Summer on Blossom Street (Blossom Street #6)(95)

Alix wrapped her legs around his and hungrily kissed him again. She lifted her head and smiled at him.

“What’s this all about?” Jordan asked, his voice rough with longing. “Not that I’m complaining…”

“I’m going to be a good mother. A great one.”

“Yes, I know,” he said without hesitation. He supported the back of her head and returned her mouth to his for another series of deep, soul-f illed kisses.

She gasped when the last kiss ended. Her lips remained close to his, so that she breathed his breath and he breathed hers. He kissed her again, then asked, “What happened to convince you?”

Alix pressed her head to his shoulder. “Do you want to talk all night or do you want to make a baby?”

Jordan chuckled and scooped her up, Alix’s arms around his neck. As he started toward their bedroom, he said, “That’s a ridiculous question if I ever heard one,” and her laughter joined his.

Chapter 34

Anne Marie Roche

Ellen’s cast had been on for nearly a week and Tim had come by every afternoon to check on her. Vanessa hadn’t accompanied him even once, which was just as well, considering the scene at the hospital. Anne Marie avoided mentioning the other woman’s name and so did Tim.

Ellen’s arm had stopped hurting and she thrived on the extra attention. Anne Marie had to ask Tim to stop bringing gifts. Ellen had so many stuffed animals now, there was no space in her bedroom for more.

“What time will my dad be here?” Ellen asked, bounding down the stairs with Baxter at her heels. She swung the leash in one hand.

“Soon.”

“Does he know you have a hot date?”

The urge to roll her eyes was nearly overwhelming. Barbie and Mark had arranged for her to meet a friend of Mark’s; Barbie had made the mistake of referring to the evening as a “hot date” in Ellen’s presence. Ellen, of course, had picked up on the term and used it ever since.

“I didn’t tell him where I was going, no,” Anne Marie said. When she’d told him she had an appointment Friday evening, Tim had quickly offered to stay with Ellen. Foolishly, perhaps, Anne Marie had accepted. Her mother would gladly have had Ellen over for the night, but that would’ve entailed driving. It was simpler this way.

Tim genuinely loved Ellen. If Anne Marie had ever doubted that, he’d proved his feelings for the child the day Ellen broke her arm. He’d been as pale as a bleached sheet when he realized what had happened and he’d blamed himself. He’d been vigilant, almost excessively so, ever since.

“Can I tell him?” Ellen asked.

“Ah…” Anne Marie hesitated, preferring he not be told where she was going. It wasn’t any of his business.

“Tell who what?” Barbie asked as she stepped into the bookstore. Mark followed in his wheelchair.

“My dad,” Ellen said.

“Tim’s staying with Ellen while I’m out this evening,” Anne Marie explained.

“On a hot date,” her daughter added with emphasis on the hot. She attached the leash to Baxter’s collar and after hugging both Barbie and Mark, shot out the door, taking Baxter for his afternoon stroll down Blossom Street.

“Hot date, huh?” Mark said once Ellen was halfway down the block.

Anne Marie pretended to be upset with him. “That’s what she calls it, thanks to you two.”

“Just wait till you meet Mel,” Barbie said with a wink. “He’s wonderful—smart, funny and sexy as hell.”

Mark glared up at Barbie. “He’s not that sexy.”

Barbie’s smile lit up her eyes. “Mark, don’t tell me you’re jealous?”

“Should I be?”

At that Barbie laughed outright. “You tell me.”

They gazed at each other, exchanging some private message, and slowly a grin slid into place. “Maybe not,” he murmured in a low, husky voice.

Barbie bent and kissed his cheek. “I don’t have any reason for complaint, sir—and I don’t think you do, either.”

Now it was Mark who winked. “Your point is well taken, madam.”

Anne Marie laughed. She loved the banter between these two. Barbie and Mark somehow brought out the best in each other. According to what she’d heard, he’d been surly and downright rude when he and Barbie originally met—at the movies, of all places. The f irst time Anne Marie had met him was in a fastfood restaurant and it was plain, at least to her, that Mark was in love with Barbie. She suspected he’d fought the attraction as long as he could, then simply surrendered to the sheer force of Barbie’s personality.

“We’ve come to give you a few tips,” Barbie announced. Mark, however, seemed more interested in studying a selection of mysteries, which were displayed on a table close to the front of the store.

“What kind of tips?” Anne Marie asked.

“Dating tips, of course!”

Mark set aside Sue Grafton’s T is for Trespass and glanced up.

“This is all Barbie’s idea.”

Fortunately the bookstore was empty. Anne Marie would hate having customers privy to this conversation.

“It’s been a while since you dated, hasn’t it?”

Her last supposed date had been with Tim, when he’d dropped the bombshell about Vanessa. The memory of their evening together still embarrassed her.