Page 51 of Under the Lights
“Seriously? He’s not sneaking out of your parents’ house every night and waiting for you to pick him up at the end of the block?”
“Nope. Between Eagles Fest and work, I have erratic hours, and he’s been with the guys. And I live right in town, which isn’t exactly private, and he’s staying in my old room. It’s not an easy thing to manage.”
“You could meet in Gretchen’s barn. Wouldn’t that be romantic?”
“You’ve clearly never had straw poking your naked ass. And the barn cat hates me. She starts hissing the second I walk through the door.”
“There has to be a way.” Jen shoved another forkful of pasta in her mouth and looked thoughtful while she chewed. “You could always... wait. When didyouhave straw poking your naked ass?”
“You’re not really paying attention.”
“Oh, you haveallmy attention now.”
Kelly laughed and used her knife to shove the wad of spaghetti off of her fork so she could start over. “Think about it. I’m the coach’s daughter and, just like now, finding privacy was a bitch. Remember Kirby? He only lived here a couple of years before his family moved again.”
“Oh, that’s right. He was your first.”
Kelly nodded. “In Gretchen’s barn.”
“I guess associating sex with straw poking you in the ass would explain the standing-up-against-the-wall fantasy,” Jen said, and Kelly almost choked on her first bite of spaghetti.
“Very funny,” she muttered when she’d managed to chew and swallow. “So what’s going on with you?”
Jen froze with her fork halfway to her mouth. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. Yesterday, Gretchen asked me if you were okay. She said you weren’t being like you.”
Something flashed across her friend’s face but was gone before Kelly could identify it. “I had a headache yesterday. One of those that’s not horrible, but won’t totally go away.”
“Those suck.” She didn’t think that was the entire truth, but Jen was the talkative one of the group, and big on expressing herself. If she didn’t want to talk about something, there was a good reason, and she would when she was ready.
They ate their spaghetti, though neither of them cleaned their plates. That was the nice thing about spaghetti dinner fund-raisers. Everybody was willing to cough up the all-you-can-eat price, but very few people actually went back for seconds.
Once everybody had wandered off, the women and the high school team got to work cleaning up. Despite the expense, Kelly was glad they’d gone with disposable plates and utensils. Cassandra had volunteered her staff on her dime to wash the pots and serving spoons, but she couldn’t do a town’s worth of plates and silverware. Gretchen, who was a lot more used to physical labor than the rest of them, had suggested the three of them could wash by hand in O’Rourke’s sinks, but Jen and Kelly had quickly vetoed that.
While going around with a garbage bag, picking up the napkins and occasional fork people had dropped, Kelly spotted Chase and was surprised to see him. She thought he’d left already, but apparently not. He was still there, directing the boys as they returned the picnic tables and various borrowed seating to where it belonged.
Because of the look he gave her, she wasn’t surprised when he managed to corner her later in a small back room of O’Rourke’s, where she was looking for a broom. There was no door, but somebody would actually have to step into the room and look to the right to see them.
“You’re a hard woman to get alone,” he said, reaching out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.
“I’m not making out with you in what’s essentially Don and Cassandra’s supply closet. Just to be clear on that up front. I see Alex made it back, by the way.”
“He was back before I was, but I think they cheated. And I just put away three helpings of spaghetti and meatballs. I’m surprised I can walk, never mind make out.”
“Three?” She shook her head. “You’re going to crash hard in a little while.”
“If those kids work a little faster, the crash should come when I’m facedown in my pillow.” He moved forward, crowding her against the metal shelf unit. “But I wasn’t passing up an opportunity to sneak a kiss.”
Kelly wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close. “I thought you’d left or I’d have dragged you back here already.”
His mouth met hers, and the rush of desire hit her hard. When his hands slid up her waist, she couldn’t hold back the small moan of frustration. She needed him, and this was definitely not the place.
Still, they were both breathing a little harder and their hands were roaming to the point that they were treading close to the definition ofmaking out, when somebody called Kelly’s name.
They parted reluctantly and she gave a breathy laugh as she made sure her shirt was in order. “I needed that.”
“I need more.”
