“It was nice,” he said. “The bride and groom seemed happy.”
“I want details,” Delilah insisted. “Tell me about the dress.”
“You’ll have to ask my sister. I can tell you Georgia was a beautiful bride, but not much more.”
Stepping back, he pulled his arm away and stole a glance at Kat. Anger lingered in her green eyes. Delilah’s words about Harvard and her childhood had breached her armor. But possession mingled with the hurt. If Delilah touched him again—and heck, the black-haired nurse had always been forward to a point that left him feeling uneasy—Kat might release the storm brewing in her expression and attack. Verbally or physically, he wasn’t sure. As much as he liked the hint of he’s mine driving her fury, he didn’t want to find out.
Brody reached for Kat’s elbow. Back in New York, she might not need anyone to jump in and save the day. But right now she needed a rescue.
Chapter 11
KAT REMEMBERED THE chipped pink paint on the walls of the room she’d shared with Missy Jackson for 457 days, even though she couldn’t recall the woman with the pixie cut. But the way Delilah placed her hand on Brody didn’t exactly inspire warm, friendly feelings. And Delilah’s oh-so-eloquent words about Kat’s “interesting childhood” and her time at Harvard didn’t help either.
Was it so hard to accept that she had a sense of agency in her life? Kat wondered. Harvard had opened up doors and given her opportunities. But her hard work and determination delivered success. No one ever offered her top marks simply because she’d grown up alone, passed from house to house. In fact most of the time they’d expected less of her.
She felt Brody’s hand on her elbow. A warning that she shouldn’t attack a woman for touching him? For dredging up feelings she’d rather keep buried?
“You know, this place is packed,” Brody said. “I’m thinking we should cancel our order and go somewhere else.”
He offered a cursory smile to the woman with the pixie cut. “See you around, Delilah.”
“Say hi to your brothers for me,” Delilah said with a wink. “We miss seeing them out.”
Kat allowed Brody to blaze a path to the counter, watching as he smiled at the frazzled woman distributing orders. “Trish, can we cancel our sausage pie?”
The waitress spared Brody a smile. “I’ll see if they’ve made it yet. If they have—”
“I’ll take it.” a young mom with one toddler balanced on her hip and the other clinging to her legs said, her eyes wide with relief. “If it is ready, I want it. Doesn’t matter what they ordered.”
“Done.” Brody turned to the mother. “Casey, this one is on me. You can thank your husband for picking up an extra shift last week when we were short a driver.”
“Will do, Brody.” The child in her arms screamed, diverting Casey’s attention.
“You know everyone, don’t you?” Kat said as they headed for the exit.
Brody shrugged. “Small town.”
She followed him out of the restaurant and into the packed parking lot. “You know, we didn’t have to rush out of there.”
“I didn’t want to run the risk you’d hurt Delilah.”
She shook her head. “I shouldn’t have let her get to me. But going to Harvard wasn’t a joyride.”
“No, I don’t imagine it was,” Brody murmured.
“Especially not the way I did it,” she continued, the words spilling out. “Alone, with no one to call when I aced a test, or passed the boards, or . . .”
Kat closed her lips, biting them shut, knowing she’d already revealed too much. Sob stories about medical school weren’t exactly a one-way ticket to whip-cream sex.
But Delilah’s words had brought that time in her life back into focus. And when Kat thought about school, the loneliness surfaced. The other students had a place to go when they closed the dorms for the holidays. She’d managed by making arrangements to stay with friends. But she never forgot the fact that she was on her own. This town, the people here, Missy Jackson’s family—one of the many who’d handed her back to the social worker as quickly as they could—everything about Independence Falls had set her up to navigate the world alone.
“Where are we going?” she said, mentally pushing the depressing thoughts away. She wasn’t the orphaned student anymore. She had a life. Back in New York she had a career, colleagues, and friends waiting for her.
And tonight she had Brody Summers. She focused on his broad shoulders as he led the way through the maze of parked cars. She let her gaze linger on the way his jeans outlined the shape of his perfect butt.
“I’m still taking you to dinner,” he said as they reached his pickup.
“I wouldn’t object to eating closer to home and the whip cream.” She didn’t need the getting-to-know-you dinner-date routine. This man had already unearthed more of her, from the memories she kept under lock and key, to the way she bowed to his control when the clothes hit the floor, than anyone in her life, past or present. Right now she wanted to lose herself in fantasy and sex.
“You haven’t forgotten about dessert, have you?” she asked.
Brody opened the passenger side door and turned to face her, his brown eyes roaming over her. “Kat, every time I look at you I think about new ways to try dessert. I want you. I can’t stop picturing you in my bed. But—”
“Tell me what you see,” she demanded. “I don’t need promises. We don’t need to talk about tomorrow. Not now. Tonight, I’d like a chance to build new memories of this town.”
As she said the words, the truth unraveled. She’d taken Josh’s case and returned to Independence Falls to show this town how far she’d risen, to prove that she no longer needed them to want her. But after walking into the hotel lobby, and then bumping into Missy Jackson’s former best friend, maybe she also needed to prove to herself that her recollections of this town wouldn’t cripple her. And the best way she could think of doing that was to retrain her brain and build new memories.
