Page 21 of Some Like It Deadly
“And that didn’t sit well with you.” An educated guess, but he knew he was right.
“Hell no, it didn’t sit well with me. I could do anything they could do.” All feminine outrage, then she grinned. “But they were older and had a lot more freedom. They used to do this thing called creek dogging.”
“Never heard of it.” He slid off the side and into the water, the cooler temperature bracing against his sun-heated skin. During his convalescence, he hadn’t gotten to spend much of time in the water—or in the sun, for that matter. He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed both.
“Basically, you run wild in a creek area—climbing trees, going over the sides of bridges, whacking snakes and pretending it’s the wilderness. Risking your damn fool neck.” Damn that sounded fun. When was the last time he did something justfor the fun of it? His expression must have revealed something, because she raised her eyebrows at him and laughed. “You’d probably have liked it. It was always about dares. One would dare another to do something crazy and they’d escalate. Anyway, there’s this one bridge, about twenty feet up from the water? The water is also deeper there because it was where two creeks met and created a little rapid effect. The guys hooked a rope up on one side and used it to swing back and forth and then decided they’d see who could leap the farthest from the bridge and into the water.”
He nodded, watching the way the memories played across her face. When she talked about the boys, she relaxed, and her tone softened with affection. She adored her brothers, but he also saw a trace of wistful sadness when she looked out over the pool as though the memories were bittersweet.
Kate cleared her throat and refocused on him. “I’d followed them, tagging along and generally being a pain in the ass. Kevin—he was seventeen at the time—was also my eldest brother. He told them all to knock it off, and he didn’t really want me there, which meant it was twice as fun for me to be. The other guys didn’t listen to him and over the edge they went.” Her tongue skated across her lower lip and she shook her head. “Kevin is standing there telling me no way in hell was I to follow and I ran at that rail and jumped—just like they did—only my legs weren’t quite long enough and my foot hit that top rail. Instead of going over legs first, I went head first.”
Richard winced. “Oh shit.”
“Oh shit, yeah.” Her humor grew with the recollection if that was possible. “I heard the guys yell and then I hit the water. You know creeks aren’t known for being really deep, or really clean, or even really empty—between the force of the fall and my angle, I went all the way down and slammed my shoulder into something. It hurtbadand by the time I sputtered back up, Ihad two brothers trying to drag me out of the water. Then we saw the blood. I’d lacerated the shoulder on a broken bottle or something, but that part didn’t hurt.”
He found that hard to believe. “No?”
“Nope.” She grinned. “It was the dislocation that hurt.”
“Ouch.” He’d dislocated his shoulder during a touch football game on the quad after colliding with one of Armand’s bodyguards. Damn thing had hurt for months, even after quick medical care. “But if the water was that dirty, you could have had an infection.”
“I could have had necrotizing fasciitis and I wouldn’t have cared. I was so damn proud of myself for having done it, for making the jump. The bleeding and the pain couldn’t diminish that. ’Course my dad’s and mom’s reactions were less enthusiastic.” Her eyes brightened and she shrugged. “I was grounded for a month and so were the boys, but do you know the best thing that happened that day?”
“What?” The light in her eyes, the window of insight into the reckless freedom of her youth, held him hostage.
“My brothers didn’t make me stay behind again because I wasn’t a baby and I didn’t cry. So after I was all healed up, when they went creek dogging, so did I.” Pride shimmered in her tone. “I got damn good at it, too, and I never missed another leap.”
“I think I like your brothers. What are they doing now?” Wrong question. The light in her eyes dulled and her smile faded. Touching a hand to her knee, he frowned. “Hey, I didn’t mean to bring up a bad memory.”
“It’s fine, just it’s easier to forget some days than it is others. Kevin died about ten years ago. Parker went down a couple of years later, a training accident.” She cleared her throat. “But Beany Baby is in Germany.”
“Hell, Kate. I’m sorry.” He tightened his grip on her knee. Losing not one, but two brothers—that went beyond suck. Itwould carve out a piece of his soul if Armand died. Barb was his baby sister, and he loved her, but Armand was his family too.
“It’s okay.” She covered his hand with hers and gave him a tremulous smile that almost reached her eyes. “Really. They died doing what they loved and they wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. They were tough guys and I haven’t thought about creek dogging in years. Thank you for that.”
The conversation quieted for a moment and he longed for a way to bring back the sparkle and chase away the shadow of sadness. “Beany Baby?”
She stroked her thumb in a slow circle against the back of his hand and her laughter caught him off guard. “Benjamin. I couldn’t say Ben when was I was little and used to call him Bean. He was one of those kids that shot straight up—all arms and legs and no body—and Kevin and Parker called him String Bean. Well, one day when he was razzing me, I called him Beany Baby and, to his horror, that name stuck.”
Loving the humor dancing in the words, he grinned. “Duly noted.” Before he could add anything else, his cell phone rang and she pulled her hand away. “That,” he sighed with a hint of regret. “Is probably the food.” Levering himself out of the water, he went to claim the phone.
He could have wished for a few more minutes before the interruption, but they had all day. The brief glimpse into her past wasn’t enough.
The more he learned about Kate, the more drawn to her he was.
But she didn’t offer him another chance. By the time they’d eaten breakfast, stored away the food and returned to the pool deck, her professional reserve returned. Oh, she laughed and she teased him, but she didn’t talk about her family or her life beyond a few cryptic comments that told him he’d barely scratched the surface of this complicated woman.
And he wanted…more.
Chapter 6
Kate
It turned out to be an idyllic day and, despite reciting every reason in the book she should have gotten her ass out of there, she’d stayed. Twice more Richard’s phone rang, but she gave him credit—he checked who called and let both go to voicemail. The only messages he returned were texts from the grand duke.
His best friend—can’t really fault him for that one.
He’d been damn attractive when he’d walked into the kitchen, damp hair disheveled and bare chest revealing a raw, primal physique. In his dress slacks, he’d been a study in contrasts—and very, very male. Ten laps in the pool didn’t do a damn thing for easing the far from professional interest her body was developing and when he traced his finger down her shoulder blade, every nerve ending in her body had fired.
