Things Good Girls Don't Do (13 page)

Katie realized she was still gripping the side of the cowboy hat and said, “Can you please let go of my hat?”

Selena yipped like a little dog. “You mean
my
hat.”

“No, you little bitch, she means her hat,” Steph said, coming up beside her.

“Who are you calling a bitch?” Selena said loudly.

“You, Selena, and considering what a little brat you used to be, I can’t believe you haven’t heard the term lately,” Steph said, bristling like an angry dog.

Katie wasn’t really listening to Steph and Selena bait each other. She couldn’t look away from Jimmy, whose chocolate-brown eyes had once been able to melt her with a glance, and she just felt humiliated all over again. Fighting over a stupid hat with an obnoxious, high-pitched, tramp. She almost let go of it, but Becca stepped in.

“Sweetheart, I’m sorry, but I’ve had that hat on hold for Katie for a week,” she said in a friendly but firm tone. Katie wanted to kiss her.

Selena glared at Steph and Katie, whining, “But there’s no hold sign on it.”

Becca reached out and removed the younger woman’s groping fingers. “Come look over here; there are some really cute ones on this side too.”

Selena hesitated, looking at Katie with a sour, pinched look. “Honey bear, are you coming?”

Katie wanted to gag at the sickly-sweet tone. Jimmy kept staring at her like she had horns and a tail, even while addressing his fiancée. “I’ll be right there, sweetie pie, I just want to talk to Katie for a minute.”

The little witch actually pouted and leaned up to kiss Jimmy, right in front of her. Someone grabbed Katie’s hand, probably Steph, trying to comfort her, but it wasn’t that she was jealous of Jimmy; Selena could have him. It was that they both seemed to be oblivious to everyone else’s feelings but their own. They were perfect for each other, that was for sure.

Selena walked to the other side of the stand, completely ignoring them, and Katie got the message loud and clear. Whatever Jimmy had said about her to Selena, she obviously didn’t see Katie as a threat.

“You look great. Different,” he said.

“And you look like the same old stupid asshole you’ve always been, genius,” Steph said.

Jimmy didn’t even flinch. “Nice to see you too, Steph. Can I talk to Katie, please?”

“Not after the way you treated her, you . . .”

“Steph, it’s okay. I’m fine,” Katie said.

Steph kept glaring at Jimmy. “Are you sure? ’Cause you don’t have to talk to him. In fact, I can probably have his ass thrown out, if you so desire.”

“Steph . . .”

“Fine. I need to go check on my husband anyway, but in case I wasn’t clear with my RSVP card, there is no way in
hell
I would go to your wedding,” Steph said, before giving Katie a hug and whispering, “I’m coming back in a few minutes with reinforcements.”

Shaking her head, Katie watched Steph go for a minute before facing Jimmy again. Her gaze met his, and she noticed how mild his eyes were. Steph’s obvious hatred hadn’t fazed him. But what really got under her skin was that he acted like he had no idea that seeing him here, with the woman he had left her for, would tear her up inside.

“What are you doing here?” she asked a little accusingly.

He looked defensive, something he always did when he knew he was wrong, and said, “This is my hometown. I have a right to be here.”

Her first reaction was to suck down her fury and be nice, keep the peace.

But that was the old Katie. The new Katie didn’t let anyone treat her like she didn’t matter.

And Jimmy was in for seven years of her unfiltered temper.

“Fine. Stay and have a good time. Just stay away from me.” She said it in a cold tone and was pleased when he looked taken aback again.

Which lasted all of three seconds before his face turned red and he snapped, “Oh, real mature, Katie. I thought after six years together you could . . .”

Katie exploded. “We were together for almost seven, jerk, when you started having private peekaboo parties with little Miss DD over there. I don’t owe you anything. And how dare you send me a wedding invitation like we’re just old friends? We’re not friends; we’re not anything anymore, Jimmy.”

Katie realized she had drawn a crowd with her outburst, and she would have turned to run if she hadn’t seen Chase come out of his booth, his expression concerned. He reached her side swiftly, slipping his arm around her waist and said, “Hey, Firecracker, was that you I heard yelling?”

Jimmy’s face darkened. “Who is this clown?”

Katie was happy to see Chase and kept her gaze on him while she made introductions. “Jimmy, this is Chase. Chase, this is my ex.”

