“And because it’s been that way, it has to continue to be? If you can change one aspect of your life, Brody, you can change others. You just have to try harder.”

“We grate each other, that’s all. We’re better when we keep our distance. I don’t want Jack to feel that way about me. Maybe I overcompensate.”

“Stop it.” Impatient again, she turned to him. “Is that a happy, well-adjusted, healthy boy?”

“Yeah.” Brody had to smile as Jack filled the air with belly laughs as he rolled over the grass with the puppy climbing all over him.

“You know you’re a good father. It’s taken work, and effort, but for the most part it’s easy for you. Because you love him unconditionally. It’s a lot more work, a lot more effort, Brody, for you to be a good son. Because there are a lot of conditions on the love you have for your father, and his for you.”

“We don’t love each other.”

“Oh, you’re wrong. If you didn’t, you couldn’t hurt each other.”

Brody shrugged that off. She didn’t understand, he thought. How could she? “First time I’ve ever seen him shocked speechless. I don’t believe he’s ever had a woman rip into him that way. Me, I’m getting used to it.”

“Good. Now if you don’t want me ripping into you again anytime soon, you’ll apologize to your mother at the first opportunity. You embarrassed her.”

“Man, you’re strict. Mind if I play with my dog first?”

She arched a brow. “Whose dog?”

“Jack’s. But Jack and I, we’re—”

“A team,” she finished. “Yes, I know.”

Chapter Ten

Kate made her plans, bided her time. And chose her moment.

She knew it was calculated. But really, what was wrong with that? Timing, approach, method—they were essential to any plan. So if she’d waited for that particular moment on a Friday night when Jack was enjoying a night over at his grandparents and Brody was relaxed after a particularly intense bout of lovemaking, it was simply rational planning.

“I’ve got something for you.”

“Something else?” He was, as Jerry would have said, in the zone. “I get dinner, a bottle of wine and a night with a beautiful woman. I don’t think there is anything else.”

With a quiet laugh she slipped out of bed. “Oh, but there is.”

He watched her—always he enjoyed watching the way she moved. He’d come to the conclusion there was more to this ballet business than he’d once thought.

It gave him a great deal of pleasure to see her here, in his room. The room, he thought, he’d been squeezing in hours late at night to finish. He was doing, thank you God, a lot more than sleeping there now.

The walls were finished and painted a strong, deep blue. Kate favored strong colors. The woodwork, stripped down to its natural tone and glossily sealed, was a good accent.

He hoped to get to the floors soon. Curtains and that kind of thing would be dealt with eventually.