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her bikini on the other side of his
fence. He pondered taking a peek through the boards, then
chastised himself. Surely, he hadn’t stooped to that extent.
Another sip of beer. His cell phone chimed and he glanced
at the display. Crap. “What’s up, Annie?”
“Eric’s missing his tennis shoes. He said he left them at
Reva’s. Who’s Reva?”
None of your damn business.
“Oh, yeah. He fell asleep and I forgot to pick them up
before we left. I’ll ask her about them.” A convenient excuse
to talk to Reva again. He made a mental note to thank Eric.
“He needs them for school. Can you drop them by later?”
Todd half-considered telling her to come get them herself.
He didn’t have time to go chasing around after her kid’s
things. Of course, that was a lie. He had all the time in the
world for Eric, just not for her. Getting another brief
moment with Reva was enticing too.
“Yeah, sure.” He hung up and took another swig from the
bottle. Damn, he’s slipping. He should have gotten Reva’s
phone number before he left. It hadn’t occurred to him. She
popped in the door so fast he didn’t have much time to
think of anything except the tinge of disappointment when
he was left standing on the steps. He tossed the bottle into
the trash and headed to the sidewalk. Hopefully, she was
home this afternoon and if luck was on his side, she really was in that bikini again.
When she answered the door, he shelved the bikini thought.
This was better. A simple pink T-shirt and jeans shorts. Her
hair was pulled up high on the back of her head and her feet
were bare. Damn cute.
“Well,
hello
there.
Got
tired
of
surfing
for
dates
at
datemydad?” she teased, leaning against the doorframe.
He
laughed. Love
the
cheerfulness
and
sense
of
humor .
He
wondered if she knew how sexy her smile was. It could drive
a man to do stupid things. “I left Eric’s shoes at your
parents’ and his mother called for them.”
“Ask and you shall receive.” She pulled her hand from
behind the door and handed two small size four-and-a-half
scuffed shoes at him. “Mom dropped them by on her way to
mass this morning. I think she wanted to check and make
sure we really were kidding. She sniffed around the house
like a bloodhound.”
“Damn. Wish I’d come over earlier and given her something
to boil about, just for grins, of course.”
“She probably would have beaten you with a broom or
something.”
“It might have been worth it.” Todd wished he could stop
grinning. It felt ridiculous. “You look great by the way.” Yeah, even more ridiculous. God, this sucks – completely awkward. It
had been ages since he’d even cast a second glance at a
woman without suspicion. None of that now. No. More like
amusement and as much as he hated to admit it, desire.
She swiped a hand over her hair. “Thanks. You have a cell
phone?”
He nodded and pulled it from his pocket to show her. She
took it, fumbled around a bit, and then handed it back.
“There. If you think of anything else he forgot or need to
retrieve the rodent, you can call me next time and save a trip
around the block.”
He stared at the phone display. Aw, she gave him her
number. He didn’t even have to ask. She had been thinking
about him too. He doubted those thoughts were as hot and
heavy.
“No problem.” He slipped the phone back in his pocket and
turned to leave, lifting the shoes in a wave. “Thanks for
these.”
“You’re
becoming
quite
the
nuisance,
you
know.”
The
sparkle in her voice softened the words. He circled around.
    “You know you missed me.” He tried to remember how he
acted in this kind of situation but nothing came. Screw it.
Playfulness is sexy, right?
“Yeah, you caught me—that’s the feeling. It’s disguised as
annoyance.”
Okay, sort of sexy. Or not.
“That feeling in your gut isn’t annoyance, Reva, it’s lust.” Oh
shit, did he really say that crap?
“Wow. Does that line work for you?” She raised an eyebrow
and dropped a hand to her