Evelyn and Lexi talk for the next ten minutes about the organization before Evelyn stands. “Well, let’s check it out, shall we?”
Lexi and Reed stand, and I realize I’ve missed where we’re going, reminiscing. Evelyn leads the way, and I follow Lexi down a hall toward the back of the house. The walls are filled with more photographs.
One in particular pulls me closer. The photo is of a girl who looks like she’s about eight with blonde curls and blue eyes. Her face is too thin, but it’s her eyes that suck me in. She looks so haunted and beaten down. The girl looks so much like me in third grade that I freeze.
“Caroline?” Lexi asks.
I glance away from the photo and notice the three of them watching me.
Chapter Nine
“I’m sorry. Did you ask me a question?” My voice shakes.
Evelyn gestures to the wall. “I said that I see you’re drawn to the photos. Our charity has helped children all over middle Tennessee for over two decades. We’ve collected photos over the years.”
The blood rushes from my head. We’ve helped children all over middle Tennessee. “How far south does your assistance extend?”
“A little past Shelbyville.”
The truth hits me square in the face. The girl in the photo is me.
Evelyn and Lexi continue down the hall, but I stumble backward into Reed’s chest, and he catches my elbow. “Are you okay?”
I nod, but I can’t stop staring at the photograph.
“You look like you’re about to get sick.” His voice softens, with only a hint of gruffness.
I feel lightheaded, but I refuse to let him, of all people, see me flustered. “I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine.”
“I’m—”
Reed steps in front of me and looks toward the back of the house. “Caroline is fascinated with the photographs so we’re going to examine them for a minute or so. We’ll follow you in a moment.”
Lexi turns and gives us a curious glance.
“Are you sure?” Evelyn asks. “I’d be happy to wait.”
“You go ahead,” Reed says. “I know how eager Lexi is to see the tutoring center.”
“Yes, that’s right.” Lexi chimes in.
“Well, if you’re sure….” Evelyn seems unconvinced.
“Have I mentioned how excited I am to meet some of the children we’ll be helping?” Lexi takes Evelyn’s arm and leads her out the back door.
Reed’s lowered voice interrupts my thoughts. “Caroline, do you want to sit down or get some fresh air?”
I want to tell him neither, but the photo has shaken me up more than I want to admit. I need to catch my breath. “Outside.”
He leads me out the front door and to a chair on the porch. I’m embarrassed when I sit and clutch the sides of the chair. Why am I reacting this way? I’ve put my past behind me. That little girl in the photo isn’t me, not anymore. Perhaps it’s my mother’s phone call on top of the uncertainty about my future, but the once-familiar feelings of hopelessness and desperation claw their way to my consciousness. They’ve been buried for so long that they burst forth in a frenzied panic and I fight to regain control.
To his credit, Reed doesn’t ask questions, and he doesn’t hover either. He stands on the other side of the porch, his hand on the railing as he watches the traffic. His dark brown hair blows in the breeze, and his cheeks pinken from the air that has turned colder in the short time we’ve been outside. As if he reads my train of thought, he slips off his jacket and moves toward me, placing it over my shoulders.
My mouth drops. “Reed, you don’t—”
“I know you find this difficult to believe, but I am capable of being a gentleman.”
“I….” but I stop.” I don’t have the energy to argue with him. “Reed, you don’t have to give me your jacket. I’m fine.”
“You’re shivering, and I’m from Boston. I’m used to the cold. This is nothing.”
I’m shivering but it’s not entirely from the cold. This is the first time in three years I’ve come face to face with my past, and I’m not handling it well. I’m not as strong as I think I am. That alone is unnerving. I fall silent, surprised when Reed continues to stand next to me.
He clears his throat, keeping his eyes on the street. “Most people would ask you what’s wrong or what happened to make you react this way, but you and I hardly know one another, and after some of our recent interactions, it seems presumptuous to ask.” He shifts his weight. “When you’re ready to join Lexi and Ms. Marshall, we’ll go. Until then, I’ll wait with you.”
