by Karin Tabke
The hardest thing is not to love but to be loved in return…
What would you dare to do? Would you dare to do it again? Can you handle the truth? Could you live with the consequences…?
THE CHRONICLES OF KATRINA
THE DARE
What would you dare to do?
(Book one, out now a free read!)
DOUBLE DARE
Would you dare to do it again?
(Book two, out now!)
THE TRUTH
Can you handle the truth?
(Book three, out now!)
THE CONSEQUENCE
Could you live with the consequences?
www.KarinTabke.com
www.facebook.com/karin.tabke.harlow
Author’s Note
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Coming Soon...
About the Author
Also by Karin Tabke
Copyright
hank you once again to my amazing village: Virna, Tina, Janell, Victoria and my team at InScribe. Couldn’t have done it without you!
Dear Readers,
Before you begin Kat and Simon’s final book, I want to thank all of you for your patience and for reading along with me as I wrote this amazing love story. I fell in love with Simon the moment he hit the page. My love affair with him has grown as epically deep as Kat’s. I know many of you feel the same way. I also hope you feel I’ve done both Simon and Kat justice with THE CONSEQUENCE.
Thank you all again for taking this fun sexy ride with me!
Karin*
xo
imon’s ex-girlfriend, now widowed sister-in-law, glared at them from the kitchen. Katy stood silent for a long drawn out minute, weighing what she had been told about Amanda against the fact that she’d obviously had a key to get inside Simon’s house and now gazed at him with undeniable possessiveness. Either Simon was the biggest liar on the planet and Katy the most pathetically gullible woman in the world, or—
“Amanda,” Simon said quietly behind Katy. “What are you doing here?”
“What’s that woman doing here?” Amanda accused, sniffing back tears.
Katy felt like she had just stepped into a really bad soap opera.
“Is she the work that’s kept you away these past weeks?”
Giving Katy’s hand a quick reassuring squeeze, Simon walked past her into the kitchen. He was still damp from his shower and the towel wrapped around his waist clung to his sculpted ass like a second skin. Possessive ire rose in her belly. That ass belonged to her, damn it! Carefully, Simon took the tray from Amanda’s shaking hands. As he set it down on the counter he asked her, “Where’s Livy?”
Amanda sniffed. “Mom’s.”
“My mom’s? Or yours?”
“She’s my mom too, or have you forgotten that in your lust induced fog?”
Curious as hell to find out where this crazy was coming from, but not wanting to watch this woman have what was beginning to look a lot like a complete emotional melt down or be insulted by her, Katy backed away.
“Stay, Kat,” Simon said. His gaze held hers when she looked at him. “Please.”
She wasn’t running. Oh hell no, not when she had come this far. She was going to see this to the end. But she wasn’t as lacking in manner as Amanda. She was just giving them privacy.
Simon looked lost, helpless even, but there was nothing Katy could do about that. To Amanda, she was the enemy and, as such, there would be nothing gained. And to Katy? She wasn’t sure how she felt about Simon’s sister in-law. Irritated, absolutely. Pity maybe? The woman obviously had it bad for Simon but there was more going on here than an old flame still carrying a torch.
“I think it would be better if I stepped away and gave the two of you some privacy, Simon,” Katy said as she backed up.
“I’d like you to leave my house,” Amanda firmly said.
Katy pursed her lips, turned on her heel and walked slowly from the room. The last thing she heard Simon say was, “Amanda, when was the last time you saw Dr. Crenshaw?”
As she made her way up the staircase, Katy allowed her emotions to surface. Anger not so much directed at Simon—well, maybe a little directed toward him—but mostly at Amanda. Then she felt bad. The woman had lost her husband and obviously had projected her feelings for him onto his brother. But she’d had a thing with Simon, too. How long ago, Katy didn’t know and it didn’t matter because it was obvious Amanda West was in love with her dead husband’s brother. And it was even more obvious Simon had no intention of severing ties with her. How was Katy supposed to deal with the fact that Amanda had deep emotional hooks in the man Katy was in love with?
Her belly did several slow rolls. How could she compete with their history? Or even as unhealthy as it was, their present? Insecurities flooded her, but she was not going to run. Not this time. At least not yet.
Instead, she stripped, turned on the shower and stood contemplative beneath the hot spray. Forcing herself not to read too much into what was happening downstairs, she let her heart and her gut guide her. Simon hadn’t lied to her about anything despite what she’d thought. Yet because of her own trust issues, she’d pretty much talked herself into thinking ill of him even as she’d known, at his core, he was a man of integrity. It was as much a part of him as his green eyes. Hanging on to that, she forced away her lingering fear that he would push her aside for his sister-in-law.
But when she stepped from the shower and heard angry voices coming from downstairs, her anxiety level spiked. Call her nosey, but she wrapped a towel around her dripping body, hurried to the bedroom door, and opened it wider.
“You belong to me!” Amanda shrilled.
