Down and Dirty

She released him and pulled off her down-filled white coat. “Did you both have stew?” she asked, her eyes flicking to Cat.

“Yes, thank you. It was delicious.”

“I made apple pie for dessert, if you’d like some.”

She wasn’t one to say no to pie, but the need to get out of there trumped her sweet tooth. “I appreciate the offer, but I’m stuffed. Can I take a rain check?”

“I’ll do you one better,” Martha said. “You can take a slice home. Follow me.” She pulled Cat to her feet and led her by the hand into the newly renovated gourmet kitchen. “Have a seat while I cut you a piece and wrap it.”

“Thanks, I’m sure I’ll be thrilled to have it around midnight when the fridge starts calling me.” She sat at the table and watched Martha bustle around.

“So tell me, dear,” she said, opening a drawer and pulling out a pie server. “What’s going on between you and my son?”

Cat stared at the older woman in shock, hoping she’d misheard.

“You both looked pretty out of sorts and mussed when we walked in, but then I thought, that can’t be right. You’re trying to fix him up with other women, aren’t you? So what gives?”

Cat started to answer but stopped when she couldn’t form a coherent response. The ambush had been laid masterfully, and even now, her captor held her in place with nothing more than a cheerful smile.

She tried again. “I—I’m not sure what to say, Mrs. Decker. I like Shane a lot, but…” She shrugged helplessly, wondering if she looked even half as uncomfortable as she felt. “It’s really complicated.”

“I have a good understanding about matters of the heart, you know,” Martha continued, transferring a wedge of pie onto a sheet of aluminum foil. “Sometimes people think couples who have only ever been with each other don’t know how complicated love and romance can be, but that’s the furthest thing from the truth. Aaron and I have spent the past forty years making it work through some pretty trying times, and I know one thing for sure. Nothing is so complicated that it can’t be worked out if you really love each other.”

She folded the foil into a neat triangle around the pie, then slipped it into a paper lunch bag. “I’ve always thought there was something interesting brewing between the two of you. Call it mother’s intuition. I know I’m overstepping, but I’ve got to ask…” Martha’s blue gaze pinned her to the spot. “Do you love my son, Mary Catherine?”

Cat’s brain whirred like a top, and she tried to think of what she could possibly say to escape this situation without making it worse. Her feet were already on the ground, her body in flight mode, when Shane walked in, saving her from coming up with a reply.

“I grabbed your coat.” He held it out expectantly. “Ready to go?”

She popped out of the chair like a jack-in-the-box, relief making her knees weak, and took the bag Martha held out for her.

“Thanks so much for the pie, Mrs. Decker.”

“It was nice see you again, dear.” Martha’s wink held just a hint of a challenge. “Don’t be a stranger.”

“Will do! I mean, will do not be a stranger, because I’m not. We already know each other…and stuff.” She pulled her coat on and followed Shane to the front door. “Good night, Mr. Decker,” she said as they passed him where he sat at the table laying out a crossword puzzle.

“’Night,” he said without looking up.

Cat’s hot face fairly sizzled when they stepped into the frosty night. She walked ahead of Shane to the driveway where her car was parked, hoping he would take pity on her and just let her go. When he opened her door and she slid into the driver’s seat, she neatly managed to avoid all contact with his body, but he stood by the open door while she turned the key in the ignition.

“My mom pulled the old separate-one-from-the-herd trick. Sorry about that,” he said, although the half smile suggested he wasn’t all that sorry. “By the time I saw it coming, it was too late to stop her.”

She pursed her lips and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “It’s not your fault. And you did good getting the coat from upstairs and running interference at the end there. She had me in a real spot for a minute.”

“I heard right before I walked in.”

Oh jeez. She leaned over and started fiddling with the radio. “Yeah, well, it was no big deal. Just a mom watching out for her son. Speaking of which, you’d better go inside before she gets the wrong idea about us.”

“And what would the right idea be?” he asked, his tone mocking, as if he knew what her answer would be, and he was daring her to come up with something more original.

Too bad for him that she was done with dares. “That we’re just friends and that’s all we’re ever going to be.”

“Right.”

“Shane, I’m sorry for…everything. Inside. It shouldn’t have happened.” Her body was still warm and loose from her release, and the words left a sour taste in her mouth. “Correction. I shouldn’t have allowed it to happen. I don’t know what’s the matter with me lately. What I do know is that, when I’m thinking straight, I don’t want this.” She gestured back and forth between them. “It’s not what I’m looking for.” She waited for him to argue and scrambled to get her defenses ready, but the argument never came.

“Okay,” he said with a short nod.

The fact that he accepted her response without question made her feel like crying, and the fact that it made her feel like crying made her want to punch something. She had to get out of there fast, before she did something even stupider than she already had.

“So I guess I’ll see you later,” she said, clicking on her seat belt and eyeing his arm on the door pointedly.

“Sounds good. Are we going bungee jumping tomorrow or did you want me to come by to go over some more responses?”

