“Boone, dammit! You're killing me,” she finally managed.
He only chuckled in response. “But what a way to go!”
“More,” she said, her voice pitched somewhere between a plea and a demand.
A slow smile spread over his face, and he slid lower on the bed, pressing hot kisses over her ribs, down to her navel. Just as he dipped below it, the roughness of his beard teasing her skin and spiking her desire ever higher, the front door slammed.
“Boone! Caroline!”
It was Lucy.
Boone dropped his head onto her and against the soft flesh of her belly and uttered a filthy word.
He rose up quickly, though, as Lucy began making her way through the apartment. “Do not move,” he said. “I will get rid of her, and we will finish this.”
Caroline watched him walk away, the door closing softly behind him. Naked, shivering in the cold without him there to distract her, reality intruded. One word kept flashing in her mind, over and over. Mistake. Reaching for her discarded clothes, she dressed quickly before she could talk herself out of it.
~*~*~
Standing behind the couch, hiding a raging hard-on from his big sister, Boone wanted nothing more than to kick her nosy ass out the door. But Lucy was never cooperative. If she thought he wanted her to leave, she'd dig her heels in and he'd never be rid of her.
It was a treacherous balancing act. Every second he was away from Caroline allowed her to think, which only increased the likelihood of her changing her mind and leaving him in his present, miserable state. “What are you doing here, Luce?”
She pulled a face at him. “What? I'm suddenly not welcome?”
“Luce, you never let yourself in without knocking.”
“I did knock. And I don't want to know what you were doing that you didn't hear me!”
Boone prayed for patience. “Lucy, you put Caroline in my house because you wanted us to be thrown together. Interrupting whatever it is you think is going on kind of defeats the purpose.”
“Not necessar—good god! What is that?” Lucy screeched as she pointed at the small box and the kitten that was attempting to climb over the top of it.
“That would be a cat.”
“That is not a cat,” she said. “It's like someone shrunk a werewolf mid-phase.”
Boone didn't argue. The fact was, it did look kind of like a werewolf. Cute and fluffy it wasn't. But Caroline was. And she was naked in his bed, or she had been until his damned sister showed up. “She's malnourished. Her fur will come in and she'll fill out once we get enough food in her. Don't you have a bakery to run?”
Lucy leaned forward and gingerly picked the kitten up by the scruff of its neck. Its body went limp and compliant, but it had murder in its sickly eyes. “No. It's definitely not a cat…and I can't believe I'm saying this, because it is as ugly as homemade sin, but bless its little heart!”
Boone watched Lucy cuddle the kitten, scratching its chin. Earlier indignities were forgiven, and the kitten began to purr loudly. If purring could ever be labeled as aggressive, that cat would have accomplished it. He also accepted the fact that he was never getting laid.
Caroline was undoubtedly fully dressed and compiling a list of all the reasons what they'd been about to do was a bad idea. Since turning around and beating his head against the wall would undoubtedly raise questions, he just leaned over onto the couch and placed his head in his hands.
“You'll thank me later,” she said.
He looked up at Lucy as if she'd grown two heads. “Thank you for what?”
She smiled. “Delayed gratification.”
He shook his head wearily. “I am not talking about my sex life with you…and my gratification has been delayed long enough, dammit!”
“Not yours, dumbass! Hers. You've wanted Caroline forever. Let her want you for a while. It'll be good for her.”
“I won't survive it,” he said sadly. “It will literally be the death of me.”
Lucy walked over to him then, the kitten batting playfully at her earrings as it snuggled against her neck. “Boone, she's got no job. She's got no place to live except here with you. Let her get on her feet before you try to put her on her back.”
“I hate you,” he said.
“For being right?”
“Yes, dammit. Now give me my cat and get the hell out,” he demanded grumpily.
“It won't take long,” Lucy said. “Send Caroline down to the shop. I'm about to take one of those obstacles out of her way by giving her a job.”
