“Starr, does your sister know Carter is here?”
“Don’t yell at her,” Carter told him.
“I’m not yelling,” Kipling growled.
Starr looked around Carter. “You kind of are.” She looked more intrigued than scared. “It was just a kiss.”
“You’re fifteen.”
“We know that,” Carter said. “We’re allowed to kiss.”
“No, you’re not.” He moved toward the boy. “What you’re allowed to do is get the hell out of this house.”
“What?” Starr demanded, coming to her feet. “You’re not the boss of him. Or me. Just because you married my sister doesn’t mean you’re in charge. Destiny wouldn’t be upset.”
“Want to bet?” Kipling asked. He pointed at the door. “You get out of here.”
Carter didn’t move. “Not until you promise you won’t hurt Starr.”
“What? Hurt her?” He swore. “Starr, go to your room until Destiny gets home. Carter, get your ass out of here. You hear me?”
Carter and Starr exchanged a look, then they both nodded. There was a whispered conversation as they walked to the back door. Kipling followed. Starr went down the hall, and Carter left the house. Kipling looked at the clock and wondered how long it would take Destiny to get home.
* * *
DESTINY GOT HOME as quickly as she could. She’d abandoned a nearly full cart at the grocery store, something she’d never done in her life. But Kipling had sounded more worried than she’d ever heard him.
He was waiting for her on the front step when she pulled up.
“They were kissing?” she asked as she got out of her car. “I can’t believe it.”
“Neither could I.”
“Starr said Carter was stopping by, but I didn’t think anything of it. They’re friends.”
“Good ones.”
Just then a truck came barreling around the corner and skidded to a stop in front of the house. Gideon got out and stalked toward them.
“What the hell were you thinking?” he demanded.
Destiny had met the other man a couple of times, in social situations. He was bigger than she remembered, and a lot more menacing. Kipling immediately stepped between her and Gideon.
Felicia scrambled out of the passenger side and hurried to her husband. “Gideon, we talked about this. Your anger may or may not be justified. I, too, want to punch in Kipling’s face, but we need to get the facts.” She paused and smiled tightly at Destiny. “Hi. We have a problem.”
There was an understatement, Destiny thought. “One we have to figure out.”
“I know what I saw,” Kipling growled and glared at Gideon. “Your son was over here, without permission, kissing Starr. She’s fifteen. If I hadn’t walked in, who knows what would have happened.”
Destiny wanted to say she had faith in her sister, but she also was a product of her wonky genetics. Destiny knew exactly how powerful sexual urges could be.
Felicia sighed. “Teenage hormones are formidable. Sexual desire can override judgment at any age, but when the parties in question are their age, it’s foolish to expect rational behavior.”
Gideon turned to her. “I love you. You’re right, and I still want to rip him apart.”
Kipling took a step toward him. “Go ahead and try.”
Destiny grabbed his arm while Felicia got in front of Gideon.
“You’re not helping,” Felicia said firmly.
“I don’t care about helping.”
“But you do care about Carter.”
Gideon stared at Kipling. “You had no right to yell at my son.”
“I told him to get out. If Starr was your daughter, what would you have done?”
“Stop it! Just stop it!”
The voice came from behind them. Destiny turned and saw Starr standing on the front porch. Tears filled her eyes.
“You don’t have to fight over this. It was just a kiss.”
Destiny hurried to her sister. “We’re worried about you.”
“It was just a kiss,” Starr whispered again. “Stop fighting like this. Stop yelling. What’s so bad about what we did? Haven’t you ever been in love?”
“You can’t be in love,” Gideon said flatly. “You’re too young.”
Felicia touched his arm. “Actually there are studies that suggest age isn’t—” She pressed her lips together. “Perhaps this isn’t the time for that kind of information.”
Love? Destiny had trouble inhaling.
Starr turned to Kipling. “You’re in love, right? So you know what I mean.”
He stared blankly. Starr frowned.
“You have to be in love,” she said. “With Destiny. You married her.”
Destiny had never heard such a loud silence. It grew and expanded until it was all that existed. It was like standing onstage and not remembering the words to a song. No, it was much worse than that. Humiliation burned hot, becoming shame. She wanted to run away but couldn’t move. It was one thing for her to know that her marriage to Kipling had been a practical decision, but another to have that very unromantic fact shared with the world. While she’d never said they were in love, people had assumed, and she’d let them.
Gideon and Felicia glanced at both of them then at each other. Starr’s breath caught.
“You got her pregnant, and you don’t even love her?” Starr surged toward Destiny. “Did you know?”
“We can talk about this later,” she murmured.
Starr stepped back. “Sure. I’ll be in my room.”
She went inside. Felicia cleared her throat.
“We’ll talk to Carter about kissing Starr. That perhaps they’re both too young.”
Kipling nodded. “I’m sorry I yelled at him. It was a knee-jerk reaction.”
“You have the jerk part right,” Gideon told him. “See that it doesn’t happen again. And I’m out of The Man Cave. Find another partner.”
They got in their truck and drove away.
Alone once again, Destiny found she couldn’t look at Kipling.
