14 Valentine Place (14 page)

“No, I’d rather sit up here and watch it snow,” she said, glancing out the window.

“We’ve had so much it’s getting to the point where it’s not pretty,” Krystal said with a yawn. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here to pull my share of the nursing duties with Dylan. Did everything go okay?”

“Yeah, it was fine,” she answered.

“What did you make for dinner?”

“I didn’t cook. We walked over to that Irish pub on Snelling Avenue. It was his suggestion, and to be honest it suited me just fine.”

“Leonie must not have told him what a great cook you are.”

“I think he’s getting a bit claustrophobic.”

“And who could blame him?” She pulled her feet up beneath her. “So tell me. What’s he like?” Eyes that had been sleepy only moments ago now widened in interest. “Did you ask him if he has a girlfriend?”

“I don’t care if he has a girlfriend.” She avoided answering, not wanting to be having this discussion. She could only imagine what her roommate would say if she knew what the actual subject of their conversation had been.

“Now that just goes to show you how unfair life can be. I mean, there I was stuck at the hospital when I could have been having dinner with that gorgeous
specimen of man. And here you were, not giving a hoot about getting to know him better….”

“I thought you’d decided it wouldn’t be wise to get involved with Dylan because of what it might do to your relationship with Leonie,” Maddie reminded her.

She gave her a mischievous look. “I didn’t say I wanted to get involved, but I wouldn’t mind having a little fun. And Leonie’s not here this weekend.”

The image of Dylan with his arms around Krystal flashed in Maddie’s mind and it wasn’t pleasant.

“Well, you’ll be happy to know that the beauty shop’s not going to be open tomorrow because of all the snow. That means you won’t have to do a thing for Dylan because I’ll be here. I’ll play nurse.” She rubbed her hands together enthusiastically. “Ooh, it’s going to be so much fun!”

Maddie didn’t doubt for one minute that Krystal would relish every moment in Dylan’s company or that she’d do whatever she could to make sure that he received a lot of attention.

Krystal glanced at her watch. “I’m hungry and it’s not that late so I think I’ll go downstairs and get something to eat. I should probably check on Dylan, too.” She looked at Maddie. “You want to come down?”

“I think I’ve done my duty for today,” she replied. “You know, you don’t have to wait on the guy hand and foot. It’s only one shoulder that’s not working.”

“Maddie, you’re looking at someone who’s spent her life waiting on people. And very few of them have looked as good as Dylan. This is no sacrifice, believe me.” With a wave, she was gone.

Maddie could hear her singing along to one of the
Bonnie Raitt songs as she went down the stairs. She closed her door, hoping to drown out any sounds that might come from the first floor. But even with the stereo playing, she could hear muffled voices. Every now and then laughter echoed up the stairs.

Maddie tried not to picture Krystal with Dylan, but she couldn’t prevent the images that went through her head. Krystal was not shy. Maddie could imagine her placing her hands on Dylan’s shoulders, getting close to him as she spoke.

A strange uneasiness fluttered through Maddie. So what if Krystal and Dylan were cozying up on the sofa? It was nothing to her. She had no reason to be jealous. She wasn’t interested in the man.

She picked up the phone and dialed Jeffrey’s number. She got his answering machine, which she knew meant he was in his study working on his thesis. With a sigh she returned the phone to its cradle.

Again she looked outside. It was still snowing. Chances were the dance studio would be closed tomorrow as well. The storm would have effectively shut down most of the city and she’d have to spend the entire day in the same house watching Krystal flirting with Dylan.

It wasn’t a pleasant thought. Again she dialed Jeffrey’s number. After hearing the answering machine’s beep, she left her message, “Jeffrey, it’s me. I hope the snow won’t keep us from seeing each other tomorrow. Call me in the morning, all right?”

“There. That takes care of tomorrow. As for tonight,” she said softly to herself. “I’ll just go to bed.”

She changed into her pajamas and slid between the
sheets, determined to put Dylan out of her mind. It shouldn’t have been difficult to do. After all, the mumbled voices and distant laughter had disappeared.

