And the more she stayed here, the more the lake house felt like home.
“The view is really stunning,” Jesse agreed, although his eyes weren’t on the lake.
Kat laughed. “Butter me up all you want, Chef Boyardee. We’re still finishing the yard today.”
“You sure about that, Just Kat?” He dropped his mouth to her neck, skimming one palm up her midriff to rest just below the curve of her breast.
“Definitely.” Probably. Maybe. Okay, so it wouldn’t be the first time he’d coaxed her inside for an early lunch break. But come on, no woman with half a mind and a pulse could resist Jesse’s charms.
And right now, he was really. Really. Charming.
“Okay, okay,” Jesse said, placing one last kiss on her mouth before pulling back, and Kat resisted the urge to either whimper or—better yet—yank him back to make good on his unspoken suggestion. “Speaking of the yard, I got you something while I was out.”
“You did?” Her chin lifted in surprise. “I thought you were just going to Brooks Nursery for mulch.”
“I was, and I did.” He beckoned her down the deck steps, onto the weathered stone path leading to the front of the house. “But I kind of changed our last project a little. I hope that’s okay.”
“Of course it’s okay.” They’d put equal stock in every project they’d tackled, and over the last two weeks, Jesse’s enthusiasm had outmuscled even his work ethic. Trusting him was a no-brainer. Although . . . “I’ve got to admit, I’m dying to know how you switched up a bunch of compost and mulch. The only thing we have left is the garden bed, and it’s too late in the season to do anything other than cover the plot.”
“Actually, that’s not true.” Jesse tipped his head toward the Challenger sitting in the gravel drive. “See, Owen Brooks helped me load the mulch into the trunk, and we got to talking about the garden.”
But rather than head to the trunk in question, Jesse unlocked the passenger door, flipping the seat forward to reach into the backseat. He continued, “Turns out, there are tons of things you can plant as bulbs in the fall. You cover them up just like normal, with the compost and mulch. Then in the spring . . .” He paused, handing over a giant bag full of bulbs. “Instant garden.”
Kat’s mouth fell open. “You brought me a garden?”
“Sort of.” Jesse shrugged, his shoulders gliding naturally upward before settling into a relaxed angle beneath his long-sleeved thermal T-shirt. “Owen gave me a couple of pointers on what people normally plant together. Tulips and daffodils, stuff like that. But I figured you might like these better. I’m not really sure if they’ll count as a garden, but at least they’ll be yours.”
“Chionodoxa . . . mixed ranunculus . . . Persian fritillary . . .” Kat read the labels on the packages, one by one. “This has to be the most offbeat assortment of flowers known to man.”
Jesse pulled another bag from the backseat, giving her a sheepish grin. “That’s exactly what Owen said. I’m pretty sure he thought I was nuts.” He dropped his gaze to the bulbs in her arms, his grin slipping a notch. “If you want, we can trade them in for something different, though. I know you’re really particular about what goes into your space. I just thought—”
“I love them,” Kat blurted. She knew it was crazy—they’d done a dozen projects together, for Pete’s sake. But this one felt personal, sweet and secure and perfect for the lake house. Perfect for her. Perfect for them.
And Kat didn’t want to leave this feeling behind when her apartment was done.
She lowered the bag in her arms gently to the driveway. Crossing the gravel, she twined her arms around Jesse’s shoulders, finding it all too easy to get lost in his kiss.
“I love them,” she repeated.
But as they parted, picking up bulbs and planning where to put the flowers, Kat knew that the garden wasn’t the only thing she was falling for.
Chapter Nine
Jesse stood in front of his work station at the Double Shot, waiting for Adrian to pull the incoming ticket from the queue so he could prep the next round of meals and be one step closer to getting home to the lake house for the night. He and Kat had some touch-up work to do on the trim in her living room, and once they were done, he’d have just enough time to match it with some work in the bedroom.
“Orders in! I’ve got a cracked peppercorn burger, medium rare, and an order of sliders with extra slaw on the side.” Adrian paused to flip his cell phone into one hand while putting the tickets on the board with the other. “And, Jesse?”
