Falling Into Drew

by Harriet Schultz

  “Works for me. This is your trip. Without our project, I’m only along for the ride,” she said, leaning against him. I still have a lot of questions, Kate thought, and knew he’d only answer them if he trusted her.

  As they dressed it became obvious that he would only let her into his life so far. “After we get to Galway, I’d like to spend some time in my gran’s town visiting people I haven’t seen in years.”

  She tried to hide her disappointment. “I’m sure there’s plenty for me to do in Galway. Don’t worry about me.”

  “Kate, I’m not excluding you, but there are things and you’re…” he raised his arms to the side, palms upwards.

  “I’m what?”

  “Your job is to get as much information from me as possible and make it public.”

  “That was my job when this began, but that’s over. There is no book. Didn’t I just tell you that? Damn it Drew, when will you believe that I’m not going to broadcast your secrets to the world!” She angrily slammed the dresser drawer and caught her fingertip in it. “Ouch! Holy hell, that hurts!” She put the injured finger in her mouth.

  “Let me see,” he said.

  “No, it’s fine.”

  “I said, let me see it,” he growled before adding “please.”

  He kept his eyes on hers as he gently tugged her hand until she released it from her mouth. He eased the injured finger this way and that and then nodded, satisfied. “It’s just a bruise. I broke enough fingers and other bones that I’m something of an expert. I’ll get some ice. That’ll help.”

  It felt good to be taken care of. Independent, I don’t need anyone Ekaterina Louise Porter didn’t mind that Drew was a take-charge man. His confidence and his very maleness made her feel safe. He obviously liked or needed control, but he didn’t go all alpha and make decisions for her or boss her around. It was subtler than that and it worked.

  He returned with a small plastic bag of ice. “Hold this against your finger for five minutes. It’ll minimize bruising, but first…” He lifted her hand and kissed the injured digit then sucked it into his mouth and swirled his tongue around it.

  “It feels better already,” she said. “It’s not a big deal, but thank you for taking care of me.”

  He shrugged. “As you said, it’s not a big deal.”

  “Drew…we need to talk.”

  “Oh, shit. I knew this was coming. I promise that I don’t drink like that. Ever. You won’t see me that drunk again.”

  “It’s not that. I can’t stand that you don’t trust me.”

  He sighed. “I’ll explain after breakfast. I need something in my stomach to sop up any residual alcohol. And you said you were starving.”

  They left the small dining area an hour later. Drew took her hand and led her outside. “It’ll be easier to talk without walls around me. That okay with you?”

  “Sure. And if this is too hard for you, then we don’t have to do it.”

  “Yes, we do. I don’t trust many people, Kate, but despite the way I’ve been acting, I do trust you.”

  She lifted his hand to her mouth and kissed it. “Thank you. It’s not easy for anyone — me included — to trust, but you need to know that I would never betray you.”

  “My gut tells me that you’re not going to screw me over. That’s one of the reasons that I’m willing to let you in on things that very few people know about me.”

  They strolled along a tree-lined path beside a stream, comfortable without talking until he was ready. “My father was a drunk. Not just an alcoholic, but a violent drunk. He beat my mother and he used his fists on me until I was big and strong enough to put a stop to it.”

  “I’m sorry, Drew.” She offered no more sympathy than that. This was a proud man who would hate to be pitied. “You said ‘was’ so is he dead?”

  “Yeah. He got into a lot of fights and was a habitual drunk driving offender — came close to killing someone with his car —and so he was finally sent away for ayear in the hope he’d dry out and come to his senses. That didn’t happen. While inside, he picked a fight with the wrong man and died from his injuries.”

  “And your mom?”

  “She always dreamt of moving back here…that’s why that song in the pub made me cry. She’d tear up whenever she sang over the sea, back where my heart is longing to be. She told me that she would dream of escaping back to Ireland as a way to survive the beatings. When my dad was sober, he was a different person, which is probably why mom put up with him, but she sent me here every summer so that I’d have some normalcy.”

