Kiss Me (2 page)

She had to smile.  When they were together, it had become almost like a contest.  If Jake made her mad, she would kick him in the shin.  After a while, he expected it, so she had to become creative in how she distracted him before she attacked.  Fortunately, he seemed to enjoy her feisty behavior, well, at least until he dumped her.

Kaylie’s
smile disappeared when she remembered that.  Still, he had a point.  Jake and Kevin had become friends in the four years that Jake and Kaylie dated.  They were still close.  As much as Kaylie would have liked to throw a huge hissy fit after she and Jake broke up, she knew her brother really liked Jake, so she pretended the break-up wasn’t a big deal and that it didn’t bother her if her brother remained friends with her ex.

“Fine, Jake.  I’ll put on a polite face.  We’ll make conversation and
I’ll try to curb my shin-kicking tendencies.”

He studied her intently.  “Are you happy,
Kaylie?” he asked.

Kaylie
blinked at him.  “What?”

His face was serious when he asked again, “Are you happy?”

Confused, Kaylie replied, “Yes.”

Jake tilted his head.  “You really mean that, don’t you?”

Beginning to get annoyed, Kaylie rolled her eyes.  “Yes, I do.  I like my life.  I like living in Austin and I like my job.  I love my friends.  Why are you worried about it, Jake?”

He leaned forward over his knees, presenting his back to her.  “I just never thought you would really settle down.  The years we were together, you talked about travelling the world and never getting stuck in a rut.  I never thought you’d be living back in Austin near your parents, much less tied down with a business.”

Kaylie’s brows drew together.  “I’ve travelled the world, Jake, and I don’t feel like I’m stuck in a rut.  Just because I didn’t want to have a boring life doesn’t mean that I don’t like having a home and a family.”

He grunted and stared at the floor between his feet.

“Seriously, Jake, what’s going on?  Why are you asking me about all this?”

Jake looked over his shoulder at her and
Kaylie froze.  There was something in his eyes that made her tummy flip over.  He looked sad and fierce at the same time.

“I
just realized something about you that I didn’t before.”

Kaylie
still couldn’t move as Jake twisted to face her and his hand came up to touch her face.  His fingers rested against her cheek and her eyes fluttered and shut.  He hadn’t touched her like this in years and Kaylie was surprised by how much it hurt her heart.

Her eyes flew open.  No way was he going to twist her up in knots again and walk away whistling.  Jake’s face was much closer to hers than it had been before.  His brown eyes
were intense.  Kaylie tried to pull away but his hand wrapped around her neck to hold her still.

“Jake, let me go,” she whispered.

His hand tightened.  “No.  Not again.”

Kaylie
frowned at him, wondering what in the hell he meant when he kissed her.  Just a light brush of his lips against her.  She sucked in a breath and his lips settled more firmly on her mouth.  Immediately, Kaylie was thrown back in time into the past.  Even when she was so pissed at Jake she could barely speak, all the man had to do was kiss her and she forgot all about it.  It seemed that time didn’t change everything because she completely lost her train of thought.

Her hands slid up his shoulder and neck
, into his hair and Kaylie shifted closer.  Jake’s hands grasped her waist, pulling her into his lap.  Kaylie plastered herself to his torso and tangled her tongue with his.  She loved kissing Jake.  His hands skimmed over her back, down her hips, to the hem of her dress.  She shivered as one of Jake’s hands slid under the fabric to rest on her inner thigh.  His touch was light and teasing.  She couldn’t stop the soft moan that came out of her throat. 

Suddenly a door slammed in the hallway outside her room and
Kaylie jolted.  Holy shit, she was kissing Jake Coulter, the man who had broken her heart into little pieces.  What the hell was wrong with her?  Swiftly, Kaylie pushed herself off of his lap and practically leaped away from him.  Her hands shook as she smoothed down her dress.  Jake watched her and she had the disturbing feeling that he knew exactly how off balance she was.

