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“I’m sorry it’s late,” he told her.
“Don’t be silly. You were out of town for my birthday. I know that. And you really didn’t have to buy me anything. I got the most gorgeous bouquet of flowers from all the Fitzpatricks.”
Sean shrugged, his gaze riveted to the fingers lazily stroking the silver latch on the music box. “The flowers were from my family,” he said dragging his eyes up to her face. “I wanted to give you something from me.”
“I…thank you.”
The friendly sass that had been in her eyes all evening gave way to a soft yearning that made his blood heat. Desire, tucked safely away throughout dinner, sneaked out, tempting him. Sean tightened his grip on the glass in his hand and stood. “How about some more wine?”
“No, thanks,” Katie told him, and carefully placed the music box on the table amid the nest of wrappings. Then she stood and went to him. Reaching out, she stroked his cheek. “Thank you, Sean,” she whispered, then pressed her mouth to his. It was a simple kiss, over almost before it began, but it sent desire shooting through him like heat lightning. “I’ll treasure it always.”
She backed away, retreating until she came up against the swing and sat down. Not until she’d pushed off on her back foot and set the swing to swaying was he finally able to untangle his tongue.
The silence stretched between them for several awkward moments, then Katie cut him a narrow-eyed glance. “You know, Fitzpatrick, it just occurred to me that this dinner and that music box might actually be a bribe.”
“A bribe, huh?” he said, welcoming the teasing and the break in tension that came with it. “And just what would I be bribing you for, Malloy?”
“Well, knowing what a sneaky man you are, maybe you thought that if you plied me with a great dinner, let me stuff myself with that sinful cake and gave me such a fabulous gift, that maybe I’d let you off the hook about doing the investigations for me like you promised.”
“The thought never crossed my mind.”
“That’s good. Because I’m not letting you off the hook, pal.”
Try as he might, he couldn’t sustain the light humor. “Katie, about this baby business—”
“Tonight when you lit the candles on the cake and told me to make a wish, do you know what I wished for? I wished that by this time next year, I’d have a baby. I know you don’t agree with this, Sean, but as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted that package. You know—husband, wife, babies—a family. A psychologist would probably say it’s because I didn’t have the family I wanted as a child with my parents divorcing, my stepfather cutting out on us and stuff. And they’d probably be right. But I always knew that someday I would have a family like…well, like yours.”
She tore at the napkin in her fingers. “Well, it hasn’t happened, and it isn’t going to—at least not the husband part of it. But I still want the babies, Sean. Sometimes I think it was because I wanted to have children so much that I talked myself into thinking I was in love and getting engaged twice. I think I wanted to get married so I could become a mother.”
It broke his heart to hear the sadness in her voice, to see it in her eyes. Family was something that he’d always taken for granted, and it was something that Katie had never really had. Sean put down his wineglass. “Honey, I understand what you’re saying. But—”
“You don’t agree with me on this. I know that, and I understand. Really, I do. But I know what I’m doing, Sean.”
Frustration knotted like a fist in his stomach. “You’re a young woman, Katie. You deserve more than stud service from some guy who’ll be happy to get you pregnant and then more than likely split on you. You deserve the whole shebang—love, marriage, babies, white picket fences.”
“You’re talking about fairy tales. I stopped believing in them and in Prince Charming a long time ago.”
“Maybe you just haven’t found your prince yet.”
She gave him a smile that was meant to be cocky, but came across as impossibly sad. “Believe me, I’ve kissed my share of frogs, even got engaged to two of them, remember? But not one of them ever turned into a prince. I don’t want—no, I refuse to put my life on hold and wait for someone who probably doesn’t exist.”
There was an aching loneliness in her voice that ripped at him. “Whatever happened to that little girl? The one who believed in knights and fairy tales and magic?”
“She grew up.”
And because she had grown up, she knew not to read anything into the sexual voltage that kept zinging between her and Sean. Oh, it had always been there on her part. It was pretty hard not to have fantasies about a man like Sean. But fantasies were all that they were. She’d gotten used to feeling that heat suck low in her belly every time he was near her, and she’d gotten good at hiding it from him. So what if he seriously kissed her a time or two—she was too smart to let that romantic heart of hers start spinning fairy tales again. Sean wasn’t interested in her in that way. He was simply being a good friend.
And it was out of friendship, she knew, that he was still trying to talk her out of her plans to have a baby thirty minutes later.
“I don’t like it, Katie,” Sean told her as he paced to the end of the deck. “Not one bit.”
“You’ve made that pretty clear—more than once already.” Katie released a weary sigh. “But whether you like it or not doesn’t matter. I’m going to do this-with or without your help. Just tell me whether I need to find someone else to handle the investigations or not.”
