Melting Into You (Due South Book 2) (9 page)

“I want to see a shark. Aunty Piper says they’re cool.” She wiped her mouth on her sleeve and kicked her heels against the chair.

“Some other time.”

Like in another six years when she could stay home alone so he could have some sort of life. Not that he was a social butterfly, but he’d already skipped a poker game with the guys and a Friday night beer at Due South wasn’t
gonna happen.

And tripping over tiny boots left on his floor sucked. Having to know Jade’s location every moment of every day sucked. Juggling his schedule and groveling for babysitters sucked even more.

Ten days, ten nights. They couldn’t go fast enough.

Jade tapped her spoon against the bowl, and he winced. Two nights of interrupted sleep thinking about a certain hot female down the road had whittled his to
lerance for loud noises down to zero. Especially since the hot female in question kept pretending nothing had happened.

“Why can’t I go to Zoe’s then?” she said.

“You played there yesterday afternoon. You don’t want to wear out your welcome.”

“They like me coming over, Kezia said so. She’s nice, and I like her.”

Whereas he remained a surly sonofabitch. Playing a few board games hadn’t put him in the running for the Father-of-the-Year award. But what choice did he have when he needed a sitter?

Stuck and outta luck.

“All right. I’ll see if they’re free.” He keyed in Kezia’s number. The tiny speaker beeped in his ear. Busy. “Zoe must be on the internet.”

“At home, we can use the internet and the phone at the same time.”

“That’s because you have broadband in Auckland. Not everyone wants broadband on Stewart Island.”

Jade’s eyebrows tweaked together. “That’s dumb.”

“Things are different here, and you’ll have your fast internet in a few days when you go home.”

“I can’t wait. I hate it here—except for Zoe and K
ezia.”

Ouch
. Pity he had an elephant hide, impervious to little-girl venom. She hated it here? His four-foot-high, uninvited houseguest was no picnic for him either.

“What about your aunties? And your Gran?” Jeez, it still sounded weird. “Thought you liked them.”

She snatched the soft toy dog off the chair beside her and cuddled it. Wasn’t she too old for stuffed animals? But then, hey, what did he know?

“They’re okay, I
s’pose.”

“You won’t have to miss your mum for much lon
ger.”

Ten long days, ten longer nights.

“I don’t miss her.”

Jade angled her chin and Ben’s gut tightened. He’d seen his sisters make the exact same motion when they felt backed into a corner. And, okay—ouch for Marci too.

“I miss my home and my stuff and my friends”—her lower lip pooched out and she scrunched up her face—“but I won’t miss you.”

What a news-flash
. Ben stood, his chair scraping across the floor. Jade flinched, and he froze, fingers clenched around the coffee mug he’d been about to return to the kitchen. Bloody hell! He eased away from the table and returned the chair to its spot.

“Well, everyone here will miss you after the hol
idays are over.” He tried to speak in the same calm tone he used with an unreasonable customer.

She snorted air out her nose, which he ignored, b
ecause, hell…He had work to do that didn’t involve figuring out why his eight-year-old kid was scared of him.

“Go brush your teeth and stuff. We’ll walk to K
ezia’s and see if she can watch you until Shaye finishes her shift.”

Ben walked into the kitchen and stared out the wi
ndow until the chair scraped and soft footsteps padded away.

Fifteen minutes later, Kezia opened her front door. She didn’t seem surprised to see them.

“Hey. Ah…sorry to just turn up.” Ben shoved his hands into his jeans pockets and tried not to look desperate—which he was, totally.

Piper had already yelled at him on the phone for keeping their clients waiting. Dammit, he couldn’t risk losing business by looking unprofessional and unreli
able.

“You’re awake early.” Kezia’s dark-brown gaze skimmed over him before settling on Jade, who stood a pace in front.

“Hi, Kezia.”

Oh, now she graced the world with a cheery smile.

“Listen, Kez—I’m in a jam.”

