Several replies crossed Kelly’s mind, but before she could respond, Alex continued. “We, Joe and I, really enjoyed your company over the holidays last year, and we’ve missed you.”
Seriously? Why couldn’t her son be this sweet?
“Now that Damian’s back, I hope we’ll be seeing a lot more of you.”
“Uh…Mrs. Kostas?”
“Call me Alex.”
“Ok, Alex. Does Damian know that you’re inviting me to this get-together?”
“I don’t know if I specifically mentioned it, but I’m sure he’ll be thrilled!”
Kelly shook her head. “I wouldn’t bet on it,” she said.
Alex eyed her with curiosity, but the smile never left her face. “Why? Did you two have a lover’s quarrel?”
Oh God. How can I look this woman in the eye when she thinks that Damian and I are lovers?
“Because, you know, Joe and I argue all the time, but it’s lots of fun to make up!”
Kelly wanted to melt into the floor, or at least don Harry Potter’s invisible cloak and disappear.
“Mrs. Kostas…um…Alex. I appreciate the invitation. I really do, but Damian and I aren’t together anymore.” She couldn’t bring herself to say the word “lovers” no matter how open Alex seemed to be to the idea.
Alex looked confused. “But the other day at the hospital…I saw the way you two looked at each other. Maybe you just need some time to get reacquainted, and what better way than at my party!”
She’s not giving up. Now I see where her son gets his stubbornness! I’ll tell you what, Alex. I will come to your party if, and only if, Damian wants me there. Which means he has to ask me himself.”
Alex looked like she was about to protest, but then she thought better of it. Kelly was proud of herself for standing her ground, because, as wonderful as Damian’s family was, she didn’t want to show up to their party unless the guest of honor wanted her to be there.
“Ok, dear. I’ll tell him, but if that boy doesn’t get his act together, I’ll box his ears.”
Kelly giggled at the image of Alex scolding her imposing adult son.
Alex had one hand on the door when she turned and said, “Dinner is at my house on Friday at six o’clock. I hope we’ll see you there.”
Kelly just nodded. The ball was in Damian’s court. Let’s see how he plays it.
Chapter 3
Two nights later, Kelly was kicked back, binge-watching old episodes of Friends, when Ken called. She was surprised to see his name on the display after their last date, and if she were being honest, she had hoped it would be Damian calling instead.
“Hi, Ken,” she said and muted the television.
“Hi. I’m glad you picked up. I wasn’t sure after our dinner last week.”
Poor guy. If it weren’t for Damian waltzing back into town, she might have actually enjoyed Ken’s company.
“About that, I’m sorry, Ken. I had an off day.” That was putting it mildly!
“Maybe we could try again. There’s an outdoor concert at Depot Park on Friday, and I wondered if you would like to go with me.”
Damn! Of course, it had to be on the same day as Alex’s dinner—which Damian hadn’t officially asked her to yet.
“Kelly? You still there?”
“Yeah, I’m here.” What to do, what to do… “I have plans on Friday, but I’m available on Saturday night.”
Ken sighed. “I’m playing racquetball with some friends that night.”
Racquetball? Really? People still play that? “Oh. Well, I would like to see you again, but I guess it’ll have to be another time.”
“Yeah. Ok. I’ll call you next week.”
When Kelly hung up, she let out a stream of curse words. A few weeks ago, she had been optimistic about dating Ken. He seemed like the kind of guy who had his act together. He had a well-paying, interesting job (according to him), he was sweet, and he was into healthy living. He wasn’t drop-dead gorgeous, but he was good-looking, and she was mildly attracted to him. Emma had laughed when Kelly had told her that. “Mildly attracted? That doesn’t sound very promising, Kell,” Emma had said. But after Damian, Ken was the first guy that she could even say that about, so she had been willing to give him a shot. She hadn’t felt that spark (or fireworks), like she had with Damian, but hey, a good relationship was built on a lot more than sex. At least, that’s what people said.
