Another knock, louder and more urgent, confirmed there was indeed someone there and it wasn’t residual slumber confusing her. It was six-freakin’-thirty in the morning. The sun was barely awake itself. Who on earth would knock on her door at this early hour? Another knock convinced her they weren’t going away. She tossed on her robe to make her way across the loft.
Leaving the chain on the door engaged, she slowly opened it, hoping it wasn’t a crazed lunatic on the other side. Pine Valley was small, but it was due for some crazy — why not on her front step? It wasn’t until she began to open it that she thought better of it and paused, until she heard his voice.
“Kinley…it’s me. Sorry I woke you so early.”
Jace. She quickly slammed the door, turning the deadbolt for added measure, and fell into a panic, checking her appearance in the ornate mirror on the wall next to the door. He couldn’t see this version of her. Especially with the crusted drool still at the corner of her mouth. That was a good dream.
What on earth was he doing there? And why the hell did her hair look like a dead animal every damn morning, and why did ugly makeup rings settle on her face despite scrubbing until raw each night? Maybe she’d kicked a puppy at some point in her life and this was karma calling.
Quickly trying to tame her wild locks, Kinley licked her thumb, then went to work on the black smudges around her eyes. Bad idea. Morning breath now caked her face, compliments of the fast spit bath. Her morning was getting worse by the minute, and it had only begun. What next, broken coffee pot? Class full of chicken pox?
Jace Detweiler was standing outside her door at zero dark thirty — this couldn’t be good. Or could it? They did have fun the night before, and the night before that. Maybe he was there for an encore. She could definitely go for that. Why her? Why was this her life?
Perhaps Jace would see past her morning good Lord, what did you get in a fight with appearance. With one last look in the mirror, a deep sigh, and a go get ’em tiger attitude engaged, she gave in and opened the door. Kinley plastered on her best early morning, happy to see you, hope you’re still interested in early morning whoopee, smile to greet him.
“Hey, Jace, what are you doing here?” she asked in a too chipper voice.
“Uh…” He looked around, primarily to his left toward Main Street, before finishing his question, “can I, uh…come in?”
Looking hard to his left again, he made his way through the doorway as Kinley stepped aside. Jace fished his phone out of his pocket and began to swipe and tap the screen.
“So, to what do I owe the…pleasure?” The word pleasure hung on her lips in a breathy tone Kinley hoped came across as seductive, though it sounded a little groggy to her.
“We have a problem. I don’t know how the hell she it did, but she did, and it’s out there, and…” Jace ran his hand through his well-kept dark hair in total frustration, realizing he was racing through his words without making any sense at all. “I was careful. I looked before I left. I…didn’t see her. I’m sorry.”
Kinley’s stomach began to turn with each reference to her and the apology that followed. She closed her eyes and released a defeated sigh as a sense of déjà vu rolled over her. It could only be one thing. “Evelyn?”
“So, you saw it?” His question felt optimistic with the assumption she saw it and was still happy to see him.
“Nope! But who else could drive a man like you to search me out at this hour full of sorry, didn’t see hers?” Kinley’s eyebrows jumped with a half-assed chuckle and smirk. “Let me see it. Please.”
Jace handed Kinley the phone he had been holding and rested his hands on his halfcocked hips, anxiously waiting for her reaction. To his surprise, a sassy grin replaced her look of defeat, and a joyful giggle erupted as Kinley read the Facebook post on #RumorHasIt.
A late-night rumba for Doctor Detweiler and Broadway Baby? You know what they say…it takes two to tango.
“You know. She’s funny — witty. If she wasn’t such a troublemaking jerk, I’d probably like her,” Kinley voiced. “These two pictures aren’t half bad either. Look at us kissing!”
“You aren’t upset.” A statement, not a question. “I was worried you would be upset after yesterday, and well…everything else.”
“Jace, I don’t know what getting upset again will accomplish. She clearly has her eye on us now, along with a few others. Ouch, did you see what she said about Molly and Seth? So what if she caught us kissing!” Kinley shrugged her shoulders and handed him his phone.
