Worth the Wait (Picking up the Pieces #4) (4 page)

Damn, that was one prickly woman. No matter how I went about it, I couldn’t get so much as a civilized conversation out of her.

And damn it…that just pissed me off. I knew she was interested. When she thought I wouldn’t notice, I’d caught her staring at me enough times to know that much. And if that hadn’t been enough to go off, how those expressive hazel eyes of hers darkened as they scanned over my body was a pretty damn strong tell.

She wanted me. I was convinced of it. And I wanted her like I couldn’t recall ever wanting another woman before. Female companionship was never something I lacked; I’d just never really wanted anything longer than a few nights. But I could see something more with this woman. She’d piqued my interests the moment I walked into Lizzy’s salon and caught sight of her. There was just something in those eyes, something that ran so deep in her jade pools I couldn’t decipher what it was.

Lizzy told me she had some baggage and an asshole ex but other than that I had no real clue who the woman was. She was a complete mystery, one I was desperate to unravel. I found myself wanting something I’d never wanted with another woman before.

I wanted to
know
her. Not just bang her, but actually find out what made this woman tick.

I was tired of tiptoeing around, waiting for something to magically happen. I was a man used to going after what I wanted and that was exactly what I was going to do. But I was going to have to go about it in a different way. Something told me that waltzing up to her and flirting my ass off before asking her if she wanted to go home with me was definitely out of the question. Everything about Kenzie’s demeanor indicated she wasn’t a one-night stand sort of woman, and for once in my life, that actually worked for me, since as I was pretty sure I wanted
way
more than one night. Pursuing Kenzie was out of my comfort zone, but there was a pull every time I was in her presence that I couldn’t ignore. I wanted to take that darkness, that sadness I saw deep in her eyes, and make it disappear. Comfort zone or not, I was going after this woman with everything I had.

Taking the opportunity to catch her unaware while her head was down rummaging through a drawer for whatever it was she needed, I walked over to her little table.

“I didn’t mean to offend you a minute ago.”

Her head shot up as a startled gasp escaped her lips. “Jesus, you scared the crap outta me. You can’t just wander up on a person like that.”

She looked so damn cute when she was all ruffled and reprimanding me like I was one of her kids; I couldn’t help but laugh.

Her eyes narrowed in a fierce glare causing me to hold my hands up in surrender. “Sorry, beauty. Didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted to come over and apologize for earlier. I didn’t mean to upset you. I just meant that it’s good your little girl’s already so strong willed.”

The anger slowly crept out of her gaze as she eyed me cautiously. “Thanks,” she said, sounding somewhat hesitant.

“You’re very welcome, beauty.”

“Why do you keep calling me that?”

The corner of my mouth tipped up in a smirk that most women found irresistible as I answered her with complete honesty. “Because I think you’re beautiful. You’re one of the most stunning women I’ve ever laid eyes on. I’m just calling it like I see it.”

Usually, a woman would have melted if I told her something like that, but Kenzie’s demeanor didn’t shift whatsoever, except to grow a tad icier.

“Thanks.” Her tone as she spat out that one word was anything but thankful. She clipped out that one syllable so sharply, I was surprised she didn’t cut herself on it.

I was floundering, and to make matters worse, Trevor and the rest of my crew had already come into the salon and gotten to work. And by work, I mean they were hovering around trying not to make it obvious that they were eavesdropping on every friggin’ word between Kenzie and me.

“Look.” I took a step closer and leaned in so no one could hear. I realized my mistake instantly. The moment the smell of her perfume hit me, my mind blanked. Inhaling deeply, I sucked in as much of that clean floral scent as possible, wanting to keep it with me for as long as I could. I didn’t remember a time when just the scent of a woman turned me on so much.

Her lips parted on a gasp at my close proximity, drawing my gaze down to her luscious pink mouth. Her bottom lip was just a hint plumper than the top and images of sucking it into my mouth as she moaned my name had my dick pressing painfully against the zipper of my jeans.

Great, just what I needed…a fucking semi in front of my crew.

“What?” Her soft voice pulled my gaze from her mouth to her intense eyes. Christ, everything about her did it for me. Her eyes, her mouth, that adorable little button nose. Everything about her looked sweet and wholesome, and damn, if I didn’t want to spend days dirtying her up in all the best ways possible.

“Huh?”

She blinked slowly as our eyes locked on one another. If I hadn’t been so close, no doubt I would have missed the sweet way her pulse thrummed in her neck as she drew in a deep breath.

“Uh,” she stuttered, and I couldn’t contain my grin. I
knew
I got to her. She acted distant and abrasive, but the attraction was definitely there. I could see it clear as day. She cleared her throat and started again, “You, um, started to say something, but then you just stopped.”

What had I been about to say? Hell, I couldn’t even remember my last name with Kenzie’s soft skin so close that I could almost touch it. She was the best distraction I’d ever had.

