Naturally Naughty (13 page)

“Yeah, that’s exactly what it was like growing up.”

Their eyes met. She looked surprised that he agreed.

As for Jack, he thought it remarkable how quickly Kate had nailed what his childhood had been like on this block. In this town.

“Can I venture a guess that living on Pansy Lane was something like a fishbowl, too?”

Her slow nod was his only answer.

He reached out to brush away the blowing strand of hair again. His fingers connected with her temple, sending heat through his body. Heat that had absolutely nothing to do with the blazing sunshine overhead.

“Then I guess it’s a good thing we both like to live a little dangerously.”

W
HEN THEY GOT BACK
to the duplex, Kate first went inside to check the power, then leaned out to give him a thumbs-up. “Yes! Houston, we have ignition.”

“Good, now you can take a shower in your own bathroom tonight,” he muttered.

They unloaded the truck, making several trips.

“So,” she asked as they carried some chairs into the kitchen. “Did you get a lot done at your mother’s house today?”

She seemed to be making an effort to be polite, social and absolutely impersonal. He followed her lead. “Barely made a dent. My father had accounts all over the state, with at least a dozen banks. He owned property I didn’t know about, held mortgages my
mother
didn’t even know about. I haven’t even gotten to the stuff in a file marked Private that I found in his desk drawer.”

“Well, if you need any help, I do have some accounting background.” At his look of surprise, she hurried on. “What? I mean, I do owe you one for helping me today.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he said with a smile. “Though, maybe I’ll choose the way you repay me.”

They left the queen-size mattress for last. It would be the trickiest, since it had to go up the narrow staircase to the bedroom. “Hope you sleep really well to make it worth lugging this thing all over town,” he said as they hoisted the thing through the doorway. They dropped it right on the floor as Kate hadn’t bothered with a bed frame.

“At least it’s not a twin,” she said with a smile, obviously referring to the way he spent his own nights. “Nice and roomy.”

He frowned. “You’re not planning on sharing it, are you?”

“Huh?” She looked truly puzzled and he felt like an idiot for his instant of jealousy. “Wait a second.” She pointed an index finger at him. “You want to know if another man is going to be staying over here occasionally.”

He crossed his arms, not saying anything. She chuckled. “Uh, I don’t think so, Jack. In spite of what you might think, given the way I acted on the day we met, I’m not a bed hopper.” She paused. “I don’t think I could even be called a bed crawler, these days.”

Good.

“Not that it’s any of your business.”

“No, of course not.”
Damn right it was his business.

“If I did choose to bring someone here, you’d have absolutely no say in the matter,” she continued, almost challenging him to deny it.

He stepped closer, tipping her chin up with his index finger until she met his eye. “I wouldn’t say a word.” Her lashes lowered as she tried to look down. “I can promise I wouldn’t say anything to him as I threw him out the window, Kate.”

She bit her lip, looking both confused and a little bit
pleased. Unable to resist, he bent to kiss her mouth. Lightly. Playfully.

“What was that for?” She brought her shaking fingers to her mouth when he ended the kiss and stepped away.

“Just to remind you.”

“Remind me of what?”

He walked toward the door, but glanced over his shoulder.

“That I’m the only man you want.”

K
ATE DECIDED
to spend her first few days in Pleasantville devoting all her thoughts to the new store. And none to her love life, such as it was. That didn’t count her dreams, of course, over which she had no control.

Jack starred in them every night, damn it.

On Saturday night, after Jack had helped her unload some furniture at the duplex and given her the playful kiss that had left her reeling, she went downtown to see the shop for the first time. Cassie and her high school helpers had done a great job. Sure, there were some lighting problems, but the old dressing room area was perfect, with lots of mirrors so customers could get addicted to Armand’s luxurious lingerie. And the store had adequate air-conditioning and plenty of display shelves, with discreet alcoves for some of their more risqué items. If this store were in some other town, she could envision it thriving.

Kate and Cassie enjoyed eating pizza, listening to loud music, drinking wine and examining sex toys until late Saturday night. At least until the sheriff, Sean Taggart, showed up.

As soon as Kate saw him, she understood why Cassie got such a strange look on her face whenever his name came up. The man was pure, rugged manna from tough-guy heaven. Maybe not movie-star gorgeous, like Jack, but with his lean body, thick brown hair and dangerous smile, she could see why Cassie might find him distracting. So dis
tracting that Kate immediately decided to leave the two of them alone. After all, it wasn’t often she saw her cousin nearly blushing around a man.

It also wasn’t every day she came across a man who did not turn into a tongue-tied, drooling idiot around her cousin. Jack hadn’t. On Saturday, when Cassie had been at her Cassie-est, all blond, leggy and saucy, he’d barely glanced in her direction.

She hadn’t known whether to kiss him or to take his pulse to see if he was still alive and breathing. In any case, she could almost love him for it. “Love him?” Insane. She barely liked him.

