That Unexpected Kiss Page 3

  He smirked. “Ehh...I don’t know about that. There’s never been a woman who’s ever really struck me where it counts.” He pounded a fist exaggeratedly against his heart.

  She grinned. “You came along at a pretty rough time in my life.” Kate gazed upwards at the clear blue sky. “Julie was offered that job in Colorado, and Dad was giving me a lot more responsibility once I finished with school.”

  When Dylan had arrived in Crystal Rock only a few years earlier, he and Kate had instantly clicked. Once they’d begun dating, they’d discovered there just hadn’t been enough of a physical connection between them to continue as anything more than friends though.

  Kate frowned. “Are you still having problems with Jim?”

  “Yeah.” He sighed. “He’s what my dad would’ve called an old stick-in-the-mud. It’s either his way or no way.” Dylan grimaced. “He won’t even let me rearrange the filing system in the office, and it’s a mess. He sends me out to deal with complaints in the community and around the lake while, supposedly, he’s doing the patrolling. But no one ever really sees him. As far as I can tell, he hasn’t even issued any recent tickets for violations, but it seems like I’ve been writing them out constantly. It’s amazing how many out-of-state tourists don’t even bother to purchase a fishing license.”

  “So, what does Jim do?”

  Dylan had been puzzling about that, especially after watching him closely during the last week. “I don’t know. Drinks, maybe? Sometimes, I swear, I smell alcohol on his breath.”

  Kate nodded. “That doesn’t surprise me. Even though Jim’s been a fixture in the community for years, I’ve never really liked him. It’s strange he’s never married. Dad says Jim used to have a steady girlfriend back in high school. Truthfully, he’s always kind of given me the creeps.” She grimaced. “He has this weird way of looking at me. And I sure run into him an awful lot.”

  “Hmm. Really?” Dylan frowned. “That does seem kind of odd. Sometimes I think you see him more than I do, and I work with the guy.” Dylan inhaled sharply and shook his head. “I’ve decided I’d better keep an eye on him, Kate. I don’t want his negligence falling back on me–just in case something does go down in the future.”

  Kate looked thoughtful, nodding her agreement.

  Dylan glanced at the cabin behind them. “We’ve got just about everything moved out of there now. Don’t we?”

  “Yeah,” she said, turning to stare at the dilapidated cabin. “Lots of good memories, but time to move on. Everything that hasn’t been sold, I’ve placed in storage. This property’s sure going to look different three months from now.”

  “Have you finished revising the plans?” Dylan asked quietly.

  “Yeah. I’ve rearranged the placement of the kitchen and flipped the positioning of the bedrooms upstairs. I moved the master-suite to the upper level. And I’ve also added a small greenhouse inside my workshop. But basically, I’ve kept the plans as Murphy drew them.

  “I’m glad you’re actually moving forward,” Dylan said quietly. Kate had finally admitted to Dylan that she’d fallen in love with Michael Murphy years ago, when he’d served as an intern at Callahan Construction. Murphy had been ready to enter his senior year in college, and already had plans for his career afterwards. Rather than hold him back by confessing her feelings, Kate had decided the best thing she could do at the time was let him go.

  “Yeah.” She sighed heavily. “So, do you actually think this scheme will work?”

  Dylan snorted. “Of course it will.”

  “I don’t know why it took me so long to finally see it. I’ve never let Michael go. I just couldn’t. Working with his mother, I’ve kept track of every single thing that’s happened in his life since he left.”

  Besides being a crew boss, Kate was a gifted artisan who designed tables and artwork from metal, wood and mosaics. Murphy’s mother owned an antique and collectable gift shop, where Kate regularly sent pieces to Chicago to be sold. But there was a slew of backorders, and Kate could barely keep up with demand.

  Kate hesitated. “I don’t know. Do you really think he’s still interested? It’s been over six years—almost seven.”

