by HJ Bellus
“And to answer your question, I’m back here because I now live here.”
I whip my head his direction, my jaw slack in shock. “You what?”
Max places his hand on the top of my thigh. The heat from his skin burns me from the inside. “I grew up in Boone. Went home that day to my parents’ house and made a plan.”
“I thought you left,” I whisper.
“Yeah, I was sensing that from your attitude toward me.”
Max goes on to fill me in on the fact he hired a lawyer and is remodeling a house. He makes it clear he’s not about to share the entire process with me. From college and studying the law on my own, I know it’s going to be a daunting procedure with lots of hoops to jump through. We are cut off when a young and very good-looking doctor steps in. And I mean this man could take out McDreamy from Grey’s easily.
“Kate Wilson-Valentukonis, I’m Doctor Ash.” He extends his hand. Mine trembles in his large one. “I see you had an accident.”
“Yeah,” I stutter out. “You actually pronounced my last name right. That’s rare.”
Max steps back, taking his seat and giving the handsome doctor some room.
“Well, the x-ray shows a hairline fracture.” He points it out on the picture. “We are going to have to wait for the swelling to go down before we can cast it.”
I groan. “Not a cast. I don’t have time for that.”
“Shouldn’t have been standing on a damn bucket then,” Max adds from the corner.
“Yeah, your boyfriend is right,” Doctor Ash says as he places a metal piece under my hand and begins wrapping it with a bandage.
“He’s not my boyfriend.”
“Really?” Ash freezes and looks at me, shooting up an eyebrow.
“I’m her fiancé.” Max stands, taking my side.
“Well, congratulations. Good thing you weren’t wearing your ring. We may have had to cut it off.”
My cheeks burn with fiery flames of embarrassment. This day can’t get over soon enough.
“I’ll write a script for pain pills.” Dr. Hot Pants goes on about care, then gives us our goodbyes.
As soon as the door shuts, I hop off the table and shoot daggers at Max. “What was that about?”
“He was hitting on you. I’m no fool, Kate.”
“And so what if he was?” I strike back.
“It’s unprofessional as hell.” He shrugs.
“God, you’re irritating.”
Chapter 9
Max
“So you’re just going to hold me hostage?” Kate glares at me as I climb back in the truck.
Even though she refused to have the pain meds filled, I did it anyway. Grabbed two bottles of wine, a frozen pizza, and a bag of salad.
“I know you said you’d nurse your wound with wine, so I had to take a stab at what kind.”
“What did you get?” She peeks in the bag.
“Moscato.”
“Perfect. That’s my favorite.”
Kate hitches a thumb over her shoulder to all of the shit in the bed of my truck. “Looks more like you’re building a house, not remodeling one.”
“It was in horrible shape.”
“This is weird. Just take me back to my car,” Kate blurts out.
“I’m going to feed you and make sure the pain doesn’t get too bad. There’s no getting out of it.”
Yeah, I can play up that card, but the fact is I want to be around this woman. She’s gorgeous with long, toned legs, messy blonde hair, and freckles that sprinkle the top of her exposed shoulder. Her feisty attitude intrigues me, and at this point, I owe her everything.
“Why are we going to Cody’s Shaggin’ Shack?” Kate’s face turns a shade of green. It’s damn adorable. She rights her glasses on the bridge of her nose.
“Been trashed on the Pussy Pleaser before?” I guess.
“One time.” She holds up a finger. “And I’ve never been back. That Cody is the devil disguised in clothes behind a bar and sure knows how to sling drinks. He kept them coming all night long.”
I chuckle. “Yeah, I’ve heard plenty of those stories.”
I pull in beside the bar, continuing down the lane. “Cody is one of my mom and dad’s best friends. They went to high school together. He moved here after high school and opened the bar. He has a house that needs work and offered it to me when he heard of my situation.”
“Oh.” She nods her head.
“I’m warning you, it’s still pretty rough on the inside.”
“It’s cute,” Kate replies, taking in the small farmhouse.
