A Little Dare - Brenda Jackson [32]
AJ glared at him. “I don’t like you.”
Dare shrugged and gave his son a smile. “Then I guess that means nothing has changed.” But he knew something had changed. As far as he was concerned, AJ consenting to go to dinner with him to meet his family was a major breakthrough. And although the kid claimed that Thorn was the only reason he was going, Dare had no problem using his brother to his advantage if that’s what it took. Besides, AJ would soon discover that of all the Westmorelands, Thorn was the one who was biggest on family ties and devotion, and if you accepted one Westmoreland, you basically accepted them all, since they were just that thick.
At that moment Dare’s cell phone rang and he answered it. After a few remarks and nods of his head, he said. “You’re welcome to join us for dinner if you’d like. I know for a fact that everyone would love to see you.” He nodded again and said, “All right. I’ll see you later.
Moments later he glanced over at AJ when they came to a stop in front of Chase’s restaurant. “That was your mother. The emergency wasn’t as bad as she’d thought, and she is on her way back home. I’m to take you there after dinner instead of to Ms. Kate’s house.
AJ narrowed his eyes at Dare. “Why did you do that?”
“Do what?” Dare asked, lifting a brow.
“Invite her to dinner?”
“Because I figured that like you, she has to eat sometime, and I know that my family would have love seeing her again.” He hesitated for a few moments, then added. “And I would have liked seeing her again myself. Like I said, your mom used to mean a lot to me a long time ago.”
Their gazes locked for a brief moment, then AJ glared at him and said angrily. “Get over it.”
Dare smiled slightly. “I don’t know if I can.” Before AJ had time to make a comeback, Dare unsnapped his seatbelt. “Come on, it’s time to go inside.”
Shelly pulled onto the interstate, hoping and praying that AJ was on his best behavior. No matter what, she had to believe that all the lessons in obedience, honor and respect that he’d been taught at an early age were somewhere buried beneath all that hostility he exhibited at times. But right now she had to cope with the fact that he was still a child, a child who was getting older each day and enduring growing pains of the worst kind. But one thing was for certain, Dare was capable of dealing with it, and for that she was grateful.
When she thought of Dare, she had no choice but to think of her traitorous body and the way it had responded to him earlier that day at her house. As she’d told AJ, Dare was smart. He was also very receptive, and she knew he had picked up on the fact that she had wanted him. All it had taken was one mind-blowing kiss and she’d been ready to get naked if he’d asked.
When she came to a traffic light she momentarily closed her eyes, asking for strength where Dare was concerned. If she allowed him to become a part of her life, she could be asking for potential heartbreak all over again, although she had to admit the new Dare seemed more settled, less likely to go chasing after some other dream. But whatever the two of them had once shared was in the past, and she refused to bring it to the present. She had enough to deal with in handling AJ without trying to take on his father, too.
She had to continue to make it clear to Dare that it was his son he needed to work on and win over and not her. Their first and foremost concern was AJ, and no matter how hot and bothered she got around Dare, she would not give in again. She had to watch her steps and not put any ideas into Dare’s head. More than anything, she had to stop looking at him and thinking about sex.
Her body was doing a good job reminding her that ten years was a long time to go without. She’d been too busy for the abstinence to cross her mind, but today Dare had awakened desires she’d thought were long buried. Now she felt that her body was under attack—against her. It was demanding things she had no intention