Well, she conceded, that was a big lie. She did like him, she’d liked him from the minute they met, in spite of who his father had been. He was charming and sexy, playful and self-confident. She liked that he didn’t swagger, and he felt no need to play tough guy. He was a flirt, a man who liked women. Right now he liked her, she knew it, in spite of his failure to call. She could see the heat in his eyes when he looked at her. He wanted her every bit as much as he had their first day. But something was holding him back.

If his last name were different, and if he’d come up with a reasonable excuse for not calling her, she might have tried to find out what was stopping him. And maybe she would have tried to change his mind.

The realization floored her. How strange that for the first time in nearly forever, she’d found someone who tempted her to let him get closer. She could conceive of lowering some of her guard, taking a chance on what could be a fabulously erotic, exciting relationship. But he’d erected barriers even taller than her own.

She supposed it was just as well there were insurmountable walls between them right up front. Jack obviously liked to play. A lot. He wasn’t the stick-around type and she knew
it. While Kate believed if there ever did come a time when she found that one right guy—her true love—she’d be a goner for life.

Much like her mother had been, unfortunately.

Over the next couple of days Kate refrained from pumping Cassie about her problems—either her old ones, or her new one, in the form of the hunky sheriff. Somehow, while they priced, ordered and set up displays, she found herself getting excited as she had before the opening of her shop in Chicago.

Knock it off, this isn’t the same thing at all!

Nope, it definitely wasn’t. In Chicago, she’d wanted her shop to be a wild success. Here, she fully expected it to be a grand failure. But at least they’d have fun failing, doing it publicly, right on the main street of Pleasantville. And, as they failed, she’d be right here in case Cassie needed her. She knew her cousin too well…if Kate had stayed in Chicago, Cassie would never have come to her if things got bad. Here, she couldn’t very well avoid it!

She managed to avoid Jack for the most part—not an easy feat considering their close living quarters. But he was usually gone during the day, and so was she. That suited her fine.

Nights were tougher. They slept mere inches apart, separated only by the width of one slim, interior wall. There were times when she thought she heard his hand brush the wall behind her head, when he’d roll over in her old bed next door. She knew from childhood experience that at times she and Cassie had heard each other’s late-night bad dream cries.

On Wednesday morning she stepped outside on the porch as soon as she got up, glad for the fresh early-morning air. Down the block, a mother rode a bicycle, with a toddler in the child seat. The woman waved as she rode by.

A nice, peaceful morning. She didn’t remember those from when she’d lived here, though, she supposed there must have been some. At least for Edie. Otherwise, why would her mother have ever come back here when Kate’s dad died?

Hearing sounds coming from next door, she stepped closer and peered into the front window of her mother’s duplex. She wished she hadn’t. Jack stood in his living room, bare-chested, wearing only a pair of loose white pants. He was stretching, moving his body with fluidity and grace. And power. It took a second for her muddled brain to realize that he was running through some type of karate moves.

He had no idea she was there. So she watched for several minutes. The sweat gleamed on his bare chest and thick arms as he swung and kicked and arched. He moved his body like a sleek animal, a finely tuned—but dangerous—machine.

Walk away before he sees you.
She couldn’t, though. She couldn’t turn and walk into her house.
Just one more moment of watching….
One moment stretched into five or ten minutes until finally, inevitably, he glanced up and saw her there.

He immediately stopped. They stared at each other through the glass for a minute, then Jack lifted his hand and pointed toward her with his index finger, wagging it back and forth like a parent to a kid who’d done something naughty.

Act innocent.
She gave him a “Who me?” shrug.

He crossed his arms and raised his brow, waiting for her to admit she’d been spying on him.

“Oh, all right,” she muttered. As she entered the front door she immediately launched into an explanation. “I
didn’t mean to watch you working out. I just stepped out for some fresh air, and couldn’t help noticing.”

“Uh-huh,” he said as he began to stretch his arms out, slowly rolling his shoulders as if cooling down from his workout.

“I mean, the curtains were open. I just caught a glimpse.”

“Right.”

His one-word answers did nothing to hide his amusement.

“Really, Jack, I do respect your privacy.”

He finally stopped moving all those yummy muscles long enough to meet her eye. “Kate, you’ve been standing there for almost ten minutes.”

She fisted her hands and put them on her hips. “You saw me?”

“No,” he admitted. Then he grinned. “But I heard your front door open, and that board on the front porch really creaks.”

She was surprised he’d been able to hear anything except his own churning pulse as he’d flexed and stretched all those lovely, hard muscles. She forced herself to look away, wondering if she’d been drooling while she’d watched from the window. She surreptitiously lifted her fingers to her chin to check.

“So, uh, were you doing some kind of karate?” she finally asked, wanting to fill the charged silence. “I’ve thought about taking some self-defense courses.”

“Tae Kwon Do. If you’re serious, I teach at a studio in Chicago. I can give you the address.”

That implied they’d see one another after they left Pleasantville, something Kate hadn’t really allowed herself to consider. “Well, I don’t know….”

“If you don’t feel comfortable in a class,” he said with
a cajoling smile, “I’d be happy to work with you one on one.”

Work with her. One on one.
How about one you on one me?

She gulped. “I’d better go.”

