chapter Four
“Come on, Justin,” Claudia called down the short hallway, hoping to be heard over his stereo. Wasn’t loud stereo noise supposed to come in the teens? Her child was smart for his age and sometimes older than she thought he should be, but he was really pushing this expected-behavior thing straight over a cliff.
“What?” the muffled reply came through the closed door near the end of the hallway.
“Come on out if you want to go to the batting cages.” She pounded on the door for good measure.
“What?” A little louder this time.
“All right,” she said to herself. “I’ve tried the whole respecting privacy business, but this is ridiculous.” Turning the knob, she tried to shove open the door but something was in the way.
“Mom!” he said in a whiny, sing-song voice.
“Justin!” Claudia sent it right back to him. “Move whatever the heck is keeping this door wedged closed, and let me in.”
“But this is my room, and you said you’d respect my privacy.”
Ooh, it sucked to have her words thrown back at her, especially when she was trying to do something nice for the little hooligan, something she didn’t even particularly like to do. “I wouldn’t have any problem respecting your privacy if you could ever hear me.”
“What?”
“Open the door!” She was trying so hard not to use the f-word right now, and her breath gurgled in the back of her throat. What a great way to spend a fun Friday night.
“Jeez, Mom, just hold on a second.”
Oh, my God! She was not going to survive his puberty—and he might not either.
After much banging and grunting and groaning, the door opened. And it was like coming across an overflowing dumpster in the middle of a skating rink.
There, standing in the middle of piles of clothes, magazines, toys, and CDs, was her son. Four-foot-nine of attitude, maleness, and angst. But under it all, he was a great kid, one who tried to cook her dinner and would rub her back when she’d had a long day. One who still to this day made Mother’s Day and Father’s Day cards for her. One who really was the apple of her eye when he wasn’t being a pain in her ass.
She propped herself against the door jamb and waited for him to stop shuffling his feet and actually look at her. She didn’t have long to wait, and she got a half-cocked smile, one that was pure Nate. It forced her a half step back as it rocked her in her shoes.
When had Justin become a small Nate and no longer a small Claudia, or even a small Peter? In the looks department, Justin and Nate couldn’t be farther from each other. Justin was the spitting image of Peter with his dark hair and dark eyes. But in attitude and mannerisms, he was a little Claudia and a lot Nate.
Was she going after the right thing with wanting Nate for herself? What if she broke the friendship and the easy relationship her son had with the one man in his life who had accepted him from day one, with the exception of his granddad on her side?
But then the half smile bloomed into a full-blown one, showing all his pearly whites and the eye tooth that was still growing in, and he was all Justin. A little con artist who could charm the money out of his grandma’s pocketbook.
“So what did you want to tell me, Mom? I’m all ears for you now.” He patted her shoulder and weaseled his way under her arm to lean against her side. “Are you still going to take me to the batting cages? Because that would be so cool. You would be the best mom ever. Not that you aren’t right now the best mom ever, but then you’d be the bestest, bestest mom ever, and I could brag to all the guys about what a great mom I have.” He even had the audacity to wink at her.
“You’re laying it on a little thick, don’t you think, kid?”
“Aw, shucks. Of course not. You know I mean every word of it.”
“Aw, shucks? Now I know you’re laying it on thick, like crap in a backed-up sewage system.”
“Mo-om!”
It was a true pleasure to gross him out. “Anyway, yes, I am taking you to the batting cages if you’d get your stuff together and get some shoes on.”
He dashed around his room faster than she’d seen him move in a while. A moment later he was in the hallway with the smile, a comic book, and some dubious shoes on his feet.
“I thought I threw those sneakers away last week.”
“I saw them in the trash and figured they’d been dumped by accident, so I took them back out. They only kind of smell like bananas now.”
They were high-top Converse, had about ten holes in the fabric of each shoe, and drawings all over the canvas. There was a reason they had been in the trash, and it wasn’t an accident. But she’d learned to pick her battles, and right now the battle she wanted to have was the one about the music, not his footwear choice.