Chase didn’t even look at Jimmy, just kissed her forehead and said, “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

“Hey, man, we were having a conversation,” Jimmy said.

Selena came up alongside Jimmy and slipped her arm through his. “Everything okay, honey bear?”

Jimmy mumbled something Katie couldn’t hear as Chase led her past them.

“Where are we going? What about your booth?” she asked.

“Eric’s watching it for me. Thought you might need to go somewhere quiet to cool off.” Chase squeezed her waist and she felt better just having him near.

“Can you believe he just acted like it was no big deal? Like we had just been classmates or something?”

He took her around the side of the bathrooms and leaned back against the stone building. “I told you he was a douche.”

“Serious douche,” she agreed.

“King of the douche nerds.”

She gave a little laugh and looked at her cell phone. “Ugh, I have to be at the kissing booth in thirty minutes.”

He grinned and set her new hat on top of her head, to her surprise. She had forgotten she was still gripping it. Bending his head down under the brim, he waggled his eyebrows and asked, “Don’t suppose you want to practice a little?”

She laughed as she leaned against him, her anger ebbing away as they kissed. Chase made her laugh. Made her feel good about herself. And both of those things were going to become very addicting.

C
HASE DIDN’T WANT
to let Katie go. They leaned against the concrete building, oblivious to the titters and whispers. Eventually, Chase had been the one to pull back, knowing if he made her late, there’d be hell to pay. Katie seemed to be one of those rare souls who kept her word.

It was an admirable quality in most instances, but being punctual so she could kiss a bunch of other dudes was not one of them.

“We better get going if you don’t want to be late.”

She looked disappointed, but said, “Yeah, you’re right. Everyone’s going to want to kiss the soon-to-be former Canyon Queen.”

He knew she was making a joke out of it, but he didn’t smile. He didn’t want anyone else getting a taste of Katie’s sweet lips.

Walking her to the booth, Chase said hi to Gracie McAllister, who owned The Local Bean Coffee Shop and currently occupied the kissing booth. The petite blonde gave one of the Rock Canyon High School football players a little kiss and waved him off. “That’s it, Jake, move on.”

The next kid moved up and said, “Ready to rock my world?”

“No, Tommy, you’re too young for me to rock.” Peck. “Okay, shoo.”

Just watching it, putting Katie in Gracie’s place, made Chase growl. “I’m right next door.”

Katie smiled up at him so sweetly it hurt his chest and he wasn’t sure why. He walked back into his booth and said to Eric, “Thanks for watching my booth.”

Eric grinned. “Anytime, buddy. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to see if I can get in a last-minute kiss with Miss Gracie Lou.”

Chase laughed. It was a well-known fact that Eric had been carrying a big, flaming torch for Gracie since he had carried her out of the Valentine’s Day singles’ auction over his shoulder. No one knew what had happened that night and neither of them had talked about it, but Eric hadn’t stopped looking for ways to antagonize Gracie ever since. The two acted like arch-nemeses in public, but sometimes Chase wondered if they didn’t have something going on they didn’t want anyone to know about.

Like you and Katie?

Chase kept checking his watch until it reached three and Gracie’s voice pealed out over the megaphone. “Changing of the lips! Changing of the lips! Come give your Canyon Queen, Miss Katie Connors, a smooch! Only a dollar!”

Chase glared when he saw the kid who had delivered their pizza walk by and turn right.

It was just a fund-raiser. No big deal. What did he care who she kissed?

A line started forming past the front of his booth and Chase was grinding his teeth and clenching his fists after five minutes. When the two guys he’d beat playing pool on Monday got in line, he couldn’t stand it anymore.

Opening his lockbox, he pulled out three hundred dollars. When he saw Gracie stomp by angrily, Eric close on her heels, Chase called, “Eric, can you watch my booth again?”

Eric stopped, his attention moving back and forth between Chase and Gracie, getting further away from him. “I’m kind of busy, man.”

“I’ll owe you one,” Chase said.

Eric stared off after his prey, shrugged, and made his way over to the Jagged Rock booth. “Where are you off to now?”

Chase didn’t answer as he rounded the corner toward the kissing booth, telling himself he wasn’t interfering with the kissing booth out of jealousy. But as his eyes locked on Katie, smiling beautifully at the current man leaned down to kiss her, Chase knew it was a lie.

