White-Hot Hack (Kate and Ian #2)(10)
“No? Damn. How about later?”
“Absolutely. But maybe not in the car. This leather is pristine.”
For over an hour they traveled the winding roads of the northern Virginia countryside. He turned on the stereo and cranked it to an earsplitting decibel level as they got lost in their own little world. The smile never left her face, and he felt an immeasurable amount of love for the beautiful, carefree woman he’d had the good sense to marry.
When they got home, Kate dug her phone out of her pocket and handed it to him. “Take a picture of me. I want to send it to my brother.”
He snapped a picture of her leaning against the car, and when he handed the phone back, she fired off a message to Chad.
She laughed when he responded. “Check it out,” she said, handing the phone to Ian.
Chad: Of course it’s a Porsche. If you weren’t my sister, I’d hate you a little.
He’d used his own phone to take several pictures of her while she was driving, and she’d been so engrossed she hadn’t even noticed. He scrolled through them until he found his favorite. He’d caught her smile at just the right moment, and the sunlight had been streaming through the window, lighting her up as if she glowed.
He made it his lock-screen photo.
CHAPTER FIVE
When class ended, Kate rolled up her mat and tucked it under her arm. She’d found the Pilates studio one day shortly after their move when she’d been exploring the downtown area, and she’d started attending the late-morning class. A few of the regulars stood chatting in the back of the room. The first time Kate said hello to them, they must not have heard her because they didn’t say anything. Today, on her way to the locker room, she received a cool hello in response to her cheerful greeting, but that was as far as it had gone. She didn’t really mind, but it would have been nice to have someone she could meet for lunch or coffee.
After showering and changing back into her clothes, she stopped at the supermarket and then drove home, the Tahoe loaded down with grocery bags.
Ian smiled, took off his glasses, and pushed his chair back when he spotted her in the office doorway. He always kept the door open, and he never minded when she interrupted his work. “Hey, sweetness. C’mere and give me some sugar.”
She walked to his desk and he pulled her onto his lap. She gave him several number four kisses, soft and gentle. He kicked it up a notch by reciprocating with a number six, holding her face tenderly as he gave her a deep, openmouthed kiss with tongue. A logical progression considering she was already sitting on his lap.
When the kiss ended, she looked into his green eyes and covered his face with her hands, pretending she couldn’t stand to look at it. “Put your face away. I can’t handle this much handsome.”
“It’s blinding, isn’t it?” He grabbed her wrists and removed her hands from his face, smiling wide.
She laughed. “Humility. You should look into it.”
“That’s probably the only thing I wouldn’t be good at. How was Pilates?”
“Still tough. That’s what I get for taking the summer off.”
“Made any friends?”
“The women don’t seem very open to outsiders. It’s quite cliquey.”
“What do you mean, they’re not open?” The pained expression on his face, as if he couldn’t handle someone being unkind to her, warmed her heart.
“I mean that sometimes grown women act as if they’re still in high school, and I’m the new girl. Don’t worry about it. Maybe I don’t want to be in their club.”
He laughed. “What are you up to for the rest of the day?” He ran his hands up and down Kate’s arms as if he couldn’t stand not to be touching her in some way.
“I’ve got groceries to put away, and then I’m going to make us something to eat.” Ian loved any sandwich she made with the panini press, so that’s what they usually ate for lunch. “After that, I think I’ll take my birthday present for a drive.”
He broke into a wide grin. She knew it made him happy to see her enjoying the car, and besides, he’d been right about the Spyder: it was spectacular.
“But first, lunch,” she said, climbing off his lap and letting out a squeal when he gave her a friendly little goose. “I’ll call you when it’s ready.”
After they finished eating, Kate grabbed her keys and backed the Spyder out of the garage. When she was working at the law firm, she’d driven a two-door Accord, but she’d traded it in for the TrailBlazer when she opened the food pantry because she needed a vehicle with enough room to collect and transport donations. She was used to driving an SUV, so when Ian suggested another one, mentioning how much he liked the safety aspects of a larger vehicle, she’d readily agreed. Virginia’s winter weather could be fickle, and the Tahoe’s four-wheel drive would come in handy if there were higher than average amounts of snowfall. But once she’d taken the Spyder out a few times, she remembered how fun it was to drive a car.
Working with Jade to redecorate the house took up some of Kate’s time. Her Pilates classes, household tasks, trips to the grocery store, and experimenting with new recipes took a bit more. But there were still too many hours left in the day, and she’d discovered that taking the Spyder for a nice long drive was a good way to fill them. She mostly avoided driving down Middleburg’s main street, not that a Porsche would cause any of the affluent residents to bat an eye. But driving the Spyder had become a solitary endeavor for Kate, and she had no desire to draw attention to herself.