“Go out with me,” I blurted out, unable to control myself when it came to her. I just wanted her so damn badly; I couldn’t think straight. I got within inches of that lush body and all thought of going slow flew right out the goddamned window.

Her eyes bugged out in complete shock. “What?”

The damage was already done so I figured I might as well just roll with it. “Let me take you out.”

“Like a date?”

Jesus, even her cluelessness was irresistible.

“Not
like
a date. I was thinking about an
actual
date.”

One second she was staring at me with wide-eyed bewilderment and the next the shutters came slamming down into place, closing her face off from any emotion at all.

“No.”

Just like that. She answered with one simple word in a voice as flat as a soda that had been left open for a week. She didn’t even take the time to think about her response.

“Why not?” I asked like the idiot I was beginning to turn in to when it came to this woman. “Are you seeing someone?”

“Well,” she hesitated, “no.”

“Are you a lesbian?”

Two things rushed through my head as soon as that asinine question came out. One, I was a fucking idiot. Two, please dear sweet Lord in heaven, don’t let that be the case. A woman like this batting for the other team would be a straight up crime against humanity…a blast to watch…but a crime nonetheless.

“
What
? No!”

“Then why won’t you go out with me?”

Shit
! Me and my fucking mouth! Where the hell was my damn nail gun when I needed it? I needed to go back to bed and start the morning over. Gone was the smooth, flirty Brett who could get whatever woman he wanted. In his place was a mega douche who was still sporting half chub even though the awkward vibes in the room were off the Richter scale.

It was the
FML
moment to beat all
FML
moments.

If a look could melt skin from bone, I had no doubt that the devil eyes Kenzie was shooting at me right then would have turned my flesh into a puddle of goo. As it was, that glare had my balls retreating up into my stomach for their own safety. The good news was that if the discomfort from seconds before wasn’t enough to cure the inconvenient case of twitchy dick I’d been suffering from, the look she was currently sporting sure as hell did the trick.

My hard-on deflated like a Thanksgiving Day Parade float that had taken a buck shot.

“Are you really arrogant enough to think that I’d have to be gay in order not to be interested in you?”

I opened my mouth to respond, but quickly clamped my jaw shut when I realized there was no response to that. I had nothing.

She stood from her chair and sidestepped her table. “I’m glad to know you have such a high opinion of yourself, but the truth is I’m just not interested. Even if I had been before, you just guaranteed that any previous attraction I
might
have felt is dead, buried, and encased in cement and rebar. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.”

With my tail firmly tucked between my legs, I walked over to where my men and Trevor were suddenly very hard at work. And if I had to guess, the assholes were trying their best not to laugh at the epic fail that just took place.

“Here ya go, buddy,” Trevor said, handing me an empty jar.

“What’s this for?”

“Figured you could give it to her to keep your nuts in, ‘cause I’m pretty sure she just ripped ‘em off and shoved them in her pocket. That was just pathetic, brother.”

“Fuck off and die,” I grumbled as I got to work, effectively ignoring the combination of pitying glances and laughs coming from my men, all the while thinking
what in the ever loving hell just happened.

Past

“I saw the way you were looking at that man,” Lance declared, coming to stand behind me at the stove as I prepared dinner.

“What?” I asked, looking over my shoulder in confusion. “What man?”

I recognized that face, everything from the ticking in his jaw to the ruddiness of his cheeks. Lance’s expression screamed fury and I immediately went on high alert as fear coursed through my veins.

I should have known.

I never should have allowed myself to fall into the comfortable pattern of the events, but I’d wanted so badly to believe he was changing, that he’d really and truly meant it the last time when he said he’d never do it again.

It had been such a wonderful day. When the alarm went off that morning, I’d shot up to turn it off and go about my morning the way I always did. I was to get up, make Lance breakfast, and then prepare the kids for the day while he ate. Once Cameron and Callie were dressed, I had to make his coffee in a travel mug to his exact specifications—always a splash of milk and one tablespoon of sugar. Any more or less would lead to consequences for not putting forth the effort to take care of my man as he took care of me and the kids by working long, hard hours every day so we could live in a nice house and have food on the table—his words. After coffee, I would take the kids and stand in a line by the front door to offer up our goodbyes to him as he headed off for work.

Every morning was the same thing. But that morning when I rolled over to silence the alarm, Lance reached out, wrapping one of his thick, well-defined arms around my waist and pulling me back into his body, startling a yelp from me at the unexpected movement.

“Leave it,” he whispered as he nuzzled his nose into the crook of my neck. I tried to tell myself that this was wanted attention from him, but the fact was, even though his actions seemed sweet, I still couldn’t will my body to loosen up enough to curve into him. I was just waiting for something to set him off, for something to spark that all too familiar anger in him.