Chapter Two
“Well, look who doesn’t
know how to drive a car? Reade Collins.” Kat put her hands on her hips and gave
him a disgusted once-over.
Reade knew that look.
He’d seen it before. Didn’t especially care for it.
But
still…Kat Graves is standing right here.
He almost couldn’t wrap
his mind around that notion. The fact
that she was still magazine cover beautiful didn’t help to clear his head any
either. Black leather boots traveled up her long, jean-covered legs. A copper-colored
ski jacket covered her torso, and a fluffy scarf looped around her neck. A neck
he remembered smelling like peaches from lotion she used to make. He hadn’t
been able to eat a stupid peach without thinking of her. Damn annoying.
Wavy, blond hair fell
about her shoulders under a knit hat. Her cheeks had a healthy blush, and her
eyes were a bottomless blue. She resembled an advertisement for winter fun. She’d
always looked amazing no matter what she was wearing…or wasn’t wearing.
God, it had been at
least ten years since he’d seen her. It felt like longer.
“How have you been?” He
took a step closer, pulled off his ball cap, and ran his fingers through his
floppy black hair. He hoped he didn’t smell too heavily of garlic or salmon
from the restaurant at which he was head chef. With any luck, the fragrance of
tiramisu had chosen to stick with him instead.
“I was great until some
idiot banged into my car.” She gestured a gloved hand toward the crinkled
bumper of her Mazda.
Shit.
“I’m sorry, Kat.” He
walked past her to inspect the damage more closely, not that there was a damn
thing he could do about it here in the middle of a shopping center. His buddy,
Tom, could take care of it at his garage just up the street.
“I guess your attention
span has not improved.” Kat folded her arms across her chest. “I mean really,
Reade, we were basically parked and
you hit me.”
Yes,
and thanks for the reminder of my stupidity and incompetence.
This was not the reunion
with Kat he had pictured many, many times in his mind. He looked like a fool.
Not a good start. Not at all.
“I said I was sorry.”
He held up his phone. “My brother was in one of his emergencies and…oh, never
mind.” He exhaled and a cloud of vapor trailed out of his mouth. The
temperature was dropping fast, and those falling snowflakes were picking up
speed. His gaze went to the flakes that had settled momentarily in Kat’s hair.
They went well with the icy look she was giving him right now for hitting her.
Why
didn’t I take some tiramisu home with me tonight?
That would have
definitely defrosted Kat. If he remembered correctly, the first time she’d
eaten his tiramisu, she’d nearly had an orgasm.
A horn beep made both
of them jump.
“Look, let’s avoid the
police ordeal and holding up this traffic, okay? The damage isn’t that bad.
I’ll pay for it to be fixed. You know where Tom Westin’s garage is?” He pointed
toward the exit and to the right.
“Yeah.”
“If we get out of here
in the next millennium, pull into his place. I’ll be right behind you.”
“Not too close behind
me, please.” She pointed a finger at him, and though he was supposed to feel as
if he were in trouble, that finger had a magnetic pull instead. He wanted to
race toward it, let it touch him as it had so many years ago.
He held up a hand as if
taking an oath. “I promise to pay attention.”
She let out a puff of
breath indicating she didn’t believe he was capable of paying attention. Little
did she know. Now that he knew she was the driver in front of him, all he’d be
able to do was pay attention. He didn’t plan to let her out of his sight.
Not
again.
She may have looked at
him like he was completely brainless, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him.
He loved a challenge.
After what seemed like
hours of staring at the back of Kat’s head and keeping a light foot on the gas,
Reade pulled into the lot of Tom’s garage next to her car. A good dusting of
snow was on the ground now with a guarantee of more on the way. Good thing his
parents were in Florida for the winter or else he’d have to rush off and plow
their driveway. With that obligation out of the picture, he was free to…to
follow wherever the night may lead him. And he had some ideas on where he
wanted to be led.
“Pull her into the bay!” Tom hollered as soon
as Reade got out of his car.
Kat gave a thumbs up
that she’d heard Tom and did as he’d said. When she got out of the vehicle,
Reade had this instant urge to stand right next to her.
So he did.
She cast him a sideways
glance, no trace of those sexy grins he had enjoyed when they’d spent nights
together.
