That top she wore was just shy of the waistband of her shorts and his fingers grazed bare flesh. He hadn’t planned anything more than a polite gesture, but heat and awareness zapped up his arm.
No. Not her. Please not her.
He knew what it meant. It meant he was attracted to her in a way that went far beyond a general appreciation of a good-looking woman. He’d been afraid of this ever since she’d helped him pack meals and had turned out not to be totally useless.
He gritted his teeth and plowed through an inelegant introduction. “Susan, this is Mia. She organizes. Mia, Susan runs emergency services and strong-arms people into giving her stuff.”
“Kevin!” Susan protested.
Mia laughed. “He means you acquire resources.”
“That sounds better.”
Charlie snorted. “It may sound better, but people don’t say no to Susan very often.”
“They don’t often say no to me, either,” Mia said. “Susan, I was looking at the cots…do you mind if I rearrange them?”
“Not at all.” Susan exhaled a tired sigh. “People have had to set up their own. We didn’t have the chance to prepare the way we usually do.”
“I know,” Mia agreed. “It’s like the storm came out of nowhere. Hey, while I’ve got you here, what about the food tables? How many are there and do you know where you want them placed? Because I have an idea.”
“Please lay out things however you want.” The two women started walking toward the cot area, still talking, with Mia gesturing and Susan nodding and making notes on her ever-present clipboard.
Kevin chuckled softly. “Charlie, brace yourself. The two of them are going to be a force of nature that will rival anything going on outside.”
“Is that so?” Charlie asked.
“Oh, yeah.”
After a moment Charlie said, “She’s a good-looking woman.”
Understatement. Kevin exhaled.
“You know, I think she might have been giving you the eye.” Charlie was goading him.
“No future there.”
They watched as Susan and Mia moved cots. Every time Mia bent and dragged a cot, her shirt exposed a taut midriff that caused a tightening in his own midriff.
Charlie cleared his throat. “What’s wrong with right now?”
“We’re both past that.”
Mia looked their way and caught them watching her. “Get to work!” she called and, laughing, pointed to the coolers of food.
“How far past are you?” Charlie asked.
Kevin’s breathing had gone shallow. He was hanging on to the edge of good sense by his fingernails. “Not far enough.”
For the rest of the night, he watched Mia. She was in her element. The shelter had never run as efficiently. Susan was no slouch, but she’d always been overworked between getting all the supplies and doling them out. Kevin and others would pitch in when they could, but Mia provided the organization and efficiency that kept everyone’s tempers in check. How could she look so out of place yet instantly fit in?
About 3:00 a.m., a wet and dirty Charlie dragged himself over to the coffee pot and chugged two cups while watching the activity in the shelter.
Thanks to the generators, the shelter had power and Kevin had cooked hot dogs donated by somebody. Charlie took one, plain, and stuffed half of it in his mouth. Chewing and swallowing, he gestured with the other half. “Look at those two.” He meant Mia and Susan. “I tell you, it’s a thing of beauty.” Glancing at Kevin, he added, “That Mia looks to be a keeper.”
“I haven’t known her that long, Charlie.”
“You’ve known her five hours longer than when I saw you last.” Charlie reached for the mustard and squirted some on the rest of the hot dog. “And you didn’t tell me I’m wrong.”
“I know.” Kevin stared across the room where Mia had just checked in a family with two little kids using the system she’d devised.
He’d been trying not to stare at her ever since Susan caught him and gave him a thumbs up sign. People had noticed him watching Mia, but he couldn’t help it. His eyes just naturally sought her out and then he’d stop whatever he was doing and enjoy looking at her until somebody drew his attention away.
She was smart and sexy, a hard worker and, except for the fact that they were completely wrong for each other, just about perfect.
BY DAWN, MIA WAS exhausted, but happy. If she hadn’t had something to do, she would have gone crazy. And Susan! Susan Chapman was the best resource manager Mia had ever worked with. After a couple of hours, they were practically reading each other’s minds. Mia had already tried to convince Susan to come to Houston and work, but Susan liked living near the water.
