“A shirt with buttons would be nice.”
He grimaced. “With jeans?”
She considered that for a few seconds. Josh’s wardrobe wasn’t exactly well-rounded. As far as pants went, he owned sweats, jeans and a funeral suit. “As long as they’re nice ones. No holes or raggedy hems.”
The sound of a truck coming up the drive made her smile. It was Andy’s. “If I can talk him into staying, you two can still go to Max’s for Monday Night Football.”
Josh shook his head. “Forget it. I didn’t drive two hours round-trip to bring you home just to abandon you. You’re stuck with us.”
“I bet the Hallmark and Lifetime holiday movies have already started playing,” she said with a sweet smile.
He shuddered. “Great. I’m going to go make you some tea.”
Rose heard him talk to somebody in the kitchen and realized Andy must have come in the back door. The man was really making himself at home now. “How’d you sleep last night, Katie?”
“Good. Liz’s bed is actually a lot more comfortable than mine.” She laughed. “Maybe I’ll just move in here permanently and drive the few minutes to the shop every day.”
That was Rose’s master plan. Her endgame, as FBI guys would say.
Before she could say anything else, Andy walked into the room, and she tried not to get all mushy inside at the way his face lit up when he saw her. “Hi, Andy.”
“You up to some company?”
“Of course. The kids don’t seem to want to watch Christmas chick movies with me.” The flash of panic that crossed his expression made her smile. “Maybe we could play rummy.”
“You should go to bed,” Katie said.
“I’ve been in bed for a week and I’m bored. Lounging on the couch playing cards isn’t going to do me in.”
Her daughter sighed. “Fine. I’ll be in the basement, sorting through boxes. Time to start putting together the toiletry baskets for the guest bathrooms.”
Once she was gone, Rose shook her head. “They’re both so damn stubborn.”
“But you’re more stubborn.”
“That I am. The cards are in the drawer over there. What are we playing for?”
“Cookies?”
It was on the tip of her tongue to say kisses, but she didn’t. It was silly, really, and she had no idea if he’d even considered kissing her. He was attentive and sweet and sometimes a little flirtatious, but he hadn’t yet done anything she could interpret as putting a move on her.
“Cookies it is. First to five hundred gets a fresh-baked batch from the loser.”
Andy laughed, and Rose reveled in the sound. It was so warm and husky, rather like the man. “Woman, you better hope like hell I win.”
Chapter Five
Josh was going to lose his mind. Or maybe he’d already lost it and that was why he couldn’t think straight.
The first guests of the season were checking in in a few days and Rose was obsessed with this stupid family Christmas Eve party. Because she was one hundred percent in attentive-daughter mode, that meant Katie was bugging him about it. Constantly.
“We have to decide if we’re having turkey or ham.”
He tossed the paper plate from his lunch into the trash and crushed his soda can before throwing it into the can bin. It didn’t do much to relieve the stress. “Which one can you cook better?”
Katie shrugged. “The turkey has a timer thing that pops up when the bird’s perfectly done. Hams don’t.”
“Then make a turkey.”
“I don’t think a turkey will be enough.”
As tempting as it was to beat his head against the doorjamb until he was blissfully unconscious, he dug deep for some patience. If Rosie thought he and Katie didn’t have their shit together, she’d drag herself out of bed to make sure the family’s holiday wasn’t ruined. Rosie back in the hospital would definitely put a damper on things.
“Close to a dozen people, right?” She shrugged. “Maybe both, then. Pretty sure they put cooking directions on the ham wrappers.”
“Jesus. A dozen people? Really?”
“You, me and Mom is three. Mitch and Paige. Ryan, Lauren and Nick. I know Mom invited Andy and, since Drew’s newly almost-single as well as Mitch’s best friend, he’ll probably come with him.”
“That’s ten.”
She glared at him. “I said close to a dozen. Ten is close to twelve. What about Sean and Emma? Did you call him yet?”
“Sean doesn’t want to travel during the holidays, with Emma being pregnant and all.”
“Is there something wrong?”
“Not with the baby, no. Him? Maybe. It’s some kind of superstition thing. He says there’s always a super-sad, tragic accident on the news Christmas Eve and being out on the roads with a pregnant wife is tempting fate.”
She tapped a pen against the notepad she was making lists on. It was a habit that was really starting to drive him insane. “That’s a little weird. I didn’t think Sean was afraid of anything.”
“And she’s not even that far along yet. I hope he realizes if he wraps her totally in Bubble Wrap, she’ll suffocate.”
“How many pounds of potatoes should I make?”
“How the hell should I know? Google it. Or, better yet, ask Rosie.”
“We told her we’d take care of this.”
Yes, they had, but he’d seriously underestimated the effect this nitpicky shit would have on his sanity. “I don’t think telling you how many pounds of mashed potatoes ten people will eat will cause her to relapse. Or call Fran. Call Paige or Gavin. Just stop asking me.”
“You’re in a pretty crappy mood for somebody who didn’t spend the morning scrubbing toilets and counting rolls of toilet paper.”
“You offered. If you don’t want to help, don’t. I’ve done my share of toilet scrubbing over the years and I don’t really give a shit.”
