by Moira McTark
One eyebrow rose and she cocked her head to the side. “San Diego, California. I’m just a hop, skip and a jump over from you in LA.”
“That is really, really good news,” he said, feeling like his grin was going to split his face. “You don’t stand a chance of staying away from me. I love to drive. I have a really nice car. I’m going to pick you up at your door and bring you back for dates at my place. Nice apartment too. You won’t be able to help falling in love with me. I’m telling you now, just so you don’t bother trying.” Cal finger-combed the hair back from her face, tucking a heavy curl behind her ear. “You’re going to be mine.”
A wide smile split Lara’s face and then faded slightly. “How can you be so sure? You don’t really know me.”
He met her gaze and held it. “I know you.”
Lara looked down at her hands. “Because of Vegas?”
He hadn’t meant the laugh to sound so harsh, but that was how it came out. He crooked his finger under her chin, made her look at him. “Not even close. Besides, it wasn’t you in Vegas. And it wasn’t me for that matter, either. I would never be that bad of a lay. This was our first time, baby.”
She was staring at him. “The emails were all real.”
“I’d hope so. I mean what kind of girl would you be to spend hours every night fabricating details like loving New Kids on the Block and hating horses? Or that your favorite dates are at museums? Or that you like Jell-O better than pudding?”
Burying her face against his armpit, she laughed a delighted, giggly laugh. “I can’t believe you remember that stuff, or that I even told you! New Kids on the Block…my private shame. How could I let it get out?”
“How could I want you anyway?”
Lara leered at him a moment. “Confess. You love boy bands too.”
“Lady, now you’ve gone too far.” Locking his arms around her back, he rolled them over so he was again resting between her legs. “I’m going to have to teach you a lesson.”
Lara stretched out her arms above her head. “Mmm, really…is it going to be hard and long?”
Cal burst out laughing, but his cock had already responded to the call. “Yes.” He slipped inside of her with one thorough thrust. “Very.”
Chapter Nine
“You did what?” Bitty covered her mouth, but Lara could see the rise in her cheeks and knew exactly what the shocked, gleeful expression behind that well-manicured hand looked like.
She paced across the pristine staff kitchen, pausing to look out the window at the turbulent sea. “It. We did it… Bitty, oh my God, what am I going to do? He’s everything I’ve ever dreamed about, but better. I could love this man. And I’ve been lying to him since the minute I laid eyes on him.” Lara wrapped Cal’s shirt across her chest, not for the warmth but for the sense that he was still holding her.
With the rain beating down, he’d made her take his shirt to cover her own, which had apparently been rather revealing when wet. It was cold and damp, but it still smelled like him and she was savoring the scent.
“Okay, calm down. First, was it good? I bet it was. You two have so much chemistry… I know it was good—”
“Bitty! You aren’t helping.”
“Wow, it must have been great.”
Lara eyed her cousin with diminishing patience and an increasing sense of dread. There was no way out of this. If she told Cal the truth about Vegas, she jeopardized Dette’s future. If she continued lying to him, she put her own future with him at risk. Wringing her hands, she waited for the answer to come to her. Something obvious that made the solution so simple she’d have to laugh about the torture she was putting herself through.
Nothing.
Bitty slumped back in her chair and popped an apple wedge from the bowl on the tabletop into her mouth. “Look, Lara. It might be a bit early for love. So let’s calm down. You’re starting to sound like Dette, getting this flipped out.”
“No. You don’t understand, you were totally right about how worked up I was after emailing with him for three weeks. I was playing it cool, in case it wasn’t the same when he got here. But everything about him is better. We made love down in the boathouse—”
Bitty perked up. “The boathouse? On the couch?”
“No, the floor. Well, the wall and then the floor. And then the table—but it doesn’t matter. We talked for hours after that. It was the easiest, funniest, deepest conversation I’ve ever had. He laughs at my jokes, he loves the same things I do.” Lara dropped into the chair beside her and stared dreamily at the ocean. “He doesn’t like horses either and…he knows all the words to ‘You Got It’.”