“I said I’d do it, didn’t I?” he snapped, coming to a halt in front of her. “Where’s the list?”
She retrieved the slip of paper from the pocket of her shorts, unfolded it and handed it to him. He glared at the names a moment, then straddled the chair next to her. “All right. Tell me everything you can about each of these guys.”
A glass of wine later, Katie leaned back against the patio chair. “That’s about it. At least, it’s everything I know.”
Sean scowled at the notes he’d made next to the names on her list, then glanced up and fixed her with stormy blue eyes. “It’s not a hell of a lot—especially considering what you’re planning. The longest you’ve known any of these guys is six months.”
“Sean,” she said, a warning in her voice.
“All right. All right.”
“Is it enough for you to work with?”
“I guess it’ll have to be, won’t it?”
She refused to justify her decision to him again. Besides, even if she were to try to explain, she doubted Sean would understand. She didn’t want to be disappointed again or to be the one to disappoint. So, why couldn’t Sean accept that? “Can you do the investigations with the information I’ve given you? Or do I need to try to get social security or driver’s license numbers?”
“And suppose I do need those things, how did you plan to get them? By swiping wallets like you threatened?”
Katie flinched at the derision in his tone. Hurt, angry, she snatched the list from him and stood. “Just forget it. I was right yesterday. I never should have asked you to help me in the first place.”
“Aw, hell!” He caught her by the wrist before she’d taken two steps. “I’m sorry,” he told her.
When she didn’t reply, he sighed. “Give me back the list,” he urged, holding out his hand. When she didn’t respond, he plucked the sheet of paper from her fingers. But instead of releasing her, he led her over to the swing and sat down. When she remained stiff and unyielding, he said, “Come on. Sit with me. Just for a minute.”
She continued to stand. So he tugged, pulling her down beside him. Then he set the swing in motion. “A lot of the stuff in an investigation like this is basic, and I’ll be able to get a good part of what I need from public records,” he explained. “I’ll access most of the data with my computer. The internet is amazing. I’ve also got some contacts with the DMV and the police department that I can use to check for driving violations, complaints, outstanding arrest warrants, and stuff like that.”
Hearing him talk about arrest warrants and police records sent a chill of uneasiness down Katie’s spine. She brought her free hand to her throat. She couldn’t imagine any of the men she was considering as a father for her child or for that matter any man she even dated, being a criminal. True, she hadn’t known them long and only dated them casually. But each man had been a gentleman with a responsible job and had been a pleasant and companionable date. Each claimed to like children, and from the talks and discussions that they had shared, she’d learned that each man shared her views about raising a child. In short, on the surface each candidate appeared to be ideal daddy material.
Sean jammed the slip of paper into his shirt pocket. “I’ve got enough here to get started, so I don’t want you to even think about playing Mata Hari. Okay?”
“All right.”
Shoving off with his foot, he gave the swing another push and sent them swaying in a slow, languid motion. Still holding her wrist, his thumb moved in small, lazy circles over the inside of her wrist, causing her pulse to scatter. The sun had long since slid from the sky. Stars dotted the heavens, creating thousands of pinpoints of light. Moonlight spilled over the deck, enveloping them in its soft glow.
“H-how long will it take you to run the background checks?” she asked, and nearly cringed at how husky her voice sounded.
“The basics won’t take long at all. But making inquiries about a man’s character, especially discreet ones, isn’t always easy or fast.”
“I know what I’m asking isn’t easy,” she said, turning her head to look at him.
“But not too hard.” His lips curved into a slow smile that made her ache. “I guess it would have been a lot simpler for both of us if you’d just left my name on the list, huh? At least you already know all the secrets in my closet.”
He dropped his gaze to her mouth, and butterflies started a dance in her stomach.
Maybe the sparks flowing between them all evening hadn’t been exactly one-sided. And maybe she hadn’t imagined the leap of desire in his eyes when he watched her. And maybe she had better just put a lid on these fantasies. Somehow Katie managed to laugh. “If that’s your not-so-subtle way of offering yourself so that you can get out of doing the investigations, you can forget it, pal. I’m not buying it.”
“No?” He released her hand and eased his arm around her shoulders in a move so smooth she barely noticed it until his fingers began to stroke her bare arm.
“No,” she whispered.
The swing slowed to a stop. The fingers on her arm had somehow managed to find their way to the back of her neck, where they were working their way up her nape. “Why not?”
“Because. because we’re friends.”
Sean’s fingers sieved through her hair, urging her closer. Katie’s breath hitched. She pressed a hand against his chest, where his heart beat beneath her fingers faster than a stockbroker’s tape. “Sean, I don’t think this is a good idea.”
“You’re right. It’s a lousy idea,” he told her, his breath a whisper against her lips. “In fact, it’s a flat-out crazy idea. No way should we do this.”
