Then He Kissed Me (12 page)

Money was tight. I don’t ever want to leave my family in that kind of situation
.

Why had he confessed that to Lauren Donalan, of all people?

He’d have to think about that.

His cell phone buzzed. Ironically, it was Jessica. He hadn’t heard from her since she’d left to go back to Miami. He briefly thought of rejecting her call, but perhaps this was something important.

“Nate! Baby, how are you?” Jessica said. “I’ve been so
worried
about you.”

“Why? I haven’t been sick.”

“Oh, Nate, I’ve just been so busy with this big deal I’ve been working on and it’s like my head has been in the sand. I
just
saw the Youtube video! What the hell! How did that happen?”

“I have no idea. I suppose one of the diners must have taped my proposal.”

“Well, I’m not going to let them get away with it. I’m going to sue his or her ass for every penny they have. Let’s see how funny they think
that
is!”

Nate counted to five. “How have you been, Jessica? I hope everything is going well for you.”

“What? Oh, work is work and that’s helped some, but…the truth is, I miss you terribly.”

He had no idea how to respond to that. Luckily, he didn’t have to. Lola Davies came into his office. She stood by the open door, silent as a mummy with her hands on her hips, which was code for she wanted to speak to him.

“Sorry to interrupt you, Romeo, but your sister is here to see you.”

Lanie was here to see him in the middle of the day? That usually meant she was up to something. “Jessica, I need to go.”

“Hold on, I need to tell you—”

“It was nice talking to you.” Then before she could say anything else (because knowing Jessica, she would have more to say), he hung up. “Lanie’s in the waiting room?” he asked Lola.

“Employee parking lot. She refuses to come inside.”

Nate frowned. “Why is that?”

“What do I look like? The information police?”

“Why don’t you like me, Lola?” He probably asked her that almost every other day. One day he expected to get a real answer. As usual, she ignored the question.

“Let me go on record here as saying this a bad idea,” Lola said.

Nate closed his laptop. He’d have to finish reading the article later. “What’s a bad idea?” Before she could answer with another one of those deadly quips of hers, he stood and said, “Never mind. I’ll go find out for myself.”

She smiled. In that Cruella deVil way of hers. “Good idea.”

Nate took one step out in the employee parking lot and froze. Lanie stood by her car, and in her hands was a brown looking…blob. A blob that was wiggling and yapping and trying very hard to generally be cute. Only Nate wasn’t buying it.

“Absolutely no,” he said. “I already told you I don’t have time for a dog.”

“But this isn’t a dog. It’s
Hector
! Your soul mate. Named for the greatest warrior in all of Troy.” Lanie raised the puppy so that their faces were side by side. “Look how adorable he is.” She faked a sad expression and the puppy began licking her on the nose.

“If you love the dog so much, why don’t you take him?”

“You know I’m already over my limit at the apartment. One more dog and they’re kicking me out of the place. Although…that might not be such a bad idea. I could move in with you and we could get more dogs!”

Nate sighed. “What about Mom?”

“Mom has Charlie and you know how spoiled he is being an only dog and all. Besides, she’s making plans for her big Mediterranean cruise and she’s already stressing about being away from him for so long. Add a puppy in the mix and that might put her over the edge.”

Connie Miller wouldn’t go “over the edge” simply because she’d added a puppy to her household, but Lanie was right, Charlie was getting on in years and he was getting to be a lot of work for Mom. She’d agreed to go on the cruise but it hadn’t been an easy sell.

“But, sweetie, that’s your money!” Mom had said. “I don’t want you to spend it on me. You should save it.” He’d kissed her on the cheek and told her the money was tainted as far as he was concerned. “It’s cursed,” Lanie had added, making their mother smile in a way that said she knew was being played by her two children.

In the end, she reluctantly agreed to go on the cruise, but Nate suspected that deep down she was secretly counting the minutes until she got on the plane. She deserved a nice vacation and he didn’t want anything, including “Hector” to spoil it for her.

“Oh my God! Is that a puppy?” someone shrieked.

“He’s
sooooo
cute!” came another cry.

Nate turned around to see Bianca and Janie scurrying out the back door. They practically knocked him over in their rush to get to the puppy.

“He’s my brother’s new dog,” Lanie said. “Isn’t he adorable?”

