Suspended (36 page)

Was he doing it to make the Heron more beautiful for guests
or to make it more appealing to a buyer? Hadn’t he said that the land was worth
more than the operating of the B and B?

Maybe he was actually starting to see what she did. She
turned to him. “You’re starting to think like an innkeeper.”

“Until we put this place on the market, my name’s on the
business too. So is my reputation.”

She looked back out the window. “Of course.” And she needed
to remember that.

Shane put the truck into park. A good crowd of people was
shuffling through the little corner lot of staked trees. He followed Kendall
into the back of the lot.

“What size are we getting?”

“Eight foot minimum.”

“Eight?”

She glanced over her shoulder. “We put it in the main living
space.”

Seemed like a damn big tree for the space, but it was her
call. She wove between the trees as if she had an idea in mind but wasn’t
finding just what she wanted.

“Heya, Ken.”

An easy and bright smile transformed her face and sucker
punched him. “Hi, Brandon.”

Christ. She used to smile at him like that. He jammed his
hands into the pockets of his bomber jacket.

“I’ve got a few of those blue spruces you like so much. I
held a big one over here.”

He bet the guy did. Shane trudged through the muddy snow
after her.

She hooked her arm through Brandon’s. “Oh, that’s perfect.”

Brandon patted her hand. “I thought you might like it.”

Shane stood with his feet apart, his thighs quivering with
the full-body clench. He didn’t have any right to get pissed, but he didn’t
like anyone else touching her.

“I’m sorry; evidently I left my manners in the truck.
Brandon, this is Shane. Shane, Brandon.”

Shane held out his hand, and their handshake was firm.
Brandon sized him up; his friendly blue eyes held an edge. Had Brandon and
Kendall been an item?

Why the fuck did he care?

He stuffed his hand back into his pocket. She chattered
away, asked the guy about his dog, his mother, his sister, and his goddamned nieces
and nephews. Names flew out of her mouth.

Small town-ese and the easy familiarity of knowing someone
most of her life left him on the sidelines.

He’d lived in Monterey for twenty-two years, and he didn’t
know two of his neighbors. He wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Kendall
knew the entire town of Bradley.

Five minutes later the spruce was on the bed of his truck.
She stopped at the edges of the displays. “Do you have any wreaths left?”

Brandon nodded. “Mom put a few together yesterday, and my sister
made a few with those fat bows on the bottom and left the rest naked for people
to trim themselves.”

Shane fisted his hands in his pockets and followed her to a
small tent. She pored over the wreaths like she did the tree and finally
selected one with a huge gold-and-silver bow.

Kendall counted out bills and handed them over. “Tell your
sister she outdid herself.”

Brandon smiled. “I will.”

“Merry Christmas if I don’t get to see you.”

Brandon looked over her head at Shane, then quickly back at
Kendall. “My sister’s having a Christmas Eve party if you’re interested.”

“I’ve got a few families coming in at the B and B. I’m sorry
I’ll miss it.”

“Me too.”

Unable to watch the man make cow eyes at her any longer,
Shane came up next to her. “We’re losing daylight, Sunshine.”

Kendall fumbled the wreath, and Shane caught it. She peered
up at him with wide, dark eyes, then blinked and turned back to Brandon. “I’ve
got to get back. Thanks for keeping that beautiful tree for me.”

“Always.”

Kendall smiled. “I’ll see you soon.” She turned to follow
Shane, her eyebrows knit together.

She didn’t say a word as he loaded the wreath in beside the
tree and slammed the tailgate closed. Just kept frowning.

“What?”

“You called me— Never mind.”

He frowned down at her. “Called you what?”

She folded her arms over her chest. “Nothing.”

He stepped closer until they were toe to toe. “Called you
what?”

“Obviously you didn’t mean to since you don’t remember.”

Confused, he took his hands out of his pockets. “Remember
what?”

“It’s not important.”

“It is if you’re reacting like this.”

“Sunshine,” she said on an agitated breath. “You called me
Sunshine, and you haven’t called me that since we got back.”

Had he? He didn’t remember doing it.

“Not babe, not Sunshine, not even a hey-you—just Kendall.”

He stuffed his hands back into his pockets. “That’s your
name.”

