The Last Girl (Sand & Fog #7)

by Susan Ward

  It wasn’t until we were sitting at a table on the edge of the sand, wine in front of us, that Kaley landed on the subject I’d hoped wouldn’t come up during our outing. “Prince Damon is actually staying at our house, or did Krystal get it wrong?”

  My thoughts snapped to that quickly. “Not wrong.” I frowned. “Mom and Dad haven’t told you?”

  She did a careless shrug. “No, but why would they? Krystal was under the impression you’re responsible for our houseguest, and Mom and Dad are always secretive about things that have to do with you.”

  Jeez, Louise, why did everything get fouled up in our family gossip telegraph? “They are not. Mom overshares my stuff all the time with everyone.”

  “Health issues, yes. Personal issues, no.”

  I arched a brow, annoyed. “That’s only because she doesn’t know those details. Do you think if I had something going with Damon I’d bring him to the house?”

  Kaley considered that. “I don’t know. You brought Zane home.”

  “That’s different.”

  “How’s it different?”

  “He was my boyfriend for two years.”

  “Boyfriend?” Kaley repeated, semi-disgusted. “Is that what you call your guys?”

  “Don’t go there.” Kaley knew all my secrets. She was the only one in my family who did other than Eric. “My relationships may not look like yours, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t every bit as significant.”

  “That’s why you broke up with Zane in Paris and already have a new guy in the house? Mom and Dad would lose it if they knew what you did in Europe. Not smart, Khloe, bringing home your Zane replacement before you’ve broken him in.”

  Broken him in?

  “Not even close to right,” I asserted forcefully. “Dad is the reason Damon’s here. Or didn’t Krystal tell you that?”

  She lost some of her combative posture, telling me Krystal had told her that. I now knew our talk was my sister giving me crap like she loved to and fishing a little. I hadn’t taken the bait; therefore, this wouldn’t go anywhere. Which was how I wanted it.

  She slipped her hands to wrap around her wineglass as she leaned in to me across the table. “What’s he like?”

  “Who?”

  That earned me an annoyed eye roll.

  “Damon Saxe.”

  I calmly took a sip of my wine. “How am I supposed to know? He’s only been at the house two days.”

  Kaley gave me a pointed black gaze. “The world was created in seven days. Two days is enough to get an impression of a man.”

  “Not Damon Saxe,” I replied flippantly.

  Kaley lifted the check and grabbed some bills from her purse. After setting them in the holder, she downed the remainder of her wine. “Finish up, Khloe. I’ve gotta get you back.”

  “Why? Has Mom discovered I’m gone and been robo-texting everyone, panicked?”

  Kaley frowned. “No. God, Mom’s not that bad.”

  “Ah—she is.”

  “Well, not today.” Kaley did an apologetic crinkle of her nose. “I’ve got a dinner meeting with investors for a new documentary I’m pitching.”

  My half glass of wine I finished in two swallows and left my chair, following her. “What’s your crusade this time?”

  “You’re not going to like it.”

  “I never do.”

  “It’s about modern relationships, the rise in unconventional romantic partnerships, the decline in marriage, and how we got here.”

  My mouth dropped while I shook my head. “Not funny, Kaley.”

  “Hey, I just had an idea. Maybe I could induce Damon into being in my documentary. It’d bring an epic, fairy tale type of dynamic to the project. Oh, better thought. I could film both of you. Your budding relationship as it unfolds into...a happily-ever-after fuck-buddy situation.”

  “That was mean. You’re ruining the afternoon. There’s nothing between me and Damon.”

  “There must be a small spark between you otherwise you wouldn’t be so defensive about him.”

  “No, not even a small one. I’m defensive because you’re being judgy and rude about my life as you always are. If I were in college going to clubs and playing the field you wouldn’t say one word. But for some reason, that I prefer to date two guys at once instead of one, you’re critical of it. It makes no sense and it’s annoying.”

  I dropped onto the passenger seat in a way to make sure she knew I was annoyed.

