Chapter 57

Jon pulled up to the small dorm apartment, his gut grumbling from the smells overwhelming his small car. Kate was going to be so surprised. Of course he risked being de-balled by his unplanned appearance, but hell—anything worth having, was worth a risk. The more time he spent around Kate, the more he was coming to realize she was definitely worth any risk.

Cutting the engine, he slid from the car and quickly moved to the back door. Barbeque sauce and seasoning unlike anything he’d ever experienced rolled out of the carefully packed boxes by the people of Old Hickory. While stacking the boxes, he chuckled. She just might invite him inside with this sort of bribery. With a bounce to his step he took her stairs two at a time and used his boot instead of knuckles, praying she was home from her shift.

Kate pushed her wet hair out of her face and dragged on her Snoopy boxers. Elena must’ve forgotten her keys again. "You silly, twit. Good thing I hadn't hit the sheets…" her words trailed off as Jon filled her doorway. Hair, curlier than the last time she’d seen him, flowed over his shoulders and around his face. Even just a few weeks had sculpted some of the baby fat off of him, leaving him raw boned and striking. Tired blue eyes sparkled under heavy bangs and even heavier bags under them.

Stepping back to beckon him in, her stomach suddenly pitched, rolled and growled as the definition of barbecue assaulted her nose. "Oh God," she grabbed the box and left him at the door.

He laughed, kicking the door shut. "I guess this means I can come in?"

"Holy crap!" She said and flipped open the box and ripped into the foil. The rich scent of God's elixir nearly knocked her over. "Oh my God," she whispered before turning back to him. Telling herself a portion of the saliva flooding her mouth had nothing to do with the worn jeans that clung to his lean hips, she turned back to the box.

"Go ahead, dig in Katy.” His voice went low and wry. “Even if you did call me a twit." Jon grinned and opened the other box, full of all the fixings that went along with fried chicken.

She leaned over his shoulder. She wasn’t sure what smelled better, him or the food from that angle. "Is that Mac salad, AND potato salad?"

The flush to her cheeks let him know all he needed to. He’d hit the mother load of all temptations when it came to this woman. "Well you never said exactly what all you liked from the Old—“ he cut off as she launched herself at him. The warm, soft bundle of woman made the trip instantly worth it.

She kissed the first thing she came into contact with, her lips buzzing from the stubble on his chin. "You beautiful, wonderful," she punctuated each word with a kiss to his chin, his cheek, "amazing man," she said finally and hit his other cheek. "I can't believe you did all this!"

Smiling down at her, he decided then and there that if food was the way to her heart, he'd keep her supplied in her favorites forever. "I told you Katy, you deserve pampering.” He dropped his hands, until he could circle her hips, holding her close. “I just happened to be in Atlanta, so thought I’d rustle,” he waggled his eyebrows, “you up some grub."

Her hand slid down from his shoulders to his chest, the thin with washing cotton t-shirt heated under her touch. She stepped back, staring at his mouth as he reluctantly let her go. She cleared her throat. "I thought you were Elena at the door," she said and turned back to the haunting smells of her hometown.

He shook his head with a chuckle. "That’d be a trick, considering what went down at the airport."

She turned back to him, licking a bit of sauce off her thumb. "Considering what?"

His jeans tightened as her pink tongue flicked over her skin. Biting back a groan, he forced his eyes back up to hers. "She didn’t tell you?"

"Tell me what?" She licked the side of her hand as the shiny butter wash dripped down the rolls inside the next square of foil. She dashed into the kitchen to get some paper towels and plates.

From finger licking to the sweet curve of her ass in the ridiculous Snoopy shorts, he tried not to bust his zipper with the hard on he was sporting. He couldn’t even tug his shirt down to hide it for God’s sake. She reached high for a plate and the flash of skin along her back came out as a sigh. Freckles there too. Christ. "She’s probably damn near in the Caribbean by now."

She nearly dropped the plates. "What?" She braced them against her chest, realizing then that she totally didn't have a bra on. Shit. She dumped the Corell plates on the table and tucked silverware into salads, mac and cheese containers and used a butter knife to break off a bit of baby back ribs.

He took in her nervous movements, his eyes tracing over her long neck, visible with the uneven knot at the top of her head. "Richie invited her to spend a couple weeks on St. Maarten.” He moved closer, even the scent of the barbeque set up along every surface couldn’t stop the cinnamon scent of her from filling his head. “She didn't tell you huh?" The urge to pull her into his arms was nearly overwhelming. He’d had plenty of opportunity to banish her from his thoughts with women a hellluva lot more emotionally and physically available, but none of them intrigued him like Kate did.

"No, she sort of left that part out when she left for the airport.” Slamming the baked beans on the edge of the table, she growled. “Hell, she even left a note since I wasn't at home yet."

Jon pushed the tray further back onto the little rickety table and hissed as the foil pan was still red hot. Turning her to face him, he smoothed his thumbs over her naked shoulders. “Katy,” he hedged.

She squirmed away. God, she did not need him touching her right now. "You'd think when she signed the note she could've mentioned, hey! I won't be home for two weeks, don't worry,” she flicked open another container needing something to do. “Oh yeah and I'm not dead."

He folded his arms, figuring it was the only way he’d keep his mitts off of her at this point. It felt like years since he’d seen her, instead of only ten days. "I’m sorry she forgot to tell you, Katy.” At her near glare, he swallowed the laugh he’d almost let free. “If it makes you feel any better Richie was nearly bouncing the plane apart before we landed. If she was anywhere near as excited, well I’m amazed she made it to the airport in one piece."

