Sweet Spot

Probably because they were outside in a parking lot, she told herself, wondering how tacky it would be to do it on the hood of her SUV.

He slipped his fingers through her hair and tugged slightly. They stared at each other. He smiled.

“You want me.”

“I’ll get over it.”

She said the words automatically, not sure she meant them. She did want him, and wasn’t that good? Except the last thing she needed right now was a relationship. Even one based on an explosive sexual connection.

He leaned in and nipped on her earlobe. She gasped and trembled.

“You’re wet right now,” he whispered. “If I were to touch you, you’d come for me.”

He was probably right, she thought, pulling back and suddenly feeling as if she were going to cry. The emotional outburst had nothing to do with Hawk and everything to do with her recent past. The body was willing but the spirit and the heart were too fragile.

“I can’t play that game,” she told him.

“Is that what they told you about me? That I play games?”

“It was implied.”

“What if they’re wrong?”

Meaning what? “I can’t take the chance.”

HAWK WAITED UNTIL TEN in the morning to knock on his daughter’s door. “Hey, sleepyhead,” he said as he pushed into the dark room and walked to the window. After opening the blinds, he faced the bed. “Do I have to tickle you?”

Brittany rolled onto her back and yawned. “Daddy, it’s Saturday.”

“You know, the calendar said that, but I wasn’t sure. Saturday. Huh. Thanks for the clarification.”

“I get to sleep in on Saturday.”

“It’s ten and I’m making blueberry pancakes.”

Brittany sat up. “I can’t eat those. They’ll make me—”

He held up his hands. “You know the rule. The ‘F’ word is not allowed.”

“I wasn’t going to say fat.”

“Yes, you were. Do you want pancakes or not?”

“I want them.”

“Then get your girly butt up, kiddo.”

Brittany grinned at him. “I love you, Daddy.”

“I love you, too.”

She scrambled out of bed. “Give me five minutes.”

“Sure thing.”

Her bathroom door slammed shut.

He returned to the kitchen where he heated the griddle, then stirred the batter. Brittany was growing up. She was a senior this year and even if she went to the University of Washington, she would be living in a dorm, so this was her last year at home. The time had gone by too fast.

Brittany walked into the kitchen just as he slid the cooked pancakes onto a plate. She kissed his cheek, then settled into a chair.

“The game was great last night,” she said. “The team is pulling it together. You’re going to have a kick-ass season, Dad.”

He eyed her. “Ass” was one of those borderline words. He decided not to start the morning with a fight.

“We’ll see how it goes. We’re focused on each game as it comes.”

“All you have to do is win the next game and the play-offs take care of themselves,” she said, repeating what he’d said a hundred times.

He laughed. “What are you doing today?”

“A bunch of us are meeting up around eleven-thirty. We’re going to lunch and an early movie. Then back here to finish up the homework I didn’t get done before the game yesterday.” She wrinkled her nose. “I have two more pages on my paper. It’s not due for another week, but I want it done. There’s a party at Michelle’s house, which you already know about. You talked to her mother on Thursday.”

“I remember.”

“So we’ll go to that. Tomorrow I want to work on my college admission essays.”

Hawk listened as she detailed her plan. As the words washed over him, he found himself thinking more about how much she’d changed in the past few years.

She was everything he could have wanted.

Popular, a good student, caring, responsible. He wanted to take all the credit, but he knew Serena had laid the foundation. She’d been the perfect mother. After she’d died, he’d done his best to fill in the gaps. Apparently he’d managed to do a pretty good job.

“Things okay with Raoul?” he asked.

She chewed a mouthful of pancakes, then swallowed. “Sure. We’re fine.”

“You seemed pretty tight last night after the game. You’re not taking things too far, are you?”

Brittany ducked her head. “Daddy, jeez. Get personal much?”

“You’re my daughter. I worry about you. You’re nearly eighteen. You’ve been dating Raoul for a while now. Do I have to kill him or not?”

“Not!” She shuddered. “This is humiliating. I won’t talk about this with you, mostly because there’s nothing to talk about. We’re not doing…that. It’s too soon.”

“Okay.” He kept his voice casual, but inside he was doing the happy dance. She’d said exactly what he wanted to hear.

