CHAPTER 4
Amotorcycle. Ofcourse he still rode a motorcycle.
When Ali saw it parked in her driveway, she’d been tempted to kick it over. Before losing Patrick, the worst night of her life had been the one she’d spent thinking that Kade was dead. She’d made him promise never to scare her like that again. But here he was, still riding a bike.
He sat beside Ali in the passenger seat of her SUV and took up way more space than anyone had a right to take up. Not only his sheer mass, since his athletic, chiseled frame took up plenty of that. But she was referring to his essence. His being. His mannerisms. The way he breathed. The way he rolled his head to stretch his neck. The way he flexed his hands and made the veins on his forearms pop out like sexy homing beacons.
All of that was conspiring to cause her hormones to override her common sense that dictated she was not happy that Kade was back.
Ali noticed her hand shaking as she flipped the turn signal. Flexing her fingers around the steering wheel, she was determined not to let anyone see her reaction. She glanced in the rearview mirror and saw that the twins could not be less interested in anything that was going on in the front seat. KJ was glued to his phone and Ricky had his book.
She turned her attention back to the road and focused on driving. The past couple of hours felt like she was in a dream she couldn’t wake up from, she just wasn’t sure if it was a nightmare or not…she was leaning toward nightmare.
Kade, who appeared oblivious to her internal turmoil, turned up the radio and started singing along to Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely”.
Yep, this was definitely a nightmare.
Not because he was a bad singer. Ali wished that was the case. But the cold hard truth was, Kade was musically gifted. And even during the years she’d managed to build up a tolerance to him, his voice had been her Achilles heel. He could also play the piano and the guitar, but there was a raspy quality in his singing voice that melted the panties off of any woman in earshot.
He came by it honestly. From what Ali had heard, his dad was a studio musician in Nashville for years and he’d played with the likes of Willie Nelson, Garth Brooks, Loretta Lynn, Kenny Rogers, and Reba McEntire. Kade never pursued music because the very last thing he wanted to be was anything even remotely like his father, and Ali didn’t blame him. Her life goal was to be nothing like her mother.
Tingles ran down her arm when Kade shifted toward her as he launched into the chorus. Her fingers tightened on the steering wheel as she desperately looked for parking and nabbed the first available spot. It was a few blocks away from the gym, but she didn’t care. She was suffering from arousal claustrophobia in the confined space. Plus, the entirety of downtown Whisper Lake consisted of four blocks of real estate that surrounded the lake. She could park anywhere and they’d still be in walking distance.
Before the SUV had even come to a full stop, she shut off the radio and announced in a way-too-cheery voice, “We’re here.”
KJ mumbled something about her chosen parking spot as the twins both exited the vehicle. She waited for Kade to do the same. Not the grumbling but the leaving. She just needed a minute to herself to attempt to pull it together. When she’d left Kade and Ricky to clean up dinner she’d gone upstairs intending to do just that. Instead she’d changed into jeans and a V-neck shirt. She’d also brushed out her hair and put on mascara and a lip stain that Jess had given her as a gift six months earlier that she hadn’t opened.
She’d told herself that she was doing it because KJ had finally, begrudgingly agreed to let her sit in on a class, but she called bullshit on herself. She was doing it because of one person and one person only.
The man that was still sitting beside her.
So much for a moment alone.
She sighed and reached for the door at the same time his fingers curled over her right forearm. She sucked in a small breath as the tingles that had started moments ago spread through every square inch of her body.
Seriously?Did it have to feel so good when he touched her? It was a maddening phenomenon. Why couldn’t she just be immune to him? Why?!
“Hey, are you okay?” The concern in his voice only irritated her more.
She couldn’t count the number of times that she’d been asked that exact question since Patrick died and each and every time she wanted to scream, No! No I’m not okay! I’m never going to be okay again!
But she never had. Not because she cared what anyone thought. Her mother’s antics in this small town had made her immune to gossip from an early age. She hadn’t done it because she didn’t want to give people the satisfaction of seeing her lose it.
“I’m great!” Her tone dripped with sarcasm as she opened the door since apparently the universe thought that a moment to herself was too much to ask for. “Just hunky fuckin’ dory.”
“Allison!” he called out her full name as she slammed her door.
He was hot on her heels as they rounded the corner and had fallen in step beside her when she heard, “Kade McKnight! Is that you?!”
Looking to her left she saw Betsy Dobrinski’s bouffant hairdo sticking up above the opened trunk of her eighties-model Cadillac.
Oh great. This day just kept getting better.
Mrs. D’s stout arms flew in the air, abandoning her husband’s wheelchair that she’d been in the process of collapsing. “I didn’t know you were coming to town!”
“No one did.” Ali wished she’d known, she would’ve taken the boys on an impromptu getaway. Spring break was the following week, but since that was the rental shops busiest time she could’ve told them it was a pre-spring-break vacation.
“Hey, Mrs. D.” Kade waved.