Inseparable

by Brenda Jackson

  He remembered how during dinner that night after they’d kissed, they had said very little to each other. He had helped her clean up the kitchen in an uneasy silence. Afterward, she’d said she needed to start packing for their trip, and she had raced off to her bedroom. He had retired to the basement to watch a movie. And there he had stayed most of the night.

  She had been asleep when he’d left the next morning. When he got home that evening she had left a note saying she would be staying in town to have dinner with his cousins, who she’d gone shopping with that day.

  He had been determined to see her and talk to her Friday night, but when she’d finally gotten home around nine, she claimed she was tired and rushed up to her room with her shopping bags in tow.

  He knew she had deliberately been avoiding him, and the thought irritated him. By Saturday morning he was in a funk driving to the airport. His mood hadn’t changed much since, especially when she was flirting with just about every cowboy at the party—and there were plenty of them.

  “Flattery will get you just about anything, Reese Madaris,” Mac said, interrupting his thoughts as she followed the direction of his gaze. “Except out of answering my question.”

  He turned toward her. He had always liked Mac, even before his brother Luke had finally realized his true feelings for her. She was his favorite sister-in-law, and then he smiled remembering that she was his only sister-in-law. But more important, he knew Mac was someone whom he could trust. And more than anything he could use a woman’s perspective on a few things right now.

  “I messed things up with Kenna, and I may have lost my best friend,” he finally said, dropping his gaze from Mac to look down at the glass of wine he held in his hand. To Reese, his future seemed just as dark and murky as the red wine he’d been drinking.

  “Messed things up how?”

  Of course she would want details, he thought, glancing up at her and seeing how her dark penetrating eyes reflected her concern. “I kissed her.”

  He watched Mac expecting to see a look of shock. Instead, to his surprise, a smile touched the corners of her lips. “You actually kissed her?”

  He frowned, wondering what she was smiling about. “Yes.”

  “Oh.” Mac didn’t say anything for a moment and then leaned in closer. “Was it a serious kiss? And by serious, I mean hot and heavy, or was it a platonic peck-on-the-lips kind of kiss?”

  He wondered what difference that made when in either case it had been out of line. “It was serious—very serious.”

  And as far as he was concerned, it had been so serious his body still ached from the memory. When he remembered the way his tongue had explored her mouth, nearly drowning in her sweetness—a sweetness he should never have experienced—his heart literally skipped a beat.

  “I’m going to ask you a question, Reese, and I don’t want you to answer right now. What I want you to do is think about what your answer would be.”

  He was thoroughly confused, but he shrugged it off. “Okay.”

  She tilted her head at an angle that made her long, jet-black strands of hair brush up against his arm. “After the kiss—the very serious kiss—do you honestly want your best friend back, or do you want the passionate woman you now know Kenna is?”

  Mac grinned at him before leaning over and placing a kiss on his cheek. She turned and then walked away.

  Kenna remembered the last time she’d been to Oklahoma City. It had been to attend Sam’s bridal shower a few months before. Reese had flown into Austin and they had rented a car to make the trip, taking their time to enjoy the sights along the way.

  They’d had a lot to talk about. He was excited about his promotion and she was overjoyed about the job in Houston, even though she was nervous about all the pressure that came with the position. Reese had been able to calm her fears and boost her confidence, reassuring her that it was the perfect career move.

  She quickly glanced across the room. Emotions overwhelmed her when she caught sight of Reese. After arriving at the opening together, they’d gone their separate ways. Since they’d always acted as if they were joined at the hip when they’d attended his family’s functions, Kenna was sure their behavior had raised some curious eyebrows. So far, no one had said anything about it. Not even Syneda, who knew her feelings for Reese.

  Several women had flirted shamelessly with Reese, but Kenna had pretended not to notice. Now he was standing in a group with several of his cousins. They were all eye candy, every last one of them. But she only had the hots for Reese. The kiss they’d shared had ignited a passion that just wouldn’t go away. So she avoided Reese as much as possible throughout the night.