“I’ll get that,” I say when she grabs a grocery bag. Her stubbornness shines through.
“I have a fractured wrist. You act like my leg was sawed off.” Her grip tightens on the bags.
“You’re stubborn as hell, woman,” I grumble.
“And you’re pushy as hell, so get over it.” She pokes out her tongue.
“Real mature,” I grumble and go about packing the supplies to a safe place.
Not only does Kate help pack in the groceries, I find her rolling pale yellow paint on the walls of the bathroom. I lean on the doorjamb, taking her in as she hums a familiar tune. Her tongue pokes out to the side as she concentrates. I packed the supplies into the shed, which took a whopping fifteen minutes, max. This woman.
“Are you just gonna stare or help?” Kate asks, keeping her attention on the wall.
“Think I’ll just stare.”
She glances over her shoulder. “Not a fan of painting?”
“Despise it. Mom and my little sister have done all the painting up to this point.”
“You know how to run an oven?”
I shrug, battling the playful smile fighting to come out. It’s a foreign feeling. I have no idea how long it’s been since a genuine and carefree one came my way.
“Figure it out, because that bottle of wine has my name on it after the day I’ve had.” Kate stretches, rolling the paint along the wall and giving me a glimpse of her toned skin. I bite back a growl. This woman has done something to me. It’s more than the fact she’s brought my world full circle. It’s her honest and carefree nature that’s driven to protect the innocent and right all the wrongs in the world. If I’ve learned anything in the small amount of time on this earth, it’s that there are very few who protect the underdogs.
“Got it, teach.” I wink and push off the doorjamb.
She rolls her eyes at my stupid nickname. I’d give anything to stay in place razzing the hell out of her. The fact is her wrist will begin throbbing any minute. She’s high on adrenaline, and the pain will settle in with a punch to the gut. Quite frankly, I don’t give a shit if she eases that ache with the bottles of wine or a few pills. I just know she doesn’t deserve the pain.
I pop the pizzas into the oven even though it’s not pre-heated. The bag of shredded cheese lies on the counter, waiting to top the hot goodness of the pizza. I take in my surroundings for the thousandth time, wondering if Finn will ever enter these doors. From what my lawyer has told me, it’s going to be a bit of an uphill battle for me. Courts don’t like taking children away from their moms; however, in Ally’s case, she’s sealed her own fate. Time and going through all the steps is what it’s going to take. The one thing I know is I won’t give up.
The buzzer goes off. I turn to the oven, wondering where in the hell the last fifteen minutes went. At the same time, Kate rounds the corner, wringing her hands with a dry towel.
I give her a nod, then force myself to focus on taking out the pizza. It’s not a golden brown, so I sprinkle the extra cheese on and put it back on the rack, setting the timer for four minutes.
“This place is pretty damn cool.” Kate grabs a plastic cup from the cupboard and twists off the top of the wine.
I relax back on the counter, thanking the gods above I decided to buy two smaller bottles with twist-off tops versus the larger bottle with a cork. Kate continues pouring an ample amount of wine into a plastic cup.
>
“It’s really cute, Max. Perfect for you and Finn. I swear I can see him sitting at that table doing his homework.” She brings the cheap plastic blue cup to her lips, taking a sip.
“It’s not done.” I admit my biggest fear.
Kate doesn’t respond, only tilting her head to the side in question.
“The DNA test has been done against my will. I knew he was mine the moment I saw him. Some legality shit or something. I’m his father and now my lawyer is serving papers and following all the ropes to get me in Finn’s life. I sure in the hell hope he thrives in this house one day.”
“Max.” Kate sits down her plastic cup, her full lips parted, but the timer to the oven interrupts her thoughts.
I bend down, pulling out the perfect pizza, and set it on the make-shift island. One day it will be a creation made from my hands out of the old barn wood from Mom and Dad’s farm. All in time.
“Hope you like Hawaiian pizza.” I hate this shit but figured the odds were if I despise it, Kate may like it. I slice it into eighths and serve her a few pieces on a paper plate, then tear open the bag of salad and open the bottle of ranch.
