by L. T. Kelly
“To be completely honest, I’m surprised you turned up after my tantrum last night.”
He shrugged and checked his mirrors before pulling the car away from the curb. “I won’t give up, Katie.”
“I’ve given up on trying to get you to give up.”
He grinned, revealing his teeth. “I’m glad. Look, about last night, I don’t want to force you into telling me what happened. It really got to me when I saw how upset you were. Tell me in your own time, okay? Whenever you’re ready is good for me.”
“If you’re still here by then,” she said in a whispery faraway voice as though she were talking to herself rather than to him.
He slowed the vehicle, his teeth gritted. “Why do you always think I’m going to run off?”
“I can’t help but notice you’re young, good looking and mega-talented. Need I go on? I refuse to hold you back or tie you down. I’ve just met you, but you’re so, so…” She took her bottom lip between her teeth before looking him straight in eyes. “Intense.”
“Well, thanks for the compliments, but I wouldn’t view you as a tie.” He looked away from her, mainly because the lights had changed, but also to prevent his dick from reaching rock-solid status.
They arrived the restaurant on the Southbank—luckily, he’d had a few minutes alone with Jess. He’d phoned Al and begged for his help. He'd had to find somewhere nice to take Katie now that the family place was suddenly off the menu. He wanted it to be special, somewhere for the date he wanted rather than for a meal between friends. Create the right atmosphere and boom! The deal would be sealed. That’s what he figured anyhow.
“Wow, swanky, I wish I’d dressed for the occasion now,” she whispered, with a hint of nervous laughter evident in her voice.
“You look gorgeous,” he said, unable to stop his eyes from traveling over her tight, white tank top that showed a hint of lacy bra beneath then down to the blue, flouncy summer skirt that stopped mid-thigh.
“Besides, look at me.” He held out his arms. He wore his customary outfit of jeans and a T-shirt.
Her lips bumped together, and she narrowed her eyes on him. “You’re going to be a rock star. You can pull off any outfit.”
He shook his head with a huge grin plastered across his lips.
“What? It’s true.”
“Hello, Mr. Wright?” The waitress tipped her head to one side with a furrowed brow.
Katie clutched her stomach as she laughed, and the waitress looked even more confused.
“Hey, I’m busted.” He held up both palms. “Al booked the table.”
“No shit, Sherlock.” Katie giggled and shook her head as they were guided to their table.
Evan rushed forward and pulled out her seat. The view looked amazing and the atmosphere, perfect. From their table, they looked out over the Thames. It was scarcely before dusk, and the sky was lined with the shades of pink and red as the sun descended below the horizon.
“This place is stunning. I’m so glad you found it,” she teased. “Are you leaving the car here and joining me for a drink?”
He shook his head. “I’ll take one beer and drive you home.” He spoke half to the waitress, who waited to take their drink order and answered Katie’s question at the same time.
“Okay, I’ll have a white wine please.”
The conversation flowed easier than he’d expected after the serious conversation in the car and the events of the previous night. He viewed a whole new side to Katie. She smiled freely and laughed at his silly, high-school stories that mostly involved getting Alex out of trouble with his hordes of female admirers.
He hardy noticed the small, artistically presented portions he ate. He had no comment because he couldn’t recall the taste of anything he’d swallowed. He drowned in her company, getting lost in her and the effortless conversation they shared for the first time since meeting. Her change in attitude made his dreams come true, as if she had a marker and busily ticked off the list of all the attributes he loved about a person.
“How about you then? I bet you had a ton of girls in high school?”
Evan sipped his beer and shook his head.
“Ah, come on, you’re a catch.” She flapped a hand as though he must have been lying.
He pressed his lips together and looked away before he spoke. “You think so?”
She dipped her head and nodded slightly, maintaining his eye contact with a smoldering gaze that resurrected the earlier, uncontrollable response of his dick.
He took a sip from his beer then continued, “I only had one girlfriend.”
