Live for You (4 page)

And there’s my
ex-boyfriend, Jaxon, who I had seen nude countless times before.
But his abs, while nice and tight, weren’t—I lick my lips—made for
video like Cole’s.

One of Cole’s hands goes to
the towel, to the very spot where it’s tucked inside. He fiddles
with the material and it drops lower, so does my gaze.

“
Let me change, first,
since this towel offends your delicate sensibilities. Then I’ll let
you take the cake holder back home with you.” Before I can turn him
down again, he walks away, pauses and shoots me a wicked grin over
his shoulder.

That grin does things to
parts of me that have no business coming to life. Heat skims my
body. “What?”

“
I sure hate offending
you.” He drops the towel, exposing his very fine butt. There are
dimples on each side and at the base of his back. “Close your
mouth,
darlin’
.”
Muscles ripple and flow as he strides into his bedroom.

I snap my jaw
shut.

Dear God, I need to sit
down. Maybe in the freezer, with a bucket of ice. Instead I plop
the cake carrier on the middle of the table, then start searching
through his cabinets to find a plate
or
something
to transfer it to. The faster I
can get this done, the faster I’m out of here.

Then I can think about his
fine butt on my walk back or the way he calls me darlin’. In
private. Like a normal person would.

A little noise bubbles up
in my throat. As if this day has been normal. As if my entire life,
since the age of thirteen, has been normal.

“
Plates are in the cabinet
to the left of the sink,” Cole says from behind, and I jump. “Let
me.” A bare arm reaches past me, opening that very cabinet and
pulling out a plate. “Don’t think you can reach that high without a
step-stool.”

I close my eyes, trying in
vain not to notice the heat of his body or the mouth-watering scent
of him. His arm brushes my breast and my nipples tighten. Eyes
opening, I spin around and find a wall of muscle. There’s so much
of him, all tall and lean.

Curling my fingers into my
palms so I
don’t
give into the dangerous urge to touch him or worse…lick him,
I say, “Are you allergic to clothes?”

He steps to the side,
holding the plate in front of him. A lazy smile graces his lips
before he laughs. “I have on jeans, Rae.” The way he says my name
makes me shiver. His head dips, those perfect lips of his almost
close enough to taste. “That okay with you, darlin’?”

I won’t be intimidated by
him. Although, I don’t get the feeling that intimidation is his
goal. “It’s your house, Cole. Walk around buck naked for all I
care.” Tossing my hair right now would be the ultimate Violet Lynn
move, but she’s gone. So I do what I think Violet
Rae
with the pixie hair
cut would do and take bold step forward.

*** *** ***

Cole

Confession number one: I
didn’t mean to drop trou and go all full monty. Sure, I let the
towel dip a little, just to tease her, but the damn thing slipped
out of my hand. So extra swagger— while exiting and re-entering—was
required.

Confession number two: I
want to kiss this girl. Correction, I
have
to kiss this girl. Need builds
up inside of me like a soda filled with Mentos, she’s the agitator
and I’m ready to pop.

When Rae showed up here,
wearing tiny little white shorts and a yellow tank top that her
Nana should’ve never let her out of the house in, I had been
aroused as hell, not to mentioned shocked. I hadn’t expected to see
her for a while, and truth be told, at the time, I wouldn’t have
cared if she’d dropped off the face of the planet.

But a man can’t resist
cake, especially an apology cake. And he sure as shit can’t resist
five foot nothing of curves and shapely legs standing on his
doorstep holding said cake either.

Plus, her response to my
accidental strip show…I wanted to sweep her up in my arms and carry
her to my bedroom. Spend some time getting Rae used to every part
of me.

Ha. Doesn’t care, my ass.
This girl cares all right. She cares a lot.

She steps closer, those
plump lips of hers parting. Damn, I want to taste her there. I want
to know if she uses strawberry or cherry lip gloss. If she likes
slow and easy glides of tongue, or something a little harder and
involving my teeth.

