by Skye Jordan
“That means not good.”
“Right.” I lift the manifold. “I’m going to give you the parts as I take them off. I just want you to go lay them on the workbench in the shop. If you run out of space on the bench, put them on the floor, but lay them faceup so all this muck doesn’t make a mess.”
I lose track of time like I usually do when I’m working. Violet is easy to be around, eager to help, and inquisitive. She’s a pretty little thing, with a long light brown braid and blue eyes.
My rolling stomach tells me it’s past lunchtime. When Violet gets back from the shop, I ask, “Are you hungry?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ve got peanut butter and jelly. Does that work for you? Or do you want me to walk you home?”
“I love peanut butter and jelly.”
I pull off my gloves and point to my boat. “See the Cecelia Anne? With the blue canvas? That’s mine. I’ve got sandwiches and drinks in the fridge. Grab them and bring them back.”
Violet jogs to the boat and disappears inside. I do some general cleanup, and when Violet returns, we sit cross-legged on the dock to eat lunch.
“Your boat is so cool,” she tells me right before she takes a bite of sandwich. “Do you like living there?”
“I do, but I’ve lived on a boat for a long time, so I’m used to it. Most people think it’s too small.”
“I didn’t know you could live on a boat.”
“What grade are you in?”
“Fifth. I’m a year behind. My mom and dad kept me back a year in first grade.”
“My dad did too. One of the best things he ever did.”
Her eyes grow wide. “Really?”
“Yeah, because when you’re a year older than everyone else, you’re smarter and more confident than everyone else too, so you always shine. It’s like having an advantage all through school.”
“I never thought about it like that.”
“What do you do for fun?” I ask her.
“I’m in gymnastics.”
“Can you do a handstand?”
“Only for like a second.”
“When you’re done eating, let’s try. Maybe I can help.”
Her grin is big and bright. She’s a beautiful girl, and I’m really enjoying her company.
6
Ben
I pull into the drive and hit the garage door opener. This is one of those hard days. The second of three twelves, today's shift a midnight to noon. Those are always the toughest for me, and with the girls home from school, I won’t be able to catch any sleep until bedtime.
The kitchen door to the garage opens, and Jackie steps out, arms crossed. I sigh, knowing she needs a private conversation with me, which means Violet is acting up.
I get out of the car and shut my door. “What did she do now?”
“She was picking fights with her sisters, so I put her in a time-out—even though she’s too old for a time-out—and instead of staying in her room, she snuck out of the house.”
“She what?”
“Yeah, she snuck out and went down to the marina.”
Fear tightens my chest. “How did you know?”
“She called me from there.”
“What the hell is going on with her?”
“One of the girls who’s working there got ahold of her and made Violet call home. She said she was welcome to stay, but she’d send her home if I wanted.” She shrugs. “I know having her come home and sit in her room wasn’t working, so I thought maybe this would. KT said if she stayed, she was going to put Violet to work.”
Hearing my sister say KT’s name lights a fuse in my chest. I’m on the verge of asking a dozen questions, but realize that would expose the fact that I know KT, which would create a maelstrom of gotta know from Jackie.
“That’s not a bad idea,” I say instead. “Can you stay with the other two while I go get Violet?”
“Of course.”
I walk down the street toward the road leading to the marina. I’m both excited to see KT and really bent over the fact that Violet actually left the house against the rules. That’s a whole different level of defiance.
It’s now been nearly two weeks since I kissed KT at Christmas. I have no idea what response I’ll get when I see her again. As much as I wanted to, I decided not to keep in touch. She made her desires clear, but they didn’t feel like the right fit for me. Of course, that hasn’t done anything to keep me from thinking and fantasizing about her, which makes me wonder—is there a socially acceptable time limit on an offer to hook up? Do they expire within twenty-four hours? How does that even work?
Even before the marina comes into view, I hear my daughter’s laughter. I’m caught between relief and annoyance. On the dock, I spot KT and Violet.
