He gripped her hips and held tight. Kiera’s mind went numb at the feel of his hardness pressed against her pulsing center. She drove her tongue into his mouth over and over again; the need to have him—all of him—was so intense her limbs shook with it.
Kiera locked her right leg behind his left knee. She flattened her palms on his backside and clutched him, her fingernails impaling him through his jeans.
Trey picked her up, turned her around…and crashed right into a cart of utensils. Spoons, tongs, and several extremely sharp knives fell to the floor.
“Holy shit,” Trey said, looking down at the mess on the floor.
Kiera blinked several times, trying to find her bearings after the mind-blowing kiss. She registered the sound of shoes squeaking on the linoleum flooring.
“Macy.” Kiera pushed away from him just before her assistant came barging through the swinging doors.
“Is everything okay?” Macy asked.
“It’s fine,” Kiera said. She dropped to the scattered utensils. “Uh, these will…uh…need to be steam cleaned.”
If they hadn’t stopped when they had, this whole place would need to be steam cleaned.
Kiera looked up to find Macy staring at her with a shrewd tilt to her lips. Her too-perceptive-for-her-own-damn-good assistant was not fooled.
“How is the praline topping for the bread pudding coming?” Kiera asked.
“Just fine,” Macy said.
“You want to get back to it?”
Macy looked as if she was on the verge of speaking, but decided against it. She simply turned and headed back through the swinging doors.
Kiera’s head fell forward as her entire body went limp with relief. “That cannot happen again,” she said.
Even as she said the words her brain fought back with protests. Not only did she want that to happen again, but she wanted it to happen over and over and over. Until they were both naked and barely breathing.
Kiera couldn’t suppress the shudder that quaked through her.
“Maybe it shouldn’t have happened here,” Trey said.
“It shouldn’t have happened at all.” She braced her hands on her thighs and pushed herself up. “From the minute I decided to hire you I promised myself I would not let being around you affect me.”
“I hate to break it to you, Slim, but you made yourself a promise you won’t be able to keep. There’s too much history between us.”
“Oh, no. I’m keeping it,” she said. She pointed a finger at him. “As long as you keep your word. Since when did stealing kisses in the middle of the day become acceptable professional behavior?”
“I thought we went over this already? I didn’t steal anything. You could have told me to stop any time.”
“You never should have started it.” She cradled her head in her hands and dropped her chin to her chest. “I knew hiring you would be trouble.”
Trey took her chin between his fingers and lifted her face up to his. “Trouble can be a whole lot of fun,” he said. He traced the pad of his thumb along her bottom lip, which still felt bruised from their intense kiss. “Don’t you remember how much fun it used to be, Slim? If you don’t, there are several things I can do to jog your memory.”
Another shudder went through her. In a pained voice, Kiera said, “You’re not making this easy, Trey.”
“What?”
“Resisting you.”
“Now why would I want to make that easy for you?” he murmured against her cheek.
“Don’t,” she said. She flattened both palms against his chest and tried to shove him away, but she didn’t put an ounce of force behind it. “I told you we weren’t going to do this.”
“Yeah, but you weren’t very convincing, especially when you sucked my tongue into your mouth.”
“Move,” she said, pushing with more force this time.
Kiera prayed he’d give in, because if he tried to kiss her again, she knew she would cave.
After several intense moments where Kiera was sure he would lay claim to her mouth once again, he backed away, giving her some much needed space. He returned to the plate with her recipe samples, taking several more bites before washing it down with the citrus-flavored drink she’d given him.
Kiera gaped at him. “Seriously?”
“What?” he asked, wiping his hands on the back of his jeans.
“After all that just happened, you go back to eating?”
“I’m not letting this food go to waste.”
She threw her hands up and blew out an aggravated breath. “Why would I expect anything different from you?”
“Hey, you’re the one who put the breaks on,” he said. “If I had to choose between finishing what we started and finishing the food, this shrimp stuff isn’t what I would be eating right now, but you took that choice out of my hands.”
Heat engulfed her as his words conjured an image that had Kiera needing a cold shower this very instant. She cursed her body’s reaction to him.
Dammit, she knew better than this. She couldn’t allow herself to be swept away by his decadent kisses, because once he was done with the renovation and hightailed it away from Maplesville again, she would be left trying to recover from the whirlwind that was Trey Watson.
“I’ve got work to do,” Kiera said, spinning around and marching in the direction of the industrial coolers. She yanked hard on the door and cursed again when she felt her shoulder twinge. Injuring herself would be the icing on the cake.
“I’m not going to apologize for kissing you,” Trey said from just a few feet behind her. “Because I’m sure as hell not sorry about it. But I shouldn’t have crossed that line, especially after promising you I wouldn’t.”
Her head fell forward. “I shouldn’t have let you,” she whispered.
But she did.
Not only had she let him cross that line, she’d been just as into that kiss as he was. Kiera could deny it all she wanted to, but her body had resonated with want with every thrust of his tongue. She still wanted him. Badly.
