by Anthology
He then reached out to trail his fingertips along the surface of the water, but the instant his skin made contact, he immediately pulled back his hand. The water was freezing.
“Katie, what are you doing? Are you okay?” he asked stupidly. Now the panic was not merely hovering around the edges of his voice—it had overtaken it.
She didn’t answer. Damn it! She obviously was not okay.
Without a second thought, Jason plunged his arms into the bathtub and lifted her limp body up and out of the freezing water as the icy liquid splashed at his feet.
Katie was shaking, trembling like a leaf, and when he looked down at her face lying against his shoulder, he saw that her lips were slightly blue. Jason frantically glanced around the bathroom for a towel but none was in sight.
He tightened his grip on her and rushed back into her bedroom, making a beeline to her bed and gently laying her down on it.
As he sat next to her, he could not help but look down at her body. He was only human. God, she was incredible.
Jason, knock it off, he chastised himself. God. What was he doing? He had to make sure she was conscious.
“Katie, wake up! Katie! Wake up, baby!” he said loudly as he shook her shoulders.
Her head rolled to the side and her eyes fluttered briefly and then shut again. He took that as a good sign.
“I thought it was you. I thought it was you. I thought it was you, Jason,” Katie repeated in a raspy whisper. She, then, opened her beautiful blue eyes wide and made steady eye contact with him. When he saw that she was both conscious and present, he let out a breath that, up until that moment, he had not even realized he was holding in.
“It is me, Kit Kat. It’s okay, I’m here,” he said in a deliberately soothing and comforting tone.
“I’m so cold. I was so hot. Now I'm so cold,” Katie mumbled, and then her teeth started chattering.
Jason instinctively pulled off his shirt and lay over her, encompassing her icy skin with the warmth of his body.
He had learned in the Boy Scouts that the fastest way to raise a person's body temperature to normal levels was by using your own body heat. That was the only reason why he was doing this.
He mentally shook his head at himself. Sure, Sloan. Anything you need to tell yourself to not focus on the fact that you're laying on top of her and all you can feel is her breasts pushed up against your chest.
Oh yeah. He was a real Boy Scout.
Her tiny body was shivering beneath him and he did everything he could to just lie still and warm her. Of course, there was one (very insistent) part of his body that was not quite on board with the “lie still” plan. His jeans were growing tighter by the second.
Jason lay in that state of suspended animation, every tiny move she made torturing him, as the seconds passed inexorably. Finally, he felt her breath start to warm on the side of his neck. He sighed with relief of more than one variety.
Jason lifted himself off of the bed slightly so that he could look her square in the face as he asked, “Are you warm enough, Kit Kat? Are you okay?”
“I thought it was you. I thought it was you, Jason,” she repeated, but this time her voice was no raspy whisper. It was as strong as it was anguished, and tears filled her eyes and slipped down the side of her face as she spoke.
Oh, dear God in Heaven. Katie was naked and crying. How was he ever going to survive this?
“Katie,” he said firmly but gently, hoping to comfort her, but also to lead her back to reality. “It is me. I am here.”
As he said this, he lifted his hand and wiped away the tears that had fallen down her face. She sucked in a shallow breath as his hand touched her cheek and then she pressed her face against his palm. His breathing quickened. He felt like he was in a dream. The next thing he knew, her lips were pressed against his.
He wasn’t sure if she kissed him first or the other way around, but that was something he could worry about later. Right now, all he cared about was that they were lip to lip.
Jason trembled. It was all his aching muscles could do to hold himself above her, to hold back the floodgates of lust and passion even a little bit. Her soft lips tasted sweet as her tongue lightly brushed against his bottom lip.
He groaned. Before he could stop himself, he opened his mouth and slipped his tongue into hers, deepening the kiss to maddening levels. As his tongue moved hungrily inside her mouth, he felt her arms shaking as she ran her hands up his back.
Calling upon every ounce of will he possessed, he pulled away from her and asked, “Are you okay? You’re shaking.”
