Kiera lay in bed staring at her ceiling Monday night.
Just as she’d done the night before.
During the day she’d been able to get into her work and not think about Zach. Then she’d made dinner with Maya and Sophie, and they’d spent time working on some new costumes and props for the martial arts exhibition at Maya’s studio.
But now, in bed, in the dark, all alone…she couldn’t stop thinking about him.
That was in part because she had a pretty good crush going. It was also in part because he’d texted her last night.
Sweet dreams, Princess. That was all he’d sent, but it had made her smile and had kept her awake thinking about him for nearly an hour.
She’d missed seeing him today. She’d met him two days ago, and she already missed seeing him. She’d also hugged him last night. She’d wanted to after learning about his sister Josie. But there had also been something in how he looked at her and how he made her feel that made it impossible to resist.
And now she missed him.
She’d been waiting for him to text her for the past hour. She knew he was working tonight and had no idea when he’d be home. But it was now after ten, and she really wanted him to text.
So she texted him instead.
I thought you should know that Aimee told me about Josie.
Kiera wasn’t sure that was the best thing to lead off with, but she wasn’t a small-talk kind of girl. She didn’t think Zach was the type for trivialities either.
She waited a long time for a response. So long that she figured he was either still at work or asleep. Or, worse, that she’d brought something up that he didn’t want to talk about.
She set her phone down on her bedside table and rolled to face away from it and closed her eyes, trying to think about anything but the hot EMT she was missing after only two days.
Her phone dinged nearly three minutes later. She sat up and scrambled to grab it, knocked it to the floor, and fumbled around in the dark before finally picking it up and swiping her thumb across the screen. Her heart was pounding simply being connected to Zach via their phones. She was in so much trouble.
I’m amazed. She hasn’t talked about Josie to anyone, even her therapist. Thank you for being someone she can talk to.
That made Kiera’s heart ache. Of course it was something hard to talk about, but she hadn’t realized what a big deal it was for Aimee to have opened up.
I’m very sorry for your loss.
Me too.
She hesitated over the next words she wanted to type. But her thumbs moved in spite of her trepidation. Want to tell me about it?
Maybe he wouldn’t. Maybe he would…
I thought I knew her. And I really thought she told me everything. I found out that she’d dropped out of school a year ago and had been with the band for two years. I never heard anything about it.
Kiera licked her lips. Oh boy. Texting was easier than talking. But this was still pretty involved stuff. Why do you think she didn’t tell you? she asked anyway.
I wish I knew.
Because she thought you would have tried to stop her? Kiera wasn’t sure how she knew that’s what he would have done, but she did. He thought he knew best with Aimee. There was no reason to believe he hadn’t been the same with his other sister.
Probably was his eventual reply.
Why? She held her breath waiting for his answer. She knew she was pushing. But he could end the conversation any time he wanted to. That was the beauty of texting. There was an off button. The thing was, she never pushed other people for information or details or emotions. And yet here she was, pushing Zach. And really wanting to know more about him.
She was going to be a teacher.
Ah. There were definitely some things about Zach that were very easy to understand. He had never hidden or downplayed the fact that he was a fixer. Maybe he thought the people he was closest to should be fixers too.
And that’s a more important job than being a musician? she asked.
There was a long pause.
I thought it was, he finally said.
And she knew you thought so.
I’m sure. I was very proud of her.
Kiera was sure that everyone in Zach’s life knew exactly how he felt about everything. She didn’t know what else to say.
You still there? he asked after several long moments.
Her heart pounded. She could pretend that she’d fallen asleep. She could get out of the conversation without having to actually say anything meaningful. Or awful. Which was just as likely.
But she couldn’t do that. So she said honestly, I kind of want to hug you again right now.
She waited.
And waited.
Zach?
Just calculating how long it would take me to get from your place to work tomorrow.
His answer was hot and sweet and funny at the same time.
Grinning, she typed, You’re coming over?
I suddenly have an urge to be hugged. In real life. By you. Naked.
Her whole body responded to Naked.
I’ve been telling myself not to push, he added a moment later.
He hadn’t been pushing? He’d completely taken over her thoughts and made her heart pound with a simple smile. What would happen if he did start pushing? Zach Ashley was the type of guy to go all in. He was laid back and good humored and charming, but it didn’t take long to realize he was also intense and focused, and he didn’t hold back.
