Better Than the Best

by Amabel Daniels

  “Open the door, bitch! Where is he? Nikki! Get your ass out here!”

  Furious now, Kelly retrieved her largest kitchen knife. She wasn’t stupid enough to believe her petite weight could stand a chance to his bulk. “Eddie. Come on boy. Help.”

  She opened the door to see the angry biker reaching to grab her and Will slamming him to the opposite wall.

  “What” —Will stood slowly, speaking in a menacingly angry demand—“is going on?”

  When the hell did he get here? She swallowed and the weight of the dinky weapon in her hand reminded her of how foolish she must look. And some guard dog. Eddie wagged his way to Will.

  She’d seen men fight. Her brothers especially. Boys will be boys. But she had never seen one move with as much ruthless strength and intimidation as Will had. Nor as quickly. Working her brain from a muddle of daze, she tore her gaze from his powerfully lean body in nothing but boxers.

  Oh God.

  The hallway was dark but she had gotten an eyeful enough. Taut skin, pure muscle, an interesting rugged scar. She looked down at her pajamas. Neither of them wore enough clothes to stop her X-rated thoughts.

  He snapped his fingers and she flinched. The angry set of his lips jolted her to reality. Hormones. He was a man. A good-looking man. With crap of a personality. Don’t even go there.

  “Clay’s with his wife,” Kelly said and returned to her side of the townhouse, scolding her heart to slow down from the sight of him.

  ***

  Morning came too quickly. Clay knocked on the door. “Kelly, baby, come on.”

  She had dressed after an un-soothing shower and flung the door open.

  “I haven’t had coffee yet,” she warned. “Do not call me baby.”

  “Damn you’re pissy in the mornings.”

  “Too bad.” She scanned the hallway for Mr. Nikki as Eddie went for the front lawn.

  “I need a ride,” he said and Kelly went back to pour coffee in her thermos. He followed.

  “Have Nikki take you.”

  “She left after her husband did. Called her sister to pick her up.”

  “Seriously, Clay? She was married? Aren’t you afraid you’ll piss off the wrong husband or boyfriend and lose your nuts?”

  He shrugged. “So, what happened?”

  His careless and self-centered behavior irritated her. He probably assumed she’d take care of the problems for him. “I don’t know. All I know is he’s gone now. You’re a crappy neighbor.”

  Clay threw his arm around her shoulders and grinned. “See, if you were waking up every morning in my bed, you wouldn’t be so cranky.”

  She punched his shoulder and jumped into the driver’s seat of Burns’ kayak truck.

  “Dammit.” He rubbed his shoulder. “Girls aren’t supposed to know how to punch.”

  “Have Nikki kiss it.” Kelly drove toward town. “Why am I taking you to work?”

  “Maybe you should be my bodyguard,” Clay said. “He slashed my tires.”

  Kelly smirked. “Better your tires than your balls, right?”

  “Why are you still driving Burns’ truck?”

  She quirked her brows. “What, you want me to punch you again?”

  “No, why—” He smiled without a leer, a wince lining his usual grin. “Fuck. I forgot. I’ll get your battery today.”

  Her car had been at the garage for three days now. “Uh huh.”

  ***

  Luckily for Clay, there was enough to do at the garage that Will was too busy to berate him for the last night’s disruption. Sleep had eluded Will with nightmares of the war. If he hadn’t been sitting on his front porch in the dark of the night, he wouldn’t have noticed any commotion at the townhouse. It was unusual to see so many headlights coming their way so late at night. And the drunk’s yells had been loud enough to alert him since he was already awake. He didn’t really care if Clay was screwing with some other guy’s wife. Clay was a big boy, he knew what he was doing. But Kelly was scared.

  With a groan, Will concentrated on the brake pads in his hands. He couldn’t afford to waste concern on a woman. At the sight of her tear-streaked face, on that night he’d tripped over her, something primitive had ripped at him. It had been a long time since a woman could get under his skin. It was a power he didn’t want to relinquish. But instead of moping in an intoxicated blur on Matt’s birthday, he wanted to pull her from his sadness even though he couldn’t escape his own.

