Kissing Trouble (6 page)

“I’m not a little kid!” Dustin snapped, leaping to his feet with such force, his chair skidded back and hit the floor with a deafening crash.

“Whoa, dude!” Mason turned to the younger man. “Chill.”

Pink spots appeared on Dustin’s cheeks. His balled hands trembled at his sides as he glowered from Mason to Julie. His glasses caught the light and glinted.

“Why are you taking her side?” Dustin accused hotly.

“I’m not taking anyone’s side,” Mason soothed. “But I do think you’re being a little harsh.” He jerked his head towards the door. “Come on. It sounds like fun. I’ll even join you.”

Dustin’s jaw worked like he was chewing steel, but he mashed his lips together and stormed from the room, muttering unintelligibly under his breath.

Julie exhaled once he was gone and folded her arms over her abdomen. “He’s usually a good kid,” she said, feeling the need to defend the boy. “He’s just having a hard time right now, what with the divorce and all.”

“Yeah, but that’s no excuse to be a little shithead,” Mason replied evenly.

It was on the tip of her tongue to ask him what his excuse had been four years ago, but she opted against it and averted her gaze.

“Maybe.”

She heard him shuffle and looked back in time to watch as he planted both forearms on the counter and leaned in.

“So, listen.” He cleared his throat. “I think we got off on the wrong foot last night.”

Her brow lifted with interest. “Think so, huh?”

He rolled one broad shoulder in a shrug. The corner of his mouth lifted in that lopsided grin that made her heart miss a beat. “I’ve certainly never been ambushed before by a bat wielding maniac.”

Julie gasped in amused outrage. “Maniac?”

“Come on.” He straightened. “Even you have to admit that was like James Bond crazy.”

Julie huffed, folding her arms. “First I’m a maniac, now I’m crazy. Anything else?”

He groaned and dropped his chin forward. His eyes closed in a grimace. “I have never had this much trouble talking to a girl.”

“I’m finding that hard to believe.” She circled around the island to gather the dishes off the table.

He was studying her when she turned back. There was contemplation in his expression and something else that lit her skin on fire. The dishes in her hands rattled as her nerves jittered anxiously. The sound jolted her back to the present and she quickly ducked her head and hurried past him. She dropped the plates and cutlery into the soapy water and stayed to watch them sink to the bottom. Anything to keep from looking at him again.

“Julie...”

She didn’t budge, except to squeeze her eyes closed tight. She prayed he would go away and leave her alone with what was left of her sanity. But he stayed.

“Will you please look at me?”

It was only because of the mature voice in her head, reminding her she was an adult and that ignoring him was childish, that she braced herself and turned.

The expression on his face could only be described as pleading, maybe even guilt ridden and agonizing. It was not something she had ever seen there before, not on him. In all the years she had known him, he had never been anything but confident and so sure of himself. Now he was watching her with eyes that begged her to hear him out.

“We need to talk.”

Julie swallowed and it tasted bitter like bile. Her insides trembled fearfully, dreading what was about to come next.

“About what?”

He lowered his lashes to conceal his eyes while he watched his fingers drum restlessly on the counter between them. “You know what.”

“No.”

Screw being an adult. She wasn’t ready to face that door.

“Julie, please. We’re going to be here together for a week, don’t you think—”

“I think we should stay completely out of the other’s way,” she decided decisively. “You and your friends can do whatever it was you came here to do and I will watch the kids. And when the week is over, you will go on your way and we will never have to see each other again.”

“That won’t happen.” He spoke so quietly she almost didn’t hear him.

“Why?” She whipped around, anger making her eyes shimmer with tears. “Why can’t you just leave me alone?”

There was so much anguish in his eyes that she felt it like an open wound. He said nothing for so long that she was almost certain he wouldn’t. But then his mouth opened and words poured out.

“Because I made a promise.”

Julie blinked, disorientated by the unexpected curveball his declaration provoked. She stared at him in numb confusion while her mind spun around what he could possibly mean.

“What are you talking about?” she whispered.

He splayed his hands to her, palms up. “I just really need you to trust me.”