Which only made it worse for Maddie, who now imagined Krystal in Dylan’s arms. Kissing him. Touching him. Maddie wondered if he was telling Krystal the same things he’d said to her earlier that day…that she had beautiful eyes…that he was interested in her.

Maddie punched her pillow. What did it matter what he was saying to Krystal? He was a free agent—he’d admitted he was without a girlfriend. If Krystal wanted to be the latest seashell he added to his collection, that was her business. Maddie had better things to do. And tomorrow she’d show him that.

M
ADDIE AWOKE
to the sound of Krystal’s voice. She glanced up and saw her friend poking around the door.

“I’m sorry to have to wake you, Maddie, but I feel awful.”

Now that Maddie’s eyes were wide-open she could see that her housemate didn’t look well and she sounded stuffy. “What’s wrong? Do you think you’re running a fever?” she asked as she climbed out of bed.

“I ache all over and I have the chills. I think I might have the flu. Do you have anything I can take for it?”

Maddie padded over to her desk. “Maybe these will help,” she said, handing her a small bottle of pain relievers.

“Thanks. I’m feeling really weak.” She clung to the door, looking as if she might keel over any minute.

“Then go back to bed,” Maddie ordered, giving her a gentle shove.

“But I’m supposed to make breakfast for Dylan this morning.”

“He can get his own.”

“No, he can’t. Haven’t you seen how difficult it is for him to use his left hand?”

Maddie had seen his attempts in the kitchen and knew she had no choice but to say, “I’ll help him. You just go back to bed and don’t worry about anything. I’ll bring you some juice and a pitcher of water so you can take those tablets.”

Krystal murmured a weak thanks before shuffling slowly back to her room. She hadn’t gone far when she turned and said, “Oh…as long as you’re going downstairs, would you bring me my watch? I think I left it on one of the end tables in the living room.”

Maddie nodded, then pulled on her robe and headed down the stairs, hoping that Dylan wasn’t up. To her relief, it was still dark, the arrival of dawn allowing just enough light for Maddie to see without flicking on a switch. She carefully made her way into the kitchen, where she put a pitcher of water and a glass of juice on a serving tray. Then she headed for the living room, tiptoeing as quietly as she could.

Because there were fewer windows, the room was darker than the rest of the house. Maddie padded across the wood floor toward the sofa. Just before she reached it she realized there was a body there. A large body with sun-bleached hair. It was Dylan.

She stopped suddenly, nearly spilling the water. She
should have known. Jason had come home unexpectedly and Dylan had been using his room.

She glanced at the end table near the sofa, debating whether to continue searching for Krystal’s watch. The gold band winked in the early morning sun, tempting her to come pick it up, yet there was a sun-streaked head nearby that made her hesitate.

Carefully she tiptoed over to the table, conscious of the man asleep on the sofa. Holding her breath, she reached for the watch, snatching it up without making a sound. She glanced at Dylan’s face, serene in slumber. He was even more attractive than he’d been awake.

One stray lock of hair had fallen across his forehead. Her fingers itched to brush it back. That wasn’t all they longed to do. Curiosity had her wondering how those slightly parted lips would feel beneath her fingertips, if the slight growth of whiskers on his jaw would be bristly to her touch.

The only other part of him sticking out from the blanket was his left hand, which clutched one edge of the blanket. He had big, powerful hands roughened from hard work and the sun.

He shifted, causing the blanket to move as well. As he struggled to make himself comfortable, it became apparent that his chest was bare. Except for the bandage across his shoulder, there was nothing but tanned flesh. Maddie’s breath caught in her throat. She could see the results of his having worked with concrete. There was nothing but firm muscle.

For several seconds she stared at him, imagining what was under the rest of the blanket. At the direction
her thoughts had taken, she felt her cheeks warm. When he stirred a second time, she hurried out of the room and back up the stairs.

After she’d given Krystal her watch and the tray with the liquids, she returned to her own room, where she collapsed onto her bed, her cheeks still stinging with heat from her encounter with the sleeping Dylan. What in the world had she been thinking?

