A Hero for Tonight (9 page)

Shane sat down heavy in his chair and reached for the basket of bread as the others took their seats. “Did the Bills lose today?” he asked Dave.

“Yeah, but at least it was close; not like last week’s massacre.”

“That new quarterback isn’t doing very good. I’m not sure they’ll keep him on after this season.”

Karen set a bowl in front of him. Shane picked up the shredded cheese to spoon a heaping pile on to his chili.

“They need to give him a chance. It’s only his fourth game. I don’t understand why the guy gets judged so harshly,” Karen scoffed. “What do they think, he’s going to win every game first time out?”

“For the money they pay him, he
should
bring it every single game,” Dave argued.

She scooped a spoonful of sour cream onto her chili. “Whatever. I just think it takes the guy a while to learn the ropes.”

“Good thing they don’t think like that in the marines, huh, Shane? Do you give the privates a break because they haven’t been in the game very long?”

“Well, football isn’t the marines. It’s a game. That’s all it is, a game.” Karen waved away her husband’s example before he could respond. “Krista, this bread is fantastic. Thanks for bringing it.”

Shane had his mouth full of the fragrant loaf. It looked like any other white bread, but one taste and it kicked his ass. His eyes watered. He reached for his beer only to find it empty, and he pushed to his feet to get another. “It definitely has a kick to it,” he coughed out.

“Maybe we should send some to the Bills. If they had more kick today, they might have won,” Dave grumbled.

A couple hours later, Shane pushed up from one of the matching leather recliners Karen had bought her husband for Christmas one year specifically for him and Shane. The rec room was their “man cave,” as she called it. Normally, they enjoyed watching football here, but tonight they’d simply been sitting and relaxing while half listening to the women talk about their Christmas lists. “I can barely move after all that chili, Karen, but I gotta get some sleep.”

Krista stood up. “I need to get going, too.”

“You didn’t walk over, did you?” Shane didn’t remember seeing her car in the driveway.

“No, we were out shopping and came back here,” Karen answered. “Dave will run her home.”

Shane looked back at his buddy half-asleep in his chair. He shook his head. “I have to go out in the rain to get home anyway; no point in all of us getting wet.”

“I won’t argue there, pal.” Dave grinned and lifted his arms to rest behind his head.

Shane tossed him a wry look, then watched as Karen hugged Krista.

“Thanks for your help and the bread. Black Friday, three a.m., right?”

Krista nodded. “Yep, I’ll be in the driveway.”

Shane walked into the hall and picked up his coat and Krista’s before returning to the doorway of the rec room. “There isn’t a sale big enough to get me out of bed at that hour to go to the mall.”

He held Krista’s coat out for her. For half a second, he almost held it up for her to slip into, but jerked his hand back, hoping no one else noticed his gesture. Things were weird between them, and he didn’t like it. Better to get her home and away from him so he could think straight again.

Karen kissed his cheek. “Thanks for coming over. I know you were tired.”

Shane hugged his friend briefly. “The chili revived me; thanks for dinner. I feel great now.”

She smiled. “Liar. Thanks for running Kris home. As always, you’re my hero.”

Dave groaned out loud. “Yeah, you’re my hero, too. If I could move, I’d come kiss your hand.”

“Trust me, the term hero is way overused on me.”

At the door, he turned to Krista. “Wait here on the porch. I’ll go get the car and bring it over.”

She shook her head. “I’m going to get drenched whether I run across the yard to the car or run out here to the car. I’ll just come with you.”

He wasn’t about to argue. “Suit yourself.”

Within seconds, they were on his front porch. Shane pushed open the door. “Don’t trip on my gear.”

Krista sidestepped the pile; the odor emitting from the dark green sea bag stung her nose. “Wow. That’s ripe.”

Shane grabbed his keys. “Yeah, I know. I’ll run it through the machine in the morning.”

“Does the smell come out in the wash?”

He glanced back. “What difference does it make? I’ll be wearing it next drill, and we all smell the same. Ready?”

Krista nodded and went back out the door with him. They ran to his car, and were soaked to the skin by the time they were inside.

She wrapped her arms around her middle and shivered. “Definitely a November night, that’s for sure. I’d rather have snow than this.”

He glanced at her bare legs. “Most folks know enough to put jeans on this time of year.”

“It was in the seventies earlier today.”

She waited for him to get the car started, but when he turned the key nothing happened. He cussed and tried it a few more times. Nothing.

“What’s wrong?”

He fiddled with the key. “It was acting up before I left on Friday, but when I got back to the unit this afternoon, it started right up. I figured it was fine.”

He sat back. “I’ll get Dave to take you home. I’ll deal with this in the morning.”

Krista turned toward the house next door. “Lights are off already.”

“Yeah, well, he’ll have to get up. No big deal.”

She twisted around. “Karen mentioned today was a ‘good’ day, so I think they could be busy.”

Shane scowled. “A good day? What does that mean?”

She felt warmth flush into her face. “You know, a
good
day. They’re trying to get pregnant, remember? I think they might be...
busy
.”

Shane’s eyes widened, and he glanced at the house. “That fast? We just left.”

Krista shrugged. “I’m not taking any chances on being the interruption.”

“So, now what?”

“I’ll walk.” Even as she said the words, she knew he wouldn’t let her.

He snorted. “Yeah, right.”

“Well, let’s at least go back inside. I can call a cab or we’ll figure something else out.”

Inside, she stepped back over the pile, shrugged off her wet coat and hung it on the coat tree in the corner.

“Want some coffee?”

“You probably don’t have any tea, do you?” she asked, kicking off her soaked sneakers.

He gave her a look and she sighed. “Coffee is fine. But why don’t you take care of this wet stuff, and I’ll put it on.” She shivered as her cold, wet clothes stuck to her.

