knew you had your whole future planned out, and a kid thrown into the mix didn’t sit well with your dad.”
“He—”
“No, let me finish.” She drew a deep breath and fought swatting him with her hand. Why did everyone always want to interrupt her? “The bigger part was cutting yourself off altogether. I’ll admit I might not have been open to anything when Justin was first born and you left, but you could have come back and tried again. There are plenty of fathers out there who are only peripherally involved in their child’s life, and you could have been one of them.” She zeroed in on him. “It wasn’t easy for me, but I’m not going to let you waltz in and start taking over things now.”
May popped into the kitchen and ignored Peter’s raised eyebrows. “Claudia, I need you back out in the living room. Zoe’s about to go kamikaze on Brad’s friend Dex, who just showed up, and you’re the only one who can calm her down. She’s muttering something about pruning him, and it doesn’t look good.”
Claudia sighed, knowing the conversation with Peter was over and she probably wouldn’t have a chance to get back to it. But at least she’d been able to get her remarks in. It had gone better than she could have hoped. She’d have to settle for that. For now.
“Lead the way. God knows she can’t seem to handle herself right now with the whole Casanova thing.”
****
After calming down Zoe and sending her upstairs for a timeout until the infamous Dex left, Claudia had an overwhelming urge to find Nate. May had said he was going to be here a little late, and Claudia sure could use him now. As if she’d conjured him, he strode in through the back door.
His light hair was swept back from his forehead. The wind followed him in and stirred the air in the kitchen. He looked like salvation and yumminess all wrapped in one.
Something snapped inside her, an elemental something that told her to stop pussyfooting around and go after what she wanted. With that in mind, she strode right up to him and grabbed his arm.
But she faltered at the pitying smile on his face when she got so close. After years and years together, virtually in each other’s pockets, she knew each and every expression his face could twist itself into—from happy to silly, from mad to totally pissed. They all held subtle differences, but she could tell. And this one said he knew things were hard having Peter here and he was by her side. He’d help her through this as he had every other thing in her life. But she didn’t want to lean on him. She didn’t want him to think of her as a helpless person who needed him to save her. She wanted him to think of her as an independent woman who wanted his hot body.
She tried to wrap a hand around his wrist to bring it to her lips and kiss his palm, but he patted her head instead and gave her that smile again.
She almost gave in to the childish urge to step on his foot. But that wasn’t going to further her cause, either. Taking a deep breath, she centered herself while trying to remember what Zoe had said about flirting. It was lowering to have to take her younger sister’s advice, but if it worked Claudia would just claim it as her own inspiration.
She sidled up to him, ran a hand up the buttons of his shirt and gave him a sultry wink when he glanced down at her. She ignored the baffled look on his face and soldiered on. She was going to see this through even if it killed her libido.
Justin chose that moment to walk into the kitchen. He took one look at Claudia wrapped around Nate, snickered, and ran back out.
Nate stiffened under Claudia’s hand, but she wasn’t letting go. She figured she had about twenty seconds before someone came rushing in to see if she really truly was clinging to Nate like a vine.
So she took advantage of her small amount of time and boldly laid her lips right on his. Let him try to offer her first aid for that.
****
Nate stood stock still for a moment while the warmth of Claudia’s lips heated to scalding. Her tongue probed the seam of his mouth, trying to gain entrance. The feel of her pressed against him flamed through