Waiting for You (7 page)

“You didn’t bring your sketchbook?” Aidan interjected.

“Excuse me?” Karise no longer wanted to wrap anything around him, except perhaps her hands around his throat.

He read her expression and grinned. “Your sketchpad is full of
ideas for houses. There were a couple that would look amazing on this
property.”

“Really?” Kate brightened so much Karise found herself offering to go retrieve the sketchpad.

“I’ll walk you back. It’s
getting
pretty dark.” Aidan handed Jonathan
to Gavin and extended his arm to Karise. She couldn’t turn him down
without looking like a jerk, so she grudgingly placed her hand on his arm, allowing him to lead her away.

Determined not to be rendered a total idiot by this man yet again,
she tried making small talk once they were alone. “How have you been?”

“Very well. And you?”

“Great, actually.” Karise meant it. Present discomfort excluded, she
felt better about life than she had in a very long time.

“Really?” He stopped walking to look at her.

Karise wasn’t sure what he was searching for, but she found herself
opening up to him yet again – though she had no clue why. “Yes, really.
Ending the engagement with William was difficult, mostly because I
felt like a royal ass, but it was the right thing to do. Luckily, my brother
was in town when everything happened. He whisked me away to
Ecuador with him. It wound up being just what I needed.”

“So, things are better with Devon now?”

Karise tucked away the fact that he’d remembered her brother’s
name. “They are. A lot of healing took place. And I got to meet his wife.
She’s lovely. I think we’re going to be great friends. She says it’s good
to have a sister.”

“That’s fantastic.” There was true warmth in his voice.

“Yeah, it is.” Karise felt the tension melting away. She was enjoying
their conversation. “So really, how have you been?”

He opened the door of the cottage for her and stood aside for her to enter. “Business out east went well, and now I get to be home for a while. That’s a good thing.”

“You had business out east? I thought you were in Boston for the showing.”

“I was. But I was in that neck of the woods for business; otherwise
I would have had to pass on the showing. I don’t have the Nichols’
budget.”

“Most don’t.” Karise left Aidan in the living room so she could sift
through the boxes in the bedroom.

“You’re a McAlister,” he reminded her. “I’m not sure you and I
have the same budget, either.”

She stopped searching and turned in his direction. “That’s Devon
and Alex’s inheritance, not mine.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry I said it.” The smile he gave her was
genuinely contrite, almost sheepish. It was an expression she hadn’t seen before on him, and it was entirely endearing.

Karise turned back to her boxes, chanting to herself, “I will not
nibble. I will not nibble.”

“What won’t you nibble?” Aidan had come to lean against her
bedroom doorway. Amusement danced in his eyes. Karise wanted to face-palm. How had she not noticed his nearness?

“You.” Per usual, she found herself blurting out more than she intended to share.

“I’m not sure if I should ask why you would be nibbling on me or
why you won’t,” he admitted.

“Neither. You’re supposed to pretend you didn’t hear a thing.”

He moved closer. “Maybe the nibbling intrigues me, though.”

“They’re holding dinner for us. Nibble on that.”

“I’d rather nibble on you.”

Karise bit her upper lip, unsure what to say to that. She was pretty
sure that in about two seconds, she’d be nothing more than a puddle on the floor. She put a hand up. “You should probably stay there.”

“It’s funny, but whenever I’m around you, I find myself doing a lot of things I shouldn’t do.”

“Me, too.” Her words seemed to be all the permission he needed
to close the gap between them, pinning her in between the wall and
his solid form.

His lips were a breath away from hers when she placed her hand on
his chest to hold him at bay. “No nibbling. We’re getting the sketchbook
and going to dinner.”

“If you insist.” He spoke the words so close Karise could feel shivers
all the way to her toes. She wanted just one teensy-weensy taste. He
stepped back to allow her to pass.

“I do.” She brushed a kiss against the corner of his mouth, darting
past him before he could turn it into more.

KARISE HAD BEEN
fairly proud of herself for walking out of that
room. By the time she got all the way through dinner without sticking
her foot in her mouth once, she was ecstatic. Aidan’s suggestion for
getting the sketchpad had actually been genius because it gave Karise
a really good idea what Kate
was
looking for. Armed with that
knowledge,
she’d sat up well into the night working on designs so she’d have
something to kick off her first official discussion with Kate and Gavin. Now, as she struggled to operate the coffee maker in the harsh
light of day, she somewhat regretted the decision to draw half the night
away.

There was a
knock
at the door.
She
let out a
frustrated
growl, setting
the coffee filter basket down on the counter with a little more force
than intended. Grounds skittered across the granite, only serving to add
to her frustration. She fought with the belt to her robe on the walk over
to the door and had only begun to tie it as she swung the door open.

Aidan was the last person she expected to see on her front porch.
Oddly enough, he looked just as startled as she. Karise battled between
being irritated at his presence and appreciative of how his well-worn jeans and black T-shirt fit his form, hinting at the muscles beneath.

“Hey.” She tried to keep her greeting cordial, realizing her mental
skirmish wasn’t entirely his fault.

Aidan swallowed and then held a cup of coffee out to her. “I come
bearing a gift.”

“How did you know?” Relief washed over Karise.

“I stayed in the guest house for a while after my divorce. Their coffee pot sucks.”

“It’s straight from the pits of hell.”

Aidan chuckled, nodding his agreement.

“Do you want to come in?” Karise asked.

“Yeah, thanks.” He moved past her, his proximity doing crazy things
to her stomach.

“What brings you by so early?” Karise hoped the question didn’t sound rude. She was genuinely curious.

