by Erica Penrod
“I used to watch you on TV. When I met you, I knew I’d seen you before; I just couldn’t remember from where. But then my friend Carley reminded me that you were the hot Brazilian guy we used to drool over in college, and then I had to look you up.”
“So, you do know a little about soccer?”
“I wouldn’t go that far. I know that you want to kick the ball into the net, but mostly we just paid attention to the cute guys running around in shorts.”
Kael nodded. “I see.” He leaned back in his chair. “I guess I should be flattered. Although it’s a little disconcerting that I didn’t grab your attention with my soccer skills.”
Tori laughed. “Oh, you grabbed our attention, all right. But no, your ability had nothing to do with a dorm full of girls watching a soccer game.”
Kael felt his face flush with color. For the most part, he’d enjoyed the small dose of fame that came with being a professional athlete, but he’d never thought about college girls watching just to see him run around in his uniform.
“How long did you play with the Kickers?” she asked, and then took a bite of potato.
“Almost six years. I tore my ACL and was out for a year, and then came back and played half a season before my knee gave out again. I had another surgery, did intense therapy, but it was never the same. By that time Marcela was about to turn four, and after being home for a year, I realized how much of her life I’d missed being out on the road.”
“You must’ve married really young.”
Kael drew in a breath and fidgeted with his napkin. “We met my freshman year of college and married a couple years later and had Marcela by the time we were twenty-two.”
“Wow. I would’ve been sixteen when you had her.”
Kael knew he was a few years older than Tori, but thinking of her as a teenager when he became a father seemed a little strange. “Does that bother you that I’m so much older than you, or that I have a teenage daughter?”
Tori screwed up her face like she was doing some deep thinking. “I really like your daughter, so I guess I can get over the old man thing.”
He threw his hand to his chest. “Ouch. I didn’t know thirty-five was old.”
“It is when you’re twenty-nine and holding.” Tori grinned at him.
“You won’t be holding on to that age forever.” He winked at her.
“That’s what my mom keeps telling me.” She still smiled, but something dulled in her eyes. Tori hadn’t said a lot about her family and was somewhat reserved whenever her mom came up. Kael wasn’t sure what that meant, because watching her with his mom and daughter made him assume she was the same way with her family.
“How’s the room coming?” He decided to change the subject.
Her eyes brightened and her shoulders relaxed. “Good. No, better than good. Great. I’m just finishing up the desk now, and I think she’s going to love it.”
“I’m sure she will.”
“Have you peeked inside the bedroom?” Tori gave him a slanted look and narrowed her eyes as if she were trying to tell if he’d had his hand in the cookie jar or not. There was a playful tug at the corners of her mouth.
“No, I haven’t. I decided I wanted a surprise.”
Tori furrowed her perfectly arched brows. “But I thought you hated surprises.”
“That was until I was surprised by you. Turns out they’re not so bad after all.” The warmth of his words seemed to color her face, light up her smile, and float in her eyes. Was this really happening? Could he possibly be this crazy over a woman he’d just met? Tori had blindsided him. He wasn’t looking for her nor prepared for the impact she’d have on his life, and now that she was here, he didn’t want to waste another minute.
Chapter Ten
Design Tip
Some things never go out of style.
“Marcela, hurry up. She’ll be here any minute.” Kael glanced at the clock on the wall. When he gave Tori a twenty-minute kiss good night on her front porch last night, they decided they had to see each other again the next day, and bringing Marcela along was Tori’s idea.
The doorbell rang, and Kael opened the door. “Hey there, beautiful.” He leaned over and kissed her softly. Her lips tasted like strawberries, and he was tempted to indulge himself, but his daughter appeared.
“Dad, I’m ready.”
Tori’s face flushed to match the ripe red taste of her lips. “Hi, Marcela.”
“Hi.” She brushed by her father and gave Tori a hug.
Kael huffed out a breath. “Sheesh, she gets a hug and I don’t?”
Marcela rolled her eyes and then gave her dad a hug. “I hug you all the time.”
“There can never be enough.”
“Where’re we headed to?” Tori asked as they stepped into the living room.
“How about miniature golf and some ice cream?” Kael grabbed his keys.
“Sounds fun.”
“Yeah, well, just to warn you, my dad is a sore loser.”
“Marcela, I am not.” Kael shot her a look.
“Are too.” Marcela grinned.
“Well, I don’t think you’ve got anything to worry about. I can’t remember the last time I played any kind of golf. I don’t think I’ll be very good.”
“Don’t worry, I am.” Marcela hooked her arm through Tori’s and led her out the door.
“This ought to be fun.” Tori glanced back over her shoulder and smiled at Kael. The look in her eyes told him that no matter how his golf game went, he wouldn’t lose tonight. As long as he had at least twenty minutes for a good night kiss, he’d be the winner.