Mia wasn’t giving up yet.
At least thinking of ways to convince Susan to come work for Peck and Davilla helped distract Mia from thinking about Kevin, who stared at her all night as though he thought she was going to run off or break something.
Or…or as though he wanted to abandon the serving area and stalk across the room, sweep her into his arms and carry her off into the surf. Or the nearest bed. She stared at the cots surrounding her. Make that the nearest place where they could be alone.
Not that there was going to be an opportunity to be alone with him. Not while she kept imagining scenarios that involved Kevin and her together without clothes, usually bathed in the golden glow of a beach sunset. Yeah, she put herself right in the Cowboy Surfer pictures. The nude ones. With Kevin.
Honestly, she was not an exhibitionist.
Unless Kevin—no. Not happening. Or not happening more than once—no. Not even once. That would be a mistake. Because…As Mia led a hungry family over to the food tables for breakfast, she met Kevin’s gaze and forgot why flinging herself at him in surrender would be a mistake.
She could still feel his touch on the small of her back from when he’d introduced her to Susan hours ago. The instant it had happened, she’d wanted to curl herself against him and purr.
When Jonathan had kissed her it had been pretty good, certainly promising sexual compatibility down the road. But had the feeling of his lips lingered? No. Had his gaze felt as though he was actually touching her? No. Had she wanted to curl up and purr against him? Sadly, no. There had been awareness, but not on the visceral level of Kevin’s appeal. Appeal? Such a wimpy word for the gnawing craving for him she felt.
No wonder Kevin had laughed at her theories of intelligent love. If she’d engaged Kevin in the same type of campaign with which she’d gone after Jonathan, there was no way she would have been able to protect her heart. The man made her bones melt with an impersonal touch—what would it feel like when the touch was personal?
She wanted to know. She wanted to know with an intensity that cut through fatigue and common sense.
So why couldn’t she know? Nothing was stopping her, was it?
It was this sort of rationalizing that got people into trouble.
He glanced at her and didn’t look away.
Neither did she.
She was in trouble.
Her heart pounded and prickles of awareness made her forget that a beach-town sandwich-shop owner wouldn’t fit into her life and that she didn’t want to fit into his. Gazing intently at each other wasn’t going to do either of them any good.
Mia broke eye contact first and urged the soggy family forward.
Kevin greeted them with a ready smile, even though Mia hadn’t seen him sit down since they’d arrived ten hours ago. The box meals they’d made at Kevin’s restaurant had long since been consumed, but people kept bringing food from their fridges to share with those at the shelter. And Kevin had prepared the offerings, ensuring a constant smorgasbord was available for those who worked through the night.
“I’ll bet I know what you’d like,” he told the little boy of about seven. “How about a breakfast dog?”
The child laughed. “That’s just a hot dog!”
“But you’re eating it for breakfast, aren’t you?”<
br />
The little boy, who had earlier appeared scared and sleepy, looked up at his parents, thrilled.
“Want some grape jelly on that?” Kevin asked.
He laughed. “Jelly on a hot dog is silly!”
“Have you eaten grape jelly on a hot dog before?”
The boy shook his head.
“Then how do you know it’s silly?” Kevin squirted a small line of jelly down the hot dog and handed it to the boy.
He giggled uncertainly before biting into it. “Iss gud,” he said, his mouth full.
The parents exchanged grateful looks with Kevin before accepting paper plates of scrambled eggs and day-old donuts along with cups of coffee.
Mia had stood by and watched as he’d diverted the little boy and now, all she wanted to do was drag the most perfect man in the universe back to the kitchen and have her way with him. Oh, wait. She didn’t know if he was kind to animals, yet.
He caught her eye and winked.
“You’re totally disgusting,” she told him.
“Because of the grape jelly?”
“No. Because you’re…perfect.” She spat out the word. “How can you stand being so perfect?”
