Worth It All (The McKinney Brothers #3) (9 page)

They talked easily on the way home about everything and nothing. Things like the correct way to eat a Kit Kat—he had a brother who bit across the top instead of breaking the sticks, shudder—and what was the best super power. Jake chose invisibility, she chose flying, but they both agreed those were the best two.

Simon had texted Jake, letting them know he and Jenny were staying for a band and he would bring her home. Casey slept soundly in the backseat, lips slightly parted, a bit of blue cotton candy clung to her hair. The purple bear had dropped to the floor at her feet. Even with no buffers the silence wasn’t awkward. It was comfortable, companionable.

Thirty minutes later, the tires of his SUV crunched over weeds and gravel before coming to a stop off to the side. He was already opening the door next to Casey when she got there, and he waited as Paige unbuckled her and gently lifted her out of her seat. Jake grabbed the booster and all the day’s loot and followed her inside.

“Anywhere’s fine,” she whispered, leaving him in the kitchen. She tucked Casey in, sticky hair and all, then closed her bedroom door all but a crack.

Jake was leaning against the counter when she returned, his long legs out in front of him crossed at the ankle. Now what? It’d been a long time since she’d been alone with a man. No, not a man. She had zero experience with a man. She’d never even kissed anyone old enough to buy alcohol.

“Do you want something to drink?” She opened the refrigerator, acutely aware of his body behind hers barely two feet away. “I have milk, orange juice, or water.”

“Water’s good.”

She got two glasses, some ice, and filled them at the sink.

“Thanks.” He took the glass she offered.

She’d lost her ease somewhere between the car and the kitchen. The small space seemed even smaller with him in it, his big body barely leaving room to breathe. Or maybe it was just being close enough to smell him that made it hard. His eyes met hers over the edge of the glass and her heart skipped. If she wasn’t careful, it would stop altogether.

There was only the one couch to sit on. Asking him to sit on it with her seemed a bit too dangerous and way too tempting. Especially after spending the past six hours with every cell in her body screaming to get closer. “Do you want to sit outside?”

“Sure.”

She followed him out, leaving only the screen door closed so that she could hear Casey. The table lamp inside illuminated them in soft light.

The steps were narrow, barely room for the two of them. She sat on the top step, leaning back against the metal railing someone had installed along the steps. Jake leaned back on the other side, one step below her.

“Another nice night,” she said after a moment.

“Yep.” Jake stretched out his right leg and placed his left foot on the bottom step, resting his forearm over his knee. Looking completely comfortable like he sat on stoops and drank water with girls every day, he stared across the small space at the next trailer over. It was white like hers, maybe more rust stains. A stack of pizza boxes near the door looked ready to topple over onto several empty cases of beer.

“The yard is low maintenance,” she joked, her eyes on the sandy, gravelly, grassy mix at the bottom of the steps.

“That’s good. No big lawn to keep up with. And your neighbors are nice and close if you need a cup of sugar.”

Paige laughed and coughed on the water she’d just started to swallow. “I don’t think Bumper there gives out sugar.”

Jake laughed with her. “Okay. Maybe not.”

They spent another minute listening to the night bugs and a dog barking a few rows over. “I wouldn’t mind a lawn to keep up with, though. A little house with a porch Casey and I could plant flowers around. Of course we could plant flowers here, I guess.” But it wouldn’t be the same. She wanted a place she called home that was her own.

He looked at her thoughtfully. “Is that why you work so hard?”

“Yes. And I don’t want Casey to ever have to worry about…things I worried about.”

“Like what?”

“Like pissed-off, unpaid landlords for one thing.”

“Did that happen a lot?”

There was no pity in his tone, which she appreciated. “No. Some. It was more the fear of it.” She thought for a second how to describe what it had been like and how much to tell him. “My mom was more the fun, dance-around-in-your-underwear kind of mom than the responsible, pay-the-rent kind,” she said lightly. “She did her best.”

“And your dad?”

