The Way To A Man’s Heart

by Charlene Sands

  When he walked back into the bedroom, he found Christy sitting up with her bare back to him, stretching her long slender arms up over her head. She was quite an appealing sight. He’d like to jump back into bed with her, but duty called.

  “I’ll be back in thirty minutes. Sooner, if possible. I’ve got to check on the store and tell Flo I won’t be in today. Heck, I’ll give her the day off. We’ll close early.” Kyle came up from behind and kissed the top of her head. “Don’t move a pretty hair on your head.”

  “I’d like to take a shower. And get into some fresh clothes.”

  “Fine by me, shower here if you like. Just as long as you’re here when I get back.”

  “Bossy,” she teased. “I’ll be waiting.” She stood and the sheet draping her shoulders fell to the floor.

  Kyle groaned, grabbed her around the waist and bent his head. He nibbled on her neck, then kissed each pert breast, making the nipples peak. “Maybe I won’t go.”

  She laughed coyly then pushed him away and pointed to the door. “Go. The sooner you go, the sooner you’ll be back.”

  Kyle tried to keep the tone light, but his voice grew husky. “Lady, you don’t know how hard it is to leave you.”

  Christy granted him a big smile. He left her there, in his bedroom, looking very much like she belonged there.

  *****

  Christy showered and threw on her clothes, then went into the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee. The place was still a mess from the dinner she’d had with Kyle last night.

  Kyle. Even his name made her smile.

  I love everything about you.

  Okay, so it hadn’t quite been a declaration of love, but it was too soon for that. Wasn’t it? Christy was too happy to think right now. She didn’t want to analyze her emotions; she just wanted to feel them.

  Keep busy, she told herself. Enjoy the moment. Instead of heading home to change her clothes, she decided to stay and clean up the kitchen. Work would be the distraction she needed until Kyle returned.

  She filled the dishwasher, keeping the fluted champagne glasses out to hand wash. She lifted one glass up and peered at it through the light entering the kitchen window. Funny how everything seemed better and brighter in the light of day.

  Last night, she’d been hurt and angry with Kyle when she thought he’d wanted Veronica. But today, she was almost in love with him.

  She would never have believed it all those years ago, when her hardest task at school was to make her indifference to Kyle Warren look easy.

  Christy heard someone climb up the porch steps. She glanced at the clock on the oven. It wasn’t possible for Kyle to have made it home so quickly. Bentley was a small town, but not that small. Even if he’d broken speed laws, he’d not be able to make it home this fast.

  She wiped her hands on a towel and came out of the kitchen. Standing away from the window so as not to be seen, she caught a glimpse of a tall brunette knocking at the door. Christy almost headed to the door to answer it. Realizing she couldn’t very well do that or risk the entire town finding out where she’d slept last night, she remained frozen on the spot.

  Once she heard the woman’s retreating footsteps, she raced to the window in time to see Veronica getting into her car. Christy wondered what she had wanted. When the car drove off, she opened the front door. There, posted like a wanted sign on the nail Pop used to hang his Christmas wreath, was a note she’d left for Kyle.

  Christy couldn’t miss it. She’d written in large letters a few simple words.

  Kyle,

  Sorry we didn’t connect last night. Call me.

  Veronica

  Christy’s breath caught. Paralyzed, she stood there on the porch, staring at the note. Her mind rebelled against the thoughts charging in, attacking all sense of rationality.

  Kyle couldn’t have done this to her. He couldn’t have! She wanted so much to believe in him, but the evidence in the form of a perfumed note, condemned with startling clarity. Kyle had been expecting Veronica last night. And when she didn’t show, he’d decided to go to Plan B. His second choice. His only option for the evening. Her.

  Christy’s heart sank to the floor. The hard bite of tears surged forth. She held them back, letting anger replace her heartache. She’d been second choice twice in her life before. One time during high school, in a fiasco that had the entire town buzzing after the Bronco’s won the state championship.

  Then once she’d finally recovered and trusted in a man again, enough to give her love and devotion, he’d also betrayed her. The hurt of that loss ran deep. Christy had been ready for marriage with all the trimmings-house, children, and even a family dog. The disappointment and breach of faith destroyed something within her.

  She’d vowed then never to be second choice again. Any man who wanted her had to prove she was his number one priority. He had to have integrity and loyalty.

  Traits Kyle Warren never acquired.

  True, she’d made bad choices in the past. She’d hoped by now she would have learned a valuable lesson. Instead, she’d given Kyle her heart to bruise and abuse.

  Fool.

  On impulse, she grabbed the note and crushed it in her hand. She was halfway out the back door, when she heard Kyle calling her name.

  *****

  “I’m back,” Kyle called out. He couldn’t remember ever being this ridiculously giddy about returning home to a woman. He’d had a brief conversation with Flo, closed up Warren’s, and then headed straight home. He liked knowing Christy would be waiting for him. “Christy?”

  He heard the kitchen door slam and strode in that direction. Christy stood at the back door, with arms folded, myriad emotions marring her lovely features. The look she cast him wasn’t what he’d been hoping for. The glow in her eyes had turned to a sharp glint, the smile had vanished, and a look of strain remained. Where was the woman he’d made love to less than an hour ago? He wanted the soft, cuddly, smitten woman who had teased and tempted and thrown his world off balance- he wanted that woman back.

