Falling Fast (Falling Fast #1)

by Tina Wainscott

  He mopped up the last bit of yolk with the last bite of toast. “I’ll be back around five-thirty. What are you going to do today?”

  “Clean out the kitchen cabinets and the pantry. Tackle the closets.” She shrugged. “Maybe I’ll take a walk on the beach.”

  “You should. I better get to work.”

  It struck him how much they felt like a couple. Waking up together. Having breakfast. As he brushed his teeth and pulled on his uniform, he imagined her giving him a kiss goodbye at the door. A kiss hello when he returned, because he was already counting down the hours until he saw her again.

  She did walk to the door with him, leaning against the frame as he stepped out onto the porch. “Have a good day.”

  He turned once he was safely down the steps, and the sight of her punched him in the chest. “You, too,” he managed, clearing the hoarseness from his throat. “Call if you need me to bring anything home.”

  Home. He’d never had a home, really. He and his dad had gone from place to place, until either the landlord kicked them out or the current lady “friend” reached the point of disgust at her lazy guest and his unwanted kid. His Airstream had been the first real home he’d had, and now his cabin. But mostly it was Mia, waving as he reached the car, that made him long for what home really was. Not a place. Not four walls and a small yard. Her.

  “Get it together, man,” he told himself as he pulled away. “Just like that summer, this is only an interlude. A dream. And dreams always end.”

  At Pete’s somber expression, the words echoed again in Raleigh’s mind. He knew what his boss was going to say before the words came out.

  “They made an offer. Cash, closing in a month. No contingencies. They want an answer within two days.”

  Raleigh swallowed hard, his chest heavy. “Okay.”

  “They want to tear it down, build a three-story office building. How long do you think it’ll take to sell the cottage?” Pete asked.

  So the garage wouldn’t exist anymore. No garage, no place for him to work. “It’s hard to say. We’ll have it ready to list by next week. That’s as definite as I can get.”

  “This kills me, Raleigh.” Pete sighed. “My wife, she’s—”

  “I know. She’s anxious to leave town.”

  “I’ve been promising her for a long time. Putting it off, hoping you could get enough money to put down.”

  “You’ve been putting off selling this place for me?”

  “Yeah. You’re kinda like the son I never had. I liked the idea of you taking over. But…” He shrugged.

  Raleigh put his hand on the man’s thick shoulder, touched by his sentiment. He’d had no idea Peter felt that way. “I always saw you as a father, too. I appreciate you waiting, but it’s all right. I understand.”

  The loss wasn’t only the prospect of buying the garage he’d been working in for so long. He was losing Peter, too. Raleigh wasn’t about to lay that on him, though. The man clearly harbored enough guilt and angst.

  “I’ll wait a day or two. Talk to the Realtor, see if he has anyone on the line for your cottage. Someone looking for just what you have. It could happen.”

  “I’ll do that.”

  “I excluded all the equipment, though. Some of it’s yours, but I figure they won’t need it anyway. It’ll all be yours. The lifts, equipment, and stock parts. No charge.”

  “Is that out of guilt?”

  “No. Well, maybe a little. But mostly it’s out of friendship, Raleigh. I’ll get enough out of this place. You keep the equipment.”

  “Thanks.”

  The day dragged, while Raleigh’s head spun. He would have to line up a work space fast so he could roll right into his next job. Some of his customers wouldn’t care if they had to drive twenty miles out of town to what was basically someone’s yard to drop off their car. Like the young guns who scraped together every penny for a homemade EFI. But the high-caliber clients Raleigh was now courting, they weren’t going to like it one bit. He wanted—no, needed—the respect of being seen as a professional. A guy working on cars beneath a lean-to outside his two-by-four cabin wasn’t it.

  He skipped lunch so that he could leave an hour early. Pulling up to the cottage at the end of the day felt like coming home. He knocked and announced himself before opening the door.

  “You’re early,” she said with a grin, standing on the step stool in the kitchen. The counter was covered with boxes and spice jars. Her smile faded. “What’s wrong?”

