Wrapped Up in You Page 5

  The three women’s necks swiveled sharply as they looked at each other and then back at Ivy.

  “Kel?” Sadie asked. “Caleb’s sexy cousin Kel?”

  “He is sexy,” Haley said. “I mean, men aren’t my thing, but if they were . . .”

  “He was walking across the courtyard yesterday,” Sadie said. “And I saw a woman walk right into one of the lampposts when he smiled at her.”

  “What is it about a cowboy, I wonder,” Tae mused.

  “Everything,” Sadie said and everyone looked at Ivy expectantly.

  “Hey, I’m off men,” she said.

  “Forever?” Haley asked. “And what about women?”

  “For the foreseeable future, and yes, women too,” Ivy said. “And anyway, you deserve someone who isn’t as colossally messed up as I am.”

  “Apparently, I’m attracted to messed up,” Haley said morosely.

  “It’s not your fault girls are crazy,” Sadie said.

  Tae laughed. “Someone once gave me some good relationship advice,” Tae said. “Make sure you’re the crazy one.”

  “Ha,” Haley said. “And done.”

  “Is that why you’re not in a relationship?” Sadie asked Tae.

  “I’m not in a relationship because both Liam and Chris Hemsworth are taken.”

  They all smiled at the truth of that, but Ivy had sat next to Tae at the pub a few times. She knew Tae had recently come out of a really bad relationship, but in what way exactly, she wasn’t sure. What she was sure of was that Tae was most definitely haunted by it.

  And skittish.

  Something Ivy understood at a core level, which made her incredibly sympathetic to what she suspected Tae was feeling about allowing anyone to get close ever again. Ivy wasn’t opposed to an actual relationship instead of a quickie. In theory anyway. But in reality, she didn’t know the first thing about what a relationship might entail or demand from her. She suspected it might be things she couldn’t provide, like pure honesty, transparency, and the like.

  “I just haven’t found what I’m looking for,” Tae told Sadie.

  “And what’s that?”

  “I don’t know.” Tae shrugged. “Maybe warm brown eyes, messy hair, cute nose, and four paws.” She smiled. “A golden retriever would be perfect.”

  They all laughed and Ivy hitched the food pack higher on her shoulder. “I’m sorry about breakfast. I’ll make it up to you guys at lunch, okay? But I’ve got to go.”

  “Don’t forget tomorrow night’s full moon midnight hike,” Sadie said. “Elle sent out a group text yesterday to everyone.”

  Elle was the building manager, and she took her duties very seriously, organizing social events for the group of them that either lived or worked in the building. Ivy had gone to a few, but usually begged off, feeling like the odd man out because everyone was so tight with one another, and she was the new kid on the block.

  Okay, not new, not exactly. She’d been there a year. And though Tae was Jake’s sister, she’d only recently come back to town, which technically made her newer than Ivy. But Tae had a natural way with people and she’d fit seamlessly in.

  Ivy had never fit seamlessly into anything, including her own skin.

  “Did you not get the text?” Haley asked Ivy.

  She’d gotten the text, but she’d ignored it, thinking Elle probably automatically included everyone to be polite.

  “Please come,” Haley said. “You’re usually too busy, but we’d so love to have you.”

  “I thought maybe the text was just for the core group of you.”

  “Of which you’re a part,” Sadie said so easily that Ivy knew she meant it. “So say you’ll be there.”

  Surprised and touched that it mattered whether she went or not, Ivy found herself nodding, even though she wasn’t 100 percent sold on it. “I’ll try.”

  It was still early by the time she got to Caleb’s newly renovated condo building in North Beach. She’d been there before, a couple of times now, walking through with Caleb, Sadie, and Keane Winters, the general contractor in charge of the project.

  Ivy’s condo wasn’t a corner unit, or on the penthouse floor, or anything that stood out at all, and that was what she loved about it.

  That, and the fact that it would be all hers.