  “Kyle, listen. I’ve been thinking. This…this is just not going to work.”

  Puzzled, he wasn’t sure he’d heard her correctly. “What is not going to work?”

  “Me and you.” She folded her arms across her chest defying him to come closer with a look so cold it could have chilled the Arizona sun.

  Kyle decided to keep his distance, give her the space she needed right now. “That’s not how you felt an hour ago.”

  “Well, I’ve come to my senses.”

  “You’ve come to your senses?” He raised his voice and approached her. Giving her space be damned. “Hell, woman, what are you talking about?”

  She tossed a note on the table. It landed face up, wrinkled but legible. Kyle craned his neck to read it. “It’s a note from Veronica. Not a big deal.”

  “Not a big deal? Maybe it’s nothing to you, Kyle Warren, but I don’t like being played for a fool. Remember, you hired me to create that seduction scene, and when your date didn’t show, you concocted some wild tale about me being your date.”

  Christy began to pace the kitchen. With hands on hips and engulfed in her ranting, she proceeded, “Oh, you’re good, Kyle. I’ll give you that. And the irony is the real killer. You see, I planned my own seduction. Candlelight, champagne, the works!” She threw her arms up in the air. “After all these years of knowing better, of seeing with my own eyes how the girls would line up for a chance at you, I still hadn’t seen this one coming. So, I guess, I’m the biggest fool of all!”

  Kyle quietly fumed, listening to her condemn him and destroy the fragile budding love they could have shared.

  “You’re an awful man, Kyle Warren. I always suspected you weren’t the man your father thought you to be. But I’d always hoped, for his sake, you’d changed your ways. Pop would have been ashamed of you. That’s all I have to say.”

  She turned to leave. Kyle bellowed. “You’re not going anywhere. Sit down, Christy.”

  “No, I�
�m outta here,” she said defiantly.

  “Like hell you are. You sit down and listen. I have something to say.”

  He watched her hesitate briefly, as if making up her mind. He pointed to the chair. “Sit, or I’ll pick you up and do it for you.”

  That had her planting her bottom down.

  Kyle’s fury was at the boiling point. He’d been accused of many things in his life, but never had anything hurt so much, dug so deep into his heart. Christy would never know the pain her harsh, unfair words had caused him. He ran his hands in his hair, reining in his anger. “You’re wrong about me, Christy, but I can see now that nothing I say will change your mind. You’re convinced I’m some low-life who’d prey on innocent women. But I’d bet you’d be shocked to know that I figured you out. This isn’t about me; it’s about what happened to you. That night.”

  Christy’s rigid face paled. “You’re wrong.”

  “Am I? I know what happened with Ross Huntley after our big game.”

  Christy stood abruptly. “I don’t want to talk about this.”

  “You should. It’s good to let it out.”

  “No, I- ”

  “You’re condemning me for something he did to you. It’s not fair.”

  “You don’t understand.”

  “I know what happened.”

  Christy put her head down. “You don’t know. You couldn’t.”

  “I know you cared for him deeply, and he betrayed you,” Kyle said, some of his anger toward her dissipating. Christy looked like a lost child, hanging her head, reliving that night.

  “Yes, he betrayed me. I lost my innocence that night, Kyle, and it hurt. Can you understand?” she asked on a plea.

  “I do understand. Go on,” he coaxed wanting to hear the story coming from her lips.

  She hesitated, and he waited with strained patience. Finally she continued, “Ross and I dated for three months. I thought I loved him. I’ll never forget how it felt to find him with one of my best friends. He’d been drinking after the game and, when I tried to break it off, he grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. There was a mean gleam in his eyes-I guess I never really knew him.” Her voice drifted off, then she began again. “He slapped me several times, trying to ‘make me understand’, he’d said. But I understood all too well by then. He’d hurt me both physically and emotionally. I struggled with him and finally got away. When I got home and found my face bruised and swollen, I had to lie to my parents… I knew they’d freak if I’d told them the truth. I told them I had fallen down the school steps. I didn’t go back to school for a week.”

  “Then the rumors began to fly that you were pregnant.” He witnessed her shudder.

  “It was awful. I never slept with Ross or anyone else in high school, but he’d been so angry when I broke up with him. It was his way of getting revenge. When I finally went back to school, everyone assumed they knew the reason why I hadn’t been there all week. I’d even heard whispers behind my back that I’d gotten rid of the baby-the non-existent baby. It was so humiliating. Apparently I was the last one to know he’d been spreading rumors about me, building up his own ego by claiming…well, what he claimed about me. I know my denials went on deaf ears. The whole town bought his story.”

  “Not the whole town and not me,” Kyle said honestly. “I didn’t believe it even before he finally admitted the truth.”

  Christy’s head shot up. “Why?”

  Kyle shook his head. “It’s doesn’t matter. But I never believed him.”

  “I suppose I should thank you for that.”

  Kyle shrugged. He didn’t want her thanks. He wanted her trust. And he knew now, she didn’t believe in him enough to grant it to him.