“O-o-okay. It’s time for Mia to take a break.”
“I’m fine.” She ran both hands through the hair above her ears and fluffed it. “But it would be a lot easier if you had at least one flaw.”
He pulled the empty scrambled-egg pan from the steam tray and replaced it with a fresh one. “I’ve got flaws.”
Mia poured a cup of ice water from the dispenser and downed it in one gulp. “Name one.”
He eyed her for several beats while wiping the serving area. “Sometimes I get an idea and act on it without taking time to consider the consequences.”
“Sometimes you’re impulsive. Oh. How. Awful.”
“It can be. Or it can be really great. Aren’t you ever impulsive?”
“When I’m impulsive, I end up in a ditch.” She filled her cup again and another one for Kevin. “Some people go with the flow and others plan the flow.” She offered Kevin the cup. “I’m a planner.” Except she hadn’t planned the little jerk of her hand as his fingers brushed against hers when he took the flimsy paper cup, had she?
She should pretend it hadn’t happened and stop staring at him as they drank the water. Or pretend she didn’t notice that his eyes never left hers, either.
Silently, she held out her hand for the empty cup, and just as silently he handed it to her. She tossed their cups into the trash as he returned to wiping the counter, his movements slower and slower.
She watched, mesmerized, until without warning he slapped down the towel, grabbed her wrist, led her around the end of the table and pulled her into the kitchen. Stepping between two empty tray carts, he pushed her up against the pantry door and pressed his hard body against hers.
Mia’s heart pounded. She’d better get one heck of a kiss out of this.
“I’m feeling impulsive,” he said.
“I’m going to try going with the flow.”
“Good plan.” And he leaned in and kissed her.
Yes, it was one heck of a kiss. Not that she’d had any doubts.
Fire erupted between them. Mia’s reaction was so immediate and so intense; it overpowered the details of his kiss. She was still responding to the anticipation of him kissing her, of his body pressed against hers just the way she’d wanted it to be since she realized whose body he had. Or rather who was inside the body.
How strange that she’d known the body before the man. How remarkable that the man was more attractive than the body.
How unlikely that they were devouring each other right at this very moment.
They’d skipped the preliminary teasing of a first kiss. Their mouths were open and their tongues frantically explored and stroked. She couldn’t get close enough to him. Mia ran her hands over his back and clutched him to her.
This was chemistry as she’d never experienced chemistry before. Combustible. Boiling. Explosive. Addictive.
And there was nowhere to go with it.
Any second and someone would burst into the kitchen looking for them.
It seemed that Kevin had the same thought at the same time because he dragged his mouth from hers and rested his forehead against the top of her head. Breathing deeply, he gently rested a finger against her lips.
Mia kissed it softly and loosened her hold, her own breath pretty raggedy.
Her lips and cheeks stung from scraping against his beard. They’d be pink and anyone looking at her would know why. She didn’t care.
Kevin stroked his thumb along her jaw.
She looked up, meeting his eyes for the first time since he’d dragged her in here. Moments passed as they each searched the other’s gaze to discover if what had just happened was mutually earth-shaking.
Mia saw that and more. She saw wariness and something that surprised her. Loneliness. The man everybody knew and liked and admired was lonely.
Feeling a rush of affection, Mia stood on tiptoe and kissed his nose.
Laughing, Kevin backed away and took her hand. “C’mon. Let’s get out of here.”
But they only got as far as the main room before people had questions for her and more food donations for him.
During the hours that followed, Mia had time to wonder if Kevin had just meant getting out of the kitchen or leaving the shelter. Now that the passion had cooled, she could think objectively.
Yes, there was something potent between them, but was that enough to sustain a relationship?
Mia exhaled. She didn’t want to think past kissing Kevin again and feeling his hands all over her and possibly—no probably, no absolutely sleeping with him. She didn’t care if it didn’t lead anywhere. This was the kind of hot, but short-lived combustibility that made people drop out of college for a semester so they could follow their idealistic boyfriends to Paraguay and live in a hut.