Present Day
And that was the beginning of... Jason shook his head. Never mind what that was the beginning of. He tried not to let himself think about what happened after that.
And he certainly couldn’t afford to break his decade-long habit of attempting to avoid those memories at this particular moment, when he and Katie were locked in Aunt Wendy’s loving death grip.
Chapter Four
“Well, I swan. It's a little piece of heaven to see you two out here visitin' in the yard. Just like the old days. Have you two youngins had a chance to catch up?”
Aunt Wendy chattered happily as she released them both from her hold. Even though Aunt Wendy had grown up in Harper's Crossing and lived there most of her adult life, she spent six months living with a boyfriend in Alabama when she was in her early twenties and still liked to pepper her speech with Southernisms—especially when she was happy or excited.
“Actually I just got here, like, just a few minutes ago, so no...not really, no.” Katie could still feel the flush heating her face and heard herself babbling. Luckily, Aunt Wendy didn't really seem to notice.
“Well, Mr. Sloan, have you ever seen any girl as beautiful as my Buttercup?” Aunt Wendy asked as she looked at Katie, her eyes shining with pride and love.
Katie leaned her head against Aunt Wendy's shoulder, feeling safe and warm as she listened to her speak. Unlike Kit Kat, a nickname that had always annoyed her, Buttercup was something Katie loved to be called. It made her feel special and cherished. Aunt Wendy had been calling her that for as long as she could remember.
As a little girl, Katie had been obsessed with the movie The Princess Bride. Aunt Wendy had thought that, with Katie's long and flowing blond hair, she looked a lot like the princess in the movie, whose name was Buttercup.
As she rested against her aunt’s comforting shoulder, she waited for Jason to answer her aunt’s well-meaning question in some smart aleck fashion, probably by making some joke at her expense.
“No, I can honestly say I have not,” Jason responded sincerely.
Wait, what? Did he just say something nice? About her?
Katie felt her cheeks start to flush again, and she shook her head to clear it. Down girl, she thought sternly. You need to lock that kind of physical response down before it gets out of control.
She looked up at Jason, trying to search for some clue as to why he was behaving so un-Jason-like. His rich brown eyes bore into hers with a complicated intensity. If she wasn’t mistaken, there was desire in those eyes as well as something else she couldn't quite identify. Something…primal. Just as Katie was beginning to fear that she could not take one more second of the heat of Jason’s intense gaze on her, she was saved by the bell. Well, a horn actually.
Katie turned her head to see Sophie and Bobby pulling up in the driveway of Sophie’s house next door to Katie’s. Sophie burst out of the car before it even came to a full stop.
Sophie ran up to Katie at full speed and threw her arms around her.
A warmth spread through Katie as she returned the embrace. Even though Sophie was now a full grown woman who stood a good two inches taller than her, when Katie saw her flying across the yard with her wide open smile and her honey blond hair bouncing around her face, all Katie had seen was the four-year-old little girl who used to follow her around like a shadow and who she used to dress up like a doll.
“I am soooo
happy that you are finally here.” Sophie exclaimed as she pulled back from Katie, cheeks flushed. Katie smiled. This picture was only enhancing her view of Sophie as the adorable little moppet she used to be.
Sophie turned excitedly to the handsome, solemn young man who had been steadily following in her tornado-like path from the car. She exclaimed, “Bobby can you believe it? Everyone is here now. Let the wedding festivities begin. Woo hoo!”
Katie had to give herself a little shake as she took in the sight of, not only a grown-up Sophie before her, but a grown-up Bobby as well.
Bobby Sloan, Jr. was Jason’s youngest brother. The youngest of the famous Sloan Boys. Of course, the Sloan Boys weren't famous anywhere but in Harper's Crossing. But in Harper's Crossing? They were nothing short of legend.
There were five boys in the Sloan family: Seth, Riley, Jason, Alex, and Bobby.
Katie had always teased Jason about having “middle child” syndrome—always trying to do crazy things because he craved attention.
