Frisky Business (23 page)

Will grinned and reached for it. “Are we trading? Your shirt for my shirt, or weren’t you planning to give that one back?”

Marley glanced down at Will’s shirt wrapped around her torso, and felt a funny pang of longing. A stupidly sentimental part of her wanted to keep it. To go to bed with it tucked beside her pillow so she could fall asleep breathing in the scent of him.

“Pink isn’t your color,” she said, and tugged her shirt out of his hands. “And we should probably go home now, don’t you think?”

“We haven’t had dessert,” he pointed out. “I don’t mean that as a euphemism. Seriously, how many of those lemon tarts are in the basket?”

Marley rolled away and pulled his shirt off, tossing it to him as she pulled her own T-shirt over her head. She realized too late she’d pulled it on inside out, but decided she didn’t care. Spending even three more seconds topless in Will’s company could be deadly. She turned and dug her hand into the basket. She came up with two lemon tarts and held one out to him.

“Tart?”

“Tramp? Trollop? Hussy?”

She thrust the dessert at him as she brought her own to her mouth. “Joke all you want, funny guy. I got the last dessert.”

Marley bit into the pastry, her heart still racing with lust and terror and a million other emotions she couldn’t name.

It’s a good thing you got interrupted again
, her conscience told her.
Besides
all
the
other
reasons
not
to
get
involved, you’re now hiding the fact that you’ve lost his family heirlooms.

“Bad tart?” Will asked.

Marley blinked at him. “What?”

“You got very frowny all of a sudden. Either you don’t like the tart, or it’s something I did.”

“Just thinking about your aunt’s figurines.” Her own honesty surprised her, as did Will’s response.

“Any chance we could take a look at them while we’re here?”

Marley felt all the blood drain from her face. “What for?”

Will shrugged. “There was one figurine in particular that Bethany always liked. I’ve been thinking if it wouldn’t ruin the collection to remove one piece, I’d like to buy it back for her birthday.”

“I’d love to, but the pieces are being cleaned right now. Some other time?”

Will was studying her so intensely, Marley had to fight the urge to look away. At last, he nodded. “Some other time then.”

***

The drive home was a quiet one. Will wasn’t sure whether to blame the post-meal stupor, the awkwardness of another near-miss hookup, or something else entirely.

It’s the something else that has you worried.

He’d seen Marley’s face when he’d asked about the figurines. He didn’t doubt there was something to what Aunt Nancy told Bethany about the empty safe. But what was going on? And what role did Marley play in it?

“Here we are,” Will said as he pulled up the driveway of the condo. “I’d offer to do the gentlemanly thing and walk you to the door, but my intentions aren’t gentlemanly and I’d hope to get a lot further than the door.”

Marley smiled. “I appreciate your honesty.”

“I’m nothing if not honest.”

Marley didn’t respond, and Will stole a look at her. He’d been baiting her with the comment, and the way she bit her lip now told him he’d hit a nerve.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Just preoccupied about work.”

“Anything you want to talk about?”

“Not really.”

Okay then…

Will sighed and pulled the e-brake. Not volunteering information isn’t the same as lying, he reminded himself.

Tell that to any guy who’s ever discovered his wife enjoys playing tickle-the-lint-trap more than batter-dip-the-corndog.

Will glanced at Marley again and said a silent prayer of thanks she couldn’t read minds. “So are you still planning to go mountain biking with April and Bethany next weekend?” he asked.

Marley looked at her hands and sighed. “I’d like to, but…”

She let the words hang there for a moment, leaving Will to fill in the blank on his own.

“But you actually hate biking and would sooner saw off your own arm with a rusty bread knife than get on a bicycle again anytime this century?” he guessed.

Marley laughed and looked out the window. “I want to like biking, but my last two experiences haven’t gone so great. Maybe I’m not cut out for it.”

“Once you get past the butt bruising, the busted frame, the expensive repairs, the bad dates with bike repair guys, and being stuck at a restaurant with a locked-up tandem bike and no way home, it’s really quite an enjoyable hobby.”