“Please, Brody,” she added. “Describe the picture in your mind and let’s see if it lines up with mine.”
His brown eyes stared into hers, and she saw the moment desire crushed the reasons on his I-shouldn’t-take-Kat-to-bed list.
Not just desire, she thought. This man cares about people, from his family to the total strangers he rescues. If you ask, he’ll set aside his reservations. He’ll crush the god-awful memories. He’ll make you feel wanted tonight. And maybe the night after that . . .
Her body warmed to the thought. A mental picture of Brody’s naked body hovering over hers formed in her mind.
But what if he claimed more than her body?
No, she had to draw the line at fantasy sex. To invest in another person’s life, to trust in them knowing feelings changed and shifted—she couldn’t travel that road. In the back of her mind she would always be counting down the days until she hit 457, the maximum number of days the state allowed a minor to remain with one foster family. She’d always be waiting for the cycle to end. It was better if she kept an eye on the door. If she started hoping that it would stay closed, that this time she’d finally found a place for her heart to call home . . .
No. She already had a home. New York. And there was Brianna to consider. One day that little girl might open up and let Kat in. Not to mention her job—
“Close your eyes.” He issued the command with an undertone of sensual promise, and she obeyed, blocking the runaway what-ifs. Because tonight just might take the route she desired—straight back to the bedroom.
She heard him open what she suspected was the glove box. Placing a hand on her waist, he turned her around.
“Keep them closed,” he warned.
Fabric touched her face and she jumped at the unexpected. “You’re blindfolding me?”
“Yes.”
She felt his fingers w
orking at the back of her head, tying a knot in what a quick peek told her was a bandanna. Then his hand took hers. He guided her into the front seat of his truck and secured her seat belt.
“Brody Summers, you’re full of surprises,” she said, fascinated by the way she heard every detail of his movements as he settled into the truck.
“At the hotel the other night, you told me swimming would help. Consider this my version of a dip in the pool,” he said as the pickup shifted beneath her, making a right hand turn out of the lot. “Ready to hear my plan?”
“Take-out Chinese? I love lo mein after sex,” she said as they accelerated. Wait, were they merging onto the highway? She touched the side of the bandanna, determined to steal a peek.
“Dinner will be a surprise.” He drew her hand away from her face and placed it back in her lap. “But for dessert, I picture you in my bed.”
“Might be messy,” she murmured, her excitement unwinding, rushing to the parts of her body begging to know what happened next.
“Not the way I see it,” he said. “Your arms stretched out overhead, your wrists tied. Whip cream between your breasts waiting to be licked clean.”
“That’s one way to enjoy dessert.” She shifted, her thighs rubbing together. The combination of the blindfold and his words left her flat-out aching for him.
“It might be better if I turn you over, tie your legs to the bedpost,” he said. “I can picture you lying there while my fingers leave a trail of cream up the back of your calves, a touch in the curve of your knee, a dash on the back of your thighs. I’d start at the bottom and lick you clean.”
“My hands?” The words escaped on an exhale, her chest rising and falling as her breathing detoured from calm and collected to erratic and wanting.
“Free to press into the mattress, lift your ass in the air and ask for more.”
And oh God help her, his voice was a low growl.
She felt the truck merge right, slowing down then pulling to an abrupt stop. “Where are we?”
“Salem,” he said.
“What?” How on earth had they ended up in the state capital when all the signs indicated a joyride leading straight to bed and bondage?
“You can take the blindfold off,” he added, a hint of humor replacing his rough, needy tone.
Kat ripped off the bandanna. She blinked her eyes, adjusting to the soft light of dusk. Cars lined the city street. Salem was a world away from Manhattan when it came to metropolitan areas, but it wasn’t Independence Falls. She couldn’t demand an orgasm in the front seat of his pickup and expect no one would notice.
“Turn the truck around,” she ordered.
Smiling, he took her hand, pulling the bandanna free from her grip. With every touch, her breasts begged to be next, followed by all the parts of her body he planned to cover in whip cream.
“Before we get to dessert, I’m buying you dinner. There is a bistro here called A Taste of Paris that I think you’ll like.” Cupping her cheek with one hand, he leaned over and stole a brief kiss. “I’m going to feed you before I tie you to the bedposts.”
“OK,” she murmured. The sexual need lingered, outpacing hunger. But his tone didn’t leave room for argument. One hand on the car door, she glanced back at him. “Independence Falls, the people there, they don’t have a clue about your wild, dirty mouth, do they?”
“No.” His deep brown eyes stared into hers. “Only you, Kat. I’m only wild with you.”
Chapter 12
BRODY SCANNED THE menu, but it might as well have been written in French. The only thing he wanted was sitting beside him, using every excuse to touch him. A hand on his arm. Her thigh brushing up against his as she accidentally slid too far into the booth.
“Do I need to tie you up for dinner?” he murmured.
“Are you planning to feed me? One french fry at a time?” she teased, leaning close, her shoulder touching his.
