Tragic

by Devney Perry

  And it appeared I wasn’t the only one in this predicament.

  Kaine’s beer bottle had long since been drained, and he’d almost polished off his second. His hand was gripping his steak knife so hard, I worried it would snap in his fierce grip.

  “Enjoy.”

  He nodded, cutting into his steak and forking a bite. I cut into my own but froze as he lifted the bite to his mouth and chewed. His jaw flexed. His lips moved, just slightly.

  Chewing? Chewing was sexy now? I recrossed my legs, concerned I wouldn’t make it through this meal without a spontaneous orgasm.

  I set down my fork and knife, closed my eyes and took in a long breath.

  If we were going to survive this meal, I needed a distraction. We needed to move past the chemistry and into something more like friendship.

  “So you design furniture,” I said.

  He nodded, still chewing.

  “Do you like it?”

  He nodded again.

  “Good. It’s important to love your job.” I picked up my utensils and went back to my steak. “I love my job. I work for Logan Kendrick. His wife Thea runs the bar in town. Do you know them?”

  Kaine shook his head. “I don’t get into town much.”

  Why did that statement not surprise me? “He moved here a few years ago from New York. That’s where I met him. But then he moved out here for Thea. This is actually their camper. They weren’t using it this summer and let me borrow it.”

  Logan and Thea had tried to convince me to stay in their boathouse until the remodel was done. But once I’d bought my property, I hadn’t wanted to delay living here for a single minute. I’d planned to find my own camper to rent for a few months, but once Thea got wind of that idea, she’d insisted on me taking the Airstream. When I’d asked to pay them for using it, Logan had threatened to fire me if I brought it up again.

  “Logan and Thea are two of my favorite people on the planet,” I told Kaine. “Logan’s family has a charitable organization called the Kendrick Foundation. I’ve been working as his assistant there for years.”

  “What kinds of charities?” he asked before diving into the potatoes. A small hum of appreciation came from his throat.

  “Their portfolio is varied, but since they were founded in New York, they dedicate a lot of resources to inner-city programs. Logan’s got a soft spot for children’s charities, so over the last few years, he’s really focused on pulling more of them under the Kendrick umbrella.”

  And now that he was living in Montana, more of those charities were being added from the West Coast. For decades, the Kendrick Foundation had been city-centric, but Logan was expanding their reach. I was proud to say that my efforts were helping to make us known nationally.

  “They own the children’s camp here in Lark Cove,” I said as Kaine continued to devour his meal. “Thea’s partner at the bar, Jackson Page, is married to the director. Do you know them? His wife’s name is Willa.”

  Kaine shook his head again. “Never met them.”

  And again, I wasn’t surprised. If I had to guess, I’d venture that Kaine’s social circle consisted of the small herd of deer I’d seen walking around our mountainside over the last week.

  “They’re all wonderful people.”

  Willa was sweet and shy and as genuine as they came. The way Jackson looked at her made me swoon every time. He’d get this dreamy look in his eyes whenever they settled on his wife. And when they made eye contact, the rest of us went out of focus.

  It was the same with Logan and Thea.

  I wanted to believe that Adam and I’d had that once. That we’d been so in love, the two of us would get lost in each other’s gaze for hours and hours on end. But the more time I spent around my friends in Lark Cove, the more I realized I’d been pretending for a long time. My marriage had always been missing that sense of completeness.

  Or maybe we’d just lost it along the way.

  We had started our relationship at such a young age. After college, we’d each concentrated on our careers. I’d gone to work for the Kendrick Foundation right after graduation, working as an assistant to one of the lower-level vice presidents. Then I’d worked my way up until I’d eventually become Logan’s assistant. He was chairman of the board and the most powerful man in the company.

  And I was his right hand.

  My grandfather had thought “assistant” was a glorified word for secretary, but the day after I’d sat down and explained all of my responsibilities, he’d bragged me up to all his friends. Years later, he never missed the chance to tell his golf partners in Arizona about my accomplishments.