Kate doesn’t hesitate preparing her plate. I stand back watching her drizzle the dressing all over the pizza. Just like Whit. I pick the piece with the least amount of pineapple and plan to pick off all the vile pieces from my slices. It’s then I see Kate plucking the fruit from her pizza.
It seems we catch each other at the same time, then erupt into a battle of laughter. From there on, we eat the cheese, salad, and crust, forgoing the damn sweet juice of fruit. Kate pours herself another glass of wine as I pop open a bottle of beer.
We chat about everything and sip our drinks in the moments of silence. I keep an eye on Kate’s broken wrist. I swear, watching her go down in that tiny hardware store brought back way too many memories, the ones I’ve fought to forget since being honorably discharged.
I never had a family I left behind, or at least I thought so. I guess the joke was on me. I spent months agonizing over the fact my brothers went home in body bags. Their children would never know them, when all the time I didn’t know I had one waiting for me. Not only waiting, but enduring the same pain I did as a child.
Kate finishes off her second cup of wine then covers her mouth. “I need to use the restroom.”
I nod. “You know where it is.”
I can’t help myself, watching her tight little ass sway as she walks away from the island. Her golden locks swing back and forth, hypnotizing me and making a part of me stir to life. It’s not the same as porno mags or videos; Kate is so much damn more. I have no idea how to explain it.
When Kate’s hypnotic vibes evaporate, I go about cleaning up the kitchen, washing the pan I baked the pizza on, and tossing our plates in the trash. I fill her cup of wine and grab another bottle of beer for me. When she doesn’t reappear in a decent amount of time, I go to look for her. The bathroom door remains cracked open.
Kate’s not in there. It doesn’t take me long to figure out where she is as the ray of light from my bedroom blinds me. I waltz in with my beer securely in one hand and her wine in the other. Kate’s figure illuminates in front of my used dresser, a thin piece of paper held before her face.
I don’t have to ask what she’s looking at. It’s me and Finn’s mom. My first love. The woman I would’ve laid everything down for. I’m not sure if it’s the alcohol or the exhaustion from the last two weeks, but I walk right up behind her, placing the cup of wine on the top of the worn dresser.
My free hand roams down to her waist, gripping it tightly. My front presses to her backside as she continues to study the picture. With her free hand, she grabs the cup of wine, bringing it to her lips. The tension between us is so damn hot it sears my flesh, and I can’t figure out why.
Once she sets the cup down on the dresser and glances back at the picture, her focus is again back on my “happily ever after.” I tilt my beer back, letting the liquid numb my senses just enough to ask the next question about to escape my lips.
“Tell me about him.”
“She’s so beautiful here. I swear I barely recognize her.”
My grip on her hips digs into her flesh.
“Tell me about him.”
“He dips everything into ketchup.” Kate relaxes back into me.
I remain silent, tilting my beer back again. My body is exhausted from transforming this junkyard into something that resembles a home.
“Finn hates vegetables. He’s smarter than any of his peers. He can do fifth grade math. He loves routine, and when that’s broken, he’s devastated.”
Kate reaches for her wine, taking another long gulp. “He hates sports and is all brain. He loves school and building things with his hands. Finn is so damn brilliant, and if he had the right environment, I swear he’d be the next Einstein. Life beats him down, but he never gives up.”
I’m forced to tip back my beer because Kate has no damn idea how close she just hit to home.
“Keep telling me,” I murmur into her sweet, honey nectar flesh.
“Like I said, Finn loves ketchup. It doesn’t matter if it’s meat or fruit, he has to have that one constant.” Kate’s wounded wrist cascades down to my side, and her body goes limp. “I’m so tired.”
“He sounds perfect.” I keep her body in my arms as she melts into me. “Kate, I’ll never be man enough to thank you. There’s just nothing I could do to ever show you how thankful I am.”
Her sweet and perfect body grows even heavier from exhaustion. I carry her to the mattress and tug my favorite blankets to her chin. Seeing her perfect and innocent silhouette in my bed undoes me.
