Matching Mr. Right(49)
Yeah, well he was a lot cuter than any guy she’d ever known, and if she weren’t careful her hormones were going to ruin her chances with Greg. The guy she’d wanted forever. The right guy. Not Nick, Mr. Love ’Em and Leave ’Em.
Shelby craned her neck behind her to be sure Greg wasn’t back. Then she grabbed the front of Nick’s jersey and pulled him close. Em was right there, so she whispered in his ear, “Greg’ll be back any second and I don’t want you here causing trouble. Got it?”
“Trouble? Me?” He grinned. “Don’t worry, the prince is out in the hall on the phone. Sounded like something medical and important. He’ll probably be a while.” He reached up and pulled a wad of pink cotton candy from her hair. “Man this stuff is a mess. Emily, be careful okay? Shelby’s trying to look pretty for her date.”
Shelby wanted to plop Emily onto his lap and let him deal with the mess, but couldn’t hurt Em’s feelings. Instead, she leaned so close to Nick she smelled the pine-scented soap on his skin from his shower.
It was strangely erotic.
“Go away. Now!”
“Fine. I can take a hint.” He stood and bumped into Greg, spilling the orange soda down his jersey.
“Sorry, Gary. Didn’t see you there. Let me go find some napkins.”
“It’s Greg. Don’t bother.” His jaw clenched. “I’ll be right back, Shelby.”
What a freaking disaster.
Shelby stood and pressed Emily, with her sticky hands full of cotton candy, into Nick’s arms to go after Greg. “I have to go to the bathroom.”
Emily said, “I do too. And Uncle Nick can’t take me.”
She wanted to scream.
Drawing a deep, calming breath, she shoved the empty cardboard cone at Nick, and then held out her hand to Emily. “Let’s go.”
They ran into Greg in the hallway outside the bathrooms. His jersey was damp and more orange than usual. At least it blended with the team colors.
She laid a hand on his chest to gauge the wetness of his shirt. “What a mess. I’m sorry.”
He laid his hand over hers and gave it a gentle squeeze. “One thing hasn’t changed since I left. It’s never a dull day when you spend it with Shelby. I’ll go grab another drink for Emily and meet you guys back there.”
“Thanks.” She smiled as they headed for the bathroom. The hand squeeze was a nice touch. But did he think she was high maintenance or something? That’d be bad.
She glanced down at Emily whose little blue eyes, so like Nick’s, shined up at her with innocent adoration.
“What do you think he meant by that Monkey-Brains? Never a dull day with me. Is that good or bad?”
“Probably good.” Emily grinned. “You’re fun, Shelby.”
She scooped Em up into her arms and planted a kiss on her forehead. “You’re fun too. Even when you’re a sticky-icky mess. Let’s go get you cleaned up and then see if you can stay that way for a while, huh?”
“Okay.” Emily laid her messy hands on either side of Shelby’s face and planted a big kiss on her lips. “I love you, Shelby.”
Her eyes burned with tears. No one except for Jo had said that to her since her parents had died. “I love you too, Em.”
***
Nick grinned as he watched the game. It was the fourth quarter, the Broncos were ahead and Emily was still on Shelby’s lap, yakking away. Things were going according to plan. He pulled out his cell and called his sister. When she answered he said, “Call me in five minutes.”
Lori snorted. “Hello to you too. Is the plan working?”
“Yup.”
“Good. When you get home, I want all the details.”
“You got it.” Nick tucked his phone into his jeans’ back pocket, made his way down to Shelby, and flopped beside her. “Hey. Can I have her back or are you planning a kidnapping?”
The look she sent him as she handed Emily over should have curdled his blood. Instead it just made him even hotter for her.
He feigned innocence. “What?” Before they could get into it, his phone rang. His sister’s timing was perfect. He tugged it out of his pocket and stifled his grin. “Hey, Lori.”
Pretending to listen, he glanced at Shelby. She was seething. And ignoring Greg who sat on her other side. “Wait. What do you mean you can’t pick us up? How are we going to get home?”
Shelby’s head whipped toward his and she narrowed her eyes.
He frowned and bit the inside of his cheek to hold back his grin. “But you know after the game we could wait up to an hour for a cab. That’d be rough on Em.”
Shelby glared at him now. Steam was going to start rising from her collar any second.