by Annie Rains
“So you made a move on him?” Nate asked.
She bit her lower lip, weighing how much detail to disclose. “He’s been giving me mixed signals since we became business partners. He looks at me with those eyes and talks to me in that voice. I thought he was feeling the vibe between us too.”
“You sure you weren’t imagining it?” Paris asked.
She swallowed, remembering the night she’d gone downtown with Mitch. She hadn’t imagined the heat between them. “Mitch kissed me. But maybe”—she shook her head—“maybe he didn’t want to take it any further. Maybe that part was just me.” She shook her head again. “This is so embarrassing. I’ll never be able to look at him again.”
“Hate to break it to you, sweetheart,” Paris said.
She looked at him curiously. “What?”
Gesturing, Paris pointed across the room.
Kaitlyn’s heart sunk and did a little somersault at the same time. Her heart was evidently just as confused as she was at the sight of Mitch Hargrove.
* * *
Mitch was halfway through his first beer and having a decent time with the guys. He’d laughed more than a few times, and it’d felt good. He had felt good until he’d overheard a commotion going on behind him. He turned around to see a little old lady with a walking cane parting the crowd like Moses with the Red Sea.
What is Mrs. Krespo doing here?
Scanning the room, he noticed the entire gang of B&B guests weaving through the bar. Then he spotted Kaitlyn and his heart stalled for a second. What was it about that woman that made her so damn hard to resist? Why did he want her so badly? And why did the sight of her alongside Paris make him want to go punch a hole in the wall?
He wasn’t eighteen anymore. He might’ve done that over a girl back then but now he was marine strong with an iron cast will.
“Earth to Mitch.”
Mitch turned toward Alex’s and Tuck’s raised brows. “Sorry. Mr. and Mrs. Krespo are here.”
Tuck and Alex followed where his gaze had just been.
“Who?” Alex scrunched his face. “I know everyone in this town, and I’ve never seen them before.”
“They’re staying at the Sweetwater B and B.”
“Right. That article in Loving Life magazine is drawing a small crowd to the area. That’s good for commerce but it’ll make the department busier. I’ll have to hire more officers if the tourists keep coming in. I’m shorthanded as it is.”
“Looks like the host is here too,” Tuck said. “Kaitlyn seems awfully friendly with that Harley Davidson model.”
Mitch frowned. “That’s Paris. He’s in town for some kind of Santa thing.”
“Bikers for Santa,” Alex said with a nod. “They’re meeting up at the Lights on the Lake event this weekend.”
“Yeah,” Mitch said with a nod.
“Since I’m short-staffed, I’ll be working the event myself,” Alex said.
“You expecting trouble with the carolers?”
Alex frowned. “Janice Murphy spiked the eggnog last year.”
Tuck laughed out loud. “That was the best. I’ll be there with my nephew, Theo. Halona is keeping her flower shop open late for customers that night.”
“You going?” Alex asked.
Mitch gave his head a shake. “As much as I’d hate to miss the drunk caroling, I don’t think so.”
“You have to. It’s the town’s biggest event,” Tuck pressed.
“Exactly,” Mitch answered. Attending Sweetwater’s biggest event was akin to skinny-dipping in a lake full of piranhas. At least in Mitch’s mind.
“Hey, guys.” A waitress stepped up to the table.
Mitch inwardly groaned, recognizing the voice before he even looked up. “Hi, Nadine.”
“Long time since you’ve been at one of my tables, Mitch,” she said. “I’ve missed you.”
Mitch briefly looked at his friends, which was a mistake. He hadn’t told them about his one-night stand with Nadine the last time he was home but these guys missed nothing.
“Sounds like your lucky night,” Alex told Nadine. “Maybe you can take a break and Mitch here can sweep you across the dance floor.”
“I don’t dance,” Mitch said through gritted teeth. If he put his hands on Nadine, she’d expect another night together. Despite what everyone said, one-night stands came with strings attached, which was why he’d turned away from Kaitlyn last night.
