Secrets of a Summer Night (Stone Gap Mountain) (3 page)

Yesterday when he’d shown her the rental house, he’d come too damn close to making a fool of himself. But when she’d lifted her face as though she was ready to be kissed, he’d almost given in to the temptation.

What was he thinking?
 

The drive back to her Jeep was made in total silence, broken only by the radio blaring out the latest hits and the motor thrumming as he sped down the highway.
 

He’d spent the evening staring at the wall, wishing he were younger. That Laney was older. That Frank Wyatt wasn’t a friend who’d kick his ass for lusting after the man’s daughter.
 

But it wasn’t only lust. He’d known Laney too many years for that. He’d watched as she’d held her family together in the aftermath of her mother’s death and her sister’s injury. Laney had dreamed of becoming a doctor, but after the accident, she had chosen a different path that would keep her close to home. What wasn’t to admire about that?

She was smart, beautiful. Giving. Sexy but seemingly unaware of the real effect she had on the men around her. Before she’d hired on full-time at the firehouse, he’d found himself going to the bar too many evenings to count, just so he could sit and watch her while she waited on customers.
 

He’d meant what he’d said about missing her, even though he hadn’t meant to say it.
 

“So, folks, crank up the AC, drink lots of fluids, and stay inside. It’s going to be another scorcher tomorrow,” the weatherman said.

Rand grabbed the remote and turned off the television, fighting with the devil on his shoulder urging him to go see Laney, check on her, and the angel warning him about the jump from the pot to the fire.
 

It was hot. Going to get hotter. Given all she had been through, shouldn’t he make sure she was settling in okay? Frank had his hands full. Emma was taken care of. Who was taking care of Laney? Watching over her?

Swearing under his breath, he got to his feet and grabbed his keys.
 

A man never died from just looking…

“Laney, open up. It’s me, Rand.”

Laney held the damp towel to her chest and cringed. She had hoped a cool shower would give her some relief from the heat, but the coolness had ended the moment she’d turned off the spray. The last thing she wanted to do was put on clothes again, but she couldn’t meet Rand at the door in her birthday suit. “Be right there!” she said as she rushed into the bigger of the two bedrooms and grabbed a clean T-shirt from the stack her Aunt Rose had given her from the church’s disaster donation box.
 

She yanked it on over her head and hoped Rand didn’t notice her nipples because she flat-out refused to wear a bra when it was miserably hot outside and eighty-four inside. A pair of jog shorts was next, sans underwear. When in Rome...

“What are you doing here?” Laney asked. She unlocked and opened the screen door to her unfurnished home. Rand stood on the other side, his arms full of a window-unit air conditioner. “And why are you carrying that with your shoulder? You’ll pull it out of place!”

“It’s fine. Didn’t help that you wouldn’t answer the door though,” he chided, a smile in his voice. “Want to let me in and give my shoulder a break?”

She backed up instantly and let him enter the stifling little house. Every window was open, and she’d borrowed a box fan from the firehouse, but all it blew was hot air. “You’re installing an air conditioner? Where did you get it? I called all over town looking for one.”

“It’s used but still in good shape. Took it from one of my properties when I had central air put in.”

Rand looked around, side-stepping the blow-up camping mattress she’d placed on the floor. The living room had two windows versus the single in the bedroom. Rand chose the one farthest from the door for the unit.
 

“This will only take a few minutes.”

Since she couldn’t exactly stand there and gawk— er, watch him work— she went to the refrigerator and pulled out a pitcher of sweet tea.
 

After obtaining the keys from Rand yesterday, she had gone on a mini shopping spree, finding pots and pans at the Goodwill along with some glasses and plates and other odds and ends, enough to get her started while she set up housekeeping and replaced things lost in the fire.

Laney heard the metal scrape of the window unit being put into place, only then remembering Rand could use some help with the lifting and positioning. She set the pitcher aside and ran to help. “Got it. I’ll hold it while you secure it.”

