Just Between Friends (O'Rourke Family 4) (10 page)

“I’m sorry, Katydid. I shouldn’t have said that.”

Kate rose, evading his hand. She carefully brushed small bits of leaves and dirt from her dress, and he recalled how pretty and happy she’d looked at the restaurant before he’d given her the earrings. Some hero he’d turned out to be, using her birthday gift as a way to salvage his pride.

Cripes,
that’s
why the earrings were such a big mistake. They’d been about him, not her.

“I’ve always been proud of who you were,” she said quietly. It was so dark he couldn’t be certain, but it looked like tears had streaked down her face. “I never wanted you to change. You’re the one who thought something was wrong with one of us, and I’m beginning to wonder if it was me who didn’t measure up to your standards.”

“No! That isn’t what I—”

With a swirl of shadow and sweet fragrance she disappeared, moving so quietly he wasn’t certain which direction she’d gone.

“Kate?”

Nothing but the evening breeze answered him, and Dylan hit the back of his head on the broad tree trunk. Something was happening he didn’t understand, and it was moving so fast the ground was getting ripped from beneath his feet.

I’ve always been proud of who you were…

Kate’s words filled an empty place in his soul, a place he hadn’t known was empty. It was like when she’d defended him at the hospital fund-raiser. Passionate, unshakable approval. Their differences didn’t seem to matter to her.

“No.” He forced the denial through gritted teeth, because he didn’t need anyone’s approval. He was doing what he loved, even if it wasn’t what his mother and father had originally hoped for their family when they’d left Ireland.

The faint patter of raindrops sounded around him, but he was reluctant to move. He’d never wanted to hurt
Kate or make her believe he didn’t think well of her. She was so special, filled with love and generosity and laughter, while he was just an ordinary guy. Sooner or later she’d realize it, and that’s when he’d lose her.

Some things can’t be lost, son. Kate sees you with a woman’s heart.

Dylan’s spine went rigid as the timber of his father’s voice rang true and clear in his ears. But it couldn’t be. He was only imagining it because he knew how fond Keenan had been of the lonely little girl who’d followed them around as they worked.

Right?

No answer came except the suggestion of a rich chuckle that rustled through the leaves above him.

K
ate drew a brush through her hair, thinking so hard she didn’t even see her reflection in the dressing table mirror. Instead she focused on the tulips Dylan had given her the night before.

Birthday tulips.

Dylan had gotten up and left before dawn, but he’d written a note saying he would be back for dinner. A lot of things had been said last night, and she’d revealed more than she had intended; if he took the words apart he would know she loved him. But there was nothing new to that, he could have figured it out at any time.

Sighing, Kate laid the brush on the table and went to her computer. She’d never missed a deadline with her editor, and she didn’t intend to start now. Yet it was hard to focus on the story and it took her longer than normal to write Little Stuff’s adventures.

Twelve hours later Kate had succeeded in focusing so well that she didn’t hear Dylan arrive home until he called out her name.

“Katydid?” he called again, tapping on her door. “Are you busy?”

Kate hastily pulled up an Internet page, concealing the work she was doing. “No. Come in.”

She glanced up and saw that Dylan’s jeans were caked with mud below the knee. A rag was wrapped around his upper arm and bloodstains adorned his ripped shirt sleeve.

“What happened?”

Dylan swung a hard hat along his leg. “What do you mean?”

“Your arm, that’s what I mean,” Kate said, exasperated. “There’s blood all over it.”

He shrugged. “Took some skin off with a nail, that’s all.”

The idea of Dylan getting hurt made her stomach tighten, but he’d think she was silly if she made a fuss. “You probably want to take a shower, but then I should put on a clean bandage.”

“Thanks.” He glanced around the room, then looked back at her desk. “You seem to spend a lot of time on the computer.”

“Just surfing the Internet,” she said, waving her hand dismissively. Part of her wanted to tell him about her books and the prestigious children’s literature award she’d just been nominated for, but she wanted him to love her for who she was, not what she’d accomplished.

It was so mixed up in her head.

Did he really believe that she was too immature and
shallow to value hard work and talent over the sort of wealthy anachronism her family had become?

“The Net?” He sounded puzzled.

“It’s useful for research on…stuff.”

“Oh.”

A guy like Dylan probably wouldn’t be caught dead surfing the Internet. Kate only used the Net for quick fact-finding and e-mail, but he didn’t need to know that.

“I’m sorry I lost track of the time,” she said hastily. “I’ll get dinner together, then I have to go to a board meeting for the children’s hospital.”

“I thought the regular board meeting was last week.”

“Some property near the hospital just went up for sale,” Kate explained as she rushed around the kitchen. “We’re going to discuss acquiring the land for the new orthopedic clinic.”

