Sparring Partners (9 page)

"Stop wiggling like a fish. You're well and
truly caught and all that thrashing isn't making me less
interested."

Henry sounded more pleased than annoyed with
her attempts to free herself, which annoyed her, but Finn stilled
instantly anyway not wanting to encourage him further. She didn't
like forceful men. She liked artistic men who spoke gently, touched
gently, and lived gently.

"Good." He said, smile widening as his grip
eased allowing her to move a little more freely. "You were putting
grass stains on your clothing that you'll never get out."

"Grass stains? You're worried about grass
stains? You ought to be worried about your blood staining my
clothes when I get free."

He smiled at her again and gently brushed
the hair that had fallen across her eyes and mouth away from her
face. "I applaud your effort and look forward to the
challenge."

She wished he'd stop touching her so gently.
She didn't like forceful men with gentle smiles and kind,
indescribable eyes.

"Stone."

"What?"

"Your eyes. They're the color of stone after
the rain."

"Thanks." He said.

"It wasn't a compliment." But it had been.
Henry's eyes were lovely and they seemed to change the more she
studied them.

"It wasn't?" He asked, eyes twinkling with
the knowledge that she was lying. He could see right through her
and that was a bigger sin than knocking her off her feet. Pleasure
shot through her when he laughed and gently ran the back of his
hand across her cheek again. She closed her eyes to block out the
effect his smile and those luminous eyes were having on her senses
so she could mentally squash every pleasure impulse she was feeling
and get on with a plan to turn him into a quivering mass of tissue
and bone.

That was a mistake. Without his eyes to
distract her, Finn could feel every inch of him. The inches were
burning their way through the fabric covering her inner thigh were
growing as they throbbed against her. His lips at her ear and the
soft caress of his hair on her cheek effectively stopped all her
mental pleasure squashing. She was a woman unashamed of her healthy
appetite for sex. The fact that she wanted to writhe against him,
not push away, was beginning to over-ride her irritation with him
and her preference for artists with soft hands.

He was so close she could smell his breath
as he whispered in her ear.
Strawberry licorice and black tea,
not an unpleasant mix
.

"I should have smelled you coming." He said,
inhaling the scent of her homemade shampoo. "You smell like
cinnamon and nutmeg. Do you taste as good as you smell,
sweetheart?"

His tongue flicked out, tracing the shell of
her ear. Finn couldn't control the shiver running through her or
the small groan that escaped her when he pulled her earlobe into
his mouth.

He pushed away from her suddenly and she
felt the loss. Finn's eyes snapped open in time to see him lifting
his head like a hound scenting the air. "Damn. He's early."

The apologetic look on his face had her
puzzled for a second, then she was on her feet and he was
straightening her shirt and pulling grass out of her hair, gently,
like a lover. Finn batted his hands away, which was easier to do on
her feet. He sighed heavily but didn't try to touch her again. His
hands fell to his sides as she glared at him and finished
straightened her own clothes.

"Come on." He said holding out his hand.
"We'd better get over there before all hell breaks loose."

Finn didn't know what he was talking about,
and then she heard them. Moving vans, contractor's vehicles and a
food service truck passed by them on their way to Potters
Woods.

"What is going on?" Finn asked. He seemed to
know what was happening at her house and she didn't. If Finn didn't
have a reason to bloody him before, she sure did now. He seemed to
be part of a home invasion.

He grabbed her upper arms and held her.
"This conversation is not over. When you calm down I'll be here to
answer your questions. Just don't come at me with a bat again or
we'll wind up in the same spot and no amount of traffic will get me
off you."

Finn didn't want to test that threat just
yet. She didn't want him to think he rattled her either.

"I am calm."

He took her hand and pulled her toward the
big yellow house she shared with Reed, Charlie, Jesse and the never
ending series of animals who showed up at their door.

"Trust me, you won't be for long."

He was right.

CHAPTER NINE

The noise in the kitchen woke Reed, mainly
because it wasn't the usual bickering Finn and Charlie engaged in
every morning over tea. She ignored that like she did the crickets
in the evening, just background noise. This was different. The hum
of low voices, distinctly male, was out of place and unwelcome.