Besides, now it was Wednesday evening, and Damian hadn’t made any effort to contact her. Kelly felt certain that Alex would have relayed her message, as anxious as Alex was to include her, but her son obviously didn’t feel the same. Maybe their “relationship” had just been about sex after all, and Damian was ready to move on to the next conquest, which was why Kelly wasn’t ready to kick Ken to the curb just yet. She felt a twinge of guilt at having turned him down for Friday, but there was still a chance that Damian might call. Plus, she had promised Emma to be nice to Damian, at least until the wedding, which was three months away. She could play nice for three months. The question was—could he?
The next day, Kelly decided that she might not be able to hold up her end of the bargain after all. She had worked until five, rushed to her Zumba class, and was now driving home, hot, sweaty, and disgruntled. Damian still hadn’t called, and at this point, she seriously doubted that he was going to. She was half-tempted to call Ken and ask if his offer for Friday night still stood, but when she pulled into the parking lot of her apartment complex, she became distracted.
There was a large, black Chevy truck parked in her designated space, and she could see the outline of a man sitting inside it. Kelly was just pissed off enough to consider laying on the horn, but then the driver’s side door of the truck opened and the man stepped out.
Holy shit. It’s Damian!
Kelly struggled to get her bearings as she parked her Volkswagen Jetta two spaces down from Damian’s truck. Breathe, Kelly, she reminded herself before she stepped out of her car.
Damian waited for her on the sidewalk, his hands shoved in the front pockets of his ripped Levi’s. He wore a black t-shirt with The Rolling Stones emblem on the front, and his usual scuffed brown work boots. The wind ruffled his wavy black hair, and she noticed the stubble that graced his chiseled face. The man is too sexy for his own good!
Kelly was still wearing her workout clothes: a bright pink tank top with a built-in sports bra, tight black yoga pants, and neon cross-trainers. Her long hair was caught up in a ponytail except for the tendrils that had escaped at the sides, and she was makeup free, having wiped it off before her workout. Even though she wasn’t “dolled up,” she felt sexy under Damian’s approving gaze.
“Hey,” he said when she joined him on the sidewalk.
“Hey,” she volleyed. Not a bad start.
“Got a minute?”
“Well, as you can see, I’m hot and sweaty, but as long as you don’t mind…” Her words trailed off because the look on his face practically singed her hair. She must have reminded him of all the times they had been “hot and sweaty” together, and now she was reminded too!
“I don’t mind,” he said gruffly.
Kelly motioned for him to follow her, and he stayed a comfortable distance behind while they tromped up the stairs to her third-floor apartment.
Damian had been there several times before, but he looked around as if he were seeing it for the first time.
“Have a seat,” Kelly said. “I’m going to grab some water. Do you want anything?”
Damian cleared his throat. “Got a beer?”
Kelly rummaged around in her fridge and came up with a lone Guinness that might have been left over from the last time Damian had been over. “It’s been in there a while,” she said and watched his lips curl up when she handed him the beer.
“It’ll do.”
Kelly sat in the chair across from Damian and took a long sip from her bottled water. She felt overheated from her workout, or maybe it was from the company, who stared at her
intently with a masked expression.
Not a fan of small talk, Damian plunged right in. “My mom is having this dinner thing tomorrow night, and she wondered…I wondered…if you’d like to come.”
Part of her wanted to give him a hard time for waiting so long to ask, but the sensitive side of her decided to let him off the hook.
“Sure,” she answered and watched him visibly relax.
“You sure your date won’t mind?”
Is he asking just to needle me, or does he really care? “I’ve only gone out with Ken a couple of times. It’s not like we’re…a couple.”
Damian’s eyes flickered with satisfaction at her response. “Ok, then. Six o’clock on Friday.” He set the empty beer bottle on the glass table in front of him and stood up as if to leave.
Kelly fought a wave of disappointment but stood up too. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say?”