  “And that’s why you love it here.”

  “Yes.” He didn’t say more and they continued to walk until he stopped, faced her and clasped both her hands in his. “I need you to believe that I am not a drunk, despite what you saw yesterday. As an athlete I never drank and now two is my limit. I’m not violent, but I’ve seen how alcohol changes people’s behavior and I want no part of that.”

  She tightened her hold on his hands, but didn’t say anything for a while. “Thanks for telling me.” She wasn’t sure whether to push for more information, but he seemed so open that she’d try. “Where is your mother now? Is she okay?”

  He squeezed her hand. “After the bastard was killed, she fell in love and married a decent man who adored her. They had a few happy years before she died.” A single tear rolled down his face. “A brain aneurysm is fast, thank God, so she didn’t suffer, but it’s not fair that had to happen when she was finally happy.”

  Her heart broke for him. She didn’t see her parents often, but she never doubted that they loved her and were there for her. No wonder he was afraid to let himself feel.

  CHAPTER 16

  Liz rolled toward Charles and snuggled against his warm body. “Damn, this bed is too big. Sometimes I feel like I’m sleeping alone,” she said.

  “The decorator thought I should have a king. What did I know?” He kissed her sleep-flushed face. “Good morning, princess. If you don’t like this bed, I’m sure I can have a new one delivered today so you don’t get lost under the covers. Or we can chop it in half.”

  Liz and Charles had been inseparable since the night they met at Kate’s. Because he owned an apartment that was huge by New York standards, they spent their nights there instead of in Liz’s cramped studio.

  “That’s sweet, but you don’t have to do that,” she said, running her fingers through his silky chest hair.

  “I want you to be happy, especially when you’re in my bed.” Charles grinned at her.

  “Never happier, Mr. Morrison.” She swung her long legs to the floor and wrapped a light blue silk robe around her body. “I don’t have to work today, so I’m going to make breakfast for you. It may take some time, so if you want to go back to sleep or shower, feel free.” She leaned toward him, giving him a view of her breasts. “And then there are things I want to ask you about Drew.”

  “Drew? What’s he done?”

  “He’s only made my best friend fall in love with him, so I want to know more about him.”

  “I don’t think that’s any of our business.”

  “Oh Sugar Pie, that’s where you’re wrong. And if you won’t talk willingly, I have my ways…”

  He yelped when she pinched his nipple and then turned to sashay toward the kitchen. The robe did little to cover the delicious body he knew was beneath it and he watched, shaking his head in amazement at how lucky he was to have this woman in his bed and in his life. When she was out of sight, he closed his eyes to rest for a moment.

  An hour later, Liz woke him with a kiss on his nose. “Come on, sleepyhead. Food awaits.”

  “Come here,” he pleaded, reaching for her hand, but she pulled away.

  “Oh, no. I worked really hard and you’re going to pull on some sweats and come to the table.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said, already having picked up some of her Southern speech patterns. “You’re bossy today, but if what you made tastes half as good as it smells, I won’t
protest.”

  “Good, then everyone’s happy today. Now come eat before it gets cold.”

  Once they’d downed the fried eggs, biscuits and country ham, Charles leaned back and patted his stomach. “Thank you. That was delicious, but you’re going to make me fat if you keep this up.”

  “As long as you keep that up, you’ll work it off,” she teased, her eyes focused on the region below his waist. “But that will have to wait until later. It’s a bad idea to exercise on a full stomach.”

  He raised one dark brow, his eyes smiling mischievously. “What did you have in mind while we digest?”

  “Well…there’s Drew. Kate told me that they can be having a great time together and then the moment his past comes up he acts weird and withdraws. Obviously there are things he doesn’t want to talk about, so the book’s a no go.”

  “I see,” he said, frowning. “It would be nice if he’d told me.”

  “I’m sure he will.”

  “So are they coming home? I mean they went to Ireland to research the book.”

  “I’m not sure. She hopes they can change the working trip into a vacation for the two of them. When they get back, she’ll tell the powers that be that there’s nothing new to discover about Drew O’Connor.”

