Catch 'n' Kiss (Are You Game?) (12 page)

Chapter Nine

Jody woke wrapped around a warm body. Startled, she jerked back and came face-to-face with Dan. “Oh.”

“Hey.” He smiled, but the corners of his mouth wobbled and the uncertainty in his eyes troubled her.

“I fell asleep.” Stupid conversation considering they’d just had sex. Twice.

“Yeah.” He reached up and brushed the hair off her face with his fingertips. “You weren’t out long. Ten minutes tops.”

“Oh.” She glanced away, his penetrating gaze made her nervous.

The phone on the bedside table rang, making her jump. Who would be calling their room? She scrambled over Dan, snatched up the receiver and brought it to her ear. “Hello?”

“Mum?”

Jody bolted upright and dove off the bed. “Leigh? What’s wrong? Where’s Uncle Luc?”

“Nothing. He’s here. Can I go to the movies with some friends tonight? Uncle Luc and Cassie said it was okay if you said yes. They’ll be at the same cinema with Amy so I’ll be safe.”

The movies? With friends? “Why—?”

“I know it’s last minute, but we only just organised it and I really, really want to go. Everyone will be there. Please.”

“Leigh, put Uncle Luc on for me.” If Jody didn’t get her brother on the phone Leigh would launch into another stream of babble in order to get a yes. It wasn’t the first time her daughter had used the ploy.

“Hey, Jody, how goes it?” Luc’s deep voice rumbled across the line.

Jody glanced at Dan. How did she answer that question? “Um, good. Listen. Leigh can go, but make sure you see her with the group before you leave her. I’m going to ask her who’s going when you put her back on but I’m pretty sure it’ll be the usual crowd.”

“No worries. We’ll be there. Cassie and Amy are going to watch some cartoon flick that neither Leigh nor I are interested in, so if I don’t find something else to see I’ll be hanging out in the coffee shop.”

“Okay. Let me know what I owe you. I didn’t give either of them any money before I left.” She wanted to slap herself in the forehead. She’d left her kids with her brother and not only hadn’t she given either of the girls cash, she’d neglected to give any to Luc or Cassie for anything the girls might want.

Luc laughed. “I think I can manage to shout a movie or two. But you know popcorn doesn’t come cheap…”

Jody smiled as she knew he’d have expected her to. “Fine. I get the hint.”

“Good. Now I’ll put Leigh back on so you can grill her. Text me if you find out anything I should know. Catch ya tomorrow night.”

Leigh squealed in her ear. “I can go? Oh my God. You’re the best mum ever!”

She pulled the phone from her ear and waited for Leigh’s enthusiasm to calm down.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Leigh finally ran out of steam.

Jody brought the phone back to her head with a smile. “Not so fast. Who’s going exactly?”

“Oh, Jenny, Michelle, Monica, Erika, Drew, Claudia and Jason. Oh, and Monica’s mum is taking her little brother and sister to the same movie Cassie is taking Amy to so there’s plenty of adults going to be there.”

Jody loved that her daughter still felt comfortable with parental concern and supervision. She knew there’d be a day when Leigh wouldn’t want her to know what she was up to, but until then Jody would make the most of their open, close relationship to build a level of trust between them. “Say hi to Monica’s mum for me and make sure you mind your Uncle Luc and Cassie.”

“I will. Hey, Amy wants to say hi.”

She could hear the phone being passed to an excited Amy and wondered if she should pull the phone away so her other daughter didn’t burst her eardrum.

“Hi, Mum. You should see what I helped Cassie make.” Amy may have been animated, but unlike her sister, she didn’t do it at an ear-splitting decibel.

“What did you make?” Jody lowered herself to the bed behind her.

“These really cool paper-flower bouquets. They’re for some party next weekend.”

Jody knew the event Amy was talking about. It was a last-minute baby shower booking. “I can’t wait to see them.”

“Cassie said I could make an extra one for my room so you can see it.” Jody could hear the grin in Amy’s voice.

