Never Stopped Loving You (20 page)

Wade had stepped in closer and closer through this conversation until the belt on his jeans caught on the front of her jean shorts.

There was no mistaking that look in his eyes. He stepped in yet again and, well, there was no mistaking
that
either. She glanced around. These kinds of touchy moments were not supposed to be happening and she should be hauling ass away from him. Running somewhere. Considering they were in the middle of a large open field, she needed only to take off in basically any direction.

But she didn’t. Wrapped in his heated gaze, her thighs feeling weighted, she wasn’t going anywhere, just like the other morning after the snake. This wasn’t in the plans. This wasn’t supposed to be happening. He needed to pull away. She needed to push him away or say something funny and teasing.

She opened her mouth to do just that, to tell him they couldn’t keep doing this, but the wrong word came out as her eyes dropped closed. “Wade.”

His thumb moved across her chin. His cheek touched alongside hers. She hadn’t noticed he needed a shave, but a light tickle of hair shivered over her cheek. The smell of Wade, the musk of his natural scent, filled her and she breathed deep, pulled it in and in the process had her aching breasts against his wall of a chest. A tap of a kiss landed on her temple and he was out of her arms, a step away, reaching for the door of the tractor. “I’ve got things to do.”

She clasped her empty hands at her back, but found no warmth. No satisfaction. “I’ll just...”

He looked toward the ground. “I need to finish mowing this field. And then I have a few other things to do before the end of the day.”

“Right. I’ve got...things to do too.” She just couldn’t think of a single one. And he was still staring. “Just wanted you to know I was trying. That’s all.”

He nodded. “See you.”

She took a step back. “I’m sure I’ll be around.”

He climbed on the tractor seat, pulled the door closed and the crank of the engine startled her enough she turned and headed for the house. Tattoo a big
L
on her forehead because she was a loser.

Loo-oo-serrr. One touch. One breath against her skin and she was a puddle before him. It didn’t matter about plans or ideas she had. How much she wanted Chester Farms to be her home again. When it came to Wade, she just melted.

Question of the hour now was, how much longer before she threw her arms up and leaped into a future with him before setting her past to right.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Wade was giving Kara space, all the space he could force while also still being around her. He had to admit, it was a bitch.

To know she wanted him. To know she was fighting herself against walking into his arms. He hung his hands low on his waist and shook his head. What else could he do? She was after her reputation.

He could probably force the issue. Could probably do a lot of things that would lead them back to the bedroom, but then what? Nothing. He’d get the same results as last time. So he walked this tight line, waiting on her to find whatever she was looking to have.

“You gonna flip that chicken?”

Wade started and looked to Patrick. “Uh, yeah.”

“Good. Was afraid you were going to serve us blackened on one side and raw on the other.”

If not for Patrick interrupting his thoughts, he would have. It’d been hard the past few days and he had a bad feeling it was only going to get worse.

“So.” Patrick stared into his cup.

“So?”

“Tasha noticed you seemed distracted and she wanted to know why.”

He turned the last chicken over and pulled the grill lid closed with a chuckle. “She could have asked.”

“That’s what I said. She disagreed and called this man-talk.”

“You do everything she says, don’t you?”

Patrick flashed him a big-ass grin. “Happy wife equals a happy home.”

“Then you can go back over there and tell your happy wife my problem is because of her happy life.”

“What?”

Wade shook his head. “Nothing. Tasha had mentioned to Kara that she couldn’t envision leaving you. That’s how she knew it would last. Kara took her idea to heart. She wants friends only for who the hell knows how long. Until she knows she can’t imagine life without me. Then we can date.”

“I thought y’all were past that. At least, from what I heard.” Patrick was back to staring into his can.

Fire licked out the side of the grill. Wade returned to the chicken and shifted it around to keep the flames down. “So did I. We circled back.”

“That sucks.”

“Yeah.” He closed the grill lid again and sat down in a chair. “Tasha didn’t make you wait, did she?”

Patrick laughed. “You do remember she was pregnant with Dustin two months after dating?”

Wade smiled. “Right. I forgot about that.”

Patrick still smiled. “We had it pretty easy, though. Even with the baby so soon.”

“Lucky.” Wade broke the can tab off and set it on the table. “If she had made you wait, how long would you have waited for her?”

Patrick stared toward Tasha. A distant look added light to the man’s face. “However long she wanted me to.”

“That’s what I was afraid of.” Because he wanted to wait for Kara. But at the same time, how long was he supposed to wait? Seven months? Another seven years to put his life on hold? What if he missed
the one
while waiting on her to come around? She might never reach a point where she was ready.

Patrick chuckled. “I don’t know what you’re hoping for, but marriage can be a real ass sometimes. If you can’t handle this, then forget about her and move on.”

Marriage? Hell, he couldn’t even get to first date. He sat back. “I don’t have a choice. I can wait or do nothing. It’s not like she’s given me options. She’s trying and admits she wants me, but not right now. That’s all I’ve got.”