“Yeah?” he asked, pulling a pair of plates from the rack at his work station.
Adrian’s smile was a flash of teeth amidst stubble, slow and cocky. “Teagan says Kat’s at the bar for you. She says, and I quote, ‘I’m going home to eat mac and cheese from a box if you don’t hook me up with something better.’ End quote.”
Jesse laughed, and his desire to leave for the night disappeared in a single snap. “Tell Teagan to tell Kat I’ve got her back, but she’s going to pay for the low blow.” He added a third plate to his work space, already ticking through a handful of possibilities for her dinner.
Adrian leaned down to the lowboy at his knees to unearth a tray of burger patties with a quick slide. “Kat’s been here a lot lately. You guys getting serious or what?”
Just like that, his mood went as sour as forgotten milk at the back of the fridge. “No,” he bit out, a little too loud and a lot too gruff to be normal. But as incredible as being around Kat had felt for the last three weeks, as soon as their apartments were ready, they’d leave the lake house and go back to business as usual.
They had to. Because he knew how much she ached for a place to belong, a true home that would last.
And no matter how much he wanted to, Jesse wasn’t good enough to deliver.
Adrian’s dark brows took the slingshot route toward the brim of his Harley-Davidson baseball hat, but he didn’t slow up on his movements at the grill. “No disrespect, slick, but are you sure about that? It’s obvious you dig her, and she seems like a pretty cool girl.”
“That’s kind of the problem. She’s about a thousand miles out of my league.” Jesse hauled in a breath, forcing himself to focus on the food rather than the bolt of unease making a vacation home out of his gut.
Of course Adrian, being Adrian, turned toward him with an I-don’t-think-so frown. “It doesn’t matter if she’s Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile, dude. If you like her, you like her. And obviously, she likes you.”
“It’s more complicated than that,” Jesse argued, but Adrian popped right back.
“Only if you make it that way.”
Jesse’s head jacked around as he froze to the kitchen tiles, and holy shit, he’d never seen Adrian look so serious or sound so spot-on. “What?”
Adrian put his hands up, letting his gaze follow to the ceiling as if to welcome Jesse to the land of thinking like a non-idiot. “I said, how you feel about Kat is only complicated if you make it that way.” He crossed the space between the grill and Jesse’s work station, lifting two of the three plates into his hands. “I’ve seen the way she looks at you, man, and I’m here to tell you, the only person who thinks you’re out of her league is you. Do you like her?”
“Yeah.” The word was out of Jesse’s mouth before he’d even realized his lips had formed it, and the glimmer of hope it left there tasted just as good as it felt.
“And you want to be with her.”
Jesse nodded, more possibility breaking free in his chest. “Every damn day.”
“Well then, do me a favor, would you? Make your woman some dinner and get the hell out of here so you can tell her so. And, slick?” Adrian paused to send a hard glare over one shoulder as he moved back toward the grill. “If I ever find out you let her eat mac and cheese from a box, so help me God, I’ll put you on dishes for a fucking month. Now go.”
Mind reeling, Jesse turned around, grabbing the lone plate from his work station. He might not have had a great
family life, might not have a college degree or be too polished around the edges.
But being with Kat felt right and easy and good, better than he’d felt since coming home, or ever, really. Maybe—just maybe—if he cared for her in his own way, that would be good enough.
“Okay then,” Jesse whispered, setting the plate over the narrow counter space next to the dessert fridge. Caring for her meant going all in, and he was going to do it the best way he knew how. A minute’s worth of slice and scoop later, he lifted the finished dish to turn toward the dining room.
“You made Kat a double-decker brownie à la mode for dinner?” Adrian asked from his spot at the pass-through, but Jesse just nodded. Anyone else would think the dish was crazy.
Which was exactly why it was perfect for her.
“Yup. I’m keeping it simple,” Jesse said, his boots clacking a direct line to the door leading to the dining room. It took the requisite handful of blinks for his eyes to get used to the much dimmer lighting of the bar area, and he scanned the stretch of mahogany from curve to curve in search of Kat’s honey-blond curls and her heart-on-her-sleeve grin.
