One Last Promise
Sydney Bristow
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.
Edited by Kate Hiester
Cover design by The Killion Group
Contents
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
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Also by Sydney Bristow
CHAPTER ONE
“Don’t worry,” Kelsey Lawford told her older brother, Alex, and gestured towards his best friend, Damon, the most gorgeous man she’d ever laid eyes upon. “I’d never be interested in him,” she said with more than a bit of sarcasm.
Alex nodded, satisfied with her assurance. “Glad to hear it.” He turned to Damon. “Under no circumstances are you to date my sister.”
“Oh, no?” Damon asked, flashing blue eyes the color of Caribbean waters. He placed his attention on Kelsey and quirked an eyebrow that promised plenty of mischief. “Never is a long time.”
“It sure is.” Kelsey said.
“I don’t think you could wait that long. I think you’d give in before that.”
“Okay, let me clarify. You know how long the universe has existed? Well, I wouldn’t be interested in you…even longer than that.”
“But that’s almost 14 billion years!”
Kelsey laughed. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d flirted like this. Not the boring getting-to-know-you back-and-forth conversations about childhoods, likes/dislikes, and careers. Actual flirting. It made her feel young. And vibrant. Two characteristics she hadn’t felt in years. And that saddened her, since she was only two years shy of thirty, putting her a couple years younger than Alex and his best friend.
“Hmmm.” Damon mulled over her remarks. “I don’t think I can wait that long. No offense, but you’re not worth waiting 14 billion years for.”
“Oh, really? And why is that?”
“Because you didn’t negotiate for a more reasonable counteroffer. It’s obvious you don’t compromise. And that’s important in a relationship. So count me out.”
“I can compromise. How about this: I’ll knock off a century or two.”
“My heart just skipped a beat,” he said facetiously. “You drive a hard bargain, but…nope, can’t do it. Still a little too long for me. Give or take 13.9 billion years. But you’ve proven you can compromise, so I retract that whole ‘you-don’t-compromise’ statement.”
Last week, while at a Halloween party, Damon had dressed as Rocky Balboa. Wearing boxing gloves and dressed in stars and stripes shorts, his chiseled chest, biceps, and abs had drowned out Kelsey’s thoughts, and even now she couldn’t help but allow those images to drift across her mind. Since that night, it had happened only once. Okay, more than once. All right, way more than once.
But according to her brother, Damon had slept with countless women and had no interest in a serious relationship. If she hadn’t discovered this gold nugget of truth, she would have found Damon irresistible.
Kelsey met his carefree smile with one of her own. “When it comes to men like you, I take advice from Kelly Clarkson: ‘I Do Not Hook Up.’”
“You take dating advice from a pop song?” Damon asked.
“Sure. Why not?”
“Okay then, what about ‘My Life Would Suck Without You?’”
“I prefer ‘Since You Been Gone.’ More realistic. Besides, Carrie Underwood already sang about you: ‘Cowboy Casanova.’ And she gave us women a cautionary tale: ‘Before He Cheats.’”
“I should be offended.”
“But you’re not because of…you know, the whole closeted gay thing.”
Damon looked amused by her comment. Rather than appearing troubled by it, he seemed more masculine as he leaned against the front counter of her ’80s-themed diner, Forever and Always. A knowing smile formed on his face.
That always-in-control look almost made her knees buckle. She hadn’t experienced that sensation since she met her first boyfriend in high school. The feeling caught her off balance, and more than anything, she hated knowing that anyone held that much sway over her emotions.
Kelsey tore her gaze from his eyes, unwilling to let him know just how strongly he affected her. “Oops,” she said, feigning a worried glance at him. “Sorry, I outed you.”
“Outed me?” he asked, pushing a hand through thick black bangs that hung over either side of his forehead. “Lucky for you, I’m not gay.” He glanced at Alex. “Dude, tell your sister that…”
Alex held Marisa with both eyes closed, lost in the moment of embracing the only woman he’d ever loved. It seemed the only way to remove the deep concern with which he regarded the playful banter going on around him.
“Awww, come on, bro,” Damon said. “My manhood’s under fire. Give me some backup.”
Alex pulled away from his girlfriend but kept his arm around her shoulders as he turned toward Damon and his sister. His solemn gray eyes met Damon’s. “I will not say this again, so listen close: my sister is off limits. Do not test me on this. Do you understand?” He held that threatening stare then waited…and waited.
Damon’s facial features shifted from poised to determined.
In Kelsey’s opinion, even though Damon wrote romance novels (which might make some women question his virility) few men looked and acted as masculine as he did.
Alex’s earnestness disappeared as a smile took its place. He turned to Marisa. “Let’s get out of here.” Receiving a nod, he curled an arm around Marisa’s waist and led her out of the restaurant.
As Damon turned back to Kelsey, he unveiled a grin that balanced arrogance with playfulness. “The truth never felt so good.”
