by Olivia Miles
Kate’s cheeks flushed. “I’m sorry about that.”
“Which part? Running off or—”
Now her face was almost on fire. “I don’t know what to say for myself. It was out of character. I’m not usually so…forward.”
“You mean you usually schedule a kiss on your calendar first?” Alec cocked an eyebrow. He was pressing the issue, when what he should be doing was backing off. Letting it go.
“I saw someone I knew and…I guess you can say I wanted to make him jealous.”
So that was it then. He’d been a convenient prop. No wonder she’d been so quick to run off. “Happy to be at your service.”
Kate’s eyes crinkled as she reached out and wrapped her fingers around his arm. Her touch was light, feminine, and soft. He tried to ignore the stir of pleasure the small gesture sparked. “It wasn’t like that, Alec. I mean, it was, but then, after…” She trailed off and pulled a throw pillow onto her lap, hugging it tightly.
Daring to be curious, Alec asked, “Was it an old boyfriend?”
“An old fiancé,” Kate clarified.
Wow. He hadn’t seen that coming. William hadn’t mentioned it. Not that he’d pressed for her romantic history. “I take it things didn’t end well?”
“Is there such a possibility with a broken engagement?” Kate cocked an eyebrow. “Things didn’t end well at all. He was cheating on me.”
Alec frowned. He couldn’t imagine any guy wanting to cheat on a woman like Kate. “Then he didn’t deserve you,” he said, his tone angrier than he’d expected.
“He was cheating on me with my sister.” Kate’s expression was neutral; her voice was almost unfittingly matter-of-fact. Clearly, she’d had some time to get used to this shocking outcome.
“Your sister? Now that’s low.” Alec thought back to the photos he’d seen in her parents’ hallway. The way the room had fallen silent when Elizabeth’s mother had mentioned that everyone was together. Clearly, someone was missing. “How did you find out?”
“They weren’t shy about telling me. First Jake did, and then she confirmed it.” She shook her head, closing her eyes to the memory.
Silence descended for a moment, but Alec suspected she still wanted to discuss the matter. “Are they still together?”
Kate shrugged and reached for her glass of wine. “I have no idea. Last I heard, they ran off to Boston together.”
“When was this?”
“Last summer,” she said.
Enough time to get over a broken heart, maybe. But enough time to get over a sister’s betrayal? “And you’ve had no contact with her? Your sister?”
She shook her head. “I don’t need to know the details. And I have nothing to say to her.”
“Holidays?”
“She didn’t come back for Christmas. She hasn’t come back to Misty Point since she left. She doesn’t talk to my parents, either. The few times she has, they haven’t involved me.”
“How awful to be caught in the middle.” In a strange sort of way, he felt their pain.
“Well, it’s pretty black and white to me. But…they love her.” She frowned, and something in her expression told him that Kate still loved her sister, too. It was strange, what you could forgive, when it came to family.
“Charlotte—that’s my sister—has always sort of bounced around in life. She always had a boyfriend. She’s very pretty. Men like her.” Kate’s lips turned down and she knitted her brow, studying the contents of her wineglass.
“I’m sure plenty of men like you, too.” He wasn’t just saying it to make her feel better. He was saying it because it was the truth, damn it, and this Jake fellow was a fool not to see it.
She blushed at the compliment. Clearly, it had been too long since she’d received one.
Kate curled her long legs up under her, inching closer to him as she shifted on the couch. Her long, bare calves were so close, he could skim them if he wanted to. And he did. Badly.
He reached for his wineglass instead, hoping it would chase away this feeling that was growing and wouldn’t go away.
“The funny thing is that when we were younger, I could tell she always looked up to me and wanted to be like me. I’m two years older than her, and I guess that seemed like a big difference back then. But then as we got older, it felt more like she was competing with me or something. Like she was trying to prove something. I never understood why. Charlotte…Well, she’s fun. She just hadn’t figured her life out yet.”
“Whereas you had a great job and a fiancé and everything going for you,” Alec finished. “It sounds like she really looked up to you.”
Kate gave a sad smile. “Or maybe she just wanted what I had. I thought Charlotte was happy for me. I mean, I would have been happy for her. I even asked her to be my maid of honor…”
At this her eyes welled, and Alec reached over and placed a sturdy hand on her wrist. She didn’t flinch or move away, as he half expected her to do, and the desire to trace his hand farther up her bare arm grew with each passing second.
Kate managed an embarrassed laugh and wiped away a single tear. She sniffed loudly and with too-bright eyes said, “I know I should be over it by now. They deserve each other, after all.”
“Are you…still in love with him?” Alec wasn’t sure why the thought of it bothered him so much. Was it because this Jake person clearly didn’t deserve Kate, or because he didn’t like the thought of her having feelings for someone else?
Kate shook her head firmly. “No. Definitely not. Last night confirmed it. But that doesn’t mean I don’t still feel the sting of what he did to me. Or my sister. If it had been any other woman, I don’t think it would have hit me so hard. But when it’s your family…”
Alec nodded. He knew. No matter what they did or how much they hurt you or let you down, family mattered. And they won out every time.
