Chapter 14
Fourteen
With the sun heading for the horizon, Kara brought her launch to a smooth landing at the floating dock and helped her passengers disembark. After an endless day on the water, she was ready for some dinner and some peace. She would get the former, but the latter was hardly assured.
Her routine over the last week had been to work all day, pick up something for dinner and then head to Dan’s to type up the notes he’d made during the day for his book.
They’d talked about getting software that could type for him, but Kara was also helping him edit as they went along, so this system was working for him. With his deadline looming, he needed all the help he could get.
Though Kara was more than happy to help him, he’d been grumpy and out of sorts since the accident.
Not that she blamed him. He’d been through a traumatic experience, but sometimes she wanted to remind him that his injuries and limitations weren’t her fault.
She was trying to help him, not that he seemed to appreciate that very much.
For a brief period this afternoon, she’d considered taking a night off from going to Dan’s, but her worries over what he’d eat for dinner, as well as her concerns about his deadline had her turning over the launch to her relief driver and heading up the main dock at McCarthy’s.
She stopped at home to shower off the sunscreen and salt spray, changed into shorts and a tank top, grabbed a sweatshirt and called in a takeout order to Mario’s.
By now, she knew that Dan was extremely fond of Mario’s fettuccine Alfredo.
Despite her efforts to get him to try something else, he asked for the same thing every day and always insisted on paying for the food.
So they’d slipped into this odd routine without any further mention of what was happening between them other than their businesslike dealings with meals and the book.
Kara tried to tell herself that was because he was recovering from painful injuries, but she couldn’t help but wonder if or when the Dan she’d known before the accident would ever reappear. That Dan had been positively besotted with her—or so it had seemed.
He was too damned much for her and had been from the start.
But then the accident happened, and he’d been the most severely injured among the survivors.
He’d asked for her that night, and she’d been with him ever since, except for the hours she spent at work.
She even slept most nights on his sofa after working long hours to type his manuscript for him.
After seven days of this routine, Kara was running on fumes, but determined to help him make his deadline.
Perhaps when the first ten chapters were submitted, they would talk about the mess they’d made of their fledgling relationship.
A big part of her didn’t want to talk about it.
He was still too much for her, and always would be.
The drama of the accident and its aftermath hadn’t changed that fact, even if it had forced her to acknowledge her very strong feelings for him.
She picked up the order at Mario’s and arrived at Dan’s house. The small house was nestled in a wooded area near the island’s south coast. In the distance, the sound of waves crashing against the rocks reminded Kara of how close they were to the shore.
Bags in hand, she let herself into the house and followed the sound of Dan’s voice to the living room.
He was on the sofa with his broken arm resting on a pillow, papers scattered around him, his dark hair standing on end as if he’d been tugging at it, and a look of bemused aggravation on his face.
Even with the dishevelment, he was sinfully handsome.
Smiling, he waved her in, seeming happy to see her as always.
She was never certain if he was happy to see her, or if anyone would’ve done after the long day alone.
“He said the keys you’re looking for are in the bedside table drawer next to your pleasure devices.
” Dan held the new phone that’d been sent from his LA office away from his ear as the person on the other end screamed so loud that Kara could hear her.
“Don’t shoot the messenger.” He grinned at Kara, flashing the dimples she found irresistible.
“Those were his exact words.” Dan continued to placate the woman on the other end of the line for another five minutes before he ended the call.
“That, right there, is why I hate handling divorces.”
“I didn’t think you did divorces.”
“I don’t, usually. But after I helped Tiffany with hers, I’ve been in hot demand around here. They want me because they hate the way Jim treated Tiffany.”
“You don’t have time to be taking new cases with your book due.”
“I know, Mom, but Tiffany asked me to help out her friend, so I am.”
This was said with a shrug and the charming grin that Kara had fallen victim to the night he’d taken her out and ended up in her bed. “Are you ready to eat?”
“I’m starving. I thought you’d never get here.”
“Sorry to keep you waiting, but I do have a business of my own to run, you know.”
He got up off the couch slowly and painfully.
Since she couldn’t stand to see him in such agony, she looked away and busied herself with getting dinner on the table.
His hand on her back made Kara freeze with surprise. Except for some innocent hand-holding, he hadn’t touched her in days.
“I know you have a business to run, and all I meant was that I was looking forward to seeing you.”
“Oh.” She turned to face him, taking a careful study of the healing cuts and bruises on his stunning face. “You were?”
“Of course I was. Why would you think otherwise? I live for the time with you every day.”
Kara stared at him, wondering if she’d heard him correctly.
“Why are you so surprised?”
She hated the way he could see right through her. That’d been a source of aggravation from the first time she’d met him. He’d undone her from the very start. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore.”
Dan took her hand and brought it to his lips. “What don’t you know?”
Despite the zing of absolute pleasure that traveled up her arm when his lips brushed over her skin, Kara worked her hand free. “Let’s eat and get to work. We’ve got a lot to do and not much time to do it.”
The wounded expression on his face reminded her a lot of the morning she’d told him she wanted nothing more to do with him.
Why was it that his hurt became hers? Why was it that she couldn’t find a way to broach the elephant standing in the room between them?
They’d gone on like nothing had happened between them, falling into this strangely platonic relationship.
Kara had no idea what it meant or what he wanted from her, other than someone to bring him dinner and type his notes for him.
And what did she want from him? That, too, was a puzzler.
She’d thought she wanted nothing to do with him until the long day when she hadn’t known if he was dead or alive. That day had changed everything.
He’d talked about putting down roots together on Gansett, but that had been a week ago now, and nothing more had been said about it.
