WalkingSin (17 page)

“Define ‘long’.”

“Days. Weeks.”

She scrunched up her nose, as if smelling
something bad. “I can’t hurt for weeks. I have too much to do.”

Dax popped the last bite of cookie into his
mouth and dusted the crumbs from his hands. “Come over after work for another
massage.” He stopped her objection before she could voice it. “No strings attached,
nothing else expected. The massage will help you. That’s all I want to do.”

He meant that. Kelcey had made it very
clear she wanted nothing more to do with him. He would accept that, even though
he didn’t like it. She’d rejected him. No woman had ever done that. He had to
be honest with himself and admit it stung his ego. A woman he wanted didn’t
want him.

So much for being completely irresistible
to women.

“Tell you what,” he said, trying to sweeten
the deal, “after the massage, I’ll cook some shrimp for you.”

A hint of a smile touched her lips. “Are
you trying to bribe me, Dax?”

He shrugged. “Whatever works.”

“You told me you aren’t a good cook.”

“I’m not, but I do know how to make some
dishes. I can prepare shrimp that’ll make you weep from pleasure.”

The smile spread over her face and lit up
her eyes. “I don’t know how I could turn down the chance to weep from
pleasure.”

“So you’ll come over? I’d really like to
work on you again.”

“I’d appreciate it. I need to check with
Alaina first and see if I can use her car again.”

“You don’t have to do that. You can ride
home with me and I’ll take you back to Rye’s and Alaina’s after supper.”

“Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“Of course not. You can even walk home if
you want since it’s less than a mile.”

“That’s true.” She smiled again. “Okay. My
agent said I’ll have my check in a few days so I can shop for a new car. It’ll
be nice not to have to depend on people to cart me around. I probably should’ve
gotten a rental car, but Alaina and Emma insisted they could take me wherever I
wanted to go.”

“I doubt if they mind being your
chauffeurs.”

“
I
mind. I don’t want to be any
trouble to anyone.”

Emma walked into the office. “That won’t be
a problem anymore, Kelc. Follow me.”

“What is it?” Kelcey asked.

“Just do what I tell you. C’mon.”

Kelcey looked at Dax, who shrugged. “Can’t
help you. I guess you’d better follow her.”

Curious, Dax tagged along behind the ladies
through the back door. He stopped suddenly when he saw Griff leaning against
Jana’s car. Griff had stored the car at their parents’ house, so Dax had no
idea why it was here.

“Whose Camry?” Kelcey asked, puzzlement
evident in her voice.

“It was Jana’s,” Griff said. “I bought it
for her about two months before she died. I had it in the garage, then moved it
over to my parents’ place to make room for Emma’s car. It’s been covered and
protected the whole time.” Walking closer to Kelcey, he held up a key fob. “If
you want it, it’s yours.”

Kelcey blinked. “What?”

Griff shrugged. “You need a car and I don’t
need this one. I’ve been thinking about putting it up for sale. You saved me
that hassle.”

Kelcey looked from Griff to the car and
back to Griff. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Say you’ll take it, Kelc,” Emma said. “It
drives wonderfully and it has less than a thousand miles on it. You had a
Corolla, so it’s the same brand you’re used to driving.” She smiled. “It’ll
save you from having to car shop, which I know you hate.”

“Did you make Griff do this?”

Emma shook her head. “Totally his idea, I
swear.”

Tears filled Kelcey’s eyes as she accepted
the key fob from Griff. “I can’t just
take
it. I want to pay you for
it.”

“We can work out details later,” Griff
said. “I have the title. We can have the car transferred to you right now.”

“Really?”

Kelcey’s smile touched Dax’s heart. He
liked seeing her so happy.

“Go to the county annex building on the
square,” Emma said. “Griff and I will follow you.”

“Griff, I…” Kelcey stopped. She looked at
the key fob in her hand, then threw her arms around his neck and hugged him.
“Thank you.”

Griff returned her hug. “You’re very
welcome. I hope you enjoy it.”

