After saying that, his face turned red. She’d seldom seen him embarrassed. And their barn, as they’d called it, was close to the house where he used to live, but he went another way.
“I’ve been avoiding the old homestead and bad memories since returning this time,” he was quick to explain.
What didn’t she know about him? Kitt hoped it was just an expression. “When were you last here?”
“Right after I got out of the Navy, my brother notified me Mom was in the hospital with pneumonia. Before I could get here, she died. Terry was with her. Pop was off somewhere. Who knows? The two of us stayed for the funeral. Pop died a few months later. I was working and didn’t come. Terry took care of what little they had, donating what he didn’t want to Goodwill. Then, he locked the place up and returned to North Carolina where he lives. He’s married with three kids. Can you imagine Terry with a family?
“I told him if there was anything of value he could have it for his trouble. He needs it. He should have finished school so he could get a better job. Anyway, he found a shoebox with a few hundred bucks in the back of the pantry closet. We figured Mom hid it away for emergencies.”
Kitt was saddened by the life his parents had lived. She’d never heard Rob talk about his family nor had she ever seen him so sombre. She patted his leg.
He smiled and smacked his palm against the steering well. “Look. It’s still there! A bit more tumbledown, but it’s standing.”
“Let’s take a look,” Kitt said, already unbuckling her seat belt.
Rob pulled into the rutted road behind the barn. Dust rolled and he groaned. “I’ll have to hit the car wash, but what the hell. It’ll be worth it to reminisce.”
Kitt jumped out and he took her hand. “The house is no longer standing,” she said, seeing it had been razed and the dirt where it stood was bare. “I’m surprised the barn was left, but I’m glad.”
The weatherworn structure sagged and the door hung by one hinge. It would be difficult to determine now that the paint was once red.
“Careful,” Rob said, holding back the door so she could enter.
Once she was inside, he stepped in and folded her into his arms. “Kitten,” he whispered, and he took her lips in a long, hot, hungry kiss. He tangled his tongue with hers and Kitt’s heart pounded in her chest.
Butterflies danced in her stomach. Her pussy twitched and she clung to him. His hardened cock pressed against her pelvis made her wet with desire. She squirmed against him, feeling as if she could climax if this embrace lasted long enough. He’d never kissed her like this in the old days. She knew it was because he was afraid he’d lose control.
“Sweetheart.” He spoke softly in her ear. “I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too.” Her blood ran hot. She could never get enough of Rob. Raising a hand to run her fingers through his curls, she found smooth skin instead. “I miss your hair,” she said, and he chuckled.
“I might let it grow if you ask me to.” He sobered and led her to a stack of hay bales. “We’d better stay down here. I’m afraid the loft is too rickety to hold us. The ladder even has a step missing.”
They’d climbed up in the loft and lain together the first time he rubbed her clit through her panties, bringing her to a climax. That was an unbelievable moment for Kitt. It wasn’t just the thrill of fireworks going off inside her body and juices flowing, although that was breathtaking. But she’d nearly burst with joy knowing Rob Harrison, the nicest and sexiest boy she knew, cared enough to bring her, Kitt Maxwell, to fulfilment. It also fired her desire for the real thing, his penis inside her shooting his cum. She wanted to spend her life with him, have his babies. She’d fallen totally in love. Was it love for Rob or for orgasms? She’d asked herself that question when it became clear that he was going away as soon as he could. Graduation day, and he was out of here.
That old fear of him walking out of her life reared its ugly head and Kitt scooted over on the hay bale, as close to Rob as physically possible. “If that loft could talk…” Kitt laid her head on his shoulder. “I treasure those memories.”
“We were happy together.” He put his arm around her. “They were the best moments of my life in those days.”
“Mine too.” She raised her face to kiss his cheek.
“A lot of time has passed.” Rob tweaked her nose. “Where and when did you meet Li-o-nel?” Rob tweaked her nose and chuckled. “Let me guess. At a train station. Or was it a toy store?”
She swatted his hand. “I know you’re going to laugh but we met several months ago at the library.”
Rob guffawed. “I can’t believe you’re dating such a dud.”
