by Anna Durand
I gazed into his silvery blue eyes, overcome by an emotion so strong it gripped my heart and penetrated down into my soul. The room seemed to spin around me, the whole world seemed to have tilted on its axis, and I struggled to keep steady in the aftermath. Warmth bloomed in my chest, spreading outward until my entire body, my entire being tingled with the realization of what I was experiencing. I'd fallen for him. There was no going back, no easy way out, nothing I could do except let myself drown in the euphoria of loving the only man who had ever accepted me for who I was.
I couldn't catch my breath, but neither could I tear my focus away from his eyes. This was the turning point that would change everything between us irrevocably. If I told him how I felt, and he didn't feel the same way…But he'd said I mattered more to him than anything else in the world. He must share this feeling, this head-spinning, world-altering sensation of falling down and down and down into the sweetest unknown.
Take a risk, my heart screamed. Be careful, my head warned.
I started to speak, to share my epiphany with him, but rationality slammed down around me like a steel coffin. Three times in my life I'd told a man I loved him, and all three times it had ended in catastrophe. My pulse slowed. The whirling freedom of realization settled down. I couldn't dive into that deep abyss yet. It might take me to a marvelous new world, or it might suffocate me.
This was cowardice, a land I knew all too well. I owned a resort here.
Evan had shared his secrets with me, but had he shared all of them? I'd let him into my life completely, and yet I knew so little about his world.
I climbed off his body, untied the scarf to free him, and sat down beside him. "We have another problem."
He pushed up on one arm, twisted at the waist to look at me. "What is it?"
"My mom flew in last night. My dad and Serena picked her up at the airport, and she's excited to meet you."
"I can handle your mother."
"Well, there's more." I made a sheepish and slightly pinched face. "My twin brothers are coming too. They're flying in later this morning with their wives and their kids."
"Are your brothers identical twins?"
"Yes. Even though Ryan and Grady are younger than me, they act like they're my big brothers."
"Overprotective, eh?"
"Exactly. I'm too old to have my brothers smothering me with their good intentions, but they do it anyway. My whole family wants to spend the weekend with both of us. There will be lots and lots of questions aimed at you. If it's too much family time for you, I'll understand."
He stretched toward the bedside table to pick up his glasses, bending forward enough to bring his face within inches of my breasts. He smirked.
Slipping his glasses on, he said, "I have a horde of cousins, Keely. They poke their noses into my business on a regular basis. I think I can handle your family."
"Good, because I promised we'd be there for brunch this morning. It's at eleven o'clock."
"Are we all squeezing into your house? Sounds like a large gathering for such a small space."
"Where else would we gather?" The instant I'd asked the question, I regretted it because I knew what he would say.
"Have the brunch here."
"At your house? I don't know about that."
Evan hopped off the bed and spread his arms wide. "This is your house. I bought it for you, not for me. I've even arranged to have the place made wheelchair friendly with a stair lift and other enhancements to make it comfortable for your father."
"Last night you said you bought this house to live in."
"That's true."
"You expect me and my dad to move in with you? I don't think we're at the living-together stage yet."
"This house has five bedrooms. Pick one for yourself."
"Separate bedrooms? Not sure how I feel about that either."
He flapped his arms. "What do you want? I buy you a house, but you don't want to live with me. I offer to sleep in a different room to make you comfortable, but you don't like that either. You've never had trouble saying what you want before, so tell me."
What on earth did I want? Evan, that's what. But living together? I loved him, or I thought I did, but when I considered living with him all my old doubts came crashing through the gates of my heart.
"It's too much too soon," I said. "I need time to get used to, um, the way things are progressing. Dad and I will stay put, but we'll have the brunch here. Okay?"
"That's acceptable."
He didn't sound like he thought it was acceptable, but I decided to take him at his word. I had bigger issues to deal with, namely organizing a brunch in two hours, a brunch for everyone in my family. Impossible tasks were not my forte.
"We can't move the brunch," I said. "Serena and Chase are coming too. That means there will be nine adults and six children. We don't have time to get everything set up."
"There is time." Evan grabbed his phone off the bedside table. "If you have enough money, you can do almost anything in no time at all."