“I’m taking Jonathan for the day so Kate can get everything ready
for the party.” He sank onto the couch, obviously comfortable in the little cottage.

Karise was taken aback by his answer. It was the last thing she would have expected. “You don’t seem the babysitting type.”

“Well, to be honest, Zoe will do most of the work. Jonathan adores
her, and to her it’s just like having a really lifelike baby doll. I’ll just
make sure there aren’t any major injuries.”

“Zoe?”

Aidan coughed uncomfortably before explaining, his words
emerging carefully. “Zoe’s my daughter.”

Karise absorbed the information, sinking into the overstuffed chair
across from Aidan. He absentmindedly twisted his black leather cuff
bracelet, and Karise wondered if the action hinted at nervousness
buried beneath the cool exterior. She smiled at him, hoping to belay any trepidation he might have. “I’ve always liked that name.”

The grin he gave her was instant and genuine. It reminded her of
the first night they’d met, when she’d treasured that smile, considering
it a gift bestowed.

“How old is she?”

“Four, and she is my world.”

“I look forward to meeting her.” Karise could feel him opening up
to her, tentatively feeling out where they stood. She knew she should reinforce the wall between them, but it felt like cruel timing to do so,
and she was enjoying sharing a simple, comfortable conversation with
him after all the tension and confusion.

“She’ll be here tonight. Last night was her date night with Grandpa
Joe or she would have come then.”

“So you have custody?” Karise wasn’t sure if it was okay to ask that, but curiosity won out.

“Her mother didn’t fight it. She left us when Zoe was a baby.” His
voice was gentle, as if he realized the impact his words might have on
Karise so he’d softened them as much as possible.

“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Don’t be. Like I said before, it wasn’t a good fit. Lizzy was miserable
and didn’t even try to hide it. Sometimes I think she did us a favor.
Zoe’s been the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Karise shook her head. “You’ve got to give me a second to process
all of this.”

“That I have a child?”

“No, it’s not that really – it’s this entire other side of you I hadn’t seen. It’s like Lois Lane finding out Clark Kent is Superman, or vice versa.”

Aidan let out a burst of laughter.

“Maybe not exactly, but you get my point.”

“So now that I’ve put my cards on the table…”

Karise interrupted him mid sentence. “Have you? I get the distinct
impression there’s more.”

“So now that I’ve put
most
of my cards on the table, I have a question
for you, and I really want an honest answer.”

“I’m not sure if ‘most of your cards’ warrants an honest answer.”

“I’ve just admitted to being Mr. Mom; you have to allow me some
air of mystery.”

“As long as you can assure me the air of mystery isn’t something super kinky or that’ll land me in jail.”

“Promise.”

“Okay, then ask away. I’ll try to be honest.”

“Try?”

“Let’s just hear the question.”

“Why are you so against the nibbling?”

It was Karise’s turn to laugh.

“Ugh. I didn’t expect laughter. I guess I’m out of practice when it comes to reading women.”

“No, sorry. I’m laughing at the question, not in response to the
question. You didn’t misread.” She had to be at least that honest.

“Then what is it?”

“I couldn’t have just one taste. It’s like a drug – the first one’s free,
then you’re hooked. I think I’d get hooked on you pretty fast.”

Karise couldn’t tell if the look on his face meant he was pleased
with her honesty or if it meant he was getting ready to take more than
a nibble. He cocked his head and considered her for a moment before
posing a question. “Is that a bad thing?”

“For where I am in my life right now, yes.” She tore her gaze away,
unable to think clearly when their eyes locked. She felt like a broken
record as she recited all of her reasons for needing to strike out on her
own before being with anyone. She left out that he, above all, was
especially dangerous to her at the moment. Karise also neglected to mention that she didn’t want to taint what was happening between them by forever making him the man she left William for. She wasn’t sure how to explain to Aidan why it was important to her that the two remain separate.

“I’m tempted to do my damnedest to convince you otherwise.” He rose slowly to his feet, coming to stand directly in front of Karise. She looked up at him, waiting to see what he would do next. There
was a part of her that would have welcomed the
persuasion
. He reached
a hand out to her, lifting her to her feet when she accepted it.

With one hand on the small of her back and the other on her cheek,
he placed the tenderest of kisses on her lips. Before she could melt
into him, he stepped back, giving her one last longing look. Karise was
bereft without his touch.

“
The best things in life are worth waiting for.” With that promise –
and she was sure it was a promise—he left her alone in the cottage.

Karise
d
issolved
into the chair, her
head
spinning from the encounter.
Since crossing her threshold, Aidan had set her image of him on its head
and then successfully made her want him even more by
not
persuading
her to want him. She wasn’t entirely sure what was happening, but it
was disconcerting to say the least. At this rate, she was in danger of
losing herself to a man she wasn’t even in a relationship with. In a
frustrated huff, Karise rose from her chair and went to get dressed. She was here to do a job, and it was time she got to it.

The Karise who sat across the table from Kate at breakfast was much
more poised than the one who’d risen from the overstuffed chair. Even
her eagle-eyed friend didn’t sense anything was amiss as they pored over designs and ideas for the new house. After their meeting, Kate kicked into full gear on party preparations while Karise went to walk
the home site before going back to the cottage for round two of sketches.

Time passed too quickly. She barely had a chance to check in with
Devon before getting ready for the party. Armed with the knowledge
that a cowboy theme was the order of the day, Karise dressed in a pair
of blue jeans, a button-up that was the closest she could come to a
western shirt, and her boots. She braided her hair because it seemed the thing to do. She inspected her reflection, thinking she was a poor
excuse for a cowgirl, but then again, she had spent more than a decade
in Boston so it was probably to be expected.