“He…he’s not as bad as you think.”
“Tell me what you love about him.”
Kitt didn’t like where this conversation was headed. “It’s none of your business.”
“Okay. So you can’t think of anything. Just tell me, how serious is the relationship? In case I’m thinking I’d like to make it part of my business.”
Heart melting, blood rushing, Kitt looked up into Rob’s ocean blue eyes and knew it was over with Lionel. If Rob wanted to start something with her, she was all for it. She raised her lips and he kissed her. Tenderly. Then passionately.
“I like your answer,” he said. “Sit on my lap and straddle me,” he whispered in her ear.
Kitt didn’t hesitate although she wasn’t sure what he had in mind. They were both fully dressed.
“I just want to feel you against me,” he said, but once his hard-on met her vaginal area, his breath quickened and he began rubbing up against her.
“Oh God, Kitten. You feel so good.” He held her still against him for a moment. “I should stop.”
“No, you shouldn’t. It feels so…” Her pussy quivered with desire. Her nipples ached. She wanted him. “Heavenly.”
“It does but I want our first real fuck to be special,” he whispered in her ear. “If you don’t mind a dry run…”
Kitt wiggled against Rob so that his cock and her clit made contact. She wanted to make him come. She never had. She supposed he had always taken care of his need after they parted but she wanted the power… She squirmed provocatively.
He gasped. “Now you’ve done it. I can’t stop. Hang on.” Rob stood and she kept her legs and arms wrapped around him. On his feet, he rubbed her pussy up and down against his cock while pushing his tongue deep inside her mouth. The friction of his hard rod against her clitoris sent waves of pleasure coursing through her. Rob released her lips and breathing hard, he bucked against her. Nothing in her life had felt so good. He was going to come. Kitt held her breath and watched his face as Rob gasped his climax.
“I’m com—” She shuddered with her orgasm.
They held tightly to one another until moment passed and their panting slowed.
He helped Kitt to her feet and stood. Her shorts and his pants were wet. They looked at one another and laughed. “There was nothing dry about that,” Kitt said. “We’re both a mess.”
“How about leaving the top down and going through the car wash…and dry…with the Vette?” Rob asked.
Laughing and holding hands, Rob and Kitt left their barn. With a new memory and new hope tucked in her heart, she was too happy to think about breaking up with Lionel. She didn’t want to hurt him but she couldn’t live a lie. Later. I’ll think about it another time. Right now, I am too full of joy.
Watching TV with Sug, Kitt’s mind was on Rob. She was hoping he’d ask her for a date for that evening but he didn’t. When he’d dropped her off, he said, “See you soon.”
That sucked. Where was he and what was he doing? Was he commitment-phobic? Was he afraid if he saw her twice in one day she’d get too serious? Still, he was jealous of Lionel and that pleased her.
“What’s the matter with you?” Sug complained. “The last show was a comedy and you didn’t laugh once. Now you’re smiling at a funeral scene.” She muted the television. “Where’s Rob?”
>
“I was wondering the same thing and I don’t know.”
“He probably had to work or something. The man is crazy about you. Trust me. So quit worrying. And you try to say you’re serious about Lionel. Ha!” She turned off the TV and rose. “If you’re going to be such poor company, I’m going to bed.”
Auntie liked interaction and enjoyed conversation. She’d wanted to hear about Kitt’s afternoon with Rob and she’d been in a good mood during dinner tonight. Luckily, she’d been lying down when Kitt came home with wet shorts.
Working? Rob? “Good night, Sug,” Kitt called as her aunt shut her bedroom door.
Of course! Kitt bounced on the couch. If he’s a chef, it’s likely he works at night. He probably thought I’d realise that, so he didn’t bother to mention it. Why hadn’t she asked the name of the restaurant? If she knew where he worked, she and Sug could eat there sometime. It would be fun to eat a meal that Rob Harrison had cooked.
Kitt turned in soon afterward, hoping to have sweet dreams.