  “You think they’ll go along with that? He has a contract.”

  “You can get him out of it, I’m sure. And if he won’t cooperate, there can’t be a book anyway,” she said, shrugging her shoulders.

  “True.”

  “Look, Charles. My agent doesn’t give a shit whether I’m happy or not, just that I’m working so he gets his percentage. But you’re his friend and he’s more than a client, so I’m going to assume you care about him. Drew doesn’t really need more publicity or the money, does he? Do you?”

  “God, no. Money’s not an issue for either of us. This is all my fault,” he said, and scrubbed his hands over his face. “Shit. He seemed lost, at loose ends, and didn’t know what to do next since the model, womanizer, celebrity thing was getting old. I thought the book would be something he could get into. I should have realized that the only part of it that he wanted to get in to,” he said, making air quotes with his fingers, “was Kate Porter.”

  “Well said and knowing how Kate reacted to him, he could have had her without signing a book contract.” She began to clear the plates from the table.

  “Sit. You cooked, so I’ll do the dishes.”

  “Kind sir, you’re spoiling me,” she drawled. “But back to Drew. There are dark and mysterious things swirling around him that he doesn’t want anyone to discover. You’re his closest friend. Do you have any idea if those things could hurt Kate, because his silence is doing a number on her.”

  “Like I said before, it’s none of our business. They’ll either work it out or they won’t.”

  “You’re a stubborn one, aren’t you?”

  “I guess I am, but I respect Drew’s privacy. I can tell you that the public Drew O’Connor is only partially him. The rest is an act. He likes women, having a good time, working and playing hard, but he’s the kindest, least violent man I know. He has a past like all of us, and some of it is complicated and best forgotten, but Kate’s safe with him, at least physically.”

  “And if he breaks her heart?”

  “She’s more likely to break his,” Charles whispered before turning away from the kitchen sink to dry his hands, suddenly unsure if he was speaking for himself, Drew, or both of them.

  Liz pretended that she hadn’t heard him. She untied the sash of her robe and it slid to the floor. “We’ve had enough time to digest. Ready to work off that breakfast?”

  CHAPTER 17

  They arrived at their hotel in the center of Galway just an hour after leaving the rural bed and breakfast. While Drew checked them in, Kate watched three young women eye him and then start to whisper as they stole glances at him. One of them gave the most attractive of the three, a stunning, willowy redhead, a shove. She turned back to her friends and they motioned for her to keep moving in Drew’s direction. She tapped him on the shoulder and said something that made him grin and then pointed to her friends who watched, wide-eyed. He glanced at Kate, shrugged, then followed the redhead to her companions who squealed with excitement when Drew shook each of their hands. One of them motioned toward the hotel’s bar, but Drew shook his head and then extended his arm toward Kate, indicating that she should join them. She reluctantly walked toward the group and, as soon as she was beside Drew, he kissed her cheek, wrapped one arm around her waist and introduced her to the trio as Kate, not as his girlfriend or his anything.

  She wasn’t sure why that omission hurt and didn’t like the jealousy that curled like a snake in her stomach. Suddenly insecure, she had the unsettling thought that the tall, slim, green-eyed redhead was the kind of woman Drew should be with. The blond woman who sang with him in the pub had obviously wanted him too.

  Not for the first time Kate asked herself what she was doing with a man like Drew O’Connor. What happened to her vow to confine her relationships to controllable, predictable men after the bad boy she’d loved shattered her? This man had heartbreak written all over him in bold letters and, fool that she was, she’d ignored them.

  Drew had a reputation so she really couldn’t blame women for thinking he was fair game. Aside from his arm around her, he’d done nothing to discourage them. Before the trio finally wandered off toward the bar, the redhead locked eyes with him and said, “I hope we can have that drink sometime.”

  Kate decided this was the perfect chance to practice acting as if she had no worries about her man’s feelings. A murderous glare would have felt better, especially once she heard Drew’s reply.