“That was nice of Cassie. Make sure you say thank you.” Jody jumped when Dan draped the blanket around her shoulders. Glancing over to the side, she saw he sat behind her listening to her conversation. Seeing him reminded her of what she’d done—what they’d done—and she couldn’t stop the ripple of fear that flowed through her. Amy’s voice jarred her out of her thoughts and a slam of guilt hit her. She should be paying attention to her child, not the naked man next to her. “Sorry, Amy, what was that, the phone cut out a bit.” It was a lie and Jody hated telling it.

“I was trying to describe my bouquet, but you can just see it tomorrow when you pick us up from Uncle Luc’s house.”

Dan’s hand landed on her shoulder and she shook it off and stood, putting some distance between them so she could keep her head in gear. “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow, baby girl. Love you. Hug your sister for me.”

“Bye, Mum.” Amy hung up before Jody could reply.

Jody replaced the receiver and wondered why they’d phoned the hotel and not her mobile. Gathering the edges of the blanket, she wrapped it more tightly around her and headed for her handbag. Rummaging inside, she found the reason her child had found it necessary to ring the hotel to track her down. Her battery was dead. She’d meant to plug it in when she got to the room, but Dan had distracted her. Boy howdy, hadn’t he. She looked at the clock and almost choked on her own tongue. They’d been in the room for over two hours and she hadn’t thought about anything except Dan and sex.

“I don’t think I like that look.” Dan moved beside her. Naked.

“Huh?” Jody tried to follow the conversation except her mind couldn’t focus on anything other than the very attractive male body in front of her. Her breasts grew heavy and her sex tingled and clenched in remembered sensation.

“You’re feeling guilty about something to do with your daughters.”

“How do you know that?” Was her face that revealing?

“I’ve seen the look before. My mother wore it a lot the year my sister slipped on the wet kitchen floor and broke her back.” He frowned, sadness pulling at the corners of his eyes.

“Oh my God, is she all right now?”

“Yeah, both of them are. Mum got over her guilt of being the one to drench the floor and Reagan’s back healed without major damage. She never played sport again, but her bones healed and she leads a normal life.”

Jody couldn’t imagine what it must have been like for Dan’s mother to go through something like that. Or his sister. “I don’t know what to say. My forgetting to charge my phone or leave the girls with money seems like petty issues now.”

“Oh, don’t go feeling guilty about doing what comes natural to a mother. That wasn’t my aim. All I wanted to do was explain why I knew what you were feeling and maybe make you feel a little less that way. Obviously I screwed that up.” He shrugged and headed for the bathroom.

Jody wasn’t sure what to do or say and found herself following him. “About earlier—”

He spun around, arm up, palm out. “Stop. Before you say anything you don’t mean or I don’t like.”

“Ah…”

“Let’s just get ready for tonight and not overanalyse the situation.”

“We can’t pretend it never happened,” she argued.

Dan stepped forward until he was right in front of her, his chest brushing against her hands where she held the blanket bunched in her fists between her breasts.

“I have no intention of forgetting—pretend or otherwise—what happened in this room this afternoon. But I’m not about to let you make me regret what we did, and I’ll be fucked if I let you either.”

Jody gasped. The firmness of his words, the confidence that radiated off him had her taking a mental step back. “I—”

He placed two fingers over her lips. “No. Don’t say anything.” Bending forward, Dan replaced his fingers with his mouth. The kiss was quick. Hard. And then he was turning away, leaving her floundering in confusion.

She didn’t know which she felt more. Guilt, shame or embarrassment. Or satisfaction. There was no ignoring the hum of contentment infusing every part of her with a lightness she hadn’t experienced in years.

For a long twenty-four hours, Dan had tried his hardest not to pressure Jody. The weekend hadn’t gone anything like he’d expected. There had been some good and bad, and as he loaded the last of their boxes into the van, he wasn’t sure if he dreaded the trip home or not. She’d barely spoken to him since their strained conversation the day before. They’d remained civil and pleasant in public and private, but the intimacy he thought they’d developed in those few stolen hours had proved as elusive as fog.

