Chapter 9 #3
“I’ll give you full of myself—at times. I’m working on trying to be better about that. But complicated and broody? Not so much. I’m an easygoing kind of guy. I work hard and play hard. I like to have fun. Don’t you?”
It’d been such a long time since Kara had done anything that could be called fun. Matt had ruined a lot of things for her. “I guess.”
“Oh the enthusiasm! You bowl me over, Ms. Ballard.”
He shifted their joined hands and linked their fingers. Startled to realize she’d allowed him to hold her hand for several minutes, she tried again to pull free of his grasp.
“Stop,” he said. “Just relax, will you? I’m not about to cause you harm.”
“You may not intend to.”
“What happened to you, honey?”
“Don’t call me that. I’m not your honey.”
“I think I’d like you to be.”
“You never did answer my question.” The feel of his warm palm pressed against hers was doing odd things to her nervous system.
“Which one was that?”
“Why me?”
“Because the night I met you at Luke’s house… Remember that?”
“Yes,” she said, exasperated. Of course she remembered! She’d thought about that night so many times during the long, cold winter in Maine, and she’d thought about him, too, not that she’d ever admit that.
“I… You…”
“Articulate, Counselor. Seriously. I’m dazzled.”
He laughed again and squeezed her hand. “As soon as I met you, I wanted to know you better. I wanted to know who had hurt you, and I wanted to hurt him on your behalf. I wanted to tell you what happened with my fiancée, and I haven’t told anyone.”
“You haven’t?”
He shook his head. “Only she knows the truth. And one other person.”
His entire demeanor changed when he spoke of his ex. Kara wondered if he knew that.
“I wanted to talk to you and be with you and maybe kiss you, if you’d let me,” he continued.
As if she’d left the door wide open, he was slipping through her defenses. Amazingly, she wasn’t nearly as bothered by that as she probably should’ve been.
“I’m not interested in being part of a harem,” she said, hating how prim and proper she sounded.
“Oh, damn! Really? There go all my plans to make you one of the sister wives. Shit.”
“Stop,” she said, laughing as she bumped his shoulder with hers.
“You should laugh more often. It looks good on you.”
Kara hadn’t laughed in a very long time. It felt good. “My ex dumped me for my sister,” she said. Again, the words tumbled out of her mouth before she could take a moment to consider the implications. What was it about him that made her say things she had no intention of saying?
“Ouch,” he said with a grimace.
“Yeah. Ouch.”
“Are they still together?”
“Married with a baby on the way.”
“Oh, man. That’s got to be rough.”
“I haven’t spoken to either of them in two years.”
“Can’t say I blame you.”
“I thought he was going to ask me to marry him. Instead, he took me out for a nice dinner to tell me he’d fallen in love with my sister. I think he did it in public so I wouldn’t make a scene.”
“I hope you made one anyway.”
Kara recalled throwing her glass of merlot in his face in the middle of one of Bar Harbor’s nicer restaurants. The town had buzzed over the incident for months afterward. She hadn’t touched a drop of merlot since. “Damn right, I did.”
“Good for you,” he said with another squeeze of her hand. “I caught my fiancée in bed with my best man two days before the wedding.”
“Oh my God!” Without releasing his hand, she turned in her seat so she was looking at him. “What did you do?”
“Made a scene, punched my so-called best friend in the face and thought about kicking him in the junk. I should’ve. When I think back on that day, that’s my biggest regret. Funny, huh?”
Kara smiled. “You so should’ve done it.”
“If I ever run into him again, he’d better hope he’s wearing a cup.”
That drew a genuine laugh from her.
“You are so very pretty, especially when you smile.”
Her smile faded.
“You don’t think so?”
“My self-esteem isn’t quite what it used to be.”
“Let me assure you that any man who’d walk away from you is an idiot.”
“You’re very smooth with the lines.”
“Is that right?”
“Like you didn’t know that.”
“I want you to go with me to Stephanie’s party tomorrow night.”
“Why?”
“Because I really like talking to you, and I want to talk to you some more. Very soon. Actually, tomorrow night is a long time from now. What’re you doing tonight?”
Kara held up her free hand to stop him. “I’ll go with you tomorrow night, but I’m busy tonight.” She wasn’t really, but she felt the need to regain some control over this rapidly evolving situation.
His smile stretched from ear to ear. “Tell me the truth. Was it the Mountain Dew?”
“It didn’t hurt,” she conceded.
“Where do you live?”
She pointed to a white building that abutted the marina property.
“Ah, well, that’s easy.”
“Don’t make me sorry I told you that.”
“You injure me with your lack of faith in me.”
“I’m sure you’ll recover in due time.”
“I’m not so sure.”
“Um, excuse me,” a male voice behind them said. “Is the launch running?”
Kara had been so caught up in the conversation she hadn’t planned to have that she’d completely forgotten where she was and what she was supposed to be doing. She tugged her hand free and jumped up. “Yes, we are. Come aboard.”