  Kaley stood outside the car and rummaged in her bag for her sunglasses. “I’ve never judged other people on the kind of relationship they have. If it makes them happy they should go for it. But you’re not happy, baby girl. You never were with Zane and Cade. I didn’t like either of them, but it wasn’t why I didn’t approve of what you were doing. It’s because you weren’t happy, Khloe. Every time you called from Europe you only pretended you were. I don’t want that for you, even if I understand why that’s how you want things. And I’m not going to apologize that I want my sister to be happy.”

  WHEN KALEY DROPPED me at the house, Damon wasn’t home. I went to my bedroom to dress for dinner as spending the afternoon on the waterfront with Kaley had made me tight for time.

  Our meals were scheduled around the rising and setting sun for Mom. That meant dinner would start unfashionably at five to get to the cliffs by quarter of seven, to be followed a half hour later by my dad taking Damon to the patio for brandy. Depending on how long Dad talked, it’d be either twilight or pitch black when I joined Damon for our walk.

  Inside my closet, I stood in the center of a pile of discarded outfits, staring in dismay at my wardrobe. Cute, flirty, sleeveless top or sweater? Sundress or sexy casual pants? I started shoving hangers aside. I had an expansive wardrobe, clothes for every temperature and type of event, but nothing I had seemed right.

  Kaley had looked so cute today and all she’d been wearing were beach pants and a t-shirt. But then my older sister looked beautiful in everything. She wasn’t as thin as I was and was much prettier. She could toss on rags, go out with no makeup, and stop traffic.

  My eyes flared wide.

  I sank to the ground and stared. I was determined in my head to be only friends with Damon and panic dressing as if it were a date. It brought to mind Damon’s comment about my mouth saying go and my eyes saying stay. I recalled how good it’d felt to sleep up against him. Then there was our flirty texting over breakfast beneath my parents’ noses. And there I sat surrounded by anxiously pulled-on and removed outfits—when fashion meltdowns never occurred with me.

  In dismay, I tried to figure out why Damon had this effect on me. Damon had only been in my life two days, and I was no longer behaving in any predictable Khloe way.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  DRESSED IN A SEXY-CASUAL Dolce jade blouse and black pants with strappy flats on my feet, I took the hallway to the small formal dining room. We had two in the house because my dad refused to eat dinner in the kitchen like my mother preferred. One accommodated six for small, intimate gatherings, and the other was enormous for when the entire family was here.

  I paused on the threshold, my gaze riveted to the table, but my eyes only seeing Damon. His expression suggested a contemplative mood, though he was smiling politely as my parents conversed while waiting for me. He looked sad and a bit remote, like a man who’d spent his life inherently alone and uncomfortable with the warm affection that flowed freely between my parents.

  It made me wonder again where he’d gone today. A commitment of some kind or merely somewhere to be away from this.

  He must have sensed me watching because his head turned, and he quickly rose.

  “Khloe. You’ve decided to join us tonight.” He came toward me, his stride confidently sexy, and stopped in front of me with a gesture toward my chair.

  “A couple of days back in California are all it takes to reset my internal clock.”

  Amusement warmed his eyes. “Then our first toast should be to having your clock reset.”<
br />
  I struggled to stifle a laugh. He sounded genuinely pleased I was joining them and a bit relieved he wasn’t eating alone with my parents another night. There wasn’t a single member of my family that would need the relieved part explained to them. My parents were wonderful hosts and great fun, but there was never a filter for their love of each other, not even when others were with them.

  Beneath my parents’ watching gazes, Damon pulled back my chair for me. The feel of him close sent goose bumps up my skin, and it was hard to remain composed with so much attention on me all at once. “This looks delicious. Who cooked tonight?”

  My dad laughed. “I did.”

  I smiled. “That’s why it’s something fancy.”

  We waited for Damon to return to his seat, then from his chair my dad began to serve.

  “Where’d you go today?” my mom asked as she took her plate.