Her eyes flutter once, then twice, before she loses the battle and succumbs to sleep. I’d love nothing more than to cuddle the shit out of this woman until she doesn’t feel any more pain in her arm. I’d give her anything because she just gave me the world and doesn’t even know it.
It takes force to walk away from her. In due time, I do walk away and collapse on the couch. I never once thought in my life I could endure more pain than I already have. Life had nothing on me, or that’s what I thought until I closed my eyes and saw the spitting image of me at that age. It’s the sweet innocence of Kate’s smile and wild blonde hair that breaks through the nightmare. It’s a foreign feeling that I crave and fear at the same time. She has my head all sorts of messed up.
Chapter 10
Kate
It was cheap white wine. And it was sweet as hell. Then I woke up wrapped in Max’s scent. It was perfect and lonely as hell because he wasn’t there. My wrist ached and my head throbbed. I remembered glimpses of the night before. Me painting, pizza, wine, and Max. Then the rest dulled to life as I forced myself out of Max’s bed.
“Kate, you don’t need your insurance. Max took care of it.”
I blink once, then twice.
“Excuse me?”
“The young gentleman who came in with you paid your bill last night.”
“Okay.” I step back into the waiting room, staying for the on-call doctor to see if see my arm is ready to cast.
The room spins a bit as I absorb the news the receptionist just told me. I don’t even remember Max pulling out his wallet. I woke up in his bed, and he was gone. The wine really hit me hard. Honestly, I’m not sure it was entirely the wine that made my knees go lax and my entire body go limp. I have no doubt it was Max’s woodsy scent and body pressed up against my back.
And I’m not about to admit how my heart fluttered in disappointment to find the bed empty and yellow note on the lone pillow. He left a quick message in his blocky, masculine print, letting me know he left his truck keys for me since he had to go out of town to get a load of siding, that he’d have Cody take him to his truck later this afternoon, and to leave the keys in the toolbox. He also said he left a plate of breakfast for me in the microwave.
I was expecting Toaster Strudels or something. I couldn’t have been more off base; I opened the door and
came eye to eye with a plate of bacon, hash browns, and eggs.
I have no idea how long I sit in the hospital waiting room before my name is called. Then while the doctor wraps my arm in plaster, I berate myself internally for not asking more questions about Finn and what Max is planning to do. It’s very straightforward, but then again, not a subject I’m willing to let go easily.
“Kate, you’re set to go.” Doctor Ash pats my shoulder.
His sex appeal and charm do nothing for me. Any other time in my life, I’d be all over this opportunity, especially living in a small town and being single. There’s not a very big pond and even fewer fish. It’s Max who controls my thoughts, from his mysterious parts to his good looks.
Doctor Ash begins to speak. “This goes against all kinds of ethics, but if you ever want to grab dinner, I’m available.”
He’s right. It’s not the right place. Dinner with a hot guy who is a doctor is a no-brainer. I muster up some shred of wanting, but nothing ever comes.
I push my glasses up on the bridge of my nose and slide off the table. “Thank you, but I don’t really have time to date.”
I cringe. Visibly cringe from my own string of stupid words. He said nothing about dating, but leave it up to me to make this awkward. I need coffee and a hot shower to wash away this fog that lingers over me.
He nods and steps back, raising an eyebrow. “Well, if you ever find the time, Kate Wilson-Valentukonis, you know where to find me.”
Damn, the way my name sounds being perfectly pronounced, rolling off his tongue, is damn hot even though I’m not interested. The pain in my wrist is still a dull ache. The clunky cast is already a pain in the ass on my drive home. I take a longing glance at Cody’s bar as I drive past it. I didn’t admit to Max that I live only a few blocks from him in an old farmhouse. The rent is cheap because the owner passed away, and the children didn’t want to sell a piece of their heritage. They were looking for someone to live in it and take care of it.
It’s truly not a hardship. The two-story house, which is way too much for me, is bordered by a pristine white picket fence. It’s simple elegance.