I don’t know if I’m ready for you, she told him honestly.
Actually she did know. She wasn’t. For a woman who had held herself back and avoided deep involvements, an all-in guy like Zach was the last person she should be messing with. There was no casual, superficial, just-for-fun option with Zach.
I know. That’s why I’m not already there.
Instead of trying to talk her into it or reassure her that it would all be fine, he’d admitted that what he wanted was…more. And acknowledged that it might be too much for her.
The butterflies in her stomach woke up. She just wasn’t sure if they were swooping around in excitement or panic. She was learning there was a very fine line between the two. Come over anyway. But after typing that, instead of the send key, she hit the delete key seventeen times. It wasn’t just the sex with Zach she wasn’t ready for. Actually she was feeling quite ready for that. It was the everything else.
You’ve had one-night stands before, right? she typed instead.
Yes.
And short-term, casual affairs? Not that she wanted to know all the details of his love life.
Can’t say I have. One night or long term. The one-nights were only in the first three months after Josie died. It’s been three months of nothing now.
One-night stands only since his sister died. That was telling. He’d told her the first night that he couldn’t make anyone else pancakes.
Finally she typed in, Did you always want to be an EMT?
Trying to distract me?
Trying to find a safer topic.
Because you’re afraid I’m going to end up on your front porch?
She hesitated over her answer for a second. But she said honestly, Because I’m about to beg you to show up on my front porch.
Almost a minute went by. Then her phone dinged with, I wanted to be an EMT since I was fourteen and in a car accident myself.
He was moving on to the new topic. She felt relieved and disappointed at the same time. She frowned. Car accident? Were you hurt?
Badly. Would have died if not for the guy in the car we hit.
She sucked in a breath. Zach could have died?
What happened? You okay to talk about it?
Of course.
She smiled slightly and shook her head.
I was with my basketball coach. We were on back roads on our way to a basketball clinic I’d been invited to. My coach swerved to miss a deer and went into the other lane just as a truck came around the bend. We collided head-on.
Kiera covered her mouth with her hand.
The rest of his answer took some time in coming.
My coach was killed instantly. I had a piece of metal stuck through my abdomen. The guy in the other car was really banged up too. His leg was bleeding. I can still remember that his entire pant leg was soaked. But I didn’t know how bad that was.
He came to the car and saw what was going on with me. Said he was an EMT. He examined my wound and said that we had to put pressure on it or I was going to bleed out.
We were two miles from the nearest house. But he couldn’t leave me. He had already called 911 but they were ten minutes out.
He got in the car with me and held pressure on my wound and talked to me and kept me awake and calm.
By the time the ambulance reached us, he’d lost too much blood himself. He died on the way to the hospital.
Kiera felt the tears stinging her eyes as she reread the story a second time.
Someone had died saving Zach’s life. Someone had sacrificed for him. And not just someone—an EMT. That all made perfect sense.
And now you’re determined to do whatever you can to save anyone who needs you, she typed, feeling incredible affection for the man on the other end.
See, I’m not so hard to understand.
No, he wasn’t. She was, however, pretty sure he was very hard to get over.
* * *
Zach loved this feeling. He barely recognized it—hadn’t felt it in a long while—but he was pretty sure it was optimism.
He took the steps to Kiera’s front porch two at a time and rang the bell, unable to help the huge grin on his face. Aimee was out of the house, without any threatening or begging or bribing on his part. And she was hanging out with Kiera, the girl who had made Aimee smile, the girl who had kissed him as if her mouth had been made for his, the girl he’d been thinking about nearly nonstop over the past five days.
How was it possible he was this drawn to her?
Kiera pulled the door open a moment later.
Zach’s heart missed a good three beats.
The soft, tan fabric of the dress she wore tonight clung to her breasts, stomach, and hips, bared one shoulder, and was cinched at the waist with a wide brown leather belt. The skirt hit at midthigh, leaving several inches of smooth skin between it and the top of the knee-high brown leather boots. Tonight all that skin was a sweet peach color instead of gold. Her face was devoid of any makeup, and her hair was pulled up on top of her head with curls spilling to her shoulder blades.
“Zach?”
She looked puzzled. Probably because he hadn’t said anything, or blinked, in nearly a minute.
