“Hello?”
“Hey, sweetie. How’s the arm doing?”
He hated when she called him sweetie. She’d done it from the beginning, but it’d gotten much worse since...that night. He mentally swore. Besides, how did she think his arm was doing? He was retiring. That said it all. “Still causing problems every now and then.”
“I’m sorry. I was hoping you’d have some more improvement.”
“Not much yet.”
“Hopefully that’ll change soon. The other thing I’m calling about is to find out what the plan is for the news conference.”
“The team says the news conference needs to take place before Christmas so we’re trying to get things scheduled for Friday or Saturday.”
“That’s kind of pushing it. Did they say why it needed to be before Christmas?”
He shrugged, but only Rachel could see him and she wasn’t a part of the conversation. “Something about they want to have things in place to make more announcements next week or right after the beginning of the year. I guess a bunch of people will be traveling and they want this over and done.”
“I can grab a flight out tomorrow and we can go over what you need to say. I’m assuming you have a place for me to stay?”
Uh-uh. No way. “It’s fairly simple. I’ll let the higher-ups talk a bunch then I’ll answer questions as they come up.” Or, not answer them since he still didn’t know what he was going to be doing next.
“That’s why we should collaborate and make sure you have answers ready for any possible questions.”
He didn’t want Paige here in his house. Especially now that Rachel had made her presence felt. Giving Rachel a tentative smile, he tried again. “We can do all that over the phone or even through email.”
There was a pause on the phone as Rachel caught his eye. She mouthed You email? with a shocked look on her face.
He stuck his tongue out at her, then heard, “You know how to email?” from Paige.
Looking straight at Rachel, he said, “Yes, I know how to email. Just because I don’t usually email, or I have someone else take care of most of my emails, doesn’t mean I don’t know how to use email.”
A snort from Rachel prompted him to add, “I might use Siri to send most of my emails, but I’m still using email.”
“That’s fine, sweetie. I’ll send you an email with a possible statement for you to use and we’ll talk again later about when I can fly in.”
The shudders that crawled along his neck, making his hair stand on end, were getting worse each time Paige called him sweetie. And the “sweeties” had increased in quantity since his injury. He didn’t want to be babied by her. She was only three years older than he was, they had nothing much in common except for his career—which was changing direction—and he’d be letting her go soon anyway. But he wasn’t going to have that conversation now, not when he had Rachel in his house and his breakfast was getting cold.
“Honestly, I’m sure emails and another phone call or two will take care of everything. I can set up things from here.”
“I’ll be ready to take over when you call me back needing help.”
Whatever. “Talk to you later.”
He gave Rachel the stink eye as he ended the call. “What are you laughing at, woman?”
Between giggles and chewing food, Rachel finally managed to get out, “Ha! Obviously that was someone who knows you as well as I do and wasn’t listening to you in the least little bit.”
The females in his life were nothing but trouble.
“That was Paige, my PR rep. No, she wasn’t listening to me when I told her not to fly into town and no, she doesn’t know me as well as you do.”
“I should hope not,” she said under her breath. Low enough he figured he wasn’t supposed to have heard it.
It was time to get back to eating his breakfast and talking with the woman he wanted to spend all his time with. An unbelievable woman he’d fallen hard for without his brain having given his heart permission to do so.
Now what was he going to do?
* * *
With not a cloud in the sky, the sun was able to quickly melt a good portion of the frozen stuff. It also helped that the ground wasn’t that cold, even though the sun was almost as low north in the sky as it was going to get with the winter solstice right around the corner.
Rachel made her way down the mountain, staying aware of the slick spots in the shade and listening to the ice dripping from the limbs onto her car as she passed under them. Needing to talk to someone, she hit speed dial for her best friend, Karen, and put her on the hands-free speaker.
Relief flooded Rachel when she heard Karen’s voice.
“Hey, Kare Bear.”
“Hey, pet. What’s up?”
“I might’ve kissed someone last night.”
A squeal filled the car. “Who? Who did you kiss?”
“Are you an owl?”
“Shut up and tell me.”
Rachel took a deep breath and let it out while she said, “Kevin.”
A long pause greeted that answer. “Kevin who?” she asked slowly.
“You know which Kevin.”
“Ganlin?” A swear came across the line. “You kissed Kevin Ganlin? How’s that even possible? Did you go out of town without telling me? Is he back? Why’d you let him kiss you?”
Rachel shook her head and chuckled to herself. “If you’ll stop playing Twenty Questions long enough for me to tell you what happened, you might get some of those questions answered.”
“Start talking and don’t you dare leave out any details.”
Rachel launched into telling Karen what had happened to her over the last day. Had it really only been a day? She had a hard time believing what she’d experienced, and when she let herself think about it, she was inclined to believe she’d hit her head harder than she’d thought and was lying in a coma somewhere having fantastic dreams.
Karen responded here and there until Rachel was finished. Karen was quiet for several seconds before asking, “You’re telling me y’all didn’t talk about what happened last night at all today? How does that work?”
