Page 5 of Bad Boy, Back in Town

Resting his elbows on his knees, Rob folded his hands. “Mostly, I didn’t want anyone to ‘get me’ and I’m not sure I’m ready now.” He cracked his knuckles again. “I shouldn’t have come tonight.”

“You didn’t. I did.”

He looked at her, surprise written across his features, and to lighten the mood even more, Kitt winked.

“You’ve grown up, babe.” He rubbed a hand over his bare head.

“I was a naive teenager, an immature innocent, but I’m thirty years old. Isn’t it time?”

“Does that mean you’re not a virgin anymore?” He chuckled. It was a moot question and he didn’t wait for an answer. “Thirty. Sometimes I feel old, like maybe I haven’t lived enough and time’s going too fast. ”

She suspected he’d done a lot more “living” than she had, but it was that same feeling which caused her to admit she hated her job as a school librarian. Her dad wanted her to be a teacher and she’d started out in education. Having worked in the school library for seven years, she felt as if she was sitting in a stagnant pond when she could be surfing on ocean waves.

Rob touched the pearl on her finger. “Who’s the guy?”

Was that the reason he said he shouldn’t have come here? Because he thought there was another guy? Or was he more tempted by her than he wanted to be?

“No one.” Lionel said they’d call it a pre-engagement ring until she actually said ‘yes’ and set a wedding date. Then he’d get her a diamond. But Kitt had her reasons for not making a commitment, and Rob needn’t know that he was one of them. She hadn’t realised it herself until he showed up tonight.

“Just a friend.” She felt a twinge of guilt. She hated lying. She usually crossed her fingers when she fibbed, an old childhood habit. But Rob was looking at her hands.

“What’s this friend’s name?”

“Lionel. He’s a researcher.”

“Li-o-nel? He’s a damned train.” Rob broke up. “I’ll bet he’s a pussy.”

“That is so not true.” She didn’t appreciate Rob’s guffawing. She’d purposely avoided saying Lionel was a research librarian. “He is intelligent and suave and ga…”

“Gay?”

“Stop that. I was going to say, ‘gainfully employed’.” Although lately, she had begun to wonder if Lionel wasn’t overly concerned with his appearance. “The last I knew, you didn’t have a job and were talking about hitchhiking across the country.”

“And you worried I’d end up murdered.” Sitting close to her, he poked a finger in her chest. “You were the only one who would have cared.”

She grabbed his finger. “You’ve never married?”

“Once, for a short time, but I discovered what I should have known, that I’m not the marrying kind. Big surprise, huh, kid?”

“The surprise to me is that you married at all.” She loo

ked up at his tanned head. “Why did you shave off your wonderful blond hair?”

“I read in GQ that shaved heads were sexy.”

GQ? Rob? “Like you needed any help.”

“Now the articles say I should be letting my whiskers grow. Are you turned on by a five-o’clock shadow?”

She traced his jaw line and smiled. “I think that usually refers to five P.M. but you have one now, and yes, I’m turned on.”

“I thought we took care of that.” Smiling, he rubbed his chin while pointing to the window. “Dawn’s beginning to break. The sun will come out soon. I’d better leave. We don’t want to give old lady Jones anything to gossip about. Does she still live there?”

“I wouldn’t know. I haven’t visited Aunt Sug in a while. I should have come before now but…” Kitt shrugged. She wasn’t sure why she hadn’t but Summerville hadn’t seemed the same since she graduated high school and Rob left town. A few weeks later, she left for college. “Of course, once I learned about her illness, I headed this way. I’m her only relative except for my mom, and she and Dad are in England.”

Rob stood and pulled her to her feet. “She told me she’d had some health problems. Anything serious?”

“Mom thought it was life-threatening. Cancer, perhaps. But Sug doesn’t want to talk about it.”

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