“You look…” He wasn’t sure exactly how to describe how her outfit made him feel. He was surprised to find he was as attracted to her in this ensemble as he was to her in blue jeans. That didn’t seem like him. “Amazing.”
She glanced down at her outfit. When she looked up again, he saw she was blushing. “You’re early again. We were trying on our costumes.”
He grinned. “I’m going to keep being early. All kinds of interesting things go on before I show up.”
She stepped back and gestured him inside. “Maya’s studio is having an exhibition next week. Everyone dresses in costume for it. We were just putting finishing touches on ours tonight.”
He stepped through the doorway, close enough to find that, no matter what she wore, she smelled the same. And the scent still made his cock ache.
“You meant to be out of this outfit before I showed up?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Then I’m especially glad I got here early.” He stopped, nearly on top of her, loving that she didn’t back up even an inch.
In fact, she bit her bottom lip, then leaned in and gave him a hug. Again. He wasn’t sure why her hugging surprised him, but it did. He wrapped his arms around her as well, loving the feel of her against him.
“You don’t seem like the hugging type,” he said against the top of her head. Which seemed strange considering she’d climbed into his lap and kissed him the first day they’d met. But hugging was different somehow.
He felt her head move against his chest. “You’re right. I’m not.”
He squeezed her. “Well, I like it.”
She sighed. “Me too.”
“And I like hugging you in this outfit especially.” He ran his hand over the silky bare skin of her shoulder and upper back.
She looked up at him, her arms still around his waist. “Well, if you like this, maybe I’ll be able to talk you into picking up a sword after all.”
“A sword, huh?” he asked, the idea not seeming as crazy as he would have expected. “I could probably get into some pillaging and plundering.”
Was it a coincidence that those two words had never crossed his mind in his life before he’d met Kiera, and now they had occurred to him twice? He didn’t think so.
She looked surprised. “Pillaging and plundering?”
“Isn’t that what pirates do?”
She grinned. “You hear swords and go to pirates right away. That’s interesting.”
“Interesting? How so?”
“Knights also use swords traditionally. I would have thought you’d go for the nobler of the sword-wielding men. What with your hero complex and all.”
Huh. He would have too. “Maybe I’m intrigued by the idea of being the bad boy.”
“Since you’ve never been one?”
No. He never had. Not once. “Maybe.”
And did warrior princesses go for the knight type or the bad-boy pirate deep down?
His attention went to her mouth. Her gaze dropped to his lips.
He really wanted her to go for the heroic EMT type who knew nothing about swords and hadn’t dressed up like a pirate, or anything else, since he was nine.
Zach leaned in and kissed her, but he kept his hands on her back rather than letting them roam to all the places they wanted to. He also kept the kiss lips-only. Or tried to. That only lasted for a few seconds. Kiera was having none of the chaste-kiss stuff. She opened her mouth and stroked her tongue against his, making some of those amazing sounds that had haunted him over the past few nights.
They parted when voices from the other room infiltrated the lusty haze around him.
He let go of her and she stepped back, smiling at him. “You coming in, or should I go get Aimee?”
“Anyone else dressed in costume in there?” he asked lightly.
“Yep.”
“Then I’ve gotta come in.” He wanted to see the other costumes. And that was the craziest thing to occur to him in some time.
“Okay.” That seemed to please her, and she started down a short hallway off to the left, her boots clomping on the hardwood. “This way.”
The dress molded to her ass too, and as his eyes focused lower, he wanted to run his tongue along the creases at the backs of her knees. He couldn’t remember ever having had that particular, and very specific, urge before.
“What’s the exhibition for?” he asked as he followed her.
“At Maya’s martial arts studio, new students come and sign up for classes. She does it every year right after school starts. Costumes are required. Even for the adults.”
“You’ve been making costumes all afternoon?”
Zach tried to picture Aimee sitting around and stitching. As far as he knew, his sister believed clothes magically showed up in the mall, waiting for her and her credit card to rescue them.
“Just touching Sophie’s and mine up,” Kiera said. “And making Aimee’s.”
He stepped through the arched doorway into their dining room. Or what would have been the dining room in any other person’s house. Zach looked around, momentarily speechless. One wall was a huge picture window. But that was the most normal thing about the room. The gigantic old-fashioned dining table in the center of the space was covered in fabrics in every color of the rainbow, and three sewing machines. Instead of dishes, the massive china hutch across the room held crowns and helmets, hats and tiaras. The wall to his left was covered in hooks that held leather loops attached to a variety of weapons, including knives, swords, hammers, lances, axes, and bows. But as the sight of garments hanging from the chandelier and the half-naked mannequins around the room sank in, her words also penetrated fully.
