Suspended

by Taryn Elliott

  She flipped onto her back and folded her hands over the sheets across her middle. She drew in a breath and closed her eyes. Deeply through the nose and out through the mouth. One after the other until her heart stopped fluttering madly. She heard the door of the bathroom open, and she continued to keep her eyes closed.

  Her imagination was more than enough. She could see the ridges of his stomach muscles and the endless ropy muscles of his arms and the tight strength in his thighs. Even the long, masculine feet. She remembered them peeking from the frayed edges of his jeans. Her breath shortened.

  Keep cool, Kendall.

  She heard him moving around the room. The bed dipped, and the tang of mint in the air and the woodsy scent of his soap killed any hope of keeping her heart rate in check. Her head fuzzed with the rush of blood and how quickly it flushed the rest of her. Her nipples tightened again, and her sex swelled. She shifted under the sheets, closing her legs to hold herself together.

  He kept a few inches between them when he finally settled onto his back.

  She couldn’t stand it any longer.

  She opened her eyes, and he had one arm tucked under his head. The wide planes of muscle and chest hair shouldn’t make a better pillow than the down that cupped her head like it was made for her. Memories of the crisp hair under her cheek the night before didn’t help. She wanted to feel that again. But she didn’t trust herself.

  Touching Shane made her want more.

  She’d slept the night before in the flatbed of the truck, and nothing had happened then.

  She rolled onto her side, away from him, but the bed wasn’t exactly big enough for Shane. Her butt bumped into his arm. His very tense arm.

  Evidently his relaxed pose was about as believable as hers.

  She held still and curled her arms around her pillow. The want permeated the air, and yet both of them stayed on their sides of the bed. She opened her eyes, and a picture of Jesus stared back at her from the wall. She groaned and closed her eyes. All it needed was Jesus on there to add to the torture.

  She slid into a fitful sleep. The cool sheets grew warm, and her dreams dragged her deeper. Hair-roughened legs tangled with hers; the heat at her back and the cool medal of his rosary burned into her flesh. His hand cupped her breast, pushing aside the shirt to knead and pluck at her nipple. His chin dug into her neck, and his other hand curled under her and around her neck in an embrace that was everything. Hope and home, love and life, warmth and want.

  She laced their fingers together and brought them to her mouth.

  Everything.

  When she opened her eyes, the gauzy veil of dawn touched the room. There were no arms around her, no Shane in her bed, and the phantom pleasure of his touch faded with reality. She sat up and caught sight of Shane in the wide wooden chair, his legs splayed out, his cheek pressed into the cushioned back, and a throw over his shoulders.

  He couldn’t even sleep with her?

  Just dreams. Just like everything about them. Fantasy and dreams. She had to remember that. There could be fun on the road, but it had to stay fun.

  She slid out from under the sheets and got dressed. Shane slept on while she used the bathroom and French braided her hair to keep her curls under control. She stared into the mirror. “At least you have some semblance of decorum.”

  “Kendall?”

  She gathered her toiletries and went back into the room. “I’m all set. You can have the bathroom.”

  He stretched and cracked his neck but wouldn’t look her in the eye. “Okay.” He glided by her, making sure their skin didn’t touch.

  The silence between them as they packed was like another person in the room. They passed each other with murmured excuse-mes and no eye contact. Every time he almost touched her, it ratcheted up the tension until she couldn’t stand it. “Why did you sleep in the chair? We slept together fine last night.”

  He stacked a pile of shirts until they were a tight cube of cotton and jammed it into the corner of his bag. “I was restless. I didn’t want to disturb you.”

  “I sleep like a rock.”

  He didn’t look up. “I’ve only slept with you once, Kendall. I don’t know that about you.”

  She cracked her molars together. “Fine.”

  He looked up at that. “Don’t get pissy at me. We agreed to keep this light, remember?”

  “Oh, I remember. It was my idea.”

  His evergreen eyes chilled. “Ready to go?”

  “Definitely.”

  She followed him up the stairs, resolutely staring at his boots instead of his perfect ass and his massive shoulders under the cobalt-and-black plaid of his shirt. The tails of his shirt fell just past his belt. Stupid impressive shoulders.

