Fate (Killarny Brothers Book 1)

by Gisele St. Claire

  And today was the day that I had a lot left to do. It was derby day, and I knew that Pete had to get back to his people.

  “Hey now,” I said as I swatted him away playfully. “You’ve got places to be and so do I.”

  He rolled me over and kissed me, groaning, and moving his body on top of mine.

  “I do have somewhere to be,” he whispered in my ear. “Deep inside that sweet pussy of yours.”

  I laughed and tried to push him off, but he was showering me with kisses and caresses. Giving in for a few extra minutes, I let him travel further south, licking me and fingering me to one incredible orgasm before I insisted that I had to get in the shower.

  By the time I got out, he was gone, but I found a note left tucked within some panties on my bed.

  “Do not wear any of these today,” it read, and I decided I could work with that. I laughed as I got dressed, wondering what else I’d learn about Pete Killarny in the coming days, but knowing that there was so much more that had to be handled today before I could start thinking about the future.

  The first thing that had to be done was the last thing I wanted to do. I didn’t even want to think about it, but I knew that I was the only person in the world who had a chance of stopping my father from following through with whatever his plans were today.

  I finished getting ready. Done up to the nines I carryied my hat down to my father’s office, where I hoped I would find him.

  He was there, and like I had been a few nights before he was prowling through the same drawer.

  “Dad?”

  He looked up and closed the drawer, offering me a smile. “Good morning honey. I was just about to head out to take one last look at the paddock. Our attorney will be by soon, and he has all the paperwork. We’ll be handing it over to the Killarnys, and that will remove them from the derby.” He started to head toward the door, but I put up my hand.

  “Dad, why don’t you have a seat. We need to have a little chat.”

  “Honey, I know you think it’s nothing. But we really can’t have people like that around if they are involved in illegal activity.”

  “Dad.” I stopped and stared at him until he sat down in his chair. I remained standing. “I know about Emily Killarny.”

  He looked perplexed. “What do you mean?”

  “The drawer. I know what’s in it. I’m sorry for going through your things, but I had to know what was going on here. I knew that it couldn’t be what you said it was, but I wanted to find out what exactly was motivating you to keep them out of our derby.”

  He shook his head. “You shouldn’t have gone through my things.”

  “I am deeply sorry for that. But I know Dad. I know about the affair, and I know that you and Mom couldn’t stay married because you were still in love with Emily.”

  His eyes were closed for a long moment before he opened them again and blinked. “You have no idea what it was like to watch the person you loved more than anyone else in the world walk off and marry someone else.”

  “Really, Dad? You think I couldn’t possibly understand that? Do you recall that a year ago I found my fiancé in bed with my best friend? They’re getting married in two months. I think I have some clue what that might feel like. The only difference is that you slept with your best friend’s almost wife. You are not the victim here so don’t even play like you are. You drove Mom away.”

  He was quiet then.

  “This stops now,” I said in a commanding tone. “It all stops right here. You said Terrance is coming over with some papers today? You’re going to call him and stop him.”

  My father frowned at me and raised his voice. “You don’t call the shots around here.”

  “I may not, and I know that I don’t have the controlling stake that you do, but dad, I swear to you, if you do not stop this, if you do not let the Killarny horse race, then I will walk out of here and have no part of this business again. You lost your wife because you were caught up in all of this jealousy shit and some silly feud. Do you want to lose your daughter as well?”

  His eyes were downcast, and I waited for him to speak. Finally, in a softer tone than what I was used to hearing from my father, he said: “I’ll make the call.”

  I slipped out into the morning sunshine and put the wide-brimmed white hat with a black bow on my head. I looked at my reflection in one of the windows to make sure it was straight; then I made my way toward the track.

  Instead of sitting in the usual box where I had grown up sitting with my father, I looked for the box filled with Killarny men. There, in the middle of all the other boxes, I found them hooting and hollering, with Emma there in the middle of the group. Taking the steps carefully in my heels, I walked up toward them and was greeted by Alex.

