Catch 'n' Kiss (Are You Game?) (14 page)

She glanced at the clock and groaned. Four in the morning and she’d barely slept. Disturbingly dirty dreams of her and Dan doing every single one of her secret fantasies kept waking her up in a frenzied state that had her breath harsh and her body aching. Tomorrow was going to be bad if she couldn’t manage a few more hours sleep. As it was, the alarm went off at six so she could shower and get ready for work before she dragged the girls out of bed and got them moving.

With a sigh, she threw her arm over her face. Hours ago, on the long drive home, she’d decided the thing with Dan couldn’t go anywhere. She had her girls, a job she loved and family and friends who filled her life with as much happiness as she needed. And then Dan had rocked her world—again—with a single phone call. The man was lethal to her sanity. Every time he was around or she thought about him she did something out of character—like having an orgasm in a parking lot for God’s sake.

Moaning, Jody rolled over and stared at the wall. The picture that hung there should remind her of all the reasons she should keep her distance. It was one of her favourite pictures of her and the girls. They were all laughing and happy, and it wasn’t until now that she could see the sadness of the image. Colin hadn’t been able to make the family-portrait sitting. Even back then, barely five years into their marriage, she should have walked away. Instead, she’d stuck it out for another five.

Hindsight was all good and well, but it didn’t change the fact that she’d wasted most of her adult life on a man who’d never loved her or the girls. Her biggest shame was she’d picked a man who couldn’t—or wouldn’t—connect emotionally to be the father of her children. She’d overcompensated for Colin’s lack of involvement over the years and she honestly thought she had a stronger bond with her girls because of that. Still, she wished they had an interested dad in their lives.

After another ten minutes of lying in the dark wide awake, Jody gave up on sleep and figured she’d catch up on things around the house that had gone undone over the weekend. She started with her bathroom and moved on to the girls’ one in no time. Heading for the kitchen next, she wiped down cupboard doors and counters, finishing with the stove. Opening the fridge, she decided to put a slow cooker on for dinner and quickly found some carrots and sweet potato to toss in with the steak she pulled out of the freezer.

While the steak defrosted in the microwave she chopped the veggies along with a couple of onions and threw them into the crockpot. She pulled the meat out before it was fully thawed and cut it into cubes. A litre of stock and a few herbs and spices and she turned on the power and switched the machine to low. By the time the girls got home from school it would be ready. She’d leave a note to ask them to turn it off and some money so they could walk down to the local bakery and get a crusty loaf of bread to go with it.

Satisfied she’d been productive instead of lying in bed mentally flipping through her messed-up life she smiled. Next she’d tackle the washing. It didn’t take her long to realise the washer was broken. Again. Last time it had been a coin caught in a hose. The machine wasn’t even a year old. She’d have to ring the repairman first thing tomorrow—no, today—and beg Luc to use his if she couldn’t get hers looked at before Wednesday.

Heading back to her room to get her phone, Jody wondered what else she could do to occupy her until it was time to get the girls up. She grabbed her phone and went back to the kitchen where she opened her bag and pulled out the paperwork from the weekend and spread it out on the breakfast counter. Putting a memo in her calendar to ring the repairman, she quickly got to work finalising the weekend’s papers.

It took longer than expected because her mind kept wandering off on a Dan tangent every few minutes. The man had definitely taken over her thoughts in recent weeks. Ever since he’d laid that first kiss on her, she’d been helpless to stop her memory and imagination from bombarding her with real and dreamed-up pleasure to be found with him. He was trouble whether she gave in to him or fought against him.

Disgusted with herself for losing track of what she was meant to be doing yet again, she tossed down her pen and pushed her stool back with a screech. She’d grab a shower now. With any luck, the hot water would wash away all thoughts of a certain man and everything he made her feel.

