by Sonya Weiss
She stared at him, and then her lips parted. Soft, inviting lips. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
“I’m trying to, believe me,” he muttered.
“What?” She sighed. “You really must be coming down with something. You’re not thinking straight. The door is locked.”
“Yes! That’s what I’m forgetting.” He dropped the cables and spun around, felt for his keys, and came up empty. “I guess I left them in the truck.”
“Try your other pocket.”
He thrust his hand in and closed his fist around them. “What do you know? There they are.” He unlocked the door, and she swept past him into the house.
What in the hell was wrong with him? Dancing close, his hands on her body, a few glimpses of her thigh, and he was acting like a teenage boy. Kent braced his hand on the wall and leaned his forehead against it.
A few minutes later, Casey stepped outside. “You are so busted.”
His head snapped back. How had he given himself away? Had he stared a fraction of a second too long? “I can explain. This doesn’t have to be a big deal.”
“Oh, it is a big deal.” She playfully smacked his chest. “You said you couldn’t come over and help me pull carpet out of my house because you were painting your living room. Yet the paint cans are still sitting there. Unopened.”
“The paint.” Thank God for the paint. It gave him something to think about besides her.
“Yes, the paint, and you’re not weaseling your way out this time. I’ll come over as soon as I can to help you get that done. Then you can come over to my house and help me pull the carpet up.” She crossed her arms. “You did say you would once you finished painting.”
“I don’t know.”
She walked backward toward her car. “C’mon, Kent, don’t look so worried. I’m good at painting, and it’ll be fun.”
Spending time with Casey, just the two of them at his house, felt as safe as driving a semi across an old rope bridge. Sooner or later something was bound to give, and the hard landing wasn’t going to be fun at all. But what could he say? Sure, come over. But leave the hot body at home. Wait. He was overthinking this. Worried for no reason. Painting with Casey would be a busy, tiring chore. Too much work to focus on anything besides the walls. “Sure. Painting. No problem.”
Pleased, she nodded and turned around, giving him a nice view of her rounded curves. Her hips swung in a sexy walk, catching his attention as he followed her back to her car. Hell, yeah, there is a problem.
Chapter Four
Casey waited impatiently on the sidewalk outside the Griddle House. It was cold enough that she’d had to wear a sweater. The wind blew her hair into her face, and she wished she’d taken the time to braid it. Her stomach growled, which surprised her since she’d figured the nerves would kill her appetite. When the investor had called saying he wanted to meet her and her boyfriend for breakfast, Casey had quickly agreed. Now if Kent would get here…unless he decided to bail. She bit the inside of her lip and worried some more.
Relief made her muscles feel weak when she saw him park his truck. She hurried to meet him. “You’re fifteen minutes late.”
He pushed his sunglasses to the top of his head. “Looking as handsome as I do takes effort in the morning, babe.” He gave her a cheeky, hard-to-resist grin, and his dimples flashed.
“I thought you’d decided to bail.”
“I’m not Dominic.” He put his hand on the small of her back and guided her toward the restaurant. Casey tried to ignore the fire his touch was creating along her skin.
“There was a lane closed, and I had to take the back end of town to get here. That’s why I’m late.”
“I know you’re not him.” Kent wasn’t careless with her or any woman’s feelings. It was one of the reasons why he was so well liked and why women continued to chase him. When Kent did find the right woman, he would be a great husband and eventually a great father. She pictured herself as a guest at Kent’s wedding, and her appetite vanished.
“You can stop looking like you want to barf. I’m here.”
Casey shook off her thoughts. “The bad news is that we don’t have time to get our fell-for-each-other story straight. I’m not good at lying. I’ll screw something up like I always have in the past. I don’t want to be a failure with this business, too.”
Kent stopped and put his hands on her shoulders. “Look at me.” When she did, he said, “You, Casey Bradford, are not and could never be a failure. You’re chasing your dream, and that’s okay to do.”
