Late for the breakfast crowd, early for the lunch crowd, Kate and Tom found themselves at the best table in the little restaurant. As they sipped coffee in a booth looking out over the street, Trudy happened by. She waved enthusiastically at the pair, and Tom beckoned her inside.
“Care to join us?” Tom invited with a beguiling grin on his face.
“I don’t want to intrude,” Trudy said when Kate scowled.
“Eating lunch with a beautiful woman is never intrusive.” Tom slid over to make room.
“I believe you are already eating lunch with a beautiful woman.”
“Kate?” Tom said mockingly. “She’s not beautiful. She’s family.”
Kate huffed. “You see what I have to live with?”
The waitress came over to chitchat and take their orders.
Trudy took a long, slow drink of her sweet tea. “Jeb came by to see me this morning. I’m sorry to hear y’all had more trouble. I wish there was something I could do to help.”
Katie sat up a little straighter. “What did Jeb want?”
“Oh, he asked me about going into Butch’s house to straighten up. I didn’t realize Butch didn’t know it was me coming in and helping to keep things tidy. I swear I asked if he wanted some help. I never would have been so forward as to go into someone’s house uninvited.”
“Did you use my phone?” Kate blurted out.
“I didn’t use it, but one day I was wiping the counters down and I noticed the charge was low. I plugged it in on the counter. I hate when I forget to charge mine. It seems like my battery is always dead when I need the phone the most, and I see how much you use yours.”
“Thanks. I’d hate to have a dead battery in an emergency,” Kate said skeptically. She wanted to see holes in Trudy’s story. Holes so big you could drive a Mack truck through it. Kate didn’t really want Trudy to be the killer, but it would have made things easy. If it were Trudy, the mystery would be solved, the culprit arrested, and Kate could get back to her regularly scheduled life.
Tom kicked her under the table.
Kate glared at him but spoke to Trudy. “That was very thoughtful of you. Really, thanks.”
Trudy flashed Kate a bright, warm grin. “It wasn’t anything. So, it seems your life just keeps getting more exciting. You’re engaged to Butch.”
Kate set her left hand on the table where the sunlight danced off of the stones. She still went soft and mushy inside when she looked at the ring. Butch knew her well. He gave her a ring that wasn’t the newest or the biggest or the latest style but a ring that already meant something to him. Butch’s grandparents’ ring symbolized commitment and longevity. It represented a stable foundation they would build their lives upon.
“I still can’t believe it. I look at the ring on my finger and have to touch it to make sure it’s real.”
“When is the wedding?”
When Tom snickered, Kate kicked at him. “We’re still talking about that. I’d like to wait a bit.”
Trudy waved her finger as though she knew what came next. “But Butch wants to get married right away.”
Kate nodded.
Trudy laughed. “Butch has always been like that. It may take that man forever to make up his mind, but once it’s made up, he wants it now.”
Kate didn’t comment. She’d been accused more than once of charging in where angels feared to tread. She certainly wasn’t going to criticize Butch for loving her enough to jump in headfirst. She wished she had his confidence.
Trudy clamped her hand down on Kate’s, covering the beloved ring. “We should go shopping. You know, register for stuff. Let’s go.”
Kate didn’t have to feign the shock. “Now?”
“Sure, it’ll be fun.”
“I can’t.” Kate pulled her hand back. “Tom and I are going to visit Hyde and then get my truck out of the impound lot.” The waitress came with plates stacked up both arms. Thankful for the change in conversation, Kate pulled her hands into her lap and ran her fingers over her engagement ring to make sure it was intact.
Trudy pouted but didn’t relent. “Tomorrow?”
“I have to work. Things have been piling up.”
Kate kept her mouth full to avoid Trudy’s game of twenty questions. She didn’t gossip, and if she had been inclined to talk, Tom’s little conspiracy theory cured that. Tom picked up the table talk, asking if Trudy knew Amanda and Allison and then guiding the conversation through to the last bite.