“Can I hold him?” Bianca asked. Without waiting for permission she whisked the puppy away from Lanie. She turned to Nate. “Are you going to keep him in the office? Can I walk him?”

“Isn’t that a bit, um, unsanitary?” Nate asked.

“A cute little thing like this?” Janie said. “Absolutely not. You can get one those crates and put it right next to your desk. She’ll love it!”

“It’s a he,” Nate said. “His name is Hector.” He glanced over to see Lanie looking extremely pleased with herself. Two more members of the office staff came out to the parking lot to “see the new puppy.” They all fought over who was going to hold him next. Hector in turn, had that drugged puppy look in his eyes, tail wagging furiously, like he knew he was nectar and none of the bees could resist him.

Nate leaned back against his sister’s car, crossed his arms over his chest and watched the show in progress. The office staff barely tolerated him. If he turned away this puppy, they’d think he was Hannibal Lector.

“Oh, you’re good,” he said to Lanie.

His sister smiled. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

“C
an I have a
dog?” Henry asked. He was sitting at the kitchen table doing his homework while Lauren was making dinner and daydreaming about the dress that had popped into her head this afternoon. It was a simple design, a straight shift dress with a slightly flared skirt. She’d run into Kitty Pappas today at the Piggly Wiggly, and now that the news was out about Kitty’s pregnancy, she was happily flaunting it to the entire world by wearing her first maternity top.

Kitty had complained about the lack of “cute original” styles for pregnant women. That’s when the seed for the dress had begun to grow in Lauren’s mind. She’d already sketched out a pattern. The trick was finding the right fabric…

“Cameron says his dad is getting him a dog.”

Ha
. Lauren wondered if Mimi knew about that. She tossed some fresh basil into the spaghetti sauce and stirred. “Oh, hon, dogs are a lot of work. Why don’t we get a cat?”

Henry made a face. “Cats are no fun.”

“I had a cat when I was growing up and she was a lot of fun. Her name was Dinah, you know, after the cat in Alice in Wonderland. I used to dress her up and make her play dolls with me.”

Henry didn’t look impressed. Maybe she shouldn’t have mentioned the dolls. “My birthday’s next week. It could be my present,” he added hopefully.

Lauren had already gotten Henry’s gift—a new X-Box. It was wrapped and hidden away in her bedroom closet. It had cost more than what she wanted to spend, but Henry was turning twelve, and he was such a good kid. She sighed. “I’ll think about the dog, okay?”

“That always means no.” He bent his head and went back to his pre-algebra.

Lauren was about to protest when her front bell rang. It was almost seven and she wasn’t expecting anyone. She opened the door to find Nate Miller standing on her front porch. “Sorry to bother you, but I was walking Hector and we found ourselves on your street and I forgot to bring a baggy.” Nate motioned to the sidewalk in front of the house. “He did his business and I need to scoop it up. Neighborhood rules.”

Lauren glanced down to see a puppy on a leash. “Hector?”

“My new dog. Courtesy of my sister.” He raised the puppy off the ground—it was small and brown and completely adorable, its tiny paws clawing the air.

“Oh my God…that’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“That’s what all the women at the office said, too.”

Lauren laughed. Then she realized Nate Miller was standing at her front door and it was the longest conversation they’d had since
The Kiss.
He was dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt and he looked slightly embarrassed, like he wasn’t quite sure how he ended up at her house. He also looked completely sexy with those glasses and his tousled hair and just the barest beginning of a five o’clock shadow.

 “Do you want to come in? I’m making spaghetti.”
Ack
! Had she just invited him to dinner? What if he said no? What if he said he was back with Jessica? What if—

“Is that what smells so good?” He smiled and those dimples came popping out like weapons of mass destruction aimed straight for her girl parts.

Oh God
. It was official. She had a crush on Nate Miller. How on earth had
that
happened? She was thirty years old. Way too old to have a crush on anybody. More than likely it was simply that he was the last person to have carnal knowledge of her. Or rather, her lips, that is. The girls were right. She was a grown woman with needs. It was only natural that she would feel this…tingly thing in her stomach.

“It’s the garlic. It makes everything better. Or at least, smell better. Hector can come, too,” she added.

