Her fork came to a graceless halt halfway to her mouth. “My brother suggested you become a chef?”
“Your brother suggested I try a career outside of medicine,” he corrected. “So six months ago, I took a job washing dishes while I figured out what I wanted to do.”
“Here?” Kat asked, her eyes roving over the dining room. The earlier crowd had thinned, but the smaller group took nothing away from the comfortable, down-home atmosphere of the bar.
“Mmm-hmm. Teagan and her father, Patrick, own the place. I helped her and the head chef, Adrian, out in the kitchen one night when we were short-staffed, and things kind of snowballed from there. I got lucky.” He paused, the hard angle of his shoulders loosening a fraction as he followed her gaze around the room. “They really took me in, and Adrian taught me how to cook.”
“Well, he did a bang-up job,” Kat said, punctuating the compliment with another heaping bite of wild rice. “But I doubt it was all his doing. You must have a magic touch to go from zero to haricots verts in six months.”
“Nah. Outside of having a great teacher, it’s just a lot of trial and error.”
She buried her snort in the soft confines of her napkin. “Hopping from base to base and then going to school full-time didn’t exactly leave me with the best kitchen skills. I get the feeling I’d end up with a disproportionate amount of error if I tried to cook.”
“That’s the best part, though.” Jesse leaned forward, pointing at her half-eaten meal with growing ease. “You never know what you might get when you play around with ingredients and flavors. Sometimes, it’s a disaster, and trust me, I’ve had plenty of those. But other times, you end up with lemon basil chicken. You’ve just got to keep at it until you figure out what works.”
Kat’s curiosity flared, sending a prickle under her skin. “Doesn’t it get tiring? I mean, you’ve been in the kitchen for eight hours straight, yet here you are, putting together this complicated meal.”
He shook his head, his shoulders relaxing into a fluid line as he sat back to look at her. “I couldn’t exactly have fed you without cooking.”
“Sure you could,” she said. “You could’ve made me a burger, just like you do for everyone else, remember? But instead you made this.”
For a second, the only thing between them was the muted din of the restaurant and the surprise on Jesse’s face. But rather than go all strong and silent as usual, he shocked the hell out of her by doing the exact opposite.
“I know this is going to sound a little off, but working with food chills me out. It’s the only thing I’ve been able to do since I got home that lets me really relax. Yes, sometimes the kitchen is labor intensive.” He stopped to insert an irony-laced smile between his words. “But I don’t mind the work. The food is just . . . honest. It’s real. When I’m cooking, I feel like—at least for a little while—I can let go of everything else.”
“I don’t think that sounds off,” Kat said, because it was the truth. “I think it sounds like you’ve found where you belong.”
“Yeah. Maybe.”
After a beat of silence, Jesse redirected the conversation to possible projects for the lake house, and the topic kept them occupied for the remainder of his break. But as Kat returned to her car to head home, her thoughts weren’t on porch railings or paint.
They were on a warm-eyed, hot-bodied chef, and the demons he was letting go of every time he walked into the kitchen.
Chapter Seven
“Please, for the love of all that’s holy, tell me that’s the last one.”
Jesse looked up from his spot at the end of the private dock, zeroing in on Kat just a few boards away. The long, lean muscles of her forearms flexed in the fading daylight as she reached into the tool belt around her trim waist, and even though he’d tried all day to fight it, Jesse was unable to cage the heat in his veins at the sight of Kat’s disheveled ponytail or her damp brow.
Christ, this woman gave a whole new meaning to the phrase hot mess.
“Looks that way,” Jesse said, trading his out of line thoughts for a half-smile. Between the handful of hours they’d spent on small projects during the week, plus today’s giant task of swapping out all the rotting dock boards leading to the lake, he and Kat had quickly rediscovered their comfortable rhythm of being around each other. Okay, so her bright laugh and faded cutoffs were threatening to end him outright. But her carefree expressions and her obvious love for the space they were fixing up made it all too easy to not just be around her, but to want to be around her.