“I guess it could be worse. I was worried — it gives the wrong idea…” Jace paused. “About us. Ya know?”
Kinley was oddly accepting and almost flattered by the Facebook post aimed at them with a single intention to defame. It was only the day before when she hung her head in near shame over something similar. Today, she couldn’t be bothered by it, even laughed at it. A small flicker of hope sat in Jace’s chest. Perhaps she was coming around. Walls coming down again?
Kinley ran a finger from Jace’s collar and down the front of his shirt, stopping at his waist. “And what idea is that, Doctor Detweiler?”
Eyes falling heavy under her trance, Jace grabbed her hand and pulled her so close, she could feel the effect she had on him. He lifted her hand to his mouth and brushed his lips across her knuckles, then answered, “That we are…ya know…that we are together, doing things.”
Kinley pressed her chest to his so he could feel her pebbled nipples against him “It’s still early, Doc. Surely you don’t have any runny noses or stitches to deal with yet.”
“Given the nature of Evelyn’s post and what happened yesterday, I’m sure it will be another busy day,” Jace said with an eyeroll. “The mom mob is likely to be in full swing today.”
“From your office to my dance mom bench full of side-eye sneers,” Kinley snickered before dropping her voice to a breathy whisper. “Stay a while?”
A new pattern was developing, and Jace liked where it was going. From ending one day fresh from her bed to starting the next jumping right back in it, Jace could get used to this. Kinley was quite the muse, charming him in every which way. Maybe this was the first step to getting Kinley to let her guard down — even just a little. Hard truth was Jace was beginning to really like her. And if he was being honest, he would take whatever she was willing to share for now. He was patient.
Cutting to the chase, he swept Kinley off her feet and wrapped her around his waist, walking her back to where she had just come from: her still warm bed. Straight to taking her mouth, he made his intention clear: Jace was taking his share. Time wasn’t on their side this time, they didn’t have time for slow and sweet, so he got right to work — quick, edgy, and downright dirty.
He’d find a way to make it up to her later by working over every inch of her body, because it would be his pleasure. Giving her every bit of sweet, sensual, attention she desired and deserved would be his focus. When they had time.
Right now, it was only about the short window of time they had together and making it as hot and fulfilling as he could. Kinley’s response to his every move told Jace she was on board with this morning mission. Fast and furious worked for them as well as the previous two occasions. They just worked well together, like they’d been together for some time — each knew what the other needed and delivered.
Kinley was responsive, hot, and completely sated a little quicker than he intended, but without leaving either with a single complaint. They were good together and not just in the sack. Period.
“Well, Doc…I have my stretching done for the morning,” she joked, rolling off him.
Jace smiled as he propped himself up to face her. “Thank you.”
“For?”
“For giving me something to think about all day while I deal with what is inevitably waiting for me,” he said. “You’re a good…distraction.”
“Awww, you’re going to think of me, huh? Well, then remember this…” She pulled his head down to hers and swep
t his bottom lip with her tongue. As soon as Jace let Kinley in, she gave him a toe-curling kiss that would brand him for days.
As the morning moved on, so did they, each readying for the day, headed to their commitments. Kinley still had an hour before her first class of students, but Jace had to leave if he was going to start his patient schedule on time. She saw him to the door, feeling lighter — and Jace noticed it.
Stepping just outside, he turned to face her for a proper goodbye, as if they hadn’t had one yet. “I didn’t come here expecting…well, that. But thank you. Spending time with you is never disappointing.”
Placing a hand on his cheek, Kinley tilted her head and drank him in. He was handsome, sweet, and said all the right things. What was better was it was genuine — one hundred percent sincere. That was something she couldn’t claim to have experienced before with any man.
A scuffled sound on the pavement below followed by a disgusted gasp quickly had their attention. Of course. Evelyn — armed with her cellphone, aimed at them.
“Let’s give her something good, Doc.” Kinley pulled Jace firmly against her body. One arm relaxed around his neck while her other hand snaked through his hair and she wrapped her leg halfway around his, sliding it up and down.
