14 Valentine Place (17 page)

A short while later, Shane returned. Alone.

“Any broken body parts?” Dylan quipped.

Shane sunk down onto a chair and said in amazement, “I don’t think he listened to a word I said.”

“I thought I was the only one Jason figured was clueless,” Dylan said with a crooked grin.

“He thinks he knows more than both of us put together.” Shane took a long drink of the beer he’d left on the table. “It sure would be a lot easier if Dad were here.”

Dylan knew there was no point in bringing their father into the conversation, so he simply said, “But he’s not.”

“So what do we do?”

“I’m not sure there is anything we can do,” Dylan said calmly. “He’s nineteen. Legally he’s an adult.”

“That doesn’t mean we should let him make a big mistake,” Shane protested.

“We don’t know it’s a mistake.”

That drew another look of disbelief from his brother. “You’re kidding me. You’re on his side?”

“No, but I’m trying to see both sides of the issue. Believe me, I don’t want to see him quit school, but I’m not sure that’s our decision to make,” he reasoned.

“If he quits now, he’ll never go back.”

He shrugged. “It’s a possibility.” He didn’t want to argue with Shane, especially not over Jason.

Shane shook his head. “I don’t know what’s happened to that kid. He’s got more pierced body parts than I have shoes, and he looks as if he dropped a bottle of bleach on the top of his head.”

“Could be worse. It could be purple,” Dylan said with a grin.

“It
was
purple. Last summer. You weren’t here.”

Dylan wished he had been around more for his youngest brother. “I think the way he looks, the way he’s behaving…it’s all part of being nineteen and trying to figure out where to go next.”

“That may be, but college is important. I think Garret should talk to him.” Shane suggested. “He’s closer to him in age.”

“He’s just warned me not to come down too hard on Jason. Do you really think he’s going to want to play the heavy?”

“You can ask him. He’s going to stop by when he finishes at the hospital.”

“I hope he doesn’t think he needs to come by and check up on me.”

“I’d say it’s more likely he’s using you as an excuse to see a certain redhead,” his brother said with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

“He’s interested in Krystal?”

“You didn’t know?” Shane rolled his eyes. “Oh, please tell me you didn’t treat her as if she was fair game.”

“No, I didn’t,” he denied emphatically. “She’s
Mom’s tenant. What do you think I do? Hit on every woman who happens to be in the same room as I am.”

“Then you
have
changed, haven’t you.”

Dylan held up his fist as if he might punch him, then allowed a smile to spread across his face. “She is good-looking, isn’t she?”

“Very.”

“Then what’s keeping our little brother from making his move?”

“You’ll have to ask him that question.” He finished the rest of his beer and then stood. “I better go plow the drive.”

“Thanks for stopping by, Shane, and tell Jennifer I appreciate the food,” he said sincerely.

“No problem.” He started toward the door but stopped. “About Maddie…” he began.

“What about her?”

He looked as if he wasn’t sure he should say what was on his mind. Finally he said, “I just thought you should know Mom thinks of her as a daughter.”

“I know. You already told me that. So did Garret. And Mom.”

He shrugged. “Then you know.”

“I know,” Dylan repeated. That didn’t stop him from thinking of her as something else, too. But he wasn’t about to tell Shane that. His feelings were for Maddie’s ears only. And he would tell her. Soon.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Dear Leonie: I’ve always prided myself on making smart decisions when it came to men. I thought I could handle an innocent flirtation with this guy I know, but then he kissed me and nothing’s been the same since. I like him but I don’t want him to want me. Or do I? Why won’t my brain tell me what to do?

Signed: Knocked for a loop by a kiss

Leonie says: Flirting is never innocent and it sounds as if you’re not listening to your brain.

M
ADDIE WAS STANDING
on a chair trying to hang the curtain back on the window above her bed when she heard a knock on her door. Expecting it to be Krystal, she automatically called out, “It’s open.”

She was startled when a man’s voice asked, “Need some help?”

She glanced over her shoulder and saw Dylan standing in the doorway. “Oh! I thought you were Krystal.”

“Does that mean I can’t come in?”