“I think that was a little friendlier than I’m prepared to be on a regular basis, Jake,” she quipped, desperate to hide the fact that her legs were barely holding her upright.

Completely undisturbed by her behavior, a slow smile spread across Jake’s face.  Even more freaked out, Kaylie straightened her spine.

“Good night, Jake.”

With that, Kaylie unlocked the bedroom door and threw it open.  She barely remembered what she said to Kevin, Blair, and her parents before she left the party, using the excuse of a headache.  The entire ride home, her hands trembled.  Mentally berating herself, Kaylie entered her little house and headed straight to the liquor cabinet.  She poured herself a healthy shot of tequila and tossed it back. 

Kaylie
coughed as the liquor burned its way down her throat.  By her feet, she heard an annoyed meow.

“Oh, can it, Beans.  I’ll feed you in a second.  Let me have my nervous breakdown, okay?”

The cat stuck his nose up in the air and stalked away, tail straight in his irritation.  Kaylie shook her head and went to feed her cat.  She also grabbed a soda to wash down the taste of the tequila.  While Beans ate, she changed into her pajamas and turned on the TV in her bedroom.  As she got ready for bed, Kaylie tried to calm her thoughts, but it was hard.  Kissing Jake tonight had been a huge mistake.

The bastard had practically ruined her for all other men.  Even when they first started dating, when he was twenty-two and she eighteen, he was a better kisser than anyone she’d ever dated.  After they broke up,
Kaylie hadn’t dated for over a year, but when she did, none were quite on the same level as Jake.  A few were close, but Kaylie knew it was because she didn’t love them, not like she had loved Jake.

Over the last six years, she had dated quite a bit.  She was a bit more selective about those she had sex with and a few of them had been wonderful men and very good in bed, but the spark eventually faded and they each went their own way.
  Obviously, the spark between her and Jake remained burning bright, even if he had never loved her.

Groaning in disgust,
Kaylie finished brushing her teeth and washing her face and went back into the bedroom.  She flopped down on the bed and tried to let her brain take in what was happening on the television, but her thoughts kept going back to Jake.  When Beans jumped on the bed, Kaylie didn’t even try to chase him off as she normally did.  Instead, she just cuddled him close, enjoying his warm, heavy weight and his deep purr.  When she felt tears gathering in her eyes, she fiercely blinked them away.  She refused to cry over Jake Coulter ever again.  So she spent the next couple of hours staring blankly at reruns on the television, trying to avoid her own racing thoughts.  Finally, lulled into relaxation by the alcohol she’d consumed at the party and the company of her pet, Kaylie let herself drift off to sleep.

The next morning, Kaylie managed to drag her body out of bed.  Her hangover wasn’t horrible, considering how much she drank the night before.  Beans just opened one eye and stared at her like she was nuts before he went back to sleep.  Kaylie just shook her head and stumbled to the kitchen to get coffee.

She took her time showering and getting dressed.  She and Blair weren’t opening up the store until later in the morning.  Well,
Kaylie figured she would be the only one opening up the store that morning, since Blair was likely still
celebrating
her engagement.  At nine-thirty, she blew a kiss to Beans and headed out the door to work.

An hour later, The Library
was open and full of customers.  When Blair walked in the back door a little before ten, Kaylie was shocked.  She figured her big brother would have kept her friend in bed for most of the day, but he had also flown in on a red eye, proposed, probably ravished her friend at least twice, and stayed awake through the impromptu engagement party.  When Kaylie ribbed her about it, Blair just blushed and changed the subject.

At eleven, the front door of the shop opened to reveal a huge bouquet of flowers with legs.  The arrangement was gorgeous, a beautiful blend of traditional roses, exotic orchids
, even some flowers that Kaylie had never seen before.  Damn, but her brother had good taste, she thought. 

The delivery guy approached her.  “Hi, are you
Kaylie Masters?”

Speechless, she nodded.  He grinned and presented her with the amazingly heavy vase.

“Delivery for you.”

“Thanks,” she
said, her voice breathy.