“Hey,” Katie said quietly.
He didn’t want to hear any more. After shoving his feet into his boots, he opened the back door. Fresh, cold air would do him some good. Especially if it kept anybody from bugging him.
“Hey!”
He turned, halfway out the door. “What?”
Katie looked him in the eye, her face calm but very serious. “You’re being an asshole.”
He shoved his hand through his hair, then stepped back into the kitchen so he could close the door. “Yeah.”
“Tell me why.”
“Because nothing’s changed.” The words he hadn’t meant to say just kind of slipped out, but he wished they hadn’t, because he didn’t want to explain what they meant, even if he could.
Back during the summer, telling his brothers how he felt about the Northern Star had been a huge relief. And their understanding—their willingness to work toward freeing him from the obligation—had given him hope. But now, as the snow fell, it was more of the same thing he’d done every winter for as long as he could remember.
“But things will change, Josh. It probably feels as if you’re doing the same old thing you’ve always done, but this year’s different. You’re not doing it alone and your whole family’s working on making things change for you. But it’s going to take some time. You know that.”
He should have known Katie would know what he meant. Nobody got him like she did. “I know. It’s just that this is always a stressful time for me, and with Rose being sick and this party and everything, I’m a little overwhelmed and I get back in that stuck forever mind-set.”
She grinned, killing the tension just like that. “Stop being so stressed. You have me this time.”
He laughed. “That would be helpful if you’d spent more time as a kid cooking with your mom and Liz and less time changing the oil in the tractors with me and my dad.”
“Shut up.” She started tapping the pen again. “What are you going to do now?”
“I need to take a quick ride out through the woods. Getting snow and then a warm spell and then a heavy, wet snow means there are branches down. I want to make sure there’s nothing that’ll screw up the groomer going through. You?”
She sighed. “Mom made me sprinkle some freshener stuff on the guest mattresses. Now I have to go vacuum it all up.”
“Have fun with that.”
“I hate you.”
On his way out, he said, “Oh, and don’t forget it’s your turn to make supper tonight.”
He jerked the door closed just in time to hear the pen bounce off the window.
In the barn, he started his four-wheeler to let it warm up. It was cold enough that the wheels wouldn’t dig up the snow too badly and he didn’t want to use his sled until the trail was groomed, because getting stuck sucked. After gassing up the chain saw, he locked it into the bracket on his ATV and swapped his around-the-house work coat for his good snowmobile coat. A few hours of trail work would put his head right.
He was right about that. It helped put his head right, but it wiped out his body so he ended up napping on the couch after dinner. He managed to sleep through whatever shows Rosie and Katie were watching and the news, which was how he found himself unable to sleep when he actually went to bed.
A little after midnight, he gave up and went down to the kitchen. Midnight snacks of the fresh-baked variety were sadly lacking, but he grabbed a couple of the brownies Katie had baked and set them on a napkin so he could grab some milk.
The first bite surprised him. Katie wasn’t in the running for Queen of the Bake Fair, but they’d come out better than he’d expected. Better than store-bought, anyway. He decided a third would fill his belly enough to help him sleep, or at the very least keep him from lying in bed wishing he’d had a third brownie.
After rinsing his glass, he crumpled his napkin and shot it into the trash basket, Kevin Garnett-style.
“Two points.”
Josh whirled, barely biting back a yelp of surprise. There, in the kitchen doorway, was Katie.
And, holy shit, Katie was…hot.
Not just hot, but smoking hot. Her hair was down, and she had on a white tank top and some flimsy shorts that looked a lot like boxers. And nothing else.
“Surprised the Celtics haven’t called you yet,” she said, and then she went to the fridge and started rummaging around.
Katie had a great ass.
Josh stood there, staring like an idiot. Had Katie always had a great ass? And her legs. Jesus, they went on forever, all long and toned and perfect for wrapping around…
He was losing his mind. This was Katie. His friend. His best buddy. His pal.
Except looking at his best buddy’s ass shouldn’t make him thankful he was wearing sweats because if he’d had on jeans, his dick would have busted out the zipper teeth trying to get at her.
Well, shit. Katie Davis was definitely not just one of the guys.
* * *
Katie was looking for something delicious and bad for her, but she’d already gorged on brownies earlier, so she settled for pulling out a pint of blueberries. With a little milk and lot of sugar, it would satisfy the sweet tooth.
She grabbed the milk with her other hand and used her hip to bump the fridge door closed. When she turned to set them on the counter, she saw Josh staring at her. Or, more accurately, glaring at her. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Put some damn clothes on. We don’t run around half-naked here.”
Katie looked down at her tank top and boxers. “Shirt. Shorts. Pretty much the opposite of naked.”
“You’re not wearing a…” He waved his hand in the direction of her chest, swore under his breath and stormed out.
Katie looked down again. Okay, so she wasn’t wearing a bra. And, whether it was the chilled air from the fridge or the way Josh had looked at her, her nipples were taking full advantage of the lack of constraint.
“You’ve never seen nipples before?” she called after him.
It sounded as if he tripped on the stairs and he cursed again, but he didn’t come back or answer the question.