  He smiled wryly. “Trust me Kate. He’s been dating this woman for, what—about five years? What’s been holding him back from getting married before now? Especially since he’s apparently been successful enough to be promoted to partner? Trust me. He’s still thinking about you. He hasn’t had closure. He’s just waiting for a reason to come back here.”

  Kate exhaled deeply. “Okay. That’s all I needed to hear.”

  CHAPTER

  THREE

  Three months later.

  He was the most beautiful man Julie had ever seen, with a perfectly chiseled face that could’ve been honed by a sculptor. And the most amazingly built body she’d ever had the pleasure of laying her eyes upon. His stunning blue gray eyes glittered intensely when he smiled her way and, more than once, she’d dreamed about his full, sensual mouth wandering over her entire body.

  It’d been over two years since Julie Thompson had met Dylan Nash for the very first time, on Valentine’s Day as a matter of fact, and it seemed like every time she’d been around him since, she’d had this same stupid reaction afterward.

  It was the most awkward feeling in the world to be so desperately attracted to the boyfriend of one of her closest friends. So awkward, in fact, Julie had taken a job in Colorado instead of the nearby state of Illinois, just so she could avoid returning home to Wisconsin and visiting her family and friends as much as she probably would have otherwise.

  But it was time for her to quit being so stupid about this. An opening had finally become available in her hometown of Crystal Rock, Wisconsin, for a special education teacher. If she could handle an autistic sixteen-year old boy with severe behavior problems in the classroom, she should be able to get over a simple infatuation.

  She was going to be able to do it.

  Right?

  Julie grimaced, pulling her car into the driveway of the family home.

  Her heart would race when Dylan’s eyes held hers. There was something so intensely personal about the smile Dylan sent her way whenever he came walking into the room. It was like he was daring her to...

  Julie shook her head in confusion. What? Steal him away from Kate?

  But why would someone as hot and sexy as Dylan be interested in someone like her? Julie asked herself for the millionth time. Was this so-called attraction they had for each other entirely a figment of her own rather vivid imagination? That was always the ultimate question.

  Julie banged her head one, two, three times against the steering wheel. Leaving her head down, she groaned.

  “Jules?”

  Julie’s head sprung up. “Oh, hi Dad.”

  Jeff Thompson’s look was quizzical. “Something wrong?”

  Julie gave him a rueful grin. “Nah. Nothing I can’t handle.”

  “Good to hear. It’s sure going to be great having you home. I wasn’t even expecting you until tomorrow.”

  Pulling the door handle open, Julie stepped out from the convertible and into her father’s arms.

  Her dad gave her a peck on the cheek while he patted her back and then, reaching inside the car, he pulled the keys from the ignition and made his way around the convertible.

  Julie asked suddenly, “You don’t mind if I stay here until I find myself a place to live?”

  Her dad peeked out from behind the car where he’d opened the trunk. “You’ve never asked me that before, so I’m assuming you’re trying to prepare me for the fact that you’re going to want to have a place of your own eventually?”

  Julie grinned, grabbing her overnight bag from the backseat. “Eventually. No hurry.”

  “I kind of figured that, kiddo,” he said, grunting as he pulled out Julie’s two largest suitcases. “What have you got in these bags—rocks?”

  Julie snorted. “I haven’t collected those since second grade.”

>   Her father laughed. “Well, let’s get you inside. I’m probably going to need to go into the restaurant soon. I’m having trouble keeping up with business again. We’ve been packed lately.”

  They made their way through the attached garage of the bi-level home, and Julie walked through the doorway of the garage into the kitchen first, holding the door open for her dad.

  “I can help you out, if you’d like. I’ll have to drop by the school and sit in for a few of the summer school classes three or four days a week. My official start date isn’t for a couple of months, though.”

  “Only if you want, Jules,” her dad answered, continuing through the kitchen and up the staircase into Julie’s bedroom with her luggage.

  A few minutes later, he returned to the kitchen, where Julie had laid down her bag and was pouring herself a glass of iced tea from the pitcher in the fridge.