He came up completely empty.
“Hey, Annabelle.” Jesse snagged the waitress’s attention as she hustled to the drink stand to pour a couple of sodas. “Have you seen Kat? Teagan said she was out here, waiting for dinner.”
“Sure have, sugar. She’s right over there, talking to some guy who just came in.” Annabelle gestured vaguely toward the front of the dining room. “Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure I heard him ask about you too. Something about your apartments being ready?”
Jesse’s stance went from fluid to full attention in less than two seconds. “What?”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t get the full scoop before he started talking to Kat. But they’re right over there at table 3.”
Jesse lasered his focus across the dining room, his grip reaching white-knuckle status on the plate in his hands.
Kat was sitting across from their landlord, Mr. Watkins, beaming an ear-to-ear grin that shot Jesse’s gut full of holes.
He managed a hollow thanks to Annabelle, forcing the motion of his legs to make up for the lack of rational thought in his brain. But the closer he got to the table, the easier it was to see Kat’s happiness.
And the more he realized how badly she wanted a place to belong. And that he couldn’t be the one to give it to her.
“Hey! There you are.” Kat’s smile amped even brighter, and she gestured to the empty seat next to her. “Why don’t you sit down for a minute? Mr. Watkins has some amazing news.”
Jesse’s throat tightened. “I can’t. I’ve got to run this to another table and get back to the kitchen.” He dropped his stare to the plate in his hands. Christ, had he really thought he’d be able to win a woman like Kat with a frigging brownie and some ice cream?
“Oh.” Her expression slipped, and Jesse found himself knotted in another round of way-to-go-jackass.
Thankfully, Mr. Watkins chose that moment to speak up. “Well, I certainly don’t want to keep you too long. I came to let you know your apartment is ready any time you’d like to move back in. Quite the stroke of luck that Miss McMarrin happened to be here too.”
“Mr. Watkins was just telling me about some of the changes to the apartments,” Kat said, and the excitement rebuilding on her pretty face took another jab at his chest.
“Ah, well, yes.” Mr. Watkins smiled. “The management team and I decided it was past time to make some renovations. Aside from the obvious repairs to the entire plumbing system, we upgraded the flooring throughout both apartments to include hardwoods. The kitchens and bathrooms now have lovely ceramic tile. We think you’ll find the floor plans a bit more modern and accommodating as well.”
Jesse’s shoulders pulsed and squeezed. “You changed the floor plans?”
“Well, in some units more than others. For example, we were able to add a considerable amount of useable living space to Miss McMarrin’s apartment by streamlining some of the old utility space. It’s brand new from top to bottom.”
“Sounds like it’s perfect,” Jesse said, hating how much he meant it.
“Jesse—” Kat started, but he cut her off with a brisk shake of his head.
“Thanks for letting me know about the apartment, Mr. Watkins. I’ll move back in first thing in the morning.”
Kat wrapped her arms around her shoulders, pulling the long sleeves of her sweater over her knuckles to ward off the chill of the breeze coming in off the lake. Although the cup of tea that sat on the porch boards by her feet had long since grown cold, she picked it up anyway, cradling it between her hands as if she could recapture the heat that had been lost.
Nope. No dice. Just like the last three times she’d tried.
When Mr. Watkins had shown up a few hours ago at the Double Shot with the news of her apartment being done, at first Kat had been a little torn. But the last month had taught her that the lake house would always be here for her, with room for her brother and his family too. With the new added space to her apartment, there was plenty of room for two. Just because she and Jesse could leave the lake house didn’t mean their time together had to end. They could belong in both places. Together.
Only he clearly hadn’t seen it that way.
Or worse yet, he’d seen it exactly that way. And he still wanted to leave.
The growl of the Challenger pulled her from her thoughts with a merciless yank, and she straightened against her Adirondack chair. Her palms went damp against the ceramic mug still cradled in her grasp, and she stood to place it on the railing just as Jesse came up the walk.