He looked like he wanted to protest, but surprisingly he didn’t. More of an indication his shoulder did in fact hurt.
 

She focused on holding the box unit still while Rand made the necessary adjustments and fastened it in. By the time he was finished, sweat pooled between her breasts, and she needed another shower.
 

“All we have to do is plug it in and— air.”

The blast of air coming out of the unit was lukewarm at best, but it was cooler than that inside the house. Second by second, it cooled even more, and before long, Laney was selfishly hogging the cold air coming out of the miniature vents.
 

“Better?”

She sighed deeply. “You have
no
idea.”

Rand’s husky chuckle sounded in response, very close to her ear.
 

“Glad I could help. Can’t have you passing out from heat exhaustion.”

Eyes closed in total abandonment, she murmured, “Tea.”

“What was that?”

She turned to face him, the air blowing under her hair and cooling her neck. Oh, such bliss. “I have sweet tea. It’s decaf, so it won’t keep you up. I’ll get you some.”

“That’d be nice. Thanks.”

Realizing she hadn’t moved even though he’d agreed to the drink, she put her feet in motion and turned her spot in front of the AC over to him. The pitcher had sweated a puddle of moisture on the counter, and she swiped it up and poured the tea, taking her time in order to steady her nerves.
 

Halfway across the living room floor toward the cooler air, Rand’s gaze dropped to her chest, and she remembered the bra ban. If she’d had any doubts as to the almost-kiss yesterday, well, they disappeared. There was no mistaking the sensual gleam in his gaze. “Um, here you go.”
 

Like something from a novel, their fingers brushed in the exchange of the glass. Electricity zapped up her arm, and she watched as Rand took a drink, his blue gaze never leaving hers.
 

She licked her lower lip and almost smiled in triumph when his eyes darkened even more, to a smoky hue that let her know she was right on the mark in thinking he felt something for her too.
 

Interesting.
 

“Thanks. This tastes great.”

Laney stepped directly in front of him on the pretense of seeking out the sweet spot of air, blocking his path before he could cross the room toward the door.
 

She wasn’t exactly sure of what she was doing only that something was propelling her on. Driving her.
 

Curiosity? Interest?
 

Whatever.
 

It didn’t matter. She had put everyone else first for too many years, and this time—now—she was going to do something for herself. “What if it stops working? It looks old. It may be too much for the little thing.”

“I think it’ll be fine,” he said in his deep, sexy drawl.

The gravelly note in his voice sent a shiver through her. He could read the phone book in that voice, and she’d be enthralled. “Are you hungry?”

Once again, his gaze lowered to her chest and swept over her body before making it back to her face. “I should probably go.”

“No need to do that.” Remembering a move she saw in a movie, she lifted her glass and pressed it against her cheek, slowly sliding it down her neck. The moisture formed a trickle that ran down her collarbone and into her cleavage.
 

Rand’s gaze followed, his Adam’s apple moving up and down as he swallowed. Maybe she was taking unfair advantage of his testosterone-laden body, but every dream and fantasy and thought she’d ever had about him was flashing through her head, and she couldn’t rein herself in now.

Just once. If she didn’t follow through with this
just once,
she would regret it the rest of her life, always wonder what it would have been like. What might have happened between them if she’d only been brave enough to take matters into her own hands and make a move. “I’m used to the station house and having my family for company, remember? Stay a while. I have some cold chicken salad in the fridge.”

“Laney—”

“Or we could skip the food and... “ She let her words trail off and knew the moment he caught onto her meaning.
 

Rand’s hands fisted at his sides, and his nostrils flared as he sucked in a breath.

“Your father—”

“Isn’t here. And I’m a big girl, well over jail bait age.”

He closed his eyes and dragged in a ragged breath. “I’m too old for you, darlin’.”

“I think you’d do fine,” she said, basically repeating his words about the older AC unit back to him. “Age is just a number.”

“My number is fifteen years higher than yours.”