Her throat grew tight. “Thank you. You always have a knack for knowing what to say.”
“It was one of my classes in college. Understanding women in ten thousand easy steps.”
She poked her finger into the center of his chest. “That’s so wrong.”
“You’re just jealous that I have all this insight.” He pulled open the door and with a flourish waved her ahead of him.
Ignoring the not-so-subtle glances from some of the patrons, Casey bypassed tables until she reached one by the back window. Brandon was seated in a chair next to the investor with a megawatt smile. The other man stood, said hello to Casey, and held his hand out to Kent. “David Roper.”
Once they shook hands, Kent pulled out the chair beside him for Casey, and she sat close enough so that his jeans touched the material of her dress. Butterflies immediately danced in her stomach. Please don’t let me screw this up.
“I have to say I’m a little skeptical about the suddenness of your new relationship,” David said after they’d made some chitchat, his gaze zeroing in on her.
Casey fought the urge to squirm in her seat. “There wasn’t anything sudden about it.” She beamed a smile at Kent.
As if he could read her mind, he put his arm around her shoulders and gave her an adoring look. “I’ve known Casey since we were babies, and I’ve loved her all my life. The second she was free, I made my move. I didn’t want to chance losing her again.” He smiled down at Casey.
What acting chops! Looking deep into his eyes, she’d damn near believe him herself if she didn’t know the truth.
“The truth is that he eventually came to his senses, like you and I did when we realized we loved the women in our lives.” Brandon nudged David with a laugh.
“I hope it is the truth,” David said, studying Casey carefully.
The man was sharp enough to unravel her charade. She gave him a megawatt smile that matched Brandon’s.
“I would hate for this to blow up in all our faces.” David fell silent while the waitress came to take their orders. Once she was gone, he said, “That wouldn’t be good for anyone financially.”
“Everything is fine. You can return to Atlanta knowing your investment is perfectly safe,” Casey said.
“Actually, I’m going to stick around for a few weeks. I’m flying my family in, and we’re going to vacation here. I was surprised at how much there is to see and do in Morganville.”
Brandon’s eyes widened in an alarm that Casey was sure matched her own. Words lodged in her throat.
Kent stepped in and deftly turned the subject to sports. As the talk centered on which team was doing whatever, Casey sagged against the back of her chair. She had a feeling things were about to get a little hotter for her and Kent.
…
The next morning, Casey showed up at Kent’s house early, worried that the meeting had spooked him for good. The second they’d finished breakfast, he’d quickly left. Too afraid he’d say he was done, she hadn’t had the nerve to call or text him. She’d tormented herself with thoughts of him for the remainder of the day.
He answered her knock dressed in a pair of running shorts and a T-shirt. He had a five o’clock shadow and looked sleepily rumpled, like he’d just gotten out of bed. Picturing Kent in bed made her tighten her death grip on the tray of coffees she held.
“Coffee,” he groaned. “You know the way to a man’s heart.”
She handed him one. “Mayb
e I should have bought coffee more often for Dominic, huh?”
“Wouldn’t have helped.” Kent blew on the coffee.
Casey was fascinated by the way his lips pursed. “No?” She swallowed when he licked his lip.
“No. The guy was a tool.” He turned around, and Casey stepped inside his house, keeping her back to him while she closed the door. There were things about Kent that were sliding into place like long-lost pieces from a jigsaw puzzle. The shared secret smiles at the Christmas dinners when they’d buried their fruitcake slices in the dirt of his mother’s potted plant. The prom when Kent had showed up to drive her home because her date was too drunk. The concern in his eyes when she’d announced she was marrying Dominic.
“You never liked Dominic,” she said as she turned around to face him, wondering why, knowing the reason mattered.
He lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “He didn’t deserve you. I knew he was a flake.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because you loved him, and I wasn’t going to be the guy to say something and hurt you. I didn’t know he’d leave you like he did, or I would have warned you.”
