Page 49

“Kate, Doc, sweetheart, sugar lips, babe, boo.” She laughed harder and harder with each nickname I tried out. “I think maybe there’s Doc and then there’s Doc.”

“Maybe there is.”

“Come on.” I nodded toward the door, past where Drunk Jim had passed out on the bar.

She put her hand in mine. Two minutes later she parked in my driveway and I led her up the left side of the house to my private entrance. “This house has three master suites. One on each side. Everett has the one opposite this one. And one in the middle upstairs. Everett calls it the Brady Bunch house.” I unlocked the door and flicked on the lights, holding it open for Kate. Electricity crackled as she passed me. My whole body buzzed on the adrenaline of having her here, close and alone, and having no clue what might happen next.

“Wow!”

Each suite was fairly large with its own bathroom and sitting room. They all had large windows that looked out over the pool and canal. “The living room and kitchen are through here.” I pointed to the door on the opposite side of the room. “And so are the other two bedrooms. Rosie and Mom are in there.”

“Not the other suite?”

“No. The plan is to hire someone to help us out. Someone who can be here for Rosie when we’re on the road and keep the house running smoothly. Besides, when they’re here Mom likes to be close to Rosie.”

I stood in the middle of the room while Kate poked around. “It’s a very lovely home, Isaac.” She stopped in front of the windows and looked out at the water.

“Would you like something to drink?” I didn’t need anything. Not with the way I was buzzing.

“No. I’m good.” She set her purse on my dresser and picked up a picture of Rosie holding up a conch shell. “She was so proud of you today.”

“She liked hearing the crowd cheer for her.” My girl was sweet, but she was also human.

“Maybe. But she was still very proud of you. I saw the way she looked at you.”

I took the picture and set it back on the dresser, then took Kate’s face in my hands. “Did you see the way I looked at you?”

She melted all over again. “Yes. It was very hot and Eli noticed.”

“Good. I want everyone to notice.” I didn’t sound like myself.

“Isaac.”

“I don’t know what you do to me, but I like it.”

“Agreed.”

I pulled back, studying the dreamy look on her face. “Is this new for you too?”

“The head spinning giddy excitement or the fact that I feel like I was supposed to meet you?”

I swallowed hard hearing her repeat everything I had been thinking since the night we met. “Both.”

“Oh,” she whispered. “I think you better kiss me again.”

“Or?”

“Or I might disappear.”

I didn’t know what that meant, but I knew I needed to kiss her, so I did as she asked and got so lost in the kiss I didn’t know what I was doing anymore. I wasn’t Isaac and she wasn’t Kate. We were two starved humans who needed each other.

“Isaac, I—I haven’t done this in a long time.”

“Done what?”

“This.” Her fingers tightened on my neck. “A relationship. The last few years have been a disaster. Nothing has lasted more than a couple of weeks.”

“You’ve been waiting for me to turn into a pumpkin like all the rest?”