Doorstep daddy (10 page)

_{"Richard, please. It's okay. No big deal."}

_{"It is to me." He paused. "Callie, I have to take this guy back to Java. Probably the day after tomorrow. The coaches have to stay with the team, you see, and he's not able to go by himself. As consul here, I have to escort him home. This is the sort of thing they pay me the big bucks for." He grinned wryly. "It'll take a long weekend at most. I hate to ask. I wish I had someone else to ask, but my mother's in Florida and she's not in the best of health. And frankly, she's not crazy about kids, so it's never been a good situation. That's why I was named guardian of the kids." He remembered her brother's birthday party. "Wait. You can't, anyway. You have your brother's party - "}

_{"Richard, don't worry about that," she interrupted. "I'd do it in a heartbeat, but wouldn't the kids be more comfortable with a family member?''}

_{"No, there really isn't another family member. I havel cousins in the area, but I haven't seen them in years, and the kids don't know them at all. But the kids know you, and I know you. We trust you, Callie."}

_{"Oh, God." Callie took a cookie and bit into it.}

_{"I'd take them if I could, but I can't. The trip will be grueling, and I can't care for them and the player, too."}

_{"I know. It just doesn't feel right for me to stay with the kids."}

_{"It feels very right to me." When he'd realized the player couldn't continue the tour and would have to be carted home, he hadn't known what to do with the kids - until he thought of Callie. Never had something seemed so perfect as leaving Amanda and the boys with her. "You care about them, Callie. They know it. So do I."}

_{"Richard." She sighed. "There are so many reasons why you shouldn't and I shouldn't. When do you leave?"}

_{He smiled, recognizing that the nightmare had a bright corner to it. "Not until the end of the week at least. Prang - that's his name - has to wait until the danger from the concussion passes. I'll pay you, Callie, whatever you want."}

_{She glared at him. "Don't ruin the moment with crass materialism. I might take you up on it."}

_{He smiled. "I owe you my life."}

_{"Now you're talking my language." She grinned back, then sobered. "I better go. I do have to work tomorrow, and I'll have a lot to do if I'm going to be out of the office for a couple of days."}

_{"Do you want me to talk to your boss?" he asked.}

_{"No. I can use my laptop to work from here."}

_{Good luck, he thought, knowing that, for him, carving}

_{| out work time among the kids was a lesson in frustration.
I
"I'll have the Javanese government give you a humanitarian award."}

_{She laughed. "I'd like that. Hey, I could be the Java
I
Woman."}

_{"I'll see what I can do," he promised. "Richard, are you sure you want to do this?" she asked.}

_{"Yes. I'm very sure I want the kids with you," he replied, finally taking a cookie. He bit into it. "Hey! This is really good."}

_{"I think that's the one Mark sneezed on."}

_{The cookie piece went dry as dust in his mouth until
I
he saw her mischievous grin. He swallowed and said,
I
"You love teasing me, don't you?"}

_{"Men are such prime candidates for teasing. By the way, do you have a potty chair for Mark?"}

_{Bewildered, he repeated, "A potty chair?"}

_{She looked at him with obvious exasperation. "You know what a potty chair is. Come on, that wonderful device for getting children out of diapers - "}

_{"Oh. Oh!"}

_{"The light has been switched on," Callie said.}

_{"Oh." The final exclamation came out as a groan. "I don't have one. Why?"}

_{"Mark's ready for training, I think."}

_{Training what? Richard wondered, even though he knew. He just wasn't sure he was ready for it even if Mark was.}

_{"I'll get one for you and train him while you're gone."}

_{"My God," he said. "Can you do it in a weekend?" "If Mark's ready."}

_{"How can you look at him and
know
he's ready?"}

_{"He reminds me of my youngest brother at that stage, and I trained him." She shrugged. "I don't know how to explain it. I noticed today that his diapers were dry for a couple of hours at a time. Well, we'll try and see how he does. If he's not ready, we'll stop. He'll let us know. Boy, will he let us know!"}

_{"Wow." The possibilities were tremendous with Mark no longer in diapers. "If I come home and I don't have to change him, I'll have died and gone to heaven. Do you have
any
clue what that's like?"}

_{"Millions of women and men know, believe me."}

_{"Yeah, but I
don't."
He picked her up and swung her around. "Callie, if you could do that, then you
are
my guardian angel."}

_{She gave a deep throaty chuckle.}

_{Her body was soft and lithe in his embrace. His senses stirred, sending a rush of heat through his veins. Without thought, he leaned forward and kissed her. Her mouth opened to his. Their tongues mated. He tasted sweetness and chocolate, a rich combination that imprinted on his brain. He'd never be able to eat that kind of cookie again without tasting this moment.}

_{Her breasts pressed against his chest, her nipples hard even through her clothes and his. He wanted her. She had come into his life like a whirlwind at a time when he'd had to set aside adult relationships. Yet she had already made wonderful changes in his everyday life. He needed a much more intimate change between them, one that was forbidden.}

_{Callie pulled away. "Richard, we shouldn't."}

_{He was sick of that notion. Maybe they shouldn't, but he damn well wanted her to know what they might both be giving up.}

_{He kissed her again, tasting her mouth, tasting her}

_{I
need as she came to him eagerly. Her fingers dug into
i
his shoulders. Her hips pressed against his. Their thighs
l
brushed together. She might not want to be with a man,
f
but she wanted
him.}

_{When he let her go this time, her eyes fluttered slowly}

_{open as if she was still caught in the grip of the kiss.}

_{Her lips were swollen from their passion. That pleased}

_him.