Dylan frowned and unbuttoned his shirt. He didn’t like the thought of Kate going out alone at night in her ancient car; if she’d only be reasonable and let him buy her a new one then he wouldn’t have to worry so much. “You’re talking about the old Candler property.”

“Yes.”

“I heard it was for sale. I’ll drive you to the meeting.”

“You will not.” Kate shook her head and pointed to his arm. “You’re going to take a shower. I’m going to fix that cut with a sterile bandage. Then you’re going to have a relaxing evening at home.”

“Kate—”

Her face set stubbornly. No matter how he reasoned with her while she tended his scratched skin, she refused his company. As a result he was left in the silent apartment, fuming as she backed her car out of the garage.
He had to admit the motor purred like a kitten, but he’d rather have her safe in the truck.

More than that, he’d rather have her safe at
home
.

It was a shock to realize he resented the meeting that took Kate away from him. The children’s hospital was an important community service, and he didn’t have any business minding one way or the other, but he did.

“Dammit,
no
.”

Feeling trapped by something he couldn’t understand, Dylan rigged up lights in the space he was remodeling and tore into one of the walls. The strenuous effort helped him focus, but it didn’t prevent him from listening for Kate’s return.

He had to get a grip.

She didn’t belong to him, and she never would. It would be insane to hang too much on her declarations from the previous night. Katydid didn’t lie, but she was a creature of silk and spun gold who didn’t belong in his world of sandpaper and steel rebar. A man and woman who were that different might manage to be friends, but they’d never survive a lifetime of marriage.

It was time to put up more barriers, and this time he would keep them up.

Several hours later Kate walked through the opening Dylan had cut between the living room and the space beyond.

“Hey, Dylan.”

“Hey.” He didn’t look up, and she shifted her feet.

“It’s stuffy in here. I’ll set up the fan.”

“No,” he said sharply. “It’ll just move the dust around.”

Her eyebrows shot upward. She was tired. The board meeting had lasted forever, with various factions disagreeing on what they should do and how much debt the hospital could risk. And now Dylan was uptight again. But everything else faded away when she saw that the white bandage above his elbow was stained with fresh blood.

“Your arm is bleeding again. Let me put on a new bandage.”

“I don’t need to be mothered, and the real world doesn’t stop working because of a little scratch.”

His tone sounded so cool she actually shivered.

“It’s more than a scratch.” The sight of his torn skin had made her sick to her stomach, though she’d tried not to fuss too much about it.

“No, it’s not. Go to bed, Kate. I’m too busy to talk.” He lifted a hammer and began pounding on the old wall.

She swallowed. Maybe it was just discomfort from his arm and being tired from a long week.

“D-Dylan? What’s wrong?”

Dylan looked up, and she saw pain in his dark eyes. “Please, Kate. I can’t take any more tonight.”

Nodding, unsure of exactly what he meant but certain she couldn’t take any more, either, she fled to her bedroom.

Little changed over the next week, except Dylan seemed less angry. Kate found his silent reserve a small improvement, but it crushed her hopes that he’d become more open to her.

Honestly, she fumed. The strong, silent type might be appealing on the silver screen, but in real life living with him was hard. And lonely.

Efforts to persuade the hospital board to purchase the Candler property was taking a significant portion of her days and evenings, so Kate worked late each night on her novel to stay on schedule. Whenever Dylan asked about what she was doing she said something about the Internet, but he kept frowning at the answer.

Early Saturday evening she returned from another interminable session with the board and dropped onto the couch with a weary sigh.

“Bad meeting?” Dylan asked.

She glanced over at the French doors he’d installed in place of an open cut in the wall, and her pulse kicked up.

“Bad enough.” Climbing quickly to her feet and shedding her suit jacket, she gave him a smile. “Sorry I’m late. Have you eaten?”

“No. I figured you’d be tired, so I ordered pizza. I’ll stick it in the oven to heat.”

Tears pricked at her eyes. “Thank you.”

It was ridiculous, but Dylan’s stomach swooped at the appreciation in Kate’s face.

She was such a puzzle. All that time on the computer couldn’t be idle Web surfing. There had to be more to it, and she put long hours into her community work. It was much easier to resist her appeal when he thought she was a spoiled princess who just dabbled in charity work.

Resisting?

Hellfire.

Dylan shook his head and wondered who he was trying to kid. Kate had been getting to him even before that kiss on their wedding day. She bothered him. She took a
breath
and it bothered him, and heaven knew her sweet curves were driving him crazy.

“What’s going on with the hospital board?” he asked as he slid the pizza onto a round pan.

“Mr. Wayland is unhappy because the property has a condemned building on it,” Kate said, brushing past him to the refrigerator.

His nerves tied themselves into a knot at the brief contact, and he nodded, resigned.

That bothered him too.

“There aren’t many empty lots in the city,” he said after clearing his throat. “And none near the hospital.”