If he had his way, his daughter wouldn’t have sex until she got married…around age thirty-five. But that wasn’t realistic. While he liked Raoul, he was wary. It wasn’t personal—he wouldn’t totally trust any teenage kid with his daughter. So he would do what he could to keep her safe and hope for the best.

He ate his own pancakes, remembering that when he’d been Brittany’s age, he and Serena had been doing it for nearly a year. They’d tried to be careful, but passion had often overridden common sense. Brittany had been the result. What had seemed like a disaster had turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to him. He’d been lucky and he knew it.

Speaking of luck…He remembered the previous evening and kissing Nicole. There was an activity he could get behind in a big way. She wasn’t going to be easy, which was fine with him. He was more than up for the challenge.

NICOLE CONFIRMED the deliveries for the upcoming week, then shut down her computer. Once the rush for Saturday-morning pastries was over, there was a lull until the cake order pickups started. They were usually done by lunchtime. The bakery closed in the afternoon. She was often done by noon. Today she’d finished early because she’d forced herself to only think about work. It was either that or endlessly relive kissing Hawk. While it might seem like a great way to waste time, she knew he was nothing but trouble and she would be smart to avoid him, even in her thoughts.

Maggie knocked on her open door. “There’s a bunch of high school kids out front.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just what I said. They came in a few minutes ago, ordered coffee and pastries. Now they’re just sitting there, talking. Like we’re a hangout. We’ve never been a hangout.”

“Are they causing any trouble?”

“No. They’re real polite. It’s just weird.”

Nicole had to agree with her. “Let me see what’s going on,” she said.

She walked to the front of the store. Sure enough most of the tables were full of teenagers laughing and talking. They were a little loud, but not doing anything she could object to. She was about to turn away, when she recognized one of the girls. A pretty blonde in shorts and a T-shirt who smiled and waved.

“Hi,” the girl said. “I’m Brittany. We met last night.”

“Raoul’s girlfriend.” Hawk’s daughter—a fact that was still hard to believe.

“Right. We’re waiting until he gets off work, then we’re all going to lunch and a movie.”

“Sounds like fun.” Nicole glanced at the clock. It was quarter to twelve. “I’ll go tell him you’re here so he can finish up. It should only be a couple of minutes.”

“Thanks, but he doesn’t have to hurry. We’re having fun. Your Danish are incredible.”

Nicole patted her hip. “Tell me about it.”

She returned behind the counter where Maggie waited. “You know them?” her employee asked.

“I met a couple of them last night at the football game.”

Maggie had worked at the bakery for years. She and Nicole were friends, so a simple questioning look got the point across.

“I don’t know what I was doing at a high school football game,” Nicole admitted. “Raoul plays. He asked me to go. I wanted to be supportive. He introduced me to Brittany, his girlfriend. She’s a cheerleader.”

Maggie started laughing.

Nicole glanced at the kids. “Stop it. Nothing about this is funny.”

“It is to me. You’re popular.”

“Great. It only took ten years of being out of high school for that to happen.”

Nicole went in the back and told Raoul he could leave early. According to Sid and Phil, he was doing a great job. She appreciated having her instincts validated. She was about to leave herself when Maggie found her.

“You have a gentleman caller waiting out front.”

Nicole winced, even as her heart started thundering in her chest. Hawk? Was it Hawk? She hated how much she wanted it to be him. “No one talks like that.”

“I do and he’s gorgeous.”

Definitely Hawk.

“Thanks,” Nicole said. “I’ll go see what he wants.”

Maggie patted her hairnet. “If you’re not interested, ask him if he’s into older women. He’s what, in his mid-thirties? That’s only twenty years.”

Nicole grinned. “You’re happily married.”

“Don’t remind me.”

Nicole returned to the front of the bakery. The teenagers were gone. Hawk stood by the counter, looking more tempting than anything in the bakery. She would take him over chocolate lava cake any day.

Without wanting to, she remembered their kiss from the previous night. How he’d left her both wanting and afraid. Maybe she’d exaggerated the fear. If they kissed again, she would know for sure.