“Probably because it’s a new concept for you. Give it some time: the novelty will wear off soon enough.”
“Wait, first you attack my masculinity. And now you’re calling me a liar? All of this and we barely know each other…is that what I have to look forward to when we get married? A wife who constantly questions my character?”
Those questions all but clamped Kelsey’s mouth shut. Another vision entered her mind: Damon standing at the altar wearing a tuxedo, Alex as his Best Man, and herself wearing an elegant wedding gown that only the wealthiest celebrities could afford as her father led her down the aisle. She zapped the image from her brain. It never failed: whenever she met an intelligent, attractive man with whom she’d shared a witty rapport, her thoughts shifted towards marriage.
The men she’d dated or gotten involved with romantically never possessed more than one of those traits. Which probably explained why she practically fainted upon meeting Damon. She chastised herse
lf for such naiveté. After all, she didn’t even know Damon. And his comment about marriage could have been in jest, but his demeanor didn’t reveal a hint of comical intent.
Damon’s smoldering gaze sent a tingling sensation up her spine. That revelation made warmth spread across her cheeks, which she regretted because the slightest blush made her look like she’d spent an afternoon under the sun’s scorching rays. With no way to offset the burn rising in her cheeks, she tried to ignore it – a difficult task considering Damon was now lifting an eyebrow at her, all too aware that he’d caused some anxiety inside her.
“You’ve only just been cleared as a heterosexual man,” Kelsey said, trying to regain control of the argument. “Don’t you think it’s premature to consider getting married? Especially to someone who will only knock off two centuries from a 13.9 billion year dating freeze?”
“Ah, so the truth comes out: it’s not just me you won’t go out with. You won’t date anyone. Now, you’ve piqued my interest.”
“So you’re saying you had less interest when you practically proposed to me?”
Damon just grinned at her.
Those sea blue eyes exuded the most potent dose of sexual energy that she’d ever seen. They distracted her from his reputation as a womanizer. But Kelsey had unknowingly dated her fair share of jerks, and she had no interest in revisiting that phase of her past.
The most recent incident had occurred ten months ago during a blind date. She had low expectations, only to meet a beautiful man with a disarming smile, a wonderful sense of humor, and an easy way with words. Kelsey felt a stab of insecurity, and after visiting the restroom to regain her composure, she finished her margarita and…didn’t remember anything from the rest of the evening. She woke up the next morning and found a note lying on her bed: “Thanks, babe! You’re the best fuck I ever had.” The bastard had clearly slipped a roofie into her drink.
Kelsey hadn’t been on a date since that night and hadn’t even felt the least bit interested in another man…until she noticed Damon Durant at the Halloween party. That’s when her disinterest in men had vanished.
Now her heart hammered so hard that it felt like she’d entered the last quarter mile of a 5K race. Knowing that an insincere player stood before her should have increased her apprehension. It should have also redirected her pent-up sexual desire away from him and encouraged her to instead get to know her brother’s friend, who just returned to the Chicagoland area after living in New York, Florida, and most recently, Colorado. But that didn’t happen.
“So what’s the story?” Damon now asked. “What caused you to give up dating?”
“I didn’t give it up. I just…work a lot. Probably too much. And I’ll soon be opening up another themed restaurant: The Witching Hour. You know, witches, vampires, that sort of thing.”
“That makes sense. You dressed as Buffy at the Halloween Party. The way you went around pretending to stab men with a wooden stake was kind of—”
“Cool?”
“Terrifying. I thought maybe you weren’t into guys, that maybe it was because…you wanted to be one.”
“That’s just great: psychoanalysis from someone who idolizes Superman. Yes, Alex told me you sneak him into every conversation.”
“My admiration for Superman is no different than your envy of Buffy. I mean, come on, you dressed as her at the party, and you were walking around twiddling that wooden stake in your hands like you’d been practicing for months. And when I overheard you talking about the Slayer, I thought ‘this cannot be healthy.’ I mean, you act as if she’s a real person.”
“She’s more real than Superman. Clark Kent is an alien.”
“Buffy has superhuman strength, too.”
“But she was born on earth. Clark Kent is an alien.”
“You already said that,” Damon said, raising his voice a little, irritated. “And vampires and witches and demons are real?”
Kelsey enjoyed getting under his skin. She got the impression that didn’t happen often. “They haven’t been disproven. So it’s logical to presume that they walk among us.”
“But aliens can’t ‘walk among us’? How many people have spoken out about alien contact? Tens of thousands over a period of decades. And how many people have stepped forward to claim that vampires are real?”
“Nice try: getting off the subject of your man-crush on Superman.” She leaned across the countertop and took Damon’s hand into her palm. The spontaneity of that rather forward move shocked her. Although Kelsey considered herself somewhat touchy-feely, she had never reacted this way with anyone. She hadn’t known him long enough to consider him deserving of such intimacy. Nevertheless, it didn’t feel awkward. If anything, it felt ordinary, expected even.