The pulse at the base of
her throat flutters wildly, like she knows what I’m thinking. Black
lashes slowly fall to her cheeks, cheeks that are flushed pink
because of me, because of my body. I’m ninety-nine percent sure she
wants me to kiss her, but that one percent of doubt has me second
guessing everything.

Maybe she kisses everyone
in apology, too. Maybe she’s bored. Maybe I shouldn’t fucking
analyze her motives and just kiss the damn girl.

A crash breaks the spell
and we both jerk back.

“
What the—” Plates litter
the floor, broken pieces everywhere. “Dammit, I meant to fix the
shelf earlier today, but—” I groan and scrub a hand over my face.
Between work and school and taking care of Kelly, I barely have
time to breathe. And I can’t complain about Parker, he’s cut back
on his semester hours to have more time to be a bouncer while
working at the same time helping me out at The Double
Deuce.

“
Don’t move. Your feet are
bare,” Rae orders, stepping out the way. She has on purple sneakers
that match the tips of her hair. “Where’s your vacuum and
trashcan?”

“
Bossy little thing,
aren’t you?” I nod at the closet in the hallway, and lean over to
the open the cabinet under the sink, pulling out the trashcan.
While she hauls the vacuum over, I pick up as many large pieces as
I can, mentally going over my monthly budget.

We don’t have the extra
money, not since I hired two employees last week, and what I had in
savings had to go to bailing my ass out of jail. Again. Plus I’d
promised Kelly that she could take dance this year, which meant
special shoes, recitals and tutus…and my head falls back.
“Fuck.”

“
Um, Cole?”

“
What?” I snap, then
immediately apologize, while gently slinging plates on the
counter.

“
Is there a special trick
to getting this to work?” She presses the button that should have
made it roar to life, but nothing happens. I even check to make
sure she’s plugged it in, not because I think she’s incompetent,
but—shit—can I get a break for once?

“
No.” I throw the couple
of dishes that aren’t broken into the sink, harder than necessary.
They crack in several places on impact. I can feel the weight of
Rae’s gaze on me. “You need to go home and—”

“
Give me ten minutes, more
like five if I run, and I can be back here with a vacuum and
probably some paper plates,” she says in one big rush. “We’ll get
this all cleaned up before Kelly and your brother come
home.”

Fixing my eyes on Rae, I
study her. She seems sincere, and for the most part, not afraid of
the Hulk Smash move I’d just made.
Asshole
move
, I silently correct myself. Carefully
making my way across the room, I find a pair of Parker’s flip-flops
and put them on.

“
Sorry about that. I
just…lately, everything that can go wrong has.” Until you, I want
to add, but don’t. Because how insane am I for thinking this about
a girl I met only this morning at the Piggy Wiggly of all
places?

“
No biggie.” She shrugs,
sending her tank top higher on one side and exposing the smooth
skin of her stomach. “Besides, sometimes we need to break
things
before things
break us.”

Chapter
Five

Violet

By the time I get to my
Nana’s house, there’s a stitch in my side and I’m out of
breath.

Gasping, I grasp the wood
frame of the back door for a moment and stare through the screen.
My grandmother’s flowered apron is around her waist and she’s
already started supper. Field peas, homemade macaroni and cheese
and chicken fried steak are on the menu. My personal trainer, Nina,
would kill me if she knew what I had been eating the past thirty
days. But I’ve just ran almost two miles in like nine minutes. That
should count for something.

“
Landsake’s child! What
has gotten you so worked up?” Nana asks when she spots
me.

I fight the urge to tell
her it’s a
who
and not a
what
that has me all worked up. Has me remembering that I haven’t
been touched like that in a really, really long time. “Accident at
the Morgans. Nothing serious. I need some paper plates and to
borrow your vacuum.” Opening the door, I walk into the kitchen and
begin rummaging through the pantry.

