Always For You (Always Love Book 1)

by Tawdra Kandle

  “Okay. I understand. Kid came up fighting, right?”

  “Pretty much. Well, after graduation, Trent drifted a little. He worked out at a farm as a hired hand for a little while, and he had a job in town at the hardware store. But what he was mostly known for was drinking and womanizing. He was the original man-whore. Hit on anything in a skirt. We all knew about him, and honestly, he was sort of a joke in town. You know—lonely on a Saturday? You should go to the Road Block and let Trent Wagoner keep you company.”

  “Did you ever . . .?” Smith wagged his eyebrows at me, and I swatted his shoulder.

  “Eww. No. First of all, he’s younger than me, and second, I’m smarter and better than that.”

  Was it my imagination, or did he look a little relieved? “Good to know. Okay, go on.”

  “Early this year, Boomer and Millie’s youngest daughter Jenna turned twenty-one. Her friends all took her out to the Road Block, and of course, they all drank. One thing led to another, and Jenna ended up going home with Trent.”

  “Oh, my God.” Smith looked sick. “Did he . . . was it rape?”

  “Noooo.” I shook my head. “I mean, technically? Jenna wasn’t that drunk. She says it was a decision she made. She was ready to cash in her V-card, and I guess she’d kind of been crushing on Trent for a while. She’d gotten to know him when they both worked at the hardware store, so she thought they were friends. And maybe they were. She said the sex was consensual and that she was fully aware of what she was doing.”

  “But?”

  “But afterward, Trent was—well, he was Trent. He pushed her out the door in the morning, and yeah, he didn’t call her. Jenna’d gotten it in her head that she could change him. So she went back to the Road Block, tried to act like a girlfriend, tried to lure him into a second night together. From what I hear, Trent wasn’t too bad at first, but when Jenna wouldn’t take no, he was . . . brutal. He told her he wasn’t interested, only he said it in much cruder terms.”

  “Ouch.” Smith looked uncomfortable. “God, that’s rough.”

  “Yeah, and it got worse. Nobody knew it, I don’t think, but Jenna was devastated. She’s always been this strong girl, sassy and tough. But this broke her, somehow, and back in April, she tried to commit suicide. Took a bunch of pills, and if Boomer hadn’t stopped home for lunch that day—” A lump rose in my throat as I remembered that horrible day. “By the time Millie got home, it would’ve been too late. As it was, she was in the hospital for a week, and she’s been in therapy ever since.”

  “My God. I can’t even imagine.” Smith rubbed the back of his neck. “It makes me think—you know, I was being straight with you the other night. I don’t do casual hook-ups. But I think of the girls who used to hang around Epsilon, and some of them would get hung up on one guy or another. And we’d laugh. Some of the brothers were mean about it, making fun of them, stringing them along. I never thought what it must’ve been like for those girls.”

  “Yeah. You know what they say about a woman scorned? Sometimes that fury is turned on others, but when it’s turned on herself, it’s even more dangerous.” I thought about my years of loving Smith from afar. Well, not so much afar, maybe. Loving him in silence. There’d been times when I had despaired. When it had felt like I’d never be happy if he didn’t someday love me back.

  “She’s doing better now, though?” Smith reached over to pick up my hand where it lay on my lap. He did it almost absently, like we were an old couple, hanging out on our bed, killing time before one of us went out on a date. Oh, yeah. I was going out with someone else tonight. I gave myself a little shake.

  “Yes, she seems to be. Still, it’s been hard on Millie and Boomer. They’ve always been a close-knit family, all their girls and them, and this has shaken them up. But they’ve circled the wagons and drawn even closer.”

  “That’s good.” Smith held my hand a little tighter, using one finger on the other hand to draw lazy circles on the back of it. “What happened to Trent? Is he still around?”

  “Um.” Distracted by his touch, I couldn’t focus on his words. “No. I mean, he hadn’t really done anything wrong—nothing he hadn’t done before—but Boomer was livid. Nobody messes with his little girl. He threatened Trent, and I think Trent got the message that it’d be a good time to leave town. Last I heard, he was living up in Michigan with his uncle, working on a Christmas tree farm.”

