Winter Awakening by Elizabeth Lennox
Chapter 4
Kate parked her car and stepped out onto the sidewalk, then paused, staring up at the house. It felt as if walking up the stairs were akin to climbing Mount Everest! She was bone tired and just…tired.
“Kate!” a deep, male voice called out.
Kate turned at the sound and found Mack walking towards her. He wore a shirt this time. Darn it! And shoes. And a coat, double darn it! After Mack had left earlier, she’d realized that he hadn’t had shoes on either.
Pushing her hair out of her eyes, she stopped at the mail box. “What’s up, Mack?” she asked, wondering how long it would take to make a cup of coffee. She could really use some coffee right about now.
“What’s wrong?” he demanded, standing in front of her, his hands on his hips. He looked every inch the police officer. Tall and formidable, with an air of authority around him that was undeniable.
“Nothing,” she said. That was her automatic response. Everything was fine. To the world, she was fine. She’d learned to cultivate this image of “fine-ness” over the years and it had served her well.
His dark eyes moved over her features, not saying anything for a moment. Then he muttered a curse and took her elbow, leading her across the street.
“What? I’m fine!” she protested, clenching the keys to her car in her left hand while…why wasn’t she resisting him? Why was she simply following him across the street?
“You’re not,” he replied, then opened the door to the Victorian house. But Kate pulled back, not ready to enter that house of memories.
“I can’t go in there,” she told him, looking at the front porch to avoid his eyes. The ceiling had been painted sky blue.
“I have beer,” he offered. Still, she hesitated. “And coffee.”
Those were the magic words. “Coffee?” she whispered, as if he’d offered her nectar from the gods! Her eyes glowed with sudden hope.
His lips quirked. “Still the caffeine addict then?” he teased. But only with his eyes. Other than a shift in the glimmer in those dark depths, his features barely moved.
“I admit to nothing,” she replied, but sniffed hopefully, wanting to smell the ambrosia.
“I have to make it,” he said, putting a hand to the small of her back and nudging her inside.
She stepped in reluctantly, but looked around eagerly. “Oh my! This is beautiful!” she gasped, taking in the now-glowing, wood staircase. “Whoever refinished this did a fabulous job!”
“Thank you,” he replied, nudging her down the hallway.
“Do you…do you own this house?”
He tilted his head as he flipped on the light switch. “I’ll make coffee while you tell me what’s wrong.”
He reached into the fridge and grabbed a beer, holding it up for a moment. “Unless you’re in the mood for something different?”
Kate glanced at the counter where, an elaborate coffee machine rested, then at the beer in his hands. “The beer will work,” she decided, taking it from him.
He handed it to her and she backed up a step, watching as he pulled a second out for himself. “So…you didn’t answer my question.”
He twisted the cap off the top, but when she tried to do the same, the top hurt her hand. He took the beer from her and opened it. When he handed it back, their eyes locked and she felt that frisson of awareness that she’d thought had been pushed deep down inside of her.
Obviously, she hadn’t buried it deep enough.
“Thank you,” she replied, her voice barely above a whisper as she accepted the beer, careful not to touch him. She noticed a smirk on his face. He realized what she was doing, damn him!
“What’s wrong?” he prompted again.
She leaned back against the wall, looking around. “Why don’t you have any furniture?” she asked, ignoring his question. Two could play at this game!
“Haven’t had time,” he replied.
“My mom had a mini stroke,” she told him, trying to keep the wobble out of her voice. She didn’t want to be sad. She wanted to be strong. Her mother needed her strength right now. Her mother had looked so scared and alone and somehow tiny in that hospital bed. She’d broken her leg, and had been recovering well, until today. The stroke had…well, it was just a mini stroke but…!
