Veer (Clayton Falls) (16 page)

“Yes.”
Of course she probably wouldn’t be thrilled about it.

I went straight home after that. I wasn’t sure what
difference the car would make, but it was a start
,
and I had to fix things with Becca
. I couldn’t get her out of my head
,
and I doubted it was going to suddenly get any better.

***

Greg called me around eleven
the next day
and told me he had Becca’s car done. I paid the bill and got into the driver’s
seat
. It’s a good thing I’m not claustrophobic because I had almost no
room in that
sad excuse for a car
. Why someone would cho
o
se to drive such a small car, especially an old one was beyond me—but from the brief conversation I heard her have with Molly, she had some sort of fondness for it.

I lef
t my car at the garage, hoping Becca would
forgive me enough to give me a lift back. If not, I’d
return
Molly’s to her. I could walk to the garage from there.
I sat in the car for a minute longer than I needed to. I wasn’t sure what kind of reaction I was in for.

As I walked into the yard, I realized I didn’t need to worry about
whether she’d open the
door
. I watched as she swam laps in the large pool. She was so gra
c
eful
. H
er figure cut
elegantly
through the water. I held back as much as I could, not ready for her to notice me right away.

“Is there something you need?” She pulled up her goggles, her hands pressed against the side of the pool.

“You swim?” I asked stupidly, walking over.

She smiled just a little. “Yeah, I swim.” She was wearing a
one-
piece suit, but it hugged her closely
,
and watching her wet only brought other thoughts to my head.

“I came by to drop off your car.”

That got her attention. She pulled herself out, and I at least managed to grab her towel for her.

I watched her dry off
.
I’m sure
I looked
like a complete creep. Once you’ve been with a girl, it’s impossible not to picture her naked in moments like those. When you still want her
,
it only
gets
worse.

“How’d you get my car?”
S
he pulled an elastic band from her hair, letting it all fall down her back. I’d never seen her hair wet before
.
I liked it. “The guy at the garage said he wouldn’t finish until
Monday
.”

“
S
omeone who works there owed me a favor.”

She frowned. “So you did it out of some weird form of guilt or something
?
I told you I don’t care about what happened. It was a dumb mistake
,
and it’s over.”

I reached out for her, ignoring the rational part of my brain telling me she probably didn’t want me touching her. “The only mistake was me letting you lea
ve like that. I was an idiot, Becca.”

She took a step away from me, shrugging off the hand I placed on her arm.
“We’ve been over this, and I thought we
’d
decided to let it go. I’ll be out of your hair before you know it.”

“Out of my hair? Are you even listening to me? I want you
,
Becca
. W
ha
t can I do to change your mind?”

She got a funny grin all of a sudden, and I had no idea what I was in for. “It might not change my mind, but I do have something you can do for me.”

“What?”

“
Wait here.
”
She
crossed
over to the pool house and disappeared inside. I hoped she’d be coming back. The door opened a minute later
. She had a beach cover up on and
a piece of paper in her hand. “I figure you can take care of this for me.”

I took the paper, ready to agree to anything. It was a parking ticket.

“You want me to take care of a ticket for you?”

“Look at the date and location.”

I read it and couldn’t help laugh
ing
. “This was the night you spent at my place.”

“Yeah. I figured putting out
for
an officer should pay it off.” She waited a beat before smiling. She
’d
had me worried for a second. At least she still had a sense of humor.

“I’ll take care of it.”

“Good.
May
I have my keys?”

“Oh yeah
,
sure.” I pulled her black braided keychain from my pocket. She held her right hand out to take them, but instead I took her left hand in mine, and pulled open her fist, placing the key inside before wrapping my hand around hers.

“Thanks.”
Her
eyes widen
ed
.

“You’re welcome.” I leaned forward to kiss her,
relieved when she didn’t pull away immediately. I didn’t want to push my luck, but I’d been craving her constantly the past week. I put an arm around her, pulling her against me, needing to feel her body against mine. She broke the kiss, pushing her hands against my chest to distance us.

“You should go.” She crossed her arms.

“Do you really want me to?”

She looked torn for a second, and I let myself get hopeful. “Yes.”

“No
,
you don’t. But that’s beside the point. I need a ride.”

“Are you serious?”

I smiled
,
watching the look of panic cross h
er face. She was nervous being
in a car with me. I wondered if she was more worried about me or her reaction to me.

