Janet Evanovich - Full House

So many things to worry about, she thought, grabbing a rag and heading into the living room.

* * * * *

Nick pulled his battered pickup into the driveway and studied the two girls sitting on the lawn. Neither of them looked impressed with his mode of transportation.

Lisa Marie wrinkled her nose. "What's that smell?"

"It's either Nick or the truck," Christie said. "It smells like … something rude."

Lisa Marie pretended to gag. "Oh, it's nasty!"

Nick almost chuckled at the looks on their faces. "Good afternoon, ladies," he said as he walked to the door.

"Wow," Lisa Marie said, her gaze following him. "Nice body."

"Is that good?" Christie asked.

Lisa Marie shrugged. "My mom's second husband was a hunk. A real studster. Spent all day in front of the mirror, combing his hair."

"I don't think Nick does that. I've never seen him comb his hair."

"Of course not. You don't find these things out until after the wedding. They're always on their good behavior beforehand. As far as we know, this Nick could be marrying your mother for her money."

"I don't think she has that much," Christie whispered.

"Yes, but Nick doesn't know that," Lisa Marie whispered in return. "He might be hoping for a new truck."

Both girls pressed their lips into grim lines.

Billie opened the door with a can of air freshener in her hand.

"I brought some fertilizer for your garden," Nick said, looking at the can. "But I guess you already know that."

Billie grinned. "This is for Buffy. She threw up on the couch."

Nick took a step back and looked at Billie. She was wearing a jeans skirt that came to just above her knees, showing off long slim tanned legs and dainty feet in red flats. She wore a matching red tank top that tucked into the skirt and molded to her high round breasts. If you took away the tiny laugh lines at the corners of her eyes she wouldn't look a day over sixteen, Nick decided. He grabbed her at the waist and pulled her to him for a possessive hello kiss. "I didn't want to disappoint the girls," he explained when he set her free.

Billie looked over his shoulder at Christie and Lisa Marie. They seemed frozen in time, their mouths hanging open, eyes wide. "They appear to be properly impressed."

Nick followed her into the kitchen and pinned her to the counter. "How about you? Are you impressed?" he asked, running his warm hand the length of her arm, nibbling on the sensitive area just below her ear.

His touch stirred memories of more intimate encounters, causing her heart to beat faster and her breasts to grow heavy. She felt his hand drop to her hip and begin to explore the contours of one buttock. She raised her arms to encircle his neck and tilted her head back for a kiss.

"Yuck," Joel said from the kitchen table. "Is this going to get mushy?"

Nick and Billie jumped apart. "I didn't see him sitting there!" Nick whispered. "I'm not used to looking for little people."

Billie swallowed. "No, it's definitely not going to get mushy. We were just discussing the chicken, weren't we?"

Nick smiled at Joel, but the boy glanced away. Billie's kids didn't particularly like him. Not that he blamed them. They'd come home to find a new man in their mother's life and talk of a wedding. He needed to find a way to get to know them better so they could all feel more comfortable.

Billie stuffed her hands into mitten-type potholders. "Yessir, the chicken … we were wondering if it was done." She hauled the chicken out of the oven and stuck it with a giant fork. "Yup, this sucker's done, all right." She looked at Nick and shuddered at the desire she found in his dark eyes. "Let's eat," she announced a little breathlessly, deciding this was going to be one long meal.

* * * * *

Lisa Marie selected a piece of white meat and turned her attention to Nick. "So, do you have a job?"

Nick thought about it for a minute, surprised to discover that he didn't actually have a job. He gave a few riding lessons, he bought and trained horses, and he owned the newspaper. None of those things seemed to be in the "job" category. A job sounded stuffy and obligatory to him. And while all his activities were in the black, thanks to sound financial management, he didn't really need the income from any of them. "Not what you'd call a real job."

Lisa Marie and Christie exchanged glances.

Nick leaned forward and smiled at Lisa Marie. "I could give you a full financial disclosure, if that would help."

"Are you solvent?" she asked.

"Excuse me," Billie said, deciding Lisa Marie had interrogated him enough.

"Absolutely," Nick said.

"No debts?"

"I put a case of dog food on my charge card yesterday."

Joel looked interested. "You have dogs?"

"A whole herd of them."

"Boy, could I see them sometime?"

Nick helped himself to mashed potatoes. "You bet. In fact, we could all go to my house after supper and take them for a walk in the woods."

Joel turned to his mother. "Could we do that?"

Lisa Marie still looked skeptical. "About your truck—"

Nick took a sip of water. "The one in the driveway?"

"Why does it smell so bad?"

Nick tilted back in his chair and laughed. "Because it's partially filled with fertilizer. Composted manure from my horses."

Lisa Marie and Christie exchanged glances again. "You have horses?" they said in unison.

"A whole herd of them."

"Oh, wow, horses," Joel said, jumping up in his chair. "That's so neat." He accidentally tipped his milk over and everyone scrambled to avoid the flood. "Oh, gross, it's in the peas," he said. "I'm not eating milk peas."

Nick contributed his napkin to the blotting effort and decided this was infinitely different from eating alone at his place. Even when Fong was at home, meals were usually quiet affairs dispensed with behind a competing newspaper. And lately, when he had a dinner date it became a sparring match for the main event. This meal was … on fire!

In his rush to help clean up the milk, Joel had knocked over a candlestick and ignited the paper napkin lining the wicker basket of dinner rolls, which in turn set fire to a sprig of baby's breath in Billie's dried-flower arrangement. All at once, the whole thing lit up.

Nick felt himself knocked aside and stood dumbfounded as Billie trained a fire extinguisher on the table.

There was a full minute of utter silence as everyone stared at the foam-covered mess. A stunned Nick was the first to break it. "Maybe we should go out for burgers."

Billie looked dazed. "Burgers?"

"Can we get greasy, salty French fries?" Joel asked. "And thick shakes? The kind you suck your guts out when you try to drink them through a straw?"

"Yeah," Nick said, "we can get all those things. And afterward, we can go back to my house and all go on a trail ride." He paused, suspecting it would be quite an ordeal saddling five horses, teaching the kids the fundamentals, and then trying to keep everybody together.

"We don't have to ride in your truck, do we?" Christie said.

Nick looked at Billie. "I think your mom will lend us her minivan."

"Everyone needs to change clothes," Billie said dully, as her children raced up the stairs in unbridled excitement, even Christie and Lisa Marie, who tried so hard to forget they were still kids. Billie stared at her ruined dinner. She had worked so hard to see that everything was perfect. "What a mess."

Nick put an arm around her. "It was a wonderful dinner, honey. I'm sorry your meal got ruined. I'll help clean up when we get back." He looked around. Cleaning up would be no small task. "Does this sort of thing happen often?"

"We have a lot of milk spills. We usually only have a fire once or twice a year." Billie sighed. "You don't have to take us for burgers. I'd understand if you wanted to leave now."