“I don’t think I’m going to do the jump. It’s going to be really cold out anyway, and my knee is still sore, so I’ll do it another time.” The cold-weather excuse was bullshit. Actually, so was the issue of being paired with a stranger. She didn’t care a lick about that. She was just so preoccupied with thoughts of Shane and all the stupid girls e-mailing him, she knew she wouldn’t be able to enjoy herself if she went. They weren’t even an item, and the soul-sucking—although unintentional—was already starting. Imagine if they were together for real? She turned the key in the ignition. “And I’ll let you know about stopping by.”

“Sure thing.” He nodded and gave her car door a pat, slammed it shut, then turned and jogged lightly up the walkway without a backward glance.

He seemed fine, which was good. She didn’t want to hurt him with her erratic behavior. She only wished she was handling it all as well as he was. But what the hell with this new Shane? All of a sudden the guy who’d followed her around for a year scaring off potential boyfriends, arguing with her over how many drinks was too many or why skinny-dipping at night was a bad idea, wanted to go bungee jumping with her? Talk about confusing. She felt like her head was going to explode, because nothing was the same as she remembered it.

Except the sexual chemistry. That was good then, and it was good now. Which made it even worse. Less than a week since they’d slept together, and so far, Operation Forget About Shane was going about as well as the maiden voyage of the Titanic. She could see the iceberg ahead but just couldn’t seem to steer clear of it. Maybe it was time to abandon ship. Just stop trying to fix him up and avoid him altogether. But the thought left her feeling just as miserable as the alternative.

She leaned her forehead on the cold, leather steering wheel and blinked back tears. “Shit.”

…

Shane crept back into the house, hoping to sneak past his mom, get his keys, and get the hell out of Dodge before she cornered him. It was a pipe dream, though, and the second he picked up his keys from the glass bowl in the foyer, she appeared like a meddlesome specter in the night.

“Heading out?”

“I was going to, yeah,” he said, still hanging on to the slim hope that she’d let him off easy.

She sat down on the long, floral couch and beckoned him over. “Sit with me for five minutes and tell me what’s going on with you and Mary Catherine and why it looks like it’s bothering you so much.”

Fuck if he knew. The sight of Cat sprawled on the dining room table ran through his mind, and he nearly groaned. This getting all worked up and going nowhere shit was for the birds, but he certainly wasn’t going to confess that to his mother. Telling her that he was crazy about Cat would cause even more problems, because then she would be relentless. He shot for vague. “I can’t answer that right now. I don’t know myself.”

“It’s something, then. That’s good. I was a little worried my instincts were getting rusty.”

“Nope, no rust there.” She wasn’t going to quit, so he bit the bullet and went to sit next to her.

“What do you intend to do about her?”

“Right now? Nothing. Wait for her to figure out what she wants.”

“If you wait on her and she’s confused, you could be waiting forever. And if you let her have you when she wants you but let her throw up a wall the rest of the time, then there’s no incentive for her to make up her mind.” She leaned forward and patted his hand gently. “My suggestion? Go on your dates using this computer service, and see what happens. Maybe that will make Mary Catherine realize she could lose out on a chance with a great guy and she’ll gain some clarity. Or maybe it won’t, but you’ll meet someone you like and that will be okay, too.”

He didn’t know about that last part, since the idea of coming out the other end of this with someone other than Cat had no appeal for him at all, but the rest fell nicely into line with his own thinking. Maybe he’d stay in tonight after all.

“Thanks for the talk, Ma.”

She smiled and got to her feet. “Your father and I are going to watch our show on the BBC in the den. Come join us if you like. And think about what I said. Don’t let this girl lead you around by the nose. There’s no point in her buying the bronco if the rides are free.”

She shuffled off, leaving him alone with that pearl of wisdom, wishing he could scrub it from his brain. But damn if she didn’t have a point.

With a sigh, he tossed his keys on the coffee table, then went upstairs to his room, grabbing his laptop from the armchair in the corner when he passed. Sitting at the pine desk he’d had since high school, he opened his computer and logged on. After a cursory glance of his work e-mails—seemed he’d missed the cave-in of a tunnel during a Calabasas mudslide, no casualties, thank God—he entered the MeetMyMate.com site and was instantly bombarded with messages. Too bad the one that played on a loop in his head was the one he wished he could delete most.

We’re just friends, and that’s all we’re ever going to be.

“Fine, Cat. You win,” he muttered under his breath. He scrolled through the e-mails until he found the one he was looking for and then clicked on the instant message box.

The light was green, indicating the sender was online, so he whipped off a quick introduction. The cursor blinked for a long while before a response box popped up.

Hey, it’s nice to “meet” you, too. I’m so glad you decided to get in touch!

Chapter Eight

Cat stared listlessly at the TV and took another halfhearted bite of cold toast. It had been two days since she’d talked to Shane, and it had been the most miserable two days of her life. He’d left a message yesterday, but she hadn’t answered. She needed to not be around him for a while. He wreaked havoc on her emotions, and she couldn’t think when he was close by. Unfortunately, now things had gotten so bad that she couldn’t stop thinking about him, even when he wasn’t around.