“I took a leave of absence from work to sort through my feelings. Then I got Henry. And I bought this house. Everyone’s been really nice about it, considering the entire town knows my sordid story. In fact, I’m surprised you haven’t heard it yet.”
“Well, the only person in Misty Point I’ve really talked to is you and William.”
“He and Elizabeth have been really wonderful. Without them…” She blew out a breath. “It’s why it means so much to me to give them the wedding of their dreams. Repaying the favor, so to speak.”
Alec nodded slowly as a flicker of shame wormed its way through his gut. Kate was pretty, sweet, smart, and good. Too good for him.
“Do you ever think you’ll move past it?”
“Find love again, you mean?” Kate asked. With a shrug she sighed. “There was a time when I would have said no. But now that some time has passed, I’ve just realized I was with the wrong person from the start. I just didn’t want to see it. I’d…like to believe I can find love.” She looked at him. “But doesn’t everyone?”
Not me, Alec almost said and then stopped himself. He had never been open to it before—never wanted it. His life had been so planned for him—he’d had no chance to think of anything other than staying the course. But the more he followed the path he had set out on, the more he wanted to break free from it and see what other possibilities the world held.
* * *
“Look at me blubbering on like this,” Kate said through a watery smile. She couldn’t believe what had come over her. The stress of this wedding must really be getting to her. And she had certainly chugged that glass of wine early in the evening. “You’re probably wishing you had called a cab right after the party ended.”
“Not at all.” Alec’s voice was smooth and sincere, and Kate became all too aware of the way his thumb was tracing circles on her wrist, sending shots of heat twisting and turning through her.
Kate shifted her gaze to the wineglass in her hands, not sure what she would do if she kept looking into those soft brown eyes. The silence was a heavy weight in the room, making the air feel thick and sticky. She should open
another window for a cross breeze. Or turn on the fan. But both of those things would require standing up and leaving the room, and right now, the only place she wanted to be was right here next to Alec.
His thumb was still caressing her skin, softly, slowly, and maybe even a little suggestively. Unable to take it, she pushed up to a standing position. “I think I’ll just turn on the fan,” she said, only to remember she didn’t have one in this room. There was no overhead lighting. Just the soft subtle glow from the tableside lamps and the moon shining in through the windows. “I mean, open a window.”
Smooth, Kate. She closed her eyes once her back was to him and walked over to the front door, letting the air flow in through the screen. It was cool and refreshing and sobering.
Crickets chirped in the distance as she slowly turned back to the living room, where Alec was still seated on her couch, Henry happily curled up on the armchair, watching them like a scene in a movie, as if he couldn’t wait to see what happened next.
That makes two of us, buddy, she thought as she crept back toward the couch.
“I’m sorry you went through such a bad time,” Alec said as he refilled her glass. “But it seems like you’ve handled it well, all things considered.”
Had she? Her relationship with her parents had grown a little distant. And then there was the hiccup with her job, of course.
But yeah, maybe she had handled it pretty well. If you didn’t count the five pounds she’d put on through ice cream consumption. Okay, ten. Or the investment in the Spanx…
“Well. It’s all in the past now.” Kate didn’t want to dwell on things anymore tonight. She’d shared enough, but she was happy that she had. Alec hadn’t judged, or given her head tilt, or winced about her current status. He saw it for what it was. And he seemed to understand it, too.
He handed her back her glass and they both took a sip. “I don’t know if William has ever told you about our mother.”
Kate knew very little of William’s past. Like his brother, he was close-lipped about his childhood. But she did know the basic facts, and she was sorry for it. After a slight hesitation, she said, “He mentioned that she died when he was still a child.”
Alec nodded his head. “She…she struggled a bit. She and my father never had the best marriage—he worked all the time and never really made time for her. Or us. The company was everything to him.” He lowered his eyes. “I think she was lonely.”
Alec’s lips thinned. “When I was about ten, things really changed for the worse. She’d always been a bit melancholic, looking back. Except for our days on the Cape. She was so happy then,” he added, giving a wistful smile. “But then things really took a dramatic turn. I can’t really explain it, but it was like everything shifted. I was so young, but I could still sense it. Something was just really, really wrong.”
Kate held her breath. “What happened?”
“I remember she stopped picking me up from school. Our housekeeper started doing it. Then she stopped coming out of her room.” His brow furrowed. “Sometimes days would pass before I would see her, and then I felt like she was looking right through me.”
“How confusing,” Kate thought aloud.
“One day she went into her room and closed the door. I knew better than to interrupt her, but I had made a card for her at school to cheer her up and I really wanted to show it to her. She was lying there. So still…” He looked her square in the eye. “She was dead.”
Surely he couldn’t be saying what she thought he was. She said nothing, waiting for him to continue, wondering how Elizabeth had never shared this with her, or if she even knew. “She didn’t…”
Alec nodded and met her horror-stricken gaze. His eyes looked dark and lost—like a man haunted by the image. “She committed suicide. After that, my father became even more distant than ever. He hired live-in nannies. He’d disappear for months on end. He sold that beach house she’d loved so much. It was like I lost both my parents in one fell swoop.”
