Someone Like You

“Sure. Is Emily in bed?”

“Yeah.”

She gave him the plate and followed him to the kitchen. This house was similar to her aunt’s, with a couple hundred more square feet and a bigger lot.

“Can I offer you anything?” he asked. “Beer, wine, Pop-Tarts?”

She laughed. “How about wine? I’ve only had one glass and that was about three hours ago, so I’m probably safe.”

“Not looking for a repeat of yesterday?”

“I think not. I like to keep my passing out to a minimum.”

“Probably a good policy.”

He grabbed a bottle of cabernet from a small wine rack on the counter and opened it. When he’d poured them each a glass, he sat across from her and removed the foil. The delicious smell made his stomach growl.

“I knew you hadn’t eaten,” she told him.

“Em was full when I brought her home and it seemed like too much trouble to fix something just for me.”

“Typical male,” she murmured, and sipped her wine.

“That’s a little judgmental.”

“But true.”

He ignored that and took a bite of the lasagna. Even if he hadn’t been starved it would have been delicious. “Your aunt sure knows how to cook.”

“Agreed. I had two servings at dinner.” She leaned back in her chair. “As did your daughter. Want to know how we got Emily to have some?”

He glanced down at the tomato sauce covering the lasagna and remembered his daughter dressed entirely in purple. “She didn’t put up a fuss?”

“We played dress-up. Funny how the princess dress just happened to be red. She didn’t change back into her regular clothes until after the meal.”

“Pretty slick.”

“You’ll have to thank my aunt, not me. She’s the one who came up with the idea.”

He put down his fork. “I’m sorry she’s so difficult.”

“Emily? She’s not. She’s a sweetie.”

“But she’s dealing with some tough issues. The divorce. Being here for the summer.”

“Of course. It’s all been strange for her, but if the worst of it is a little manipulation of the adults around her by being picky with food, I think you’re going to be fine. It’s a pretty safe way to act out.”

He hadn’t thought of it that way.

Sometime in the past few hours, Jill had let down her hair…literally. It fell long and straight to the middle of her back. She had even, delicate features—wide-set eyes, a straight nose and a stubborn pointed chin. She’d been a cute kid, but she was a beautiful woman. He vaguely remembered her having a crush on him when she’d been fifteen or sixteen. If she trailed after him with those puppy-dog eyes now, he’d have a hell of a time resisting her.

“How was your meeting with the social worker?” she asked.

He tore a piece of garlic bread in half and handed it to her. “You don’t want to know.” “That bad?” “Worse. He’s an uptight just-graduated idealist who doesn’t think men in law enforcement make good fathers. I have to report to him every other week, take care of Emily and not have any run-ins with the law.”

“That doesn’t sound too difficult, unless you were planning to commit a felony or two.”

“Not this week.” He sipped his wine. “I know his job is to keep Em safe. I want that, too. I want her to be happy. What I don’t like is dealing with Hollis.” He shrugged. “I’ll survive.”

“Maybe you can catch him speeding and give him a ticket. That would be fun.”

He grinned. “Good idea. I’ll alert my deputies.”

She nibbled on the garlic bread. “Do you really like it here? Are you happy?”

He didn’t think in terms of being happy or unhappy. He just was. “I’m glad to be back. As you pointed out, this is a great place to grow up. I’ve always liked the town. Even when I was a teenager and raising plenty of hell.”

“So this is a permanent move?”

“I’m running for sheriff in November.”

Jill looked surprised. “An actual election?”

“Not much of one. So far no one else is interested in opposing me.”

“Wow. So you’re serious about sticking around.”

“About as serious as you are about leaving.”

“I thought you craved adventure,” she said, leaning forward and resting her forearms on the table. “Aren’t you the guy who joined the military to see the world?”

“It was a way out. I knew I wouldn’t go anywhere here, except maybe to get into more trouble. Your father showed me that.”

“He does like to save people, in his own meddling way. When he found out I’d left Lyle and been fired, he told me about the practice here.”

“You could have told him no.”

She laughed. “I suppose that’s true. In theory. But he’s very persuasive. Plus, I didn’t have anywhere else to go. I’ll manage until I land a job somewhere else.”

“Go back to being a big-city lawyer.”

“Oh, yeah.”

He took the last bite of lasagna and pushed the plate away. “Let’s go get comfortable,” he said, picking up his glass and the bottle of wine.

“Sounds good.”