He grabbed a white towel and draped it over his shoulders. “Don’t go. I’ll make you some breakfast. I can’t promise gourmet food like diet Coke and donuts, but I can do a decent omelet.”

Considering she hadn’t bothered to do a grocery shopping trip, and had been living off fast food and 7-Eleven burritos for the past few days, Kate’s stomach overruled her brain. “Great.”

“Lemme change.”

You don’t have to on my account!

While he was upstairs, Kate went into the kitchen, glad to see Jack was keeping the place spotless, just as it had been when her mother had lived here. Kate, unfortunately, was more the slob type. And the world’s greatest chef—or even a competent one—she was not. She did, however, know how to crack an egg and was hard at it when he returned, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt.

“So tell me why you want to take self-defense courses,” he said as he began making their breakfast.

“I dunno, I live in a big city and run a rather infamous store. I got a few wacky phone calls after that article.”

Jack’s shoulders stiffened. “Did anyone threaten you?”

“Oh, no. I just got asked on some unusual dates—to strip clubs, S and M hangouts and the Circus.”

“Circus sounds pretty normal.”

“I thought so, too, at first. Turns out there’s a sex show called the Circus where the animals are all people in costume who offer
rides
to members of the audience.”

“I think I’d rather not have known that,” he said with a groan as he diced some ham for the omelets.

“Me, too.” She made herself at home, finding his coffee supply and filling the coffeepot. “I guess some people heard about my shop and instantly thought the worst of me.”

He put the knife down to study her. “You’ve had to deal with that before, haven’t you?”

She knew he meant here, in Pleasantville. “Ancient history.”

“So how does it measure up now? How has the town treated you these first few days?”

So far, she had to admit, things had been okay. Then again, she hadn’t been out too much, staying mostly at home, at Cassie’s place or at the store. “Fine, actually. How about you? Has the red carpet been rolled out for the return of the prodigal son?”

“I’m keeping a low profile, though one of my father’s friends asked me to move back and run for mayor next year.”

“Will you?” She held her breath waiting for his answer.

“Not on your
life
.”

She nearly sighed in relief.
Why would it matter to you if he came back here, married the local big-haired town princess and stayed forever?
She didn’t know why, she only knew it
would
matter.

Somehow, even though she’d told herself nothing was going to happen between them, Kate couldn’t imagine being in Chicago, knowing Jack wasn’t there somewhere, in that big bustling city, stopping traffic on the street with his smile and teaching his Tae Kwon Do classes. Tackling intruders and doing fix-it work on a needy woman’s house.

Their eyes met, and somehow Kate knew Jack had read her thoughts. He knew she liked him, and she felt drawn to him.

Kate’s eyes widened as Jack stepped close, until she was backed up against the kitchen counter, and he pressed almost neck to toe against her body. “I’m looking forward to a lot of things changing when I get back to Chicago, Kate.” He lifted a hand to her face, softly caressing her cheekbone, then touching a strand of her hair. “Changing for both of us.”

Before she could ask him to explain, he’d turned back to the stove. Kate clutched the counter and sucked in a few deep breaths, trying to regain her composure. By the time breakfast was ready, she felt completely calm and relaxed, or at least she thought she looked that way—no point in wondering if he knew she was still edgy and aware, and now very curious about what he’d meant about things changing between them.

“So, Jack, what else do you do in your real life. You’re an architect. Ever designed anything I’ve actually heard of?”

He answered with a question. “Like to go shopping?”

“Does Imelda Marcos like shoes?”

He chuckled. “My firm designed the new Great Lakes Mall. I managed the project.”

She gave a little whistle of appreciation. “Nice. Anything else?”

He named a few more buildings Kate instantly recognized, particularly the stores and shopping centers. “Sounds like retail’s your niche.”

“Mmm-hmm. If you ever decide to open a new Bare Essentials, let me know.”

If only you knew…

“How’d you get into architecture? Didn’t Daddy want you to follow in his footsteps and become a lawyer?”

“I prefer to build things, not tear them apart, which is what lawyers seem to spend a lot of their time doing.” He
flipped their omelets onto two plates and carried them to the table. “I really built things when I was going to college. I worked for a construction company in L.A. every summer.”

“I somehow pictured you surfing your way through college.”

“Ha! I tried it once and the damn board almost tore my ear off. After I wiped out, it hit me in the head. I still have the scar.” He turned his head, pushing his hair up with his fingers. Kate bit her lip. Unable to resist, she stepped closer, until the toes of her sandals nearly touched his bare feet.

His hair was still slightly damp with sweat from his workout, and his skin still glowed with energy. She gulped, trying to ignore her response, and examined the thin scar that ran from just under his earlobe into his hairline.

If she wasn’t mistaken, she might have kissed that spot during their interlude at the theater. Her heart skipped a beat.

“Ouch,” she murmured.

He seemed to notice her sudden intensity, and her closeness. Her face was inches from his neck, and she inhaled deeply, smelling his musky warmth. She closed her eyes briefly, remembering what it had been like to kiss him. To touch him.