The moment was sweeter than teaspoons of sugar heaped on blueberries. He may have been glaring at her and he may have snapped at her, but when Josh stormed past her, his sweats had been sporting a tent worthy of the cover of a Cabela’s catalog.
She really hoped he didn’t break anything tripping on the stairs like that.
Humming a Christmas carol under her breath, she made her snack and sat down at the table.
The holiday spirit slowly seeped away, though, as she picked at her blueberries. After all these years, Josh had to finally notice her when he was already planning his escape from the lodge and Whitford. And her.
Not that it mattered. A man noticing a woman’s breasts wasn’t exactly a life-changing event. But, hot damn, it had felt good.
After rinsing her bowl, Katie turned off the lights and made her way back upstairs. She paused just for a moment between Josh’s door and hers, listening. No snoring, which meant he was still awake. And as she stood there, she heard the telltale rustle of tossing and turning.
Thoughts of Josh naked and tangled in sheets were put on hold when the sound of her mother coughing broke the silence. Katie tensed, but it sounded a lot less brutal than it had before. Once it passed, Katie went into her room and quietly closed her door.
Then she leaned back against it, letting the wood cool her skin. There was no way she was going to sleep tonight. She’d slowly been working toward letting go of her attraction to Josh. Not that she’d had a lot of success, but she’d been trying. Now it ran unchecked again, fired up by the way he’d looked at her.
It was still dark when her alarm signaled the end of tossing and turning. Because she didn’t want to wake her mom, she crept down the stairs and used the shower in one of the guest bathrooms. She’d be cleaning them all before guests arrived anyway. Then she grabbed a yogurt and a banana and went out into the cold.
Rather than risk running into Josh again while she was still feeling warm and fuzzy from the resurgence of her Josh-based fantasies, she’d eat her breakfast at the shop before she opened it. She had one of those single-serve coffee brewers, too, for customers. Copious amounts of caffeine might help get her back on track.
Though it wasn’t very likely, she hoped it would be busy. Anything that kept her mind off the way Josh had looked at her. She had a few hours away from him and she intended to spend them not thinking about him. Not much, anyway.
* * *
Josh woke up surprised he’d managed to sleep at all. Every time he closed his eyes, all he could see was Katie in that skimpy tank top and shorts, which had led to an erection that refused to die.
Since he wouldn’t allow himself to jerk off to mental pictures of his friend, he’d suffered. A lot.
He screwed up making Rosie’s tea and managed to splash it over his hand when he dumped it in the sink. Then he burned her English muffin. Managed to discard that one without injuring himself, but it wasn’t a good start to the day.
Thankfully, Katie had gone to work, so he didn’t have to face her yet. But Rosie was waiting for her breakfast.
He set the breakfast tray on the floor in the hall so he could crack her door open. She opened her eyes and smiled. “I’m up.”
Managing to get the tray to her lap without dumping the whole thing seemed like a small victory, but he’d take what he could get.
“You need to go get a haircut,” she said before he could make his escape.
Josh frowned and ran his hand over his head. “Not yet I don’t.”
“Yes, you do. It’s already starting to grow out and once the lodge is officially o
pen, you’ll never get around to it, so you’ll look like a shaggy mutt in the Christmas pictures.”
Shaggy mutt was a little harsh. “There’s plenty of time to get a trim before Christmas, Rosie. I’m not leaving you alone in the house.”
“Andy’s coming over in an hour or so. I’ll be fine for that long, since I’m still in bed.”
She was up to something, but he couldn’t for the life of him think of what it was.
“You needed to go to the hardware store, anyway,” she said. “I saw your list on the fridge. And, with everything you have to do, I just know you’re going to end up looking mangy for the holiday.”
“Shaggy. Mangy. Mutt. Maybe I should skip the hardware store and make myself a vet appointment.” She didn’t crack a smile. “Fine. If it makes you happy, I’ll go get my hair cut so I won’t look like a stray dog in your precious pictures.”
“Can you stop at the library for me, too? And I need a few things from the market.”
It was another twenty minutes before he was on the road, with the music cranked in an effort to drown out the chaos in his head. He had a million things to do, the woman who’d always helped him was lying in bed worrying about his freaking hair of all things, and in a few minutes Katie would be running her fingers through that hair.
There wasn’t a sound system ever put in a vehicle capable of drowning out that thought. He couldn’t even begin to count how many times she’d done it before, but it must have been at least a half-dozen times a year since she’d taken over the barbershop. This, however, was the first time he’d ever had to pause outside the door and take a few seconds to check his nerves.
There was a guy ahead of him, so Josh grabbed a magazine out of the rack and settled in a chair to wait his turn. It wasn’t as if he could take a rain check, since Rosie would just be up his ass again about looking like a shaggy dog.
He didn’t fish, though, so neither field nor stream was interesting enough to distract him from watching Katie work. She was a natural, chatting Mr. Harwin up about his model airplanes while making quick work of trimming his hair. Thankfully, she was wearing a traditional white coat over her clothes today, so he was spared a good view of her body. It was a welcome reprieve after last night, but he still closed his eyes so he couldn’t see her at all.
All He Ever Dreamed (The Kowalskis) Page 6