“It’s sounding a lot less fun the more we talk about it.”

Will cleared his throat, then hesitated. “You know, Marley, you don’t always have to base all your decisions on what you think other people want you to like.”

She turned to look at him, her eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly, and Will felt the temperature drop inside the Volkswagen. “Thanks for the armchair psychiatry. That’s enlightening, coming from a guy who can’t have an emotional conversation without cracking penis jokes.”

“That’s unfair,” Will said. “I like to think I made a broad range of sex jokes encompassing all manner of genitalia.”

Marley sighed. “Look, there’s no point in psychoanalyzing one another. We’re both a little fucked up. At least we’re being honest about it.”

“Honest. There’s that word again.”

She folded her arms over her chest. “Is there something you’re trying to say?”

Will hesitated, then shrugged. “Not really. You?”

“Nope. You want to have a discussion about your trust issues now, or can we just call it a night?”

“Tempting, but I’ll pass.”

“Okay then.” Marley reached for the door handle. “Thank you for the amazing dinner, Will. It was a hundred times better than my real date turned out to be.”

He smiled. “My pleasure.”

“Be sure to thank April for the food. It was wonderful.”

“I’ll let her know.”

Marley’s hand was still on the door handle, but she hadn’t pulled it yet. He waited, giving her a chance to fill in the silence. To come clean with whatever secrets she might be hiding.

“Good night, Will.”

“Good night. Tell Magoo hello for me. And tell your dad—well, on second thought, it’s probably best if your dad thinks you spent the evening with Plaid Neanderthal.”

“Or with a roving gang of pedophiles and crack dealers.” She grinned. “Take care, Will.”

“You too.”

She hesitated again, then leaned toward him. For an instant, Will thought she might be angling for a passionate embrace. He was willing and able and starting to reach for her when Marley’s lips landed on the edge of his jaw.

The kiss was so soft, so gentle that Will ached from the sweetness of it. When she drew back, her cheeks were flushed. He ached to reach for her again—just to feel her lips on his skin one more time—but Marley pulled the car door open and stepped out.

“Good night, Will. Thanks again.”

“Sweet dreams.”

She closed the car door softly behind her. She was halfway up the driveway when the front door of the condo flew open. Magoo came scampering out, his fuzzy paws an excited blur as he scrambled toward his mistress. Will smiled as Marley dropped to her knees and began to scratch behind the dog’s ears.

“Good boy! Such a good boy! What a very good—”

Marley froze. Will watched her whole body go stiff, and the profile of her smile vanished so swiftly it might not have been there at all. Her eyes were fixed on a spot at the edge of the porch, and Will followed her gaze, expecting to see her father or maybe Curtis waiting at the front door.

Instead, a middle-aged woman with frizzy blond hair stood at the edge of the front step, a timid smile tugging the corners of her mouth. Will watched as the woman opened her arms wide and called to Marley.

“Baby. Sweetie. It’s so good to see you. It’s been so long!”

Will looked back at Marley, who was still frozen on her knees in the middle of the concrete driveway. She blinked at the woman, then turned slowly to face Will.

Her expression was somewhere between dumbfounded and terrified, and Will half expected Marley to run back to the car and order him to drive away fast in a hail of gunfire. Will reached for the car keys in the ignition, not sure whether to rev the engine and leave or jump out to come to Marley’s aid.

Marley stood up, her face pale with shock. She brushed her hair out of her eyes as the woman walked toward her, arms outstretched.

“Mom,” Marley said, and turned to look at Will again.

Half of Marley’s brain was telegraphing a message to her mother to go back into the condo and wait a few minutes to let her dumbfounded daughter collect her thoughts.

The other half of her brain was telepathically ordering Will to stay in the car and drive far, far away as fast as possible.

Apparently, Marley needed to work on her powers of thought transference.

