Her Kind of Trouble

“Your burgers are burning, by the way,” he said.

“Shit.” Jason turned to the barbecue and started urgently rotating hamburger patties.

Seth didn’t even bother trying to stifle his smile.

“This’ll be you soon,” Vivian said, unable to resist teasing him some more. It wasn’t every day a girl was handed such a golden opportunity. “Barbecues, kids running all over. The whole nine yards.”

“I’m up for it,” he said, surprising her.

She cocked an eyebrow and gave him a look, but his gaze remained unwavering.

“Well, look at that. James has grown up.”

“It’s not that much of a stretch, believe it or not. You’ll see when it happens for you.”

She laughed, acknowledging the hit. “That about makes us even, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know. That stuff about my car was a low blow. I might need to get a few more digs in.”

She held her arms wide. “Free shot. Head or gut, your choice.”

His gaze ran down her body, lingering on her thighs in her tight black jeans.

“Can I choose a different body part?”

She checked her watch. “And there it is. A new record, even for you. Less than five minutes before the first innuendo passed your lips. Impressive for a new father.”

He tried not to laugh but couldn’t pull it off. “Jesus, you’re a smart-ass.”

“Thank you. I’ve had ten years of practice.”

“Has it been that long?” His gaze narrowed.

“Jason and Jodie’s ten-year anniversary was two months ago.”

He whistled. “Time flies when you’re having fun.”

“Doesn’t it?”

Seth took a pull from his beer. “So, tell me about this business you’re starting up.”

They talked for half an hour, filling in the gaps in each other’s lives. As always, she was hyperaware of everything she said and did while near him. He’d always had that affect on her, magnifying her self-awareness to almost painful levels.

Probably that was the rampant sexual awareness that always seemed to be unleashed when they were within a few feet of one another. As she’d acknowledged to herself all those years ago, it had been inevitable that they would sleep together, given that they enjoyed what could only be described as sizzling sexual chemistry. It was just as well that they’d gotten it out of the way early, when it meant about as little as was possible. She wasn’t so sure that she would have escaped unscathed by Seth’s charms if she’d held off any longer. He was simply too magnetic, too attractive and sexy.

Plus, she liked him. She was aware that if one of her girlfriends was dating him, she would advise her to expect nothing but great sex and lots of disappointment. But since neither she nor anyone she personally cared about was emotionally invested in him, she was free to enjoy and celebrate his good qualities.

He was funny. He was hot. He was self-deprecating in the best possible way, yet also charmingly unrepentant about his worst characteristics. He knew who he was, and he liked himself. The older she got, the more important—and rare—both those things seemed to be.

Their conversation ended naturally when Jason started transferring the cooked food to the table that was serving as a buffet. She went one way, Seth the other, and while she remained aware of him for the next few hours, she made a point of not looking in his direction or engaging with him again.

It would be too, too easy to allow their light flirtation to become something else in her own mind. She’d sidestepped that pitfall when she was twenty-three, and she wasn’t diving headfirst into it now she was thirty-three. No matter how wicked and compelling his dark brown eyes were.

The party began to die down after the birthday cake had been dispensed. Children started to become overtired and the high-pitched wail of an upset child became the norm not the exception. A steady stream of parents made their way out the door, and even though Vivian was starting to feel the call of an afternoon nap—one of life’s greatest pleasures in her book—she wasn’t about to abandon her sister to clean up alone. She was returning to the kitchen with yet another armful of dirty plates and cutlery when she found Seth saying goodbye to her sister.

“Great party, as always, hostess with the mostest,” he said, dropping a kiss onto Jodie’s cheek.

“Glad you enjoyed yourself,” Jodie said.

To an outsider, the way her lips curved upward would have looked both welcoming and friendly, but Vivian could see that there was absolutely no sincerity behind either her sister’s smile or her words. In fact, if she had to guess, she’d say Jodie was mightily pissed with Seth. Which was weird, since they had always got on surprisingly well.

“I did, thanks,” Seth said after a small hesitation. “The cake was amazing. I got some good pictures of Sam blowing out the candles. I’ll email them to you when I get home.”

“Thanks, that’d be great.”

Seth’s eyes narrowed at Jodie’s cool tone, but he didn’t push the issue, shifting his focus to Vivian and giving her a quick nod. “Good to see you, Viv. Good luck with the business.”

Behind her, Vivian heard a sound, but when she glanced at her sister, Jodie’s expression was carefully neutral.

“You, too,” Vivian said. “Maybe I’ll drop into this sleazy dive of yours sometime and have a drink on the house.”

“You do that.”

Seth glanced at Jodie one last time before heading for the door. Vivian waited until he was gone before turning to her sister.

“What was all that about?”

Jodie went to the sink and rinsed the sponge. “What do you mean?”

“All that stuff with Seth just now. Are you guys fighting or something?”

“No. Of course not.”

Jodie had always been the world’s worst liar. Her voice got all funny and high, and her gaze started wandering all over the room. Vivian decided to take the fact that her sister was currently addressing the light fixture rather than looking at her as a sign that she was onto something.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, it’s fine with me,” she said.

Jodie pressed her lips together as though she was trying to contain herself. “He’s such a bloody hypocrite, that’s all. I saw the way he was looking at you when he was talking to you earlier. Like you were a woman-shaped lollypop and he wanted to lick you. If I could get away with it, I’d kick him in the shins.” The words burst out of Jodie as though propelled, and she immediately started wiping the counter as though she would mop up her words in the same way.

“Okay. Is there any reason why Seth flirting with me is a problem? I mean, I know he’s having a baby with someone else, but they’re not together, right? And he and I have always had that little flirty routine going on. It’s our thing. It doesn’t mean anything, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I know it’s your thing. And I’ve never had a problem with it. I thought you guys were friends. But—” Jodie took a deep breath. “You know what? This isn’t even worth getting into. Forget I said anything.”

Vivian weighed her sister’s obvious desire to drop the subject against the rather disturbing snippet Jodie had let slip and decided that she simply wasn’t able to let this one go through to the keeper.

“I was under the impression that Seth and I were friends, too. What makes you think we aren’t?”

“Nothing. It was a slip of the tongue. Ignore me.”