Falling Fast (Falling Fast #1) - Tina Wainscott Page 0,41

and turned. “Then remember that I’m no better for you now than I was then.”

He left, closing the door with a soft thud.

“But you are good for me, Raleigh. If you knew how holding you felt…but maybe you do. Maybe you do.”

Chapter 8

Holding Mia the day before had been almost as dangerous as kissing her. Hell. Raleigh’s heart had been about to burst with her pleading for him to forgive himself. That knot of hard feelings had resided in his chest since the crash. It was comfortable, familiar.

As Raleigh pulled up to the house early Sunday morning, he told himself not to get into that situation again. Unfortunately, his heart was doing some kind of damned jig at the thought of seeing her.

He exited the car, grabbed the two coffees he’d picked up at Joe Mama’s Café, and headed to the front door. Mia opened it just as he reached it, a bright smile at seeing the coffee. Except she was looking at him.

“Good morning.”

“Morning back.” He handed her the one on the right. “Cappuccino, low-fat milk, two raw-sugar packets.” He pulled them out of his pocket but stopped. Damn, she looked as though she were going to cry.

“You remembered,” she squeaked.

“It’s just coffee.”

She nodded hard, as though she were trying to convince herself. “Come in.”

When he saw pans and plates set out, and then her dripping slices of raw bacon into a large pan, he knew the feeling she’d probably grappled with. That someone cared enough not only to remember but to act on it.

He stepped up next to her. They’d never cooked together, so this was new. “Let me help.”

“I thought I’d make scrambled eggs. You can start breaking the eggs into the bowl, if you’d like.” She opened the fridge and handed him the carton of eggs, shredded cheese, milk, then directed him to the bowl.

A rapid knock preceded Cody’s face peering around the edge of the opening door. “Do I smell bacon?”

“And plenty of it,” Mia said, waving the package.

Cody didn’t need any more of an invitation. Before long, they were eating together like an odd little family. Which reminded Raleigh of Mia’s even stranger suggestion that he and Rose might get together. That was one of the things he’d liked about Mia, though; she sometimes said outrageous things. Honest things.

After cleaning up from breakfast, he and Cody went to work on the gutters while Mia washed the windows. He nearly dropped the gutter on the kid because he was too busy watching her. Even though she wore shirts that covered her arms, the tank top beneath the long-sleeved shirt showed off her curves. Had he been the first to touch her breasts? If he’d been her first kiss, then probably. Had he been gentle enough? He’d had to hold himself back, knowing she was a virgin. He had never wanted a girl, needed to be buried inside her, the way he had with Mia. Not since, either.

When Mia went into the house, Cody whispered, “Are you and Mia, well, you know…”

“Are we friends? Sure.”

“No, I mean, like all kissy-face and stuff.” Cody grimaced.

Raleigh checked to make sure Mia wasn’t coming out. “We were kissy-face once. A long time ago. Did you see the burn scars on her face and hands?”

Cody nodded. “I didn’t say nothing, though.”

“Good.” Raleigh scrubbed his hair. “You know the accident I was in that did this?” He lifted his shirt to show his scar.

“While you were racing and you weren’t supposed to?”

“Yeah. Well, she was with me. She was hurt bad.”

Cody’s expression grew sober. “You didn’t tell me that part.”

“ ’Cause it’s painful to talk about. She went through a lot because of me.”

“She doesn’t seem mad at you.”

“She’s taught me a lot about forgiveness.”

Mia came out with bottles of water for everyone, a smile on her pretty face. Raleigh couldn’t figure out why she was so forgiving. In fact, she was being downright kind to him. More than kind, he thought, as their fingers brushed when he took the bottle from her, and affectionate. He wasn’t sure he could handle much more without breaking, and that would be bad for both of them.

Once they had the gutters replaced, with one frog being slightly manhandled before its escape into the protected sea oats, it was nearly lunchtime.

Forty minutes later, they sat out on the deck eating pizza—a getting-a-house-ready-to-sell staple, according to Cody. Which he’d probably made up, since he’d lived in the same trailer his whole life. The kid sent Mia into