A Needful Heart (8 page)

“Well,” she sighed, “just be careful. And if
you need anything, call me immediately.”

“Okay, I will.”

Gina disconnected and then just sat at the
table. Patrice’s warning had seemed from the heart, but Gina did
not believe Matt would ever intentionally hurt her. She clomped
upstairs to bed, thoughtful.

***

Matt waited until the lights flipped off one
by one downstairs before he started the truck and pulled away.
There was no visible activity at the boy’s house next door.

He snorted at the craziness of the past two
days. In his wildest imaginings, he never would have thought he
would be involved in Gina’s life this way. He was fascinated by her
and the life she had built for herself, but he was uncomfortable
with his own reactions. He liked being with her
too
much.
What was going to happen when the house was fixed?

Pushing the troubling thought aside, he
turned for Lowes. He had supplies to pick up.

Eight o’clock Sunday morning, Matt rang her
doorbell. Gina dashed down the stairs, hugging the wall at the
bottom due to the missing banister. Tightening her robe around her
waist, she took a second to finger comb her crazy hair, which was
harder than hell to do with her left hand. She huffed in
frustration and swung the door wide.

Matt wore a faded red Carhart t-shirt that
hugged his body like it was sewn on him. Well worn carpenter jeans,
frayed at the leg, and dusty old leather boots completed his
outfit, and appealed to her more than she ever thought possible.
Dragging her eyes away from his legs and up to his face, she smiled
at him. Then gasped. “You’re not wearing a hat!”

A frown settled over his face immediately,
and Gina felt bad she had blurted that out. “Sorry.”

“It’s all right. I lost it somewhere and
can’t figure out where.”

Her brows rose at the admission. “Well, I
think you look good without it,” she told him firmly.

And he did. The hat was an easy shield, and
he used it to hide his face and emotions. Without the covering, she
was surprised at how damn good looking he was. His hair was shiny
damp and combed down, hiding the butterfly strips, and his face was
shaved clean of stubble. It looked like he had taken extra care
with his appearance because the hat was not there.

At the same time she was checking him out, he
was doing the same. Gina pinkened when she realized her robe had
gaped open a bit in the front. She tucked the right side in with
her casted hand and straightened the other side with her left. At
the same time, she raised her shoulders and pressed her breasts
out. If he was going to look at something, might as well give him
something not slouchy and rumpled.

Matt cleared his throat and glanced down at
the toolbox in his hand. “Did Gabe make it home okay?”

“Yes,” she answered. “I whistled for him at
my window and he said everything was quiet.”

He looked back up at her, a question in his
expression. Gina was surprised at how bright and clear his eyes
were. A dark curl lay at the corner of his forehead. “We, uh, have
corresponding rooms at the top of our houses. I check on him at
night before we each go to bed.”

Matt’s full lips softened into an
almost-smile.

“That’s nice. You know,” he said
thoughtfully, “you watching out for him is really considerate. Not
a lot of people would get involved.”

Gina tried not to let anger sour her
morning.

“I don’t check on him to be nice. Well,” she
conceded, “not totally anyway. I check on him because he’s a child,
and he has nobody looking out for his interests. I grew up in a
very large family, and children are treasures. I never wanted for
anything when I was little. Every child should know that
security.”

Matt snorted and shook his head. “Not
everybody feels the way you do.”

Gina shrugged. “I know. But they should.”

Matt looked at her for a long moment before
sliding by her to the stairway. Gina felt like there was a lot
being unsaid.

“What about your family?” she asked. “Do you
have any siblings or cousins?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Nobody?”

He shook his head.

“No distant relations anywhere?”

“I don’t know,” he answered shortly. The lid
to the toolbox snapped open and he started to pull out tools. Gina
thought he was just doing something so he didn’t have to look at
her.

“Your parents never told you?”

“No.”

“Aren’t you curious? You may have blood
relations out there.”

With a sigh, he turned and glared at her.