“Trust you?” she repeated slowly, like he had cursed at her. “How can I ever trust you again after you humiliated me in front of the entire school for no reason?”

A muscle bunched in Mason’s jaw and he averted his eyes like the sight of her was worse than a knife in the chest. “I know what I did was unforgivable and that I’m asking a lot—”

Julie backed away from him, not trusting herself not to pitch something at him if she remained too close. “No,” she bit out shakily. “You’re asking for the impossible.”

Without waiting for him to think of anything else to say, Julie hurried from the room with her shoulders squared and her head held high. Her hands trembled at her sides and she fisted them until her nails bit half-moons into the heels. At the top of the stairs, she willed herself to calm down, to suck in as much air as she could possibly squeeze into her lungs to make the ache stop. But all that did was made her want to curl up in a corner and sob. Already unwanted tears were clinging to her lashes and she had to bite a hole into her cheek to keep them from falling.

He had some nerve asking her to trust him. Just how stupid did he think she was? She sniffled angrily and swiped at the single tear that sliced down the apple of her cheek.

No. She had already cried enough tears for Mason Brody. She refused to shed anymore.

With that, she stiffened her spine and went in search of the children. She found Wendy in Rick’s room. The two were arguing about who stole whose towel. Julie intervened quickly before the yelling match turned into a fist fight.

“Are you guys ready?” she asked.

Dressed in green shorts and a pink t-shirt, Wendy gave a little jump, already forgetting about her argument with Rick. “Yes!”

Rick grabbed his
Toronto Maple Leafs
cap off his bed, stuck it down over his sandy brown hair, and grinned toothily up at her. “Ready!”

Dustin was already waiting for them downstairs in baggy jeans and a t-shirt that announced something about people drinking from the fountain of stupid. He blatantly ignored Julie as she led the group into the kitchen and out the back doors by blaring his iPod as loud as humanly possible without causing his eardrums to explode.

As per his promise, Mason was waiting for them on the patio. He must have changed while Julie had been talking Wendy and Rick out of a brawl, because he now wore sweat shorts in gun metal gray and a black t-shirt. A red baseball cap was pulled down over his face, which still needed a shaving. He grinned broadly at the kids. He even offered her a hint of a smile that struck her as almost apologetic, but she ignored him by ushering the children down the steps.

She took them down a winding trail that ran alongside the lake. Julie had never heard such a tranquil silence. There was nothing but the whisper of summer through the trees and the occasional scuttle of critters. Even Rick and Wendy seemed to be relishing the vast freedom as they scampered on ahead, chasing butterflies and tearing out every colorful weed they came across. The only one not enjoying the walk was Dustin, who was kicking everything in his path and grumbling under his breath. Mason stayed a decent four feet on Julie’s right side, hands lost in the pockets of his shorts. His hulking presence did nothing to calm the turmoil twisting through her with a vengeance that left her unable to concentrate on anything, except how to get away.

She picked up her pace, lengthening her strides, which really made no difference because two of her
rushed
steps were basically a normal step for him. Plan foiled, she returned to her normal clip. No point pulling something for nothing.

She exhaled loudly, but it was swallowed by a shriek of joy from Wendy as she propelled herself down a steep incline straight towards the lake.

“Wendy!” Julie sprinted after the girl.

But at the last second, Wendy shot left, following the dirt path as it curved, running parallel to the steady flow of water. Trees lined the edge, forming a makeshift barricade, but there was just enough opening for a person to squeeze through, slip on wet mud and go straight into the water.

“They do that all the time,” Mason said quietly from beside her. “It used to scare Auntie M to death until she put all three of them in swimming class. They can probably swim better than I can.”

Julie considered ignoring him. To respond would open a line of communication she didn’t want. But her traitorous tongue spoke, without a shred of consent from her.

“I can’t swim.”

He gave a small chuckle. “So you decided to babysit a pack of kids in a cabin on a lake?”

She shot him a sidelong glower. “I didn’t pick the location. Besides, it’s not that I can’t swim, really. It’s more like...” She paused to think of the correct term. “I can’t swim well.”

