The Patriot Girl (16 page)

What if something had happened to Dustin? She turned into the lot and parked alongside the building. Squeezing her way through the onlookers, she paused as two police officers escorted a pregnant woman to their car.

“Hey, MaKayla.” Nancy, from Jodi’s anniversary party, waved. “Sam was right. We’re getting our treat instead of a trick tonight.”

Relief washed over her. Dustin was okay. She scolded herself for having so much concern for a man she needed to let go.

She smiled at the woman’s words. After her shopping spree tonight, she, too, would have her own treats—her trick would be getting new clothes at a good price.

Slipping into a new outfit might not replace Dustin’s soft caress or passionate kiss, but shopping was the best she could do to keep her mind occupied. And if this lonely, miserable week was a sign of days to come, she’d be doing a lot of pity-shopping.

“MaKayla, what are you doing here?” Jodi linked her arm.

She turned around. “I was heading home and I saw the police. I hope she’ll be okay.”

“She’ll be fine. Come inside and have a drink with me.” Jodi pulled her inside. The familiar smells and the memory of her encounter with Dustin on the barstool stirred MaKayla’s emotions once again.

Her heart wanted him to be near her, kissing her hand and flirting. Her head, on the other hand, was thankful the man wasn’t here to torture her with his teasing.

Her eyes caught site of Dustin over Jodi’s shoulder. She should have known he wouldn’t be far. Her body stiffened and she placed her hand on her chest. “I can’t stay.” The fire that burned through her body when in his presence had not smoldered in the least.

His tight jeans and exposed chest hair was only a reminder of what she longed for. She had to look away before he assumed her eye contact was an invitation to join them. She forced a smile and then focused on her friend. “I’m taking Tammy pity-shopping.”

“MaKayla.” Dustin stood beside her. “How are you?”

Miserable
. She choked up and then forced a smile. “Fine.” The last thing she needed was to be depressed in the company of her son’s girlfriend. She couldn’t let Dustin’s presence get to her. “How’s business been?”

“Business is great.” He held her hand and stepped closer. “I can’t say as much for the company. It’s not the same here without you.”

She withdrew her hand and crossed her arms. Her eyes gazed into his for a second too long. He reached up and caressed her cheek. Her shoulders slumped and her knees weakened.

The taste of his kiss still lingered on her lips from a week ago. Imagine if she had succumbed to their passions. His touch would be branded on her skin for a lifetime.

This teasing had to stop. His lips were too close and too tempting. He apparently consumed most of the oxygen between them because it was becoming harder for her to breathe. She stepped back and cleared her throat.

“How about a drink? We never got to celebrate a job well done.”

MaKayla shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I’m on my way to pity-shop. Maybe another time.”

“Pity-shop?”

“You don’t want to know,” Jodi interjected. “MaKayla, say goodbye.”

She allowed Jodi to escort her outside. The crisp fresh air filled her deprived lungs.

“Better Tammy goes pity-shopping with you, than me. How’d you talk her into going?” Jodi asked.

“She has no idea what she’s in for. She called to come over and borrow one of Alex’s shirts to sleep in. I told her I was going shopping and asked if she wanted to come. She’s actually looking forward to it.”

“That’s because the poor girl doesn’t know that you’re insane, zipping from one store to the next like a mad woman. Tell her I said good luck.”

MaKayla didn’t take Jodi’s comment to heart. She knew her shop-till-you-drop always turned into shop-until-they-kick-you-out. None of her current acquaintances wanted a part of her pity-shopping, which was why she hadn’t warned her son’s girlfriend.

She hugged her friend. “Let me know when Nancy has her baby.”

“Uh, yeah, as soon as you let me know what’s going on between you and handsome in there.”

“Nothing.”

“I’m not buying that. The sexual tension between the two of you was enough foreplay for me to go home and attack my husband. Now spill it.”

MaKayla glanced at her watch. “There’s no time. I have to go home and change. Tammy’s waiting for me.”

“This isn’t over. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Of course she would. At least MaKayla had bought some time to try and come up with a story Jodi would accept.

She ran upstairs when she got home. Tonight, she would be shopping until Dustin’s image faded from her mind and his heated touch no longer set her body on fire. That required comfortable jeans, an oversized sweatshirt, and sneakers.

