Love Kinection (10 page)

“Are you on drugs?”

He frowned and swiped at his chin with his coat sleeve. It smeared blood across his chin. “No.”

“Well, then I guess you really are nothing but a jackass. I don’t care what you and my sister do with or to each other. I hope you’re miserable together for the rest of your lives. Stay the hell outta mine.”

“But, Abby, please—”

“Where’s your car, Tom?”

I looked at Charlie one last time. What had I seen in him? Wavy light brown hair, green eyes. Not much in the muscle department. In fact, not much in the brains department. God, such a waste of time and energy.

Tom indicated, with his head, a black pick-up a few spots away. He didn’t seem inclined to take his eyes off the other man. It made my smarter decisions much sweeter. He wasn’t cute boy handsome. He’s rugged man sexy. Strong jaw, David Boreanaz haircut, nicely muscled body, even the chest hair. I liked all of it. And it hid a closet geek who loved to spout movie lines as much as I did.

“You know something, Charlie? Even if I was stupid enough to think I might take you back—I mean you are cute and all,” my wicked grin grew even wider, “Tom is just way more well hung than you are. So I’m going to go with the better lay.”

Charlie’s mouth dropped open this time instead of mine. Tom wore a shit-eating grin. He opened the door for me when we got to his truck. I hopped off the ground to get in.

When we pulled out of the parking lot, Charlie walked toward his car, carrying his tooth. I should have made the jerk swallow it.

“Still up for breakfast?”

“Yeah. What about your cat?” I shook from adrenaline. He didn’t say anything when I wiped a few stray tears off my cheeks. Apparently, hitting people raises a person’s blood pressure.

“She’ll be okay. I think you need to be taken care of first.”

“Okay.” I sniffled and inspected my knuckle. “Uh, is there anywhere we can stop so I can clean up? I don’t even want to think about what kind of nastiness I got from hitting him.”

“We’ll be at the restaurant soon. You can wash up in there.”

“Ugh, I don’t even want to think about it. After everything last year, I ran out after the shock wore off and the doctor ran tests for everything. I mean, I was going to marry him so I wasn’t using protection. I have no idea how many other people he was sleeping with. I’m pretty paranoid about getting something from him. He’s got to be carrying something.”

“I hope not. The only thing we can be sure of is douchebaggery. That may or may not be catching.”

“Yeah.” I giggled in a nervous trill. I didn’t like the way it sounded—crazy lady off her meds—so I quit. “I can’t believe I hit him.”

“You totally owned him.” He picked up my left hand and kissed the back of it. “I’m proud.”

“Yeah, I did make him my bitch back there, didn’t I?” I wondered if the cut would scar. I kind of hoped so. A scar would be a visible, permanent symbol of my totally righteous punch. “So, I’m your girlfriend, huh? I don’t get any say in it?”

He looked at me for a second before he turned back to the road. “Yeah. Yeah you are. And no, you don’t.” Another kiss, this time to the juncture of my middle and third fingers.

“All right, Mr. Alpha male. Settle down.” He might have growled if he’d been a lion or something. Marking his territory.

“I know what I want, Abby. I want you. I’ve been watching you for five years. We’re good together.”

“We’ve had two dates. You can’t know for sure. In fact, on our first date, we even managed to fight. And my family is a mess. You sure you want in on all my crazy? ’Cause the pot’s getting hot. I mean, you did catch that thing about my sister not actually being pregnant, right?”

“So we’ll move. Or we’ll hide out. Whatever.” He shrugged. I thought he might be nuts. Who signed up for this kind of stuff voluntarily?

The truck bumped over the curb at the edge of the parking lot, and he parked, turned the engine off, and stared out the windshield until I got nervous and started to bite my nails.

“I’m not sure.” I shook my head. “I really like you. I mean, I’ve never slept with someone that fast before—” My cheeks got hot, and he gave me a half smile with eyes lit up from shared memories. “But seeing Charlie, I feel so raw. And stupid. And like I shouldn’t be making any kind of major decisions right now.”

“Being my girlfriend is a major decision?” He unbuckled his seat belt and turned to face me.

“Yes, it is. Because I get the feeling you won’t settle for partway. And I’m not sure there’s enough of me to give you. Some days I’ve wondered if there was enough of me for myself.” I babbled, not making sense. “I think you deserve better than me, I guess.”

