by Amy Knupp
“So it’s over now?” Andie asked.
“Not quite. Winding down though.”
“Then why’d you leave if the wedding party isn’t supposed to?”
“Because we were concerned about you. No one saw you leave. Macey was ready to send out a search party when you didn’t answer your phone.”
“I didn’t want to worry her on her wedding night. Just … needed to get out of there. Too many people.”
“So you weren’t running away from me?”
oOo
Andie sat up and searched Clay’s chiseled face in the near-darkness. The insane, overwhelming panic that seeing Trevor had caused was dissipating as she became more attuned to Clay and the present moment. “Why would I run away from you?”
He shrugged. “You don’t seem like the type who sticks around for cuddling and conversations if you can help it.”
Andie laughed, not sure she liked the picture he was painting of her. But then, he wasn’t far off the mark. “I’ve been known to do both,” she said. “Though at the very least I would require room to stretch out for cuddling.”
Clay laughed. “I haven’t been compelled to do anything like we did tonight for years.”
“So I’m not just a notch in your dashboard?”
“Nope. The truck needed to be christened.”
He smiled his killer smile, then cupped her cheek in his palm and leaned in, pressing a gentle kiss to her lips. He looked into her eyes questioningly.
She’d have to be superhuman or three-quarters dead to turn this man away. Selfishly, she wanted that chance to be with him again, unhurried, un-cramped. Now that she’d had a sample, she wanted more. That it would distract her from the rest of her life was icing on the cake.
Andie took his hand and stood. “The sheets here are cotton, not satin, but they, too, need to be christened. If you’re up for the job.”
“I’ve always been one to rise to the occasion.” He got up from the futon and wrapped his arms around her, lifting her. She wound her legs around him, and he carried her to the bedroom.
oOo
Andie opened one eye, enough to get her bearings. Excellent bearings they were too — Clay slept naked, facing her, inches away, his arm draped across her middle. Enough light came in the window above the head of the bed for her to see the shadow of hair on his jaw and the peaceful look on his beautiful face. And that body. It was a thing of beauty. She could stare at it for days.
Over the course of the night, he’d shown her what that body could do. He was an unselfish lover, definitely well versed in satisfying a woman. Over and over and over again.
“Clay,” she whispered. “You should go soon. The sun’s coming up.”
He didn’t stir. She ran her fingers down his solid chest, biting her lip against the urge to follow her hand with her tongue. Before she realized he was awake, his arm tightened around her. He rolled onto his back, pulling her on top of him.
She was toast. She had to have him one more time. Because after this, once he walked out that door, she had to be done.
He kissed her till she couldn’t breathe, ran his strong hands all over her, making her feel feminine, sexy. As if he couldn’t get through the next minutes without her.
He rolled her to her back in a sudden movement and wedged himself between her legs, then proceeded to lavish her with attention from his mouth and hands.
“Clay, please…”
He made his way up her body. “Want to make sure you start your day right, biker girl.”
“Um, yeah.” She caught her breath and arched into him. “Anyone ever call you an overachiever?”
His laugh was gravelly and sexy. “Like to cover my bases.”
“If we’re going the baseball route, it’s time for a home run. Bases are loaded.”
Clay growled as he took his sweet time with her, teasing her, driving her into a frenzy. When she was giving serious consideration to somehow wriggling out from under him and taking control, he leaned to the side and reached for the nightstand. They’d made their way through a portion of the box of condoms last night — after Andie had proven to him they weren’t expired.
He sheathed himself and returned to her within a few seconds, but it seemed too long. She looked up at him through lust-heavy half-closed eyes and was surprised to find him staring at her with … tenderness? Not something she’d had a lot of experience with. It warmed her clear through and, if she was honest, scared the shit out of her.
Clay brushed a rogue strand of hair off her face.
“You’re shaking,” she said softly. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong. This is what you do to me, Andie.”
Without another word, he buried himself in her, her name on his lips. She liked the way he called her just Andie. Not Miss Andie. Not biker girl. For some reason, that affected her almost as much as what he was doing to her body.
After, as they lay together sated and quiet, she rested her head on his chest and listened to his heart pound. His arms were still wrapped tightly around her, her head tucked under his chin. She didn’t remember ever feeling so content. So safe, protected.
But safe and protected because of someone else was not what she was looking for.
She only had a week left on the island. Why should Andie deny herself this or whatever little bit of this Clay might be willing to give her?
The custody issue wouldn’t go away until after the hearing later this week, and Andie wouldn’t push him. She wanted Payton to live with Clay about as much as Clay did. But she would no longer fight her attraction for this man. She could keep it casual for seven days.
Andie’s cell phone started to ring in the living room, but she didn’t move. It was probably Jonas. She’d left him a frantic message last night after sneaking out of the wedding reception.
“You going to get that?” Clay asked, propping himself up on his arm.
