Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
NICK
Nick looked at Ruth and forgot why he was standing there.
The smells of her kitchen made his mouth water, but the sight of her standing there, her cheeks flushed with the heat made his heart ache.
Damn it.
He knew he should have stayed home.
"Mister Stone?"
He shook himself. "I'm sorry?"
She smiled and he had to set his expression in a frown to keep himself from smiling like a loon. "I guess you came over to get Katie?"
"Katie?"
Oh hell!
He had to look like he was a total idiot.
Either he forgot that his child was there, or he looked like a complete dolt.
"Yes, Katie." He agreed. "I thought I'd come over and make sure that she wasn't taking up too much of your time."
Ruth's back straightened and her expression changed.
If he didn't know better, she was acting more like an avenging angel than a next-door neighbor.
"Katie can come over any time she wants, Mister Stone."
"No," he cleared his throat, "she can't, Miss Baker." He pointed back in the direction of his house. "Now, are you done talking to Katie? Can I take her home?"
"Dad?"
Inwardly, he winced. He hadn't meant to let things get... wherever they'd gotten.
He was acting like an ass.
Katie walked up beside him and took his hand. "Dad? What's going on?"
Nick looked down at his daughter and he saw the worry on her face.
That wasn't what he'd wanted to happen.
Hell, he couldn't even explain to himself why he'd come over in the first place.
He knew why he'd wanted to, but why he'd let himself actually head across the backyard and knock on the door was a mystery.
He normally had more control over himself, but since Ruth Baker moved in next door, he'd been slowly losing control.
Nick shook his head. "Don't worry, Katie. I'm just having a disagreement with Miss Baker."
"About me?"
"No, sweetie." Ruth bent down and got almost face to face with his daughter. "It's not about you."
"Then what are you arguing about?"
Nick was both proud and angry at the same time. Proud that Katie could see through it their empty reassurances but angry that he'd let his frustrations out to the point where they had to reassure her with those empty reassurances.
Nick put his hand on Katie's shoulder, and she turned toward him and lifted her face up to speak to him.
"Dad?"
Nick crouched down beside her and gave her a smile. "Katie? Honey?" He turned to look at Ruth and he saw the concern in her features. "I owe Miss Baker an apology."
He put his hand out and Katie took it, giving his hand a squeeze.
He felt like a total ogre.
Straightening, he looked at Ruth and saw her looking back at him.
He could tell what she was thinking.
Not because he could see into her head, but because he'd seen that look on his own face before.
She was waiting to see if he'd disappoint her.
He had a feeling that she didn't expect a lot from him.
How could he blame her?
He was upset at himself.
Nick opened his mouth and hoped like hell he wouldn't make an even bigger ass of himself.
"I'm sorry, Miss Baker." He swallowed hard but the knot in his throat wouldn't move. "I can't explain why I'm like this tonight. I just know that you don't deserve my bad attitude or manners. Will you please accept my apology?"
It didn't take more than a moment or two for her to speak, but during that time he felt like a wretched fool.
When she smiled at him, he felt his heart clench and release in his chest.
"Of course, I'll accept your apology, Mister Stone."
"Nick." He held out his hand to her. "Please, call me Nick."
Her smile almost brought him to his knees. "Of course, Nick." She reached out her hand and took his hand in hers, giving it a good strong shake.
When she let his hand go, he looked down at his empty hand and let it fall to his side.
He swore he could still feel her hand in his. "I... Did Katie get a chance to ask you about the Tea thing?"
Ruth shared a look with his daughter, and he wanted the earth to open up under his feet and swallow him whole.
When she looked back at him, he could see the light of humor in her eyes. "Yes, she asked me about the Tea thing."
Katie giggled and Ruth's smile broadened.
"We were just about to sit down and go through the details of what I have to do to help."
"Oh," he felt like he'd walked into a glass door, stunning himself, "you said you'd help?"
"Sure." She looked away for a moment and gestured at the stools. "Maybe you'd like to sit down with us while we talk and come up with a plan?"
He didn't know why, but he balked at that. "I don't know what help I'd be. I'm just one of the dads."
"Just?" Ruth shook her head at him. "I doubt you've ever been 'just' anything, Nick."
God, he loved the sound of his name in her voice.
Ruth opened a cabinet and took out two plates and set them on the counter. "Have you been to one of these teas?"