Making Aimee’s. As in Aimee’s costume.
No one else was in the room at the moment, and Zach wondered what these girls were getting Aimee into—literally. And where. “Aimee’s got a costume for Maya’s exhibition?”
“Of course,” Kiera said.
She’d stepped to the other side of the table so that the wide surface, covered with lace, thread, scissors, pencils, and a few things Zach couldn’t identify, was between them.
He sighed. “You’re getting my sister into cosplay, Princess? Really?”
Kiera shrugged. “She was already into it, as in interested and knowledgeable. Now we’re giving her the tools and opportunity.”
“You,” he said simply.
“Excuse me?”
“You are giving her the tools and opportunity. You said we.” He followed her around the table, stepping over what looked to be green suede and a strip of red gauzy stuff.
Kiera stepped back as he got closer. “Sophie and Maya definitely helped. I can’t make anything without them.”
“But it was your idea,” Zach said. “And it’s you who knows that this isn’t exactly what I expected—”
“Zach! Hi!”
His heart thumped hard in his chest at the sound of his sister’s voice and, more specifically, the excitement in her voice. He didn’t care what they’d been doing here tonight if it put that tone in her voice. He turned with a smile—that quickly died. If he had passed the girl in front of him on the street, he never would have recognized her as his sister.
Aimee’s hair had been pulled back and covered with a wig of straight jet-black hair. She wore a long black dress under a dark-red cape, and an enormous pendant hanging from a silver chain around her neck. Silver earrings hung from her ears, and her hands were adorned with a multitude of rings. But most striking of all was the makeup.
Her face had been painted. Her skin was practically white, and her lips were a dark red that was nearly black. Her eyes looked huge, the lashes long and spiky. Purple, red, and blue makeup swirled from her eyelids out and up to her temples in dramatic swooshes.
“What do you think?” Her crimson smile was bright as she twirled for him. “Isn’t it amazing?”
That was one word. “You look…incredible.” That was one of those words that could mean “very good” or “very bad,” wasn’t it?
“They’ve invited me to Maya’s exhibition. I’m going like this.”
He nodded, not sure what to say really. More than the lashes that were three times longer than usual and the blood-red fake fingernails that he’d just now noticed, the most prominent feature in the whole ensemble was the glow of happiness. No makeup could disguise the fact that she was nearly giddy in the costume. She looked…great, actually.
Gone were the dark circles. The pale skin was now deliberate. There was no frown, no pinched lips, no I-didn’t-wash-my-hair-today messy bun, no faded T-shirt and sweatpants.
“Who are you supposed to be?” He finally managed to get past the tightness in his throat. “You know I don’t know all of this stuff.”
“Quinn. I’m a witch,” she said with a grin.
He didn’t need to ask where Quinn was from.
“Can I talk to you for a minute?” He felt Kiera grab his sleeve and pull.
He followed, only because he didn’t know exactly what else to say or do.
She stepped through a swinging door, and Zach found himself in the kitchen. Kiera let go of him and turned to face him. “Just wanted to give you a breather before you said something you couldn’t take back. She feels good, and she’s having fun. Don’t get upset about this, okay?”
Wow. Zach stared at her, feeling the rumblings of lust deep in his gut. The flash of emotion in her eyes was a turn-on and made him think of fiery warrior princesses again. He wanted her badly. Even though he didn’t know what she was talking about.
“Excuse me?”
“You looked on the verge of saying something stupid out there,” she said. “I know you’re surprised to see her like that, but you need to think before you react.”
She was feeling protective. But was she being protective of his sister, or of him? Either way, it made him want her even more.
She was right. He hadn’t known how to react to Aimee. But he did know what to do with Kiera. He took her upper arms and walked her backward until her spine was against the wall next to the range. And then he kissed her.
It took only two seconds for her to arch against him, wrap her arms around his neck, and part her lips for him.
He kissed her with a strange combination of happiness, gratitude, and frustration. None of this was exactly what he wanted, and yet…it was. His sister was in head-to-toe costume, but she was happy. Kiera was a cosplaying gamer girl, but she made his heart pound.