She shook her head and ran her finger across his chest distractedly. The urgency to talk to her cousin had disappeared. Having Clay here had calmed her down, allowed her to think about something besides her ex. She wasn’t ready to step back into that stress yet.
Ignoring her touch, Clay sat up and turned to put his feet on the floor. He picked up his tuxedo pants and boxer briefs from the floor and pulled them on. It took Andie a few seconds to realize he wasn’t happy. His movements were quick, staccato. Jaw clenched.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“I need to pick up Payton.” He didn’t bother with the dress shirt that was missing most of its buttons, just grabbed it along with his shoes and stood. “I can let myself out.”
Obviously that incredible bond they’d just been sharing had come to an abrupt end. She guessed he knew something was bothering her — hiding it when he’d arrived last night had been impossible — but it was her business.
She kicked the covers out of her way and headed for the shower, more upset than she wanted to be that Clay might not be around as much as she’d thought for the next week after all.
Chapter Nineteen
“You sure went MIA last night at the reception,” Evan said to Clay as they finished their third treadmill mile of the afternoon. They were the only two in the fire station’s workout room at the moment. “Anything to do with our favorite dark-haired Harley rider, who, coincidentally, also seemed to be missing?”
Clay stopped the treadmill, wiped the sweat from his face with a towel, and took a long drink from his water bottle.
“Thought we were doing four today,” Evan said, still running.
Shaking his head, Clay went over to the weight machine. He started his upper body workout without a word.
Evan ran for another five minutes. Clay threw himself into another set of reps, blocking out all thoughts of Andie.
The noise of the treadmill stopped and Evan came over to the weights. He situated himself on the bench press after making adjustments to the machine. “I’m going to take a wild guess and say this black
mood of yours has to do with Andie.” Clay counted ten reps and then slowly released the weights. He swigged some more water and readjusted the machine to work a different muscle. Evan still lay flat on his back on the bench, not lifting, just watching Clay expectantly.
Dammit. Clay blew out a breath and looked at the ceiling. Eyed the punching bag hanging across the room. “I screwed up, man.”
He stretched his arms up and put his hands on the back of his head, closed his eyes, and beat himself up one more fucking time.
“Screwed up how?”
“With Andie.”
Evan finally started benching and Clay moved over to the free weights.
“What’d you do to her?” Evan asked when he paused between sets.
“Nothing.” Well, last night sure as hell wasn’t nothing. “I’ve known since I met her I shouldn’t get involved.”
“So what’s wrong with a little fun for one night?”
Clay tried a set of biceps curls and stopped when he lost count.
Evan stared at him in the mirror.
“Ah, shit,” Evan said, then switched his gaze from the mirror to look directly at Clay. “You’re in deep.”
Clay did his best to keep his expression unreadable. “It was one night, Drake.”
“You don’t do a lot of ‘one nights.’”
“Just because I’m not a man-whore like you used to be doesn’t mean I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“So what are you doing?”
Clay blew out what breath he had. “Playing with goddamn fire.”
“You care about her?”
“Hell yeah, I care about her. Some of us don’t sleep with a woman unless we care about her.”
Evan grinned. “Roger.”
“But she’s not telling me something.”
He explained about the gun, the disappearance last night, the lack of a straight answer. “She was involved with some jackass who beat her. You don’t just walk away from something like that and pick back up with a normal life.”
“See your point. But you’re falling for her.”
“I’ve been down this road before. Nothing good can come of it.”
“You mean with Robin? You think Andie’s like your ex?”
Clay considered the question. The two women were nothing alike. Except… “Andie’s used to being alone, being accountable to nobody. She doesn’t trust me.”
“Have you confronted her about what she’s hiding?”
Clay nodded. “She won’t open up and bare all.”
“Sounds like she bared enough.”
“Aren’t you supposed to grow the hell up once you get married and have kids?”
“I sincerely hope not,” Evan said.
“Then there’s the way Andie lives, drifting all over the country. That’s not normal, is it?”
“No, man. I’d advise a little caution. Before you get too involved.”
“You think I should stay away from her? Derek trusts her.”
“Derek isn’t sleeping with her. Derek doesn’t have a kid either. You have to put your daughter’s safety first.”
“I know that,” Clay said, annoyed not only because Evan was acting as if Clay was an idiot but because he’d had these thoughts already himself. If it were just him, and Andie presented some kind of mystery, he wouldn’t let it bother him much. She was only on the island for another week or so. They could see each other and he didn’t have to know everything she was hiding.
He went over to the punching bag and pummeled it repeatedly with both fists.
“So what, we got the big L word here?” Evan asked.
“It wasn’t just sex.”
Evan nodded. “Happens to the best of us. Does she know?”
Clay shook his head. “We made an agreement when she came to town. I was worried about the custody hearing. She’s the one who figured out a judge could use her against me.”
“When’s the hearing?”
“Thursday.”
“What about after that? You’ll have your answer for Payton, for better or worse, but there’s no more danger of what being with Andie could cause.”
“Then she leaves.”
“You okay with that? Just letting her go?”
