Everything You've Got: Anything & Everything, Book 2 (27 page)

She pressed close.

She was going to make love to a man as herself—completely naked, with no makeup, no armor—for the first time ever.

Her towel dropped to the floor, Luke’s towel ended up in the driver’s seat and they left wet footprints all the way to the bedroom.

Luke woke up alone in the morning.

He didn’t like that. He’d realized yesterday she’d awakened before he did on purpose, to avoid his seeing her without her hair and makeup done.

But after last night he’d hoped that was over.

Well, he was going to have to find her and reiterate how this was going to go.

She was his. All of her. And he wanted to know everything. Every good deed, every quirk, every mistake.

The bathroom still smelled of her soap and her towel was wet, indicating she’d been there not long ago, but the small counter was devoid of makeup and hair products.

He showered quickly, determined to find her and figure out how to handle the forced leave of absence and, maybe worse, the town gossip. He knew Justice, loved it, and had spent his life there. But while it was the perfect place for him to live and work, it was not full of perfect people.

Besides, Tom Martin’s stroke was a big deal.

There would be long-standing effects on Tom’s health and function, and there would be long-standing effects on Kat’s reputation.

He didn’t really believe that anyone expected her to be flawless but… Well, okay, they expected her to be flawless in doing whatever she could as a physician. She could pick out the wrong color paint for the concession stand at the baseball field or order too many plastic spoons for the chili feed, but in her role as physician it was different.

Kat was a hometown girl. Everyone liked her. But she wasn’t cutting their hair or selling them tires—things that could be redone or corrected if they were wrong. She was taking care of their health and, maybe more importantly, the health of their families and friends.

They would, understandably, be less forgiving in those instances.

He sighed. He loved her, he knew she felt terrible, he knew she’d do whatever she could now to make it better. But she’d missed something and that was going to be hard for people to get over.

But he could help.

That was a perk of his position in town for sure. It wasn’t arrogant to say that everyone loved him, trusted him, looked to him. It just was. He could help smooth this over for her.

He emerged from the RV, dressed for the day and determined to find a way to fix this thing.

“Luke, join us for pancakes!”

He turned to find their RV neighbors seated at the picnic tables, pancakes—amazingly—cooking on the grills.

“Grilled pancakes?” He chuckled. They smelled pretty damned good.

“Coffee?”

He turned toward the familiar voice with a big smile—that quickly changed to an amazed “o”.

Kat stood behind him, dressed in a simple sundress—importantly, a
pink
sundress—with her hair curling naturally around her face without a single unnatural color streak. She also had no makeup on. Her big, brown, naked eyes looked back at him with a combination of curiosity, amusement—for the stupid look he was sure was on his face—and nervousness.

He was vaguely aware that everyone around them was completely quiet as he slowly turned completely toward her.

“Where’d you get that dress?” There was no way that was hers.

“Borrowed it from Lisa.”

“Sandy’s niece?”

Kat nodded.

He just stared, though he knew he looked like an idiot.

“I wanted you to see what you’re really getting,” she said softly.

His heart turned over and as of that moment was completely hers. He stepped close, until he was nearly on her toes, and said, “I’ll take it.”

“For sure?”

“No doubt in my mind.” He lifted a hand to her face. “God, Kat, you’re…” He wasn’t sure what he meant to fill in there.

“Plain? Boring?” she asked.

There was something in her eyes that made him take the coffee cup from her, give it to the closest person—he didn’t even look to see who it was—and then take her hand and pull her away from the group.

He didn’t stop until they were at the gazebo where the band had played the night before. “What are you talking about?’ he finally asked.

“People have ideas about what I’m like based on how I look. But I’m not tough and outgoing and sexy when all of the makeup and stuff comes off. I’m pretty plain and boring.”

He frowned. She couldn’t really believe that. “Seriously?”

“Seriously. I prefer to hang out in my pjs—my loose, baggy pjs—at home watching TV at night and I would rather read a book by myself than do it with a book club and I hate getting up in front of groups of people and I…” She took a deep breath. “I do actually care what other people think about me.”

He cupped her cheek and looked into her eyes and the realization hit him—when he looked at her he didn’t see the color—or lack thereof—of her hair or her eyelids or her clothes. He just saw
her.
And she was the same person with or without the makeup.

“Who you are doesn’t come from how you dress, Kat. You feel differently in those clothes because you’ve told yourself that you’re different. But the mind and heart you have—that made you stick up for all those girls who were being picked on and that made you want to help at a nursing home where you don’t know anyone just because it’s the right thing to do—those are the same no matter what you’re wearing.”

She frowned at that. “I’m not intimidating dressed like this.”

He smiled and drew her closer. “I’m going to tell you something, Kat. It’s not your clothes that intimidate people; it’s your attitude. And you’ve got plenty of that no matter what you’re wearing. I’m pretty sure that even if you’re dressed in sweatpants and a T-shirt without makeup you won’t hesitate to tell me—or anyone else—to go to hell if needed.”

She rolled her eyes. “Maybe with you.”

He liked the idea that she might be more comfortable with him than most people, but he knew she’d do what she needed to do whether she had tough-girl hair or not.

“Listen, I get that when you were thirteen you felt more kick-ass when you looked more kick-ass, so you
acted
more kick-ass. But now you’re an adult. First off, why do you have to be intimidating? You’ve more than proven yourself. And second, you know that what you’ve got underneath—your brains, your heart, your
attitude
—matters more than what’s on the surface.”