“
You plan on hauling all
that back on foot?” I hear the wheels of the vacuum scrape the
linoleum floor as she brings it in from the closet in the
hallway.

I pause, stack of plates in
my hand. The vacuum does weigh about a thousand pounds. And now
that I’m away from Cole, I can actually think more clearly. There’s
no need to take all this to him. He never actually said he wanted
my help. In fact all I’d done after trying to make him feel better,
was run out of there, with a promise to be right back.

“
No,” I groan, realizing
what a fool I’d made of myself in front of Cole. Making a promise
that I didn’t keep was sure to keep him away. For good. And that’s
how I wanted it to be. I didn’t need the complication of him and
how he made me feel.

Turning away from the
pantry, I move to the kitchen counter and place the plates on top,
then give Nana a pleading look. “Could you do it? I…uh, have a
cramp in my leg from running,” I improvise. No, not improvising.
I’m lying, once again, to cover up a secret. Though this secret
wouldn’t turn the Country Music Industry on its head.
Again.

Her gaze skitters over me
and I belatedly remember to wince. Her mouth flattens like she
knows I’m lying. “Of course,” she says, turning the burners off on
the stove. “Give me a minute to pack up some things I’ve been
meaning to bring to them.” She walks out of the room again, leaving
me alone.

I sigh, sagging against the
kitchen cabinets, my heart still pounding hard in my chest. No more
seeing Cole Morgan, not after this last visit. Disappointment
threads through the giddiness I’d felt, tightening around it until
nothing’s left.

At least this way, I’d be
able to keep my promise to him and not seem like a total
bitch.

*** *** ***

Cole

I blink at the sight of
Miss Violet standing on my front porch, holding a large bag in one
hand and a vacuum parked beside her. Good thing I put on a shirt.
“Where’s—”

Mrs. Givens frowns a
little, then nods back at her truck. “She has a cramp in her leg
from running.”

Squinting in the
semi-darkness, I just can make out Rae’s profile. She won’t look
this way. Hell, the window isn’t even down. Disappointment coats my
insides like lead, heavy and oppressing. I shouldn’t care, but I
do. Guess my amazing display of temper scared her more than she’d
let on.

A throat clears and I shift
my attention to Miss Violet. “Let me take your bag.” She smiles and
hands it over.

“
Lots of goodies in there
for y’all. Keep the vacuum as long as you like. It’s my spare one.”
Another kind smile and she says, “Tell your mother I said
hello.”

Disappointment gives way to
embarrassment. Heat creeps up my neck and burns my ears. I’m
thankful for the shadows on the front porch that hide me. “I’ll
tell her. She’s visiting her…sister out in—” My mind blanks. Jesus
Christ. It’s bad enough people in this town know about my mother’s
habits, but it’s a whole other thing to actually admit
it.

“
South Carolina,” she
supplies. “Florence is such a lovely town this time of
year.”

Instead of making me feel
better, my embarrassment spreads, burning a hole in my chest. I
know tonight’s going to end with my fist in some random dude’s
face. But I need it. It’s the only way I can purge this fucking
guilt and loathing that tries to strangle me at every
opportunity.

“
Have a good night, Cole.”
Miss Violet walks down the stairs.

Nodding, I glance at the
truck one more time. “You, too.” Rae jerks her head back, like I
caught her staring at me. Want courses through me, turning dark
with what already lives inside. My phone vibrates and I snag my it
from my pocket.

Madison:
I’m lonely. U?

Isn’t this perfect timing?
A smirk kicks up the corners of my mouth. Fighting isn’t the only
way I can forget. And since Parker’s agreed to wait for the
babysitter, I have time to kill.

Me:
Be there in ten.

I barely hear the crunch of
the truck tires as they roll over gravel and grass. Stuffing
everything in the hallway, I throw on a coat and trade the
flip-flops for some socks and a pair of boots, then head to
Madison’s apartment.