He seemed to listen as she talked about the noise level of the music and how it was disruptive to the shop downstairs as well as making it hard for her to hear him and vice versa. He seemed to take it all in, nodding at the appropriate places, and then proceeded to crank up the stereo in the car and sing at the top of his lungs.
Maybe she would take him on about the shoes.
****
Sixty minutes and about three hundred balls later, Claudia wasn’t capable of taking on anyone about anything. She’d gladly sleep on top of those shoes if the choice were given to her.
“Come on, Mom. No time for sitting down and resting. You’re not old. You should have more energy than this.” He swung his bat a couple of times, warming up inside the cage, and then readjusted his helmet.
“You didn’t say I had to hit balls, too.” She sat behind the fence, willing to risk permanent chain linking on her cheek if she could just rest her eyes for a single minute.
She was pathetic. An hour of swinging a bat shouldn’t take this much out of her. But she hadn’t exercised in forever, and her demon spawn of a child had set her up with fast pitch for about three rounds before she realized other people had slower speeds, where the ball wasn’t aimed and determined to take out a leg or arm or other valuable and necessary body part.
“Come on, this is fun!”
The chink of the bat striking the ball made her lift her head a fraction. “Good hit.” Then her chin dropped to her chest again, and she admitted defeat. Sure, being the bestest, bestest mom was something to strive for, but this was ludicrous, and she was now sweaty beyond belief. She’d kill for a shower right before the small nap. She could do wonders with the water fountain on the other side of the cages, and the hard, standard-issue metal bench was looking downright cozy.
“Hey, batter, batter, swing, batter, batter!”
The voice was so familiar, and it sent tingles right down the center of her limp spine.
****
Nate hadn’t had anything else to do tonight. After making his steak on the grill and trying to get interested in a DVD, he gave up and left the house. He’d felt lonely knowing even Fred was out on a Friday night. He’d thought about calling up his brother or a buddy, but spending time with his favorite guy and friend trumped any other plans he could have come up with.
So here he was, figuring Justin had had enough time to talk to his mom if he’d needed to and hoping he wasn’t busting in on the poor little guy’s parade.
Claudia jumped from her previous slumped position to sitting rigid in a hurry. He walked up behind her and automatically started kneading her shoulders. “Long day?”
“Mmmm. You have no idea.” She purred and stretched.
He dropped his hands like she was a wire and they’d forgotten to turn off the electricity before stripping it bare.
“Is that all I get?” She looked up at him through lowered lashes, and he worried she might start in with the eyelash thing again.
“Yeah, well, I was just over this way and saw your car, so I thought I’d stop in and see how you were doing.” He smiled and took a seat next to her. She was sweaty and dirty and looked like the Claudia he used to chase around the playground in elementary school. This was the more comfortable Claudia. The one he could deal with on a daily basis. He’d been crazy to think she had been flirting with him the other night.
Justin started packing his batting bag in the cage in front of them. Claudia moved her body a little on the bench to make room for Justin to sit down when he came out. But instead of moving down away from Nate, she moved toward him and ended up nearly smooshing her very curvy body up against his.
He popped off the bench like a jack-in-the-box. She nearly fell on the ground, righting herself at the last second.
“Are you okay?” he asked, grabbing her arm and fighting embarrassment. What the hell was wrong with him? “God, I’m so sorry.”
“Not a problem, Nate.” She lowered her lashes and fluttered them.
On second thought, what the hell was wrong with her?
Cool fingers trailed up his arm and lightly pinched his bicep. “Why so nervous?”
Good question, but he didn’t feel he had a good answer. She was running him ragged. Time to take control back and get onto a different subject. He could still feel the imprint of her breast on his arm where she’d leaned against him. And as much as he’d like to say it hadn’t affected him in the least—come on, this was his friend Claudia—a boner was starting in his pants. A completely inappropriate response to the girl whose ponytails he used to pull and whose shoes he had put slugs in.
“I’m not nervous. I, um, just remembered I need to get to the grocery store before they close.”
