Public Displays Of Affection

Chapter Thirteen

''You need to get laid, not get involved."

"Is that right, boss?"

Joe paced along the windows near his desk, the binoculars still trained on the little group assembled in Charlotte's backyard. Watching Ned try to'put together that tent under the watchful eyes of Hank, Matt, and Justin was nearly as excruciating as the conversation he was having with Roger.

"You're in no position to cozy up to anyone, Joe-especially somebody like her. Couldn't you find a woman a bit more… I don't know… disposable?"

"Disposable?"

"Yeah," Roger said. "Your neighbor lady is like a hot home-cooked meal when you really ought to be going for drive-thru."

Joe thanked Roger for his observation and promptly told him it was his fault. "I told you to get me out of here. This is why."

"And I told you to stay away from the soccer moms."

"She's the only soccer mom in the world who could have gotten my attention."

"Then take your attention back."

"I can't. I don't want to."

"Are you telling me you've changed your mind? You want to stay in Minton now?"

Joe sighed and closed his eyes and all he saw was Charlotte's face the way it appeared that night at the Little League field, when she looked up at him and said, "I want you, Joe." She'd looked completely vulnerable. Completely beautiful.

And now he was completely smitten.

He had to trust that there was a reason for his being there, even if he didn't see it He had to trust his instincts- they'd kept him alive so far-and every fiber in his body told him to get to know Charlotte. To at least give it a try.

"I do want to stay. Can we hang on to the house?"

"It's yours for as long as you need it, but, Joe"- Roger's voice had become quite serious-"I'm not saying you don't have a right to some happiness, because God knows you do. Just stay sharp, okay? We've got your back, but you've got to do your part."

It was solid advice, and Joe appreciated it. "Roger that."

Two minutes later, Joe found himself standing on the property line near the shed, eavesdropping. He wasn't exactly hiding, but he wasn't jumping around waving his arms, either.

He watched Bonnie squint at the assembly instructions in her hand. "It says you need to insert Pole A through Sleeve A, honey."

"Oh, yeah?" Ned peered up from his bent position and shook his balding head in disgust. "I'd like to tell the guy who designed this tent exactly where he can insert Pole A, Pole B, and all the other poles."

"Ned, please. The kids."

"Mom will be home in a few minutes," Matt said, scanning the heap of aluminum poles on the grass. "She's good at stuff like this."

"Excellent idea." Ned stood up and rubbed his lower back. That's when he noticed Joe.

"Hey, everyone." Joe walked toward the group and extended a hand toward Bonnie. "We haven't been officially introduced. I'm Joe Mills." He took her hand in his and watched a reluctant smile enter her pale blue eyes.

"Hello, Joe. I'm Bonnie Preston." She nodded toward Ned. "I understand you two have met."

"Sure have."

Joe studied the collapsed fabric and the scattered poles. "Looks like you got a six-man tent here," he said to Matt. "These can be a real bear to put together. Mind if I take a shot at it?"

Matt's face lit up. "Cool!"

"Ned, you want to give me a hand?"

Within ten minutes, the tent stood erect, its sides pulled taut and even. The kids were experimenting with the zippered screen doorway as Ned and Joe secured the rain fly over the entire structure.

"The new technology threw me," Ned said. "Looks like you've put up a few tents in your time."

"Some." Joe gave him a friendly smile. "Not for a while, though."

Ned nodded. "Army, was it?"

"Yes, sir. You?"

"Marines."

The men smiled at each other. That's when Joe heard the arrival of Charlotte's minivan in the drive. He watched her get out of the driver's side and pause a moment to stare at the group in the yard. Then she opened the trunk and walked toward them, two bags of groceries in her arms and a confused frown on her face.

Joe knew the frown was for him.

"Mama! Mama! Joe fixed the tent!" Hank ran to her and peeked inside the grocery sacks. Then she said in a serious voice, "He looked really stable while he was doing it, too. Infinity stable, Mama."

Charlotte glanced up at Joe and frowned again. Based on how the evening at the ball park had ended, he figured ^he was about to thank him politely and make it clear she didn't want him around her kids. So he took the bags from her arms.

"I'll get these for you, Charlotte "

"No. Really. I've got them."

