Everything You've Got: Anything & Everything, Book 2 (14 page)

“Ridiculous?” That was not the word he would use at all.

“We’ve spent one night together, you haven’t put out yet, we haven’t even been on an actual date, and you
proposed
to my
best friend
three months ago. I’m not sure we should be naming our kids just yet.”

Of course he’d never jump ahead like that with any other woman, but this was Kat. “I don’t need all of that to know that we’ll work. And neither do you.” As he said it he recognized the truth. He expected their history to not just help him recognize her as the one he wanted, but vice versa.

She turned to face him, just watching him for a moment. “You know, you have a point,” she finally said

“Yeah? Well, that’s good. Isn’t it?”

She chuckled. “Yeah. Even though you’re talking to me about how practical it is for us to be together, how it’s not crazy and emotional, the truth is—this
is
kind of crazy.”

Ah, the conversation from the diner. “Kat, I didn’t mean that I don’t feel anything. It’s just—”

“I watched you with Sabrina for years,” she went on over the top of him. “I saw you do all kinds of things that made no sense, put up with stuff no one else would, do crazy stuff that you wouldn’t do for anyone else.” She took a breath and then said softly, “And I wanted that.”

Luke swallowed hard and looked at her, not sure what to say.

“And now you’re talking crazy, doing crazy things—like blindfolding me, kidnapping me, talking about babies already.”

“It doesn’t feel crazy,” was all he could think to say. He glanced at her again and found her watching him contemplatively. “What?” he asked.

“I’m just… It just occurred to me that you would never have done that with Sabrina.”

“I already admitted that I wasn’t rational about her.” He could concede he’d made mistakes with Sabrina. But he didn’t want to talk about her. As far as he was concerned it was settled and he was moving on. With Kat.

“But you would have never pushed her, you
never
would have kidnapped her,” Kat said, almost as if she was figuring it out as she spoke. “You always treated her carefully. You never really fought. If she got upset you backed off.”

He shifted in his seat. Sabrina had always been on the verge of flight and he’d known that pushing would never work.

“But you push me,” Kat said.

He frowned and looked over at her. “Well, I—”

“And you’ll fight with me.”

“Only if—”

“And you’re not afraid of me.”

He started to reply but she sounded…pleased. When he looked over she was smiling at him.

“Of course I’m not afraid of you. I—”

“That’s a good thing.”

“It is?”

“Definitely. You’re different with me than with other women, especially Sabrina. But you
are
acting crazy with me.”

He really wasn’t sure how to respond so he decided to be honest. “Okay, maybe it’s a little crazy to talk about kids already.” But it still made his chest feel warm to think about kids with her. Which was, okay, crazy.

She laughed softly. “Thanks.”

“Can we talk about pets?”

She shook her head. “Not yet.”

“I’m guessing weddings is a no too then?” He was enjoying this.

“Weddings come between pets and babies.”

He laughed. “Got it. Sex?”

“Maybe.”

He grinned. That was something. “We could talk about other people having sex if you’d rather,” he said. “I heard that Susan and Tyler are dating.”

“We’re not talking about other people having sex.” But she was smiling as she said it.

“How about sexual positions in general? I also saw a TV show about that. Do you know the five sexual positions women like most? I wasn’t surprised by number one or two, on top and missionary, by the way. But standing and all fours were on the list and that
was
a pleasant surprise.”

“You watch too much TV” was her only response.

He smiled, slowing down behind the farmer in the pickup in front of them. The man was driving fifty miles an hour, which would have normally irritated Luke, but on this trip he had no problem slowing down.

“Okay, tell me your favorite memory about your dad growing up,” he said.

“My dad?” The change in subject clearly threw her.

“I’ll tell you mine.” He didn’t smile but he had her exactly where he wanted her as long as they had to stay clothed—beside him, talking, getting comfortable. “When I was a kid my dad traveled all the time.”

David Hamilton had quickly moved up the ranks of the printing company he worked for and had ended up as a senior vice president, a position that required travel forty weeks of the year.

“What I liked best was that when he traveled he always took a book with him, a classic. Then when he’d call at night, after he talked to my mom, he’d read me a chapter. I read
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
,
Catcher in the Rye
and
To Kill a Mockingbird
that way. Those are still my favorite books.” He looked over at her. “How about you?”

“My favorite book? Wow, I don’t think I could pick just one.”

“What about a memory with your dad? Or mom?”

She looked suspicious when he glanced over. “You really want to talk about childhood memories?”

“Sure.”

“Why?”

“I want to know everything.”

She hesitated a moment before asking, “Because you think it will lead to talking about pets?”

It appeared that
talking about pets
had become code for
talking about more serious things.
He shrugged. “I hope it leads to something like that. But the truth is, I want to get closer to you. I want to be the closest person in your life. I want to know you, everything about you.”

She didn’t respond for a long time. When he glanced over, she was watching him.

“What’s wrong?”

“You sure you want to know everything?” she asked.

“Definitely.”

“Even the bad stuff?”

He frowned, not sure what she meant by that. But he nodded. “Everything.”

She took a deep breath, then started. “When I was a kid I hated pizza—well, anything with tomato sauce. So when our family would go out to eat and it was pizza or pasta or something, my dad would let me buy a burger and fries at McDonald’s and sneak it in.”

Luke grinned. “We are going to talk about our childhoods then.”

