Chapter Seventeen
Carter
Tomorrow. The parts will be shipped tomorrow. Which means I’ll have them on Wednesday. And that means her car will be ready to go by Friday.
I knew it would happen. I’ve anticipated it. Expected it. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it.
And I really, really don’t like it.
Ask her to stay.
It’s a ludicrous thought after only knowing her for seven days, especially when she hid out in the basement for two of them.
So, five days then. I’ve known Kenna Bennett for five short days. Yet the pull I feel toward her is gargantuan.
And that look. Man. All I’ve been able to think about today is that look. She wants me. She just doesn’t want to want me.
Because she’s leaving? Or is it more?
I’m dying to know everything about her. Where is the money coming from? Why is she here? Who is she running away from? Is there anything I can do to get her to stay?
I’m on towing duty today, so when I get a text, I slip on my coat and head out. The job is located halfway between here and White Plains. The entire way, I think of the drive to the pool yesterday and how Kenna and I kept stealing glances at each other as the kids belted out songs behind us.
I pound my fists into the steering wheel when I almost plow into the van in front of me at a stoplight. I’m distracted. She’s distracting me.
The light turns green and something catches my eye. It’s my car. Traveling in the opposite direction, back toward Calloway Creek. Kenna was in White Plains.
But… why?
I just add it to the ever-growing list of things I want to know about her.
Friday, my brain reminds me. I only have four more days to make something happen. What, I’m not sure. But something.
I get the broken-down Acura into a stall and park the tow truck around back. When I enter through the back door of the shop, Lincoln and Dax are in a heated discussion.
“You’re wrong,” Dax says.
“Have you seen last week’s reports?” Lincoln paces behind the counter. “They’re shit. And it’s just week one. What happens if it continues to get worse?”
“The weather was bad is all.”
“Did you even bother to drive by the place? I did. Their stalls were full—unlike ours. So, it doesn’t seem their business was impacted by weather at all.”
I approach, hoping to be a voice of reason.
“Listen guys, we all know business will be affected somewhat, but let’s not jump to conclusions.
It’s a new store. People will try it out.
They’ll compare prices. In and out times.
Friendliness of staff. But they’re a chain.
Not as personal, and certainly more expensive than us as they need to cover franchise costs and stuff.
Most customers will try them and come back. I’d bet on it.”
“Are you sure?” Lincoln scoffs, shaking his head. “Because you are betting on it. You’re betting our shop on it.”
“Being a bit overdramatic aren’t we?” I say with a raised brow.
Lincoln studies me. “Weren’t you the very person who just last week said we’d feel the impact? What happened since then to make you so goddamn optimistic?”
“It’s the girl,” Mia says, walking by us and dropping the words like an unexploded bomb on her way to the service bays.
“What girl?” Lincoln asks.
“Have you been living under a rock?” Dax says. “The chick who’s living in Carter’s basement with her kid. The one he towed in last week.” He thumbs to the rear of the store when Lincoln still isn’t getting it. “The Lexus LX?”
“Oh right. Sorry, I’ve been a bit distracted this week.”
Dax elbows me. “Tiffany’s been home all week.” He snickers and does an obscene gesture with his hands.
“So, about this girl,” Linc says.
I hang the keys to the tow truck on the hook by the door. “I believe we were talking shop.”
Lincoln follows me like a puppy. “Who is she? And why is she living in your house?”
A text comes through, and I hold up my phone then swipe the keys off the hook where I just placed them. “Duty calls.”
I got out of the conversation. This time. But that doesn’t mean I don’t spend the rest of the day having one inside my own head. Because that’s where she is, morning, noon, and night, as apparently the mysterious, gorgeous brunette has taken up residence there.
~ ~ ~
Christian looks back at me, his head inside the refrigerator. “Two burgers or four?”
“Two.”
“You sure?”
“I ran into Kenna and Amelia in the yard when I pulled up. They’re eating downstairs.”
I don’t mean to sound so fucking pathetic, and my intuitive kid totally picks up on it.
He pulls out the meat and puts it on the counter. “Okay, Dad. I have to ask. What’s going on with you and Kenna? I mean, you like her, right?”
“It’s complicated, son.”
“Because they’re leaving after you fix their car?”
“Something like that.”
“Still, if you like her, you should tell her. Because maybe she doesn’t know you like her, and that might change things.”
I open a beer, take a drink, and set it aside to start making hamburger patties. “I’m pretty sure she knows. And I’m pretty sure it doesn’t matter.”
“Well, it should. And I can tell she likes you. Bug can too. Yesterday at the pool, Kenna couldn’t keep her eyes off you.”