Her heart raced in her chest, every thud coinciding with the voice in her head demanding to know what on earth she was doing, thinking. Saying.

All she knew for sure was that she wanted this. Whatever it was, however long it lasted. Rand Mitchell was a gift she was giving to herself for the last fourteen years of service to her family, for giving up her dreams of med school and the big city.
 

Laney set her drink on top of the window AC and slid her hands over her tee, gripping the edges and pulling it up over her head. Rand groaned.

Standing there in front of him and holding his gaze, she inched her loose shorts down. Slowly, slowly, until they pooled at her feet.

“Laney, what—”

“I think you know the answer to that question.”

Rand placed his drink beside hers, and without a word, he stepped forward and hooked his good arm around her waist, lifting her until his mouth covered hers in a hard, exploring kiss that took everything.
 

He kissed her until every thought left her head, until the niggling doubts of what her family would think or say disappeared.

Careful of his shoulder, she tugged his V-neck tee up and off, pushing him onto the mattress before tackling the soft, loose gym shorts he wore.
 

“You’re so beautiful.”

“So are you,” she whispered.
 

A low murmur urged her to fish a condom from his wallet and moments later she straddled him, eased herself down, and bit back a moan as he filled her full.
 

This… This was way better than all her fantasies combined.

In fact, this was her dream come true.
 

A week later, Laney watched as Emma and her friends laughed and talked in The Ace.
 

“Laney, you need a lift?” Jim asked.

“No, I’m good. Thanks.” Like so many others in town, Jim had chosen tonight to grab dinner at her father’s bar. She’d felt him staring at her several times in the past hour but ignored the sensation, too focused on trying to figure out her emotions where Rand was concerned.

“You sure? I don’t mind.”

She forced herself to make eye contact with Jim while giving him a firm shake of her head. “Thanks, but no.”

He turned to go but hesitated, swinging back to face her again.

“Something going on with you?” he pressed. “You’ve been acting weird ever since the fire. Sure you’re okay?”

Jim was sweet. He meant well. But right now the only thing his questions did was add to the stress already churning in her stomach. In the time since she and Rand had begun sleeping together, Rand had said nothing about his feelings for her nor voiced his thoughts on what they were doing—only that it was wrong.
 

But how could anything that felt the way they were together be wrong? She knew he cared for her. Knew she cared for him—not that either of them had managed to say the words. “I’m good. Thanks for asking though.”

Jim didn’t look convinced, not that she’d tried all that hard. It would be nice to talk to someone about her secret relationship with Rand, but she didn’t consider Jim a wise choice under the circumstances. At this stage, she didn’t have anyone she could confide in, not when it would mean answering still more questions she didn’t have a clue how to answer.

What was going on? Did she and Rand have a future? How could they when neither of them was ready or willing to acknowledge the relationship to their families or the world?

“Guess I’ll see you tomorrow then. ‘Night.”

“‘Night.” Once Jim was gone, Laney’s gaze shifted back to Emma. She practically glowed with the challenge of keeping the bar running, doing whatever it was she did with her student. After all she’d been through, Emma deserved to be happy.

So why did it bring up all sorts of mean, nasty, jealous thoughts because her little sister was enjoying her new life while
she
couldn’t go public about seeing Rand?

As though conjured up by her thoughts, Rand appeared out of nowhere and approached the table where she sat. He was about to join her when Laney stood and grabbed her purse. The last thing she needed was for someone to see them together, because at this stage, she honestly wondered if she could keep her feelings for him to herself. And she had to. One whiff of them behaving as a couple or whatever they were, and her father would make both her and Rand’s lives hell. What if Frank guilted Rand into ending things? She wasn’t willing to take the chance. “What are you doing here?”

“You said you’d be here,” Rand said. “I got out of my meeting early and thought—”

“That you’d join me? Are you crazy?”

“It’s crowded. Everyone is grabbing a seat where they can. It’s not like we haven’t ever shared a table before.”

“That’s different. My father was there too.”