He snorted, let go of me, and jumped out of the truck. I let it rest in my lap and stared at the cut on my knuckle, not liking how cold my other hand seemed without his fingers twined around mine. My door opened and a gust of cold wind whipped into the vehicle. Tom reached across my body and undid the seat belt before he pulled me out of the truck and onto the asphalt.

He crushed me in a hug against his deliciously firm chest and gave me a chaste kiss on the lips.

“I’m not letting you go. You’re being crazy. I don’t care about your family. If you can handle them, so can I.”

I shook my head, and he wiped my face. Damn, more tears.

“I hate it when I cry. I get so splotchy.” My voice cracked.

“Yeah, your nose is kinda red, too.”

I smacked him in the arm, and he laughed.

“I don’t care if you’re splotchy,” he said. Lips pressed against my nose and then forehead. “You could have rivers of snot running and while I’d think it was gross, I’d still want to have sex with you. I want you, Abby, and I’m not going to let you go because your family is a Jerry Springer show and you’re feeling damaged. Forget it and let me buy you a waffle.”

More sniffles before a shaky nod. “I do still need to wash up. Maybe I should have nailed him in the boys instead. Then I wouldn’t have to deal with this.”

“Oh.” The word came out on a pained grunt and I looked over at him. “Hey, sympathy pain. It’s a guy reaction. Like a reflex. He deserves it, that’s for sure.”

“Control it.”

His strong, solid hand held mine for the walk to the restaurant door.

“I’ll try.” He swung our arms, opened the door for me. A girl could get used to that. The bra burners could deal with their own doors if they wanted. Having Tom open them for me was awesome.

“Do or do not…Charlie can fry.”

“Oh, I can’t believe you just did that to Master Yoda. Nerd.” But I laughed, which he probably intended.

“Yep.” We smiled at each other, and it felt so similar to a sappy Hallmark commercial I snorted and shook my head.

“What?”

“Nothing.” I felt the first seed of love unfurl in my chest where there’d been nothing but a vacuum for so long. Happiness bubbled up in a wave, and I decided to give the seed some water. I planted a tiny kiss on his smooth cheek.

My stomach swirled with nervousness, elation, and fear all at once. He might pulverize me with this relationship, or he might be the one. No way to know for sure. But knocking out Charlie’s tooth convinced me the time had come to try again.

For some weird reason, it boosted my confidence. Well, that and the fact the very tall and sexy man next to me looked as though he wanted to throw me on the floor and rip my clothes off. If it all fell apart, at least I’d have great sex while it lasted.

Chapter Ten

Valentine’s Day, one year later
.

I headed for the door, large box of pilfered cookies and food in hand when my friend Julie collided with me. We both fell down, and a good chunk of the loot spilled out onto the carpet.

“Hurry, before Cindy sees.” We scrabbled around on the floor, me in a black A-line skirt, Julie in her smashing pants suit and low-cut blazer combo. She stuffed a whole chocolate chip cookie in her mouth and I giggled, loaded everything back into the box, and got back to my feet.

She was chewing with enthusiasm, cheeks popped out, when Darren, the newest guy on staff, came around the corner and blasted her with a ten-thousand megawatt smile hot enough to reduce her clothes to ash.

“Hi, ladies. What are you doing?” Darren addressed us both, but focused his attention on Julie, who fought to swallow her cookie.

I snickered. “We’re having a get-together tonight. No Valentine’s B.S. Just food and games and beer. No dates allowed unless you’re already in a relationship. No sexy clothes either. Everyone has to wear sweats or their equivalent.”

“Oh. And how does a person score an invite?” Darren stared at Julie, but it looked as though she had finally gotten the cookie tamed. A huge crumb stuck to the corner of her mouth. Darren tried not to look at it, but failed. I swallowed my laughter. I hoped she didn’t hyperventilate.

“What’s your favorite character from
The Princess Bride
or
Star Wars
?” I gave him my best narrow-eyed look.

“Ah,
Princess Bride
. I gotta go with Inigo. Dude had focus.
Star Wars
is tougher. Boba Fett is obvious. So is Han. I’m going to say Jabba. For being disgusting and owning it.”

“You’re in. I have to get this food out to my car. Tom can give you directions.” Darren hit me with his smile and then eyed Julie as if she were on the menu later. She mumbled something and stumbled away with crumbs stuck to her face.

