Sean's Reckoning - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,15

to Kevin, then helped him to reach the button to turn on the siren. Ruby looked vaguely startled, but she never tore her gaze away from Hank. He looked equally captivated, despite his apparent frustration at the turn their conversation had taken.

“We’re leaving now,” Deanna announced.

“Whatever,” Ruby said.

“I’ll get Ruby home,” Hank said absently.

“I’m perfectly capable of getting home on my own,” Ruby shot back. “I walked over here, didn’t I?”

Hank shot a bewildered glance toward Sean. “Was that offer an insult? I thought I was being a gentleman.”

“Don’t ask me,” Sean said. “Everyone knows I don’t understand women. You’re the expert.”

“Hah!” Ruby muttered.

“I heard that,” Hank said.

“I meant for you to hear it.”

Sean chuckled. “Okay, children, play nice. The grown-ups are leaving now.”

He scooped Kevin up and settled him on his shoulders, then beckoned to Deanna. “Let’s get out of here before we get caught in the crossfire.”

“I don’t get it,” Kevin said. “Ruby really, really likes guys. How come she’s been fighting with Hank the whole time we’ve been here? She hardly even knows him.”

“Sometimes people just don’t hit it off,” Deanna said.

“Then how come she’s staying here instead of coming with us?” Kevin asked, his expression puzzled.

“He’s got you there,” Sean said, amusement sparkling in his eyes.

Deanna frowned at his obvious reference to the sizzling sexual chemistry between their friends. “I don’t think there’s an explanation that’s suitable for a five-year-old, do you?”

“How come?” Kevin asked.

“You’ll understand when you’re older,” Sean told him, winking at Deanna.

“But I need to know now,” Kevin persisted. “My teacher says you gotta ask questions if you’re gonna learn stuff.”

“Hard to argue with a teacher,” Sean agreed. “Deanna? Care to give it a shot?”

She frowned at him. “Ruby is staying because she wants to,” she told Kevin, hoping it was the kind of simple explanation that even a five-year-old could grasp and accept.

“But why?” Kevin glanced back toward Ruby. “Look. They’re still arguing. What fun is that?”

“Some people think a lively argument is stimulating,” Sean said. It was apparent that he was barely holding back a laugh.

Deanna regarded him with exasperation. He was clearly enjoying her discomfort with the entire topic. “Care to find out if we’re among them?” she asked testily.

He did laugh at that. “Nope. I’m a nonconfrontational kind of guy.”

Kevin peered quizzically at both of them. “I still don’t get it,” he said, sounding disgusted. His expression brightened when they reached a drugstore with an old-fashioned soda fountain inside. “Can I have a chocolate milkshake?”

Deanna would have let him have anything he wanted if it would take his mind off the byplay between Hank and Ruby that had evidently been building to some sort of sexual crescendo all evening long.

“A milkshake’s fine,” she said.

“What about you?” Sean asked, regarding her with continued amusement. “Something nice and tame, like a vanilla cone?”

It was obvious he was deliberately taunting her. Instantly an image of provocatively licking that ice cream just to torment him flashed through her mind. “Yes, as a matter of fact. An ice-cream cone would be lovely.”

The three of them slid onto stools at the counter, with Kevin strategically set up as a buffer in the middle. Sean ordered two milkshakes and the vanilla cone.

When the order came, Deanna deliberately swiveled her stool around until she was facing Sean. He was just responding to something Kevin had asked when he caught sight of her slowly swiping her tongue over the scoop of ice cream. He literally froze, his gaze locked on her. Satisfaction and a hint of something far more dangerous swept through her.

How long had it been since she’d felt that kind of power over a man? How long since her blood had heated to a delicious sizzle under an intense gaze? Too long apparently, because panic promptly set in.

What was she doing? Was she crazy? She didn’t play this kind of game. Games were Ruby’s territory. Deanna didn’t even understand the rules half the time.

“Mom!”

Kevin’s urgent tone shook her out of her daze. “What?”

“Your ice cream’s melting,” he said.

Little wonder, she thought since her temperature had obviously shot into the stratosphere in the past two minutes. Instead of licking at the dripping cone as she might have done scant minutes ago, she swiped at the drips with a napkin, trying not to notice Sean’s knowing expression.

“Hot night,” he observed mildly.

“Yes,” she agreed, her voice oddly—annoyingly—choked.

Kevin looked from one of them to the other, then shook his head. “You guys are as weird as Ruby and Hank.”

Deanna was