K
ATIE GAVE
C
ARL
Anderson a light peck and pulled back quickly. “There you go.”

Carl looked disappointed. “Man, that’s it?”

Katie saw Chase walking past the other guys in line, his expression dark, and her heartbeat sped up. “Yep, that’s it, Carl. Scoot.”

Carl left grumbling and Chase pushed the next guy out of the way. Loud curses and protests ensued from the men in line. He handed Katie a stack of bills. “I’d like to buy three hundred dollars’ worth of kisses.”

Katie’s mouth dropped open as Chase came around to the inside of the kissing booth and yelled, “Sorry, boys, these lips are reserved!”

The men grumbled as Katie finally got her bearings. “Are you crazy? Everybody’s going to be talking about this.”

He kissed her and she grabbed his arms to hold on. When he pulled back, he was grinning. “Only 299 more to go.”

She blinked at him. “You can’t kiss me 299 times out here. Mrs. Andrews is already giving me dirty looks, and people are going to say . . .”

He kissed her again. “Now it’s 298. People are going to say what they want. So what? We can give them something to talk about, and I don’t have to imagine you kissing a bunch of other guys.”

It was pretty much what she’d told herself earlier, but the little part of her that hated being the object of any gossip was protesting in her brain. She didn’t argue anymore, though, as he kissed her again and again. And when her time in the kissing booth was up, he still had 137 kisses to go.

C
HASE ONLY HAD
an hour and a half left at his booth and Katie sat with him the whole time, watching him work or just smiling when he stole another kiss.

When the fair ended, she helped him gather his supplies, fold down the rental tent, and carry the sample binders and equipment out to the Blazer. “No chopper today?”

He slammed the back of the car and came around to face her. Putting his hands against the Blazer on either side of her head, he said, “Nope. Can’t carry all that stuff on the back of a motorcycle.” He kissed her again. “I think that’s 118.”

“You can stop counting now.”

His mouth caught the last bit of her sentence. “That would be 117. No, because I want to make sure I get my money’s worth.”

Wrapping her arms around his waist, she asked, “Wanna see something?”

“Sure,” he said, pretending to look down her shirt.

“Let’s go then,” she said, ducking out from under his arm.

“Where are we going?”

Her look was flirtatious. “You’ll see,” she said, climbing into the passenger seat.

Opening up the door to the SUV, he hopped behind the wheel. “All right, where am I going?”

“Head out to Old Mill Road. Those clouds look pretty dark, but we won’t be long. I need to be back at the community center by six. Just enough time to show you my favorite spot,” she said.

“Oh yeah? I can’t wait to see where sweet Katie spent her youth.” He started the Blazer and said, “I’ll have you back on time. Wouldn’t want to miss the swimsuit competition.” He moved just in time to avoid a slap on the arm and added, “Now, now, temper, temper.”

She stuck her tongue out at him and grinned and Chase put the Blazer into gear. He drove away from town toward the farms until she told him to take a dirt road into the Snake River Canyon. The road was barely one lane, with no guardrail along the edge, and it made him a little nervous. He had never been comfortable with heights, even as a kid. Looking over the edge of a cliff was something he avoided, even in a car.

As he descended into the canyon, she pointed. “Follow the road back there. Eventually there will be nowhere left to go and we’ll just park.”

He did what she said, winding back through tall weeds and bushes until the road dead-ended in a small circle. He put the car into park and shut the engine off. Turning to her, he asked, “So now what?”

Katie leaned over and kissed him hard and fast. Before he could grab her back, she opened her door and hopped out. “Now we walk.”

“Are we going to get shot for trespassing?” he asked, getting out of the Blazer and looking around for some hidden assailant.

Laughing, she headed onto a very narrow trail surrounded by tall bushes and grass. “I haven’t, but you never know. I’d be more worried about snakes.”

Chase stopped. He hated snakes, had always been a chicken shit around them. “Yeah, I’m not much of a hiker,” he called.

She stopped suddenly and walked back to him. Reaching out, she took hold of his hand and laced her fingers through his.

So much for not holding hands.

“Stay close, city boy, and just listen for the sound of a rattle. Like a
chickchick bzzzz
sound,” she said. “Oh, and watch for poison ivy.”