When he spoke to her mom, Mrs. Angel told him that Karlie had moved to Georgia. He thought about finding out where she was living and just “running” into her one day, but there never seemed to be a good time for that trip. His auto shop was finally taking off, and he was the only mechanic on staff. Until he hired another guy, he would have to pick up all the slack. He was damn proud of Jackson Auto. He bought the old shop off his Uncle Jed when he wanted to retire. Jed had all but run the business into the ground with bad bookkeeping. When Drew took over the business, he didn’t have the money for an office manager or bookkeeper, so he did it all. Long days and even longer nights became the norm for him. There was no time to go to Atlanta, and hope to run into Karlie. And, even if he had, would she have cared?
Now, as he pulled up to his house, he felt oddly worried that she wouldn’t like it. He’d never worried about what other people thought of him or anything that belonged to him. But he wanted Karlie to like his space. “This is me,” he almost whispered. What the hell was wrong with him? He cleared his throat and waitedfor some response from her.
“You own the old Gain’s house?” She seemed surprised by this. He bought the house last year after his business was finally in the black. He wanted a place to call his own. For three years prior, he lived above his shop. It wasn’t that bad since he was there working anyway, and he had all the conveniences of home—a bathroom, a shower, a small kitchen area, and a bed. Last year, all he could think about was putting down roots. Drew had such a crush on her that when he first looked at the house, he was picturing Karlie in every damn room. That was when he knew he wanted to buy the place. He put in an offer, and a month and a half later, he was moving in. When Karlie ended it with Jake, a small part of Drew wished that his dream of her living in his home would happen. And now, she was here.
“I love this house.” She was just staring at it, and God, she was beautiful. She looked like a kid who had just gotten what she wanted for Christmas. She liked his house, and that gave him some strange satisfaction. “When I was a kid,” she said, “I used to tell Jenna that someday I would live in this house. I’d imagine being here with my family, kids, a husband—” Her voice trailed off, not finishing her thought. Karlie barked out her laugh, “Maybe even a dog and cat. They’d always be fighting.” She looked at Drew, and his heart just about jumped out of his damn chest. She didn’t just like the house—she loved it.
Karlie undid her seatbelt and started to get out. “Stay put,” he told her as he slipped from his side of the truck and ran around to get her. He opened the door for her and took her hand to help her out. She smiled, the first smile he’d seen on her face since he spotted her on the side of the road. Her smile transformed her into the beautiful teenage girl that he secretly crushed on, and she took his breath away.No, keep it together, stupid. Youdon’t want to scare her off.The last thing Drew wanted was to see Karlie running back to Atlanta. Now that she was here, he wanted his chance with her. He needed to show her that they could be good together. He had waited this long; he could take his time to make sure she wouldn’t run off again. Seven years was a long time to wait.
Sure, he didn’t spend all that time alone. There had been other women. He liked to have a good time and always made sure that the women knew where he stood with a relationship—he didn’t want one. He’d go on dates, and there was usually sex, but he never really dated the same woman more than once. He didn’t want to get tangled up and have to deal with messy relationship feelings. In all those seven years, he only really slipped up with one woman, Lisa Hastings. He took her to dinner a few times, and they had sex so often that he even left a toothbrush and a change of clothes at her place, out of convenience. It wasn’t like he could take her back to his apartment above his shop. When he realized that she had other ideas about where their relationship was going, it was too late. He had to break it off with her. It wasn’t fair that he thought of their time together as just sex, and she was picking out China patterns. He wanted to have fun, and he wanted Karlie. Karlie was the only woman that he ever thought of for the long term. He just had to make sure not to spook her.
Karlie jumped down out of his truck. She was so tiny he’d had to help lift her down from the cab, not that he minded that. “Let me grab my bags,” she stuttered. Was she nervous? He pulled her around and kissed her, trying to help steady her nerves. He lingered for just a moment, not wanting to give the neighbors too much to talk about. “Hi,” he whispered against her lips, pushing her hair from her eyes. “I love your new haircut. Did you do it after you left? Your hair was long when you were with—" Hestopped talking when he realized what he was about to say. How could he be so stupid as to bring up Jake? Drew closed his eyes, trying to regroup.
