A Perfect Mistake (19 page)

“Where did you
learn to kiss like that, darlin’?” he said, not moving a
muscle, still deep inside me.

“I had this
really great, hot teacher. He really knew how to kiss. I melted every
time.”

He stiffened and
frowned. “I fucking don’t like the sound of that. Who is
this fucker?!”

I giggled and he
frowned harder. “Why? So you can punch his lights out? I’d
really like to get a few more sessions of instruction.”

“Goddammit,
Verity. Who the hell is it?”

“It’s
you, Boone, you idiot.”

“Oh? Oh!
Dammit.” He laughed. “You sassing me?”

“A little.
You’re the only boy…um…man I’ve ever
kissed.”

“No shit,”
he said. He gave me a sly look. “I’m a damn good
teacher.”

“Yes, you are.
You deserve an apple, several actually.”

He sobered and
looked away from me and my stomach dropped a little bit. I could tell
to the exact second when Boone was going to get all honest on me. It
was something about his body language, in his eyes.

“I can’t
say the same thing,” he said. “In fact, I had sex with
Marcy the night I found you and Billy Joe fighting on the road.”

That scored my
insides, but I deserved it. I hadn’t been exactly sweet to
Boone. I suspected Marcy had been more about comfort than anything
else. But I was still jealous. I didn’t want anyone touching my
Boone except me.

“To hell with
Marcy what’s-her-name. What
is
her damn name? Oh, never mind. I don’t care.” I was
silent as I looked at him, and he looked worried, like maybe I was
going to change my mind about him. “But you weren’t
really
with
her?”

He said nothing,
just held my gaze for the longest moment. Then he took my hand and
pulled it to his mouth. He closed his eyes and kissed the center of
my palm. “How did you know that?”

I brushed my thumb
over his lips. “I don’t know. Guess I saw it in your eyes
there for a minute.”

He wrapped his hand
around mine as he looked down into my eyes, his own an almost
impossible cobalt blue now through the thick fringe of his dark
lashes. “I was thinking about you.” His voice was husky
and earnest. “I always think about you. It was your body I was
holding. You I was kissing. She was using me, too. She called me
Booker.” He winced.

“Ouch, snap to
the ego.” I reached up and ran the backs of my fingers over his
rough, sexy cheek then I pressed a kiss to his damp skin.

“Maybe she got
you mixed up. A lot of people got you mixed up.”

“I think she
has a thing for Booker, but Breebree has that locked up.”

“
Breebree
?”

He smiled like a
little boy and my heart just went liquid as his lashes swept over his
eyes. He blushed and the rest of me dissolved into goo. “It’s
what I call Aubree.”

“Oh, Boone,”
I said, pushing at the silky hair across his brow, my tone as soft as
the feelings melting my insides.

He dipped down and
nuzzled my neck. “Did you get us mixed up?”

“No. I would
know you if there were a thousand carbon copies.”

His arm tightened
around me, his fingertips slipping into my hair. I pressed my lips
against the damp, heated skin of his neck, a soft sweet kiss, and
when I felt him kiss my hair, I kissed him again, drawing my mouth
closer to the hard edge of his jaw, before rubbing against his cheek.
I said, “I’m sorry I slapped you, sugar.”

He turned his face,
whispering, “I love it when you call me sugar,” And met
my lips with his own.

And that black hole
closed just a bit more.

We kissed, softly,
silently, ardently. The way he kissed me slaked my hunger for him
like nothing else ever could. Nothing.

“I was pushing
you. To be honest, I was desperate to find out why you were so mad at
me. I didn’t want you to be mad. I wanted you like this. I
wanted you talking to me and getting inside me. That’s what I
wanted.”

I sighed. “I
don’t blame you for being with Marcy. I was so mean to you. I
hurt you, and it hurt to be that way. Can you forgive me?”

“I can, and
there will be no more Marcy. That I can promise.”

The honesty in his
voice and eyes put any small niggling doubt I had about Marcy to
rest. She still pissed me off, but, Boone was mine. I knew that. I
just didn’t know what I was going to do about him and about my
secret. How could we make this work? So much was against us, starting
with my dreams and commitments.