She took a second to process that. “You’ve always been considerate of my feelings. Always been there for me.”
“And you for me.” His expression was soft.
Everything that she shouldn’t say was on the ledge with her. One wrong word, and everything would crash down. She’d learned the hard way that mixing romance with friendship had bad results. Thinking about Kent and all he’d been to her was dangerous. It was a place she didn’t want to go out of fear of losing him the way she had Dominic. “We should get started.”
“Yeah, we should.”
She pried her coffee from the cardboard holder and went past him into the living room. Thankfully, the space was large. Working would keep her mind off Kent, where it shouldn’t be in the first place.
“You left so fast after breakfast yesterday I didn’t get the chance to tell you not to let what David said get to you. I don’t have designs on your single status.”
“Just my rockin’ bod.”
Casey put her hand over her heart. “What gave me away?”
Kent laughed and then challenged her to see who could get their wall done first.
Once she got the first coat on, Casey put her roller down and stepped back to admire her work. “Well?” She glanced at Kent, who had finished at the same time.
“I hate the color. We’ll have to start over. I’ll run to the hardware store and get something different.”
“Start over?” She’d worked her ass off. It wasn’t like she had a lot of free time, either, and…Kent was grinning. “You…oh, you think that’s funny?” Casey dipped her index finger in the paint tray and advanced toward him.
“Don’t do it,” he warned, standing with his hands on his hips as if daring her to continue her approach.
She stopped in front of him and wiped her finger down his cheek. Then she stepped back.
Kent calmly raised the bottom of his T-shirt, giving her a view of his rock-hard abs, and wiped the paint, leaving a smeared streak along his face. “It is on, baby.” He grabbed his paintbrush.
Casey shrieked with laughter and ran down the hallway toward his bedroom. She grabbed the keys to his truck and jumped up on the bed, out of breath. “I’ll hide your keys,” she warned.
He climbed on and deliberately moved toward her.
“You’ll get paint everywhere.” She backed up and rested her hand on his headboard. “It won’t come out of this upholstery.”
“I’ve been thinking of getting something new anyway.” He came closer.
“I won’t hide the keys, I’ll flush them.” Casey tried to lunge past him, but he grabbed her around the waist, taking them both down onto the bed. The mattress bounced with them, and her shirt slid up, exposing her stomach. His body fell on top of hers, spreading heat through her. He was deliciously heavy, every hard angle of him fitting the soft angles of her. His eyes sparkling with mischief, his lips a fraction from hers, Casey’s breath caught.
He waved the paintbrush. “Want to ask me for mercy?”
Mercy wasn’t what she was thinking of asking for. Which meant she needed to haul ass out of here. She wiggled around beneath him.
His eyes darkened, and his breathing quickened.
“Say good-bye to your keys.” She pulled away, managing to get off the bed. Before she got two steps away, Kent tossed the paintbrush aside and tackled her, rolling over as they fell so he took the brunt of the impact.
Casey quickly sat up, straddling him. When her girlie bits cheered her on, she stuck the keys in her pocket and stood. Kent grabbed her ankle, hauled her back down, and ran his hands up her legs to her pockets. When she blocked him, he started tickling her.
She shrieked with laughter and slapped at his hands.
He paused and lifted himself up to look at her. “I can give you more where that came from.”
“Son?” His mother’s surprised voice came from the doorway.
Casey tilted her head up, looking upside down at Kent’s mom, whose gaze bounced from the rumpled bed to the floor.
With a muttered curse, Kent rolled off Casey. “I forgot she was coming by,” he whispered as he extended his hand to help her up. “We’ll be right there, Mom.”
Lynn gave another long look at the bed, then walked off.
Casey dangled the keys out in front of Kent before dropping them into his palm. “You were saved in the nick of time.” She headed out of the room. A few more seconds and Kent would have kissed her. Or she would have kissed him. A totally bad idea, but one that she liked the thought of.
“But you weren’t.” He grabbed the paintbrush and stroked it right across her butt.