Boone took the kitten, and of course, its claws sunk into his hand. Why the hell not? Everything else about his day had just gone to shit. “Fine. I still hate you.”
Lucy kissed his cheek. “I know. Deprivation makes you grumpy. But I hear it does wonderful things for your character. And your hand strength.”
“You're disgusting.”
Lucy laughed as she gave the kitten a scratch on top of its puny head. “I have a teenage son. You think I don't know what you all do and how often? God above. The only time his hand is out of his pants is when he's using it to stuff his face. I just hope and pray he washes in between!”
Banging his head against the wall was looking more and more like the better option. “Please leave before you give me any more mental images that will haunt me forever.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Caroline entered the bakery. She'd managed to shower, the coldest one she'd ever taken in her life, and had dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt stolen from Boone. It was her own guilty secret.
“I am not coming to work for you. I don't need charity!”
Lucy rolled her eyes. “You do need charity! You're homeless for the love of god! But offering you a job, that isn't charity. You've helped me here in the bakery before, and you can do the work. I've just landed a contract to supply desserts for the University Arts Center. Every reception, every gala, every concert and art show for the rest of the season. Seems their other supplier went belly-up. Now the bigwigs will be noshing on my cupcakes while they hobnob.”
It would be a godsend. Working with Lucy was always a good time, even though working in the bakery was akin to torture. Her arms ached just thinking about it. Still, she needed the money, and she needed the distraction from the disaster of whatever was going on between her and Boone. “How much does it pay?”
“Ten bucks an hour for twenty hours a week. If it picks up when wedding season hits, we'll go to forty hours. No benefits other than my lovely company…or do you have a better offer?”
Caroline picked one of the pink aprons off the pegs on the wall and put it on. “What first, boss?”
“First, you're going to help me box up these meringues…and while we're doing that, you're going to tell me exactly what I interrupted upstairs.”
“Oh, no,” Caroline said, washing her hands at the small sink. “That is not a conversation we are ever going to have."
“Come on!”
“He's your brother!” Caroline protested.
“Yes, and you're my best friend, and you haven't had good sex in—have you ever had good sex?”
“I didn't have it this time!” Caroline protested.
Lucy frowned. “That asshole! Let me guess…he was in a hurry!”
Caroline rolled her eyes and prayed for strength. The lack of boundaries was beginning to be an issue. “No. Nothing was hurried. Nothing happened. Nothing had a chance to happen because you just let yourself into the apartment!” She was half shouting by the time she'd finished explaining something she hadn't wanted to discuss anyway.
Lucy cocked her head to the side. “So are you upset because you almost slept with him, or upset because I interrupted before you could actually sleep with him?”
Caroline paused, one plastic lunch-lady glove on and the other one gripped in her hand. That was the million dollar question. “I don't know.”
Lucy nodded sagely. “Maybe you need to figure that out before you let him talk you out of your panties aga
in.”
She sure as hell did, Caroline thought.
~*~*~
By mid-afternoon, Boone had the counter completely sanded, cleaned, and the first coat of shiny, black lacquer on it. He also had an errand to run. Easing his phone from his pocket, he called his brother-in-law.
Boone had been the one to introduce Charlie and Lucy all those years ago. He'd never dreamed they'd hit it off, much less get married. Charlie had served with him on his first tour until an IED had left his knee a shredded mess. Charlie had gone stateside, and Lucy had nursed him back to health. They'd married the next year, and Charlie had officially adopted Nick.
“Hey…I need a favor,” he said once Charlie answered.
“I cannot do anything to control your sister's behavior. I've been trying for my own benefit for ten years and have not yet succeeded.”
Boone chuckled in spite of himself. No one could wrangle Lucy, that was for damn sure. “Not that, though if either of us ever figures out how—”
“It'd be a cold day in hell,” Charlie replied. “Whaddya need?”
“I need to buy a mattress, and I need help hauling it into the house.”
