Until There Was You(49)

“Very funny. I can’t tell you how many times that’s happened.”

“What? You running into some girl you slept with?”

“I didn’t sleep with that one,” he muttered.

“You sure?” Posey couldn’t help grinning.

“Shush.” He held the door for her (very date-ish), and she went into the theater, which was one of those stadium types, and lurched to a stop. Ah. So that was why she was here.

Nicole Murphy sat four rows up next to the boy Liam had threatened at school the other day. At the sight of her father, her face went from bright and happy to horrified disbelief. “Dad! Are you serious?”

“Let’s sit here, Cordelia,” Liam said, loping up the stairs to the fifth row.

“Dad! No!”

“Oh, hi, sweetheart. Didn’t know you were coming to this show. What a coincidence.” His voice took on a harder edge. “Tanner.” Liam sat directly behind the boy.

So. Not a date. A stalking mission to ensure the chastity of his daughter. Super. She should’ve known.

“Excuse me,” said a man behind her. Right. She was blocking the stairs. With a sigh, she headed up to Liam. Who was an idiot.

“Hi, Nicole,” she said. “Sorry. I didn’t know this was a reconnaissance mission.”

“Whatever,” the girl mumbled.

“Hi,” Tanner said, turning around to smile at Posey. “Nice to see you again.”

“You have beautiful manners,” she answered, which caused Nicole to smile and her father to growl. “Tell your mom she did a good job with you.”

“Thanks, I will,” Tanner said. “Hope you like the movie, Mr. Murphy.”

“I won’t be watching the movie,” Liam said pointedly. He dug in his pocket and withdrew a miniature bottle of Purell and held it out next to his daughter’s head. When he didn’t withdraw it, she snatched it from him, poured a little onto her hands, and handed it back without looking at her father.

“I want to be adopted,” Nicole said, rubbing vigorously.

“I’m adopted,” Posey offered.

Nicole turned around to look at her. “Really? That’s so cool! Would you adopt me?”

“Sure,” Posey said. “Do you like dogs? I have a Great Dane.”

“Absolutely!” she said.

“Done deal, then.”

“Very funny,” Liam said, rubbing Purell into his own hands. “Want some?” he asked.

“I’m good,” she answered.

“I so cannot believe you’re here, Dad,” Nicole said. “Tanner, I am really sorry.”

“No worries,” the kid answered.

“It’s a free country, Nicole,” Liam said.

“Not if you’re me,” she grumbled, turning back around. “I’m, like, under surveillance.”

“True.”

The lights went down, and Liam reached over for some popcorn. “Get your own,” Posey said, leaning away.

“Wow. That’s not very nice.”

“Well, neither is taking me to spy on your kid, Liam!”

“Thank you!” Nicole said. The previews began.

“Look,” Liam whispered, and against her will, Posey’s entire side tingled. “She’s fifteen years old. Bozo there’s a senior. Do the math.”

“What math?” Posey asked.

“The sex math.”

“You’re an idiot,” she muttered, shoving another fistful of popcorn into her mouth. Why try to be delicate when all Liam was looking for was a beard? Or whatever the term was?

“You really gonna eat all that by yourself?” Liam said, eyeing her barrel of popcorn.

“Yes, Liam. I have a very fast metabolism. I have to eat a lot. If I don’t, I’ll turn into a bag of bones. Now shut up and watch the movie.”

She sat there in the dark, fuming. She was mad at herself, too—not just him. She should’ve known it couldn’t really be a date. Should’ve smelled something. Shouldn’t have read into him touching her arm, or giving her that hot look when he asked her, because let’s face it, the man oozed hot looks. He probably looked that way at his dentist. His proctologist. She wasn’t special—not to him, at any rate. She was nothing but a desperate woman dumb enough to go to the movies with him.

At least the flick wasn’t too bad. Sci-fi freaky thing about nature gone wrong. At one point, when the hybrid alien creature tore out someone’s throat, Nicole gave a little shriek, and Tanner put his arm around her. Liam kicked his seat, and when Tanner looked back, Liam said, in a very soft, somewhat scary sing-song voice, “Get your arm…off my kid.” And even though he was being a jerk, Posey couldn’t help the slight thrill she felt at the protectiveness in his voice. Papa Lion protecting the pride. Tanner glanced at Nicole, who sighed the sigh of a martyr, and obeyed.

When the alien hybrid had been killed (though not before it secretly gave birth to the sequel), the lights came back up. “Well, that was fun,” Liam announced. “Nic, since we’re going to the same place, I’ll save Tanner some gas and drive you home.”

“Dude, I don’t mind,” Tanner objected.

“Dude, you can call me Mr. Murphy, and I’m not letting you drive her anywhere,” Liam said. “Do you know the statistics on teenage accidents?”