“My mother left when I was about six, I
think. Can’t remember exactly. I know nothing of her family. My
father was one of several brothers, but they had disowned him. Rick
died when I was sixteen, and I was sent to a foster home because
nobody claimed me, even though they had been notified several
times. Rick’s father returned the letters unopened. Does that
answer your questions?”

Gina felt like shit. She knew his
relationship with his father had been bad, but she’d had no idea it
reached through his whole family. “I’m sorry, Matt. I shouldn’t
have pestered you.”

She slid by him up the stairs to get dressed.
The man was helping her out, and in return she badgered him about
things he didn’t want to talk about.
Smooth, Gina
. Curiosity
had gotten the better of her. She peeked out the window and saw
Gabe in the backyard next door moving branches. She wondered where
Chuck was. Normally, he worked Sundays, but his car was in the
driveway. Too passed out to do anything, probably.

One-handed, she pulled on jeans and a
t-shirt. If she braced the elbow of her bad arm against a wall, she
could turn her body enough to fasten the button and pull up the
zipper without it hurting too much. She dragged a brush through her
crazy mop of hair and managed to pull it to the base of her neck
with a scrunchy. Not the classiest look in the world, but it would
do. Her wrist ached, so she swallowed a couple of ibuprofen to take
the edge off and headed down to eat some breakfast.

Matt sat on the steps, staring into space as
if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. He stood up
when she stopped behind him and turned to face her. Being two
risers above him actually put her at eye-level with the big man. He
blocked her path.

“Listen, Gina,” he said finally, shoving his
hands in his pockets. “I’m sorry I went off on you earlier. My
family is just not something I like to talk about.”

Gina blinked in surprise. She certainly
hadn’t expected an apology.
She
was the one who had been
digging. “Don’t worry about it, Matt. I shouldn’t have been nibby.
I just--” she sighed deeply and met his eyes “--I was just curious
about you, is all.”

Surprise flared in his gray-green eyes, and
his brows furrowed in disbelief. “Why on earth would you be curious
about me?”

The look on his face would have been cute if
it hadn’t been so earnest. He honestly didn’t understand her
attraction.

“I like you. I think you’re a nice guy. I
wish I’d have talked to you sooner in that hallway, rather than
just dodge around you. I’m sorry about that. I made assumptions
about you like everybody else does. And they were wrong.”

Matt’s face had gone slack, as if he didn’t
dare believe her words, and she couldn’t help but reach out and run
a finger along his shaved jaw line. His gaze zeroed in on her
gently smiling mouth, and it was absolutely natural to lean forward
and press her lips to his.

Broad and surprisingly soft, Matt’s lips
remained still as Gina moved her mouth against his. She pressed
harder, daring to touch the seam of his lips with her tongue. From
deep inside him, a growl rumbled forth, and his lips began to move
with hers. Gina slipped her arms around his neck and held on as he
pressed back in earnest.

Gina leaned harder and opened her mouth wide
to invite him in. She allowed her body to rest against his, and she
tunneled her good hand into the short hair at the nape of his neck,
scraping her fingernails lightly.

Matt shuddered and came alive in her arms.
Cupping her head in his massive hands, he drank from her mouth. His
tongue teased at her lips, then slid inside to taste her. Gina
couldn’t contain her helpless moan as she was suddenly wet and
aching with arousal. Her nipples rubbed against his solid chest,
and it was so very delicious.

One of his huge hands cupped her ass and
pulled her into his arousal. Then he did some sexy thing with his
hips that ground her pelvic bone into his erection. The second time
he did it, he hit her clit. She tore away with a gasp, looking into
his hooded eyes. This was moving way too fast.

“I, uh, think we should chill for a minute,”
she panted out. “Yeah, definitely.”

Matt’s eyes darkened to an almost storm grey.
But he pulled away immediately at her words. “I’m sorry.” He
cleared his raspy throat. “Yeah, slowing down would be good.”

Even though he said the words, his hands
seemed reluctant to let her go.

Gina’s knees quaked and threatened to fold,
so she lowered herself to the step behind her.

“Wow,” she said quietly, trying to settle her
heartbeat. When she looked up, Matt had a dazed expression on his
face. “Are you okay?”

