by J. A. Coffey
Or they could do something else.
Kane took a deep breath. “No, Anna. That’s not why.”
***
“Then why?” she asked, her grey gaze seeking his. “Help me understand.”
He couldn’t say what it was, exactly, that drew him to her. Being with her was completely natural, like breathing. Like sunshine. Like happiness. It had been so long since he’d felt content, he almost didn’t recognize it.
Her expression contained a mute appeal for more of an answer; stubborn woman that she was, she wouldn’t just come out and ask him how he felt about her.
To be honest, he wasn’t quite sure. Her questions probed into the secret places of his heart. They stung a little. But all of that faded beneath the gaze of those incredible, indescribable eyes. He’d felt more of a man these past weeks than he’d ever felt on his show, in school, even hauling timbers.
“It’s this.” Protected a little from the eyes of onlookers by his large truck, he drew her toward him, wrapping his arms around the deep curve of her waist. “You see right through me, Anna. But more than that, you see me. The real me.”
The one he wanted the rest of the world to see as well.
He slipped a hand free and trailed his index finger down the side of her cheek. She shut her eyes for a moment, her long lashes fluttering like butterfly wings on her cheeks. She shivered in his arms and her breathing stuttered as he cupped her stubborn little chin.
He swiped a thumb over her bottom lip. “You make me want to be better, Anna.”
And he would be better, for her…and for himself.
He lowered his face until they were a breath apart, until he could hear the sound of her ragged breathing in his ears.
Energy sizzled between them as she rose up on her tiptoes and placed her mouth on his. He lost himself in the feel of her skin beneath his hands. How easy would it be to end every day with her kisses? How great would it be to start every morning in the same way?
Cradling her face in his hands, he placed his mouth over hers, thrilling at the jolt of awareness that sizzled through him. Kissing her was like touching a live electrical wire. If he wasn’t careful, he could get hurt.
Usually, that made him want to withdraw. To call it quits, whenever anyone came too close. But there was something about her that stirred his blood in ways his ex-lovers never had. Her special combination of fire and determination drew him like a moth to a flame. She was genuine. She was real. The opposite of every woman in his experience and the only one he craved.
They rocked against each other, kissing, touching with increasing passion, until the zipper of his jeans reminded him they were still standing in the parking lot of the community center. His heart was pounding like he’d run a mile in three. Much more of her sweet mouth and he’d consider taking her against the side of his 4x4. “Let’s go someplace private? Please, Anna?”
“Not yet. I should let you go.” She pulled away, but not out of reach.
“Do you really want to?” Please say no, please say…
“No, but I’m...I’m not ready. I just want to be sure that everything turns out okay, you know?”
Oh, yeah. She was worried about the show. Number one on his to-do list. Right after letting his massive erection subside.
Kane dragged his hand through his hair, trying to force his breathing to return to normal. “Go out with me on Friday night. For more than a waffle cone or a greasy burger.”
“Are you asking me on a date?”
“Absolutely.”
“You sure?” She was choosing her words as carefully as she picked her art materials. The same cautious precision yielding a beautiful result. “I can’t take more disappointment in my life right now. Especially not so close to the show.”
He stroked the lock of dark hair that framed her face. “I’m sure.”
“Then, yes. I’ll go out with you,” she replied.
He could almost hear the ‘don’t let me down’ admonition hanging in the air afterwards.
She kissed him again before he got in his truck and she got in her Chevelle—a brief kiss, but one that seemed like agreement promise. Yes, I want you. Yes, we’re doing this.
He’d thought he would claim her with his mouth, and instead she’d branded his heart with a passion he’d never experienced before. It was as if his whole life had led up to him holding Anna in his arms. He spent the entire ferry ride back to Bainbridge Island wondering if he could make good on his promise to put her in the show and thinking about the jerky ex who’d put that wariness into her voice.
***
The sun was still pretty high in the sky when he reached his parents’ house. For the third night this week, he hadn’t come straight back from working at the camp, visiting a few of the local artists on his lists to gauge their workshops like he’d done with Anna.
Well, not exactly like he’d done with Anna. But he did follow all the rules and regulations of making selections for the summer show. He wasn’t about to leave anything to chance with his father.
His cell rang. “Yo, ‘sup?”
“Dude, where you been hiding?” It was Nate. “We’re trying to get a thing going at the club tomorrow night. You in?”
Kane laughed. “Naw, man. I got this girl I’m seeing.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoaaa.” Nate sounded shocked. “You settling?”
“I might be.” Maybe. Definitely.
“Your funeral, man.” The cell died.
Kane stuffed his phone into his pocket. Sure, Matt and Nate were old college buddies. They’d gotten accustomed to the three of them carousing through various clubs. It wasn’t like the three of them were close. It was nothing compared to what he shared with Anna.
He entered the house, still smiling. His mother was in the kitchen fiddling on her tablet, this time maneuvering colored tiles across her Tetris screen.
“Hey, Mom.” He kissed her cheek.
“You’re home early.”
“Yeah.”
“Thanks for weeding the beds by the tennis courts yesterday. The new begonias look lovely.”