“Hey, Tom,” Kat said,
throwing her arms around the man.
Wait
a minute.
At Reade’s raised
eyebrows, Tom said, “Kat is my wife’s cousin.” He kissed her cheek.
“I see.” I’d much rather see her hugging me. This
would have been way easier if he hadn’t looked down to his phone in the car. Damn Kevin to Hell for calling me. His
brother was getting a karate chop to the neck for this one. Maybe two.
If Reade hadn’t hit
Kat, but saw her in one of the stores, perhaps they would have had a cordial
chat, followed by a lovely dinner, and ended up rolling around naked like in
the good old days.
“What’s the trouble?”
Tom angled his head toward Kat’s car.
“I tapped the bumper,”
Reade said.
“Tapped?” Kat whirled
around to face him, and his heart beat double time over the full force of her
arctic gaze. “It was more than a tap.”
“It was not. I barely
touched you.” Now he was a little too close to her. You know, within slapping
range. He took a half-step back.
“My bumper looks more
than tapped wouldn’t you say, Tom?”
Tom put his hands up in
a time out gesture. “Okay, kids. Let’s not get all riled up.” He followed Kat
to the rear of the Mazda and smiled. “Gonna have to side with her, Reade.”
“That figures.” Who in
his right mind would side against Kat? “Can you fix it?” He jammed his hands in
his coat pockets to keep them warm and to keep them from pulling on one of
Kat’s damp curls.
“Of course I can fix
it.” Tom kneeled to get eye-level with the damage.
“Right now?” Kat interlaced
her gloved fingers and held her joined hands under her chin in a begging
manner.
“No. Not right now.”
Tom ran his grease-covered index finger over the bumper. “I’ll have to order
paint from the manufacturer to get rid of these scrapes.”
Kat groaned.
“Hey, what did I tell
you?” Tom said. “You had to have a purple car, and now that special order silliness
is biting you in the patoot.”
“Aw, shut it, Tom.” Kat
cuffed him on the bicep. “I love my purple baby.” She pressed herself against
the driver side of the car in an embrace.
This was the one and
only time Reade wished he were a little purple Mazda.
“Let’s see. With tomorrow
being Christmas Eve and Christmas right after that…” Tom twitched his lips to
the left then right. “I’m afraid I won’t have the paint until the 26th
or 27th at the earliest.”
Kat turned a sub-zero
glare on Reade, and his insides should have frozen up solid, but instead he
felt all melted. Even a furious Kat Graves was something to behold.
“I’ll bring the car
back after the holiday then,” she said through clenched teeth. She threw
herself into the driver’s seat with an exasperated sigh, and something inside
Reade snapped. If she started her car and drove away, that’d be it. They’d
managed not to bump into each other all this time. He’d probably never see her
again.
He grabbed Tom by the
oil-stained shirtsleeve and yanked him down to the bumper.
“What the hell are—”
“Shhhh.” Reade clamped
a hand over his buddy’s mouth. “Tell her she can’t take the car. It has to stay
here.”
Tom pulled Reade’s hand
away and whispered, “What? But the car is drivable.”
“Dude, no, it isn’t.” He
opened his eyes real wide, hoping to communicate psychically with Tom. “Help me
out, will you?”
“Oh, gotcha, but you’re
going to owe me, big time. I’m thinking full filet mignon dinner with dessert.”
“Anything you want.”
Reade jerked Tom back up to standing as Kat started her car.
“Whoa, whoa!” Tom waved
his hands, and Kat shut off the engine.
She rolled down the
window and stuck her head out. “What’s the matter?”
“Well…” Tom shook his
head and made a few humming and hawing sounds. “Thing is, Kat, the dented
bumper seems to have put your tires out of line.” He dropped to the floor and
snaked himself underneath the car on his back. “Could be your brakes have been
compromised.”
Oh,
he’s good. Reade almost believed what Tom had said.
From the wrinkle between Kat’s brows, he could tell she was buying it too, and
if she hadn’t suddenly become an expert in cars, this could work.
“Are you saying I can’t
have my car back?” She got out of the vehicle and met Tom and Reade at the
bumper.
Tom shimmied back out
and shook his head, giving Reade the quickest of glances. “It wouldn’t be safe,
Kat. You’d better leave it here until I can properly inspect it.”
