Melting Into You (Due South Book 2) (22 page)

Damn
.

Now he could taste her all over again.

Chapter 11

“Mrs. Willis says you’re doing well.” Ben stretched his legs under the dining table as Jade shut her spelling book.

“Yep—and she gives me a chocolate at the end of each session. I like her.”

In the two weeks since Jade’s first assessment and report of having mild dyslexia, he’d managed to get her in with the same specialist who’d helped him. Kezia also worked with her one on one, and she’d offered to give Jade a little support writing her first book report this evening. During both visits to Mrs. Willis on the mainland, Ben hadn’t broached the subject of his own dyslexia. Something held him back. Awkwardness? Pride? Fear of exposing his vulnerability? Whatever. His ego wouldn’t do Jade any good.

He rubbed a hand over his jaw. “She helped me as a kid too.”

Jade’s eyes widened. “She did?”

“Yeah. I’m dyslexic as well.”

He’d only ever admitted that out
loud to Kezia. And now he’d told Jade.

She played with her spelling book, creasing and un-creasing the corner. “Mum said I had her looks and my daddy’s brains. When she told me you were my daddy and not Simon, I figured you must be dumb like me.” Her clear hazel eyes bored into his, completely guil
eless. “But you’re not dumb.”

Ben forced his lips to turn up into a smile, though it felt like someone had punctured his heart with a rusty pickaxe. “No. And neither are you. So your mum’s right—you’re pretty
and
smart.”

She ducked her chin, but her mouth kicked up at the corners.

“Did Marci ever take you to someone like Mrs. Willis?”

“Nope. Mum argued with Mr. Edmunds at my old school. I got sent to his office a lot for being naughty.” She looked up at him from under her lashes. “She told him I was a problem child, but there was nothing wrong with me.”

“She said that in front of you?”

“I had to sit in the hallway, but I heard her. She was yelling.” Jade picked at the notebook some more. “Mum told me Blake is the smart kid, and I’m the pre
tty one who’s good at art. She says I don’t need to be smart to paint pictures and find a husband.”

Ben’s gut clenched until her snarky tone and eye roll registered. Thank God the kid really had inherited some
of his brains. She obviously could spot bullshit from ten paces.

“What a crock. You can do whatever you like when you grow up, you know that, right?”

She nodded.

“And at eight years old—”

“Nine soon—”

He waved a hand. “And at nine years old, you’re too young to worry about getting married—I won’t even let you date until you’re twenty-five.”

“As if.”

“What? You like boys now?”

Her nose crinkled. “No way—boys suck.”

“Exactly. So about this dyslexia thing. Don’t stress it, kid. We’ll get you ready for vet school one day—if that’s what you want—with Mrs. Willis and Kezia’s help.”

Jade twirled her pencil against her chin. “So you can read and do stuff okay now, Dad?”

“Mostly. Some days the letters and numbers won’t behave, and I get really frustrated. But I’ve also been lazy, avoiding reading whenever I can.”

“Kezia says you should read every day.”

“Time for a refresher lesson from Mrs. Willis? Bet she’ll give me two chocolates at the end.” He wriggled his eyebrows.

“No she won’t, ‘cause that’d be cheating. And Mrs. Willis is old and smells like talcum powder.”

True. He couldn’t believe the old duck was alive, let alone still teaching. “What’s that got to do with an
ything?”

“Kezia doesn’t smell like talcum powder. She smells nice—and Kezia’s pretty.” She chewed thoughtfully on the pencil. “She could help you with your reading.” Jade tipped her head to one side and dished up a sly smile.

Another matchmaker to deal with? Hell’s bells.

He set his face to neutral. “Maybe. And take that out of your
mouth—Sparky licked it before.”

Ben laughed as Jade whipped the pencil tip from her mouth, stuck out her tongue, and swiped it with her fi
ngers. Parenting like a boss!

“
Eww, Dad!”

