The Virgin's Proposal

Chapter Three

Katie hopped onto a barstool at the Corner Pocket, Mercy’s sole choice for evening entertainment, and tried to look cool and unaffected by her solitary status. It wasn’t easy. It seemed every eye in the place, including those of the massive moose-head over the restroom door, was watching her.

I can do this. I can sit alone in a bar and not feel like a twenty-five-cent sideshow at the circus. Come see the Lonely, Bitter Old Maid—scariest creature this side of the Mississippi.

“Hey, Jim. How are you?” she said to the bartender, desperate for anyone to talk to.

“Pretty good, Katie. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you here. Welcome back,” said Jim Watkins, the rotund, friendly owner of the Corner Pocket. His open face and perpetual smile were encouraging and just what Katie needed. “Hey, I heard you got engaged. Congratulations.”

For a second, Katie stared at him blankly. “Oh…oh that. Well, I—” What could she say? She decided to ignore it. In time people would talk about something else. “Thanks.”

Katie drummed her fingers on the bar and glanced around the room. It was early yet and there were only a few people she knew here. Thankfully she noticed that Steve and Barbara were nowhere to be seen. They were probably cuddling somewhere, getting popcorn stuck in their teeth and watching Stone Cold Steve Austin wallop Hulk Hogan.

Jim placed a napkin before her. “What’ll it be, Katie?” He laid a hand on the stack of glasses, waiting for her answer.

She was tempted to bolt out the door. Instead, she gripped the edge of the bar. “Umm…I don’t know.” She racked her brain for the name of a sophisticated drink, the kind ordered by women who ventured out alone. But she didn’t know any. She rarely drank and usually nursed a draft Budweiser all night. She doubted a beer-foam mustache would make her look cool.

“Make it a tequila sunrise for the lady,” said a voice from behind her. “And a…a Coke for me.”

She spun around on the stool. Matt Webster. In the flesh and at her elbow. His eyes skimmed over the floral outfit, lingering just enough to let her know he approved. The breezy spring dress had been a good choice. A very good one.

Chalk up a point for the new Katie.

“I thought you might like something sweet but with a little bite to it.” He grinned. “The total opposite of you, of course.”

Put that resolution to work, Katie girl.

“You didn’t find me sweet this afternoon?” She batted her eyelashes and did her best to look innocent.

“Sweet isn’t quite the word that comes to mind when I think of you. And as for having a little bit of a bite,” his voice was low, dark, “well, you didn’t let me get that far.” He was closer now, his breath warm on her face, his mouth inches away. “Fiery, spontaneous and bewitching are better adjectives for you.”

“A tequila sunrise and a Coke for the happy couple,” Jim announced, placing the glasses before them. Katie jerked back, away from Matt, and felt heat rise to her face.

She wrapped her hands around the glass, marveling at the way the drink mirrored its name. And how Matt looked as though he’d stepped out of the pages of a magazine. Granted, his leather jacket, white T-shirt and tight-fitting jeans were from an issue of Harley Rider instead of GQ, but the overall effect was the same. Enticing. Magnificent. One-hundred-percent American male.

She swallowed hard and tried not to think about how good he’d look in a tuxedo. That image was way too powerful. Her hormones were already raging. Picturing him in evening wear would definitely be her undoing.

“What shall we drink to?” He raised his glass. His gaze never left her face.

“To new beginnings.”

He nodded. “Appropriate.” He tapped his glass against hers with a soft clink. She watched him drink. When his lips met the rim, the powerful, gut-coiling memory of kissing him in the supermarket hit her.

“Celebrating your engagement?” Barbara’s voice sliced through the air with sarcastic precision. “Funny, no one else in town knows about this wedding. How long have you been dating?”

Katie froze. Putting on a ten-minute charade in the grocery store had been easy. A temporary game, not a life-changing experience. Flirting with Matt in the dimness of the bar was one thing; stepping away from who she’d been for the last twenty-four years and slipping into an entirely new persona, in front of people she knew, was another.

“Katie and I have known each other for months,” Matt said, saving her from a response. “We’ve just been long-distance lovers. Until now.” He took Katie’s hand, flashed her a wicked smile, and turned to face Barbara and Steve, who was bringing up the rear.