  She walked through the underground parking garage to the security office and found Kel there with a few other people, all standing around a table with a bunch of blueprints spread out before them.

  Kel introduced her to the room; Keane, Carly, and Roberto—both supervisors on Keane’s renovation team—and then Arlo and Stretch, who worked under Kel as building security.

  Ivy smiled and made nice, but she couldn’t concentrate on anything but Kel, feeling the weight of his gaze. Unable to resist, she turned to him and felt her pulse kick.

  Ridiculous.

  He was dressed as always, in rugged and well-worn jeans, work boots, a T-shirt with an unbuttoned shirt over the top of it, and a ball cap worn backward. Casual clothes, but there was nothing casual about the lean, hard body hinted at beneath those clothes, or, for that matter, the man himself.

  And then there was how he moved with the careless grace of an athlete, his body suggesting it could handle just about anything thrown at it.

  He smiled and she felt a kick in the gut—a fact that told her two things. One, she was still stupid when it came to men. And two, he was going to be trouble for both her peace of mind and her heart.

  Big trouble.

  Chapter 6

  The range makes the change

  “Hey,” Ivy said to the room, sounding annoyingly breathless even to herself. And who was she kidding, she wasn’t talking to the room, she was talking to Kel, who couldn’t look any finer. “I don’t want to interrupt, but I . . . brought you something.”

  Kel turned to the others. “Give us a minute.”

  It wasn’t a question, and the sound of authority in his tone was unmistakable. If she’d been one of the guys, she might have given him a smartass salute, or at the very least rolled her eyes on principal, but none of these people did that. They respectfully filed out and left them alone.

  Kel was watching her with a small smile curving his mouth. That was the thing about him. He was never in a hurry. He went at his own pace, and with slow, easy purpose. In direct opposition to that, she was always in a rush to get anywhere. She wondered if he was like that in bed as well and then pictured him doing just that, moving over her with slow, purposeful intensity while she writhed in pleasure—

  “Earth to Trouble,” Kel said.

  She actually jumped. And blushed. Blushed. Unbelievable, but she definitely felt the heat of it flash across her face. And once that happened, once she was aware that her cheeks were on fire, they got even worse.

  He chuckled softly.

  “Not helping,” she said, putting her palms to her fiery cheeks.

  “I’d pay big bucks to know what you were just thinking.”

  “Nothing! I’m thinking nothing!”

  He grinned. “You’re pretty cute when you’re embarrassed.”

  No one had ever called her cute, not once in her life. Feral, yes. Untamable, also yes. Cute? No . . . She closed her eyes. “I don’t get embarrassed.”

  He leaned in and put his mouth to her ear. “Then you’re . . . aroused.”

  “Oh my God. I need you to stop talking for a minute.”

  Still smiling, he slid his hands into his front pockets and rocked back on his heels.

  “And stop smiling,” she added.

  He clearly gave it a shot, but the smile was there lurking in his dark eyes, and she sighed. “Never mind! Are you hungry?”

  “Always.”

  At the low timbre of his voice and the heat to go with it in those eyes now, parts of her quivered. Parts of her that had no business quivering. “For food,” she clarified. “Are you hungry for food?”

  “That too.”

  Oh good God. He was unrepentant, an
d she couldn’t say it wasn’t one of the sexiest things about him, because it was. Ignoring the flutters in her belly, she slipped the bag off her shoulder and handed it to him.

  He held her gaze for a long beat before taking the bag and unzipping it, finding the dishes she’d put together for him. “Not tacos,” he said in surprise.

  “Making tacos is my job,” she said. “This was for something else.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “An apology for being . . . grumpy last night.”

  “You weren’t.”

  She gave him a get real look and he smiled. “Okay, maybe a little. But it was understandable. You’d just gotten an unfortunate and unfair surprise.” He gently tilted her face up to his. “You doing okay this morning?”

  “Yes,” she said. “Of course.”

