Chapter Twenty-one
Carter
She’s been on my mind all day.
All. Fucking. Day.
Last night was incredible. Not just because of the sex—which was, let’s face it, the best I’ve ever had—but what happened after. Getting to know her. Just lying beside her. Being in my bed had never felt so right.
But the way she ran from me this morning after I caught her with the coffee. And then the sound of the chain getting locked in place… Why?
Is it because she thinks I’ll look at her differently after she told me about the escort thing?
I don’t. I mean, I probably should. I searched up paid female escorts today, and ninety-nine percent of what I found is that they’re basically prostitution rings.
But somehow, I believe her. Her willingness to open up to me last night.
The way she looked at me when she told me.
And why would she have any reason to lie to me when she’ll be out of my life in a matter of days?
Then it dawns on me why she ran away. Distance. She’s trying to keep it. To protect herself? To protect me?
I turn onto my street, still driving the shop loaner. Fuck that! If she’s only here for a few more nights, I’m going to do my damnedest to make sure most of them are spent with me.
Entering the mudroom from the garage, I hear laughter. Kenna’s laughter. And I swear to God it pierces right through my chest wall and into my heart. Everything about that woman is amazing. Her laugh. Her smile. Her body. The way she looks at her daughter. Hell, the way she looks at me.
I don’t round the corner quite yet. I hang my coat on a peg and listen.
“You’re really good at this,” Christian says. “Thanks for helping me.”
“You’re welcome. It’s nice to know I haven’t forgotten everything I learned in high school and college.”
“You went to college?”
“For a few years. I didn’t finish because I had Amelia.”
“My dad didn’t go to college.”
“That’s surprising,” she says. “Especially for someone who seems so smart and owns a business.”
“I want to go to college.”
“Oh, yeah? What will you study?”
“Mechanical engineering. I want to work with cars, too. Race cars. I want to design and build them. Fix them. Make them more efficient and faster.”
Enjoying another proud dad moment, I finally enter the room. “Hey, guys.” I go over and glance down at Christian’s homework. My eyes go wide and dart to Kenna. “You know advanced polynomial theorems?”
She sheepishly folds her hands beneath her chin. Then she bats her eyes and quips, “Not just a pretty face.”
I laugh. “No, no. You’re definitely not just that.
But wow, nice work. I admit I have to google a lot of this stuff.
I swear I don’t remember having to learn this when I was in school.
” I put down the two pizza boxes in my hands and grasp Christian’s shoulder.
“Too bad she’s not going to be around next year when you take calculus. ”
Kenna’s face suddenly falls into a frown. Is she thinking what I am, also sad that she won’t be here?
I tap on a pizza box. “There’s enough for everyone. Stay for dinner as a thank you for helping out with his homework?”
She eyes the door to the basement as if she can’t get away fast enough. “I don’t know.”
Amelia comes dancing in from the other room. “I smell pizza!”
I lean close to Kenna’s ear. “Say yes.”
Kenna does the head shake. The one that tells me she’s going to say yes even before she says it.
“Fine.” She gives me a quick roll of her eyes. “But only if one of those is pepperoni.”
I smile. “One supreme. One pepperoni.”
“Yay!” Amelia sings.
I glance at my grimy fingernails. “Just let me wash up first. You all go ahead.”
Amelia goes to open the box on top, but Kenna stops her. “Baby, it’s not polite to start eating until everyone is sitting at the table. Go finish your drawing and let Carter clean up.”
“Okay, Mommy.”
Kenna stands and goes to the cabinet for plates. I love how she knows her way around my kitchen.
“I’ll just be a few minutes.”
After the quickest of all showers, I’m walking back down the hallway in five minutes. I stop and watch Amelia coloring at the coffee table for a few seconds before striding closer. “What are you drawing?”
She points. “This is you. That’s Christian. And here’s me and Mommy. And this is our house.”
Fuck me.
She’s drawn a picture of a family.
I look over at Kenna pouring milk into a glass, and know that after last night, the picture Amelia has drawn is exactly how I want it to be.
Kenna catches me looking at her. Does she regret last night? Or did she spend the day like I had, recalling every single detail of our encounter?
When her cheeks redden, her real desires show. She wants this. She wants me.
Amelia tugs on my sleeve, then holds out the drawing. “I made it for you.”
I take it, looking at it with the same pride I looked at Christian’s homework. “Thanks, pumpkin. I’ll treasure it always.”
Glancing back at Kenna, I know truer words have never been spoken.
Amelia’s little hand slips into mine. “Can we have pizza now?”
“We sure can. I’m starving.”
“Me too. Mommy made me eat grapes and cheese and crackers and…” She turns to Kenna. “What was the yucky meat stuff?”
“Prosciutto.”
“Yeah, that.” Amelia’s nose crinkles in disgust.
“Interesting lunch,” I say.
