Kiss Me (3 page)

“Bye,
Kaylie.  Feel free to take a nice long lunch.”

This time
Kaylie couldn’t hold back her growl and she heard Jake chuckle behind her.  For some reason, the damn man always found her temper to be funny, even when it was directed at him.

As they walked out the door onto the sidewalk,
Kaylie looked back over her shoulder.  “Don’t encourage her, Jake.  She’s a pain in my ass.”

He grinned down at her.  “As I recall, she says the same about you on a regular basis.”

Kaylie shrugged and absently thanked Jake as he opened the passenger door of his car for her.  That was one thing she hadn’t truly appreciated when they were together.  At eighteen, when they first started dating, Kaylie didn’t think men doing things like opening doors and putting a hand on the small of her back were all that great.  At twenty-two, after they broke up, she couldn’t stand for other men to do those little tasks for her.  It constantly reminded her of Jake.

Now, at twenty-eight, she realized that kind of courtesy was something most men lacked.  While she pre
ferred to be independent and would kick a man in the teeth for daring to tell her what to do, she still enjoyed being treated like a lady.  Kaylie knew a lot of feminists would roll their eyes at her thoughts, but it was beyond nice to know that a man would do the smallest of things to take care of the woman he was with.  It said a lot about his character.

When Jake climbed back into the car,
Kaylie turned to him.

“So, where are we going for lunch?” she asked.

He smirked at her.  “It’s a surprise.”

Kaylie
rolled her eyes.   “Whatever.”

A few minutes later they pulled up at one of her favorite Italian restaurants
, Guido’s.  The owner definitely wasn’t a Guido, he was a Rob, but his Italian wife, Sophia, made sure that the food he served was as close to authentic as it could get.  When Kaylie and Jake entered, Rob was manning the hostess desk.

“
Kaylie!  How are you?”  He came around the podium, arms spread.  When he noticed who she was with, he hesitated.  “Jake Coulter, it has been a long time.”

Kaylie
tried not to squirm as Rob eyed them speculatively.  Though she and Jake had been broken up by the time she moved back to Austin, it wouldn’t surprise her if Kevin had met Jake here for a meal from time to time.

“Is it just the two of you?” Rob asked. 

Jake nodded and placed his hand in the small of her back, guiding her after Rob.  He seated them and placed menus on the table.

“You’re waitress will be right with you,” Rob said with a smile.
 

Kaylie
could tell that he was itching to get back into the kitchen and tell Sophia that Kaylie Masters and Jake Coulter were having lunch together.  She also saw Rob’s eyes widen when Jake reached across the table to lace his fingers with hers.  She sighed as the owner of the restaurant practically scurried toward the kitchen doors and disappeared through them. 

She turned her head back to Jake.  “You do realize he’s in the kitchen gossiping with his wife, right?”

He just grinned at her, completely unconcerned.  “So?”

Kaylie
made a show of lifting her menu and pulling her hand away from Jake’s.  She pretended to be engrossed with the list of dishes, even though she knew what she would order as soon as she realized where they were going.  There were only a few dishes she ordered at Guido’s and they rotated depending on her mood.  Today she was feeling more than a little carnivorous, probably because she was irritated with Jake, so she decided on veal parmesan.

Elaina, a waitress who had been at Guido’s since it opened, came to their table.  She grinned at
Kaylie knowingly after she took their drink orders and sauntered off.  When Kaylie saw the huge grin on Jake’s face, she put her forehead on the table with a clunk.

“Why me?” she asked. 
“Why me?”  She punctuated each question with a bump of her head.

“
Kaylie,” Jake’s voice was sharp when he said her name.

She glanced up from under the fall of hair over her forehead.  “What?”

“Stop acting bratty and sit up.”

Kaylie
scowled at Jake and shot upright.  “Don’t tell me what to do, Jake Coulter.”