“I’d better grab my purse. Be right back.”
She took two steps toward the building, then turned back to face them. “Don’t I
need proof of insurance to license it in my name?”

“Call your agent,” Emma said. “She can fax
a rider to you.”

“Good idea. You’re so smart.”

Emma grinned. “I know.”

“Here’s the title.” Griff withdrew a piece
of paper from his shirt pocket, held it out to Kelcey. “It’ll have all the
information your agent needs.”

Dax watched Kelcey practically skip back
inside the B-and-B before he looked at his brother. “You sure you’re okay with
this?”

“Yeah. It’s silly to keep the car when it’s
never driven. I really have been thinking about putting it up for sale. This
solves my problem and Kelcey’s too.”

Emma slipped her arm through the bend of
Griff’s elbow. “And makes me love him even more for taking care of my friend.”

“Will I get a reward tonight for being a
good boy?”

Her eyes narrowed and turned sultry. “Oh,
you’re gonna get
such
a reward.”

Griff grinned. “Goody.”

“On that note,” Dax said, “I’ll go back to
work.”

He detoured by the office first. Kelcey
hung up the phone as he stepped up to the door.

“Did you talk to your agent?”

Kelcey nodded. “She’ll fax a rider to me in
a few minutes.” She clasped her hands together beneath her chin and smiled.
“Your brother is wonderful to do this for me.”

“He has a big heart. Plus Emma promised him
hot sex later.”

A blush bloomed in her cheeks. “I guess
that’ll get a guy’s attention every time.”

“Pretty much.”

He stared into her eyes, unable to look
away. He wanted so badly to take her in his arms. He wanted to feel her naked
body next to him in his bed, and not just for sex. He simply wanted to hold
her.

The fax machine started and printed out a
piece of paper. Kelcey withdrew it from the machine’s tray. “It’s my rider. So
I guess I’d better get to the annex before it closes.”

“Come by the house whenever you’re through
taking care of your car.”

The apologetic expression on her face
showed him that she’d changed her mind about the massage. She picked up her
purse from the desk. “I don’t think I need the massage tonight, Dax.”

“Did your neck suddenly stop hurting?”

“Not totally, but it’s better than it was
earlier. I guess having my car problem solved helped the tension.”

He had no doubt getting her own car made
her feel better, but he did doubt if that was the real reason she’d changed her
mind. “I told you I don’t expect anything from you, Kelcey.”

“I know you did and I believe you, but I…”
She folded the rider and slipped it into her purse. “I told you I’m not strong.
I can’t handle your hands on me. It’ll make me want…more.”

He suspected she was a lot stronger than
she thought. He took a step forward. She took a step back. He sighed. “Kelcey,
I want to help you.”

“Not like that. Not with touching. Just…be
my friend, okay?”

If that’s all he could be to her, he’d take
it, although he wanted more. “Okay.”

“Good.” A relieved smile spread over her
lips. “Well, I guess I’ll go get the license for my car. I need to change the
address on my driver’s license. Can I do that too?”

“I’m not sure, but someone there can tell
you what to do.”

“Okay. Well. I’ll see you…sometime.”

“Yeah.”

Dax followed a few steps behind as she left
the building. He leaned against the doorframe and watched her climb into her
new car. Once behind the wheel, she looked at him again. He dipped his head to
acknowledge her. She gave him a small wave, then pulled away from the B-and-B.

The tightness returned to his chest. He had
a sinking feeling down deep in his stomach that he’d made a huge mistake in
letting Kelcey go.

Chapter Fourteen

“That’s the third time you’ve rubbed your
neck in the last fifteen minutes,” Emma said with a frown.

Kelcey jerked her hand away from her neck.
She’d tried to be casual so Emma and Alaina wouldn’t notice how much she hurt.
Apparently she hadn’t done a very good job.

Alaina touched her arm. “Are you still
hurting?”

“A little.”

“Why didn’t you tell us? We would’ve
postponed our girls’ day out.”