“So wait. Set a deadline if you want.”

He shrugged. “Two weeks?”

Patrick choked on his drink and sat forward in a fit of coughing that had the man’s cheeks turning red. He pounded his chest, sat back and wiped tears from his eyes. “You don’t know jack shit about women. Tasha can be mad for two weeks over something and I won’t even know it yet. No, dude. If you’re serious about this, think longer. End of summer or end of the year.”

Wade got up and turned the chicken. Again, what choice did he have? So he’d wait some more. Last time he’d given up too fast. So he’d stick it out longer. And do whatever he could to get her to realize that keeping him at arm’s length wasn’t going to make any difference to her reputation. He wasn’t exactly sure how to do that either.

There was only one thing he knew for sure about Kara. When they got close, her skin prickled with chills and her breath shortened. He knew the feeling and so he went with that for hope.

He spread some barbecue sauce across the chicken breasts and let it go for a few more minutes on the grill. He turned back to Patrick. “I’m going to wait for her.”

“How long?”

He squeezed the tongs in his hand. “I don’t know, but tell that nosy wife of yours if she hands out any more advice to Kara it better put me in a good light.”

Patrick laughed. “I’ll tell her, not sure what good it’s going to do.”

He loaded up the plate with the barbecue chicken and carried it across the patio to the picnic tables and set it in the center of the table. “Hope we’re ready to eat. I’m starving.”

Kara’s eyes met his and then dropped to the bowl of potato salad she placed on the table. “We’re ready now.”

He sat in the middle of the bench on his side and Patrick’s boys filled in on either side of him. Before he could even get a thing on his plate, the oldest caught his gaze. “Can we throw the football after we eat?”

“If you eat all your dinner, I bet we can for a few minutes.”

The boy’s freckled-face grin somehow grew bigger and Wade couldn’t resist the thrill that went through him.

The youngest reached for a roll. “Momma, can I have one of those pretty cupcakes?”

Tasha glanced up from fixing her plate. “I think they’re all gone.”

“Aw.”

Tasha continued to grin. “But I hear Wade is hiding chocolate cake somewhere in the house.”

And now that grin was faced in his direction and the toddler tugged on his sleeve. “You’ve got chocolate cake?”

He laughed. “I do.”

Gabe bit his lower lip for a minute and then looked back up. “Can I have some?”

“
Please
,” Tasha and Patrick said at the same time and the boy echoed them.

God, these kids were killers. “You bet.”

“Yes!” The boy did a fist pump.

“But not until after you eat,” Tasha added.

Wade glanced across the table and spotted a small pile of the brown sugar cupcake things. The only few left from his and Kara’s baking session the other night, it seemed. “Somebody has been in the sweets today if those are the only cupcakes left.”

Whitney raised her brows. “Don’t look at us. I walked in the kitchen and found the table full of women drinking coffee and eating them this morning. I grabbed those few and saved them from the beasts.”

He chuckled. The house was open to anyone, anytime. And it was no secret that when the season was open, a few tended to collect at their kitchen table while their husbands hit the fields in a race for the best produce.

Whitney was still frowning. “They ate the last of my rainbow cupcakes. I meant to go put those up, but forgot! They had the nerve to ask for my recipe too.”

That caught Kara’s attention seconds before Whitney faced her. “I told them it was all you and I had no idea what went into them. So if someone asks you about them, that’s why.”

Kara nodded. “Cool.”

Wade picked at his chicken, his appetite more focused on the woman across the table. “Did you sell any jars today?”

Her eyes flashed to his and then returned to his plate. “A few, but I have my regulars ordering from me online.”

Tasha glanced up from her plate then. “Do you have any of that strawberry jelly left?”

She nodded and wiped a napkin over her face even though she was clean. “Sure.”

“Awesome. I want to buy a case.”

“What for?”

“Ice cream topping.”

“I’m not sure how well the consistency would work.”

Patrick grinned. “Works great.”

Tasha laughed. “Whitney and I opened a jar the other day and I took it home with me. Patrick thought it was for ice cream and
ta-da!
”

Heck, maybe Wade should be taking jars too. “Sounds good.”

“No, tastes good,” Tasha added. “And I don’t know what all is in it, but it’s got to be healthier than that canned stuff I order.”

Kara winced. “Well, there’s nothing processed in there.”

Tasha laughed. “Good enough.”

He hoped Kara knew she belonged here. That she wasn’t sitting among them with her stomach knotting as she’d mentioned before. He didn’t think she was, but she was more reserved than he recalled her being when she was younger. If anyone walked up, they would see a group of friends and nothing less. Surely she could see that. “Too bad we didn’t get to make those cookies.”

Patrick’s youngest started next to his side. “You have cookies too?”

Kara laughed. “No. I wish I did. I didn’t get to make them.”