“But it’s only six-thirty. You have hours. I was thinking maybe we could get some pizza and a movie and close ourselves in for the night.” She leaned back against the bench with her arms behind her, crossed her legs and seemed to thrust out her chest.
He almost swallowed his tongue. He found it tucked into the side of his mouth between his teeth and unstuck it so he could say, “Tonight’s not going to work for me, but I’ll definitely see you Sunday at the Peter lunch. Have a good night.” He scooted out of there so fast his pants might have been on fire. That description was not too far from the truth he realized as he sat in his car telling his libido to calm the hell down.
****
“Now when you go near him again, you might not want to revert to the blinking thing again.” Two hours later, the lesson had begun. While Claudia groaned at her sister’s words, Zoe was obviously relishing every single syllable coming out of her mouth. It wasn’t often she got to be the one telling her older sister what to do and how to do it. There was a reason for that.
Apparently Zoe’s date had not gone off well, and so she had come back to the apartment to corner Claudia, who was alone for the night. After Nate had left for his mysterious and ridiculous errand to the grocery store, one of the moms of Justin’s baseball teammates had found them at the batting cages and invited him for a sleepover. Even though the night stretched out before her, Claudia had said yes. Honestly, it would be nice to have a night off to regroup after Nate had turned her down for dinner and a movie in. She needed to lick her wounds, and instead she was getting flirting tips from Zoe.
“It wasn’t a blinking thing! I was trying to bat my eyelashes at him.”
She demonstrated, and Zoe jumped right on her. “Honey, that is not batting your eyelashes. That it definitely blinking like you have something in your eye.”
Claudia heaved a sigh. “I told you I was a complete lost cause. Even at the batting cages I couldn’t get it right. He talked to Justin and then just walked away as if I didn’t exist except as the mom.”
“No, no, no. I’m just saying we might need to take a more direct approach. After all these years, he may not get a more subtle hint.”
“I’m going to give up on it. I don’t know why I thought I could flirt anyway. We’re comfortable the way we are. Forget about it.”
As if.
“I will not forget about it. You want that cake, finally, and we’re going to get it for you. Maybe even cake with icing! We are not giving up.”
“I wish I had your enthusiasm. I think all I’ll ever be is a mother. I don’t even know how to be a woman anymore. And I just want the cake. I’ll never actually find the icing.”
Apparently, Zoe thought that line of thinking needed to be nipped right in the bud.
“I was right there along with you when you were getting bigger and bigger with your pregnancy. Hell, I even had odd cravings right along with you, at the ripe old age of fifteen. I am not going to let you shrivel up and die an old maid at twenty-eight. Life is not over. We’ll nail this, and then you’ll be the happiest woman in the world.”
“Or I’ll nail Nate and have no more best friend. I don’t know if I still even remember how to have sex.” Claudia threw her hand over her brow and leaned back against the kitchen counter.
Zoe grabbed her hand and pinched her finger. “Do not go all drama queen on me. Now, let’s get started so we can get you laid and happy. Time’s a-wasting, and I don’t have any more of it to go out and buy you blue and green streamers for your poor-me party.”
“You have never been funny, and I don’t know why you continue to try. I’m being serious here, and you’re mocking me.”
“I’m not mocking you.” Zoe sat at the kitchen table and retrieved a notepad from under the jumble of crap that had accumulated there throughout the week. It seemed like it was the one place everyone dropped their stuff. Justin’s socks, Claudia’s purse and mail, Zoe’s jacket, all mounded on the table like a trash heap gone bad.
“You are.” At the wooden table, Claudia pulled out the chair across from Zoe and plopped into it. “You think this is easy after so many years? Nate has seen me breastfeed my kid and cry all over him when Justin did something unbearably cute or horribly wrong. Why is he going to want this?” She waved a hand at her less-than-perfect body and then pulled some of her long hair away from her head.
“I think Nate has wanted that since he was sixteen years old.”
“Yeah, and at sixteen I weighed forty pounds less and had highlights shining in my perfect hair.”