  The bustle of children and the scent of sweet syrup and butter hit her on the last step.

  “Hi!”

  Shane stopped at the doorway, his entire body tense with apprehension. “Hello.”

  Kendall peeked around Shane to see the towheaded little boy grinning up at him minus a front tooth. She slid her hand along his lower back, and Shane automatically hooked his arm around her neck. She was pretty sure she had to look like a guppy when he dropped a kiss on her forehead and gave the little boy a raised brow.

  The boy transferred his attention to her. “Wow, why do you have old-lady hair? You’re just a girl.”

  She laughed and dropped down on one knee. “C’mon, it’s white like Storm from X-Men.”

  The kid giggled. “What’re the X-Men?”

  Kendall let her chin fall on her chest. Man, when did she get old? Shane snickered behind her, and she kicked him in the shin. “Comic books and cartoons.”

  “Oh.” The kid shrugged.

  “Thomas!”

  “Gotta go. Pancakes are ready!”

  Kendall looked up at Shane. His lips twitched. “Oh, be quiet.” She lifted her hand to her hair. Time to put some more blonde in when she got home. She knew her roots were coming in, but she hadn’t realized it was that bad. She stood and followed the voices into the dining room.

  A pitcher of juice sat in the center with a bowl of eggs, sausage, and a platter of pancakes.

  Delinda set another pitcher on the table. “Come on in, you two. Eat.”

  “Oh, we couldn’t,” Kendall said.

  “As you can see, I made enough for my horde and you two.”

  Shane held a chair out for Kendall and sat next to her. She took a pancake and eggs for herself and watched Shane demolish a plate of pancakes. He and the boys seemed to be in a contest. The giggles and scrape of silverware were homey sounds that she’d missed terribly.

  She picked at her flapjack, giving up to sip some juice.

  A shrill work whistle screamed out of Shane’s pocket. She laughed. “Is that—”

  “I got bored with my ringer. Besides, you know I like the Flintstones.” With a grin and a shrug, he stood. “Excuse me. That’s Jasper.”

  She watched him walk out, trying to reconcile the cartoon side of Shane’s personality and keep up their charade at the same time. She turned and found Delinda smiling at her. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be sorry. I remember looking at Jonathon just like that.”

  “What? Like you want to wring his neck?”

  “And take a bite out of his cute butt.”

  Kendall barked out a laugh. “Yeah, well, they happen at the same time for me more often than not.”

  “Passion’s a good thing. There’s a reason I have five kids.”

  Kendall’s eyebrows rose. “It’s not just the God’s-will thing?”

  Delinda laughed. “I suppose that’s part of it. I always wanted a big family, but mostly it’s because we can’t keep our hands off each other.”

  “I know how that feels.” Too well. She couldn’t imagine how it would feel to be able to give in to that. To trust in a relationship enough that it would allow her that kind of freedom.

  She looked up as Shane came back in. “Hey.”

  He sli
d his thumb along one of her curls that had come loose around her face. “Almost ready?”

  She nodded. “How’s the truck?”

  “Jasper’s just about done with it. He’s sending one of his guys over to pick us up.”

  His face was stony, which wasn’t an unusual thing, but his eyes were flat. He hadn’t gotten good news. She stood. “We can’t thank you enough for putting us up, Delinda.” She laid her hand on Thomas’s blond head. “You’ve got a gorgeous family.”

  Delinda stood and hugged her. “You guys travel safe. If you can do a road trip, you can live through anything in a marriage.”

  Shane stilled beside her, but his hand found hers, and their pinkies twined. “We really do appreciate all you’ve done for us.”

  The lines between his brows deepened. Yeah, there definitely hadn’t been good news from Jasper. She lifted her plate, but again Delinda waved her off.

  “Kids, gather up the plates.”

  One by one, the children stacked up plates, with a bit of ribbing, and waved as they headed out the side door to the house.

  “You’ve certainly got great kids.”

  Delinda gathered napkins and cups. “Luckily they’re young enough that a sticker chart still works. Travel safe, you two.”

