Instantly, she regretted her assumptions. “I’m sorry.”
He got up to clear the table. “Like I said, I’m trying to do better.”
Good for you or Glad to hear it seemed insincere, so she said nothing, just rolled up her sleeves and got to work washing the dishes in the sink. When she turned around again, Grayson was bent over Jade, watching her sleep.
“God, she’s beautiful, isn’t she?”
“She really is.”
He shook his head. “How could anyone just abandon her?”
“I’ve been asking myself that all day.”
He got up, and though she remained at the sink, the space between them seemed smaller. More heated.
“You’re amazing,” he said without warning.
She felt her cheeks flame, her legs grow wobbly, her whole body melt at those two words. This was ridiculous. She never reacted to men this way. In fact, she pretty much thought she’d forgotten how.
“I mean, you live by yourself, you’re a mom and a grandmother—” He held up one hand. “Sorry. I know you don’t like that word. But still, you’re a natural with kids. And with people in general. You run Helping Hands, and you spent the day dealing with a lunatic neighbor who may or may not be the father of a kid he’s never seen before. Like I said, that’s kind of amazing.”
She did blink, finally, because she wasn’t sure what else to do or say. “Are you a lunatic?” she asked. “I mean, I should probably know.”
He took a step toward her. Then another. Only inches separated them, and she could feel the heat from his skin, almost taste the ink on his arms. “No,” he said. His lips curved up into that smile, the one that made her imagine wild things. “Unless you want me to be.”
And before she could say anything else, he caught her mouth in a kiss that burned all the way down to her toes.
GRAYSON HADN’T PLANNED to kiss her. In fact, all the way up the mountain, he’d reminded himself they were friends and neighbors, she was doing him a favor, and he’d be better off not falling into familiar patterns. Kara was different. She made him want to be different too, better, stronger, more responsible, more mature.
Until he got in the same damn room with her, and then all bets went out the window.
He wound his fingers through her long hair and pulled her close, deepening the kiss, feeling her respond to his touch. She slid her hands down his hips, then around to the small of his back, and when she tightened against him, he lost all control. A moan escaped his lips, and he moved his mouth to her jaw, then her neck, then her earlobe. He started nibbling. She started murmuring.
He wanted to taste every inch of her. To know what she looked like, felt like, beneath the plain clothes and the fantastic smile. What they’d feel like together, what a woman who wasn’t twenty-two and concerned about her looks or his money could do to and for and with him in bed.
Her head fell back, and he lost himself in her scent and the feel of her in his arms.
“Grayson,” she whispered.
“Hmm?”
“The baby.”
He twisted around. “What about her?”
She pulled back slightly. “You don’t hear her fussing?”
He hadn’t heard anything at all. But when he looked at Jade, he saw a wrinkle on her face. Her cheeks were bright pink. A moment later, she burst into tears.
“Oh. Shit.” He looked back at Kara. “I didn’t hear anything.” He felt like a fool.
“Maternal instinct,” she said as she extricated herself from his arms. “Did you know a baby’s cry is the sound most likely to wake up a woman? They’ve done studies to prove it and everything. We could sleep through a thunderstorm or a locomotive, but a cry from a newborn will have us up in no time.”
“Ah, no. I never heard that.” Honestly, he didn’t know much about how women ticked. He’d spent his life content to get them into bed and get them off, and that was usually enough for them both.
“The sound most likely to wake a man is a car alarm,” she laughed. “Doesn’t that just figure? Someone could break into a house, kidnap a crying child, and a guy would never wake up. But if that same someone tried to steal the guy’s car, forget about it.”
He didn’t know what to say to that. It made him and the rest of his gender sound like a bunch of Neanderthals. Of course, if you looked at Grayson and the way he’d spent most of his adult life, that might not have been too far from the truth. Sensitive wasn’t a word anyone had ever used to describe him.
Kara put the baby to her shoulder and jounced softly. “She probably needs to burp. I should’ve done this right after her bottle.” She met Grayson’s gaze over Jade’s head. “I was a little distracted.”