But she
knew
the answer to that question, and it was definitely something she had no business contemplating. She’d been lucky to get out of the room without waking him. If he had caught her staring at him like that it would have been the ultimate in humiliation. And she had no doubt he would take great pleasure in reminding her of it.

She still couldn’t believe she’d gawked at him as if she’d never seen a naked chest before. Well, she hadn’t seen one that looked like that—at least not one that wasn’t in a magazine or on the movie screen.

Her body warmed again at the memory. She groaned. Just what she didn’t need—to revert to adolescence.

All right. So the inevitable had happened. She couldn’t live in the same house as Dylan and not expect to see him without a shirt.

She’d done that and survived. And the best part of all was that he didn’t know she’d done it. It was time to move on. She’d made it perfectly clear to him that she was in a relationship with Jeffrey and had no interest in seeing anyone else.

She’d give him no reason to think she regarded him as anyone other than her landlady’s son. She’d treat
him the same way she treated Jason. Like a brother. And as for those fanciful thoughts running through her head—she’d keep them to herself, just as she had all those years ago.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Dear Leonie: There’s this girl I can’t stop thinking about. I want to ask her out, but she’s seeing another guy. She says they’re just friends and I believe they are. Why else would she react to me the way she does?

Signed: Itching to make a move

Leonie says: Until she tells you she’s not involved with the other guy, you’re going to have to find another way to scratch that itch.

D
YLAN WOKE
the following morning feeling stiff and out of sorts. His shoulder didn’t ache, but other parts of him did. He pushed aside the blanket and sat up, rubbing the back of his neck with his left hand. As comfortable as the sofa in his mother’s living room was, it couldn’t take the place of a bed.

He staggered down the hallway to the bathroom only to discover it was occupied. He leaned up against the wall and closed his eyes. Since his brother’s bedroom door was shut and there was a one-in-a-million chance that the teen would be out of bed before noon, he figured it was either Maddie or Krystal in the shower. He longed for the days when the only people he shared a bathroom with were his brothers. At least
with them he could pound on the door and say, “Hurry up in there.”

With a sigh he went back to his makeshift bed. He reached for the remote and flicked on the television. Scrolling across the bottom of the screen was a list of events canceled because of the snowstorm. With two fingers he spread the blinds on the window and saw that it was still snowing. Mounds of white had drifted close to the window ledge. Not since he’d been a kid had he seen such a sight.

He grinned, remembering how he and his brothers would pray for days like this so that school would be closed. He imagined a lot of kids were waking up and wishing this particular record-breaking snowfall hadn’t happened on a Saturday.

As the public service announcements continued to appear on the TV, he realized that other activities had had to be postponed. Dylan didn’t pay much attention to the names rolling by until he saw Diandra’s School of Dance and the word
Closed
behind it. That was the studio where Maddie taught, which meant she would be at home today rather than at work. Again Dylan grinned.

When he heard movement in the hallway and on the stairs, he knew the bathroom was now free. When he stepped inside the hot, steamy room, he could tell who’d been in the shower before him. The air was thick with the aroma of strawberries, the same fragrance he’d noticed in Maddie’s hair. Only today it was more potent, teasing his senses and arousing his hormones.

It lingered while he showered and shaved, a con
stant reminder of her presence in the house. Not that Dylan needed any reminders. She was already in his thoughts far too often and with good reason. She was beautiful, sexy and smart. And taken.

Thoughts of the unknown Jeffrey had him grimacing. Any man who chose to spend two weeks writing a paper when he could be with a woman like Maddie had to be one card short of a full deck. Or suffering a shortage of testosterone.

It was probably the latter. Maddie was not the kind of woman to put up with any man who wasn’t her intellectual equal. From the way she spoke about her relationship with Jeffrey, Dylan got the impression that it was more of a convenience than a passion. He shook his head. He didn’t understand how any man could look at Maddie and be content with simply being friends, or how she could settle for anything short of an all-consuming love. He wondered if she even knew what she was missing?

A short while later when Dylan found her in the kitchen, he had to remind himself that it wasn’t his responsibility to show her. Not that the thought hadn’t crossed his mind.