  My job was my pride. It was my passion.

  Helping various charities get up and running made my pulse race. I loved weeding through proposals and pitching the ones I felt most strongly about to Logan. It was empowering, being in the inner circle, helping make decisions that would put a vast fortune to good use.

  Nothing went on at the Kendrick Foundation that I wasn’t privy to. But seating myself at Logan’s side had taken work. A lot of hard work.

  And while I’d been climbing my ladder, Adam had been climbing his. He’d landed his starring role on Broadway the same year I’d been promoted to work with Logan.

  Ever since Adam and I had separated, I’d been carefully inspecting my failed marriage. Had he ever looked at me like I was the very oxygen keeping him alive? My subconscious was whispering no.

  I wanted the look.

  “This was delicious. Thank you.”

  Lost in my own introspection, I hadn’t noticed that Kaine had finished his plate. “You’re welcome.”

  “It’s been a long time since someone cooked for me.”

  “My pleasure. It’s nice not to eat dinner alone.”

  Even though we hadn’t visited much, just his company was nice. Especially once the sexual tension had eased.

  I’d spent months eating alone in New York. I’d avoided restaurants for fear of running into Adam or his family or our former friends. He’d convinced them all I was depressed, and that was the reason why I’d filed for divorce. Whenever I ran into an old acquaintance, they’d say hello, then spend the next ten minutes convincing me to give marriage counseling a chance.

  Adam loved me, after all.

  Everyone seemed to have gotten memory loss about Adam kissing his costar.

  The press had scandalized him, but it had blown over quickly. His costar was soon seen on the arm of another New York elitist. And Adam had made a public apology for his infidelity that the media had eaten up like candy.

  At times, it had felt like all of Manhattan was judging me for not running back into my grieving husband’s open arms.

  It had been easiest to stick to my apartment after that. I went to work. I went home. On occasion, I’d go see my parents or my brother. But they were busy with lives of their own, so I’d spent most evenings at my dinner table for one.

  And though I loved being in Lark Cove, there were lonely nights here too.

  Thea and Logan would have me over for dinner every night, but I was trying not to wear out my welcome. I often ate lunch with them when I went down to work with Logan. If Thea was at the bar, we’d often take breaks and eat with her there. But they needed their family time, so even when I was crashing in their boathouse, I’d leave and eat dinner alone.

  “I’m a slow eater,” I told Kaine, though he’d probably figured that out already.

  “I inhale my food. Take your time.”

  As I ate, he looked out the window and over to my house. Then he inspected the camper from his seat. What he didn’t do was make eye contact.

  My table in the RV was small, technically a four-seater, but only if two of those four people were small children. And Kaine was a big guy. His knees came well past the halfway mark, and as I shifted slightly, our knees touched. Beneath us, our feet were close. His tan boots were within a mere inch of my wedge sandals.

  Testing the distance, I moved my foot ever so slightly. T
he second our soles touched, his eyes snapped to mine. The heat from earlier came back with the force of a blazing wildfire.

  It wasn’t a look of utter devotion and worship, but this look from Kaine was a close runner-up.

  Any second now, I was expecting him to rip the table between us off its hinges and out from between us. His eyes bored into mine, holding me captive, then skimming down my nose and to my lips.

  The intensity of his stare made me dizzy. My tongue, acting on its own volition, darted between my lips and licked the bottom swell.

  Kaine’s eyes flared before his long lashes drooped, hooding his lust-drunk gaze.

  My heart was missing beats. My fingers ran across the edge of the table, unable to hold still. But Kaine sat rigid and stiff, moving only to breathe and flick his gaze across my lips.

  I wanted his tongue on my mouth, not his stare. I wanted to feel it sweep inside and have him for dessert.

