

“April twenty-fifth.”

She blinked at him, her smile fading. “April twenty-fifth? Really?”

His cheekbones darkened, but he maintained the cheeky grin. “I remember it well. It was the day I got promoted to Senior Business Analyst.”

“Ah.” Whoa. For a minute there, she’d been a bit freaked out that he remembered the exact date they met. “Okay. Let’s go with that. We had coffee a few times, started dating.”

“Sounds good.”

They looked at each other, and the music and loud chatter in the bar muted, the rest of the room shrank away into dark corners, leaving them sitting in a circle of awareness at the small round table. Shelby dropped her gaze to the table then lifted it again, a tentative smile touching her lips. She licked them, then wished she hadn’t as Jake’s gaze fell to her mouth.

Heat slid down inside her, pooling between her thighs. Oh heavens. She was getting all girly mushy and this wasn’t even a real date
. Shit.

“What kind of movies do you like?” Jake finally asked, his voice taking on a faintly rough edge.

They chatted about movies and music and their work. He convinced her to order another drink, and pleasantly mellow from the wine and a little beguiled by his charisma, she was happy to sit there and talk. He was so easy to talk to. He didn’t make her feel stupid. And though he’d given her admiring glances, he really hadn’t looked lower than her mouth, unlike most guys who seemed to think they had to talk to her boobs. His interest in what she had to say seemed genuine, and that was probably the sexiest thing about him.

She was tired of guys who thought she was a brainless, big-boobed blonde, guys like the last few she’d dated who’d never called again once they’d gotten her into bed. Guys who didn’t want to talk about current events or even play a smart game of poker unless it involved the removal of clothing.

She bit her lip as the thought entered her mind that maybe Jake was expecting more than she’d planned. It seemed far-fetched that he was going to all this trouble out of the goodness of his heart. For her.

“I have to go,” she said, standing so fast her chair wobbled. She grabbed her purse and forced a smile. “Sorry, but I have work to do in the morning.”

“Saturday?” He stood too, although more slowly, a faint frown creasing between his eyes.

“Yes.” She nodded vigorously.

She opened her purse and dug for her wallet, intending to pay for her drinks. He laid a gentle hand on her arm, and she paused, lifted her eyes to his face.

“I’ve got it,” he said quietly.

“No. I want to pay.” She rummaged farther, lips pressed together. She did not want to owe him more than she already did for agreeing to do this. Lord knew what he’d expect in return for drinks. Her stomach clenched painfully and she tossed a bill onto the table. “There.” She flashed him her brightest smile. “Thanks again for doing this.” She made her voice cool and brisk. She extended a hand to him and, after a brief pause, he took it. She gave a firm shake then released it. “We’ll still meet at the North Beach parking lot?”

“Uh. Yeah. Sure.”

“Great. See you then.”

Chapter Three

“Hey, Mom! I’m here. And I brought you cookies.”

Silence greeted Shelby as she let herself into the house where she’d grown up, where her mom still lived, at the moment alone.

“Mom? You home?”

Shelby frowned at the lack of response. She’d told her mom she’d drop over Saturday for a little while. Why wasn’t she here? Then she heard muffled noises down the hall of the spacious bungalow. She moved through the front foyer, through the living room and paused, listening. Her heart picked up its pace a little. Was her mom okay?

“Shelby?” Mom’s voice called from her bedroom down the hall.

“Yeah, it’s me. You okay, Mom?”

“Fine, fine. Just hang on a sec.”

Shelby let out the breath she’d been holding and walked into the kitchen. She set the container of chocolate-chip cookies on the counter. Breakfast dishes still sat there—a couple of plates, knives, two coffee mugs.

She turned at the sound of her mother entering the kitchen. “Hi,” she said, smiling. Her mom was tying a robe around her waist and her short, blonde hair stood up all over her head. Her cheeks were pink. “Um…did I come at a bad time?”

“Oh no. Well. I forgot you were coming.”

No surprise there. Shelby tried to keep the corners of her mouth from turning down. But when her dad appeared in the doorway behind her mom, she saw why she’d forgotten. She sighed.

