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Someone who liked kids as well as the young swim coach obviously did surely wouldn’t mind their being underfoot, so Hunter plowed on. “I can see you’re ready for your own workout,” he said with a nod at her swimsuit. “But I could stop off somewhere on the way home, get some stuff for ice cream sundaes. I could give you the address—it’s not too far—and you could come by the house when you’re through.”
“Oh, I don’t—”
She was going to refuse and Hunter didn’t want that. In fact, he wouldn’t accept that. “Karen and your Aubrey seem to be hitting it off together. After swimming as hard as they did Aubrey could probably use a sugar infusion. I bet she’d like to come along.” He said it just loud enough for the little girl to hear. He hadn’t been raising children long, but he’d already learned the unbelievable pressure the little sweethearts could bring to bear when they wanted something. And what little kid wouldn’t want ice cream?
Aubrey did not disappoint him.
“Oh, please, Johanna. Can we please go, huh? Can we? Please?” Aubrey folded her hands together in front of her in a supplicating, prayerlike fashion and looked up at her older sister pleadingly. “Will and Steve didn’t even have to swim tonight ’cuz Chris got those tickets to the Silver Hawks game at Covaleski Stadium. They’re probably having tons of fun. They get to do everything and I hardly ever get to do nothing. Please?”
Johanna rolled her eyes. It was a standard line that every one of her siblings used. Each and every one of them was surely the most abused child in the history of the world. “I hardly ever get to do anything,” Johanna corrected her. “If you’re going to whine, at least do it correctly.”
“I hardly ever get to do anything,” Aubrey repeated dutifully. “Please?”
She shouldn’t let her get away with it, but the truth was Johanna wanted to go herself.
“It’s a school night,” she said, feeling duty-bound to point out.
“I didn’t have any homework.” Aubrey quickly inserted the reply, sensing Johanna’s wavering as only a child can. “And you made me practice piano before we came. And ice cream’s pretty good for you. We made it at school one time. It has milk in it. I saw.”
Johanna had to grin. What a little con artist. “Along with an equal amount of sugar, but what the heck, it’s been a traumatic day. We could all use a little comfort food.”
“Yes,” chorused Aubrey and Karen together. Karen pumped her fist in the air.
“When Charlie gets here, tell him to take Grace home and check homework for me,” Johanna directed her sister. “You can just wait for me to finish up here.”
The two girls saluted and raced off with Robby in hot pursuit.
Hunter stood there holding a now quietly sobbing, hiccuping Mikie, and feeling as if Aaron was a permanent attachment. It wouldn’t be much longer before he’d forget what life was like with free use of both legs. The three of them dripped water onto the concrete pool deck. His hair was hanging in his face and water rivulets ran down his neck in a decidedly uncomfortable fashion. It was not a setup he would have chosen for asking a woman on a first date. Unfortunately, he had a feeling of foreboding that this was about as good as it was going to get. Probably for years to come. Hunter gave Johanna clear, concise directions and squished his way out of the pool area, lugging Aaron with every step he took.
So much for Mr. Suave Sophisticate.
He sighed. How the mighty were fallen.
He took the two small boys into the boys’ locker room, shifted the nozzle on the hand dryer to point down, punched the button and stood them underneath the blast of hot air in a fruitless attempt to dry them out a bit.
Hunter borrowed some towels from the lost and found to spread along the leather seats of his pride and joy. He still cringed as he buckled in those sodden little bodies. His own soggy self wasn’t doing the car’s seats much good, either. He thought of Johanna’s sleek, wet body when she’d stepped out of her shorts and shirt. Now, a body like that, he’d let ruin his leather any day of the week.
“Come on, kids, let’s get a move on here,” Hunter said, suddenly in a hurry. How had they left the kitchen? Were there dirty dishes in the sink? Damn, he couldn’t remember. He needed to shower, put some dry clothes on. Hunter felt his chin. Maybe he should shave. His five o’clock shadow tended to be heavy.
He stopped at the grocery store on the way home and froze in his damp clothes while he picked up the ice cream and various assorted toppings. He probably went overboard a bit on the topping part, but what the heck, he wanted to make a good impression. Johanna needed comfort food, he’d see she got it. Anything that would buy him time with her.
“That’ll be $34.28. Having a party, huh?”