“Dude, you just bought one! I helped you with it. Are you that much of a princess?”
Boone shook his head. “It's not really for me. It's for Caroline. She's got no furniture…nothing.”
Charlie laughed. Big, deep, belly laughs that left him breathless and gasping for air. “You dumb son-of-a-bitch!” he finally said. “Why the hell would you buy her a bed when all you want is to get her into yours?”
Boone answered honestly. “Because I don't want her there because she's got no other options. If I get her into my bed, it's got to be because she wants to be there.”
Charlie muttered about chivalry and Southern codes of honor, all of it interspersed with enough curse words to sound like a rerun of the Sopranos. You could take the boy out of Jersey.
“Are you done?” he finally asked.
“Alright, fine. I'll help you with the damn mattress. Now?”
“Yeah. Meet me at the same store where we picked up mine.”
An hour later and several hundred dollars poorer, Boone and Charlie carted the full-size mattress set and metal frame up the short flight of stairs and into the apartment. Hauling it toward the second bedroom, they set it up quickly.
“You need sheets; women are funny about that. Won't sleep on a bare mattress,” Charlie said.
“I've got a bunch of stuff in a trunk from Mom's house,” Boone replied. “Thanks for the help.”
Charlie nodded. “You know your sister has gone all Machiavelli on this, right? There is no letting nature take its course. There's Lucy's course or the ass chewing of your life.”
Boone smiled. He did know, and he was shockingly okay with it. No one knew Caroline better than Lucy did. If she wanted to turn her efforts to putting them together, he wasn't going to fight her on it. She was the best chance he had of getting exactly what he wanted. “She'd make a damn good general.”
Charlie chuckled. “Drill Sergeant. She likes to be in the trenches. Speaking of which, I need to get home and make sure the walking hormone hasn't managed to defeat the parental controls on the cable box. The last time he ordered adult movies I thought Lucy was going to murder him.”
“Jesus, when did he stop playing with Legos and trucks?” Boone asked.
“About the time a girl in his class got boobs. You know how it is.” Charlie tugged his keys from his pocket and then turned back to him. “You know, the kid's a pretty good football player. He's got a game Friday night…and Lucy and I are going. Maybe you could bring Caroline.”
Boone shook his head. “You know in this town that's like announcing your engagement, right?”
Charlie shrugged. “Never hurts to ask.”
As Charlie turned toward the door, the kitten awoke from its nap and let out a pitiful mew. “Jesus, what the hell is that?”
“It's a kitten.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” Boone said. “I'm sure. Why does everyone keep asking that?”
“Don't look like no damn kitten I ever saw. Is it gonna live?”
“Just get the hell out,” Boone said. “Your wife is trying to control my damn life, you're insulting my cat. Just go!”
Charlie shrugged as he opened the door, but he didn't leave without a parting shot. “I'm just saying, it's about half the size of the rats I used to see in NYC. And I think they might have been fluffier.”
When the other man had gone, Boone walked over to the box and picked up the kitten, carrying her to the small kitchen. He'd taken her to the shop with him that morning, taking breaks every few hours to feed her and medicate her as needed. She was still puny, barely filling the palm of his hand, but as she nuzzled into him, purring louder than the engine on his truck, he smiled.
“What am I going to call you?”
The kitten offered no answers, just continued inhaling the wet cat food in front of her like it was air. After she'd been fed, gone to the potty, and her last dose of antibiotics given, Boone tucked her back into her box. She protested. Loudly.
“I'll be back,” he assured her as he went into his bedroom. In his closet, he found the small trunk that contained the extra linens. Most of them were old and threadbare, but they'd have to do. Carrying the box out to the living room, he paused when the door opened and Caroline walked in.
Her blonde hair was swept back in a ponytail, and she wore a T-shirt that looked strangely familiar. Her cheeks were flushed, and she looked happier than she had since he'd first seen her.
“I guess you had a good day,” he said.