_{"Don't worry," he couldn't resist saying. "It was just between friends."}

_{"Oh." Her eyes narrowed. He had the distinct feeling
}
she didn't like that remark. Which pleased him even i more. It was nice to be the elusive one for once. "I really have to go," she said. He walked her to the door, deliberately not touching her. He went outside with her to her car, neither of them speaking, yet the awareness between them nearly tangible. The chill air didn't bother him, although she \ pushed up her coat collar. He opened her car door and said, "Callie, thanks for everything. You are my guardian angel."}

_{"Your
friendly
guardian angel." Her voice sounded sour.}

_{He kissed her cheek in the most platonic of gestures. "Absolutely. I'll call you tomorrow."}

_{She nodded curtly, then left him standing in the driveway as she backed the car out into the street.}

_{Richard watched her pull away around the corner before he went into the house and shut the door. His
l
friendly guardian angel. He wondered how long that would last and hoped not long at all.}

_{He headed for the kitchen and another cookie.}

_{"But i don't want
to clean my room!" Jason stamped his feet and folded his arms across his}

_{chest, his look defiant.}

_{Callie sighed. Just what she needed: Mr. Macho Man. "Okay, my friend. It's your choice, so I guess you won't be playing your video game tonight."}

_{Jason's arms fell to his sides and his jaw dropped open. "What!"}

_{Callie shrugged. "Your room's a disaster and I am certainly not going to clean it."}

_{"But we have a cleaning lady!" Jason wailed.}

_{"That may be, but she won't be able to set foot on a square inch of carpet, let alone vacuum it. You have to clean it up. The last thing I want is to dig up some experiment in there on how many fruit flies can exist off a dirty dish under the bed. Unless it's a science experiment for school, it's just a plain old mess."}

_{"It is an experiment," Jason said quickly.}

_{"Then show me a note from a teacher that it is, and you're in the clear. Just like your room needs to be."}

_{The boy frowned. "Uncle Richard always cleans up my room for me."}

_{Callie turned her head to one side and then the other to display her profile. Aggrieved, she said, ' 'Do I look like Uncle Richard? I'm much shorter and less hairy, thank goodness."}

_{"But it's not fair," Jason whined.}

_{"Life's not fair, so we have to make the best of what we're given. Cleaning a dirty room is a positive thing." She turned him toward the stairs. "Come on, Jay. I'm dying to play Go-Go Karts and I need a second player. Mark's no good. He keeps trying to eat the joystick."}

_{"All right." Jason trudged up the steps, defeated by his desire to beat the heck out of her at the game.}

_{"Carrots," she murmured, going back into the
kitchen. "Who says kids don't want 'em? As long as you use the right kind of carrot, they do."}

_{Richard had left two days ago with the soccer player and was due back late tomorrow. She'd wondered more than once how she'd wound up here, and knew it was her big mouth.}

_{"Poopies!" Mark announced.}

_{"Okay, big guy," she said, scooping him up and rushing him to the potty she'd brought with her.}

_{Mark was duly praised for a good job. The kid was easy, she thought. He announced his intent beforehand, giving her plenty of warning. What more could one ask?}

_{She heard the front door slam and hurried out of the foyer powder room. She whipped open the front door to find Amanda cutting across the huge yard. Callie had been treated to two days of observing the puppy love between Richard's niece and her nephew. It had been painful to watch, because she had a bad case of puppy love herself. If she wasn't careful, her puppy love could turn into a rottweiler that would eat her alive.}

_{"Hey!" she called to Amanda. "Did you forget to tell someone you were going out?"}

_{"I'm going out!" Amanda called over her shoulder, still walking.}

_{"I have a problem," Callie muttered to herself. This was the third time in nearly as many days that Amanda had not so subtly indicated that Callie's presence was unwanted and unappreciated. She shouted after the girl, "Could you come back here a minute?"}

_{"I'm late!"}

_{"Okay." More loudly she shouted, "You left your bras in the laundry room and - "}

_{Amanda yelped in frustration and came running back to Callie. "Shut up!"}

_{' 'No, I will not shut up if you leave me no choice by continuing to walk away," Callie stated sensibly. "Look, I know you feel you don't need a baby-sitter, but you're not old enough to be left alone, so here I am. Also, your uncle's doing the very best job he can, but he's not your mom and dad and neither am I. Life hasn't been fair to you, but taking it out on me or Richard doesn't help
you.
I think you're mature and bright, certainly mature enough and bright enough to use some common sense. I'm not asking you to help me while your uncle's gone, because you deserve to be a teenager, not a mini-mom like I was."
Like I still am,
she thought. "But I need to know where you are at all times, who you're with, how long you expect to be gone and anywhere else you'll be going while you're out. And I need phone numbers. It's not too much to ask, so it should be a piece of cake to cooperate with me. You get what you want and I get what I need, okay?"}