* * *
She drew in a breath and let Kael’s scent fill her head as he wrapped his arm around her later that night on the couch. Tori was right—she wasn’t good at golf—but neither was Kael, and Marcela won by a long shot. Kael kept his eyes on Tori and lost his ball more than once, and she wasn’t much better. When Kael adjusted his stance to putt, her heart thumped and her throat dried up like she’d spent the day in a desert. After some ice cream, they went back to the house to watch a movie, and Marcela fell asleep about an hour later. Kael kept Tori close and gently stroked her arm as she burrowed into his chest. Her body so close to his made the connection between them feel real and tangible, like she was always supposed to fit there. Tori couldn’t focus on the movie, just the solid muscle and cocoa-colored flesh all around her. Her mind wanted to question everything, wanted to know how she could be right here, right now, with a man who only ten days ago appeared to hate her. But her heart beat loudly, drowning out anything but the way she felt cradled in his arms. Her heart wouldn’t lie, and the truth was, she was right where she needed to be.
* * *
Sunday morning, her phone rang. “Oooohhhh.” Tori didn’t need to see the screen to know who was calling. She pawed at the nightstand until she found her phone. “Hi, Mom.”
“Tori, are you still in bed?”
Tori wiped the sleep from her eyes. “Yeah.”
“Are you not feeling well? You should be getting ready for brunch.”
That sounded like the right idea. “Nope, I’m not feeling well.” Tori wasn’t lying, but offering a shady version of the truth. She wasn’t sick, but the thought of not seeing Kael until later tonight was more than she could stand. “I’m not going to make it today.”
Her mother exhaled. “All right, then. I’ll make your excuses.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Tori said, even though she didn’t know she had to be excused from brunch. “I’ll call you later.”
Tori put the phone down and let her mind drift to last night. Her lips burned as she remembered Kael’s kiss good night.
The doorbell rang, and she shot out of bed and reached for her robe. She wasn’t expecting anyone. Maybe Blake had decided to drop by … but no, she usually had brunch with her family on Sunday, which she only made him suffer through once. The bell rang again, and she tied up her robe on her way to the door. She peeked through the window and saw
Kael with Marcela. Tori didn’t mention her Sunday routine to Kael the night before, just that she’d see him later that evening.
“Oh crap.” Tori didn’t know where exactly she and Kael were in their relationship, but she knew she wasn’t ready to let him see her like this. She finger-combed her hair in a panic and considered pretending she wasn’t home. But they’d come all this way. It wasn’t like she lived just across town. Well, I guess this is one way to find out if he’s really into me or not.
She opened the door. “Hi.”
“Did you just wake up?” Marcela grinned then looked up at her dad. “I told you we’d surprise her.”
“Yeah, we sure did.” He winked at Marcela and then mouthed I’m sorry to Tori.
“Come in.” She gestured to them and stepped back. “What have you got there?” she asked, realizing their hands were full.
“Donuts and chocolate milk and juice.” Marcela held a rectangular box. “Dad only lets me have donuts for breakfast once in a while, and I wanted to share them with you.”
“I’m glad you did.” Tori wrapped her arm around Marcela and led them to the kitchen. “Have a seat, and will you give me a few minutes to get dressed? Plates and cups are in the upper right cabinet.”
“Take your time.” Kael smiled, and Tori realized he didn’t even seem to notice her disheveled appearance. His eyes were still bright and focused on her.
“Be right back.” She bolted into her bathroom, loaded her toothbrush with a heaping blob of paste, and scrubbed as she went into her room. Tori shimmied into a pair of jeans and grabbed a T-shirt. When she was dressed, she went back into the bathroom, spit out the toothpaste, and rinsed her mouth. A quick brush through her hair and a ponytail made her feel a little better, but there wasn’t time for makeup. She didn’t want to keep them waiting that long.
“So what kind of donuts?” she asked as she walked back in the kitchen.
Kael lifted the lid. “We brought a variety since we didn’t know which kind you liked.” The box was full of pastries in beautiful shapes and colors.
“I’ll take one of each.” Tori smiled and picked up the maple bar, covered in thick frosting. She sank her teeth into the delicacy. “Oh my gosh. This is delicious.” Her mouth was full, and her mother’s reprimand on bad manners already rang through her ears. Kael watched her with the same longing in his eyes that he’d had when he’d kissed her last night. She swallowed and felt her own desire start in her toes and seep into every part of her body.
“Do you want some juice or chocolate milk?” Marcela asked.
Tori forced herself to look away from Kael. “Milk, please.” She needed something to put out the fire she felt coursing through her veins. Marcela poured a glass, and Tori took a big sip. When she dared glance back up at Kael, he was still staring her. She wiped at the corners of her mouth. “Do I have frosting on my face?”
He shook his head and swallowed before he reached in the box and took out a jelly-filled donut. Kael inhaled and then took a big bite. Yup … she was in trouble. Dizziness had her reaching for the counter as he took another bite. The man could eat a donut and take her breath away all at once. Tori remembered his daughter and shook her head as she cleared her throat.
“Are you okay?” Marcela asked.
“Yeah.” Tori smiled. But clearly, she wasn’t. She wanted Kael more than she wanted another bite of her donut, and that donut was about the best she’d ever tasted.