Spending time with her was like being in the kitchen. And in the same way that he was powerless against needing food to keep him straight, Jesse was fighting a losing battle when it came to wanting Kat McMarrin.
“Well, good,” she said, delivering Jesse back to the dock with a dip of her chin. “Because we did a ton of work today, and I, for one, am ready to kick back with a cold drink and a good book.”
“You stay in a lot, don’t you?” Jesse asked, shifting the gears of their conversation as he removed the last of the old dock board with a swift twist and yank.
She grinned, hefting a fresh two-by-six from the dwindling stack at her feet and lining it up with care before guiding it into the open gap. “Guilty as charged. I didn’t have a permanent home for so long, I suppose I’m making up for lost time. But I’m a firm believer in surrounding yourself with positive energy. Mine’s just at home.”
“What about the lake house, though?” He knelt down across from her, catching just a hint of jasmine on her skin before he exhaled and screwed the dock board into place.
“What about it?” Kat sat back on her heels, draping her arms over her sun-bronzed thighs. Her free-and-clear expression backed up the lack of pretense in the question, and damn, her honesty was the sexiest thing Jesse had ever known.
“You spent all your summers here, and you have some good memories of the place. Plus, you’re working really hard to fix it up. Doesn’t that count as home?”
Kat blinked, her pretty blue eyes sparkling against the backdrop of the sunset over the lake around them. “We always packed up and left here, just like everywhere else. I guess with all that coming and going, I never thought this was a place I could call home.”
“You can live in the same place your whole life and still not have a home.” Jesse’s words were out before he could steal them back. But Kat’s everything-on-the-table nature made it all too easy to pop off with the truth.
She shifted to standing, gathering a pair of unused boards. “You said the other day that Teagan and Adrian and Brennan are the only family you’ve got. But weren’t you raised here in Pine Mountain?”
“I was.” Although instinct drill-sergeanted a great big shut your cake hole to Jesse’s brain, he stuffed it down. Kat had been forthcoming about her less-than-stellar relationship with her father, as well as her desire for a place to belong. His past might be crab apples to her oranges, what with her well-respected family and higher education, but he could still return the favor of her honesty with a little airtime.
Jesse said, “My mother had me when she was eighteen. She never married my father. In fact, I don’t even really have a clear memory of the guy. The last time I saw him was just before my fifth birthday.” He rounded up the junk boards to bring them back to the yard, and having a task made the words flow with more ease. “My mom and I lived in a tiny cottage on the far side of town. But it was an uphill battle that only got tougher over time.”
Kat stared at him, frozen to her spot on the decking. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up a touchy subject.”
“It’s okay,” he said, and funny, the story didn’t scrape on the way out like he’d thought it would. “My mother never finished high school, so finding a steady job was tough, even in a small town. She worked at a pool hall out in Bealetown for a while, then a dive bar over in Riverside. But between her boyfriends and her coke habit . . . I guess you could say we never had any Hallmark Christmases.”
&n
bsp; “You don’t have any siblings?” Kat asked, her sympathy obvious in her expression, but Jesse shook his head.
“No, although as harsh as it sounds, it’s probably a blessing. I tried to help my mom get clean, but by the time I was old enough to really understand what was going on, it was too late. She didn’t want help, and she definitely didn’t want me. She died of an overdose when I was twenty, and right after that, I enlisted.”
“That’s why you never came back to Pine Mountain between tours.” Kat’s face softened with understanding, and Jesse nodded, leading the way up the dock toward the yard.
“Kind of tough to come home when you don’t belong anywhere. At least, I didn’t at the time.”
“Yeah, I know the feeling,” she said, offering up a tiny smile. “I ended up in Pine Mountain because Gabe was nearby, but it took a long time before it felt like home.” She lowered her boards and her tool belt to a stretch of grass beside the shed, waiting patiently for him to follow suit before adding, “But you know, you’re right about the lake house.”
“Oh yeah?” Jesse paused, falling into step with Kat as they moved past the garden and toward the back deck. “How’s that?”
“I do have some good memories of the place. It might not be my apartment, but it’s not bad in the home department, either. At least, for now.”