Barbara’s gaze narrowed. “Then why didn’t you get her a ring?”

Without missing a beat, Matt answered, “Because I’m having my great-grandmother’s ring reset for Katie. She deserves something as special as she is.”

Barbara harrumphed. “Katie always was lucky. In high school, it was grades. Now, she’s a store owner and she has you.” Her gaze roamed over Matt, making little secret of her desire. If he noticed, he didn’t react.

This was a new twist. Barbara, who looked like Madonna and had never had trouble getting a man, was jealous of Katie for her grades? Her store? Had that spurred Barbara to steal Steve, the one thing Katie had that was stealable?—

“Anyway, Steve forgot to ask Katie something earlier,” Barbara said. Steve shot Barbara a look of protest, but she nudged him with her elbow. “Go ahead.”

He cleared his throat. “I still feel bad about the way things ended,” he began. “You said there were no hard feelings and so, Barbara, well, I mean Barbara and I, want to invite you to the wedding.”

“My father’s managed to pull together quite a bash on short notice,” Barbara said. “We’re going to have—”

“You stood me up at the altar in front of half the town to run off with my bridesmaid and now you want me to come to your wedding?”

Matt put a hand on her arm and leaned to whisper in her ear. “It might be a good idea to go,” he whispered in her ear.

“Are you insane?” she whispered back.

“It would be a hell of a way to get closure.” He grinned.

This man could read her like a book. He’d pushed the right button, the one that triggered her compulsion to show the town she’d moved on, despite what Steve had done to her. But go to their wedding? Wasn’t that a bit much?

Then she thought about seeing Steve squirm in front of the minister, if he made it that far this time, of seeing Barbara eat her words about Katie being a recluse. And then there was the store—a bit of talk might spur some business. This was an opportunity, not an insult.

She turned to Barbara and Steve. “We’d love to come. Both of us.” The new Katie was brave, but she wasn’t quite up to doing this alone.

Barbara’s mouth dropped open. “Both of you? How wonderful. It will be so nice to have one of the Websters at our wedding,” she said.

“What a coup,” Matt said dryly.

Steve eyed Matt. “You aren’t planning on pulling one of your famous stunts at the reception, are you?”

“And just what is that supposed to mean?”

“I know who you are.” He leaned into Matt’s face, his voice low. “You tore up this town when you lived here, and you got arrested so many times, the sheriff had to hire a deputy just to keep an eye on you.”

“Yeah, well I’m older and wiser now. And a lot bigger.”

Katie saw the storm brewing between the two men. She scooted off the stool, grabbing up a handful of darts from the dish on a nearby table. She put a hand on Matt’s shoulder and tugged him away from Steve. “Come on, play darts with me.”

Matt backed up and accepted the darts she handed him. “I think that’s a good idea.” His gaze never wavered from Steve.

“We were on our way to the dining room to pick up some pizzas for the fight anyway.” Barbara grabbed Steve’s hand and started leading him toward the swinging door that separated the two halves of the Corner Pocket.

“One more thing.” Steve pivoted back to Matt. “Katie’s a good person. Don’t hurt her.” Then he walked away, leaving Katie stunned. Barbara was jealous of her? Steve was being protective? Had the world just turned upside down?

Then Barbara called over her shoulder, “See you next Saturday,” and the world flipped upright again.

“I wouldn’t miss it for anything,” Katie grumbled.

When the door swung shut behind the couple, Matt released a gust of air. “A few years ago, I would have knocked a guy like that clear across the bar, just for the hell of it.”

“And why didn’t you today?”

“I’m not who I used to be.”

“Well, that makes two of us.” She smiled. “Thanks for coming to my rescue. Again.”

“It was my pleasure. Both times.”

“I don’t usually kiss strangers at the corner grocery,” she said. “I was trying to…”

“Make him jealous?” Matt supplied.

“No, not jealous. I wanted him to see I’ve gone on with my life.”

“And have you?”

“Of course.” That was mostly a lie. All Katie knew now was she didn’t want to go back to who she was before, no matter how safe and comfortable it felt.