“Hey,” he said, giving her a slow, sexy smile that sent her heart into a healthy aerobic state.

“Hey, yourself.”

Low blood sugar, she told herself. It was low blood sugar. Or the flu. It couldn’t be the man. She refused to be nothing more than a quivering mass of nerves over a guy.

“I wanted to stop by and thank you for last night.”

Nicole heard a snort behind her and knew that Maggie was listening. She ignored her friend.

“Thank me?” He couldn’t mean the kiss, could he?

“For taking those kids to the pizza place and hanging around. For listening. You’re a great role model. Older than the students, but not a parent. You’re successful, together, someone they can look up to.”

Which all sounded nice but couldn’t she be his sex slave instead? No, wait. She wanted to be successful and together. Sex slave wasn’t her most comfortable role. She’d always been the girl-next-door type. Something told her that wasn’t Hawk’s style.

“You didn’t come out here to thank me,” she said, wondering if he was playing her and how long it would be before she trusted a man again.

“That’s part of why I came by.”

“And the other part?”

“Dessert.”

She flashed to a very big bed with rumpled sheets, naked bodies and someone—hopefully her—moaning with pleasure. That was a dessert she could get into.

He pulled a sheet of paper out of his back pocket. “We’re talking about thirty-five guys, a couple of parents, some friends. So say fifty people. Nothing fancy.”

She blinked. “You’re here to order dessert for fifty?”

“Uh-huh. Sunday afternoon we review the films from the game Friday night. It keeps them focused on the prize. I like them wired up on sugar. That way no one falls asleep. I’ve been using another bakery, but I like yours better. So what have you got?”

Disappointment made her want to snap at him, but she didn’t. No point in letting him know how pathetic she was.

“You won’t want a cake,” she said, stepping behind the counter and reviewing the contents of the case. “I would say cupcakes and cookies. I can put a selection together.”

“That would be great.”

“Any flavor requests?”

One of Hawk’s eyebrows raised slightly. “What do you suggest?”

No way she was falling for that, she told herself. “The usual cookies. Chocolate and vanilla cupcakes. They’re frosted but not decorated. Probably better that way.”

“You’re resisting.”

“What?” she asked.

“My charm.”

“Were you being charming?”

“You know I was.” He handed her a card.

She glanced at it. There was a logo for the high school, the address, his name and a phone number with an extension.

“This is?” she asked.

“Where I need everything delivered. About two-thirty tomorrow. The meeting room by the gym. I wrote the directions on the back.”

“I’m not delivering this stuff.”

“I have nowhere to store it. Or a way to get it there.”

She looked past him to the big truck parked in front of the bakery. “That would hold a lot.”

“Probably, but if you brought the dessert, you could stick around for the films.”

“I already saw the game once.”

“Not with me explaining what happened.”

Why on earth would he want her there? “It’s Sunday.”

“Do you have plans?”

“No, but that’s not the point.”

“Sure it is. Come on. You’ll have fun.”

She was confused, and not being in control always annoyed her. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because if you spend time with me, you’ll like me.”

“And that matters why?”

“You need to like me so you’ll want to sleep with me.”

Nicole was grateful for the cane. It helped keep her upright. “This is all about getting me into bed?”

“Naked,” Hawk added in a mock whisper. “Don’t leave out the best part.”

She totally understood her attraction to him. He was amazing looking and kind of funny and maybe nice, even if he was a playboy. Obviously there was a chemical thing going on, but that only explained her end of things. She wasn’t making it easy, which begged the question …

“Why me?”

“You intrigue me. You’re not easy.”

That was it? He couldn’t say he thought she was pretty or interesting or sexy? Intriguing was as good as it was going to get?

“I’m not sure about your standards,” she muttered, feeling slightly sick to her stomach.

She turned away. He grabbed her arm and pulled her back so they were facing each other and suddenly much closer than they had been.

“I can’t stop thinking about you,” he said, staring directly into her eyes. “I want to see you again. Naked would be my first choice, but I’ll deal with clothes if I have to. Despite what those women you were talking to might have said, I don’t do this a whole lot. There’s something about you, Nicole. I can’t figure it out, but I will.”

And then what? He would be over her?

