“No. It was…nice. Did you study massage too? You’re very good at it.”
He jerked his hands away. “Sorry. I’ve noticed over these past weeks that you carry your tension in your shoulders and neck. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“No worries. What’s wrong, Deek?” He was acting like the world was about to end, when all she could focus on was if he’d like to kiss her again.
“Annie’s going to dump me when I tell her.” He winced.
“Annie still says you should date others, so I doubt she’ll dump you.”
Deek closed his eyes. “She’s said that before, but then when I started dating, she got short and pissy with me. She has a major double standard.”
That he was more worried about Annie than the mind-blowing kiss they just shared showed her the attraction was still one-sided. She needed to do the right thing by him. “It was my fault, not yours. I shouldn’t have kissed you back. It’s just been a while, and I wasn’t thinking.”
He blinked at her. “I liked that you kissed—”
“Here, Dad.” Asher shoved a coat at Deek.
He slipped into his jacket. “I don’t want to give you the wrong idea, Lori. About us.”
Another rejection. She couldn’t take any more in one day. “We’re fine. And still friends?”
“Absolutely.” Relief made Deek’s handsome face relax. “We’d better go.”
Lori walked the guys to the front door. “Thanks for babysitting. See you on Tuesday for the field trip?”
“I forgot about that.” His usual cute grin formed again. “Want me to pick you up? You’re on the way.”
She should say no, to keep things uncomplicated. But something about Deek centered her and made her feel…happy. It wasn’t a crime to want to be with him as friends. “Okay. See you around ten?”
“It’s a date.” He walked behind Asher to the car but then stopped and turned around. “I shouldn’t have said date. Technically, it’s just more efficient to save gas—”
“Got it. See you Tuesday, Deek. Bye, Asher.”
Asher ran back and gave her a tight hug. “Bye, Princess Lori.”
She smiled. A hug was nice after the day she’d had. “Thanks for keeping Em company. We’ll see you soon.”
Lori released Asher and waited until they were all loaded up. She waved as they pulled away in their fancy new SUV and then shivered from the cold as she closed and locked her front door behind her.
Emily stood in the hall with her arms crossed. “You kissed Mr. Cooper?”
Crap. That was what had taken Asher so long to return with Deek’s coat. He’d stopped to tell Em. “Yes. But he was just showing me something. It wasn’t a real kiss. But these are.” She scooped up Emily and loudly laid kisses all over her cheeks.
“Mom! Stop!”
“If I must.” Lori carried an uncontrollably giggling kid to her bedroom. “Let’s get you all tucked in. And in the morning, Aunt Rachel will be here to see you.”
“Yay! Aunt Rachel.”
Lori hovered Em over her bed so she could grab her PJ’s. When Lori’s cell rang in the den, she laid her daughter on the mattress. “Brush your teeth, and get ready. I’ll be right back.”
“’Kay. But I declare it national rewind night. So we have to do everything backward.” Emily walked on all fours backward to her bathroom down the hall, like a dizzy dog.
Smiling at how goofy Em could be, and thankful for how easy it’d been to distract her, Lori walked backward toward the den to appease Emily’s silliness. She flopped backward onto the couch while grabbing another piece of pizza from the coffee table. She answered the phone, expecting it to be her traveling sister. “Hola?” She took a big, decadent, tomato, yeasty, pepperoni-and-mushroom infused bite and moaned with pleasure.
“Hi. It’s Jason. Just wanted to be sure you were all right?”
That was nice. She didn’t think he’d ever call her again.
Lori quickly swallowed. Then she laid down the pizza, calculating how much time in the gym she’d have to put in to offset the carb and fat content. “I’m feeling much better now. Honestly, I think I was just having first-time-back-in-the-saddle jitters. Thanks for checking in.”
“Absolutely. Glad you’re okay. And since you’re feeling better…” An awkward silence filled the air for a moment until he cleared his throat. “I was wondering if you’d be free to go to a fundraiser with me Monday evening? But before you answer, you need to know that my parents will be there. I’m sure they’ll fawn over you in an obnoxious way, being you’re so pretty. And nice.”