Single Kid Seeks Dad Read online

  “So, since we’re dating, how about dinner tonight?” he said. “Anything your gorgeous heart desires.”

  “Better yet, why don’t you come over for dinner?” she suggested. “I have a stew in the slow cooker. Nothing fancy, but I’ll send leftovers home with you for Magnum.”

  “I never turn down stew. What time?”

  She told him.

  “Now I better go play doctor.” He leaned over the counter. “But I don’t think it’s going to be as much fun playing doctor with Lily as it was with you.”

  She gave him a wicked smile. It stayed on her face for the rest of the day.

  “MAKE SURE the guest bathroom is clean!” Lucy shouted as she quickly fixed up a green salad. “And pick up today’s newspaper in the family room.”

  “Doesn’t he already know housework isn’t your favorite activity?” Nick asked, walking past the counter. He dodged her slapping hand as he stole a baby carrot.

  “I’m not talking magazine-clean, just cleaner than a toxic level.” She used her foot to gently nudge Domino from Luther’s food dish. “Don’t let Luther catch you over there,” she warned the puppy.

  Nick rested his forearms on the counter, watching his mother work. He looked at the cookie sheet where white lumps of dough rested.

  “You never made biscuits before when you make your stew,” he said.

  “Don’t you have homework?”

  “Already did it during my free period.” He reached across the counter and snatched a cucumber. He grinned at her look of mock outrage.

  “You couldn’t have accomplished it all then,” Lucy said.

  “Sure. I only had history, English and some math.” He swiped another cucumber.

  “Stop eating the salad while I’m trying to make it! Be useful and set the table, then feed Domino before he gets into Luther’s food and Luther catches him.” She heard a warning feline growl and knew that her cat had seen the puppy head for his dish.

  Nick picked up the puppy, rescuing him from kitty claws. He looked at Lucy.

  “I thought it wasn’t a good idea to cook for a guy you’re dating. That he’ll think you’re serious about him. That’s what they always say in those chick flicks you like to watch.”

  So her baby boy was already suspicious of the opposite sex. She was convinced he’d inherited his uncle’s charm and realized Logan was right. When she picked Nick up at school that afternoon she’d noticed cute little Brooke looking at Nick as if he was the hottest thing around. And Nick had given her a grin that was pure male.

  “I don’t think Logan will feel as if I’m fitting him for a wedding ring,” she said. “Now why don’t you go set the table. And wash your hands before you handle the plates.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to take a shower with disinfectant, too?” he muttered, heading for the sink. “Boy, when you change your mind about Logan, you change your mind.”

  “Compared to what?”

  “Compared to months ago when he’d ask you out and you’d say no.” Nick finished the tasks assigned to him. “I’ll get it,” he said, when the doorbell chimed. A moment later, he returned to the kitchen with Logan in tow.

  “For you.” Logan handed over a bottle of wine along with a liter bottle of cola for Nick. He also revealed a chew toy for Domino and a catnip ball for Luther. “I wanted to cover all my bases.” He crouched down and held out the ball to Luther. With a sniff of disdain, the cat accepted his prize while Domino promptly pounced on his rawhide bone and proudly carried it off.

  Lucy retrieved a corkscrew and two glasses, handing the corkscrew to Logan. “I’ll just put the biscuits in the oven,” she said after checking the noodles bubbling in boiling water on the stove.

  “It smells good.” He poured wine for the two of them.

  “Thanks.” She drained the noodles. “It’s one of Nick’s favorites.”

  Logan looked around, admiring the roomy kitchen that was divided from the adjoining family room, by only a counter. This way the cook could visit with company and not feel left out. A glass-enclosed breakfast nook held a large round table covered with a soft sage-green tablecloth and three place settings. From the haphazard look of things he guessed Nick had set the table. He grinned when he saw the bubble night-light plugged in by the table was a shocking pink flamingo.

  Lucy sighed when she saw the table.

