The Perfect Dish (17 page)

She broke the kiss and rested her hands on his chest. If she felt the quickened beat of his heart, she didn’t show it. “So what else is in the basket?”

“Thanks. You’re a great kisser too.” So much for impressing her with his oral skills. He grinned. Well, at least the ones he’d had a chance to show her.

“There’s that need for approval.” She laughed. “You kiss very nicely.”

He groaned and leaned his head back on the rock. “You’re gonna be the death of me.” The words were out before he could stop them. He snapped his head back up, an apology on his tongue. “I’m really sorry, Mery. I didn’t mean anything by that.”

She scooted off his lap and onto the tablecloth. “I know. It’s okay.”

Hurt shadowed her eyes. Damn it. That was a fool thing to say.

“Maybe we should eat.” She traced one of the blue squares on the cloth. Her mouth settled into a fine line.

“Good idea.” Still cursing himself, he unpacked the basket. “I made ceviche, do you know—never mind. Of course you know what that is.”
Hurt her feelings. Check. Insult her culinary intelligence. Check.

He set out the first two containers and reached in for more.

“I love ceviche. I haven’t had it in years. Not since Michael and I were in Spain.” She smiled wistfully. “Michael was my second husband.”

“How did he...if you don’t mind me asking, that is, how did he pass?”

She tucked a strand of hair behind one ear. “Car accident on a business trip. Drunk driver.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. You didn’t have anything to do with it.” She squeezed his arm. “People say it because they don’t know what else to say. I’m fine, really. It’s been over two years.” She paused a moment. “Almost three, really.”

He nodded. “You sure seem okay.”

She peered into the basket. “What else do you have in there?”

He pulled out two long rolls bundled in butcher paper. “Filet mignon
bánh mì’s.”

Her eyes lit up. “I love those Vietnamese sandwiches.”

“Don’t look so surprised. I can do more than tex-mex.” He set them down and reached in again for another container. “Redskin potato salad.”

“Also great.” Her stomach rumbled and she smiled. “I guess I’m hungrier than I thought.”

He added utensils and napkins. “Good, ‘cause my navel’s gnawing on my backbone.”

She laughed. “You say the funniest things.”

“That’s the Texas coming out.” He handed her a bottle of water, glad to see her smiling again.

Conversation slowed as they ate. Mery complimented the food enough times to almost make him blush. When they finished, he repacked the empty containers in the basket and moved it to the side.

She kneeled facing him and propped her fists on her hips. “Where’s dessert? You don’t think I came out with you today just because of your charm and good looks, do you?”

Her words made him smile. “You think I’m charming?”

“Is there dessert?” she teased, arching her brows as though her entire opinion of him hinged on that fact.

He rested his arm on the basket in case she tried to open it. “Can’t remember if I packed any or not.”

“You’re a bad liar.” She laughed then narrowed her eyes. “What’s it going to take to jog your memory?”

His head swam with the possible ways to answer that question. He kept his tone as serious as he could manage. “My lap is cold.”

“Maybe I can improve your circulation.” She straddled his lap and sat, her back to the bulk of the people out enjoying the day. “Warming up any?”

Warming up plenty. He took his arm off the basket and looped it around her waist. He opened his mouth to answer her but she silenced him with a finger across his lips.

Eyes twinkling, she cupped his jaw and drew him closer. “Kiss me,” she whispered.

He obeyed to the best of his ability.

The spiciness of the food they’d eaten lingered on her mouth, quickening his pulse. She teased her tongue across his in little strokes. Quick, short caresses that drove his temperature higher.

Her hand slipped down behind his neck. She laced her fingers into his hair, her grip possessive. The move torched his blood. She kissed him like she owned him. If he’d been standing, he’d have sunk to his knees with pleasure.

“You’re making me crazy,” he breathed, surprised by the thickness of his voice.

She laughed. “I’ve hardly touched you.”

He stared into her beautiful green eyes. This woman confounded him right down to his bones. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

Tracing his lips with her finger, she tilted her head to look at him. “Should I stop then?”

“No, I like being scared.” He kissed the tip of her finger.