  My breath hitched when his foot next to mine twitched. It came up my bare ankle, and though the sole of his boot was rough, he used the slightest touch. The friction shot tingles straight up my leg, past my knee and right to my core.

  Was he playing footsie with me?

  I tested him, lifting the toe of my sandal up his ankle. He didn’t pull his foot away.

  Any other day, any other man, I’d laugh at this situation. We were playing footsie and it was utterly erotic.

  Having sex with Kaine again would only complicate things. My body was all in, but there was a tiny warning bell ringing in the back of my mind.

  Was this just a rebound? Was I transferring feelings from Adam to this man, simply because he was here?

  No.

  This wasn’t a rebound or some kind of revenge fuck. This was pure, unfettered attraction. This was two people whose chemistry was explosive. This was me wanting Kaine. And him wanting me right back.

  If we agreed this was casual, then what was the harm? Awesome sex between neighbors didn’t have to get messy. When I’d moved here, I’d hoped to eventually find an easy relationship. So it had happened a little sooner than expected.

  If we set some ground rules, there was no reason Kaine and I couldn’t enjoy one another’s bodies.

  “I have dessert.” Our feet kept playing beneath the table. “It’s this huge chocolate chip cookie in a cast-iron skillet. I put ice cream on top and then drizzle chocolate and caramel sauce over it all.”

  “Sounds fucking incredible.” His gravelly voice made my core pulse.

  “They are. I’ll make one for us.” I didn’t make a move to get up. I was too busy enjoying the feel of a rugged man’s work boot kissing the soft skin of my ankle.

  We both knew this conversation wasn’t about the cookie.

  His boot went higher up my calf. Heat pooled between my legs and I spread them apart.

  “I’m not looking for a relationship,” I told him.

  He nodded. “I’m good with casual.”

  “No expectations?”

  “Not from me.”

  “Okay,” I whispered, reluctantly taking my foot away from his so I could slide out of my seat.

  I cleared my plate to the sink, but before I could turn and get Kaine’s, his heat was at my back. He reached around me, setting his empty plate on top of mine. Then he pried the steak knife and fork out of my hand, dropping them into the sink with a clank.

  My heart raced. My breathing stopped. My hands shook with anticipation of what he’d do next.

  Slowly, deliberately, he lowered his mouth toward my neck. His breath hit my skin first in a warm whisper before his soft lips pressed onto my bare skin.

  Then came his hands, drifting slowly up my arms from my wrists. His square fingertips glided over my forearms and the sensitive skin on the undersides of my elbows. Nerve endings ignited and singed as his trail continued up my biceps.

  By the time his hands made it to my shoulders, I was trembling. I lost my balance and swayed backward into his hard chest.

  The moment we collided, his movements changed. Gone was the slow, torturous caress. His large hands gripped my shoulders before sliding palms across my collarbones. His fingers dug into the tops of my breasts, kneading them until I was on fire.

  “Kaine,” I moaned, so close to coming from his lips and hands alone.

  But before I reached the peak, Kaine spun me around, hoisted me up in his arms and carried me down the short hallway to my bedroom.

  He tossed me onto the blue quilt and came at me with the same ferocity as he had yesterday on the couch. But this time, we savored. We worshipped. We discovered.

  Kaine Reynolds was a master with his hands, among other appendages. He had sensitive nipples and liked it when I tugged them between my teeth. His hair was soft and threaded perfectly between my fingers.

  And despite our first go on the couch, the man had stamina.

  Long after the sun had gone down, Kaine and I shared a big cookie. Then he got dressed and went home.

  I watched from the doorway as he navigated the path home in the moonlight and laughed to myself, muffling it with a hand.

  Of all the neighbors I’d had before, and there had been many, Kaine was far and away my favorite.

  A car door slammed outside, and its engine hummed to life. I ditched my bowl of cereal on the coffee table and stretched over the couch to peer out the window. I was just in time to watch Piper peel out of her driveway in her tiny black clown car. A Mini something.