She’d noticed that, eh?
“You’re welcome. Is Pops home yet? I want to go over the stuff for the show.” No sense in wasting time. He’d handled the Dino and now he’d handle getting Anna into the show.
“No, he’s still out drinking scotch and smoking cigars at the club.”
“Ah.” He collapsed on the large leather sectional in the room just off the breakfast nook and clicked the remote. Home Television was playing reruns of It Takes a Village, a show about some builder who constructed charitable housing which was pretty awesome, actually.
The host had been the carpenter on his first few pilot episodes, before the network had pulled him off for his own run. Looked like the guy was doing well, and the public loved his helping-hand, can-do attitude. So did the program sponsors. They’d donated a lot of cash and goods to get the projects completed. Kinda stung, though. Where Kane had been played as the spoiled rich kid, this guy got a chance to do really great stuff.
If only his producers had lined him up to be the good guy, things might have ended differently.
But then he wouldn’t have met Anna.
There was no way he could regret anything that led up to the moment he’d first bumped into her at the gallery. She was something special, then and now. He just hoped he could make it happen for her.
“Hey, Mom.” Kane clicked off the television. “How do you feel about Pops letting me handle the summer show at The Mav?”
“I’m thrilled. Why wouldn’t I be?” She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose.
“I don’t know. It’s not really my thing, but…” Kane slid into the kitchen chair opposite her. “I’m really excited about taking things in a new direction.”
“New directions, indeed.” His mother played a few more pieces. Then just as she was in position to clear the row, she clicked off the app and gave him an unblinking stare. “So, who is she?”
<
br /> “Who is who?”
“Kane, I’ve never seen you so motivated. You’re like your old self. Up and out the door every morning, heading to the community center before I’ve even brewed the coffee.” She smiled. “That’s the boy I remember.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m seeing anyone.” Not just anyone.
Anna.
“Mhmm.” She pushed her tablet away, clearly not buying it. “No more late night partying. Haven’t seen Nate or Matt in ages. Do you know the Fields Agency left a message on the machine for you yesterday?”
“What about?” How much had they revealed?
“They received your inquiry. They’d like to interview you for a downtown commercial team.”
“Oh.” He cleared his throat. “About that. I’ve been considering my options. What if I was able put the Maverick name and money to better use?”
“How?” Her thin brow arched.
“I haven’t figured that part out yet but I’d like it to be something big. Something everyone could enjoy.” His idol and Anna had both inspired him. They created beautiful things and it didn’t necessarily cost anything to view them. Why couldn’t he do the same? “What do you think?”
“The same as I’ve always believed.” Bev placed her hand over his. “You’re an amazing young man. I think you could do whatever you set your mind and heart to, Kane.”
A massive band around his heart suddenly snapped. He felt light, weightless, almost.
“Cool.” He slid from the kitchen chair feeling like he could tackle anything. Maybe even settling down with a firecracker named Anna.
Chapter Eight
Friday night, she dressed up to see him.
It felt so strange putting on mascara and lip gloss, after so many years doing dent and detail work at her father’s garage. And it wasn’t like she hadn’t seen Kane for eight hours straight at the final day of the community center summer camp. Jasmine Anderson had wrapped them both up in a huge hug before she’d left, singing Kane’s clean-up song and dragging her projects in a child-sized designer tote just like her mother’s handbag.
Anna sighed. She’d never had a life like that. Couldn’t imagine it, really.
Still, there was something about slipping into a summer dress that accentuated her curves and putting on a little make-up to make a gal feel special. She felt like a butterfly shedding her cocoon as she slipped on a pair of strappy sandals and checked her reflection in the mirror on the back of her closet door.
“Not bad, eh?” Anna wobbled down the sidewalk to his truck. She’d even made sure there was no grease under her short fingernails.
“You look radiant.” Kane took her hand and kissed the back of her knuckles. It had been so long since she’d been out of work clothes that she wasn’t sure she could walk a straight line, but she was damn sure going to try.
“Thanks.” She smiled. Neither of them needed flowery sentiments.
The expression on his face when she’d walked out the front door wearing something other than overalls was reward enough. Kane held her hand and they laughed over light conversation as they drove to a trendy restaurant near the water’s edge. There was music and candlelight, and in the span of an hour, they shared an intimate meal where she didn’t flub the silverware once.
“This is amazing, Kane. Thank you.” She wiped the corner of her lips and set her napkin aside.
“There’s more where that came from. Thinking of making this a regular thing.”
Anna’s heart skipped a beat. “You asking or telling?”
“I’m asking. I want you, Anna. Exclusively.” His words started a popping sound in her ears, like a thousand corks of champagne.
“Sounds nice. Serious, though. Can you handle it?” She had to be sure.
He frowned. “I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t.”
“Sorry, Kane. I’m just…overly careful, you know?”
“I know.” He nodded reassuringly. “I realize my history doesn’t give you a lot of confidence, but I’m not like that. And I don’t like when people don’t take me seriously. Like my parents. They see me as they want me to be—not who I am.”
“At least they see you.” She bit her bottom lip. “That’s all I ever wanted.”