“You’ve got to keep your center of gravity over your shoulders,” KT says before she tilts into an effortless handstand. My first thought is she shouldn’t be doing that with stitches in her arm. Then her T-shirt slides toward her head, exposing some amazing abs, and I forget all about her arm. Then it slides farther, exposing her bra.
Violet’s giggling. “KT, your shirt.”
“See where my hips are?” KT asks. “Right over my shoulders.” She rights herself. “Try again.”
Violet tucks her shirt into her jeans and tilts into a handstand. I’ve seen her do this a lot, but she’s never been able to hold it. After doing my own handstands in CrossFit, I know exactly how much strength and balance it takes to hold one.
KT stands close by and grabs Violet’s legs, shifting her just enough to stabilize her. “Now use your core to hold your hips right there.”
KT lets go and steps back. Violet is able to hold her handstand, and KT claps. “There you go. Now walk. Just keep shifting your weight.”
A wobbly Violet moves one hand, then the other, then again. She gets three “steps” down the dock before she loses her balance and turns out of the handstand. And she’s grinning so big, I can spot the joy from where I’m standing a hundred yards away.
“That was really good,” KT says. “Let’s see who can get the farthest down the dock without falling over.”
Violet takes the challenge, and she and KT stand side by side, then tip into handstands and start moving down the dock. I grimace, waiting for one of them to tip over into the water and wondering how KT’s stitches are holding up. Violet can’t move in a straight line, and she’s all over the dock. She eventually runs into KT, and they tumble over, laughing.
Emotions knot in my chest. Seeing Violet so happy is a balm for my heart. I know she misses her mom the most out of the three girls. And while Poppy and Jazz seem to bond to female adults easily, Violet doesn’t.
I have mixed feelings about KT being the woman Violet finally bonds with. Given KT’s aversion to commitment, there’s no telling when Violet will lose her as a strong female figure.
I approach the docks, and KT sees me first. She’s smiling as she sits up. “Hey.”
Before I can respond, Violet rolls to her feet. “Daddy, did you see me?”
KT’s face drops in surprise, her gaze darting between Violet and me. “Daddy?”
Obviously, Violet’s details didn’t reach KT. In some ways that makes their friendship even sweeter.
When Violet reaches me, I pick her up and hoist her overhead. “You being a stinker for your aunt today?”
“I didn’t mean to,” she says in a half whine.
I set her on her feet and put my hand on her head. “Thank KT and get home. We need to have a talk.”
Her shoulders slump. “Daddy—”
“Hey.” It’s all I have to say for her to turn to KT and thank her.
KT points at her. “Remember, we agreed.”
“No more attitude,” Violet says. “I know.”
I give Violet’s butt an affectionate swat as she turns toward the house, and watch her for a minute, at a complete loss how to handle her continued defiance. I feel like a new parent every goddamned day.
/> When I face the dock again, KT is standing with her arms crossed. “I didn’t make the connection.”
“She’s good at hiding things,” I say, sauntering closer. “Always have to keep a close eye on that one.”
“She’s beautiful,” KT says, a grin growing as I get closer. “Like her dad.”
That makes me laugh and warms my insides. Maybe there’s a longer expiration on a hookup than I thought. And, damn, she looks good. I’m tired, and all my defenses are down. I think about the week ahead, a mixture of work at the hospital and work at home, and yeah, I wish I had someone to bolster me. But this woman has made it clear she’s not up for anything serious or permanent, so I have to remind myself not to lean too heavily on her.
“Just get off work?” she asks. “Or are you just heading in?”
“Off.” Her arm is bandaged, so I’m assuming she still has her stitches. “You really shouldn’t be doing handstands with those stitches in your arm.”
“I need to have them taken out, just never find time.” She lifts her arm where she’s covered her bandage with kinesiology tape, also called KT, the letters printed in big black letters on bright pink tape.