Hunter came to with a start and looked down the checkout counter. He’d spent thirty-five dollars on dessert? Good grief. Well, it would be worth it in the long run. He hoped. “Here you are.” He handed over two twenties and waited for his change.
“$5.72. There you go. Have a good night. Enjoy your ice cream, kids.”
Aaron and Mikie smiled shyly. Robby grinned and nodded. Karen was the only one who actually got a thank-you out. He was going to have to work on their manners.
Still, they were cute kids, as far as children went, and Johanna was obviously crazy about kids. Thoughtfully, Hunter buckled bodies in and stowed the ice cream in the trunk of the car. “Anybody who takes their safety belt off before this car is in the garage with the engine off, dies. Hear me, Aaron?”
“I won’t do it again, I pwomise.”
“And no unbuckling anybody else to get them into trouble.”
“Okay.”
“I mean it.”
Hunter watched Aaron nod solemnly in his rearview mirror before grunting and cranking the engine. Maybe he had Aaron sufficiently cowed. Maybe. In the short time he’d had the children he’d learned it was a mistake to think in absolutes.
“All right, here we go. Keep it down to a dull roar, okay? Uncle Hunter needs to pay attention to his driving. I really don’t feel like wrapping us around a pole on the way home.”
Hunter strategized as he drove down the quiet streets. He was good at reading people, figuring out what made them tick. It was why he was good at his job. If you wanted to sell major manufacturing systems, you learned how to do that in a big hurry. An effective businessman made small talk with people who liked to chat. He took sports fanatics to the stadium in Chicago or the Hoosier Dome in Indy. Clients who were more into the arts got museum tickets, symphony concert tickets, architectural tours of the city. Whatever it took.
So, what did he know about Johanna and what would his best approach be?
She liked kids. Had to, or she wouldn’t surround herself with them. In the world BK—before kids—Hunter would have run as hard and as fast as possible to get away from such a woman, no matter how good-looking she was, but Hunter had entered an alternate world and he was not running away, no indeed.
At any rate, the obvious thing to do here to keep Johanna interested was to surround her with his children. Hunter would make sure they were clean and threaten them with their lives so they’d behave. Hunter nodded thoughtfully. It should work. He nodded more forcefully as he pulled into the garage. His kids were as good—no, better—than any others he’d seen to date. Of course that wasn’t saying much in his book, but women thought differently. To his way of thinking, Johanna was a goner.
“Kiss the competition goodbye,” he told himself as he pulled into his garage. “You’ve done it again, Hunter old boy. The woman won’t know what hit her.”
Chapter Three
Johanna enjoyed her time with Hunter and the children. Heck, she’d grown up with the give-and-take of a large family. Teasing Hunter’s niece and nephews was especially fun because she carried no responsibility for them. At the end of the evening she’d be going home, leaving Hunter with the nitty-gritty, day-to-day bedtime-ritual stuff, as well as the long-term physical and personal development stuff. Well, at any rate he was responsible for the long-term development stuff for the short term. How long would the children’s parents be gone, anyhow? Hunter seemed to be going to a lot of trouble for a brief period.
Karen had shown her the paint color she’d picked out for her bedroom, a too-sweet cotton-candy pink. Johanna’s hands felt sticky just looking at it. She lavished praise. After all, she wasn’t stuck painting the walls that nauseating color.
Mikie had proudly displayed his new junior bed. He was a big boy now. Johanna was suitably impressed and politely watched as he drove his toy trucks down the wrong side of the road on the track-imprinted play carpet Hunter had installed in Mikie and Aaron’s room. After the second pileup, Johanna heartily hoped Mikie did not plan on long distance driving as a viable career choice. Then again, what did it matter? Johanna wasn’t the one who’d have to teach him right from left, the physics of impact with a large object or see him through to a driver’s license later on.
“I went off the starting block and you didn’t. That makes you a chicken heart.”
“Does not.”
“Does, too.”
“You only went in ’cuz you fell when Coach Jo yelled.”
“Uh-uh.”
You know, kids’ squabbles were a whole lot funnier when the kids belonged to somebody else. Johanna was having difficulty smothering a smirk as she listened to the byplay.
