Jonny looked around as if expecting some dating show contestant to appear with three possible choices. Nothing happened. “I don’t know. I don’t pay much attention to the women round here.”
Rayah’s eyes rolled far enough back to see behind her. It was a gesture he’d noticed Sadie had adopted. “I know. You take your hook-ups from fields further away. And I get that. But that’s made you more alluring to the single – and not-so-single – mum brigade.”
“But I don’t want anything serious. And you know the score, Ray, you don’t shit on your own doorstep. If I date someone locally then there will be expectations. From everyone. Especially Charlie and Harry.”
“Then you just have to be careful who you pick.”
The slight release of his fingers around hers gave her opportunity to jab him again in the chest. Rayah Maynard hurt.
Jonny thought for a moment. He didn’t want his sons to think that taking a woman out was a bad thing and hell, he wanted to make sure Sadie knew exactly how to be respected by a boyfriend – or girlfriend. It was a situation he’d been trying to avoid in much the same way as he avoided Gran and the potent moonshine disguised as gin that she sold. “Okay.” He looked Rayah straight in the eye. “But you have to set me up with someone. Someone who won’t get all hung up on having one date with a firefighter.”
Her expression was unreadable.
“One date. I set you up.”
He nodded.
“Done.”
Chapter Two
“You seriously offered to set him up on a date? With another woman?”
Rayah looked at Sorrell Slater for help. She hadn’t totally appreciated the affect the announcement was going to have on her rather pregnant oldest friend. It was far too early for her to go into labour, but it wasn’t too late for her to be overtaken with pregnancy hormones and attack her. Or pull her hair. The fact that the last time Keren had pulled Rayah’s hair they had been eight and six respectively had no bearing on this right now.
“You’ve been in lust with him for four years and you offer to set him up? Are you freaking insane?”
Probably. She was well aware that sanity was not a strong point in her family.
“It solves several of his problems.” Rayah watched Sorrell whose expression was thoughtful. Out of the three of them, Sorrell was the serious one, which Rayah figured was what happened when you were a children’s therapist by trade.
“Ray, you’re not meant to be solving his problems: you need to be focusing on yours. Gah!” Keren fell back onto the sofa, displacing a couple of cushions.
“He needs to be seen on a date in Severton. He needs his children to see him having a relationship outside of his friends so he’s more than a parent.” Rayah kept her voice firm and looked at Sorrell. They had talked about this, mainly because she’d been worried about Charlie’s shyness with girls and figured it was down to the fact he’d never really seen his father have anything other than a platonic relationship with a woman.
“But forcing him on a date is possibly not creating the vibes you want Charlie to see. Or Harry.” Sorrell picked up the mug of herbal tea and sniffed it appreciatively. “You needed to give him encouragement, not apply emotional blackmail.”
“Or suggest any other woman than you.” Keren was now rearranging the cushions to create some form of nest. A dragon’s nest.
“Nothing is ever going to happen with me and Jonny. His kids see me as an aunt. He sees me as a little sister. My brother sees him as another brother for me. Maybe I need to find a date myself. Move on. Stop swooning over Jonny Graham.” Rayah reached over to the chunky teapot that her cousin Zack had bought Sorrell for a valentine’s present. She’d given up on Valentine’s Day. There was no pleasure in shitty dates with men who didn’t try to understand her job or her family or her town. And none of them, if she was honest, were Jonny.
Keren shook her head. “You need to flirt with him. Get him to see you in a different light.”
“Or just wear what you had on last time we went out in Manchester. How many men came up to you?”
Rayah shook her head. “I just don’t think that Jonny would be interested if he knew. I think it would make things awkward.” It was a scenario she’d played out in her head many times. They sat down in Jonny’s lounge after she’d babysat the kids so Jonny could go out with Scott and her brother and cousins. He came home, always early, always apologetic for having been out. When he gave her a hug goodnight – which he never did, other than in what she played out in her mind – she made a faux twist to the right and ended up staring into his eyes. According to the romance books she read - although she lied through her teeth and told Keren they were crime instead – this was the moment when they’d end up in a tentative kiss that gradually became deeper, more intense and powerful enough that her panties melted and she spontaneously orgasmed.
However, Rayah was a realist and the fantasy ended with a clanging of heads, apologies for Jonny, an awkward moment before he backed away, saw what she’d been trying to hide and then avoided her for the next twelve years, during which time he remarried and she adopted a herd of alpacas for her own garden. Or, worse, he told her he wasn’t interested.
She needed to move on, before she laid out her heart for him to tread on.
Keren shifted in her nest and stared at Rayah. Since she’d started seeing Scott Maynard – and getting pregnant fairly early on – she’d become a lot more direct and unfiltered.
“Jonny would never consider that you were interested. You think he looks at you as being just Jake’s sister, so won’t he think you see him as being Jake’s friend?” Keren leaned forward to take the mug of tea that Sorrell was offering.
Rayah figured that Keren had a point. “Maybe. But I can’t risk it. And I’ve offered to set him up with someone. The man needs something more than one night stands when he goes out with Jake. Or regular hook ups, whatever it is that he does.”
“Are you sure you’re not interfering, Ray?” Sorrell put her mug down. She was known as the hottest tea drinker in Severton, clearly possessing a mouth made of asbestos.
