Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Kate
I turn off the stove, not wanting to burn the place down. Mark would be devastated…
My breath catches as Luke turns off the lights and then creeps to the front door.
The woods are full of all kinds of interesting creaks and groans, but this was definitely scratching, and it was definitely on the porch.
Luke slides the door open, the wood only making the slightest squeak as he pokes his head out.
“Argh,” he growls out and then I hear it, the skittering of little feet.
“What was it?” I gasp, my hand coming to my throat.
He closes the door, flipping the light back on. “Raccoon looking for a handout.”
I give the smallest laugh on a long breath of air. I should have known.
Flipping the stove back on, I finish dinner, just a simple stir fry. Our diet has been short of vegetables, though, and I could use some.
“Things to know about the cabin,” I say as I plate. “It has a very small well for water, so we have a running toilet and fresh, drinkable water in the sinks, but there isn’t enough pressure for a shower so…”
“So?”
“We bathe in the creek.”
I set the plates down in front of him. He lifts his fork but waits for me to sit too. “Fine by me as long as we’re bathing together.”
I sit down, picking up my fork too. For a guy that told me he doesn’t do relationships, he sure does do intimacy. From that little show for the waitress, to the way he’s always touching me, I’ve never felt more… wanted.
“You know,” I lean forward, nipping at my lip. “The best time for a bath is at night.”
He leans forward too. “I like where your head’s at.”
I grin, my chin dipping as I look down at my plate. Dropping my fork, I scoop up some stir fry, taking a bite. Glancing up at Luke through my lashes, I try to keep my heart from racing.
He’s just so much man. He sits at the table, eating the dinner I made for him, arms flexing. “This is delicious, Kate. Thank you.”
I don’t mean to, but in my head, we start playing house.
Like me cooking for him, spending every night wrapped up in his arms. But I’m in med school. I have this whole plan for a career, and it was never supposed to involve a guy.
But right about now…
“You know, I’m not a bad cook either. I’ll cook for you tomorrow night.”
Even better.
We finish eating, and Luke gets up, clearing my plate and washing the dishes. No dishwasher here.
I lean back in my chair, just watching him work. I swear, I could fall for this guy. Fall hard.
The only time I’ve ever been in love was when I was getting my biology degree at NYU. I fell head over heels, but unlike with Luke, I waited to have sex because I wanted it to be really special.
Found him in bed with my roommate one night. That one was fun.
There is no way that Luke is the guy who doesn’t break my heart. “Watcha thinkin’ back there, kitten?”
I roll my eyes. “Kitten? Please.”
He drains the sink, drying his hands. “You’ve been quiet tonight.”
“Have I?” I shrug. “Being here is stirring old feelings, I guess.” New ones too. “I told you, Mark was one of the really good guys.”
“What happened? Between him and your mom?”
I shrug. “I think she got bored. But she ended up going on a bender in Reno. Found a new guy, who didn’t last long, but he stuck long enough that she dumped Mark. When she and the new guy burned out, I made her move back to Colorado. It’s the only place I was ever happy. And even though she left Mark…”
“You didn’t.”
I shook my head. “There was one guy she dated while I was in high school…” I stop, looking away. I don’t want to tell this story and I’m sorry I started it. I’m not sure what’s gotten into me tonight.
Luke squats down in front of me, taking my hands in his. “Kate.”
No kitten . No love . My throat burns. “Sorry. We don’t have to do this, actually.”
He lets go of my hands and slides his palms over my legs until he’s holding my hips. “If you tell me, I’ll tell you one of my secrets.”
I feel tears burning my eyes. Part of me wants to get it out. I didn’t even tell my mom or Mark what actually happened. I just refused to go home with her as long as that guy was in the house. Him or me… She capitulated when Mark backed me up.
“I think what that makes it hard to tell anyone is that there is a piece of me that worries what happened was my fault.”
“Baby girl,” he whispers, leaning forward to plant a kiss into the crown of my hair. “I know it wasn’t your fault. So why don’t you tell me?”