“Uh-huh,” Karen shot back, then turned on Johanna. “Coach Jo, how come you yelled like that? Did you see a spider or something? I hate spiders.”
“Karen yells real loud when she sees one, especially if it gets in bed with her.”
The mere thought made Johanna shiver, and she had to wonder how the spider got into Karen’s bed. After all, she had brothers herself, a fact that made her naturally suspicious.
“Do not.”
“Do, too.”
Johanna cleared her throat and glanced at her wristwatch. “Just look at the time,” she exclaimed. “Why, it’s almost eight-thirty! I need to get home or I’m going to miss my bedtime.”
Aaron studied her in wide-eyed amazement. “But Miss Johanna, eight-thirty is our bedtime, Mikie’s and mine. Even Karen and Robby gets to stay up until nine o’clock and you’re lots older than them.”
“Nine o’clock? Wow. Karen and Robby are lucky ducks, huh?” She sighed. “Poor me. If I’m not in bed on time I’ll be in lots of trouble. Gotta go, guys. Come give me a hug, then I’m out of here.”
The four of them crowded forward, squeezing and hugging as though starved for affection. Johanna wondered about their parents again. Her own mother had no choice but to be gone much of the time. Relatively older at the time, Johanna had still hated her absence. How could these little ones possibly understand their parents’ desertion? Wherever they’d taken themselves off to, she certainly hoped it was worth the separation anxiety their children were suffering.
And not just the children were suffering.
Hunter looked tired, Johanna thought as she glanced his way for the thousandth time that night. Darn, but he was prime male material. The least she could do was get the kids started in the right direction, she supposed. He looked as if he could use the help and she didn’t mind lending a hand—as long as she could still go home to her own life at the end of the day.
Giving the closest two a nudge, she started them on their way. “Let’s see who can brush their teeth till they shine the most, okay? Uncle Hunter can be the judge, and you can make a chart and draw a star by your name if you’re the winner. I bet Uncle Hunter would get a little prize for whoever has the most stars at the end of the week.”
The kids took off like a stampeding herd.
“I’ll be first done.”
“Nuh-uh. I’m gonna beat you.”
Johanna called after them. “First doesn’t count, Robbie, unless it’s also the best.”
“Karen already gots a cabity. So she shouldn’t win no way.”
“You’re so stupid” came the immediate protest. “It’s just a baby tooth, which is all you’ve got, big baby. The dentist said my grown-up teeth would come in like brand-new and I could start all over again with everything perfect.”
Hunter shook his head as the voices faded up the stairs. “They’re unbelievable, aren’t they? I swear they’d argue over whether the sun was going to come up in the morning.” But he was encouraged by the smile on Johanna’s face. It proved he was on the right track. The woman actually liked young children and all the squabbling and immature behavior they entailed. Sick, but who was he to complain? He took her hand. “I’ll walk you to your car.”
Johanna looked down at the big hand swallowing hers. It was large, but Hunter was definitely not ham-handed. He was simply big-boned with long, almost elegantly tapered fingers. His nails were cut blunt, short and were impeccably clean. The back of his hand was lightly furred with glossy deep brown hair.
Johanna stared at those few hairs and couldn’t help but wonder about his chest.
Was it hairy or smooth?
She’d bet on hair.
Sparse or plentiful?
A thick, dark mat of hair, she hoped. Thick enough and just coarse enough to make a woman crazy when she pressed up against—what? What? She was quite probably the only twenty-four-year-old virgin in town, heck, in the state of Indiana, and here she was daydreaming about what?
Good grief.
Johanna ran a hand through her hair, pushing it back off her forehead as she blew out a breath. Get a grip, Johanna. Before you blow a gasket.
“Aubrey, sweetheart, run upstairs and tell everybody good-night,” Johanna instructed, and hoped like heck Hunter wouldn’t notice the slight breathlessness in her voice. What was wrong with her? “I’ll wait for you out by the car.”
“Okay,” Aubrey agreed, and took off, flying up the stairs. “Be right down. Hey, you guys!”
Shaking his head, Hunter gently tugged on Johanna’s hand. He’d meant to merely initiate a little forward propulsion, get Johanna out of the house before his niece’s and nephews’ behavior degenerated from squabbling into true bickering. Over all, he was pleased with the evening. The kids had generally held themselves together pretty well, if you discounted the near drowning. Judging by Johanna’s smiles and easy behavior with them, they’d been a hit, too. However, their behavior was showing definite signs of fraying around the edges. No point in pressing his luck. He wanted her on her way before it became too much of a good thing.
