She fed him a piece of flaky crust with her fingers before breaking off her own bite. “I’m already feeling pretty lucky,” he breathed. She painted a sugary swath across the pink of her nipple. A fiery surge rushed to his sex. Good God. Purple stained her skin. Kay lifted another bite of pie and held his gaze.
She curved the corner of her mouth and blinked. “Oops.” A good-sized portion tumbled from her fingertips to drop warm and sticky into the middle of his chest. “Oh, I’m so clumsy. Let me clean that off.” Before she lowered her mouth to him, she clumsily fumbled more fruit and crust down over the ridges of his abdomen and across the head of his penis. Her fingers painted the inside of one his thighs.
Bear arched his back and ground out her name as she proceeded to lick blueberries from his chest and stomach. She moved lower. He closed his eyes to the sensation of her mouth and tongue driving him wild. “Kay!”
Clutching her arms, he lifted her and rolled them both over. He peered down into her face. His breath coming so hard it fluttered the hair on her cheek. “No fair,” he huffed. “Hand over the pie.”
Chapter Twenty
Kay stuffed the ruined sheets into the trash with a smile. They were past saving. Last night had been one of the wildest nights of her life. How she would ever eat another piece of Dottie’s lucky pie without blushing to the roots of her hair was beyond her, but it was worth every intensely sultry, sticky memory. By the time they both hit the cramped little shower upstairs, the sheets were a total loss to their passionate pastry frenzy.
The shower had been wonderful as well, cleaning away the blueberry smears on their bodies under the warm rush of water. Bear had washed her hair and soaped her already sensitive skin. His slick fingers insistent on bringing her to yet another orgasm.
After, they’d stripped the bed and wrapped themselves in a clean quilt. They slept in each other’s arms until all hell broke loose downstairs.
Shadow met Hope. Or, at least according to their best guess, he tried to make her acquaintance through the glass door of the slider when she’d come up onto the deck to eat.
At the first explosion of rabid barking, Bear was out of bed, pants-ed, and down the stairs before Kay could comprehend what was happening. By the time she’d joined the party, Hope had vanished back into the safety of the underbrush. Her food scattered across the deck. Bear had Shadow firmly by the collar as he continued to bark as if they were under attack.
“I’m sorry,” Bear yelled over the din. “He probably scared the crap out of your cat.”
“Poor Hope. Poor Shadow.” She patted the dog. “It’s okay. She scared the crap out of you too, didn’t she?” Shadow settled down, and Bear was able to release the death grip he had on his collar.
Bear groaned and pulled her into his arms. He kissed her forehead. “I’d love to go back to bed and work on a friendlier, gentler wake up, but he needs his breakfast and a run. I should go.” He didn’t move, but held her gaze before lowering his mouth to hers again. “Really, I need to go.” His arms wrapped tighter as she opened her mouth to the sweep of his tongue. “Really.”
Kay lifted onto her toes, hanging onto the solid span of his shoulders. “Right…bye…” She tipped her head to the left angling the kiss, opening her mouth to the invasion of his tongue. The heat coming off his body sent a delightful shimmer through her.
When his hands lowered to cup her ass, her body purred. Giving a small arch to her back, she pressed her chest against the wall of his, before she rolled her hips forward again. His hands gripped her stronger, hauling her against the hard length of his erection.
Shadow bumped into them with a whine and a sharp bark. Bear huffed against her mouth, “We hate this dog.”
“We love this dog,” she countered.
Bear glared down at Shadow. “You’re lucky she’s here to save you.”
Kay peeled herself away from Bear’s body and closed the robe he had skillfully untied without her knowing it. Robe ties and bra clasps were no match for Bear. It was as if they dissolved at the touch of his fingers. “We can meet up later at the inn?” She ran her fingers through the crisp hair on his chest. “I have to drop some more cards and sketches at Polka Dots, but I should be there by noon.”
Bear cocked a mischievous eyebrow. “Let me know if Dottie is making pie.”