Matt twirled a dart between his fingers. “I don’t want to be mean, but what did you see in him in the first place?”

Katie snorted. “The better question is what did he see in me? I was the class geek, complete with the glasses and the physics books. He was the captain of the football team.”

“Let me guess. You tutored him in geometry?”

She let out a laugh. “Algebra.” Something about the chase, or the bonus of good grades, had kept Steve with her throughout high school. She’d been the one who could have used a tutor—in how not to be fooled by the illusion of a relationship. Steve had dumped her at graduation—for the hot cheerleader who’d given him the time of his life under the bleachers.

“You’re a beautiful woman, you know,” Matt said. “You probably could have had any guy in high school.”

“They weren’t exactly lining up for dates.”

“Well, they were stupid.”

She shook her head. “I was the stupid one. I went away to college and when I came home, Steve was there. He told me I was good for him, that being with me kept him from getting into trouble. I guess he believed that, too. Maybe I had an extra-bad case of homesickness or jet lag or something, because I took Steve back, even knowing he’d cheated on me. I was still half in love with those high-school memories. Mostly, though, I was half idiot. I believed him when he said he wanted to marry me and be faithful. I thought he’d changed.” She scowled. “A bona fide Oprah moment.”

Matt gestured toward the door to the restaurant. “And that’s when Babs there came into the picture?”

Katie dropped her gaze to the darts in her hand. “On my wedding day, no less. He sent me a letter afterwards that summed up all my shortcomings and defended his choice of Barbara.”

Matt cursed under his breath. “I ought to—”

“Don’t. It’s over, in the past.” She fidgeted with the darts. “Anyway, thanks again for helping me out.”

“Are you trying to get rid of me?” He moved closer, a breath away. She could feel the warmth of his body, smell the scent of leather mixed with musky cologne.

“Should I? After what I’ve heard, maybe it would be in my best interests.” Katie’s heart began racing at triple-speed, her pulse hammering through her veins.

It was as if a rocket had launched itself in her midsection. She’d wanted a little spice in her life—a dash of pepper, maybe—not a truckload of red-hot chilies roaring through her at the speed of light. He was too handsome, too desirable and way too dangerous. She would be crazy to get involved with him. He seemed to be a lot more than even the new Katie could handle.

“Don’t you feel the connection between us?”

“A single kiss doesn’t make us soul mates,” she countered. Each breath caught in her throat. The memory of that encounter, and all its deeper implications, still quivered within her.

“If it were an ordinary kiss.” He traced along the edge of her bottom lip and she inhaled, resisting the urge to taste the tip of his finger, to do much, much more. “Which that most certainly wasn’t.”

“No, it wasn’t.” She wanted him to touch her, kiss her again. Anything to assuage the strange and furious storm inside.

“Who are you?” he asked softly, his deep blue gaze boring into hers. “An angel sent to tame me or a devil to tempt me?”

“Neither,” she murmured. Heat radiated from his body, charging the air between them. Her breasts were taut, the nipples puckered against the confines of her bra. She chanced a glance downward and saw that Matt was in the same state as she. That knowledge, that power, sent a thrill straight through her.

“If we’re going to get this close,” he said, watching where her gaze went, “I think I should at least know your least name.”

“You…you already do.”

“I think I might have remembered that tidbit. A beautiful woman ravages me in the spaghetti aisle and I definitely wouldn’t forget her first or last name.”

“I didn’t ravage you!”

“Honey, if I’d been a side of beef, there wouldn’t have been much more than bones left after you got through with me.”

She laughed and the sound of it broke the simmering tension for a moment. “A bit of an exaggeration, don’t you think?”

“Perhaps. But until we get a chance to finish what we started,” he said, tracing a finger along the outline of her jaw and starting that fire roaring all over again, “we’ll never know the truth about your ravaging skills, now will we?”

She couldn’t answer. Heck, she could barely breath when he did that.

“So tell me, Mystery Kissing Bandit, what’s your last name?”

“Do you remember running into a piece of fruit this morning?”

It took him a second to make the connection. “You’re the banana?”