“Are you sure?” But he was already inside the house. He set the puppy down on the living room floor. Hector took a few wobbly steps then picked up momentum and began doing a jig in and around Nate’s legs before settling down to chew the hem of his jeans. “He’s pretty good inside. So far.” Nate bent down and shooed Hector away from making a meal out of his pants. The action made them both seem unbearably adorable. A good looking man with a puppy. It was a killer combo. So. Not. Fair.

“How long have you had him?”

Nate glanced at his watch. “Six hours, twenty-eight minutes and fourteen seconds. But who’s counting?”

“Who was at the door?” Henry asked from the hallway. He came into the living room, took one look at Nate and Hector, then paused. He looked to Lauren for guidance.

“Henry, this is Dr. Miller. We went to high school together.”

Henry extended his hand and Nate came forward and shook it. “Call me Nate. And this is Hector.”

Henry dropped to his knees. “Hey, boy.” Hector lanced himself at Henry’s chest and began licking his jaw.

“Nate is going to join us for dinner.”

“Hector, too?” Henry asked.

“Sure, the more the merrier, but no spaghetti for him,” Lauren said.

“Definitely no spaghetti for him,” Nate agreed. He glanced around and took in her living room. It wasn’t fancy, but she liked the look she’d achieved with her matching dark leather sofa and chairs and the colorful area rug and pillows. Tonight was chilly, so she’d taken advantage and built a fire in the old stone fireplace. The walls were painted a soft yellow and family pictures hung on the walls. It was cozy and warm and she could see from the look of appreciation on Nate’s face that he liked it, too. “Great place you have here.”

“Thanks. Hold on, I’ll be right back.” She went to the kitchen and returned with a disposable plastic bag and handed it to Nate, who then went outside to take care of, as he called it, Hector’s “business.”

“This is a cute dog,” Henry said, scratching Hector behind the ears. “Kind of little, though.”

“I suppose you have something bigger in mind?”

“Josh Simmons has a lab. They’re pretty cool dogs.”

“Don’t they shed?” Lauren asked.

Henry shrugged, like he didn’t know the answer, which meant that, yes, they probably did shed.

Nate came back in through the front door. “I found your garbage bin in the backyard and took the liberty of disposing the baggy in there.”

“Great.” They all looked at one another for a second like no one was quite sure what to do next, so they drifted into the kitchen.

Nate washed his hands in the kitchen sink. “Can I help with dinner?”

“Dinner’s pretty much done, but you can keep me company while we wait for the pasta to cook.” Lauren opened a bottle of wine and offered Nate a glass. She sipped hers and they played with Hector while Henry finished his math homework.

He noticed her sketch pad lying on the counter and he picked it up. “Is this another one of your designs?” He pointed to the sketch for Kitty’s dress.

“It’s just something I’m playing around with right now. It’s actually a retro maternity look.”

“Maternity, huh?”

She told him about running into Kitty Pappas and how she’d come up with the idea for a dress that was both comfortable, but slightly funky at the same time. “The retro look is for fun. Sometimes pregnancy can be hard on a woman’s self-esteem. You want to feel good and be comfortable of course, but the way we dress is one way that we tell the world who we are.”

“So you did it. You’re a fashion designer now,” he said. There was a hint of pride in his voice that made her feel all funny inside.

“I suppose you could say that.”

“I did just say that. You should think about selling these.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I mean, designing a dress is one thing. Making and selling them is another thing entirely.”

“I don’t know about fashion, especially women’s wear, but it seems to me you have a lot of talent. But more than that, if it’s something you like doing then you should seriously consider it. Not many people get to do the thing they really love.”

It was the second time now that he’d encouraged her to pursue her love for design into something more practical. It all seemed so easy when he said it. The kitchen timer went off, signaling that the pasta was ready.

“So, how do you know my mom, again?” Henry asked, once they were all eating. He seemed polite enough, but Lauren noticed a tiny kernel of suspicion, perhaps, in his otherwise friendly demeanor. Hector had fallen asleep on Henry’s lap and no one had the heart to move him.

“We went to high school together,” Nate said. He took a bite of the spaghetti and nodded in approval. “Good sauce. This is a nice treat from my usual take out.”