“It’s okay, you can say his name, Drew. As of tomorrow, Jake is going to be my brother-in-law. I am okay with it all. I have moved on.” Hearing Karlie say that she had moved on without Jake gave Drew hope.
“How about I grab your bags, and we get you inside for a quick shower?” he asked. She shyly nodded.
“My dad just texted me to get my caboose over there so that I can catch the tail end of the rehearsal. Although, I’m not sure why. I’m not in the wedding party.” She gasped, putting her hand to her mouth, her eyes wide. “Oh my God, but you are! You’re the best man, and you need to be there. I’ve distracted you with my problems. I’m so sorry, Drew. You promised your brother that—” He couldn’t stand it anymore. He stopped her worried rambling by kissing her, this time giving the neighbors something to talk about. He crushed her mouth with his and licked his way inside her parted lips. She moaned then wrapped her arms around his neck, running her fingers into his hair. Every damn time. She responded to him kissing her like she was starving, and he was her last meal. She moaned, and he couldn’t take it. Drew lifted her against his body. She seemed to fit him perfectly, especially when she wrapped her legs around him. He walked with her like that to the house, kissing her senseless. He punched in the code and opened his side door. He slammed the door behind them and set her on the landing. Drew reluctantly pulled away from her, ending their kiss, and she groaned in protest.
He chuckled. “Honey, I don’t want to stop any more than you do. I need to get you in the shower.” She turned bright pink, andhe found her blush beyond adorable. Karlie started stammering incoherently, and he stopped her rambling with one more quick, hard kiss.
“I’ll go out and bring in your bags after I show you to the bathroom.” He grabbed her hand and started leading her toward the bedrooms. He hoped that what he planned on doing wouldn’t spook her too much, but there was no way that he was putting her into the guest bedroom. His bedroom was on the right, and he entered and turned on the light. She blinked against the brightness and then seemed to understand what room she was in.
“If this isn’t okay, tell me now,” he said. “Otherwise, I want you with me, in my bed. If you don’t want that, now is the time to tell me. I have other rooms, and you can have one of them.” He waited. He could almost see her thinking, like she was discussing the pros and cons with herself. To be truthful, she looked a little spooked. He chuckled and pulled her up against his body, realizing that he had laughed more with her in the past hour than he had in the past 6 months. “Baby, I can see you thinking.” He rubbed the skin at the bridge of her nose between her eyes, smoothing out the wrinkles. “It’s okay. I want you, and I think you want me.” She nodded hard and fast, causing him to chuckle again. “Then, just stay with me for the weekend.” She nodded again, this time much more cautiously. He kissed the side of her mouth and led her back to his en-suite.
She gasped, “It’s so spacious and beautiful.” She ran her fingers along the clawfoot tub. “I wish I had time for a bath!” she gushed.
“Later, baby. I’ll run you a bubble bath, and you can relax and unwind after the rehearsal dinner. You’ll probably need that.” He shrugged, “For now, the shower’s there and you can helpyourself to the towels and toiletries in the closet. I’ll be right back with your bags.” He gave her mouth a quick peck and playfully squeezed a handful of her ass, needing to touch her. Karlie squealed and teasingly slapped his arm, giggling as she shoved him out of the bathroom to get ready.
∞
Karlie knew that she was going against her new mantra, but she couldn’t tell Drew no. She wanted him so much that not being with him wasn’t even a thought she wanted to entertain. At least he distracted her from having to think about seeing Jenna and Jake for the first time since she found them in bed together. No, that couldn’t be the only reason that she had agreed to all of this—this train wreck. That’s the only way that she saw this ending with Drew, in a wreck. Unfortunately, that was the way her life had been going since that night she found her boyfriend in bed with her sister. Drew would run the other way when he realized that she was a train wreck from start to finish.