Kaylie
carried the bouquet to the check-out counter and set the vase down.  She had a bad feeling as to who sent the flowers.  After she fished the card out of the mass of petals, her suspicions were proven correct.

Lunch at noon.
  Jake.

Kaylie
felt her heart start hammering and she bit her lip to stop the swear words that wanted to spill out of her mouth.  What the hell was he playing at?  After years apart, he kissed her and followed it up with a romantic gesture and a freaking date.

Blair peered over her shoulder.  “Jake? 
As in Jake Coulter, also known as the Antichrist?”

Kaylie
sighed heavily.  “Yes.”

“Why exactly is he sending you flowers?”

She threw the card down on the counter.  “I don’t know.”

When
Kaylie turned around, Blair was standing behind her with her arms crossed over her chest and a skeptical expression on her face.

“Tell me the truth,
Kaylie Jolene Masters.”

Scowling at her friend’s use of her full name,
Kaylie mimicked Blair’s stance.

“That is the truth, Blair.”

Blair just stared at her and started tapping her toe.

After a few minutes of their intense staring contest,
Kaylie couldn’t maintain the eye contact and she looked away.

“Okay, so he and I had a chat last night.  Apparently, he thinks we can just pick up where we left off six years ago.”

Blair cocked her head to the side and slowly grinned.  “Really?”

Kaylie
scowled at her.  “Yes, really, and you can wipe that stupid smile off your face.  It doesn’t mean anything, because he’s dead wrong.”

Her friend’s smile didn’t fade.  “So what’s this about lunch today?”

“Just because he said he wants to have lunch at noon doesn’t mean I’ll be here,” Kaylie muttered.

Blair started laughing.  “Have you forgotten what Jake does for a living?”

Kaylie stared at her for a moment.  Jake had followed her brother, Kevin, into the military, though he had gotten out after a few years.  Now he was a detective with the Austin PD.

“Well, shit,” she said.

Her partner was laughing so hard, she was hugging her sides with her arms.  Somehow she was able to speak.  “Please, go ahead and leave.  It’ll be fun to see what happens when he tracks you down.”

Kaylie
was tempted to walk over to her friend and kick her in the shin, but she knew Kevin would be mad at her if she did.  Dammit, but her friend was irritating.  She was also right.  If Kaylie left The Library, Jake Coulter would use every resource at his disposal to track her ass down and it wouldn’t be pretty when he found her. 

“Dammit.”

Kaylie stomped toward the back room, to the safety of her office, and ignored Blair’s laughter as it followed her.  Still miffed, she slammed her office door behind her.  Kaylie went to her desk and flopped into her chair.  She wasn’t sure what in the hell she was going to do about Jake.  Once that man got an idea in his head, it took a crowbar to pry it loose.

Kaylie
grabbed her sketch pad and tried to focus on work.  She had two formal dresses to design in the next few weeks and she had barely started.  Soon she was immersed in her sketches and thoughts of how certain fabric would drape and what color would suit her clients.  When her door opened, she jumped.

Jake Coulter’s broad shoulders and dark head filled her doorway.  “Are you ready to go to lunch?”

Kaylie glanced at her watch and realized it was almost ten after noon.  “I guess.”

She threw down her pencil and flexed her fingers.  She kept her eyes on Jake as she stood and stretched her back. 
Kaylie grabbed her phone and her purse before she headed toward the door. 

“Let’s go,” she said.

Jake stepped back to let her by.  “You look pretty today,” he said.

Kaylie
managed to bite back her growl.  Here he stood, acting as though they really were going on a date.  Well, if he could pretend everything was hunky dory, so could she.

“Thanks.  Also, thank you for the flowers.  They are beautiful.”

As they headed out the front of the shop, Kaylie saw Blair and a couple of female customers staring at her and Jake.  Blair was wearing a huge grin and the other two women were looking at Jake like he was a Belgian waffle and they were coming off a low carb diet.  Kaylie made a face at Blair as she passed and heard the traitor laugh.