She didn’t know what to say, what to think. What was he asking? To date her? To have sex? Both?

She wanted to say yes, but the fear returned. The chilling emotion that warned her that, while she might be over Drew, she wasn’t over being hurt and she wasn’t ready to get involved or even play. Not that she’d ever been much of a player.

“Say yes,” he told her.

“I can’t.”

He leaned in and kissed her. It was hard and hot, his tongue pushing into her mouth. He took what he wanted and left her breathless. She kissed him back, feeling her blood heat. It was a battle of wills. Based on the way they were both breathing hard when they pulled apart, there was no clear winner.

“Say yes,” he repeated.

If only she could.

He sighed. “Bring dessert.”

“Okay.”

He released her and was gone. When her head stopped spinning, she saw he’d left a hundred-dollar bill on the counter, which would cover a whole lot of cookies and cupcakes.

Maggie walked in from the back.

“That was interesting,” she said. “He’s very clear about what he wants. I like that in a man. You should go out with him.”

“I can’t. I’m not ready to have a relationship.”

“Who said anything about a relationship?” Maggie’s smile faded. “Oh, right. Sorry. I forgot about what happened.”

Nicole bristled at the pity she saw in her friend’s eyes. She wanted to defend herself, to say she was doing fine. Based on how she couldn’t handle Hawk’s playful invitation, that wasn’t true.

“I’ll get the order together,” Maggie said. “You head home.”

“Okay. I’ll be in to pick it up tomorrow.”

Nicole left.

On the drive home, she tried to talk herself into a better mood. She should be grateful she had friends who cared. And she was. Sort of. But she really, really hated anyone feeling sorry for her. She prided herself on managing. Whatever happened in her life, she managed.

It was her own fault, she reminded herself. She’d wanted to go out with Drew. She’d accepted when he’d proposed. She’d known she wasn’t madly in love with him, but she’d begun to think no one would ever care about her enough to want to marry her. A stupid reason to get involved. There was nothing like a little hindsight to make everything clear. Unfortunately, knowing what she should have done didn’t change the past.

So now what? How did she get over what had happened? She wasn’t missing her bastard of an ex-husband, but she sure wanted her pride and self-respect back. If only she could buy them online.

She was still smiling at the thought when she pulled up in front of her house. A familiar car was parked on the street. The guy leaning against the car straightened as she drove by.

Speak of the devil, she thought grimly.

Drew waved as she circled around to the garage in back. She ignored him and parked, but he was waiting when she walked to the door and she had a bad feeling that ignoring him wasn’t going to make him go away.

CHAPTER FIVE

“GO AWAY,” Nicole said by way of greeting.

“You don’t mean that.”

“Amazingly I do.”

She thought about standing on the porch and refusing to go in the house, but wasn’t excited about providing entertainment for her neighbors.

She went inside, knowing he would follow, walked to the center of the room, then faced him.

“Say what you have to say and get out.”

“That’s not very friendly.”

“What a surprise.”

She was pleased to see that the gouge on his cheek wasn’t healing all that fast. The last time Drew had come calling, it had been the middle of the night. Claire had still been staying there. She’d attacked him with a high-heeled shoe that had done an impressive amount of damage.

Drew didn’t seem bothered by her lack of welcome. He smiled at her. “I’ve missed you, babe, and I know you’ve missed me.”

He still had the ability to leave her speechless, she thought, stunned by his arrogance. “What am I supposed to miss? You sleeping with my sister?”

He threw up his hands. “When are you going to let that go?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe when I feel as if either of you are the least bit remorseful about what you did. You’ve never apologized or admitted you did anything wrong.”

Jesse hadn’t. She kept complaining that Nicole wouldn’t believe her. So far she hadn’t heard anything that would excuse their actions.

“It wasn’t what you think,” Drew grumbled. “You’re taking it all wrong.”

That made Nicole wish she knew how to throw a knife. Or hit really, really hard. “You were in my sister’s bedroom, on her bed, kissing her. Her shirt was off and your hand was on her bare breast. What about that isn’t what I think?”

Drew shifted uncomfortably. “I made a mistake. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry isn’t good enough.”