  He had watched from the garage as Kelly dropped Clay off in the morning and he didn’t blame her expression of annoyance. And later, when Clay browsed the shop computer, Will deduced he needed four tires.

  In the lull of the humid afternoon, Clay strolled over to him in the middle bay. “Hey man, I’ve got to pick up some parts in the next town.”

  Will tossed his empty water bottle in the bin. “And four tires?”

  Clay smirked. “Sobering up so early?”

  “Take my truck. I’ve got to drop off the Jeep to the house in Point Place.” It had been a collision job, and the owner still sported a full length leg cast. Will empathized with the handicap.

  “How are you gonna get back?”

  Will hadn’t planned far ahead. Normally he and Clay could handle drop-offs and pick-ups. Clay’s truck was at the townhouse, but Will typically had his pickup or bike handy. Vehicles were abundant—it was a garage, after all, sometimes with half-alive cars people abandoned or, like Clay’s truck, clunkers that customers bartered with for service. If he put a little elbow grease and money into it, the dying truck Clay recently collected would operate like semi-new. “I’ll figure something out.”

  “I’ve got to get the parts in the next hour,” Clay insisted. “Ask Kelly.”

  “What?”

  “Ask Kelly. I need to go pick up the parts before someone else takes them. She can take the Jeep and you can follow her on your bike.”

  Kelly? Will scowled, regretting his verbal slip on the beach. His words had been thoughts he’d kept guarded under lock and key. Humiliation tickled him like a feverish rash spreading under his skin. He didn’t want her pity. But of what he remembered, she hadn’t pitied him, though. He grit his teeth, recalling how calm and cool she’d been, bored even, as she cajoled him to losing his control.

  “Ask Kelly,” Clay repeated, and waved his hand toward the beach to coach him on.

  Will kinked the stiffness in his neck. No. She hadn’t coaxed him either. And she hadn’t dismissed his problems. She wasn’t the pitying kind of woman who would beg him to be happy, and she wasn’t the hateful malicious kind of local who would wish him dead. Instead, she had simply forced him to speak his mind. Will squeezed his eyes to slits, hating that someone had cracked his walls even slightly.

  “Isn’t she working the kayak hut?”

  Clay nodded. “She’ll probably be leaving to go to the bowling alley soon. And Junior can watch for her while she’s gone. Go ask.”

  “You go ask. She’s your friend.” Will started to put the tire back on the car.

  “Don’t be an asshole. She’s nice. We’ll go over there and ask her after I finish this oil change.”

  Chapter 14

  A half hour later, Will walked across the beach with Clay at his side.

  “Hey Kelly.” Clay smiled at her.

  Will froze. She wore a Burns tank top over her bikini top and her bottoms. He had never actually intended to watch her from the garage all day. But as Burns’ hut was the only thing blocking the view of the beach from the garage, how could he not have seen from the distance? Playing catch with Junior in their downtime. Fetching with her dog when she brought him along. Chatting with Burns and customers. Reading as she sat on the counter. Helping kids in the boats at the little dock. Maybe her rack wasn’t spectacular, but it wasn’t her true beauty.

  Kelly’s real attraction was the challenge in her smirk. Intelligence behind her eyes. Wit. She had some strange kind of humor and impatience that had him fighting smiles. She wouldn’t back
down from him and it was a novel experience. He scratched his chin, the annoyance at his stubble matching the irritation he still held at her for forcing him to talk to her on the beach.

  But up close? Her eyes were steady on him. Not a local’s sneer of hatred, not a stranger’s casual glance of interest, not an easy woman’s measurement of his body. Those blue-greens…he couldn’t peg what was on her mind. Being near her had him fidgeting. The Braves hat on her messy blonde hair hid her face enough to make it teasing.

  How does she always look like she belongs in a bedroom?

  “Clay. Will.” She smiled with surprise. “Kayaking today?”

  “What’s up man?” Clay leaned around her and punched Junior on the shoulder. In his signature pleading and wheedling tone, he explained they needed a favor.

  She glanced at both men before answering. “Sure. I don’t care. I have to be back before two to get to the bowling alley, though.”

