Seducing the Old Flame (27 page)

Jason burst into his dad’s room, ready to tackle Tabby, but the
room was empty.
 
What the?

He stepped back into the hallway and saw Eva Johnson.
 
Eva was in her sixties and suffered from a
broken hip.
 
She was a short-timer whose
family had decided to leave her.
 
Damn
shame.

“Mrs. Johnson, you seen my dad?”

She patted his hand.
 
“His
new lady friend took him for a walk.
 
She’s a purty thing, too.
 
He’s
not looked at me twice since she started coming around, hanging onto his every
word,” she grumbled.

Mrs. Johnson and his dad?
 
Who knew?
 
Possibly not even his
dad.

“How long’s she been coming around, Mrs. Johnson?” he asked,
pretty sure he already knew the answer.

“’Bout a month or so.
 
Sneaks him in chocolate milkshakes.”
 
Eva Johnson sighed.
 
“That one’s a
clever one.
 
How’s an old lady supposed
to compete with chocolate milkshakes?”

Jason shook his head.
 
He
was the wrong man to ask.
 
He’d rather
have a chocolate milkshake than Mrs. Johnson’s attention, too.
 
But now if it were Tabby, well, nothing cold
and sweet would ever stand a chance.
 
Not
even on the hottest day in Hades.

Hell.
 
He was pissed at
her.
 
Furious.
 
She was sneaking around seeing his dad.

He rounded a corner and stopped short.

Tabby sat at a table across from his dad playing cards with two
other residents.
 
All men.
 
Of course.
 
All totally enraptured with the woman laughing and flirting with them
all.

Who could blame them?

Hell, he was enraptured, too.

He couldn’t make out everything they were saying, but enough
that he knew Tabby and his father were winning and the other two men didn’t
have sense enough to care.
 
Just kept
smiling their pleasure at being in Tabby’s company.

Maybe they had more sense than he’d given them credit for, after
all.

What could Tabby possibly gain by visiting his father and a
bunch of old men at an assisted living facility?
 
If she wanted male attention, all she had to
do was walk into any room.
 
All male eyes
zoomed in on her no matter where she went.

Tabby slapped a card down and laughed outrageously at something
one of the other men said.
 
His dad
winked at her, shaking his head at his friend’s antics.
 
His dad looked happy, whole.
 
Not a shell of a man as he’d looked for
longer than Jason cared to remember.

Tabby did that to a person.
 
Brought them to life, made them complete.

She looked up, her startled gaze clashing with his.

She didn’t bother looking guilty, nor did she give any other indication
that she’d noticed him.
 
She smiled in
that Tabby cat way of hers and finished the game of cards, keeping the men
entertained as they played.

Any anger Jason had felt at Tabby long melted away before she
stood, kissed each man’s cheek, then wheeled his father’s wheelchair out from
the table.
 
She pointed his father’s
attention toward him.

Recognition lit, along with a smile.
 
“Jason, you should have gotten here sooner,
son.
 
Tabby and I just showed two old
coots how poker was really played.”

“Wasn’t strip poker by any chance?”

Tabby’s gaze narrowed as if she were trying to judge his
mood.
 
“Nah,” she finally said.
 
“I tried, but couldn’t talk the guys into
it.”

His dad winked at her and proceeded to tell Jason about the game
and what an awesome poker player Tabby was.

Jason fell into step beside them as Tabby pushed the wheelchair
back toward his dad’s tiny apartment within the facility.

Mrs. Johnson lingered in the hallway outside his dad’s room and Jason
smiled at her.
 
She flashed a smile at
him, a scowl at Tabby, and a blush at his dad, who did a little blushing of his
own as he said hello to the widow Johnson.

Jason bit back a laugh.

He opened the door and let Tabby roll his father in.

And wasn’t surprised when Mrs. Johnson invited herself in, plopped
down on the bed, and beamed at his father.
 
Within minutes, Tabby and Mrs. Johnson were deep in conversation and
darn it if Tabby hadn’t charmed the older lady too within minutes of showering
the woman with attention.
 
Amazing.

“Well, I’ve got to be going.”
 
Tabby stood from his father’s bed.
 
“Had to bring some work home tonight and it’s not going to get done
unless I get on it.”

“You should be married, raising kids, not working all night
long.”
 
His dad shot him a meaningful
look.
 
“Tell her, Jason.”

Jason gulped, met Tabby’s gaze and with a heartfelt sigh knew that’s
exactly what he wanted.

Tabby as his wife, having his babies.

He’d walked into her apartment and found her with another man.

Which really didn’t make sense as she’d been expecting him.
 
If she’d wanted to cheat why choose when she
was guaranteed to get caught?

Unless she’d wanted to get caught.

And then so many things clicked in his mind.

Tabby had wanted their relationship to end, but hadn’t known
how.
 
Or maybe she’d worried that he wouldn’t
let her, rightly so, and she’d ended things the only way she’d known how.

The fact she’d slept with another man had been what kept him
from putting their argument behind him.
 
She’d known he wouldn’t be able to forgive infidelity.
 
She hadn’t wanted him to forgive or fight for
their relationship, to put their argument behind them.

