She raised her gaze when her name was called, thinking it was the father of one of Tabby’s friends.
It wasn’t. It was Will, whom she hoped she wouldn’t run into again. He made her senses go haywire, and made her remember things she hadn’t had in a very long time.
Things she shouldn’t want.
“Oh. Hey, Will.”
“I thought I saw you come in right before me.”
Her hair was half pulled out of her ponytail since she’d been holding baby James and he was a hair puller. And then he’d wiped his jelly snack all over her left breast. She looked a mess. Once again, Will had on a sleeveless tank and gym shorts, and was tanned, muscled, and gorgeous.
Sometimes life just wasn’t fair.
“Yes. Working again.” She turned to see if she needed to make a hurried exit, but there were only three kids in attendance at the moment. Baby James was down in the porta-crib for a nap, and Tabby and her friend were being entertained by Marisol, so Jane was out of luck.
“You stay busy, don’t you?”
She offered him a smile. “You have no idea.”
“Where’s Ryan?”
“My dad took him to ball practice.”
“Yeah? I’d like to watch him play sometime.”
Ryan would adore that. Which meant it would never happen. The last thing she needed was for Ryan to attach himself to some male that he’d use as a substitute for his father. “Yeah. Sure.”
“I was wondering if you’d like to come out with me sometime.”
She blinked several times, certain she hadn’t heard him right. “Excuse me?”
His lips curved and, oh, God, when he smiled he looked even sexier. If that was possible. “You’re going to make me ask it again?”
“I’m not sure I understood what you said.”
“Okay, then I’ll say it again. I’d like to go out with you. I’d like you to go out with me.”
“You want to go out with me? Why?”
Two parents had suddenly shown up in line behind him. Will turned around. “Maybe this isn’t the best time. What time to do you get out of here?”
“Uh, six thirty.”
“I’ll come to your house and bring a pizza. We’ll talk about it then, okay?”
“Uh, wait, Will.”
But he was already gone.
Come to her house? Bring pizza? Was he insane?
And he wanted to take her out?
She was living in some kind of alternate universe, because surely that hadn’t just happened.
A guy like Will Griffin did not go out with a woman like Jane. She had issues. Her life was a nightmare. He was single and gorgeous. She had two children.
And apparently he was coming over for pizza tonight. At which time she’d set him straight.
* * *
Okay, so maybe he’d hustled her, but Will figured Jane’s life was all about being busy with her kids and her jobs, and if he didn’t, she’d never say yes.
She still hadn’t said yes, because he hadn’t given her a chance to. But he did pull into her driveway with an extra large pizza at seven fifteen. And her car was visible in the garage, so she hadn’t shut the garage door and turned off all the lights, pretending she wasn’t home.
It was hot as hell, like a typical late August in Oklahoma. And her lawn needed to be mowed and weeded, he noted as he walked toward the front door. She probably did all that herself, too.
Mentally calling Vic a list of very unkind names, he rang the doorbell.
Ryan answered the door. He looked up and studied Will, as if deciding whether or not to let him in.
“Hey, Ryan.”
“You’re Will. I remember you. You used to be friends with my dad.”
He smiled. “I remember you, too.”
He opened the screen door. “Mom said to let you in. That you’d have pizza. She’s in the shower. One of the babies at the gym barfed on her. She smelled really bad.”
He laughed as Ryan led him into the kitchen. “Is that right?”
“Yeah,” Tabitha said, taking his hand as he got into the kitchen. “I’m Tabitha and I’m five.”
“Hi, Tabitha. I’m Will.”
“Mom got barfed on.”
“So I heard.”
“I mean really bad,” Tabitha said. “And we had to ride in the car with her the whollle wayyyy hommme.” She scrunched her nose and rolled her eyes.
“You poor kids. I’ll bet it was awful.”
“You have no idea,” Ryan said. “I thought I was gonna barf, too.”
“Can we not say barf anymore, kids? We have a guest who was nice enough to bring us dinner. Let’s try not to ruin his appetite.”
Jane came out of her room and Will’s breath caught. Her hair was wet, long brown strands laying damp against the dark blue T-shirt she wore. Her capris hid those great legs, but God, when she came close she smelled like something sweet—something he wanted to lick. When she passed by, he said, “You smell really good.”
She stopped, paused, and turned to look at him. “Uh, thank you.”
“Yeah, not like barf anymore,” Ryan said.
“Ryan,” she warned. “Why don’t you get the plates out?”
“Okay.”
“Tabby, you’re on napkins and utensils.”
“You mean we have to eat pizza with a fork?” She screwed up her nose as she looked at her mom, her blue eyes and dark hair making her look so much like Jane it was uncanny.
“No, but just in case someone else wants to.”
“Okay.”
“Sorry about that,” Jane said. “I had an unexpected crisis at the gym, as my kids have no doubt informed you in more detail than you’d like.”
He laughed as they made their way to the dining room table. “It’s okay. I’m used to gory detail in my job.”
“What’s your job?” Tabitha asked as she laid the utensils on the table.
“He works for the highway patrol,” Ryan answered.
Will grinned. “You remembered.”
“Yup.”
“What’s the highway patrol?” Tabby asked.
“It’s like a police officer, except I’m in charge of the highways. So if someone’s driving too fast or there’s an accident, I take care of it.”