About That Kiss:A Heartbreaker Bay Novel(20)

They could have been surrounded by gangbangers and he wouldn't have even  noticed. He had it bad and worse, he didn't care. He still had a hand  gripping a cheek, the other fisted in her hair to hold her head. "Yeah."  Jesus. He shook the lust off with shocking difficulty, even as a small  part of him recognized this wasn't just sheer animal magnetism. But that  problem would have to get in line.

"So . . ." She smiled. "Back to carving?"

"Sure." He was glad his voice sounded so normal because he didn't feel  normal. He felt like howling at the moon. But though she was flushed  from the kiss, she looked equally happy to teach him to carve.

Talk about humbling. So when she climbed off him and back into her seat,  he pretended to give a shit about using a knife for something other  than threatening someone and told himself to just enjoy having her hands  on his.

Even though what he really wanted was to have his hands back on her.





Chapter 12





HeresLookingAtYouKid



Kylie didn't carve very often anymore. When her grandpa had been alive,  they'd carved together at night after work and chores were done. It'd  been a way they could connect, and for Kylie, who hadn't had a lot of  connections in her life, it'd been everything.

After her grandpa's death, carving had lost some of its appeal. But  tonight, getting her hands on the knife, the movements came back easily  as getting on a bike after a long absence, and it gave her . . . peace.

Being in such close contact with Joe gave her other things too. Like a  soul-deep yearning and a hunger she'd denied for far too long now. She  watched him work the knife over the wood, cutting deep instead of  shallow, and she had to admit, it was kind of fun to find that he wasn't  good at everything. She put her hands over his again, trying to show  not tell that he needed to caress and finesse. Wrapping her fingers  around his, she guided them as he worked the knife up and down.         

     



 

His eyes landed on hers. "If you keep that up," he said, "we're not going to have any problem with the wood."

He said the word wood in a low, suggestive tone, and her hands stilled  as she felt her cheeks flush pink. He held her gaze for a long moment,  smiled, and then . . . went back to concentrating on the carving.

She adjusted the angle of his wrists, but mostly it was just to keep her  hands on him. He was warm to the touch and she could feel the sinewy  muscles in his forearms flexing with each stroke of his knife. She  squirmed in her seat, and again he met her gaze. At whatever he found in  her expression, a full-blown smile lit up his face, transforming him  into a regular guy for a minute. "It's been a long time," he said.

"Since . . . ?"

"Since I've had fun on a stakeout."

She laughed. "I thought you were going to say since you've had a woman in your car who you weren't trying to sleep with."

"Who says I'm not trying to sleep with you?" he asked.

Note to self: Don't tease him. He's better at it than you.

"Come here, Kylie."

His voice was deep and steady and she didn't hesitate. She scooted close  and hard arms pulled her in. Lowering his head, he kissed her. He  tasted like chocolate, smelled like aspen wood, and felt like heaven. It  was the best kiss she'd ever had and she didn't want it to end, but out  of the corner of her eye she saw Eric come out the back door of the  gallery. "Joe."

"Yeah?" His mouth was making its hungry way along her jaw to her ear,  where he took her lobe in between his teeth and gave a slight tug,  causing an answering tug between her legs.

"D-don't we need to talk to Eric?"

He licked the spot he'd just bitten. "Uh-huh."

She put her hand on his chest and pulled back enough to meet his gaze. "So are we going to do that now?"

He jerked upright and looked out the window to see what she had, that  Eric had just come out the back door of the gallery. "Shit." He was out  of the truck so fast her head was spinning. But that might have been the  kiss.

Or . . . the knowledge that she'd once again caused Joe to lose control,  a fact that gave her a surge of feminine power that had her smiling and  unable to stop.

When she followed him, he glanced over at her and narrowed his eyes at  her smile. This only made her smile wider and he shook his head-whether  at her or him, she couldn't be sure, but she thought maybe it was at  himself. Which she liked very much.

