Sizzling Seduction (8 page)

“Patrick doesn’t condone hitting, either. And from what I can tel he isn’t the violent type. Anyone who has seen him with his niece and nephews can see that he’s real y a gentle, loving teddy bear.” Samantha smiled and then frowned. “He is grumpy, though. And he was bitter for years. And a bit gruff…And he probably broke a lot of hearts over the years because he wasn’t ready to trust.”

She broke out into a grin again.

Aisha swal owed as she pictured Patrick’s sultry gaze and remembered what it did to her pulse.

Who was she kidding? She didn’t stand a chance.

“Wel , enough of this gossiping about Captain Hightower. It’s time for my son and I to go on our weekly date at Friendly’s, where we both love the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup sundae. In fact, that’s where we’re going for dinner now. And after that I’m going to stop by the bookstore to pick up our book club pick and the latest Brenda Jackson, and then I’m going home to curl up with a book.”

“See, she’s crazy, y’al . Curling up with a book when she got that big, strong, strapping man sniffing after her.

Somebody tel me where is the rhyme and reason in that!”

Toni fel back on the sofa in mock disgust and placed her hand over her forehead.

Aisha laughed at her bigmouth, overly dramatic friend.

“On that note…I’m out of here. Dil on and I have sundaes at Friendly’s with our names on them. I’l catch you ladies next month. I’m real y excited about the book club. Ms. Toni, I’l see you Monday.”

As Patrick parked his SUV in the Friendly’s parking lot and got out of the vehicle, he was a man on a mission. It was only when he entered the restaurant and saw Aisha sitting there with the most adorable little boy who looked just like a little male version of her with thick jet-black curls on the top of his head that Patrick started to question the wisdom of just showing up at the place.

When he’d gotten off the phone with his sisters-in-law—

one actual y on the phone and the other yel ing excitedly in the

background,

both

saying,

“We

met

your

schoolteacher”—he knew two things. One, he was going to pop Lawrence and Joel upside their heads when he saw them again for tel ing his business. And two, he had to try one more time to get Aisha to go on a date with him.

The shocked expression on Aisha’s face when he walked up to their table was fol owed by a brief pout and then a phony, syrupy-sweet smile. She was wearing another one of those sweater sets, a pink one, and some gray slacks with her signature pearls.

He thanked the heavens that she apparently had something against making a scene in front of children.

First, her kindergartners had saved him from being told off by her and now her son.

“Hi, Aisha. It’s good to see you again.”

She pursed her lips and swal owed, squinting her eyes just enough to let him know she wasn’t buying anything he was sel ing.

“Hel o, Captain Hightower. Fancy meeting you here at Friendly’s of al places. Dil on, say hel o to Captain Hightower. He’s a fire captain with the Paterson Fire Department. Remember, I told you that I took my class to tour the fire station and learn about fire safety.”

The young boy looked up at him with wide, appreciative eyes and tons of awe. “You’re a real fireman? A
for real
fireman? Wow! I’ve never seen a real one up close. My teacher hasn’t taken us to the station and Mom wouldn’t let me miss school so that I can go with her class.”

The young boy’s excitement was contagious and Patrick felt the special energy that suffused him whenever he was around his niece and nephews take over. The need to be cool, lovable Uncle Patrick was hard to resist on a good day, and it was even harder now that he was also trying to put his best foot forward with Aisha.

“Oh, wel , we’l have to remedy that. I’l just have to have you and your mom in for a personal tour just for you. Would you like that?”

“Awesome! Yes! I’d love that.” The young boy started grinning from ear to ear.

“Of course, it would have to be okay with your mom, too.

Is that al right with you, Aisha?”

“Please, Mom. Please!”

“Sweetie, we can’t bother the firemen with personal tours and stuff. They have jobs to do. And I’m sure Captain Hightower has better things to do than give us tours. And it would have to be on a weekend because—”

“The weekend is fine. In fact, I’m off today and tomorrow.

I could pick you both up Sunday afternoon after church and give you a tour, and then maybe treat you both to dinner afterwards. We could even come back here if this is your favorite place. I have to say they make the best Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup sundaes I’ve ever tasted.”

“Yes! No test recipes two days in a row! Please say yes, Mom. Please.”

Aisha shot her son a look and then she slanted her eye at Patrick. “That’s enough joking about my cooking, young man. And you…” She tightened her jaw and he could tel she was counting to ten before she plastered on a smile.

“I’l certainly be having a talk with you soon. But for now, we would be happy for the tour tomorrow. We can meet you at the station at around two. But we probably won’t be going to dinner with you afterward.”

“Aw, man! So close! Captain Hightower, would you like to have dinner with us now? I want to hear about how you fight the fires. That’s so cool. I think I want to be a fireman when I grow up—either that or a cop or an astronaut.”

Aisha opened her mouth and closed it before final y nodding at him in approval and swal owing as if she had just gulped down a bitter pil . “You can certainly join us if you don’t have other plans, Captain Hightower. Dil on is going through a stage where he is fascinated with firemen and policemen.”

“Wel , then I’d real y better sit down because two of my brothers are police detectives, so I know a little something about policemen, too. In fact, most of the men in my family are either cops or firemen.” Patrick smiled when he saw the way Dil on’s eyes lit up at that tidbit of information.

“Thank you, Aisha. I’d love to share a meal with you and your son. He seems like an amazing kid and I’d real y like to get to know the two of you better, if that’s okay.” He tentatively slid into the booth next to the person he hoped would be his new al y. Little Dil on seemed thril ed and launched right into a discussion about fires, police chases, sports and al kinds of stuff.