Blinking, he looked down at her before he
took a deep breath and nodded. “Yes.”

Gina raised her brows, but he didn’t say
anything else.

“I didn’t expect that, Matt. I mean, you’re
cute and all, but damn.” She laughed and motioned at the step. “You
just knocked me on my ass.”

Slowly, wondrously, his eyes lightened and
his lips spread into a smile. The first full smile she had ever
seen. It almost made her cry.

There must have been a strange look on her
face, because the happy expression faded into a frown. “What?”

“I’ve just never seen you smile before.”

He looked away in embarrassment. Then turned
to rummage in his toolbox.

Gina could have kicked herself in the ass.
They were headed in the right direction, and she had to ruin it.
Great going, Carruthers
.

“I, uh, better go do something. You know, in
the kitchen.”

Flustered, she forced her knees to hold her
as she took off.

***

Out of the corner of his eye, Matt watched
Gina’s beautifully shaped ass disappear down the hallway to the
kitchen. It had fit so perfectly in his hands, as if the roundness
had been formed exactly to his specifications. His cock twitched in
his pants, and he knew it wasn’t going to go away until he took
care of it himself later.

That didn’t help him now, though.

And it didn’t help him half an hour later
when he pinched his thumb with a crowbar. The erection from hell
was interfering with the work he had to do. His brain just wouldn’t
shut off, let alone his body.

Matt could count on two fingers the number of
women he had ever kissed, and neither experience had ever left him
craving more. It seemed too personal. Off-putting. He’d rather
screw and not deal with all that coddling, girly stuff.

Gina’s kiss hadn’t had the same effect on him
others had. The touch of her lips had ignited a need he’d never
felt before, and he had thrown himself into it. Hell, he’d have
spread her legs right there on the stairs and blown his nut within
seconds if she’d have continued to kiss him that way. He kept
replaying the scene in his head, going over her every word and
movement.

It took a long time for the boner to retreat
and for work to continue. His ears were targeted on Gina as she
puttered through the house. She had been gone the better part of an
hour when a mouth-watering smell began to filter through the air.
Other than fast-food, he hadn’t really been around a lot of
cooking, so he wasn’t sure what it was until she brought out a
small plate covered with chocolate chip cookies, and a huge glass
of milk. His gas station breakfast had been hours ago, and he eyed
the cookies hungrily.

“Thought you might like a snack,” Gina said,
holding the plate out to him. The glass of milk was set on the
hallway entry table, then she turned and left.

The cookies were still hot from the oven.
Matt broke one open, and the molten chocolate looped down over his
thumb. Raising it to his mouth, he licked it off his nail and
groaned in pleasure. Half the cookie was shoved into his mouth, and
the second half quickly followed. Damn, they were good. Reaching,
he grabbed the glass of milk and chugged some down, then shoved
another cookie into his mouth, whole. This one he savored and
chewed thoroughly before swallowing. The third took a little
longer, and he finally decided he had died and gone to heaven. The
dough of the cookie was fluffy and not too sweet, the chocolate
decidedly on the bitter side. Walnuts added a dimension that was
phenomenal. He’d never tasted anything better.

The fourth cookie he took even longer time
with, because he knew it was the last. Damn, that was tasty. Unable
to help himself, he headed down the hallway to the kitchen.

Gina was bent over the open oven door,
pulling out a tray of cookies. There was a row of paper towels
lining her counter, with a few cookies already cooling. She glanced
at him, then down at the empty plate, and smiled. “Liked those, did
you?”

Matt set the plate in the sink. “I did. Very
much. I think I want to hire you to bake me cookies from now
on.”

Gina laughed out loud, and it made his gut
tighten with awareness. She began to remove the cookies from the
pan with a bright blue spatula. “I don’t know,” she hedged, setting
the pan on the smooth top. “I have a lot of requests for my
cookies.”

“I’ll change the oil in your car. Renovate
your house. Replace your roof. Something.”

Gina laughed and turned to face him, leaning
back against the sink.