His voice is gentle, and I’m grateful he doesn’t pry. I wondered how I would explain if he asked about my reaction, so now I’m off the hook. But for some reason, I’m worried about what he thinks. Why I’m worried what Reed Pendergraft thinks is beyond me.
After a minute of convincing myself that the past really is locked behind me, I stand, grateful I’m now steady on my feet. “I’m ready.”
He nods and opens the front door. I stop in the doorway and look up into his face, prepared to thank him. But instead, my breath catches, and my heart begins to race. His eyes are a rich shade of dark chocolate. My gaze lowers to the curve of his jaw and then over to his mouth. I resist the urge to reach up and run my finger along his bottom lip, no matter how tempting it is. His dress shirt stretches across his broad shoulders and for a brief second I wonder what he looks like underneath his clothes. I’m lost in my daze, but somewhere in the back of my head, something tells me that touching him would be a bad idea. I just can’t remember why.
His mouth parts as his breath shallows. I find myself leaning closer to him before I get a grip. Then I remember why caressing Reed Pendergraft’s lips is a bad idea. He’s an asshole.
This man makes me look like a fool for sport.
I take a step back. “Good try with the nice-guy routine.”
Annoyance flickers in his eyes, and his jaw hardens. “Are you going to ogle me all day or can we rejoin the others?”
I walk past him into the hallway, grateful for the rush of anger that replaces the lust, despite the fact that my nerve endings are on fire. “Ogle you? Don’t let your fantasies slip into reality, Reed.”
“Fantasies? You think I’d fantasize about you?”
I refuse to physically react to his putdown even if it stings and reminds me of last Friday night. I try to get away, but he blocks my path, his eyes blazing.
My hormones kick into high gear, sending a fresh wave of lust through my blood, even stronger than before. “You shouldn’t make it so obvious, Reed.” I taunt him.
He moves closer, forcing me to step backward toward the wall, anger burning in his eyes.
“We both know you want me.” My voice is husky and sounds foreign to my ears. I’ve never so wantonly tried to seduce a man before. Good southern girls aren’t the seducers. They’re the seducees.
“Don’t flatter yourself, Caroline.” But he moves closer, his voice lowering.
I’m not sure why I’m tormenting him this way. The truth is I’m tormenting myself just as much if not more. My back is pressed against the wall, a picture frame digging into my shoulder blade, but I stare up into his eyes, wanting him more than I’ve ever wanted anyone.
His hands are on the wall on either side of me, and he leans closer, his mouth inches from mine. He’s agonizingly close, and I wonder if he’s planning to tease me again like our near-kiss on the dance floor. But just when I’m sure he’s about to pull away, he groans and his mouth captures mine. I wrap my arms around his neck and press my chest to his, opening my mouth to his demanding tongue. His hands reach around my back and pull me away from the wall, splaying across my shoulder blades, tugging me tighter to him. My knees weaken, but Reed holds me close as one of his hands moves up into my hair, tilting my head to give him better access.
Just as abruptly, his head rises, his eyes burning with raw desire. Then horror slides across his face, and he drops his hold.
<
br /> Without his arms holding me up, I’m not sure my legs can support me. I step back into the wall while I catch my breath and try to figure out what the hell happened.
I have never lost control like this, not even with my ex-boyfriend Justin. And I dated him for over two years.
“That was … wrong.” Reed finally says. Thankfully, he looks as shell-shocked as I feel.
“Yes, very wrong.” It’s wrong to detest someone so much yet want to do him right here in a public hallway.
“We can’t let this happen again.” But he looks like he’s trying to convince himself more than me.
“No. We can’t ... do that again.” But mostly because I don’t trust myself with him. Obviously this man not only makes me lose my temper, but also makes me want to lose my panties. “We need to find Lexi.”