“I forgot how much fun I always had helping Lucy with the bakery. What about you? Productive day?”
He nodded. “Got the counter almost done. One more coat tomorrow, then it's just clean up. Opening on Friday as scheduled. Let's just hope people show up.”
“It's a college town, and the only other tattoo place in town is manned by an old scary guy with no teeth. I don't think you'll have a problem,” she said, plopping onto the couch. “And you're taking your bed back tonight. You're way too tall to sleep on this couch.”
“About that,” he said. “I have something for you.”
She shook her head, “Boone, you didn't have to get me anything!”
He set the box back on the floor and took her by the hand, leading her down the hallway toward the guest room. “I did actually. Come with me, and I'll tell you why.” Ushering her into the room, he gestured toward the bed.
“You bought me a bed?”
He looked at her, his eyes raking over her from head to toe, taking in every curve, every inch he wanted to taste, to claim. “Yeah, I did. I don't want you sleeping on the couch, and my body is too banged up for it…and the next time you're in my bed, I plan on being in it with you.”
~*~*~
Caroline locked her trembling knees. How the hell did he do that? With a look and a few choice words, he'd literally left her weak. Just thinking about being in that bed with him, thinking of what had very nearly happened in it just that morning was more temptation than one woman should have to withstand.
“Boone, I don't really know how to do this… I've been married, pretty miserably, for almost the entirety of my adult life. I've never had a man say things like that to me.”
Caroline's breath caught as he stepped closer to her. He leaned in, close enough that she could see the tiny flecks of green and gold in his brown eyes.
“That,” he said, “is because you've never been with a man. A real man never leaves a woman in doubt over whether or not she's wanted. He proves it every day. Only bullies and losers play the kinds of games William did.”
He was right. She knew it—had always known it. In public, William was charming and played just the right mix of good ol' boy and smooth politician to get what he wanted from people. In private, he'd been verbally and emotionally abusive. She'd tolerated it because to do anything el
se would have destroyed her father's dreams of having his son-in-law in the Senate. In the end, William had destroyed that dream on his own with his greed and his inability to keep his pants zipped. Not that it mattered. Her father would never blame William for anything.
“So what happens now? We just act like roommates, like you didn't kiss me senseless in the kitchen…and again in your bedroom?”
“No,” he said. “I thought we might start with an actual date. Caroline Matthews, will you go to the football game with me on Friday?”
She giggled. In spite of everything, he made her laugh with his high school-esque invitation. “Are you going to be a gentleman, or are you going to be a bad boy and try to seduce me under the bleachers?”
“It's a double date. I'll be a perfect gentleman while we're there. Once we get back home, all bets are off.”
Caroline waited for the kiss, but it didn't come. He stared at her intently, his eyes roaming over her face. She felt the weight of his gaze on her lips, but in the end, he simply stepped back from her.
“There's a box of linens and some other stuff in the living room. I'm going for a run before I forget that I'm trying to be a gentleman.”
Caroline watched him go, part of her wanting to call him back and another part of her desperately grateful for the reprieve. A glance at the bed, and his thoughtfulness overwhelmed her.
Needing comfort, she headed for the best source available to her. Retrieving the kitten from its box, she cuddled it close. It nuzzled into her neck, curling into a ball just below her chin and purring like a freight train. “You are the sweetest thing,” she said, stroking its fuzzy little body with two fingers. “And tiny. Lord above, you are tiny. I don't suppose Boone has given you a name yet?”
The kitten didn't answer. It had fallen into a deep contented sleep. Caroline chuckled in spite of herself. “Little one, when you are better, you are going to be hell on wheels, but for the time being, I'm just going to enjoy the snuggles.”
CHAPTER SIX
Caroline stood in the guest room, now occupied by an old vanity table that had just appeared the day before and the bed Boone had gotten for her. Lucy was perched on it, reclining against the pillows, while the kitten attacked her fingers.
The Seraphina Donavan Collection: Contemporary Page 14