  “We’re improving. He usually forgets the napkins.” She handed Logan a covered bowl filled with rich-smelling stew and carried another bowl filled with noodles. “Nick, dinner!” She added a chilled salad and warm rolls to the meal.

  “This all looks great,” Logan said, taking a seat. “But then I’m more used to take-out or something out of a can.”

  “That’s the best thing about slow cookers. You throw it in the pot first thing in the morning and by evening you have a meal.”

  “Mom hasn’t poisoned me yet.” Nick dug in with the enthusiasm of a growing boy.

  Lucy realized this was the first time a man, other than a family member, had sat at their dinner table. Yet Logan sat there as if he always had.

  It was an unsettling feeling.

  After dinner, Nick volunteered to fill the dishwasher and clean up the kitchen and Lucy happily accepted his offer. She fixed coffee for herself and Logan. Since the evening was too chilly to sit outside, they took their coffee and went into the family room where she turned on the fireplace. They sat on the couch with Domino between them. The pup dropped his face down between his paws and instantly fell asleep, while a wary Luther retreated to his basket in a corner of the room where he could keep one eye on Logan.

  “In my line of work it’s not unusual for animals not to be happy with me. In their memories I’m usually associated with spaying or neutering,” he said, amused by Luther’s attitude. “Not for helping them get over an upset tummy.”

  “Then we won’t mention what he did to the vet who neutered him,” Lucy said, sotto voce.

  Logan rested his head against the back of the couch and turned to look at Lucy who was curled up in a corner. She wore green pants and a sweatshirt that looked downy-soft. His fingers itched to find out if it was. He’d discovered that touching her was addictive. When he glanced down and saw the dolphin anklet, he was pleased.

  She sat in a loose-limbed position with her coffee mug cradled between her palms. She glanced at Nick who was being industrious by wiping off the table and all the counters. The soft roar of the dishwasher was their only background noise.

  “All done,” the boy said cheerfully. “I’m going to my room to do my homework.”

  “You told me you’d finished it during your free period,” Lucy said.

  “Oh, I did,” Nick replied. “But I have a paper due in a couple weeks for my psychology class. I thought I might as well get started on it tonight. I’ll take the pup with me if you want.”

  She looked down where Domino was settled between them. “He’s fine where he is.”

  “Okay. Good night.” He looked at Logan then moved down the hallway.

  “Good night, sweetie,” Lucy called after him. Her son groaned in reply.

  “Boys hate to be called sweetie,” Logan pointed out.

  “He forgets I could call him worse. When he was little I used to call him my little love bug. When he was seven, I received a polite request—in writing, no less—to stop calling him that.”

  “Understandable.” Logan reached across the sleeping puppy and took her hand in his. He laced his fingers through hers, pressing his palm against hers.

  “What?” she asked, noticing an amused expression on his face as he gazed at her.

  “I was just thinking back to a talk between my dad and me,” he said. “He warned me about girls like you.”

  “Oh really? What did he say?”

  Logan leaned forward. “That’s the funny thing. I can’t remember one word he said,” he murmured just before his mouth settled on hers.

  Lucy’s head whirled as she felt the heat of his mo
uth penetrate hers. He’d kissed her with passion and hunger and he’d kissed her with downright lust, but he’d never kissed her like this. He showed a gentleness that warmed her all the way to her bones.

  He buried his free hand in her hair, tangling his fingers in the loose curls.

  “I always thought that memories were overrated,” he murmured. “That reality can never compete with memories. I was right.”

  “You were?” Her voice was husky with desire.

  “Oh, yeah. Reality is much better, but just to make sure…” He lowered his head once more and by the time he moved back they were both breathing heavily.

  She thought about pulling him down on the couch and having a repeat of the previous weekend.

  If Nick hadn’t been in the house she would have followed the desires of her body. She settled for circling her fingers around his wrist with her fingertips pressed lightly against his pulse point. She was gratified to discover it was racing.

  Lucy didn’t expect arousal to flare up so quickly between them. She should have, since she knew first-hand what could happen between them.