  “So tell me something about LaKenna James that I don’t know.”

  The cowboy’s question reined in her attention. His name was Ernest Keyes and he was on the same rodeo circuit that Luke had been on for years. He definitely was handsome, and had the word cowboy written all over him. But he had, through no fault of his own, one major flaw. He wasn’t Reese Madaris. He didn’t even come close.

  Her attraction to Reese meant Ernest didn’t have a fighting chance. “The list would be endless, since we just met tonight,” she replied.

  “Then I guess we need to do whatever we can to get to know each other better, sugar.”

  His deep, husky voice probably would have stoked sexual chemistry with any other woman, but not with her. There was no spark, not even a burning ember. Instead what she felt was sheer frustration. How in the world was she going to become interested in another man if she encountered emotional roadblocks at every turn?

  “You don’t believe in going easy on a girl, do you?” she said in response to Ernest’s flirtation.

  He winked at her. “No.”

  “I can’t believe you’re actually saying no to a woman, Ernest.”

  The deep, velvety voice made Kenna’s heart pound in her chest as she braced herself for Reese, who came to stand beside Ernest.

  Ernest’s face broke into a smile of recognition. “Reese Madaris, it’s been years. The last time I saw you, you were just starting college. Good seeing you again after all this time.”

  “Good seeing you as well,” Reese said, smiling, even though anyone who knew him could easily see his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes.

  “And as far as me saying no—” Ernest grinned “—you came up on the tail end of the conversation. I was trying to convince this pretty little filly to blow this party with me.”

  “Really?” Reese said, staring at Kenna with eyes that seemed to see right through her. The even tone of his voice didn’t fool Kenna. He was upset about something. “Well, before you convince her to do that, do you mind if I steal her for a dance?”

  Not waiting for an answer, “Excuse us,” Reese said, as he reached out and took Kenna’s hand before leading her out to the dance floor.

  A slow song was playing as Reese pulled Kenna into his arms. For the first time in their relationship he was at a complete loss for words. Nothing about his attraction to Kenna had made sense initially. He’d been so sure that seeing her through the eyes of an amorous man was a phase he would soon get over. But a part of him seriously doubted that he would, and deep down he knew it was more than just that kiss.

  “The Madaris Construction Company did a great job building this place, didn’t they, Reese?”

  Her soft-spoken words heated something inside of him, and he tried concentrating on his surroundings instead of on her. She was right. The building that housed Luke’s rodeo school was both massive and impressive, with two floors and several rooms. There was a classroom facility to help familiarize the students with all the rodeo equipment before moving outside to where the hands-on training took place. His cousins, who owned Madaris Construction, had been instrumental in bringing Luke’s dream to life.

  “Yes, they did,” he agreed. “I remember when Slade first drew up the plans for it. I could envision just how it would look then. Slade and Blade did a great job.”

 
; Already Luke had a waiting list of eager students. And to top it off, the foal from Luke’s stallion, Cisco, and Mac’s buckskin mare, Princess, had been born a few weeks ago. Luke and Mac had been ecstatic. You would have thought they had given birth to their first child.

  “Did I tell you how nice you look?” he asked, thinking nice was too mild a word to describe how sexy she looked.

  “Yes, and you look nice, too.”

  “Thanks.”

  Kenna couldn’t help but smile inside. She had just purchased the long, flowing, two-piece off-the-shoulder ensemble, with a neckline that accentuated her décolletage and a fitted bodice that showed off her small waist.

  When she’d seen it, she thought the style was exquisite, despite the fact that the outfit had cost more than she’d intended to spend. But she had so desperately wanted to see Reese’s reaction that it was well worth the price.

  They were making small talk and they both knew it. Neither of them wanted to talk about what was really on their minds, which was the kiss that had somehow driven them apart.

  “Ernest seems quite taken with you,” said Reese, who quickly regretted the comment, since he was certain Kenna had heard the irritation in his voice.