And since Damon didn’t respond to her touch by so much as flinching, Kelsey took it as a sign that this unforeseen turn of events hadn’t fazed him either. But it didn’t take more than a second to identify why: Damon obviously had plenty of success with the opposite sex. So why would a harmless act—like hand-holding—surprise him?
“Are you into palmistry?” he asked with a hint of a smile.
His expression told her that Damon had used the same line countless times to pick up women. And his casual tone clarified that it probably worked every time. “No,” she said. But she didn’t release his hand. And she couldn’t explain why. She just stared at his strong yet sensitive fingers, anticipating that some magical force would interpret matters for her.
“Then were you expecting to rob me? Because I keep my cash in my wallet…And that’s in my back pocket.”
She thought he’d keep talking, but when he didn’t, Kelsey looked up at him.
He grinned. “And if you go for it, I’ll have no choice but to think that you’re copping a feel.”
Those eyes. That smile. That playful tone. They each set off a spark of sensuality between them that almost persuaded her to pull back, but it shut down her thought process, making that impossible.
Why such a wonderful sensation made her want to back away disturbed her. And the contradiction between her feelings and her mental process was puzzling.
But even if she could have managed to pry her hand loose, she wouldn’t have wanted to. Maybe that explained why she wouldn’t release Damon’s hand. How could she have known that simply touching him would send such delightful excitement through her?
Although Kelsey deplored his promiscuity, she had never met a man with such presence, such charisma…until now. The dichotomy confused her. Yet, who could blame her for wanting Damon to find her attractive, especially since she hadn’t gotten intimate with a man in longer than she cared to recall? Unwilling to let her mind wander in a direction that would only get her into trouble, Kelsey shook her head with what she hoped looked like disapproval.
“Did you feel those sparks?” Damon asked. The corner of his lips lifted, revealing that he knew how their touch made an unspoken impression on her.
“Oh, please. I bet you use that line with every woman who looks your way.”
“Don’t try to change the subject. That connection a moment ago reminded me of how you looked at me last week.”
“And what does that mean?”
“Really? You’re asking me to tell you…how you feel?”
“You’re delusional. No wonder you have a Superman complex. You think you’re him!”
“Last week, I dressed up as Rocky.” He paused to let that sink in. “So much for the Superman theory. But you pretended to be Buffy. And you say I’ve got a complex?”
Kelsey didn’t have a snappy comeback for that one. Watching the edge of Damon’s lips notch upwards, she didn’t like the way he looked at her – like he could tell how his smile affected her. But just as she planned to spin around, he clasped his free hand across her own, locking it in place. She looked up at him. “What—”
“I’d like to take you on a date.”
“What? After this conversation? It’s got to be the worst—”
“I think you’re fun to talk to. And you’re kind of cute. So we should go on a date.”
Kind of cute? That backhanded compliment annoyed her. “Didn’t you hear what my brother said? He knows martial arts. He’ll—”
“I seem to recall saying something about marriage. I’d think that would smooth over any misunderstandings.”
“You’re talking about marriage again? Really?”
He cocked his head to the side. “Hey, when you know, you know.” A smile surfaced. “You know?”
This time, her heart skipped a beat, and her mind went hazy again. “But you said it yourself: you don’t even know me.”
“That electrical current between us—that chemistry—I’ve only felt that once before.” For the briefest moment, a wistful look came over him. Then it disappeared.
He looked into her eyes with such certainty, such boldness that her pulse quickened and Kelsey felt the need to look down to break his intense focus. But she didn’t. She held his gaze and matched its intensity for one reason: she hadn’t misinterpreted their connection. She’d never felt such a potent physical reaction to any man, and she wanted to give in to it. Then his words echoed in her mind: I’ve only felt that once before.
A pang of jealousy lit inside her. Who had made such an impression on him? And how long ago did that happen? Did he end up having a relationship with her? If so, how long had it lasted? The questions kept coming, but Kelsey couldn’t push them away. If anything, they picked up speed, bombarding her with a rapidity that she couldn’t have foreseen: why had they broken up? Who had ended it? Was he not marriage material?
“Admit it,” Damon said. “You felt something between us.”
A thought at the back of her mind nagged her to refrain from telling the truth, but she couldn’t identify why that intuition felt so strong. Kelsey looked at him, perplexed. “I…I can’t.”
His smile fell.
That disappointed expression—more than any other he’d revealed tonight—seemed genuine and epitomized Damon’s true nature, giving her the impression that he often fought against revealing his true emotions. This internal tug of war intrigued her. Why did he battle those feelings? What persuaded him to do so? And, more importantly, could she trust anything he might say or do?
One Last Promise (A Bedford Falls Novel Book 2) Page 1