“Well, yeah,” Damian replied and shoved his hands in his pockets again.
She could interpret his silence in a number of ways, but the last thing Kelly wanted was to argue with him again. She decided to leave well enough alone, although she was dying to ask him a slew of questions. Best to go with a simple one for now.
“Did you get a new truck?” The last time Damian was in town, he had flown in and had used a rental car to get around. Now that he was supposedly back for good…
“It’s used, but the guy I bought it from kept it in good condition.”
“It suits you,” she said. “Big and manly.” As soon as the words were out, she wished she could retract them, especially when Damian shot her that smug grin.
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” he said and sauntered to the door.
Kelly admired the way he filled out his worn-in jeans, but she quickly averted her eyes when he turned back around.
“Friday night,” he said, and she nodded, afraid to open her mouth again.
Chapter 4
When Kelly arrived at Mr. and Mrs. Kostas’s house, she noticed that Zack’s Range Rover was already there, and she breathed a sigh of relief. At least if things didn’t go well with Damian, she could count on the support of her best friend.
Kelly had taken great care with her appearance, as she usually did when there was a man involved. Tonight she wore a belted tunic top over a pair of leggings, and a pair of low-heeled ankle boots. Emma had warned her ahead of time not to show too much skin, so Kelly had chosen one of her more conservative outfits.
Alex was the one who opened the front door, and she immediately pulled Kelly in for a hearty hug. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she said with a wink.
Emma was the next one to greet her, and she hugged Kelly too. This is one expressive family!
Gracie careened around the corner and wrapped her arms around Kelly’s legs. “Aunt Kelly’s here,” she announced to the whole room.
Damian had been standing at the picture window with his back to her, and he slowly turned around.
Kelly melted right on the spot. Big, bad Damian cradled his infant niece carefully in his muscular arms and rocked her gently back and forth. Something about the scene made Kelly want to snap a picture, but Emma beat her to it.
“Smile for the camera, Uncle Damian,” Emma teased, and she snapped a couple of pictures with her cell phone.
Kelly followed Emma all the way into the living room and exchanged greetings with Zack and Joe Kostas. Three Kostas men in one room was quite a sight to behold. Kelly had labelled Zack and his brother Greek God numbers one and two, and their father Joe was still handsome in his sixties. What a gene pool!
“What can I get you to drink, Kelly?” Alex asked, relishing her role as hostess as usual.
Kelly noticed that Emma held a glass of wine, so she said, “I’ll have what Emma’s having.”
Zack let out a loud laugh. “Just as long as it’s not rum and Coke.”
Emma scowled at him while he relayed the story of the time Emma got drunk on rum and Cokes at his co-worker’s wedding. By the end of the story, everyone in the room was laughing, including Emma.
Kelly sat back and sipped her wine, and tried not to look at Damian overmuch. Every time she did sneak a peek, he caught her, which meant that he was looking too! He hadn’t said much, but that was to be expected. He was usually content to sit back and let everyone else do the talking. However, when asked a direct question…
“So, Damian, what are your plans now that you’re back?” Kelly ventured.
The room stilled, and all eyes focused in on Damian. Oops…he hates to be the center of attention, but inquiring minds…
Damian handed the baby off to Emma, plopped into the nearest chair, and casually crossed his leg over the opposite knee.
“First off, I need to find a place to live,” he said.
“Son, we already told you. Take as long as you need. You’re not bothering us by staying here,” Joe said.
“Ha! Dad, you should know that it cramps Damian’s style to live with his parents,” Zack teased.
“I’m not living here. This is a temporary solution until I find my own digs.”
Then Emma piped in. “Hey, Kell, aren’t there some apartments available in your complex?”
Now the focus switched to Kelly, and she wanted to crawl into a hole. “Well…yeah…I think so…”
“I don’t know about that,” Damian said.