It was going to be a long night. She hoped Tammy would be up for the challenge. At her age, she would probably outdo MaKayla anyway.

She parked outside Tammy’s parent’s home twenty minutes later. Her son’s girlfriend strolled down the driveway, and then belted herself into the passenger’s seat. She was adorable in her little floral miniskirt, white blouse, and sandals. With her dark hair pulled up away from her round face, showing off her sapphire eyes, she looked older than sixteen. MaKayla understood why her son was physically attracted to Tammy.

“Hi. Ready to forget about our men for a few hours?” Where had that come from? Dustin wasn’t
her man
. He was free to date whomever he pleased—another reason to stay away from No Bulls. She wouldn’t be able to handle walking into the club and finding another woman in his arms.

“What man are you referring to, Ms. Adams?”

She couldn’t discuss her feelings with a teenager. Pity-shopping was for forgetting her problems, not discussing them. “Oh, no one.” She reached over and shook the girl’s arm. “And please, honey, call me MaKayla. It’s okay to relax. I’m not going to bite.”

“Sorry.”

“Jodi wished you good luck.”

Tammy’s voice hesitated. “Why did she wish me luck?”

“You’ll see.” MaKayla hit the automatic door lock and laughed. No way was Tammy getting away from her now. “This is what I call my pity-shopping.”

“Ah, Alex told me about this. It sounds like fun. Thank you for inviting me.”

She’s been forewarned and yet is still excited? Great!
Now MaKayla didn’t feel bad about keeping that part of their get-together a secret. This
was
going to be fun. If she couldn’t have the company of her son, getting to know the young lady who made him happy was a close second.

After the ten-minute drive to the mall, they found they had a lot in common—the arts, comedy movies, cross-stitching, and shopping. When Tammy mentioned she enjoyed country music, another idea for No Bulls hit MaKayla. Dustin needed to have a family night at the club.

“With Alex away, I should take up cross-stitching again. It’ll keep my mind off how he’s doing.” And off whom Dustin might be doing.

Jealousy was a new emotion to MaKayla. Why was she doing this to herself?

“There’s a great craft place near my parent’s business. We should go sometime.”

MaKayla turned and smiled at Tammy. This was
their
time. No more Dustin thoughts. “Sure. I heard you’re planning on going to UT next year.” She parked the car. “What are you looking to do?”

“I want to be an elementary school teacher.”

“Good for you.” Making their way across the lot, they entered the first of many department stores MaKayla planned to conquer this evening. “There’s a shortage of teachers.”

“I know. I love children.”

After two-and-half hours of zigzagging through clothing stores, a drug store, and a couple shoe stores, they went to the food court. MaKayla went to one stand while Tammy went to another. Meeting at a small round table, they secured their bags beneath their feet against the metal railing.

Tammy unrolled a soft taco from its paper. “MaKayla, do you always shop this way?”

MaKayla laughed. “Only during pity-shopping.” She bit her extra-long hot dog. “I would have warned you, but I was afraid you wouldn’t have come. And no one does this kind of shopping alone. I usually drag Jodi, but after Alex’s father passed away, I kind of wore her out.”

A familiar touch on MaKayla’s shoulder stiffened her body. She sipped her root beer to force down an un-chewed bite of her dinner.

“Hi, MaKayla.” Dustin’s voice and the scent of his leather jacket made her body tingle. No pity-shopping could make her forget how aroused she became when he stood this close. As much as she wanted to shut her eyes and wish him gone, she couldn’t.

Instead she stood. “Dustin, hi.” She pointed across the table. “This is my son’s girlfriend, Tammy. Tammy, this is Dustin James.” She waited for them to exchange greetings and then faced him. “What are you doing here?”

Tammy pulled up another chair. “Have a seat.”

“Thank you.” He placed a ladies-lingerie store bag between them. Not the type of bag MaKayla wanted to witness in his hand. Melissa was still too young for him to be shopping at such a store.

Could he have already found another woman to wear sexy clothing for him? Probably not by the way he focused his attention on her lips. Was he remembering how they felt against his? Did he miss them as much as she missed his?

