Page 58 of Mr. Dangerous

19

Naomi

That night,I pulled in to my parents' driveway a little too fast, the tires bumping over the gravel, and put the car into park. I leaned across to the passenger seat of my car and tossed my sunglasses and makeup kit into my purse. I gathered up the canvas tote with a bottle of Dad’s favorite wine and the Italian bread and artichoke dip Mom had asked me to bring as offerings for family dinner. I was late, which was bad enough, and I had to leave early to take Rob to Logan Airport. I'd stopped by the house to take care of the kitties, had phone calls to make for the business, and then had to hustle to shower. I couldn't show up at my parent's house smelling like sex.LikeRob.

I hurried out of the Jeep, trying to squash my sudden sense of guilt. What was it about my childhood home that made me feel like I was still a teenager, like I'd just done somethingwrong?

I thought of Rob's mouth on mine. That had been worthwrong.That had been worth waiting tenyearsfor.

Think about bread. Think about artichoke dip and manicotti. Do not think about the warm weight of Rob's hands, the soft noise of pleasure he'd made and I'd echoed as he caressed mybreasts.

"Mi!" Mom called from the doorway as I hustled up the brick walkway. "You'reneverlate!"

"There's a first time for everything, Mom." I smiled at her, handing her the bag. First time for everything. With Rob. Our first kiss in the hotel room. And then that had escalated quickly into other firsts with him and...Oh, get it together,Naomi.

The kitchen was full of energy. It felt packed even though it was just Alice stirring sauce and Mom bustling around the way she did. Alice glanced at my face and then lit up herself,grinning.

"Pour Mom a glass of wine," Alice told me. "Now that you're finally here with it. Mom, you work too hard. You and Dad go sit down at the table. Eat some of that relish tray. Why did you make a relish tray for the four of us,anyway?"

"I like to cook you for you kids," Mom said, trying to shoo Alice away as she, in turn, shooed Mom toward thediningroom.

I shook my head to myself, but I brimmed with the sense of well-being I often felt in this cozy nest of family. I worked the wine opener into the cork, popped it out, poured four glasses of wine with adefthand.

"Listen to Alice," I told Mom. "Let us finish dinner. You've been cooking for us for thirty years. It's okay to let someone else takeaturn."

"Kicking me out of my own kitchen," Mom grousedplayfully. "Fine."

She took two of the glasses of wine and made her way slowly into the dining room, callingforPapa.

Alice pointed the spatula at me. "You look happy. Like something interesting has happened. And I need to know allaboutit."

"I assumed that was why we were kicking Mom out." I quickly filled her in on recent developments, leaving out the details a little sister wouldn't wanttoknow.

"And you say there's a second rich, hunky Delaney brother coming in tonight?" Alice asked, her eyebrows liftingteasingly.

I groaned at the thought. "More Delaneys. I don't know if I can handle moreDelaney."

"I hope you wouldn't... there's a one-brother-quota perperson."

"Alice!" I said, appalled. "That's not how Imeantthat."

Alice grinned mischievously as she began to slice the bread. "Then you shouldn't mind if I come over and help clean that big house. You obviously don't have time to do it all, with your... otherduties."

I bristled slightly. Leave it to Alice to tease me about something that was so sensitive. Alice was my best friend, but sometimes she drovemenuts.

"Oh, come on," Alice said, catching the look on my face. "I'm playing. You know I'm beyond excited for you. You've always like Robsomuch."

Pacified, I admitted, "I can't believe he still likes me too. In some sense of the word,anyway..."

"Old crushes die hard," Alice said. "How long is he here foragain?"

"It doesn't matter. I'm not worrying about thefuture."

"Oh, bull shit," Alice said. "You're always worrying about the future. You're probably debating whether you would even want to have babies with someone that tall. What if some of your kids are super short and others are giants? How awkward would that be? The short ones might resent being so petite. I know I always hate having my pantshemmed."

"I'm not," I said. "The only thinking into the future I've done is debating whether he'd even stickaround."

"That's the opposite of not worrying about the future," Alice said. "Not worrying about the future would be like, man, this guy is hot, we should have wild andcrazysex."

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