Kate looked away, around the room, trying to imagine a young boy walking in on something like that. “And William?” she asked, turning back to face Alec. “William never said anything.”
“William was still young enough that he didn’t understand, and my father and I tried to keep it that way. But once he did…He doesn’t discuss it. Neither do I.”
“So you don’t ever talk about it, to each other?” Kate asked.
“Nope.” Alec shrugged. “Sometimes it’s easier not to go there. Not to retrace those bad feelings.”
Kate understood. “I’m so sorry. I can’t even imagine.”
“I’m sure William has told you how our father can be.” He slid her a rueful grin and Kate smiled, feeling relieved that they were finally tearing down this wall.
“He’s told me a few things,” she said, not wanting to make things worse.
Alec shifted in his seat and he faced her head-on, his eyes searching hers. “The thing is that I pity the man almost as much as I blame him. It’s complicated with family.” He looked at her for a moment. “Do you think you’ll ever forgive your sister?”
Kate’s chest tightened just like it did every time she thought of Charlotte. She avoided the question by posing another. “You don’t think it will ever get better between you and your dad?”
“I don’t know. He’s always been distant. My mother brought out the softer side of him, but even then, it wasn’t enough.” He paused. “He cheated on her. A lot. She loved him in spite of it. She never got over it.”
Kate stiffened. “So that’s why you blame him.”
Alec nodded.
“Can I ask you something?” Kate knew she couldn’t let this go, and since they were being so honest, she may as well come right out and ask. “Why do you disapprove of Elizabeth so much?”
Alec eyed her. “I wondered when this would come up.”
“So, it’s true then.”
“Look. Elizabeth seems like a nice person. I don’t even know her. This is more about my brother than her.”
“Let me guess, you think he could do better? Someone from a better family?”
Alec looked at her with such confusion that Kate immediately realized just how wrong she was. “I’m sorry. I’m…projecting I guess. And going off what Elizabeth has said.”
She should have listened to her gut. Gone with her instinct. Trusted herself. Deep down she knew Alec was a decent guy, and the hurt in his eyes proved it.
“Is that what she thinks?” He stared at her, looking for an explanation. “That I don’t think she’s good enough, rich enough, something like that?” He cursed under his breath as he studied the drink in his hands. “Damn. No. God no.”
“It’s an easy assumption around here,” Kate explained. “There are the townies, like us, and then all the wealthy vacationers.”
“So she just assumed…Wow.” He looked at her sharply. “And you thought that, too?”
Kate shrugged. “To a degree. But I had firsthand experience. Jake, my ex…his family thought he should find someone within their circle. They came to dinner at my parents’ house exactly once, and let’s just say it was awkward.”
“At your parents’ house? And here I was thinking that was about as close to a perfect night as I could get.”
Kate blinked at him. “Seriously?”
He gave a boyish grin. “The last time I had a family dinner was before my mom died. And even then, it wasn’t like that. And your house…it was so warm and lived in. Like this place. It felt…like a home.”
She laughed. “Well, that’s what it is.”
“Guess I wouldn’t know. For me, where I’ve lived has been just that. Except when William’s around.” His brow pinched and he took another sip of his wine. “So you want to know why I haven’t embraced Elizabeth with open arms. I guess I don’t see why he had to throw it all away—the family business. Boston. Why couldn’t he have stayed and had both? Because Elizabeth made him choose?”
“It was William who
insisted on moving here,” Kate corrected him. “He wanted a more balanced life. And I think, from what he’s hinted at…I think he was afraid if he had stayed he would have turned into his father.” There, she’d said it.
“Or me.” A shadow crept over Alec’s rugged features. He released a little laugh as he pushed his hair back from his brow.
“You love your job, though.”
“I did. I do. I don’t know…Sometimes I wonder if it’s really everything I once thought it was.” Alec’s voice was thick with regret, and Kate knew then and there that there was more to all of this than Elizabeth knew and no matter how badly she wanted to stand by her friend and dislike this man sitting beside her, she couldn’t. “It just seemed to make sense to take over my father’s company. Maybe I was hoping it would bring him closer to us.”
“What would you rather be doing with your life?”
Alec smiled his first real smile since they’d started this conversation. “That’s actually the first time anyone’s asked me that question.”
“Really?”
“I’ve never even thought about it before. Never dared to, really.” He settled back against the couch, more relaxed. “But being here, away from the office and the stress…I’ve had time to see how different it could all be.”
Kate smiled and reached out to pat his knee, but the moment she did his hand clasped hers. Her breath caught as she lifted her eyes to his. “You know, I don’t usually open up to people like this.”
“Oh?” Despite the question in the one syllable she could manage, she couldn’t pull her mind from the feel of his thumb tracing circles in her palm.
“I know we got off on the wrong foot, but I really like you, Kate.”
Oh God. Oh no.
She thought of something to say, some excuse to give, to leave the room or downplay their connection, but then his mouth was on hers. Just like last night. Only better. This time the kiss was slow, deliberate. Wonderful, really.
“That’s twice in two nights,” he said, his voice husky as he pulled away.