She actually tried to pry the bags from his hands-that's how hard she was fighting this. He had to admire her. She had willpower. She had determination. But she had met her match in Joe Bellacera. She just didn't know it yet.

"Let the man carry in your groceries, Charlotte." Ned was picking up little pieces of packaging trash from the ground around the tent. "It won't kill you."

Joe felt a rush of triumph when Charlotte sighed and headed toward the house. He followed right behind, glad that the kids were still fascinated with the tent's screen doors and windows and that the Prestons had decided to keep them company.

"Hosting a campout tonight?"

He saw the back of Charlotte's ponytail bob up and down as she nodded. "Six boys."

"What's the occasion?" he asked, following her across the back patio.

"Just something Matt likes to do every year before school's out."

She reached for the door handle and stopped-Hoover waited on the other side of the double doors, growling, teeth exposed.

"You dumb thing." Charlotte spun on her heels and marched over to Joe. She rooted through the grocery bags until she found the pack of NaturPride organic soy protein hot dogs. Sticks of toe fungus, as Matt would say. It made Joe smile.

Charlotte pulled one gray-tinted fake wiener from the pack and held it up. "Give this to Hoover when you walk in. You'll be Mends for life."

She took one of the bags from Joe and led the way inside. He held the hot dog in front of his knees, pleasantly surprised that the dog took it without chomping off his left arm, then let him pass without further ado.

"Strange name for a dog," he said, putting his foot on the carpet runner just inside the double doors. "As in J. Edgar Hoover, I take it?"

Charlotte plunked the bag down on the counter, then reached her arms out for the sack he held. She laughed, and at that instant Joe felt suspended in time. He gazed at her face-her flashing gray eyes, her soft pink lips, her full cheeks. She was so beautiful. He remembered the sight of her arching her back in ecstasy last night and he could barely breathe.

"The FBI guy? No way. He's named after the vacuum cleaner." She pulled items from the bags and began a complicated series of moves that included drawer opening, drawer closing, shelf stacking, and refrigerator placement that unfolded like a choreographed dance. She floated around her kitchen, ponytail flying, hands gesturing, words coming out. He was in awe. He'd never seen a human being move with such grace and efficiency.

"His name was supposed to be Oscar-that's what the kids decided But the day we got him I spilled a whole box of Cheerios on the floor, and before I could get the broom he'd sucked them all up." She paused a moment and put her hands on her hips, laughing. "I remember we joked that we should go ahead and sell the vacuum, and Kurt…" Charlotte stopped in midsentence. She looked at Joe and shook her head, all the happiness already gone from her face. She folded the grocery sacks and stuck them in the pantry with grim competence. The dance was over, apparently.

She must have loved Kurt Tasker something fierce.

"You're a good mom, Charlotte."

She braced her hands on the kitchen sink, her back toward him. Maybe it was for the best. Maybe it would be easier for him to talk to her if they weren't looking at each other.

"I'm so very sorry that your husband died. I've heard wonderful things about him, and I'm sorry for your family's loss."

She said nothing, but he watched her lower her chin toward her ehest. She locked her elbows as if to keep from falling. -

"Charlotte, I know what it's like to lose someone you love. I'm right next door if you need me."

He watched her shift her weight to one leg and wanted desperately to touch her, drowning in the confusing mess of his own emotions. What did he just offer this woman? And was it something he could even give her? Did that make him a liar? A player? Was this really only about sex?

She stayed silent and kept her back to him. Joe let his eyes travel from her slender shoulders, down her straight back, to that luscious little behind of hers and to those smooth, pale legs that ended in a pair of simple soccer-mom sandals.

Last night, he'd watched this soccer mom catch fire at her own hand. He saw her peach skin incandescent against the stark white sheet. He saw such female magnificence in such a small package that it made him insane, crazy with desire.

Sure it was about sex, But it was also about her. It was about this sweet, funny, good woman who stood just an arm's length away, a woman with so much to give and no man to give it to. They both knew she was supposed to be giving it to him.

At that moment, a plan coalesced in Joe's mind. He would tell her he wanted her. That he planned to stay.He wanted to get to knowher kids. Then he'd walk her through this, step-by.-step, if he had to. But it was definitely time to get this party started.