“You also fixed your bangs in a fan that stood about five inches above your forehead.”
Claudia thunked her head on the hard wood of the table. “Don’t remind me. This is useless.”
“All right, that’s the last time you’re allowed to say that. I’ve given you time to be a sad sack, but no more. We’re going to do this, and we’re going to do it right. Once Nate gets a clue, he’ll fall right into your clutches.” Zoe made note of the highlights on her pad and added a few ideas about how to go about making Nate even more besotted than he already was. When Claudia tried to get a better peek at the paper, Zoe slapped a hand on top of the pad.
“And what about you?”
Zoe’s head whipped up and she zeroed in on Claudia with narrowed eyes. “Nothing about me. This is all you.” She doodled a heart on the page under the word “manicure” and avoided looking at Claudia.
“Then I guess you don’t have any problem with the fact Dexter Zegray called and wants you to come in to go over some additional suggestions?”
“Sure. Not a problem. I’ll go see him next week.”
Trying to force Zoe to change the subject was not helping. Claudia was going to have to either buck up and do this or get rid of Zoe, and the getting rid of thing was not looking promising.
“I don’t even know why we’re discussing flirting with Nate, much less trying to sleep with him. I don’t want him to see me as some hussy.” Claudia rose from her seat and fussed with the knob of the silverware drawer to the left of her hip. “Besides, it’s not going to work, and I don’t want to waste any time doing ridiculous things. I have that luncheon Sunday at May’s house.”
“Oh, no, you’re not getting out of it that easily, sister dear. I spent time making this list, and I’m not going to throw it away simply because you’re getting cold feet. Now sit down, and let’s get moving.”
What followed was too agonizing to describe. Claudia would have nightmares for years about making kissy faces at herself in the mirror and turning her head just right so her hair fell over her shoulder. And in the end she only felt like more of a failure. Not that she’d tell Zoe that, if she valued her sanity.
She went to bed counting down the hours until she could see Peter and get him out of her hair. If she seriously wanted to pursue Nate, she would have to do it her own way.
****
“Emergency girl meeting,” Claudia called out the next morning as she streamed through the front door of Decadence with her heart racing and her palms damp.
May looked up from her kneeling position in front of a dress dummy covered in silk. Pins dangled from between her lips, and her hair was up in a sloppy bun.
Claudia kept on toward the back, knowing May would follow close behind, pins or no pins. Zoe called out she’d be right there after she stuck something in the refrigerator.
When Zoe showed up, she grabbed one of the other chairs from the wall and pulled it in close, then took Claudia’s left hand in hers. May did the same thing with the last chair and her right hand.
“What’s going on?” they said in stereo.
“Nate just called, and he has the plans for Decadence ready. He said he wanted to come over and go through them with me, but I can’t do it. I need one of you to stand in for me.”
“Absolutely not,” Zoe said, while May sat with a smile on her face.
“Why is it absolutely not? I’ve done plenty for you. You could do this one thing for me. And, May, you can stop smiling. I believe you just pulled the friendship card the other day about this lunch tomorrow. I can’t do this knowing that he might know I’m attracted to him but he’s too nice to tell me it’s not going to happen. He completely turned me down for dinner and a movie at home the other night, just to go grocery shopping!”
“Don’t be so difficult, Claudia,” Zoe said. “You’re trying to look for reasons not to get involved with a man you find attractive but are afraid to test the waters with.”
But what if that fear was very valid and could end the most important relationship in her and her son’s life? “That’s fine for you to say.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you don’t even date seriously. How can you be any judge?”
“I date, and that’s not the point.”
May leaned back in her chair and rolled her eyes. Claudia caught the motion and gave her a sharp look. “I’m just saying you don’t have much experience to go on other than being a serial dater. You haven’t exactly got a track record for long-term commitments.”
“Again, so not the point. The point is that you are ready to finally give the guy who’s lusted after you for years a chance to once and for all convince you he could be more than a friend. Don’t screw it up by hiding.”