“Oh, is she still your girlfriend?” Katie said huskily.
He couldn’t help but note that her voice had faltered a little. He leaned forward closing the gap between them, laying his arms out on the table to place his hands over hers. “I’m not a cheat, if that’s what you’re thinking. I also don’t pursue women that I don’t want to spend time with on an ongoing basis. So, no, she’s no longer my girlfriend.” Warmth flooded him from the feel of her smooth skin beneath his and the knowledge that it no longer hurt him to say those words. All his friends had warned him that once she left for college he’d be a goner. He’d told them all to shut-up. He’d put so much effort into their relationship that he hadn’t seen the end coming.
The problem always lay with his mother, who flung around the accusations that he'd become a lying, cheating, womanizer…like his father had been. Evan was determined to be anything but. He’d been forced to despise the father he couldn’t remember. The only thing he knew for sure was that his dad had been a damn good musician. Evan clung to that. It was the only attribute of his father he wanted to possess. He'd only known what the press had said about the man. They'd made him out to be a good guy, but Evan’s mother had always warned him never to believe what the newspapers said.
Katie tipped her head to one side. “That's admirable.”
He shook his head, smiling sadly. “It's not admirable. It's honest. It’s the way a relationship should be.”
She sat back, shrugging off his hands as she moved, still surveying him closely with her eyes slightly narrowed. “So, what is wrong with you then?” she asked with a hint of amusement in her voice.
He couldn’t help laughing. He looked back at her. She smoothed her fingertips up and down the stem of her wine glass in a seductive motion. Fuck.
Earlier, she’d gone upstairs with her mother as an unsure, angry, untrusting female, carrying the weight of the world on her tiny shoulders. She’d reappeared as a different woman. A woman who'd become relaxed, sure of herself, a sexy temptress.
He’d been attracted to her from the moment he'd clapped eyes on her. He undeniably enjoyed her hard faced, confident front. But, he’d seen that drop away enough times to know there was warmth beneath her tough exterior. Even on the underground that first day, he’d watched lots of different emotions displayed in her body language and over that beautiful face of hers. He gulped, the connection between their eyes like laser beams.
“So? What’s the answer?”
“That’s for me to know and for you to find out.” He winked, trying to claw back his ebbing confidence. She’d stolen it from him.
“That sounds like a challenge. Maybe, it’s time we got the check?”
Chapter Nine
Katie grabbed Evan’s hand as they left the restaurant. Holding it came naturally after the initial, electric spark of his skin against hers. The feeling of his thumb rubbing over hers soothed her. She’d enjoyed a few glasses of delicious wine accompanied by the pretentiously small-portioned, but delicious food. Still, it wasn’t the wine that had caused her change in mind.
Her mother’s words, though familiar, had gotten to her tonight. Evan might not be the love of her life, he might not be the man she’d spend forever with, but being with him made her feel happy. It would be foolish to consider life as anything but an ever-changing thing. What was wrong with riding the waves of it?
Inevitably, he’d leave, but
she’d overcome much worse in the past. Surely, she ought to enjoy the chance she had to feel? To appreciate his advances? To be a woman again, and not just a mother.
He opened the car door for her to get inside, and she smiled gratefully. All through dinner, she hadn’t been able to stop her admiring gaze from running over his broad shoulders, the delta of his amazing biceps and torso. It had kept her hungry for something entirely different from food.
She couldn’t help but smooth her hand along his solid thigh as he drove. The hardness of it captivated her, and the way he held her hand while driving drowned her with anticipation.
“Pull over.”
“Sorry?” His face lined with confusion at her request.
“Pull over now.”
They had reached the top of her street. By that time, she’d worked herself into a frenzy, and what she wanted to do didn't seem appropriate in front of her home. She blew out a breath of relief when he pulled the car to the curb at least ten houses from hers.
“Kill the engine,” she demanded, startled by the huskiness of her voice.