  “Won’t take long.” Will cracked his knuckles, aware people were watching him. Anxiety escalated in his blood. Noises jerked at his nerves every which way. Crowds were still an issue, and he bet they always would be.

  “It hasn’t been busy so I’ve only used the first ten today, the others are still on the rack,” Kelly told Junior as she stepped out of the booth. “And the ones out there will need picked up in about fifteen. I haven’t taken the truck out since this morning, but you’ll probably need gas if you go for them.”

  Junior dismissed her with an adolescent wave.

  “Can I stop and get ice cream first?” she asked Clay, tucking her hair behind her ear. “For some reason there was too much commotion this morning to eat breakfast or pack a lunch.”

  The three of them walked for Jared’s ice cream stand before crossing the street for the garage.

  “Why’s everyone staring at us?” she asked Clay.

  Will glanced at the beachgoers and found their nosy attentive gazes staring right back. He gnawed on the inside of his cheek, then checked a cautious glance at Kelly. Well, look at her. Who wouldn’t be staring? If he wasn’t so convinced Churchston despised him, he imagined the beachgoers could have been watching her. He found it endearing she seemed so clueless of her raw beauty instead of flaunting it like other women did.

  “Because the Grinch is out.” Clay nodded his head to Will.

  Kelly’s eyes sparked with amusement and he narrowed his eyes at her, daring her to test him. They ordered their ice cream and Will focused on breathing. Impatience, anxiety, shame. They tossed and tumbled in his stomach. He wanted to return to his garage.

  “It’s on Mr. Parker today,” Kelly calmly explained to Jared. “He’s taken enough time leering at my ass for one morning. He owes me.”

  Will avoided Jared’s shocked expression. The old man didn’t need to hear such gibberish. Jared was likely the one person in town who didn’t wish him dead. He licked his lips and fought the urge to tell her to shut up. He had a bad enough reputation already.

  The jab had lowered him to Clay’s level. But he didn’t care for long because he was easily preoccupied at the sight of her licking her cone.

  “Don’t blame you, man,” Clay said as they walked for the garage.

  Kelly punched Clay. “Shut up, Clay. You should be playing nice to me after all the noise last night.”

  Clay grinned. “Was she screaming in ecstasy?”

  Another punch and Clay flinched like it hurt. “Her husband. Don’t pull crap like that anymore or I won’t want to be your neighbor.” She licked her cone, and glanced at Will. “What is it?” Turning her head side to side, she scanned the sidewalks and studied him.

  Will clenched his fist, irritated she could read him so well. She could detect the instant he was uncomfortable beyond usual. But more than irritated, he didn’t want to hash out the details of why.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” Kelly hurried to keep up.

  “Nothing.”

  “What do you have, a switch to your personality disorder? One minute you’re almost human, and then you shut down like you’re—”

  “Come on, let’s get back.” Will shoved Clay to walk faster.

  Instead, Clay surveyed the sidewalk and frowned. “Oh.”

  “Oh what?”

  “The woman up there? She’s uh, that’s Delores. His—”

  “Mom. Right,” Kelly filled in.

  “They don’t get along.”

  “And this entire town has nothing better to do than watch? Don’t they have TVs for entertainment? Why do they even care?”

  Clay opened and closed his mouth a couple times, seeming to search for words.

  Will ground his molars and hoped Clay would stay quiet, gulping air like a guppy. It had been his harebrained stupid idea to fetch Kelly in the first place. He never should have left the safety of the garage. Never should have followed along to get ice cream. Never should have come back to Churchston.

  “What—” Will caught himself from falling to the ground. He had tripped over Kelly’s foot. Kelly’s perfectly shaped ankle that she had stuck in front of his feet.

  Kelly backpedaled in front of him. “Well since they’re staring, you may as well give them something to talk about.” She twisted her lips to hide a smile, but lost. Clay choked on his ice cream and broke into laughter.

  It didn’t matter if Delores was watching. If every single Churchston resident was watching. Will couldn’t believe she had actually tripped him. What was she, ten? His knee had gone through extensive… “You little…” He let his ice cream fall to the sidewalk as he turned to chase her.