“I met him once on my seventh birthday. He didn’t know it was my birthday. He was there asking my mom for money, which didn’t go over well since I think he was supposed to be bringing money to her.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah.” She shrugged it off. “It’s fine. It was a long time ago. You can’t miss what you never had, right?” She hoped that was true. For Casey’s sake.

He searched her eyes for several beats, his own quiet and reflective.

“I’ve been thinking about Casey’s prosthesis situation,” Jake said after another moment. “And I think I should make her a new one. Not just make her one, but let her help me make it so she’d be excited about it.”

“Be one with her prosthesis?”

He smiled. “Exactly. I don’t pretend to know the mind of a five-year-old girl—”

“You do pretty well.”

His mouth curved slightly at the compliment. “I know you can go to Shriners, but I think I could make a better one. I know I could. And the turnaround time would be fast.”

Paige stared at him a second, taking in what he was offering. “That would be incredible. But I know it’s expensive, not to mention the time.”

“Paige. Please. I’ll put my guys on it. It’ll be a nice break for them. I can let Casey look at some material catalogs. She’ll have plenty of color and pattern choices to do whatever she wants.”

“That could be dangerous,” she said, thinking of what her daughter might dream up. He met her smile and she gave in with a sigh. “You know I can’t say no to that.”

“No,” he said. “You can’t.”

“Thank you. And thank you for today, too. I don’t know if I said that.”

“You did. About five times and you’re welcome. It was fun. I got a whistle and everything.”

He grinned, which was enough to make a woman stupid, then took a sip of water, and she tried not to stare at his throat. “So, um…was it always your dream to move to California? Open a major cutting-edge company?”

“No,” he said with a small laugh. “I never had such aspirations. The only thing I ever dreamed of was playing football.”

“Did you play at CalTech?”

“No. I played at the University of South Carolina. Thought I’d play four years of college, maybe even go pro.” He paused and studied the glass in his hand. “That was the dream, anyway. I played one season and then…” His gaze fell to his right leg and her heart hurt. “Then I lost my scholarship.”

He’d lost more than his scholarship. He rubbed his thigh again and she wondered if it was a habit when he thought about all he’d lost. He’d lost his dreams, so had she, but where she’d gained Casey, he’d lost his leg. “I’m sorry. What did you do after that?”

“After that, I moved out west to a rehab facility.”

That surprised her, that he’d needed to move for rehab, and it must have shown on her face.

“My left leg was broken in four places in addition to the lower portion of the right being crushed. One doctor suggested I might not walk again.”

Of course. Because his hadn’t been a planned surgery like Casey’s. It’d been sudden and painful and violent. That still didn’t explain why he’d gone so far away from his family. Why he’d stayed. “Well, that doctor was obviously wrong.”

“Lots of rehab.” His tone said it hadn’t been easy.

A dog barked in the distance and another answered him.

“Wait—you were quarterback, weren’t you?” she asked, breaking the silence. “All the games today?” It was easy to picture his big hands wrapped around the leather of a football. “You know, that could be considered cheating.” She nudged his leg playfully with the toe of her sandal, and he smiled the way she’d wanted him to.

“Not quarterback. Wide receiver, but I was around a football a lot. Enough to beat you, evidently.”

“I want a rematch.”

One side of his mouth curved up. “Anytime.”

As in he would spend time with her anytime she wanted? Did he want that? “I bet your parents are proud of you, coming out here, starting a business, and becoming a…”

“Biomedical engineer, and I don’t really stand out.”

“Why? Because there are so many?” She couldn’t imagine him not standing far and above all others.

“Maybe, but my oldest brother was an Air Force pilot and now owns a charter business. My next brother was a Navy SEAL, the next a millionaire before he was thirty. My sister’s a psychologist, and let me tell you what a pain that is. She’d rival Casey in the asking questions department,” he added affectionately.

He continued describing his family and their lives. The admiration in his voice when he talked about his brothers was clear, and she could picture him as a little boy trying to live up to what he saw as legends. She didn’t need to meet them to know he’d still be the standout to her. “Was it hard being the youngest?”

