Something About Joe (15 page)

A
llison worked out the quickest
pathway through the crowd of bopping kids and parents to an exit.
Joe wouldn’t want to see her. He’d made it humiliatingly clear how
he felt. And she hadn’t exactly bid him farewell with dignity and
calm. She could save them both an embarrassing encounter by
hightailing it out of there as soon as possible.

The
tooth-brushing song finished. Then Joe started calling members of
the audience up on stage to join a conga line. Alarmed, Allison
picked Mitchell up. “C’mon, sweetie, we’re out of here.”

Mitchell,
swaying in time to the music, howled and resisted. “No! Dance,
Joe.” He struggled and kicked as she tried to push through the
crowd toward the exit. Her heart started thumping with panic as she
watched Joe jump from the stage and make his way toward her, the
conga line following him. The crowd parted for him; those not in
the conga clapping him through in time to the music.

It seemed
like only seconds before Joe stood in front of her, his hair
dampened into wild curls escaping from the leather tie, a grin
playing around his sexy, sexy mouth.

“
Joe!” cried
Mitchell, straining toward his former nanny. Joe swept Mitchell up
into his arms. Mitchell threw his chubby little arms joyously
around the big man’s neck.

Holding Mitchell with one hand, Joe held out
the other to Allison. “Come on,” he said. She couldn’t read the
expression in his deep blue eyes.

His hand was firm and warm in hers, his face
now just kissing distance away. The delicious maleness of him
invaded her senses. She tried to ignore the hammering of her heart.
This was crazy, it couldn’t be happening.

“
Put your
arms around my waist,” Joe ordered, his grin widening. What else
could she do with him holding her son in his arms and an impatient,
dancing line of people behind him? She put her arms around him, the
mother behind Joe did the same to her, and the rocking conga line
moved on, snaking around the hall. Allison found herself swept up
by the rhythm and the fun and the sheer joy of being so close to
Joe.

Even through
his T-shirt and dungarees, she was aware of Joe’s solid, muscled
strength and the warmth of his body. Her awareness was as much
cause of the flush on her cheeks as the exhilaration of the dance
and the laughter—her own and that of the other people in the
hall.

Who could
have dreamed she’d feel so happy, dancing around the room, laughing
with strangers, reveling in being part of the special magic Joe was
weaving on his audience—and the spell he was weaving on
her.

If only this
feeling could go on forever. If only things could be different. But
Joe had said he could never care for another man’s child. He’d even
been in sympathy with her father whose similar attitude had made
her childhood a cold and lonely place.

Never could
she put Mitchell through what went through with her stepfather. She
loved Mitchell with a love she could never measure; any man in her
life would have to feel the same. If Joe couldn’t, there was no
future for her with him—no matter how he made her body sing and her
heart soar.

Her birth
mother had given her away to strangers. It was an un-erasable hurt
she would always carry with her. Joe came from a loving family; he
would never feel that pain. Could he ever understand her
determination to protect Mitchell from the agony of
rejection?

The song
came to an end and the audience cheered uproariously, a cacophony
of hooting, whistling and stamping. In the midst of so much
enthusiastic happiness, Allison felt like weeping. She wanted
Joe—wanted him desperately. And she liked and admired him, felt he
could be a soul mate as well as a lover. But having him in her life
would only lead to heartbreak—for herself and for
Mitchell.

Joe led the
conga line back to the stage, his hips swinging in a sensual rhythm
beneath her hands. When he reached the stage, he asked the conga
line to break up, and the kids and the parents to return to their
places. Reluctantly, Allison let go of Joe’s waist, her arms
feeling bereft.

Joe turned around and handed Mitchell back
to her. “There you go, Tiger,” he said.

“
Thanks,”
Allison said. “That was fun. For both of us.” She tried to smile
but her trembling mouth wouldn’t curve upwards. She started to back
away.

Joe gripped her arm so tightly it hurt.
“Don’t go,” he said, his voice rasping with urgency. His eyes
searched her face. “Wait for me. Until the show’s over.”