“Are you okay?” He turned to her after switching off the ignition.
Her mouth captured his immediately. She groaned at the softness of it, the tender brush of her mouth against his. The first kiss she’d stolen in many years. He responded immediately, opening to let her in.
Her hand came up and stroked down his face then onto his neck. Her sex tingled as she ran her hand over his solid shoulder that went on forever.
Suddenly, the distance from the passenger seat to the driver’s side felt as if it were a million miles away. Her skin had erupted into a web of electricity that might burst into flames it the correct amount of pressure wasn’t applied. She pulled her lips from his and held his dazed gaze for a moment. He looked lost and found all at once, instantly making her glad because that’s how she felt, too.
She scrambled, in the most unladylike of ways, onto his lap. Her side pressed against the steering wheel. Her legs draped over the central console with her feet on the passenger side seat where she’d been sitting moments before. She giggled at herself.
“What’s funny?” He shot her a beaming smile, wrapping his arm around her and holding her close to his body.
“I’m getting too old for this.” She didn’t wait for a reply. She couldn’t. Her face was too close to his, and she wanted to kiss that stunning smile again. Her mouth crashed into his for the second time. The feel of it captivated her all over again, and it tasted as delicious as the first time their lips had met. People say nothing can beat the first time you kiss someone, the way her body burst into a raging inferno begged to differ.
His palm smoothed over her leg and up to her thigh and came to a stop before her apex, his fingers squeezing the flesh millimeters away from her aching clit. She pulled away from his mouth, dragging in a much-needed ragged breath. Her eyes were half-closed. His other hand left her waist and flew up to the back of her head, pulling her in for the third assault on her mouth, gently tugging at her hair at the same time.
She couldn’t resist. Her fingers went in search of all the places she’d thought about touching since meeting him, the bulging biceps, soft, smooth and solid all at the same time. She pawed greedily at his chest, dragging her fingers down to his abdomen. The more she touched, the more she wanted, her hands ravenous for delight. She’d tried to think of him as a boy, but there was nothing boyish about his body. Judging by the growing bulge pressing against her thigh, she wouldn't to be disappointed by any aspect of him.
Katie flinched as a light came on inside the house they were parked outside of. She banged her hip on the steering wheel and narrowly escaped sounding the horn. “Shit,” she hissed before giggling.
Evan laughed too, the sound nervously high pitched.
“Sorry, love. Like I said, I am way too old for this.” She searched the door panel behind her, locating and tugging on the handle until it opened. She held her body rigid so she didn’t fall out onto the street.
She shimmied around, smiling as she purposely rubbed her ass over his erection a lot more than was required to exit the vehicle.
“Can I walk you to your door?” he asked once she stood on the street with her hand on the car door.
“No, thanks for the offer though.”
“When can I see you again?”
“When do you want to see me again?”
He shrugged. “As soon as you step away from me.”
Her throat constricted, her fingers flew up unconsciously to soothe her neck. He was intense. She hadn’t imagined it. Perhaps, it was a part of his personality? She couldn’t help but find it attractive. She and Lee had been pushed together through circumstance. It wasn’t that she hadn’t loved him; she had. But this felt like something else. She and Evan hadn’t fallen together. They’d found each other, as if it had always been meant to be.
“You know that can’t happen, don’t you?” She kept for voice low but forceful.
“I’m sorry.”
It wasn’t only her heart she had to protect. She could tell that he wanted to go one hundred miles an hour, but she couldn’t let him. They had to take things slow. She had to make him consider her point of view.
She watched as his head dipped to look at his lap. The last thing she wanted was for him to feel bad about it, but he had to get into his head that she wasn’t looking for a full on relationship. Her hand rested on his shoulder, forcing him to look back up at her.