  “Of course,” he repeated and shook his head. “Smart, tough, and resilient,” he murmured, his gaze on her face.

  Now it was her turn to smile. “Some might say stubborn, impulsive, and doesn’t know when to quit.”

  “Yeah,” he said. “But I find those things very attractive.”

  Honestly, she didn’t know how to take half the things he said. They made her feel both terrified and exhilarated at the same time. “You’re a strange man.”

  “So I’ve been told.” He looked over the food. “You poison any of it?”

  “No, but only because I’d never waste food.” To prove it, she grabbed the fork she’d packed and took a bite of her eggs. “Mmm,” she moaned before she could stop herself, but hey, she’d worked out and been on the move ever since, and she was starving. Plus, she made damn good eggs if she said so herself.

  Again their eyes met, and that now familiar spark went right through her. She wanted him. Quite badly, if her racing pulse meant anything. He was so . . . what, exactly? Steady? Tough? Intense and yet somehow easygoing, not to mention also extremely easy on the eyes?

  “You didn’t have to cook something special for me,” he said, sounding touched.

  “You helped me last night. I repay my debts.”

  “I didn’t do it so you’d feel indebted to me,” he said and cocked his head as he studied her for a beat. “Someday you’re going to have to tell me about the apparent assholes who’ve been in your life to make you so wary of me.”

  “Oh, don’t flatter yourself. It’s not just you. And it wasn’t just me paying back a debt,” she admitted. “I wanted to cook for you.” And because that made his smile warm, which in turn made something inside her warm as well, she shrugged and backed up a few steps, needing breathing room. “I also wanted to thank you for your help,” she said, feeling annoyingly awkward as he shoved stacks of plans to one side of the table and started pulling everything else out of her bag with a deep male hum of pleasure when he caught sight of the pancakes.

  “Are those blueberry?” he asked very seriously.

  She nodded.

  “Fair warning, if they’re as good as the eggs, I really am going to drop to my knees and ask you to marry me.”

  That startled a laugh out of her. “Fair warning, if you drop to your knees, I’m going to use my considerable kickboxing skills on you.”

  “Scared of marriage?” he asked.

  She shrugged that off. “I’m not scared of much.”

  “Everyone’s scared of something, Trouble.”

  “Is that right?” She cocked her head. “Then what are you afraid of?”

  His eyes shuttered and he diverted his attention to how he was carefully buttering his pancakes, like it was a very important job. “Lies.”

  That had her silent for a beat. “You’ve been burned.”

  “I have.” He drowned the pancakes in syrup and dug in. With a passionate sigh, he closed his eyes. “Oh my God.”

  Good Lord, watching him eat was turning her on. “Good?”

  Not opening his eyes, he shook his head and chewed, his expression saying he was in heaven. “I can’t talk right now. I’m having a sexual experience all by myself, just me and these pancakes.”

  She laughed. “Take your time. Like I said, I just wanted to thank you.”

  He took several more bites before saying anything more. “You thanked me last night,” he said.

  “Yes, but I thought I’d try again without being a jerk.”

  “Ivy. You weren’t.”

  She gave him a long look.

  “You were unnerved and maybe a little bit frightened,” he said softly. “Definitely not a jerk.” He kicked a chair away from the table, and then another, sitting in one and gesturing for her to sit in the other.

  “Oh, I’m not staying.”

  “Sit,” he said. “Please?”

  Apparently she was a sucker for the please, because she sat and together they mowed their way through the food. “Amazing,” he said on a moan, eating with the same laid-back easiness he did everything else. “Been a long time since someone cooked for me.”

  “No girlfriend?”

  “Been a long time for that too.”

  She smiled. “You expect me to believe a guy like you is celibate?”

  “I didn’t say celibate.”

  He laughed when she rolled her eyes. Okay, so he was seeing people. And why wouldn’t he be? Look at him.

  “What did you mean, a guy like me?” he wanted to know.

  She snorted. “Not touching that one, cowboy.”