“She was watching Amelia, not me.”
He laughs. “Dad, I know I’m only a teenager and all, but I think I can tell the difference in how someone looks at their kid versus someone they want to, um…”
I look up, amused. “Someone they want to what?”
He shrugs. “Date?”
I chuckle slightly at his diplomatic choice of words.
“As long as we’re talking about how people look at each other, how about we discuss how you’ve been looking at Bug? Because I have eyes too, you know.”
“Way to turn the conversation around.”
I stop what I’m doing and lean against the counter. “Seriously, Christian. It’s been a while since we’ve talked about this. I know you say you’re just friends, but everyone can see it’s more than that. Is there anything you want to ask me? Tell me? Confide in me?”
He gets French fries from the freezer. “I think I’m good.”
“You’d better be. Because Asher will have both our asses if this goes sideways.”
“You don’t have to worry about me, Dad.”
“Son, it’s a fundamental right of every parent to worry about their kids.”
“Yeah, I can see that, especially with Kenna and Amelia. She won’t let her out of her sight. Do you think that’s strange?”
I shrug. “Maybe not so much when she’s in a new place where she doesn’t know anyone.”
His head tilts. “You like Amelia too, don’t you?”
I can’t help it when I smile. “That little girl is messy and loud and talks more than any four-year-old I know, but yeah, I guess she’s grown on me.”
“I like her too. Both of them. And just so you know, I was serious when I said I’d be okay with it if they stuck around.”
“Yeah.” I nod and pick up the plate of hamburgers to head out back to grill them. “Yeah, I would too.”
~ ~ ~
Fresh from a shower and wrapped in a towel that smells like it’s been sitting around far too long, I go to the hallway closet to get a fresh one.
“Oh…uh…” Kenna is standing at the end of the hallway wearing the same robe she wore to breakfast. And looking completely embarrassed. “I’m sorry. I knocked but… okay, yeah, I’m just going to head back down.”
I try not to laugh at how flustered she is at my nearly naked presence.
“Kenna, it’s okay. What’s up?”
“I, uh, don’t know. I mean… I forgot.” Her eyes are a little glazed as they wander across my chest, her voice a little breathy, and I’m not sure she even realizes it.
She shakes her head and purses her lips, her focus shifting to just over my shoulder.
“Um… the toilet. It won’t stop running. It’s not leaking or anything, and I wiggled the handle and took the lid off and pulled on the chain thingy, but it didn’t work.
” Finally, her gaze meets mine. “I know your specialty is cars, but you seem pretty handy with all the other stuff, so I thought maybe you knew how to fix toilets?”
The overhead light in the hallway is bright. It’s hard to miss the fact that her nipples are stiff and poking brilliantly against the satiny material of the robe that barely reaches her knees.
I lean against the wall, trying to come up with a way to prolong this conversation.
Okay, maybe not the conversation, but I definitely want to prolong the way she’s looking at me.
It’s just like how she did it this morning.
Her usual soft eyes are ablaze with heat and passion.
Lust even. And damn it, it has my dick stirring. Christian was absolutely fucking right.
“I might know a thing or two.”
Just as she did this morning, she looks at my semi-erection.
And it does nothing but fuel the fire. I don’t turn away.
In fact, I take a few steps toward her, standing unabashedly, waiting to see what she’ll do.
Last night, I walked out of the room. But tonight, when it’s just the two of us, I really want to see where this will take us.
I stare at her. She stares at me. The energy between us is practically crackling in the air. My cock begins to throb, and I’m a little concerned it will dislodge the barely-hanging-on towel around my waist.
Her shyness gets the better of her in our standoff and she glances away. “It’s not a big deal. I can see you’re busy. It can wait until tomorrow.” She turns like she’s going to walk away, then she hesitates like she doesn’t want to go.
Knowing my days with her are numbered, and not wanting to waste this opportunity, I grab her elbow and gently tug her toward me. “Kenna.” I look down into her eyes, my gaze softer this time, saying all the romantic shit my mouth isn’t capable of articulating.
She swallows and looks to the right, toward my son’s darkened room. “Where’s Christian?”
“At Bug’s until ten. Where’s Amelia?”
She chews on her lower lip for a half-second. “Down for the night.”
I put my other hand on her arm and close the remaining distance between us. “So we’re two single parents alone for the night.”
“It appears so.”
Liking her reply, I take it a step further, figuring it’s time to sink or swim. “And one of us is severely overdressed.”
“Yes.” She gazes up at me with heavy lidded eyes. “One of us most definitely is.”
And then… then she does something that completely surprises the shit out of me. She removes my towel.
Holy mother of God.