"Say something, Charlotte. I can't see you and I can't tell if you're crying or what."

She laughed a little and turned her head so that she was looking over her shoulder. Her eyes were red and her cheeks blotchy, but she looked prettier than ever to him.

"The girl you met that day-that wasn't the real me."

She faced away again and continued.

"I was on my way to pick up Kurt from the airport. I knew he was going to propose to me. I planned to say yes."

Joe watched her pull in a huge breath and steady herself to continue. He took two steps closer to her, in case she collapsed.

"I don't know how to say this except to just blurt it out, so here goes. Yes, you were my first, Joe, and the only other man in my whole life except Kurt. I think I panicked that day." She slipped down onto her elbows and rested her forehead in her hands.

Joe stepped closer.

"I knew that Kurt was very shy about sex, but despite thatf I would be faithful to my husband. And I remember driving along and thinking, This is my last chance to see what I'll be missing. And whaddya know?" Charlotte shook her head back and forth in her hands and laughed. "Joe Mills appears! Right on my bumper!"

Joe averted his eyes from the sweet little bumper now directly in his line of vision. Charlotte laughed again, raised her head, and stared out the kitchen window.

She sighed. "Kurt and I came from very religious families, and sex was never discussed except in the context of sin, you know, something to resist, rise above, then perform as your wifely duty. Anyway, it was really important to Kurt that I was a virgin, so I let him assume that I continued to be one, even after that day with you."

Charlotte spun around to face him, her eyes widening in surprise at how close he was. "I lied to him, Joe. It was a secret I kept from him our whole marriage. But that wasn't even the worst part."

Joe waited in silence, not sure if it was his turn to talk yet.

"The worst part is I never once regretted what you and I did. I kept thinking that at least I knew-I knew what it was like to have incredible sex. I knew what it felt like to be with a man who wasn't shy didn't hold back." Charlotte paused and looked thoughtfully at Joe. "You showed me what was possible. You made me feel the way I always suspected I could feel."

He waited, and her silence gave him the go-ahead to ask. "And what way is that?"

Charlotte gazed up at him with those luscious gray eyes, then served up a smile that would have incinerated a weaker man.

"For the first and only time in my life, I felt like a sex goddess."

It was time to rock-'n'-roll.

Joe stepped forward. He pressed his body against hers and backed her into the dishwasher. She let out a little gasp. He cupped a hand behind her head and looked down into her upturned face.

"I'm staying."

Her eyes flew wide: "What?"'

"You're not getting away this time."

"Joe-"

"Listen up, Charlotte. I've decided to stay. I let you go once. I won't do it again. I want you, so you'd better get used to it."

He could feel her heart pound through her ribs, skin, muscle, and both of their shirts. She was breathing fast, too.

"Get used to what, exactly?" she whispered.

Joe yanked her head forward and slammed his mouth down on hers. Charlotte was his. She had always been his. And if he needed any further proof, it was right there in the way she threw herself into the kiss.

Instantly she was hotter than hell and out of control. Zero to ninety in three seconds, that was the Charlotte he remembered, and God, she made him such a happy man.

She was grabbing his shoulders and clawing at him, pulling him closer. Then she ran the instep of her sandaled foot up and down his leg while she opened her mouth to his hungry attack. Then she dropped a hand to his ass and squeezed.

Joe picked her up and spun her around and plopped her right down on the chopping block so he could thoroughly ravage her. With his mouth hermetically sealed over her own, he pushed his hands inside her T-shirt and ran his palms over the hot, soft flesh of her abdomen, back, and sides. He insinuated himself between her spread legs. Her silky little bra offered little resistance when he reached through the bottom to touch her nipples.

He pinched.

She moaned.

He kissed her harder.

She squeezed his hips with her thighs.

He cupped the weight of her breasts;

She ran her hands down his back and tipped her head to the side to grant him complete access.

Then she said something Joe couldn't quite understand.

"Umm nmmm uh ssssltch." was what it sounded like, though he couldn't be sure, because Charlotte hadn't stopped kissing him. He tried to pull away so she could speak, but she grabbed him by the shoulders and continued to kiss.

"Umm nmmm uh sssltch!" she said again, only louder this time.

Joe managed to pry his lips from hers and push her away. Her eyes were half-closed and her face was flushed and her lips swollen.

