Grace's Redemption, page 6
Olivia’s eyes lit up as she looked up at Mateo imploringly, but he appeared uncomfortable.
“Oh—no, that’s really kind of you, but—”
“It would be my delight, really!” Kat insisted. “It’s an open kind of class, very fun and interactive and step by step. You are perfectly welcome to join us, of course,” she gushed, laying that hand on his arm briefly before returning it to her boobs.
“Please, Daddy?” Olivia pleaded, yanking on his hand.
Kat giggled. “Please, Daddy?” she said, the innuendo radiating off her. “We’d have you home by seven.”
My blood raced through my veins in a hot, boiling charge of possessiveness, and I crossed my arms over my chest to tamp that shit down. Possessiveness? They—he—wasn’t mine to be possessive over.
Mateo glanced down at the little girl bouncing on her toes. “I—”
He sighed and shook his head, and I saw the cave. Jesus, men were so weak.
“I won’t keep you then,” I said with a quick, professional, teacherly smile. “Have a good evening.”
“I actually have some work to catch up on,” he said as I turned to walk back into the building, and my steps halted. “Lots of files to read to get up to speed. So, I’m sure Olivia would love to go hang out with Charissa a little, thank you.”
Kat’s face fell, along with her hand. “Are you sure you don’t want to come?”
He gave a gracious head tilt. “Very sweet of you, but not this time.”
I watched her catalog that. “Another time then?”
He looked like a deer in the headlights. “Sure.”
“Great!” Kat gushed, back into her normal, over-the-top way. “Come on, sweetie,” she said, holding out a hand to Olivia. “Oh, what’s your phone number?” she asked, with an innocent tilt of her head. “I’ll call you so you have mine, and you can text me your address to drop her off.”
“Olivia knows it,” he said, winking down at his daughter. “Don’t you?”
“Five fifty-three Shepherd Street,” she recited proudly. “I remember it because it’s like a guy that herds sheep.”
I bit my bottom lip to contain my amusement.
“Turn your phone on, baby girl,” he said, then looked up at Kat’s attempt to hide her frustration. “She has a burner in her bag for emergencies.”
A single dad’s fear. It poked at my iced-over heart a little more.
A few more details and a hug later, Olivia was walking away holding Kat’s hand, and Mateo looked like he wanted to chase them down and yank her back.
“Mateo, it’s okay,” I said, his head jerking back as I spoke his name. “Kat’s a lot, but she’s a good mom. She’ll take care of Olivia.”
“I guess,” he said distractedly, his gaze back on his daughter, watching her climb into Kat’s Escalade.
“You don’t let her go do things like this much, do you?” I asked, allowing a small grin.
His eyes darted back to mine. “It—hasn’t come up.”
“Well, she’s a happy little girl that makes friends easily,” I said. “Be ready for it to keep coming up.”
Mateo blew out a breath and rubbed at his jaw. “Fantastic,” he mumbled.
I crossed and uncrossed my arms as I looked back at the school building. The thought of going back into that classroom alone with him made me feel . . . things I had no business feeling. “Look, we can talk tomorrow or something, if you don’t feel up to—”
“No, I’m up to it,” he said sharply, then held up a hand as I watched him dial back. “Sorry. It’s just been a day.”
I crossed my arms again. My go-to, deeply ingrained self-preservation move. “Okay.”
“Can we—since Olivia’s going to be out, can we just go grab a quick bite and talk while we eat?” he asked, running a hand over the back of his neck. “Is that weird? I don’t care if it’s just fast food. I just want to grab a shower and some food before she gets home.”
My mind jumped to another memory at the mention of him in the shower, and I cleared my throat, focusing instead on the fact that we’d be in public together. The new police chief and his daughter’s teacher. Like I needed any more connections with him.
“There’s a sandwich shop just a block from here,” I said. “Pretty good. They make all their own breads.”
“Perfect.”
“It’s called Tony B’s, on the corner by the bank.”
He nodded. “I saw it. Meet you there in thirty?”
I raised an eyebrow. “You’re an early eater.”