Hell, she didn’t need to tell him about distraction. He could barely even focus on the words coming out of her mouth, his cock hard as steel and begging for release. His hands laced at the back of his head, he turned away to catch his breath and regain his composure. He knew he should offer to help with Jade, but he wasn’t used to a kiss knocking him off-kilter that way. He needed a minute. As a teenager he’d gotten hard at the drop of a hat, sure, but years of brutal workouts, occasional steroid addictions, and all the drugs and alcohol had dulled his system. He’d forgotten what it could be like to get high just feeling a woman.
“You okay?” she asked. Jade burped once, then twice.
“Yeah,” he said. He took another minute to look out her back window until he was sure he could turn around again.
“That was a surprise.” She smiled.
“A bad one?”
“Would I have kissed you back if it was bad?”
“I guess not.” Under the table, Turk continued to snore softly. “Shoot. I gotta go home and feed my cats.” Kit and Caboodle were probably starving by now.
“You have cats? And chickens, and a dog, and what else?”
“That’s it. And they’re kittens, not even cats yet. They fit in the palm of my hand.”
She shook her head. “You’re one unpredictable guy.”
He hoped that was a good thing. Damn, he wanted her back on his side of the kitchen again. It looked like Jade was on her way to dreamland. Surely they could have a little fun in the meantime?
Then rational thought pushed his fantasy out of the way. You don’t need to sleep with every woman you find attractive. Plus, this one is trying to help you find the mother of that baby. Don’t complicate things.
But most of Grayson’s life had been a complication. He didn’t know how to do simple. Thankfully, Kara’s phone buzzed and she pulled it from her pocket. “Sandie wants to know if we have any leads on Jade’s mother.”
“Sandie?”
“The pediatrician.”
“Oh. Right.” He still wasn’t thinking straight, and standing in the kitchen watching Kara’s nipples perk under her T-shirt didn’t help matters.
“Otherwise, we’ll have to take her to Social Services in the morning.”
Grayson nodded. He’d been turning over an idea in his head ever since picking up dinner. That flash of recognition down at the ironworks had triggered a memory. There had been someone else. It hadn’t lasted long, and they hadn’t slept together more than a few times, but still. He might as well rule out every option.
“You’re thinking of something,” she said. “Or someone.”
He chewed his bottom lip. No way he should set foot inside The Last Call. Way too much temptation, way too many hurt feelings and broken hearts. Honestly, his last night there was the reason he’d finally dragged his ass to an AA meeting. Just the thought of going back made his stomach turn. But if he didn’t, and if he missed the chance to track down whoever had left Jade on his porch, he’d never forgive himself.
“There was a place I used to spend a lot of time.”
“A bar?”
“The Last Call.”
“That’s over toward Greenway?”
He nodded. “I met a lotta people there over the years.” A lot of women, you mean. “Mo
st of ’em are regulars, probably still hang out there. They might know something.” His fear, though, was that he’d walk through the door and see those pale blue eyes on a woman he hadn’t thought about in months. And that made him feel worse than the dirt on the road outside this house.
Kara met his gaze steadily, probably reading everything there. For a minute, she said nothing. Then she gave a short nod. “I’ll ask Harmony to babysit. We’d better get going.”
9:00 p.m.
“Thank you,” Kara said as she opened the door to Harmony fifteen minutes later. “Really. I appreciate this so much, you have no idea.”
“No problem.” Harmony slipped off her flip-flops and walked into the kitchen. “So you took my advice about Grayson?”
“Not exactly,” Kara said. “This isn’t a date.”
Harmony put her hands on her hips and gave Kara a long up-and-down. “Good, because you sure aren’t dressed for one.”
“Should I change?” Of course she shouldn’t. It was stupid even to entertain the thought. She and Grayson were going to a dive bar in the middle of nowhere on a Tuesday night. Wearing a T-shirt and khakis, she’d probably be more dressed up than anyone there.