Packing up the last of her things, Kay heard Bear come back a short time later. He used his key. She called to him from the living room. “Did you think I snuck back to bed, or were you hoping to drag me there yourself?” She laughed. “You will never guess where I just found a blueberry.”
She came around the corner into the kitchen and froze. “Mother?” She slapped a hand to her heart. “What are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same question. You obviously were expecting someone else.” Claire Winston stood stock straight in her signature linen sheath dress with a classic strand of real rub-them-on-your-teeth pearls. “I thought we had an understanding. You’d let us know when you planned to use the cottage. Seeing as I haven’t had a word from you in more than six months, I had no idea you’d be here.”
“I-I’m here on a job,” she half-lied. It was easier that way. “I’m painting a mural at the Bell Harbor Inn.”
“And I’m here meeting with my Realtor.”
Kay’s world tilted. Realtor? “You can’t mean…”
She looked around the kitchen and gave a slow disapproving shake of her head. “I’m thinking of selling the cottage.”
“You can’t,” Kay gasped.
“I think I can.” She frowned. “Does Dottie know you’re here?”
Kay wouldn’t throw Dottie under the bus. She turned her back on her mother and moved into the living room. She was too good at spotting a lie. “I’m not sure.”
Her mother was still too shrewd. She followed Kay. “Of course she knows. You tell her everything. She probably found you the job at the inn.” She ran a pale hand over her forehead. “I’m so tired of her running interference for you. Protecting you.”
“Someone had to,” Kay murmured.
Her mother’s eyes flashed. “What is that supposed to mean?”
Kay was still reeling. Even though she had spent the last six years putting as much distance between her and her mother, here they were again. Stuck in the same endless groove. As far apart as they could be, yet still attached. The ultimate game of tug of war with no hope of there ever being a winner. Kay sighed, “It means, Mother, if I hadn’t had Dottie and Walter all these years, who knows where I’d be.”
“Don’t be so melodramatic. Your stepfather and I have done everything we could to give you a good life.” Kay opened her mouth to argue, but her mother beat her to it. “It wasn’t what you wanted. I understand. We’re horrible.” Her patronizing tone stung.
“I’m not getting into this with you.” She gathered her things to leave.
Two strides into the kitchen, Bear balanced a take-out cup holder with two giant coffees and a waxed bag in one hand. In his other, a stack of folded fabric tied with a large blue bow.
“Surprise, I’m back with all essential provisions, coffee, donuts, new sheets. Two sets, in case we want to get crazy again.” He frowned when he saw her face. “I…left Shadow with Skippy. What’s wrong? Somebody die?”
“I’m what’s wrong.” Mother stood in the doorway of the kitchen looking as if someone had just crashed into her BMW. “I’m Kay’s mother. Who the hell are you?”
Bear coughed, looked back at Kay, and set the things in his hands onto the table. He wiped his palms on the front of his jeans as he straightened and stepped forward with this hand extended. “Mrs. Winston, forgive me. Kay didn’t tell me you might be visiting.”
“Kay didn’t know,” she shot back. “That still doesn’t answer my question.”
“Barrett Coulter. Most people call me Bear, ma’am.”
Kay closed her eyes and winced. If there was one thing her mother hated above all, it was being called “ma’am.” She open
ed her eyes and beheld her mother’s face. She knew this face. It was not a good face.
The vein running down the center of her mother’s forehead could have cut glass. “Other than bringing my daughter sheets to get crazy on, why are you here?”
“I live here,” he blurted.
Kay rushed to add. “On the point, Mother. Bear lives in the house on the point.”
“I see.” Frost formed on the inside of the windows.
“I also own the Bell Harbor Inn downtown.”
Kay was hit with bone and brain matter as her mother’s head exploded. She spun on her. “He’s your employer?”
“Yes. And my neighbor. And, not that it’s any of your business, the man I’m dating.”
“You mean, sleeping with,” her mother snipped.
Kay folded her arms and nodded. “Yep, that too.”