“I didn’t have lunch and I’m starving,” he said. “Do you mind?”
Since most of the dinner crowd wouldn’t be there yet, not at all. “Nope,” I said, backing up toward the safety of my building. “See you there.”
I was purposely five minutes late, which I never was, but I suddenly didn’t want to be trapped with this guy any longer than I needed to be. Yes, the talking was my request, but—gah, I just didn’t trust my instincts with him. My usually unflappable, solid as titanium instincts.
With him, I was about as solid as the broccoli and cheese soup drifting by me on a tray.
I stopped short at the crowd. Half of Redemption appeared to be in here. “What the hell are all these people—?”
“Grace.”
I turned at the voice, already feeling the tingle down my back.
He was seated at a four-top table along the window, wearing a different pullover shirt, his hair still a little damp. He half stood and nodded at me.
Licking my dry lips, I wound through other tables and pulled out a chair. The clean smell of soap and shampoo and something earthy reached my nose, and as I met his eyes on my way down, I had to grip the table to keep from missing the chair. Sweet Jesus, he was something, and my body knew it. The way he looked at me made my mouth water, and that ache between my legs that had been so potent since Vegas—it was hammering me now. What was it about this man that hit me to the core on such a primal level?
“So,” I said, needing to break the tension and the suddenly odd feeling of being on a date. This wasn’t a date. It was a meeting to settle the drama. “Did you already order?”
“Of course not,” he said, giving me a look. “I’m not a total asshole.”
“No, just one who hunted me down and won’t let me out of this legal hell,” I said with a smile.
He set down the menu he’d just picked up. “I didn’t hunt down anything,” he said. “My friend, Gabe, got married in Vegas and wanted to meet to discuss an opportunity that—”
“I’m sorry, Gabe?” I said, well aware my mouth was gaping. “Gabriel Dupre?”
He gave me a curious look. “Yeah.”
“The Deputy Mayor of Redemption.”
He nodded slowly like I was crazy. “Anyway. He knew I wanted out of Vegas and offered me a job.” He picked up the menu again and gave me a pointed look over it. “That’s why I’m here, wife.”
“Shhh,” I muttered, glancing around. “Keep your voice down.”
“You know, not everything is about you,” he added, his eyes perusing the menu.
I leaned my elbows on the table. “Let’s talk about our last conversation, shall we? Or the last few. I remember approximately forty-three we-need-to-talks, and thirty-eight mentions of—” I stopped and looked around me before lowering my voice. “Of why we can’t undo what we did. Seems you’ve made quite a bit of it about me.”
He dropped the menu unceremoniously again and gave me a weary glare. “Grace.”
“Mateo.”
His expression grew stony. “Did you start?”
My eyes widened. “Wow.”
“Yes or no.”
I could so just tell him yes and be done. So why didn’t I do that? “No,” I said through my teeth. “That’s next week.”
He shrugged. “Then we’re still here,” he said finally. “Are you religious?”
My skin burned.
Preacher’s daughter.
“What do you think?” I breathed.
“I know what you come from, but I get the feeling it didn’t stick,” he said.
“You don’t know anything about me,” I said, scraping my chair back. “And certainly not from a drunk Vegas hookup—”
“Wait,” Mateo said, reaching over the table for my hand.
“Whoa,” interrupted a familiar voice that made me wish I could chew back those words while I crawled under the table.
“Faith,” I said, smiling weakly at my sister, who stared wide-eyed from me, to Mateo, to his hand over mine.
“You had a drunk hookup at Dixie’s wedding?”
I yanked my hand back and stumbled to my feet, the chair wobbling behind me as my worst nightmare played out in front of me. Well, maybe not the absolute worst, but my baby sister finding out that I’d acted more like Hope than myself, that my rock-of-the-family status slipped into crumbling sandstone—that ranked up there pretty high.
“Dixie?” Mateo intoned. “As in Gabe’s new bride?”