Seth and Riley had left for the military as soon as they graduated high school, so
Katie didn't know them that well—although she knew all the stories about them well enough. One thing that had become even more obvious now that both men were adults was that Bobby was just about the spitting image of Seth. Physically, they were the only two of the boys with striking jet black hair and blue eyes. Coupled with smooth, olive skin, these features made them seem like movie stars from another, more elegant age.
But it was more than just their outward appearance that made Katie group Seth and Bobby together among the Sloan Boys. They had always had the same manner about them. They were both quiet observers, always taking in their surroundings, always making unseen connections and observations. When you looked into the eyes of either Seth or Bobby, you were met with a mask of unidentified emotion. Katie had always thought of them as the “silent, brooding bookends” of the Sloan boys.
Come to think of it, Katie wasn't sure that she had heard Bobby speak more than ten words in her entire life. He'd always just been there—nice, reserved and quiet.
It was hard for Katie to think of the taciturn Bobby and the effervescent Sophie together. Talk about polar opposites. Though, when it came down to it, she guessed that the old saying was true—opposites attract.
Bobby raised a hand in greeting and smiled a smile that reached all the way to his expressive blue eyes. “It’s good to see you, Katie,” he said warmly, and when he spoke, Katie got a shock. His rich baritone voice was one of the deepest she had ever heard.
She felt her mouth fall open as her hand flew to her chest. She laughed involuntarily and exclaimed, “Holy smokes, Bobby. You are, like, really a…man!”
She reached up to give him a hug and heard Jason clear his throat in irritation as Bobby's arms encircled her.
“Okay, okay, enough with the hugging. Everybody knows everybody. Everybody looks good or older or fill in the blank. Don’t we have some meeting or something to get to?”
Jason sounded more annoyed than Katie had ever heard him, and when she glanced over to where Aunt Wendy and Sophie were standing to see if they had taken note of his reaction, she saw them exchanging little conspiratorial grins.
Hmmmm…
Wonder what that's about?
But Katie didn't have an opportunity to pursue it further, because as soon as Sophie took note of the puzzled look she was throwing them and the fact that she was about to open her mouth to say something, she jumped in to fill the silence.
“Right, right,” Sophie agreed crisply, suddenly sounding very mature and adult. “Okay, Aunt Wendy did you bring the notebook?”
Katie blinked at the stark difference between bubbly, bouncing Sophiebell and business-like, efficient Sophie.
“I sure did,” Aunt Wendy confirmed proudly, “What kind of a doggone wedding planner would I be if I didn’t have the wedding planning notebook?”
“You're a wedding planner?” Katie burst out. She tried to keep the shock out of her tone. But regardless of how successful she might be at not expressing the shock, there was nothing she could do to keep from feeling it.
It wasn’t just that organization was not, shall we say, one of Aunt Wendy’s strong suits. She had also never been married and would never be mistaken for a ‘romantic.’ In fact, she was such a pragmatist that she had often been known to refer to romanticism as “hogwash” —not what Katie would think of as the seeds from which a wedding planner would one day sprout.
“Well, yes, Buttercup. Don’t you read my blog?” Aunt Wendy asked, sounding a little hurt.
Ouch. Busted.
She could try to explain that the life of an associate on the partner track didn't leave a whole lot of time for perusing web journals, but somehow she didn't think that would ease her aunt's hurt feelings. So instead, she shared a lesser almost-truth she thought would be more meaningful to Aunt Wendy—which was still no less valid just because it wasn't the main reason.85
“Actually, Aunt Wendy, I don’t,” said Katie with all the sincerity she could muster. “When I read it, I just…I get really sad. It's just really hard because I miss you and Mom so much.”
Sharing this small (mostly-true) vulnerability had the desired effect of distracting Wendy from her own hurt feelings entirely and focusing her energy elsewhere.