The image of Kaitlyn’s bare skin against white lace flashed in his mind for the millionth time today. Given a second chance, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to resist her again.
“Well, if you change your mind…” Nadine winked. “I’ve got customers to attend to. See you, guys.”
“She’s pretty,” Tuck said, pulling from his beer and watching Nadine sashay off.
“Well, you take her home then,” Mitch grumbled.
Tuck shook his head. “Not my type.”
“You’ve barely dated since Renee. Maybe taking Nadine for a spin on the dance floor or out to dinner sometime would help get you back out there,” Alex suggested.
Tuck frowned grimly, and his eyes dulled. “Maybe I don’t want to get back out there. I’m good.”
Just like with Mable’s passing, Mitch had been unable to get leave from the corps when Renee had died from cancer two summers ago. Neither of them had been blood relatives. He’d thought a lot of Renee though. She and Tuck had started dating in high school. Mitch hated to think about his friends not getting the happy ending they deserved. He couldn’t imagine what Tuck had gone through or how he was even functional enough to be here tonight. Life went on, Mitch guessed. People did the best they could with the cards they were dealt.
“If you don’t go break in on that dance, there’s a chance that Kaitlyn and Paris might go home together tonight,” Alex said, pulling Mitch from his thoughts.
Mitch turned to look back at the dance floor. The music was fast paced, and Kaitlyn was swaying back and forth in front of Paris. There wasn’t a good chance that they’d go home together tonight; it was definite. They were both staying at the Sweetwater B&B. Whether they returned to the same bed, though, was over Mitch’s dead body.
He set his beer down and pushed back from the table.
“Yeah, buddy!” Alex shook a fist in the air. “Go get her.”
Kaitlyn wasn’t his to get. He just didn’t want her to get hurt—all the more reason he should skip breaking up the happy couple and head to the men’s restroom instead.
He continued forward until he was standing somewhat awkwardly in front of a dancing Kaitlyn and Paris. Everyone was moving to the beat except him.
“Oh,” Kaitlyn said, finally noticing his presence. Her smile quickly fell. He guessed she was recalling that she was still ticked off at him about last night.
“Hey, Mitch,” Paris said, freezing to a halt. “What’s going on, man?”
The muscles of Mitch’s jaw bunched. “I’m cutting in. That’s what.”
* * *
Kaitlyn wrapped her arms around Paris’s neck and pulled him to her. “I don’t think so,” she said.
Is he serious right now?
Mitch had rejected her last night but he didn’t want her dancing with Paris?
Paris grabbed hold of Kaitlyn’s arms and gently loosened them. “Actually, I have to visit the men’s room. She’s all yours, buddy.” He winked at Kaitlyn, which she took as an apology, but he’d be hearing from her about this later. They’d only known each other a week but they were supposed to have each other’s backs. Friends didn’t let friends dance with burly, sexy, off-limits men.
“Kaitlyn?” Mitch said. As he did, the music transitioned from a fast, upbeat tune to something slow and romantic. The lights dimmed, reminding her of a middle school dance. She’d never liked those. They were awkward, and she’d spent most of her time holding up the wall and avoiding eye contact because she was too nervous to approach any of the boys. And the cute guys never asked her to dance. Instead it was
always the sweaty ones with an overeager smile.
Mitch was the cute guy tonight. The cute guy was asking her to dance, and she couldn’t say no. Not to him, no matter how much she wanted to.
“Fine. But just so you know, this doesn’t mean I like you.” In fact, she was doing her damnedest to hate him. But he was right when he’d told her earlier that he was one of the good guys. He’d proven that time and time again.
Mitch anchored his big hands on her waist and pulled her body toward him.
Her arms dutifully went to his shoulders but she didn’t make eye contact. She clamped her mouth shut and didn’t say a word. If they were going to talk, he was going to have to be the one to start the conversation.
“Kaitlyn?”
Reflexively, her gaze went to his. Traitorous gaze. “What do you want from me, Mitch?” she asked on a sigh. “Last night you acted like you wanted nothing to do with me. Fine. You got it. But now you’re here asking me to dance and looking at me with those puppy dog eyes, and it’s just confusing. Make up your mind. You either want me or you don’t.”