His body went rigid, ever so briefly, before catching on to what Kinley was up to. Willing to indulge, Jace was rather enjoying the show Kinley was orchestrating. He would consider the consequences later…maybe.
Pulling away, Kinley ran her hands down Jace’s chest, straightening his shirt, then swiped her thumb across his mouth as if wiping any evidence of their explosive kiss away. A brazen move still left in her, she turned to Evelyn and gave her a friendly wave with a megawatt smile.
“Have a good day, Doc,” was all she said before smacking his ass as he turned and walked down the stairs.
Stopping halfway down the steps, he returned his attention to the sassy vixen at the top. “Go out with me. Dinner…tonight.”
Stunned, Kinley inhaled sharply, not sure how to answer. Her mind had been made up just days before, where men were concerned, and it was a hard pass. A firm no. But now, she was actually reconsidering. Jace was so tempting, a delicious man who actually appealed to her heart as much as her body. He wasn’t like the others, and the look Doc was offering her, the plea he was making, spoke more to her heart at the moment.
“I…” Kinley stalled, at war with herself — she wanted to say yes.
“Just dinner. Make this...” he waved his hand between Kinley and Evelyn, “worth it. Let’s really give her a show.”
A mischievous side to Jace Detweiler was rearing its head. Kinley liked it. What could it hurt? It was just dinner, nothing more…so what if they had a fling? Dinner didn’t require moving in together or obtaining a marriage license. Friends had dinner all the time, and you could never have a friend too many.
“I would love to. As friends, of course. Not a date,” Kinley replied.
“Of course…friends. I’ll pick you up at seven.” Finishing the steps two at a time, he nodded to Evelyn as he passed her on the sidewalk, stunned.
Thirty minutes had gone by as Jace sat in his office, preparing for his first patient. Before jumping in to yet another heavy patient load for the day, he checked Facebook — specifically #RumorHasIt — to see if Evelyn had posted anything yet.
Morning mambo for the dancer and the doctor? A public cha-cha on the front stoop…indecent!
Jace burst out in laughter. Mission accomplished. Kinley would be proud, which worked in his favor.
“Thank you, Evelyn. I owe you one.”
Chapter 8
Dinner and lunch, as friends, turned into weeks of various public appearances together. There was just as much late night and early morning passion in private. They enjoyed their time together, more and more, becoming nearly inseparable in their off time — all in the name of revenge.
Evelyn, of course, broadcast it all on her Facebook account for the town to see. Evelyn also became Kinley’s justification for their outings and get togethers. It was her way of fighting back and making a fool of Evelyn…or so she said.
Problem was, the joke really was on them. Evelyn didn’t miss a beat, and there wasn’t anything to report other than what they were actually doing. They had yet to create a scenario that backfired. They weren’t exactly setting her up for anything or trying to disprove Evelyn’s reports. The only thing they were proving was what the town already knew: Evelyn was a cranky old busy body armed with social media.
While Kinley and Jace were giving her plenty of scandal to report, they were but a distraction from Evelyn’s real conquest of outing Molly Sexton and Seth Spangler. Seemed they were spicing things up all over town and trying to keep it under cover — unsuccessfully. They were doing all the real work, secretly following Evelyn and fighting back with Facebook posts of their own on a secret Facebook account, #RumorAlsoHasIt where they blasted Evelyn post for post. Kinley had figured it out one morning over coffee with Molly at her shop, Reading Grounds, and supported every ridiculous post about the old hag.
Kinley and Jace let them do the heavy lifting while they enjoyed each other’s time and affection under the guise of retaliation that didn’t really exist. Kinley was okay with that because she was having fun. Jace was okay with it because he’d do anything to get time with Kinley.
“So, you and the doc are getting pretty serious…?” Sadie asked her sister, Kinley, as they left the dance studio, headed to the park.
“What? No. Why would you think…” Kinley tried to blow off Sadie’s observation until it hit her. “Evelyn.”