There was a knock on the door just before it swung open. Macy peeked inside.
“Kiera, the warehouse just called. The deep fryer is in. Are you still planning to drive out to Slidell to get it, or do you want them to deliver it? There’s an extra charge.”
“I can pick it up,” Trey said. “I have to go out there to buy the materials for the floors.” He paused for a second before he said, “But you should come with me. I need your input on the light fixtures.”
“I…I can’t…” Be in the same car with you. “I can’t leave Macy to handle prepping for tonight’s catering job on her own.”
“Oh, I forgot to tell you,” Macy said. “Tiana and Nicholas are both coming in early. There was a busted water main near Delgado’s campus, so all the culinary school’s afternoon classes were cancelled. We can handle tonight’s job.”
Kiera turned back to Trey.
He held his hands up. “You’re the one on the tight deadline.”
“He’s right,” Macy called as she backed out of the doorway. “Think Kiera’s Kickin’ Kajun.”
Unease coursed down Kiera’s spine, but she couldn’t come up with a plausible excuse not to join him. “Let me get my purse.”
The grin that formed on Trey’s lips kicked her trepidation into high gear. “I’ll meet you at my truck.”
***
In the two minutes it took to grab her purse from her office, Kiera contemplated following Trey in her own car at least a half dozen times. Being confined in a small space with that man for thirty-five minutes had trouble written all over it. And after the brief taste of trouble she’d just had, she doubted she had the will to resist him for much longer.
No other man had ever affected her the way he had. And still did.
She walked outside and stopped short.
Good Lord. Sometimes one just had to take a step back and give gorgeousness its due.
Trey stood just outside the open passenger door of h
is truck, talking on his cellphone. He’d slipped on dark aviator sunglasses, which only made him a thousand times hotter. He looked downright edible, his brown skin even and flawless, a five o’clock shadow making its presence known even though it wasn’t even two o’clock yet.
He was all hard planes and defined sinew. She remembered just what it felt like to have those arms, corded with well-honed muscles, wrapped around her; to have his lean, powerful hips wedged between her thighs as his hard body drove deep.
God, but she wanted him.
God, but she was stupid.
And a glutton for punishment. And horny as hell.
The only man she’d slept with in the past year was Garrett, and that selfish bastard wouldn’t care if she came even if she begged him for it, which she’d often had to do. Not as if it ever made a difference.
Trey would care.
That was yet another thing she remembered all too well. It didn’t matter if it was a five-minute quickie in the cab of his dad’s old truck, or hours of making love in his bed. Trey had always made certain her needs were met before he even thought about finding his own release.
Kiera was suddenly gripped with a yearning so deep, so strong, she ached with it. Why did something that had been so good have to end so badly?
“Are you ready?” Trey called, pocketing his cellphone.
Willing those remembered urges to remain right where she’d left them—in the past—she nodded and continued for his truck.
“The lumber yard has everything I need in stock.” He stepped aside so she could climb into the passenger seat. “They’re getting the order together now. It’ll be ready to load into my truck by the time we get there.”
“Will my fryer fit?” Kiera asked.
“It should fit in the rear of the cab, but if it doesn’t I can drive back to Slidell for it. I just found out that my night is free.” She looked at him with a raised brow. “I was supposed to have the kids, but Donald’s company has some kind of movie night thing. I can’t compete with a movie and free popcorn.”
“Donald?”
“My ex Angie’s new husband.” He shut her door and rounded the truck. After slipping behind the wheel, he turned the radio to a sports talk station before pulling onto the roadway.
Kiera had been fighting the urge to ask about his ex-wife all week. She’d told him she didn’t want to know more, and at the time, she didn’t, but lately, all she could think about was the woman who had managed to turn the baddest of bad boys into a responsible adult.
After several minutes, Kiera couldn’t take it anymore. She dialed down the volume on the radio and turned slightly in her seat.
“Tell me about Angie.” Okay, not as subtle as she was going for.
Trey glanced her way. “What do you want to know?”
Why was she good enough to marry and not me?
“Just…you know…stuff. When did you two meet?”
He steered one-handed while rubbing the back of his neck with the other hand.
“I can beat around the bush with a bunch of bullshit small talk, or I can give it to you straight. Your choice, Slim.”
“Straight, please.”
He released a ragged breath before continuing. “I met Angie at a bar in Houston. After a few minutes of talking we discovered that we’d both just suffered through one of the shittiest days of our lives, so we decided to hang out for a while.”
“A misery loves company kind of thing?”
“Basically. We both had too much to drink, went back to her place, and made the twins that very same night.”
Her throat suddenly felt uncomfortably tight, probably from the jealousy and hurt lodged in there.
“Wow,” she said after a beat. “You don’t play around, do you?”
“I was stupid and irresponsible, but as you know, that was pretty much my mode of operation back then. I soon found out that Angie wasn’t the type of girl you picked up in a bar, got pregnant, and then left high and dry.” He frowned. “Actually, no girl should be that kind of girl, but back then I was only thinking about myself.”