Rob called early the next day and she immediately asked him where he worked as a chef. Dead air hung between them for long seconds. “Fruits of the Sea is in Ocala,” he finally told her. She’d never heard of it, but there were probably dozens of restaurants in a town of that size and she’d only dined at a couple. “What nights do you work?”
“My schedule is pretty irregular. I…never know far in advance. I’m subject to call. Sometimes I even work in the daytime. That’s why I called—to tell you I hate it, but I won’t be able to see you today. I…I have to be…there at noon.”
“Tomorrow is free, so far as I know. I’ll come by early afternoon. Okay?”
Of course, she’d agreed, but Kitt was disappointed. A whole day without Rob would be like a day without sunlight. Unless…she eagerly dug an Ocala area phone book out of Auntie’s bookcase and looked for Fruits of the Sea. There it was, pictured in an ad, and it looked really nice. She stuck a note paper in the book to mark the page. Maybe she and Sug would go for dinner and surprise Rob. She could send a note to him in the kitchen with the server saying, “Compliments to the chef.”
Kitt was thrilled to see Rob a day later when he showed up at the house before noon, bearing lunch.
Auntie had felt bad the day before and Kitt had stayed home with her the entire time. She’d tried to talk Sug into a trip to the doctor but the stubborn woman wouldn’t go. All she did all day was complain.
Since Kitt couldn’t make inroads on her Terewski investigation, she’d made a pot of chicken soup for the two of them for dinner. While eating it, she thought about the delicious food they could be eating at Fruits of the Sea.
Auntie told Rob she felt fine today, “—in spite of that awful tasting soup my niece made me last night.”
“You mean Kitt can’t cook?” He winked at Kitt. “What do you think of my culinary abilities?”
“You made this seafood salad?” Sugar beamed. “You’re talented as well as a stud muffin. Kitt, don’t let this man get away.”
“Aunt Carolina,” Kitt scolded, but Rob was laughing so hard she thought he’d split his sides.
“This is delicious. And I confess, my soup wasn’t the best. If Sug hadn’t been under the weather yesterday, we might have dined at Fruits of the Sea,” Kitt said.
“No need to come there,” Rob sputtered. “I can make you whatever you want to try right here at home. There’s no sense in you paying their high prices.”
“But we’d like to see where you work. It was going to be a surprise.” And now I’ve spoiled it. But why doesn’t he want us to come?
“You cook?” Auntie had a dozen questions for him after hearing this conversation. Where did he learn how? What were his specialties? How long was he in the Navy?
Kitt would like to have known a lot of this stuff herself but Rob seemed uncomfortable so she came to the rescue. “I hate to interrupt this interrogation but you need to rest, Sug, and meanwhile we’re going…somewhere.”
Rob rose so fast he almost knocked over his chair.
“…damned tired of naps,” Sugar sputtered and stomped out of the room.
“Thanks for the rescue,” Rob said as they drove away. “Next thing you know, she’d have been questioning my intentions with her niece.” He winked at Kitt. “Is there any place in particular you’d like to go? Or do?”
Fruits of the Sea just because I’m curious what you’re hiding. There’s some reason you don’t want us dining there, but what is it? “I don’t…”
Her cell phone rang. Damn. When she saw it was Dan, she picked up cautiously, holding the phone to her right ear, hoping Rob wouldn’t hear the other end of the conversation.
“Your suspect was reportedly seen in Fruitland Park earlier. He was filling his gas tank at a new Kangaroo Station on the main drag, wearing jeans and a white t-shirt.”
That was one of the towns in the area Dan had lined out on a map and he’d contacted some spotters in each one.
“Fruitland Park is relatively small so you might be able to spot his Porsche if he’s still around.”
“Roger,” she said. Kitt looked at her watch. “I’ll get right on it.”
Rob tapped a fist against the steering wheel. “Roger? Train Man isn’t going to like you talking to another guy. And what is it you’re going to get on? He might not approve of that either, especially if it’s another guy’s dick.”
Why did I say ‘roger’? That was so hokey. She’d obviously watched too many B rated crime shows. A seasoned professional would have come up with another term but her thoughts were whirling. Dan was handing her a clue and she had to figure out how to follow up on it when she was with Rob.
