FATHER IN TRAINING (16 page)

"Hi," he said.

"Hi, yourself." The words caught in her throat, but she forced them out past stiff vocal cords.

Kyle grinned at her. White teeth flashed against his tanned face. His dark eyes stared at hers, as if he were reading her secrets. As if he knew she was having trouble remembering to breathe. Damn the man for being such a temptation and damn
herself
for being so weak.

It had been nine days since the kiss. She'd waved at him from across the driveway. She'd watched her children laugh and play in his backyard. She'd heard the rumbling engine of his motorcycle as he took off for she wasn't sure where. But she hadn't seen him up close. She hadn't gazed into his face and inhaled the masculine scent of him. She hadn't felt her thighs go up in flames, as they were doing now. At least she was sitting down.

She looked away from him before she could say or do something stupid. "I'm taking Nichole over to play with Mandy. Do you know where Lindsay and Blake are? I don't want to saddle you with them."

"No problem," he said. "I was just coming to tell you Blake is down the street playing ball. There's a half dozen boys about his age around here. I know most of them and suggested they stop by. They invited him to
come
play. I hope you don't mind."

Sandy
stared at Kyle. "Did he want to go?" Her son usually resisted her efforts to get him to join in with other kids.

"Sure. Why not? Anyway, they'll be a while. Why don't you leave him at the game? I'll be here if anything happens."

"Thank you." Blake was playing with other boys his age. She was thrilled. More than thrilled, she was relieved. Maybe her son was finally returning to normal. She'd been worried about him for a while. She'd even taken Blake to a counselor before they'd left
Los Angeles
. The woman had told her it would simply take time for Blake to regain his self-esteem and want to play with other children. For weeks,
Sandy
had wondered if the woman had been wrong, but now it seemed he was on the road to recovery.

"I was thinking of a barbecue tonight," Kyle said.

"Oh?" Was that a statement of fact or an invitation? She wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"I've got steaks and corn on the cob. Lindsay said she'd make a salad. Is six-thirty okay with you?"

An invitation. That was simple. She would just say no. N-O. It wasn't a difficult word. "Sure, we'd love to." She groaned silently. Apparently, she was having more trouble saying no than she'd realized. Now she had to eat dinner with him. What were they going to talk about? How would she stand it, knowing she'd pushed him away? Not that she wanted to be with him. It was just—

"You okay?" he asked.

She needed to have her head examined. "I'm fine. When Lindsay volunteered to make the salad, did she mention who was providing the ingredients?"

"No. I don't have anything here, but I can go to the store."

She shook her head. "I'll go. It's only fair. I'll pick up some salad fixings after I drop off Mandy."

"Great. Ah,
Sandy
." Kyle shifted. He looked at her, then out the front windshield. "I think I've got a problem."

"What?"

"It's Lindsay. Her crush isn't going away."

Sandy
laughed. "Twelve-year-old hormones can be pretty scary. Don't worry, she'll outgrow it."

He swallowed. "I don't know if I can wait that long. She makes me nervous. I don't know what to say to her."

"Why do you have to say anything?"

"I don't mean about the crush. Just in general. Like I told you the night I took the kids to the movies, I don't want to encourage her, and I don't want to hurt her feelings." He closed his eyes briefly. "She's always trying to be next to me. I'm hiding behind a ten- and eight-year-old." He glared at her. "Don't you even think about laughing at
me.
"

"I wouldn't dream of it." She bit on her lower lip to keep from grinning. "But I do have one question. Why is
this such
a big deal? Aren't you used to women throwing
themselves
at you?"

His dark eyes met her own. "You're trying to set me up. If I say yes, then you're going to call me an egotistical jerk."

"I promise I'm not." She gripped the steering wheel and stared straight ahead. "I'm stating a fact. Why is dealing with Lindsay's crush such a problem for you?"

"She's just a kid. She's sensitive, vulnerable. I would find it easier to confront a woman. Besides, despite what you think, I don't have women lined up for miles."

She made a show of glancing around the outside of his house. "I can see that."

"You're not helping."

"I know. I'm sorry. Let's be logical. You're very good with children. Why don't you treat Lindsay like one of the kids?"

"I've tried that. She makes it a point to tell me how grown-up she is." He shuddered. "She offered to do my laundry."

Sandy
chuckled. For the first time, she realized being around Kyle made her feel good. As if the world had been set right. "I can't get her to do her own laundry. Why don't you let her do yours, then you can do hers and we'll call it even?"

He growled her name.

She held up her hands in a gesture of surrender. "Okay, no more teasing. If you don't want to treat her like a child, then treat her like a teenager. You were one once. What do you remember?"

"That having a crush on someone could hurt like hell."

"Really?" She glanced at him. "You had a crush? On whom?"

He shrugged. "It's not important. The point is
,
I don't want her to be rejected like I was."

"You were rejected? By whom?"

He touched the tip of her nose. "You're suddenly interested in my past."

"Why not? It's fascinating. I never knew a Haynes had been rejected in love." She tried to remember back to high
I
school. "Do I know her? Oh, probably not. You were a couple of grades back, weren't you?"

