Page 47 of The Hang Up
“So I’m going to get wet?” She hadn’t meant for the words to sound suggestive, but she wondered if he’d heard them that way.
The laughter in his voice told her he probably had. “I can’t promise that won’t happen,” he said. “But I’ll do my best to take care of you if it does.”
“That’s reassuring,” Miriam said, feeling more turned on than reassured. “All right. I’m in.”
Beside her, Holly smiled and mouthed words Miriam wished she could ignore.
You’ve got it bad.
CHAPTER9
Miriam tucked a stray curl behind her ear and stared at the big silver canoe glinting in the sun. It didn’t look terribly dangerous, but looks could be deceiving.
Like the cherubic-looking five-year-old standing beside her. Looks were definitely deceiving there.
“Hey, Miss Miriam!”
She looked down to see young Henry beaming at her with his fist closed tight around something. “Yes?”
“Wanna hear a dirty joke?”
“Um—”
“Mud!” The boy squealed with delight, then opened his palm to reveal a fistful of brown goop. “Funny, huh?”
Miriam snort-laughed as she fished into the pocket of her shorts for a tissue. She came up with nothing but a breath mint, which probably wouldn’t be too effective for cleaning grubby little hands.
“That is, without a doubt, the best dirty joke I have ever heard from a five-year-old,” she told him. “Or from most grown-ups, for that matter.”
“Really?” His eyes got wide at that, as he considered the fact that he’d bested his elders in the realm of dirty joke telling.
“In the interest of full disclosure, I guess I should admit I’ve never been around kids, but I know plenty of adults who can’t tell a joke like that.”
“What’s fold-us-clothes-hurt?”
“Fold clothes—oh, full disclosure?” She tried to think of how to explain it to a five-year-old, then realized she had no earthly idea. This whole kid thing was like another planet requiring an entirely different language.
It didn’t seem to matter to Henry, who was already wandering off toward the edge of the lake.
“Don’t get too close to the water,” she called, pretty sure that’s what she was supposed to say as a grown-up in charge. He had a life jacket on, but probably wasn’t old enough to go wandering into the lake by himself, was he?
Hell if she knew.
She glanced back toward the parking lot where Jason had gone to get the rest of their things, but she didn’t see him, and she didn’t feel right taking her eyes off Henry, so she settled for watching the little boy instead.
He sure was cute. All big ears and huge dimples and little glasses that magnified a pair of blue eyes that looked just like Jason’s. The boy scooped up another handful of mud, whooping as he flung it out over the lake. A cluster of birds swooped down to investigate, then fluttered off when they realized there was no food to be had. Henry looked back at her and laughed, and Miriam smiled back as something warm pooled behind her breastbone.
She’d always joked that she was born without a biological clock, and she’d never been one tooohandahhover babies.
Still, she’d always been open to the idea that she could change her mind someday. That maybe she’d have the capacity to fall in love, get married, have a child. Then her father died, and the thought of bringing a new life into a world so callous and dangerous seemed much too risky. Besides, she didn’t have it in her to love someone else that much again. Not with such a huge dad-shaped hole still gaping in her heart.
“How’s it going?”
She turned to see Jason smiling at her with a picnic basket in his hand. He wore battered-looking cargo shorts that shouldn’t be sexy, but left her drooling with the way they hugged his ass. His T-shirt was practically threadbare, but that just made it easier to see every ripple of muscle beneath.
Muscles she’d been well acquainted with a week ago. “It’s great.” She glanced back at Henry. “I made sure he didn’t drown, just like you said.”
“I knew you were up to the task.”