Allison knew
she should go. But it was easy to resolve never to see him again
when she wasn’t standing next to him. Her resolutions crumbled when
she was kissing distance from those navy-blue eyes with their
fringe of dark lashes, that sensuous mouth, that wild frame of dark
hair. Her mind was telling her one thing, her heart something very
different.

“Please stay, Allison.”

Unable to speak, she nodded.

T
he concert finished with three
encores and riotous applause. Allison—with Mitchell—had watched and
danced and clapped along with the rest of the audience, her
admiration for Joe’s talent growing with every minute.

Now the
audience had departed, and Joe’s band was packing up backstage.
From where she and Mitchell sat to the side of the empty auditorium
she could hear them calling out to each other, their laughter
echoing through the large, empty room.

She felt
alone and conspicuous and nervous of what she would say to Joe when
she saw him. A sudden thought struck her—would the other members of
Joe’s band think she was some kind of groupie hanging around to
throw herself at the star? She couldn’t resist an inward giggle.
How many groupies came encumbered with an eighteen-month-old
baby?

Then Joe
came out onto the stage, and her knees went all shaky at the sight
of him—even wearing dungarees printed with teddy bears he was the
sexiest man alive. He leaped down off the stage and came over to
where she sat with Mitchell snuggling drowsily in her
arms.

At the sight
of him, Mitchell was wide-awake and struggled out of her arms
toward Joe. Joe swung him up into his arms. Allison’s heart lurched
at how her son’s little face lit up at the sight of his beloved
nanny. Was it so impossible for Joe to learn to love another man’s
child? But he couldn’t see himself as a stepfather—and he’d been
honest with her about that.

She stood up. “Hi,” she said, shy and not at
all certain what to say.

“I’m glad you waited. I’ve done a deal with
Pete. He’s doing my share of the packing up.”

“Pete?”

“
Pete-Bear.
There’s him, Greg-Bear and Lindy-B
ear.”

Allison
couldn’t help a giggle. “And I guess you’re Joe-Bear.”

He grinned. “That’s right. We’re Teddy Bear
Beat.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about the band?”

“You obviously had me down as a feckless
rock musician, so I didn’t like to disillusion you.”

Allison blushed. Had she been that obvious?
She’d misjudged him so badly.

“But why were you nannying if your band is
so successful?”

“
We don’t
make a fortune on the concerts. Yet. And the royalties on the CDs
took a while to roll in, especially from the American and European
markets. But you were my last nannying job.”

“
Mitchell
missed you,” she said, the words coming out a little stiffly. “He
can’t say a lot yet, but he certainly let me know how upset he was
that you’d gone away.”

Joe’s face
softened, and he ruffled Mitchell’s ginger hair. “I missed him too.
I felt bad that I couldn’t say goodbye.”

He paused
and shifted from one foot to another. “And I...uh...I missed you
too.”

Allison felt
her heart do a little leap. She looked up at Joe, noticing his
uncertainty, how a slight frown creased his forehead. There was
something very appealing about a big, manly guy like Joe, who
normally exuded an abundance of self-confidence, looking wary at
what her reply might be.

“I missed you, too,” she murmured.

There was
tangible relief in Joe’s eyes but his voice was jokey in
tone.

“Not just my babysitting services?”

“That, too. And the chef service.
But...”

Now she was
the one feeling uncertain. It was hard to meet his eyes and she
found herself looking down at his sneakers. She shouldn’t be joking
about this. It was too important and she sensed he had tensed,
waiting for her to reply. “Let’s just say I missed you.”

“
I’m glad,”
he said and she quickly looked up at him again.

“Glad?” Her voice came out shaky and
uncertain.

“Glad you missed me.” His mouth twisted
wryly. “Hell, that’s not what I meant to say. I don’t know what I
meant to say. I just want you to know I can’t stop thinking about
you.”

“
Me too.
Well, uh...I mean not thinking about me, thinking about
you.”