After several long, delicious moments, he pulled back, still holding her against the wall, staring down at her.
“Thank you,” he said roughly.
She looked up at him, and her surprised expression melted into a smile. “That’s better.”
He couldn’t help but chuckle. “The kissing is better than putting my foot in my mouth with my sister?”
“Definitely.” She gave a little shrug. “But the kissing is better than almost anything.”
When it came to Kiera, he couldn’t argue that. He’d liked kissing since he’d first done it in junior high, but there was something about kissing this woman that was different. Every kiss was an I-could-just-kiss-you-all-night kiss. He’d never had those before, but that was exactly how he felt. He wanted more, for sure, but even if there had been a soft horizontal surface and no other people around, he would have spent hours simply kissing her first. It was always just that good.
“Well, if you’re going to kiss me every time I’m about to say something to piss Aimee off, you’re going to be a busy woman.”
Kiera didn’t look shocked. “You do seem to have a tendency to be a little controlling,” she said, with a note in her voice that told him she didn’t think there was anything little about it.
“I often think I know best,” he admitted.
Kiera lifted an eyebrow.
“Because I often do know best,” he said.
She shook her head. “Wow.”
“For instance, having Aimee spend time with you was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.” He meant that wholeheartedly. He had made some bad decisions where his family was concerned, for sure. But introducing Aimee and Kiera hadn’t been one of them.
“So you’re not upset about the costume and makeup?”
“It’s a positive step—it got Aimee out of the house and interacting with other people and smiling. That is important to me, and I’m grateful to you.”
Kiera worried her bottom lip between her teeth.
“But she can’t walk around in that costume all the time,” he went on. “She also has to start interacting in her regular world again.”
“Relationships are about compromise,” Kiera said. “If you want her to go to dinner with your parents and smile and participate in the conversation, then you need to let her do this stuff too. Sometimes in costume.”
He sighed. He wasn’t much of a compromiser, he could admit. People made poor choices all the time, and he cleaned up after them—drug use, drunk driving, thinking their fists were stronger than a brick wall. He saw it on every shift.
But there was something about Kiera—in addition to her eyes and lips and breasts and sweetness—that pulled at him. It was an urge to trust her, to turn it over, to not have to make every damned decision all the damned time.
“Fine. I have no problem with her going to the exhibition. As Quinn.”
Kiera’s eyes softened. “You remembered her name.”
He moved closer and bent so his forehead rested against hers. “Yes, Princess Kirenda, I remembered her name.”
“You know what would really go a long way with Aimee?” Kiera asked, running her hands up his chest to link her fingers behind his neck.
Zach moved to put his nose against her temple, drawing in her scent. “What’s that?”
“If you came to the exhibition to watch. It would show that you’re supportive.”
Zach thought about how great it had been having Kiera at his basketball game, and her words came back to him: I liked watching you like it. And suddenly it wasn’t just Aimee he wanted to see in her element.
“Will you be there?” he asked Kiera.
“Yes.”
“In this outfit?”
She laughed lightly. “You like this one?”
“So much,” he said with enthusiasm.
“I have others too.”
“Maybe we can have a fashion show sometime.” He bent farther to put his lips against her ear.
She shivered. “We could do that.”
He ran his lips lightly down the side of her throat. “I’m in.”
She arched into him and tipped her head, giving him more surface area to kiss. He licked along her collarbone.
“I know I really would love to see you with a sword,” she said, slightly breathless.
Zach’s first thought was that he wanted her very breathless. “I can rent something and be in your bedroom in thirty minutes.” He almost couldn’t believe he’d just agreed to that. But where was the bad? Dressed as a pirate to turn the cosplaying princess on? If he eventually got her naked, he could play along with a fantasy or two. If he got to bind her hands with a black silk tie, he might even throw in a yo-ho-ho.
She let her head fall back, and he kissed his way up the center of her throat to her lips.
“I was talking about the exhibition,” she said, just before he pressed his lips to hers.
He was sinking into the kiss when her words fully registered. He lifted his head. “You want me to dress up at the exhibition? In public?”
“I do,” she admitted. “Though in private too.”
He looked at her flushed cheeks, her breasts rising and falling, and her parted lips. “You’re trying to seduce me into a costume, and I’m trying to seduce you out of one.”
She gave him a smile. “Really?”
“You didn’t realize I was trying to seduce you?”