“We should get going,” Kate said as Trudy sipped her tea to the bottom of the glass.
“I owe. I owe. It’s off to work I go.” Tom misquoted the Disney song as he picked up the check and walked Trudy to her car, which earned him a kiss on the cheek. Kate sat on the truck’s hood watching as Trudy wrapped her arm around Tom’s and threw her head back to laugh. Tom said something else and earned another laugh.
“Men are so easy,” Kate muttered.
Kate snapped at Tom when he came back with a smile on his face. “What was that all about? I thought you suspected her of all this nasty business.”
“I don’t have any proof, so I’m following some good advice.”
Kate slid off the hood and climbed into the truck. “What advice?”
“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”
Kate slid the chair close to Hyde’s bed. “Has Nurse Cutie Pie been in to see you lately? As long as you’re lying here doing nothing, you might as well think of something interesting to say to her. I know most people say you should be yourself, but I’m a firm believer in putting on a good facade at first.” Kate hesitated. “Facade means a front covering. Like on a building, you can have a brick facade, but the building is still made of concrete and steel.”
Tom dragged a chair to the opposite side of the bed and sat facing his cousin. “I’m sure he knows what facade means, Katie.”
Kate ignored him. “Take me, for example. I put on a facade of being mellow and easygoing.”
Tom choked on his tongue.
She ignored him again. “I wait until people see how brilliant I am before I show my rougher edges.”
“Honey,” Tom said, “your edges aren’t rough, they’re as blunt as a baseball bat.”
“Don’t listen to him, Hyde. You just think about what to say to that cute nurse and open your eyes when you’re ready. We’re gonna go. Jeb said we can pick up my truck now that the prosecutor believes I didn’t kill Fawn.”
“He doesn’t believe there’s enough evidence. That’s not the same as he believed you didn’t do it.”
“Hyde? Do you have anything heavy I can throw at my cousin’s rock-hard head?”
They walked out of the hospital together as Tom nodded to the nurses.
Kate climbed into Tom’s work truck. “I’ll bet you five dollars it’s the nurse that brings him out of it.”
“I don’t think it works that way.” Tom drove over to the impound lot outside of town. Upbeat rock and roll poured out of the windows. “It’s beautiful down here.”
“I know. I always liked driving in the country, but the hills add something more. It’s like something out of a book.” The world seemed green and lush as crops reached up toward the welcoming sun. “They are calling for rain for the next few days. Maybe we can do some sightseeing.”
“I’d like to get down to Lynchburg and tour the Jack Daniel’s Distillery.”
Kate nodded. “Consider it on the list.”
Tom slowed the truck to bank around a turn made blind by a thick of trees. At the peak of the turn, they both realized a truck flew toward them on the wrong side of the road. Tom flung his arm out and slammed Kate across the chest and into the seat as he drove the truck off the road. The steep bank pulled the truck down even as Tom fought to keep the vehicle under some control. The airbags deployed as the truck grill planted in the bottom of a drainage ditch.
“Katie? Are you hurt?”
Kate mentally ran through her body, making sure everything moved the right way.
“No, no,” Kate said. “What about you?”
“I don’t think so. I’m going to call Jeb.”
“We’re all just happy you both weren’t seriously hurt.” Emily filled Tom’s plate, soothing his bruises with oversized portions.
Butch had called his parents after the near miss and welcomed the non-negotiable invitation to dinner. The big house gave them the space to wind down emotionally and physically. His mother had made her homemade lasagna. Her face brightened when Tom asked for a third helping.
Emily stood as she served another overflowing serving. “Is there any chance you’re going to find who did this, Jeb?”
Jeb wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Not likely. We can’t find anyone who saw the accident.”
“It happened so fast,” Kate said. “One minute, we were rocking out and the next we were in a ditch. I don’t know how Tom avoided the head-on collision.”
Butch reached out, providing the support she wouldn’t ask for. Immediately, she interlaced her fingers with his.