“I’m sorry, too. I guess I’d rather take things slow. I can’t afford to get hurt again. I’ve got too much responsibility. I figure we can enjoy this though?” She cocked her head and smiled lopsidedly at his nod. “Thanks for dinner, although I much preferred dessert.” She mustered up a grin and winked, happy to spot a smile back on his face. She bent and glanced a kiss over his cheek. “Goodnight, babe.”
“Goodnight, angel.”
She wanted to hug herself. Had he really just called her angel? She smiled as she walked to her house.
Once inside, she closed the door and leaned against it. A stupid grin cross her lips, but she didn’t care. Instead of wallowing in her own pity as she usually did, tonight, she drowned in ecstasy, and she treasured the seconds as they passed by.
Maria came into view, clutching a mug and leaning against the doorframe with a soft smile. “Well, look what the cat dragged in. Did you have a good time?”
“Mmm.” Katie made no attempt to rearrange her features.
“I told you. Let go. Enjoy it.”
“I will, Mom, I promise.”
Maria placed the mug on the hall table, next to the picture of Lee holding a newborn Jessica. Katie’s heart thudded so hard she thought it might leap out of her chest. Emptiness came crashing down on her, the aftereffects of the intimacy she’d shared suddenly making her feel dirty instead of happy and wholesome. Marie grabbed her bag from beside the table.
“I best get going. Got work in the morning.”
Gone was the smile they’d shared moments before. She followed Katie’s gaze down to the picture. “Now, Katie, come on,” she chided. “Don’t do this to yourself. I’m begging you.”
Katie pressed her palms against the door to steady herself against the guilt that tore through her stomach, making her want to vomit. She couldn’t snatch her eyes away from the photo, try as she might.
Marie sharply changed her tack. “All Jessica has spoken about all night is Evan. She didn’t even sing along to Let it Go, and you know she always does. But that’s what you should be doing, Katie, letting it go. Stop living in the past.” Her words were spoken gently instead of in her usual harsh scolding.
Katie closed her eyes to the image of Lee that tortured her and took a deep breath.
She remembered the low lamplight of the restaurant and the easy conversation she’d enjoyed. The explosive kiss, the electric touches. It all flashed before her eyes in a series of beautiful images. Her mother was right as usual. Katie needed to let it go.
“Okay. Thanks,” she mumbled like the berated child she was.
“Anytime. Anyway, I’ve changed my mind. I’m not in any hurry, so let’s have a glass of wine, and you can tell me all about your amazing date.”
“How do you even know I had a good time?” Katie asked with a hint of amusement in her voice and the mini meltdown now firmly pushed to the back of her mind where it belonged.
Marie offered a sad smile. “Because it's written all over your face, love.”
Both women cackled and headed for the kitchen.
* * * *
Evan attempted to close his eyes before another catchy new lyric bounced on his head like an iron bar.
He’d been trying to sleep for hours, each time giving in to the creativity prodding his busy mind. The tenth time he’d turned over, he gave up on sleep and leapt out of his bed to write down the lyrics. He’d stay awake until he'd emptied it all out.
Those lips, that kiss, the touch of Katie’s skin beneath his fingertips crowded and invaded his thoughts and burst out into song. Really good songs. No, incredible songs. At four in the morning, he grabbed his guitar from its case, bringing his fingers to his lips as he always did before pressing them against his dad’s old record.
He rested back down onto the chair beside the desk, the top covered with scattered papers. Lyrics for five new songs had been completed in full and begged for the music to go with them. He realized Alex next door and Jamie the other side of his room would be sound asleep.
Jamie wouldn’t say a thing; he never did. However, as soon as Evan strummed his guitar, Alex would come banging on the door and probably on his head, too, if given the chance.
Evan perched on the edge of the chair and strummed out the first chord, as loud as he could, then played the next. After a minute, there was no response from his band mates.
“Damn you, Alex,” Evan hissed and steeled himself to carry on until he achieved the desired effect. He pressed his strings and flicked his pick over them again, this time bursting into song. It was the last one they’d written.