Throwing on her slippers and her robe over
her capri pant pajamas and Goo-Goo Dolls tank top, Reed made her
way toward the stairs, passing Jesse's room on her way. No teenager
in sight. Since it was only seven-thirty, and summer vacation,
something was definitely wrong.

The smell of brewing coffee and bacon frying
meant they had guests. The only one who drank coffee anymore was
Charlie and he only made it on Sunday mornings and all of them were
vegetarians although everyone knew Charlie snuck the odd burger now
and then. But for the most part Potters Woods was strictly no meat
allowed. Certainly not bacon, the one meat Reed still had dreams
about.

Before she gave in to pressure from Finn and
stopped eating meat, bacon was an essential food group for Reed.
The scent alone had the power to make her salivate, and now someone
in her own home was torturing her with it. Pork by proxy. The cook
was going to pay. Big time.

Reed's stomach growled, reminding her she
hadn't eaten the night before. She'd been too twisted inside after
her dojo encounter with her husband to want much of anything
besides a dark cave and a giant bag of peanut M&M's. The sound
of Sensei chuckling as he shook his head had her running for the
dojo door as fast as her feet could carry her when her arms were
strapped with bags of gear. He shot one of his pearls of wisdom at
her before she could make it all the through.

Stupid is as stupid does
.

Sensei, ever the Bubba Gump fan, was right.
She'd spent the entire night feeling all kinds of stupid, so stupid
that she forgot to stop for the M&M's on her way home. She
hoped whoever was cooking breakfast was making tofu bacon as well
as the real stuff, she was starved.

Checking herself quickly in the hallway
mirror, Reed frowned. Her curls were sticking out at odd angles all
over her head. Her eyes were puffy and red-rimmed from lack of
sleep and tears she refused to shed, sheet lines ran up the side of
her face.

Perfect
.

She didn't want to take the time to shower
or even try to get a comb through her hair in case she missed the
kitchen pow-wow, so she settled on quickly running back to her room
for a hat and running a tooth brush over her teeth in her
bathroom.

She took the stairs two at a time and headed
toward the kitchen as swiftly as her slippered feet could safely
carry her. Everyone stopped talking the second she stepped into the
room. Reed didn't recognize the man flipping bacon and shaking a
pan of hash browns, which smelled delicious, but she couldn't help
noticing that Finn seemed to know him. The way she kept staring at
his bum when his back was turned spoke of a certain
familiarity.

She did recognize the man sipping coffee
from her
Menopause the Musical
mug as he silently appraised
her over it's rim. She loved that mug. Charlie bought it for her
after the show. He bought one for Finn too but hers said
Wicked
Witch
. Different day. Different play.

"What are you doing here? And who's the stud
cooking breakfast?"

All eyes turned to Jordon including the
grinning man at the stove. "She thinks I'm a stud."

Jordon didn't bother to look at him. "It
must be that manly apron you're wearing." Nothing about the apron
was remotely male. Finn made it from fabric dotted with sunflowers
and small witches in pointy hats riding various kitchen implements
like brooms. The attire didn't seem to bother the man's good
cheer.

"She is obviously a woman of impeccable
taste." He winked at her.

Finn made a very unladylike sound. "She
doesn't see straight before tea."

"I'd take a look at what she's wearing
before you comment on her taste." Jordon smiled at her taking some
of the sting out of his words. The way his eyes crinkled when he
smiled suggested she couldn't look too bad, Reed thought. She may
have believed it if she hadn't already seen herself.

"You realize I can hear you, right? You're
insulting me in my kitchen. I want you to leave. Take the stud with
you. Leave the bacon."

Jordon set his coffee down with a sigh. "I
wasn't insulting you. I was insulting Henry. I like what you're
wearing." His smile looked genuine enough. "Especially the
hat."

The warmth in his dark honey colored eyes as
he took his time running them up and down her body made Reed turn
away. She grabbed a mug from the cupboard and poured herself a mug
of green tea. Finn always made a pot of green tea for her in the
morning. This morning was no exception. Thank God and Goddess for
all favors, great and small. Reed's hand shook slightly as she
poured.

