Seducing the Old Flame (15 page)

Jason wondered if Dad would since he didn’t remember his own
name on some days.

The year before Jason met Tabby, his father fell a hundred feet
from a steel rafter.
 
His body broke in
so many places that it was amazing he’d lived.
 
He had, if you could call this mind coming and going existence living.

Jason never knew from one visit to the next if he’d be dealing
with a father who loved him or a man who saw him as a complete stranger.

Still, he visited at least twice weekly.
 
Lori, too.

“It’s Tabbycat, but you can call me anything you like,
Sugar.”
 
Tabby leaned forward and kissed
the opposite cheek from Lori.
 
“How are
you doing, Mr. Kelly?”

“Mr. Kelly is an old man.
 
Or Mr. All Business over there.”
 
He gestured toward Jason.
 
“Call
me Aaron,” his dad shamelessly flirted from his wheelchair.

Jason shook his head in wry humor.
 
Some things never changed.
 
Tabby’s affect on men, whether old or small,
seemed to be one of them.

“Silly me.”
 
Tabby winked
and added, “Aaron.”

“Hey, Dad.
 
You trying to
steal my girl?”
 
Jason stepped up and
shook his old man’s hand.

“In a heartbeat, son, in a heartbeat.”
 
He smiled at Tabby.
 
“I always did wonder why you let this one get
away.
 
Glad to see you had enough sense
to win her back.
 
Make sure you hold on
this time.
 
Doesn’t say much for her
taste that she’s with you again though, does it?”

“Dad,” Lori scolded, patting her father’s shoulder.
 
“You’re going to scare Tabitha away.”

Aaron eyed Tabby, grinned, and shook his head.
 
“Nah, this one doesn’t scare easily.
 
She’s made of tougher stuff.”

“Oh, what makes you think that?” Jason asked, sitting down in a
chair across from his father’s hospital style bed.

“She’s got backbone.
 
Spunk.
 
Always did remind me of
your mother, God rest her soul.”

Tabby like Mom?
 
Not in a
million years.
 
But he wouldn’t point
that out to his dad.
 
Odd, most of the
time Dad’s memory was all gone or all there.
 
He wouldn’t point that out either.

“Mom was a great lady,” was all he said.

“Did your therapist come by today?” Lori asked, changing the
subject.

“Yep,” Aaron scowled.
 
“That old crow is determined to snap my legs off yet.”

“What did she do this time?”

It was a conversation similar to the ones they had every
Saturday.
 
He and Lori both visited
separately during the week and together on Saturday evenings.
 
It wasn’t near enough, but when working six
and seven days a week, he couldn’t manage more.

Lori was right.
 
He was
working too much.

He should manage more.
 
Lots more.
 
This was his dad.
 
He should be able to stop by as many times as
he wanted.
 
Not just when it was
convenient to his workaholic schedule.

Why had he not realized that before?

Maybe he had.

After all, he’d been ready to move on to the next stage of his
life by asking Annie to his apartment to discuss her daycare plans.
 
To ask her to stay for dinner and hope it led
to something more serious.
 
Like
marriage.

Now the thought of spending the rest of his life with the kind,
cute, petite Annie didn’t appeal.
 
Not in
the slightest.

He liked leggy, bosomy redheads with a smart mouth and a flirty
wink.

Annie would bore him to death now that he’d had another taste of
Tabby.

Damn it all to hell.

Now he’d have to start over on looking for a woman to share his
life.

Tabby watched the torrent of emotions cross Jason’s face.
 
He was thinking about his father’s
comment.
 
The one about her being like his
mother.

Jason thought his mother a saint.
 
A real honest to goodness June Cleaver.
 
He probably hadn’t taken kindly to the
comparison.
 
June Cleaver Tabby wasn’t.

But she wasn’t that bad, either.
 
Well, maybe during the time she and Jason dated, she had been.
 
But time changed her, she’d grown and, for
that matter, so had Jason.

His fist clenched then unclenched as if he struggled with his
thoughts.
 
Okay, so she wasn’t the type
to name her kid Wallie and ‘the Beave’, but she wasn’t exactly some psycho
witch either.

What was she thinking?
 
She didn’t want kids.

Did she?

Her gaze landed on Jason and her uterus clenched as surely as
his fist had.

Damn it.

What was wrong with her?
 
She’d asked for one weekend, not the rest of Jason’s life.

She had to stop her current train of thought and remember why
she was here, for sexual healing.
 
Nothing more, nothing less.

Otherwise her heart would break when she left tomorrow
evening.
 
Who was she kidding?
 
She might be healed sexually after their
weekend, but she’d also be leaving her heart behind.

Either way, she didn’t regret this day.
 
This time with Jason.
 
She’d seen sides to him she hadn’t known
existed.
 
Sides she liked.
 
Sides she wanted to explore in detail.

Had they been there all along and she’d been blind to them?

Possibly.
 
She’d been so
busy protecting her heart she’d closed herself off to a lot of things about Jason.
 
Done a lot of stupid things to keep him from
getting closer.

She’d intentionally driven him away.
 
In more ways than just the final deathblow to
their relationship.