Faith raised an eyebrow. “Yes, and Grace’s work friend. Teaches pre-K with her, I think?” She slid a knowing glance at me and pulled out a chair for herself, holding out her perfectly manicured hand. “Anyway, hi, I’m Faith, Grace’s sister. The strong one. So don’t shake my hand like I’ll disintegrate.”
Mateo laughed, and I continued to stand there in all my misery.
“Mateo,” he chuckled, shaking her hand like a man. “Mateo Beckett.”
Faith’s hand pumping stopped. “Beckett—as in—”
“Chief Beckett,” he finished for her. “Yes, ma’am.”
“I—you—” Faith stammered, her big blue eyes landing on me with a wicked grin. “Okay, then.” She swung a finger his direction. “So, you know Gabriel?”
“College roommate at UCLA,” he said.
Faith nodded, her head tilting in absolute amusement.
“So your friend . . .” she said, pointing and then swinging her finger my way. “And your friend—got married in Vegas. You two met there and yet still somehow did not know this?”
I sunk back into my chair, feeling like the oddest possible man out. “There was—”
“I couldn’t make the wedding,” Mateo said. “I met up with Gabe about this job, then hit up the reception briefly, and then—found the hotel bar.”
Around came the finger. “Where I’m guessing someone who doesn’t care for massive social interaction was sitting alone with her shoes kicked off?” Faith said.
“Hey!” I said.
“Nope, shoes were on,” he said, and Faith and I both swung our heads around to a wicked little glint in his eyes. “What can I say?” He paused. “You looked good in those heels.”
There went the heat again, flooding me inside and out.
“Dammmmnnnnnnn,” she hummed. “Wish I could have seen her.”
“You realize I’m sitting right here?” I said, tossing a cardboard coaster at her. “I don’t exactly walk around wearing potato sacks and slippers.”
“I can show you,” Mateo said, pulling his phone from his pocket.
And my throat closed.
“No!” I choked. Shrieked, really.
Mateo slid me a look that said, do you think I’m an idiot?
I had no idea.
I had no idea who I’d slept with. Who I’d married. Was he an idiot? Didn’t seem to be, other than the whole just in case you’re pregnant clusterfuck.
Still, I held my breath as he held the phone up for Faith, and she whistled.
“Please?” I breathed. “Please, can I see?”
He turned it around, and it was a shot he’d taken of me laughing when we were still sitting at the bar. I had a glass in my hand and one leg sexily crossed over the other, and I was posing seductively while cracking up about it.
It was like looking at someone else. Someone fancy and put together. Someone happy and sexy and pretty fucking hot. Someone who could wrap her legs around him and ride him without inhibition. Who could tell him to slap her ass and fuck her harder. Someone definitely not me.
“Any more?” Faith asked.
To his credit, he only showed her the mostly chaste pictures, but none showing naked body parts or—God help me—rings.
When he was done and clicked out of his photos, a beautiful dark-eyed little girl filled his screen.
“Oh, my gosh, who is that?” Faith asked.
“That’s my daughter, Olivia,” he said, pride etched so deeply into his face that it made my chest hurt.
“Oh, wow,” she said, looking at the photo with genuine adoration. “She is stunning.”
“And sweet and funny and really smart,” I added, realizing too late that I sounded like a proud parent, too.
While I could and often did do that as a teacher, with this situation, it was just weird.
“You’ve met her?” Faith asked, looking at me a little wild-eyed.
“She’s in my class,” I said, wide-eyeing her back. “I met her today.”
“Speaking of—” Mateo began. “I’m really getting nervous about sending her off and not getting that woman’s number. I mean, what if Olivia doesn’t answer? I don’t know what I was thinking. But I’m gonna go and try to find the place—”
“What woman?” Faith asked.
“Kat Chambers,” I said. “Charissa’s mom.”
Faith pulled a face and backed up an inch. “Oh.”
“Yeah,” I said. “She invited Olivia to an after-school painting session, and then they’re going for pizza.”
Faith’s eyes narrowed. “How convenient,” she said under her breath.
“Yeah, she works fast,” I said. “Friends with Principal Briggs.”