Joe’s face
lit up. Allison was amazed at how pleased he seemed with her words.
Still holding Mitchell, he leaned down. Her heart thudded in
anticipation of his kiss, but his mouth had only just grazed hers
when one of the Teddy Bears came out on to the stage and shouted
down, “We’ve packed up Joe, we’ll catch you later—oh, excuse
me…”

Allison
flushed with embarrassment at Joe’s friend’s frankly curious
stare.

Joe turned and called out his thanks then
turned back to Allison. “That’ll give them something to gossip
about. He’ll go straight to Lindy.”

Lindy? The
pretty, red-haired girl-Teddy? Why would Lindy be so interested in
who Joe kissed? Allison remembered long, auburn hair gleaming under
a streetlamp.

“
D
id Lindy just have her hair
cut?”

“Yes, she did. How did you know?”

Allison
shrugged. “That first night you worked at my house, a girl picked
you up.”

“That was Lindy.”

The words
came out stiffly. “Are...are you involved?”

Joe looked
incredulous for a moment. “Involved? With Lindy? Heck, no. We’re
friends, have been for years. You thought...?”

Remembering the girl’s arms going around
Joe’s neck, Allison nodded.

Joe looked very serious. “I’m not involved
with anyone, Allison. What about you? What about Clive?”

Allison
shook her head. “I told him there could never be anything between
us but a working relationship.”

“
Good,” said
Joe, so fiercely Mitchell started. He began to squirm and whimper
in Joe’s arms.

“He’s hungry,” said Allison, one part of her
desperately wanting Joe to stay with her, another knowing it would
be best if they said goodbye.

“Me too, little guy. Want to have lunch with
me?”

Mitchell
nodded and grinned his gap-toothed grin.

Joe looked
at Allison. “Mo
mmy, too?”

Allison
hesitated for a moment. “Yes,” she said.

“You don’t sound so sure.”

She took a deep breath. “To be honest, I’m
not.”

“It’s just lunch, Allison,” Joe said
gently.

She
swallowed hard. “I know, but I swore I wouldn’t see you again. You
see...” She struggled for the right words. “I’m not the type for an
affair. And Mitchell loves you so much already I can’t bear to see
him hurt. When...when...whatever might happen between us happens
and then ends... I don’t care about me. Not really. Well, I do. But
it’s Mitchell...”

“Is that why you ran away from me during the
concert?”

She nodded.
“You told me how you felt about taking on another man’s
child.”

Joe’s brows drew together. “Can’t we just
enjoy each other without worrying about how things might end?”

“You mean, when they haven’t even started
yet?”

He smiled, but his eyes were serious. “Yeah,
that’s just what I mean.”

C
areful, Joe, the warning sounded
in his head, don’t blow it with her a second time. Choose your
words carefully. He was twenty-seven with a whole new career ahead
of him. He wasn’t thinking marriage, but he wanted this woman in
his life. Wanted her badly. Already, he cared enough about her not
to want to hurt her. But surely if they were dating, and things
didn’t get too serious, no one could get hurt?

He hadn’t
thought a lot about the step-fatherhood thing, hadn’t needed to
before. Maybe he needed to talk some more with her about why he
felt the way he did. But not here. Not now.

Mitchell was
practically asleep. Joe held him close with one hand and, with the
other, tilted Allison’s chin so she was forced to look right up at
him. Her eyes were wary, her mouth trembling. With desire for him?
He kissed her on the mouth, tasting her sweetness and feeling
passion shoot through him when her lips parted and the tip of her
tongue met his.

“
Why worry
so much about what might be?” he asked, his voice husky with
desire.

Her forehead
wrinkled with worry and she looked adorable. “You don’t understand.
I always have to consider Mitchell. I can’t take the
risk—”

“What risk? That he’ll take it badly if we
break up?”

She nodded.

“
But
Allison, we haven’t even dated yet. You can’t go through life
without taking risks, surely you as a banker know that?”