Given all that, it was little wonder he was destined to cave in to insanity when he followed her into the kitchen. One instant he'd been defending himself against her fury over his overbearing att.i.tude, the next he'd been hauling her into his arms to silence her with a mind-numbing kiss. He was surprised she hadn't slugged him.

Of course, that could be because she'd been too stunned, he thought, a grin tugging at his lips. He recalled her dazed expression when he'd brusquely apologized and walked away. A tiny, satisfied sensation stole through him. G.o.d, he was such a man, man, he thought with disgust, taking pleasure in having caught a woman off guard and having gotten her to respond to him. Responses earned that way didn't mean anything. Not really, anyway. he thought with disgust, taking pleasure in having caught a woman off guard and having gotten her to respond to him. Responses earned that way didn't mean anything. Not really, anyway.

"What's your problem?" Hank asked, joining him in the sleeping quarters where Sean had retreated when they got back to the fire station.

"Nothing," Sean lied, deliberately stretching out on top of the sheets as if he'd just come in to catch a quick nap.

"Woman troubles," Hank a.s.sessed knowingly. His own mood seemed to be much improved. "You and Deanna have a fight?"

Sean ignored the question. "You and Ruby make up?"

"Ruby and I never fought."

"Could have fooled me," Sean said.

Hank's gaze narrowed. "And you're deliberately changing the subject. Why is that, I wonder? You've been uptight as h.e.l.l ever since you came out of the kitchen at the restaurant. Did Deanna tell you to get lost?"

That could be one interpretation of her angry diatribe about his meddling in her life, Sean decided. But if her words had held him at a distance, the way she'd returned his kiss had been the exact opposite.

Geez, what was happening to him? He was hanging around his bunk pondering the implications of a stupid kiss. He never did stuff like this. A woman kissed him or she didn't. She slept with him or she didn't. Her choice, always. He never got hung up over it one way or the other. That Deanna had him weighing the meaning of it all was a very bad sign. It was time to run for the hills.

But he didn't want to run anywhere...except straight back to the restaurant so he could kiss her again and make sure that the wicked wonder of the first time had been real.

Deanna sat at Ruby's kitchen table with her jar of tips and began sorting the money. She did it once a month, then deposited the cash into her savings account, the one she'd started when she'd been convinced that if she planned ahead she could put enough money aside to buy a little house someday for herself and Kevin. The costs a.s.sociated with getting back on her feet after the fire had wiped out every last penny she'd acc.u.mulated to that point.

Kevin wandered into the kitchen, his eyes widening at the sight of all the wrinkled dollar bills and change. "Wow," he said, climbing into a chair opposite her and propping his elbows on the table for a closer look. "That's a lot of money. Are we rich finally?"

She smiled at the question. "Hardly."

He studied her thoughtfully. "Do we have enough to get our own place yet?"

Deanna's head snapped up at the plaintive note behind the question. "What's wrong? I thought you liked staying here with Ruby."

"Sure," he said at once. "Ruby's the best."

"Then what's the problem?"

"I was thinking maybe if you and me had our own place, Sean would come to see us."

It wasn't the first time Sean's name had come up around the house. Kevin had been quoting him nonstop since the fire. Going to the fire station and then seeing him at Joey's had only reinforced his hero worship. In Kevin's view, Sean Devaney pretty much hung the moon. Deanna knew allowing that to continue carried risks, but she didn't want to steal the one bright spot in her son's life. Still, she had to caution him against expecting too much.

"Honey, you can't expect Sean to come around. He has his own life."

"But he likes me. He said so."

"He's also a very busy man. He has an important job, and I'm sure he has his own grown-up friends that he likes to spend time with when he's off. I don't think he's staying away because we live with Ruby."

"But I'm his friend, too," Kevin said reasonably. "And if we had our own place, I could invite him to dinner. He'd come. I know he would, especially if you fixed spaghetti like Joey's."

"Then he did like it?" Deanna asked. She'd wondered about that. She'd intended to ask him, but they'd gotten sidetracked in the kitchen. She nearly groaned at the understatement. They'd gotten more than sidetracked. Every rational thought in her head had flown straight out the window when he'd kissed her. Even now, just thinking about the way his mouth had felt on hers, she had to drag her attention back to Kevin.

"Uh-huh," he said. "Sean said it was the best spaghetti he'd had since he was a little kid. So if you promised to fix it, I know he'd come for dinner."

