A Change of Heart (13 page)

“It went great.” Payback was a rare commodity for him, and he planned to stretch it out. He moved away, heading for the sliding trays where their patterns were stored. After placing the cradle pattern on the drawing table, he gathered the lumber, choosing his pieces carefully and oh so slowly.

Kyle followed, fidgeting with the mallet he held in his hands. “And?”

“And what? We ate, I took her to the barn to see the piglets, and then I drove her home. No big deal.” Ted glanced at Kyle over his shoulder. “Are you interested in what we had for supper? My mom roasted a turkey, and we had mashed potatoes, gravy, peas with pearl onions—”

“I don’t care about what you ate.” Kyle frowned. “Did you ask her?”

“My mom?” He raised his brow. “Ask her what?”

“Damn, kid.” Kyle looked like his world was about to end. “Don’t tell me you forgot.”

Ted bristled. Hadn’t he just mentioned the kid thing? “I didn’t
forget
anything.”

“What’d she say?”

Oh, it was tempting to keep him guessing, but Kyle really was an OK guy, and he had enough on his plate without Ted adding to his misery. “Cory agreed to go out for bowling and pizza.”

Kyle’s shoulders sagged with relief. “Great. I’ll set it up.”

“Not for this weekend. I’m tied up.” A lie, but he didn’t want Cory to feel pursued. Wednesday with her mom right after Sunday with his family was already pushing it. Come to think of it, they were doing things all backward. Usually a couple dated for a while before introducing their families. But…she didn’t know they were dating, so it was all good.

“How about the following weekend, like Saturday night?”

“Sure. That’ll work.” He laid the lumber out on the drawing table and began tracing the pattern. Kyle continued to hover in his space. Ted straightened, frowning at him. “Don’t you have work to do?”

“Yeah.” Kyle shifted his weight but stayed put. “I was just wondering…” Another shift. “Did Cory say anything about Brenda? You know, like…anything that might be good for me to know?”

“Nope. Believe it or not, you two were
not
our primary topic of conversation. Cory was more interested in the pigs than she was in your budding romance with her friend.” Ted chuffed out a laugh and shook his head. “Go back to work.”

“Right.”

Kyle stomped off, leaving Ted free to think about his own budding romance. Lord help him if Cory realized that’s how he saw what was going on between them. Stealth. He needed stealth and a light tread. So light she wouldn’t even notice the direction his steps were taking. Somehow, he’d work his way around her defenses and gain her trust before she even realized what was happening. A stupid smile broke free. Wednesday couldn’t come fast enough.

“Uh-oh.” Ryan stepped into the room with a new pattern in his hands. “I’ve worn that look a time or two, kid.”

Damn.
Ted’s smile disappeared. “What the hell are you talking about now? I’m just happy to spend some time in production. Sitting at a desk all day is wearing.”

“Sure.” Ryan cocked an eyebrow and snorted. “I hear you brought L&L’s newest out to meet your folks yesterday. Must have gone well for you to wear the I-can’t-keep-the-dumb-ass-grin-off-my-face look this morning.”

“As usual, you’re full of shit.” Every eye in the room fixed on him. So much for stealth. “Where’s Noah?”

“He and Paige left for Evansville about a half hour ago.” Ryan slid a shelf out and laid the new pattern down with care. He slid the slip of card stock out of the metal bracket on the front of the shelf, wrote the pattern name and number on it with the Sharpie they kept on top and slipped it back into place. “Remember? They’re checking out a few retail sites today, and then he’s picking up a load of oak and maple before they head back.”

“Oh, right.” Of course he remembered. All purchase orders went through him.

“What’re you starting?” Ryan moved closer to peer at the pattern. “Nice. That design with bird’s-eye maple is going to be stellar. Let’s take a few pictures before we ship this one.”

“Good idea. This will be the first project for me in the new contemporary line.” Happy that he could redirect Ryan so easily, he threw in a bit of insurance. “Great design work, by the way.”

