“I hear you two are a thing now.”
“A thing?” Josh shrugged. It was as good a word as any. “I guess we’re a thing, yeah.”
“It’s about time. I thought I was going to have to talk her into kissing me in front of the television or something just to get you riled up.”
Maybe he didn’t want to have lunch with Max Crawford after all, even to win a bet. The idea of Katie kissing some other guy made Josh’s stomach churn and it was all he could do to keep his hands from curling into fists.
The surge of jealousy took him off guard. He’d seen Katie kiss a guy before. They’d even gone out as a group when he and Katie were both seeing other people. But now the thought of Katie kissing Max, even if they were just trying to make him jealous, raised his blood pressure.
“I’m glad I didn’t have to resort to that,” Max continued. “Katie’s a sweet girl, but she’s all yours. Has been as long as I’ve known her.”
Josh nodded and grabbed a beer out of the fridge, but he kept replaying those words in his mind as he walked back to the couch. He’d thought maybe living under the same roof had sparked the fire between him and Katie, but even well before Rosie got sick, he’d been an idiot not to catch the hints here and there that Katie’s feelings for him weren’t platonic.
The day he’d had lunch with Mitch, Josh had been worried about falling in love with Katie. He’d never stopped to realize she might already be in love with him.
But he was certain he would have known if that were true. They’d spent so much time together, and there was no way she was that good an actress. If Katie had been thinking steamy thoughts about him before Christmas Eve, she couldn’t have hidden it from him. It looked like Whitford suffered from the same overactive imagination, with a dash of wishful thinking, that Rose did.
Josh had just gotten comfortable when he looked up and saw Katie. She had a bottle of water in one hand and she grabbed a handful of chips before she settled herself in the corner.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“I came to watch the game, like I always do.” He scowled and she rolled her eyes at him. “Oh, what? Now that we sleep together, I’m supposed to stay home and make you a sandwich?”
“That’s not what I meant and you know it. You told me you were doing something with Hailey today, so I was surprised to see you. No big deal.”
“Change of plans.”
It was their first time at Max’s since Christmas Eve, and he wasn’t really sure how he should act. Or how she expected him to act. She didn’t want to feel like a dirty secret, but that didn’t mean she necessarily wanted a public display of affection here at Max’s house, either.
To test the waters, he twisted around to face her and rested his hand on her knee. “What happened with Hailey?”
“She wanted me to help her do some winterizing, which she obviously put off too long, but she stayed up half the night watching some dumb movie marathon and she canceled on me. So now I get to be here with you, instead.”
When she leaned forward and planted a kiss on his mouth, he squeezed her knee. That answered that question.
Butch stirred in the recliner and muttered, “It’s about goddamn time.”
* * *
Katie saw the opportunity to make her move during the third quarter. Max went into the kitchen for more drinks and, since Josh had nodded off, she eased herself off the couch and followed. Whether or not Josh was her boyfriend—and she wasn’t holding her breath for that kind of definitive label from him—a bet was a bet and she intended to win.
“How was your holiday, Max?” she asked when they were alone in the kitchen. “Did you go somewhere for Christmas?”
“I went home to Connecticut to see my parents.”
“Connecticut, huh? How’d you end up in Maine? Was it for work?” When he gave her a look that clearly said really? she knew she’d overplayed her hand. Again. She wasn’t very good at subtle interrogation.
“What’s with you two today? You’re both acting more openly nosy than usual.”
Katie laughed, knowing they were busted. “Josh and I have a bet going about who can find out what you do for work first. Loser washes the other’s vehicle once a month for a year.”
Max chuckled. “I thought it was a well-established fact in Whitford that I’m a serial killer.”
“You know about that?”
“Of course I do.”
“So why don’t you say something?” It was weird to let a town think you were killing people in your basement rather than name your job.
“Because it amuses me. And I’m waiting to see how long it takes for somebody to point out that serial murder isn’t really a sustainable career choice. How would that make me money?”
“Maybe you steal from your victims.”
“Enough to buy that television and pay taxes and otherwise support myself? What kind of people do you guys think I’m killing down there? I think somebody, especially Fran Benoit, would notice if people carrying wads of cash in their wallets kept wandering into Whitford only to never be seen again.”
“You’re the only person in the entire town who has a separate security system just for his basement.”
“Why a serial killer, though? Why not the CIA or a mad scientist?”
Katie felt herself blush. “That’s probably my mom’s fault. She’s Fran’s primary gossip buddy and she spends most of her spare time watching Criminal Minds repeats.”
“I’ll show you what I do if you don’t ruin the fun by telling everybody.”
“Really? Just like that?”
Max shrugged. “Josh is always talking shit about your Jeep. I think the idea of him having to wash it once a month is funny, don’t you?”
“I think it’s hilarious.”
She looked away while Max punched numbers in the security box, but she was right on his heels as he went down the steps. Even though, once he hit the switch, the lighting was excellent and the climate control system was obviously top-notch, she had to admit it was a little thrilling going into the basement with the town’s alleged serial killer.