  “Too bad it’s so cold outside,” Logan murmured against her lips.

  She had to smile. “Why?”

  “You could have shown me your gazebo. Maybe we could have checked out that built-in bench you’re so proud of.” He angled his head to one side and nibbled on her ear. “You said that you liked to stretch out on it.”

  “Actually,” she said as she reluctantly pulled back, “I need to remind myself that my son is in the house and could walk in on us at any second.” She rested her forehead against his.

  “He said you gave him ‘the talk,’” Logan teased.

  “Yes, I did, because his uncle wimped out. When I finished, Nick acted as if I expected him to participate in some strange ritual. I thought he was going to run screaming out of the house.”

  “You’re a good mom, Lucy.”

  “Thank you,” she said softly, touched by his sincerity. “But I don’t think your father sees me as Mother of the Year.”

  “He’s of the old school. Women belong in the home and all that. If he could, he’d still hold June Cleaver up as the perfect example.”

  “But we rarely saw what June did around the house when Ward was at work and the Beaver and Wally were in school. For all we know, she could have been down at the local pool hall.”

  “Or playing craps out behind the dry cleaners.”

  Lucy laughed. “No wonder your dad never remarried. He couldn’t find a woman who could live up to June Cleaver.”

  “But we’re talking about you, not him,” Logan said. “You should have a houseful of kids.”

  “I don’t know if I could have remained sane with more than one Nick in the house,” she said through a smile. “I had hoped for three or four munchkins, but that wasn’t going to happen.”

  “I’m surprised you didn’t remarry.” He found distasteful the concept of her married to someone else. But he wasn’t about to volunteer for the job of giving her those little ones she talked about. His dad had talked a lot about his lack of grandchildren. Logan had told him if he wanted grandchildren he’d better think about having some other kids. It didn’t shut him up entirely, but it got him off Logan’s back for a while.

  Lucy answered his question. “As a member of the male sex, you, of all people, should know that most men aren’t fond of dating women with kids. Especially a kid who can sometimes run rings around them.”

  “Is that what Stuart thought?”

  “Stuart?” Lucy burst out laughing. “Obviously Nick has been talking. I’ll have to have a chat with him about that. Stuart wanted to mold Nick into a mini Stuart. Nick wasn’t having any of it.”

  “What about you and Stuart?” He had no idea why he was asking. He’d never been interested in a woman’s past social life before.

  “Stuart was a very nice man who didn’t talk about play dates and Little League,” she said. “But he also had a finicky side that made me crazy.” She leaned forward to confide. “The man believed in having everything dry-cleaned, including his underwear.”

  “And you knew this from personal experience?”

  “Heavens no! I knew it because I was with him once when he picked up his dry cleaning and laundry. But if you take a finicky man and pit him against a grubby kid, the kid wins every time.”

  “So Nick ran him off,” Logan said.

  Lucy shook her head. “I told him he would be better off with a woman who didn’t have children or a cat.”

  “So I should be grateful Nick likes me.”

  “He adores you,” she stated. “You treat him like an equal, not a kid. And he thinks working with Kristi and Jeremy is great. Although I’ve had to remind him no piercings or tattoos until he’s of age. I’m hoping by then he’ll forget all about it.”

  “Maybe dating’s just difficult for anyone our age,” Logan said.

  “It is when a man thinks I’m looking for a father for Nick, which really doesn’t say much for what they think of themselves. Or there are the men who want to play daddy without thinking of the consequences to the child involved. That’s why I preferred keeping anyone I dated away from Nick.”

  He played with her fingers, sliding his own up and down the digits. He shook his head. “Your style isn’t hunting for a dad for Nick. You’ve already proven you can take care of him just fine on your own.”

  “I think life would have been a little easier for Nick if he’d had siblings. Teachers always wanted to put him in accelerated courses, while I wanted him to be a normal kid. We reached a compromise. I signed him up for after-school activities. He enjoys challenges. When he doesn’t get them is when he gets into trouble.”