"Say again?"

"I am not a slut I just thought I'd better let you know."

Joe didn't laugh. It took everything in him, but he managed not to laugh. It was a damn good thing, too, because Charlotte was dead serious.

Her body hummed with fear and exhilaration as she accepted die news that Joe Mills-everything dangerous and exciting and wild she'd ever known-was staying!

Doubt hit her hard and fast What did this man expect? What if she couldn't live up to his expectations?

Sheer panic came next Where were the kids?

She looked past Joe's bemused expression and over one of his perfect broad shoulders to see that everyone was still in the backyard, a safe distance from the house. She must be insane, but immediately she was back to figuring out how she could keep kissing him until the last possible second. But first, she had to be certain he understood.

"That night in the drive, Joe, when I… uhm… touched you?"

"I think I recall that."

"I don't know what came over me. Or today, for that matter. I've not been myself lately. I told you, I'm not that girl from thirteen years ago. I never was."

"Yes, you told me." He was obviously trying not to smile.

"You don't seem convinced, Joe."

"That's because I'm not, and I don't think you are, either." His smile broke free.

"I'm glad I amuse you."

He stroked her cheek with such a gentle touch that she trembled. "I want to know everything about you. Every little thing."

"There's nothing to know. I'm pretty dull."

"That's just an act, Charlotte. I know better."

"I may not be what you're looking for. That's all I'm saying."

Joe leaned in close to drop sweet little kisses all over her temples and cheeks and chin and throat. She shivered.

"As it happens…" He nibbled at her clavicle."… I've been in the market for a sex goddess for about thirteen years now."

"Oh God."

"In fact, you're exactly what I've been looking for." He sucked on the hollow of her throat.

"I am?"

His tongue flicked under her jaw to her left earlobe. "Yep. I've been looking for this one particular hot little redhead in a convertible Miata. She gave me her virginity. Ring any bells?"

"Lots of 'em."

She jolted at the feel of Joe pressing his erection against the vee of her thighs; "So it's okay with you if I stay?"

"Yes."

Joe's black eyes drilled her. 'Tell me how much you want me to stay."

She could barely get the breath to say what he wanted to hear. "I need you to stay, Joe. More than anything in the world."

"Now show me."

She couldn't help it. Only Joe did this to her. Only Joe. So she threw her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his and let it all flow out of her-more than a decade of pent-up need for this man found its way into that one kiss. So much need that it made her dizzy.

Joe didn't seem to mind.

His hands felt so damn good all over her breasts and then he pinched harder, kissed her harder, and pushed aside the fruit bowl, climbed up on the chopping block, and pushed her down on her back.

That's when Hoover started barking.

LoriSue threw open the family room door and tried to shoo away Charlotte's big doofus dog with a three-inch spike heel. She tossed him the after-dinner mint she'd just dug out of the bottom of her purse, which seemed to do the trick.

Ugh. She now had a long trail of drool on her panty hose.

She set Justin's sleeping bag and backpack on the couch and looked around.

"Everybody decent?" She heard a ruckus in the kitchen and turned toward the noise.

Well, damn.

Charlotte and Joe had apparently been going at it on the butcher block! And now they were scrambling down and smoothing out their clothes and looking at her with the most guilt-ridden expressions she'd ever seen on two adults.

As Charlotte stepped around Joe, LoriSue watched her pretend nothing awkward had just happened-that Joe really wasn't about to take her to heaven next to a bowl of Bartlett pears.

"Hi, LoriSue. Come on in. Let me get Hoover."

Charlotte lunged for the dog's collar and pulled him into the mudroom off the garage, where he continued to bark. LoriSue wasn't sure if she should tell Charlotte that her bra was a bit discombobulated. She decided not to mention it.

She let her eyes slide from Charlotte back to Joe. "Well, pardonnez-moi and all that I just needed to drop off Justin's stuff for the overnight."

Damn Charlotte Tasker! She looked like she'd just hit the Powerball. And all LoriSue wanted to know was how the hell did the Good Widow Charlotte snag the likes of Joe Mills? What in the world did he see in her?

'Thanks. That's great," Charlotte said.

"Well. Obviously, I had no idea it was so cozy in here."

