Falling for the Wingman (The Kelly Brothers, Book 3) (6 page)

Time to lighten up the mood. Alex slipped her arm through his. “So, I’m thinking we act really cutesy over dessert and then end it with a kiss that will have those old biddies talking well into next week.”

“How about I just put you on the hood of my Camaro and rev up the engine?”

She shivered from the thought of it. “Don’t tempt me. I think Jackson Grove still has some public lewdness laws on the books that I’d be in danger of violating if you did that.”

“And what we’ve done so far doesn’t count?” He ran his hand along her thigh again, reviving that delightfully uncomfortable trickle of desire that flared to life whenever she got this close to him.

“Watch it, flyboy, or I may say screw dessert.”
In favor of screwing me
. Her cheeks flushed, and she covered his hand with her own to keep him from tracing those little circles on her bare skin that made her sex ache. “This is a family establishment, after all.”

His pupils dilated, and her heart kicked into overdrive. He licked his lips and leaned toward her. “Why don’t we give those old biddies over there something to talk about now?”

Alex’s breath quickened, but her mind issued a peal of warning. “Why?”

He backed away, blinking several times like she’d just decked him instead of asking a question. “Because it will get back to your sister faster.”

All the heat between them vaporized, leaving behind a cold, sinking feeling. It was still about Kourtney. Alex pushed his hand off her thigh. “Let’s just wait until after dessert.”

An awkward silence settled over them until their peach cobbler was half gone and Caleb finally said, “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For dragging you into this situation.”

“It was my idea, remember?”

“I know, but…” He tapped his spoon on what was left of his crust. “I came here so certain I’d succeed, but the longer I’m here, the more questions I have.”

“Sometimes it’s good to ask questions before making a big decision.”
Maybe it will keep you from making a big mistake.

“True, but…” He stabbed his spoon into the cobbler and pushed it away. “I just hope I find the answers sooner rather than later.”

“Just stick to my plan, and you’ll have your chance to talk to Kourtney by Wednesday.”

“And what if I want to talk to her now?”

Panic gripped her stomach so tightly, not even Miss Ada’s famous peach cobbler could entice her to take another bite. “Patience, Caleb. This is my sister we’re talking about. Right now, she’s still perfectly content with the son of the richest man in town. You need to make her jealous, to show her what she’s missing out on if you want to have a chance with her.”

His brows furrowed together again. “I just hate the idea of deceiving her. There’s something wrong about lying to get someone to fall in love with you.”

A new knot twisted in Alex’s stomach. Considering that she was the one who’d sent all those emails to him, the last nine months had been one big deception, and she was at the heart of it. And even he did come to his senses about Kourtney, would he want her after learning about all the lies she’d been feeding him?

“Let’s just go.” She pulled out her wallet and left enough money on the table to cover the check and tip.

“I was going to pay for dinner.”

“No, it was my idea.” She rubbed her arms, wishing she could blame her sudden case of chills on the air conditioner that blasted through the café.

He slid out of the booth and offered his hand, but she didn’t take it.

“Bye, Alex,” Miss Ada called from behind the counter.

Alex gave a weak wave and headed for the door, fully aware of all the eyes that were following her.

Caleb caught her as soon as they were outside. “What just happened in there?”

She tried to shrug him off, but he pulled her back against his chest and wrapped his arms around her waist. She couldn’t escape, but at least she didn’t have to look him in the eye when she came clean. “You’re right—we shouldn’t have to conjure some huge deception to make someone fall in love with us.”

He stilled behind her, the only movement coming from the rise and fall of his chest. Then he lifted her chin and used it to slowly turn her around. “Alex, I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For asking you to be my wingman. For putting you between me and your sister. For upsetting you after you’d worked so hard on your plan to help me get her back.”

She bit her bottom lip to keep from asking him why the hell he still wanted Kourtney. “It’s fine, Caleb. I knew what I was getting myself into. Besides, who’s to say my plan would’ve worked anyway? After all, why should you want me, especially after you’ve had her? They probably think you’ve lost your mind in there.”

That same puzzled expression returned. “You think you’re inferior to your sister?”

“Well, physically, yeah. I mean, I can’t compete with her bazookas, much less anything else. She got all the looks.”

“Oh, Alex, don’t ever think that.” He tucked a strand of her untamed red hair behind her ear and gave her a gentle smile that thankfully didn’t contain an ounce of pity. “You are definitely a sexy woman in your own way.”

“Yeah, if by sexy, you mean my ability to tell the make and model of a car by just the sound of its engine.”

His grin widened until it crinkled his nose. “I find that very sexy.”

“You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”

“Is it working?”

Her lips twitched. Caleb Kelly could charm the panties off a nun, but Alex couldn’t help but notice the way he drew her closer into his embrace rather than maintaining that “just friends” distance she was all too familiar with. She wound her hands around his neck, watching for any sign that she was taking things too far. “Maybe.”

“Then maybe I should keep going.” He bent his head and kissed her.

Alex sucked in a breath and held it, wishing she could make this second last forever. Caleb’s lips moved against hers, stripping past all her defenses and exposing that terrified core inside her. For a brief moment, she forgot that this was all for show. She indulged in the fantasy that he was kissing her because he wanted her, not because he was trying to give the town gossips enough fodder to make her sister jealous.

She decided to make the most of the moment. She released her breath with a moan and kissed him back, slipping her tongue into his mouth.

A hard ridge in his pants pressed into the softness of her stomach and emboldened her. Despite his declarations of love for Kourtney, Caleb couldn’t hide the evidence of his arousal. She had the sign she’d been looking for. Hope intensified her desire. She dug her hands into the soft fabric on his T-shirt and rubbed against the hard planes of his body like they were lovers.