  Her smile turned to amused surprise at his pursuit and she shrieked as she ran off. Two ice cream cones on the sidewalk stayed with Clay as Will chased her. He picked her up at the waist and carried her unceremoniously to the water.

  She giggled and protested. “Come on. Put me down!”

  Holding her over his shoulder, Will kept his face frozen. He resisted the instinct to stroke her skin, to feel her warmth and softness. He clamped his tongue between his teeth to tamp down the urge to smile at her gumption.

  He hadn’t touched a woman since before Matt died. Hadn’t held one. Hadn’t wanted one. He dumped her in the water. She spat out the lake water in her mouth and sat in the waves. Will didn’t notice the wet tank top clinging to her. He tried not to. “You asked for it.”

  Her hat floated away and she smirked up at him. “And you’re not overreacting?” She shook her head, seeming to like the water as he stood with the waves splashing his calves.

  His boots were soaked, now his jeans, too. His filthy sweaty garage garb wasn’t exactly swimwear. “Don’t play games with me,” he warned.

  “Chill out, tough guy.” She searched the water by splashing her hands. “Where’s my hat?”

  “Floating away.” Walk away. Walk the fuck away. Will tried to abandon her in the water. She had tried to humiliate him. She had almost smashed his fragile pathetic knee to the cement. She had almost made him a laughingstock in front of Delores. But he couldn’t walk away.

  She frowned. “What? I love my hat.”

  Jesus, a pout? “Why? They don’t have a chance for the wild card this year.”

  “They could,” she insisted and stuck her hand through the waves again. “My brother gave me that hat.”

  “Too lazy to get up and get it your—” He stepped further in the water to reach for the hat. He felt her foot find his calf and he joined her in the water, falling on his ass.

  Fury simmered his skin hotter than the sun. Twice in five minutes she had made him fall. In moody silence, he watched as she stood, and he’d be a liar to say he didn’t enjoy the smooth wet skin of her legs showcased at eye level. Damned if he’d let her leave him in the water, he hurried to his feet to follow her as she dismissed him, putting the wet cap on her head as she led the way back.

  ***

  Water sluiced from his soaked clothes as he followed her to the sidewalk where Clay laughed.

  She wiped water
off her cheek. “You owe me another ice cream.”

  “You got a fetish for making men fall on their face?” Will asked.

  She glanced at him. His clothes clung to his frame, detailing exactly how masculine he was, and she forced herself to avoid falling on her own face. Hormones. All physical, she reminded herself. They called him Will? He was the Hulk. He-Man. Conan. He was the embodiment of every possible action figure in the world. How can he have so many muscles? So much strength in one body? Fit? Will wasn’t fit. He was so ruggedly powerful he needed a new word to kick fit’s ass down the road.

  Simmer down, girl, simmer down. She took a deep breath.

  “You caught yourself. And you should have seen the second one coming. A Marine?” she said. “I’d think you’d be faster on your feet.”

  “Don’t ever try me again.”

  She winked at him. With a dark mutter to himself, he ripped his shirt off. As he wrung the water from it, Kelly stumbled on her feet.

  If he didn’t want anyone looking at him, then he’s doomed shirtless.

  Hormones. Physical. He was still a jerk. She kept those thoughts as a mantra. Right foot. Left foot. God, I can’t even walk straight.

  “You’re lucky I have extra clothes in my office.” He clenched the shirt in his fist.

  Right foot. Left— What? Kelly couldn’t help but envision him stripping the rest of the wet clothes off. She winced at the delectable vision in her mind, reminding herself she couldn’t possibly want him.

  Hormones, woman. Nothing but hormones.

  “What the hell do you know Judo for?” He wiped the water from his chest.

  She shrugged, pretending she wasn’t attracted to him. She couldn’t be attracted to him.

  She gave him a watered-down explanation of her overprotective brothers forcing her to take defense classes. And it still had never been enough. Ever the baby sister, they called her daily to check in if she didn’t call them first.

  “Paid off, though. Psych patients were never easy to handle.”