“Oh, my poor little Buttercup-girl, all alone in California. It must be so lonely for you, out there with no family around. Well, don’t you worry your pretty little head, darlin'. I'm gonna get you all caught up on what’s new with me and every other living soul in Harper's Crossing while you’re here,” Aunt Wendy said as she slammed her hand down on the trunk of Katie’s rental car for emphasis. Katie had no doubt that her aunt would keep that promise.
Aunt Wendy continued her speech. “But as for right now, let's put a pin in that. Romeo is right. We need to get inside and nail down the nitty-gritty of this spectacular shindig.”
Katie smiled at her aunt's vernacular. When Katie was little, she had asked her aunt why she talked like that even though she'd only lived in Alabama for a few months, and Aunt Wendy had just shrugged phlegmatically and said, “It stuck.”
“I’ll be right over. I haven’t even brought my bags into the house yet,” Katie pointed out, gesturing to the suitcases still sitting beside the car.
She wanted to buy a little time. All these people, all this emotion, all these changes. All this Jason. She suddenly felt very overwhelmed. She needed a moment to regroup.
Well, let’s be honest, she needed more than a moment, but she wasn’t greedy. She would take what she could get.
“Okay, Buttercup, you go put your things inside and we’ll meet you next door after you get settled,” Aunt Wendy said briskly, in full “wedding planner” mode.
“Great,” Katie said gratefully.
“Romeo here will help you with your bags,” Aunt Wendy continued, patting Jason's chest as she walked past him.
Alarms started going off in her head.
Alone + Jason = bad idea.
Fact: she did not trust herself.
“No. No, that’s okay. I’ve got it. Really.” Katie said, trying to keep the desperation out of her voice. But it was too late. Sophie, Bobby and Aunt Wendy were already halfway across the yard that separated Katie's house from the Hunters', and they were deep in wedding-related conversation.
“Looks like you’re stuck with me,” Jason said with an oh-so-very-pleased-with-himself smile on his face.
Not knowing what else to do, Katie grabbed her suitcases and popped open her trunk. She threw her luggage inside unceremoniously and said faux-brightly, “I can get settled in later.”
Slamming the trunk, Katie turned and looked up at Jason with the brightest smile she could plaster on her face. Keep it light, Katie, she told herself. Don't leave any room for the intensity, hormones or emotion to creep back in.
“Wow, the idea of being alone with me is that scary, huh?” Jason said casually, but if Katie
’s spidey senses were correct, with the barest hint of hurt at the edges of his voice.
Katie paused for a moment, taken aback, but then realized her powers of deduction must be on the fritz because Jason did not get hurt feelings. Ever. So she maintained her faux-cheerful demeanor as she brightly chirped, “Yep, Jas, you’re reeeeaaaal scary. I’m terrified to be alone with you. Good guess.”
With that, she spun on her heel and began to practically jog across the lawn.
Alone. Ha! Right, like that was going to happen.
Katie’s heart raced and her stomach was full of butterflies—no, she mentally corrected herself, not butterflies. Those lovely creatures flew around gracefully, sweeping their wings in wide, slow arcs. Whatever had invaded her belly was a lot more manic than innocent little butterflies. Maybe hummingbirds. Yeah, she thought, hummingbirds. Their wings going a mile a minute and shredding her stomach lining sounded about right.
But, she amended, it's like they're not even just flying around in there. Maybe they are having some kind of Gladiator death battle, or an orgy, or...stop it, Katie.
She had to stop thinking about sex! At the mere thought of even a few moments alone with Jason, her mind had sunk into the gutter and her body had exploded with uncontrollable tingles. Up and down her arms, zinging along her spine, but mostly…between her legs. She sighed. Yep. Especially between her legs.
Her own body was betraying her.
She had not had a reaction to anyone like this since, well, um…that night after Nick’s funeral. The night when Jason had found her semiconscious in her bathtub, had laid her in her bed, and then stripped off his shirt to warm her up.
Oh, Lord. That night. At the mere thought of it, she wanted to bury her face in her hands. She couldn’t begin to imagine what Jason must think of her after how she had behaved that night.