Simon’s deep voice, though calm, held an edge of impatience. “You need to get a grip, Amanda, if not for your own sake then for Olivia’s.”
“I have a grip!” she spat. “It’s you who needs to face reality and take responsibility for your actions.”
“I have.”
“Then why did you bring a woman here?”
“This is my house; I can bring whomever I want to here.”
“How long will this one last, Simon? Another week? A month? Have you told her what you did?”
Katy’s heart thumped hard in her chest. What was she talking about?
Amanda laughed mirthlessly. “I can see by your expression you haven’t. Shall I?”
“Stay away from Kat,” he warned.
“Stay away from Kat,” she mimicked. “Fine, Simon. I’ll wait this one out just like I have the others, but after she finds out and runs, I’m not taking the scraps you throw my way anymore.”
Find out what?
“Go home, Amanda,” he said, his voice suddenly weary. “We’ll talk later.”
Backing away from the door, Katy waited for Simon to come upstairs. When he finally entered the bedroom, she held back the gasp that rose in her chest. He looked like a man torn in half.
“Close the door,” she softy said.
He did and leaned up against it. Resisting the urge to go to him and ease the hurt in his heart, Katy made her stand.
“Do you love her?” she quietly questioned.
“No.”
“Do you want to be with her and play daddy to your niece?”
“No and yes.”
“One or the other, Simon.”
“No. I don’t want to be wi
th her: yes, I want to be a father figure to Olivia.”
Of course Simon wanted to step into his dead brother’s shoes as far as his niece was concerned. She couldn’t hate him for that. But the widow was a whole other matter.
“She’s using your guilt as a leash, Simon. As long as you allow her to hold it over your head, you’ll never be free of her.”
“I know that.”
He knew? “Then you’ve accepted it?”
Jamming his fingers through his damp hair, he exhaled a long sigh. “It’s not like that.”
“From where I’m standing it is.” She started to get dressed.
His eyes narrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means,” she said as she hooked her bra, “That I’m not going to be with a man who is so clouded by guilt it’s adversely affecting my relationship with him.”
“You’re the one putting Amanda between us, Kat, not me.”
“Really?” She accused jerking on her shirt. “She calls, boom, you stop what you’re doing and answer. She wants you for something, you go running. How would you feel if the positions were reversed and I jumped every time Evan called?”
Dark brows crowded together over angry green eyes. “You know you wouldn’t put up with it for one second, why should I? For crying out loud, I can still hear her down there after you told her to leave!” Katy shook her head, exasperated by the entire situation. “If she doesn’t mean anything to you, then cut her loose.”
She couldn’t believe she’d just said that. The minute she did, she inwardly cringed. Simon stood stone-faced staring at her. Taking a deep breath, she slowly exhaled. If he wasn’t willing to put her first, then she needed to do it for herself.
“You know what, Simon? I’m going to give you something I’ve never given any man in my life.”
He cocked a brow. “What’s that?”
“An ultimatum.” She zipped up her skirt, and then slid on her heels. “A choice, me or her, right here, right now.”
“You want me to go down there and tell my brother’s widow to hit the road?”
“I want you to tell her you belong to me. I want you to tell her to back up and back out.” She grabbed her purse, tucked it under her arm, and stared pointedly at him.
“Amanda is no threat to you, Kat.”
“As long as she’s trying to sabotage our relationship and worm her way back into your bed via guilt trips or flat out seduction, she’s a threat.” Raking her fingers through her hair, Katy finished. “I’m not asking you to choose, I’m asking you to draw a line.”
He pushed off the door and stalked toward her. “No one tells me what to do, Kat.”
She didn’t back down. “Perhaps it’s time someone did.”
“This thing with Amanda is complicated.”
“I can see that, Simon. Only you can un-complicate it.”
His tight lips quirked at the corner. “You’re reading more into this than there is.”
“I’m not reading anything into your side of this Simon, I believe you when you say you have no interest in her. It’s Amanda who needs to be set straight. And only you can do that.”
The shattering of glass from the kitchen caused them both a moment’s pause.
Simon shook his head. “I should have stopped this a long time ago but I just didn’t want to spurn Amanda and have her use Olivia as a pawn to get me back.” He tilted her chin up with his fingers. “You’re the last person on this earth I want to hurt.”
He moved past her to his dresser and yanked out a pair of flannel pajama bottoms. Katy turned as he dropped the towel, not wanting to glimpse what she was afraid she may never savor again. But when he strode past her dressed in the PJs, yanked the door open and exited the room, she refused to force back the smile that twitched on her lips.
Unable to help herself, Katy followed him out the door, but stopped short of going downstairs, hovering instead at the top of the landing.
“Amanda,” Simon said his voice resolute. “Since you refuse to leave, we’re going to have that talk now.”
“I don’t want to talk until that woman is gone.”
“She’s not leaving, Amanda, you are.”
“How dare you say that?”
“I dare it because it’s been a long time coming.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Believe it.”