“What are you doing out here?” he asked, both his voice and his expression unreadable in the shadows.
Despite the breath shaking through her lungs, Kat stood her ground. “I’m waiting for you. You seemed pretty upset after we saw Mr. Watkins earlier, and then you didn’t answer my texts. I was worried.”
“Sorry.” The silhouette outline of Jesse’s shoulders tightened in the faint porch light. “The kitchen got really busy. Anyway, I’m not upset.”
“You’re not.” The words came out doubtful, and damn it, Jesse stiffened even further.
“No. We both knew this was going to happen, that our apartments were going to be done any day now and we’d go back to business as usual.”
Her heart began to slam against her rib cage, and she crossed her arms in an effort to cover it up. “Is that what you want?”
“It’s what has to happen, Kat.” He stepped in toward her, his voice flat and cold. “Why do you think I said no promises?”
“But we said that in the beginning,” she argued, gesturing to the yard around them. “Things are different now.”
“No. They’re not.”
The words pierced all the way through her, stunning her so thoroughly, it was all she could do to breathe. “What?”
Jesse stabbed his boots into the path, his eyes unmoving on hers as the emotion he’d clearly been trying to keep at bay finally got loose. “Don’t you get it? You’re my buddy’s sister—a colonel’s daughter, for Chrissake, with a goddamn Stanford degree. You’re different and beautiful and perfect, and even though I’m trying like hell to fight it, I want everything about you. But we can’t be together, not in the long run. You deserve better. Better than an Army grunt who never had a family. Better than a guy who couldn’t save his friends. Better than someone who would keep you from the home you want. The home you deserve.”
Tears burned in Kat’s eyes, breaching her lids as she said, “But I don’t want anyone else. I only want you.”
For a second, Jesse paused, sending a sweet flash of hope through her chest. But then his eyes found the house behind her, standing silent and still at her back, and he shook his head as he stepped onto the path again.
“I’m sorry, Kat.”
A minute later, he was gone.
Chapter Ten
Jesse rubbed the back of his neck for two sol
id minutes before coming to the realization that the thudding ache in his muscles had no intention of letting go. Served him right for sleeping on Brennan’s futon.
But it had been his only option other than the lake house, and returning to get his stuff when Kat wasn’t going to be there would be bad enough. Even if it would take him maybe thirty minutes to pack everything, down to his last fork.
He made the turn off Rural Route 4, shielding his eyes from the late-morning sun as he guided the Challenger up the gravel drive to the lake house. Kat’s car was noticeably absent, just as Jesse had assumed it would be at eleven-thirty on a Tuesday morning.
Gabe’s pickup truck, however, was front and center in the driveway.
“Hey, man.” His buddy’s smile seemed normal enough, and he greeted Jesse with a handshake as Jesse slammed his driver’s side door. “Don’t they give you breaks down at that restaurant of yours? You look like you slept in your clothes.”
Jesse ran a hand over his rumpled Double Shot T-shirt, trying to hide the absolute truth of Gabe’s words. “Ah, last night was just a rough one.” He swallowed hard over the massive understatement, tipping his head toward the sun-dappled yard. “So what brings you all the way out here?”
Gabe hooked his thumbs through the belt loops on his jeans, kicking one boot over the other as he leaned against the tailgate of his truck. “I was wondering when you were going to tell me what’s going on between you and my sister.”
All of Jesse’s air slammed to a stop in his lungs. “She told you?”
“Nope. But you just did.”
Shit. Shit. Nothing about this could end well. “I can explain,” Jesse started, but Gabe cut him off with just a bright blue flick of his eyes.
“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll spare me the details. I had a suspicion something was going on when I was up here a couple of weeks ago and you two were dancing around each other like a Broadway musical. But then I let myself in to drop off those supplies to fix her leaky faucet, and imagine my surprise to find half your wardrobe on the floor next to her bed. I get that you’re consenting adults.” A muscle twitched, low and hard, over Gabe’s jaw as the words slid out. “But Kat’s my little sister.”
Just One Taste Page 9