  Julie responded distractedly to the statement he’d made a few minutes before. “Hey, the Crystal Rock Tap has been like a second home to me. No way would I quit helping out there when you needed me, just because I have another job here in town.”

  “How about hiring a few new employees for me? Someone has to weed out the applications. It’s time to seriously think about hiring an assistant, even though I’ve been avoiding it.”

  “Not a problem.” Julie grinned. “You’re finally going to break down and ask for help, huh? It’s about time.”

  “Yeah. Life is too short Jules. I want to do a little fishing, and maybe go out to eat somewhere else besides my own restaurant occasionally.” He grinned.

  “Sounds like a plan. Maybe you and I should do that soon?”

  “It’s a date.” Her dad grimaced. “After I hire an assistant?”

  Julie smiled. “That’ll work. I’ll begin going through the applications tonight.”

  Her dad sighed, opening the door leading into the garage. “I hate to run out on you right away.”

  “That’s alright. No one even knows I’m in town yet. I wasn’t supposed to be here until next week. But once I cleared everything from my apartment, there really wasn’t any other reason to hang around town anymore since school was out.” And truthfully? Julie missed Crystal Rock. She was one of those strange people that loved her hometown, and couldn’t wait to come back and hang out with her friends and family again.

  “I’ll be over there soon, once I’ve finished unpacking,” she said, as her dad walked into the garage.

  “Okay,” he answered. “See you in a few.”

  She heard him rev up the engine of his truck.

  The Crystal Rock Tap was located only about a quarter of a mile down the road. Her grandfather had built the Tap back in the nineteen fifties and had built this split-level home about twenty-five years later.

  Julie and her mother had been living here with her grandparents when her dad was serving in the army overseas. When her mother had disappeared, Julie’s grandparents had taken up the slack until her father had returned home. Grandma and Grandpa had finally retired in North Carolina after Julie had graduated from high school nine years earlier.

  Her mother. Julie’s memories were faded, but every time she came home after being away for a while she experienced a sense of depression and loneliness that was becoming increasingly difficult to control. If only she could find out what’d happened to her mom. Her grandmother had insisted she’d left because she was young and wasn’t ready to be a mother. Her mom had been much younger than her dad when they’d been married and, supposedly, it’d been a whirlwind romance.

  But her dad never talked about her mom, and everything Julie knew about her she’d learned from her grandparents. Sometimes, Julie could swear she felt her presence, remembering little bits and pieces of the past…like being held within loving arms.

  She hated to admit it, but her desperation to discover more about her mother’s disappearance probably had something to do with what Christina Montgomery had told her at Dragonfly Pointe ten years earlier.

  The night before Christina had passed away.

  Before then, Julie had never thought one way or another about Christina’s predictions and how they’d always seemed to pan out, according to everyone who knew her. Life had been only a matter of fact for Julie; her mother had left her, and that was that.

  Suddenly, the depression was becoming overwhelming, and it was time to get out of there. She’d unpack later.

  Grabbing her purse and keys, she walked into the garage and outside through the open overhead door. She’d go for a drive before meeting her dad at the Tap, she decided, stepping into her car. As she sped off in her convertible, she was hoping the strong breeze blowing against her face would help clear away her muddled thoughts.

  * * *

  A few hours later when Julie strolled out from her father’s office, she noticed the last person she’d been expecting to see, sitting and eating a sandwich at the bar.

  Since when had Dylan Nash begun eating here at the Tap? The only times she’d ever seen him come in was when he’d been hanging around with Kate.

  Darn it. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d taken a look at herself in the mirror today. Originally intending to take her time coming home from Colorado, she’d driven straight through from Des Moines, arriving in two days instead of three. And then she’d taken that drive in the convertible. Although she’d pulled a brush through her hair afterwards, she hadn’t messed with mascara or lipstick before coming into the Tap.

