Everything You've Got: Anything & Everything, Book 2 (13 page)

“Why not? We have plenty of time.”

She practically growled, then turned to face the front.

After several seconds of glowering silence she said, “I can’t be gone for that long.”

“Yes you can. Diane and Nancy took care of everything. You don’t have to be back until next Wednesday.”

She swung to face him again. “
What?
They know?
Next
Wednesday?”

She was stammering. Kat also never did that. Luke tried not to look pleased with himself, knowing that would only piss her off at this point.

“Well, the band starts Friday and performs until Sunday. Then we have to drive back—”

“You said the festival was four days.”

“It technically starts Thursday night. But Sabrina and the guys don’t perform until Friday.”

“I can’t believe you butted in like that. This is…crazy. This is…too much. It’s my practice, my
work
. I have people who depend on me. I have responsibilities—”

“You have vacation time too,” Luke inserted. “You never take time off. That’s not good either. Everyone will be fine. The doctors covering you are more than capable. And Diane was happy to handle it. Everyone knows how hard you work.”

She worked horrible hours, took more call than anyone else, and covered everyone else. She hadn’t had more than two consecutive days off in more than seven months. She worked holidays, weekends—it was ridiculous. He hadn’t been surprised when Diane, the office manager for the entire practice, assured him that everyone would be glad she was taking some time for herself.

“It wasn’t your right to—”

“Maybe not,” he interrupted again. “But someone has to take care of
you
. And if I don’t have the right, then I’ll take the risk.”

He dared to glance at her.

She was staring at him—which was an improvement over the glaring—like she had no idea what to say. Another rare occurrence for Kat.

Again, he fought to not look smug.

She was a tough cookie. Everyone knew that. He suspected she enjoyed the label and worked at it. But he meant it when he said someone needed to take care of her.

And by someone, he meant
him
.

“No apology then?” she finally asked. “For butting in like that?”

He looked over at her. “Tell you what. When you apologize to me for assuming this trip is going to suck, I’ll apologize for making you come along.”

“Hmm. Why don’t you hold your breath for that,” she replied.

He chuckled. “That’s what I thought.”

She pulled out her cell phone and started to dial.

“It’s barely after five a.m. You can’t call Diane now.”

She paused, sighed, then snapped her phone shut. She sat chewing on her bottom lip. Probably wondering if it was too early to call one of her covering MDs. It wasn’t if they had been called in for a patient. It definitely was if they
hadn’t
been called in and were trying to catch up on sleep.

They drove for a few minutes without talking. Finally Luke settled deeper into his seat, made sure the cruise control was set and decided to dive right in.

“Where would you most like to travel in the world?”

She looked over at him, seemingly confused. “What?”

“If someone was hypothetically going to take you on a trip, where would you most like to travel to?”

She shook her head and faced forward. “You’re not taking me on a trip.”

He smiled and rolled his eyes. What woman didn’t want to be whisked away on a fabulous trip to the place she most wanted to go?

“You like pets, right? I would like to have a dog at some point, but I like cats too and they’re easier to have with crazy schedules like ours.”

She glanced over. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Pets.”

“Why?”

“Isn’t that something we should talk about before we live together?”

She sighed. “Live together? Really? It’s five a.m. and you’re dragging me along on a trip I not only did not agree to go on, but specifically said no to going on, and now you want to talk to me about living together?”

He knew it was a gamble but he shot her a grin. “Yeah.”

Instead of yelling or even telling him he was an idiot or something, she pulled out her iPod, stuck the buds in her ears, opened her Kindle and propped her feet up on the dash.

“We’re not going to talk?”

She pulled the left earphone out and looked over. “This trip was your idea. I never agreed to entertain you. And I didn’t get sex last night, so you don’t get conversation today.”

“You fell asleep,” he pointed out.

“Because you made me drink tequila.”

“I made you?” he repeated.

“Yes.”

He chuckled. “You did get an orgasm though. That’s gotta be good for a little conversation.”

He looked over in time to see her shift in her seat slightly. He grinned.

“Fine.” She cleared her throat. “But we’re not going to talk about crazy stuff like moving in together or how we’re going to spend our first anniversary or anything bizarre like that. Just normal conversation, okay?”

“No talking about what kind of engagement ring you’d like or if you’d consider naming a child Anthony after my grandfather?” he said, sort of teasing. And sort of not.

It was no secret he was ready to settle down and start a family. The woman he wanted to do it with should certainly be a part of these discussions.

“I’m only doing this because of the orgasm,” she muttered. “I want a small setting because I want to be able to wear it at work and not a diamond—too cliché. And I would absolutely consider Anthony, but only for a boy.”

A sudden and new emotion hit Luke in the chest with her words. It was something akin to amazement. He’d never had this kind of conversation, joking or not, with another woman and hearing actual answers from Kat made him feel a combination of good old-fashioned happiness and relief—all of the things he wanted could really happen—with a good shot of something he couldn’t name in hearing his grandfather’s name being considered for one of his—their—children.

“Now shut the hell up so I can read.” She replaced the earbud and looked down at her Kindle.

But he wasn’t letting this go. Yeah, he was pushing, but he’d been waiting for these things for a long time and besides, where was she really going to go? They were traveling down the highway, well over the speed limit, far from home.