“Thanks.” Ryan’s eyes lit up, and he warmed to the subject. “Have you taken a look at the new bedroom suite prototype we just finished? It’s still set up on the third floor. It has the same deceptively simple lines as the contemporary children’s furniture.”

“I saw it in production, but not all put together. I’ll be sure to take a look.” Relieved, Ted turned back to his project. Ryan circulated, sharing a few words with each of the guys before heading back to his office. Once he left, Ted let the dumb-ass grin break out again, his thoughts focused on the real project on hand—Corinna Marcel.

“Don’t get your hopes up about supper.” Cory buckled her seat belt and leaned back into the passenger seat of Ted’s pickup. She placed her hands on the plastic box on her lap, holding it down like it might make a leap for the window. “My mom is not a gourmet cook. She’s mastered the art of the slow cooker, and that’s about it.”

Her brow was scrunched into worry creases, and Ted fought the urge to place a reassuring hand on her knee. “I’m sure whatever she’s made will be fine. What’s in the container?”

“I told mom I’d bring dessert.” She lifted the box slightly. “I made lemon bars last night.”

“I love lemon bars.” He backed the truck out of his spot behind L&L and inched down the alley toward the street.

“Do you?” Her brow unscrunched. “Me too. They’re my favorite. I have a whole collection of lemon bar recipes, and this is the best of the bunch.”

“Great. Now I’ve got to worry about drooling while driving.” He turned onto the main street out of town. Cory’s shy grin peeked out for an instant, lighting her face and squeezing all the air from his lungs.

“I don’t think we’ll be pulled over for drooling over the speed limit,” she teased. “Do you want one now?”

“Heck, yeah.” His brow shot up. “Is that legal? Tasting dessert before we have dinner?”

“I won’t tell if you don’t.” She tugged at the lip of the lid, and a wave of lemony scent filled the cab. “So long as we hide the evidence, I think we’ll be fine.”

“Got it. No crumbs on this shirt, ma’am.” He accepted a rectangle of gooey goodness dusted with powdered sugar and took a bite. The tartness of fresh lemons topping the sweet cookie crust burst inside his mouth in a symphony of flavor. “Oh, yeah.” He shot her an appreciative look. “You can cook.”

“Lemon bars, anyway.” She stuck her tongue out, sliding it along her lower lip to catch a few crumbs from her own bit of indulgence.

He followed the path her tongue took, imagining the sweet, warm moistness of the inside of her delectable mouth. Right now she’d taste lemony and tart. Ted’s blood raced, setting a course straight for his groin.
Not good.
If she caught a glimpse of his reaction to her, she’d freak and that’s the last thing he wanted. He popped the rest of the bar into his mouth, focused on chewing and studied the road straight ahead of him.
Asphalt. Broken white lines. Gravel…

“You were going to tell me about the double-date thing you have going on with Brenda.”
Don’t look at her, don’t look at her, don’t…
She stuck a sticky finger into her mouth and sucked.
Drooling for an entirely different reason, he watched out of the corner of his eye, fascinated and turned on beyond belief.

If just watching her eat a lemon bar affected him this much, what would it be like to hold her in his arms, to kiss those delectable lips, feel the warm smoothness of her silken skin against his? A breathy sigh of satisfaction escaped her. He swallowed the answering groan rising in his throat, and shifted in his seat to relieve the growing pressure.
Lord, help me out here.
“I have a few fast-food wipes in the glove box.”

“Thanks.” She opened the compartment and fished out a couple of the foil packets. Tearing one open, she handed it to him. “You don’t want a sticky steering wheel.”

He nodded. If she kept on being so sweet, relaxed and so damn pretty, it was going to be a long frustrating night. “So, you were going to tell me about your deal with Brenda.”

“You’re kind of relentless.”

No. More like
kind of desperate
. “I’m curious is all, and we’re heading to your mom’s anyway.”

“True.” Another sigh escaped, this one not so satisfied. “I guess you’re going to see soon enough. I grew up in a seedy trailer park on the south side of Evansville. It backs up against Interstate 164, situated next door to a huge, ramshackle trucking company that’s about a zillion years old.”