She made a disgusted grunt and rounded the truck to the
passenger side.

He followed her and slapped his hand against the door before
she could open it. Frustrated by his jealousy, by the feelings she stirred in
him, by the distance between them because of the Heron, he crowded in on her.
She flattened herself against the panel, her chest rising and her eyes dilated.

“Christ, Sunshine, you make me fucking nuts.”

Then he slammed his mouth over hers. She drew a deep breath
in through her nose, and he took advantage, opening her wide for a deep and
driving kiss. She clung to him, her breasts smashed to his chest, making enough
room to get his arm around her back and lift her onto her toes.

She was addictive, and he’d been jonesing for her. Even if
he’d had her the day before, it wasn’t enough. He turned his lips away,
pressing his cheek to hers as they both dragged in deep breaths.

He set her on her feet and backed away from her. Her taste
lingered on his tongue, infused his blood, and infected him. He wasn’t sure he
wanted a cure. He still wasn’t convinced the Heron would be fiscally feasible
to keep. It was hard to reconcile his need for her and his disappointment.

Kendall wasn’t the type to deceive, but she wasn’t going to
want to let go of the B and B either. Being angry with her was exhausting and
frustrating. Double time on the frustration, both with their situation and how
much he missed her touch.

“We need to get to the market.”

She pressed her lips together as if savoring the kiss.
“Right.”

He bit back a groan and opened her door. She stepped up and
inside; he slammed the door after her and turned. At least six people were
openly staring at them. “Christ,” he muttered and headed to his side of the
truck.

He’d kissed the hell out of her in the open at one in the
damn afternoon on a Sunday. Everyone and their mother was in town for
something.

He got in beside her and put the truck in gear. Their trip
to the market was uneventful, though there was definitely more staring. Kendall
didn’t seem to notice or at least didn’t seem to care.

She seemed to know everyone, introducing him to so many
people his brain was buzzing with names and faces. By the time he got them back
to the house, he was ready to shut himself in the shop and blast his music.

Instead he hauled in the tree and placed it in the tree
stand. Another twenty minutes of adjustment and he’d finally earned himself a
beer.

Lily surveyed the room with a satisfied nod. “You outdid
yourself, Kendall.”

“I know. Isn’t it beautiful? Brandon held it for me.”

“Oh, did he now?”

“Enough, Mom.”

Shane sipped his beer, then let it dangle from his fingers.
“I’d like to hear this.”

“No, he would not.”

Now that Lily had an attentive audience, her cherubic face
lit up, and her dark eyes danced. “Brandon’s always been sweet on my Kendall.”

“Sweet on me? Mom, we don’t live in the Deep South.”

“What else would you call it? The boy moons over you.”

“Yeah, he does,” Shane muttered.

Kendall rolled her eyes, then turned and fisted her hand on
each hip. “That’s why you called me Sunshine at the tree lot.”

Shane took a lazy sip of his beer. “You put a lot of
importance on a nickname, babe.”

Her cheeks flushed, and she looked to the left of him at her
mother, then spun back to the tree. “We’ll let the tree soak up some water and
the branches fall. We can trim the tree tonight, Mom.”

“Do you want to come over and help us, Shane?”

Shane looked down at Lily. “I’ve got some work to do in the
barn.”

“That’s too bad. We watch bad movies and have a lot of fun.”

He drained his bottle. The urge to say yes surprised him,
but he didn’t want to get in the middle of any traditions they had. Besides,
they probably watched schmaltzy movies.

He hadn’t had a family Christmas tree since he was a boy.
Larry had people come in and do the tree at the house. It was classic and
beautiful, but it was more of a necessity for the showcase house than any love
Larry had for the holiday. He cleared his throat. “We’ve got to go finish the
porch.”

“Right.” Kendall tugged on an oversize flannel shirt that
hung around her hips and a pair of stretchy gloves before slipping out the
door.

Following her outside, he came to a stop to assess the porch
in the late-day sun. He’d been steadily going through the money from his job
with Doyle. Lumber wasn’t cheap, but he was able to buy most of it in bulk.
Doing the labor himself helped keep the cost down.

