A Late Thaw

by Anna Blaze

  Buddy sent a dishwasher out to help clean up the mess and graciously explained to the family that payment for their dinner would come out of Kiley’s paycheck. She was officially in the red for the evening.

  Chapter Four

  COLE DROPPED ANDI OFF at her place shortly after ten. Watching Kiley smile and lug around drinks for two hours had answered none of his questions. All it had done was make him angry. Why was she back now? He’d almost stopped thinking about her, almost stopped picturing her when he made plans for his future.

  They weren’t even friends anymore. Realizing he had nothing left to lose led him right back to the bar.

  He assumed she wouldn’t be off for another couple of hours, since the bar served until midnight, and parked while he worked on a good excuse to go back inside. He could claim he lost something if he wanted to stoop to pathetically lame and obvious. Cole sighed and twisted the leather covering his steering wheel. He had nothing. No reason to be there.

  Kiley burst out the back door. Angrily, she brushed the back of her arm over her face. She was crying, but trying desperately to hide it. Cole frowned and climbed out of his truck.

  “Hey.” The crunching of the gravel beneath his boots seemed especially loud amidst the thick quiet of the night.

  She jerked as she looked up. Her pale blue eyes widened with surprise before she glared at him. “What are you doing here?”

  He nearly sighed. It just didn’t feel like all that long ago that he and Kiley had been inseparable.

  “What happened?”

  “Nothing.” She turned and started stalking away.

  He took two large steps toward her and grasped her shoulder. “You shouldn’t be walking home alone this late. It’s not safe.”

  She snorted. “Not a problem I’ll have again since I was just fired.”

  “What? How did you get fired?”

  Kiley pulled her shoulder away. The humor in her eyes faded. He should have phrased the question differently. She was deploying her defenses.

  “Don’t worry about it.” She stopped for a second and frowned. “Don’t you have a date tonight?”

  “Not really. What happened, Ki?” he asked as gently as he could.

  She looked down at her feet. “I just lost my temper. It’s fine. Buddy’s right. I wasn’t any good at waitressing anyway.” Her sniffle belied her words, but when she looked back up at him, she was smiling just a little. “I dumped a mug of beer over this one jerkwad’s head.”

  The icy tentacles of rage slithered up Cole’s spine. “He touch you?”

  “Smacked my ass as I walked by and called me Sweet Cheeks. Not even the first guy to get grabsy tonight. Or even the first person I left wearing a beer. It’s a real classy place, huh?”

  The world blurred at the edges of Cole’s line of sight. He grabbed her hand. “We’re gonna go have a little talk with Buddy.” He barely grated the words out from behind his clenched jaw.

  She pulled back. “Stop. I mean it, Cole.”

  He glared back at her, bewildered. Why couldn’t she just let him help? When did she decide that caring about her made him the bad guy? “He can’t expect you to put up with that shit. I’d have given the bastard a broken nose.”

  “Which also would have been an unprofessional way of handling it. I should have told Buddy and gotten the asshole sent home.”

  “He can’t fire you for that.”

  She sighed. “I really don’t want to talk about it. This was a sucky night even before I got fired. All I want is to go home and shower for an eternity or two.”

  “You said you needed this job.”

  Her eyes filled with tears again. He wished he hadn’t pushed.

  “I do,” she said. “I’m not really sure what I’ll… There has to be something else. I’ll find something else.” She sniffled again but squared her shoulders. “I’ll find something else,” she repeated with renewed determination.

  Kiley was stronger than she looked. It was a trait he admired, even if it drove him crazy. “You could work for me. I could use a housekeeper, a little help in the vegetable garden.” The words were out before he’d given them much thought.

  She shook her head. “I’m not going to be your housekeeper, Cole.”

  “Of course not. Too good for that, right?”

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  “Isn’t it?”

  “No. I just…it would be too weird.”

  Her eyes were still glossy with tears. He’d come back to yell at her, to get off his chest a few of the perfect insults he’d come up with over the past few years, but he couldn’t do it with her crying. “Go get in the truck. I’ll bring you home.”