  “We will.”

  Shane let her hand go the minute they got through the doorway. He dropped his duffel and paced along the stone walk.

  “All right. Tell me what’s going on.”

  He jammed his hands into his pockets. “We’re fucked is what’s going on.”

  She winced. “How bad?”

  “Nine hundred twenty-three dollars fucked.”

  Kendall hooked her hand through his arm and stopped him. “That’s got to be most of our money.”

  His arm was rock hard with tension. His face was that careful blank she was coming to know as his I-don’t-want-to-worry-Kendall face. She’d had boyfriends for months before figuring out their quirks. Less than a week with Shane and she was so in tune with him her skin itched. It was so fast. So much more than it should be. And God, she wanted it—wanted him—so very badly. She tugged one of his hands out of his pocket and laced their fingers. “We’ll figure it out.”

  The little tick in his jaw fluttered, and he nodded. He rubbed her hand between both of his and slipped away to pace again. A battered pickup came into view a few minutes later. A kid rolled down his window. He was a carbon copy of Jasper minus thirty years. “You Shane and Kendall?”

  Shane swiped both bags off the ground. “That’s us.”

  The kid smiled wide with perfect white teeth gleaming out of his tanned face. “I’m JC. Hop in.”

  They both rounded the truck, and Shane opened the door for her. “In you go.” She looked down. No running board this time. The truck was so old there was no handle. Just as she was going to boost herself, the bags hit the floorboards, and Shane’s wide hands grasped her hips. One touch and her skin charged.

  She gave JC a small smile. “Hey there.”

  “You all right, ma’am?”

  She winced. No matter how many times she heard it with the bed-and-breakfast, she hated that word. “Yeah, just too short.”

  “I hear ya. My dad is a kick-ass mechanic, but he definitely didn’t bring height to the gene pool.”

  Shane stepped in because he was tall enough—the jerk—and slammed the door behind him. He dropped his arm over her shoulder. She gave him a sidelong glance. What the hell was with the proprietary bullshit? Her death stare had little effect; his focus was on the road ahead.

  Kendall shifted and jammed her back into Shane’s chest. Instead of moving, he stretched his arm across the bench seat. Ass. Ignoring him, she turned to JC. “We really appreciate the pickup.”

  “It’s too blasted hot to walk, that’s for sure. Dad was taking the Silverado off the lift when I left, so you should be ready to go.”

  “We’ve got a lot of ground to cover.”

  Shane grunted behind her.

  “Yeah, Dad told me you guys were heading to New York. Helluva haul.”

  Shane shifted, and the end of her braid loosened. She nudged him, but he didn’t stop. Her hair tie dropped into her lap. She rolled her eyes and snapped the band around her wrist. Still no expression on his face.

  “Three thousand miles plus a few detours.”

  JC’s toothpaste-commercial smile flashed again. “I made the trip with a couple of buddies after college. We stayed at a bunch of hostels and worked our way across the states. We zigzagged a bit so we could see the high points. Was a fun two weeks.”

  She looked at Shane, but he shook his head. That would definitely help them with the money situation. Then again they had subzero sleeping bags, so they could sleep in the truck if they had to. JC chattered on about his trip, and it was a short drive to the garage. He pulled in and stopped in front of the pumps. “I’ve got to get a part. Just head on past the pump. Dad’s got the bay doors open.”

  “Thanks for the ride.” Shane hopped out and reached for her, then set her down in front of him. He played with the ends of her hair just above her waist, tugging lightly. Her skin tingled, and the restless itch returned sevenfold.

  Kendall waved and shut the door. “All right. What was that about?” Shane hadn’t touched her all night, most of the way through breakfast, and now he was all hands?

  He shrugged. “I like your hair down.”

  That wasn’t it. Yes, he liked her hair, but that wasn’t the reason he’d been so handsy in the truck. “It’s not even nine o’clock and I’m already sweating, and you want all this down? No.” She lifted the heavy mass off her neck and rolled the tie off her wrist. “You try having all this hair.”