* * *
Kael couldn’t remember being this happy as the days passed with Tori in his life. He couldn’t wait to get home from work to find Tori covered in paint or dust from the latest project of the makeover. Marcela was his light, and he had the love of his mother, but he hadn’t realized what he’d been missing until Tori decorated her way into his heart. Even with Alison, he’d never known a relationship to be so simple, yet intricate at the same time. He and Alison were hot and cold and had been since they’d met in college. She was beautiful and persuasive, and he was about to become a professional athlete. Alison looked the part of a professional athlete’s wife, and she loved the idea of being a celebrity power couple, but not so much the idea of being in love with him.
He didn’t blame her for everything. Alison never pretended to be anyone other than who she was. If anyone shouldered more fault, that person was him. He knew who Alison was when he married her, and how could he blame her for wanting out when his injury turned him into someone else? But he’d hoped that even though he wasn’t enough for her, Marcela would be. They tried to coexist in the same house, both loving their child and falling away from each other, but Kael knew raising his daughter in that environment was doing more harm than good, and they divorced the year Marcela turned nine.
But now, holding Tori’s hand as Marcela was sprawled out on the floor watching a reality show, he couldn’t believe that God had put this woman in his life and that he’d considered stopping her from coming.
“Does all this seem a little fast for you?” he whispered as he studied her face. His feelings for her traveled at light speed, and the idea frightened him, but not enough to stop. The light in her eyes danced, and he prayed that meant she felt the way he did.
“Yeah, it’s fast.” Tori caressed his hand with her thumb. “But I don’t mind. Do you?”
Elation sent his heart soaring. “No, not at all.”
Tori bit her lip, then grinned. “Good. But I don’t know if I want to tell my family about us just yet. I’m not sure they’d understand.”
Kael nodded. “I get it. We are kind of hard to explain.” He squeezed her fingers, loving the feel of her hand in his. These past couple of weeks had been the best he’d ever known.
Tori seemed made for him, and one day she’d appeared right when she was supposed to and meshed into their lives with such ease. Kael couldn’t comprehend how he’d known her for such a short time, and yet his heart beat like she’d been there all along.
Chapter Eleven
Design Tip
Hang pictures at eye level.
Pictures are like people.
Look them in the eye and put them in their place.
Tori pressed the staple gun into the fabric and pulled the trigger. “Crap, that’s not where I wanted that.” She grabbed the needle-nose pliers to remove her mistake.
“I’ve noticed you’ve been a little distracted.” Blake checked the measurements once again for the corner desk. “But even then, we’ve been at it a little over two weeks, and you’ve managed to keep ahead of schedule and fall in love at the same time.”
She feigned a look of shock, widening her eyes and dropping her jaw. “No one is in love with anyone.” The staple jerked loose from the cloth. “We’re dating.” Tori turned her back to Blake and hustled to the garbage can as the heat rising through her body make her face feel ten shades brighter than the color on the wall. Her feelings for Kael were deep, and she’d spent the last couple of nights arguing with herself over the “love” word. Until she figured out just what her heart was trying to tell her, until she knew beyond a shadow of doubt, she was keeping quiet. She drew in a breath as she deposited the staple in the trash. “It’s way too soon. You can’t fall in love with someone that fast.”
“Sure you can. Haven’t you seen The Bachelor?” Blake laughed.
“Yeah, and you’ve seen how long those relationships last.” Tori laid down the pliers and picked up the staple gun.
“I don’t know the statistics, but I have seen the way Kael looks at you, and I’ve never seen you act this way about anyone.”
“Act what way? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” A loose strand of hair fell into her eyes as she leaned over to place the gun. Tori brushed the piece back behind her ear, avoiding Blake’s eyes.
“You seem so comfortable with him and his daughter, like you’re already part of family.”
“Whoa, wait a minute.” Her heart felt a shock. That was crazy. And then her mind replayed all the time they’d spent together here in
Kael’s home. Blake was right: she knew where every dish went in the kitchen.
“You’re usually pretty eager to move on to the next project, but I haven’t heard you mention anything about what’s up next.”
What was next on the schedule? Dang it, he was right again. She hadn’t thought about the office remodel she had coming up back in Portland. Tori didn’t want to think about anything but being here with Kael.
“Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy for you. I think Kael is a good guy.” Blake gave her a lopsided grin topped off with the dimple in his left cheek. “If I didn’t, I’d let you know.”
Tori smiled softly. “I know you would.” She appreciated Blake’s friendship, even if he did annoy her with all his insight. There wasn’t much she could keep hidden from him.
“I think you found the real deal with Kael.”
“Me too.” Tori considered the implications of her confession. “I never knew you could feel like this so fast, but everything inside me feels so right.”
“And I’ve never known matters of the heart to have a timeline.” Blake paused, and Tori glanced over at him. “And consider yourself lucky. You don’t have to date for six months to know if you love him; you get to relax, take as much time as you need, and get to know him.”
Tori walked over and put her arms around Blake. “I didn’t say I’m in love with him.”
“You don’t have to.”
“Let’s change the subject. Did I ever tell you how great you are?”
“Not recently.” Blake hugged her back. “Go ahead and tell me, and then tell some of your friends. My dating life is nonexistent at the moment, and watching you with Kael has reminded me of that.”
“You got it. I’ll be an excellent reference.” Tori grinned. “You’re one of the good ones.”
