Katie laughed and gave her a hug. “You’re amazing.”
“So are you, when you give yourself a chance.” Emily slid a look at Rafe again. “Why not invite that boy to dinner? Live a little, Katie. You like him, don’t you?”
“Yeah,” Katie said, shifting her gaze back to Rafe. “I do. I mean, I’ve only known him a week, but I’ve spent so much time with him, it feels like longer. He’s a nice guy, Nana. A regular guy. Nothing like Cordell King and believe me, that’s a good thing. I’ve had it with the idle rich.”
“Not all rich guys are idle,” Emily pointed out. “Or, jerks for that matter.”
“Maybe,” Katie said, but she wasn’t convinced. Granted, she hadn’t had a lot of experience with rich men. Cordell had been the one and only billionaire she’d ever known. But if he was an example of their breed, then he was more than enough to last her a lifetime. “From now on though, I’m only interested in regular, hardworking guys.”
“You have your mother’s hard head, God bless her.” Nana blew out a breath and said, “Fine. This Rafe seems nice enough and he’s surely easy on the eyes.”
“That he is,” Katie agreed, letting her gaze slide back to the man whose image had been filling her dreams lately.
“But you never really know a man until you’ve hit the sack with him.”
“Nana!” Katie groaned and shook her head. “What kind of role model are you, anyway?”
“The good kind.” Emily laughed, clearly delighted at being able to shock her granddaughter so easily. “I’m just saying, it might be interesting to take him out for a test drive, that’s all.”
Katie loved her grandmother, but she was in no way the free spirit Emily O’Hara was. But then Nana hadn’t always been this outspoken and full of adventure. Right after Katie’s mother died, Nana had seemed to realize just how short life really was and she’d thrown herself into the mix with abandon.
And while Katie admired that adventurous style and certainly understood, she just couldn’t bring herself to behave the same way. Nana had had the great love of her life and now she was looking for fun.
Katie was still looking for love.
Still, the fact was, Nana was probably right about Rafe. Katie was more drawn to him than she had been to anyone, up to and including Cordell King. So maybe it was time she took a chance. Pushed herself out of the cocoon she’d wrapped herself in.
“Not interested in a test drive.” Okay, that’s a lie, she amended silently when that little buzz of interest popped in her veins again. “Not yet, anyway,” she said aloud. “But dinner would be good. I do like him and he’s so different from Cordell King.”
“Uh-huh.”
“What?”
“Nothing. Not a darn thing.” Emily pulled her in for a hard, tight hug and said, “I’m off for some fun. I suggest you do the same. Gotta run.”
Alone again, Katie silently studied Rafe Cole as he stood in the sunlight laughing with Arturo.
Fun sounded like a good idea.
“The guys are gone,” Rafe said.
He had stayed deliberately, after the crew left for the night, just to get a few minutes alone with her. Hadn’t asked himself why, because he wasn’t sure he’d like the answer. But he’d fallen into the habit of being the last man to leave and he actually looked forward to the times when it was just him and Katie at the house.
The neighborhood was quiet, but for the muffled, heartbeat-like sound of a basketball thumping in someone’s driveway. A dog barked from close by and the ocean wind felt cool after a long day in the sun.
Katie had her curly red hair pulled back in a ponytail and her green eyes were shining in the afternoon light. A soft smile curved her mouth and Rafe felt a punch of need slam into him. He knew it would be a mistake to get her into bed. After all, not only was she so not his type, but she hated the King family. If they had sex and she found out he’d lied about who he was, it could only get ugly.
But damned if logic had anything to do with what he was feeling at the moment.
“How’d it go today?” She stepped out of the house and started for the garage. Rafe walked with her.
“We got the drywall up over the pipes and the plumbing’s finished.”
“Really?” She stopped and grinned. “No more na**d pipes!”
The smile on her face made her eyes shine brighter and Rafe felt a tug of something hot and wicked. The woman could turn him hard without even trying. He couldn’t even remember a time when he’d been this attracted, this quickly to anyone. Not even Leslie, the ex-wife from hell, had had this effect on him.
After a moment or two, he cleared his throat and said, “Yeah. It should move pretty quickly now, as long as all of your supplies come in on time.”
She held up both hands, fingers crossed, and said, “Here’s hoping. I really miss having a kitchen.”
“Maybe, but from the smells coming from your temporary setup, it’s not slowing you down any.”
Laughing, she opened the garage door and stepped into the gloom. Rafe stayed with her, not ready to leave yet. He took a quick look around the garage. It was tidy, like the rest of her house. Storage shelves on one wall, washer and drier on another. There was an older model, red SUV parked dead center and a few lawn and garden tools stacked along the last wall.
“Baking the cookies is easy enough thanks to you setting up the stove for me,” she said, with a nod of her head. “But oh, I miss my counter when it comes time to decorate and wrap. I’ve got tables set up all over the patio now, but…”
“You want your life back,” he finished for her.
“Yes,” she agreed with a sigh. “Funny, but you go along every day and you hardly notice your routine—” She paused and smiled. “You’ll notice I said routine, not rut.”
“I noticed,” he said with a grin.
She stopped beside the shelves and bent down to pull a bag of charcoal free. He bent down at the same time and suddenly, their mouths were just a kiss apart. Time staggered to a standstill. His gaze dropped to her lips and everything inside him clenched when her tongue slipped out to slide along her bottom lip.
Rafe wanted a taste of her. More than he did his next breath. But her eyes told him she wasn’t ready for that and if there was one thing Rafe King knew, it was how to be patient. So he straightened up and grabbed the bag.