Jill followed him into the living room, where they settled on opposite ends of the worn sofa. Scattered rugs warmed up the hardwood floor. She liked the oversize fireplace and the big windows. During the day, this room would get a lot of light.

“Nice,” she said. “How did you come to be in this house?”

“It’s a rental. I’ll buy something after the election.”

She still couldn’t believe he was willing to settle down here on purpose, but apparently he was.

“We’re destined to live next door to each other,” she teased. “At least for the time being.”

“Sounds like it. Of course, it’s much more interesting now.”

She almost fainted from shock. Was he flirting with her? Whoa. No need to check her pulse to see if it had zipped into the aerobic range—she could feel the rapid thumping in her chest.

His dark eyes brightened with humor. “Do you disagree?”

“What? No. Of course not.”

She wanted to whimper with delight. She wanted to freeze-frame time and hang on to this moment forever. She wanted to yell to the heavens that Mac Kendrick thought she was interesting. Instead, she reminded herself that not only was her stay in town temporary, he had always been popular with the ladies. His flirting with her didn’t mean much more than a knee-jerk reaction to being alone with a woman. Only a fool would take it personally. And a really smart woman might take advantage of the situation to soothe her recently shattered ego, as long as she kept things in perspective.

“You’re very different from the teenager I remember,” he said. “You were cute then, but you’re amazing now.”

Amazing? That worked. She resisted the urge to say Tell me more, and instead focused on an unpleasant truth.

“You didn’t think I was cute. At least not naked.”

He nearly choked on his wine. “What?”

“You didn’t think I was cute naked.”

He set down the glass and stared at her as if she were crazy. “I never saw you naked.”

Now it was her turn to be shocked. “Of course you did. On my eighteenth birthday. You were home on leave and I hid out in your bedroom.” She grimaced. “I wanted you to be my first time and you weren’t interested. At least I’m assuming that’s what the throwing up meant.”

“Wait a minute.” He shifted toward her on the sofa. “What are you talking about?”

Was it possible he didn’t remember? No. He had to.

Refusing to be embarrassed about something that had happened a decade before, she met his questioning gaze.

“Do you remember being on leave?”

“Sure. I partied every night with my friends. A couple of times things got completely out of hand and I blacked out. Talk about being a dumb kid. But I would have remembered you naked.”

“Apparently not.”

Partying? She turned the idea over in her mind. Had that been it? Of course. It made sense. But at the time, she’d been crushed.

“I don’t know if I should laugh or cry,” she admitted.

“Why don’t you tell me what happened and I’ll help you decide?”

He was sitting so close she could feel the warmth from his body. If she moved just a little, they would be touching. The thought made her stomach clench and her heart flutter.

She set her wineglass on the end table. “As I said, it was my eighteenth birthday. I went out to dinner with my dad, then when he went to bed, I crept over to your house. Your mom was already asleep, so I tiptoed inside and waited until you got home.”

She thought back to that long-ago evening. How scared and excited she’d been. How she’d thought that night would change everything. It had, but not in the way she’d imagined.

“You always teased me about being jailbait,” she told him.

He reached up and fingered a strand of her hair. “That was to remind me as much as you.”

“Really?” His words made her want to beam. “I don’t care if you’re lying, it’s nice to hear.”

“It’s the truth. So there you were, waiting in my bedroom, which I still can’t believe. What happened?”

She winced. “The one thing I never would have dreamed. You walked in, hit the lights and I dropped my dress to the floor. I wasn’t wearing anything underneath. You took one look at me, ran into the bathroom and promptly threw up.”

He stared at her incredulously. “No way in hell.”

“Do you think I’d make up an embarrassing moment like that? You were the first guy to see me naked. I’ve been emotionally scarred ever since.”

She could tell he didn’t want to believe her.

“I would have remembered,” he said.

“Apparently not. And all this time I’ve wondered what you thought of me and that night. I can’t believe you don’t remember it.”

He took her hands in his. He had big hands, with long, thick fingers. Wasn’t that supposed to mean something?

“I’m sorry,” he said as he looked into her eyes. “I can’t tell you how sorry. And speaking for the twenty-two-year-old I was back then, I’m damned disappointed to have missed the opportunity to take advantage of your gorgeous, naked self.”

She smiled. “I was determined we were going to make love.”

“I wouldn’t have said no. Except for how I would have felt about your father.”

“He actually never wanted to do it with you.”