Stop it.
She couldn’t think about him in such an intimate way. Daydreaming only made her hungry for his touch, angry for what she couldn’t have, and guilty for what she’d already taken.

He smiled. “How’s the pity-shopping going?”

Her brows rose. “Are you stalking me?”

“Maybe.”

She could handle his stalking better than whoever had been lurking around her house. These past few nights she’d convinced herself the noises were kids, maybe some of Alex’s friends.

Dustin reached out and caressed her fingers. The effect his heated touch had on her intensified rather than subsiding, as she had hoped. That meant she still had to stay away.

He stood and then leaned down to whisper in her ear, his cheek pressing hers. “I’ll give you all the time in the world to figure things out with your family and your son. Just know I’m not going anywhere. When you’re ready, you know where to find me.” He stepped back and nodded to Tammy. “It was nice meeting you.”

MaKayla stood and placed her hand against his chest, fighting the urge to kiss him. Her throat was so tight she couldn’t say a word.

She sat again, and watching his departing backside, she sipped her soda to moisten her dry mouth.

Her crazed shopping routine had always worked up until now. Her feet were too sore and the stores’ doors were about to shut. There would be no round two. What a wasted shopping spree.

“MaKayla!” Tammy’s mouth gaped open and her eyes were as round as silver dollars. “He’s the man you’re trying to forget? No disrespect for Alex, but he’s gorgeous. He obviously has the hots for you. Alex didn’t tell me you had a boyfriend.”

“I don’t have a boyfriend.” She rolled her eyes. “But, yes, he is the man I accidentally referred to.”

If she told the girl exactly who he was, Tammy would be on the phone with Alex the minute she got home. MaKayla had to be the one to tell Alex she’d met the driver who killed his father.

“Well, you should be dating him. You two have some chemistry going on.”

Hearing her son’s girlfriend talk about chemistry in the sense of a relationship made her laugh. She was a teenager. What did she know about attraction?

“He owns the country club at the top of my street. He’s a friend, and business client.”

Tammy crinkled the paper on her last taco. “That’s too bad. You two look cute together.”

It
was
too bad because he made MaKayla feel cute, amongst other things. She couldn’t explain why knowing he also missed her made her feel a little better. She finished her drink. “Ready to get out of here?”

“Sure.” Tammy cleaned up the mess before retrieving their bags from beneath the table. “You’re so lucky, MaKayla. I wish Alex was here today for an
accidental
meet-up.”

She wrapped her arm around Tammy’s shoulder as they made their way out into the chill of the evening. She didn’t feel so lucky. Dustin’s presence made her miss him even more, made every hair on her body stand on end, and made her mind confused with emotions she couldn’t explain to herself, let alone to him
.
She called that torture, not luck.

“I wish we’d met Alex here, too, honey.” MaKayla sat behind the wheel of her car.

She still had to come up with a line about what her feelings for Dustin were that Jodi would buy.

Running into him so frequently wasn’t helping her case. The more she saw him, touched him, and breathed in his masculine scent, the harder it became to convince herself she had no feelings for him. How was she supposed to persuade a wiser, intuitive woman?

Chapter Thirteen

MaKayla buried her face inside another vase of eleven roses. This delivery meant Dustin now had over a half dozen roses waiting for her. Seven were most likely dead by now. Since their mall meeting on Halloween, he’d sent a different-colored, short-one-rose bouquet each week to let her know he was thinking of her.

She’d missed him but she couldn’t give in to his flower deliveries and the sweet words attached to them.

Four o’clock couldn’t come quick enough today. She had to rush home and start Alex’s favorite dinner for his arrival this evening. Between working at the bank and focusing on her new public relations clients, she could hardly believe how fast four months had passed.

There was a knock on her door.

“Come in.”

“Okay, young lady, I can’t take this any longer.” Jodi sat on a leather chair in front of the desk. “Are you ever going back to No Shits or is the plan to crawl back into your shell, drown yourself in work, and never have sex again?”

Even a lecture from Jodi couldn’t ruffle MaKayla’s feathers. All she cared about was reuniting with her son. “It’s called No Bulls, Jodi. And we’re not discussing this topic anymore.”