When they reached the bottom of the stairs and he stepped aside, holding his arm out in a ta-da motion, she stopped short. “Toy trains?”
He clutched a hand over his heart as if mortally wounded. “These are not toy trains. They’re highly collectible, precision-engineered brass HO-scale models.”
She was confused. “So you, what…play with them?”
“I paint them. See that one?” He pointed to a brass train engine in a glass case on a shelf, then pointed to his workbench. “I take the brass ones and paint them, making them look authentic with weathering and whatnot.”
Katie walked closer to the bench to look at his work in progress. There were jars of paint, the tiniest brushes she’d ever seen and an airbrush gun around a train lying supported on its side. It looked as if he was in the process of lettering Central Maine Railroad down the side.
Off to the right were more glass cases, and she eyed one engine that looked really old. It was a Union Pacific and the detail was incredible. He didn’t paint them to look nice. He painted them in such a way that the engines looked as though they had actually been worked for decades. “It looks so real.”
“It’s not as exciting as serial killing or the CIA, but I’m very good at it.”
“You’re an artist.”
“And a historian. I have to know the locomotive, the railroad, the numbering system. When people want passenger cars painted, I want them to be one hundred percent authentic. And doing freight means knowing what the different rail lines shipped. I work off of real photographs from the time whenever possible.”
They both turned when footsteps thumped down the stairs and Josh came into view, looking concerned. “Oh, there you are. I
couldn’t figure out where Katie went and then I saw the basement door was ajar and…”
“You thought I was torturing and murdering her during halftime.”
Josh gave Max a chagrined look. “Not really, but you have to wonder how many serial killers’ neighbors laughed off the idea they might be living next door to one.”
“True.”
“Are those toy trains?”
Max went through the spiel again and, when he was done, Katie poked a finger at Josh’s chest. “Just to be clear, though, I knew before you did.”
“Shit.” He shook his head, obviously peeved at losing the bet. “Why the extra security?”
“Some of these locomotives are really rare, and even the ones that aren’t cost more than you might think. At any given time I’ve got twenty-to-thirty-grand worth of other people’s property down here and sometimes more. I prefer not to advertise that.”
“If anybody asks what we saw down here,” Josh said, “we’ll tell them nothing but an industrial sink, a meat hook and a dozen chest-style freezers.”
Max grinned. “Excellent.”
Katie followed Josh back up the stairs and, after locking up, Max grabbed the drinks off the counter and headed for the living room.
She hooked her finger through Josh’s belt loop and pulled him close. “I think it’s really sweet how you came running down to the rescue when you thought he might be killing me.”
“I didn’t want to have to tell Rosie I let Max Crawford stuff your body in his freezer.”
She laughed and pushed up on her toes so she could plant a kiss on him. “Chicken. I can’t believe you’d face down a serial killer, but not my mother.”
“At least with a serial killer, I’ve got a fighting chance.”
Chapter Thirteen
Josh had never considered putting a couch in the lodge’s office, a lack of foresight for which he was now kicking himself in the ass. He had, however, put a lock on the door to keep guests out, so he didn’t have to worry about anybody walking in unannounced.
A long leather couch would have been nice, though, beating the hell out of being bare-assed on the hundred-year-old braided rug on the office floor.
There were families in the living room, watching the New Year’s Eve countdown show together, and the closer it got to midnight, the louder they got. Rose and Andy had retreated to her room to do the same privately. Some of the men from the families in the living room were hiding in the barn from the merriment, drinking beers and talking sledding. Privacy was at a premium at the Northern Star.
It had been tempting to head to Katie’s apartment for the night, even if she did have the heat turned down, but he didn’t like leaving Rose with a party going on in the house. It wasn’t a big party—or even technically a party, really—but there were enough people and enough alcohol that a problem could pop up. Even with Andy in the house, Josh wasn’t taking the chance of things going to shit while he was away.
The office had been their last resort, and it served the purpose even if it wasn’t the most comfortable place in the house. Naked on his back, with Katie straddling him, the braided rug didn’t bother him as much as he’d thought it would. Hell, with her breasts filling his hands, he could have been laying in a bed of puckerbrush and he wouldn’t care.
With a hand braced on either side of his head, Katie could look at him while she rocked her hips in slow circles that damn near drove him out of his mind. “You know, I’ve heard that however you ring in the New Year is how you’ll spend the entire year.”
“I think chafing would kick in sometime around February at the latest.”
She laughed and lightly slapped his chest. “Not literally.”
“Then what? Is this some kind of riddle?” Why were they even talking right now? He was buried inside her and she was talking about some stupid holiday tradition.
“Quit being a dumbass. It means if you’re happy and having fun and everything when it turns midnight, you’ll have a happy, fun year.”
Together, he thought. If they were together when the ball dropped, did she think they’d spend the year that way? While being in bed—or on the floor, actually—with her wasn’t exactly a hardship, he had his bags mentally packed. If the door to his leaving Whitford opened even a crack, he’d be through it so fast it wouldn’t have a chance to hit him on the ass on the way out.