The deep-down happiness on her face hit the ease in Jesse’s bones head-on, and they combined into something both seductive and sweet. “Amazing how a few coats of paint and some fresh two-by-sixes can change a girl’s tune.” Impulsively, he plucked the bandana out of the back pocket of his jeans, flicking it at Kat’s bare legs with a snap.
“Oh no, you did not,” she huffed, although her laughter refused to let the irritation stick. Her hand flew to her head in an instant, but Jesse was too fast on the draw.
“Oh yes I did.” Gripping the corner of the cloth extra tight, he repeated the move while lunging in low, snapping at her again and snagging the bandana she’d pulled from her hair in one deft maneuver.
But rather than back down—or better yet, admit defeat—Kat balled up her fists and jammed them into the hips of her cutoffs. “You know this means war, don’t you?”
“It’s not going to be much of a fight,” Jesse pointed out with a grin. “After all, I’m holding all the cards.” Okay, so baiting her was probably a bad idea, but come on. What could she really—
Before he could blink, Kat darted around him to grab both bandanas from his grasp.
“Hey!” He swung on his heels to face her, trying and failing to mask the laugh welling up from his chest. Damn, she was tenacious.
“Ooooh.” Kat held up both squares of cloth, her mock innocence barely visible in the deepening post-sunset shadows. “How quickly the tables turn.”
Oh, no. Not a chance, sweetheart. Jesse prowled closer, his boots shushing through the grass with each step. “I’ll give you three seconds to surrender,” he said, letting his gaze travel the length of her body before returning it to her face. A tiny, rational part of his brain whispered that this was a bad idea, that she was still very, very off-limits.
But a larger, darker part of him understood Kat’s need for belonging, and even if it was temporary, they could find just one taste of it together. Right here.
Right now.
“Why would I surrender?” Kat murmured, stepping boldly toward him. “I’m holding all the cards.”
She met his advances like she met everything else, chock full of heat and right out on the table, but Jesse matched her step for step until they were scant inches apart in the moonlight.
“Because I want something far more than my bandana back.” He tipped his chin at the fabric suddenly knotted in her grasp, but he kept his eyes pinned to her wide-eyed stare. “And even though I remember how much you like it when the tables are turned, I’m not taking anything you don’t want to give.”
He reached up, barely able to keep his need for her in check as he slid two fingers down the curve of her jaw to let them rest over the intoxicating heat of her mouth.
“So tell me, Just Kat. What’s it going to be?”
Kat’s heart hammered beneath her breastbone, so hard and so fast she was certain Jesse could feel it from a half step away. But despite her runaway pulse, she couldn’t deny one simple fact.
She wanted Jesse Oliver. Even enough to surrender.
“Jesse.” His name slipped out on just the hint of a whisper, her lips parting under the pads of his callused fingers.
“The way you say my name makes me want to lose control with you.” He cupped her chin in the cradle of his palm, teasing her bottom lip with the edge of his thumb, and the feather-light friction drew a sigh from her throat. Leaning in, he traded his thumb for his teeth, working her sensitive skin between them and stroking the edges of her mouth with his fingers until she gasped.
“But I need to hear the rest before I do. You need to want it, Kat. And as much as I want you, I won’t make a move until you give me the words.”
Something hot and nameless snapped free in her chest, propelling her forward. Her nipples hardened to tight points, the hint of contact between her breasts and Jesse’s chest sending a fresh streak of need all the way through to her spine.
“What do you want me to say, Jesse? That I want to kiss you?” She pushed up on the balls of her feet, brushing her mouth over his just long enough to taste, but not enough to linger.
He dropped his stare, no more than a glint in the light spilling down from the back of the house. Still, he didn’t move. “Yes.”
“You want to hear that I’m dying to touch you? That I’ve wanted my hands on your body since the last time we were out here together?” Kat skimmed her palms over the front of Jesse’s T-shirt, shaping the hard line of his abs for only a second before letting go.
“Kat.” The word was both an affirmation and a warning, but she didn’t shy away from either.