“We’re all checked out and I grabbed us each a bottle of water for the trip home.” Jody stepped up beside him and held out a plastic bottle.

He looked at the drink then back at Jody. Her eyes were a little wild—fearful—and he hated that it was him who’d put that anxiety there. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” She turned on her heel and headed for the passenger side.

Scrubbing a hand down his face, Dan wondered if he shouldn’t try to smooth things over. The problem was, he didn’t have a clue how to do that. He’d fucked up with that whole let’s-not-over-analyse-it
speech. He’d known it the minute the words left his mouth, but he hadn’t backed down. Instead, he’d gotten in her face and spoken without thinking first. It was even worse that his words were said in anger. She’d pissed him off when she’d assumed he wanted to pretend they hadn’t shared such an intimate moment.

She could hide or run for as long as she liked, but there was no way she could take back those hours of openness she’d shared with him. She’d let him in. Further than any man in a very long time, and if it was the last thing he did, he’d make sure she knew what that meant to him.

Fishing the keys out of his pocket as he made his way to the driver’s door, he decided to ignore the tension between them and carry on as though they hadn’t had a few heated words. Climbing in, he said, “What time do you have to pick up the girls, or is Luc dropping them off?”

“Oh, I’m picking them up.”

“Well, we better get on the road so you’re not too late. They’ve got school tomorrow, right?” Dan slid the key into the ignition and started the engine.

“Yes.”

He glanced at the dashboard clock. “It’ll take us three hours to get back to the warehouse, so you should be on your way to Luc’s by six.” Checking his mirrors, Dan pulled out of the parking spot.

“Six? We’ll have barely gotten back then, and we have to unpack.”

“I can do that. You need to get home to the girls. Spend some time with them seeing how you’ve been away all weekend.” He wanted her to know he understood and respected her role as a mother.

“I can’t let you do that.”

“Don’t be silly. It’ll only take me a few minutes to unload the equipment and then I’ll be heading home. We can both do the paperwork tomorrow in the office.” Dan wanted to give her space, not too much, but enough to forget the tension of the last two days and perhaps let the good bits float to the top of her memory.

“Are you sure?”

He smiled. The tone of her voice told him she wanted to accept his offer. “Yep. Besides, it’ll probably take me less time to unpack on my own than with you.”

She sputtered until he turned his grin on her. “Jeez. You had me going for a second there.” Her laughter filled the cabin and Dan breathed a sigh of relief.

Reaching over he turned the radio on. “Mind if I play a little music?”

“No, go ahead. I think I’ll text Luc and let him know what time to expect me.”

“Do you mind sending Cassie a text with the info about the date Mooney wants us to come back and do the second batch of staff?” he asked as he turned onto the expressway.

“Sure. Might be best if I just ring.”

“Probably.” Dan leaned over and flicked the volume on the radio down while Jody made the call.

She ended up on the phone for twenty minutes. Both girls wanted to talk to her after she’d spoken to Luc and Cassie, and from what he heard of Jody’s side of the conversation, her eldest wanted to have a sleepover next weekend. Jody had said no because she had to work Saturday afternoon. Dan could hear the yelling all the way across the cab. He glanced over to see Jody’s cheeks were bright red and figured she was embarrassed about her daughter’s outburst. With the skill only a mother had, she ended the call and the conversation.

“Teenagers. There’s no reasoning with them.” He tried to infuse his words with humour but he didn’t think he pulled it off.

“Mmm. Normally Leigh is the more reasonable of the two.”

“She’s the older one, right?”

“Yeah, fifteen. Amy’s two years younger.”

“I remember Reagan at fifteen. She was a hellion. I think my mother went gray overnight when my sister hit puberty.” Dan overtook a slow moving truck.

“We hit that a few years ago. I’m not sure what prompted that shouting match. I just hope she isn’t horrible to Luc or Cassie because I’ve gone from being the best mother in the world to the worst in the space of twenty-four hours.”