  I shifted my gaze from Damon to find that question addressed to me. “The Boathouse with Kaley.”

  “Oh. I didn’t even know she came to the house today.”

  She was both surprised and hurt.

  “Tight on time, Mom,” I explained, reaching to accept my plate. “Barely stopped the car in the driveway. Wanted to catch up over a glass of wine, and you know how Kaley is. You’ve gotta fit into her schedule.”

  Mom did an annoyed shake of her head. “She could have come in and said hello.”

  “You see her all the time, Mom.”

  “That doesn’t matter. It’s the little things that make a family a family. Get sloppy with those and the rest of it goes.”

  “It does not, Mom.”

  My mom reached for her wine. “It takes only a half second to be polite.”

  “Kaley is polite. Just busy.”

  “See what you missed, Damon, not being raised in a house full of women?” my dad teased, passing off the prince’s plate to him. Damon had three brothers and no sisters.

  Damon’s smile was boyish and entertained. “Your wife and daughters are lovely, Alan. I look forward to meeting Kaley. I’m certain she’s a delightful girl, too.”

  “Yes, they are.” My dad’s potent black gaze fixed on both Mom and me. “Whatever we become in life it’s nothing without a woman you love and a family.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind, sir.”

  I hid my smile behind my napkin. Did my dad, of all people, counsel Damon Saxe on marriage, and did the playboy Duke of Windmere agree?

  I cut into my steak Diane. “Did you have a pleasant day, Damon?”

  “No, not very.” His mouth was grim.

  My mom made one of her weird combo expressions: dramatic and concerned with her button nose crinkled. “Why wasn’t it good? I thought you were visiting relatives today.”

  My gaze shot toward his—had he gone to see Zane?—and he avoided my stare.

  “Among other things,” Damon replied blandly in a way that even my overly invasive mother could pick up that he didn’t want to elaborate further on.

  She smiled. “Well, hopefully we’ll make your evening better.”

  “It already is,” he assured her, his gaze wandering back to me, and, crap, both my parents noticed.

  My mom’s eyes sparkled. “There, it’s settled. We’re going to have nothing but fun over this beautiful dinner Alan made and cocktails together on the cliffs. Around here, we always try to end the day better than it’s been. Isn’t that right, Khloe?”

  Inwardly I groaned as I nodded. There was a plethora of ways to interpret that in the context of my parents. Some were extremely uncomfortable with Damon sitting across the table from me.

  AS I SAT IN THE CHAIR in my bedroom watching them through the one-way window, the wait for my dad to finish his brandy on the patio passed in acute tension. It was hard to hold back from joining them—waiting for anything wasn’t my forte—but if I went out to the patio my dad would only linger longer. And whatever Damon’s walk with me was about, I was more anxious than I should be to find out.

  Although I couldn’t see it in Damon’s posture or expression, I could feel edgy impatience radiating from him as well as he waited for brandy with my dad to end. My stomach fluttered from the pull between us that seemed to build with the minutes and was no less potent with distance.

  The sky was a deep black littered with stars before Dad finally excused himself for bed. I ran to my bathroom to make sure my face and hair were OK. Even after a long day, Damon still looked suavely chic like those guys in the scotch ads. My strong reaction to him mystified me because he wasn’t dressed in an especially knock-a-girl’s-socks-off way. Dark jeans cuffed at the bottoms and a thin rust sweater over a white tee.

  Slowly I opened my patio door, thinking to be stealthy about this, but Damon rose and whirled. His amber stare locked on me and my heart took off in a frenzy. How he looked at me and the way it made me feel was unlike anything I’d ever known with a man. And, jeez, Louise, all I was doing was meeting him for a walk.

  “Sorry I’m late,” I said only out of a need to say something to distract me from the static swirling around us.

  Amused eyes studied me as he tilted his head in admiration. He ruefully rubbed his chin. “You’re not late. Whenever you arrive is perfect timing for me.”

