He smiled. "Hey, Tamara. Are you hanging in there?"
She was hanging on the door, is what she was, hoping somehow he wouldn't notice she looked like she'd been rode hard and put away wet. "I'm okay. How are you?"
"Good, even though I was disappointed we couldn't go to dinner. So I got to thinking, maybe you could use some company. And some good food." He lifted the bag.
It took her a second to process what he was saying. He had brought her dinner? Real food?
Her stomach growled, clearly not impressed with the peanut butter and bread.
"My mom said that it's tough to be stuck in the house with sick kids, especially the chicken pox because they're well enough to complain, but too sick to go to school."
That was true. But he had discussed her with his mother? That set a certain amount of panic off in her. "Wow, that's very thoughtful of you." But broke every single rule about how they were supposed to be seeing each other.
It was a secret, damn it. They were supposed to get together privately, talk, laugh, have great sex. Not discuss each other with their parents or hang out all cozy-like with her kids.
It crossed all sorts of boundaries that she wasn't prepared to cross. Apparently she hadn't made that clear enough to Elec because he was standing there smiling at her with dinner and adult conversation she sorely needed, yet really, really shouldn't accept.
"Who's at the door?" Petey yelled from the family room.
"A friend," she called back, anxiety creeping over her. This was a bad idea.
"Can I come in?" Elec asked.
But there was no way around it. Rude wouldn't even begin to cover it if she suggested he leave. Besides, she liked Elec, she wanted to see him again, even if she was annoyed that he had sprung this on her, and annoyed with herself for not being more clear on what she was asking for.
"Oh, God, of course you can come in, I'm sorry. My brain is foggy." She stood back to let him in. "Thanks so much for stopping by."
"I understand you're sleep-deprived. Well, not totally, since I don't have any kids, but I can only imagine." He walked inside and glanced around her foyer.
"Do you want kids?" Tamara asked, then wondered why she would ask such a personal question. Blame it on the lack of sleep.
"Yes," he said simply. "I do."
Something about the serious look on her face set off alarms, but before she could respond, he smiled.
"This is a beautiful house. It really reflects your personality."
"What? Disorganized?" she asked, kicking aside a basketful of clean towels that she'd left at the bottom of the stairs.
"No. It's not all fussy or pretentious. It's put together and elegant, yet comfortable." He leaned over and looked at the pictures of the kids she'd hung behind the glass panes of an old window and had centered above a black table. "Very cool. And you have cute kids."
"Thanks." Yet another thing to blame on lack of sleep, but she had a lump in her throat from his compliments. "Well, here, let's get that into the kitchen." She tried to take the bag of food from him, but he refused to surrender it.
"I've got it. I didn't come over here so you could wait on me. Have a seat and I'll serve you."
It was an innocuous statement, but she knew the minute they both realized a possible second meaning. Elec's eyes went dark, and her heart rate jumped a dozen beats per minute. She had a sudden image of him on his knees between her legs . . .
Tamara tried to shut down the thought. Her babies were fifteen feet away and she was getting turned on. That was just completely wrong. Flustered, she crossed her arms over her chest to cover her nipples. "I'm sorry I look so awful. It's been one of those days."
He glanced at her breasts-she didn't imagine it.
"You look fabulous. And just point me in the right direction of the kitchen," he said, his voice a bit rough around the edges. He cleared his throat. "Though do you mind if I say hi to your kids first? If I remember anything about being a kid, they're probably dying of curiosity about who's in their house."
Tamara hesitated even though she knew there was no way around it really. Her kids would bring their itchy bodies into the foyer in the next two minutes if she didn't introduce him.
But that didn't mean she was at all comfortable with it.
Elec gave her a grin. "Don't worry, I know my role. Just a friend."
"Okay," she said. "I'm sure they'll appreciate the distraction. They're definitely bored.
Well, at least Petey is. Hunter still has a fever." She started back toward the family room, then glanced at him over her shoulder. "You did have the chicken pox, didn't you? I don't want to be responsible for you catching it and missing the next three weeks of the season."
"Oh, yeah, I had it as a baby. Caught it from my brother and sister."
"Alright then." Tamara went into the family room and found her son sitting up craning his neck to see into the foyer. "We have company, Petey."
Petey eyed Elec with curiosity and a fair amount of suspicion.
"This is Elec Monroe, a friend of mine and Ryder and Ty."
"Hey, Petey, it's nice to meet you," Elec said as he strolled into the room, looking way more comfortable with the whole thing than Tamara.
She felt like it was more than obvious that Elec was not just a friend, but then again, her son was a child and hopefully wouldn't think anything of her having a male friend stop over. Not that she'd ever had one do that before.
Lord, she felt like slapping her hand on her forehead.
"Hi," Petey said. "What's in that bag?"
Leave it to a nine-year-old to not worry about relationship details when there might be something in it for him.
"Just dinner for me," she told him. "Elec was nice enough to bring it by since I haven't been able to get to the grocery."
"If he's up for eating, I did bring spaghetti and meatballs for the kids."
Petey's eyes lit up. "Cool."
"Thanks, that was nice of you." Tamara was actually touched by that. Needing a distraction, afraid if she looked at Elec he would see too much in her eyes, she sat down on the couch next to Hunter and checked on her daughter.
Hunter was awake, glassy-eyed and clutching the blanket around her, but she whispered to Tamara, "He's a driver. He finished third behind Uncle Ryder and Uncle Ty in the Six Hundred. His brother's a driver, too. Will he sign my program?"
Trust that her race enthusiast daughter would know exactly who Elec was. "I'm sure he will if you say hello and ask him politely." She smoothed Hunter's hair back off her forehead.
Elec felt his throat constrict just a little as he watched the tenderness with which Tamara touched her daughter. His mother had a point. It was a little more complicated dating a woman with kids. But at the same time, it was incredibly appealing. Elec thought that if a woman was a good mother, it said wonderful things about her as a human being. It said she was caring, compassionate, loyal, strong. All things he wanted in a woman he would give his heart to.
Not that he would-should-be giving out his heart. Just yet.
They were whispering, heads bent together, so he took the opportunity to set his bag down and pull something out. "I figured you must be getting bored," he told Petey. "So I brought this for you. Your mom told me you like bugs."
"What is it?" Tamara's son actually got off the couch and peered into the bag. "Whoa.
Cool! Mom, it's an ant farm!"
"An ant farm?" Tamara's voice rose in alarm.
Elec shot her a sheepish look. Maybe he hadn't thought about that from a mother's perspective. He'd been thinking in nine-year-old-boy terms and the idea of ants tunneling through bio-gel had seemed really cool to him. "It's all contained," he told her. "I promise."
Petey pulled out the box. "It's glow-in-the-dark gel! Sweet. Thank you!"
"The ants are in that other container." Elec pointed to the plastic cone. "This one. The other one is your dinner."
"You have the ants in the same bag as our food?" Tamara was looking at him like he'd suggested they eat on the bathroom floor.
"Umm, yes. They're all sealed." Losing points fast. "Maybe we should add the ants into the farm out on the front porch."
"Good idea," Tamara said, her cheeks pale.
But first Elec wanted to say hello to Tamara's daughter, who was struggling to sit up on the couch. Squatting down, he smiled at her and said, "You must be Hunter. I'm Elec."