“You can ask me three questions about anything. Then we talk about weather.”

“Three? That’s not nearly enough.”

“It’s supposed to be sunny and in the upper sixties while we’re in Nashville.”

He chuckled. “Okay. Three.” He thought about it, wanting to make the questions important. Not that he really thought in the next thousand miles he wouldn’t have a chance to find anything else out, but he wanted her to know this mattered to him.

It wasn’t like he knew nothing about her. He knew her family. Her dad was an insurance agent, her mom worked at the school and her sister, Isabelle, was a year older than Kat.

But there were plenty of things that he didn’t know that he wanted to.

“Okay, what is the first Christmas memory you have?”

She looked surprised.

“You were expecting a question about sex toys or something, right?” he asked.

“Actually, yes.”

“Did you have an answer ready?”

“Vibrating eggs.”

He glanced at her quickly, heat unexpectedly shooting through him. “What was the question, exactly?”

“Nope, that’s your part,” she said, with a sly grin. “I remember going to visit my grandparents and everyone piling in the car to drive around and look at all the Christmas lights in town.”

“No, no, we’re not dropping the sex toy topic. I want a redo on question one.”

“No redos. Especially since I already answered the Christmas question.”

“But—” he protested.

“I also remember the first time I visited my grandmother after I dyed my hair and got my piercings.”

That distracted him enough that he forgot—temporarily—about the vibrating eggs. He was pretty sure he knew what those were but he was going to be sure to Google it as soon he had a chance. “You didn’t change that stuff before you went to see her?”

“Nope. I decided that I had to be fully committed to it, with everyone.”

“What did she say?”

“That I pulled it off.” She looked very pleased with herself.

This is more the Kat that he knew. She was getting more comfortable. This was good.

“Okay, question two. Which celebrity would you most like to meet?”

“I thought we were staying away from sexual topics.”

“That’s a sexual topic?”

She gave him a wicked little grin. “Definitely.”

He did not want to know who she was fantasizing about. But he wouldn’t mind a peek at a few of the activities that entered those fantasies.

“What do you hate most in the world?” he asked for question three.

“Shaving my legs.”

His eyes dropped to the bare leg closest to him. “Really?”

“I have really sensitive skin. Every time is a battle with razor rash.”

“I’m glad you make the sacrifice.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Not sure what it has to do with you.”

“I can explain. In detail.”

“Nope. Forget it. My favorite subject in school was science, my favorite band of all time is Bon Jovi, my favorite color is pink, my—”

“Pink?” he interrupted. He remembered the pale pink bra from the night before. Vividly. Along with the dark pink of her nipples. He shifted in his seat as he grew less comfortable in his jeans.

“Yeah. Pink.” Her tone was definitely wanna-make-something-of-it?

“Not black? You wear black all the time.”

“You don’t know that I don’t wear pink all the time. Too.”

“But I would have noticed—” His eyes dropped to her breasts. The bra. And panties. “Oh. Really?”

She shrugged. “As far as you know. My favorite food is—”

“Let’s go back to the pink under black. I’m intrigued.”

“Intrigued is not a synonym for horny,” she told him.

He grinned. “Do your bra and panties always match or do you sometimes have one that’s pink and the other something else?” He’d only seen her panties briefly but they’d definitely been pink.

“My favorite movie of all time is
It’s a Wonderful Life,
my favorite family vacation ever was to Washington, D.C., my favorite holiday is the Fourth of July.”

“Are the bras all pink, all the time, or do they sometimes just have a little pink on them, like stripes or something?”

“I’m scary good at Mario Kart, I actually love doing the Macarena, I can make a pot roast better than my mother’s, and I can play ‘Für Elise’ on the piano by heart.”

“And are we talking all shades of pink or just that pale pink or what? Any hot pink? You could pull
that
off for sure.”

“I like Diet Pepsi but not Diet Coke, I like iced tea but not hot and I believe that iced tea should always be sweet.”

Now she was definitely fighting a smile, and mostly losing.

“Fine, but now I’m just going to be imagining your underwear even more.”

“Even more?” she asked. “More than what?”

“More than I do now.”

“You imagine my underwear now?”

“Definitely. You’re partial to thongs by the way.”

“Um, no, actually I’m not.”

“In my imagination you are. Of course I’m willing to alter those images, but you have to give me something to work with.”

She raised that one eyebrow and waited until he looked over. “Good try.”

He chuckled. “Guess I’m stuck with the mental picture of you in a pink see-through thong.”

She shook her head and, though he glanced quickly, he could have sworn she was blushing.

“I’d rather go without than wear a thong,” she muttered, smoothing her skirt down as she faced forward and put both feet on the floor.

“Done.”

“Done?”

“My mental image was just altered to you wearing no underwear.”

“Stop it.”

“Stop what?”

“Thinking about me in my underwear. Or without my underwear.”

“Can’t do it. It’s like a great commercial jingle that gets stuck in your head. No matter what you do it won’t leave you alone.”

“Then I get to ask you three questions. That’ll distract you.”

“I’m just realizing that without any underwear, you’ll have fewer options for wearing pink…” He purposefully trailed off, waited two heartbeats, then said, “Nope, never mind. There’s some pink after all.”

“What are you—”

He knew the exact moment she realized what he was talking about. He looked over. She was staring at him, her mouth partway open, eyes wide.