Claudia’s heart stuttered as she frowned. That might be all too true, but there was more at stake here than just riding the baloney pony. This was her life.
“I’m sorry,” Zoe said. “That didn’t come out the way I’d meant it to. And I know this is probably hard for you.”
Claudia sat back, but she didn’t roll her eyes like May had. Instead, tears welled up and threatened to spill over. “You think this is easy for me? I just realized the other day that I haven’t been out with a truly interesting man since I was a teenager. Not only that, but I only have your word to go on that Nate is interested in me.”
“And mine,” May said, popping into the conversation. “I know he’s held a torch for years, at least since you were in eleventh grade.”
“No way!” Claudia leaned forward in her chair and grabbed May’s hands. “No way has he wanted me that long without talking about it.”
“Yes way,” Zoe answered, before May could. “You’ve just been blind. Like having a child took away your ability to see what’s going on right beneath your nose.” Zoe put her hands on top of May’s and Claudia’s. “Sweetie, why else do you think he’s stuck around for all these years and done so much for you?”
Claudia sat back in her chair, crossing her legs and hugging her arms tight to her stomach. “Because we’ve been friends for years.”
“I won’t discount that, seriously. But why hasn’t he found someone for himself, then? Why does he continue to come to our house and watch Justin? Or coach his team? Have me make you flowers on your birthday? I’ve had male friends, and they never did even one of those things, much less all of them.”
“Maybe I have been looking at it wrong.”
“Maybe you have,” May said. “He doesn’t say anything specific about you, but I can tell.”
“I think you need to embrace what you want, Claudia, and decide how you’re going to go out and get it done.” May flipped her hair back over her shoulder and out of her face. “You need to go get him, no holds barred, the way I did with Brad.”
A wistful expression flitted across May’s face. One Claudia wanted to see on her own face in the mirror instead of the kissy lips. Before she had time to think about what that would look like, the bell rang over the door and their mother announced her entrance.
“Hi!” Mona waved from the cake counter where she was snitching a small sample.
“Mom, those are for the customers.” Claudia walked away from the emergency girl meeting and snatched the rest of the plate out of her mother’s hands. After putting the domed plate back into the display case, she rested her hands on her hips.
“Oh, posh! I was in the area and hankering for some of your delicious sugary stuff, so I stopped in to see what was going on, now that I’m loosening up my schedule some.” She zeroed in on Zoe, who flinched. “You did get that information for me, right? How long is this going to take?”
“Yeah, it’s all taken care of and the ball is rolling, Mom.”
“Yes, Mom,” Claudia said, winking at May. “All taken care of and wrapped in a pretty bow by a man named Dex, who has caught dear Zoe’s eye.” That ought to show Zoe and deflect any interest in Claudia. Plus, it was exactly what sisters were for, butting in where they weren’t needed.
Zoe retaliated immediately. “Did I tell you Claudia’s trying to figure out how to hook up with Nate?”
It spiraled down from there, with May laughing and Mona probing her daughters for all the information. Zoe, of course, gave as little as she could, continuing to deflect everything onto Claudia.
“We’re not dating,” Claudia said for the fifth time.
“Well, you should be. It’s a good thing you finally woke up to what a pony that Edward was. I can’t believe you went out with him.”
Claudia didn’t know whether to laugh or cry that her mom also thought Edward was a pony, or even knew what that reference meant. She tackled the one thing she could. “You’re the one who set us up.”
“Oh, lordy, girl, that was only to get you to open your eyes to see what a man Nate was. I kept hoping you’d get a clue, but when you never did, I was starting to despair.”
Claudia did an impression of a carp, like Zoe’s from the other night, until her mom gently closed her mouth for her and waved goodbye. She was going to miss having her mom in the shop on a permanent basis, but it would be good for her parents to spend time together, now they were both retired. They’d earned the right to take some leisure time. Maybe she should talk to Zoe about sending them on a cruise. Or she’d talk to Zoe about that once she stopped giving her sister the evil eye and the cold shoulder.