“Can we make them today?”

“Gabe.” Tasha gave that mom look. Wade would know that look anywhere. Eyebrows drawn in. Mouth set. Head slightly tilted. Yep, he knew that look well.

But Kara only smiled. “You know, I think we can.”

“Done!” Dustin shouted from his other side and by the time Wade was looking that way, the kid was staring back up. “I’m ready to play!”

Wade licked his fingers and pushed up from the table as Dustin threw him the football. “You go long.”

The kid took off running and Wade threw the ball. Dustin looked over his shoulder for it, reached and it bounced off his hands.

Patrick was at Wade’s side. “He doesn’t catch as well, but he wants to be a receiver next year.”

Wade nodded. “He’ll get it.”

Dustin got close enough and threw the ball back. Wade pointed off in the distance and Dustin started running as he threw again.

Patrick stood at his side, hands stroking his chin. “He’s great at tackling, but he wants to make the touchdowns.”

The ball bounced from the kid’s hands once again. Wade smiled. Even though the pass was missed, the kid came jogging back close enough to throw it and he had a big smile on his face. Wade threw out another pass again. “Give him time. It took me a while to learn to catch.”

Patrick shook his head. “It’s not that. He gets upset. He won’t show it now because people are here, but he’ll get upset later at home. And ask why he can’t do it right and I don’t have anything to say other than to keep trying.”

Wade’s heart pinched at that. Kids were tough.

“I’d never thought I’d think it, but I’m glad Gabe doesn’t want anything to do with sports. If that’s what he wanted to do, cool, but Dustin keeps us busy and he doesn’t play for fun.”

“He’s only six.”

Patrick laughed. “And a half. He finds T-ball miserable. He loves the game, but the other kids...well, hell, they’re kids. Half of them are spinning circles in the outfield and the other half are playing catch with their hats.”

The oldest came back toward them and Wade waved him in. “Let’s grab some water.”

The kid was breathing as loud as a buffalo. “I’m good.”

Wade exaggerated a pat to his stomach. “I’m an old man, though. I can’t keep up with you kids.”

“All right.” Dustin turned the ball in his hands. “I almost got it that last time.”

“You’re doing a good job.”

“Dad says I just need to practice some more.”

“Practice is good.”

The boy turned his face up to Wade’s. “Did you play football?”

Wade nodded. “I did.”

“Did you make touchdowns?”

Wade chuckled. “I was the quarterback.”

“Oh.” The boy’s shoulders fell.

“I know.” Wade smiled. “Not the most glamorous position on the field.”

“I want to catch the ball better.”

Wade stopped them at the back door. “Tell you what, let’s take a break and then maybe I can teach you a few things.”

“Think so?” Dustin’s eyes turned as round as saucers in his face and Wade was socked in the chest.

“You bet.”

Then Wade opened the back door and found Kara with her mixing bowl. Gabe was sitting on the counter next to her scooping flour or something into the bowl. Her hand was wrapped around the boy’s side and they were both leaned over the bowl and it all robbed him of his breath.

She looked up at him with a smile wide on her face. “Stopping already?”

“Need some water.”

She pushed at his arm. “Some water or a break? You’re breathing awfully hard for just a few minutes of throwing a ball.”

He grabbed a Gatorade. “It was more than a few. Smells good in here.”

“Just put the first batch in the oven. They’ll be out in a few minutes.”

“First batch?”

She rubbed Gabe’s head. “We couldn’t decide if we wanted chocolate chip or sugar cookies, so we’re doing both.”

The boy twisted around and faced them. “And she’s got a letter
G
cutter!”

Patrick was grinning again. “All right, your favorite letter.”

“Yep!” The boy picked through something by his side and lifted up two more cutters. “And look! Footballs and a trophy for Dustin.”

“Cool.” Dustin moved over by them. “Can I help?”

“Wash your hands. We’re about ready to roll them out.”

Tasha rinsed a dish in the sink and turned around and faced them while drying her hands. “I think we found us some babysitters.”

Kara laughed. “Anytime.”

Wade had a feeling how this night was going to go and he didn’t like what he was picturing. In an hour everyone would be gone and Kara would leave too. This was his chance. He glanced to Patrick. “Hey, if you’ve got something to do, head on out.”

Tasha answered before Patrick could. “School night. After these cookies, we’ve got to get home and do baths.”

“
Mom
,” was moaned out by both kids and Wade was tempted to join in.

But he still had a chance and Wade rubbed his hands together. “Maybe next weekend?”

“Can we, Mom?” Dustin bounced on his toes. “Wade says he could show me some tips for catching a ball.”

A faraway look crossed Kara’s face. “I remember the campouts we used to do with your parents.”

Yes, perfect. That. He looked to Whitney. “Do we still have all those tents and stuff?”

Whitney shrugged a shoulder. “As far as I know, we do.”

“Excellent. How about some camping in the backyard on Friday?”