“No, it’s all right.” She attached the rod to its bracket, aware that with her arms raised, the shirt she wore crept up, exposing her midriff. Before she could
step down, he was at her side, offering her his hand as she climbed off the chair.

“Thanks,” she said, trying not to let him see how his nearness affected her.

Not that he would have noticed. He was too busy surveying the room. “This certainly doesn’t look like the place where my brothers and I used to wrestle.”

“Your mom wanted to give the house a more contemporary look,” she told him as he made a 360-degree turn. “What do you think?”

“It looks good…and much neater than the way my brothers kept their room.” He gave it one more quick appraisal before saying to her, “I like it.”

Although she knew he referred to the room, the look in his eyes told her he meant the double entendre. “It’s actually bigger than an efficiency apartment. I’ve plenty of room.”

“I can see that.” He stared at her treadmill, which was draped with damp garments. “Do you always use that as a clothes rack?”

“Only on the days I do laundry,” she answered.

“If you lived in Saint Martin you wouldn’t need a treadmill. You could walk beside the ocean every morning.”

“Is that what you do?”

He nodded. “It’s a great way to start the day.” He strolled over to her bookcase, taking time to browse through the titles. Then he wandered over to her desk, pausing in front of her computer. “You on the net?” Seeing her nod, he asked, “What’s your e-mail address?”

“Why? Are you going to send me an e-mail?”

“I might,” he said with a smile that held a tempting promise.

“Is that what you’ve been doing on your laptop? E-mailing your friends?”

“Mostly I’ve been working, although that hasn’t always been easy to do. Mom gets a lot of phone calls, even on weekends. There must be an awful lot of love-sick people in Saint Paul,” he remarked with a shake of his head.

“People like to talk to her about relationships. They don’t have to be neurotic to do that.”

“And do you talk to her about your love life?” She could see the curiosity in his eyes.

“No.”

The curiosity changed to admiration. It was obvious that he didn’t see the need for anyone to seek advice on romance. She decided it would be wise to change the subject. “Why are you working? I thought you were on a short-term disability leave.”

“I am, but I like to be available to answer any questions that might come up. That’s what’s so great about modern technology. An answer to a problem is only a click of a mouse away.”

She gave him a look of admonishment. “Then you’re not really bored here, are you?”

“I guess
frustrated
would be a better word to use.” He lifted his incapacitated arm as far as the sling would allow. “I’m used to being able to do everything for myself.”

Maddie folded her hands in front of her. “Is that why you came up here? Because you need my help with something?”

“No. I just wanted to see you.” This time there was no mistaking the message in his eyes.

“I’m rather busy,” she told him, shifting uneasily from one foot to the other.

He again made a survey of the room. “Looks to me like the housework is done.” He extended his left hand. “You can take a short break, can’t you? I want to show you something.”

The smile on his face and the hand reaching out to her were a temptation she didn’t want to resist. Cautiously she asked, “And what is that?”

He pulled her over to the love seat. “Let’s sit down.”

She knew she shouldn’t, but he could be so very charming when he wanted to be. “Okay, I’m sitting. Now what?”

“You need to reach into my pocket,” he said with a gleam in his eye.

“Uh…I don’t think so,” she said leaning away from him.

His grin told her he knew exactly what effect his request had had on her. “All right. I’ll get it myself.” With his left hand he managed to reach under his sweater and pull a small black rectangular case from his shirt pocket. “Have you seen one of these before?”

She leaned closer and watched as he opened it to reveal a small game board. “Electronic chess?”

“I found it in Jason’s room. It’s pretty cool. You can play by yourself or with a partner. Here. It’s probably easier if you hold it since you have two hands.”
He leaned close, explaining the various functions of the electronic device.

Maddie found it difficult to concentrate on the game. He smelled good, he looked good, and being so close to him made her breasts tingle.

“So do you want to go it alone or do it with me?” he asked, his breath warm on her cheek.

“I…” she began, but wasn’t sure what she wanted to say. All she could do was stare at him. At his lips. She wanted to feel his mouth on hers, to know if his kiss could possibly be as fantastic as she’d imagined it to be all those years ago.

“Maddie, what is it you want me to do?” His voice was husky and inviting.