“What made Angie different from ‘that kind of girl?’”
He shrugged, drumming his thumbs on the steering wheel. “She was from a good family. Her dad is a college professor, her mom was a regional director of a bank before she retired.” He glanced at her. “As you can probably imagine, I wasn’t exactly the kind of guy they pictured their daughter marrying. Honestly, when I asked her to marry me, I was certain she would say no.”
“But she didn’t.”
“No, actually, she did. She turned me down more than once, because I wasn’t the kind of guy a girl like her would ever marry. But I kept asking.” He shook his head. “I don’t know, I guess I was just fed up with being the guy that was never good enough.”
A painful ache pierced Kiera’s chest. She knew there were many people who’d made him feel that way, some of them were her own family members.
After several moments of uneasy silence, Kiera asked, “What made her eventually say yes?”
“She started getting pressure from her family. In their world, being married to a lowlife auto mechanic was better than being an unwed mother.”
Kiera flinched at the bitterness in his tone.
“We tried to make it work,” he continued. “But it was doomed from the start.”
“You said you two were married for over ten years. Sounds as if it worked for a while.”
“A testament to how much shit Angie was willing to put up with.” He looked over at her. “I was a lousy husband, Kiera. I begged Angie to marry me then resented the fact that I was tied down. I couldn’t tell you how many times I left her alone with the kids so I could go out with the guys, or hung around the garage after work so I wouldn’t have to go home. She has every right to hate me, but she’s never allowed any bad feelings she holds toward me to get between me and my kids.”
She paused for a moment, then in a softer voice, asked, “Do you regret getting married?”
He glanced in the rearview mirror, then adjusted the air conditioning vents. Finally, he said, “I resented it, but I can’t bring myself to regret it. If I say my marriage was a mistake, then I’m saying my children were a mistake.” He shook his head. “I’ve done some shitty things in my life, Slim, but RJ and Rachel, they’re the best two things in the world. They deserve a dad that’s worthy of them.”
She twisted a bit more toward him, bringing one leg up on the seat. She propped her elbow against the headrest and rested her cheek in her palm. She studied him for several moments before asking, “What makes you think you’re not worthy of them?”
Trey glanced in the rearview mirror again before pulling into the right lane and passing a semi-tractor trailer.
“Things are getting better between us,” he said once they were back in the left lane. “But it wasn’t always that way. It took me a while to realize that there’s a lot more to being a parent than just making sure your kids have food on the table and a roof over their heads. Just being a provider isn’t enough. I want to actually be there for them.”
Unlike his own father.
He didn’t say the words, but Kiera could tell he was thinking them. By the time they started dating Trey’s dad had already been dead a few years, but she had managed to get Trey to open up about their rocky relationship. The stories he’d told her about the way his dad would leave for days at a time, and how things were even worse when he did stick around, made Kiera appreciate the short eleven years she’d had with her own father that much more.
After a moment, she asked, “What about the twins’ stepdad?”
He shrugged. “I tried not to like him, but then I realized it was a knee-jerk reaction to the fact that someone else was helping to raise my kids. Donald’s a good guy. He’s a better husband to Angie than I ever was, and he never tries to one-up me when it comes to the kids. It’s actually a pretty good situation, probably better than I deserve.”
Kiera studied hi
m from across the cab of the truck. She’d thought of him way too much over the years, wondering what had become of him, what kind of life he was leading. His reality was so vastly different from anything she had imagined. He was no longer the hell raiser; he was a dad.
“I like this more mature and responsible Trey,” she finally said.
A cocky smile lifted the corner of his mouth, and despite his sunglasses, she knew his eyes were sparkling with laughter just from the way they creased at the corners.
“Bet you never thought I’d come back to Maplesville a brand new man.”
“Actually, I never thought you’d come back at all. When you left, I thought it was for good.”
He looked over at her, soberness replacing the humor of a moment ago. “If anyone could bring me back home, Slim, it’s you.”
His solemnly spoken words caused a ripple of awareness to flutter through her chest and settle low in her belly.
Kiera damned that feeling to hell, yet she couldn’t deny the pleasure stirring inside of her at the realization that she had the power to bring Trey back to Maplesville.
But she was also the reason he’d left in the first place. He left her. That’s what she needed to remember.
Kiera knew she should keep her distance from him, but it was getting harder by the minute. At one time this man owned every inch of her heart, and after the kiss they’d shared back in her kitchen her stupid heart was just begging to be claimed again.
She was in so much trouble.
They arrived at the lumberyard, and just as was promised, there was a worker with a pallet of plywood and boards ready to load into the bed of Trey’s truck.
As the lumber they’d purchased was wrapped in a blue tarp and secured with rope in the back of the truck, she picked out fluorescent light panels and listened as Trey debated the merits of adding spotlights over the prep station.
He picked up a couple of other things he needed, then they headed for the restaurant supply warehouse, which was just down the street from the lumberyard.
Just A Little Taste Page 6