  He smiled, but it faded. “I’m not a good bet,” he finally said, answering her “no girlfriend” question. “Always on call, and the job comes first. Apparently, that’s annoying and frustrating, and I get it. My life hasn’t exactly lent itself to relationships.”

  Made sense. Up until this year, her life hadn’t lent itself to relationships either. It made her wonder if he ever felt the same loneliness she did, and if so, maybe she’d invite him along to the hike tonight.

  No, that made no sense at all. After all, she was changing her life, settling down . . . and he wasn’t. In fact, he was temporary here, very temporary, and he’d just admitted he wasn’t relationship material. “There’s a midnight full moon hike tomorrow,” she heard herself say. Apparently her mouth wasn’t taking direction from her brain.

  His eyes cut to hers. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.”

  He just held her gaze.

  He was going to make her ask him. “Do you want to go?” she asked.

  “With you?”

  She narrowed her eyes, her “never mind!” on the tip of her tongue, but she caught the glint of humor in his eyes and realized he was teasing her. “No,” she said. “With Santa Claus.”

  He laughed, and . . . still didn’t answer.

  “You know what? Forget it.” She stood to gather the plates. “It was a dumb idea.”

  He put his hands over hers to stop her and then took over the job of repacking everything up, doing it with greater efficiency than she could’ve managed. “I’d like to go,” he said. “Thanks for thinking of me.”

  Good thing he wasn’t a mind reader or he’d know just how much she’d been thinking of him.

  Reaching for her hands again, he drew her closer and bent his knees a little so he could look right into her eyes. “And thanks for breakfast.”

  She nodded and then licked her suddenly dry lips, which were shockingly close to his. At the movement, his gaze dropped to her mouth. And like magic, hers trembled open.

  That’s when someone cleared their throat from the doorway.

  Caleb.

  Ivy yanked her hands from Kel’s and grabbed her bag, flinging it over her shoulder. “I was just leaving.”

  Caleb didn’t move from the doorway. Instead, he divided a gaze between the two of them. “Interesting.”

  “Nope,” Ivy said, lips still tingling from the near kiss that she’d wanted shockingly badly. “Nothing interesting to see here.”

  Caleb, eyes on his cousin, just grinned. “Uh-huh.”

  Kel didn’t grin back, or react at all. Nope, the cowboy was calm and
stoic, giving nothing away. Apparently they taught ’em well in Idaho.

  “Thought we decided you should go see your sister and your new baby niece tonight,” Caleb said. “Or your mom.”

  “Thought we decided you were staying the hell out of it,” Kel replied.

  “Fine.” Caleb lifted his hands. “Staying out of it.”

  “If only I could believe that,” Kel said.

  The banter was light. There was an ease to their interactions that spoke of a very long and very close relationship.

  Ivy both envied that and felt the need to run far and fast. Because she didn’t have that kind of easy affection with . . . anyone.

  Although in the deep, dark of the night when they’d been in the small space of her truck, side by side in the mess, working together in a way that had seemed shockingly intimate . . . that had felt very intimate.

  And so did right now in an office where they weren’t even alone.

  Scary stuff. Really scary. So much so that she could feel a mini freak-out coming on. She was good at that, very good. So while Kel and Caleb were still exchanging barbs in the way that only men seemed to be able to do without getting their feelings hurt, she made her escape.

  See, look at that. Something else she was good at.

  Chapter 7

  I promised sweat, let’s see it

  The next morning Kel ran with Caleb and Jake while it was still dark outside. And drizzling. His body felt less achy about it though, which was a good thing. He wasn’t fond of running, or early mornings, but Caleb was.

  His cousin was a nut. So was Jake, who raced alongside of them in his wheelchair, arms pumping.

  It was possible Kel was just tired. He’d been restless the night before and had gone for a drive. He’d thought about going to Ivy, but after the way she’d abruptly left his office that morning, he knew she needed space.

  Or maybe that was him.