So, Mia thought philosophically, maybe she and Kevin should get together and let this thing burn itself out.
She swayed. Or maybe she should just get some sleep.
It was two o’clock on Saturday afternoon and Mia felt dizzy and a little sick to her stomach. She’d been awake and working full-out since six o’clock Friday morning.
“I’m done,” she told Kevin, who was washing dishes by hand. Washing dishes! “Even Susan is zonked out.”
“I was wondering how long you’d keep going.” He rinsed a cooking pot, put it on the draining rack and dried his hands. “I was ready to call it quits, oh, right after dawn.”
And just like that, the memory of their kiss, burning encounter, whatever, zinged through her and gave her an energy boost—at least until she and Kevin loaded the empty ice chests into his truck and started back to the restaurant.
The storm had passed and the sun was out, steaming the wet sand and streets. Debris, both natural and man-made was everywhere. Although the tide had receded, a line of trash illustrated how far it had come in.
“I’d like to check on your car later, if you don’t mind.”
Mia shook her head. “I’m too tired to drive back home anyway.”
“You can sleep at my place. And I gotta tell you, as good as kissing you was earlier, I mean sleep sleep.”
“That’s the most romantic thing you could have said.”
His smile lit up his tired face. “There isn’t going to be any power yet,” he told her. “Anytime there’re high winds, the city cuts off the power so downed lines won’t fall into the water and electrocute people. The crews will have to inspect and make repairs before they turn it back on.”
“You’re saying no air conditioning.” Mia positioned her face over the vent in the truck.
“I’ve got a window unit in the bedroom hooked up to the generator. It’s the only room that’ll be cool.”
“Is this your gentlemanly way of saying that we’ll be sleeping in the same bed?”
“Only if you want air conditionin
g. ’Cause I do and I’m not gentlemanly enough to offer to sleep on the sofa in the front room.”
“But you’re gentlemanly enough to offer to share your bed.”
“I’m definitely that kind of gentleman.”
They pulled up at Kevin’s Patio. The restaurant had escaped with just a little cosmetic damage except that one of the awning roofs was sagging because a support pole had broken. As they walked by, Kevin pointed out streaks of blue paint. “Looks like a car hit it.”
“And they didn’t leave a note?”
“Mia.” He gestured all around them.
“Okay, sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
“I’ve had worse happen during spring break.” He and Mia unloaded the truck and she was so tired, she had to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other. And she wasn’t doing too well with that.
Kevin noticed her stumble. “I’ll put this stuff away if you want to hit the bathroom first. I’m planning on a shower and then sleeping around the clock.”
“A shower sounds heavenly.”
It felt heavenly, too. Afterwards, a somewhat revived Mia went back downstairs to tell Kevin she was out of the shower, but didn’t find him. Hearing noises in the restaurant area, she left the kitchen and found a couple of cars parked in front, and people looking through the windows.
“Are you open?” a man called when he saw her.
Were they? Mia didn’t think they had any food, but Kevin was the one to make the decision. “Let me check.”
When she stepped out back where he’d parked the truck, she heard running water and followed the sound to an outdoor shower customers could use to rinse off sand and salt water. It was rustic, to be generous, with walls on two sides and open to the ocean.
And Kevin was in it, standing with his eyes closed, head thrown back, and totally naked, visible to anyone who happened to be passing by on the beach. Fortunately, no one was.
Mia stared, unable to help herself. He was every bit as gorgeous in the flesh as he’d been in his pictures.
She sighed, a long quivering sigh. She wanted him in a way she’d never wanted any other man. Even though there was no future for them, she still wanted him. It was inevitable. The best she could do was try not to get hurt too much. She liked him a whole lot. Maybe that would be enough and she wouldn’t have to fall in love with him. That would be really bad. It would take her a long time to get over loving Kevin.
His Little Black Book Page 11
