Jodi blinked and swallowed a laugh, but the look she shot him was one of pure fun. ‘Jamie, Mitch is your daddy.’
At least she didn’t say I’m his man-mummy.
Jamie looked over at Mitch and shrugged. ‘Okay.’
‘You can call him Daddy now, not Mitch anymore.’
‘Okay. Can I have my drink now?’
Mitch stared at this kid whom he’d fathered. Who’d taught him to be so offhand? If he hadn’t known better he’d have thought he’d been around Jamie all his short life. Well, he, for one, was changing. ‘Hey, Jamie, want a hug first?’
‘Yes, please. I like hugs.’
And when small arms wound too tightly around Mitch’s neck, he grinned. ‘So do I, Jamie. So do I.’
‘Phew. For a moment there I thought we were in for an argument.’ Shock receded from Jodi’s eyes, replaced by love for her boy. ‘But he came through. As he always does.’ She scrubbed her eyes with the back of her hand.
Mitch was torn between holding the squirming bundle in his arms and reaching for Jodi to haul her against him. Somehow he managed to juggle Jamie and snag his mother. They sat in a squashed heap on the couch holding on to each other until Jamie wriggled out. Which was almost immediately.
Mitch didn’t care. His heart was bursting. He’d done something right for Jamie. And himself. Another step ticked off. Except this one was so huge. Was this how mountaineers felt? Exhilarating now the worry was over, huh?
‘Man-mummy, want a coffee?’ Jodi asked as she extricated herself from his hug.
‘Watch it,’ he growled, trying to hold in a laugh and failing. As the laughter rolled out of him he felt the best he’d done in a very long time. Since the day Jodi had dumped him. Yeah, he could get used to all this commitment stuff after all. So far it hadn’t hurt a bit.
*
Still feeling the effects of a good night’s sleep, Jodi wandered out into the kitchen in her thick pyjamas and warm bathrobe, looking for a cup of tea.
‘Hi, sleepyhead. Thought you’d never wake up.’ Mitch sat at the table with Jamie on his knee getting stuck into a plate of toast and honey.
‘Hi, Mummy. Mitch let me make my own toast.’
‘That explains the honey on your forehead.’ Jodi kissed his cheek. And got a whiff of delicious aftershave. Hurriedly stepping away, she busied herself with filling the kettle, finding a mug and the teabags. Too early in the morning for thinking about sexy men. Gees, showed how bad things were. There had been a time when it was never too early. Or too late, come to think of it. ‘So you’re still Mitch, then?’
He shrugged, apparently totally unfazed. ‘Better than man-mummy.’
‘You should’ve woken me. You’ll be late for work.’ She yawned and stretched her arms high above her head.
Mitch’s gaze seemed stuck on her chest. ‘It’s Saturday. I’m not going in.’
The mug banged down on the bench. ‘What?’ Was he all right? Never had Mitch not gone to work on the weekend. Saturdays and Sundays were just normal days in his book.
‘I’ve got more important things to do than look after patients today.’ He sounded so smug.
Grabbing the milk from the fridge, she poured some into the tea and dropped down on a chair before her legs gave out in shock. ‘What’s more important than your department?’
‘My son. And my son’s mother.’ Definitely smug. And smiling. ‘You never thought you’d hear me say that, did you?’
‘Honestly? Not before aliens took over the planet.’ The tea scalded her tongue. Damn. ‘Okay, spill. What’s going on?’
‘Jamie’s got dialysis at ten.’
‘Ye-es?’
‘You’ve got an appointment in Parnell at nine-thirty.’
‘I have? Since when? You’ve got the wrong woman, surely?’ Weirder and weirder. She held up her hand in a stop sign. ‘Mitch, did you take something you shouldn’t? Should I be taking you to get your stomach pumped out?’