  She must be a sight, considering she’d arrived at the restaurant less than an hour after returning home.

  What in the world was she thinking? Julie shook her head in frustration. She was acting like this guy was her boyfriend, and not someone who belonged to a friend.

  Irritated with herself, Julie marched through the restaurant and towards the bar, where her dad was seated beside Dylan.

  Puzzled, Julie halted, staring at the two of them. What was going on? They seemed to be having an intense conversation. True, she hadn’t been around much these last few years, so how would she know who her father was acquainted with these days? But Julie hadn’t realized her dad even knew who Dylan was.

  Putting her feet back into motion, Julie walked up to her father and cleared her throat.

  But strangely, Dylan scrambled to his feet upon seeing her. “Julie. You’re home.”

  She swallowed, gazing into his eyes. What was going on here? She could swear Dylan was thrilled to see her.

  There went that crazy imagination of hers in overdrive again. She shook her in confusion; she must be losing it.

  Looking back and forth between her and Dylan, her dad was saying, “Jules. I guess you know Dylan?” Remaining seated on the barstool, Jeff Thompson had a very strange expression on his face, Julie thought suddenly.

  “Yeah. Um. Hi, Dylan.” She took a moment to breathe in deeply, so she could still her racing heart. “How’s Kate doing?”

  Dylan grinned. “I haven’t talked to her in a while.” He sat back down on his barstool. “Good, I think,” he continued, seeming to be his usual impersonal self.

  “I just wanted you to look over some of the applications I picked out for you, Dad.”

  “I’ll get to that in a while,” he answered, patting the bar stool beside him. “Sit down for a minute, will you?”

  “Sure.” Looking at her dad first, and then at Dylan, she asked, “Something you need to know?”

  When Dylan’s eyes met hers, she quickly looked down at the applications she’d laid on the bar.

  “Yeah. But this needs to stay between us, since the guy’s my boss,” Dylan answered. “Have you ever had any run ins with Jim DuPree? I’ve been asked by a few of the men he used to work with to keep an eye on him. The guy never seems to be doing his job, and it’s messing with my life since I can’t do my own job effectively. But I’m not really sure where to begin. Jake Loughlin gave me a list of people I could trust to ask questions, and your dad was one of them.”

  Julie was puzzled. �
��Then why are you asking me?”

  Her dad answered, “There was something you said to me about him once, back when you were still in high school. It kind of struck me as odd. Remember?”

  Julie turned thoughtful. “Oh, yeah. I do. I haven’t been back in town much since I took that job in Colorado, and the only time I really think about stuff like that is when we’re out on the lake.” She looked from her dad to Dylan. “It seemed like every time me and Kate and the rest of our gang had a party, or got together at the beach, Jim would show up.” Julie paused. “Come to think about it, he’d even show up when we were out skiing. That’s when I got thinking about how strange the guy really was. I mean, he never seemed to have a purpose for being there. He’d talk to us for a few minutes, and then he would finally go on his way.”

  “Were you hanging out in any particular place when you’d run into him?” Dylan asked.

  Julie pursed her lips. “Hmm. I suppose after graduating high school, I used to see him the most at the Crystal Rock Campgrounds. That was before the special needs school was built, and the cabins were run down and the beach was deserted. Back when I was still in high school, we’d run into him at Stone Lake where the new subdivision was being built, mostly during the summer when we were skiing.”

  Dylan looked thoughtful as he wrote something in a notebook. He appeared to be jotting everything down they were telling him, and Julie could see quite a bit of writing on the page.

  “You’ve known Jim your entire life. Were you able to remember anything, Dad?”

  “That’s why it was a weird question for me. I never see Jim. And you know I spend every free minute fishing? You think he’d be trolling the lake, checking out licenses and making sure people are sticking to their catch limits.” Her dad gave Julie a rueful smile. “Although lately I haven’t had much time for fishing.”

  “That’s why we need to hire you an assistant,” Julie said firmly.