By the time they had finished their meals, Patrick has already offered to help the young man with his pitching, because his mom “threw like a girl.” Aisha had even loosened up about midway through the meal. She even laughed a little. By the time he walked them out to their car and they got Dil on inside, Patrick was feeling as if he had made a ton of progress with Aisha. At least until she closed the door and didn’t get inside her car and instead turned to him with the iciest glare he had ever seen. Good thing Dil on was in the car. Patrick was sure that seeing such an expression on his mom’s face would have scared him.

“Look here, mister.” She calmly stated between clenched teeth. “I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing. But I told you I
don’t
date.” She was losing a little bit of that air of prissiness and had become a little gritty. He liked that, too.

“And I don’t appreciate people trying to pit my son against me.” She poked him in the chest and he felt a bolt of sensation. She must have felt it, too, because she quickly pul ed her hand away before continuing.

“So you need to cut it out now. I can’t believe you just showed up and bul dogged your way into my evening out with my child. I am very particular about the people I have around my son, Patrick. And I can’t have him getting attached to another man who won’t be around.”

“But I want to be around. I want to—” He felt the need to reassure her, but she cut him off.

“You
won’t
be around because I
don’t
date. We are
not
starting something here. And the sooner you realize that the better.”

He shook his head. “Love, it’s already started whether you know it or even acknowledge it.”

Her brows furrowed and her bottom lip stuck out in the cutest little pout. He couldn’t help himself; he quickly and lightly brushed his lips across hers. And even though she didn’t slap him, he regretted it when he was done. That light brush sent a jolt of electricity pulsing through his veins and it was not nearly enough. He wanted to take her into his arms and kiss her soundly, thoroughly and deeply. He wanted to kiss away any hostility and doubt she might have had. He wanted to kiss her as if her ten-year-old son weren’t in the car waiting for her.

He cleared his throat and backed away for a minute. He couldn’t kiss her like that—not yet anyway.

“Good night, love. I’l see you and Dil on tomorrow. I just ask that you think about giving me a chance, giving us a chance. See you later.”

He walked away then. Because he knew that he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from kissing her for real if he stayed there any longer.

T
he expression on her son’s face as they left the fire station placed a lightness in her heart that she hadn’t felt in years. Dil on grinned the way he did when he was able to finish his homework in time to catch those super ninja spider cartoons he loved.

She would probably keep the picture she’d snapped of him with Patrick’s fireman’s hat dwarfing his head on her phone until the end of time. She was almost tempted to look at it again and they had only taken it less than thirty minutes before.

The magic of the moment seemed to be at a standstil as the three of them now stood outside the fire station.

Would she be the one to kil the moment? Or would she let it flow and let Patrick take them to dinner as he wanted to?

It wasn’t
technically
a date since she had her son with her. And she was kind of hungry…

She glanced at Patrick, who was standing there trying his hardest not to push or come on too strong. He was holding back and that made him al the more endearing.

“I don’t know, guys…” She stil didn’t trust the idea of spending even more time with Patrick.

He was too handsome. He was too intense. He was too good with her son. He was too damn perfect to be real and she was not fal ing for that crap again.

Been there, done that. Got the scars and crummy
divorce settlement to prove it!

“Come on, Mom. I promise I’l do my homework as soon as I get home al week before I turn on the TV and—”

She slanted her eye at her little lying child.

Dil on giggled as he shifted from one foot to the other and bounced up and down, adding the anxious factor to his already pleading posture. “I’l try real y hard, Mom. I already pleading posture. “I’l try real y hard, Mom. I promise.”

She glanced at Patrick, who stil hadn’t said anything.

She inhaled and let out her breath slowly. At least he wasn’t trying to use Dil on to double-team her the way he had the night before. Maybe her little talk with him before she had gotten in the car had worked after al .

“Okay. But we should let Captain Hightower pick the place. I’m sure he’d rather eat someplace besides Friendly’s.”

“Actual y, Friendly’s is fine. It’s the company I’m interested in. I’d have dinner anywhere as long as you and your amazing son were there. And remember, no ‘Captain Hightower’—Patrick is fine. Oh, and why don’t we take my car? I can drop you off back at your car when we’re done.”

It did sort of make sense to take one car. Just as it was starting to make sense to stop fighting her attraction to Patrick and just see where things went between them.

What kind of crazy thought was that?

Just one afternoon with the man and she was already breaking down! She’d have to do a better job at keeping her barriers up. Patrick Hightower was proving to be a force to be reckoned with.

Riding in his luxury SUV felt too nice. The soft butter leather seats that apparently heated up to keep a person’s bottom nice and toasty also had the nerve to feel like sitting on a cloud.

“So what’s your deal, Patrick? What do you want?

Because I told you—”

“I know. You don’t date.” He cut her off with a chuckle.

The deep barreling sound made her stomach dip and shift. It must have been the heat from her seat that had her feeling flush. The rich sound flowing from his lungs would have been infectious if she weren’t annoyed at her body’s other reactions to the sound. Things like her nipples tightening and her throat becoming the Sahara had no business happening.

She twisted her lips to the side and swal owed, then swal owed again and again.

“Listen, I would just like the chance to get to know you and Dil on a little better. It’s not a date. And as soon as you start to feel uncomfortable, we can stop. It’s just dinner. And from what Dil on was tel ing me about your concoctions when you went to the ladies’ room a little while ago, it would be cruel and unusual punishment to wave Friendly’s in front of the kid and take it away now.”

Both Patrick and Dil on burst out laughing then, and she turned to glower at her treacherous kid. Dil on shrugged his shoulders and grinned.

“Mom can make some stuff real y good,” Dil on offered with a giggle. “It’s the new recipes that she finds and tries to make that always end up yucky.”

“Okay, little traitor, it’s chicken and rice and peas for you from now on. Here I was trying to expand our horizons and give us more sophisticated palates.” She folded her hands across her chest.