Rob—married and divorced, in the Navy, a chef, making seafood salad. It was hard to match him with all those images. He was the same guy she knew back when, yet different.
She wrinkled her nose at him. He was more of an enigma than her perpetrator.
Concentrate, Kitt. Where would Jason go after filling his tank? A bank? Supermarket? Maybe he’d rented a room or a house and was going there.
Rob chuckled and reached his left hand over to his right T-shirt sleeve, where he’d rolled a cigarette pack.
Kitt jerked to attention. “Don’t tell me you still smoke.”
He dropped his hand back onto the wheel. “I quit a month ago. And twenty times before that. But I’m determined this go-around. I even wore a shirt without a pocket but then I grew uneasy, so now it’s a touchstone. You’re lucky you never smoked. It’s a feeling that haunts you.”
His standard attire had always been blue jeans and a white pocket t-shirt. The same as her perp was wearing but she bet he didn’t look as good in them. Rob drove a black Vette and she hadn’t known what it was. Her notes said Jason drove a black Porsche and how was she going to recognise that? Maybe Rob could help.
She patted him on the shoulder then dropped her hand to his knee. “Let’s drive to Fruitland Park.”
He looked at her hand and said. “Baby, keep that up and I’ll take you anywhere you want to go. Reach any higher and I’ll take you to a secluded spot and park.”
If he really meant it, she would. She smiled. “You’re all talk,” she said, trailing her fingers up his thigh.
He grabbed her hand and guided it towards his crotch. “You do remember Fruitland is just a town, not an actual park, don’t you?”
“Of course, but I heard there was a…new Kangaroo gas station on the main street…with low prices.”
“You’re not driving your car.”
“I…I just want to ride by and see where it is, for when I am driving. I like a bargain as well as the next person.”
He looked at her like she’d just stepped out of a Planter’s jar, but five minutes later, they passed it. It was a lame answer but what else could she say?
“Damn. I didn’t see the place in time. Hold on.” His sharp swerve through the ATM lane in a branch bank parking lot sent a pack of matches flying off the dash into Kitt’s
lap.
The Silver Spoon. The words were emblazoned in red above a shiny spoon with a half-clad woman straddling it. “Here you are. Check the prices.”
She waved the match pack. “Where did you get these, Rob?”
He rolled his eyes. “Take a guess.”
“Smart ass. I mean, where is this place?” Kitt turned the match folder over and…yahoo! The address was on the back. The Silver Spoon was in Fruitland Park, the burg where Jason Terewski had been seen. His current woman owned an eatery and her perp could be there right now.
Chapter Four
“Take me there.” Kitt tapped the picture on the pack of matches. “I want to go to The Silver Spoon.”
Why in hell? “You wouldn’t like it.” Rob didn’t want her to see the place. It wasn’t terrible but it was a dive and the clientele wasn’t the kind she’d enjoy mixing with. And it didn’t meet the standards he’d set for himself. Yet he’d gotten drunk there last night before going to Sugar’s house to see Kitt. He was terrified she’d reject him after he’d spent all those years dreaming of finding her again.
Now he’d gotten himself in a bind with his job. He hadn’t said he worked at Fruits of the Sea now. But Kitt had come to that conclusion, and it was better than her finding out the truth.
“You evidently like the place. And I think I see why.” She tapped a nail on the cover.
“It’s not like that. The waitresses don’t wear those red things. They wear black shorts and shirts. The match cover is a replica of the painting that hangs over the bar.”
“Is it a picture of the owner?”
“How can I tell? I don’t even know who owns the place.”
Kitt held the matchbook cover close to his face. “Have you seen this woman before?” The woman’s long dark hair fell over one eye but both boobs were clearly displayed.
“You want to make me wreck?” Rob asked, pushing Kitt’s hand away. “I guess not. I’m sure I’d remember a pair of knockers like those.”
Kitt rubbed his thigh. “Let’s go to The Silver Spoon, Rob. I want to see for myself what kind of place it is. Please. I’d really appreciate it.”
Bad Boy, Back in Town Page 4