She nodded. “When I’m not going around kissing strange men, I masquerade as fruit for kicks,” she said, amazed at her ability to exchange witty remarks. It had to be the tequila that had emboldened her—because the real Katie would have had her tongue tied in double knots.

“My, my, Katie Dole, you surprise me more every minute I know you.” His gaze ran over her face, lingering on her lips. “I’m not often surprised by women.”

“That’s me, a surprise a minute.” What a complete lie. I couldn’t surprise a cow. She needed to change the subject, to give herself a second to think. She was playing a game where the rules were foreign and where Matt had the upper hand. “We were about to play darts, remember?”

“I’d much rather play something else.”

“Darts is all you’re going to get tonight,” she said. “So work out your frustrations on the bull’s-eye.”

“Let’s raise the stakes. Loser takes the winner to dinner.”

“Deal.” Yesterday, she would have backed down from the challenge, would have run when she encountered a man with such dangerous sex appeal. But now, she was determined to hold her own against him—at least in darts.

It should be an easy bet, she reasoned. A girl didn’t grow up with four brothers and not learn a thing or two about competing in barroom sports.

Katie stood on the line a few feet from the board, holding the gold-and-teal dart between her thumb and forefinger. She sighted the bull’s-eye over the feathers and took aim.

As soon as the dart left her fingers, she knew the launch was wrong. Matt was two feet away, watching her from the sidelines and wreaking havoc with her concentration.

The dart landed in the ignominious outer circle. Zero points. Katie squinted at the board and redoubled her concentration. She threw the other two darts at the board. One landed in the ten-point spot, the other flew wide of the board and hit the wall.

“Might I offer a suggestion?” Matt said.

“I know how to shoot darts. I don’t need any lessons.” She stalked over to the board and ripped her darts out, knowing all the while that their placement said otherwise.

When she was safely behind the painted white line on the floor, he aimed his dart and let it go. It sailed smoothly into the bull’s-eye. With resounding thwaps, the other two followed.

He was good. Better than she was. “All right. Show me what you know and save me the cost of feeding you when I beat you with your own techniques,” she conceded.

“How much time do you have? I have all night.”

The innuendo in his voice made flames rush to her cheeks. “I’ve got five minutes. That should be more than enough time for you to teach me all you know.”

“Good one.” Another smile. He led her over to the line. Then he sidled up behind her, raising her right hand beside his.

The heat from his body, inches away, was incredible. She forced herself to stand steady, to resist the urge to back up and melt against his chest—and all his other desirable parts. The sexual charges detonating throughout her body were new, completely unexpected, and nearly consuming in their power over her mind.

“When you aim, be sure to oversight it a little. That compensates for the flight arc,” he was saying. “Let me show you.” He took her hand and placed a dart between her fingers. Then he rocked her hand back and forth, as if they were shooting the dart. “Keep it steady and remember, it’s all in the wrist.”

“Thanks. I will,” she exhaled on a shaky breath. Concentrate. On the darts.

This time, she focused on the dartboard and blocked Matt from her mind. Thwap, thwap. Two hit the bull’s-eye, the third landed on thirty points.

When it was his turn, she moved into place behind him. Just as he took aim, she purposely brushed her breasts against his back. The feel of him, of the simple intake and exchange of air that made his back slip along her chest, was intoxicating. Wanton need, so foreign to Katie, pounded through her veins.

For the first time in her life, she felt alive. Invigorated. Completely, totally feminine. “I, ah, wanted to get a closer look at your technique.”

Matt’s dart flew wide of the mark and landed with a thunk in the wall.

“You missed. What a shame.”

“Pity, isn’t it?” He glanced over his shoulder at her, his gaze telling her he knew exactly what she was up to and that he was enjoying every minute of it.

And, if she admitted the truth, so was she. She felt bold, brazen, ready to take on any challenge.

“So, are you going to go?” Matt sent another dart sailing into the board.

“Where?” she asked, confused.

“To that wedding.”

Any challenge but that one. “I don’t know.” Katie walked to the bar and took a drink. “I’m not up to watching one of my former friends marry the guy who left me at the altar.”

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