“It’s fine.” Kezia held out her hand to Jade. “Go on in. Zoe’s just finishing breakfast, and then I thought we’d make hot cross buns.”

“Yum—I love hot cross buns!” Jade darted inside, the ears of her stuffed dog flapping.

Kezia half turned to watch her go, her dark curls spilling over the shoulders of her red blouse. The silky material stopped just short of the curve of her hips, pointing like an arrow to her shapely little ass. An ass that, no matter how many cool showers he endured, held a reoccurring role in his dreams. The fiery color suited her dark hair and olive skin. If he touched her now, would she burn as hot?

Really. Bad. Idea.

He dug his hands deeper into his pockets. “Holly got sick, and I tried to ring, but—”

“It’s fine. Jade keeps Zoe entertained too, so it’s win-win.”

“Thanks, I owe you one.”

“I guess you do.” She paused. “There’s something you could do for me.”

Though he needed her help, he couldn’t resist the opportunity to tease. “Does it involve a leather riding crop and you dressed only in stilettos?”

Her serious expression dissolved. “In your dreams, big guy.”

He waited for the tell-tale blush to warm her cheeks. Nothing. She smiled at him with the same patronizing smile she gave every other man who came on to her—and he’d seen a few crash and burn since Kezia arrived in Oban.

Huh. She thought they could return to polite acquaintances. After that kiss? The one that kept him awake at night?

Not
gonna happen. Game on.

He imagined everything he wanted to do to her, with her, before he spoke. Hoped the echo of those thoughts would filter through his to
ne. “So…what can I do for you?”

A sudden stiffening of her spine shouted, “Mes
sage received, loud and clear.”

She met his gaze, serene and cool as a marble statue. “I want Jade to go the Easter gala on Monday. Zoe’s told Jade all about it.”

Not the request he’d hoped for. “I’ve already arranged for her to go. Mum and Piper are taking her.”

“I think you should take her. It’d be good for her to see you loosen up a little.”

“I’m loose.” He shrugged to demonstrate his laid-back-ness.

Kezia rolled her eyes. “Not with Jade, you aren’t. You edge around her like you’ve got that riding
crop stuck up your butt.”

Goddamn—sparring with this woman was the best fun he’d had in months. “Why Kezia, I thought you were a good Catholic girl…yet you’re thinking about my butt.”

That shocked a full-out belly laugh from her. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been a good Catholic girl, and don’t change the subject—you and Jade need to relax and have fun.”

“Oh, I know how to have fun.” He closed the gap b
etween them and braced a palm against the door jamb.

She sniffed and arched a brow. “I mean fun that doesn’t involve the kinds of things men like you think is fun.”

“Beer, sports, and sex?”

“Precisely.” She placed one small palm on his chest and shoved him out of her doorway. “Now stop flirting, and go swim with the sharks.”

She shut the door in his face.

The brief warmth of her hand against his tee shirt sizzled through his skin and he grinned at the closed door. “Yes, Mistress Murphy.”

***

Easter Monday, a “corker” of an autumn day accor
ding to the locals, drew big crowds to the sports ground where the gala was held. Bunting strung overhead between staked poles flapped in the breeze, the bouncy castle’s eye-hemorrhaging yellow walls vibrated as kids leaped about like tiny lunatics, and someone had wrapped silver tinsel on the rugby goal posts. Ben squinted behind his wrap-around shades. Sparkles on a rugby field? Sacrilege.

Thirty minutes later, he’d forked out twenty bucks on cotton candy, a hot dog, and for the kid to hurl a wet sponge at Ford’s grinning head—which she missed, b
ecause Jade threw like a girl. Plus, he’d bought her an over-priced Angry Bird helium balloon that wouldn’t last the day.

But even after all that, Jade still wasn’t smiling. Or having fun.

Dammit.

Muscles twitched across his shoulder blades, tigh
tening to hard knots. The plan involved Kezia seeing Jade have a good time with him. To prove he was fun—prove he was
loose
.