  The air shifted, and my face flushed. “So how do we do this? Walk together.”

  He laughed. “Exactly how you’d do it by yourself, only with me beside you.”

  “A fast comeback for everything.” Smirking, I shook my head at him.

  “That’s not usually the case, but it seems necessary with you.”

  I pretended a frown. “Me?”

  “Yes. You’ve been very difficult to get to know, but I’m determined to persevere through it.”

  “How British of you.”

  He tossed me an annoyed glance but continued nonplussed even after my cheeky interruption. “Which isn’t easy. I haven’t taken a girl on a walk since I was a youth. I would much prefer to take you out somewhere, something more upbeat and so...so...not—”

  “Friends hanging out instead of a date?” I offered impishly. “You don’t make this sound promising.”

  He cocked his head to look at me. “Wrong. I’m hopeful. Can’t you tell? There was a time when walking dates were the start of many successful relationships.”

  “Whoa. Who said anything about a relationship? There are rules to walking with Khloe.” I said that mischievously.

  He frowned. “There are no rules for walking dates.”

  “There are in California.” I lifted my nose in challenge.

  “Fine. What are the rules?” He looked adorably aggravated.

  I pointed at the decorative paved walkway through my parents’ lawn. “You stay on your side. No contact of any kind. You will stay strictly in the friend zone.”

  “I don’t recall indicating I would do otherwise.”

  “Sorry. I just wanted to make sure you’re very clear on exactly where the limits are.”

  The furrow in his brow deepened. “Can a guy be clearer that he gets that a girl isn’t romantically interested in him than asking her to go for a walk? Nothing could be more clear than that. But friend zone—yes. Now can we just walk?”

  My lips tightened to hold back a grin as we headed onto a path through the lawn. I surrendered to the comfortable playfulness between us. He was fun, and I could allow this with him. And dare I hope, be able to keep myself from crossing the boundaries I’d put between us?

  We’d been ambling for several minutes when he asked, “Why are you so determined to keep me at a distance? Is it me? You? That you used to be involved with my cousin? Or something I don’t know?”

  I shrugged and kept my gaze from meeting his. “How about all the above?”

  “How about you tell me why on each of the above?”

  “I’m not looking for romance. My life is complicated enough without having to try to figure out how to include a guy in it. Besides, what’s wrong with having fun and enjoying life and leaving all t
he messy stuff out of it?”

  “Like getting to know better a man you’re attracted to?” he slipped in smoothly.

  “I never said I was attracted to you.”

  “But you are,” he countered confidently. “There’s no point in denying that, Khloe. I’ve been using it to our advantage since Paris.”

  Despite my fiercely beating heart, I pressed on. “No. You only think you are. You’re very transparent, Damon.”

  “You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t attracted to me.”

  “Of course I would. This is where I live,” I tossed back spiritedly.

  He studied me for a moment. “And that’s why I followed you here. It’s somewhere comfortable to you, somewhere private. I thought maybe getting to know you would work better here. That perhaps all the public nonsense that comes from being linked with me was what made you not want an involvement with me. I thought maybe here it would be different. I want that, Khloe. More than anything. I haven’t been able to get you out of my head since Paris.”

  After that, I knew maintaining the charade that I wanted to be only friends with him was pointless. I tried hard to think of something clever or witty to return our banter to playful and meaningless, but words failed me as we stared each other down.

  We were no longer walking. We were at the farthest point of the yard with nowhere to go except down the steep path that led to the highway, and it was perfect. Better than perfect to be in the dark and quiet with Damon.

  We had every advantage two people could have. Physical attraction that was undeniably present. My libido was raging, and I knew his was as well. Being with Damon was natural and easy, spirited and fun. I liked him and had only to look into his eyes to know he liked me as well. And for all my warnings about keeping distance between us, I couldn’t tell for sure which one of us always removed it when we were together.

  I’d never felt quite this way before with any man. Like being with him was where I belonged and should have always been. It was wonderful...and terrifying...and him.