“I mean me. I’ve never seduced someone before.”
He really liked that. “I knew the moment I saw you that you could make a Trekkie out of me.”
Her smile was bright, but she wrinkled her nose. “Star Trek?”
“No? Star Wars?”
“Galactic Renegades.”
Looked like he had something else to add to his to-watch list. “Well, whatever. If anyone could get me into a costume, it’d be you.”
“Just for a night?” she asked, arching into him again.
He slid his hands to her ass, aware that the bare skin of her thighs was only a few inches lower. “I have a feeling one night would never be enough.”
Her eyes grew warmer. And Zach realized that if geekiness was basically being passionate about something, he was going to be getting very geeky over this woman.
“It would mean a lot to Aimee,” Kiera said again.
“What about you?”
She tipped her head. “What about me?”
“Would it mean a lot to you?” It would take a lot to impress a girl like Kiera. Wielding a sword might be worth a try.
“Seriously? You’re considering it?”
“Maybe. I don’t get the gaming, but this is hands-on stuff,” he said, bunching the fabric of her skirt in one hand while sliding the other lower, to the curve where the back of her thigh met her ass. “That’s how I like things.”
“So you’d play pirate with me as long as you can be hands-on with the whole thing?”
There was a very sexy note in her tone now.
He had to admit that the idea of getting into a character who did whatever he wanted, took whatever he wanted, and said whatever he wanted without worrying about consequences sounded damned tempting. “You think you can handle my pirate side, Princess?”
“Oh, I think I’ll be okay.”
“Let’s find out.”
“You’re on.” She gave him a smile, her eyes sparkling.
“And as for your part of this compromise,” he said, “you come to my game again Sunday and then out with me and my friends afterward.”
Kiera straightened. “You’re compromising with Aimee, not me.”
“All relationships require compromise. Or so I’ve been told.”
“Our relationship is fake.”
“Is that right?” He pressed closer. “Doesn’t feel fake to me. Feels like I have my arms full of a very real woman who is making me feel some very real feelings.”
“Like lust?” she asked.
“Lust and fascination are both very real feelings.” In fact, other than frustration, anger, and guilt, those two emotions were the strongest ones he’d felt since Josie had died. He liked these much more. And he intended to keep feeling them. Kiera was the key to that.
“Okay, I’ll come,” she agreed. “But your team needs to be the ones without their shirts again.”
He grinned. “It might cost me a couple pitchers of beer, but I’ll see what I can get the guys to do.”
He was bringing a girl out with his friends. He never did that. And she was a gamer girl geek on top of it.
This would be interesting.
It was common to rehash calls when they all got together over beers. Many of his buddies were EMTs and firefighters, but he knew several docs and cops too. They loved to talk work and try to one-up each other. The tales in emergency management were a lot like fishing tales—they grew and grew the further from the pond they got. Most of that would probably horrify Kiera.
Maybe this wasn’t a great idea. His friends weren’t dicks, but he was certain that the scene at the convention center had been the closest any of them had ever gotten to cosplaying, and he wouldn’t put it past them to make some disparaging remarks about some of the things they’d seen. A few of his friends probably played Call of Duty, but he doubted many would consider themselves gamers. Troy knew a lot about the movie franchises, though. Zach would have to be sure Troy spent time talking with Kiera so she didn’t feel left out as they played pool and discussed their fantasy football picks.
“You don’t have to stay long,” he said. “We’ll have some pizza and say hi to everyone, and we can head out.”
“Will Aimee come with you, or should I pick her up?”
“No Aimee,” he said. “Just you and me.”
Kiera’s eyes widened in surprise. And Zach had to admit it was a bit of a surprise to him too. But he wanted a date with Kiera.
Before she could say anything, the back door banged open, and Kiera jerked back. They both turned as Maya came in, her arms laden with grocery sacks.
Maya looked up. “Oh, hey! Sorry, the wind caught the door.” She moved to the center island and dropped the bags.
“Uh, no problem,” Kiera said, sliding her skirt down and smoothing it.
The other woman swung the door shut with her foot. “I might have gotten too much. But better safe than sorry when it comes to cupcakes, right?”
“Definitely.” Kiera looked up at him. “Maya went out for snacks while Sophie and I worked on Aimee’s costume.”
Maya grinned at him. “I’m the weapons expert. When it comes to making dresses, I mostly just offer moral support. And junk food.”