“New Kids? You told him about your obsession with that decades old boy band pop trash?” Bitty’s lip curled in distaste. “Didn’t I make you swear you would never to tell a man you seriously liked about that? Wait, you said he knows the words? Holy crap. You two are a match made in Hell.” Bitty took her wrist and pulled her close. “You have to tell him the truth.”
Lara’s lips pressed together between her teeth as she nodded. “I want to, but I can’t do it to Dette. I have to tell her what’s going on between us. She’s going to lose her mind.”
“Yeah, that’s for sure. Telling her you are together is a good place to start. But you need to be honest with this guy. He’s worth more than Dette any—”
“Elizabeth Caroline Sinclair, you stop that talk this minute.” Mary marched across the kitchen and smacked a second bowl of apples down on the table in front of them. “That is no advice to be giving Lara. Lord knows Dette’s given you a pile of good reasons to resent her, but she’s still family and she deserves better than that.”
Bitty scowled, looking down at the wide white tile floor. Mary was the only person Lara had ever met that her cousin couldn’t handle.
“Sorry, Mary.” She narrowed her eyes and then leaned forward. “But Lara’s about to throw away the guy she’s fallen in love with to lie for Dette.”
Lara flung the back of her hand into her cousin’s arm and glared at her.
“You talkin’ about that handsome Cal? You girls know how I feel about lies. Nothing good can come from them. But that doesn’t give you license to talk such trash about Claudette, either. Now I need these apples peeled and sliced for my pies this afternoon, so you girls stop eating and start peeling. Lara, you have some thinking to do and this is as good a place to do it as any. Bitty, you keep that sassy mouth of yours shut. Lara needs to sort this out for herself.”
Lara grabbed a peeler and an apple. “Yes, ma’am.”
Mary cocked her head and smiled as she walked out. Before the door was even closed, Bitty tossed her peeler aside and stood.
Glancing sideways, she whispered, “I’m making a break for it. Whatever you decide with Dette, take a shower and primp a little first. You know she always responds better when people are put together. You look like a drowned rat.”
***
The house was quiet under the patter of rain, most of the attendants had left on errands before Cal and Lara returned from the boathouse. The rest of the afternoon was passing slowly for Cal as he tried to look inconspicuous hanging around waiting to see Lara again.
When they’d parted at the boathouse door, their kiss had been slow, deliberate, teasing and dotted with laughter. Lara’s hands had lingered at his chest, her fingertips hovering over his torso as she reluctantly let go and sprinted off toward the house. They’d left on the brink of love.
And then she’d disappeared. He’d come in, showered, then looked everywhere he could think of, but Lara was nowhere to be found.
Cal let the heavy door swing shut, twisted the cap off a bottle of water and took a couple deep slugs. It had taken him five minutes of searching to figure out where the hidden fridge was in the immaculate kitchen.
“Worked up quite a thirst, huh, stud?”
Coughing, he wiped his mouth on his sleeve and turned around. “Bitty, hey, how’s it going?”
She looked him up and down in bl
atant appraisal. “Fine, I guess.”
Uncomfortable. They stared at each other.
“Um. Okay, well, I’ll get out of your way, then.”
Bitty just stared at him. What the hell? She’d been friendly every other time he’d talked to her, this cold stare didn’t make sense.
Stud…
Or did it? “Talk to Lara?”
“Mmhmm, about an hour ago.” She leaned back on one leg, crossing her arms over her chest.
“I’m crazy about her. I’m not going to hurt her…if that’s what this is about.”
“You so sure about that?”
“I’m sure I’m going to try not to. I’m not a bad guy, Bitty. I don’t fool around, cheat or lie, I’m not afraid to commit, and I’m a kind of a decent person in general.”
Bitty cocked her head to the side, a wicked little grin flickering on her lips. “So what you’re saying is that you’ve…got the right stuff, baby?”