She leaned in like she was going to kiss him again but whispered in his ear. “Where’s my dessert?”

He laughed. “Okay, you win.”

“I usually do.”

He retrieved the box of chocolate fireballs he’d brought and presented them to her. “These are for you take home and these...” He reached into the basket again and pulled out the sweet finale to the meal. “These are for now.”

She unwrapped the paper to reveal the dark chocolate raspberry brownies he’d made that morning. “Oh, those look good. Beyond good.” She smirked. “Really makes kissing you worthwhile.”

He groaned with mock disgust and playfully pushed her off his lap. “You sure know how to win a man’s heart.”

“Mmmm.” Pleasure spread across her face as she finished the first bite of brownie. “Maybe it’s not your heart I’m after.”

His heartbeat stuttered. “What—what does that mean?”

She took a big bite, pointed to her full mouth and shrugged.

“You can answer when your mouth is empty.”

She held out the other brownie to him, gesturing for him to eat.

Sighing because he knew he was beat, he took a bite.

She finished chewing. “Let’s walk a little bit. I ate enough to burst.”

“You owe me an answer,” he mumbled through crumbs.

“Nope.” She got to her feet. “A little mystery is good for you.”

Rolling his eyes, he stood, flicked the tablecloth clean and tucked it back into the basket before scooping it up. He took her hand with his free one. “Walking it is then.”

“So tell me about your mom.”

Kelly glanced at her. That had come out of the blue.

Mery must have read the expression on his face. “Shelby won’t ever answer me when I talk to her about her past. It would be helpful for me to understand what sort of grief patterns she established as a child.”

Talking about his mother was the last thing he wanted to do on a date, or ever for that matter, but he trusted Mery. If it would help her help Shelby, he could tell Mery bits and pieces without revealing the whole truth.

Chapter Seventeen

Mery squeezed his hand. She hated to pressure him but if he wanted help for Shelby, she needed to know a little. “I know neither one of you likes talking about her, so I gather you didn’t have a storybook childhood.”

“Not exactly, no.” He looked lost in memories.

“Just tell me what you’re comfortable with.”

“That would be nothing.” He paused and when he spoke again there was a coldness to his voice she hadn’t heard before. “Shelby and I have different fathers.”

“I didn’t know that.” They certainly resembled each other enough that no one would ever think otherwise.

He shrugged. “I’ve never met mine. Shelby’s is in prison.”

“Your mother had great taste in men.” She sounded like a real class act. Mery walked a little closer to him. “Did your grandmother raise both of you?”

“Yes and no.” He sighed. “My mother didn’t want me, plain and simple. She left me with Gram when I was a year old.”

“What makes you think she didn’t want you?” She tried to imagine him at one. Probably the cutest thing to ever wear diapers, outside of Jason.
Great. Two seconds ago you were kissing him now you’re imagining him in Pampers.

He glanced over. “Because I wasn’t a girl. Haven’t you wondered how I got a name like Kelly?”

She shrugged. “There are men named Kelly.”

“Not many. Not in Texas.”

“How did Shelby end up with your grandmother?”

He led her over to an empty bench and they sat. After tucking the basket at his feet, he turned to face her. “Look, I don’t talk about this with anyone but I want to help Shelby.” He ran his hand through his hair. “Just promise me...”

“It goes no further, I give you my word.” She leaned forward and kissed him lightly, denying the urge to take more. “I promise.”

A few kids on roller blades shushed by before he spoke again. “My mother has...problems with addiction.” He rested his elbows on the back of the bench, splaying his arms out like wings. “Drugs, alcohol, men, whatever comes along.”

The hurt in his eyes turn to anger. “Two years after she dumped me at Gram’s she brought Shelby. Couldn’t handle raising a kid and trying to keep her lowlife husband out of jail.”

He shook his head and exhaled. “The guy, Shelby’s dad, got locked up anyway three years later. After that Dee, that’s my mother, came back for Shelby.

“I was six. Shelby was almost four.” The faraway focus of his gaze disappeared as he brought his arms down and turned to look at her. “She took Shelby and left me. Do you have any idea what that feels like? To know flat out your mother doesn’t want you?”

