In Too Deep (26 page)

Glenna chuckled and then surprised
her by leaning over to give Piper a smacking kiss on her cheek.
“Can’t see, can’t see. Of course you can’t see how it could work
between you and West, or how to bridge the gap between you and your
brother. You’re like your dad in some ways; you’re blind to what’s
important. Sometimes your heart sees more than your eyes, my
darling.”

“
Sounds like something out of a
cheesy Hallmark card.” West’s name mentioned alongside the words
“strong” and “feelings” caused a funny flutter in her belly. She’d
pretend it was a wine buzz.

“
Doesn’t make them any less true.”
Glenna stood up and smoothed Piper’s hair. “Now, how about we have
a little cooking lesson? You don’t want to make the same mistake
twice now, do you?”

“
No, I certainly don’t.” Piper
followed her mother back into the kitchen.

Did she have feelings for West?
Her mind skittered away, but she forced it back to impartially
examine the question. Feelings?
Strong
feelings, even? Did
she want something more than the casual sex she’d mentioned to Ben?
Could she be with West and then a few weeks later hitch on her
backpack and hop on board the ferry without a backward
glance?

Piper tuned out Glenna’s running
commentary on oven temperatures and the difference between baking
and grilling.

You don’t want to make the same
mistake twice.

But which had been her mistake the
first time? Falling in love with West, or walking away from him
without a fight?

And which mistake was she at risk
of making
this time
?

***

Dragged, not kicking but
definitely disagreeing, to the Waitangi Day beach party later that
evening, Piper was sandwiched between Erin and Bree on a blanket
overlooking the bonfire. Kezia sat in front of her, using Piper’s
shins as a backrest while they watched Zoe and a few other kids
finish an enthusiastic game of cricket. Holly and Shaye disappeared
into the crowd to the picnic tables set up with soda, juice and
snacks.

“
So, now your baby sister’s gone,
tell us desperate old spinsters when you’re going to make a move on
you-know-who?” Erin said from her left.

“
Watch who you call old and
desperate,” Bree said on her right.

“
And I’m not a spinster. I’m a
widow. Widow trumps spinster.” Kezia jerked upright, cupping her
hands around her mouth, “Hey, George wasn’t out, ref!”

Ben, further along the beach and
nominated informal referee because of his cast, raised a crutch and
shook his head.

“
What is
wrong
with your
brother’s eyesight?”

“
Don’t give her a chance to change
the subject, Kez, she’s a wily one.” Bree nudged Piper’s
ribs.

Piper’s nose crinkled. “Wily?
Haven’t you vultures picked off enough raw meat from my bones
yet?”

Between the five women they’d
wheedled out the basics. Yes, she was single. Yes, she thought West
was hot. And yes, it was kinda sweet he’d gone all
me-caveman-you-my-woman at the game earlier. No, that didn’t mean
they were bumping uglies. And no, there was absolutely no sign of
wedding bells. She personally vowed to disembowel anyone who
suggested a whiff of the opposite within West’s hearing.

Kezia reclined back on her legs
again. “Ah, yes. Piper’s a tough cookie, but we’ll work on that,
won’t we, girls?”

“
I volunteer to beat it out of
her,” Erin said.

“
The only thing you beat with any
success, short-ass, is egg whites.” Piper closed her eyes and
enjoyed the last rays of sunlight kissing her lids, the other
women’s friendly ribbing warming her more than she cared to
say.

“
Mamma, Mamma!” Zoe spilled onto
the blanket with them, a tumble of limbs with a ring of tomato
sauce around her lips from the barbecued sausages earlier. “Ben
says I’m a real good batter and he was impressed at how far I can
whack the ball.”

“
Fantastic,
bella
.” Kezia
stroked Zoe’s dark curls.

“
Think he’d come to school and
teach us how to play better?”

“
Oh.” Kezia’s hand stilled on her
daughter’s head. “I’m not sure about that.”