“I agree,” she murmured.
But knowing they shouldn’t do this didn’t seem quite enough. Katie didn’t know which of them moved first, but suddenly Sean’s mouth was on hers—touching, tasting, taking. All the warnings she had been repeating to herself since he had kissed her the last time simply flew out the window-along with her common sense.
When that first soft kiss deepened, then slid into another kiss and deepened yet again, the blood fired in her veins, and Katie could have sworn she heard bells ringing. Sean wrapped his arms around her while his tongue tempted and teased her to open the seam of her lips, dared her to taste him.
She took the dare. He moaned, a hungry sound of need that sent ripples of pleasure sluicing through her bloodstream. She clung to him as he dove deeper for another taste. Her tongue tangled, danced with his. He tasted like wine, sharp and earthy, like chocolate, smooth and sweet. He tasted like danger and sin. He tasted like magic and dreams. He tasted like Sean. No one could taste like him. No one else could make her feel as he did.
She heard the bells ringing again and reminded herself that she’d given up on wedding dreams. This was Sean—not some prince or white knight come to rescue her from loneliness. She was his friend—not some beautiful princess or damsel in distress who needed rescuing. It was hormones, the moonlight, the wine that had him kissing her like he wanted her, like he needed her, like there was no one else in the world for him but her. She wasn’t Sean’s type, never had been, never would be. She was a smart woman, too smart to believe that any of those things had changed, too smart to let this go on any longer.
But then his hands ran up and down her spine, sending delicious sensations climbing through her, and her traitorous body refused to listen to her at all. Instead she moved closer, asked for more.
He gave her more, kissing her deeper still. When he crushed her to him, pressed his hardness against her, she heard the blasted bells ringing again.
Sean lifted his head, said her name on a groan. Her body was vibrating with desire. She felt like she’d just weathered a tornado and was willing to try it again. Her eyes still closed, she simply held on to him. Thank heavens the ringing bells had stopped, she thought, as she opened her eyes and looked at him.
He cradled her face in his hands, and in the moonlight his eyes were black with need. “Katie,” he whispered against her mouth.
“Sean?”
Katie’s heart slammed to a stop at the sound of a female voice calling his name.
“Sean, honey? It’s Heather.”
Three
Sean made a strangled noise in his throat at the sound of Heather’s voice. Talk about timing. A shudder went through him. The clip had disappeared from Katie’s hair, leaving thick auburn curls falling about her neck and shoulders. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes soft and dreamy. The pink lipstick on that troublesome mouth of hers was gone. She looked like a woman who’d just tumbled out of a man’s bed. The thought sent another jolt of desire knifing through him. Somehow sanity reared its head, and he gripped her by the shoulders and set her away. “Good Lord, what am I doing?”
Katie stiffened beneath his hands, but he didn’t let her go. Drawing another deep breath, he struggled for control. What on earth was he thinking? This was Katie. Katie!
“Sean?” Heather called out again, her voice closer.
“I’m sorry.” He cringed the moment the words were out, but it was too late to take them back. “What I mean is I didn’t plan for that to happen. I don’t know what came over me. Or why I—”
“It’s okay,” she said, scrambling off the swing.
“It’s not okay.” And it wasn’t. Even with only the light of the moon and the deck to aid him, he couldn’t miss the color staining her cheeks, or the way panic had stolen into her eyes. Sean stood and caught her arm as much to steady her as to stop her from running. Because she was poised to run.
“Guess that’s what we get for drinking all that wine,” she said, in a voice as forced as the smile on her lips.
“I’m not sure we can blame the wine. I—”
“There you are,” Heather said breezing through the doorway and out onto the deck with a foil-wrapped dish in her hands. “I rang the bell, but you didn’t answer. Then I saw your truck, and decided to try the door. I thought I’d take a chance and drop by. I never did hear back from you today,” she accused.
“I, um, I’m sorry. I got tied up.”
“Well, I guess I’ll forgive you this time,” Heather said, a pouty look on her face, her thick lashes sweeping down over her baby blue eyes. She swished and swayed her way over to him. “Oh, hello, Katie,” she said, barely sparing Katie a glance. “Would you be a sweetie and hold this for me while I tell this fellow hello?”
Not saying a word, Katie took the dish from Heather and turned away.
His eyes on Katie’s retreating back, Sean barely heard Heather say, “I’ve missed you,” before she had her mouth locked on his.
Removing Heather’s arms from around his neck, Sean cut the kiss short, which apparently didn’t please Heather, but didn’t stop her from launching into a litany about her busy schedule. Sean tuned her out. How was it possible that for the past three months the voluptuous blond aerobics instructor had inspired such lust in him? Looking at her now, in the barely there, white shorts and cropped T-shirt that clearly displayed her ample assets, left him cold. Yet looking at Katie with her long legs and skinny curves had him breaking out in a sweat. It didn’t make a lick of sense.