“Fine. I want to get changed first.” She didn’t wait for an answer
. S
he just
went
inside.

I
flopped
down into a chair by the pool to wait. She’d kissed me back, and I kn
e
w she felt it too. She was still interested
.
I just had to get her to trust me again. I turned as I heard the back door to the main house open. Mary Mathews, Ben
’s
mother
,
came out and pulled out a cha
ir to sit next to me. “Visiting
Becca?”

“Ye
ah
. I dropped her car off.”

“That was nice of you.”

“Just trying to help.”

“She’s a beautiful girl, isn’t she?” Mary said with a
small
smile.

“That she is.”

“Not that this is information you’d be interested in, but she was asking
me
about where to get sushi around here.”

The door to the pool house opened. I glanced at Mary quickly before getting up. “Thanks for the intel.”

She winked. “Just mentioning
it
.”

“Hey, hon
,
” she called to Becca before disappearing back into the house.

Becca walked over to me, dressed in a light blue strapless sundress.
B
lue was definitely her color
.

“You ready?”

“Sure.”

We walked around to the front of the house where I
’d
parked her car. I waited for her to get in and reach over to unlock the passenger door. I barely fit. She pulled out and headed toward the square.

“Have you had lunch?”

“No, why?” She
sounded
hesitant.

“Oh
,
no reason really. I was just totally craving the eel rolls at my favorite sushi place in Wilmington and was going to head over. Any interest in joining me
?
”

“You like sushi?” She
eyed
me skeptically.

“What, I have a southern accent
,
so
I can’t eat sushi?”

She turned red. “No, sorry. It’s just that Molly would never touch it, and I just assumed…”

“Yeah,
and we all know how beneficial
assumptions are.”

We were getting close to the garage
,
and I watched her mull it over. “Okay, but you’re driving.”

“I was going to insist. There’s no way I’m spending more time in this thing.”

“This thing? Do you really want to
go there
?
”

I grinned. “Nope. Just drop me off
,
and I’ll follow you back home so you can leave your
car
there.”

“All right. I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

She pulled to a stop right by my car, and
I hopped out. My legs protested
from the cramped space. “See ya in a second.”

“Thank you
,
Mary Mathews,” I said as I followed that littl
e yellow bug back through town.

Chapter
Seventeen

Becca

Had I seriously just agreed to have lunch with Gavin? His comment about craving sushi threw me off, and then he
’d
called me
out
for
being rude.

Maybe I should have been more surprised that I’d let him kiss me. He just caught me off guard
,
and his lips felt so good against mine. Then he went and
put his arm around me
. I
t was too much to resist.

I k
new I should stay away from him,
but what would one lunch do? Besides, if anything was going to put me in a good mood
,
it was sushi. I was getting tired of all the salads and frozen meals I’d been eating since arriving i
n
town.
The only good meals I’d had were the French toast and that lasagna from Mrs. Mathews.

I parked my car along the curb, checking in my rear view mirror to see that Gavin was still right behind me. I got out and waited as he parked. He
came around
so he could open my door for me.
If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought he was a gentleman.

“I’m glad you decided to come to lunch
. T
his place is awesome
.”

“I’m excited. I’ve actually been craving sushi
lately
.”
I buckled my seatbelt.

He smiled. “Really? What a coincidence. It looks like we have something else in common.”

“What else do we have in common?”

“I’m guessing by your display on the beach that you’re into sports
.
I am too.”

“Did you play anything?” I liked how he was keeping the conversation off what happened between us. It was like we were doing everything backward though
: g
etting to know each other after we’d slept together.

“Yeah, you can say that.” He got a
strange
look on his face, like something he
’d
said was funny.

“What do you mean?”

“I played baseball.”

“Like in high school or college?”

“I played in the minors for a few years.”

“Really? Wow, that’s really cool.” I was such a baseball fan, of course I’d fallen for a player.

“Yeah, it was.” A shadow crossed his face.

“When did you stop
?
”

He turned onto the highway leading out of town. It was the first time I
’d left
since
I drove down
,
and I was looking forward to a change of scenery.
“About three years ago
. A
rotator cuff tear ended things.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Ouch. I complained about losing my job with the D.A’s office,
but there was still the chance I could work there in the future
.
He
’d
lost his dream completely.

“It’s the past.”
He kept his eyes
focused straight ahead
.

“Yeah
, but that doesn’t make it
easy
.”