Her new apartment in Georgia was great, but as for the rest of starting over, her life wasn’t going quite as planned. She had only one real friend in Atlanta, and her job was a complete dead end. She worked at an accounting firm, but she was more of a secretary than an accountant. She was hoping that she would be able to work her way up, but that plan was also going down the toilet. Nothing seemed to be working out in Atlanta other than the fact that it gave her a safe place to be alone to figure things out. A place where she didn’t have to see Jenna or Jake.
“You gonna get into the water or just stand there staring off?”
Drew had startled her so badly that she screamed and jumped, hitting her knee on the vanity. He smirked at her and handed herthe bag. “Sorry,” he breathed. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
“Well, I was letting it heat up. And it seems that if I wanted any privacy, I’d need to lock the bathroom door.” She giggled and started ushering him to the door.
“But, I am excellent at washing backs,” he drawled, pretending to be affronted that she wasn’t letting him help.
“We need to get out of here so you can go do your best man thing,” she teased. “I can get a shower and get dressed much faster without you distracting me.”
“So, I distract you?” He turned and pulled her into his arms, kissing down her neck. “Does this distract you?” he asked, nibbling her collarbone.
“Y-Yes,” she stuttered. “You need to stop that, or I’ll run out of hot water.” He growled, literally growled in frustration, and it was her turn to giggle at him. She swatted him away, shooing him out the bathroom door. Karlie thought about locking the door but decided against it, turning to start stripping out of her shorts and T-shirt. She stepped into the steamy spray and washed away the dirt and grime from the road trip. She was determined to look her best tonight and tomorrow. Karlie planned on plastering on some makeup and a smile to show everyone how well she was doing, even if most of it was a lie. At least she didn’t have to go through the next couple of days alone. Thinking about having Drew with her made her feel safe and very hopeful about the weekend.
∞
Drew had a very cold shower in the guest bathroom and dressed in his suit. It took everything in him not to think about Karliein his bathroom, rubbing his soap all over her sexy body. God, he wished she would have taken him up on his offer to help her shower. Unfortunately, she was right; they needed to get to the rehearsal dinner and get it over with. Agreeing to stand in for his brother might have been the right thing to do, but he didn’t want to stand up for Jake. He was such a slimy bastard, the way he’d treated Karlie and used her sister. He’d overheard Ryan talking before he shipped out, saying that Jake had slept with Jenna on a bet. Some guys at the local dive in town bet he couldn’t get both sisters in the same bed together.
After Karlie had dumped Jake’s ass after finding them in bed together, he just started up with Jenna. Then, the buzz around town was that Jenna was pregnant. Jake had no choice but to marry Jenna; Mr. Angel had made that crystal clear. He also promised to put a nice down payment on a house for the “happy couple,” and he promised Jake a good position at his engineering firm. For a guy with no education and no money in the bank, Jake had sure made out for knocking up his girlfriend. The sick part about it was that Drew had heard Jake bragging about his good fortune all around town. Thank God Jenna didn’t seem to notice what a sleaze the guy was. Or maybe that was the problem. Maybe if she knew what kind of guy Jake was, she’d have second thoughts about marrying him. Drew needed to remember that Jake and the Angel family weren’t his circus, and they weren’t his clowns. He would do as he promised and stand in for his brother, but beyond that, he didn’t give a shit what Jake and Jenna did. All he knew was that he didn’t want Karlie hurt. That meant keeping Jake away from her as much as possible and trying to keep her from hearing the gossip that was flying around town about her.
Drew checked his watch and studied his reflection in the mirror one last time. He wished he could just wear jeans and a baseballcap. No, scratch that. He wished he could be naked and in bed with Karlie, but that would have to wait until this entire fiasco was over. Tonight, if Karlie was willing, he’d have his way with her, finally.
“Um—” she squeaked from the doorway of the guest bedroom. He turned to find her standing there in an almost-too-short light-blue cocktail dress that showed off her every last curve. Lord did the girl have some beautiful curves in all the right places. She smiled and twirled when he whistled. And her ass—God, he loved her ass, looked perfect in that dress. Her shoes were sexy as sin—silver strappy heels that made her legs look a mile long.