Ben raised a hand at West, who served home-brewed ginger beer and charmed Oban’s geriatrics with his barman banter. Closer to the goal posts, Shaye dabbed the last touches of paint to a boy’s red and black Sp
iderman face. Zoe waved at them from in front of the face-paint booth. Shoving her balloon string into his palm, Jade took off.

A quick-fire raffle wheel rattled like a machine gun as he followed her zigzagging path past giggling tee
nagers, and Betsy Taylor’s disciples arguing the merits of her Oban-famous banana cake. The crowd thinned, people swerving off for a cellophane bag of Russian fudge, or to barter for some useless junk at the White Elephant booth.

He glanced to his left and tensed. Kezia. Mouth dry, he stared. She wore a pretty yellow dress with a matc
hing ribbon taming her curls.

Tension of a different kind wired through his body. For a moment, he stood anchored to the mown grass beneath his feet. People brushed past, laughter and whoops and chaos swirled around him. Kezia tilted her head at something Jade said and laughed. Even among all the other voices, her smoky laugh electrified him. A shaft of midmorning sunshine fell on her, making her glow…making her look like a beautiful sunbeam.

Holy shit.
Comparing a woman to sunbeams? He may as well turn in his man-card. Pronto.

He shook off the weird sensation and strode across the grass.

“Nice balloon,” she said when he reached her. “It suits you.”

He blinked at the red face of Jade’s Angry Bird ba
lloon trailing behind him. Ah. He’d probably scowled at her the whole way over. He hadn’t meant to—but his default expression leaned to the morose rather than the moronically cheerful.

“Red’s more your color,
Kez.”

She smiled at him, dark eyes creasing to long-lashed slits as the sun blinded her. Ben pulled off his sunglas
ses and slipped them onto her face.

“Thanks,” she said. “I forgot mine.”

“Now you can look mysterious, rather than cute-as-a-button.”

“A look all women aspire to.” Her lips curved, e
xposing her straight, white teeth. “Having a good time?”

Ben caught Jade’s eye and forced his mouth into a smile. “Having a great time, aren’t we?”

Jade stood with one hip cocked and her arm linked with Zoe’s. “I guess.”

“Mamma, can Jade and I have a pony ride?” Zoe bounced on her toes.

“Of course.” Kezia glanced at the face-painting booth. “I’ll grab some change.”

Ben dragged a ten dollar note from his pocket and handed it to Jade. “Here. My shout.”

Both girls chirped their thanks and ran across to where a fat, bored pony munched grass.

Kezia touched his arm, her soft fingertips doing all sorts of damage to his composure.

“Can we talk? Privately?”

“Okay.” He tied the balloon to a nearby chair.

They slipped between tables of homemade preserves and jams, walking toward the changing rooms and away from the masses. Privacy was relative in Oban. Already Betsy Taylor’s lavender-permed head swiveled in their direction. He kept a large gap between him and Kez, though he was dying to put a guiding hand on the small of her back. Any excuse to touch her.

By silent agreement they sat on one of the wooden benches near the white sprayed rugby field, Kezia a “we’re-just-friends” distance away.

She smoothed her dress over her knees. “So.” His wrap-arounds masked her expression. “The truth. Is Jade having fun yet? Are you?”

Fun? Hah. Ben stretched out his legs, crossing them at the ankles. Call him optimistic, but he’d
kinda hoped for a little flirtation before she bought out the big guns. He snuck a glance at the smooth line of her shin and the yellow flip-flop dancing on her toes as she jiggled her foot. He’d have a lot more fun if he knew what she wore under her dress. Sensible cotton bra and panties? Or something lacy and wicked cupping her naked skin?

Quit it, pervert.

He’d end up with yet another hard-on—this time in broad daylight with half the town bearing witness. He snapped his gaze across the field, shifting the front of his shirt so the tails draped over his groin. Just in case.