  “He’s a nice guy.”

  “He likes women,” he countered.

  She angled her head and looked at him. “What man doesn’t?”

  “Curtis.”

  Kenna tried not to smile, but she couldn’t suppress her laughter. This was the Reese she knew, the one who could make her laugh. Even when the subject wasn’t supposed to be funny, he could find humor in it anyway.

  “God, I needed to hear that again,” he leaned in and whispered softly against her ear.

  She smiled. “Hear what?”

  “Your laugh.”

  It was then that she realized she hadn’t laughed since that night he’d kissed her. Secretly, she smiled every time she thought about it. She practically glowed. But he hadn’t known that.

  “Trying to pretend nothing happened between us isn’t working, Kenna. More than anything we need to talk about it.”

  She thought about arguing the point, but figured there was no use, especially when images of the kiss they’d shared continually looped in her head. “Why do we need to talk? Why can’t we just move beyond what happened?”

  “I honestly don’t know.”

  She didn’t know either. “Do you want to go outside and talk now?” she asked, deciding that they might as well get it over with.

  He shook his head. “No, later. We can talk about it on our way back to the hotel.”

  They had opted to stay at a hotel in town instead of crowding Luke and Mac, like other guests attending the rodeo school opening. “All right.”

  It wasn’t a conversation she was looking forward to.

  “Mind if I cut in?”

  Reese looked over his shoulder and smiled. It was Blade’s brother-in-law, Angelo Di Meglio, an attorney from New York. Despite Angelo’s tall, dark and handsome good looks—he was a mixture of Italian and African-American—Reese didn’t feel threatened by him so far as Kenna was concerned. Anyone could see Angelo Di Meglio was wearing his heart on his sleeve, and his heart belonged to Peyton Mahoney. Peyton had become close friends with Mac and Angelo’s sister Sam in law school. The three women became law partners and had set up a firm in Oklahoma City. Sam moved to Houston after marrying Blade.

  “No problem,” Reese said to Angelo, stepping aside. He had every intention of reclaiming Kenna once she finished dancing with Angelo, in case Ernest got any ideas.

  He walked over to the buffet table and smiled when he saw Peyton standing nearby talking to Christy. He wondered why Angelo was dancing with Kenna instead of with Peyton. He looked over his shoulder at Kenna and Angelo dancing, and saw that his eyes were glued to Peyton the entire time he was dancing with Kenna. Peyton, however, was oblivious to Angelo’s attention.

  A smile spread across Reese’s lips. Although everyone else could see how Angelo felt about Peyton, it seemed she was still clueless. Hell, he had picked up on Angelo’s romantic interest in Peyton at Luke and Mac’s wedding more than a year ago. Reese wondered just how long Angelo was going to take before he let his feelings for Peyton be known.

  Reese shrugged. He couldn’t worry about Angelo and Peyton right now. He had his own issues with Kenna to deal with.

  The woman got out of her car with a look of frustration. She couldn’t believe she had a flat tire. Didn’t she just buy new tires a few months ago?

  She glanced at her watch and saw that she was already ten minutes late for her dinner meeting with a client. This was certainly not her night. She let out a sigh of relief when an SUV passed by but then slowed down and began to back up.

  “Need help, miss?”

  She knew she should be leery of strangers, but this time she would make an exception. Besides, it wasn’t as if she was on a deserted street. Cars passed this way all the time. She looked at the man. “Yes, I got a flat.”

  “No problem. I can change it for you.”

  A smile touched her face as she watched the Good Samaritan park his SUV and get out. She noticed he was rather good-looking. “Hi,” she said, smiling and extending her hand. “I’m Melanie.”

  He smiled back. “And I’m Eric. Let’s see what you got,” he said, bending down beside her tire. Moments later he stood up. “It’s a slow leak, probably from running over a nail or something. You can get it repaired tomorrow. But what I need to do is change this tire. You do have a spare, don’t you?”