Mac grinned. “Thanks. That’s not what I meant.”

“I know. He was there for you and you wouldn’t have wanted to repay him by deflowering his daughter.”

“Exactly. But I might have worked past the guilt.” His humor faded. “Are you okay? Are you really scarred?”

“I got over it.”

“I’m sorry, Jill. It wasn’t about you. Like I said, I was partying pretty hard.”

“I know. It’s fine.”

She liked how her hands felt in his and the way he brushed his thumbs against her skin. She liked the regret in his expression and how the night was so quiet and they felt like the only two people in the world. She especially liked the heat in his eyes and the way he seemed to be moving closer. She swayed toward him.

“Want to consider a rain check?” he asked, his voice low and tempting, just before he kissed her.

Jill didn’t have an answer, which was just as well, because the second his mouth brushed hers all brain power ceased. There was only the moment and the man and the magic of what he did to her.

He teased her with just the right amount of pressure. No wimpy almost-kiss, no plunging right for her tonsils. Instead he moved back and forth, discovering, teasing, withholding just enough to make her want more before he offered it.

He smelled delicious and radiated enough heat to make her want to throw herself into his arms. One strong hand cupped her face, the other got buried in her hair. She sent up a brief prayer of thanks that she’d left it loose for the evening, then put her hands on his shoulders and gave into sensation.

Their lips clung. Instinctively she tilted her head. He touched the tip of his tongue to her bottom lip and sent shivers rippling through her body. She parted for him, both aroused and amazed that this was really happening. Her kissing Mac? Was it all a dream?

It had to be, when reality was him slipping inside, stroking her lower lip before deepening the kiss. Desire quickened her blood and made her breasts ache. She squeezed his shoulders, feeling the thick muscles tense under her touch.

He pulled back slightly and rested his forehead against hers. She opened her eyes and found him watching her. He was so close, he was almost blurry, but she didn’t want to pull back. Not ever.

“You kiss like you mean it,” he murmured. “You’re the kind of woman my mom always warned me about. Sexy and dangerous.”

It was a good thing that all her blood had rushed to her lower body to keep her grounded. Otherwise she would have floated away.

“You’re pretty tempting, yourself.”

“So what would have happened all those years ago, if I’d had the good sense not to get plowed at the party?”

“You tell me. I was doing the offering. Would you have accepted?”

He chuckled. “In a heartbeat. Even though your dad would have killed us both.”

She’d never gotten past the humiliation of the moment to think how her entire life might have been different if Mac had made love with her. Based on his gentle but erotic kiss, she had a feeling the experience would have changed her forever. She would never have gotten involved with Evan, and without him, she wouldn’t have been interested in the rat bastard lying weasel dog who was Lyle.

“I guess we’ll never know how that one night could have changed things,” she said regretfully.

He kissed her again, then stood and held out his hand. She took it and allowed him to pull her to her feet.

“Now for the mature portion of the evening,” he said, still holding on to her fingers. “I have an eight-year-old daughter upstairs.”

“Right. And I’m recovering from an ugly breakup, not to mention only passing through town.” She smiled at him. “Plus there’s that close personal relationship you have with my father.”

“Hell of a way to repay him. Even if you are all grown up, he wouldn’t appreciate me making a move on you.”

“I know.” So they were attracted to each other. So the kissing was spectacular. There were complications.

She wanted to say they were both adults who could work it out. Even more than that, she wanted to revel in the fact that she could actually believe Mac wanted her. Was that cool or what?

“I guess I should get home,” she said.

“Thanks for bringing me dinner.”

“No problem.”

He walked her to the door where he cupped her face and kissed her so exquisitely her toes curled.

“See you soon,” he murmured.

She floated home, carried along by the promise in his words.

Chapter Five

JILL FINISHED UP the filing Tina had left from the day before. She had a feeling that Tina might never find time for filing. Currently her assistant/secretary/receptionist had taken off to drive one of her children to a playdate. Then there were errands to run, but Tina had said she would return later in the morning. Jill wasn’t holding her breath.

Had the situation been different, she would have replaced Tina and found someone interested in working at least some of the day. But what was the point in going through the trouble? Sixteen résumés were currently zooming through the U.S. mail, on their way to various law firms around the state. She’d made four calls that morning to network with fellow Stanford Law School grads and start putting out the word that she was looking. Interestingly enough, no one was shocked that Lyle had turned out to be a weasel bastard. Had she been the only one not to see the truth?