The kid had grown on him the last eight weeks. Grown on him like a stubborn mold on a white shirt. No matter how many times you dumped it in the washer, it
left stains. Permanent stains.

Sparky skidded across the floor into the hallway and pre-empted Kezia’s knocking with ballistic yapping.

“Kidding about the pencil. Go and let your teacher in.”

Jade returned moments later with Kezia in tow. He finished rinsing his mug and turned. Drank in her knee-length leather boots, red wool coat, and hair tangled around her shoulders. “Cold out?”

She smiled and unwound the first loop of her woolen scarf. “Yes, a little.”

Unable to keep from picturing her naked under the wool coat, wearing only the sex-me-up black boots, Ben wiped his hands down his jeans and edged out of the kitchen. “Well, I’ll go do some…stuff. Out in my, ah—dammit,
furball!”

He snatched up Sparky, who’d assumed the pooping position right in front of the sliding door. He dove ou
tside to the sound of Kezia and Jade’s laughter. Hustling down the stairs to the yard, Ben scratched the mutt’s ears.

“Brilliant timing to stop me making a dick of myself, girlie.” He placed her on the ground and rolled his eyes as she ran around sniffing for the perfect place to crap.

After she’d done her business, Ben returned to the deck with the wriggly creature in his arms and grabbed her leash off a hook. He cracked the door open. “I’m taking the dog for a walk while you ladies work. Won’t be long.”

Sparky scurried alongside his heels as he strode down the hill. The lights were on at Kezia’s—Zoe would be hanging with Shaye, since she had the night off. The busy summer season was over for Due South’s restaurant, but the staff still worked hard over winter with the tougher tourists who didn’t mind freezing their asses off on the famous
Rakiura track. And if the tourist’s weren’t hiking the Rakiura, there were birds and native bush and stuff, plus more than enough colorful locals to entertain the masses.

And speaking of local color.

The motorbike downshifted as it rounded the corner into Ben’s street and pulled over beside him. Sparky nearly crapped herself, straining at the leash and barking until he picked her up. The mutt shivered, tucking her muzzle into his armpit.

West flicked up his visor. “Shouldn’t you be carr
ying that thing in a purse, mate?”

“You offering me a handbag outta your collection to stick her in? I’m warning you now, she’ll pee in it.”

“Hah.” West turned off the bike and removed his helmet.

Sparky whined, and Ben lowered her to the ground with a sigh, patting her head. “Harden up, dog, seriou
sly. You’re an embarrassment.”

The
furball scuttled over to sniff a fence, settling in a huddle by a post and sending him
you cruel bastard
puppy eyes.

“Isn’t Kezia meant to be helping Jade tonight?”

The Oban gossip machine in action. “Yeah, she’s doing homework with her now.”

“You running away?”

“No. I’m walking the damn dog.”

West shot him a knowing grin. “Uh-huh.”

“Where are you off to? Piper driven you out of the house already?” Ben tugged experimentally on the leash. The little dog didn’t budge.

“Nope. My woman’s waiting for me at home. But I
gotta talk to Shaye about work.” West blew out a breath and tapped the top of his helmet. “About Dad.”

“How are the old bugger’s kidneys?”

“Worse than he’ll admit.”

Even by the glow of West’s headlight, Ben could see the lines of stress cut across his friend’s forehead. “I’m sorry, mate.”

“He only works three nights a week now—and Monday and Tuesday the slowest days with Vince, so Shaye can have a couple of nights off. That’ll be too much soon.”

“I can take over some of your boring desk-job d
uties, so you can help out more in the kitchen.”

West cracked a half-smile, but it barely touched his eyes. “You hate my boring desk job.”

And even West had no idea how much Ben loathed paperwork. “Well, you got my ass out of the fire more than once. But I’m not wearing a suit.”

“You don’t own a
frickin’ suit.”

“Exactly. And tell my sister I won’t wear one at your wedding, either.”