When Jake smirked at her, she realized she’d done
almost exactly what he said and she made a face at him.  Okay, so she was still bratty.  Elaina was smiling hugely at the pair of them when she returned with their sodas.  Kaylie frowned at her so fiercely that Elaina looked a little uncertain and Jake laughed out loud.  At Jake’s laughter, Elaina seemed to regain her poise.  She took their orders and, like the restaurant’s owner, disappeared into the kitchen.

Kaylie
narrowed her eyes on Jake.  “I think I’m starting to hate you.”

Jake snagged her hand again and laced his fingers with hers.  “You don’t hate me.”

She continued to scowl at him, trying to yank her hand away.  He only smirked at her again and tightened his grip.  Finally, she gave up. 

“Okay, fine, I don’t hate you, but I don’t particularly like you either.”

Jake’s smirk faded when she spoke.  He let her pull her hand away.  Kaylie saw the intensity of his eyes and what she thought was pain.  She refused to feel guilty.  The guy had broken her heart.  Sure, it was a long time ago, but Kaylie enjoyed holding grudges against assholes who broke her heart.  Of course there were only two; Jake and David Snider from seventh grade. 

Kaylie
leaned back in the booth and crossed her arms.  “Okay Jake, why am I here?”

He mimic
ked her posture.  “I don’t know Kaylie, why are you here?”

Refusing to take the bait,
Kaylie glared at him.  “Other than being kidnapped by an ex-boyfriend, no I don’t know why I’m here.  I’m hoping you could clarify that for me.”

Jake sighed and he uncrossed his arms.  “I wanted to talk about something you said last night.”

Kaylie just barely stopped herself from rolling her eyes.  Damn, he was worse than a woman.  He dumped her six years ago, she might forgive him on her deathbed.  What more was there to discuss?

“Did you really think we were going to spend the rest of our lives together?” he asked.

She froze, staring at him.  “Well, I see you still get right to the point.”  Now it was Kaylie’s turn to be uncomfortable.  She sighed.  Maybe after this stupid ass postmortem they could move on.  “Yes, I thought that.  I’m sure you think that is pathetic, but I was twenty-two and you were, well, you.”

Now, Jake scowled.  “What the hell does that mean?”

“It means that you treated me like a princess, you were hot, smart, and funny.  How was I not supposed to fall in love with you?”

Again, Jake had the same look he’d had the night before, both sad and fierce.

Kaylie leaned forward, putting her elbows on the table.  “Okay, Jake, since we’re conducting a postmortem here, I have a question for you.  Why did you dump me?”

He blinked a couple of times and she thought he wouldn’t answer.

“Forget it, I’m out of here,” she said as she started to stand.

Jake put out a hand.  “Wait, wait.  Please, just sit down.  Let me explain.”

Kaylie sat down, the expression on her face mutinous.

Jake pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger before he dropped his hand and looked at her.

“Kaylie, when I met you, you were wild.  You swore you would never settle down, never go for the daily grind, all the nine-to-five bullshit.  Before we got together, you dated half the football team, sometimes at the same time.  I honestly thought we would go out a few times, have some fun, and then you’d be onto the next.  When you told me that you loved me, I almost couldn’t believe it.  Then, when you graduated, I was ready to settle down, get married, start a life.  You were still half-wild and going on and on about travelling the world like a nomad, never getting stuck in the same kind of rut you saw other people get into.  So, I decided to it was best to walk away, rather than waiting for you to settle down, to choose me over your next adventure.”

He was going to continue speaking, but
Kaylie held up a hand and he stopped.  Throughout his little monologue, she had been staring at the table top, a blank expression on her face.  Now, she lowered her hand, lifting her eyes to meet Jake’s and she was beyond pissed.  Her jaw was clenched so tightly, she could barely speak as she stood up.