“Hi, Dad.”

“Hi, Shelby sweetie. What’re you doing here?”

“I made cookies this morning. I brought some for Mom.”

“That’s so sweet of you,” Mom said. “You make such good cookies.”

Shelby wasn’t sure why, at her age, she still made these stupid little efforts to please her parents. She should have moved past that, shouldn’t have the need for their approval anymore, but it seemed that she liked to continue to torture herself. She knew her mom would eat the cookies or serve them to guests without even remembering Shelby had made them. Her mom hadn’t even remembered she was coming that afternoon.

She would’ve asked her dad what he was doing there, but it was pretty obvious. “Are you getting back together?” she asked.

“Yes.” Her mom beamed and shot a smile over her shoulder at Dad. “We already are. Your father moved back in yesterday.”

“Wonderful.”

Her mom frowned. “You don’t sound very happy for us.”

What could she say? Wasn’t it always better when love triumphed? When a marriage survived, got another chance? But she knew it wouldn’t last, and sometimes she wondered if it wouldn’t just be better if they split up for good and quit riding this rollercoaster they’d turned their lives into. “Of course I’m happy for you,” she said with a smile.

“Thanks for dropping in,” Mom said.

“And for the cookies,” Dad added.

Okay then. So much for maybe a cup of coffee, a cookie and a little chit-chat. “You’re welcome. I have to go now. I have a company picnic to go to later this afternoon.”

“Oh, how nice. That RBM seems like such a nice place to work for.”

“I don’t work there anymore, Mom,” she said patiently. “Remember? I left there a year ago. Now I’m at Gold Shield Insurance.”

“Oh, of course!” Her mom slapped her forehead. “I’m so scattered! I knew that.”

Shelby smiled and nodded. “Well, I’ll talk to you both later.”

She paused outside the front door and closed her eyes, sucked in a deep breath and let it out, then shrugged her shoulders. Maybe this time things would be different for them and they’d be happy together. And maybe she’d win the fifty-million-dollar lotto this weekend.

Jake waited in the parking lot for Shelby Saturday afternoon, leaning against the fender of his SUV in the warm summer sun, wondering what the hell he was doing there.

He wasn’t exactly the knight-in-shining-armor type. One girl he’d dated had called him a player, a term that made even his lip curl, but hey, he wasn’t looking for a relationship, just fun and a little companionship sometimes, and yeah, sex. He tried to make sure the women he hooked up with felt the same, made it clear upfront whenever he met someone, so there were no hard feelings, except sometimes, there
were
hard feelings. Girls got all emotionally involved even though they knew they shouldn’t, said they wouldn’t, and then they blamed him when he had to pull the plug.

So doing a good deed like this was a little out of character for him, and he had to question his own motives. Shelby was a hot blonde he’d been eyeing with interest for months. Was he just using this as an excuse to get into her panties?

He rubbed his face, adjusted the sunglasses sitting on his nose. Hell, he didn’t even know why he’d made this crazy offer. But he was here and he had to go through with it. After this, she’d be on her own. She’d have to find some other way to get her dickhead boss off her case.

But, man, he hated to think of some asshole doing that to anyone. Whatever. The world was full of assholes and she was a big girl. Well, not literally. Literally, she was a tiny little thing, a blonde kitten in pink high heels.

A kitten he’d been thinking about since last night. Last night had been fun.

He straightened and glanced at his watch. One minute before three o’clock. He paced to the back of his vehicle, watching the parking lot, hands shoved into his jeans pockets.

It had been fun until suddenly out of the blue, it was as if she’d thrown up a wall of ice and had practically sprinted out of the bar. He’d racked his brain the rest of the evening trying to figure out what he’d said that had shut things down so fast, and couldn’t come up with a damn thing.

Far be it from him to pretend to understand women. His track record in that area was pretty pathetic.

A car turned into the lot, a little silver Pontiac GT convertible, exactly on time, and his body went on alert, a small adrenaline rush singing through his veins. The car slowly approached, pulled into the spot next to his and he recognized that gleaming blonde hair.