  He could have sworn he’d pasted a smile over the frown in his soul. “Peter has an offer on the garage.”

  She came down, her expression filled with empathy. “Can’t he wait until we sell?”

  “His wife has been bugging him to sell for years. I just found out he’s been putting her off until I could buy it.”

  “That’s so sweet of him.”

  “I know. But his wife isn’t going to let him lose the deal. I have two days.”

  “Two days? We won’t even have it ready to list by then.” She came close and slid her arms around him, her body pressed against his. “I’m sorry.”

  Her comfort nearly broke him. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had held him, soothed his pain. And that it was Mia…

  He wrapped his arms around her and held on as he gathered his emotions and stuffed them down where they belonged. “It’s just a building,” he managed after a moment.

  She backed away, leaving her hands on his waist. “That’s not true. It’s your building. Your refuge, I imagine. The place where you rebuilt your reputation.”

  “Are you trying to make me feel better? Or worse?”

  “Sorry. I just don’t want you to deny the loss. You’re heartbroken. I can tell.” She touched his face, bringing the scent of soap with it. “But there’s a silver lining, you know. Now you can pursue your performance-car business full-time. You’ve paid your debt of loyalty to Peter.” She smiled. “You’re free.”

  “How did—”

  “I know how much you love working on your own clients’ cars. The fact that you’ve stayed with Peter all these years instead of striking out on your own, and the kind of man you are, it wasn’t hard to figure out.”

  “I never saw it as a debt, but, yeah, I did owe him for giving me my job back. I guess I am free.” Once he pulled his head out of the dark cloud, he saw that she was right. He wasn’t out of a job; he could now do what he wanted full-time. Relying on that, well, he hoped there would be enough work. There were always the regulars who’d been bringing their cars to him all these years. Then her other words registered. “What do you mean, the kind of man I am?” With a soft, earnest expression, she opened her mouth to say something he was sure would break him. “Never mind. We should get to work,” he said. “And figure out who we want to list this place with. Any preferences?”

  She released a breath, and with it those unspoken words. “I don’t know any real- estate agents here. Do you?”

  “I know a couple. I’ll make some calls and get someone out tomorrow.” He walked into the kitchen and began removing things from the top shelf so she wouldn’t need the step stool.

  She took them from him and tossed them into one of the empty boxes. “I walked on the beach for over two hours today.”

  “Good for you.”

  “It gave me a lot of time to think. Good and not so good.”

  He didn’t want to know what she’d been thinking about. “You’re probably worn out.”

  “I took a nap when I came back. On your chaise lounge. Now I know why you like it so much. It’s soft and cushy.”

  Something stirred at the thought of her lying where he had spent the night. “Is it more comfortable than the couch? We can switch tonight, if you’re sleeping on the deck again.”

  “No, the couch is fine, and, yes, I think I will. I liked sleeping out in the fresh air. Under the stars.” With you. That’s what her eyes said, even if her mouth didn’t.

  “I do that a lot in the fall, wh
en it starts to cool down at night. I get the best sleep.”

  “I remember your field of grass, running through it the way I’d seen in a movie once. It was liberating. Free.”

  “Like skinny-dipping?”

  Her cheek on the undamaged side of her face flushed. “Yeah, well. I guess I was caught up in a moment of crazy.”

  Good. Her considering it crazy meant that she wouldn’t suggest doing it again. Holding her naked in his arms—that was a lot different from what holding her a few minutes ago had been.

  They were staring at each other, caught in a spell. He cleared his throat. “We should probably—”

  “Yeah, finish this up. Especially if a real-estate agent might be coming tomorrow.”

  They cleared out everything they wouldn’t need in the next couple of days. The pantry was next, the two of them working in the small space, checking for expiration dates to determine whether to keep it or toss it.

  She handed him a can of peanuts. “Here, why don’t you take this for yourself? It hasn’t even been opened. In fact, take anything you want.”

  Raleigh had always been keenly aware of charity, but he saw only warmth in Mia’s eyes. “We could give anything usable to Rose.”