She glanced at him, and then turned away. “Growing up poor and living in a trailer park carries a stigma. You’ve got to be loose. Your mama had to be loose. Trailer trash is synonymous with sluttiness in the minds of most of the adolescent boys I came into contact with in school.”

“Oh.” He searched his memory for any impression he might’ve had from back then. Nothing came to mind. “Huh. I
guess I was too wrapped up in my own hogginess stigma back then to realize.” She shot him an amused look, and he was inordinately pleased that he could entertain her.

“Well, it’s true. Brenda and I had big plans for our futures. We were serious about school, and serious about fighting the trailer trash stigma, so we teamed up. Neither of us ever went out alone with a guy. We always doubled. That way we could watch out for each other.” She shrugged. “Neither of us really did a whole lot of dating in high school other than group things, often including one or two of her big brothers. I had one semiserious boyfriend my senior year, and that was it. I enlisted in the army the day I turned eighteen.”

Something niggled at him—something he needed to pay attention to. Later. He’d think about it later. Right now he wanted her to keep talking. “What happened to Mr. Semiserious?”

“We corresponded for a while, but then it kind of fizzled out. He’s married and has a couple kids now.”

“All right. I get the teaming up as teenagers part.” He glanced at her before taking the ramp onto the highway. “So why now?”

Her lips compressed into a straight line, and the worry creases reappeared. “She thinks she’s helping me out, like it’s important for me to get back into dating. Brenda believes if she goes into the teaming-up mode, I’ll ease into it.”

“Isn’t it important to you?”

“No.”

“Cory, you’re young, intelligent, and attractive.” He kept his eyes on the road. She tensed up beside him, gripping the plastic container in her lap so tight, he worried for the lemon bars inside. “You’re not going to let what happened one day in the entire span of your life ruin your chances at happiness, are you?
Maybe Brenda is right. Maybe if you start out with people you know and trust—”

“You don’t have any idea what you’re talking about,” she snapped, and her lungs worked away like a bellows.

“Explain it to me.”

“Don’t you think I’d love to date, fall in love, and all that?” she huffed.

“How should I know? Do you?” His heart stopped midbeat, awaiting her reply.

“Of course I do, but I can’t. Even the thought of…of…”

“You don’t have to say the words. I know what you mean.”

“It makes me nauseous. I get the dry heaves, and my skin crawls, and…and I have nightmares. Not exactly what a guy wants in a girlfriend, is it?” She glared at him. “I can’t stand the thought of physical intimacy. There. I said it.”

“You didn’t always feel that way though, did you?”

“No.” She made a strangled, choking sound, but the grip she had on the box eased a smidge. “I used to be fairly normal.”

“What if you replaced the bad memories with good ones, like one at a time? Start out small.”

Her brow furrowed. “I don’t know if that’s possible. Rape is such a violent intrusion. Any illusions I ever had of…of being secure, or…safe…” Her lips compressed again, turning down at the corners. “It’s all gone, shattered into a million splintery shards. Everything in my world changed that day, and I don’t even feel like the ground I walk on is solid anymore. That center of gravity that keeps us all grounded? I’ve lost it.” Her voice hitched. “And I have no idea how to get that back.”

“I’d like to help if you’d let me.”
I’d like to be the one to replace the bad memories with good ones.
He wanted to give her
a brand-new center of gravity. He wanted to be the one she could rely on when the nightmares came to haunt her.

Her breath caught, and her eyes widened a fraction.

“What?” His own grip tightened on the steering wheel.

“You’re the first person I’ve ever said all that to.”

“Thank you for trusting me. I’m always willing to listen, and I promise to keep everything to myself.”

“Why?”

Because I think you could be the one to fill this gaping empty place in my heart? Yeah, not going to say that
. “Why what?”

“Why are you always so nice to me? Why are you willing to listen to me go on about my personal demons?”

“I like you. Is that so difficult to accept? Now and then I get glimpses of the firecracker you were before that asshole broke your world.” He shrugged. “I’d love to see you regain your center of gravity and your sense of security.”