“I know.” Kate took a thirsty swallow of milk. “It’s ridiculous. He says taking down the old building will cost more than we can afford. I say we can’t afford
not
to build the clinic. You can’t tell kids with broken bones that it was just too much trouble getting them a decent treatment center.”

Dylan thought for a moment. “You’re right. Tell Wayland that O’Rourke Construction will do the demolition as a donation to the hospital.”

Kate lit up with a smile so bright it nearly blinded him. “You will?” She threw her arms around his neck. “Oh, Dylan, you’re wonderful.”

“Kate…”

Whatever he’d intended to say was lost when she kissed him. It was warm and passionate and filled with her dazzling energy. The world shifted and crackled around them, burning in a fire that didn’t consume. It just got hotter.

Of their own accord his fingers cupped her bottom, pulling her tighter against him, thrusting her breasts into his chest. The kiss deepened, turned slow and more intense, and his mind was swept away like a boulder in a flash flood.

But when he twisted and lifted her onto the counter, something in Kate’s soft gasps brought a thread of sanity back to him.

“I have to stop,” he muttered.

She pulled at the back of his shirt and slipped her hands beneath, kneading the muscles in his lower back.

Once again his thoughts skidded off, obedient to the will of his body. Her fingers slipped inside the waist-band of his jeans, and he groaned.

Kate hesitated, unsure if she was doing the right thing.

Was it too soon?

Probably.

Or maybe not.

Drat.

She had to decide before it was too late, but it was hard to know if her heart or head or more primitive instincts were in charge. Dylan’s lips nibbled their way down her jaw and she dropped her head back, inviting him to kiss his way down her throat. More than anything she wanted his mouth over her breasts, the way he’d caressed her on their wedding night.

“I’m sorry,” Dylan gasped all at once, even as his thumbs traced circles around her nipples.

“For what?” Kate blinked away tears of frustration.

“I promised I wouldn’t kiss you again.”

“But I was the one who kissed you.”

“Oh. Right.”

His eyes were darker than she’d ever seen them, so intense, and his gaze dropped to his hands, now cupping her breasts. A quiver of anticipation went through Kate.

She wiggled and realized her legs were wrapped around his thighs, the hem of her skirt pushed up to her
hips. Something hard and insistent pressed against her feminine center. There was no doubt about Dylan’s response.

She couldn’t turn back now.

The room shifted as Dylan put his hands under her bottom again and lifted her. With a small yelp she clasped his neck and tightened her legs around his hips. The movement as he walked intensified the ache low in her stomach, and she shuddered. The wall and ceiling spun as Dylan put one knee on her bed and lowered them both. In the same smooth action he put a hand on her breast, and his mouth over hers.

Oh…
my.

It seemed impossible to get a breath into her lungs, and she was afraid to move, anyway, for fear it would distract Dylan. Time slowed, measured only by the pounding of her heart and the long slow kisses, so deep there didn’t seem to be any beginning or end.

That’s Dylan,
she thought giddily.

Thoughtful, deliberate, a builder of things.

Through the ringing in her ears Kate thought she heard two dull thuds, and guessed it was his boots landing on the carpet. Her own shoes were long gone, and even as the realization came, he eased down her body, smoothing away the rest of her clothing and rolling down her panties and stockings.

Nibbling kisses followed his fingers, brushing over her knees and calves, spots she would never have guessed to be erogenous zones. But when he rubbed the arch of her foot along his jaw, all heck broke loose in her body. The rasp of his evening beard shadow against her sensitive skin sent heated prickles streaking through her veins.

“I should stop,” Dylan muttered so harshly she barely understood him.

Should
stop?

Before he’d said he
had
to stop, so maybe he wasn’t sure, and Kate had every intention of adding to his doubt on the matter. With a boldness she hadn’t known she possessed, she put her arms above her head and slowly stretched.

Dylan stared at Kate in the soft light from the bedside table, his thoughts more scattered than light in a kaleidoscope. He’d pulled her long hair from its conservative knot on her head; it was rumpled, falling sexily around her shoulders, with streamers of gold and platinum scattered across the pillows.

She didn’t look the least like the Katydid of his childhood. She was a grown woman with sleek silken lines and rounded curves in all the right places. The little girl who’d followed him around with worshipful eyes was really gone, no matter how hard he’d tried not to accept it, and an unutterable sorrow clawed at his throat.

How long before he lost…

The questions scattered as Kate smiled a dreamy smile and wiggled her toes ever so slightly against his face. Her breasts were drawn tight, still aroused by his touch, and as though drawn to a magnet he rocked forward on one knee so he could trace their sweet curves.

Kate’s body was beautifully balanced to her petite height.

Enough for a handful,
he thought as he cupped her in his palms. That’s all a man really needed. Just a handful of sweetness to drive him mad. He’d just hold her for a minute, then stop. Yet his thumbs moved of their
own accord, rubbing over Kate’s nipples, making her breath catch again and again.