Kate couldn’t hold back the tears. She bowed her head as overwhelming fear clutched at her throat. “The doctors explained that the stroke was probably caused by a blood clot due to her broken leg. It’s nothing. It was only a mini-stroke.…”
The tears poured down her cheeks even as she tried to stifle them. She felt Mack’s strong arms wrap around her and that gesture undid her completely. Mack, her mother, coming home, the fear that her mother could die at any moment…it was all too much. She ached and her body shook as she sobbed, soaking his flannel shirt.
He didn’t say anything. Mack rarely spoke and when he did, the words were sparse. But in his arms, she felt a rush of warmth and support. She couldn’t stop her own arms from wrapping around his lean, hard waist, and didn’t try. Then and there, the past twelve years simply vanished. This was Mack and he’d always been the rock she’d lean on when she’d needed a shoulder to cry on. It didn’t matter if it was happy or sad news, Mack had been the guy that had made sense of the world. So here, in this bright but barren kitchen, she let it all out. All of the stress of her mother’s accident, traveling across the country in a panic and the subsequent requests to return to Wyoming and pack up her childhood home poured out of her.
When the emotional turmoil finally dissipated, Kate lifted her head to find that she was curled up in Mack’s lap now and he was sitting on the floor. Just like they’d done so many times in high school.
“Where’s my beer?’ she asked, deciding to start with the easiest issue.
“I drank it,” he said. No apologies. Just a simple fact.
For some reason, Kate laughed. It was so typical! “Why are we sitting on the floor?” she asked, looking around, but she didn’t pull away. He was so comfortable and she was so tired of being strong and independent! It felt good to lean on someone, even if that leaning was only physical.
“No furniture,” he explained.
Kate laughed again because the lack of furniture was pretty obvious. “Right. Well, care to explain why there’s no furniture?”
He shrugged again, one of those delicious shoulders shifting like tectonic plates. She could feel the tight muscles in his abs as well. Goodness, he felt so good!
“Haven’t gotten around to it yet.”
She tilted her head slightly. “Is furniture on your list of things to do?”
“Eventually.”
Kate smiled, luxuriating in the sense of rightness she felt. The silence felt good and she wanted to stay like this forever.
But even that was a familiar feeling. Twelve years ago, she’d thought that she and Mack would last forever, that their relationship and their love was strong enough to withstand whatever trials life would throw at them.
She’d been mistaken.
“I should go,” she sighed, starting to slide off of his lap.
He stopped her with a hand on her thigh. “Tell me why you were crying.”
She smiled at the command in his voice. “You’ve become bossy over the years,” she teased. “How about if I grab a beer before I go into the details on my latest meltdown?”
He didn’t respond verbally. Instead, he nodded towards the fridge, silently giving her permission.
She stood up, painfully aware of his eyes on her butt as she moved towards the fridge. The family room and kitchen area were just one big area now. He’d taken down several walls and opened up the space. Were there more windows too? Yes, he’d installed a couple of big windows.
“I bet these new windows let in a lot of light during the afternoon.”
She reached into the fridge and grabbed two more beers. Absently, she noted that he didn’t have anything other than beer in there. Did he live off beer? Her eyes drifted down over his broad, muscular shoulders and trim waist and dismissed the thought. No, Mack worked out. Hard! He fed himself some other way.
“How long have you been a police officer?” she asked, sitting down in front of him and handing him both beers. He opened them, then handed one back.
“About five years. I’m a detective, actually. Homicide.”
She absorbed that information, then asked the question that had been plaguing her ever since yesterday morning. “When did you get out of the Army?”
He shrugged. “Five years ago.”
“And you came back here to Cheyenne because…no other city would hire you?”
His eyes narrowed, which made her laugh. “Don’t even try it,” she replied. “I know you’re a softy!”
He grunted, then took a long sip of his beer. “What have you been up to lately?” he asked.
She tilted her head slightly. “You don’t know?”
“I wouldn’t have asked if I did,” he replied.
She nodded. “Fair enough. I thought my mother would have said something.”
His lips quirked slightly. “Your mother still hates me,” he replied.
“Even now that you’re a responsible homeowner and a police officer?”