“My father sees a future exec. Someone he can show off to his golf buddies. He doesn’t care what I really want.”
“Maybe you should explain it to him.”
“I’ve tried.” He signaled for the dessert cart. “We had this big blow up when I chose my major. Then again once I graduated. He just keeps telling me what he wants for my life. I’m tired of arguing with him and the rest of the world.”
That must’ve sucked for him. Her own father had been super-supportive, giving her space to create in the garage, while emphasizing the need for her to earn a steady income until the art could cover her bills. He’d been firmly practical, but encouraging.
“What about your mother?” she asked him.
“I’m not sure. I mean, I know she loves me and she wants me to be happy. I think she wishes I would just commit to something.” He reached across the table for her hand.
“I guess it’s hard for them, Kane.” She waited until the waiter brought the tray over, then chose a fried cinnamon apple while Kane picked a chocolate mousse. “They don’t want to see you hurt.”
“Mavericks don’t fail. That’s been hammered into me since I was old enough to walk.”
“Then don’t.”
His eyes held hers. “I won’t.”
“Good.” She grinned. The waiter presented their desserts with a flourish.
Kane released her hand and dug his spoon into the dessert. “This is heavenly.”
“Oh, yeah.” Almost as tasty as Kane Maverick himself.
His eyes devoured her right through dessert. His hand was so warm on her knee, and when his fingertips slid another delicious inch up her thigh, a warm spark blossomed in her middle. “Who would’ve ever thought you’d be sitting here with me?”
“Well, you weren’t exactly my idea of Prince Charming,” she teased. He coughed a laugh. “But you stuck it out with me. We made a deal and you held to it, even when I…er.” She stopped.
“When you what?”
She toyed with the pleats in her cloth napkin. “I may have purposefully scheduled some rotten summer camp projects to see how you’d handle it.”
“Rotten?” He shook his head. “Everything you set up was terrific.”
Anna smothered a laugh. “I gave you the messiest things I could think of. The stuff public school teachers fear the most.”
He chuckled. “Messy isn’t a problem, Anna.”
“Then what is?”
“Not being with you.” He wiped his mouth with his napkin. “Nothing feels as right as being with you. I was serious about making this a permanent thing. You were designed to be mine, Anna.”
Her heart ached. A tiny voice inside her head said that they shouldn’t even try, but one look from him and her misgivings evaporated like steam. “I’d like that too.”
They might not know everything about each other, but they knew the important stuff. As long as they could trust each other, they’d have time to figure out the rest. “I have to head down to California for a few weeks to pick up some extra parts from my cousins, but maybe we could…ah…finalize this when I get back?”
“You’re leaving?”
“Yeah, tomorrow morning. I haven’t seen Jeremy and Jack in ages, and they’ve got a few large parts they didn’t want to disassemble to ship.”
“Cali is pretty far. You driving it alone?”
“Nah, Aldo will go with me. He’s got family down there, too. Placerville is about a twelve-hour drive, but it’s beautiful. Right near the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.” She sighed and pushed back from the table. “It’ll be great, but I’m going to miss you.”
He drove her home, then walked her to the front door of the bungalow she’d never stopped thinking of as her father’s. Kane’s hand claimed he
rs, never leaving some part of her body as they strolled up the broken concrete sidewalk.
“Tonight was incredible. Thanks.” Her insides knotted.
“We have many more nights like this to come.” He caught her up in a kiss, even better than yesterday’s. Her world spun. She was falling, falling, like Alice down the rabbit hole. A wondrous, passionate, hope-filled world that Kane created just for her. “Do you really want to wait until you get back from California?”
She still hadn’t heard about the show yet, but she didn’t care.
“No.” She wanted to push his head lower and lower. Let him spread his heat everywhere on her body. The man was talented in ways she’d never experienced. “Definitely not.”
She let her head fall back, offering her neck. He accepted, his mouth searing a brand across her cheeks, her throat, and lower. He kissed and teased and tongued promises that made her knees quake.
Kane was definitely able. Able to twist her heart around his finger. To capture her with a smile or a glance. To make her feel…loved.
Every part of her wanted to join him. To let go of everything and just trust him.
“Anna.” He broke off their kiss, his chest heaving as if he’d been lifting a Volkswagen. His fingers toyed with the strap of her sundress. His eyes begged her for an answer.
She ducked her head, struggling to maintain some sense of independence. To remain cool, when he was so incredibly warm.
Heat.
That was what she’d missing for so long. Since before her dad got sick, before her screwed up relationship with Rick, before she’d ever picked up a blow torch. She craved that heat. Welcomed the passion, knowing that it would more than fulfill her, it would inspire her to new dreams.
Dreams with Kane.
“Come inside for a drink?” Or for me?
She leaned up to kiss him again. His hips ground into hers as he pressed her against the door and his eyes were dark emerald pools of desire in the streetlamps.
He leaned in closer. “Are you sure?”
Did she want Kane Maverick? Heck yes she did. Every fiber in her body was sizzling and alive and waiting for him to stoke the flames of passion between them.