“I don’t want to want you, but…”
She swallowed thickly. “But?”
“But I do, and I’m not sure what to do about that.”
“You probably didn’t hesitate with that waitress when you took her home a few months back.”
“No,” he admitted, his expression unreadable. “And I regret that. I had too much to drink that night, and I’d just gotten off my last deployment. I had a lot going on in my head. Nadine was just a Band-Aid for the crap I didn’t want to deal with. The same way you wanted me to be your Band-Aid last night.”
Her eyes widened. She considered arguing that point but wondered if maybe it was true. Was she just trying to use him last night? “Well, what’s wrong with Band-Aids? If I want you and you want me, then what’s wrong with just going with it? It doesn’t have to mean anything.”
His mouth was set in a flat line. Not a frown, but not a smile either. She studied the growth of hair that surrounded his lips, remembering how soft it’d felt when they’d kissed. Full-force tingles rushed over her. She was still mad. Still wanted to hate him. Still wanted to take him back to her bedroom and use him as the fuel to her sexual fantasies for the next year. Screw the consequences—she wanted to live in the moment. She wanted to be whisked away from all the crap of the recent months.
Her arms tightened around him. Even as the song ended and transitioned to something more upbeat, she didn’t pull away.
And neither did he. Their bodies were stuck to each other like magnets.
“Why did you ask me to dance if you don’t want me?”
His gaze lowered, and their mouths were dangerously close to one another. Close enough to kiss a third time.
“Aren’t you listening? I never said I didn’t want you.”
Those tingles combusted into flames.
“My turn,” a high-pitched voice said as the waitress who served Kaitlyn earlier stepped up beside them. “Thought you weren’t up for dancing, Mitch, but it looks like you changed your mind.” Her gaze slid to Kaitlyn for a millisecond and then back to him. “The beer on tap here will do that to you, I guess.”
Kaitlyn debated whether she was going to allow this to happen. Before she had a chance to decide, Mitch shook his head.
“I’m sorry, Nadine, but not tonight. I’m actually on my way out.”
Nadine’s gaze slid from him and back to Kaitlyn. “I see. Some other time, then,” she said, looking disappointed.
He nodded. “Would you mind calling a cab for the group over there when they’re ready to go?”
She shrugged. “Sure. I never let anyone leave this bar if they’ve had too much to drink anyway.”
“Thanks. Have a great night, Nadine.” Mitch grabbed Kaitlyn’s hand and then started leading her toward the door.
“I can’t leave,” Kaitlyn said, even though her body was begging to differ. Going anywhere alone with Mitch right now was a terribly fantastic idea.
“The guests will be fine. Paris will make sure they all get back in one piece. I trust him that much.”
“You just don’t trust him to be alone with me?”
Mitch stared at her with heated brown eyes. “I don’t want any other man to be alone with you. You can text Paris from my truck.”
“Where are we going?” she asked—not that she cared.
There was a sudden urgency in his movements as he pulled her toward the exit. “To settle this thing between us once and for all.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Mitch was quiet as he steered the truck along the curvy road, revisiting the memories that flashed through his mind only briefly. Kaitlyn was beside him, no doubt wondering where he was taking her. Her silence told him she was nervous. Or still mad, although the anger had definitely melted away by the end of their dance. This attraction between them was building every time they were together. It was too strong to resist, and he was tired of trying.
The road turned again, and pain seared through his heart the way it always did at this spot. “This is where I crashed my truck when I was seventeen.” He kept his gaze forward. Instead of speeding up as he sometimes did, he lifted his foot off the gas and slowed the truck, taking in the natural beauty of what was an awful place for him.
Kaitlyn gasped softly. “Were you hurt?”
“It depends on what you mean by hurt. I’m still alive but the accident hurt someone else.” He hated being responsible for Brian Everson’s disability. “It paralyzed a guy I went to high school with.”