“Wonderful. Just
wonderful.” She paced away, and Reade thoroughly enjoyed how her jeans
showcased her perfect ass. “Well, can you give me and my gifts a lift home,
Tom?”
“Ummm, I could do
that,” Reade said. Bait launched.
Slowly, Kat’s eyes
focused on him. She stared at him for a few seconds then looked back to Tom.
“I’d really rather have you take me, Tom.”
Bait
tossed back. Damn.
“Can’t.” Tom shook his
head.
Kat tapped her booted
foot on the cement floor. “Why not?”
He shifted his weight
from one foot to the other. “Kids are expecting me to help them decorate the
tree. I’m already late.”
Oh,
pulling the kid card. Brilliant! Time for bait relaunch.
“Again,” Reade said, “I
can take you. I do have a valid driver’s license.”
“Shocking, considering
the way you drive.” She angled a foot at her damaged bumper.
“It’s snowing harder,”
Tom said. “Just let him take you, so I don’t have to feel guilty.” He gave her
pleading eyes, and her shoulders slumped in what Reade hoped was defeat.
“Fine.” She stomped to
her car, ripped open the back passenger door, and collected her bags.
Bait
accepted!
“Thanks, man.” Reade
clapped Tom on the back.
“Happy Holidays,
friend.” Tom pantomimed cutting into and eating a hunk of steak then turned
toward his office. “I’ll give you a call when your car is all set, Kat. Merry
Christmas.”
“What’s so damn merry
about it?” Kat mumbled. She came to stand in front of Reade with her arms full
of purchases. When he didn’t move, she said, “Are you going to help me with
these or what, Prince Charming?”
“Oh, yeah.” He
immediately took her bags and dumped them into his trunk.
You’re
slicker than this, man. Get it together.
Kat waited at the passenger
side of his car for him to unlock the door. When he did so, he accidentally
brushed up against her, and they both froze. Was he the only one who felt that
electric shock zip through his body?
“Let’s go,” she said,
though something had thawed in her tone.
Thawing was good. Reade
could work with thawing. Some mistletoe wouldn’t hurt either.
He slid in behind the
steering wheel, and soon they were pulling out of the garage’s parking lot.
“Are you hungry?”
“I have gummy bears in
here somewhere.” She pulled off her gloves and shuffled around in the purse on
her lap.
“Gummy bears aren’t
dinner, and I know you haven’t eaten, because you were in that shopping center traffic
as long as me.”
“Does that mean you
don’t want any of my gummy bears?” She held up the package and shook the
remaining bears.
He held out his hand if
only to get a part of him onto her side of the vehicle. He hated gummy bears,
but he’d consume an entire army of them if it meant her fingers might touch his
palm.
“What color?” she
asked.
“Don’t care.” Didn’t they all taste like plastic?
“You were always so
passive. No opinion on anything.”
“Ouch. Look, maybe I’m
not the same guy you knew in the past, all right?”
A flash of anger
whipped through him. Okay, he’d broken up with her when he went to Europe to
study cuisine ten years ago. Okay, he’d dented her bumper an hour ago. Couldn’t
she forgive and move on? In both cases, he hadn’t intentionally meant to hurt
her. In fact, the break-up was meant to give her some freedom. He hadn’t wanted
her to sit around waiting for him and besides, he’d asked her to come with him
first.
“Us ending wasn’t all
on me, Kat. I wanted you to come to Europe.”
She pointed to the left
when they came to an intersection. “And what was I supposed to do, Reade. Paint
on the banks of the Seine while you pursued your career and mine sat stagnant?
That wouldn’t have been fair. Breaking up was the right thing to do.” She
popped a gummy bear into her mouth.
“If you agree, why are
you giving me a frigid shoulder tonight?”
“Because you busted my
wheels and…” She shrugged and stared out the windshield.
“And what?”
She turned to look at
him and said, “You’re still flippin’ gorgeous.”
Join me tomorrow for Chapter Three, the final chapter of Mistletoe Wish.
Buy my other holiday stories, Midnight Mistletoe and In the Nick of Time at www.christinedepetrillo.weebly.com.
Toodles,
Chris