“I think I’ve heard quite enough.” Her mother held up one manicured hand and marched past them and out the kitchen door.
“Mrs. Winston—” Bear called.
“Don’t bother.” Kay caught his arm as he turned to follow her out.
He looked back at Kay. A deer in the headlights look frozen on his handsome face. “What the hell was that?”
She hugged him. “Claire Eustace Fenton Winston. Of the Stockbridge, Massachusetts, Winstons.” Kay rubbed his arms. “I’m so sorry you had to experience her, but trust me, the searing headache will subside soon. The eye twitch takes about a week to stop. Good news is you will see color again.”
“Shit.” Bear looked back at the kitchen door. “The woman is scary.”
“Yep, that’s Mom.”
“Were you adopted? Did you see her face when I called her ma’am?”
“I know, sweetheart. You need to just walk it off.” She gave him a quick kiss.
“Does she pop in often?” Poor man looked slightly panicked.
“We haven’t spoken since December. I haven’t seen her in two years. I can’t even remember the last time she was up here. I’ve been the only one to use this cottage for years, but she’s putting an end to that. She’s probably listing it as we speak.”
“She’s selling?”
Kay nodded. “Looks like it.” She dropped into a chair. “I had some foolish notion they’d hold on to it for a few more years, then I could buy the place.”
He sat next to her and frowned. “What if you talk to her, tell her how much you love it here?”
Kay threw her head back and laughed. “I do love you. You think like a normal person.”
“I’ll talk to her.”
“You’re very sweet, but no. One close encounter with Claire Eustace is enough for you. I’ve had twenty-four years of conditioning.” She placed a fingertip under her eye. “See, no twitch.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” She smiled at the handsome man who was ready to tilt at windmills for her. How was it possible, in the midst of the storm which was her mother, she was more in love with him now than when he’d left her just a few hours ago? “I never did thank you for the coffee, donuts, and sheets. No man has ever given me sheets before.”
He pulled her onto his lap. “Ever get lucky with any other man?”
“Not lucky pie, lucky.”
“I can’t tell you how happy that makes me.”
“You deserve to be happy.”
“So do you.”
She stroked his cheek. He hadn’t taken the time to shave. His scruff tickled her palm. “I am.”
Whether or not Bear’s goal had been to come back and ply her with coffee and donuts before seducing her again, Kay would never know. Her mother took care of any such plan. Work beckoned for them both so they, once more, agreed to meet up at the inn.
After another gentle kiss at the door, Kay sent Bear off. She turned and looked around the blue and white gingham kitchen she adored. She’d made the curtains herself. Turning, she played with the bow on top of the sheets Bear had given her. It was going to be a summer of first and lasts. And the last thing she was prepared to do was let her mother ruin the best thing that had ever come into her life.
But first, she and Dottie had to work a few things out.
Chapter Twenty-One
Bear stood in the lobby of the inn. Kay was eighty percent done with the amazing mural gracing the walls. She had begun work on the final scene behind the desk. The painting was so much more than he had imagined when they’d started. She was so much more than he could have dreamed.
Kay was this mural. Beautiful, captivating, but with a wicked sense of humor and a sharp wit. She drew you in, so you wanted to spend hours learning every inch of her. Discovering all the small facets. Finding those things hidden from eyes too blind to see.
He ran a fingertip over the tiny lovers she’d painted high on the mural. His request. She’d placed it at his eye level. So tiny and seamless in the mural, and yet so detailed. Did she have a paintbrush with one bristle? It was them. On their beach, making love amongst the rocks. If you stood more than a few feet away from the wall, you’d never notice it, but now he’d found it, he saw little else. It was the same now he’d found Kay.
She could be tough, skittish, cautious, but Bear understood what created those things in her. Shit, he’d met her mother and learned what an ass her ex had been. Looking past all those things, Kay’s true beauty lay tucked away just below the surface. It wasn’t the Kay she allowed many to see. The caring, sensitive, incredibly sensual side. And somehow, he’d become the man she let in. Given him the golden ticket few would ever have. At the same time, she’d awoken the sleeping Bear.