Her hands flew to her mouth. Mitch couldn’t bear to look at her though. He hated himself for that one mistake. How could he ever expect anyone else to feel differently?
He pulled the truck to a stop at Majestic Point, a favorite lookout for sightseers. Putting the truck in park, he gripped the steering wheel as if his life depended on it. “I never should have been on the roads that night. I was young and stupid, and the domino effect of my poor choices ruined lives. Mine. My mom’s. Brian Everson’s.”
She placed a hand on his forearm. “You didn’t mean to.”
“Intent doesn’t matter.” He finally looked at her. “Brian was training for the Olympics. My actions took that away from him. He’ll never walk because I decided to go to a party. If he and his family never want to see my face in this town again”—which was what they’d told him in no uncertain terms in the accident’s aftermath—“then that’s the least I can do for them.”
“I’m not sure what to say. Mitch, I’m so sorry.”
“I walked away from that accident with barely a scratch,” he said.
Kaitlyn’s eyes were glistening as she listened. In the dark, they sparkled like Silver Lake under a star-filled sky.
“It wasn’t your fault. Bad things happen sometimes. You can’t blame yourself.”
Even though that’s exactly what he’d been doing ever since that fateful night. He didn’t know how not to carry this blame. And the Everson family certainly blamed him.
“This is why you don’t like Sweetwater Springs.” She turned her face to look out the front windshield. From this spot, they had a perfect view of Mount Pleasant, cast in the light of a waxing moon.
“I joined the marines so I could escape and provide for my mom. She’d worked for the Eversons at the time. They fired her. She lost her benefits and had to work several jobs just to make enough to pay the bills.” His mom had been working herself to exhaustion ever since.
He soaked in Kaitlyn’s face and the softness there. “If things were different, kissing you would be easy, Kaitlyn.”
Kissing her was already way too easy.
She leaned across the seat.
“What are you doing?” he asked in a gruff voice.
“Kissing me doesn’t have to mean anything. Sometimes people just need a Band-Aid,” she said, reminding him of his own words. “Kiss me, Mitch.”
“Haven’t you heard anything I just told you?”
/>
“Every word,” she whispered. “And it only matters to me because it’s part of who you are. I’m not worried about yesterday or tomorrow. All I care about is tonight, and tonight I want to be with you.”
Who is this woman? She was beautiful, strong, amazing, and yeah, he wanted to kiss her more than he wanted his life right now. Crossing the rest of the distance, he gave in, fully this time, shutting off his mind, which would no doubt object. Their lips met and opened to each other, and with her kiss, he swore she reached into his very soul.
Her arms wrapped around him, holding him, pulling him in. “Let’s get a room,” she whispered, pulling back as his hands continued to roam lower on her waist. Now that he’d started, he couldn’t stop touching her this time.
“I know a place. Recently under new ownership, actually. I hear it’s supposed to be one of the most romantic places to spend the holidays.”
She grinned and then kissed his lips again. “Sounds perfect. Take me there.”
* * *
The B&B was quiet as they entered. Either the guests were still at the Tipsy Tavern or all were in bed sleeping. Mitch didn’t really care as long as they didn’t stop what was about to happen between Kaitlyn and him. He was tired of fighting their attraction. All he wanted to do was rip Kaitlyn’s clothes off and explore every inch of her.
Taking her hand, he tugged her down the hall into the room they’d shared last night and locked the door behind them. Then he kissed her, grabbing hold of the hem of her shirt at the same time. He lifted it over her head and tossed it across the room. Assisting him with the mission, she reached behind herself and unclasped her bra.
His gaze fell on her breasts, soft and round in the dim cast of moonlight streaming through the window. His hand followed, squeezing one softly, and then harder as she moaned, driving him insane.
“Please tell me you have a condom,” she half whispered, half moaned.
He did. In his wallet. It crossed his mind that he could stop what was about to happen by telling her he didn’t. That’s what he needed to do. It was a ready excuse that would leave no hard feelings between them. But he’d been taken to the edge of his willpower, and it was now shattered. “I have protection,” he said.