“I need to take care of Starr,” she said. “Why don’t you give us some time to work through this?”
She thought he might fight her, but instead he nodded and left. She went into the house.
Starr was waiting for her in the living room. She had Destiny’s guitar in her hand. Without saying anything, she handed it over then retreated to her room and closed the door.
Destiny sat on the sofa, her guitar next to her. She stared at the instrument, the implication clear. She would need the music because the only way to process her emotions was through a song. Only she was fine. Completely and totally fine.
Kipling didn’t love her. That wasn’t news. They got along. They were friends, and when she’d gotten pregnant, they’d made a sensible decision about their future. Everything was fine. Technically, it was what she’d always said she wanted.
He was a man who liked to fix things. She was his current project. There were worse fates.
She picked up the guitar and strummed the strings. Soft music filled the room. Love was a complication she’d never wanted or needed. To be the center of someone’s life—who needed that? Obviously, Kipling wasn’t in love with her. If he was, he would have said something. Or even hinted. But he hadn’t. He’d looked shocked. Maybe even horrified.
So he didn’t love her. That was fine, right? It wasn’t as if she loved him, either. Loving Kipling meant caring about him more than she cared about herself. It meant imagining life with him for years and years and being happy that of all the men she could have gotten pregnant with, she’d chosen him. Loving him meant being grateful he was in her life and trusting him to help her with Starr. Loving him meant that she knew for certain that forty years from now her heart would still beat faster when he walked into the room.
She realized the room had gotten a little blurry and blinked. Tears rolled onto her cheeks. She brushed them away, but more replaced them. Her throat tightened, and she fought ag
ainst a sob. Because the truth had been there all along. She’d just never noticed. Somewhere along the way, she’d fallen in love with Kipling and as far as she could tell, he had no intention of loving her back.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
KIPLING KNEW THAT his week was about to get a whole lot worse. He sat at one of the tables by the bar and watched the rest of his partners take their seats. They were all there. Josh Golden, Raoul Moreno, Kenny Scott, Jack McGarry and Sam Ridge. The Stryker brothers: Rafe, Shane and Clay. Only Gideon was missing. Probably because he had already pulled out of the partnership.
Rafe, Josh and Kenny exchanged a look, as if they’d talked things over ahead of time, then Kenny turned to Kipling.
“We understand what happened with Carter,” he said. “If it was one of our daughters, we’d feel the same way. But the problem is bigger than you and Gideon going at it.”
“Kudos on taking him on,” Raoul added. “You know Gideon has Special Forces training, right?”
Kipling hadn’t known, but didn’t see how the information made any difference. He wasn’t going to stop protecting Starr because his opponent was dangerous.
Rafe shook his head. “If we could stay on topic...”
“I wasn’t off topic,” Raoul told him. “I was just saying, it took balls.”
“Big ones,” Kipling said. “Now why are we having this meeting?”
The partners exchanged a look that confirmed they’d all been in contact. Kipling was going to be the last to know, which meant the news wasn’t good.
“The women are upset,” Kenny said with a shrug. “The Man Cave is doing steady business. Not what we were at the opening, but still enough that they’re worried about Jo and how this is affecting her. Now personally I think she can take care of herself and her bar, but it’s not my decision. It’s Bailey’s.”
Kenny Scott was a big guy. Tall, muscled and a former NFL player. If Kipling had to pick the one person who wouldn’t be pushed around by the woman in his life, he would say it was Kenny. And he would be wrong.
“Let me see if I understand you,” Kipling said calmly. “We opened The Man Cave because there wasn’t a place in town for a guy to go and have a beer. Jo’s caters to women, and the restaurant bars aren’t the same. So we created this place together to solve a problem. Now you’re telling me you want out because it’s working?”
The other men shifted uneasily in their chairs.
“It’s not that simple,” Rafe began, then nodded. “But yeah, that’s about right. Look, the bar is great. I like it here. When I have a potential buyer in town, this is exactly where I want to bring him. But Heidi doesn’t like it. She and Jo are tight.”
“Jo talked to all your wives?”
Everyone nodded.
“And because she’s upset, you’re pulling out?”
“No,” Sam corrected. “Jo’s great, but I’m doing this for Dellina.”
The phrase “pussy whipped” came to mind, but Kipling knew there was no point in stating the obvious.
“Then go,” he said. “The business will survive without your support. I’ll make arrangements to buy you out.”
“No rush,” Rafe told him. “Start-ups need cash. You can pay me back last.”
“Me, too,” Jack said. “I just need to be able to tell Larissa that I’m out.”
“What he said,” Raoul added. “Except it’s Pia, not Larissa.”
In a matter of minutes, they were all gone. Kipling stood by the bar and wondered what the hell had just happened. Two days ago he’d totally screwed things up with Destiny, and now this?
Nick walked in from the back, his expression sympathetic.
“I take it you heard them,” Kipling muttered.
“Enough.”
“I thought we were doing something here. How’s the business doing, anyway?”