“I’d thought it would be awkward, but I think he must’ve made the decision to try to make sure things weren’t awkward, and I’d kinda come to the same decision. Once I figured out what he was trying, it was by unspoken agreement that we let it go.”
“Was it as awesome as you imagined it would be?”
Rachel let out a sigh. “Somehow...better.”
“Are you lying to me, telling me you didn’t do anything else with him so you can cover it up and not tell me? Because I will whoop your ass if that’s the case.”
Shaking her head at the conflict and confusion living inside her, Rachel said, “We didn’t do anything. I really did walk away.”
The bewilderment was clear in Karen’s voice. “Why? He’s your dream. Why would you walk away?”
As many times as Karen had held Rachel while she cried over her ex’s betrayal, Karen really should be the one to understand this. “I can’t believe I have to explain this to you. Kevin’s slept with a bunch of women. A bunch. That’s what he does. I was married to a man who enjoyed sleeping with a bunch of women who weren’t me. I don’t want to go through another relationship with someone, constantly wondering if I’m enough to keep them faithful in my bed.
“I don’t know if Kevin’s ever really had a girlfriend. If he’s slept with the same woman twice. Will he be bored trying to stick with one woman? I don’t know. I don’t know if he knows. What I do know is, I don’t want to be another notch on his bedpost. I don’t want to lose the ability to hang out with my friend. To hang out with my brother’s best friend. I like him...and I love him. And my love for him is enough to not share a single night’s romp in bed with him.”
The quiet in the car was broken only by the sound of the pavement under the car tires. Rachel was starting to wonder if she’d lost Karen somewhere on the back roads and her tirade had been
only for her own benefit.
A clearing of a throat told her Karen was still there. “Rach, I love you like the sister I never had.” Uh-oh. This couldn’t be good. “But here’s the thing...you’ve been obsessed with Kevin for so long that you even married someone you hoped would be a replacement. Think about what exactly it would mean if you got a second chance at doing something with him.”
“I have thought about it.”
“Stop interrupting me. Think about the ways y’all could get over the awkwardness like you did this morning, if the two of you did get together and it didn’t work out.”
“I don’t even know if he wants anything with me more than a one-night stand.”
Karen clucked her tongue over the line. “Girl, this is what I think.”
“Here it comes.” Rachel tried to infuse her voice with a teasing quality, but she was afraid too much regret was evident.
“I think, if he was willing to let bygones be bygones this morning, and he worked to make sure y’all got over the awkwardness, that he cares as much about y’all’s friendship as you do.”
Rachel hadn’t thought of it like that. She hadn’t even considered that possibility.
“I think if it looks like he’s actually pursuing you, you might should go for it. Because, hello, has he ever pursued any woman before? I don’t think so. That immediately puts you in the special category. And you know Tim will kick his ass if Kevin even thinks about cheating on you.”
“Kicking his ass after the fact doesn’t help with the broken heart I’ll get to experience.”
“Just think about it. Especially since you say he’s home for good. It’s not like he’s going to be doing a ton of traveling for games on the road. He’ll be here.”
Rachel began wondering if she could somehow make that second chance happen after so abruptly shutting him down the first time. “What if he ends up getting a job where he does travel a lot?”
“Then either you let him go, or you figure out how to trust him if he’s worth it, and you learn to trust yourself that you’re enough for the right man.”
Rachel’s mind spun while it tried to process all that Karen had said.
“I gotta get going, but you’d better call me the minute after something important happens.”
Rachel wasn’t so sure it would. “If it does.”
“Make it happen if you need to, Rach.”
Yeah, right. “Thanks, Kare. Talk to you later.”
Rachel hung up even more confused than ever before. Could she go for a relationship with Kevin? What would happen if he said yes? What would happen if he said no? Gah. Maybe she shouldn’t have walked away and just let the chips fall where they may.
Chapter Eight
I like you too much to ruin our friendship.
Kevin didn’t want to sleep with Rachel then let her go. She wasn’t like anyone he’d been with in the past. But he also wasn’t the kind of person to force himself on someone else. He’d have to work on showing her he was different from how she saw him, and maybe that would convince her to take a chance on them.
Spending time with her this morning and finishing up the decorating had been more fun than he’d imagined it would be. All because Rachel was Rachel.
After much of the snow had melted and temperatures had warmed up quite a bit, Kevin had sent her on her way. Her ankle was doing better and there was no reason for her to stay any longer.
The past two hours were a blur for him. Thoughts of their kiss, her laugh and her words filled his mind, circling around until they were an overwhelming whirlwind.
His phone rang and pulled Kevin from his thoughts. Paige. Again.
“Hey, Paige. What’s up?”
“Was calling to check in, and wanted to let you know there aren’t any flights available tomorrow, but I think I have a line on one for the next day. I’m looking forward to seeing you again. I don’t like this much time to pass without us getting together.”
Hadn’t he already told her she didn’t need to waste her time? “I still don’t think that’s necessary. You already sent me the email with the statement and I responded. Simple as that.”
