Seducing the Old Flame (14 page)

“My praises?
 
Lori?
 
You must have her mistaken for some other
sister.”

Tabitha and Lori both frowned at him.

“You know I worship the ground you walk upon.”

Although Lori’s tone was teasing, Tabitha knew her words to be
true.
 
Lori did idolize her brother.
 
Rightly so.
 
Jason played much more than the role of big brother in Lori’s life.
  
Lori admitted long ago that without Jason
providing stability in her life, she’d have fallen to the wayside after their
father’s accident.

“Only when you’re wanting something, lil sis.
 
Don’t think I don’t have you all figured
out.”
 
Jason shook his head as Lori
plopped down on an overstuffed chair.
 
“So, what are you doing here?”

“You’d think he was unhappy to see me or something.”
 
Lori winked at her and Tabitha was struck by
how much Lori resembled her brother.
 
Same
dark hair and toffee colored eyes.
 
Same
twinkle in those eyes when she smiled.

“Or something,” Jason muttered under his breath as he sat on the
sofa and stared at his sister.
 
“What are
you doing here?” he repeated.

Lori rolled her eyes.
 
“Well, duh.
 
It’s Saturday
evening.
 
I was supposed to meet you here
after you got off work so we could go by and visit dad.”

Jason cursed.

“Don’t tell me you forgot.”
 
Lori’s grin said she knew he had and enjoyed needling him.

“I forgot,” he admitted.

Lori shrugged.
 
“No big
deal.
 
I can go without you.
 
You can swing by and see him tomorrow or one
night next week.”

“I could.”
 
Jason looked
torn and Tabitha took pity on him.

His dad lived in an assisted living home two years ago.
 
She imagined he still did and that his
children’s visits highlighted his week.

“It’s okay if you need to go, Jason.
 
I’ll be alright here until you get
back.”
 
Tabitha bit into her lower
lip.
 
“Or I can go home.”

“Hell no.
 
You’re not
leaving.”

Lori’s eyes widened and looked back and forth between them.

Tabitha imagined her own eyes looked surprised at the
forcefulness of Jason’s comment.

Jason sent her an apologetic look.
 
“That is, unless you want to.”

She could hear the question in his words.
 
The uncertainty.
 
What could she say?
 
She didn’t want to give Lori the wrong
impression, but she also didn’t want to leave a second before she had to.

“I’ll be glad to wait, Jason.”
 
She smiled at him, ignored Lori’s knowing look, and gestured to the
sleeping cat.
 
“All I have to do this
evening is baby-sit the cat, so it’s really not a problem.”

“You got a cat?” Lori asked Jason, noticing She-cat for the
first time.
 
“I can’t believe you got a
cat.”

“No, I did not get a cat.
 
You know I don’t like cats.”

“You don’t?” Tabby asked, surprised since he’d helped her so
much with She-cat, had stroked and talked to the cat almost as much as she
had.
 
Almost.
 
“Why not?”

Jason glanced at the ceiling.
 
“Doesn’t matter.”

“You used to like cats,” Lori helpfully supplied.
 
“As a matter of fact, I’d say your aversion
to the feline species has been a recent thing.
 
Maybe over the past couple of years.”

What Lori said hit Tabitha and she scowled.
 
“You don’t like cats because of me?”

Jason threw his hands into the air.
 
“Lord help a man being in the same room with
the two of you.”

Lori started to say something, but Jason shot her a silencing
look.

“I’ll visit with dad on Monday or Tuesday evening.”
 
He raked a hand through his dark hair,
leaving several strands sticking up at odd angles.
 
“Maybe I can even squeeze in an extra visit
one day at lunch.”

Lori nodded.
 
“I’ll let
him know.”

“No.”
 
Tabitha shook her
head, feeling guilty and confused, but sure she didn’t want to be the reason Jason
skipped his visit with his father.
 
“I
don’t want to keep you from seeing your dad.”

“You’re not,” Jason assured as if it were no big deal.
 
“I’m just rescheduling.”

Their eyes met and held.
 
Jason’s
eyes deepened to a rich chocolate and Tabitha held her breath to keep from
brushing a stray hair that hung in his eyes back into place, to keep from
wrapping her arms around him and begging him to care for her.

“Why don’t you come with us?” Lori suggested.

“I can’t do that.”

“Why not?” Jason asked almost before Tabitha’s mouth closed.

Why indeed?

“Because—”
 
She searched
for a reason.
 
“I have to baby-sit
She-cat.”

“She-cat?” Lori asked.

“The cat.
 
We’re not
totally convinced she’s house-broken so it’s probably best not to leave her
alone.”
 
Did her excuse sound as lame to
Lori as it did to her?

“When did you get this cat?”
 
Lori eyed Tabitha with skepticism.

“Today.”

“Today?” Lori looked confused. “Oh, never mind.
 
You can lock the cat and the litter box in
the bathroom long enough to come visit dad.
 
I’m sure he’ll remember you.”

Would he?
 
She liked the
older version of Jason the few times they’d met, but a lot of time had passed
since she last saw Aaron Kelly and his memory came and went even back then.