Her idea to stain the porch was a good one. Especially after
he made adjustments to a few of the warped boards. They could stain it in the
spring—

Hell. How did he know he’d be there in the spring? They
might sell by then.

He scrubbed his hand through his hair. It was getting longer
now, the buzz cut grown out over his ears and sticking up in the front by the
end of the day. He dug a knit cap out of his back pocket and pulled it on.

She looked up at him, her dark eyes shining. “Aww, is
California boy not fond of the cold?”

He glanced down at her gloves pointedly.

“What? You know how cold my hands get.”

He tightened his jaw. Yes, he remembered how many times
she’d stuck her cold hands and cold feet against his skin for warmth.
Especially her hands. She loved to tuck them under his shirt.

“Come on. Show me what you want me to do,” Shane said.

“I get to give you direction? It’s a Christmas miracle.”

“Watch yourself.”

She bent into the bin and took out three packs of bound
lights. “Or you’ll what?”

“Don’t tempt me, Kendall.”

She smirked up at him and tossed him two cardboard flats
with lights strung around them. “Promises, promises. You can go wrap these
along the rail on the other side of the porch. Just plug it in the end of the
lights at the front. They all link together.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to the back, and I’ll meet you in the middle.”

“Race?”

“So competitive.” She grinned. “Deal.”

He had the upper hand in special knowledge, but it didn’t
mean anything on her agility. She had damn tiny fingers and spindles for arms.
Before he could get to the halfway mark, she was lapping him.

“Don’t forget the bottom rail.”

“Son of a bitch.”

Her laugh was infectious, and he found himself tangling
around her to get the bottom rail done.

“Unfair!” She dissolved into giggles as he wound the
cardboard around her hips and pulled it under a post, effectively trapping her
into the lights.

“Now that’s my kind of decorating.”

She looked down at her waist and thighs, then back up at
him. “Don’t you usually like to tie up my wrists?”

He stopped and groaned. “That’s playing dirty, Sunshine.”

She held out her hands, and without a word he wound the
lights around her gloved wrists. The train of lights pooled at their feet,
flooding the floor with a rainbow of colors.

He pulled her linked hands up and ducked until they were
around his neck. Her eyes were hooded with awareness. He nuzzled his nose
against hers, keeping his mouth just out of reach. Breathing her in, then
breathing out into her mouth, he kept them both on the edge. Not quite touching,
not quite apart. He brushed the bow of her top lip with his lower lip. The
flick of her tongue urged him to stop the teasing, but he wanted to draw out
the pleasure.

He couldn’t let it be more than a kiss, but he was starved
for her touch. He had to savor this.

KENDALL ROSE ONTO her toes and tried to get him to kiss her.
Really kiss her like he’d done at the truck when they’d gotten the tree, but
Shane was determined to tease her out of her mind.

The day had been full of flirtation, mixed messages, and
that undeniable fairy dust that blew between them when skin-on-skin contact
happened. She wanted to swallow all of it whole and move the emptiness out of
the pit of her stomach.

Finally he traced the seam of her mouth with his tongue and
gently, thoroughly, tasted her. The lingering tang of his beer and the
underlying flavor of pure Shane burned her tongue. He sipped from her, bit her
lower lip, and infused every part of his taste into her mouth.

She sagged against him. If she hadn’t had the lights to keep
her hands together, she would have slid into a boneless heap of pleasure at his
feet. He held on, humming into her mouth as she cupped the back of his head and
lifted the cap off.

His hair was longer now, and the silky strands fluttered
between her fingers. She stroked her tongue along his, flicking the roof of his
mouth and ending on a scrape of teeth over his lower lip.

The kiss gentled until his forehead pressed to hers. She
couldn’t move her hips thanks to the tangle of lights. So when he ducked under
her bound arms and stepped away, she had no choice but to stay where she was.

“Want to help a girl out?”

Shane shook his head and paced to the end of the deck and
back. “Give me a second.”

She slowly blinked the haze of his kiss away. They were just
gearing up for more, right? She used her teeth to unwind her wrists until she
could slip free. The hard ridge of his cock under the Carhartt pants he was
wearing told her he wanted her just as much. She frowned as he took a long
circuit around the entire porch and came back.