  “Good idea. I don’t want food going to waste.” She moved right on in her task, handing him an opened box of pasta. “Grandma was trying mung-bean pasta. Seems she didn’t like it, since it’s long past the expiration date. She always detested throwing out ‘perfectly good food.’ ” This said with finger quotes.

  Raleigh laughed. “She was always trying to foist stuff off on me. This included. Green pasta? I passed.”

  They both sank into silence for a few moments, and he wondered if Mia was thinking about the feisty lady, too.

  “Did you know Nancy fell madly in love with a bad boy when she was sixteen?” Mia asked, confirming his suspicion. But the question, that was a surprise.

  “No. She didn’t talk about her past much, other than in general ways. Foods she liked as a kid, dancing to big bands, that sort of thing.”

  “It was in the letter she left for me. She said he rode a motorcycle, smoked, and drank. Of course, her parents forbade her to see him, but she and James sneaked off anyway.” The look she gave him said, Sound familiar? “She saw the good in him, even though he’d been in trouble. She saw a boy who needed love, and who deserved it.” There was that look again.

  His fingers curled over the frame of the door opening. “What happened?”

  “She got pregnant. Gave up the baby. He went to jail for statutory rape. She never saw the baby or James. And she regretted not trying to find him earlier. By the time she finally did search for him, he was dead.” Mia set a canister of oatmeal back on the shelf and stepped closer. “You reminded her of James. The good parts.”

  “Hopefully, I brought her some good memories.”

  She brushed a lock of his hair from his forehead. “You did. And she saw her and James in us. The way they loved each other. She watched us making a sandcastle and saw something special. It’s still there, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “I love you, too, Raleigh. You can’t stop me from saying it this time. I have loved you all these years. Maybe it was buried for a while, by time and circumstances, but the moment I saw you at the memorial service it came right back.” She drew her hands down the side of his neck, her fingers at his pulse point. “I don’t want to live my life in regrets. I never regretted loving you. Or even racing with you. I don’t regret skinny-dipping last night. But if I don’t do this I will regret it.” She leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed him.

  Her words swamped him, rushing through his veins. He wrestled with them, with his control, as her mouth moved sweetly across his. How much would he regret falling? How much would he regret holding back for their own good?

  The answer crashed in on him, and he pulled her out of the pantry and dived into the kiss. She made a soft sound, her fingers threading into his hair, her body smashing into his. All the hunger he’d tried to stave off crashed in like the waves outside.

  “You said you’d give me anything I wanted,” she whispered between kisses. “But what about what you want?”

  He backed her up against the wall, cradling her face in his hands. “I want this. Want you. From the moment I saw you in the garage last week, it brought back everything I missed about you. Everything I loved.” He ran his thumb across her lower lip. “Your smile. Your laugh. The way it feels just being with you.”

  “That crazy, drowning-in-you feeling?”

  “Yeah, that’s it. We’re not those kids anymore, but this thing between us hasn’t changed.”

  Her eyes were full, bright, as she nodded in agreement. “Do you still hear the warning lights? The sirens?”

  “All I see and hear is you. But I don’t want you to be hurt. Even you said you didn’t want to feel the pain when you had to leave again.”

  “I know. And it will hurt, but I would hurt a lot more if I didn’t feel you, kiss you, touch you.” She grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled it up. “Here. Now.”

  He knew exactly what she meant. He thought he might shrivel up and die if he didn’t do all those things. Once the shirt was over his head, he tugged it the rest of the way and threw it behind them. Her shirt was next, the loose material landing next to his on the floor. Her bra was pink lace, cupping two beautiful mounds of creamy flesh. In the bright kitchen lights, he could see the network of scars running down her shoulder, over her collarbone on her right side. He kissed the raised skin as he unclipped her bra in the back.

  When the bra fell, too, he ran his hands over her breasts, fingers tracing her stiff peaks. “You’re beautiful. Just as you always were.”

  “I feel beautiful when I’m with you.”

  “You are beautiful, Mia.” He kissed her. “And when I’m with you I feel like I’m good inside.”