  “I can walk. It’s not far.”

  Cole closed his eyes and exhaled slowly through his nose. “I’m not letting you walk home alone after you’ve been parading around in front of a bunch of drunk asses wearing that.” He pointed to the low cut front of her dress. Some jerk had put his hands on her. He could barely think through the red haze of his anger.

  Kiley’s eyes flashed. “It’s not your place to let me do anything. I make my own choices. I don’t need—”

  “Yeah, yeah. I get it. You’re a superhero, and I’m a Neanderthal for wanting to see you home safe.”

  “Arrghh! I didn’t say that!”

  “Then will you please get in the truck?” He was almost begging.

  Kiley always reduced him to a bizarre mix of desperation, adoration, and annoyance. He barely remembered a time he wasn’t trying to impress her. It had taken a long time for him to understand what that need meant about the true nature of his feelings for her. But the day he’d figured it out, he acted on it. Cole had bought a bunch of bright red roses from the pharmacy. Holding them out like the proverbial heart on his sleeve, he’d asked his best friend to the prom. She’d turned him down flat.

  “Please,” he repeated quietly.

  She looked away, her back straight, jaw lifted. She was going to argue again. Instead, Kiley walked over, opened the passenger-side door, and stepped up into his truck without another word.

  Cole exhaled for the first time all night.

  Chapter Five

  KILEY BUCKLED HER SEATBELT and stared down at her knees while Cole climbed into his seat. At sixteen, she’d have found his behavior charming. For years she’d thought his protectiveness meant he had feelings for her, real feelings. She knew the truth now. Cole thought of her as his kid sister. Lately, he thought of her as the kid sister who disappointed the family.

  She was so lost in thought she didn’t notice when he turned out of the parking lot in the wrong direction. Realizing that they were heading away from her mom’s apartment, she frowned. “Cole, I’m staying at my mom’s place—by the library.”

  “I’m aware.”

  “Then you know we’re heading the wrong way?”

  “We’re gonna stop by my place.”

  Cole’s family’s farm was a solid twenty minute drive out from Barrett’s town center. “I don’t know what you’re thinking, Cole, but I’m not in the mood.”

  He kept his eyes on the dark road in front of them but arched a single eyebrow. “If you don’t know what I’m thinking, how can you be sure you’re not in the mood?”

  The dashboard lights threw a faint, flickering illumination over the plains and angles of his face. A new hardness there pulled at Kiley’s heart despite her best reason. He wasn’t a boy anymore. Her former best friend had grown into a man while she wasn’t looking.

  His current antics pissed her off, but Cole was a good man. He was only trying to help in his special stubborn way. If Kiley told him that being near him broke her heart, he’d stay away. Telling him was impossible. Even imagining the look of pity he’d give her tore her insides to shreds. She rubbed her hand over her heart. Hell, it already stung.

  She didn’t answer his question. Kiley watched the familiar landscape pass by through the window and let some of the better memories comfort her. They passed a cornfi
eld and the packed-dirt lot folks parked at to access the best spot for swimming on the river that threaded its way through town. Her breath hitched when they hit the acres of neatly lined firs, spruces, and pines grown by Cole’s family for decades. The trees had started as a side business for the Thomas’ dairy farm, but by the time Cole had arrived, the focus had switched.

  As a child, Kiley thought their farm was the most magical place on earth. She remembered twirling amidst the trees as an early snow coated them with glistening white crystals. That moment, that snow, was the reason she’d ended up studying weather. Magic is cooler when you know how the tricks work.

  The sound of gravel churning beneath the truck’s tires alerted her to their arrival. It was one of her favorite sounds. For years, her mom had gotten a little extra work at the Thomas’ farm each winter to help pay the high winter heating bills and put a few presents under their own tree at Christmas. Kiley had always tagged along. She’d helped Cole finish his chores early, and they’d had the entire afternoon to play.