  “Huh. That’s good.” Smith sounded a little distracted himself as he lifted my hand closer to his face. “You’ve got the prettiest fingers, Reen. Long and tapered and beautiful.”

  My face grew warm. “They’re a mess. I never have my nails done, because it’s not worth it when I’m just going to ruin them at work. And they’re not exactly delicate.”

  “Beautiful.” Smith repeated the word, his voice softer and his eyes holding mine. “All the more because of the work they do.” He slid his fingers between mine, caressing me hypnotically. As I watched, he turned my hand over and spread it open, smoothing his fingers over the palm, staring deep into my soul as he raised my hand to his mouth and pressed one perfect, open-mouthed kiss right in the center.

  I was about to melt into a puddle, right there on my bed. Bed. Well, here we were, sitting on my bed, and all I’d have to do was fall back onto the mattress, taking him with me—

  The doorbell rang, the sound intruding rudely on this moment, and I wanted nothing more than to ignore it. To pretend no one was waiting on the other side of my front door, expecting to take me out on a date. I wanted to swing shut the door to my bedroom, push Smith to his back flat on my bed, and straddle his body. And the intensity of his eyes and the way his breath was coming in short bursts made me think maybe, just maybe, he’d be onboard with this plan.

  But the doorbell rang again, this time sounding more insistent if that were possible. Smith sighed, dropped my hand and closed his eyes. “You better go get that.” I couldn’t miss the regret in his voice, and it made me want to happy-dance all over my room.

  I forced myself to stand and somehow made it out of the room, down the hall and through the living room to my front door. I took a deep breath and opened the door.

  Tim Clark stood on the other side, smiling at me. “Hey, Maureen! Phew, I was afraid maybe I had the wrong house. But I saw your truck so I figured it had to be the right place.” He thrust a bouquet of wildflowers into my hands. “Here, these are for you.”

  “Thank you.” I held them to my nose out of habit. “So pretty.” I remembered my manners in time to step back away from the door. “Won’t you come in?”

  “Sure. Wow, this is some place you’ve got here. These old houses just fascinate me. Think of the history they must’ve seen.”

  “Uh-huh.” I led him into the kitchen, where I rooted around in a cabinet to find a vase. “This one was owned by one family until I bought it. I found all kinds of cool stuff when I was moving in.” I ran water into the crystal vase. “You know, like old silverware, letters—well, those I gave to Mrs. Walker, of course. But there are some old carvings in the attic, some of them dated before the War.”

  Tim grinned. “And by war, of course you mean the Civil War. Or wait, what does Gram call it?”

  “Probably the War of Northern Aggression.” I put my hands on my hips and cocked at eyebrow at him. “You’re from Virginia. You should have the same Southern sensibilities as the rest of us.”

  He shook his head. “Northern Virginia, and that’s whole different land. We’re a mishmash of Yankee and rebel. I grew up going to a battlefield on field trips—same battlefield, mind you, but different teachers called it by different names. First grade, Mrs. Somers called it Manassas, and third grade, Ms. Holmes said it was Bull Run.” He shrugged. “You learn to walk the line.”

  I heard footsteps approaching, and my heart sped up. Shit, here it came. Smith ambled into the kitchen, smiling amiably. “Hey, there.” He walked right up to stand in front of me, his body nearly touching mine, as he leaned forward to pick up the v
ase of flowers. “What’s this?”

  “Um.” I swallowed hard. “Uh, Smith, this is Tim. And he brought me flowers. Tim, this is Smith. We’ve been friends since college.”

  “And now we’re partners.” Smith set the flowers back down and stood next to me, hooking his thumb in his jeans. He was close, I swore I could feel the heat of him on my one side.

  “Partners at the clinic.” I added that caveat quickly.

  “And we live together.” Smith smiled down at me, and I shot him daggers.

  “He lives upstairs, in the apartment. I’m his landlord.”

  Tim glanced from me to Smith, a frown between his eyes. “Okay.”

  “By the way, Reen, I turned off the lights in the bedroom after I came out.” He grinned at me, mischief dancing in those bewitching gray eyes. I wanted to swat him.