The thought of not seeing her again made it difficult to breathe. Even before last night, he’d gotten used to knowing she was close by whenever he walked down the stairs, past her door to the ground level. He couldn’t imagine anyone else living in her half of the duplex.
“She’s still Andie,” he said. “The woman who’d rather hop on her bike and ride away than plant any roots.”
“Then you might have to let her go.”
He just might, and that brought him right back to where he’d started. Screwed.
oOo
There were advantages to the presence of a chattering four-year-old, Clay thought as he pulled into Bud’s parking lot on Tuesday morning.
Payton, who’d insisted on tying her hair back with a bandanna just as she’d seen Andie do, had allowed him and Andie to avoid an awkward silence by grilling Andie. She’d been fascinated to learn that girls could ride motorcycles too, and their discussion had turned into Andie’s “girls can do anything” speech. Another message Payton’s mother had apparently never thought to deliver to her daughter.
Clay parked the truck and his eyes met Andie’s. Andie had been cordial when she’d knocked on his door to tell him her bike was ready for them to pick up. When he’d first seen her, the urge to pull her close and kiss her had overwhelmed him, but he’d held back.
Clay helped his daughter down to the pavement. Andie hurried ahead of them like an excited child herself, carrying her helmet, and Clay smiled.
The hard-edged woman squealed like a girl when Bud rolled her dark red Harley out of the garage. She showed more emotion for that hunk of metal than anything else on God’s green earth. Clay shook his head, not sure if he was amused or insulted.
“It’s cool!” Payton said, jumping up and down beside Clay.
Andie turned and held her hand out to Payton.
“You should give it a tattube of a butterfly right here.” Payton pointed.
“I like that idea, Pay.” Andie circled the motorcycle slowly, inspecting every inch, then put her helmet on. “I’m going to take it around the block. See how it rides.”
Bud nodded.
“Can I come?” Payton asked.
“I don’t have a helmet for you,” Andie said.
“Got a kid-size one you can borrow,” Bud said, walking toward a worktable that held several large parts and an assortment of helmets.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Clay said.
Andie met his gaze. “Tell you what.” She leaned down to Payton’s level. “If you can convince your dad, maybe we can ride up and down the alley one time where there’s no traffic. A slow ride.”
“Please, Daddy?”
“I’d be careful,” Andie said.
He didn’t have a chance when the two of them ganged up on him. “No more than fifteen miles per hour?”
“If it’ll go that slow,” Andie said.
“Forget—”
“Kidding, Clay.”
It was only the alley. “You hold on to Andie at all times,” he said finally.
Payton cheered and ran up to Bud to get the small white helmet he offered.
Clay went out to the edge of Bud’s lot to watch the ride, up one way, a slow turn around at the end, and back down to the opposite end. When they rode by, Payton waved, a wide grin on her face. As they approached the lot at the end of the ride, he went inside the garage to settle up, secure in the knowledge that Payton had survived her first motorcycle ride.
Bud handed him a detailed sales slip. Clay handed him a credit card and strolled back to the open doorway of the garage to check on the girls.
Andie removed her helmet and hung it from the handlebars, then ran her fingers through her hair. She climbed off, lifted Payton down, talking to his d
aughter the whole time though Clay was too far away to make out what she said. Then she pulled off Payton’s helmet as well.
Clay was about to turn around and finish paying when Payton threw her arms around Andie’s legs, full of pure four-year-old joy. Andie laughed as she picked her up, swung her around, and then hugged her. Something in Clay’s chest shifted as he watched them.
He was rooted to the spot because of the realization that struck him.
Andie was the right woman for him. For them.
He’d been so caught up in his own self-doubt all these weeks, his inability to trust his instincts, that he’d looked for all the ways she wasn’t right. Most of what he’d come up with was irrelevant. Tattoos. Motorcycle. Past mistakes.
Heck, if you went by past mistakes, Clay wasn’t the right guy to raise Payton. But his daughter didn’t see his screw-ups from years ago. It made no difference to Payton’s well-being that Clay had gotten caught drinking or racing on the highway or staying out all night a decade ago. Just as it didn’t matter that Andie had been in desperate circumstances and done the wrong thing when she was younger. All that mattered was the kind of people they were now.
There were so many ways Andie was right. She was giving and considerate once you dug down through a couple of layers of defensiveness. She might not be traditional in any way, but she was responsible, practical, down-to-earth.
She loved Payton, would do just about anything for her, and was one hell of a positive influence on his little girl’s life. Andie treated Payton like a person, not an inconvenience. She shared herself with Payton, tattoos, bandannas, and all, shared her time.
He’d fallen in love with her nonconforming ways and refusal to bend to anyone’s idea of what she should be or do. The very traits he’d told himself were reasons to stay away were the ones that had drawn him in.
And she’d been spot on when she’d told him he needed to trust himself.
He tore his eyes away from this beautiful woman and his daughter to quickly finish the transaction with Bud.