“
I’ll talk to him, Zoe,” Piper
said. “I’m sure he’ll be happy to once his ankle’s better.” Or the
Harland women would make his life unbearable until he
agreed.

“
Awesome,” Zoe said. “Look,
there’s Ford and Mr. Komeke with their guitars.”

“
And Laurie with his harmonica.”
Erin stood and brushed sand from her shorts. “On your feet girls,
the entertainment’s about to start—let’s get our boogie
on.”

“
What’s a boogie?” Zoe
stage-whispered in her mother’s ear as Bree and Erin strolled
toward the bonfire.

“
It’s dancing, you know—” Kezia
stood, slapped a hand on her hip and finished with a
Saturday
Night Fever
flourish.

Zoe giggled, briefly clapping her
palms over her eyes. “Oh,
Mamma!
Nobody dances like that
anymore—and anyway, I want to dance with Ben.”

“
Bella
, I don’t think Ben
will be dancing, with his sore foot.”

Zoe bounced to her feet and took
off toward the bonfire, tossing over her shoulder, “I’m gonna ask
West, then.”

“
You coming?” Kezia turned back to
her, a half-smile still on her face.

Piper wrapped her arms around her
knees. “I’ll just enjoy the music from here. Dancing’s not my
thing.”

Kezia hesitated. “I’ll keep you
company, then.”

Piper shook her head. “No way. You
go and keep a cat fight from starting—your girl’s already herded up
all the good-looking men to dance with.”

“
Oh, Lord.” Kezia looked over at
her daughter, who was indeed in the midst of West, Noah, and
Joe.

Ford, Rob, and Laurie played an
old bluesy classic and couples drifted onto the hard-packed sand,
their silhouettes swaying in the firelight. A little girl danced
with a man in a white shirt, her fingers clutching the ropy muscles
of his forearms as he spun her giggling around the makeshift dance
floor.

West, dancing with Zoe, scooping
her up in a spin, the girl’s arms wrapped around his neck. The
sight sprung around her heart like a velvet-lined bear trap and her
eyes teared up. Piper chewed her lip until the bitter taste of
copper filled her mouth.

Kezia sat back down and without
drawing attention to the two of them, slid her hand into Piper’s.
“You can trust me, Piper. You know it. So spill.”

Piper watched them a moment longer
before she spoke. “When I left here at eighteen, I thought I was
pregnant. My period was late, I felt nauseous, and so I bought one
of those home pregnancy tests.”

“
Was it positive?”

Piper shook her head, swiped at a
stray tear on her cheek. “No, and that’s the crazy thing because
part of me wanted it to be. To have something of him that he
couldn’t just throw away, like he’d thrown away us.”

“
You thought you were pregnant
with…West’s baby?”

Piper nodded.

“
And if you had been, that child
would’ve been around Kezia’s age now?”

Piper nodded again.

“
Aw, hon. I’m sorry. But at
eighteen…” Kezia squeezed her hand hard.

“
I know. It would’ve been a total
disaster. I wasn’t ready to be a mum.”

“
And now?”

“
Now if I want a kid, I should
probably just look for an anonymous donor.”

Zoe’s high-pitched voice counting
off steps carried on the breeze. She and West shuffled forward and
back, left and right, the man curved protectively over her when she
stumbled, patiently starting over once she regained her
footing.

“
That’s bollocks. Look at West
now—he’s so good with Zoe. He’ll make a great dad,” Kezia
said.

He’d make a great dad all right,
just not in the loving family she’d once envisioned having. West
would one day find a nice, voluptuous Oban woman to settle down
with. They would have cute, chubby babies. She wanted to scratch
that imaginary woman’s eyeballs out and hurl them in the
bonfire.

“
To someone else’s kids, sure,
because he and I don’t have a relationship.” The words sounded
stale and overused, even to her.

“
Yeah, you do.”

Piper couldn’t see Kezia’s eye
roll, but she heard it.

“
Crap. I suppose we do. I’m not
sure what kind of
relationship
it is though, just that it’s
temporary—so, not one that will involve procreation.”