He thought a second. “I think the age difference made it hard in some ways. My oldest brother left for college when I was two. All my brothers were out of the house by the time I was ten. Then my sister two years after that. I mostly remember chasing them, wanting to be a part of whatever they were doing. Wanting to play but never being big enough or fast enough.”

And football’s how he chased them. “I’m sorry you lost that, something you loved, but I’m envious of you, of finding your talent and using it to make a difference. I’d like to do that.”

“I’m sure you have talents,” he said, looking at her thoughtfully. “What was your dream?”

That was easy. “To get out of Texas, out of that town. I had all these plans to move to a big city and ride the subway to a job I had to dress up for.” She smiled, thinking about it. “I was going to live in an apartment with a garden on the roof overlooking all the bustling people with important places to go, but…”

“But what?”

She met his gaze and something in it made her answer honestly. “But then I got offtrack, got in the backseat of a car with a boy.”

She didn’t know what she expected Jake to say. She certainly wouldn’t have been the stand-out in the McKinney family tree.

“I wasn’t that into boys. I know it might not seem like that, given my circumstances, but—”

“Paige.” He waited for her to look up. “I’m the last person that would ever judge you. Trust me. And for what it’s worth, I think you’re on the right track and doing a hell of a job.”

She gave him a sideways smile, unable to voice how much his words meant to her. “Thanks.” His brown eyes continued to hold hers, making her fight her natural reflex to look away. She didn’t know what to do or what to feel when he looked at her like that. No one ever had. He clearly made her want to do a lot of things that were in no way part of her plan. “I should go in,” she finally said.

They stood at the same time and their bodies brushed in the move to get the screen door open. He followed her in and she set her nearly full glass in the sink.

“Should I put it here?” His hot breath brushed her ear, and she shivered when he moved in close enough that she could feel his heat. He reached around her and set his glass next to hers.

She knew what the man could do, the feelings he could elicit with just one kiss. She also knew that if she turned around, with his body just a breath from her own, she would feel it again, or at least she wanted to.

Hot palms closed over her bare shoulders, sending chills down her arms as he turned her slowly. His hands continued their nerve-tingling glide until they settled firmly on her waist.

Gone was the laid-back, friendly conversation. The muscles in his jaw twitched and her body heated under his hot stare. Just the fact that she wanted to kiss him again so badly should have had her moving away, but there was also a burning desire and an unfamiliar need she’d never felt with anyone but Jake.

She brought her hands up to his hard chest, not to push him away, but because she had to touch him. Sliding her hands slowly up and over his shoulders, she almost whimpered at the feel of the muscled contours beneath her palms. That first kiss had just happened like an earthquake just happens. This one would be anticipated, layered with the hours they’d spent together. It would leave aftershocks rippling because she knew him better now. Knew his voice and his different smiles, hot or teasing or both. She knew his playful side with Casey and how his hand felt around hers.

“I told myself I wasn’t going to kiss you again,” he said, dipping his head closer.

“Why did you tell yourself that?”

“So many reasons.” Firm but gentle fingers tightened on her hips and his lips hovered a breath from her own, sending even more chills along her skin. “Because you’re so damn beautiful. Because I want to kiss you so damn much. More than kiss you.” His hot breath brushed her ear. “I want you too much, Paige.”

His low, sexy voice vibrated under her palms and the first touch of his lips along her throat sent a jolt through her system. He continued downward, pressing his lips to the hollow of her throat and sucking lightly. He was so good at this, at making her feel, and her eyes drifted shut as she gave herself over to it. “God, I’ve been wanting to do this since…”

“Since when?” She was amazed she could even speak as she inhaled the faint scent of aftershave and sun and Jake. That and his hot mouth tickling and nibbling along her bare shoulder combined to make her head fuzzy.

“Pretty much since the last second I stopped kissing you.”

Before she could think too hard on that, he speared his fingers through her hair and took her mouth like a man who was done waiting. His tongue swept inside and a warm flush spread through her body. If the last kiss had stolen her breath, this one nearly shattered her. She slid her hands up his arms, her greedy fingers teasing under the edges of his sleeves, then clutching at him while his skilled kiss alternately coaxed and demanded.