Katie drew him over to the kitchen island and pointed at a seat. "Oh, my dad's always there at the tea parties. He helps set up the tables and he sets up chairs for the older guests."
She clambered up onto a stool, and he sat down beside her.
"They asked him to be Mother Ginger last year and this year," Katie looked up at him with an adoring smile, but he really didn't want her to say anymore, "but he said no."
"Mother Ginger?" Ruth opened another drawer and picked out a towel decorated with little dancing mice and wiped off the plates that she's set out.
Beside him, Katie leaned forward and plucked a couple of napkins from a holder on the countertop.
She placed one in front of him, but he didn't know what was going on.
"Mother Ginger is in the second act of the Nutcracker," Katie eagerly explained, "she comes onto the stage in this huuuuge skirt and a whole bunch of little kids come out and dance. They're the gumdrops."
Ruth moved from that cabinet to the far side of the island in the center of the kitchen, it was that moment that he realized there were baked goods covering every counter in the room.
"I'm sorry," he began, "did we interrupt you?"
"Interrupt?" She grinned at him and his heart skipped a beat. "No. I've just been baking to fill some orders for people at work."
As she moved from counter to counter, she placed baked goods from every tray on to the two plates she had in her hand.
Nick could only watch her in rapt attention as she moved. He'd had chances to watch her before.
He'd seen her move from her car to her front door.
He'd seen her walk out to visit with their neighbors.
And he'd seen her moving around her backyard.
She was music in motion.
When she came to a stop between Katie and himself, she put a plate in front of each of them. "Here. You two can try these and tell me if you think that these would work for the tea."
Nick wanted to reach out and wrap his arm around her. He wanted to feel her curvy body fitting against his side, but he kept his hands on his thighs.
"What smells like cinnamon?"
The question burst from his mouth before his mind could stop it and Katie stared at him in shock.
"What?" He shook his head, trying to salvage his pride as he gestured at the plate in front of him. "It all smells great. Mouthwatering," he chanced a glance at Ruth, "really, but that cinnamon," he closed his eyes and drew in a deep, lung filling breath, "is the most incredible scent."
He opened his eyes again and looked at Ruth, hoping to get an answer.
Whatever it was on the plate, he'd eat it and buy the rest of them to take back home.
He had a feeling he'd be able to eat his weight in it and not come close to satisfying his hunger.
Ruth wasn't speaking.
Her face was red with heat and her lips were slightly parted, almost on a gasp.
In a word, Ruth Baker looked... kissable.
"Dad," Katie's voice was soft and chiding at the same time, almost as if he was the child and she was the parent.
He tore his gaze away from Ruth and looked at his daughter. "Hmm?"
Katie leaned forward with one hand cupped loosely around her mouth. "It's Miss Baker, dad."
He didn't get it, shaking his head and leaning in to hear his daughter's words clearly.
"That cinnamon you're smelling," she softly explained, "it's Miss Baker. That's what she smells like."
Well, shit.
Nick swung his gaze around and saw Ruth's tongue sweep out and trace the full swell of her bottom lip.
Katie continued on as she lifted a piece of peppermint bark to her lips. "She always smells like cinnamon and sugar, dad. It's the most incredible thing."
Yes, he had to admit.
If it was indeed Ruth that smelled like cinnamon sugar, it was incredible.
It was the stuff of dreams and only meant that it would be even harder for him to keep his distance from her.
He'd barely kept himself away when it was her lush curves and her glorious silken curls that kept him up late at night, dreaming of her body under him, over him, surrounding him. Now that he could put a scent to his hunger, he was going to be well and truly in hell.
How was he going to keep his hands to himself with her in the same room wasn't an easy prospect, but the one saving grace was his daughter.
He'd never do anything in front of his daughter that was disrespectful.
Right, his inner grinch reminded him, like when you act like an ass every time Ruth looks your way.
Yeah, he needed to change his tune when it came to their neighbor.
It wasn't just that she was willing to help out with Katie's dance company.
His daughter really seemed to like her. She was and always would be his main priority.
So if it made Katie happy, it certainly was on his list of important things to do.
"You haven't tried anything," Ruth's soft question reached his ears, "are you not a fan of sweets?"
The first thoughts in his head weren't anything he could say out loud. First, because his daughter was there. Second, because he could only imagine Ruth taking offense to his thoughts and banning him from her kitchen... and the rest of her life.
"Dad," Katie saved the day, again, "try one."