  “Well, if it isn’t little Sara Waters. Not so little anymore, are you?” He said with a wink, and I rolled my eyes with a smile as I moved past him, maneuvering my hat so as not to gouge anyone’s eyes out. I smiled as I approached Pete.

  “Nice to see you again,” I said, and a knowing glance passed between us. “And nice to see you too, Emma!” I shouted over the roar of the crowd that was really starting to build.

  “You made it just in time!” Emma said.

  Pete took me by the arm and pulled me close. “Is everything okay?”

  I nodded, leaning in to speak close to his ear. “I talked to him, and he wasn’t very happy about it, but the plan he was going to go through with has been stopped. There’s not going to be an attorney, and your rider won’t have any problems down there.”

  “What did you say?” He asked, looking at me with some surprise.

  “I told him that if the Killarny horse didn’t run, then he was going to be losing one very important employee—me.”

  Pete’s eyes were wide. “Really? And what were you going to do when you left, if he called your bluff?”

  “Number one, it wasn’t a bluff. Number two well, I thought you might have a position I could fill at Killarny Estate.”

  Pete grinned and whispered in my ear, “I could think of one or two.”

  We turned our attention to the horses, and the crowd was going absolutely wild. The horses were off, and we all watched the Killarny horse, Clement, cheering him as he raced along, his long, quick strides rapidly advancing him to the front of the pack. It seemed to all happen in a flash and Clement crossed the finish line an entire two seconds before any other horses.

  The Killarny box went wild with all the brothers whooping and shouting. I kept my composure for the most part, but couldn’t help letting out a little yell.

  Pete pulled me close and kissed me on the lips, then put his other arm around Emma. “Here’s to another Killarny win! And here’s to my favorite ladies!”

  I looked over at Emma, who was wearing a particularly knowing grin for a girl of her age. I smiled and leaned in close to Pete, thankful for a second chance with the man who had been my first kiss.

  Rule Him

  Chapter 1

  Candy

  "You have to lose the 'v' card this semester," ordered my best friend, Larissa.

  It was fine for her; she'd been in love with Jeff Williams since eighth grade. They had got engaged a couple of months ago, and she had their whole future life mapped out. Exactly when they would get married, how many kids they would have, where they would live after college. It helped that both of them, like me, are from the Upper East Side in New York City with parents who had so much wealth we didn't discuss it. Most around here flaunted it instead, ‘Oh look what Daddy got me when he returned from Singapore’, then they would show off their latest vintage Rolex. Everything had to be the latest trend. Every step one-upmanship. In truth, deep inside I found it all dull but if I didn't go along with it, then I'd be the laughing stock of Lincoln High and no one ever wanted to make themselves that. So instead I immersed myself in the latest fashions, talked about boys and right now, planned for my eighteenth birthday party, which was to be the party of the year according to my mo
m. My father was in politics, and my mom ran her own Interior Design company. I didn't see them much, usually only when they needed to show me off to their company. That was fine with me. When my best friend had gone, I liked my own company. I loved anything involving words and using my brain: reading, watching the news, etc. Right now, my brain was screaming for me to make Larissa go home.

  "I'm not rushing to lose my virginity. I want to be in love. It's important to me," I replied, as I rubbed my brow.

  "Oh, you can always pretend on your wedding night. Just say your battery operated boyfriend broke your hymen." Larissa waved off my response.

  "No." I had become so pissed by this point that I snapped the pencil I was holding in half. Larissa either failed to notice or ignored me. Either way, she didn’t give up.

  "Julian Murphy likes you. He's hot."

  Julian was the star player of the varsity baseball team. He was the guy all the girls wanted; even loved-up Larissa found him ‘to die for’. He did nothing for me. He was good looking, sure. All tall and lean with a fit body and a perfect smile. But he lived for sports, and I loathed them. Plus, he liked to collect girls v-cards like trophies, so there was that. I was not going to be a notch on a bedpost.