Then she thought of his mouth on hers, of his hands on her, and common sense took a back seat. Yes, I absolutely should change. I should show up in something that’ll knock his socks off. She didn’t care if it was an ordinary weekday. Something about that man made her feel anything but ordinary.
“Yes,” Harmony said, echoing her thoughts. She bent over Jade, but the baby was sleeping soundly. “Is that your bedroom?” She pointed over Kara’s shoulder.
“Yeah, but....”
By the time Kara realized where she was headed, Harmony was already inside the closet, going through the few things Kara actually hung up. Most of her clothes lay neatly folded in dresser drawers. Kara wasn’t even sure of the last time she’d worn anything fancier than what she already had on.
“You need to go shopping,” Harmony said in a muffled voice. She’d made it all the way to the back of the closet. “There’s nothing remotely date-worthy in here.”
“I don’t date.” Kara sank onto the bed.
“So you said. And like I said, that needs to change.” Harmony re-emerged holding a bright red tank top that was a few years old and probably a size too small. “You have jeans, right?”
“Of course.”
“Good. Wear this.” Her gaze dropped to Kara’s feet. “Do you own anything besides sneakers?”
“Flip-flops. And a pair of snow boots somewhere.” Inwardly she groaned. Somehow she’d become a grandmother after all, despite her insistence on not saying the word. She’d become old-fashioned and dowdy and set in her ways, all before the age of forty.
“Don’t look so down in the dumps,” Harmony said. “Flip-flops are okay. Since it’s not, you know, a date.” She tossed the tank top at Kara. “Let’s see how this looks.”
“It’s probably too tight.”
“Good. It’ll make your boobs look bigger.”
Kara sighed. No use fighting a millennial.
She headed into the bathroom and got to work changing, then opened her medicine cabinet and eyed the one bottle of perfume she owned. It was a luxury she allowed herself, though she didn’t wear it often. Now she picked up the bottle, sprayed a tiny bit onto a tissue, then patted the inside of her wrists, her elbows, and the hollow of her throat.
He kissed me there.
Her face went hot at the memory, and she had to lean against the sink as a wave of desire passed over her. Oh, she had it bad for her next-door neighbor. Very, very bad.
She took one last look in the mirror. The Last Call, hmm? She’d been in that bar only once, the first year she moved to Yawketuck, and she’d had only one drink before realizing it wasn’t the place for her. Locals lined the bar and the walls and the pool tables, and it had almost been like the scene from an old western movie when she walked inside and conversation stopped.
Had Grayson had been there that night? She hadn’t looked around too much after the first few minutes of awkwardness. She and her girlfriend had finished their beers and hustled back into the night.
Squeezing into the red tank top, a little tighter now than it had been years ago, she pulled it into place. Not bad, actually, especially with the snug jeans that hugged her curves. Harmony was right. She brushed her hair, added a little eye makeup, and left it at that. The last thing she needed was Grayson thinking she’d dolled herself up just for him.
Even though she had.
“So if this isn’t a date, why exactly are you going out with him?” Harmony said when she re-emerged from the bathroom.
She wasn’t sure how much to tell. “It’s kind of complicated. Remember how I said Grayson was babysitting Jade?”
Harmony nodded.
“It might be a long-term thing. He’s not really sure. He hasn’t talked to Jade’s mom about the details, so we’re going to try and track her down.” She threw up her hands. “I know. It sounds stupid.”
“A little,” Harmony agreed. “But it also sounds like a TV movie, so maybe you’ll get lucky and have a Hollywood happy ending.”
Get lucky. The words sent a flush into Kara’s cheeks all over again. She slipped her purse over her shoulder and stole one last look at the sleeping baby. If she didn’t stop thinking about Grayson and sex, they wouldn’t even get off the mountain, let alone find Jade’s mother.
Not like sex would be a bad thing. Or getting off.
Oh my God, stop it, she ordered her thoughts, but they obeyed about as well as they had all day.
