Everything You've Got: Anything & Everything, Book 2 (21 page)

But they also wanted each other. Badly. The kiss reflected that as well when it went from sweet to spicy, close-lipped to openmouthed, satisfied to hungry.

Luke cupped her face between his two hands, she grabbed his hips and pulled him forward and they both groaned as they took the kiss deeper, harder, faster,
more.

Several moments later, they broke apart as another RV’s door slammed, reminding them they weren’t alone.

“Or we could just go inside the RV and—”

She pushed him back, laughing. “Let’s at least spend a little time being good people before we go at it like lust-crazed nymphomaniacs.”

“But we
will
go at it like lust-crazed nymphomaniacs, right?” he asked, not moving back more than a millimeter.

She didn’t think there was any way to avoid it. “I’m having a hard time coming up with any other options.”

The heat in his eyes flared at her words. “Glad to hear it.”

They didn’t need Kat’s help at the hospital, but Dr. Stan Haken, the physician on call, verified Kat’s credentials and then asked if she’d be willing to go up to the nursing home and check on a few people he wanted to keep an eye on. She readily agreed, and as Luke pulled the RV up in front of Sunshine Estates, he found the perfect way to spend his time too.

The west end of the building was badly damaged, with windows blown out, one wall crumbling and no roof. A large team of volunteers was already making some headway but Luke reasoned they could always use more help.

After Kat completed her rounds, she also pitched in, helping with hauling debris to the backs of the pickups parked around the area, boarding up windows and taking measurements for the supplies needed for repairs. It made it convenient to have the RV with them wherever they went so she could just hop in back and change into more appropriate clothing.

Or so she’d said when she’d headed that direction.

Once she emerged, however, Luke had to wonder what she thought was appropriate.

She now wore a fitted black T-shirt and black jeans that made Luke’s mouth go dry. They were the exact opposite of baggy work jeans. They molded to her waist, hips and butt, making Luke’s hands itch to follow the curves. She’d also changed into boots, but not her usual—these were chunky black boots with thick soles. Luke had no idea what Sabrina had been thinking when she’d packed those for Kat, but he was glad she had. They were much more suitable than her black leather, lace-up, three-inch heels.

Though Kat could, apparently, make chunky look hot too.

“Holy sh—”

Luke swung to face the man behind him. Eddie was the unofficial leader of the group of volunteers. A local contractor, he was able to use the well-intentioned group to actually get some repairs done.

“You okay?”

Eddie looked at Luke. “Um, yeah, sorry.”

Luke realized that Eddie had been looking past him and he turned to find Kat bent over filling a bucket of water from a garden hose. The view was certainly noteworthy.

“I’m tryin’ not to look, man,” Eddie said, giving him a sheepish grin. “But doesn’t she have some baggy sweats or something?”

Luke sincerely doubted it. “I’ve known her since we were kids and I haven’t seen her wear anything baggy since we were about twelve.”

“How have the men in Justice survived?” Eddie asked. His attention flickered over Luke’s shoulder, then back to his face.

“There’s a lot of looking but no touching,” Luke said honestly.

Kat was gorgeous but she was intimidating. Not to him—he’d always been comfortable around her—but he knew that many of the men and women their age found Kat hard to approach. He’d wondered about that with her medical practice, but she was great with kids and older people and Justice was the kind of place where word spread quickly and people trusted each other. It had only taken a few patients to seek care from her and soon everyone knew that Kat Dayton had beauty, brains and a great bedside manner.

“But not for you, right?” Eddie said with a grin. “You’re looking and touching. Lucky bastard.”

Luke grinned back. He was definitely looking and touching. “Hey, I’ve earned every touch.”

“Yeah, she has handful written all over her,” Eddie said with a nod.

Luke thought about that. Handful wasn’t entirely inaccurate.

She was tough to impress, hard to get close to. He’d always known that being close to Kat was a special place to be. He’d understood that innately, but he’d never really thought about why. Her appearance—and even more her attitude—held people at arm’s length. A lot of people in high school and college had decided it wasn’t worth the effort and she’d seemed fine with that.

Being close to Kat was a privilege. One he intended to appreciate. For a very, very long time. “Well, she’s taken, so nobody needs to worry about if she’s a handful or not.” He’d take her on. Anytime, anywhere. And Kat needed to know that.

“Yeah, that’s pretty obvious,” Eddie said, bending to hammer nails into his end of the two-by-four they were putting up.

“Yeah?” Luke liked the sound of that.

“Even if we hadn’t noticed the way you’ve been watching her, she’s only got eyes for you, man.”

Luke felt emotion—pride, want, affection, possessiveness—surge through him.

“She worth it?” Eddie asked, leaning for more nails.

“Absolutely,” Luke answered. She was worth whatever it took to convince her that she could be close to him, that he’d be there.

“That was quick,” Eddie said with a chuckle. “How can you be so sure?”

“I’ve—” He stopped. How could he be sure? There were so many very practical reasons. Because practical was what he was doing this time. This time was going to work. It made sense with Kat.

But just then he realized that when he thought about her and how it felt, it didn’t feel practical. It felt, well, pretty damned emotional if he was being completely honest.

“Did I stump you?” Eddie asked, looking up.

“No. She’s the only woman I know that wants exactly what I want.” He and Kat had already covered this. There were numerous logical reasons that she was The One. She knew the same people, liked the same things, lived in the same place. With Kat it would be easy. Basically, she was living the life he wanted, just across town. All he had to do was move her in with him and the happily-ever-after would commence.