“That orgasm was worth more than that.”

She huffed out an impatient breath and pulled both earbuds out this time. “Now what?”

“I want to know what the lottery analogy was about last night.”

“The lottery analogy?” she hedged. “I was drinking a lot. I don’t remember.”

He snorted. “You hadn’t drunk that much when you said it.”

“It was nothing. Just mumblings.”

“No, it was very clear. I heard you say, ‘I just won the lottery, but I cheated’. What’s that mean?”

“I have to go the bathroom,” she said suddenly, pushing up out of her seat and then climbing over the middle console. She tripped on the bag of stuff she’d set behind the seat and lost a flip-flop, but righted herself quickly and disappeared in back.

Luke sighed, but grinned in spite of himself. He’d let her go for now, but he was going to find out about the lottery. And everything else about her. After all, he was going to be sure this trip took twice as long as it needed to. And he could always handcuff her to the chair if he ran out of other options.

Kat bypassed the bathroom and lay on the bed with the door shut between her and the incredibly tempting man up front. She was stubbornly determined to ride out the rest of the trip in back, far from him. She wasn’t usually one to avoid things but she really didn’t know how else to deal with this. Until she could get to a rental car, she was stuck in the RV with him and his insistence on talking about things that made her
want
. She wanted him, she wanted the emerald engagement ring she’d immediately pictured when he’d asked, she wanted… God, she wanted a baby boy they could name Anthony.

Yeah, so Luke was the lottery and she’d cheated by letting him believe she was all of the wonderful things he thought he wanted.

Eventually though, if they were truly together and she was truly honest, he’d find out that she was not as well-liked in town as he imagined, she had a past that was a secret only because the people who knew were scared of her, and—oh, yeah—she couldn’t tell a rotator cuff tear from a stroke.

She grabbed a pillow and covered her face while she let out a scream of frustration. She had to avoid talking to, laughing with, kissing and
definitely
sleeping with Luke because she didn’t need to want him any more than she did right now.

And she couldn’t even begin to think about the orgasm from last night.

She somehow focused on her Kindle, managing to read three full chapters and retain at least sixty percent of them. When she was bored she dialed Marc’s number—not caring if she woke him up early—but hung up before it rang so that she wouldn’t wake Sabrina. Then she read another chapter, then tried unsuccessfully to nap, then wished for her laptop that was up front near Luke.

Just as she was about to go truly crazy from boredom she felt the RV slow and turn, then stop. She smiled and sat up. Whatever the reason for the stop she was getting up and out.

She headed for the front of the RV as Luke turned off the ignition.

He was across the dirt parking area and handling fresh fruit by the time she’d stepped out of the RV. He kept his attention—mostly—on the strawberries in front of him.

“What’s this?” She came to stand beside him, looking over the bins of cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelon, sweet corn and strawberries.

“Fresh produce. Couldn’t pass it up.” He selected two baskets of berries and moved on to the watermelon.

“You’re buying fruit.”

“Watermelon to be exact. The food of kings.”

She chuckled. “Kings. Really.”

“In ancient Egypt they used to bury watermelons in the tombs of the kings to nourish them in the afterlife.”

She didn’t say anything to that and he turned to find her looking at him with amused confusion.

“What?”

“Why in the world do you know so much about watermelon?”

He moved in closer to her and dropped his voice to a whisper. “I’m a part of a secret society plotting to infiltrate the most nefarious circles and bring about the destruction of all evil with the seemingly innocuous watermelon.”

She stared at him, then shook her head. “You’re deeply disturbed.”

He shrugged. “You’re not even impressed by my use of nefarious and innocuous in the same sentence?”

“Did you see a show on the Food Network or something?”

“History Channel.”

She rolled her eyes.

“Did you know watermelon is an aphrodisiac?” he asked, moving to the bin and picking up a huge specimen.

“It is not.”

“It is. It contains a chemical called citrulline. It acts like Viagra.”

She looked interested now as she regarded the huge bin of green melons. “No kidding.”

He moved close again and waited until her gaze met his. “I would never kid about something like that. In fact, I’m feeling a little affected just standing next to them.”

She swallowed hard before answering. “You have to consume citrulline for it to have an effect.”

“Then maybe it’s just you.”

Her gaze dropped to his lips and she hesitated just a moment. Then she shook her head again. “We better get going.”

“I need to buy the watermelon.”

She took the heavy fruit from his hands and put it back in the bin. “No. You definitely don’t.”

She headed back toward the RV.

Luke was grinning and whistling as he followed her.

Thirty minutes later he pulled up at another roadside stand.

By the time she joined him from the back of the RV, he’d picked up a bag of peaches and had another watermelon under his arm.

Without a word, she took the watermelon from him and replaced it in the bin.

He paid for the peaches and followed her back to the RV.

“Are you planning to stop at every stand that sells watermelon?” she asked as they reached the vehicle.

He shook his head. “I’m mostly just bored. I see a stand and some nice farmer sitting there and I figure it’s a chance to talk to another human being.”

She sighed heavily. “If I sit in the front seat with you, you’ll quit stopping every few minutes?”

“You have to sit up front
and
talk to me,” he clarified.

“Fine.” She got up into the passenger’s side as he got behind the wheel started the engine. “But no talking about weddings, babies or sex.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s
ridiculous
.”