  The farm felt as much like home to her as anywhere else ever had. Someone had hung a new sign on the old heavy wooden signpost: Thomas and Son Farm. They’d post more specific signs about the trees and hours in season. Kiley had helped Cole paint the one they used when she was a teenager. They probably used a new one these days.

  Cole parked in the lot in front of the open garage attached to the large, old farmhouse. He hopped out without a word or a glance in her direction. Kiley followed him into the garage and stopped at a makeshift workbench. She slid her fingers over a freshly cut Birch log as the sweet clean scent of wood dust tickled her nose.

  Cole watched her from the step at the side door. “Yule logs and candle holders. Twenty percent of the business these days. Well, with the wreaths.” He said it matter-of-fact, as though she was just a curious tourist.

  Was this why he’d brought her here? To show her that he was managing the farm on his own? She’d never doubted that he could. “Cole, I don’t—”

  “Come on in.” He opened the door and walked into the kitchen.

  Sighing, Kiley followed him in. She glanced around. Subtle changes signaled that he’d taken over the farm completely. The appliances and paint colors were the same, but the shelves where his mother’s cookie jar collection once rested were now filled with glasses from New England Breweries. She smiled. Cole was a bachelor. His freezer was probably filled with Hungry-Man dinners instead of the casseroles and homemade dough his mother kept there.

  “How’s your mom and dad?” She should have asked earlier, they’d always been kind.

  “Good. They like Florida. Call every week to complain about the heat.” He leaned back against the counter. It looked like a casual gesture. Most people would think he was completely relaxed, but Kiley saw the muscle tension in his shoulders. Cole always reminded her of the wild lynx they’d seen at a refuge. The cats sprawled out in their habitats, eyes closed and breathing slowed, but with a closer look it was clear that they were absolutely alert.

  Kiley grinned. “And you’re doing okay? I mean, you’re handling all the work—managing the farm—by yourself?”

  “Yeah. I’ll have to hire a few more hands this season, but…this isn’t what I wanted to talk about.” He dragged a hand through his hair and rubbed the back of his head.

  “Okay. What do you want to talk about?”

  His eyes narrowed. Maybe he was still trying to figure it out himself. “Not yet.” He stomped over and yanked open the refrigerator. “You still drink this girly stuff?” He held up a wine cooler.

  Kiley’s laugh died in her throat. The drink was meant for another woman—someone Cole saw and wanted. Not her. “I’m not really thirsty.”

  He took out a beer and used the bottom of his T-shirt to give his hand enough friction to uncap it. His eyes closed with his first sip. They always did.

  So much for not being thirsty; Kiley’s mouth went dry. How could watching him enjoy a sip of beer still do this to her? She took a couple of steps toward the living room, trying to ignore the way her hands ached to touch him.

  Cole took a second large swallow, placed the bottle on the counter, and came toward her. His large hand gripped the back of her head the second before his mouth slammed onto hers.

  She gasped as the tastes of cold beer and hot Cole collided on her tongue. Her knees buckled but he gripped her side, firmly holding her up. He kissed her too hard and too fast for her to kiss him back.

  Shocked, she pulled away. “Cole?”

  His eyes were nearly black. His jaw clenched; he exhaled through his nose. “You asking me to stop?”

  Chapter Six

  COLE STUDIED HER FACE. He couldn’t read her.

  Kissing her hadn’t been part of the plan. He’d wanted her to hear him out, tell him why she’d run away when they could have had something. That was all. He’d only planned to talk to her. Then she’d stood in front of him, staring at him with her big blue eyes and licking her lips with her pretty pink tongue. Not kissing her was no longer a choice.

  “No,” she whispered breathlessly.

  He frowned, trying to remember what he’d asked her, and rubbed his thumb over her cheek. Kiley shivered as she leaned closer, and Cole claimed her mouth again, slipping his tongue over her soft lips. When her tongue pushed up to meet his, he groaned and pressed her back against the wall.