When Maya turned to put something in the fridge, Zach caught sight of a jagged scar that ran from just below her jaw down her neck to the sleeve of her leather vest. It was covered by her vest and top for several inches but it reappeared at the top of her arm and went to her elbow. Her short dark hair did nothing to hide it, and it was clear she wasn’t worried about someone seeing it when she chose her clothing.
Just then Aimee and Sophie came into the kitchen, Aimee still dressed as Quinn and Sophie in a long blue sparkly dress with a tiara nestled in her blond curls. Zach got out of the way as they started going through the bags and Kiera moved to the cupboards to get dishes.
Five minutes later the kitchen island was covered with cheese and crackers, tortilla chips and salsa, fruit and mini cupcakes, and everyone was talking and laughing and eating.
Zach stayed to the side, a plate of crackers and cheese in hand, observing the women.
The three who lived here were clearly close and comfortable with one another, and Aimee seemed to fit right in. These women were older than Aimee by quite a bit, but it was still positive interaction with people in real life. He wasn’t going to be picky. Especially when Aimee was grinning the way she was. He felt such relief at that, he almost couldn’t describe it.
But as happy as he was to watch his sister laughing and talking, he couldn’t keep his eyes off Kiera. For a number of reasons. The way the dress moved over her body. The way she ate the frosting off her cupcakes, dipping it off with her finger and then licking her finger clean—an action that made his jeans fit a little tighter—but didn’t eat any of the cake. The way she looked at Aimee with clear affection.
He liked her. A lot. And he wanted her. A lot. And more, he wanted to know everything about her. When she’d texted him Monday night, he’d been surprised. But, in spite of Josie being the topic of conversation, he was thrilled she’d initiated it. He’d been the one to text her first both Tuesday and Wednesday nights. After dialing and then disconnecting before the call went through. He fucking hated texting, and once he broke her of the habit, he wanted never to do it again. But if this was all she’d give him right now, he’d make it work.
Speaking of texting…
He pulled his phone out and typed in, How did Maya get injured?
Kiera jumped as her phone vibrated on the counter next to her elbow. She looked at the message, then up at him. She smiled. Then set her cupcake down and replied.
She was a cop. Got cut up and burned pretty badly doing a rescue at a car accident.
He wondered if he’d ever run into her at a scene before. Was a cop?
They put her behind a desk after she was through rehab. She couldn’t take not being active and in the field so left the force and started her studio. Martial arts, weaponry work, fitness, and self-defense.
Zach looked over at Maya. She was kick-ass too.
She’s not self-conscious about it at all. She talks about the injury with the kids in her classes all the time, Kiera told him.
What about Sophie? he asked.
She owns a little hole-in-the-wall theater. She’s a playwright and actress.
Zach watched Sophie for a moment. She was much softer-spoken than Maya and seemed more of an observer. It surprised him that she was an actress. Weren’t they usually more outgoing and dramatic?
Immediately on the heels of that thought, however, was the realization that he had no idea what he was talking about. His sisters had been good students, obedient children, friendly, well liked, successful. His mother had been a dynamo in both her social and her volunteering circles. The women he was attracted to were outgoing, beautiful, social, sports fans, and very much regular girls.
Or at least that’s how it had seemed.
The reality was that Josie had been playing in a band instead of going to college, and had been on the verge of moving to LA without a word to her family. His mother had a drinking problem and hadn’t had a clue about her oldest daughter’s activities, and had crawled into bed with a bottle rather than take care of her youngest daughter after Josie died.
Now he also had to wonder what secrets and lies had been behind the cute smiles and big breasts of the women he’d dated. He’d never gotten close enough for long enough to find out, but clearly his delusion that the only people in need were his patients had been exactly that…another lie. He was obviously not as good as he’d thought when it came to really knowing the people he was close to.
There were no lies with Kiera, though. The sweet introvert, who preferred time with her computer to real-life interactions and knew nothing about sports, was making him think twice about everything.
He felt like hugging her. Kissing her and doing a bunch of other stuff too, with her skirt hiked up around her waist and her boots digging into his ass, but definitely also hugging. He wanted to lose himself in this woman who was sure of herself and embraced who she was. And let him see all of it without apology.
She was a relief. Plain and simple. A relief he wanted to take to bed…for about a month straight.