She looked up at him, a tiny frown line between her eyebrows. “Because it’s easier,” she finally said softly.

“What’s easier?”

“The status quo. Doing things the way I’ve always done them.”

“Sure.” He shrugged. “That’s always easier. But that doesn’t mean doing things differently will be bad. For instance, I love the way you look right now. Strangely, this is as much you as the black boots and piercings.”

The frown line deepened. “I’m not sure you know what you’re talking about. You can’t even use a new color of paint at The Camelot.”

Yeah, well… “I can change too. I would have never kidnapped a woman before this, and look how great that’s turned out. Maybe I’ll paint the lobby of The Camelot red. I might even get new centerpieces.”

She gave him the fake gasp he was expecting. “I wouldn’t want you to go too crazy all at once.”

He chuckled and hugged her. “I think this is just the beginning of all the crazy we’re going to have together.”

She hugged him back, but didn’t say anything.

They stayed that way for a long moment. Then she pulled back and looked up at him. “I think I need to go back to Justice.”

He frowned. He knew she was feeling guilty but…hell, he really wanted to avoid her being hurt. Which he was really, really afraid was going to happen. “You sure? You don’t want to let things settle first?”

She shook her head. “I’ve thought about it a lot and I’m not sure it will settle until I go back, face it and have a chance to be involved in what’s happening. I feel helpless here just waiting to hear what other people decide.”

Every protective instinct he had was riled up. He’d felt this before—the need to shelter and defend—but never this strongly. Lord knew he’d gone to bat for Sabrina a few thousand times, but this was different. This felt as though, if Kat was hurt,
he’d
be wounded and in pain right along with her.

He wanted her to smile, flirt, laugh and know she was wonderful. “Let me take you to Nashville. Everybody here is doing well, let’s go on with our trip and we’ll check back here on our way home.” In fact, part of him wanted to never take her back to Justice. He wanted to wrap her up and keep her safe from anyone who might possibly upset her.

She took a deep breath and shook her head. “I have to go back, Luke. Staying here, avoiding it, letting Brickham and the rest handle it is…the easy way out.”

Ah, hell.

“Nobody’s going to blame you for going on vacation.”

She gave a little smile. “But they’re going to blame me for other things. I have to go back.”

Okay, he was going to have to make this better for her in Justice. It would be—okay,
easier
—to protect her feelings in Nashville, but they would have to go back to Justice eventually.

“When do you want to leave?”

“Right away. But I can rent a car in O’Neill and drive back. You keep going. Sabrina still needs the RV in Nashville.”

“No way. I’m going with you.”

She paused and tipped her head, watching him. “What about Sabrina?”

“Sabrina will just have to figure something else out. That’s not my problem.”

And he meant it. For maybe the first time in his life. Sabrina wasn’t his problem.

But Kat was.

The trip back to Justice was strange. It went far too fast and it seemed like they’d been gone for weeks.

That probably had something to do with the fact her whole life had changed in those few days.

Her career had changed. She wasn’t sure what, exactly, she was going back to but she knew it would be different.

And her love life… Well,
everything
had changed because of Luke. She’d left Justice with a crush and come back with a true love. And a future. With Luke anyway. She wasn’t so sure about the medical group.

Luke pulled into The Camelot’s parking lot so Kat could retrieve her car.

He looked at the front of the building and sighed, then gave her a little smile. “I wasn’t supposed to be back to work for several more days.”

She smiled and shook her head. “But you’ve missed it already, I bet.”

He looked back to his restaurant, his dream. “Surprisingly, not as much as I would have guessed.”

Kat took that as a compliment. It meant a lot to be able to distract Luke from his work. She turned and looked into the back of the RV. The RV she hadn’t wanted any part of in the beginning. The RV she’d been forced into. The RV that now held some of the best memories of her life.

“Feels weird that this thing actually belongs to someone else,” she commented. “It feels weird to give it back.”

Luke was watching her intently when she swung her attention to him.

“What?” she asked.

“You,” he said simply.

She frowned and smiled at the same time. “What about me?”

“It feels amazing that you actually belong to me now.”

Her heart stuttered and she had to pull in a quick breath.

“You haven’t been
mine
here in Justice, at The Camelot, in our real world until now.” He took a deep breath, then let it out with a satisfied sigh. “I love it.”

She did too. The whole concept of being Luke’s—and vice versa—made her toes curl.

“I so want to take you in back and rock this thing one more time,” she said.

Heat flared between them. “Don’t let me stop you, darlin’,” Luke said.

Kat sighed. “I have to go to Alliance. I have to talk to Brickham before he leaves for the day.”

Luke shifted in his seat. “Yeah, that idea works as good as a cold shower.”

“I know.” She didn’t want to go. But she wanted to get it over with. If she was going to get yelled at, sued, fired, whatever, she had to know today. She wouldn’t be able to sleep until it was decided.

“I’ll go with you.” Luke opened his door and jumped to the ground.

She wanted him to. She couldn’t deny it. And yet she didn’t. This was going to be the low point of her career and she really didn’t want Luke to witness that.

“You stay here,” she told him as she got out and met him by her car. “I don’t know how long it will take or what will happen. I’ll call you when I get back.”

“Just come over.” His hands went to her hips and he pulled her close.

“You’ll be here?” Coming to The Camelot—and its bar—after meeting with Brickham seemed like a great idea. She wound her arms around his neck.