Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Aaron
“You missed a spot.” I look over the hood of my truck to find Kendall standing there with her arms crossed and her hair piled high on top of her head.
I’d gotten up early, and after one look at my truck sitting in the drive I knew I needed to wash it off. Yesterday’s job site was full of mud and it appeared I’d managed to bring half of it home with me.
“Right there.” She leans in and points and I pick that moment to turn the hose. She squeals, shocked by the cool water and jumps back.
“Was that the spot?” I ask with a chuckle while watching her dry off her face.
“You did not just do that.” I’d be a little worried if she wasn’t laughing herself. Her white tank top is fused to her chest and hiding nothing.
“I did.” I reposition my body and hold the hose like at any moment I am going to shift it upward and hose her again. “But it still looks like there are a few dirty spots I need to rinse.”
“Aaron,” she goes for the warning voice. That tone that is supposed to make me stop what I am doing or about to do and really weigh out all my options. It is supposed to make me consider the consequences and make the best choice.
It doesn’t work.
I flip the hose, Kendall hides behind the fender and I start to walk around the front of my truck. When I get there I find she is gone and before I have the opportunity to look she jumps on my back from behind. Her legs circle my waist, her wet front plastered to my back.
“Give me that.” She reaches for the hose and I hold it out away from us further.
She is tall, five seven, and fit, but she has no hope of gaining control here. I stand there with this little spider monkey attached to my back, she is wiggling around trying to get hold of the hose and all I can do is laugh.
“Baby eventually you will tire and I will still have this damn hose,” I tell her and she pinches my side.
“Are you sure about that?”
“One hundred percent,” I tell her with a grin and she narrows her eyes at me.
Then something changes and a smile tugs at the corners of her mouth.
She relaxes, and leans a little closer, pressing her lips to the side of my neck.
Kissing, slowly teasing me and it takes me a few seconds to realize what she is attempting to do, but by then I am already cooked.
I drop the hose. She tries to jump down to reach it but I grip her waist instead and in some kind of ninja move she is over my shoulder and I am carrying her toward the open garage door.
“Where are we going?” she asks as I hit the garage door button and then place her ass on the workbench.
“Right here,” I say, cupping her face and moving my mouth toward hers. “You want to start something. Tease me, so here we are. Put your money where your mouth is, woman.”
She smiles at me and damn I feel that smile all the way down to my toes. My entire body feels her, and she’s barely touching me. I’ve never felt these things before. I have never felt this kind of connection. One that I know if I lose, I will feel it deeply.
With her legs wrapped around me and her heels digging into my ass, we take full advantage of the moment. In the heat of the garage, both damp from the hose, I lose myself in the woman that has managed to rock my world from the start.
“What about this one?” she asks, eyeing my old beat-up dirt bike tucked in the corner.
“Still trying to get that one running again. Wrecked it about a year ago and had to wait for some parts. Just haven’t gotten back to it yet.”
“Wrecked it.” She scoffs with a smile. “Amateur.”
I toss a wadded up tape ball at her and she ducks out of the way. “In my defense the dirt was soft and there was rust I wasn’t prepared for.”
“You should always be prepared for everything, no matter what, expect the unexpected.” She leans over the bike looking at the disassembled mess. I watch silently as she picks up a wrench and starts working. I’m mesmerized by how comfortable she is, by her knowledge of the task.
She picks up the box, examining the contents and continues on.
I watch her for a bit, lost in the way she bites her lip as she concentrates.
I don’t think she truly knows just how beautiful she is, how fast she makes my heart race.
Kendall has always been a mystery to me.
That attitude and charm all intertwined making her the most appealing woman I have ever met in my life.
But she was always the unattainable one.
She made it very clear on several occasions that she didn’t need nor want any man.
She has always been perfectly happy alone.
So of course she would be the one I fall for. Because I don’t like easy, I’ve always lived for a challenge.
What I didn’t expect was to find that hidden beneath all that sass would be a woman that could make me smile on my worst days.
Kendall may not like to admit it, but she can be sweet.
She does like to cuddle and when she thinks no one’s paying attention she lets that guard of hers down and smiles, for no reason at all, she just lets go and lets in a little light.
“When I get this thing running for you, I’ll show you how to ride it,” she tosses in my direction and I chuckle. “You stick to those four-wheelers, they’ll give you a little more stability when the paths get too hard.”
“Anyone ever tell you that you’re a smartass?”
“Yep,” she pops the p, “all the time.”
Right then, in that very moment I know without a doubt I am falling in love with a woman that insists she isn’t built for love.