“But I need you, Simon.”
“No you don’t, you want me, and there’s a big difference.”
“Of course I want you! I never stopped loving you, Simon. Even after you kicked me to the curb like an empty can.”
“Love? We slept together twice, years ago. That’s not love.”
“It is for me!”
“Did you love Mark?”
“In my way.”
“In your way? Is that different from the way you love me?”
“There’s in love and just loving,” she defended.
Katy wasn’t buying it. Amanda didn’t love her husband, she loved his brother.
There was a long pregnant pause before Simon spoke. “We both know why you married Mark.”
“I loved him!”
“I loved him too, damn it! He was my fucking brother not some sloppy second means to an end!”
The sound of a hand slapping skin shot through the air. “How dare you say that to me?”
“Because it’s true and you know it. Shame on me for allowing my guilt over Mark’s death to let you take advantage of me and my mother and use Olivia as your leverage to make us jump.”
“You murdered my husband! You owe me damn it! You owe Olivia, too!”
Katy held her breath at the horrid accusation.
“I am responsible for my brother’s death,” Simon quietly said. The pain in his voice squeezed her heart. “I’ve never denied that, Mandy, and my guilt is my own to bear. I live with it every God damn day. And when I do step away from the guilt for even one second, you’re always there to remind me what I did.”
“Simon, I don’t mean to, I love you,” she mewled.
“I don’t love you, Amanda. I never did, you need to let it go.”
“So that’s it? You’re abandoning us? Your own blood?”
“I’m not abandoning you, I’m no longer allowing you to guilt me into putting my life on hold every time you want me to jump through hoops.”
“You’ll never see Livy again.” When Amanda spoke, Katy gasped. Simon called it. What a bit—
“Don’t threaten me, Amanda, my friends are more powerful than yours.”
“You forget what I have on you, Simon,” she sneered.
“Stay out of my business,” he menacingly said.
Amanda laughed, the sound reminiscent of the evil queen in Snow White. “Your little Kat is panting you for now, but do you think that’s going to be the case once she and I have a little chat?”
“Don’t go near her.”
“You can kiss her goodbye, and you can kiss Olivia goodbye too.”
Simon’s voice became dangerously low. “Do not keep that little girl away from the people she loves just because you can’t have your way.”
“I hate you,” she spat.
“I’m sorry you feel that way.”
He sounded as if he were walking away from her.
“Simon, please, I need you!” she screamed. “I can’t—I can’t do this alone,” Amanda sobbed. She was so effective, Katy actually felt sorry for her, then annoyed with herself because she did.
“You’re not alone,” Simon said earnestly. “You’re surrounded by a loving family. Just open your eyes and look around.” A long pause. “And Amanda? Stop waiting for me. I told you years ago I was never coming back.”
Katy cringed. If Simon ever said those words to her, it would crush her. She couldn’t imagine how Amanda must feel at that moment. She didn’t want to feel sorrier for her, but she did. Loving Simon was heartbreak hotel.
“You promised Mark you would take care of me,” Amanda cried.<
br />
“I didn’t promise him I’d marry you.”
“How could you do this to him?”
“Leave my brother out of this!” Simon roared, finally losing his patience.
“How can I when you killed him!”
“Do you think he would have been here that day if you hadn’t told him his big brother fucked you first? Did that give you some sick sense of satisfaction?”
“Of course not.”
“Why’d you do it, Amanda? Why, after we agreed to never do it, why did you tell him?”
“Because he wasn’t you! He never was!”
“You’re a cold-hearted bitch, Amanda.”
Katy cringed at the icy contempt in Simon’s voice.
“I’m that way because you made me that way!”
“You’re right, I did. I allowed you come and go in my home, I allowed you to cry on my shoulder any time, day or night. I even let you pretend we had a normal life even when we both knew it was our way of dealing with Mark’s death. Yeah, I’m responsible for pulling the rug out from beneath your fantasy world and my denial. My bad for thinking I was helping both of us. I see now I wasn’t.”
The sound of the front door opening was music to Katy’s ears. “Just remember, Simon, I know things.” The slamming of the door made Katy jump in her tracks.
She stood silent for a long time, wanting to go to the hurting man downstairs, but Amanda’s words halted her. What did she know that was so damning to Simon? That he felt responsible for his brother’s death was out in the open. He’d told her that in Napa. Not the details but that he ‘killed’ him. In her heart, Katy knew it wasn’t intended, and as much as she wanted Simon to open up and trust her enough to tell her what happened, she refused to push that topic with him. He would tell her when he was ready.
Did Amanda think Katy didn’t know that Simon and she had been lovers? Simon was not a criminal, so what else was there?
Her need to comfort the man she loved hurried Katy down the stairs to him.
She stopped short when she saw Simon standing with his fists planted on the island. The hard muscles of his back worked as he clenched and unclenched his hands.
Lightly, she touched his shoulder. Starting, he turned around and grabbed her hand in a defensive move.