  His palms flattened against the wall on either side of her head, trapping her. He expected her to protest, to tell him he was acting like a caveman; instead she reached up and grabbed at his shoulders. He kissed her harder, wanting her to taste his frustration.

  Cole pulled away and she whimpered. Kiley wanted him. She felt it, too, even if she wouldn’t admit it yet.

  He stared at her swollen lips for a moment before meeting her gaze. “Two years, Ki. Two fucking years. You couldn’t even call?”

  She shook her head.

  “Say something. Tell me what I did wrong.”

  She looked away. “You didn’t do anything. I just wanted to go to school.”

  “Bullshit. I never said you shouldn’t. There was no one in this whole world prouder than I was when you got that scholarship. This has nothing to do with school.”

  “I don’t know what to say, Cole. I didn’t want to hurt your feelings, I—”

  “Don’t. I’m not a ten-year-old girl. You didn’t hurt my feelings. You ditched me—tossed me aside like an old toy you’d outgrown.”

  She gasped. “No! No, I never—”

  “I knew you thought Barrett was too small for you, too old, or dull or stupid. I didn’t know you thought I was, too.” By the end, his voice was quiet and rough, foreign to his own ears.

  “I never thought that.” She shook her head as tears began tumbling over her eyelids and streaming down her cheeks.

  He turned. He needed to hold on to his anger, needed it to keep from losing himself in the sweetness of having her so close. But it was exhausting.

  She reached up and cupped the side of his face, trying to pull him back. Her hand was softer than he’d imagined. “Please, Cole. Just…it wasn’t like that. I swear.”

  Cole blinked back the stinging sensation in his eyes before looking at her. She wasn’t even trying to hide her tears. He brushed off her cheeks with his thumbs. “Don’t cry. I can’t think straight when you’re crying.”

  Kiley sniffed. “You kissed me.”

  He frowned. It didn’t sound like an accusation, more like bewilderment. “Don’t play with me like this, Kiley.”

  Her eyebrows shot up. She stared at him—mouth open and eyes wide.

  She didn’t know. How could she possibly not know? Cole cursed under his breath and walked away, needing the space to think. He hadn’t hired a skywriter that summer, but no one in their right mind would say he’d been subtle.

  She followed him into the living room and stood to the side as he dropped onto the armchair and buried his face in his hands. Kiley had rejected him and run away. She mus
t know that. If she didn’t, if she’d never even noticed how he felt…it was all on him.

  He threaded his fingers together behind his head and looked over at her. “I missed you. You were my best friend, Ki.”

  He swore he saw pain fill her eyes before she glanced away. “You were mine, Cole. I never wanted—”

  “What happened then?”

  “We grew apart, I guess.”

  “I see.” He didn’t. Not really. It sounded like a polite way to say that she was too good for him now.

  Kiley sighed. “You still treat me like I’m some little girl who needs her big brother to take care of her. It’s sweet, and I know you mean well, but…”

  Cole laughed hoarsely. “I know you can take care of yourself. You’re a ballbuster, Kiley. I …I can’t let people hurt you, not if I could stop ‘em.”

  She sat down on the coffee table in front of him. “It’s not your job. I’m not your kid sister. I’m not your…anything.”

  Cole moved to the edge of his seat and tugged one of her plaited pigtails. “Well aware.” He let his thumb slid over each smooth curve and bump until he reached the elastic that encircled the ends. He pulled it off and reached for the other. She trembled beneath his fingertips as he slid his hands into the cool, dark hair at the base of her scalp and shook the braids loose. He arranged her hair loosely around her shoulders and sat back. “I want you in my bed, Ki—nothing brotherly about that.”

  Chapter Seven

  NO WORDS HAD EVER been more shocking. Kiley stared at Cole, frozen as her brain tried to translate what he’d said into something that made sense. It was no use. The rapid-fire beating of her heart sent her blood rushing in a loud, chaotic swirl.

  “Be with me.” He lifted her chin so she had to meet his warm, brandy-colored gaze. “Tonight.”