“Works for me. Then I’ll grab you a dry sweatshirt.” Shane hoisted his backpack up and headed toward the kitchen.

Krista watched as he opened a door that must lead to his basement, but she kept moving down the hall to the kitchen. He had the same coffeemaker as his parents and it didn’t take her long to have a pot brewing.

Shane emerged from downstairs with a clothes basket in his hands. “Here.” He handed her a gray sweatshirt. “The bathroom is through there.” He pointed to a mud room on the other side of the kitchen.

Krista took the shirt from him. “Thanks.”

In the bathroom, she stripped off her sweatshirt and slipped Shane’s on. It was the USMC shirt that she’d seen him wear a million times. Wearing it felt incredibly intimate, and she almost yanked it back off.

Ever since their kiss the other night, she’d had a hard time thinking of anything else. Dinner had been fun, but strange as she once again caught him staring at her several times. And when her gaze met his, she’d known exactly what he’d been thinking.

Since the sweatshirt fell almost to her knees, she slipped off her denim shorts, but left her underwear on. If Shane was any other guy, there was no way she’d emerge from his bathroom clad only in a sweatshirt, underwear and socks, but kiss or no kiss, this was Shane. She had no worries about him taking it as an invitation when she opened the door and walked back into the kitchen.

The way his gaze zoned in on her bare legs and slid slowly up leaving a trail of warmth behind gave her second thoughts.

Chapter Six

“My shorts were soaked.” She yanked on the hem of his sweatshirt, even knowing it wasn’t showing anything except her knees.

Heck, he’d seen her in a bathing suit most of her life; this was nothing. Except they were all alone, in his house, in a rain storm, and she was wearing almost nothing but his sweatshirt.

Deciding the best defense was a good offense, she straightened up and marched into the room. “Quit looking at me as if I’m yummy. It’s me, remember? I’m practically your sister or your cousin or something.”

But Shane didn’t move. Krista was forced to walk past him to get a mug out of the cupboard. Before she could get beyond him, a hand reached out and grabbed her upper arm.

“We’re not related. I’ve
never
considered you a sister, or a cousin, or anything else.”

His kept her in place directly in front of him. Her heart pounded and she couldn’t breathe. There wasn’t any way to misunderstand the look of intent in his eyes. Shane was going to kiss her again.

Oh no, that won’t do
. There were a million reasons why kissing Shane again was a really bad idea, but the worse was that Shane would hate himself later. She wasn’t dense. For whatever reason, he was suddenly attracted to her. But for him, it was just another roll in the hay; for her, it would impact her entire life.

Her relationship with his mother flashed into her head. Nope, they weren’t related, but they were connected by family and a business. It would get very messy if this went any further. She had to cut this down quick, make him back off.

Krista gave him her best disgusted glance. “Come on, Shane. Call Melissa if you’re horny. I bet she’d jump at the chance to be in your bed. Leave me out of it.”

As she knew he would, he jerked back and dropped his hand.

“What the hell are you talking about? Who invited you to bed? You’re reading a lot into some coffee.”

“Uh huh. Well then, quit looking at me as if I’m a pinup model in this crappy old sweatshirt. Can you get my wet stuff out of the bathroom and toss it in your dryer so I can get out of here?”

He pushed away from the counter. “Yeah, pour me some coffee. When your clothes are dry, I’ll get a cab to take you home.”

By the time he returned, she had coffee poured for each of them together with a plastic container of cookies his mother must have given him. The look of interest was gone from Shane’s gaze as he sat at the table across from her. An odd sense of disappointment washed over her, but she knew it was the only thing to do. Shane was off limits no matter what.

Krista bit into a cookie and immediately spit it back out. “These are stale.”

“They’re a few weeks old,” he admitted.

“Throw them out then. Yuck.”

“I just haven’t gotten around to it yet. You act like I’ve been sitting around all weekend, needing to clean out my kitchen.”

“Sorry. I forgot you were gone all weekend. How was it?” While she had no idea what he did during a drill weekend, she knew from bits and pieces picked up over the years that it wasn’t just paperwork. The reserves trained hard to be ready if they ever had to be called to active duty again.

She was content to sit and listened for a while as he described the extent of the training. When, the look of exhaustion came back to his face, she picked up the container of cookies and headed to the trash can at the end of the counter.

“Leave them. I can take care of it.”

Ignoring him, she dumped them out and set the container in the sink. “It’s no big deal, Shane. All done.”

She picked up the coffee carafe, moved to the table and refreshed her coffee before moving to his side to top his off. As she bent forward to pour, Shane reached out, his hand accidentally smacking into her breast.

“
Ouch.
”

“Sorry!” His wide gaze flew to her face, then her breast, then her face again. “I was just going to say I didn’t want any more.”

Krista spun over to the counter top to set the pot back on the burner and grabbed her breast. She breathed deep as the pain receded. Behind her, Shane’s chair scraped the floor.

His hand touched her shoulder. “You okay?”

She winced. “Yeah, but next time a simple, ‘No thanks,’ would work better.”

“Seriously, I whacked you pretty hard. You sure you’re okay?”

Releasing her breast, Krista glanced over her shoulder. Breath whooshed from her lungs as their gazes collided. Her head spun and reality seemed to go fuzzy.

He lowered his head toward her. “I feel horrible,” he said softly.

She shook hers slightly. “It’s fine, honest.”

But his mouth came closer, and Krista found herself turning further toward him instead of spinning away as she knew she should.

With the counter at her back, her chin went up as Shane shifted the tiny bit closer, his hands settled on either side of her waist. At the touch of his lips to hers, her eyelids lowered, and a tiny sigh escaped her mouth. He pressed closer; his erection against her belly caused a million butterflies to explode inside.