“Ma!”
Lauren groaned, keeping her eyes squeezed shut against the light. She wanted to yell at him again to stop bellowing, but her head hurt too much to yell. Instead she nestled further under her covers. As she nestled, an arm curled around her, hauling her back against a warm, hard and very naked body.
Ryan Kowalski was in her bed. And Nick was home a day early. “Oh crap. Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap.”
“Ma?”
And her bedroom door was open. Oh, and there were clothes strewn down the hallway. “Oh crap.”
“I’m not hiding in the closet,” the warm lump next to her mumbled.
“I’m coming,” she yelled, hoping to halt his search for her, but it was too late.
Her son saw her, clutching the covers to her chin, saw Ryan and then turned and walked back toward the living room. She started to call after him, but what was she going to do? Have a conversation with him while she hid behind the blanket?
She managed to snag her bathrobe off the foot post and pull it on so she could at least close the door. Then, rather than face her son and possibly her ex-husband that way, she pulled on a pair of underwear and her jeans under the robe and then, keeping her back to the bed, pulled on a bra and a sweatshirt.
“I thought he wasn’t coming home until tomorrow.”
She turned to find Ryan sitting up, looking utterly delicious with his hair tousled and the blankets around his waist. “He wasn’t supposed to. Something must be wrong.”
After taking a few awkward seconds to gather their clothes from the hallway, which she tossed into the bedroom before closing the door, Lauren went out into the living room to find Dean and Nick sitting stone-faced, one on each end of the couch.
“Nick didn’t feel good, so I brought him home,” Dean said in a grim voice. “Surprise.”
Her embarrassment at being caught in bed with a man was instantly squashed by concern. “What’s the matter? Is it your stomach? Headache? Fever?”
He lifted one shoulder in a half-ass shrug. “Just don’t feel good.”
She reached out to feel his forehead, but he flinched away from her. Great. They’d already had to have the sometimes even single mothers get to have a life now and then talk once. Looked like they were going to have it again.
Her bedroom door opening and then the bathroom door closing sounded unnaturally loud. She’d been hoping maybe Ryan would go back to sleep, or at least stay in bed until Dean was gone.
And, speaking of her ex-husband, she didn’t miss the look he gave her, though she refrained from either returning the look or flipping him the bird, since their son was in the room. But he’d been married to Jody for almost six years, had two kids with her and was disgustingly happy. What was it to him if his ex-wife had a man in her bed?
It was something to him, judging by the waves of attitude rolling off him. Maybe it wasn’t just the man that was the problem. Maybe it was the fact it was Ryan. But, again, not his business. Dean needed to go home to his wife and other kids.
“Thanks for bringing him home,” she said, trying to make it an obvious dismissal. “I’ll let you know if it turns into anything serious.”
He either didn’t take the hint or chose to ignore it.
“I’m going to my room.” Without looking at either of them, Nick went to his room and slammed his door. Not a good sign, since that was one rule he almost never broke.
“You think this sets a good example for our son?” Dean asked.
She couldn’t believe he’d said it. The anger was instant, burning the back of her throat like acid indigestion. And there was no way she was going to stand there and take it.
“Since the first time I met Jody, she was coming down that very same hallway, pulling her clothes on while you tried to tell me it wasn’t what I thought, while our son stood there and watched—you can kiss my ass.” She pointed to the door. “You can also get the hell out of my house.”
He was instantly contrite, as was his way. “Lauren, look—”
“Get out of my house. Now.”
“I’ll call you when you’ve calmed down and we can talk about this,” he said on his way to the door.
“You and I are not talking about this. Ever. It’s none of your business.”
He paused for a second at the threshold and gave her a wry smile. “I guess he got what he wanted. Kowalskis always do.”
He was gone before she could come up with a response, not that one was really necessary. But she was still standing there, staring at the closed door, when Ryan walked up beside her.
“I should probably go.”
She nodded. “Sorry about this. I guess this is a little messier than you’re used to.”
He cupped the back of her neck in his hand and she closed her eyes. “Are you going to be okay?”
“Yeah. Nick will calm down and I don’t really give a damn what Dean has to say.”