  “And you think, somehow, I’m just like Ross?”

  “I never said that.”

  She’d said other, more hurtful things that stung him deeply. She’d never approved of him and had never given him a chance. “You’ve accused me wrongly, Christy, without even giving me a chance to explain. I get the feeling that I’ll never live down the image you have of me. I may have been a little wild when I was younger, but you assumed I haven’t changed. I’m not going to stand here and defend myself to you. You’ve made yourself perfectly clear what you think of me.”

  He stood up, walked to the door, and opened it. He’d never escorted a woman out of his house before.

  Christy swallowed, began to speak, but then clamped her lips tight and walked to the door.

  He met her eyes briefly. “It really could have been something, Christy. If you’d given us a chance.”

  Chapter Six

  The following day, Kyle walked into the den, glancing at Christy’s work spread out on the desk. Her CD’s were labeled and stacked on the far corner. And her research papers were strewn haphazardly all over the end table.

  Kyle plopped down in the chair feeling bereft. It was as though he’d lost something incredibly valuable, something he might never find again. And for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why. Oh, he knew Christy had always been wary and overly cautious of him. He’d had quite a reputation in high school. He’d been young and immature, full of himself, as Flo had vividly pointed out. Christy had been wise to steer clear. And maybe that’s why he’d never really pursued her in school. She’d been the one girl he could admire from a distance, the one girl out of his reach. He liked that about her.

  But now, things were different. He was different. And damn it, as much as she’d hurt him, he still wanted her.

  Maybe he should have explained about Veronica’s note. If he had immediately, perhaps this whole misunderstanding would have been cleared up. But the condemning glint in her eyes, the cold indifference on her face, told him it wouldn’t have mattered what he said. Christy had already made up her mind.

  Kyle Warren was not a man to be trusted with her heart.

  Kyle sat there for a long time, half-listening to the surroundings; the trees outside rustling in the breeze, the sunny chirping of a blue jay, the everyday quiet of a small town. But he also listened to his heart.

  He’d never felt this way before, this sense of loss, this feeling of dread in not making things right. He knew if he left for Boston, without trying to breech the gap that seemed to separate him from Christy, he might live to regret it.

  On impulse, he rose from his seat and slammed out the front door. He knocked sharply on Christy’s door, waiting for her response. Kyle had never been a quitter-not when he wanted something. And not when the challenge presented itself, especially if that challenge was a beautiful blonde with the softest blue eyes.

  Christy’s tear-blurred face was his near undoing. She stood at the door, heart on her sleeve, holding her chin up.

  “Morning,” he said, not expecting an invitation in.

  “Hello,” she said quietly.

  The walls acting as her defending barricade were definitely up. Kyle could handle that, as long as she was speaking to him.

  “How are you?”

  She bit her lip and nodded. “I’m fine.”

  He wanted to say she didn’t look fine, but that wouldn’t have been wise. She looked sad and heartsick underneath all of her exterior bravado.

  He scratched his head and then rubbed at the tension at the back of his neck. This had seemed easier when he was sitting in Pop’s den contemplating. Now, looking at her, seeing the wariness and the hurt in her eyes, made it all the more difficult. He’d come to earn her trust, if that were even possible.

  “Listen, Christy, I don’t want what happened between us to mar our friendship. I mean…well, we’d come close to being friends. I’d like that. We’re adults. We can manage to retain our friendship-”

  “I don’t think so,” she hedged, straightening her spine in determination.

  “For Pop,” he rushed out, hitting below the belt. He’d never have resorted to this, but he believed whole-heartedly, Pop would have approved. Kyle’s intentions were honorable. “Pop always wanted us to be friends.”

&nb
sp; Christy laughed then, ruefully. “Always the overachiever, Kyle. I’d say we missed the target with friendship.”

  Bull’s- eye. She was right, he mused. They had bypassed friendship entirely, going straight to being lovers.

  His fault. He’d rushed her before gaining her trust. But it was her fault, too, for not giving him a chance. He meant to rectify both situations.

  “I’d like you to finish your computer work at the house, Christy. It’s important to you. There’s no reason why you should put a halt on all your hard work. I’ll make myself scarce, if you’d like, on the nights you come by. Whatever it takes.”

  “Whatever it takes?”

  “Yes. Come on, Christy. Say you’ll do it.”

  “You’ll stay out of my way?”

  That hurt, but he shoved his feelings aside. He truly wanted her to finish what she’d started. Maybe, with any luck, they could pick up where they had left off. It had been too perfect between them not to try. “If that’s the way you want it.”

  She pondered for a moment. He imagined the wheels clicking around in her head. “Well…I do want to finish the book. It is important to me.”

  “I know,” he said, thinking it was important to him, too, that she finish what she set out to do. Pop had believed in her, and Kyle found he did also. Her ideas were brilliant, her recipes, innovative and delicious.

  After a long pause, she put out her hand, “Kyle Warren, you have yourself a deal.”

  He took her hand, wanting to crush her to his body, but instead politely and informally, gave it a shake. “Good.”

  Her blue eyes shuttered when she said, “And we’ll forget what happened the other night.”