The gentle tug on her hand, however, catapulted Johanna forward. She crashed into his side.
“Oops,” Johanna said.
“I’m so sorry,” Hunter immediately apologized. “I never meant to pull that hard. Are you all right?” He evidently didn’t know his own strength. Leaving the woman black and blue was not the note on which he wanted to end the evening, although he certainly had no argument with having Johanna tucked up against his side. Man, she was warm. And she smelled like ripe fruit. Just the right height for him, too. The top of her head matched the top of his shoulder.
Hunter wrapped an arm around Johanna’s waist. He sneaked another sniff of her light perfume when he bent his head to solicitously offer, “Here, let me help you.”
Johanna’s face burned. Heck, her whole body turned pink. Thank God he couldn’t see that. Here the poor man was apologizing all over the place, and the truth was, he hadn’t pulled all that hard. She’d only tumbled into him because she hadn’t been paying attention. No, Johanna had been lost in a sexual fantasy involving both their naked chests. She could hardly explain that to him, now could she?
So what could she say?
Hunter took a slow step forward, cautiously guiding her, and Johanna immediately stumbled.
Johanna was completely mortified. All her life she’d been an athlete and taken her coordination for granted. Now here she was reduced to tripping over her own feet by a chest she’d never even laid eyes on. It was humiliating, that’s what it was. Mortifying and humiliating.
“You okay, honey?”
Ooh, he’d called her honey. Wasn’t that the sweetest thing?
“I’m fine. Really. Just a little dizzy spell, I guess. It’s already gone. Seriously.” Johanna concentrated on her feet until she got outside. For as long as she could remember, she had spent every free moment in or around a swimming pool. She’d done age-group competitive swimming since she’d been seven years old. In that time she’d seen hundreds, no thousands of not just naked male chests, but mostly naked guys. Male racing suits did not leave a whole lot to the imagination.
In all that time never had she reacted like this.
Left foot. Okay, now your right foot. Almost there.
When Johanna got home she’d have her mother feel her forehead. Maybe she was getting sick and didn’t even know it yet.
It was possible.
They reached her vehicle without further mishap. Johanna breathed a prayer of thanksgiving.
Thank you, God.
Hunter propped an elbow against her minivan’s roof. “So, I guess the crew and I will be seeing you again tomorrow.” With the nonsupporting hand he tucked a lock of hair back behind her ear.
As his hand skimmed the side of her face briefly, Johanna’s skin tingled. She stared at him uncomprehendingly. “Wha—oh, right. You mean swim practice.” She nodded her head. “Yes. I’ll be there. Absolutely.” Oh, for crying out loud. Get a grip, girl.
“I know I’ve already told you…I wish I knew what else I could do other than repeat myself over and over. Thanks again for everything you did earlier. Here, too. I like the chart and star idea. Sure cut down on arguments over getting ready for bed. And I know I’ll be watching Aaron and Mikie a lot closer from now on.”
“It’s okay,” Johanna murmured. Oh, she was in a sad way. Just watching his lips move had her mesmerized. She was having trouble attaching meaning to the words and probably sounded as if she’d left her IQ at home. She looked away from his mouth and cleared her throat. “Seriously. It’s okay. Part of the job description. Although maybe we, uh, that is to say, you ought to think about getting the little ones some swimming lessons. You know, at least get them to the point where they can tread water so somebody at least will have enough time to get to them next time they go in the drink.”
Hunter stared into those brown doe eyes. “Absolutely. It’s already on my list. I’ll see to it.” He straightened away from the car and leaned forward to brush her forehead with his lips. “I’ll see you then. Tomorrow.”
Johanna nodded solemnly. Tomorrow. Then she took a deep breath and put a hand over her heart. Man alive, the poor little thing was working overtime for sure. Her entire chest wall was heaving. You’d have thought he’d just asked her to help practice some of the more difficult positions from the Kama Sutra. Not that she’d ever seen a copy, but Johanna had an extremely vivid imagination and her heart wasn’t the only thing working overtime just then. No, it wasn’t.