That’s what he kept telling himself, anyway. Right at this moment, the need to get away wasn’t quite so urgent.
“And you,” she said, “are apparently at risk for spending the next twelve months scowling at ceiling fans.”
“I’m laying on my back, facing up. I can’t not see the ceiling fan.”
“You can not scowl at it. What were you thinking about?”
He put his hands on her hips and rocked her forward, then he lifted his hips in a hard thrust to remind her what they’d been doing before she felt a need to have a conversation. “Less talking. More moving.”
“Oh, I don’t think so. I’m not ringing in the New Year with you telling me what to do.”
Before she could resist, he pushed one of her knees back and rolled until he was on top of her. “What was that?”
She wrapped those amazing legs around his hips, holding him close to her. “Maybe this was my master plan all along.”
He started moving his hips, slowly thrusting until she dug her nails in his back and made that impatient sound low in her throat that made him incredibly hot. Quickening the pace, he watched her face, loving the way she caught her bottom lip between her teeth.
When she moaned, her breath coming faster, he ran his tongue across her lip and pressed a kiss to the spot her tooth had been catching. “Shhhh.”
Her frustrated growl would have made him laugh if he wasn’t aware of just how close she was, and the fact he wasn’t far behind. She felt so damn good, and he thrust harder as she buried her face in his neck to muffle herself. Her body clenched around him and he couldn’t hold back anymore.
When his breath returned and his heart stopped hammering in his ears, he rolled to the side so he wasn’t crushing Katie into the rug. With his arm thrown over her, he rested his head against hers and enjoyed the afterglow.
“We’re stuck here until they all go to bed, aren’t we?” she asked after a few minutes.
He chuckled and kissed the top of her head. “Of course not. For all they know, we have a TV in here and wanted to watch a different channel than they did. We should probably get dressed before we go out there, though.”
“I’m getting dressed anyway. Wooden floors in old New England houses in the winter don’t make for cozy beds, rug or no rug.”
As much as he liked feeling her naked body up against his, he didn’t mind watching her get dressed again. But once she’d covered up the best parts, he decided she was right about the cold floor so he dropped the condom in the trash can next to the desk and pulled his clothes back on. Once they were both dressed, the office became boring in a hurry, though.
“I wonder if they ate all the snacks,” Katie said.
Because they knew their guests would be staying up later than usual, they’d made the kitchen more accessible. Cheese and crackers, popcorn, a nice assortment of goodies from Rose. They couldn’t supply alcohol, so it was strictly BYOB, but they wanted to give a little extra to people who’d chosen to a spend a holiday at the Northern Star.
“Doing this as long as I have, you learn a few things,” he told her. “Like squirreling away some of the goodies before you lay them out for the guests. There might be some cookies, cheese and a pepperoni stick hiding behind the baking powder in the pantry.”
“You keep your stash behind the baking powder, huh? I’ll have to remember that.”
Josh grinned. “I’ve caught guests digging around for some weird things, but
I’ve never had one try to sneak off with the baking powder. What do you think? Want to go eat cookies in the pantry?”
“Let’s do it. Should I let you go first and then wait a few minutes?”
He laughed so hard he knew there’d be no doubt he wasn’t alone in the office, anyway. “Jesus, Katie, we’re not sixteen. Just walk to the kitchen and say hi or happy New Year or whatever to anybody who talks to you. Don’t forget, this is my house.”
Sure, it would be nice if he didn’t have to lead the woman he’d just made love to through a gauntlet of guests who didn’t seem to realize that once the ball in Times Square dropped, it was time to go to bed. But he was polite and kept moving, so they made it to the pantry without Katie passing out from embarrassment.
He closed the door behind him, the only light coming through the slats in the louvered doors, and rummaged behind the baking powder for the cookies. He handed her one, then took one for himself. Sure, hiding in the closet was stupid, but he was having too much fun with Katie and her adjustment to sharing living space with strangers not to.
“Gee, Josh. Sex in a barn. Cookies in a closet. You sure know how to show a girl a good time.”
“I’m a hell of a catch, huh? Wait ’til I show you what I can do in the basement.” He grinned and popped the cookie in his mouth.
* * *
Rose was always thrown off by holidays. People checking out on Tuesday and then more people checking in on Friday would make for a short week. Adding in the fact she’d stayed awake long enough to ring in the New Year with a kiss from Andy, and she was out of sorts. Even though she’d only been up a few hours, she could have gone for a nap.
Katie was moving back to her apartment today, and Rose had no good excuse to offer why she shouldn’t. She’d thought—or maybe just hoped—that Josh and Katie would just go along as they were for a while. The longer they played house, the more right it would feel to them. But Rose could understand Katie’s desire to get the barbershop back on schedule, even if she didn’t understand why she couldn’t drive to work from the lodge and back. It wasn’t very far.
All He Ever Dreamed (The Kowalskis) Page 14