“I might.” He looked at her over the top of his menu. Her eyes sparkled as her hand moved to his thigh. Brody sucked a deep breath. Here, in the corner booth of the upscale restaurant, she looked like Kat, the supposed ER doctor he’d met in the airport hotel—daring, welcoming, and intriguing as hell. He realized that she was at home in a room peopled with strangers.
Or she was still turned on from the ride over.
His jaw tightened and he set the menu aside. Blindfolding a woman in the parking lot behind the pizza place, and opening the door to the way he wanted her, what the heck was he thinking?
It was the look in her eyes when Delilah talked about Harvard as if the fancy school had handed Kat the keys to the kingdom. But he could connect the dots. The little girl who’d tried to find a family at the Falls Hotel holding her science project as proof she deserved a home, that kid didn’t show up at an Ivy League school and wait for handouts. She’d fought her way to the top alone. She’d struggled, adapted, and changed.
And he was goddamn crazy about the woman she’d become. He’d blindfolded her and stolen her away from his hometown to remind her who she was now—a beautiful, sexy, smart woman who didn’t need anyone feeling sorry for her.
“Do you feel at home in New York?” he asked after the waiter left with their order.
“Depends on how you define home.”
Kat took a sip of her white wine, drawing his attention to her full lips. On the drive over, he’d stolen glances at her mouth. He’d been tempted to pull over and kiss her. Her lips were like a beacon, calling to his from below the blindfold.
“I feel alive there. And I love the diversity. People from all over the world meeting in one place. They all have different stories, but the focus always seems to be on the now,” she said.
“Your friends in New York look at you and see a doctor and the rest falls away.” Logically, he understood, but the thought of cutting ties with the past felt foreign to him.
“Yes.” She smiled. “Have you ever been? To the city?”
He raised an eyebrow. “There’s more than one city.”
“Not when you live in New York.” Her calf brushed his under the table. It was too damn bad she’d traded in her short skirt for a pair of blue jeans.
“No, I’ve never been to the East Coast. My mother caught the travel bug when we were kids. Claimed she couldn’t stay in one place.”
“She just walked out? On all of you? I knew you lived with your dad in high school, but I didn’t know your mom abandoned you.”
“Yeah, she just up and left one day. After my dad got out of the army. When my sister was still little.”
“There wasn’t anyone else? A reason?”
“It wasn’t my place to ask. My dad was a mess and he needed help. I pitched in with the laundry, made sure everyone got to school, and my dad, well, he took over the trucking company, working alongside my grandfather.”
“Did you ever try to find her?” Kat asked, her wineglass poised at her lips.
“No.” One word offered without a hint of regret.
“I can’t imagine having family out there and not reaching out to them.”
He knew his mother’s abrupt departure from their lives left a lingering wound, more so for his siblings. But for him it was over and done. His job was to make damn sure Chad, Katie, and Josh never felt the pain of someone they loved giving up on them and letting them down again.
“Your father’s out there,” he pointed out, his defenses rising.
“My dad is in prison. And he’s never been a part of my life.”
“Same goes for my mom,” he said. “Not the prison part, though I guess it is possible. But she is not in my life now.”
Kat set her glass down, turned and stared at him, her head cocked to one side. “I’ve been wondering why you’ve stayed single. But I don’t think you have lingering commitment issues.”
“Is that your profession
al opinion, Doctor?” He shifted away, her words unsettling him. The way he saw it, he had major “commitment issues”—his family, work, search and rescue, the farmhouse he planned to fix up now that they had the money. The list went on and on, pulling him in a dozen different directions.
“Yes,” she said, sipping her wine. The waiter delivered their dinner, a burger for him, fish cooked in some sort of fancy bag for her, and an order of rosemary fries.
“You’re wrong,” he said as the server rushed away. “I have a pile of commitment issues. Right now, Josh tops the list. But it has always been one of my siblings or the company, needing my time and attention. When I settle down and get married, I want to do it right. I want to spend the rest of my life giving my wife everything I have in me to give. And everything she needs.”
“That’s a lot to offer,” she said, steam rising up from her fancy plate of fish.
Only to someone who’d spent years believing she’d never make the cut, he thought. Her hand tightened around the stem of her wineglass, and for a second he thought it might snap. Raw emotion swam in her green eyes. Awe mixed with confusion, as if the two feelings had been tossed in a blender. But she quickly masked it.
“What would you ask for in return?” Kat set the glass down and claimed her fork. Stabbing the fish, she pulled it apart.
“I’d like to have a family one day. But to be honest, I’d settle for waking up next to the woman I love every morning and knowing she has the same deep feelings for me that I have for her.”
Kat drew in a deep breath, her eyes wide as her fork remained buried in her food. Judging from the look of wonder he saw on her face, she’d never considered that anyone might feel that way about her. Seeing that look, Brody felt his temper rising at the injustice delivered to the woman sitting beside him. If only he could he’d erase the pain of her past. It fucking killed him that this woman had never known love, the kind that bound a family together.
He set his burger down on his plate before the anger pulsing through him flattened his meal. If he could turn back the clock, he’d find Kat hiding in the corners of his high school and he’d do something to make her believe she deserved love. Hell, he might take a swing or two at all the foster parents who’d sent her packing.
Wild with You Page 9