“This is so typical,” he said, his voice getting angry. “You take everything so seriously. Yeah, I made a mistake. People do that. Even you. I told you Jesse shouldn’t be here after we were married.”

“After you moved into my house and no longer had to pay rent, you mean.”

“Don’t do this, Nicole. Don’t be hard.”

What was she supposed to be? Happy?

“If Jesse hadn’t been here …” he began.

“So you’re saying it’s my fault you were tempted and gave in to that temptation. That you have no responsibility for what you did?”

“You’re twisting my words. You always do that.”

She looked at the man she’d married. He was reasonably good-looking, but he didn’t make her heart beat faster. He’d been a mistake—one she would be recovering from for a while.

“You need to take me back,” he told her.

She shook her head. “There’s no way you just said that.”

“It’s true. I love you. No one is going to love you like me.”

He was trying to hurt her. Or maybe just scare her. “People in love don’t cheat.”

“Sure they do.”

“I don’t.” She shook her head. “You can’t make this right. I can’t trust you, Drew, and I don’t want to try.”

His expression hardened. “You’re going to be alone forever. Is that what you want?”

She knew she shouldn’t listen to him. The fact that he was speaking her deepest fears didn’t make them the truth.

“I don’t believe that,” she said with a conviction she didn’t feel. “You’re a loser, Drew. My mistake was hooking up with you in the first place.”

“My mistake was trying to make it work. No one’s surprised I cheated on you, Nicole. You’re not easy to love. You’re closed off and distant and you can be a real bitch, but I’m trying here.”

She felt as if he’d slapped her. Knowing he was trying to hurt her didn’t make the words any less painful.

“Aren’t you magnanimous,” she murmured. “How did I get so lucky? Tell you what, Drew. You stop trying to win me back with your own peculiar brand of charm and I’ll do my best to get over you.”

“You don’t want to get over me. That’s your problem.”

“Get out,” she said as she walked to the door and held it open. “Don’t bother coming back.”

He hesitated, as if he had more to say, then he left. She shut the door behind him and locked it, then told herself she wouldn’t cry.

When she was alone, she crossed to the sofa and sank onto a cushion. She had no idea what Drew’s visit had been about. Did he just want to punish her? Did he actually think they could make their marriage work and that insulting her was the best way to win her back? No one was that stupid.

So why didn’t he want to let her go? Pride? The fact that she was a great meal ticket? She doubted he still loved her. Maybe he never had.

Doubts crowded in on her. She hated how they made her feel. She needed a distraction.

Just then the phone rang. She jumped up and ran into the kitchen.

“Hello?”

“Hi. How’s it going?”

While hearing from Claire wasn’t as exciting as an inappropriate sexual advance from Hawk, it was still better than thinking about Drew.

“Okay. How are you?”

“Still waiting to look pregnant. Do you want to come over for dinner tonight?”

Nicole hesitated. Did she want to spend the evening with her sister and Wyatt, watching them coo over each other as the waves of their love filled the room with more hormones than should be allowed by any state agency?

“Thanks, but I’m going to pass.”

Claire sighed. “You’re spending too much time alone.”

“No, I’m not. I was just at the bakery.”

“Work doesn’t count. Don’t be crabby. I’m worried because I love you. That’s a good thing.”

Nicole didn’t want to remember Drew telling her she wasn’t easy to love, but the words popped into her brain.

“You’ve been dealing with a lot of crap,” Claire said. “Come over and have fun.”

There it was—just like with Maggie. Pity. Nicole hated being pitied.

“You’re sweet to worry,” she said, trying not to clench her teeth. “But I’m great. Better than great. Another time.”

“You need to get out.”

“With a guy, right? You’d stop worrying about me if I showed up with a fabulous guy, wouldn’t you?”

Claire laughed. “Actually, I would.”

That made Nicole smile. “So you don’t actually care about how I feel. This is all about you.”

“Well, maybe. But you’re a part of it.”

“And I appreciate that. Look, I’m fine. I swear. I’ve gotta run. Talk to you later.”

She hung up and grabbed her purse. As she opened the front door and stepped out, the phone was already ringing again. She ignored it, even as she wished she had somewhere to go.