Casey squealed and twisted the material around to look at it. “How am I supposed to drive home wearing wet paint? I’ll ruin the seat.” She marched into the master bath and grabbed a towel to wipe at the mess. All it did was smear. She held up the towel. “This is going with me.”
“You’re leaving? Aren’t you going to help with the second coat?”
“No.” She needed to vacate the premises before she did something she couldn’t take back. And how embarrassing would it be if she leaned into Kent, pressed her lips against his, and he gave her the you’re-a-friend speech? Or, worse, if they took this to the next level and then she got the speech. No, thanks. Casey headed back to the living room. Back out to her car, back to her life where she wouldn’t let herself think about how much more she wanted from Kent.
…
Normally, Casey wasn’t a Monday morning person, but today was beautiful. The sky was bright blue with the kind of white, fluffy clouds that always lifted her spirits. Which technically had been lifted ever since she’d gone over to Kent’s to paint.
When the bell on the front door of the office jingled, she practically danced around her desk, eager to greet whoever had entered. She needed to get her mind off Kent.
Josie waited in the foyer, holding two steaming cups of coffee from Mocha Love.
“My weakness,” Casey said as she reached for one and inhaled the delicious French vanilla aroma. She eyed the white paper bag Josie had set on the vacant reception desk. “If you tell me there’s a bagel in there with blueberry cream cheese, I will love you forever.”
“You already love me.” Josie handed her the bag. She shifted from one foot to the other and bent slightly to peer around Casey as if she was looking for someone.
Casey raised her eyebrows. “What’s up?”
The tightness around Josie’s lips eased as she straightened to her full height. “I need to talk to you.”
Blowing on the coffee, Casey waved her friend from the reception area and down the hallway to her office. Once they were in, Casey closed the door and indicated one of the upholstered chairs. “Is everything okay?”
For a second after she sat, Josie’s attention focused on the artwork behind Casey’s desk. She
smoothed her hands down the thighs of her black slacks. Then she took a breath and said, “You know my thirtieth birthday is coming up, right?”
“How could I forget? It’s the week before my own big three-oh.” Casey pulled the lightly browned bagel from the bag and slathered it with an extra spoonful of the cream cheese. She’d been so caught up at her parents’ house helping clean out the attic last night that she’d arrived home late and had skipped dinner. Oversleeping this morning, she hadn’t taken time for breakfast. After biting into the bagel, she realized that Josie was plucking at the hem of her shirt. Her friend was acting uncharacteristically nervous. She swallowed the bite she’d taken. “Josie?”
“I’m going to start dating.”
“Good for you.” Casey took a sip of the coffee and ate more of the bagel. “Who are you going to be seeing?”
“That depends on what your computer says.” She held Casey’s gaze steadily.
“Oh…you want…” Casey set the half-eaten bagel on a napkin and put it on her desk. “You’re here for me to help you find someone.”
“Yes. I want to sign up.”
Casey thought about it for a second, then said, “No.”
Josie’s mouth dropped open. “No?” Then she sputtered, “You can’t refuse me.”
“Yes, I can. For your own good. You get like this every year without fail right before your birthday.”
“I miss being part of a couple. I do want to get married eventually and have children, as well. I can’t do that unless I’m seeing someone.”
“What about Lincoln? You like him.”
“I do. He’s funny, good-looking, and sexy. Ever since I saw him with his shirt off and those jeans riding low—”
Casey held up her hand and puffed out her cheeks. “Do you want to see the first half of that bagel again? If not, careful what you tell me about my brother.”
Josie’s voice picked up a note of sadness. “Lincoln’s not interested, and I’ve decided I need to move on. Will you help me?”
“I’ll help,” Casey decided. She stood and moved to the other side of the desk. Pressing a button on her computer, she pulled up the application screen, then turned it around to face her friend. “Normally, I have clients fill this out online at home before they come in, but since you’re here, go ahead and do it now.”