Ain’t Misbehaving

through college hadn’t been a lark, nor was making a life for herself alone. And earlier, there’d been some very dark years, when the family had been afraid Jana wasn’t going to make it, when her mother had come close to falling apart and it had been up to Kay to keep up the family’s morale.

Given a choice between a funny story and a tragic one she’d choose the funny one any day, but the picture of Capering Kay was hardly accurate. Her poker cohorts knew that; she was used to their ceaseless teasing, and she wouldn’t have cared at all if it hadn’t been for Mitch.

On the one hand, he kept feeding the guys their cue lines, obviously encouraging their most risque tales. On the other hand, Mitch gave away nothing about himself. He played his emotions as close to the chest as he played his cards.

Finally, Stix stretched and yawned. “I give up,” he said lazily.

Simultaneously, the other players tossed their cards on the table. “I didn’t realize how late it was,” Hailey said with a frown. “Mitch, you’ve got to join us on another Friday. Really enjoyed it.”

There was a rush for coats. Hailey left first, once he’d found his glasses. John, after a kiss on Kay’s cheek, was the next to go. Barker went so far as to take his beer cans to the kitchen, then delivered his good-night kiss. Stix lingered a little longer, giving Mitch a sidelong glance as he tugged on his ancient cord jacket. “You want help cleaning up?” he asked Kay.

To her credit, she didn’t faint from shock. “You’ve discovered dishes don’t miraculously wash themselves?”

“Samantha’s taught me a thing or two. Don’t get sassy. I could help take down the table.”

“We can take care of it,” Mitch drawled from the hall doorway.

Still, Stix lingered a bit longer, taking endless care with every one of his coat buttons, eyeing Kay with a protective gleam that made no sense.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing.” He glanced at Mitch. “Coming?”

Mitch moved forward with a half smile, his hand firmly extended for Stix to shake, exactly as he had done with the other men. “Appreciated the chance to get in a night of poker. I hadn’t done it in a long time.”

“Anytime…” The two talked for a minute before Mitch dropped back, and Kay stepped forward with a perplexed expression.

Stix’s genial grin was gone. Suddenly, all six feet six inches of him exuded irritability. Stix was normally so laid back that Kay was baffled by the change in him. She stretched up on tiptoe for her good-night kiss. Her lips met a very stiff cheek; Stix glared at her and then departed, as the others had, into a very dark, very late night outside.

Kay turned back to find that Mitch had disappeared…and the card table was half cleared of debris. She snatched up the bowl of potato chips and two soda cans, carting both into the kitchen. There she spotted Mitch, who flashed her one quick, enigmatic smile on his way back to the living room.

It was like playing tag. When she headed back to the living room, Mitch was striding toward the kitchen again. The entire house was restored to equilibrium in minutes.

When she finally caught up with him, he was in the hall, pulling on his coat at the door. Kay stared at him from the kitchen doorway, astonished that he’d bothered to stay all this time…and was now leaving.

“They’re good men,” he said flatly.

“Old friends,” she agreed, bewildered.

He crooked his finger in a beckoning gesture.

Now there was the man she thought she’d spent the afternoon with. Chuckling, she went toward him. The wicked gleam was back in his eyes. It seemed he could turn it on and off at will, like a light. When there were no other people around, that light definitely glowed warmly. “Do you want a cup of coffee?” she asked him.

“All I want is to tell you something.”

“So tell me.”

“You’re too far away.”

Leaning back against the open doorway, he drew her arms around his waist until they were snuggled length to length. The web instantly woven around her was invisible, private and utterly male. The intimacy increased deliciously when his lips pressed into her hair. “You’re an affectionate lady,” he whispered.

“That’s what you wanted to tell me?” She tried to convince herself that she didn’t want him to stay. How could she possibly want him to stay? It was far too soon.

His lips nuzzled farther, his chin brushing back her hair so his mouth could center on the soft skin just below her ear. “No,” he murmured. “I just wanted to tell you that I wish I’d known you a long time ago. From the beginning. From before you were a woman, from the very moment you became a woman…”

She tilted her head back, touched by the earnest note in his voice. Mitch dipped down, placing a light kiss on her forehead, then on her nose, then on her chin. Her lips felt forsaken. “You don’t really wish that,” she told him with a sleepy half smile. “The young Kay was chubby, Mitch. And she had miles to go before she learned what she really valued in life.”

“Her…experiences had to be that extensive, did they?” His smile was lazy.

Kay slid her arms out from under his jacket and wrapped them around his neck. “You bet they did,” she whispered wryly. “I had more to learn than most.”

He chuckled, yet his dark eyes settled intently on hers before he leaned down to rub his cheek against hers, his arms suddenly restless over her sweatered back. “How long has Stix had a thing for you?”

“Hmm?” She’d been a teenager the last time she’d necked in a hallway. The sense of doing something that was forbidden had enhanced the moment then. One mustn’t, one shouldn’t, one would get caught. There was no danger of getting caught now, but there was still a lush sense of danger. Or was it anticipation? “Stix? You’re crazy, Mitch.” She pressed a kiss to the hollow of his throat and felt his pulse jump. “Stix is just a self-adopted big brother,” she said absently.

“He mentioned your ill-fated engagement.”

What were they talking about? She pressed her cheek against his jacket and closed her eyes, loving the sensation of being held. “I won’t tell you my war stories unless you confess yours,” she warned him.

“You don’t have to tell me anything, ever. Do you mind that I’m curious about you?” His fingertips brushed back her hair so soothingly that she leaned her cheek into his palm.

She shook her head. “Of course not. Secrets are sad things. My war stories aren’t anything extraordinary, Mitch-I was engaged, twice. The first time I was seventeen, and the engagement lasted all of three days.”

“What happened?”

“We both used the ring as an excuse to do what we wanted to do. We soon decided sex wasn’t all it was cracked up to be-at least not for us-and we had the sense to call it off before anyone could be disastrously hurt,” she said wryly.

“Except,” Mitch said softly, “that you were disastrously hurt.”

Her eyes flickered up, brilliant and luminous. “No one,” she admitted, “could possibly hurt as much or as hard as a seventeen-year-old. Surely you’ve been there?” She had a sudden image of Mitch at seventeen, boyish and brazen and sexual…and then a second image, of the girl in his arms who must have been there. A little green glob settled in the pit of her stomach. “You’re not sharing war stories,” she reminded him, but her heart told her promptly that she didn’t want to know.

“We’re not through with yours yet. You said you were engaged twice.”

“The second one was named Mason.” When she looked up, his eyes had darkened, and looked oddly warm. Tell-me-your-secrets warm.

“So what was he like?” Mitch said softly.

She shrugged, tucking her cheek into his chest. “Mason I loved,” she said simply. “No excuses, no apologies… and no lingering feelings. Love, unfortunately, isn’t all it takes to make a relationship.”

“No?” he murmured.

She half smiled. His arm enclosed her and she felt sealed up, protected, enveloped. His lips were pressing into her hair again. “I’d known Mason for such a long time. His laughter could light up a room. You would have liked him-everyone liked him. But to Mason, people were like wine. Wonderful to get high on, but once the bottle was empty he moved on. It took me a while to catch on. People who really celebrate life don’t have to use other people