Kate snorted. "Yeah well, let's just hope she doesn't do something crazy over there."
"So tell me," he continued, "how was your day at work?" He changed the subject swiftly, not wanting her upset over her friend’s one track mind.

"No one died tonight, so it was a good night." She shook her head. "Damn I wish I could just up and take a vacation." She shrugged and snagged a bit of breast skin and popped it in her mouth.

Remembering—well, as much as he could remember—his last trip, the heart of the Caribbean was designed for excess and bad behavior on the all around. They couldn’t get into too much trouble between the both of…hell, he couldn’t even lie to himself. It was a feeding ground for hedonistic behavior. He just hoped his guitarist came back. Sounded like a plan to him. He so didn’t want to go back to the tour. "Hey, if you want to vacation, I'm sure it could be arranged."

"Yeah, and lose ground against the other interns that would as soon step on my dead body as stab me in the back with a smile? Suuuuuure." She motioned to the food. "Seriously you need to take some or I'm going to be three hundred pounds by tomorrow."

He took at look at the southern food with an arched brow and chose a rib. Bringing it to his lips he took a bite and began to chew, not even caring if the sauce got all over his lips. "Hmm, this IS good." He wasn’t sure the food could actually live up to the smells.

She nudged a chair out and dropped into the one next to him. "Sugar, this is a box of heaven right here." She laughed and leaned over to wipe a bit of sauce from his chin. "Can't waste it," she said.

He bit back a groan, snagging her hand to make sure he didn’t waste any part of it. He was only following her directions after all. He watched her green eyes go dark as he sucked her thumb into his mouth. She flicked her own tongue along her lips. He had to hold himself back from leaning in for a better taste. "Even tastier," he grinned.

She swallowed, trying desperately not to choke on the once succulent chicken, that now tasted like cardboard. Good God, don't go there, Kate. She wiped her thumb on her towel. Hard.

Not wanting to overplay his hand, he sat back with a roll, tearing it apart. "You should have seen it today, Katy. I swear it was the funniest thing.” He popped in a flaky piece of bread and groaned softly. Soul food indeed. “Never thought I’d see anyone get the best of Joker."

She could still feel the tingle from the swipe of his tongue. She reached for a rib this time, trying to concentrate on his words. "Joker?"

Even with sauce coating her lips and fingers she was unbelievable beautiful. Impossibly young, too. For the first time since he met her, she actually seemed like the student she was. Her face was scrubbed clean—well, save for a little sweet sauce—and the sleep clothes of a teen that hadn’t intended on entertaining. But instead of dashing to her room to change, she didn’t care what she looked like around him. It was refreshing to see the real side of someone for once. They were always looking for some way to turn him around to suit a need, whether it was sex or status, most of the women he ran into these days always had an ulterior motive.

He cleared his throat as he realized he was taking too long to answer. "Um, yeah, Joker.” At her puzzled look he laughed, relaxing even more. “That’s David, our keyboardist, and resident prankster.” He picked at a drumstick from the fried chicken box. “Teensy took some offense to how he was treating Richie.” He laughed, remembering the little hundred pounds of nothing. “She had him twisted like a pretzel, warning him off Richie. I swear David nearly had a stroke that someone had managed to one up him so quickly." He grinned as she left a smear of barbeque sauce at the corner of her lips. He picked up a napkin and gently dabbed the corner of her mouth.

She scraped her teeth over her lip and flicked her tongue out, pulling back. "God, I'm a mess." she pushed a whispy lock of hair back away from her face. "Such a lady, huh?" she laughed. When he didn’t say anything, except grin wider she knew her face was flaming red with a blush. "Well, Elena certainly has a way of letting some of that protective she-lion out when she thinks someone she lo-" she blinked. Well, it was how she acted with someone she loved. Huh. Well damn, her little girl was finally growing up. "Um, someone she cares about is under attack at all. Even if it's only a joke." She stood up, and went to the sink, washing away most of the stickiness.

His brow arched as he watched her stumble over words. "So you think she lo—cares for Richie, huh?"

"Damn, caught that huh?" She sat back down and hoped desperately that her nipples weren't as hard as they felt under the Red Barron Snoopy tanktop she was wearing.

He waggled his brows gently, "Told you, Babe, I’m about more than just hair." At her sneer he laughed. "Tell me something I don't know about Katherine Morrison."

She let herself take a good look at him. His hair was much flatter than usual, even if the curls were still out of control. In fact, they looked soft and welcoming for once instead of like they were going to eat the room alive. "Katherine Morrison used to play saxophone," she blurted out. Well hell, where’d that come from?

His eyes widened. "Used to?"

Deciding that maybe music was some even ground they could talk about and not spark up to sex, she relaxed. "Well, on lonely sad nights I still pull it out, but yeah used to." She took the carton of mac salad and sat back on her chair, picking at the noodles with a fork.

He tilted his head, wondering how anyone with music in them could only pull it out occasionally. "You'll have to play something for me soon."

She nearly choked on a noodle. "Oh no way," she laughed. "I'm not playing in front of a professional." She forked another bit up then pushed the carton onto the table. "Lord, I'm going to hurl if I eat anymore." She eyed the table. "It's all so good." She laced her fingers over her belly. "You totally made my month with this."

"Expect a delivery once a week. It’s already set up."

"Oh honey, you have to change that to once every other month. I'll be a house." She stood, with a bit of work and leaned over to kiss his cheek again. "I'm not crazy enough to say no, even though I should."

He turned his head at the last second, capturing her lips with his.