“Aren’t you hungry?” he asked when he was seated at the table.
Kara got him a beer and opened it for him the way she did every night since he’d stopped taking the prescription painkillers and switched to over-the-counter meds. “Yes, I’m hungry.”
“I wish you’d tell me what’s bugging you,” he said between mouthfuls of pasta.
“Nothing.”
He winced, wiped his mouth with a napkin and sat back in his chair. “God, I hate that word.”
Kara regretted using it when she’d vowed never to say it again in his presence. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean it that way.”
“You mean the way you used it to describe what you wanted from me after we had sex?”
Kara’s face got very hot as she put down her fork. Her appetite was suddenly gone. “Why are you doing this? You haven’t said a word about what’s going on between us in days—”
“Because I don’t know what’s going on! And I’m afraid to scare you away by asking.”
“You…I…I don’t know either. Everything is so different, and I’m not sure…”
He took her hand and wrapped his much warmer hand around it. “What are you not sure of, honey?”
His use of the word honey made her belly quiver. “You, us. This. Whatever it is. This is exactly why I told you I didn’t want to get involved. I hate all the uncertainty and confusion.”
Dan tugged on her hand. “Come here.”
“I’m right here.”
“Closer.”
Though she was still uncertain and confused, she stood and let him guide her onto his lap. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Then don’t make any sudden moves.”
Kara couldn’t help but smile at the amusement she heard in his tone as she sat perfectly still on his lap.
His good arm encircled her. “Kiss me.”
“We were having a conversation.”
“We still are. Now kiss me.”
Exasperated by him—as usual—she leaned in and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips.
“I know you can do better than that.” He swept her hair off her neck and set off a riot of sensation with his lips. “But I suppose I haven’t exactly earned better in the last week.”
“Don’t say that. You’ve been in a lot of pain.”
“That doesn’t mean I should neglect you.”
“You haven’t neglected me.” Now she felt guilty for thinking about herself in the midst of what he was going through.
“Yes, I have. I’ve taken advantage of your good nature.”
“That’s not true. I’ve been happy to help you.”
“The morning of the accident when I left your place… I was really upset.”
Kara cringed, hating that she’d done that to him. When she started to say so, he stopped her with a kiss.
“The thought of never having the chance to be with you that way again was killing me. It was all I was thinking about on the boat. Grant even asked me what the hell was wrong with me. I told him I was hungover, only I was heartsick rather than booze sick.”
“I’m sorry. I never meant… I don’t know what I meant. I was overwhelmed after spending the night with you. I handled it badly.”
“I figured that out about an hour after we left the dock. It occurred to me that it’d been a big deal for you to be with me after what you went through with what’s-his-name and your sister. I thought maybe you were dumping me before I could get around to dumping you.”
If she wasn’t trying so hard to remain still, she might’ve squirmed because of how accurately he’d pegged feelings she’d yet to acknowledge.
“Am I warm?” he asked, gazing up at her.
She nodded.
“The last thing I remember before we got hit was going down below for my phone to call you. I was going to tell you that no matter what you were thinking or feeling after the night we spent together, it was all going to be fine. I was going to tell you that I’d be over after I got in to talk to you.
And I would’ve said that our night together was the best I’d ever spent with anyone. ”
Kara’s mind raced as she tried to process everything he’d said.
“I sure do wish I’d gotten to make that call. Maybe then you wouldn’t be wondering where you stand with me, and I wouldn’t have been tiptoeing on eggshells, worrying about driving you away when all I want is to keep you close.”
Kara moved very carefully to put an arm around him, leaning her head against his. “Well, this is a fine mess we’ve made of things.”
He laughed and then groaned when his ribs protested. “Don’t make me laugh.”
“Sorry.”
His hand slid over her hair in a soothing pattern that made her sigh with pleasure. “So how would you feel about going steady?”
Kara laughed. “Are you sure you want to take on an emotional basket case like me?”
“Very sure.”
“All right, then. But don’t say I didn’t try to warn you.”
“I’ve been warned, and I still want you. I’ve wanted you from the first time I saw you last fall at Luke’s. And I want you even more after the night we spent together. As soon as these damned ribs heal and I can move without feeling like I’ve been stabbed, we’ll pick right up where we left off.”
“Thanks for the warning.”
“No problem.”
“You have a book to finish.”
“I know.”
“We should get to it.”
He held her even tighter. “Uh-huh.”
“Dan…”
“Hmmm?”
“Dinner? Work?”
“Kiss me.”
“I did kiss you.”
“Do it right this time.”
He was positively incorrigible, and she adored him. The realization shocked her. Where had that come from? When had she begun to adore him? If she were being honest, probably when he’d brought her Diet Mountain Dew and talked her into going out with him.
“What’s wrong now?” he asked, his brows furrowing with concern.
“Nothing,” she said, running her fingers through his unruly hair, attempting to bring order to it.
“For once, I don’t hate that word,” he said with that smile—and the dimples—that made her melt.
She tipped her head and kissed him as softly and as sweetly as she possibly could, mindful of his injuries and the need to stay still.
His hand in her hair anchored her to him as his lips parted and his tongue teased her lips.
Kara tightened her hold on him, falling into the kiss with a kind of abandon she’d never experienced before him. But he’d battered his way through her defenses with his easy charm and cutting wit, wiping all thoughts of what’s-his-name and what he’d done to her from her heart and mind.
“Whoa,” Dan said when they came up for air many minutes later. “You’re making me forget I’m injured.”
As her lips tingled, she leaned her forehead against his. “If you try to do anything more than that, you’ll remember.”
“Can we do some more of that later?”
“Only if you get all your work done.”
“Let’s get busy!”