“What you’re forgetting is that’s why you pay me the big bucks. It’s my job to be with you when you relay information to reporters.”
She didn’t need to fly in for this and he didn’t understand why she was pushing the issue. “Once I get an idea of what exactly I want to say in response to questions, I can call you back and we can discuss it over the phone.”
“Nonsense.” She was like a dog with a bone. He didn’t get it.
The doorbell rang.
“Look, someone’s at the door and I need to go. Yes, my announcement is extremely important, but it’s also extremely personal. I’ll call you again when I’ve figured stuff out, and we can make plans from there.”
“If you think that’s—”
“I do.” The doorbell rang again. “I gotta go. Talk to you again soon.”
When he answered the door, he saw Tim looking over the mess of plants that had been displaced when Rachel fell down the front steps.
“What the hell happened here, man? That’s huge.”
It hadn’t been like that the last time Tim had visited, and Kevin hadn’t done anything about it yet.
“I slipped a bit on the ice while carrying a box of groceries. I reached for the handrail to keep from falling and ended up dropping the box. I haven’t had a chance to do anything about getting it fixed.”
The whole first part of his lie sounded stilted and had only picked up steam as the story fell in place. Tim would have to be seriously distracted to let it go without question.
“Better to drop the box than to have to deal with another injury. Glad you’re okay.”
Or not. Guilt hit him hard. He had to change the subject. Fast.
“Yeah, so, come on in. What are you doing out this way?”
“After all the crappy weather, I wanted to make sure you were doing okay, as well as find out what the plan is for making an announcement. Rachel is already bugging me about why you’re home and not wanting to see or talk to anyone yet. I don’t know how long I’m going to be able to hold her off. She seemed very determined when I saw her the other evening. Well, determined to solve the mystery of why you were home.”
He swallowed hard around the truth threatening to clog up his throat.
“I’m going to contact a couple of the news stations and set up a press conference for a few days from now.”
“Thank goodness. I can only manage to hold off Rachel, and my mom and your mom for just so long before I’m afraid everything’s going to crumble.”
“I’m sorry I put you in that spot. I’ll contact my parents as soon as you’re gone and let them know I’m here.”
“That’s cool.”
Tim walked farther into the house and took his coat off.
“Can I get you something to drink?”
“Nah, I’m good. I’m not going to stay long. I was close by with a client and wanted to make sure you’re doing okay and thought you might could use some help with rehab.”
“Well, I’m doing fine.”
“Still working the arm?”
“No, not like I should.”
“Look, man, I know you aren’t returning, but that doesn’t mean you can stop what you need to be doing for physical therapy. Giving that up isn’t an option. You need—” Tim had laid his coat across the back of one of the chairs and had placed his gloves down on the end table. “What the hell? These are Rachel’s earrings. I oughtta know since I helped my dad solder the cages around the stones. What are you doing with them? Why are they here?”
“Rachel tracked me down. She overheard us at the dock that day when I was telling you about this place.” Kevin relayed what had happened as quickly as he could, hoping to keep Tim’s reaction at a calm level. “The swelling in her ankle went down considerably and she was able to go home yesterday afternoon before the temps dropped again.”
&
nbsp; Tim’s jaw clenched. “She was the one who fell? She stayed here overnight?”
“Yes, and nothing happened.” Except a smoking-hot kiss he’d wanted to repeat several times since. He wanted her, and he thought she’d wanted him, based on how her body reacted to him.
“Why would you need to add that part? The part about nothing happening?”
Dammit. Enough hiding. If he wanted to see Rachel and she was willing to give him a chance, then that was what he was going to do.
“Look. I’m going to ask Rachel if she’d be willing to go out with me. If she is, then I’m going to d-date her.” He hadn’t said the word “date” since college. It didn’t sound right for what he was feeling.
“What the hell? No. You haven’t dated anyone in forever. You’re sure as hell not going to date Rachel.”
“That’s not up to you. That’s up to her.”
“She’s off-limits to you and to every other asshole out there.”
“You think I’m an asshole now? Being an asshole is good enough for a supposed best friend but not anything else?”
“You don’t date. You sleep with women once and then move on.”
“You don’t get it. I haven’t done that since Rachel’s divorce.”
Tim looked as if he’d been slapped. “Why?”
“Because that asshole ex-husband of hers pissed me off and I don’t even know why they split up. You never told me. She hasn’t told me. I just know she was hurting and it made me realize that she’d been who I was looking for.”
“You have a sick way of looking for someone who was right there all along.”
“I didn’t know I was looking for her. Got it? I didn’t know. Once I figured that out, I stopped looking. And besides, as you’ve just said and have been saying for years, she’s ‘off-limits.’”
Tim looked everywhere but at Kevin, his gaze seeming to rest on everything in the room, yet not seeing anything. Until he landed on the earrings again.
“I don’t think she’s going to give you the time of day.”
“Why?”
“You’ll have to ask her.”
“Does it have to do with her breakup?”
For My Own: A Contemporary Christmas Anthology Page 19