“
Uh-huh.” Kezia’s voice oozed
skepticism. “Well, West’s staring at you like he wants to
procreate
right now. Like he’s planning to add you to his
list of favorite foods.”

Piper’s gaze jerked up. West
strode toward them and his gaze zeroed in on her face.

“
That’s a sucky metaphor, for
someone who calls herself a teacher,” Piper muttered from the
corner of her suddenly dry mouth.

Kezia pulled her hand out from
under Piper’s and leaned in close. “Science is more my thing,
hon—and even I can spot the chemistry between you two a mile
off.”

With a wink, Kezia stood, waved at
West and took off to the drinks table where Zoe was attempting to
wheedle another cup of soda.

West stood in front of her, sandy
feet poking out of faded blue jeans, his hair tousled by the light
breeze.

Sex appeal in spades.

Piper wanted to launch herself off
the blanket and tangle around him like seaweed.

He extended a hand, tomato sauce
fingerprints dotting his rolled up shirt sleeves. Before she could
think twice, she placed her palm in his firm grip. He tugged her to
her feet, not releasing her hand as they faced each other in the
flickering light of the bonfire.

“
Dance with me?” The rough tone of
his voice translated the words to, “Have scorching hot sex with
me?”

“
Ah…” Her pulse spiked into an
uneven rhythm at the soft sweep of his thumb over her knuckles.
Tingles buzzed along the new highway formed from the nerves in her
hand straight to her girly-bits.

“
West, my man.” Ben appeared at
West’s shoulder and gave him a hearty back slap. “You’re not
copping out on our traditional poker game tonight, are
you?”

Piper tried to tug her hand away,
but West gripped harder, sending more of those electric tingles
skittering along that highway.

“
Actually—” West said.

“
Don’t be a piker now.” Joe
appeared on his other side, bumping West’s arm with his fist. “Bill
warned me about you, he did.”

West finally released her fingers
and Piper stepped back. Tingle time officially over. But her body
still hummed like a tuning fork with anticipation.

“
I’m pretty hammered after the
game—hey!” West snarled, flicking Ben’s hand away when he patted
his head.

Ben chuckled. “Aww, you poor lamb.
But Doc here will provide smelling salts at the poker game in case
you swoon from the agony.”

“
Did someone say poker game?” Kip
ambled over, two teenage girls in micro board shorts trailing after
him, at what they likely thought was a discreet distance. He
stopped, and the girls tittered behind cupped hands. “I’m in. What
time?”

“
In an hour, at West’s place,” Ben
said.

“
Why does have to be my place?”
West sent her a look of apologetic frustration, telling her an hour
wasn’t long enough for what he had in mind.

“
Because you’re the boss. See you
in sixty.” Kip strode away, his teenage posse falling in
behind.

“
I’ll let Noah know we’re still
on.” With a nod at Piper, Joe wandered off in the direction of the
bonfire.

“
I might’ve forgotten and had
plans,” West gritted between clenched teeth.

Ben smirked, knowing exactly what
plans he’d interrupted. “Poker beats any other plans you made,
right Piper? You play poker with your cop buddies back in the
city?”

Piper cleared her throat,
swallowing the thickness gathered there from the touch of West’s
hand. “Not any more. I whipped their butts one too many times. But
I’m game to take your money, brother dearest.”

West’s mouth curved in a grin that
sling-shot another load of tingles south. But there’d be no shower
scene replay tonight and West’s rueful smile confirmed it. Maybe it
was a good thing. Maybe it was the sensible thing and Ben was
right. She should keep her legs crossed.

“
But you’re not a guy,” Ben
said.

“
That is true.” West’s gaze
dropped to her breasts before they returned to her face, his gaze
smoldering. “Piper’s definitely
not
a guy.”

Her toes curled into the damp
sand, legs aching to metaphorically uncross—aching to wrap around
West’s hips so she could grind against him. Damn him and his sexy
voice that told her without words he wanted the same
thing.