  “He was . . . Smith was talking to me while I was getting dressed. Getting ready, I mean.” I stumbled over myself to explain to Tim. “I was dressed. I had my clothes on. We were talking about work stuff.”

  Smith, the horrid man, laughed. “Oh, that’s what we’re calling it?”

  “Shut up.” I growled the words between gritted teeth and then smiled brightly at Tim. “Okay, well, that’s enough small talk with Smith, don’t you think? Shall we go?”

  “Uh . . .” Tim’s eyes darted from me to Smith, unsure. “I guess so.” He nodded in Smith’s direction. “Good meeting you, man.”

  “Same here.” Smith leaned over to pump his hand. “Have a great time, you two. I’ll be upstairs, keeping the home fires burning. Oh, and hey, if you want to, uh, hang out after you guys get back, just give me a yell.” He winked at Tim. “You know, Reenie and I love group activities.”

  I wanted to sink into the floor, preferably taking Smith with me so I could beat him senseless. “Let’s go, Tim.” As we exited the kitchen, I looked over my shoulder and leveled a gaze at Smith that promised painful revenge.

  “So I got my masters at NC State, and I worked in a middle school there for a few years. But I really prefer offering therapy to the younger kids. There’s so much we can do for them, when it’s a matter of early intervention.” He smiled a little sheepishly as he took a drink of his wine. “And let’s face it, the littler ones are easier to deal with. Middle school isn’t for the faint-of-heart.”

  “I bet.” I played with the napkin under my own wine glass. Usually, if I were at the Road Block on a Friday night, I’d have had a beer, but when Tim had ordered a glass of white wine, I’d felt obligated to follow suit.

  But other than that, the evening was going well. Tim had asked me a few pointed questions about Smith as we drove to the bar, but when I assured him repeatedly that Smith was not my boyfriend, not my live-in lover and that I most definitely was not on the prowl for a third to join in our threesomes, he seemed to relax a little.

  “How about you? How did you end up a veterinarian?” He leaned forward, creating an intimacy within the noise and bustled of the club.

  “Oh, it was pretty much all I ever wanted to do from the time I was six. My dad was a teacher at the high school, but as you might know, the pay’s not always great. So during the summers, he went back to his first trade, which was masonry. Sometimes I’d go with him on jobs, and one day, he went out to a farm to build a fireplace. While we were there, Dr. Yancey came out to do a calving. He let me watch, and what’s more, he even let me help. And that was it. I was hooked. My dad used to tease that he’d taken me on all those jobs, hoping I’d find a love for the trade, but he thought it’d be his trade, not animal doctoring.” I smiled, my eyes misting a little as I remembered. Dad had been proud of me, always. I’d been a daddy’s girl all my life, and God, how I missed that man.

  “That’s a great story.” Tim reached across and covered my hand. I appreciated the gesture of comfort, but when he touched me, all I could think of was Smith holding my hand earlier, looking at my fingers as though he’d like to lick them. In that dizzy moment, I’d gotten the feeling that he’d have started there and then devoured me, bit by tantalizing bit, and I’d have begged him never to stop.

  “But you never thought of working anywhere else? I mean, Burton’s wonderful and all, but I’d think you’d want to get out and see a little of the world.”

  With no little difficulty, I pulled myself back to the conversation. “Uh, no. I love it here. I left all the world traveling to my brother Flynn. I was away for six years at UGA, and honestly, that was long enough. When they let me come back to do my residency and internship here, I jumped at the chance.” I took a sip of my wine. “But I guess you’ve traveled quite a bit, huh? You’re from Virginia, went to school in North Carolina, and now you’re in Georgia.”

  “Yeah, I haven’t found the perfect place to settle down yet. I love the west coast, though. California’s expensive, but I could live in Seattle or Portland.” He smiled. “Ever been there?”

  I shook my head. “Nope. Doesn’t it rain there all the time?”

  “Not all the time. But it’s a lot cooler than it is in the south. Great neighborhoods, restaurants and shops—and the people are terrific. So much diversity, and freedom of thought. That’d be my dream spot to live.”