Jamie wriggled off Mitch’s knee and took his plate over to the bench, reaching high to get it over the edge. Jodi automatically reached too, and saved the dish. When she sat back and reconnected with Mitch she saw his gaze had focused on her chest again. Glancing down, she muttered under her breath and tugged her robe closed over her breasts.
Mitch stood and began clearing the table of crumbs. ‘I thought I’d take Jamie for his appointment while you go to a spa. The Indulgence Spa, actually. I’ve booked you a half-day session, longer if you want it.’
It was hard to talk when her mouth was hanging halfway to her knees. ‘A spa?’ Her? When was the last time she’d pampered herself? How old was Jamie? Three years four months and some days. That’s how long ago.
Mitch towered over her, tilting her head back with his finger under her chin. ‘If you really don’t want to go then I won’t argue. But before you say flat out no, think about it. You’re exhausted.’
She nodded. ‘But that only means I’ll fall asleep on the massage bed.’
Mitch ignored her. ‘I doubt you’ve done anything for yourself in all the time since Jamie was born. I want you to feel better within yourself, to luxuriate with a massage, facial and any other woman thing you want.’
That was quite a speech. ‘Thank you, but I always go with Jamie for his treatments.’
‘Jodi.’ Mitch lowered his head to brush her mouth with his lips. ‘He’ll be fine with me. I am a doctor. More than that, I’m his father and I’m trying to be one. You have to let me do things like this.’
‘That includes looking out for me, too?’ The moment she’d spoken her lips sought his again. Finding them, she pressed up against him. How had she survived all this time without these lips to kiss, lips that teased and tormented, caressed and heated her up?
‘You’re part of the deal. Jodi and Jamie.’ He leaned into the kiss, opening under her mouth, his tongue slipping across hers. His hands gripped her shoulders holding her in place. He needn’t have worried. She wasn’t going anywhere.
‘Mummy, what are you doing?’ Jamie tugged at the belt on her robe and she jerked away from Mitch whose eyes were filled with laughter.
‘I’m kissing him.’ That’s what mummies and daddies did in an ideal world. Not as good as the whole works—commitment, love, sharing. ‘It’s a start.’
‘It sure is,’ said a bemused Mitch from the other side of the kitchen, where he’d suddenly become frantically busy running water into the sink. Then he twisted the tap off and turned to face her, his face now completely serious. ‘I don’t know what you want from me other than to be a part of Jamie’s life. I haven’t thought that far ahead yet. But you can believe me when I say I accept my role in Jamie’s life. I am his father and nothing is ever going to change that. Nothing will take that away from me.’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
JODI SCRAPED THE roast lamb and vegetables off her plate into the rubbish bin. The racket made by dropping the plate and cutlery into the sink jarred her teeth, and cranked up her temper even more.
‘You haven’t changed one bit, Mitchell Maitland. All this talk about wanting to help me, to be there for Jamie, and where are you now? Dinner was ready two hours ago.’
All that pampering at the spa last weekend did not make up for this. All the sweet words, the kind gestures, doing the involved-father acts did not make up for his lateness.
‘You could’ve at least phoned or texted.’ Yeah, right.
She’d gagged, trying to swallow a mouthful of the delicious-smelling dinner she’d prepared. After waiting an hour and a half, giving him the excuse that he really had got caught up in an emergency at work, she’d carved a slice of the succulent meat and spooned gravy over that and the vegetables. But the moment she sat at the carefully laid table her stomach had started churning. Not wanting to let Mitch win, she’d forced her teeth to chew, her throat to swallow. She hadn’t got past that first taste.
Covering the rest of the meat, she left it to go cold. The vegetables looked soggy and flat in the cooled
roasting pan sitting on the stovetop. She lifted them onto a plate to set aside. The pan went into the sink to soak.
‘Note to self: don’t ever think you can prepare a meal for Mitch that he’s going to sit down and eat with you on time.’
She flicked the kettle on. Maybe tea would be okay in her delicate stomach.
‘Second note to self: remember the lessons learned the first time you had anything to do with Mitchell Maitland.’