  No, I dreamed of my perfect guy. He would be hugely intelligent. Tall. Dark-haired. Maybe of slim build, rather than pumped up muscles. Gentle and kind. He'd look at me like I was his everything. Larissa said I read too many fairy tales when I was growing up. Huh, our lives were like fairy tales: balls, designer gowns and shoes, staff to do our bidding. Maybe what I wanted was an anti-fairy tale, where I was the Princess who went after the Prince, not the other way around.

  "Earth calling Candy."

  "Huh?"

  "You went off in a daydream again there, Candy. Now, your eighteenth. What's going to be the theme?"

  "Sleeping Beauty," I announced.

  "What? That movie's been out for months now. Sleeping Beauty is over. You need something different, girl."

  "I want to do Sleeping Beauty. For presents I want books. I'm going to build a huge library like the one the Beast had. Mom said for my birthday I could have the guest room next to mine. She's going to have an adjoining door put in, so it will be perfect."

  Larissa's brow creased, "Your mom is okay with you having a library room?"

  I sighed. "Not exactly, it's supposed to be an even larger walk-in-closet. One with luxury seating where she can get designers to visit me in person, rather than using her room."

  "Good luck with that then, honey. Anyhow, I'm with your mom on this one. Books? Forget books, collect shoes!"

  Larissa looked at her Givenchy watch, her blonde carefully streaked and blowed out long tresses fell forward as she bent her head. "Oh crap, I should have called a driver by now. I'd arranged to meet Jeff at six." She grabbed her Coach purse and Valentino jacket and kissed me on both cheeks before running to the door.

  "Laters, baby," she giggled. Fifty Shades had recently released on DVD, and she kept telling me she and Jeff were using it as inspiration. Far too much information.

  With that, my bedroom door closed and I was left alone in peace.

  My room was my haven. A large space with light wooden floors with underfloor heating, my bed sat atop a large Madeline Weinrib rug. Vast curtains hung from three high windows and as well as my current walk in closet; I had two purple velvet armchairs and a chaise longue. These were beside a wall of bookcases, filled to the brim with novels and non-fiction. I had a thirst for knowledge and an overwhelming urge to break free from my gilded cage to explore the world out there. Just Manhattan itself held untold secrets. I'd never visited places like Carlo’s Bake Shop. My mom would say, ‘what's the need when our staff could make you your own pignoli cookies’.

  I was relieved to be back in school tomorrow. My last semester, I needed to study hard. My dream was to write novels, but my teachers held the belief I would work for my mom's company after graduation. I could if I wanted; I was on course to pass art. It would seem I'd gained this talent genetically, but my head and heart yearned to write novels like the one's I read voraciously. The only time I'd mentioned this to my mom she had rolled her eyes. It hadn't even been worthy of a comment. I wanted to train as an English teacher so that I could hopefully instill the same love for prose as I had, in other student's lives and then write in my spare time. My mom would accuse me of trying to make her a laughing stock, which was why I hadn't told her my plans. I was doing extra classes to earn credits for college, and I needed some additional tutoring to ensure my grades were the best they could be. I was looking forward to the morning when I could get out of the townhouse and get back to my studies, and see if there were any teachers or students offering mentoring or tutoring this final semester.

  I grabbed a romance book from my night stand and picked up where I'd left off. For all my romantic dreams, and hearts, flowers and fairy tale ideas, I liked a bedtime read that gave me an idea of what I might expect once I did find a man to take me to bed. I loved to read in detail about tongues trailing down warm flesh, lips nibbling, fingers delving into warm, wet places. On the rare occasions, I masturbated, and I always felt ashamed afterwards, like I was doing something bad. Another prison I was captured in, this time in my mind. I continued to read on, my mind making me the heroine in the book while doing my best to avoid noticing the dampness from my core which was soaking into my panties.