His face fell flat. Oh no Lara did not. New Kids. “Is nothing sacred?” The sex was one thing, he hoped it was worth a mention, but to tell about the New Kids on the Block? Someone was in for a spanking.
Bitty doubled over and, going knock-kneed, clutched her stomach laughing.
She’d played him! Rocking back on his heels, jaw set to the side, he gave her the moment.
Glancing up with glistening eyes, she smiled. “You didn’t have a chance, Cal. I’m a trial lawyer. I get people to say what I want for a living. Sorry, sport.”
Shaking his head with pure acceptance that he’d been had, he grinned. “So all of you Sinclair girls are bad?”
She regained her composure, straightening to meet his eye. “Some worse than others.”
A crash followed by slew of unintelligible screams echoed through the halls and down the stairs. Cal pushed back from the counter. “Is that Lara?”
Bitty’s brow furrowed and she glanced towards the stairwell. “Dette, but Lara’s with her.”
This couldn’t be about that damn floating sign? Maybe Lara had a reason to hold on so tight after all. He started around Bitty, headed for the stairs. Another crash and more screaming—this time followed by an indecipherable retort from a second voice. He was ready to bolt when Bitty’s hand clamped onto his shoulder.
“It’s sister stuff,” she said. “Might be better for you to just let them work it out.”
There was something in her eyes that told him the fight had nothing to do with Dette’s ridiculous net. Suddenly uneasy, he asked, “You know what it’s about?”
She nodded. “I have a pretty good idea.”
“You said you would help me!” Dette screamed, one hand smacking down on her nightstand to punctuate each word. She lowered her voice and stalked toward Lara with a menacing glare. “But instead, you settle for sloppy seconds because you’re too jealous and immature to keep your legs closed. I hope it was worth it. He didn’t seem that great to me when I had my ride, but maybe your standards are lower.”
Lara took a deep breath. She’d known the outburst would come. She deserved it.
Dette felt like she was cornered, her future happiness in danger, but suddenly her reserve of compassion was depleted. She lashed out before she could stop herself. “Ha, I didn’t know you had any standards.”
It was a lame comeback and did little to ease the guilt or pain she was feeling.
Dette snorted and rolled her eyes. “Ouch, you really got me with that one.”
That was it. The seating chart was hitting the shredder.
Lightning split the sky and Dette walked over to window where rain pelted the glass. Lara saw her ticking off the seconds on her hand as she waited for the rumbling thunder to sound. When it came, she turned back to face Lara. “Storm’s moving off now.”
And just like that, she remembered why Dette was worth protecting. No matter the harsh words between them, they were sisters. It always came back to that and it always would.
How many stormy nights had she spent in this room as a frightened little girl? Dette never turned her away. Never told her to go back to her own room or made her feel like a baby for being scared. She just lifted a corner of her quilt and let her crawl in.
They would hold hands and Dette would whisper to her in the dark. “See? Seven seconds that time. It’s getting farther away now. Don’t be scared, I’ll take care of you.”
Exhausted, Lara leaned back against the wall of Dette’s room, her hands at her temples. “I know, I know. Look, I’m sorry, I just—I fell into what was happening with us. I should have stopped it but I didn’t. I couldn’t. I know it’s selfish of me, but—”
“No ‘but’,” Dette snapped, shaking an accusing finger at her. “Selfish is exactly right and covers it completely. Have you any concept of what this little stunt of yours could cost me? My marriage, Lara.”
“He doesn’t know. He doesn’t know I lied to him.” Her heart was sinking. Lies were something she couldn’t respect, seldom forgave, and now here she was, trapped in the mother of all of them.
“And he’s never going to find out you lied to him, because you’re never going to tell.” Dette stormed across the room, a single decorative throw pillow, the latest victim in her tirade, twisted in clutches. “You realize how much worse this will all be if it comes out now instead of when he first walked through the door, before we spun a bunch of lies like we had something to be guilty about—which we didn’t. But you do realize how much worse it would be now, right?”