“Look at that,” I say, “you’ve got your own brand.”
“I use a lot of it. Naming it after me is the least they could do.”
Silence eases into the space between us, and I find myself just staring at her pretty blue eyes, her long black lashes, her full pink lips. “I’ve been thinking about you.”
She smiles and eases into the space separating us. She makes a loose fist in the front of my scrub top, then slides it down my torso. That small sensation lights me up like a struck match and burns through my body. I want to kiss her. Taste her. And, yeah, I want to fuck her. It’s always been a foreign concept, but it sure as hell seems to work for me now.
“All dirty, I hope,” she says, her voice low and seductive.
“Dirty enough,” I confess.
“I was starting to think you forgot all about me.” Sexy heat slides through her eyes and dips into her voice.
“You’re not the kind of woman a man just forgets.”
“Hmm.” Her gaze lowers to my mouth, and she slides her tongue over her lower lip. “Let me show you my shop, where you can elaborate on what you might have been thinking.”
She leads, taking me by the front of my scrubs into a metal building. I swing the door shut behind me, and my eyes are immediately drawn to the walls, where pegboards hold supplies, nice and neat. Bright red four-foot-tall rolling toolboxes line one wall. Outboard motors line the opposite wall, all resting in metal stands. Engine parts sit on one workbench.
“This place is sharp.” I reach out and pull on one of the drawers in the toolbox, and I find what I expected, every tool clean and lined up in a very precise order. “This is as organized as the OR.”
“Gotta respect the tools. Precision work requires precision skills, setting, and equipment. My dad drilled that into my head early.”
She tugs on my shirt, so I face her again, then slides her arms around my neck, and her body stretches along mine. I’m already groaning when she pulls my head down, kissing me like she’s been thinking all the same things I have.
I wrap her in my arms and sink into the kiss with a growl that pours from my chest. She’s already open to me, licking into my mouth and lighting me on fire. My need goes from zero to sixty in a split second. She seems to have control over a switch inside me I never knew existed. I’m already hard when I lower a forearm to the small of her back and pull her hips against mine.
God, she feels so damn good. Warm and welcoming. I don’t remember the last time I felt this wanted. And, yeah, it feels raw too. Fatigue blurs the edges of my brain, and all my restraint vanishes. I slide my hands over her tight ass and pull her against me. This isn’t something I could have ever seen myself doing before this very moment. Yet it feels completely natural.
She echoes my moan, and I lift her off her feet. Her thighs wrap around my hips, and I turn, easing her to the top of a workbench. The space smells industrial with grease and metal. It’s completely foreign, yet seems to fit KT perfectly.
She breaks the kiss, unlocks her arms from my neck, and pulls my scrub top from my pants, then slides her hands under and along my skin. Her hands are cold, and my skin prickles. “How much time do you have?”
“Not enough.”
She makes a sound of disappointment and rests her forehead against my chest. She leans back and props herself up with her palms against the workbench. With her thighs still spread for my hips, it’s a dangerously sexy pose. A current hikes my temperature.
“I could get a babysitter.” I slide my fingers beneath the edge of her tee and stroke the warm skin of her tight belly. “Then I could take you to dinner.”
“We talked about this.”
“It’s just dinner.”
“It’s not just dinner, and you know it,” she says. “Now, if you want to get a sitter and come back to my boat, or even get a hotel room, that’s a whole different thing.”
I’m marveling at the tight, tanned lower abs, my fingers tracing the rises and dips. Her offer is too good to refuse, and it takes me a long time to finally shake my head. I don’t have any solid reason for saying no other than it just doesn’t seem right.
I didn’t realize I had a lingering distaste for random sex with an almost stranger until right now, but I know where it came from— Jana’s unfaithfulness. As far as I know, it was only once, but it was enough to create major cracks in our marriage. Cracks we were well toward repairing when she got sick.