“Why not? I think it’s an excellent idea,” Zack said, ignoring Emma’s signal to knock it off.
“I might look at some rental houses instead,” Damian said.
“In Clarkston? That’ll probably cost you a small fortune,” Joe said.
Thankfully, Alex came fluttering into the living room and announced that it was time for dinner. Everyone filed out, but Damian stayed back and put a hand on Kelly’s arm to stop her.
“Is that true about there being apartments for rent in your building?”
Kelly felt like his hand was burning a hole through her sleeve, or maybe it was the fact that standing this close, she could feel the heat rolling off of him. “Not in my building, but there are some units available in the complex.”
He didn’t let go of her arm. “How would you feel about that?”
“What? About you living there?” She tried to play it cool, but the catch in her voice betrayed her.
“Yeah. Would that be a problem for you?”
Kelly looked into his smoldering brown eyes with the flecks of gold and shook her head. “Would it be a problem for you?” she asked.
His eyes appraised her for a moment, lingering on her mouth. “No,” he finally said.
They might have said more, but Alex called, “Kids, come on. Dinner’s getting cold.”
Damian let go of her arm. “See why I have to get out of here,” he said and chuckled gruffly.
Kelly giggled and followed him into the dining room.
After dinner, Alex shooed Damian and Kelly out of the kitchen, inviting them to “relax and catch up.”
Her attempt at matchmaking was so obvious that Kelly wanted to laugh, but she didn’t want to make Damian any more uncomfortable than he already was.
“Walk outside with me,” he said and headed toward the front door without waiting for Kelly’s response.
As soon as they were outside in the bright August sunshine, Damian appeared to relax. They walked around to the back of the house that faced a small yet picturesque lake and took a seat on a swinging wooden bench overlooking the water.
With Damian’s bulky frame taking up much of the seat, Kelly had to scoot far over to the opposite side to avoid contact. They sat in silence for a few minutes and stared out at the water rippling gently in the breeze.
“It must have been fun growing up here,” Kelly commented as a pontoon boat carrying a large group of passengers floated by.
“It was,” Damian replied. “Zack and I used to be out on the lake all summer long, until Mom came out waving her arms to call us in.”
“I can totally picture
that,” Kelly said.
“Listen, Kell, about the other day at the hospital…”
Kelly held up her hand. “Let’s not go there, Damian. I’m enjoying this right now. No need to dredge up the past.”
Damian shoved his hands in his hair and shifted on the bench. “I just wanted to say that it was wrong of me to expect that you’d want to pick up where we left off.”
Kelly sighed. “I’m not completely blameless here. I shouldn’t have expected you to call me after you left. We never made any promises to each other.”
They locked eyes for a long moment.
“What do you say we call a truce? At least for the next few months, until Zack and Emma’s wedding.”
Kelly wondered what his definition of a truce was—exchanging pleasantries at family gatherings or something more…intimate? Don’t go there, Kell!
“I suppose we owe it to them, huh?”
“Yeah. Plus, Zack said he’ll kick my ass if I’m not nice to you.”
Kelly tipped her head back and laughed. “Emma told me to be nice to you too, but she didn’t threaten bodily harm!”
Damian stuck out his hand. “So, truce?” he asked with a gleam in his eyes.
“Truce,” she said and placed her hand in his. He clasped it firmly, and she felt instant heat from the contact. Suddenly, she remembered those hands on other parts of her anatomy, and she had to shake her head to return to the present. True, they had once been lovers, but Damian hadn’t said anything to make her believe that he wanted to go down that path again.
The sound of Alex’s voice calling them in for dessert broke Kelly’s train of thought, and then she realized that she and Damian were still holding hands.
“Be right there, Ma,” he called gruffly and reluctantly let go of Kelly’s hand.
“I think I’m going to check into that apartment sooner rather than later,” he said as they trudged up the sloped lawn to the house.
“Great,” Kelly said. Just great!
Twice as Tempting Page 2