Dinner conversation wandered, but the happenings of the past weeks were never far from the surface. Over peach pie, Tom and Jeb made plans to tighten security on the job.
“A guy I know has guard dogs,” Jeb said. “Give him my name. He’ll give you a good rate.”
“I’ll call him. We’ll have the new gate in tomorrow and the new cameras. You’re not the only one who has a guy.”
“We can’t catch a break. I’m not a suspect anymore, but nobody hears that. All they hear is someone threatened vengeance.” Kate’s voice broke. “This is bullshit. This is absolute bullshit. It doesn’t matter how hard we work, how many people we hire, all people see is whatever perversion they want to be true.” She paced the length of the room. In a matter of minutes, her strides changed from long and strong to short and coltish. She stopped near the doorway, her arms wrapped around her stomach.
Butch saw the shadow of defeat in her too-pale face. He remembered the way she retreated when questioned for Fawn’s murder. He worried she would retreat from him—mentally or physically.
Kate hung her head. “I’m tired. I’m going to walk to the old house.” She walked out the door.
Tom stood as if to follow.
Butch stilled him with a wave of his hand. “I have her. We’ll see you there later.”
The full moon and cloudless night were a blessing. Butch saw Katie on the path as clear as day. He ran to catch up, laced their fingers together, and kissed her ring.
“I don’t want company,” Kate said.
“I’m not company, I’m your fiancé. Or did you forget that?” His teeth bit at her knuckle.
“I didn’t forget.” She moved closer to him, which spoke volumes of the progress they’d made.
Butch wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Let’s just walk. It’s a beautiful night out. Look at that big, full moon.” Butch steered Kate to the right, away from the path and toward a small grove of trees on the edge of the property. He led her through the darkened woods by memory alone until they came out on a moonlit path next to the creek. Butch put his arm around her. It was like hugging the Tin Man. “You need to relax.”
Kate took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I am relaxed.”
Butch looked at her and laughed. “You actually believe that, don’t you? Honey, you are worlds away from relaxed.” Butch had a proven cure for her Tin Man Syndrome. He led her to the pier on the lake. “Come sit next to me, and I’ll show you how to relax.”
Kate sat next to Butch near the end of the pier, but she kept a wary eye on him.
“I’m not a snake looking to bite you. Give me your feet.”
“Why?”
Butch wrapped his fingers around her ankle and pulled it into his lap. “So I can rub them. A foot rub is an excellent way to start relaxing. Morning, noon, or night.” He took off her shoe and her sock and worked on her arch.
Kate made a sound somewhere between a moan and a sigh and lay back on the wooden pier. She arched and bucked as he stroked ticklish spots.
He took her other foot, stripped it, and began the same slow, intense process, letting her sink inch by inch into sensation. His hands wound up her calves and worked at the back of her knees. Kate threw her head back and moaned. Butch rolled her to her stomach and worked on the knots in her thighs. He knelt, straddling her legs and began a thorough exploration of her butt and back.
“What happened to the foot massage?” Kate gasped as his fingers wrapped under the underside of her breast.
“Shhh. You’re not relaxing.” He peeled her shirt over her head. Kate extracted her arms and turned it into a pillow. Butch unfastened the clip on her cream-colored bra and let his fingers play over the expanse of her back. Kate’s trim figure curved under hands that easily covered her back. Her larger-than-life personality made it easy to forget how small a package she came in. Butch reached under Kate and undid the buttons on her jeans.
She lifted her hips to help him. “I knew you had ulterior motives.”
Butch chuckled against her skin as he trailed kisses down her flawless back. “I deny that accusation, ma’am. There is nothing more relaxing than hot sex under a full moon.”
Kate closed her eyes and grinned as she let him have his way. “Better than sex in a hayloft?”
“In the full moon, I can see every bit of you.” Perfectly proportioned, her body had become his paradise. A siren’s call beckoned in her dreamy little smile.