“I can’t believe I just met you,” I say, marveling at how different this thing between us feels from anything I’ve ever experienced.
“Sometimes people just click.”
“Doesn’t happen like that for me,” I say.
“Does now.”
I laugh and lift my hand to stroke her cheek, but she turns her head and takes my fingers into her mouth. The warmth shocks me, then she sucks, and licks, and I moan. I pull my fingers from her mouth, grasp her jaw, and kiss her, hard and deep.
I don’t break the kiss until I need air, and realize I want to kiss her for hours. I can’t envision ever getting tired of that mouth. Or that face. Or that body. Or that mind.
But I’ve spent the time since I last saw her digging into every corner of this situation. If it weren’t for these limits she puts on dating and relationships, she could very well be perfect for me. “Are you seeing anyone else right now?”
She takes my hand and presses the palm to her lips. “No. Are you looking for reasons not to want me?”
“Yeah,” I say directly, seriously. “I am.”
Instead of getting pissed, she drops her head back and laughs. I can’t resist her exposed neck and lower my head, kissing the warm skin. One of her hands slides into my hair, and her pleasure vibrates against my lips. Then she lifts my head, and her mouth is on mine again, driving me out of my mind.
When we break the kiss, her lids are heavy, her lips swollen. “I think you’re going to have to try harder.”
I plant one hand at her hip on the workbench, slide the other into her hair and kiss her again. Long, slow, deep, erotic kisses that make her moan and arch against me. Make her hands fist in my hair or my shirt. God, she’s such an aphrodisiac.
I reluctantly pull back. “I need to get back so my sister can go home.”
She makes a sound of disappointment. “You’re such a tease.”
That makes me laugh, and I rest my forehead against her shoulder. She cups my head and plays with my hair.
“I can’t clear my head,” I say. “You make me high. Tell me to go home.”
“Go home,” she whispers at my ear, shooting gooseflesh over my skin.
I laugh. “Now who’s a tease?”
I force myself to straighten and take her arm. “Let me look at these.” I pull the tape off, then unroll the gauze. I inspect the stitches, frowning at the inflammat
ion. “KT, you’ve got to lay off this arm. Use antibiotic cream until you get an appointment with a doctor to get them taken out.”
“What would it take to get a private appointment with Dr. Latham?”
“Just an act of God.” I rewrap her arm and replace the still-sticky KT tape. As soon as I’m done, she reaches for me again, but I evade, taking a few steps back so she can’t catch me, and I can’t reach for her. “Girl, you’re dangerous.”
She smiles, her feet swinging, making her seem even younger and more fun—something I didn’t imagine was possible. “Hardly.”
“Very.” I scrape my bottom lip through my teeth, aching to kiss her again. “Very, very.”
But my sister and my daughters are waiting on me. So I turn and leave the shop.
“Hey,” she says, voice soft. “Just so you know, nothing that happens between you and me will ever make me treat Violet differently. I don’t play those games and never will. She’s welcome here. I just need to know when she’s coming and going so I can keep an eye on her.”
God. It takes everything in me not to go back to her. I don’t understand how I could be so crazy about anyone so damned fast. It’s thrilling and terrifying at the same time. “Thank you.”
The walk home is painful with a full-on erection. On the flip side, the walk gives me time to shake it off before I face my family.
I’m still not sure how I feel about her limitations. I’ve certainly met all kinds of people in my life, many women who never had, nor ever wanted, marriage, children, or both. I’ve always seen it as a personal choice. Just as my affinity for marriage and children is my personal choice.
That said, I’m not sure if I want to move forward with KT, knowing it won’t last. Knowing it will end sooner rather than later.
At my house, Jackie is sitting at the breakfast bar with Poppy, helping her with some math problems. Jackie takes one look at me and tells Poppy to take a break.
Poppy eagerly climbs off her stool and runs upstairs, leaving me alone with my sister, who’s grinning. “What happened to you?”