  “Like hacking into the school computer?”

  “Now, that puzzles me. Nick loves that school. He’s never had any problems there and as far as I know, nothing’s prompted him to create mischief.”

  Logan frowned as he assimilated her words. “So there was, what, a trigger, so to speak, when anything happened before?”

  Lucy nodded. “This was out of the blue.”

  “Maybe he was trying to impress someone. That little blonde who likes him.”

  “Nick never did it to impress anyone. He just always wanted to prove that he could.”

  “We guys like to impress people.” His face moved closer to hers.

  “Really? So what do you do to impress a lady?”

  “I put her to work washing dogs and overseeing my clinic. That way she sees what a hard-working guy I am.”

  “A man with his own successful business is always good.” Her breath was warm on his lips. “What else would you do?”

  “I’d show that I’m great with kids and animals. That I care about the local community.” His mouth just barely touched hers. “Then I’d let her see that I have a sense of humor. That I’m polite, open doors for women, help little old ladies cross the street and have good table manners.”

  “All excellent signs of a well-rounded man. But there should be more.” Her eyelids fluttered downward and his gaze followed. All one of them had to do was move that scant distance and their mouths would touch. He was astonished to find himself more aroused by the small space between them.

  “Such as?”

  “Does he wear a nicely cut suit coat that I’d want to wear? Does he have good taste in hotels? Does he know just what to say at the right time? And will he attend a function he’d rather not get within a hundred miles of, even if he leaves rather early?”

  “It’s the leaving-early part that was the best.”

  Logan saw what was going on between them as a sexy battle of wills. Who would give in first? Who would make that next necessary move? He felt every muscle in his body tense with anticipation and saw the same sense of suspense in Lucy’s heavy-lidded gaze.

  “How long, Logan?” she murmured.

  He cocked an eyebrow, playing coy.

  “How long before you give in and kiss me again?” />
  “Maybe you’re the one who will give in first,” he countered.

  She gave a slight shake of the head and managed not to touch him at the same time.

  “I took yoga for four years. It’s amazing what that can do for your body. Flexibility, the ability to remain in the same position for long periods of time. I not only can regulate my breathing, but when suitably warmed up I can sit with my ankles behind my neck.”

  His eyes widened at the picture she was painting. “Lady, you are seriously turning me on.”

  Her lips curved upward. “Glad I can help.”

  “Make the first move. That would help more.”

  “Did I ever mention that I have an incredibly stubborn nature?”

  “I’m learning something new about you every day.”

  They had no idea how long they sat there staring into each other’s eyes while Domino happily snoozed between them. Logan was grateful Nick had the sense not to come out here. He would have wondered what the two crazy adults were doing. He wasn’t exactly sure what was going on either.

  “How about a compromise?” He finally broke the charged silence.

  “It depends.”

  “On the count of three…” His voice fell off as he waited to see if she understood what he meant.

  “One,” Lucy whispered.

  “Two.”

  The silence between them seemed to go on forever until, in unison, they both mouthed the word three.

  Earlier, Logan said reality was definitely better than the imagination. Now he set out to prove the validity of his words.

  He accomplished it.

  WHEN JUDGE KINCAID turned his computer on the next morning he noticed the new mail icon blinking.

  He scrolled down and, discovering a missive from [email protected], clicked on the note.

  Matters progressing even better than we anticipated. I guarantee our plan is a great success.

  Chapter Thirteen

  He was a goner. He took it all, hook, line and sinker. She had woven a web of magic around him that he had no desire to escape.

  He was pathetic.

  Logan told himself that just about every night. No matter what Lucy said about not wanting to get married again, she still had the word commitment tattooed on her forehead. He was positive it was in her genes. If he had a brain in his head, he’d back off before it got too late. Instead he called her just about every night even if only to say good-night. Usually he entertained himself with listening to her voice when she answered the phone and he’d growl, “What are you wearing?” More times than not she’d describe something in silk and lace and nearly melt the phone lines.