  He covered her hands to stop her. His chest brushed hers as he shook out the curls. She closed her eyes at the light tugs. Just when she thought she understood him, he threw her off with this power play crap. And she didn’t want him to stop. He finger combed the curls and cupped the back of her neck. “You’re too goddamn beautiful for your own good.”

  She peered up at him through heavy lids. What the hell did that mean? His fingers kneaded the base of her neck. His beard was softer with growth against her cheek as he nipped at her ear. “Keeping my hands off you gets harder every day, Sunshine.” And then he was gone. She opened her eyes, and he was stalking toward the bay doors with both their bags.

  “Son of a bitch.”

  Her whole body was on fire, and he left her.

  Again.

  She scraped her hair back and tied it into a high ponytail. Damn that man for keeping her so off balance.

  Chapter Ten

  Shane dug his wallet out of his pocket. He untucked his T-shirt to bunch around his zipper. He was a goddamned walking erection lately. All that pale corn silk followed him in dreams. He could feel it against his thighs, across his chest, and the scent of her scraped him raw. Fucking apples.

  He’d woken in the night to find his chin buried in her neck, her scent invading his dreams. He’d been curled around her, holding on to her as if he couldn’t bear to let her go. He tipped his head back, scratching at the dense scruff that climbed down his neck.

  He dragged in a deep breath of oil, gasoline, and the lingering overlay of cigarettes. Familiar scents. Enough to snap him back to the task at hand. Jasper’s bill. He had just enough on his credit card to cover it, but the fear of something far worse happening to them made him cautious to use the last of his credit. Everything about this trip was out of his control. Kendall included.

  He forced his lips into a smile. “Jasper.”

  “There’s my favorite twosome.” Jasper peeked around him. “Well, part of it. Where’s your pretty girl?”

  “She’s coming.”

  Jasper tucked a rag into his back pocket. “I did the best I could to keep the cost down.”

  “I know you did. And I appreciate it. ”

  “Hard times are everywhere.”

  “Kendall and I know that all too well.” A new t
hing for him to deal with. Living an easy life within the family empire was the only thing he knew. Scraping his way across the states wasn’t the plan.

  “Hell, the only reason we’re still going strong here is because of my son. He’s got an affinity for classic American cars and brings in a lot of traffic from the Richie Riches. They like their old muscle cars to show off. Of course they fuck them up by driving like assholes, but it keeps us in business.”

  Shane’s belly loosened, and his hard-on eased. “I’m from Monterey, man. I see the assholes firsthand.”

  Jasper dragged his hat off and smoothed his hand over his buzzed head. “That coastal road? Yeah…that’s one helluva road to hit with a good engine.”

  Shane tipped back on his heels. “I had a Mustang when I was in my twenties. I scared the hell out of my dad with that car.”

  Kendall stalked in, her mouth tight and murder in her eyes. Damn, she was gorgeous when she was angry. He knew he’d been pushing her buttons, but if the kid in the truck had been a puppy, the drool would have soaked her shirt. She had no idea just how appealing she was, which was part of the problem. A woman like her should be settled with a man who wouldn’t let her out of his sights. Just what kind of men did she have in her town who wouldn’t have snagged her with a ring?

  His shoulders tensed again. Rings and marriage had never been in his periphery. His focus had been his furniture company for so long. The minute marriage had been mentioned, he’d been fucked-up about it. Each time another guy looked at her with anything close to interest, he was fucked-up about it. He couldn’t remember the last time he gave two shits about a woman enough to get bent. And it had to be this woman?

  She held his future in her tiny hands. A future that had been manipulated by the one person he’d thought he could trust. He had to be out of his mind to think he could control any part of this situation. All he could do was drive through and hope to shit they got to New York with both of them intact. Kendall kept her distance, and their sham of a marriage was null and void here. His wallet dug into his palm. Son of a bitch.

  Jasper shuffled off to a desk along the wall and came back with a work order. Shane traded it for cash and stuffed the receipt in his wallet. Kendall came forward and smiled at Jasper. “Thanks for finding us a place to stay last night. Delinda and her family were amazing.”