Hearing his sister’s name changes his entire demeanor. His lust evaporates and anxiety and irritation replace it. “Yes, we do need to find Lexi. I’ve wasted too much time as it is.”
There’s the man I’ve learned to loathe. “Did you seriously call what we just did ‘wasting time?’”
He straightens his tie. “Clearly nothing productive came of it, thus it could be considered a waste of time.”
It takes every ounce of strength within me not to kick him. “Don’t worry, Mr. Pendergraft. I won’t be wasting your time again.”
His stern expression wavers. “Good.”
I stomp down the hall to the back door, my heels clacking so hard against the wood floor I’m surprised I don’t dent the floorboards.
Reed follows behind me and reaches around to push the door open. I bat his arm away. “A little late to be playing the gentleman now, isn’t it?” When I stomp down the steps and look around, trying to determine where we’re going, I noticed Reed’s cheeks blush.
Reed Pendergraft blushing?
He looks sheepish as he glances down. “I’m sorry. That was … unlike me. I assure you that I don’t normally attack random women like that.” He clears his throat, his face now red.
I’d give him kudos for forging ahead if I weren’t so furious.
A scowl darkens his face. “I’m not sure what came over me. I won’t it happen again.”
I should confess that I’m not sure what happened with me either, and I’d be lying if I said his announcement didn’t fill me with disappointment. But instead, I grasp onto one of his phrases, because anger is safer than the wanton lust flowing through my veins. “Random women? You’re calling me a random woman?”
Confusion fills his eyes before he realizes what I’m talking about. “It’s not how it sounds.”
And while I know that, I don’t really care. I need to vent these strong emotions somehow, and if I can’t make out with him, I’ll verbally attack him instead. “How many women are you in the habit of kissing anyway?”
“Not many. I’m usually more selective.” His anger returns. His hands fist at his sides.
“Was that a slam against my character?”
He takes a step toward me, and we’re less than a foot apart. “Should it be?”
Reed looks like he’s about to kiss me again, and to my shock, or maybe not, I want him to.
But I can’t forget that he made a fool of me before. Who’s to say he won’t do it again? I take two steps back and swivel my head around, trying to figure out where Lexi and Evelyn went. I need a chaperone, and I need one quick before I do something I’ll regret. “Where are we supposed to go?”
I expect a sharp retort, but the fight seems to have left Reed as well. “We need to go to the building on the left.” He waves his hand toward a house. “It houses the afterschool program.”
As I walk the concrete walkway behind the houses, I try to pull myself together. My reaction to Reed is a combination of hormones and seeing the photo of myself. I’m emotionally vulnerable. All the more reason to stay away from him.
When we reach the door, Reed lightly touches my arm. “Caroline, wait.”
I shiver from the cold, but Reed blocks the wind. The heat of his body draws me toward him, and I can’t resist looking up.
He lifts his hand toward my face and as he leans closer, I’m mesmerized by his dark brown eyes. I wait for him to kiss me, but his fingers brush my hair on the back of my head. “Your hair was messed up,” he murmurs, his lips a mere six inches from mine. His fingers tangle in the strands, and he slowly rakes them down, taking longer than necessary, yet I can’t seem to find the will to stop him.
“Thanks,” I finally say.
His gaze has fallen to my lips. He leans closer, but the door opens, and he jumps back as though he’s been caught doing something he shouldn’t be doing.
Which of course he has.
Evelyn’s back is to us as she faces into the building. When she turns around, she’s missed our strange behavior.
“Oh, there you two are. I was about to send a search party out for you,” she laughs.
Reed gives her his stick-up-his-ass smile, not that she notices. “No need. We spent a lot of time checking out the photos.”
“Well, come in.” She pokes her head outside to look up into the sky, then backs out of the way for us to come in. “I do believe it’s getting colder.”
Reed studies me. “Funny, I hadn’t noticed.” Then he motions for me to go in.