Coming east had been a sort of a hibernation for him. He was tired. Dead tired. Tired of the high pressure hounding his every waking moment in LA. Coulter Designs had been a dream—but it was quick to become a nightmare. Diane was incredible at bringing in new clients, until his vision of a uniquely personal, small design firm was no longer recognizable.
He’d started a company where they spent time walking their customers through the process of designing their retirement cabin on the lake. Adding on the addition to welcome a new baby. High priced jobs, but not high stress. Before he knew it, they were taking on clients wanting business complexes and high rises. Industrial designs worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
The money had been great, but the cost had been even greater. What started as a partnership with Diane had quickly become a bitter battleground. It consumed their lives and devoured their marriage. But where Bear had wanted to crawl into a hole and pull the world over his head, Diane had flourished. She ate stress like multivitamins. It drove her.
It drove him too. Drove him to buy an inn in Maine in the middle of February. He gave a bitter laugh. Talk about hibernation. The first week he was here, every time he tried to venture outside, his balls froze off. The point house became his cave.
Surviving the first winter here gave him back his sanity. The inn, his soul. As he finished each room, a small part of him was restored as well. And then came Kay. She had restored his heart in ways she didn’t even know, and it was time to tell her.
He’d wanted to last night. That had been the plan. He’d take her to dinner and back to his place and tell her the truth, come clean. Well, we know how that worked. Instead of coming clean, he’d spent the night getting down and dirty with Kay and pie! Talk about erotic finger painting. Shit, he’d never look at pie the same way ever again.
Last night had been like the tiny lovers in the mural. It was Kay’s gift. She sprinkled starlight along her path. Little points of brilliant light which changed how he’d forever see the world. It wasn’t pie that made him lucky.
Let’s hope his luck held. He’d invite her over to his place for dinner. If not tonight, then soon. Take her mind off her mother and the situation with the cottage. Then he’d explain the whole thing. She had to believe in fate, right?
Bear took a cup of coffee out onto the screen porch. Shadow flopped onto a shaded spot and curled up for yet another nap.
Punching the numbers into the phone, he called Diane.
“Shocker. You actually called back,” she answered on one ring.
“Hello to you, too.” He propped his feet onto the railing bisecting the screening. Crossing his ankles, he sipped at his coffee.
“Hello. Do we really have to go through all this? Okay, how are you? I’m fine. How are things? Good? Great. Me? Things suck.” Bear heard the click of her cigarette lighter. She paused in her little rant to inhale. “There. Happy?”
“Wow, Diane, you’re a little ray of sunshine this morning, aren’t you?” Diane was famous for her displays of mood. She was a giver. The kicker was she didn’t want you to help get her out of her foul mood. She wanted everyone to join in. Pissy parties she called them, and she made no excuse for them. It had taken Bear a long time to learn that lesson. Some people just aren’t happy unless their world is in crisis mode. They feed on it like zombies at a fresh brain buffet. Diane was their queen.
“I don’t have time to shine for you, Bear. I’m up to my eyeballs in shit.”
“As much as I’d love to help you shovel yourself out, there’s a reason I moved to the other side of the country. Remember?”
“You still don’t get it, do you? Why do you think I’ve been calling you day and night? You’re as deep in this mess as I am.” She exhaled. “We’re in trouble.”
Bear tipped back in his chair. He wouldn’t let her panic spill infect him. Distance was his immunity. “Are you still freaking out over the Regency project?”
“I heard from the lawyers yesterday. They’ve scheduled a deposition.”
“So, what’s the big deal? Tell them Coulter Designs wasn’t responsible for those shoddy materials. The contract agreement with the subcontractor was solid. If they decided to cut corners, it’s on them. The project passed inspection, right? As far as CD is concerned, all the I’s were dotted and the T’s crossed. Like always.”
Against the Wall (Stoddard Art School Series Book 3) Page 14