“Detective,” he corrected. “And yes. She still hates me.” He took another sip of beer. “She blames me for you not coming back to Cheyenne after college, I think.”
Kate smiled and took a sip of her beer. “Yeah, I can see that. She never understood…” she stopped, letting the words trail off.
He lifted a dark eyebrow, prompting her to finish her sentence. But Kate shook her head. “So, what’s the story on this house? I love the changes, by the way. Did you do the work yourself?”
“You haven’t told me what you do for a living.”
She smiled, toying with the label on her beer bottle. “I’m an events coordinator,” she said. “I work for a company in Miami. We do different types of events, but our specialty is weddings.”
“You…plan parties?” he asked, his forehead crinkling in confusion.
“Yep! I love it.”
“I thought you went to college to study business.”
“I did. I even went back to school for my master’s degree. But…” she shrugged. “Well, it takes a lot of budgeting and planning to organize a massive wedding or party. Plus there are often licensing issues, permits, and negotiating tactics that all use my business degree.”
He lifted the bottle of beer to his lips, but hesitated at her answer, as if he were trying to absorb and understand the words. “Huh!” was all he said.
“Weddings used to be my personal favorite type of event,” she told him. “But I’ve gotten bored with them lately. And good grief, some brides can be a real pain in the butt!” She took a sip of her beer as she shook her head. “I can’t believe some of the demands that they make. It’s wild! And the tears! Mack, you’d probably shoot some of them!”
He chuckled as he drained his beer and set it aside, next to the other two.
“Tell me,” he encouraged.
So Kate did. For the next hour, she told him funny stories about brides and grooms, and mothers of the bride and groom, and fathers who cried at their daughter’s wedding. Also, that one father who punched out the groom after the kiss. Mack only looked at his phone once during that time, typing in something then setting it down to look directly at her. Mack had a way of making Kate feel as if she were the center of his world. He concentrated with an intensity that few could achieve and it warmed her, even though he probably gave the same direct attention to anyone with whom he spoke.
“Sounds pretty nutty,” he commented. The doorbell rang and Kate jumped.
“Are you expecting someone?” she asked, starting to stand up. She grabbed the beer bottles, intending to get out of the way so that he could entertain whoever had just arrived.
“Nope, sit. I ordered pizza.” He gracefully stood up and walked over to the door, handing the guy several dollars as a tip before closing the door and bringing the pizza back to where they were sitting on the floor.
“You didn’t!” she whispered with awe in her voice.
“Micky’s Pizza,” he said, setting it on the floor between them. “I’ll get napkins.”
Mack glanced over at Kate who, as expected, had already taken a slice of the extra cheese and sausage pizza out of the box. He almost groaned as she lifted the slice high up in the air, her tongue darting out to guide the tip into her mouth. It was an erotic sight and he paused with the napkins in his hand, trying to tamp down the bolt of lust that shot through him. That tongue…images of Kate on her knees, her mouth around his…and that tongue…! He had to stop! The memories were…powerful.
“Oh, this is so good!” she groaned around a bite of the pizza. “So good! I’ve spent some time in New York City and Micky’s pizza is still so much better than anything I ever found. I don’t know what he puts in the sauce, but it’s amazing!” Then she took another bite, moaning in delight.
The scents wafted over to him, easing the lust and giving him a moment to calm his body down. Finally, Mack was able to move back to the small “picnic” area and sit down. He took a slice of the pizza, keeping his eyes away from Kate.
“So, what kinds of cases do you work on, Officer?” she asked.
He looked at her, his eyes narrowing and he could see the teasing glint in her eyes. He didn’t bother to correct his title this time. “Right now, I’m working on a case involving a murder over off of Yellowstone Road.”
“A murder?” she repeated.
He blinked at her, the pizza halfway to his mouth. “That’s my job. I investigate murders, Kate.”
She smiled, those dimples revealing themselves again. He almost groaned. Damn, he loved those dimples!