Laughing, Sadie linked arms with her sister. “Yes, Evelyn. The whole town has been keeping up with you two. Evil Evelyn Shirley is doing a really good job of documenting your affair.”
“Affair?” Kinley gasped. “I don’t have affairs. It’s more of a…fling. Just trying to teach that old woman a lesson.”
“And what lesson would that be? What exactly is she learning other than you give her daily reports to post online?” Sadie laughed, resting her head on her sister’s shoulder. “Sis, you need to own it. You like him!”
“Of course, I like him, or I wouldn’t go to dinner with the guy a few times a week, and…well, you know.” Kinley hushed her voice at the last few words.
“Why don’t you call it what it is?” Sadie started. “Sis, you have a boyfriend. Period. And he is head over heels for you.”
“Noooo, we agreed. Just a fling, to mess with Evelyn. He gets it. We’re just bed buddies. He doesn’t do relationships either. Although, he never said why.” Kinley thought about that for a bit and made a mental note to ask him when she saw him next. Not that it mattered, they were as far as they were going to go.
“I think he tells you what you want to hear because seeing you under the pretense of it just being a fling or bed buddies is better than not seeing you at all. I’ve known Jace for quite a while now. He’s a good one, Kinley — the real deal. Please don’t let what happened to you in New York define your future. That was not the real deal, or you would still be there.”
Sadie had a good point. New York had done a number on her career, heart, and even pride. It was hard to think past it. Kinley liked how things were, though. All the benefits, but no strings…hard to get screwed that way…figuratively anyway.
Jace wrapped up a patient chart he had been working on between appointments and headed to the exam room that held his next patient, which also happened to be his last before calling it an early day. Connor O’Reilly stood there with his son, Cooper, waiting for their post ear infection follow up appointment.
“Hey, sport,” Jace said to the boy, offering a fist bump. “Bring Dad in for a shot or something?”
The little guy laughed at the ongoing joke between them. “Nah, Doc Jace. Dad doesn’t have da cooties, so he don’t need da shot.”
Jace nodded, letting out a sigh of relief. “Oh good, because I’m all out of cootie shots. How’s that ear buggin’ ya
? Any better, kid?”
“Yep! And Dad said if you say it’s all goned that I get to go to da park and get a iced cream! I didn’t get to go to the park da whole time I was sick!”
Jace gave the boy a big-eyed look of shock and surprise. “No park? At all?” He felt the child’s forehead in an exaggerated manner. “And you’re doing okay? That’s a whole week of no park! Phew! No fever yet! How about I look in that ear and make sure it’s better so we can get you swinging and sliding stat.”
“Yes! With the pokey light. Look in there, it feels all bettered up,” little Cooper announced.
Jace went through the motions of checking his patient over, offering ample enthusiasm as he went and found a now healthy child. Connor O’Reilly, however, stood there silent, arms crossed, shaking his head and chuckling at the seriousness of his son versus the silliness of the doc.
“Well, Coop-man, that ear looks perfect. I take it you took the medicine like a champ and beat it pretty good!” Jace said with another fist bump. “Looks like you’re going to the park!”
Cooper raised his hand for the fist bump, and shouted, “Yes!”
“I’m headed there too, meeting JT. Mind if I walk with you?” Jace asked.
“Let’s go!” Cooper was off the exam table and headed toward the door before Connor or Jace could respond.
The short walk to the park afforded a few minutes to chat about things other than ear infections and antibiotics. Jace anticipated the topic, given Connor was Kinley’s brother in law and the O’Reillys took family matters to heart, blood or not. He was prepared, though — nothing to hide, showing his cards all along.
“You know Sadie is meeting us at the park, right?” Connor asked.
“Yeah, that’s why I have the sitter dropping JT there. The boys were going to play.” Jace knew exactly where this was going.
“Kinley hasn’t mentioned JT, to me or Sadie. I gather that means she doesn’t know about him?” Right to the point, Connor O’Reilly style.
Bed Buddies Page 5