The day had been tense. Dan hadn’t brought up last night’s phone call and neither had Jody. But for all the personal apprehension and strain between them, they’d worked together seamlessly and finalised the weekend’s job and locked the second date on the calendar. Dan had spoken to Mooney and emailed the questionnaire Cassie wanted the first group of employees to fill out. Those would be returned by the end of the week so now he could put the file away and call it a day.

Jody was on the phone and as he didn’t want to leave without talking to her and possibly heading out together, he waited. He couldn’t help overhearing her conversation and it didn’t take him long to work out her washing machine was broken and the repairman couldn’t fit her in until next week. When she hung up the phone with a sigh, he ventured over to her desk and rested his hip on the edge.

“I could take a look at that washer for you.”

She glanced up. “What?”

“Your washer. I worked for my dad all through my teens and he ran a repair business, so I’m pretty handy when it comes to fixing anything mechanical.” Dan smiled. He tried not to let his need to spend more time with her leak into his voice.

Jody’s forehead crinkled, her eyebrows rising almost to her hair line. “Really?”

Her scepticism didn’t sit well with him. “Yep, and because you’re obviously convinced I can’t fix it, I’ll add an incentive to take me up on my offer. I’ll buy dinner for you and the girls, and if I don’t have the machine working by the time you finish eating, I’ll buy you a new one.”

She rolled her eyes. “Jeez, what is it with men and proving they can fix things?”

“What do you mean?” Had someone else offered to repair her broken washer?

“You and Luc. He’s already tried to convince me to let him look at it.”

“Does he know anything about the mechanics of a washing machine?”

“Probably not, but that wouldn’t stop him from pulling it apart if I said yes. But never mind that, the damn thing is less than a year old, so it’s covered under warranty. I’m pretty sure I’d void that by letting you look at it.”

“Probably, but what if it’s something simple that me fixing wouldn’t void the warranty, and you wouldn’t have the expense of calling out the service company.” Dan was reaching. Unless she’d forgotten to plug the machine in and switch it on, she’d still have to call the repairman or risk voiding the warranty even if he could fix the problem.

“Thanks, but no.” Jody bent over and retrieved her handbag. “Now if I don’t head home and get organised I won’t get to Luc’s before midnight, and if I don’t have a washer for the rest of the week I need to wash tonight.”

“Isn’t Luc a thirty-minute drive from where you are?”

“Yes, why?”

“Well, my place is only about ten and my washer works. Drier too.” Dan held his breath.

“You’re offering to let me use your machines? What’s the catch?” She eyed him sceptically.

“No catch. Well, other than you actually have to spend time with me outside of work.” He grinned.

“Why?”

“Why not?” He wasn’t sure why Jody needed a reason, but he’d give her one. “It’s just one friend loaning their washer to another. No strings.”

“In my experience there’s always a string or two.”

Dan held up his hands. “Nope, no strings.” He grabbed a pen and her sticky note pad, and scribbled down his address. “Here. If you want to take me up on my offer I’ll be home all night. If not, no worries.”

Jody eyed the note then met his gaze again. “You really do only live ten minutes from me.”

“Yeah, a lot closer than your brother’s place.” Dan pushed to his feet. “Anyway, come or don’t, doesn’t matter to me, but with the girls having to get up for school tomorrow, I would think cutting some time off your evening might guarantee them getting into bed at a reasonable hour.”

Dan got all the way to the door before she stopped him.

“Wait.” She hustled to catch up with him. “If you’re serious I’d love to use your washer, but there’s one condition.”

He didn’t think it was the kind of condition his body craved. “Shoot.”

“I’ll bring dinner.”

“I don’t—”

She grabbed his arm. “Please. It’s already made anyway. I put a hotpot together before I left for work this morning. I’ll just bring it with me. Oh, and the girls. I don’t like leaving them home alone at night.” She smiled.

“What time should I expect you?” Dan wasn’t about to argue. If she felt comfortable enough to introduce him to her kids he wasn’t about to say anything to make her change her mind.

“Seven? That gives me time to get home, gather the dirty washing, dinner and the girls.”

“Great. See you then.”