Inexplicably happy, she followed him and took in the sight of Eric. She  hadn't seen him in years and he hadn't changed. He still looked like  Gumby in cowboy gear, complete with hat and boots. When he turned from  locking the back door of the gallery and saw them standing there, his  eyes went straight to Joe and lit up like Christmas.

"Wow, dreams do come true," he said and gave Joe a slow look up and down.

Joe didn't blink, just gave Eric that patented badass look of his, the  one that would have had Kylie peeing her pants if it'd been directed at  her.

"We'd like to ask you some questions," Joe said.

"Sugar, you can ask me anything you'd like."

Joe slid a look in Kylie's direction, bringing Eric's attention to her  for the first time. He paused and then his entire face brightened, going  from flirty to happy. "Kylie Masters!" he squealed. "Oh my God, is that  really you?"

"You recognize me? This isn't even my own hair!"

"I know. I have that same wig. And with or without the hair, your smile  hasn't changed and neither have your eyes." He pulled her in for a warm  hug, which she returned with a sigh. So much for her disguise. She'd  have to get better at that.

"It's definitely been too long," Eric murmured. "Way too long. I tried to contact you so many times after-"

She closed her eyes and he broke off. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. "Of course you don't want to talk about it."

He'd always been one of her favorite of all of her grandpa's apprentices  and now she remembered why. She shook her head and hoped that Joe  wasn't picking up on all the things that weren't being said, but she  knew he was far too sharp for that. The fact was, she didn't want him to  know. She didn't want anyone else to know her shameful truth.         

     



 

"I heard you were working for Gib," Eric said to her. "That's awesome.  He's doing so great with Reclaimed Woods. I always thought that you two  might end up . . ." He gave Joe a quick glance and then lowered his  voice. "You know."

"I work for Gib," she said. "That's it." There'd always been an unspoken  belief amongst everyone at one time or another that she and Gib would  end up together. And for the longest time she'd believed it too.

Gib was a good guy. But deep down she could admit that she'd always  known he wasn't the right guy. She realized now that there was a huge  difference between teenage love and grown-up love. In the past, she'd  never really let herself think about being happy and in love. But  sometimes in the deep dark of the night, she'd dreamed of what type of  man she secretly wanted, and she always thought it'd be someone like  Gib-kind, caring, gentle in spirit.

But lately she'd realized something. He was actually the complete  opposite of what she needed, and that realization had absolutely nothing  to do with her annoying attraction to Joe and everything to do with her  own secret craving for love and acceptance.

Except . . . maybe it had a little to do with her attraction to Joe.  Over the past week, he'd been there for her without question. In fact,  he'd stepped up in a way no one else ever had. Whatever the two of them  had going on, friends or maybe more or maybe far less, the fact remained  that in a very short time, she'd come to trust him more than she'd  thought herself capable of.

And there was more. In addition to the trust and the fact that she ached  for his body, he allowed her to be her. Even when she was crazy,  wearing a blond wig, insisting he learn how to carve.

And because of all of that, she couldn't seem to help herself. She wanted more.

A lot more.

"What are you doing out here in the back?" Eric asked. "I didn't see you inside. I would've loved to introduce you to everyone."

"We weren't inside," Kylie said. "We didn't have an invite-"

"Oh my God. Darlin', why didn't you get in contact with me?" Eric asked,  horrified. "I'd have had you as a guest of honor!" He gave Joe another  sideways glance. "And this tall, cool drink of water could have come  with."

"His name is Joe. He's . . ." She met Joe's eyes and saw a flash of  humor . She had no idea how to describe him and he knew it. ". . .  Helping me. I've had a few-"

"Very excited to meet you," Joe interrupted her and pulled a small pad  of paper and a pen from one of his pockets, leaving her wanting to go  through his pockets sometime to see what she might find . . .

She came back from her brief and very naughty fantasy to hear Joe ask Eric for his autograph.