Her lips parted, and she inched even closer to him. In the blink of an eye his mouth was on hers. Her teenage fantasy had finally come true. And just like the fourteen-year-old Maddie would have done, she sat as stiff as a board. His lips moved over hers, coaxing and tantalizing her until she could no longer ignore the response her body longed to give.

Any inhibition she may have harbored disappeared, her instincts guiding her as she deepened the kiss by letting her tongue find his. She slid her arms around his neck, pulling him closer, her body moving against his in an intimate invitation.

“Oops, my fault. Pretend I didn’t come in.”

The female voice was like a bucket of cold water on a newly built fire. Maddie opened her eyes to see Krystal backing out of the room, an apologetic look on her face.

Maddie pushed herself away from Dylan with a
groan. “Just great. Now she thinks something’s going on.”

“Something
is
going on, Maddie,” he said in a voice that caressed her skin just as the kiss had caressed her lips.

She jumped up from the love seat. “No, it’s not. It most definitely is not,” she said through lips that still tingled from the pressure of his. “You really need to go back downstairs.” She didn’t look at him as she spoke.

“Come on, Maddie,” he pleaded, placing a hand on her forearm.

She snatched it away. “I mean it. I have a boyfriend. It may not matter to you, but it matters to me.”

To her relief, he didn’t try to convince her to let him stay. He slowly walked toward the door, but paused before leaving. “It
does
matter to me, Maddie, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to apologize for kissing you.”

She looked at him then and desire spread through her the way fire spreads through dry grass. She couldn’t let him know. “I don’t expect you to. I would just appreciate it if you’d remember that I’m not looking for that kind of entertainment.”

“Go ahead and tell yourself that, Maddie, if it makes you feel better,” he said, and before she could think of a suitable retort, he was gone.

Maddie stood for several moments, her fingertips on her lips, trying not to remember how good it had felt to have his mouth on hers. He was right. She’d wanted him to kiss her—but only to fulfill a teenage fantasy she’d had for fourteen years. She was just like hun
dreds of other women who’d been kissed by Dylan Donovan.

And there would probably be at least a hundred more in the future. She didn’t want to think about it. She
wouldn’t
think about it. She shook her head, as if the simple motion could erase what had just happened. She returned to the window to drag the chair back to her desk. At the sound of her housemate’s voice, she turned toward the door.

“I heard footsteps on the stairs so I figured it was safe to come in.” Krystal didn’t wait to be invited in, but padded into her room in her slippered feet, saying, “I am so sorry I barged in on the two of you. I had no idea you were doing that.”

“We’re weren’t doing
that,
” Maddie denied stridently.

“You weren’t? Then what were you doing?”

“Playing chess.”

That produced a laugh from Krystal. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen the game played that way before.”

“It’s not what you think.” Maddie knew her words sounded lame. “All right. He kissed me, but not for the reason you think.”

“Maddie, dear, there’s only one reason a man kisses a woman,” she said, sounding more worldly than Maddie ever could. “He likes you. I picked up on it last night. Every time Jason or I mentioned your name his ears perked up.”

“That’s nothing new. His ears do that whenever a single woman’s name is mentioned. It’s like he has radar,” she grumbled.

“Uh-uh. I flirted outrageously with him and got no-
where.” She walked over to the love seat and sprawled across it. “So what are you going to do about Jeffrey?”

“I’m going to do nothing.” Maddie flopped down on her bed, placing her chin on her hand.

“I’d give you advice on how to juggle two guys at the same time, but my head’s plugged and I’m not sure I’d make any sense,” she said with a sniffle.

“I don’t plan to juggle two men.”

Krystal groaned. “Please don’t tell me you’re going to let a great opportunity like this pass?”

“I don’t regard juggling two men as a great opportunity,” Maddie said dryly.

“I’m talking about Dylan. Maddie, he’s gorgeous and he wants you.”

“Well, I don’t want him.” She knew it wasn’t exactly the truth.

“It figures. I’m the one who’d kill for a chance with such a guy and you’re the one who has him following you to your room.” She let out a long sigh of injustice. Then she sat up. “Why
was
he in your room kissing you if you didn’t want him to be here?”