Zoe deliberately stood in Claudia’s way when she came back from putting a cake into the big refrigerator in the back. Claudia tried to step around her, but Zoe just moved with her. “You’re not getting away from me. After this I can bug you all night upstairs in the apartment. I’ll be like a burr on your butt.”
Claudia cracked a slight smile she tried to shut down immediately. “You are a burr on my butt anyway. What’s new about that?”
“Oh, you’re a real comedian, but I can see you want to smile. I know you do. You want to smile, don’t you? Come on.”
“Oh, all right, you pain in the ass. I’ll smile, but I’m still not happy you tried to throw me to the wolf. I have half a mind to go give her a call and see if she and Uncle Al can work on getting you and Dex together.”
“Please don’t. You know how she gets. One grandchild isn’t enough for her, and I don’t want to get either the third degree or the major maternal encouragement, otherwise known as ‘push.’ I promise not to mention one more thing about Nate to her. Let’s shake on it. We’ll leave her out of everything. In fact, it may not be that hard to do, since she and Dad should be spending a bunch of time together and she won’t be in here every day.”
Claudia stuck out her hand. “No spitting, though. I can keep a promise without exchanging bodily fluids.”
“But would you want to if I were Nate?”
“You’re not Nate, so that’s not a valid question. Besides, I’m still hung up on what exactly I want there. I saw him yesterday, and he barely looked at me. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. Now I have to go sit with him over blueprints when he is completely oblivious to my charms, what few there are.”
“May told you you’re going to have to be blunt with him. It’s been a lot of years, and he’s not going to know what you’re doing—or won’t believe it even if he thinks it.”
Claudia blew out a sigh that lifted her bangs. “Well, that just sucks. He should get a clue, so I don’t have to give him one.” She leaned on the top of her counter, messing with a trail of ivy decorating a fake display cake. “Does this ever get any easier?”
“Unfortunately, I have no idea, as you and May so nicely pointed out to me earlier at the emergency meeting. Now go upstairs, make sure all Justin’s dirty underwear is put away, and vamp yourself out. I’ll pick Justin up from his friend’s and get us some lunch. That should give you enough time to convince Nate of your interest.”
****
Nate shifted from foot to foot outside Claudia’s door, hesitating to go in now that he’d arrived. He heard noise inside the apartment, and the light eastern breeze played with the sheer curtains she’d put up a year ago. It was a welcoming home, one he liked to come to and hang out at. He felt a part of something there, even if it was just as a friend.
And they were just friends. Had been since they were in kindergarten. And then in each other’s pockets from the time they were twelve and Claudia had started trying out recipes on him. He’d choked down the first few cakes because he’d really liked her. Just as he was about to have to tell her the truth or risk his stomach lining, she’d gotten better at what she was doing. Thank God. That was also about the time his hormones had started kicking in and he’d realized she was a girl.
What a mess he’d made of things when he’d tried to give her a kiss the first time, the first time for both of them. He’d never forget the complete bafflement on her soft face when he’d come at her, eyes open and lips pursed. She ended up laughing, and he’d forced himself to laugh with her.
He was wasting time standing out here and reminiscing. He had the plans for her remodel of Decadence under his arm and a solid reason for being at her house. Procrastination wasn’t going to do anything but draw things out.
He knocked, though he really didn’t have to anymore. Claudia had told him on more than one occasion to just walk on in. But a part of him, the very male part, still feared girl rituals and what he might accidentally interrupt.
“Come on in,” Claudia’s muffled voice said through the door.
He straightened his shirt, smoothed his hair, and checked his pants before opening the door. He realized he’d need to pull his shirt down a little farther to cover his jeans, and he held the plans over his crotch. Dammit. He couldn’t exactly stand out here thinking about the exact measurements of his next build-out or what he planned on making for dinner to try to make his erection subside before he walked in. He was stuck.
He must have taken too long, because Claudia came and opened the door herself, looking good enough to lick with her blonde hair pulled into a messy bun on the back of her head and skewered with a pencil. She should be illegal, plain and simple.
