Bucking the Rules(69)
“No, of course not.”
“So that right there proves the point. I’m no good for a kid. I run a bar, for God’s sake. I live above it. I’m not someone you should trust with your child. I don’t even think I’ve ever held a kid before.”
She was starting to edge on hysterical again. “Look, when it’s us, it’s just us. You and me. Nobody else. I had plans on easing you into the whole ‘hey, I’m a dad’ thing. So let’s go back to that plan. We do what we’re doing. And eventually, maybe one day you come over and we just hang out, the three of us.” He looked a moment at her face, frozen in, well, he hoped not in horror. “I’m not asking you to change diapers or anything.”
“Better not.” She mimicked his pose, arms across her chest. “Fastest way to end this thing is to hand me a diaper.”
“Duly noted.” He couldn’t help but gain a little hope again at her wording. “So is there still a thing?”
She breathed in deeply and scrunched her eyes shut, the heels of her hands digging into her temples. It almost looked like she was fighting off brain freeze.
“Yes.”
The word came out as a squeak and he wasn’t entirely sure he’d heard her correctly. “Did you say yes?”
“Don’t make me repeat it before I take it back.”
“Done,” he said quickly and before she could even open her eyes, he was around the table and kneeling next to her chair. “You’re not going to regret this. Whatever happens with us, we’ll take it one step at a time.”
“I’m not Mary freaking Poppins,” she warned.
“Well, thank God. She sings way too much for me to handle.”
She laughed and grabbed his ears, yanking him up for a blistering kiss. “Any more family members I need to know about? Any wives or foster monkeys lurking in closets?”
“Foster monkey? We don’t even think about him like that. Bobo’s one of us now.”
She squeezed his ears and he yelped. “Nice one, Muldoon.”
He kissed her again, and was reaching one hand under her bar uniform shirt when her cell phone rang.
“Leave it.” He worked his mouth over to her neck. “Leave it and make me a happy man.”
“I will, after I check the … shit.” She pushed at his shoulders a little. “It’s the bar. They wouldn’t call if it wasn’t something they could handle. Hello?” She stood as she answered the phone, leaving him leaning over her vacant chair, all but heaving in deep breaths.
Cold shower, stat.
“Shit. Is he … okay, that’s good. How about everyone else? Yeah. Thank God. But why … no. No, I absolutely did not. Yeah, two minutes.” She shut her phone and set it on the table with deliberate care. Then she turned to him and smoothed down her polo. “Do I look like I’ve been making out with a horny cowboy?”
“No … but I just got started. Gimme a minute or two and you’ll be nice and mussed up.” He reached for her, but she stepped back.
“That was the police.”
Nothing doused lust quite like the mention of local authority. “What’s wrong?”
“Apparently a patron who came in earlier this evening was drunk driving and plowed into the side of someone’s house.”
“Jesus.” He stood and ran a hand down his face to help him refocus. “Whose house?”
“I don’t know. Didn’t get that far. They’re downstairs and want to talk to me.” She shrugged and grabbed her keys with one hand, stuffing her cell phone in her back pocket with the other. “Sorry to cut our little make-up session short, cutie.”
“Good luck with that whole mess.”
“I’m not worried. He only had one beer at my place. They’re likely just tracing back to double-check. Everyone’s okay, though. Nobody was home, and he was already at the hospital getting the okay from doctors when he was questioned.”
“Lucky break.” He opened her door and followed her down the stairs. “Want me to wait for you?”
“Nah.” She patted his chest. “Go home to—”
“Don’t.” He flattened her hand against him. “Don’t let this start changing things. I offered because I have the time available.”
She paused a moment, then nodded. “Okay. You can go home, but we’ll continue this another time.”
“Okay then. Call me later.” He bent to kiss her once more in the dark shadows of the corner before heading for his car.
Damn drunk driver cutting things off short. But he couldn’t stop the curving of his lips as he started the engine. It might have delayed things, but their relationship had survived its first scuffle … a doozy of one. In his mind, this only meant more promising things in the future.