The last thing I'm expecting is for her to burst out laughing. What she finds so amusing, who knows? Her pointing at me with one hand while stifling her laughter with the other doesn't help, either.
It's not until I stand, and catch my reflection in the mirror above the small table, that I see what it is she's still giggling about. There's no missing that addendum, with it having been transferred to my blasted forehead and left cheek.
When I lean in, I can even read the slippery little clause I'd missed when I signed on the dotted line all those years back.
Maybe I should leave it there like a temporary tattoo? A reminder not to move too fast. And then I blow it by ignoring this sage piece of advice to myself.
"Kelly, I'll just grab my things and head on over to my folks' place." I haven't given myself time to think about it. I haven't wanted to.
Kelly's laughter is snuffed out in a heartbeat. The light in her eyes is extinguished as in a blink, replaced instead by soul-numbing pain. Shouldn't she be relieved rather than hurt?
Could it be I've misread the fine print yet again? I'm in uncharted territory here. I've never stuck around long enough to get this close to a woman. Hell, I've even admitted to myself that what I feel for her might be love.
The only woman I've said that to, and meant it, was my mom.
While I've said it on plenty of other occasions, it's come all too easily and without my heart being involved. I've said it because it was expected, not because I believed it for a second.
I'm out in the hallway before Kelly reacts, and again she takes me by surprise.
"Like heck, you are!" she yells out. She's beside me a second later, adorable in that apron, my jacket over the top. She's also furious, her eyes flashing. "You are not leaving here until we finish that blasted float."
After stabbing me in the chest with her finger, she then stabs her finger toward the garage beneath us. "You got me into it. You can see it out."
I don't know what to make of this? Does she expect me in her bed tonight, or is that part of our relationship done with? Am I just sticking around to help with construction?
I've come to no conclusions when she shrugs out of my jacket and hands it back to me.
She then turns on her heel and marches back into the kitchen, flashing her ass with every swish of those ribbons. This, more than anything she could have said, tells me where I'll be sleeping tonight.
Is this just physical for her? The irony that I've left many a woman struggling with this exact question isn't lost on me.
I wake the next morning feeling more confused than ever after our gentle love-making. I'm climbing into my truck when the old girl from next door pops up out of nowhere.
Kelly then opens the central garage door, with the old lady's gaze swiveling between us, a knowing glint in her eye. It's not there for long.
"Mary, Zac's house got flooded, so he's sleeping in the bunk room until we finish the float. That's right, isn't it Zac?"
I can either agree with the woman who'd spent half the night screaming my name, or call her a liar in front of her neighbor. I have to wonder if her wanting to keep it quiet that I'm living here is to avoid the news from getting back to her parents.
Could it be she's ashamed of me, with her family well off, and mine not? Coogan's Break could be so clicky. Even when the residents in question were part-timers.
At this stage, I've left responding long enough. By now, Kelly will be as hot and bothered as she had been not fifteen minutes earlier when I was sucking on her nipples like a starving man.
"That's right. As soon as we finish the float, I'll be off to stay with my folks north of town." After an obvious check of my watch, I add, "Better get going if I want to keep my day job."
I've backed out onto the street and am ready to drive off, when I call out, "Kelly, I'll see you later. We can carry on where we left off."
While the neighbor will doubtless take this comment as referring to the building of the float, the color in Kelly's cheeks says she's received my filthy promise, loud and clear.
When I run my tongue across my bottom lip, there's no missing her squeezing her thighs together. Good, because I want her wanting me as much as I want her.
Maybe even to love me?