Butch pulled off his shirt, kicked off his boots, and stripped down to his skin. He lay next to Kate, his head propped on one arm. His free hand trailed up and down the center of her body, from the dip at the base of her throat through the valley between her breasts to the flat plains of her belly and past the fiery phoenix to the nest of tight curls. He loved her this way: open to him.
Butch lowered his head and kissed her. Kate wrapped her arms around his neck and held on when he pulled away. Butch wrapped a hand around each wrist and broke her grasp. He rose to his feet, taking her with him, keeping her mouth locked to his. He lifted her into his arms and swung her around in a circle. She broke the kiss and giggled.
Looking into each other’s eyes, they had a moment of absolute clarity.
She scrambled to clutch onto his shoulders a second too late, and she was in the lake.
“You son of a bitch! It’s cold!”
Butch laughed. He dove in head first, sailing over her and into the water. He came up swinging his wet hair. “That’s how you know you’re alive! Woo hoo!”
Kate treaded water with a scowl on her face that threatened trouble. His grin grew as he swam toward her.
“Stay away from me, you no good piece of shit!” Kate hit the water with her palm, sending a plume at Butch’s face.
Undeterred, he dove under the water, slithering toward her like a water serpent. Kate screamed and swam back toward the ladder on the pier. Her fingertips had scraped the wood of the ladder when strong hands closed around her waist and yanked her away.
“I’ve got you,” Butch said triumphantly.
Kate screamed and kicked desperately in the water. “We’re going to drown, you idiot, let me go.”
“We’re not going to drown.” Butch laughed.
Kate thrashed, fear palpable in her breathless gasps. Butch kicked strongly, bringing him to water shallow enough where he could stand. Her wet skin was slippery as an eel as she twisted and pushed to get out of his grip.
Butch wrapped his arms around her and tied her to his chest. “Relax, Katie. We aren’t going to drown. I’m standing.”
Kate stopped thrashing long enough to run her foot along his leg. She looked in his eyes, and he saw anger break into a sprint, blowing by panic and self-preservation. Kate thumped her fist on his chest. “You idiot! What were you thinking throwing me in the lake? I’m going to—”
Butch cut off the threat, opening his arms and letting her fall into the water. She swallowed a mouthful of lake before she stopped yelling at him.
>
She grabbed his arm and pulled herself up until she could wrap her arms around his neck. Panting, Kate rested her head against his neck. “You really are a son of a bitch. You know that?”
Butch laughed again and trailed a line of kisses from her hairline to her shoulder. “Nothing is more relaxing than skinny dipping.”
“Hmmph. I was just fine on the pier.”
“I’ve always loved the feel of the water on my bare skin.” Butch ran his hands up and down the lines of her body as he had before, knowing the water played along with his touch.
Kate shivered. Butch lifted her higher in his arms and laid her back in the water to bring her lovely breast to his mouth. The water rippled along her body. The hands that were buried deep in his hair began to relax. He lapped at the valley between her breasts before shifting his attention to her other breast. Her fingers relaxed, releasing him to float on the water.
Butch watched as she gave herself to him. On the pier, he thought she had looked like a goddess in the moonlight. She had looked like a babe compared to the nymph he now held in his hands. Her long hair splayed in all directions, dark as the night itself. Her arms were spread wide and her palms up, floating, moving sensually with the water. Her generous breasts floated up to him, an offering he didn’t deserve, a temptation he couldn’t resist. His fingers nestled into the lines of her ribs as he held her body to his.
“Oh, God.”
Kate smiled at his oath. “Is there a problem?”
Butch brought his mouth to the flat of her stomach and played with her belly button.
Kate arched and moaned under his touch, enflaming his desire.
“I want you. Now.”
Kate laughed as he brought her against the line of his body. The hard evidence of his desire pressed against her belly as he moved them back toward the ladder.
“I thought cold water, uh, inhibited a man.”
“The water is cold? You’ve got me so hot, I hadn’t noticed.” Butch set Kate against the rung of the ladder. “Wrap your legs around me. Now.”
Lost in Tennessee Page 30