Joe cleared his throat. And didn't he just look too delicious?

"Hi, LoriSue."

She had to laugh. At least she could stop buying those goddamn gift baskets now. She looked at Charlotte and gave her a sweet smile.

"You know, I was going to ask if you needed help with the cookout, but it looks like you've got all the extra hands you need."

"I'd love your help." Charlotte crossed her arms over her chest, apparently just now aware of her little bra problem.

"That's nice of you to offer." Joe added.

LoriSue made her smile as big and bright as she could, considering she wanted to cry. "Have fun, kids." Then she turned and exited the family room, making sure she slammed the door as she left.

Charlotte slowly returned her gaze to Joe, who leaned up against the dishwasher, his fingers laced on top of his head.

"That was bad. I'm so sorry, Charlotte."

A thousand thoughts raced through her head as she went to the mudroom door and guided the still-barking Hoover outside. Bad? Yes. Stupid? Oh, that was about as stupid as they could get!

She'd lost control with him-again-and now LoriSue knew. It could've easily been the children. She needed to get ahold of herself. Fast.

"We need to set up some rules if you're staying."

"Of course."

"I have no idea how we're going to do this."

"It's okay, Charlotte. We'll work it out together."

She turned away from Joe, suddenly overcome with shyness, and shoved her boobs back into her bra, then adjusted the straps;

When she turned around he was smiling at her with… well, affection. That was the only way she could describe it.

"LoriSue seemed pretty pissed."

Charlotte decided to busy herself with getting things ready for dinner and walked past Joe to the sink. She started to wash spinach;

"She's going through a rough time right now, Joe. She's in the middle of a divorce and getting ready to move out on her own. She's made no secret of the fact that she's got the major hots for you."

She looked up to see Joe's eyebrows arch high.

"Until you moved in, she rarely came over here."

"No kidding?"

"You're jthe most exciting thing to happen to us Minton ladies in a long while."

"O…kay."

Charlotte laughed a little. "Just don't kick the woman when she's down. That's my only advice."

She put the spinach in a colander. "The rest of the kids will start arriving soon. I need to get everything ready."

"I'll get out of your hair, then." Joe pushed off from the counter and moved toward her. As she watched him advance, she couldn't stop marveling at the fact that he was really in her house. His feet were on her floor. His hand was trailing along her countertop. He was breathing the air she breathed. He was real, and the rooms seemed to shrink in the presence of all that male energy.

It had been a long time since any man other than Ned was in her house. A long, long time.

"Unless you'd like me to help," he added, now standing just inches from her. "I'm not doing anything today."

Charlotte looked up into his face and remembered how the heat of the Miata door had radiated through her hiking shorts and into the flesh of her bottom. She recalled the press of his loins against her belly. She heard the words he used to tease her, tempt her, take her where she longed to go.

"It's yours if you want it."

"You're not writing today?"

Joe shrugged. "Not particularly inspired. At least not to write."

There was no mistaking the intensity of what was happening here. There would be no more fooling herself that she could devour just one heavenly piece of juicy Joe Mills and be satisfied. They were looking at all or nothing now, and she knew it.

Charlotte's gaze wandered out the window to her kids, slowly making their way up to the house. She did what any prudent mother would do.

"I won't have any time to spend with you today. I'm going to be busy." She hoped her voice sounded calm and assertive. She hoped her knees were not visibly shaking.

Joe nodded. "You certainly are a busy little beaver."

Charlotte didn't appreciate the double entendre… At least she didn't think she did. But if she didn't, why was she tingling between her legs? Why did she start to laugh?

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means-" Joe reached for her hand and brushed his thumb across her lifeline. "You're an extremely busy lady. You do everything in the world for your kids. You run around like a headless chicken every day."

Charlotte felt her spine stiffen and her jaw tighten. Was he criticizing her? "My children are the most important thing in my life."

Joe widened the sweep of his thumb to include the delicate inside of her wrist. Her whole body tingled from the contact "I really admire that about you."

"You do?"

"I do."

"You really want to help out today?"

"I really do" Joe's smile and expression mellowed. "Please let me, Charlotte."

That's when the kids and Hoover burst through the door and Joe dropped her hand and said, "Looks like it's showtime."