“Sounds like you really have been busy,” Katie said.
“Oh, I have.” Heather slid her gaze over to Katie who stood next to the table where she had placed Heather’s dish. “How have you been?”
“Fine. I see you’re looking fit as usual.”
“Thanks. I’m conducting six classes a week at the body gym now. You should think about coming. I have one class where we work on muscle tone. You might find a toning class would help you fill out a bit.”
“I’ll think about it,” Katie said, but Sean could have strangled Heather for the remark. What was wrong with a narrow torso and lean curves? They certainly suited Katie.
“Oh, my,” Heather said, spying the wine and cake plates on the table. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”
“As a matter of fact, Katie and I were having dinner,” Sean told her.
“Oh,” Heather replied, another pretty pout forming on her lips. She slanted a glance to the foil-covered dish on the table. “I didn’t realize you’d made plans. I brought you one of my veggie casseroles. I’d hoped we could share it.”
“Actually, we finished dinner a while ago,” Katie informed her. “And you know Sean.the man’s always hungry. He’s probably ready for a snack already, and the casserole sounds wonderful.”
Heather beamed. “It is very good, even if I do say so myself.”
“Well, I’ll just get out of your way and give the two of you some privacy.” Katie began gathering the wrapping paper and ribbon and stuffing it into the box that had held her gift.
“You don’t have to rush off,” he said.
“I’m not rushing off. I’ve been here all evening, and I’m sure you and Heather have some catching up to do. But thanks, anyway. Dinner was great, and the gift is beautiful.”
“Gift?” Heather repeated. Suddenly alert, her eyes darted like a laser to the music box Katie was carefully packing away. “Sean gave you a gift?”
Katie looked up. “Yes. A music box for my birthday.”
“How sweet,” the blonde said, relaxing. “You’re lucky. My brother never remembers my birthday.”
“I’m not Katie’s brother,” Sean informed her, for some reason irritated by the comment.
“Oh, I know that. But the two of you are such good friends, and you told me yourself how you practically grew up together. You’re almost like brother and sister.”
“I really do have to go,” Katie said.
“No, you don’t.” At both women’s surprised expressions, Sean said more calmly, “I mean, I’m sure there’s enough of Heather’s casserole for the three of us.”
“Thanks. But I’m stuffed, and I’ve got a busy day tomorrow. I was planning to turn in early tonight.”
“It’s not even nine o’clock,” Sean argued, ignoring Heather’s obvious displeasure at his reluctance to have Katie leave. He sensed Katie’s awkwardness and wasn’t sure if it was because of Heather or the kiss. Somehow things had gotten all mixed up again, and he wanted to straighten them out.
“I know it’s early, but I’m really tired. It’s been a long day, and tomorrow’s going to be even longer.”
“Don’t worry, we understand,” Heather told her, linking her arm through Sean’s. “It was nice seeing you again, Katie. Oh, and happy birthday.”
“Thanks.” Katie barely spared Sean a glance as she said, “Don’t worry about seeing me out. I know the way.”
“Excuse me,” Sean said to Heather and followed Katie to the door. “We still have a few things to go over regarding that matter we were discussing,” he told her, aware that Heather had followed him and was eyeing the exchange from a short distance.
“Um, why don’t you just give me a call and let me know what else you need? If I’m not home, you can leave a message, and I’ll get back to you.”
“What about the rest of your cake? Don’t you want it?” he asked, barely able to keep the irritation from his voice.
She didn’t even bother turning around to look at him. “Why don’t you and Heather finish it?”
“Katie…”
But she was already out the door and scurrying into her apartment next door. Sean stood there for a moment and contemplated going after her. They needed to talk. He had a bad feeling about this. Really bad. He’d more than crossed the line with Katie tonight, and he needed to put things back to the way they used to be.
“Sean?”
He hesitated. Then sighing, he shut his door and turned to face the other woman.
By the time he’d sent a not-very-happy Heather on her way thirty minutes later, Katie’s apartment was in darkness. From his adjoining deck out back, he stared at her bedroom window, hoping for some sign of movement that would tell him she was awake. There was none. Only darkness and silence.
Driving both hands through his hair, Sean leaned on the rail of the deck and turned away to stare up at the sky. The moon slid behind a thicket of clouds, taking with it the soft glow and giving the night a somber feeling. It matched his mood, Sean decided. The guilt that had hopped onto his shoulders following that melt-the-fillings-in-his-teeth kiss with Katie had grown heavier by the minute. Never in a million years had he intended to complicate things this way.
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