Now, her reasons for doing so seemed shallow, selfish.
 
Fear of pain, of hurting, led her to destroy Jason’s
love.

He had loved her once upon a time.

How could she have been so foolish?

Her eyes met his and she bit into her lower lip to keep it from
trembling.

Was it really too late to start over?
 
And over as what?
 
Friends?
 
Lovers?
 
More?

“Bye, Tabitha.
 
It was
wonderful seeing you again.”
 
Lori hugged
her in the parking lot in front of Jason’s apartment building.

“Same here.”
 
Tabitha
hugged her friend back, breathing in Lori’s flowery perfume, and feeling the
real warmth of the embrace.
 
Lori meant
her words and Tabitha felt the same.
 
“Call me and we’ll go for lunch.”

Jason stiffened beside her but didn’t comment on the
invitation.
 
Was it wrong to want to keep
Lori in her life?

She wouldn’t shut Lori out this time.
 
She wouldn’t make the same mistakes twice
regardless of what happened between her and Jason.
 
Somehow things would fall into place the way
they were supposed too.

She and Jason watched as Lori got in her car and drove
away.
 
Wordlessly, they took the stairs to
his second story apartment.

She glanced at her watch.
 
Nine o’clock.

This time tomorrow she’d be back at her apartment.
 
Back to being without Jason.
 
Unless she begged him to give her more
time.
 
Would he even agree?
 
He had other plans.
 
Plans that included Annie and not Tabitha.

“I wonder what She-cat has been up to?” she asked, hoping to
lighten her melancholy thoughts.

“She’s a cat, so no good I’m sure.”

“Now, now.
 
You’ve really
got to get over this aversion to felines.”
 
She turned and tapped his shoulder.
 
“For that matter, did you really call me a bitch?”

He grimaced.
 
“I’m sorry
you had to endure Lori’s non-stop chatter tonight.”

“Which doesn’t answer my question.
 
Well, I guess in a round about way it
does.”
 
She inhaled a deep breath of air
and laced her fingers with his.
 
“I’ll
let it slide this time.
 
Just because
telling the truth shouldn’t be held against a person.”

“You continue to amaze me, Tabby.”

“I’m an amazing woman,” she teased, not sure how else to handle
his comment.

He chuckled.
 
“That you
are.”

Unlocking his apartment door, he held it open for her.
 
“I’d offer to check on She-cat and let you
sit down, but I doubt you’d take me up on it.”

“You’re right.
 
She’s my
cat.
 
I should be the one to see how much
trouble she managed to get into while we were gone.”

Meow.
 
Meow.
 
Meow.

“I think someone missed us.”
 
Jason opened the bathroom door and She-cat scrambled out of the room so
fast Tabby only saw a streak of splotchy fur.

She made a mental note that her new cat was claustrophobic and
didn’t deal well with being locked up.

Great.
 
That should make
coming home from work fun.

“Hell,” Jason cursed.

Tabitha glanced around the bathroom, noted the shredded bottoms
of the shower curtain and winced.
 
“I’ll
pay for them.”

“It’s my fault.
 
I’m the
one who forgot he had plans.
 
If I’d
canceled with Lori ahead of time this never would have happened.”

“You did the right thing visiting your dad, Jason.”
 
She shook her head at the shredded curtains,
running her finger over a tattered run.
 
“She’s my cat.
 
I’m responsible
for her.
 
I’ll replace the curtains.”

“It’s really no big deal.”

They both stared at each other in amazement.

“Can you believe we’re disagreeing without screaming at each
other?”

“Not really,” she admitted.
 
“Must be some kind of record for us.”

“Must be.”
 
He
grinned.
 
“Come on.
 
Let’s go see what super heroine cat is into
now.”

Tabby sank onto the sofa and kicked off her shoes.
 
She-cat eyed her suspiciously from the opposite
end.

“Sorry about that girl, but we couldn’t leave you to have free
reign over Jason’s apartment.”

Free reign like what she wanted.

She came here for one purpose.
 
To find happiness and get over her bored blahs, to find sexual healing.
 
She’d not even had sex for over twelve hours.

“She forgive you yet?”
 
Jason
grinned and handed her a soda.

Tabitha shook her thoughts away and smiled.

“Not yet.”
 
She sipped
some of the fizzy drink.
 
“That’s
good.
 
Thanks.”

“Maybe you should bribe her with some of the pizza.”

“The vet said to only give her that high protein, high calorie
stuff until after he’s rechecked her next week.”

Jason rolled his eyes and sat down beside her, sandwiching her
between him and the cat.
 
“The cat has
been living off garbage and any kill she can make.
 
I don’t think a slice of pizza is going to hurt
anything, do you?”

“Yuck.”
 
Tabby curled her
nose.
 
“I guess you have a point.
 
She did beg for some earlier, although she
seems oblivious to it now.”

“That won’t last long.
 
Open the box lid and take a piece out.
 
I bet your new friend will be in your lap in no time flat.”

Tabitha opened the pizza box and pulled out one of the remaining
two slices.
 
She-cat’s head perked up,
but the cat didn’t move, just blinked in annoyance.