Caleb grabbed her ass and stopped the grinding, but he still kept her pressed against him. Now it was his turn to moan. He nipped at her bottom lip and pulled away with a shaky breath. “Do you think that was enough?”

A quick peek inside the café revealed that both Mindy and Mrs. Jefferies were back on their phones, this time with florid cheeks and rapidly moving mouths. “It got people talking.”

“Good.” But instead of letting her go, he kissed her one more time, although with less passion than before. “Let’s stop before things get out of hand and they cite us for violating those public lewdness acts.”

“Indeed.” Right now, it was taking every ounce of self-control not to jump his bones. She pulled away and glanced down at his pants. Yes, there was still a hard ridge there, but it wasn’t in the usual spot for a hard-on. She ran her hand over the bulge. “What do you have in your pocket?”

He looked away and gave her an embarrassed smile as they walked down the sidewalk away from the café. For a split second, she worried she may have been mistaken and he had a really crooked erection. But then he slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a familiar figurine. “It’s my good luck charm.”

Alex’s throat choked up when she recognized the angel she’d made shortly after she’d met Caleb. He’d let it slip that his call sign was “Crooked Halo,” and she’d been inspired to create the little figurine out of spare parts and give it to her sister two Christmases ago. “Where did you get that?”

“From your sister. She gave it to me the Christmas before I deployed.”

Alex dug her nails into her palms. Talk about re-gifting. She doubted Kourtney had kept it longer than a few hours before giving it away.

“I thought it was cute, what with my call sign and all.” He stroked his thumb over the angel’s face, and his voice grew quiet. “Now I truly believe it’s a lucky charm.”

The anger evaporated as she watched him stare with love at the collection of small metal bits she’d soldered together. “How so?”

“You know us pilots. We’re a superstitious bunch. I took this with me so I could have a little something to remember Kourtney by and kept it in my flight suit. It wasn’t until I barely missed getting hit by a SAM that I started to believe it was lucky. After that, it never left my pocket.” To prove his point, he placed the figurine back into the safety of his pocket.

Part of her wanted to laugh from the absurdity of it all. When she’d asked for a sign, she’d never expected the bulge in his pants to be the figurine she’d made. “Did she ever tell you where she got it?”

“I never asked. At first, I thought it was a little gag gift. You know, one of those things you find at a flea market for ninety-nine cents. Then I realized that the wings were a World War II–issued badge, and it started to grow on me.”

She gave a bitter laugh. Maybe there was still some hope she’d grow on him.

“I’ll ask her once I get her alone.” He gave her a grin. “So, what’s the plan from here?”

“Take it easy tonight. We’ve done enough to crank the gossip mill into high gear.”
And tested my willpower enough, too.
“Tomorrow, come by the garage around five, and I’ll take you over to Bubba’s for dinner.”

“Bubba’s?” he asked, arching one brow.

“He and his wife are some of my best friends, and they’re cooking some BBQ for us, along with J.T. and Mindy.” She pointed back to the café to refresh his memory. “As you might recall, Mindy is one of Kourtney’s best friends, and she’s the maid of honor in her wedding.”

“Why aren’t you her maid of honor?”

Alex gave an unladylike snort. “We may be sisters, Caleb, but we’re about as different as we can be. She’s determined that I’m going to do something to ruin her wedding.”

“Well, you technically are.” He grinned.

“Getting you two together again aside, she’d been harping on me because I didn’t have a date to the wedding. Then it was because I was refusing to wear a dress to the engagement parties and pre-wedding stuff. Then it was because I refused to do something with my hair or wear makeup. In other words, I’m the troll marring her pretty little fantasy world.”

He pressed his lips together in a tight line. “But you’re still her sister.”

“In your family, blood may be thicker than water, but in the Leadbetter household, it’s all about appearances. And let’s face it, I don’t fit in with my mom and sister.”

The line of his mouth thinned even more, but he dropped the subject and remained quiet until they returned to the garage. “So, back here tomorrow at five, huh?”

“Yep. And if tomorrow goes to plan, Kourtney will be tripping over herself to talk to you on Wednesday afternoon when we go to Mama’s.”

He nodded, and a hint of a smile played softened the hard lines of his mouth as he tucked one another stray strand of her hair behind her ear. “I’m glad you’re not like them, Alex. You’ve always been so easy to be around, and I’m glad I can count on you to be my wingman.”

Her eyes stung, and she turned away before he caught a glimpse of the moisture building in the corners. If she was so easy to be around, why did he still want her high-strung, self-absorbed, demanding sister? “Well, this wingman needs to get some shut-eye before tomorrow.”

“Good idea. See you tomorrow.”

She climbed the stairs to her loft above the garage but paused halfway up to watch him leave. He jogged back to his Camaro and fired up the engine, but he didn’t leave right away. Instead, he rolled down the window and drummed his fingers along the top of the door, staring at her garage the whole time.

She held her breath. Maybe he was finally coming to his senses. Maybe he’d put two and two together and realized that she was the one who’d written the letters. Maybe he would turn the car off and come running up the stairs to take her to bed, saying he was finished with her sister and loved her instead.

But that never happened.

Instead, he turned the car around and drove in the direction of Miss Martha’s, and Alex could no longer hold back the rogue tear that slipped out of her eye. She wiped it away. One tear. That’s all she could bear to shed for Caleb Kelly right now. Tomorrow was another day, and if everything went to plan, she’d make some more progress in winning him over. And by the time he had his conversation with Kourtney, he’d realize her sister was not the woman for him.

Chapter Four

Alex grunted as she bent over the engine and pushed all her body weight against the socket wrench. The stubborn lug nut refused to budge. “Jermaine, I think we’re going to need some WD-40.”