  ***

  The day was underway at Lincoln High, and it seemed as if we'd had no break at all. I slipped back into my routine like it was a comfy pair of slippers. My first class after lunch was English. I knew we had a new teacher as our previous one, Mrs. Donovan, had left to have a baby and wasn't coming back. It was annoying to change teachers at this stage in our education. I wanted to study as much English as I could and worried that if I didn't like the new teacher, it might affect my grades. Larissa started gossiping to me about something or other she'd heard on campus so I heard the door open but I didn't see who came through it.

  I guess I should have known by the fact that the entire female population of the class went silent, that a hot male had walked through the door before I turned around.

  But when I did, holy hell!

  A gray jacket, gray pants, and a crisp, white shirt encased the body of a god. He was lean but athletic. As he moved to place his laptop case on the desk at the front of the classroom, his jacket gaped open showing the shirt stretched against his chest. You could make out his pecs, and I knew just from that brief look that he worked out, whether it was the gym he visited or regular sports he played. His light brown hair was short but sculpted with paste at the top of his head. I didn’t fail to notice that he was built like the heroes of my romance novels. I felt my body warm up by a billion degrees and I swept my bangs out of my face to try and cool myself down a little.

  "Holy crap, he's gorgeous. I'm up for studying if the subject is the teacher." Larissa whispered directly into my ear.

  "Sshh," I warned her; she was in danger of being a little too loud.

  The godlike creature spoke.

  "Hey there, I'm Mr. Newell, and I'm your new English Teacher."

  His voice was deep and husky; he should have been paid to narrate commercials, not be stuck in high school with a bunch of awkward teenagers.

  It was a few minutes later when Larissa prodded me in the arm.

  "Hey, what's that for?" I asked her.

  "She's called Candy," Larissa said.

  "Candy," He looked at his register, "Ah yes, Candy Appleton. Candy, we were just all introducing ourselves, so I could get to know you a little, so if you're not too busy daydreaming, perhaps you could tell me a bit about yourself."

  I flushed what must have been a deep shade of pink. I'd been so busy mooning over the hot, new teacher and thinking about him in a scene from the book I'd read last night that I'd had no clue that he had carried on addressing the class and started introductions. Disappearing into a world of my imagination was a bad habit of mine. Whe
n I had been younger, I had been known to be so engrossed in books that I had not had a clue as to what was happening in my current surroundings. Larissa once left me alone with a book because I had blissed out on words in the school library and I hadn't noticed she had gone until my cell had buzzed thirty minutes later. I was a lost cause to literature, and now it seemed a lost cause to lusting after sexy new male teachers.

  "I'm sorry, Mr. Newell. I didn't sleep well, and I must have drifted a little." I lied. "My name is Candy Appleton. Erm, what else did you want to know?"

  "Your favorite subject and what you hoped to do after graduation." His lip was in a firm line, and I didn't know if he was upset with me or amused.

  "My favorite subject is English. I love literature, and I hope to become an English teacher." I told him truthfully, hoping he didn’t think I was making it up in order to appease him for my daydreaming.

  "Well, in that case, maybe you need to make sure you get enough sleep for future lessons so you can achieve your dreams." He replied, and then he moved onto the next student.

  I felt like he'd physically slapped me. I was a great student with no problems in English, and before today I didn't remember ever being scolded by a teacher. Larissa was the one who got pulled up in lessons as she continually sneaked peeks at her cell to see if Jeff had messaged her.

  For the rest of the class, I made sure to keep my head down. I listened to what he said to the class, but I tried to avoid eye contact with him. If I thought he was about to look my way or if he did, I quickly averted my gaze. Great. My favorite lesson was now going to become the one I dreaded most. Then I almost physically groaned. I needed to speak to him after class to see if he knew anyone who could give me extra tutoring when all I wanted was to bolt from the classroom.