Faith nodded. “Ah. She works fast, too.”
“Can you two stop talking in code please?” Mateo asked.
Faith leaned in like she was about to reveal something to Homeland Security. “Kat Chambers is a super magnet for anything with testosterone,” she said. “Fair warning . . . she’s cute and limber, but she’s exhausting. Have your running shoes on when you pick up Olivia.”
“She’s dropping her at my house after,” he said, looking a little uncomfortable when Faith cringed.
“Eeesh, good luck with that.”
I was laughing. Genuinely laughing. Maybe I needed to loop Faith in more often after all, because this—this was the best I’d felt since the morning I left Vegas. And Mateo—those eyes of his watched me like he was soaking me in. Damn if I didn’t want to be soaked.
“I do have her number though, I think,” Faith said, pulling out her phone. “She was in our yoga group for a while. Yep! Here. Now you can relax.”
Mateo blinked quickly and looked away from me to take down the number, but still gave me an awkward glance. “I think I’m just gonna go order something at the counter and wait for Olivia,” he said. “You two enjoy.”
“Wow, you’re a crappy date,” I said, wondering who was channeling my mouth. What the fuck did I just say?
“Oh, my God, this was a date?” Faith said, backing up her chair. “Of course, it was. I’m so—”
“I’m joking,” I said, laughing again at Mateo’s deer-in-the-headlights expression. “No, this was just, um—”
“I’ll call you later,” he said, and my mouth snapped closed.
That sounded like a date.
With my husband.
One big hand squeezed my shoulder as he moved around the table, lingering. Time stood still as my imagination pulled that hand to trace a finger along my neck, and I gasped as I realized how very much I wanted that. I watched him leave, and came back to life when a small fist socked me in the shoulder.
“Who are you?” Faith exclaimed. “You’re a hookup ho!”
“What?” I cried. “Oh, my God, you did not just call me that.”
“That sweet librarian look,” she continued, shaking her head. “I knew it was all a ruse.”
“Stop.”
“Like Diana Prince turning into Wonder Woman.”
I barked out a laugh. “So, I’m Wonder Woman now?
She scoffed. “He’s got pictures, Grace.”
I frowned, waving her off. “What—why does that matter?”
“Uh, because it was a one-night stand at a wedding,” she said, doing a flourish with her hand. “But Hottie McChief saved the pictures.”
I shrugged. “So?”
“So, guys don’t do that, Diana,” she said, grabbing Mateo’s discarded menu. “He likes you.”
I wanted to tell her he just needed proof of me, but I had to admit, there was some major chemistry there. Pheromones doing some serious lap dancing.
“And you like him, too,” she said, all flirty and disgusting.
“Stop it,” I bit out. “It’s too late for that.”
It would have been nice to meet normally. But, nope. I had to pull a classy McMasters classic and drink myself into monkey sex and marriage with a stranger that I could barely remember. And now I couldn’t be friends or even have a chance with the guy for real, because he was just impatiently waiting to see if he’d knocked me up.
History repeating itself. A drunk mistake.
Just like me.
“Why?”
“I don’t know,” I said, suddenly wanting so badly to talk to her about it, but stopping myself before I vomited the whole ring and a marriage thing. “It just is. That ship has sailed.”
The rest of our dinner and that night as I lay in bed, I savored being able to share a little piece of it with my littlest sister, while simultaneously obsessing over what Mateo was thinking. He just saved those pics as insurance since I bolted, that was all. He didn’t like me. Possibly even hated me, with all the scowling I’d seen today.
My thoughts went with me into my sleep, into my dreams, surrounding me with Mateo smiles and weird arguments about life and picket fences. His smiles turned into kisses, and suddenly his mouth was on my body and my fingers were fisted in his hair and he was inside me, filling me, fucking me like there was no tomorrow and we were the last humans on earth. My legs were rising higher, taking more as I arched into him. There was a weird siren going off then, breaking the rhythm, but then I wondered if it was him, coming. If we were coming together in some kind of glorious trumpet sound.