Meredith swallowed the lump that had built in her throat. Even though she only had one son, she couldn’t imagine choosing one child over another. What mother would consciously do that? Her heart ached. She moved closer and put her hand on his shoulder. “That’s awful.”

He shrugged, but not enough to dislodge her hand. “A few years after that, Dee got busted for possession. Shelby came back to live with us. When Dee got out of county, she tried to take Shelby back again. Gram wouldn’t let her. She went to the courts and got legal guardianship of us.

“My mother never forgave Gram for that, but it probably saved Shelby from a mess of bad road. Dee’s been living on the wrong side of life so long I can’t believe she’s still alive.”

Meredith slipped her arm further across his shoulders and gently massaged the back of his neck. “You’re a remarkable man. I can see why you’re so protective of Shelby.”

He shrugged again but stayed silent.

A part of her wanted to confront his mother and tell her what a lousy parent she’d been. “Thanks for telling me. I know it wasn’t easy but it gives me some much needed insight.”

“When are you seeing Shelby again?” He kept his head down, the line of his jaw taut.

“Tuesday. We have another lunch date.”

He sat up, his face relaxing. “Good. Shelby’s definitely gotten better since she started reading your book.”

She slid her hand back to her lap. “I’m glad.” She studied him, her mind still turning over the pieces of his past. So many people over the years had revealed the secrets of their lives to her but it had never affected her like this. She wanted to protect Kelly from every bad thing in the world, to find a way to make his past okay, to give him a safe place to land.

“Mery?” He waved his hand in front of her face. “Are you in there?”

“Yes, I was just thinking.”

A sly smile returned to his face. “About me, I hope?”

She nodded, also smiling. “Yes, about you.”

“Was it X-rated?”

“No.” How quickly the male mind turned from tragedy to sex. Or from anything to sex for that matter.

“Was it R-rated?”

“Nope. Strictly G.” She laughed as his shoulders drooped.

“I’m losing my touch,” he said.

She scooted closer so they were hip to hip. He put his arm around her shoulders.

“How ‘bout you? What was your childhood like?”

“It was okay.”

“Just okay?” He squeezed her gently. “Are you close with your parents?”

She shrugged. “My parents divorced when I was thirteen. My mother lives in Boca with her fourth husband. My dad never remarried. Still lives in the house I grew up in.”

Pulling away a bit, he gave her an odd look.

“What?” she asked.

“So you take after your mother?”

“No.” She scowled softly. “My husbands died. Hers left of their own free will. If I take after anyone, it’s my dad. He never really stopped loving my mother, even after she cheated on him. He’s a good guy.”

“I’d love to meet him. Where’s he live?”

“Sheepshead Bay. That’s where I grew up.” He wanted to meet her father? She wasn’t sure she liked that line of thought.

“What’s he do?”

“You’re full of questions.”

“I’m trying to get to know you. Is that a crime?”

“No.” But it was letting him in. “My dad runs a charter boat. City skyline tours, that kind of thing.”

“A blue collar guy. I like him already.” Kelly settled back against the bench.

I don’t need you to like him. Just date me and leave it at that
.
Time to change the subject. “Isn’t there something you want to ask me?”

A puzzled expression came over him. “I’m not sure...” She could tell he was searching.

“Maybe you are losing your touch.” She elbowed him gently in the ribs. “Ask me if I’d like to go out with you again.”

He perked up, a big grin brightening his face. “Would you like to go out with me again?”

“I don’t know,” she sighed. “Depends on what you have planned.”

He groaned. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you might actually be more woman than I can handle.”

Her body shook with suppressed laughter. “You should never admit that to a woman, even if she already knows it.”

“What do you mean, even if she already knows it?” His mock-indignation was clear by the playful tone in his voice.

“Oh please, I think we established that the first night in the elevator.” She wasn’t about to tell him the second kiss had turned her liquid.

“You’re never going to let me forget that kiss, are you?”

“Not until you redeem yourself.”

He leaned in to whisper in her ear. “Don’t you think I redeemed myself last night?”

A shiver of pleasure rippled through her. They
had
done a lot of kissing before she’d finally gotten in the cab. “You’re getting there.”