  “You never know,” he said. The redhead tossed her hair and shot a flirtatious smile at him. Drew turned to Kate as if the past fifteen minutes hadn’t happened and kept his hand on her lower back as they headed for the elevators. If he noticed that she was unusually quiet, he didn’t mention it.

  Once in their suite, Kate zipped open her suitcase and started to unpack. “You haven’t told me what the plan is now that we’re here.”

  “I reserved the suite for a week, so I guess this will be our base. I might spend a night or two in the village where my grandmother lived. I can stay with her best friend, Maeve.”

  Kate kept unpacking so he wouldn’t see how much his behavior hurt her, but if she didn’t tell him, how would he know? “You say I’m your girlfriend, but with those women downstairs you treated me like some random woman, someone unimportant you could have met yesterday.”

  “Is that what’s bothering you?” He wrapped her in his arms. “Those girls meant nothing. What you and I have is private and none of their business. What you just witnessed was the public Drew O’Connor. It’s part of my job. This is a small country and if I’m rude it’ll get around that I’m this stuck-up bastard who’s become too big for himself and forgotten where he came from.”

  “That redhead wanted you and you did nothing to discourage her.”

  “To hell with what she wanted,” he said, clearly exasperated. “Women come on to me all the time. It goes with who they think I am. And maybe that’s who I was, but it’s no longer the kind of man I want to be. These encounters may mean something to them, but they’re nothing to me. Less than nothing. You’re the only woman I want to be with, and if you don’t feel that by now, I don’t know what more I can do.”

  Kate rested her head against his chest. Her mind accepted what he’d said, but her heart wasn’t so sure. “Maybe I’m not cut out for this. I don’t like to feel so possessive, so jealous, so insecure. No matter how much I believe you and trust what you feel for me…seeing you flirt with other women…it’s really hard for me.”

  Drew ran his hands up and down her back, planting tiny kisses on her head and face until she relaxed against him. “Kate. This thing between us isn’t just sex, it’s much more. I come with complications, sure, and some of them are big ones, but I’m goin
g to do whatever you need to make this work.” He cradled her face in his big hands and waited until she looked at him. “Don’t give up on us.”

  CHAPTER 18

  Charles and his mother glared at each other, although her Botoxed, surgically-lifted face barely moved. “An actress? Really Charles,” she said as if he were a teenage boy who’d taken up with the town tramp instead of a man accustomed to running his life without her input.

  His parents had just returned to New York after spending most of the winter at their Palm Beach estate and were gearing up for the usual round of spring benefits for this charity or that. The money raised was important, but these events were also a chance for the mega-rich to socialize, show off their gowns and jewels, and see their photos in the Style section of the Sunday New York Times or the next issue of Town & Country magazine.

  They sat across from each other at his mother’s usual table at the Four Seasons and he watched her poke a fork at her barely eaten salad, the same lunch she always ordered. “Isn’t it time for you to choose a suitable wife? Our friends have wonderful daughters. Any of them would be perfect for you.” She shook her blond head. “Keep your actress on the side like most men do, but don’t marry her, Charles.”

  He was about to throw his napkin on the table and leave when the man he recognized as the head of Kate’s publishing company approached. He stopped at their table and air kissed Charles’ mother. “Always lovely to see you, Sloane,” he said and then glanced at Charles.

  “You know my son, Charles, I’m sure. He works with that skier. What’s his name again? Oh, yes. Drew O’Connor.”

  Charles stood and the men shook hands. “Oliver Grant,” the publisher said, overlooking the fact that Sloane Morrison assumed that everyone knew everyone — or at least the everyones who mattered — and hadn’t introduced him. “That’s right. We’re doing O’Connor’s life story. Are you involved with that?”

  “Yes, I’m Drew’s agent, but I’m afraid the book’s not going to happen.” The minute the words left his mouth Charles realized his mistake. Kate and Drew wanted their week in Ireland and he’d just told her boss’s boss that the company’s future bestseller wasn’t going to happen.