"Yeah, you're older than me."

She grimaced. "Thanks for the reminder. Was it one of the cheerleaders? That foreign-exchange student from
Sweden
? What was her name? I can't remember. Didn't she date
Jordan
?"

"Enough with my past. You're not helping here. What am I going to do with Lindsay?"

"Wait it out. Maybe something will happen to convince her you're just some guy who's not very interesting at all."

"Gee, thanks. I can't wait for that to happen."

She smiled. Their gazes locked and she felt her heart begin beating faster. Tension crackled between them. She hadn't realized how close they were, with him leaning in the car window. They were close enough that she could see the individual whiskers on his cheeks and chin, and the shape of his mouth. That same mouth that had tempted and teased her nine days ago. Suddenly, her lips felt dry and she was compelled to touch them with the tip of her tongue. She could see him follow the movement and he seemed to catch his breath. For a moment, she thought he might lean forward those last few inches and kiss her again. She wanted him to. She willed him to. Instead, he stretched his arm inside the car and grabbed her left hand.

"You took off your ring."

She pulled her fingers free of his touch and clasped them together on her lap. "So?"

"Why did you do it?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe it was time. I've decided to see how it feels. If it bothers me too much, I'll put the ring back on."

She wanted to tell him not to read anything into her actions, but that statement seemed like too much of a confession of what she was thinking. He wasn't that interested in her. If anything, he was probably intrigued by a woman who didn't willingly fall into his arms at every moment. Then she remembered the kiss and how she
had
fallen into his arms, so there went that theory.

"I found her, Mommy," Nichole called as she raced back toward the car.

"Good. We need to get going."
Sandy
didn't care if it looked as if she was running away. "See you later," she told Kyle.

He straightened. "Don't forget about the barbecue. And the salad."

"I won't." She waited until Nichole had buckled her seat belt,
then
hit the gas. The quicker she got away from Kyle, the quicker she would stop making a fool of herself. She was worse than Lindsay, mooning over a man she shouldn't want. If only she could stop thinking about his kisses.

Kyle stared after the station wagon until it turned onto the main road and disappeared. Then he glanced at the hedge he'd been trimming. The poor plant was about as neat as it was going to get. He should leave it alone. But if he did, that would mean his chores outside were finished and he wouldn't have an excuse to avoid the house. Lindsay was inside, making lemonade. Maybe he was a coward, but he didn't want to be alone with her. She terrified him.

He put the clippers in the garage,
then
hesitated by the back door. He was the adult, he reminded himself. He was the one in control of the situation.

"You're scared," a boy called.

Kyle whipped around toward the sound.

"Am not" came the answer.

He recognized the second voice. It was Blake. A thick hedge and several trees separated
Sandy
's property from a narrow private road. Kyle pushed through the bushes, ignoring the scratches from the branches, and came out at the top of a slight rise. The grassy slope rolled into the private dirt road. Two boys stood directly in front of him. Three feet away, facing
them,
was Blake.

Kyle could see he was scared. His eyes were wide behind his glasses, his body stiff. The taller of the other two boys moved closer.

"You're scared, and I'm gonna make you more scared. You can't tell me what to do."

Kyle recognized the neighborhood bully. "Gary Warner, stop that right now."

Blake looked up at him.
Gary
took advantage of the boy's distraction and hit him right in the mouth.

"Damn little brat," Kyle muttered. He started toward the trio. The third boy took off running.
Gary
hesitated,
then
darted for home. Blake stood there looking stunned. He touched his hand to his mouth. When he drew it away, he saw the blood. Instantly, tears rolled down his cheeks.

Kyle reached his side. The other two boys had disappeared, so he put his arm around Blake. "He popped you good. Let me see."

Blake sniffed and raised his chin. He continued to cry. Tears dripped from his eyes, but he didn't make any sound. The silence tore at Kyle's gut. He wanted to catch that little punk and teach him what it felt like to be bullied by someone. Instead, he stared at Blake's mouth. Carefully, he turned down Blake's lower lip.

"You've got a cut here," he said. "How do your teeth feel? Are any of them loose?"

Blake closed his mouth and used his tongue to check. He turned away and spat out blood. "They're okay."

"Good. Let's get you home and we'll put some ice on your mouth. You're going to swell up like a chipmunk."

Blake tried to smile, but the
movement made him wince
. He sniffed. "It hurts," he mumbled.

"I know, kid. It happened to me a bunch of times. I never seemed to remember the pain before I got in a fight. It'll get better." Kyle bent over and picked him up. Blake wrapped his legs around Kyle's waist and buried his head in his shoulder.

Kyle could feel the dampness on his skin. He wasn't sure if it was from the tears or the blood. He didn't much care. Instead, he started back the long way, going to the end of the private road, then turning left and walking until he reached
Sandy
's driveway. An occasional sob shook Blake's skinny body. He held the boy close, patting his back and murmuring soothingly. Poor kid. If this was his first fight—and from the way he'd reacted, it had been—he was scared, sore and defeated. Hell of a way to spend a summer afternoon.