Most importantly, he could count on her to stay the same. She’d proven that. She’d gone away, but come back—on purpose—and settled in. She wasn’t looking for anything else. He could give her what she wanted.

The emotions were just a bonus. They were good. She made him feel alive and crazy and real. It was nothing to worry about, nothing to cause concern. He had feelings for her, feelings that were very much bordering on
I’ll do anything for you
. But that was okay because they still made sense too.

A huge raindrop splashed against Luke’s forehead. He looked up to find dark gray clouds had rolled in.

“We better get stuff covered up,” Eddie said, pounding two final nails. “Plastic’s in the truck!” he called to the other guys.

“Got it,” Luke said. He looked over to where Kat was putting the lids back on paint cans. “Be back in a second.”

As soon as he was close enough he had to touch her. Hands settled on her hips, he leaned in close. “I think you’re about to get very wet.”

She turned to face him with a big smile. “Tell me—in great detail please—how you’re going to do that.”

He grinned, heat exploding in his gut at her words and her smile. Sure, feelings could be good. These feelings, for instance, were great. “As much as I’d like to, I don’t know that I have a lot of control over this, actually.” He pointed up at the sky. “At least right now.”

She looked up and a drop hit her cheek. “Oh.” A flash of lightning streaked from one cloud to the next.

“I’m going to help them finish covering everything up and then I’ll meet you in the RV.” The drops began falling closer together.

Suddenly he had to kiss her. This woman was going to give him his dream life. She was perfect for him. He kissed her, not lustfully but with tenderness and affection and everything he felt for her.

When he let her go, she stared up at him. Then pressed her lips together. “Wow.”

“Exactly what I wanted to hear,” he said. He dragged his thumb over her bottom lip. “I like that look on your face.”

“I like how you put it there.”

“Me too.” He let go of her reluctantly. “I’ve got some work to do. See you soon.”

She moved off, helping to gather up paintbrushes and tools and store them in the back of Eddie’s truck. Luke kept his eye on her—he couldn’t help it—as he worked. So he noticed when she ducked under the edge of the roof out of the rain and pulled her phone from her pocket.

He also noticed the look on her face as she listened to whoever was on the other end. Her expression went from nervous to worried to almost…sad.

What the hell?

He quickly threw tarps over the last pile of wood and started in her direction but just as he got close he heard, “Dr. Dayton! Kat!”

They both turned in the direction of the nursing home’s front doors. A nurse was in the doorway.

“Yeah, Linda?” Kat called.

Luke smiled. Of course she already knew the nurses’ names.

“Can you come back in for a minute? Marge said she forgot to tell you about the time Jack took her dancing.” The nurse gave her a smile that said she understood it might be a silly request.

“Of course. I’d love to hear that,” Kat said. She turned to Luke. “Jack was the resident who was killed the other night by the storm. This might take me a bit.”

Luke got it. Even if they had no external injuries, there were still plenty of things that needed to heal. In a small nursing home like this—or the one in Justice—all the residents knew one another well. Most of them had been neighbors, even friends, before they’d come to live at Sunshine Estates. The fact that one had died hit them all hard.

“Take your time.”

“Thanks.” She paused and smiled up at him. “This is going to happen between us eventually, you know.”

He knew she was referring to sex, but he knew a lot more than that was going to happen between them. “Count on it,” he promised. Before he let her go, though, he grabbed her hand. “Hey, are you okay?”

“Yeah.” But she didn’t quite meet his eyes.

“You sure?” She wasn’t. He could feel it.

“Yeah, of course.”

Dammit. “Can we talk about it later?” he pressed.

“It?”

“Whatever’s bothering you.”

She shook her head. “I’m fine. And I have other plans for later. Not talking.”

He faked a small smile and let her go, but he didn’t like it. He could tell something was wrong. For now Marge needed her, but he would find out if Kat was really okay or not.

And if not, he’d make it okay.

Chapter Eight

Luke jogged across the parking lot toward the RV as the rain picked up and thought about Kat and the phone call as he toweled his hair dry. It bugged him for some reason. But that was typical for him—he liked to fix things.

She’d seemed happy at the barbecue. She was completely comfortable with the nursing home residents and staff. She’d willingly pitched in with the cleanup duties. But he could tell that she hadn’t been happy since the mysterious phone call.

He wanted her to tell him when something was bothering her. He wanted her to come to him with her problems. He wanted to be the person she opened up to, leaned on. Sure, it might just be an error on her bank statement, or maybe she’d forgotten to call the pharmacy for a patient, or something else that was easily fixed.

But he wanted to know even the silly, minor things. And certainly the serious, major things.

“We’re gonna have those repairs done in no time,” Kat said with a grin as she climbed into the back of the RV.

He breathed deeply and turned to face her. “You love this stuff as much as I do, admit it,” he said, trying for light and friendly when he really just wanted to grab her and hug her until she promised to lean on him, and let him help her.

“Okay, I do.”

He was pleased, though surprised, when she came toward him and stopped close enough that she had to look up at him. “We should probably stay another day. Just to be sure everything’s under control.”

He raised his eyebrows but nodded. “I think that’s a great idea.”

“Me too.”

Looking at her he could tell that she meant it. It wasn’t a test, or a joke. She thought they should stay. He lifted his hand to her cheek. “That’s one of the reasons I love you.”

It came out so naturally. He felt like it had been just under the surface and couldn’t wait any longer. But he held his breath waiting for her reaction.

She didn’t have a reaction.

She blinked. Then said, “Do you want me to make you some lunch?”

“Lunch?” he repeated.

This was her reaction to him saying he loved her?

“Yes, lunch.”