“Who is this darling young man?” Judy called as she clasped Marley in a giant bear hug and rocked back and forth while peering over her daughter’s shoulder. She drew back and nodded toward the car, where Will still sat looking uncertain. “Marley, why don’t you invite your date inside so we can get to know him better?”

“He’s not my date,” Marley protested, wrestling one hand free from her mom’s embrace to wave farewell to Will. Maybe that signal would be enough to let him know he needed to hit the road.

“Nonsense. Your father said you were out on a date with a bicycle mechanic, and I’ve been waiting all evening to get a look at him. At least invite him in for a quick hello.”

“Mom, he’s not—”

But Judy was already prying open the door of Will’s Volkswagen, not willing to take no for an answer. Will raised one eyebrow at Marley as Judy grabbed him by the arm and towed him out of the driver’s seat. “It’s so nice to meet the lucky young man who caught the eye of my baby,” Judy said, wrapping her arms around Will for a hug.

Will kept his focus on Marley, a question in his eyes. Marley wished like hell she had the answer to that question and a lot of others. For starters, how the hell had her mother gotten out of jail?

Please
don’t let her say anything
, she thought.
Not
now. Now while Will’s here.

Sensing Judy was about to release Will from her hug, Marley forced herself to walk down the driveway to stand beside her mother.

“Will, this is my mom, Judy Cartman. Mom, this is Will Barclay.”

Judy drew back to study Will, looking like a maniacal produce inspector who’d squeezed too many bananas. “So you’re a bike mechanic,” Judy said. “I think that’s just wonderful. Marley’s always been afraid of bicycling, so it’s delightful to see her branching out and—”

“Will isn’t the bike mechanic, Mom.” Marley shot Will an apologetic look as she pried her mother off him. “Will is a friend who came to rescue me when my date with the bike mechanic didn’t work out.”

Will nodded and took a step back. “Ma’am. Pleasure to meet you.”

“Well that’s just wonderful!” Judy gushed, appraising Will with even more enthusiasm than before. “A real knight in shining armor, coming to Marley’s rescue like that. It’s so nice to know she has someone taking care of her.”

Marley gritted her teeth, wishing the ground would swallow up one of them—her, Judy, Will—it didn’t actually matter at this point.

“I’d rather take care of myself,” Marley said. The second the words were out of her mouth, she felt like a petulant toddler.

Judy shook her head and put an arm around Marley’s shoulders. “You’re always taking care of other people, sweetie. Isn’t it nice sometimes to let someone else step up to the plate for you?”

She smiled knowingly before releasing Marley, who had a serious urge to snatch Will’s car keys and make an emergency getaway in his Volkswagen.

Before she could act on it, Judy grabbed Will by the hand and began pulling him toward the condo. “Come on inside, you two. Your father and I were just sitting down for a drink and catching up on old times. I couldn’t believe he got married again—can you believe it? How many times is that now—four, five?”

“Six,” Marley said, dragging her feet as she followed behind and prayed for a nuclear disaster. Will looked over his shoulder at her, offering a sympathetic look.

“Ms. Cartman,” Will began, “I don’t want to interrupt your family reunion, especially if it’s been a while since you and Marley have seen each other.”

“Nonsense,” Judy said, pushing him into the condo’s foyer as Marley followed meekly behind. “What better way to catch up with my daughter than by meeting one of the young men she’s been keeping company with here in Bend?”

Marley could think of at least three dozen appropriate ways to catch up with an estranged daughter that didn’t involve hijacking a date that wasn’t actually a date.

“Mom, I think Will has someplace he needs to be.”

“Oh, this will only take a second,” Judy said. “Have a seat right over there, son. Can I get you a glass of wine?”

Marley’s dad looked up from the other end of the couch and watched the peculiar procession filing into the condo. He frowned as his eyes fixed on Will.

“You?”

Will stuck his hand out. “Pleasure to see you again, sir.”

Magoo danced happily around Marley’s ankles, unaware he was witnessing the world’s most awkward family reunion. Marley’s jailbird mom, the ex-husband who abandoned her, and the daughter with a whole closet full of secrets.