She’d just wanted out.

But she’d come back to him.
 
Maybe she hadn’t realized that’s what she’d done by showing up at his
apartment, but like a bird set free, she’d found her way back home, to him.

The past didn’t matter.
 
Only the future.
 
Any future
without Tabby was just sublime, lackluster.

In some ways he’d been as guilty as she two years ago.

They’d both had a lot of growing to do, a lot of changing,
realizing what was important.

Tabby was what mattered in his life.

Above and beyond anything else.

“You should be married, having babies, Tabby-cat.”
 
He didn’t add “My wife.
 
My babies.” but from the shocked look on her
face he knew she got the message.

Good, because he didn’t plan to let this night end without her
knowing how much he cared for her.

Tabitha took a step back; almost falling onto the chair she’d
just stood up from.

No.
 
Jason hadn’t just
said that he wanted her to be his wife.
 
Have his babies.

Impossible.
 
She was
dreaming.

Yet the light in his eyes, the warmth, the unadulterated emotion
had Tabitha thinking maybe the impossible had happened.

She wasn’t quite sure she believed the passion in Jason’s
eyes.
 
Not just sexual passion, not even
the passion he looked at her with two years ago.

This was deeper, more powerful, more real.

“Jason, I—” she began, watching as his lips turned up in a
smile.
 
An I’m happy to just be with you
smile.

“I’ve got to go.”
 
Why she
said those particular words, she wasn’t sure, but panic filled her veins, made
her lungs clamp down, and she thought she might pass out if she didn’t have
fresh air fast.

Jason’s gaze narrowed slightly, but the warmth remained.
 
“I’ll walk you to your car.”

Tabitha kissed Aaron’s cheek, winked conspiratorially with Mrs.
Johnson, and met Jason’s gaze.
 
“Okay.”

She walked into the hallway and waited for him to tell his
father goodbye.
 
When he joined her, he
didn’t speak, just slipped his hand around hers, and gave a reassuring squeeze.

Tabitha’s gaze dropped to their joined hands.

This is how it should have been
all along.
 
Us, together, for all time.

In the parking lot, Tabitha stared at the big white truck parked
next to her car.
 
He’d known she was
inside the facility when he came in.
 
Had
to have.

“You knew I was here?”

“When I saw your car.”
 
He
stopped between their vehicles, next to her driver side door.
 
“I’ll admit I wasn’t happy about finding you
here.”

Tabitha winced.
 
She’d
kinda figured that.
 
“I’ve visited your
dad a couple times a week since…well, you know.”

“Yeah, I know.”
 
He stared
down at her and shook his head.
 
“I’m
damned jealous cause you haven’t visited me a single time and I’ve missed you
like hell.”

She closed her eyes, nodded.
 
“I’ve missed you, too, Jason.
 
So
much.”

He lifted her hand to his lips, pressed a kiss to her
fingertips.
 
“What am I going to do about
you?”

“Love me?”

“I do.”

Her stomach fell to the pavement and her heart flip-flopped in
her chest.

“You do?”

He traced the outline of her face, his callused fingers gentle as
he rubbed over her skin.
 
“I’ve always
loved you, Tabby.
 
Always.”

She closed her eyes.
 
“Me,
too.”

He gasped and she’d swear he swayed.
 
“Say it.
 
Say the words.”

“That I love you?” she asked.

He nodded, cupping her face with both hands, staring into her
eyes with those warm chocolate eyes.

“I love you, Jason.”
 
Her
voice broke, but he didn’t seem to care as he pulled her to him and held her
close, kissing the top of her head.

She trembled against him.
 
Or had he trembled against her?
 
She wasn’t sure but the quiver had rumbled through her regardless of
where it had originated.

“I’ve waited a lifetime to hear those words.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve never heard them before because I won’t
believe you,” she halfway teased.

“Never from you Tabby.
 
Never from you.”

“Oh.”
 
She hugged him
closer, breathing in his rich, earthy scent, feeling it overwhelm her
senses.
 
“I’ve always loved you, Jason.
 
I didn’t realize how much until I saw you
again last month.
 
I never stopped loving
you.”

“I know just how you feel.
 
I couldn’t believe I wasn’t dreaming when I opened my door and saw you
there.
 
Having you in my arms, my life,
again, was a dream, Tabby.
 
The best
dream.”
 
He hugged her to him.
 
“I don’t want to let you go.”

She didn’t want to let him go, either.
 
Not ever again.
 
Had they matured enough to keep from
traveling down the same broken path they’d trod before?
 
She hoped so and that hope would be enough
for now.
 
She smiled against his soft
denim button up shirt.
 
“Then don’t.”

“Let’s go to my place,” he urged.

Tabitha took a steadying breath.
 

It would be so easy to say yes, or to offer to let him come home
with her, to spend the night in her bed.
 
But she wanted more than sex.
 

She wanted forever.

“Not a good idea.”
 
At his
furrowed brow, she stretched and kissed his cheek.
 
“I want more than a night from you, Jason.
 
A lot more.”

He smiled again, a forever kind of smile.

“Good, because that’s what I want too,” he growled and went to
kiss her.

Tabitha pulled back.