“Yeah, but I just didn’t think there were enough murders around here to require…” she stopped, shrugging and he once again noticed how delicate she looked. He knew that she wasn’t. But there was just something about her that…she felt delicate in his arms.
Not to mention…those damned dimples.
“There are enough murders within the city limits and surrounding areas that me and my partner, plus another team, are kept pretty busy.” He shrugged. “It’s not like a big city like Washington, DC where they have a murder practically every day. But we have enough.”
“Okay, so what’s the weirdest thing that you’ve seen during your time as an officer?”
He grunted, not acknowledging her jab this time. “There was a guy recently who told us he was mauled by a bear.”
She blinked. “I’m guessing by your tone, he wasn’t mauled?”
“Hell no,” he chuckled. “He fell on a rake in his back yard. But he and his neighbor have some sort of ridiculous feud going on and he couldn’t admit that he’d fallen on a damn yard tool. So he came up with a story about a bear coming onto his property and taking a swipe at him before wandering off.”
She cracked up, shaking her head and Mack had to grit his teeth as the sparkle of her curly, blond hair shimmered in the evening sunshine coming in through the windows.
“What did you do to him?”
“Took him to the hospital so that the doctors could sew up the ten puncture wounds in his back, then arrested him for filing a false police report.”
Another laugh and he just about exploded from the need to kiss her, to absorb that sound into his mouth and his brain. He’d missed that about her. Kate was always so full of laughter and energy! In high school, no matter what was happening, she’d been able to tease him out of his foul moods. After a loss on the football field, Kate would meet him here and kiss him until he could smile again. At which time, he’d take control and make love to her. Well, as far as she’d let him during that first year together.
“What else?” she asked, pulling him back to the present.
He told her about the various cases that he’d worked over the years, letting the sound of her laughter fill him up, memorizing the sound so that he could replay it in his mind after she left, once her business here in Cheyenne was concluded. And yes, he knew that she would leave again. Because that was the way of the world, he thought.
They finished off the pizza as their conversation continued well into the night. Finally though, Kate glanced at the clock over the stove and sighed. “I guess I’d better head back to my house,” she said. “Or rather, Mom’s house. I have a lot of packing to finish up tomorrow and,” she looked up at him, “you have work tomorrow.”
He couldn’t interpret the expression in her eyes. So instead, he stood up and grabbed the empty pizza box, carrying it to the trash.
“I’ll walk you home.”
She shook her head. “No need. I’m just across the street, remember?”
He stared at her, his protective instincts fighting against his survival instincts. He knew that if he walked her home, he’d want to kiss her. Just as he’d done so often during those high school years. But those walks home had followed a passionate evening here in this house, with Kate in his arms, moaning as they explored their newfound sexuality. They’d been so young. Probably too young to be doing what they did. But it had been blindingly hot, learning how to please each other, finding different ways and going just a little bit further every time until…until they’d culminated their nights in a sexual encounter hotter than anything he’d ever experienced since.
Still, he was a cop. And it was dark. He didn’t like the thought of Kate walking home alone, even if it was just across the street.
“How about if I watch you from the porch until you’re inside?” he offered, thinking that was a fair compromise.
She huffed a bit, then nodded. “Fine!” she sigh. “If you insist on doing the he-man thing, then fine!”
He rolled his eyes as he extended his hands to help her up. But the moment her fingers touched his, there was a pause as they felt the spark. When he pulled her to her feet, there was another moment as she tilted her head back, looking up into his eyes.
He wanted to kiss her. He needed to kiss her! It was there in the air, the tension thick enough to walk on.
But Kate was the first to come to her senses. She pulled back, forcing her lips into a smile. “Thank you for dinner,” she said awkwardly. “And for the shoulder to cry on.” With that, she turned and headed out.
It took him a moment, but Mack followed, watching until she disappeared into her house. He should have been looking for threats, searching the shadows for danger. But Mack couldn’t rip his gaze away from Kate.
She still had an incredible ass, he thought as he closed the door and turned off the lights.