“My mom was gone for three days, probably on a bender. She did that a lot. And her boyfriend of the time, he got more and more restless. I…” I swallow. “One day when I got home from school, he just…”
“What did he do?” His voice is so soft, so soothing, I almost miss the steel underneath it.
“He pinned me to a wall,” I curl down until my face is in the crook of his neck. “Touched me a lot of places that I…”
“How’d you get away?”
“I broke a vase over his head and knocked him out.”
“Good girl,” Luke brushes my hair back from my face, stroking his fingers through the strands. His touch is so gentle, his gaze unreadable. “What happened next?”
“I got the hell out of there. Ran to Mark. I told him enough that when my mom finally came back, he threatened to call the state unless she kicked the guy out.”
“What was the guy’s name?”
“It doesn’t matter now.”
“Tell me anyway, sweetheart.”
“Chris Stanton.”
“Chris Stanton,” he repeats like he’s trying to memorize it. “Chris Stanton.”
“Like I said. Part of me has always worried?—”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
I shake my head. “I said yes to Vincent Vendetti when he asked me out. Maybe I just attract…”
“There are a lot of terrible people out there, Kate. Running into a few of them isn’t a reflection on you.”
Maybe. Maybe not. I am my mother’s daughter.
“Tell me yours now.”
He draws in a deep breath, a grimace crossing his face. “I… uh… I can’t read so well.”
My brows draw together. “What?”
He shrugs. “I graduated high school. But I struggle to remember numbers, order words on paper. You know how I had you read me the number on the burner? Navigate the signs out of Vegas? I mix shit up in my head.”
I blink up at him. He’s so confident. Strong. “But that’s okay. Your job is probably perfect for you and?—”
“My job?” he looks at me with confusion.
“Construction?”
His eyes widen in surprise before a look crosses his face like he’s in pain. He runs a hand through his hair. “Love, I don’t operate a bulldozer.”
“What do you do then?”
“I’m more of a project manager.” A muscle in his jaw tics and my brows draw together as I try to understand. “Though I’ve been struggling with the job.”
“But you’re gainfully employed?” I nip at my lip knowing that I’m giving my own fears away. Bum magnet at your service.
“Gainfully employed? Yeah. I’m employed.”
I let out a long, relieved breath. “Thank goodness.”
He gives me a smile, reaching for my face too, and gives me a long slow kiss. “So you’re worried that you…”
“Attract the wrong kind of guy,” I shrug, laying it out there. “And you’re worried that you’re not smart enough?”
“And that I’m drafting off my family. You know?”
I shake my head. “If I were to guess, they think about you the way I do. There isn’t anyone I’d rather have by my side when trouble comes knocking.”
The small smile on his lips spreads, making him toe-curling gorgeous. “Thanks for that, love.”
I draw in a deep breath. “I know this thing with us is convenient and temporary…”
His smile slips. “Okay.”
“But I just want you to know that I think you’re a Mark.” I need him to understand. Even when things end…
“A Mark?”
“A guy that I can count on. You know?”
“Kate, you have trouble anytime, anywhere, you call me.” And then he kisses me. There is no tongue, but somehow, there is so much feeling in it. Like we’re sealing some pact.
I cling to him as he kisses me over and over, finally opening my lips and he brushes his tongue against mine. He pulls me down off the chair, until I’m sitting in his lap, both of us on the floor.
This kiss is different. It’s tender, it’s warm. The heat is slower to unfurl but I’ve never felt safer than I do in his arms right now.
I wonder what I’d give to stay here. I’d guess almost anything.
He starts to get up, pulling me with him. “Your arm,” I cry out as he lifts me up.
“Starting to feel better,” he answers before he captures my mouth again. “And just so we’re clear, we’re taking that bath and we’re taking the time to strip naked first. No clothes tonight.”
I should have known he was successful. He’s got this way of telling me what to do that brokers no argument. “What else?” I say, the heat instantly turning up.
“You promised to suck my cock.”
“I did.”
“And I’m going to eat you out until you scream my name. No one around here to be quiet for.”
Did I say the heat was building slowly?
I’m soaked in a second and so ready for whatever he wants to do.