“My dad taught me to swim ... the hard way.” He chuckled and slid his glance towards the rippling water running alongside them. “By pitching me straight off that dock.”

“Oh my God!” Julie gasped.

“It wasn’t as bad as it sounds. My uncles were already in the lake and my dad was a champion swimmer in high school and college, so I was more or less safe.”

“But that is still ... it’s a wonder you even go near water after an experience like that. What did your mother say?”

He barked a laugh. “Mom was the one who gave him the idea.”

Julie stared at him, horrified. “I don’t even know which part of that to wrap my head around first.”

“Well, they may have had unorthodox methods, but I learned pretty damn quick how to get my head above water and keep it there.”

“I’m a little scared to ask how they taught you to drive,” she muttered, with a disbelieving shake of her head.

“Would you believe my grandfather taught me?”

Julie exhaled and rolled her eyes heavenward. “Is it wrong that I’m relieved on your behalf?”

Mason grimaced. He chuckled and scratched his brow with his thumbnail. “I got into the car with a helmet and four shots.”

“A helmet? Why...” She trailed off as the second part of his comment hit her. “Four shots?” Her eyes narrowed as she recalled the Jeep Cherokee he and his friends had blazed around town in. “How old were you when you got your license?”

He sucked in a deep breath. “Sixteen.”

“And you were drunk?”

Julie hadn’t exactly grown up with Mason. His aunt, Maureen, lived next door to her parents and she would see him occasionally when he would come by to watch the kids. They had also gone to the same school for years, but he had always been three whole grades ahead of hers and completely out of her circle. Except when he was babysitting and he would go into Maureen’s bedroom window, which was adjacent to her bedroom window, and wave her over. She would spend most of the night watching movies with him, or playing board games until it was bedtime for the kids ... and her.

It wasn’t until much later that she found out it was because he pitied her. Julie, who had never really had friends, had been devastated, because she had considered him her friend. Plus, by that time, she was already in love with him, only to learn it was all a lie.

“I wasn’t drunk.” He broke into the hot flames of her memories, scattering the ashes and leaving behind a smudge across her aching heart. “But I was buzzed just enough to stomach Grandpa’s driving. The man is insane.”

“And he’s the one your parents thought should be the one to teach you?”

She had met Mr. and Mrs. Brody on the odd occasion when she was babysitting and they would drop by to see Maureen. They had always struck her as fun, kind parents. She couldn’t picture them being so reckless with their only son.

“Grandpa used to drive in the
Indy five hundred
,” he explained. “He has never in his entire life gotten into an accident, or even gotten a ticket, unlike my mom. He’s the best driver in the family. But he still drives like he’s trying to make that next curve.”

Julie shook her head. “I am having a really hard time understanding your family, truth be told. But you made it to adulthood, so I guess it all worked out.”

“Yeah...” He pulled in air. Exhaled. “They’re unique, but they’re the best.”

Her gaze flicked to him and his wistful tone before she quickly focused on the kids again.

“So where are your friends?” she asked.

“Sleeping.” Mason bent down and scooped a stone off the path. He tossed it a few times into the air and caught it deftly. The strobes of sunlight piercing through the canopy of trees overhead caught the smooth curves and glinted brightly. “They won’t be up until noon.”

“Why aren’t you sleeping?”

“Fourteen years of waking up at six am ... I don’t even know what sleeping in is anymore.”

Julie chuckled. “I’ve always been a morning person, which used to drive my parents nuts, especially when I was a kid and they were forced to get up with me. It was always a problem, because my mom wouldn’t get home until late from some event and my dad is a pilot so he was always fighting jet leg. I think it was a relief for both of them when I was finally old enough not to burn the house down making toast.”

Mason laughed and the sound rang through the trees as sweet and addictive as melted chocolate. His eyes shone when they slid to her. “Do you still live at home?”

Mouth painfully dry, Julie shook her head. “No, I got my own place two years ago when I started university.”

He pitched the rock deep into the bushes. It hit a trunk with a clunk and disappeared from sight in some foliage.