I took one step into the parking lot to escape Cindy’s yearly Valentine’s Day explosion when she came up behind me.

“Why don’t I get an invitation?” She wore red again this year.

We’d set up for the ultimate Anti-Valentine’s Day party at Tom’s: multiple Xboxes for crazy single elimination tournaments, movies, junk food, marshmallow guns, and karaoke. What could be better?

Well, perhaps the total ban on hearts, flying baby archers, and all that nonsense. Maybe it wasn’t all Cupid’s fault. I still don’t like the decorations or hype. I didn’t have to drink the Kool-Aid.

“Because you’re all about V-Day. And we’re not.”

“But everyone is coming to your party instead of mine.” A distinct whine colored the words. “What’s so wrong with liking Valentine’s Day? It’s all about love and happily ever after. I mean, I know that two years ago yours really sucked, but look at you now. You’re head over heels in love, you’re happy, your sister and ex finally got out of your hair….”

She was right. I was in love. Ridiculously so. But Cupid didn’t get any credit. In a weird way, I might owe it to Courtney. If I hadn’t dropped my phone, if she hadn’t cheated with Charlie…. Weird.

The crap had largely worked itself out. My parents cut her off after the fake pregnancy thing. She’d gotten a job out of state. And Charlie followed her. An annulment that loses you your meal ticket is a bad idea.

Maybe Courtney likes his financial dependency. I don’t know.

“You can come. But—” I glared at her sweater and enormous cleavage for emphasis. “You’ve got to lose the sweater and earrings. No lovey-dovey games or anything. Just a bunch of us geeking out and being slobs.” A small part of me hoped she’d pout and refuse to play by the rules so she couldn’t come.

“Really?” Cindy’s hands clapped together under her chin. How could anyone be this perky?

“Bye, Cindy. See you later.”

I stuffed the box into the back seat. Twenty minutes later, I pulled into Tom’s driveway. I used my keys to let myself in and gave Bitsy a little extra tuna. She looked like the world’s biggest dust bunny with her puffy gray fur. A tiny black dot on her nose and one on her left paw relieved the gray.

But dust bunnies didn’t carry around stuffed plush crabs based on video game monsters. Bitsy was a weird combination of cat and dog. She loved to play fetch. And walk around outside on a leash.

We were smitten with each other. It may or may not have had anything to do with the tuna. I’d never owned a cat, so I found the warm fuzzies she gave me a welcome surprise. Cats had never hit my radar as possible pets. But I admitted to a total girl-crush on Miss Bitsy.

I’m pretty sure she returned the love because she gave me a few nice throaty “mrows” and let me pick her up long enough for a quick snuggle before heading to her food dish.

Tom and I had set up the basement yesterday with borrowed gaming systems and TVs. I loaded down coolers with soda and beer, put out bags of chips and platters of cookies and other assorted nonsense in the space of a half-hour. We’d order pizza later. I couldn’t wait to shoot someone with marshmallows.

Now the only task left me was to change into something suitably Anti-Valentine’s Day. I’d picked up the perfect T-shirt after Halloween. A black background with a white vampire skull, bloody fangs included. Gross and the exact opposite of romantic. I pulled it over my head and snickered.

The front door opened and closed, and cold air gusted through the house. I heard Bitsy making a total racket out in the living room so Tom must have come home. She liked me, maybe even preferred me here and there, but Tom was still her human.

“Are you ready for our one-year anniversary, down-with-commercialized-forced-romance holiday party?”

“Yep.” I spun to show him the shirt I wore. He laughed and gave me a nice long, deep kiss.

“I love you.” Warm tingles raced over my skin at the affection in his voice.

“Love you, too.” We kissed some more and might have groped each other. But I won’t admit it.

“So, I have something to ask you before everyone gets here.”

“Oh yeah?” The tone of his voice made me nervous. We already practically lived together, so….

“Have you ever figured out what my tattoo actually says?”

“No.” The question was a letdown. My heart stuttered to a stop from the gallop his previous statement induced. “Usually when I see it I get too distracted to actually write the words down.”

He grinned in a very satisfied male way and brought my hips in tighter to his.

“It says honor, love, family, faith, hope. I got it after I was discharged from the military.”

We didn’t talk much about his time in the service. Every now and then he talked in his sleep, and I’d listen to him when he woke up. No questions, no answers. Tom hadn’t been behind a desk during his time overseas. I’m glad his term of service is over.