Jordon's knowing laughter caused her to
spill tea on her hand and the counter. The man at the stove, Henry,
wiped it up all up before she set the pot down without missing a
beat flipping the potatoes in the air. He was almost as graceful as
Shay.

The food smelled heavenly and her stomach
reacted, loudly enough for Henry to hear. He pulled a plate from
the stack on the counter and piled heaps of food on it before
handing it to Reed.

"For her majesty. No meat. Plenty of soy and
egg protein, and a side of starch. There's fresh fruit on the table
and I blended Finn's green tea with ice, blueberries, strawberries
and some vanilla soy milk. It's on the table for you. Jordon
refused to drink it."

Reed took the plate. Usually they just had
toast and tea for breakfast. This was a feast, and she was
thankful. "I was going to kick your ass for torturing me with the
smell of real bacon, but, I'll wait until after I eat."

"I look forward to it your highness." Henry
said bowing to her with a smile on his handsome face.

Reed was unsure how he landed the position
of chief cook and host in her home, but she wasn't going to fight
about it until she was through eating, maybe not even then. He was
doing a wonderful job cooking, scooping heaping plates of food and
serving everyone. She glanced at Finn while she scooped a fork full
of fluffy eggs into her mouth. If Finn wasn't protesting having
Henry in her kitchen, why should she?

Henry's irrepressible good cheer and the
bounty he set in front of everyone pushed away whatever lingering
irritation Reed had. She took the only open seat at the plank
table, right next to Jordon. He looked even better this morning
than he had the night before. He hadn't shaved and he'd left his
hair free. The jeans he wore were old and faded, but they didn't
look like the same ones he wore to the dojo, these were tighter and
hugged his thighs beautifully. She felt the heat of one denim clad
thigh where it touched hers on the bench seat. He could have moved
away, but instead, he moved closer, making sure she felt him.

When she tried to shuffle down, his hand
moved to stop her. "Stay put. Eat. Then we'll talk."

She stayed. She ate. Taking another bite of
eggs seasoned with fresh basil, oregano and heirloom tomatoes, Reed
closed her eyes and made a small sound of appreciation.
This was
better than sex. Well, solo sex anyway
.

"Henry? Are you married?" She asked.

Henry grinned.

Finn's eyebrows shot up.

Jordon's hand clenched around her thigh.
"Don't even think about it."

Reed smiled at him around a mouthful of hash
browns laced with caramelized onion and red pepper. "Why not? He
can cook. He's almost as handsome as you. And, he calls me 'Your
Majesty'. Seems to me he's a great catch."

Jordon squeezed her thigh again, less gently
this time. "It's the hat. That's why he called you that. You can't
have him. You already have a husband."

"Don't remind me."

Jordon picked up his fork and stabbed a
strawberry from the large fruit bowl on the table. When she opened
her mouth again he shoved the ripe fruit in. It was delicious. Reed
closed her eyes and enjoyed, until she felt his breath on her
ear.

"I will remind you. Again and again. In
every way I know how. Stop flirting with Henry or I'll remind you
just how married we are right here on the table. Which I would
enjoy, but you wouldn't. You stomach's still growling, so shut up
and finish your breakfast. You'll need your strength for what I
have in mind." Jordon whispered for her ears only. Everyone else at
the table ignored him.

She was hungry, but shutting up wasn't in
her nature, particularly when ordered to do so by an over-bearing,
under-mannered husband she wasn't sure she wanted to keep.

"Listen to the hat, big guy and obey." Reed
whispered back.

"I don't remember Elvis reciting that
particular vow."

"Elvis wasn't there."

Jordon laughed and some of the irritation
went out of his voice. "Eat, elf. Or I'll think you want reminding
of our marital relationship. Immediately." His voice was so quiet
Reed barely heard him, but she got the message.

Always a fan of the old saying that
discretion is the better part of valor, Reed shut up and ate. She
could always fight the good fight later, on a full stomach. Too bad
Jordon couldn't just let it go, he obviously didn't go to 'wise old
saying' school.