“Oh, stop.” I batted my hand at him, feigning humble. I swung around Cody again, cupped my hand to my mouth, and whispered, “It’s all true.”
Ceasing all movement, Wyatt smirked at me. Then conspiratorially, like we were partners in crime, he said, “No doubt.”
Cody gently nudged my lower shoulder, bringing me back to standing. His hand was warm and strong and I wanted him to touch me more. When I was fully upright and again eye to eye with him, Cody whispered out of the side of his mouth, “I thought we were ignoring him.”
I sucked in a silly, slightly shocked breath. “Ah, yes. Do forgive me. I forgot.” I sounded like a schoolmarm or like a British lady in a garden hat.
Of course, he took my silly as a starting point. “It’s okay, the conversation is not for naught and admittedly he’s in earshot.”
Charmed by his response, I quipped, “It’s true what you say, today. And I do so appreciate the leeway.”
“Good to know that while some things may have changed, other quantities remain delightfully strange.”
Behind Cody, Wyatt choked on his food. We both ignored him, but right before he laughed, we heard him say, “What the fuck is happening right now?”
One corner of Cody’s mouth lifted and he looked down at the floor for a second and then back to me.
“You wanna go dancing tonight?” he asked.
I did. God, I so did. I couldn’t remember the last time I went out dancing, and dancing with Cody sounded like a freaking thrill. But that wasn’t smart.
I huffed out a sigh and broke eye contact with him. “I would, but... we haven’t even driven out to the house we rented yet, and well, Flynn takes a minute to adjust to a new environment.”
Cody nodded but I could see the disappointment in his eyes. Warmly, he said, “Makes sense, you're a good mother.” It did? “Maybe another night?”
Behind me, Maggie butted in. Honestly, she’d been incredibly restrained for her. Usually, she was telling everyone what to do and when to do it. Righteously, with Flynn’s little legs straddling her left hip, she said, “No. Sorry, I call bullshit. I can get Flynn situated. You're going dancing.” She whipped around, marching toward the bathroom, and as she moved she cooed to Flynn, “Your mommy is ridiculous. Did you know that? Most of the time I wonder what the heck she thinks she’s paying me for!”
Cody smiled at me and raised his eyebrows, silently asking, so are we going dancing?
My stomach all aflutter, I smiled back and said, “Well, I guess we’re going dancing.”
He stepped forward, crowding my airspace, and low and sultry, he breathed, “Oh yeah, we are.”
Fuck. What was I doing?
* * *
Two hours later,I was standing in a big unfamiliar master bedroom in a house that looked like I built it with Lincoln Logs, wearing nothing but a bra and panties and feeling absolutely terrified.
“This is a terrible idea,” I said to Maggie. Flynn was lying on the floor watching a show about numbers on my iPad.
“It’s not. This is the reason you came here.”
I rolled my eyes at her. “I did not come here to go on a date with my son’s daddy.”
“True,” she said, pinching her lips together in frustration and then sighing through her nose. “But you did come here to discover what kind of man he is and in order to do that, you need to spend time with him. So…”
“Yeah, but I’m not just spending time with him and you know it,” I whined.
“Honestly…” She popped her eyebrows up and down, being silly. “I don’t think any woman has ever just spent time with that man. He is a sex pistol.”
“A sex pistol?” I snorted while flipping through the different clothes I had just hung in the closet an hour ago.
She looked at me quizzically. “No?” She popped her eyebrows at me again. “How about a weapon of ass destruction?”
Maggie looked like a Little Bo-Peep but she had a mouth on her like a merchant marine. I chuckled. “Nope. Not that either.”
“No?” she said, feigning shock. “You sure? I thought that one was pretty spot on.”
“I’m sure.”
“You should wear a jean skirt and a black tank. And your boots.”
“I was thinking something a little fancier.”
“I don’t think so,” she said. “You wanna look real casual, but also hot. And you want to remind him that you like his cowboy ways.”
“I do not.” I was whining again.
“Oh, come on, you so do. Listen, I see the moral issue here, but I’m not willing to just brush the connection between you two under the rug because Flynn-y is in the middle of it all.”
“That’s the entire point, Maggie. Flynn is in the middle. I have to think about him.”
“Yeah, but what if it’s like kismet?”
“You mean what if Cody and I were meant to be? I don’t believe in any of that.”
She shrugged. “Say what you will, but I have never, N-E-V-E-R, never, in my entire life felt a sexual spark like the one I saw between you two today, and all I’m saying is just because you’re a mom that doesn’t mean you don’t get to win too.”
I shimmied into my jean skirt while she was talking. I didn’t really agree with her but I wanted to. “I just don’t want to screw up any future relationship that Flynn could have with him.”
“Okay, fine. Well, to refrain from screwing up, you need to do what you came here for and get to know him. That means spending time with him, right?”
I nodded, then pulled my black tank top over my head.
“Well, at this point, I’m pretty certain that dates are the way that Cody wants to spend time with you. And If you were just like ‘no, no dates. Let’s just go out for coffee and I’ll drill you for information,’ he might feel weird. I mean, call me crazy but I think he might catch on before you got to learn a whole lot.”
That was a good point. “I guess.”
“And also, orgasms.”
“Oh my God, Maggie.” I squealed.
“Come on, I’m just saying there's no denying that heat-seeking missile.”