“Maybe,” she said. “I kind of doubt it, though. That’s why they’re called Hollywood happy endings, because they don’t happen in real places like Yawketuck.”
“You never know,” Harmony said as Kara headed for the door. “Stranger things have happened. Keep me posted, okay?”
GRAYSON RAN A PALMFUL of gel through his hair and took one last look at himself in the mirror. He’d changed into jeans and a blue button-down shirt, not because The Last Call warranted anything fancier than workout clothes, but because he wanted to impress Kara. She might not care. She might not even notice. But he wanted to make her smile, catch her off guard, show her he was more than just a washed-up boxer who owned a gym out by the interstate.
Turk barked as he jogged downstairs to open the door.
When was the last time I took longer than thirty seconds thinking about what to wear? Grayson had spent most of his twenties parading around with his chest puffed out like a fool, bragging he could bed two women in the same night and get up the next morning for brunch with a third. He’d never worried about a single thread of clothing he wore. He’d let trashy women in tight dresses follow him around. Even when he’d gotten married, he hadn’t stopped that life entirely. He was embarrassed now to think about the way he’d acted. The idiot he’d been.
“Hi,” he said as he pulled open the door. Relief washed over him. Kara had changed too, into jeans and a killer red top that showed off a whole lot more skin than before.
“Hi, yourself.” She peeked around his shoulder, and before he knew it, she was crouched in his living room, petting Kit and Caboodle. Turk followed her, whining plaintively. So did Grayson, minus the whining. He stuck his hands in his pockets and watched her coo over the two kittens.
“They’re adorable,” she said.
“I know.”
She laughed as she straightened up again. “Jealous?”
“That you’re petting them instead of me? Absolutely.”
She flushed.
Had he said too much? But she looked at him with a smile that just about melted him. “Maybe there’ll be time for that later.”
Oh hell. What was it about this woman that drove him wild? She wasn’t like anyone else he’d ever been with. She wasn’t younger than him, or silicon-boobed and blonde, or impressed with how many opponents he’d knocked out in the ring. She was a grandmother. A saint who
helped the poor. She lived alone and liked it. For sure she was smarter than he was. So what the hell was it about Kara McGarrity that had him feeling like a teenager?
The answer was easy. Everything. The smell of her hair, the smooth expanse of her skin, the sound of her laugh, her eyes, her wisdom, her courage, the lines in her face, her curves in those jeans. The way she’d given up most of her day to help him. So much of him wanted to stay right there and spend the rest of the night getting to know her.
“We’ve got places to go, neighbor,” she reminded him, and just like that, she was heading for the door.
Turk looked from Kara to Grayson and back again. The kittens toddled after her. She has the same magnetic pull on all of us, he thought, and for the first time in forever, he realized how much better his house felt with a woman inside it.
“Coming?” she asked with her hand on the doorknob.
Not yet, he wanted to say. Thought I’d save that for later. But he wasn’t sure she’d get the joke. Maybe, probably, her mind wasn’t in the gutter the way his always seemed to be.
“Should we bring Turk?” he asked instead, glancing down at his dog.
“Is he any good in a bar fight?”
Grayson chuckled. Before he could answer, Turk gave a loud yawn and sank to the floor. His head drifted toward his paws, and in less than a minute, his eyes closed and he began to snore. Kit climbed onto his back and Caboodle nestled under his chin.
“I’m guessing he’ll be just fine here,” Kara said, answering her own question. She looked at her watch. “We should probably get going.”
Grayson nodded, his stomach tight with apprehension. The Last Call was less than a ten-minute drive away. This shit was about to get real. He only hoped he was man enough to handle it.
Sober.
10:00 p.m.
When they got to Grayson’s truck outside, Kara took the hand he offered her, but even then she could barely climb into the passenger seat, it was so high off the ground. She was distinctly aware of him behind her as she clambered up, and she wondered for a heated moment if he’d give her a boost with those two giant palms on her ass, but he didn’t. Maybe he was just watching her.
Countdown: Grayson Page 8