  It would be shit to drive in the Montana winter, especially up the road to her house. The county wouldn’t plow these side roads until the highway and streets in town were clear. She needed something with higher clearance and four-wheel drive.

  But it wasn’t my business what kind of car she drove. We were fuck buddies, not best friends. I wasn’t her Montana lifestyle coach. If she got stuck just once, she’d figure it out herself.

  Though if she did get stuck, she’d probably be pounding on my door, begging for help. I’d have to haul out my towrope from the shop, then drive to wherever she got stuck and drag her car back home. She’d probably ask me to take her up to Kalispell and go car shopping. What a pain in the ass.

  “She needs a new car,” I told the glass, then went back to my cereal. I’d talk to Piper about it before the end of the summer.

  I scowled at the other vehicles in her driveway. Besides the camper, three trucks were crammed in by the house. Her construction crew had been banging and crashing around since six thirty this morning.

  I wasn’t sure how she could fucking stand it. I wasn’t going to ask.

  It had been three days since she’d had me over to her camper for dinner, and I’d been avoiding her property line like the plague.

  Piper had this way of stealing my ability for rational thought. When she was near, my brain got muddled. Simple conversation was difficult because I was too busy thinking about kissing her or touching her or finding some way to get inside her luscious body.

  So I’d kept my distance, not trusting myself to get close. We’d agreed on casual sex. That, I could do. But she was the type of woman I’d want daily. Hourly. Seeing each other that much would be too risky. She might develop feelings. She might confuse sex with love.

  She might? That was bullshit. I was really worried about myself. So for casual sex to stay uncomplicated, I couldn’t see her as often as my body would have liked.

  But even though I’d stayed away physically, my mind crossed that property line at least ten times a day. Piper had rooted herself in my thoughts.

  Every morning, I’d sit in this exact spot, eating my cereal on the couch. I’d tell myself not to look when she left for work. But just like today, every morning, I looked. I’d never looked out my living room window as much as I had in the last three days.

  Besides the spying, I wondered about her constantly. Was she having a good day at work? Had she eaten lunch? What was she doing for dinner?

  It was pathetic. I was pathetic.

  I’d had girlfriends
come and go all through high school. I’d had plenty of women afterward, all casual relationships, and never had a woman stuck like Piper did. Not even work could keep her from sneaking into my mind.

  I normally got lost in my projects, completely enveloped in the wood and the design and working with my hands to shape something beautiful out of a raw element. No matter how good the sex was, a woman had never come between me and my craft.

  Until now.

  A loud crash sounded outside, and I turned again to the window. The crew seemed to be ripping out doors today. A young guy hauled one out the front door and threw it in the Dumpster that had been emptied yesterday.

  The huge bin was full again because the crew had cleared away all of the trash they’d piled outside the house. Had Piper asked them to do that for my sake?

  Another guy came out carrying another door. It was tossed in the Dumpster with a cracking boom.

  “Son of a bitch,” I grumbled.

  This morning was going to be a disaster of noise and distraction. And as much as I wanted to work on Piper’s table, I still hadn’t remembered how to work amid all the racket. Though, the noise from her crew wasn’t the only reason progress had been slow.

  The night after our dinner, I’d come down to the shop and worked until sunrise with the smell of her still lingering on my skin. Since then, every time I’d gone to the shop, I’d start to work only to find myself lost in thought hours later, holding a tool that I hadn’t actually used.

  Why her?

  Answering that question was like an unsolvable puzzle.

  Any man on earth would say Piper Campbell was breathtakingly beautiful. The sex was incredible. When I’d orgasmed the other night, it had been my first out-of-body experience.

  But besides the intense physical attraction with Piper, there was something else about her I couldn’t put my finger on.

  She didn’t ask about my past, and I didn’t ask about hers. And even though we didn’t know much about one another, the undercurrent between us was familiar. My mother would have called us kindred spirits.