Chapter Eleven

Jody wasn’t sure what Leigh’s latest outburst was about. She’d been hostile from the moment Jody had gotten home. Amy on the other hand was being the perfect child. She wouldn’t have worried if they weren’t currently pulling up to Dan’s house. There was nothing worse than a child misbehaving in front of others, and Jody turned in her seat to look at both girls.

“Please be on your best behaviour. Dan has been kind enough to let us use his washer and drier, so I don’t want to thank him by bringing a couple of naughty kids into his house.”

“Then why’d you bring us?” Leigh sat in the front seat, arms crossed and a frown on her face.

“Why wouldn’t I bring you?” Jody asked.

“Because we might cramp your style.”

“What? Why would you say something like that, Leigh?” Jody was flabbergasted. Who was this child and where had her pleasant daughter gone? One weekend away for work and she’d turned into a monster.

“Never mind. You don’t get it.” Leigh grabbed the door handle and yanked it open.

Before Jody could reply, Leigh slammed her way out of the car and stomped towards Dan’s front door. What the hell was going on?

Amy sighed dramatically from the backseat. “Sometimes she’s so selfish.”

Jody turned to look at her youngest daughter. “Why do you say that?”

“Because Leigh wants to be home so that
Benji
can ring her.”

“Benji?”

“He’s some stupid boy at school that’s going to ask her out or something.” Amy’s cheeks flushed with colour. “I overheard her talking to Monica on the way home.”

Ah, so Leigh had finally discovered boys. Jody took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She’d been dreading the whole boys talk and she had hoped for another year of ignoring that particular subject, but obviously she couldn’t put it off any longer. The girls both knew the basics, they’d had those talks often enough. But Jody had avoided talking about dating, what was okay, what wasn’t, and what to expect from any boy interested in them.

Jody found it mildly amusing that both she and Leigh were dealing with interest from the opposite sex. Then again, she hoped Leigh wasn’t dealing with the same level of interest. She didn’t want to even think about the possibility of her daughter having sex yet. Christ, she was only fifteen. Except she’d heard kids were becoming sexually active a lot younger now days, and the thought of her child being one of them terrified her.

“Mum, are we going to sit here all night?” Amy asked.

“Oh, no.” Jody pulled the keys from the ignition and put them in her pocket as she climbed out of the car. By the time she’d opened the tailgate on her SUV, Dan was beside her.

“Here, let me carry that for you.” He reached in and picked up the basket of dirty clothes. “Is that dinner I smell?”

“Yes. It’s just a basic beef stew.” Jody didn’t want him to think she’d gone to any trouble on his account.

“Nothing basic about that smell. My taste buds are already watering with anticipation.” He grinned at her then walked towards the house. “C’mon, I’m starving.”

Jody followed Dan into a nicely decorated house. Most of what she saw had a woman’s touch and it suddenly struck her that he might have a woman in his life. Her gaze darted over to him to find he was watching her carefully.

“Do you like it?” He indicated the living room with the lift of his chin. “My mum and sister helped me decorate when I first bought the place.”

Relief swamped her. She wasn’t sure what surprised her more. The fact she’d never thought to ask if he was involved or the spike of jealousy that had stabbed her in the belly when she thought of him with someone else. “It’s great. Very homey.”

“That was what my mum said they were going for. C’mon, let’s get a load in the washer and then we can have some of that yummy smelling food.” He turned and headed down a ceramic-tiled hallway. “Girls, there’s a Play Station and computer down this way in the family room,” he called over his shoulder.

“Oh, no. I didn’t even introduce you to the girls. Dan, this is Amy and Leigh.” Jody felt her cheeks heat with embarrassment as she pointed to each of her daughters in turn.

Dan paused and spun around to face them. “It’s nice to finally meet you both. I’ve heard so much about you from your mum, Luc and Cassie that it feels like we’ve already met.” He smiled. “C’mon, I’m sure I’ve got a game or two you’ll like.”