“Receipts are down. The tourist trade is steady, but it’s not enough. This isn’t exactly a place to bring the kids, and the majority of folks coming to town have families. So we need the locals to survive. If the women tell their husbands to boycott, we’re screwed.”
“You’ve lived here all your life. Any suggestions?”
“Talk to Jo.”
Kipling had already figured out he was going to have to. “And say what?”
“I don’t know. She’s a woman. Apologize.”
“That is not happening.” He thought about putting his fist through the bar, only the bar was solid wood. So it would win.
“I’m not the bad guy in all this,” he told Nick, only to remember the look in Starr’s eyes when he’d been unable to say he loved her sister. Because while thinking about that was hell, it was still easier than thinking about how he’d hurt Destiny.
“You’re not,” Nick agreed. “But you still have to fix it. Or we’re going to have to close.”
* * *
KIPLING WALKED TOWARD Jo’s Bar via his sister’s bakery. He wasn’t sure what to think about what had just happened, let alone what he was supposed to say to the mysterious and powerful Jo. He figured Shelby might be able to offer advice.
When he got to the bakery, the teen at the counter waved him toward the back. He found Shelby standing over a couple dozen unfrosted cupcakes. But instead of smoothing on toppings, she was staring at the far wall. Her shoulders were slumped, her expression sad.
“What?” he said, concerned. “Tell me what’s happened.”
She jumped, as if he’d startled her, then she wiped her cheeks and shook her head.
“Sorry, big brother. There are problems you can’t fix.”
“I can fix this one.”
“I doubt it.”
“Tell me.”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s about my love life. Or lack thereof. Men are jerks, someone hurt my feelings and then he left town. Before you ask, no, you can’t fix it.” She gave him a shaky smile. “I love you like a brother, and you have to let this go.”
He glared at her. “Tell me.”
“No. I was seeing someone who was seeing a bunch of other women at the same time, and now he’s gone. It’s for the best. I’ll move on. I’ll find the right guy.”
Kipling was at her side in a heartbeat. “Did he—”
The sadness fled as tenderness filled her eyes. She hugged him.
“No,” she whispered. “He never hit me.” She straightened and touched his face. “Kipling, not all guys are like our dad. Some are jerks with their words and actions, not their fists. You can’t protect me from everything. I appreciate that you try, but please, let this go. I’m okay. Or I will be. It’s a good lesson. I need to stop falling for flashy, charming men. I need to find someone solid, who will love me for me.”
“Someone sensible?” he asked, thinking of Destiny and her ridiculous plan. She didn’t want love. She’d been clear on that. No strong emotions for her. So she should be happy that he wasn’t in love with her. Only she hadn’t looked happy, and in the past two days, she hadn’t taken any of his calls.
“Not exactly sensible,” Shelby admitted with a smile. “I want something more romantic than that. But someone steady. Someone I can depend on.” Her smile widened. “Who isn’t my brother. This isn’t something you can—or should—fix. Not every problem has a solution. Just let me heal and get on with my life.”
“That’s a clear message.”
“Good. What’s going on with you?”
“Not much.”
“How’s Destiny?”
“Great.”
“I’m glad you two are together. She’s so right for you.”
An unexpected statement. “How do you figure?”
“Because she’s caring, and you need someone to look out for you. Her family is a little wild, which means there will always be a crisis, and you like to take care of people. You have the same world view.” She laughed. “I don’t know. You fit. I like seeing the two of you together.”
Kipling kissed her forehead. “Thanks, kid. I’ll see you soon. Let me know if yo
u need my help.”
“Always.”
He left. Shelby’s words echoed in his head.
He’d thought he’d slept with Destiny because she was hot and that he’d married her because she got pregnant. Was there more to it than that? Shelby’s description of their relationship made him wonder if there was more going on than he’d realized. But first he had to see a woman about her bar.
* * *
“LET ME KNOW when you want to hike in, and I’ll come with you,” Cassidy said.
“It’s not your responsibility,” Destiny told her then looked back at the screen.
“We’re in this together. Besides, I like hiking.”
“Thanks.”
The last session with the volunteers had shown her there were blank areas in several of the search grids. While she and Miles had mapped as much as they could from the air, there were still several areas she had to cover on foot. She’d thought she’d gotten them all, but apparently not. Which was why she stayed on-site as long as she did.
She logged off her computer and collected her bag.
“You’re working late?” she asked Cassidy.
Her friend shook her head. “Nope. I have a date with Jeff over Skype in an hour. The lighting is better here than at my place.” She grinned. “I know, I know. After nearly twenty years of marriage, why on earth would I care about how I look, and yet I do.”
“Young love,” Destiny teased.
“Exactly.” Cassidy sighed. “I hope you and Kipling stay as in love as Jeff and me. Sure there are ups and downs in every marriage, but I would be lost without that man. And not in a way your fancy program could find me. Have a good night.”
“You, too.”
Destiny left the office and started home. As she walked toward home, she wondered how long she would be in love with Kipling. It had been two days since their last conversation. He’d tried to call her a couple of times, but she’d let him go to voice mail. When he’d texted, she’d asked for time. So far he was giving it to her.
Hold Me Page 26