Single Mum Seeks…

So, no…nuzzling Lily’s neck was definitely not a good idea.

It had just felt like one.

A great one.

Nick tried to breathe and turn his thoughts to something else, anything else but how long it had been since he’d been involved with a woman or had one in his bed and the utter unlikelihood that he’d ever talk Lily Tanner into joining him there.

Audrey, of the skimpier and skimpier jogging outfits, he could have, if he wanted her. Which, unfortunately, he didn’t.

Lily, he suspected, was firmly off-limits.

He’d bet the woman had never had casual sex in her life. She was too sweet, too nice, too kindhearted. Softhearted, he was sure.

Not at all his type.

And yet…pretty was the word that came to mind, and it both seemed to fit and not do her justice at the same time. She had pretty blond hair and gorgeous skin, an easy smile and an openness and genuineness. She seemed real. That’s what it was. Not fussy. Not fake. Not pushy. Not playing any kind of games. Real and nice and surprisingly appealing.

He opened up the refrigerator and poured a cold glass of water from the pitcher he kept there, wishing it was that easy to cool himself down.

Damn, Lily.

She’d felt so soft and fragile beneath his hands, smelled so good, trembled ever so slightly, blushed a bit, and all he’d been able to think about was devouring her right there in her kitchen.

He took a long swallow of that cold water, but it didn’t seem to do anything to cool him down.

One by one, he thought of all the women who’d shown up at his door with offerings of food, drink and, though unspoken, companionship. Surely he could think of one he’d like to kill some time with, one who wouldn’t object at all to killing time with him.

And yet he found himself discarding one after another and staring out the window toward Lily’s house.

He’d just have to stay away from her. That was all there was to it.

He had Jake to take care of, parenting stuff to figure out, legal issues to sort through having to do with his sister and brother-in-law’s estate, determining the boys’ finances and whether there was enough money to see them all through college and if there was time, his own life to see to.

More than enough to do to keep a grown man busy and his mind off one, quietly pretty, sweet-smelling woman.

Yeah. He’d just have to stay away from her.

Three days later, Lily was trying to explain to Jake the finer points of scraping old wallpaper off the kitchen wall, when he started asking her about Audrey Graham.

What did she know about Mrs. Graham?

Lily frowned.

Was the woman still chasing after Nick? Even after the…incident?

Lily was trying very hard not to call it what it was.

Neck-nuzzling.

Oh! She practically shivered, just thinking about it. How good it had been. How delicious it had felt.

Better than sweet, warm, gooey fudge, as far as Lily was concerned.

“You do know her, don’t you?” Jake said again, giving her a funny look.

Like she’d gone off into la-la land.

“Yes,” Lily all but groaned. “I know her. Is she…bothering your uncle?”

Lily hated asking the question, but there it was. It had just popped out, oh so innocently. Okay, not so innocent. Probably not innocently at all. She felt really bad about it, but there! She’d asked.

Jake looked puzzled. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

Lily went back to steaming the wallpaper in hopes it would just peel off the wall, wishing quite firmly that she hadn’t asked. She hadn’t seen Audrey Graham lurking around the Malone house, but that didn’t mean it hadn’t happened. Audrey was sneaky and quite determined. There was no telling what Lily had missed.

And then she wondered if maybe Jake was trying to look out for her, to warn her that Audrey had been hanging around, and maybe she wasn’t bothering Nick. Maybe Nick was enjoying himself.

Maybe he’d changed his mind after the neck-nuzzling incident. Maybe Audrey had done something to change his mind.

Lily made a face, then tried to wipe the look off her face before Jake saw.

She really hated the idea of Nick with Audrey Graham. Having to see them next door. Hear them. Think about them.

Nick neck-nuzzling with Audrey Graham.

Lily wasn’t sure if she wanted to scream or cry.

“Are you okay?” Jake asked.

“Of course,” Lily lied, not too badly she hoped.

“So…Mrs. Graham has a daughter, right?” Jake asked, as he scraped the wall clean of the residue left on it, despite Lily’s careful steaming and peeling off of the old wallpaper.

Daughter?

“Yes,” Lily said. Had she completely misread the whole conversation so far? Was she so obsessed with Nick Malone that she’d completely jumped to the wrong conclusions? “I think she probably goes to high school with you.”

Jake turned an interesting shade of pink, and Lily didn’t think it was coming from the heat of the steamer.

Okay, now she got it.

The Graham women captivated men of all ages.

Lily rolled her eyes. “Andie,” she said. “You know Andie?”

“Well…yeah. I mean, I doubt she remembers I’m alive. But…I’ve seen her around.”

Oh, I just bet you have, Lily thought.

She tried to think of the last time she’d seen Andie Graham and if the daughter took after the mother in her wardrobe choices.

Lily hoped not, for Jake’s sake.

“Isn’t she a little old for you, Jake?” Lily tried, because he was so adorably awkward and sweet, and if Andie was anything like her mother, she’d chew him up and spit him out without thinking twice about it. Lily hated to see him hurt.

“Only a year older,” Jake said.

Lily nodded.

“Do you know…like…what she likes to do? I mean, where she might hang out? Or anything like that?” Jake asked.

“I think I’ve seen her at the mall a few times,” Lily told him.

Andie really looked like a mall kind of girl.

She had a feeling Jake would be spending every spare moment there, hoping to run into Andie.

Trying to let him down easily, Lily told him, “I think, last I heard, she had a boyfriend who’s in college now. Someone who went to her high school last year.”

“Oh.” Jake looked completely dejected.

A college boy.

Lily kept steaming. Jake attacked the wall, scraping so hard Lily was afraid he was going to gouge the Sheetrock underneath.

“Hey, why don’t we take a break while I start dinner, okay?” she suggested.

“Dinner?” He perked right up at that.

“What would you like?” Lily asked, shutting off her steamer and heading for the refrigerator. “Come on. You can pick.”

If he couldn’t have Andie Graham, he could at least have a good dinner.

They dug through Lily’s refrigerator, Jake settling on a chicken and rice dish Lily had made last week that he’d particularly enjoyed. She’d bought twice as much as she had the week before, astonished at how much he could eat and wanting to have enough to send home to Nick, too, and maybe for leftovers.

She’d learned Nick and Jake lived on takeout and her leftovers, and decided she was going to teach Jake to cook. Otherwise, they might not survive.

He was cutting up chicken, and Lily was assembling ingredients when the girls burst into the kitchen, arguing as they went.

“Cannot!” Ginny said, heading for the refrigerator.

“Can, too!” Brittany said, her bottom lip sticking out in a pout so adorable, it was all Lily could do not to laugh.

It was a good thing she looked cute when she pouted, because she pouted a lot and whined. The whining got really old, but the cute pout often saved Lily from getting too irritated.

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