Free Sean's Reckoning by Sherryl Woods Page B

long as Sean’s. “Okay,” she relented. “If Ruby doesn’t mind taking you, ask her to go to the pay phone with you and you can call.” She tossed him enough change for the phone.
    “All right!” Kevin said, bounding out of the kitchen. “I’m gonna call right now.”
    “Ask Ruby first!” Deanna shouted after him. “And take her with you. Do not go to the corner by yourself.”
    “Ask Ruby what?” Ruby inquired, appearing in the kitchen doorway.
    “If you’re willing to take him to the fire station for a visit if Sean says it’s okay.” Deanna studied her reaction. Ruby’s expression remained completely neutral. “You’re not answering me.”
    “Sure, I’ll take him,” Ruby said with a shrug. “It’s no big deal. Why can’t you take him, though?”
    “Because that’s a bad idea,” Deanna said without thinking.
    Ruby regarded her with sudden fascination. “Oh, really?”
    “I meant that I have things to do.”
    “That is not what you meant,” Ruby accused. “You meant that you don’t want to see Sean Devaneyagain. Why is that? He seems like a perfectly nice guy to me.”
    “He is a nice guy,” Deanna conceded reluctantly.
    “Then what’s the problem?” Ruby studied her face. “Or do I even need to ask? Are you beginning to see that he’s more than just a nice guy? Are you maybe just the teensiest bit attracted to him?”
    “If I admit that I am, will you leave me alone?”
    Ruby’s grin spread. “For the moment,” she agreed. “I will, however, point out that that makes you a complete and total coward for refusing to take Kevin to the fire station.”
    Deanna looked straight into Ruby’s eyes. “Maybe I’m just playing hard to get.”
    “As if,” Ruby scoffed. “You don’t play at that. With you it’s the real thing.” She regarded Deanna with evident fascination. “Have you kissed him yet?”
    Deanna was debating the technical accuracy of a negative response, when Ruby gasped as if she’d just read her mind. “My God, I’ve got that backward, haven’t I? He’s kissed you.”
    “Once,” Deanna admitted reluctantly.
    Ruby studied her with undisguised curiosity. “Well, tell all. How was it? Was it awful? Is that why you don’t want to see him?”
    “No, it was not awful,” Deanna said. “How could it be? We’re talking about Sean Devaney here.”
    Ruby held a hand to her chest. “Oh, my, that good, huh? When did it happen? Never mind. I think I know. It was when he followed you into the kitchen at Joey’s. That’s why you looked completely dazed when you finally wandered out of there, isn’t it?”
    “I did not look dazed,” Deanna said with exasperation.
    “I just call ’em like I see ’em,” Ruby retorted. “Well, well, well…this is definitely a fascinating turn of events. Is Sean the first man who’s gotten close enough to kiss you since Frankie?”
    “Don’t be absurd. Frankie’s been gone for more than five years. Of course other men have kissed me.” Joey. Old Mr. Jenkins at the restaurant. Even one of the law partners at work had given her a friendly peck on the cheek once when they’d said goodbye after an office party.
    “Why is my head screaming ‘Technicality’ when you say that?” Ruby demanded. “I’ll rephrase. Has any sexy man kissed you with mind-blowing passion since Frankie?”
    Deanna sighed. “You’ve been hanging out with lawyers for too long.”
    “Dee?”
    “You’re relentless.”
    “Yes, as a matter of fact, I am,” Ruby said with pride. “Well?”
    “Okay, no.”
    “You did kiss him back, didn’t you? You didn’t freeze up or, worse yet, slug him?”
    “Oh, no,” Deanna said, feeling her cheeks flood with heat. “I definitely kissed him back.”
    Ruby beamed. “This just gets better and better.”
    “It was a kiss,” Deanna reminded her. “It lasted all of thirty seconds, tops. Then he apologized and bolted out of the kitchen.”
    “Smart man,” Ruby said with