“Thanks,” Lauren said. Tonight’s menu also included a green salad and garlic bread. She and Henry usually didn’t do dessert during the week. She didn’t have any ice-cream in the freezer and it was obviously too late to whip anything up. She hoped Nate wouldn’t mind.

Relax
, she told herself. It was just a weekday dinner. But she couldn’t help feeling a bit nervous, just the same. His dropping by her place had seemed spontaneous, but he had to have thought about that kiss they’d shared. At least, she hoped he had. She’d hate to think she was alone in thinking it had been something special.

“Did you like, date my mom or anything?” Henry asked.

“No. But we had a couple of classes together,” Nate said, smiling at Henry.

“Did you
want
to date her?” Henry persisted.

Lauren nearly spit out her pasta.

But Nate didn’t seem fazed by Henry’s questioning. It was almost as if she was back in high school and Henry had taken on a paternal role, interrogating a would-be-suitor.

“Your mom dated your dad in high school. I don’t think anybody else stood a chance with her,” Nate said easily.

This seemed to mollify Henry. For about ten seconds. “Do you want to date her now?”

“
Henry
!” Lauren faked a laugh. “That’s enough with the questions! Nate is our guest.”

Thankfully, Henry didn’t press the question. Conversation resumed, and soon they were all talking about Hector and how big he’d be when he was fully grown, and Henry’s soccer team, as well as his upcoming birthday.

“So your birthday’s on February fourteenth, huh?” Nate said.

Henry rolled his eyes like he was embarrassed that he shared his birthday with a holiday as cheesy as Valentine’s Day. “Yeah. I want a dog, but Mom says she’ll have to think about it.”

“A dog is a big commitment,” Nate said. “As a matter of fact, I’m going to need some help. Maybe you can walk Hector? I would pay you.”

Henry perked up. “Really?” He turned to Lauren. “Could I, Mom?”

“Well, that’s awful nice of Nate to offer to pay you, but—”

“I wouldn’t expect him to do it for free, and only when it wouldn’t interfere with school or his other activities. I foresee that little guy needing a lot of attention, and frankly, I’m not sure I’ll be able to provide it all.”

“I suppose we could come to some…arrangement,” Lauren said.

“Cool!” Henry quickly finished his dinner and scooped up a sleepy Hector. “I’m going to take him for a walk now. So that he’ll get used to me.”

“Not too far,” Lauren said. “And don’t forget to bring a baggie. Just in case.”

Henry made a face. “Yeah, okay.” He clipped the leash on Hector’s collar and half dragged, half ran with him out the back door.

“Coffee?” Lauren asked once they were alone.

Nate leaned back in his chair. “No, thanks. I never drink coffee in the evening.”

“Is that part of your training?” she asked. “I notice you’re a pretty avid runner.” Then she felt her face go warm. She hoped he wouldn’t think she was stalking him or anything. But the truth was, ever since she’d seen him run by her house that one morning, somehow, she always found herself standing by her living room window between the hours of six and six-fifteen a.m., drinking her morning coffee, and just “looking” outside. She’d gotten a peek at him a total of three times now.
Oh, God.
Yes. It was official. She was a stalker.

“Training? Nah. I became a caffeine junkie during my residency and I’m still trying to break the habit. I sleep better if I avoid caffeine in the evening.”

He helped her clear the dishes. Twice, they bumped into each other (on purpose?) and Lauren got a whiff of his cologne. Her pulse skyrocketed and her brain turned to mush. She was
dying
here. She really was. Henry should be back any second. But she wanted to know the answer to that last question of his.
Did
Nate want to date her? What was he really doing here? It was now or never.

“I’m sorry about Henry and his…questions.”

“He’s a great kid. It’s natural he’d be territorial about his mom.”

“Territorial?”

“Sure. He’s sees me sniffing around and he’s suspicious.”

She tried for a light tone. “So that’s what you’re doing. Sniffing?”

His expression turned serious. “Absolutely. The dog was just a pretense. Well, it was also convenient that he chose the sidewalk in front of your house.” He hesitated. “May I ask you a question? What were you doing on a date with Ted Ferguson?”

She couldn’t help but cringe. “My mother set it up.”

“I hear she’s good at that sort of thing.”

They both smiled. Then he cleared his throat. “I know the evening didn’t end well, but I’m not one to make assumptions. You’re not dating him now, are you?”