“Because I didn’t want to postpone it.” The
girls’ day out had been her idea to celebrate getting her new car. Plus, with
less than four weeks away from The Inn’s official grand opening, Kelcey figured
Alaina needed a day of shopping and eating with her and Emma. They’d decided to
walk the Lanville square and hit all the little curio and souvenir shops, then
have lunch in Alaina’s favorite restaurant. “I won’t feel any better at home,
so I might as well be out with my best friends and enjoying our time together.”

“Dax could work on you if we were home,”
Emma said.

Kelcey swirled a French fry through the
ketchup on her plate. “I don’t want Dax to work on me again.”

“Why not?”

“I just don’t.”

“Well, you know that answer isn’t going to
satisfy me.”

“Or me,” Alaina said.

Yes, Kelcey knew all too well that she
couldn’t be evasive with her two friends. She laid the fry back on her plate.
“Because I did the incredibly stupid thing of falling in love with Dax and I
don’t want him touching me when I know I’m nothing to him but a sex partner.”

It wasn’t often Kelcey could render her
friends speechless, but her statement did it. Instead of waiting for the
barrage of questions they would ask, she decided to tell them everything.

“I didn’t mean for it to happen.” She
released a humorless laugh. “I didn’t even
like
Dax at first. I thought
he was nothing but a conceited, selfish womanizer. He proved me wrong with the
way he loves Walker, and how much he cares for his friends and family. It blew
me away when I learned he gives massages for free, just because he wants to
help his friends. That’s so generous. And completely out of character for a
supposed selfish person.”

“I could’ve told you Dax isn’t selfish,”
Alaina said. “Just because he’s slept with a lot of women doesn’t make him a
bad person.”

“Yeah,” Emma said. “I’ve been with a lot of
guys. You don’t think I’m a bad person, do you?”

“Of course not. Sleeping with several
partners doesn’t make anyone
bad
. And that’s beside the point. I was
wrong about Dax. Once I got to know him, I realized what a caring person he is.
That’s the man I fell in love with. How could you
not
love a man who’s
so wonderful with his dog?”

“Did you tell him how you feel?” Alaina
asked.

Kelcey shook her head. “There would’ve been
no point in doing that. He isn’t interested in anything serious with one
woman.”

“I wasn’t interested in one guy either
until I met Griff.” Emma swished her straw through her Coke. “I never planned
to fall in love, wasn’t the least bit tempted to fall in love. One look at
Griff and I lost my heart. There’s no reason why Dax can’t feel the same way
about you.”

It was a lovely thought, but Kelcey doubted
it would happen. Dax had spent thirty-two years as a happy bachelor. She didn’t
believe he would ever want to be involved with only one woman.

“I agree with you, Emma, that it can
happen. But I feel here,” she said, touching her stomach, “deep down inside
that Dax isn’t like that. Will he fall in love someday? Maybe. But I can’t keep
seeing him, hoping for that, and end up with my heart broken.” She blinked
several times to keep tears from forming in her eyes. “Dax helped me get past
what my uncles did to me. It’s a fresh start for me, a new beginning. Maybe
I’ll meet the man of my dreams here in Lanville.”

“You already did,” Alaina said softly.

If her friends kept up this conversation,
Kelcey would burst into tears at any moment. “Okay, that’s enough of that
topic. We have shopping to do.”

“You’re absolutely right.” Emma reached for
the check next to Kelcey’s elbow, but Kelcey snatched it away from her. “Hey!”
Emma said, frowning. “I offered to buy lunch.”

Kelcey shook her head. “Nope. My treat. I’m
celebrating, remember? Besides, I haven’t used my credit card in weeks. My bank
will think I don’t love them anymore.”

“Well, I wouldn’t want your bank to be mad
at you.” Emma reached for her purse hooked over the back of her chair. “Let’s
walk down to the bookstore. I finished my book last night, so need something
new to read. Preferably something hot and sexy.”