Kenna sits down at the table, and Amelia plonks down next to her. Christian sits next to Amelia, leaving the only empty seat next to Kenna. Which is exactly how I like it.
“Allie took us on a tour of the winery today,” she tells me.
My eyebrows hit my hairline. “Really? I didn’t know you two were talking.”
“We weren’t. I mean besides the other night. She came over this morning and asked. It was a lot of fun. I’ve never been to a winery before. And her family… they’re all so down to earth even though they’re gazillionaires.”
“You were expecting them to be arrogant and hold their intellectual and moral superiority over you?”
She chuckles. “Something like that.”
“Sorry they disappointed you.” I tap her shoulder with mine, making sure the sarcasm lands right.
“Now, if you want to see entitled rich kids, you don’t have to go far.
I’ll just introduce you to my McQuaid cousins.
” I draw my brows and ponder that thought.
“Although, now that I think about it, most of them don’t act like that anymore. ”
“Really? Why not?”
I get up and pull two beers from the fridge, passing her one. When she takes it, our fingers touch and I don’t let go just yet. “I guess meeting the right person can change a guy.”
She blushes, and I know she’s feeling everything I am. She can try to put distance between us. She can deny it all she wants. But she feels it. She feels it too.
I release the beer and resume my seat, letting her chew on my words as I devour a slice of supreme pizza.
“You have a piece of olive right there,” she says.
“Where?” I wipe my chin.
She leans over, and her fingers brush against my cheek as she plucks the piece from the left side of my lips, holding it up on her finger for me to see.
“Give me that,” I say, then I playfully pull her hand toward me and lick the piece off. My lips close around her fingertip for the briefest moment before I pull back, not even trying to hide my smirk.
Her jaw drops. She looks at Amelia and Christian, who are deep in a conversation about Amelia’s favorite video game.
“You are so bad,” she whispers.
Based on her heated stare, though, I get the feeling she secretly loves it.
When everyone is done eating, I combine the leftovers into one box and put it in the refrigerator.
“Christian, will you play slapjack with me?” Amelia asks.
I turn, and Kenna and I lock eyes. We both smile.
“Sure, squirt.”
“Just one game while I wash the dishes,” Kenna says. “We have things to do.”
I draw near as she collects the plates and takes them to the sink. “Things?” I ask.
She shrugs. “You know. Bath time and stuff. It’s not like we sit downstairs and twiddle our thumbs.”
“What do you do all day?”
She sighs. “Okay, so maybe it’s been a little boring lately. But we’re out of our element. Once we settle down somewhere, things will get back to normal.”
“Somewhere,” I say, putting glasses in the sink. “Why not make that somewhere here?”
She closes her eyes and stops washing. Shit. I’ve done it now. Opened my big damn mouth and made her uncomfortable.
“I’m just saying. You seem to like it here. Allie is great. I’m sure you’d become fast friends. And there are other reasons you could stay.”
“Other reasons?”
Okay. I kind of like the way she said that. As if she’s challenging me to reveal my true feelings.
“Yeah.” I swing my hip into hers, knocking them together. “Other reasons. Lots and lots of other reasons.” I punctuate the words with my waggling brows.
She sighs. She sighs big time. Then she turns the water off, leaving the plates and glasses to dry next to the sink. “We should go downstairs.”
I smirk. “We should?”
Her cheeks flame. “Amelia and I.” She raises her voice and calls to her daughter. “Amelia, time to go!”
“One second!” we hear from the next room.
I take full advantage of that one second and lean so close that my lips graze her ears. “Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.”
She pulls away like my lips are on fire. “Will you stop doing that?”
“Quoting Dr. Seuss?”
“No.” She shuffles toward the living room, looking back. “Doing things to make me like you.”
I smile triumphantly as she gathers up her daughter and they traipse off down the stairs. Then I sit and stare at Amelia’s drawing for a lot longer than I should.
I spend the rest of the evening splitting my thoughts between how much I’m going to miss her and plotting ways to get her to stay.
At ten o’clock, I head to bed and fall asleep reading the latest Stephen King novel.
I’m awakened when there’s a knock on the door. I check the time. It’s just after midnight.
“Come in,” I say, reaching for the bedside lamp, expecting it to be Christian.
It’s not. It’s Kenna. And she’s wearing that same sexy robe that does nothing to tamp down my want for her.
I sit up. “Everything okay?”
She shakes her head. Her heated stare pebbles my skin. “My toilet is running again.”
Then she does something truly spectacular. She steps into my room, shuts the door behind her, and opens her robe to reveal she’s got nothing on underneath.
Even though my dick instantly springs to life, seeing her like this hurts me in a way I’ve never experienced.
Because I know this has an expiration date that’s coming up all too quickly.
But I want her anyway. For a minute. A day.
It doesn’t matter. Because I want her for as long as she’ll let me have her.
I throw back the covers, pat the mattress, and thank my lucky fucking stars that I was the one who towed her car.