Marley shot another look at Will and wished he could be anyplace else. He caught her gaze and smiled. Marley returned the smile without thinking, as a teaspoon of dread leaked out of her psyche. She sighed and trudged after her mother.

“So, Mom,” Marley said, trying to keep her voice from shaking. “It’s been, what? Five, six years?”

“Something like that, dear. Will, honey, would you like red wine, white wine, or bourbon?”

“That’s
my
bourbon,” Marley’s dad objected from the couch.

“None for me, thank you,” Will said, settling on the opposite end of the sofa and resting his hands on his knees. He looked like a man preparing to see a tawdry made-for-TV movie, which wasn’t too far off the mark. Marley couldn’t decide whether she wanted to hit him or kiss him, so she settled for offering him a drink he might actually like.

“I’m having blueberry iced tea,” she announced as she pulled two glasses from the cupboard. “Will?”

“Yes, please.”

Once they were all seated in the living room with sweating glasses in their hands, Judy beamed at Will. “So you’re having intimate relations with my daughter?”

Marley choked on her tea. “Mom!”

Her father frowned at his ex-wife. “He’s what?”

“Oh, pish.” Judy smiled and took a sip of her wine. “It’s obvious from looking at you two that you’re on intimate terms. I think it’s lovely. The art of lovemaking is a wonderful and beautiful thing, and in the confines of a committed relationship—”

“Mom, please stop.” Marley took a sip of her iced tea as Magoo jumped onto the couch beside her and curled himself in a protective donut around her feet.

Judy ignored her daughter, keeping her focus on their guest. “So Will, if you aren’t the bike mechanic, what is it you do for a living?”

Will twisted his glass around in one hand but didn’t take a drink. “A little of this, a little of that.”

Marley and her father rolled their eyes in tandem.

“He’s a deliveryman,” Walter said.

“He’s a millionaire,” Marley said.

Father and daughter glowered at each other. Judy went right on beaming.

“Millionaire deliveryman?” she said. “Well, yes, I suppose if you own stock in UPS or Fed Ex or—”

“Mom, Will doesn’t like discussing his career or finances with strangers.” She looked at Will, whose expression was unreadable. “Or with anyone.”

Marley’s mother fluttered a hand to her chest in feigned surprise. Or maybe the surprise was real. It was possible, considering how oblivious Judy could be in social situations. What the hell was she doing here, anyway? She wasn’t due to be released for six more months. But maybe the parole hearing had gone better than expected. The state’s prison system was overcrowded, and Judy was a good candidate for early release.

Will cleared his throat. “It’s lovely to finally meet you, Ms. Cartman. I can see where Marley gets her beautiful smile.”

“Please, call me Judy,” she said, settling back a little into the leather armchair she’d selected. Walter watched, seemingly perplexed to see his first ex-wife making herself at home in his condo.

“So Will,” Judy began again. “I understand from my ex-husband that Marley has been making an effort to date men whose value is measured in the content of their character rather than the content of their wallet. Where do you fit into the plan?”

Marley opened her mouth to say… well, she really wasn’t sure what to say. But Will beat her to it.

“I don’t actually fit into the plan at all,” Will said. “I do volunteer work for several organizations Marley’s been involved with, so we became acquainted in a professional capacity. We also interact socially from time to time.”

“Oh, volunteer work.” Judy smiled. “That’s so nice. Very important to be charitable, don’t you think, Marley?”

“Absolutely,” Marley said for lack of anything better to say.

Judy turned back to Will. “It’s important to us as her parents that Marley have friends with the utmost moral standards and strength of character. Tell me, Will, have you been married before?”

“
Mother
,” Marley hissed, gripping the arm of her chair.

“Divorced, actually,” Will said. “Four years now.”

Marley’s father scowled. “Divorced? I don’t know how I feel about that.”

Marley resisted the urge to punch her father in the shoulder.