That’s the first time he’s actually acknowledged that I do something to him, even if his body—and his mouth—has told me otherwise.
I follow Evelyn into a 1970s-era kitchen, gold appliances and all. She stands in the middle of the room and holds out her hands. “Since our headquarters are here in Greensboro, we have on-site services. We have the children dropped off by bus for our afterschool tutoring program. In other areas where we have a tutoring program, we usually run the program on the school property. With the Monroe Foundation donation, we’re hoping to open more programs, especially in more rural areas where state funding is stretched to the limit.” She looks over her shoulder as a young woman comes in and grabs several small paper cups and a pitcher of juice from the refrigerator. “We also provide snacks. They’re usually starving after school.”
We follow her down a hall to a room with a table and several children that look to be ten or eleven years old. They’re huddled over papers and notebooks. A college-aged woman sits at the table with them. She looks up and smiles.
Evelyn stands in the doorway. “We’re fortunate that Southern’s school of education sends students to help with our kids.”
Evelyn continues down a hall to what looks like it used to be a large bedroom. A teacher kneels down on the floor talking to a small child. There are about ten other children in the room, some sitting at tables working on homework. Others play with board games or work on puzzles. “This is the room for our first- and second-graders.” I walk into the space, suddenly transported back fifteen years, to a particularly rough financial time when my father was laid off for twelve months. That year my older brother and I went to a program exactly like this.
My stomach knots at the memories. “You have one of these programs in Shelbyville.”
Evelyn beams. “Yes, they were one of our pilot sites.”
That’s how they have a photo of me.
Thankfully, I don’t react like I did with the photo.
A little blonde girl slams her pencil on the table and drops her head over her paper. I kneel next to her and to see what’s frustrating her. She’s working on subtraction problems, and she’s gotten several wrong. Her name is written carefully at the top of the paper—Desiree.
“Subtraction’s hard, huh?” I tilt my head to get a better look at her, but her hair falls around her face.
Her head bobs, but she keeps her gaze down.
“My name’s Caroline. Can I have a look?”
Her fingers splay across the sheet and she slowly slides it toward me.
“Do you use a number line?”
“I forgot it at school.” Her voice is muffled.
“We
can make you a new one.”
I look up the teacher in the room. “Do you have a scrap piece of paper I can use?”
She gets up from the table. “Sure.”
Reed fills the doorway, his face expressionless as he watches me. Evelyn stands inside the room and looks like she’s ready to move to the next room.
“You go ahead,” I say. Lexi is the integral part of this meeting. I’m just a tagalong. “I’m going to stay here with Desiree for a little bit if that’s okay.”
Evelyn smiles. “Yes, of course, dear. I love that you’ve made a connection with the children.” Reed takes a step into the hall to let Evelyn out, but he hesitates in the doorway and looks torn about leaving me behind before walking down the hall. While the hormonal part of me is disappointed to see him go, the rational part of me is glad.
The tutor hands me a piece of paper. “Thanks for helping out. The program has gotten more kids this semester and we’re having trouble helping all the children.”
“Glad to help.”
The tutor turns her attention to the boy next to her.
Desiree is still hiding behind her hair so I start to make a number line, making twenty tick marks.
“I wasn’t very good at subtraction, either,” I say as I start to number.
The little girl stays silent, but her face has lifted more so I can see her cornflower blue eyes.
“Do you know what’s funny?”
She shakes her head, her eyes wary.
“I do all kinds of subtraction now, and I like it.”
“You do?”
“Yep.” I give her a big smile. “Did you know I go to school too?”
She shakes her head.
“I go to college. Guess what I’m going to be when I graduate?”
The girl sucks one side of her lower lip into her mouth before she says, “A teacher.”
I shake my head. “Uh-uh. I bet you’ll never guess.”
“A doctor.” Her voice is bolder, and she’s looking directly at me now.
Heat Up the Fall: New Adult Boxed Set (6 Book Bundle) Page 93