  She grinned. “Yes, it’s in the trunk,” she said, leading the way. “My husband always said he was going to show me how to change a tire, but so far he hasn’t gotten around to it.”

  She opened the trunk.

  “Boy, you’ve got a lot of space in here,” he said.

  “Yes. That’s the main reason I bought this car. I’m a pharmaceutical rep and I usually have a lot of stuff to haul around,” she said, leaning over to shift a few items around in the trunk to make it easier for him to get to the spare tire.

  Those were the last words she said. The Samaritan hit her on the head with a wrench, knocking her out cold before shoving her into the trunk and quickly slamming down the hood before any cars passed by.

  He smiled as the adrenaline surged through his veins. Tonight was going to be his night.

  Chapter 13

  Reese tossed his jacket across a chair once he settled into his hotel room. He and Kenna hadn’t had a chance to talk like they’d planned, since his twenty-year-old cousin Victoria rode back to the hotel with them.

  He glanced at his watch and saw it was almost two in the morning. When he and Kenna had left the party, there were still plenty of family members at Luke’s place partying the night away. Even his parents had taken to the dance floor.

  He unbuttoned his shirt, thinking how proud he was of his older brother. For a long time everyone assumed the rodeo circuit was going to be Luke’s life, but now it was plain to see that Mac was. Luke had discovered he could have the best of both worlds—being married to Mac, operating the rodeo school and competing on the circuit. Luke was happy, and Reese was happy for him.

  Now, Reese thought, if he could only find some of that happiness for himself. He plopped down in the chair and stretched his legs out. He thought about the question Mac had posed earlier that night. It definitely had made him think, and the answer he finally came up with hadn’t really surprised him. He wasn’t sure how Kenna was going to feel about it, but he no longer wanted her as his best friend. He definitely wanted more, especially after he’d reached the conclusion that his sudden attraction to Kenna hadn’t been so sudden after all.

  If he was honest with himself, he would have to admit that he’d always been conscious of her beauty. And the only reason he’d never acted on his attraction was because whenever he was free, she wasn’t, and vice versa. Now, they were both unattached.

  By nature he was pretty easygoing unless he was prov
oked. But seeing all those cowboys salivating over Kenna tonight had made him angry. He’d never been the jealous type where women were concerned, but he had been tonight—and at Alyson’s party.

  His phone rang and he wondered if it was Kenna. Their rooms were across the hall from each other, but she had seemed exhausted. And for that reason when he’d walked her to her room, he hadn’t suggested that they talk.

  “Hello?”

  “You okay?”

  Hearing Clayton’s familiar voice, Reese glanced out the window at Oklahoma City’s skyline. Down the street was where Madaris Construction was erecting the Mosley Building, and from the designs he’d seen, it was going to be a beautiful skyscraper—another landmark.

  “Reese?”

  A wry smile touched the corners of Reese’s lips. “Yes, Clayton, I’m fine.”

  Reese remembered growing up that their older cousins— Justin, Dex and Clayton—had been their idols. Whenever the three brothers were home from college they would take their younger cousins to the movies, on cookouts or just to have fun on their uncle Jake’s ranch. All the Madaris kids knew that if they ever needed to talk to one of them about anything, there was always an open door.

  Of the three, Clayton was the most fun, since he was the most laid-back. He could relate to them despite being older. His philosophy was, there was nothing wrong with being naughty if you were nice every once in a while. Justin, who was the oldest of the three, always gave good advice. Dex was the serious one, and extremely loyal when it came to family.

  At fourteen, Reese, Lee and Nolan saw their first Playboy centerfold browsing through some magazines they’d found in Clayton’s apartment. Instead of getting angry, Clayton sat them down and gave them his version of the facts of life. Needless to say, Clayton Madaris’s rendition had been far more interesting than the one their parents had told them. Of course all of them had known about the case of condoms Clayton kept in his closet. And they appreciated that he never kept an accurate count or else he would have noticed that they had swiped a few from time to time.