Tabitha glanced at Jason, trying to decipher how he wanted her
to handle Lori’s suggestion.
 
His face
revealed nothing.

“Jason?” she asked, wishing she could see behind the mask he
wore.

His eyebrows rose and she got the distinct impression she was on
trial.
 
Was this some kind of test?
 
And what was she to answer when she didn’t
know how Jason felt about her visiting his father?
 
After all, a weekend fling didn’t go to visit
dear dad at the assisted living home.

“I’m more than capable of waiting here.
 
But I’ll go if you want me to.”

What a wishy-washy response.

Jason stared at her a few moments, his eyes dark and unreadable.

“Lori’s right.”
 
He
surprised Tabitha by saying.
 
“You should
go with us.”

“What about She-cat?”
 
Flimsy excuse, but suddenly she was nervous.
 
As if visiting Jason’s father was some type
of test.
 

“Like Lori said, we’ll put her in the bathroom.
 
She’ll be fine for the couple of hours we’re
gone.”

Tabitha eyed the sleeping cat.
 
“If you’re sure.”

“I am.
 
Come on,” he urged
Tabitha and Lori.
 
“Let’s get this show
on the road before it gets any later and dad goes to bed.”

She glanced at her watch.
 
Almost six.

So much for their plans to have sex all weekend.

At the rate they were going, they might not make it to bed
again.

Jason touched her low back as she carried She-cat to the
bathroom.
 
Heat burned through her
clothes, imprinting his hand upon her skin.

No matter if they didn’t have sex again.

Just being with Jason was enough.

Chapter Eight

Jason couldn’t believe he’d forgotten his plans to visit his dad
with Lori.
 
It wasn’t like it was
something new.
 
They visited him every
Saturday evening after Jason got off work.
 
Unless one of them had a date.
 
Which was pretty darn rare these days.

At least for him.

He was pretty sure Lori went out after they visited, but she
never said and he tried not to play the role of domineering big brother no more
than necessary.
 
Besides, Dad always
tired quickly anyway so they never stayed more than an hour or two.

“This is a really great car,”
Lori praised from the back seat.
 
Tabby
turned as much as her seatbelt allowed and thanked his sister.
 
They chatted about the car.

The car he drove.

Tabby had undergone a radical personality change.
 
Two years ago she’d have bit off his head had
he even suggested driving her car.
 
Tonight she’d handed over the keys and asked him to drive.

For the life of him he couldn’t figure out what any of it meant.

From her arriving at his doorstep asking for a weekend of sex to
how she doted on the cat to how she’d actually put him first several times
today without so much as a pout, whine, or blink of an eye.

Now she’d handed him the keys, put him in the driver’s
seat.
 
Tabby never willingly gave up
control.
 
What the hell was up with that?

She’d morphed into the Tabby he dreamed of.
 
The one who didn’t seem to always have
distrust, anger, and need for attention lurking beneath the surface.

“You’re awfully quiet, bro.”
 
Lori leaned forward between the seats.
 
“Something on your mind, or has the cat got your tongue?”

Little sisters could be such a pain at times.

“Just watching traffic to make sure I don’t bang up Tabbycat’s
car.”

“Tabbycat?”
 
Lori turned
toward Tabby.
 
“He still calls you by
your nickname?
 
How cute.
 
Of course, he’s called you by a lot of other
names over the past two years, too.
 
More
of the female canine variety though.”

That did it.
 
He was going
to strangle her the first chance he got.
 
Or make her blabbering mouth walk.

Tabby stared ahead, looking out the windshield.
 
He wished he could see her expression, her
eyes, but without stopping the car, he couldn’t.

She didn’t say anything.
 
Lori continued to prattle a mile a minute, mostly words of praise for
Tabby and how much she’d missed her.

Lori had missed Tabby.

Tabby served as the sister Lori never had.
 
Tabby had taken Lori under her wing and
showered her with attention.
 
She’d been
devastated when he and Tabby broke up for good, begged him to forgive Tabby,
but there had been no forgiving her betrayal.

He still hadn’t forgiven her.

How could he?

She cheated on him.
 
So
what if they’d fought?
 
They fought all
the time.

Even now the memories cut into his gut, angered him.

He needed to hang onto that anger.
 
It would protect him from getting hurt this
time.

He couldn’t forget that although Tabby seemed different, she was
still the same woman.

Jason stepped into his father’s assisted living apartment, if
you could call the two rooms that, and tried not to let the scent get to
him.
 
How could something smell so
sterile and so stale at the same time?
 
Like death waiting to happen.

Still, this place was a lot better than the nursing home Dad
started out in following his long hospital stay.
 
More expensive, but worth it.

Lori kissed their father’s cheek.
 
“Dad, you remember Tabitha?
 
She’s a friend of Jason’s.
 
They dated a few years back.”

Aaron Kelly’s weary gaze lifted to Tabby and lit with
recognition.
 
His face brightened and Jason
would swear his dad shed ten years.

“Kitty cat.”
 
He reached
out his hand and Tabby took it as if he were Prince Charming.
 
She smiled, apparently pleased at being
remembered.