“You know what, Jacob
Coulter, I have decided that I do hate you. You are the most self-centered, cowardly, stupid excuse for a man I have ever met.  You
decided
it was best to walk away.  How about talking to me like a fucking adult, Jake?  If you had, you might have understood that I was talking about living a full life, with a home, a job, and still enjoying every day to its fullest.  I wanted it all.”  Her eyes moved over his upper body, a sneer on her lips.  “You were the one who wasn’t ready to settle down Jake, not me.  Otherwise, you wouldn’t have jumped to dumbass conclusions and you would have tried everything to make it work.”

After she delivered her last blow with deadly accuracy,
Kaylie Masters grabbed her bag and headed out the door of the restaurant, her temper swirling around her.  Jake had to grip his thighs hard enough to leave bruises to stop himself from jumping up and running after her.  He knew better though. She was beyond pissed.  It would take a few hours for her to calm down.  If he went after her now, it was likely she would do a lot worse than kick him in the shin.  She had a wicked right cross, courtesy of her older brother.

Jake looked up as Elaina plopped a steaming plate of pasta in front of him.  She just shook her head at him. 

“You sure have a way with the ladies, hon,” she said before she wandered back into the kitchen.  Jake figured Rob and his wife would hear all about the last five minutes from Elaina before he even took a bite of his food.  He picked up his fork and realized that his appetite was completely gone.  He dropped the utensil and carried his plate back to the kitchen.  He’d have Rob or Sophia wrap it up.  Maybe he’d feel more like eating after the ache in his chest went away.

“Absolutely not, you flea-ridden furball,”

Kaylie
stared down in frustration at Beans, her rescue cat.  The damn animal lowered his ears and growled at her.

“No more food, Beans.  The vet said you’re already ten pounds overweight.  You’re officially on a diet.  I want you to live into my old age with me since you are probably the only one who will want to be around.”

The tub of lard glared at her for a few more seconds before turning his back, tail high in the air, and prancing away.

Kaylie
went back to making her own dinner of grilled cheese and tomato soup.

“Great, now even the cat won’t want to have anything to do with me,” she muttered under her breath.

“Talking to yourself again?”

Kaylie
whirled around and screamed, the spatula she was using to flip the grilled cheese held out in front of her like a sword.  When she saw it was Jake, without another thought, she threw the thing at him like a blade.  The sneaky asshole ducked as the utensil whizzed by his head. 

“Jake, you bastard!
  How the hell did you get in here?”

He smirked at her.  “I’ve known you long enough to know how your mind works.  It wasn’t too hard to figure out where you keep your spare key.  Don’t you think a fake rock is a little obvious? 
Especially since you don’t have any other rocks in your flower beds.”

Kaylie
put her hands on her hips.  “Well, where would you keep your spare, Detective Coulter?”

Jake leaned against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest.  “Nowhere near the front door.  Or even the back. 
Probably somewhere to the side of the house and easy to conceal.”

Kaylie
rolled her eyes at his pat answer.  Of course the smart ass had an answer.  He usually had a response for everything. 

“Alright, you’re a police officer.  I’m sure you know breaking and entering is a crime.
”

Jake had the nerve to smile outright.  “I didn’t break anything.  I used a key.”

She snarled at him and looked around for something else to throw at his hard, smirking head.  She’d seen too much of that little smile today and she was tired of it.  When nothing presented itself, she gave a short scream.

Jake went from smiling to laughing.  “Calm down, Kay.”

Kaylie continued to glare at him, wishing she could shoot laser beams from her eyes and reduce him to dust.  With her teeth clenched, she asked, “Why are you here, Jake?  Don’t you think our conversation at lunch was painful enough or do you want to keep up with this analysis of our break up and see if you can twist the knife a little deeper?”

She wanted to feel triumph when Jake flinched, but all she felt was frustration and remorse. 
Kaylie knew she sounded bitter and angry over something that she should have long since gotten over but, with Jake’s stubborn refusal to let this go, it felt like it had happened yesterday.  The wound had been scarred over but now it felt raw and deeper than ever.