It was a relief to
know I wasn’t alone in reeling from the magnitude of what I’d
felt happening between us—even if I couldn’t define it.
And even though it posed a threat to what little sense of self I was
holding onto when it came to beautiful Boone Outlaw, I still had no
idea what would happen, or what I was going to do.

“As much as I
would like to lie here with your gorgeous body on top of mine, we’d
better get going. You don’t want to be late. I’ve
distracted you enough.”

“Apparently,
my gorgeous body has a mind of its own.”

He groaned when I
shifted, and I realized that Boone was thickening, hardening inside
me. It was the most incredible feeling, knowing that I turned him on
so much that he couldn’t even pull out of me. And, as he
thrust, I just surrendered myself to him.

It was another half
an hour before we were back on the road. His meeting with his client
went off without a hitch. I was just as blown away by his design for
her English garden as I had been with all his other work.

By the time we got
back to the church, it was just before lunch. As we approached the
rectory, I heard a little voice call out with excitement.

“Boone! Look
at me.”

It was Henry. He was
on the monkey bars and he was trying to go across by himself. He was
much too little. Almost before I registered the danger, Boone took
off. He vaulted over the fence one-armed, not even sparing the time
it would take to open the gate.

My breath caught in
my throat at his power and speed. Henry was already slipping, and I
gasped as he started to fall. But Boone leapt and caught him in his
arms, hitting the ground hard, but he had already wrapped his big
arms around Henry to protect him and take the brunt of the impact.

Boone sat up, his
face a mask of fear and concern. He hissed, “Henry! That was
reckless! You could have gotten really hurt!”

Henry started to
cry, and for a moment Boone just sat there, then he sighed and the
fear and concern subsided. He hugged Henry to him. “I’m
sorry I was harsh, but I was scared for you.”

“I’m
sorry, Boone. I was trying to be a big boy and show you how strong I
am.”

“It’s
okay, Henry, but you need to be a little more careful.”

Lindsay came over
and Boone lifted Henry up to her arms. He stood and brushed himself
off just as a flatbed truck pulled up.

I looked at Boone
and he smiled.

“What is
this?” I asked.

“You’ll
see. Go help with lunch, and then you can come back out and see what
Deke and I have in store.”

I stepped up to him
and pressed a kiss to his mouth. “Just a quick lunch, then.”

He smiled at me,
part Outlaw and part sly dog.

“You are full
of surprises.”

He grabbed my arm
before I could go into the rectory and whispered, “It’s
been one of the best days of my life.” Then the blond guy
approached and Boone turned to him.

“You ready,
boss?”

Boone huffed out an
exasperated breath. “I told you….”

“Hi, I’m
Deke.”

“Verity
Fairchild.”

His twinkling blue
eyes went between the two of us and he grinned. “Yes, you are.”

“Deke. Cut it
out,” Boone growled.

I just laughed and
walked into the rectory.

Boone

The temperature had
risen quite a bit by the time we got all the pieces off the flatbed.

“Did you bring
the tools?”

“Yep,”
Deke said and reached into the truck cab. He chucked the tool bag at
me and I caught it. “And, put this on to cut the sun.” He
tossed me a baseball cap.

I settled the cap
over my head. I still couldn’t believe I had blurted that stuff
out about Marcy. I guess I didn’t want anything between us as
we felt our way forward. I wanted to understand what was happening
here with Verity. The beginning of the week she had been so angry at
me and, I had to take a calming breath, we’d been having
mind-blowingly intense sex in the cab of my truck a couple of hours
ago.

I still couldn’t
fully believe it hadn’t been a dream, but it hadn’t. It
had been real. As real as the way Verity had fit over me, taken me,
and wrung me out.

I walked over to the
play equipment. I had noticed when I started to do my sketches and
work out my plan for the church that the day care center play
equipment was really old. I had tightened up a few bolts, but then
realized that wasn’t going to handle the load.

“What you’re
doing here is really good, Boone. Your designs are going to make
these kids crazy.”

“That’s
the plan, but it’ll be so much safer for them. That’s the
ultimate plan.”

Deke smiled. “It’s
a good one.”

Verity came out of
the rectory with two bottles of water and eyed the tarp-wrapped
bundle on the ground. “What’s going on here?”