West laughed—a genuine belly laugh. “You wanna go there with four women obsessed about dresses and flowers and canapés—be my guest. No fucking way will I offer an opinion to Piper or my mother about anything involving the wedding.”

“Man, how long did it take to swap your
balls for a va-jay-jay, Westy?”

He shot him a glove-covered finger. “I’ll remember this conversation when it’s your turn to get hitched, asshole.”

“You’ll be stocked up with incontinence pads and a walking frame by then—you won’t remember squat.”

West just shook his head and grinned like a smug bastard. He jammed his helmet on and
started the bike.

Sparky bolted between Ben’s legs, scratching her paws on his jeans. With a sigh, he picked her up, tuc
king her under one arm while he strode down the deserted road toward the beach.

Four women, West said. Piper, Shaye, his mot
her…and Kezia.

Uh-oh.

Wedding fever could bring down even the staunchest anti-matrimonial female, rendering them delusional, desperate, and demanding. Surely Kezia wouldn’t get sucked in by the hysteria? She’d done the whole wedding thing—and given the wealth of her husband’s family, it would’ve been a lavish affair. She said marriage didn’t interest her. But weddings had a way of infecting women with false hope, giving them rose-colored glasses to view some poor slob as potential mate-material.

Maybe he was that “
some poor slob.”

Dear God. He’d have to bank on Kezia’s immunity.

***

Ben’s front door squeaked open, and a swarm of bu
tterflies dive-bombed Kezia’s stomach. Sparky skidded into the family room and launched herself into Jade’s lap.

“Down Sparky!” Jade giggled as the dog scrabbled on the couch and licked her jaw.

Kezia rinsed their mugs and glanced up as Ben entered, still smoothing his wind-blown hair. The last thirty minutes of peaceful work with Jade at the dining table was blasted away by crackling awareness. He dominated the room, not merely because of his size but in the way he held himself—confident, but without a trace of arrogance…supremely male without the puffery of machismo.

She wiped her hands on a dishtowel. “Jade’s done well tonight.”

Ben gave her a distracted half smile and looked at his daughter. “That’s good. Reckon you’ve earned some ice-cream?”

Jade stretched her mouth wide in an exaggerated yawn, cutting a glance between the adults. “Nah, I’m
very
tired. I’m going to bed.”

A sharp line appeared in the center of Ben’s brow. “It’s not even eight—and did you miss the part about ice-cream?”

“Kezia made me a hot chocolate. I’m full.” Jade clambered off the sofa. “Night, Kezia. Night, Dad. C’mon, Sparky.”

She and the little dog left the room.

The awareness between Kezia and Ben oozed into an awkward silence thicker than molasses. Her breath snagged in her throat as she moved to the barstool for her coat and bag.

Ben arrived first. Her bag gaped open, revealing a book. He snatched it out before she could object, a slow smile curving his lips. “You brought me
Switch
.”

She resisted the urge to snatch the book back. “Mrs. Taylor wouldn’t let me hear the end of it if I reneged.”

“Finished already?” He flicked the pages with his thumb, stopping at a random one.

“It’s a quick read.”

Ben looked down. His eyebrow arched. “‘Gabrielle ran the tip of the switch along the bulbous head of his manhood, juices dampening her panties as Stone groaned low in his throat.’” His grin widened. “Handcuffs and a gag? Stone’s got himself into quite a pickle.”

Kezia’s fingers curled into her palm.
You’re a grown woman. You will not blush like a schoolgirl.
“Trust you to open to a sex scene. I should’ve guessed you’d be into the kinky stuff, considering your fascination with riding crops.”

She reached for her coat—jerked her hand away wh
en Ben stepped in front of her.

“Kinky stuff, huh?”

Kezia licked dry lips and backed up. Something in his tone caused goose pimples to pop out under her clothes.

“If you expect me to dress up in a leather jockstrap and let you spank my ass, we’ve had a communication screw-up.” He tossed the book onto his kitchen counter.