  “You are.” She braced his face with her hands. “You are good.”

  That was what bound him to her so tightly, that she made him feel as though he were a good man. That he deserved love and success and happiness. And her. He kissed her again, feeling all of that now.

  “Can we go back, Mia? Can we have this for a few days, then return to our separate lives with more fond memories?”

  She opened her mouth, but a rapid knock at the door stole away whatever she’d been about to say.

  “Raleigh! Miss Mia!”

  Cody’s voice. They both barely pulled on their shirts before Cody burst in, Rose behind him. “We brought dinner! Hamburgers and crinkly fries.”

  Rose came to a halt as she took them in. “Oh, crap. We interrupted something, didn’t we?” she mouthed.

  Damn, was it that obvious? Then again, a guy’s body tended to give away certain things, and Raleigh was way aroused. “It’s all right.” It wasn’t, but what could he say? The kid was happily unwrapping a package of ground beef.

  “I figured we’d supply dinner, since you’ve been buying meals lately,” Rose said, still looking apologetic. “Cody wanted to eat here, and I was too tired to fight him on it.”

  Raleigh wasn’t sure if Rose had saved them from making a painful mistake or spoiled something incredible. Maybe both at once. But no words encouraging them to stay longer came out of his mouth.

  Mia looked flushed and not the least bit annoyed at suddenly having company. Maybe she saw the interruption as a saving grace, then. “We have boxes of food and staples we figured you might be able to use. I hate to see them go to waste.” She indicated the three boxes.

  “That would be great. Thanks.” Rose glanced over at her son. “Cody, wash your hands.”

  “Already did, Mom.” He was carefully fashioning the meat into patties.

  Raleigh and Mia traded a shrug. There was still heat in her eyes, hunger. He wondered if he looked the same, knew he felt the same. He tore his gaze away and turned to Rose. “I’m going to grab a quick shower while the burgers are cooking, clean up for d
inner.”

  Mia blinked. “Yeah, me, too.” She tugged her shirt away from herself. “I’m all hot and sticky.”

  “Hmm, I bet,” Rose murmured, no doubt taking in Raleigh hungrily watching Mia. “You go ahead. I’m handling dinner tonight. Long as you don’t want anything gourmet.”

  Raleigh chuckled. “You know what I fix for dinner.”

  Mia grabbed a couple of towels from the hall closet and handed him one. “There’s soap and shampoo in the guest bathroom. I wish we could…” She nodded toward her room.

  So no, she didn’t see it as a saving grace.

  “I know.” But with Rose and Cody in the house, now was definitely not the time.

  She drew her finger down his chest, leaving a trail of tingles. “We will pick up where we left off.” She let her finger rest on the waistband of his pants, then slid it just under the edge. “Tonight.”

  “Definitely.” He reluctantly headed into the bathroom alone. A cold shower was in order. Unfortunately, all he could think about was Mia on the other side of the wall. Wet. Naked. That was another thing they’d never done—taken a shower together. Maybe they would remedy that soon.

  During dinner, Cody chattered about his workday, all the tree branches he’d hauled to the burning pile and how many yards of fence he’d helped Mr. Scott build. How one of the laborers hid when the sheriff’s car drove by. Then he offered Cody a beer in thanks for not telling the sheriff, who paused and talked to him. Of course, he declined. Raleigh didn’t drink, so neither would Cody. At least, that’s what the kid said now.

  Raleigh nodded in approval and spouted off his usual rhetoric about the dangers of alcohol. But his cells were tuned in to Mia. She ran her bare foot along his calf, even as she talked to Rose. He traced his hand over her bare thigh, rubbing his thumb on the soft skin inside. A promise. A tease. He sensed the charged atmosphere between them, the anticipation made sweeter by having to wait.

  Rose pushed her seat back and stood. “Cody, we’d better get going.”

  “But it’s early. Couldn’t I stay and help here?” he asked, giving Raleigh a puppy-dog face. “Don’t you got more stuff to do tonight?”