“Changing out
the play equipment. This stuff is old and rickety and not safe.”

“Can I help?”

“Sure,”
I said, then eyed her dress. “You might want to change. I
wouldn’t want you to ruin your pretty dress.”

She took a long
breath in and out, both of us remembering…everything.

“I’ll be
right back,” she said, trailing her hand over mine. I loved the
way she wanted to touch me every time she got close.

I turned to Deke.
“Deke.” When he turned around from disassembling the
slide, I tossed him a bottle of water.

“You’ve
got it bad, my friend.”

We both drank.

“Shut the
fuck up, Deke.”

“Yes, boss.”

“Son of a
bitch! Deke…”

He just chuckled and
started back on the slide.

It wasn’t long
before Verity was back in a pair of jeans and an old t-shirt that had
seen better days. It had a rip on the hem and paint splatters all
over it. She looked adorable. She was also carrying a notebook and an
iPad like mine, but then she ducked into the rectory for a few
minutes and came back out empty-handed.

I handed her the
tool bag, my eyes going over her sweet, beautiful face. I didn’t
think I would ever get enough of just looking at her. “We’re
going to break all this stuff down.”

She tugged on the
bag. “Before we do that, you’ll have to let go of the
bag.”

I realized I’d
been just standing there staring at her. Deke chuckled, but prudently
didn’t say anything.

I let go of the bag
and she gave me a knowing grin.

She got to work, and
as the hot afternoon got hotter, we took a break inside the rectory.
We drank a ton of water and Verity made us quick PB&J sandwiches.

Verity sat next to
me and Deke was across the table. She pulled the sketchbook over to
us and the iPad. “I promised to show you my designs.”

I lifted the cover
of the sketchpad, and there was the dress she’d worn today,
from different angles and with different hems.

“This is
eyelet lace, right?” I shot Deke a look like he’d better
not say a damn thing.

“Yes,”
she looked at me like I was an alien male that I would know what
eyelet lace was.

“My ma had a
dress with this kind of lace. I remembered that’s what she
called it, but it was a while ago, so I wasn’t positive.”

I flipped the page
up, and with every page I turned I got more and more impressed by
Verity’s talent. There were more pretty dresses, jeans, pants,
shirts, and shorts. When I got to the lacy night clothes, I paused
and took in the frilly, barely-there stuff.

All I could do was
picture Verity in her own designs. Deke leaned over and said, “Wow.
I mean that’s something.”

Verity smiled and
blushed a little. I closed the sketchpad. She pushed the button on
her iPad and started it up.

“Here are the
clothes all made.”

I scrolled through
the pictures and a million questions crowded my head. “How did
you get all this done? These look like real models.”

She looked at Deke,
and he wasn’t an idiot. He got the message. “I’m
going to get back to work,” he said and left the table.

“This is part
of my plan. I really need to tell you about last year.”

“Verity,
what’s going on….oh, Boone.”

I stood up and she
slid both the sketch pad and iPad together and set them on the seat
next to her.

“I’m
replacing your play equipment, Reverend. It was old, and I was
worried one of the kids would get hurt.”

He stared at me for
a moment, as if he just wasn’t sure what to make of not only my
statement, but that I was in here, sitting next to Verity, and that
we were quite chummy.

His eyes went to his
daughter and he stared at her a moment. “That’s very
generous of you. It was on my list of things that needed to be
replaced, but there’s never enough money to go around.”

“I was
helping, too, Daddy. Summer can’t be all about play,” she
said softly and I looked at her because her tone was mutinous, like
she knew something was coming and was already bracing herself to face
it. I didn’t want Verity to have to justify her time with me,
but of course she had to. I was an Outlaw. Even though I tried way
too hard to fit into this community, I wasn’t sure the stigma
of my daddy and the rest of my ancestors would ever be totally
erased.

“Boone, could
you give us a moment?”

I turned to look at
Verity, but she met her daddy’s eyes head-on. The peach pit was
getting ready to stand her ground and all my protective instincts
kicked in. I didn’t want to leave her, but Verity looked like
she could handle her own battles. She sure had put me in my place a
time or two.