“You need to hear how much I want you inside me?” Her fingers returned to the space between their bodies, finding the press of Jesse’s erection against his button fly. Dizzy with the desire pulsing through her veins, Kat slipped her hand over his cock, and he exhaled in a harsh burst.
“Yes.”
“Then take me in the house, Jesse. I want you—all of you—and I don’t want to wait anymore.”
They moved through the yard in a bustle of hasty kisses and even hastier steps. When the backs of her legs hit the bottom step of the deck, Kat stumbled, but Jesse tightened his hold around her rib cage, scooping her off her feet.
“What are you doing?” She laughed, knotting her arms around the tight angle of his shoulders as he carried her up the steps.
“I’m not going halfway on this, Kat. You told me to take you inside, so that’s exactly what I’m going to do. And once we get past that door, I’m going to give you everything you asked me for. Just like you deserve.”
Widening his stance to offset his grip beneath her knees, Jesse shifted to open the sliding glass door on Kat’s side of the duplex. He bypassed the kitchen to zero in on her bedroom, but instead of stopping in front of her bed, he proceeded through the narrow entryway to her bathroom.
“Let’s start here.” Jesse lowered her to her feet, reaching past the shower curtain to turn the water on full blast. She inhaled a deep breath full of anticipation and growing steam as he turned back toward her, and she pressed up to meet him at the same time he bent to capture her mouth.
The kiss went from soft to seductive in less than a second. Kat cradled Jesse’s face in her palms, holding him close and exploring his mouth with greedy strokes of her tongue. Flutters of want filled her belly, and they extended down to her core in hot, quick sparks. Coasting his hands to the slice of space between them, Jesse wrapped his fingers around the hem of her T-shirt to lift it over her head.
“Jesus.” His liquid-copper stare covered every inch of her, leaving no part unnoticed. “You’re even more beautiful than I imagined.” A thick veil of stea
m billowed around them, but it did nothing to hinder either his gaze or the searing intensity of it on Kat’s skin.
“We’ve been in the yard all day. I’m filthy,” she blurted, her knees threatening to wobble at the sight of the grin that joined Jesse’s sexy-as-hell stare.
“You’re gorgeous.”
He caged her shoulders with both arms, reaching up to loosen the elastic at the crown of her head. Her hair tumbled down to cover their faces, and Jesse followed it with his hands, tracing the tendrils over her cheeks to her collarbone, until he finally dropped his fingers over the curved V between her breasts. Kat bowed forward to meet his touch, biting back a cry as he grazed both nipples with his thumbs.
But despite the desire etched on his face, he didn’t linger. Spanning her chest with both palms, he hooked the slim straps of her bra with each pinkie finger, sliding them from her shoulders. He made fast work of the clasp, then the button and zipper on her shorts, and she returned the favor first on his T-shirt and jeans, then her own boots.
“You still want this.” The question hung in Jesse’s ragged whisper. Kat recognized it with a start, but her answer was as automatic as her exhale.
“Of course.” Her forehead pressed against his, the flat of her palms on his chest in the heat of the tiny room, and everything about her wanted more. “Don’t you?”
“Since the minute I got up this morning, and the minute I went to bed before that. C’mere.”
Their mouths crashed together in a tangle of pure want and wicked need, and Kat gave in to both. She pushed her panties from her hips as Jesse kicked off the rest of his clothing, letting him guide her into the warm, intoxicating spray of the shower. He smoothed her hair from her face, following the wet curve of her spine with his fingers. Grabbing the soap from the tiled shelf built into the wall, Jesse ran it over his hands, creating a thick lather before working the bubbles over her skin.
“Oh.” Kat’s moans tore from her throat, growing louder with every pass. The musky-jasmine scent of the soap mixed in with the crisper, more masculine smell of his skin, and even though Kat knew it would do nothing to steady her feet, she drew in a deep breath of it anyway. Jesse’s hands glided over her neck, her shoulders, her back, the plane of her belly, learning every stretch of her as he soaped and swept and rinsed.
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