  The idea didn’t sound good to me at all. “Really? I like living where I know everyone, or just about. And where they know me. I can go just about anywhere in Burton and run into someone I know. I love that.”

  Tim nodded. “I guess I can see the appeal of that. My grandmother thinks the same way. I never had that, so I don’t really get it.”

  I smothered a sigh. I liked Tim. He was a decent guy, honest as far as I could see, likable, and handsome in a city-boy way. I couldn’t see him getting down on his knees with me in the straw on the floor of a barn as we nursed a sick ewe. Not that I’d done that with Smith, not yet, but I’d seen him with the animals we took care of. He wasn’t afraid of getting dirty if it was in the line of duty. And he sure as hell didn’t think less of me for doing the same.

  We finished eating, sticking to innocuous small talk. It was, I assumed, typical date stuff, but it made me want to squirm. I hated wasting time talking about things that didn’t matter, and it occurred to me that I’d far rather be back home, arguing with Smith, talking about our patients and our shared memories.

  “Do you want to stay for dancing?” Tim rolled up his napkin and tossed it onto the table.

  I hesitated. “If you don’t mind, I’d rather not. I had a really long day, and I’m exhausted. Can I take a rain check?”

  “Sure.” He paid the check and then excused himself to use the men’s room. I leaned my head against the back of the booth and let out a long breath.

  “You doing all right, honey?” I looked up at Mason, who was looming as only he could, arms crossed over his wide chest. “I was keeping my eye on you. Looked like the guy was respectful. I didn’t notice him making any moves on you.” He smirked. “And I don’t know whether to think he’s a moron for not doing it or be glad I don’t have to plant my fist in his face.”

  “God, Mason. You too? Are you on the take from my brother?”

  He shrugged. “No need. I look out for my friends. Which, by the way, I made a new one this afternoon. Met your boy Smith. Nice guy. I invited him around for a beer on the house.”

  “Of course you did,” I muttered. I glanced at Mason. “I heard about that. Also heard you got yourself a new family member, huh?”

  “I did. And I’m a very popular man in my house right now, thanks to Smith. Piper is in love, and Rilla is, too.”

  “Glad to hear it.” I stood up as Tim came back. “Tim, do you know Mason? He’s the owner here. Mason, Tim’s a speech pathologist at the elementary school.”

  The two shook hands, gravely, as only two men could, and then I kissed Mason’s cheek. “Give Rilla and Piper my best. I’ll talk to you later.”

  Tim talked all the way back to my house, telling me stories about his students and making me laugh at the funny things they said and did. I didn�
��t have to say much, which was all right with me.

  When he pulled his car into my driveway, I turned to face him with a smile. “Thanks, Tim, for a lovely evening. And for dinner, of course. It was a lot of fun.”

  “I enjoyed it, too.” He cupped my face with one hand and leaned in to touch his lips to mine, just the slightest brush of a kiss. It happened so fast that I didn’t have time to react, and before I could, he’d pulled back. “I hope we can do it again soon, Maureen. I like you.”

  I stuttered out some words that I hoped made some kind of sense, smiled in a way that probably made me look like an imbecile, and almost fell out of the car when I opened the door. I managed to climb the porch steps and get inside without falling flat on my face.

  “So, that went well.”

  I jumped and nearly screeched when Smith spoke. “God, what’s your problem? What’re you doing in my house?”

  “I was under the impression that this was my house, too.” He was sprawled on my sofa, legs spread wide, hands behind his head as he regarded me.

  “And right there’s where you’re wrong. This is my house. I let you live upstairs, but now you’re invading my space.” I kicked at his foot. “And I’m mad at you.”

  He affected an air of innocence. “Why would you be mad at me? I’ve done nothing but helped you get ready, been friendly to your date, made you chocolate chip cookies and cleaned up the kitchen. I’m a freakin’ gem, Evans. You should be much nicer to me.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You gave Tim the wrong impression about us. I spent the entire drive to the Road Block convincing my date that you and I are just friends and that you weren’t trying to proposition him to have a three-way with us. Strangely enough, that’s not how I like to start out a date.”

  Smith grinned. “Did you miss the part where I made you cookies?”