“Oh, hey!” she said dragging him in by the arm. “Zoe and Justin just went out to grab some subs while we go over the plans. They should be back soon.”
Which meant they were all alone in the house, and he was semi-hard. But at least her eyelashes weren’t fluttering. The other day at the batting cages must have been a figment of his overactive imagination. She was not into him, had never been into him, no matter how much he had wanted her, that one brief time in his youth.
While he’d been thinking all these ludicrous thoughts, she’d stepped in closer. Her hand brushed the front of his jeans when she took the plans from him. He jerked and tried to step out of the way. How was he going to hide anything now? He guessed he could make a mad dash for the kitchen table and take a seat to avoid showing his rampant evidence of wanting her. This was very uncomfortable and unfortunate. It shouldn’t be happening right now. What in the hell had gotten into him?
Coward that he was, he fast-walked his way to the table and left her in the doorway to do whatever she would. He could have sworn he heard a snicker behind him, but maybe it was his mind messing with him.
Regardless, he sat at the table facing forward and staring at the stove directly in front of him. He focused on the house he would be working on next week, mentally listing the supplies he’d need to buy, hoping he could get his woody to deflate before he had to stand up again.
He waited for what felt like an eternity before he heard her footsteps. As she passed him, a whiff of something exotic and warm hit his nose. It made a joke of all his progress in getting his body to settle down. Claudia had always smelled pleasantly of Claudia, but this afternoon her scent was something entirely different.
And if he didn’t want to swallow his tongue and not be able to talk like a normal human being, he needed to get his mind out of her pants and into the plans in her hand. Plans for what, he couldn’t say right now. But maybe it would come back to him once she sat across from him and spread out the papers on the surface of the big kitchen table.
His heart nearly stopped in his too-warm chest when she spread the papers out while caging him between her arms. Her breasts rested against his back, electrifying his skin under his thin T-shirt. It flashed through his mind to stand up and get away, but she’d effectively cut off his escape route, unless he was willing to knock her backward.
He struggled to keep silent his groan at the feel of her body pressed up against his. God, it was like being a teenager all over again. He was impossibly hard and hoping his cock wouldn’t knock on the underside of her table.
And then she started speaking. Right into his ear in a breathy voice that set the hair on the back of his neck standing on end. “Oh, Nate! These are fantastic.”
He breathed in another lungful of that exotic scent and nearly choked. Maybe it would be better to just not breathe at all. He didn’t know if he could last another ten seconds without exploding. “Thanks.”
“I can’t believe you were able to get everything drawn up and finished so quickly. I knew there was a reason I loved you so much.” She squished herself down on his back, and he felt every line and softness of her body. He also felt her rigid nipples poke into his back.
To hell with not knocking her back. He had to stand up. Now. Damn the consequences. Not to mention the tent in his pants. He scooted back gently from the table. “I should—”
Before he could say any more, she lifted her hands from the table and wrapped them around his torso, shifting herself to fit the curve of his back and giving him a huge hug. This was unbearable.
He placed his hands over hers to pull them away, but his body had other ideas. He shifted back into her embrace, enjoying it in a way he shouldn’t. They’d hugged numerous times, but this was different, and he didn’t know how he felt about it.
He had no time and no desire to explore those feelings right now. His heart thumped so hard in his chest he was afraid she could hear it. He forced a laugh he didn’t feel and followed through with his earlier intent to remove her hands. Turning to look at her, he prepared to tell her how much her enthusiasm meant to him and then get the hell out of there as fast as his legs could carry him without damaging his goods permanently. He needed breathing room—without essence of Claudia and spice filling the air. He needed room to get his distance back into place where it belonged. He needed to have his head checked for wanting her as more than a friend and feeling a faint kicking in his stomach that told him to go for it already.
But she took the option completely out of his hands when she grabbed his ears and laid a kiss on his lips like nothing he’d ever experienced before. For sure, there was no laughing going on this time.