“I get it. But, Dette, what if he figures it out?”
“He hasn’t figured it out yet, so just stay away from him and he won’t.”
Shaking her head slowly, Lara whispered what she wanted to scream. “I can’t stay away from him. I can’t do it.”
Dette glared at her. “You can’t tell him.”
Hanging her head, she sighed. “I won’t.”
Chapter Ten
With the evening came mild temperatures, clear skies and the return of the attendants scattered to the stores at Dette’s request earlier in the day. Seated at a table with six of her cousins, Lara pulled a thin sweater around her shoulders and stared out over the water, only half listening to the conversation taking place around her. The water was calmer now, the undulating currents reflecting gilded ribbons of orange as the sun melted away with the day.
“Yes, but he had that Latin lover thing going on. He was too saucy to pass up.” Bitty smirked mischievously over her wineglass then mumbled loud enough for everyone at the table to hear, “Besides, I was never going to see him again, and it’s not like I was engaged to someone else. So why not?”
Lara cranked her eyes over to Bitty, her head trailing a second behind.
Bitty blinked wide, the portrait of innocence. “What? Did I say something?”
Her cousin had a way of making her point, repeatedly, when she wanted to. And this evening her point was that Lara was being a fool for not telling Cal the truth. There was no question, Lara wanted to fess up, to know that what they had started could sustain a blow like this, and then go forward with nothing but honesty and openness between them…forever. But she’d made a commitment to her sister and that would have to come first. Dette wasn’t the only one who had made her bed. Lara had willingly participated in furthering the deception, and now she was going to have to live with the consequences. Even if those consequences included frequent berating by her well-intended cousin.
Dismissing the taunt, Lara looked away, instead focusing on the middle of the terrace. A woman in strappy three-inch heels and a shimmering dress straight out of the Solid Gold wardrobe room sashayed in a slow circle, clapping her hands and cooing welcomes to those seated at the surrounding tables. “Wow. Get a load of the dress and heels.”
Bitty took a long swallow of her wine, draining the glass. “Crap, I can’t believe Dette is making everyone do this.”
Lara shook her head. “Dance lessons aren’t so bad. She’s had the details for this wedding worked out since she was five. She wants
it to be perfect.”
A chorus of comments rounded the table.
“And perfect includes eliminating all those unsightly bad dancers who wreck the videos.”
“The girl has got a plan.”
Another cousin leaned forward, whispering, “Yeah, she’s just lucky she finally found a guy willing to step into the role.”
Bitty took a bite off her roll left from dinner, made a face and tossed the remainder on her plate. “Like luck had anything to do with it. She’s been trolling for a guy with Adam’s pedigree since she was fifteen. The guy never had a chance.”
Lara prickled at the turn in conversation. She knew her sister had stepped on a few of the pedicured toes at the table here, but Mary was right. This was a week to celebrate with Dette, not a week to complain about her. “We’ll all be so lucky to find a guy as perfectly suited to us as Dette has.”
Bitty leaned back in her chair. “I don’t know, but maybe your guy has already found you.”
Cal was crossing the terrace wearing khakis and a white-collared shirt, open at his tanned, corded neck, his blue sport coat slung over one shoulder. He’d dressed for dinner and looked sexy as hell, in a wholly different way than he had that morning at the boathouse. She couldn’t look away.
He stopped a foot away from her chair. “Hey, beautiful.”
Beautiful. She loved that he thought so but she felt like a fourteen-year-old girl, slumped down in her chair at a pizza parlor, watching the quarterback of the varsity football team. And the way she blushed at the sight of him…she was hopeless. Before she knew what was happening, she’d burst into one of those ridiculous toothy grins that made everyone around you wonder what you’d been up to. The grin he flashed back boasted it was something naughty.
Resting his hand on the back of her chair, Cal leaned down. “May I have this dance?”