About That Kiss:A Heartbreaker Bay Novel(38)

 

"Okay, good." He stepped into her and took her bag off her shoulder,  which he then tossed onto the couch. "Talking isn't our strong suit  anyway."

She snorted and he smiled, stroking a finger over her temple, tucking a  strand of hair behind her ear. "Last chance, Kylie. Speak up or forever  hold your peace."

Her heart skipped a beat. She wanted to get to their strong suit . . .  oh how she wanted that. But she also wanted to ask about Molly before  she lost her chance. Only she wasn't sure she had a right to his past.  "I spent a few minutes with your sister tonight," she said quietly.

"Yeah," he said, nudging her back a step so he could shut the shades,  closing them in against the rest of the world. Then he helped her out of  her jacket, tossing that to the couch as well before stepping into her,  pressing his body to hers. "She loved the mirror," he said. "You're a  genius."

Already breathless, she said, "It was your idea."

"Yeah, but it was your work. You do beautiful work," he murmured, kissing his way down her throat. "You've got great hands."

She snorted a laugh but her humor drained when she remembered the rest of her conversation with Molly.

Joe lifted his head and searched her expression, his own smile fading as well. "What is it? Something's on your mind."

"Now's probably not a good time to talk about it."

"Just say it, Kylie."

She drew in a ragged breath. "Molly told me what happened. When you guys were younger."

"Told you what?"

"How she was kidnapped so that you could be manipulated into doing something you didn't want to do."

He remained frozen in place for a single second before letting out a long exhalation and dropping his hands from her.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I shouldn't have brought it up."

Moving away, he turned to stare out her front window. "It was a long time ago."

"She said you blame yourself."

He made a rough sound in the back of his throat and she came up beside  him, put a hand on his rigid arm, waited until he turned to meet her  gaze. "She said you shouldn't, Joe. Blame yourself."

He closed his eyes and when he opened them, unlike his usual calm, his  gaze was turbulent and filled with bad memories. "It was my fault," he  said. "All of it. And I should go."

She didn't want to push him to talk about something that gave him pain.  She didn't feel like she had any right to those bad memories, but if she  could lessen his pain in any way, she wanted to. "Stay," she said  softly. "Please?"

"I won't be good company," he warned.

"It's okay. I've got ice cream, a comfy spot in my bed just for you, and  Pretty Little Liars on my DVR. We can watch a season ahead of your dad  and then tell him spoilers." Then she held her breath for his answer,  knowing without understanding exactly why that this was a turning point  and if he left right now, there'd be no going back. She'd lose him.





Chapter 25





YouHadMeAtHello



At Kylie's offer, Joe heard himself let out a rough laugh. She was  looking up at him with those warm, loving eyes, the ones he was starting  to realize he couldn't resist. "What kind of ice cream?"

With a smile, she turned to go into the kitchen, but he caught her hand  and reeled her in. "Never mind the ice cream. All I need is you."

She gave him another soft smile and they sat on her couch together.  "It's a long story," he warned. "And it's ugly. I messed things up.  Badly. You sure you want to hear it?"

"I want to hear whatever you can tell me," she said, voice low and very serious, eyes matching the tone. "Always."

He rested his forehead against hers. "Molly's leg and back. That's all  on me. All of it and worse." He did his best not to think about that  time in his life and he was good at it. He'd never told anyone about any  of it. But this wasn't just anyone-this was Kylie-and he drew in a  ragged breath. "I was stupid."         

     



 

She opened her mouth but he shook his head at her and put a finger over  her lips. "Shh," he said. "I'm going to tell you, but I don't need you  to defend my dumb ass." He paused, remembering. "We lived in that shit  neighborhood, and Molly . . ." He shook his head. "She'd drawn the  attention of one of the asshole thugs hanging around. She was fourteen  and I'd just turned seventeen. I'd gone along with the gang's stupidity  up until then because they promised if I did, they'd leave Molly alone. I  believed them. I shouldn't have. When they wanted me to steal a car and  I refused, they took her. To persuade me."

"Oh Joe," she whispered. "What did you do?"

"I hunted them down and got her back. It took three days." He hated  thinking of those long minutes and hours and days, the utter  heart-stopping panic over what might have been happening to Molly. "I  finally found out where they were holding her. Just as I arrived, she  somehow escaped out a third-floor window. She was perched on a ledge,  desperately trying to reach a tree branch that wasn't quite close  enough."

Kylie stared at him. "I'm hoping that's where the story ends, but somehow I know that it isn't."

"She jumped for it and missed, and then fell to the ground," he said.  "She broke her back in two places. She's had three surgeries but the  nerves in her right leg are permanently damaged."

"Oh my God."

"She used to run track," he said. "She wanted to be an Olympian. That was her dream. It was going to be her way out."

Kylie slid closer to him, pressing her body to his as if she knew he  needed warmth, her warmth. Not that he deserved it, but he wasn't strong  enough to push her away, so instead he pulled her in close.

"She told me it wasn't your fault, Joe," she murmured. "She believes it." She tipped her head up to his. "And so do I."

She was giving him way more credit than he deserved.

"So is what happened to Molly the reason why you tend to be so . . ." She trailed off.

"Crazy?" he asked.

"Well, I was going to say overprotective," she told him with a small  smile. "Is this why you won't let me all the way in, because you're  afraid your lifestyle will get me hurt?"

He stilled at her incredible-and accurate-assessment.

"Joe . . ." She paused as if searching for the right words. "I get that  you're out there saving the world, trying to help people and maybe clean  up your karma at the same time, but no one seems to think it needs  cleaning except you. You're too hard on yourself."

He knew that later he'd be going ten rounds with himself in his own head  about this, about telling her the whole story. It was bringing it all  back to the surface and it wasn't a good time for that, not with the  countdown on and only days left to figure her shit out.

But Kylie wouldn't understand that. She didn't bother hiding her  emotions like he did. She had no interest in keeping herself in control.  And actually, her willingness to let go was one of the things he loved  about her. There was just something incredibly appealing about how she  put herself out there, not worrying about outcome or the possibility of  getting hurt.

Which made her the brave one, not him. Honestly, he had no idea why he  even bothered to try to resist her. Resistance was futile with this  woman who'd gotten under his thick skin when he hadn't been looking. She  thought he held back with her, but he'd been fooling himself because he  wasn't holding back at all.

Just thinking about it made his chest tight. So did imagining her not  being in his life. He'd learned firsthand what it was like to have her  all to himself. He was getting used to sharing his free time with her,  and his personal space. He even loved sleeping with her after they made  love, holding her all night, allowing himself to give in to his selfish  need to keep her close.

All of which was forcing him to face a fact he hadn't seen coming-his  solitary life was starting to feel just a little too solitary.

He knew he should walk away right now, before he got in any more over  his head. But who the hell was he kidding? It was too late. He was  already going down for the count.         

     



 

Kylie slid her hands beneath the hem of his shirt and paused with her fingers splayed wide over his bare skin.

He went hard and sucked in a breath. "You know I can't think worth a damn when you have your hands on me."

"Huh," she said, not taking her hands off of him. "Didn't know that." She gave him an innocent look and bit her lower lip.

With a groan, he hauled her in flush against him. He knew he'd given  away how badly he wanted-actually, make that needed-her, because when  their gazes met, the look in her eyes was enough to make his heart stop  and his lungs run out of air.

She needed him too.

He stared into her face, searching for what, exactly, he had no fucking  clue, before he closed his arms around her. Kissing her hard, he lifted  her up, and when she wrapped her legs around him, he carried her to the  bed.