He hadn't expected that. For some reason, he hadn't thought the same reaction would assail him now that had hit him in his office on Monday. Dean drew in a deep, slow breath. He could handle this, get past it. He could still prove that he was not just like his father.
Meanwhile Kelly took control of the crowd. "Now, now," she called, raising her hands. "Calm yourselves, girls."
"But you said you were ready," complained a woman in a purple jogging suit.
"So blow him out," a redhead in shorts recommended.
Dean frowned, peering to see what they were talking about. A sheet cake was laid on the back of a car. Thanks to the angle of the car's trunk he could see the orange-frosted concoction was cut in the shape of a human figure. A single candle was stuck in just the right place to create an anatomically correct male figure.
The women in the parking lot laughed. A few jumped up and down. "Blow!" came the cry. That's when understanding finally hit Dean. His face went red.
Kelly, her attention on her comrades, was shaking her head, smirking, and clearly milking the situation for all it was worth.
"Blow! Blow! Blow!"
Kelly patted the air with her hands, then drew in a deep breath and blew the candle out.
There were cheers and a few whistles.
"Now slice him up!" someone shouted.
"Bloodthirsty," Kelly scolded, but she had no trouble accepting a huge kitchen knife that was handed her way. Indeed, she lifted it high.
Dean couldn't help flinching when her blade hit the cake man.
"And this one's yours." One of the women picked up the piece with the candle still stuck in it.
Kelly bit the tip of her finger. "Oh no, I couldn't."
"You already did," somebody called out.
There was ribald laughter and Dean felt a pull down in his loins as Kelly accepted the proffered cake. She eyed the half-melted candle. "It's true," she sighed. "The only part of the fellow worth remembering."
Heat suffused Dean then; embarrassment, he told himself. He moved, needing to make his presence known, even as Kelly plucked the candle from the cake and tossed it, laughing, over her shoulder.
Reflex. Dean lifted his right hand. Before he knew what was happening, his fingers closed mid-air around that damned candle. Worse, he was completely out from behind the Bronco. Everything suddenly went quiet.
"What?" Kelly asked, looking at her friends. "What is it?"
No one answered. Dean felt as conspicuous as the moon in a starless sky. Finally, Kelly turned. Her eyes were wide. Horrified, Dean thought. His own face remained flushed. He didn't know which was worse; that he'd just watched her complete a ritual to get rid of him, or that he still held that cursed candle in his hand.
"Miss Williams?" He flushed even more at the mistake. "I mean, Mrs. Singleton." Stupidly, he held forth the candle. "If it wouldn't be too anti-climactic — I came to offer an apology."
CHAPTER THREE
The girls disappeared. They simply melted into the landscape of parked cars. No one stayed to back Kelly up, no one remained to lend support. And there was no one left to take that blasted candle but herself.
Kelly stared in dismay at the pink wax held out in Dean's long, tanned fingers. "Uh, thanks," she said, and plucked it from his grip. She was sure her face had turned as red as Dean's. But that was nothing compared to the rapid-fire beating of her heart. He was here. Why was he here?
Worse, why was she so excited to see him?
"I have, you know," he said.
With no idea what he was talking about, Kelly fumbled the candle into the front pocket of her sweat jacket. "What?" she asked.
"Come to apologize," he repeated.
At that Kelly had to look at him again. His gaze was dark, focused entirely on her.
God, Kelly thought, whatever his sins, he was still the handsomest devil she'd ever seen. And he was also — still — so different. For half a second that bothered her, how different he was, not that she believed his story of hypnosis for one second. Frantically, she reached for some level of sanity. "You can't exactly apologize for walking out on me."
A muscle twitched in his jaw. "No, I can't make up for that."
Ha! Kelly thought.
"But I am sorry I didn't believe you when you came to my office the other day." His gaze sharpened on her. "I shouldn't have called you a phony. I shouldn't have assumed you were anything but exactly what you claimed to be." He paused. A different muscle twitched in his jaw. "My wife."
"Uh huh." Kelly shook her head, trying to digest it all. He was here. He'd flown all the way across the country to tell her...this? "So you're still saying you don't remember me," she declared, just to make it clear to both of them.