“I see it now,” she told herself as she closed the file cabinet in the reception area and returned to her office. As Tina was gone and might or might not return and Jill had a ten-o’clock appointment, she was careful to keep her door open so she would hear her client.

Besides, nothing about Lyle could upset her good mood. Not after last night. She grinned as she remembered the kiss and Mac’s attraction to her. After what she’d been through, knowing he found her sexually appealing was more invigorating than sixteen hours at a day spa. She found herself humming “I Feel Pretty” under her breath, which was both embarrassing and fun. To think that Mac had been interested in her all those years ago, despite her lack of breasts, put a whole new light on her world.

“Okay, time to get serious,” she told herself as she pulled out a blank legal pad. “Time to think about work and not sex or Mac.

But honestly, weren’t they one and the same? And wasn’t it amazing that kissing Mac had been way more exciting than kissing any other guy she could remember?

She glanced at the clock and saw Pam Whitefield was due any second. Talk about a blast from the past. Pam Whitefield—or Pam Baughman as she’d been before her marriage and subsequent divorce—was three years older than Jill and her best friend Gracie. Three years older and light-years ahead of them in experience; at least, she had been back in high school.

Pam had been one of those golden girls—beautiful, built and popular. She’d wanted to go places and do things, and she was interested in any guy who could take her there.

Her junior year of high school she’d decided that guy was Riley Whitefield—local bad boy with a rich uncle. Pam had seen the potential, if not in Riley himself, in his future inheritance. At least that had been Jill and Gracie’s theory. Gracie had loved Riley even more than Jill had loved Mac.

Ah, those times had been bittersweet, Jill thought. Two fourteen-year-old girls in love with older guys who wouldn’t give them the time of day.

The sound of a door opening snapped Jill’s attention back to the present. She braced herself to see Pam again—the woman never known for her gentle and loving spirit—and stood.

“In here,” Jill called.

Pam Whitefield strolled through the reception area and entered Jill’s office. Still the golden girl, Jill thought, taking in the perfectly coiffed gold-blond hair, the wide green eyes and the honey-colored tan. Pam wore a tailored suit that looked as expensive as the one Jill had on. Her perfect makeup emphasized her perfect features, which made Jill want to spit.

She reminded herself that people change—maybe Pam wasn’t a bitch anymore. She deserved a second chance…didn’t she?

“Jill!” Pam sounded delighted as she crossed the hardwood floor and shook hands. “How lovely to see you. And that suit. You look fabulous.”

“Thanks. So do you.”

Pam did a quick hair flip as she settled into the leather chair next to the fishing net. “I work to keep it all together. Some days it’s a real trial.”

Jill resumed her seat. “I don’t believe you for a second. How are you?”

“Doing great. I’ve made some investments that have paid off well.”

“Good for you.”

Jill glanced at the other woman’s left hand, searching for a ring. Pam and Riley hadn’t lasted a year, just as Gracie had predicted. He’d left town, never to be heard from again, and Pam had stayed.

“So, what can I help you with?” she asked, not wanting to do the second half of the “how are things after all this time” exchange. What was she supposed to say to that question?

Pam sighed. “I’m having some difficulty with property I recently purchased and I want to sue the owner and her real estate agent for misrepresentation.”

Jill picked up a pen. “What’s the problem?”

Pam’s mouth thinned into a straight line. “I bought the old Engel place. Do you remember it?”

“Sure. Big house up on the bluff. Great views. It was a little run-down when I was a kid.”

“It’s worse now. I got a decent price, but I paid more than it’s worth based on its reputation.”

Jill blinked. Reputation? She’d always thought the old house was butt ugly, but she didn’t think that’s what Pam meant.

She raised her eyebrows. “Can you explain?”

Pam sighed. “It’s supposed to be an alien landing site.”

“Oh, right. Sure. When we were kids we would dare each other to run up and knock on the door. Visitors from Mars or wherever were supposed to live inside and if they answered, they kidnapped you or something.” She had the most amazing thought. “You didn’t really think the place had aliens, did you?”

“I thought it had something. Everybody talks about it all the time. The owner even mentioned it in the sales brochure.” She took out a cigarette and lit it. “The thing is, alien landing sites are very popular with tourists. I was going to open a bed-and-breakfast, but if it’s not visited by aliens, it’s just one more junky old house that needs refurbishing.”

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