Deanna sighed. "Kevin, you know that I'm not even home for dinner most nights. That wouldn't be any different if we had our own place."

His expression turned mulish. "You never want me to have my friends over."

A headache was beginning to pound at his relentless complaining. "Sweetie, that's not true," she said, trying to keep her voice even.

"It is so true," he insisted. "You always say I can have them over when you're here, but you're never here."

Deanna considered the accusation and realized it was possible Kevin had gotten it exactly right. She always meant to let him invite his friends over, but there were simply too few free hours in her week, and she didn't want Ruby to have to baby-sit Kevin's friends. It was enough that she was willing to look after Kevin.

"Why don't you go call them right now and ask them to come over?" she suggested. "We can order a pizza."

"I don't want a pizza. I want Sean to come over," Kevin said, clearly impatient that she'd missed his point.

"Not today," she said flatly.

"Then can I go see him at the fire station again?"

"No."

"Why not?" he asked, clearly warming to this new idea. "I could call first and ask if it's okay. If you can't go, Ruby would probably take me. She probably wants to see Hank, anyway." His expression turned serious. "I still don't get why they fight so much, but I think she really, really likes Hank, don't you? And he's kinda cool, not as cool as Sean, but okay."

Deanna wished she could be as sure of Ruby's feelings as Kevin seemed to be, but Ruby never mentioned the man's name. That might be a dead giveaway that she cared...or it might mean the opposite, that she hadn't given him a thought. It wasn't as if he was hanging around, at least not while Deanna was around. And since Ruby didn't have a phone at the apartment, the two of them couldn't be spending hours on the phone talking, either.

When she didn't respond to Kevin's question, he slid his chair closer. "So, is it okay? Can I call Sean?"

Deanna knew she ought to nip this whole thing in the bud, but the hopeful expression in Kevin's eyes kept her from saying no outright. After all, Sean was a grown man. If Kevin was making a nuisance of himself, Sean could find some way to tell him not to come by the station. And Ruby knew how to protect herself if she wanted to steer clear of Hank. She certainly hadn't seemed all that upset that he'd joined her after dinner the other night at Joey's. Every time Deanna had glanced their way, the two of them had been laughing.

She reached over and brushed Kevin's hair off his forehead. He needed a haircut, but he'd refused, telling her he wanted his hair to be as 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 Devaney again. 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 G.o.d, 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 s.e.xy man kissed you with mind-blowing pa.s.sion 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 approval.

"Smart?"

"Always leave 'em wanting more. I think that's especially applicable in your case. If he'd swooped in for another kiss, you probably would have slugged him."

Deanna regarded her with dismay. "I do not make a habit of slugging men."

"Only because none prior to this have been brave enough to ignore the Do Not Touch warnings posted all around you."

Deanna took an exaggerated look around. "I don't see any signs."

"Trust me. Men do. Our Sean is a very brave man. He gets my vote."

"Vote for what?"

"Guy you're most likely to sleep with."

Deanna ignored the fluttering that Ruby's words set off in the pit of her stomach and held up her hand. "Hold it right there. It's a pretty big leap from letting the man kiss me once to hopping into bed with him."

"Sometimes yes, sometimes no," Ruby replied knowingly. "I'm betting it's not much more than a baby step for Sean."

"Then isn't it a good thing I don't intend to see him again?" Deanna shot back.

"Coward," Ruby accused softly.

Deanna met her friend's direct gaze without flinching. "Darn straight."

For nearly a month now, Deanna had been going out of her way to avoid him, Sean concluded when Kevin and Ruby showed up at the fire station without her yet again. It was getting on his nerves. So was watching this bizarre dance Hank and Ruby seemed to be doing. They barely spoke. Hank merely watched her as if she possessed the key to eternal youth.

After observing this same ritual for an entire afternoon, Sean finally decided he'd had enough. Since Hank wouldn't answer his questions, he decided to try Ruby. He sent Kevin off to the kitchen to bring back sodas for all of them.

"You and Hank have a fight?" he inquired as casually as possible.

Ruby regarded him with an unflinching gaze. "No. Why do you ask?"

Sean shrugged, uncomfortable in his unfamiliar role as meddler. "Seemed for a while as if you two were really hitting it off. Now it doesn't."

Her expression brightened. "Sort of like you and Deanna?"

He frowned at that. "Who said anything about Deanna?"