“But with the volunteer work,” Judy argued, “he’s clearly an upstanding citizen.”

Walter looked at Will. “Have you ever been delinquent on an account, declared bankruptcy, or been refused credit for any reason?”

“Oh, please,” Judy scoffed, taking another sip of wine. “You’re forgetting the more important questions, like police records, college education, political affiliation, whether he conforms to a vegan lifestyle—”

“Stop it, you two!” Marley snapped, setting her glass down hard on an end table and looking from one parent to the other. “Listen to yourselves. A serial philanderer and a convicted criminal giving lectures about moral standards and the sanctity of marriage. Dad thinks I should be dating for financial stability, and Mom thinks I should be dating for a Nobel Peace Prize, but neither of you seems to think I should be dating for
me
.”

There was a long silence as Walter and Judy looked at their daughter as though she’d grown a third ear. Will took a sip of blueberry tea but said nothing. Marley released her grip on the arms of her chair and closed her eyes.

“A simple
please
stop
harassing
the
houseguest
would have been better,” Marley muttered through gritted teeth.

“Not really,” Will said.

***

Will knew he’d never admit it to anyone, but the moment Marley came unhinged in front of her parents?

Sexiest. Thing. Ever.

Of course, she was still hunched on the sofa with her face in her hands, so the lusty appeal was subdued. Seeing her like that made him want to take her in his arms and tell her everything would be okay, but he knew that wasn’t the right move. With both parents demanding she find someone to take care of her, the last thing she wanted was him swaggering up to the plate.

But he couldn’t just sit there while Walter and Judy looked at her as though she’d just piddled on the sofa. Even Magoo seemed distraught as he tucked his stub-tail between his legs and buried his nose under Marley’s arm.

Will stood up, gripping his iced tea in one hand. “Marley, would it be possible to get a to-go cup?”

Marley pried her hands from her eyes and blinked up at him. “What?”

The sight of those hazel eyes brimming with guilt and embarrassment nearly unhinged him, and he forgot for a moment what he intended to say.

“I love your blueberry tea, but I really do need to head to another engagement,” Will said. “Is there any chance I could put this in some sort of container to take with me?”

Lame, Barclay. Very lame.

But Marley stood up, her legs looking a little shaky as she trudged toward the kitchen. “Sure, no problem. Would a recycled water bottle be okay?”

“Perfect.” Will followed after her, with Walter and Judy still frowning with confusion from their perches in the living room.

Good,
Will thought.
Give
them
some
time
to
consider
the
folly
of
dictating
their
grown
daughter’s love life.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Will leaned against the stove and smiled at Marley. “Fun times with the family.”

Marley sighed and stood on tiptoe to reach an upper cupboard. “It’s a long story.”

“I have time.”

“I thought you had to be somewhere.”

“I lied.”

“You’re not the only one.”

Will studied the side of her face, wondering if that was another slip of the tongue or just an expression.

Marley turned to face him, a plastic water bottle in one hand and a resigned look on her face. “My father is on his sixth wife. My mother has a criminal history. Suffice it to say, I don’t have the best role models for integrity and marital longevity.”

“At least they seem to want the best for you. Their methods are a little heavy-handed, but they mean well.”

Marley sighed and grabbed the full glass of tea from his hand. “And that’s why I feel awful, and why I probably need to go back out there right now and apologize.”

“Maybe not right now,” Will said, leaning against the counter. “You weren’t so far off base in your lecture. A little harsh maybe, but not uncalled for.”

“I’m a horrible daughter.”

Will raised an eyebrow. “Is there more to this story?”

Marley shrugged and began to pour Will’s tea into the wide-mouth bottle “There’s always more to a story, isn’t there?”

“Evasive much?”

“It’s just—” Marley frowned and screwed the lid onto the bottle. “Never mind. I wish you hadn’t been here just now.”

The fragrance of blueberry tea was making him a little dizzy, as was Marley’s roundabout reasoning. What the hell was she talking about?