I didn't get the chance to protest.
He dialed a number and walked out of the room to arrange, or rather rearrange, our brunch plans. He hadn't bothered to even pull his pants on and instead exited buck naked.
I rushed to get my overnight bag. Evan had carried it upstairs last night while he was carrying me. The man had strength and coordination, high-level skills that let him do all sorts of things to me. Last night, we'd enjoyed each other in creative ways and in mundane ways that proved no less hot than the more inventive positions we'd tried.
I'd packed the basics I would need this morning—a T-shirt, jeans, underwear, socks, and a pair of sneakers. The clothes were wrinkled from being in the overnight bag, but I'd expected to go home to get ready for brunch. Evan had changed the plan. I'd need to adapt. So, I wandered into the en suite bathroom and splashed water on the shirt, stretching and smoothing it with my hands until it looked less wrinkled. My family would have to accept I wasn't as put together as usual today. I decided against a shower, refreshing my hair the way I'd done with my clothes. I washed off my makeup—it had smeared anyway—and opted for the au naturel look.
Should a forty-something woman go without makeup? Evan had seen me without it before, and he clearly didn't care. My family wouldn't either. I frowned at myself in the bathroom mirror. Since when did I care what other people thought of my appearance? Hooking up with a younger man had made me want to look perfect for Evan all the time. I took a deep breath and let it out gradually, releasing the anxiety.
As I crossed the threshold of the bathroom door, Evan was standing beside the bed zipping up the khaki pants he'd pulled on. He was shirtless, though.
I leaned against the doorjamb, admiring the view of his sculpted chest and six-pack abs. "Have you rearranged my whole life or just the brunch plans?"
"Only the brunch," he said as he slipped into a golden-tan, short-sleeve shirt and began buttoning it up. "Your life I'll work on later."
I wagged a finger at him. "No more buying things in hopes of talking me into accepting them as gifts."
He hooked the last button and held up one hand, palm out. "I swear on the lives of my children I will never do that again."
"You don't have children."
"I hoped you wouldn't notice that." He pushed his glasses up with one finger. "Should've known I can't fool a clever woman like you. Why don't you have children? You never told me."
"Wes wanted kids, but I wasn't comfortable having them unless we were married. Bryce claimed he didn't want children, but after he dumped me, he married his twenty-two-year-old mistress. And now they have a baby."
He sat down on the bed, socks in hand, his gaze traveling to me. "I'm sorry, Keely. You've had a bad run, haven't you?"
I hiked up my shoulders.
"Well, that's over now." He put on his socks and shoes, smiling at me with a heartbreaking sweetness. "You're with me, and I appreciate everyth
ing you are."
What could I say to that? He meant it, that much I knew.
Forty-five minutes later, we were in the backyard watching six people hustle around setting up the buffet for our brunch. Evan was consulting with the leader of this catering crew. I got the impression he had thrown a boatload of money at the problem of how to move the brunch here because I'd never heard of emergency catering before. Plus, the owner of the catering company seemed awfully happy about doing a rush job for "Mr. MacTaggart, sir" as the middle-aged man had called him.
The spry young men and women setting things up wasted no time and made no mistakes. I was impressed, but what impressed me more was that Evan wanted to meet my whole family and cared so much about making them comfortable. He'd ordered chairs, the kind with plush cushions, and a table long enough to accommodate all of us.
My family arrived an hour later.
Ryan and Grady marched straight up to Evan and shook his hand, then introduced their wives and children. Grady had two daughters, and Ryan had three boys. Evan greeted everyone in a calmly cheerful way. My mom hugged him. Dad displayed a bit less enthusiasm since he'd already met Evan.
Brunch turned into a boisterous occasion with everyone chatting and getting to know Evan. He didn't bristle at the questions Ryan and Grady asked him, not even when Grady asked if Evan was using me for the thrill of scoring an older woman and would dump me soon. Evan had replied, "I respect and care for your sister too much to treat her that way."
My brothers had been satisfied with his answer.
After everyone had left, Evan gave me a curious look. "Doesn't it feel odd to have your oldest friend taking care of your father? She's your employee."
"Technically, yes. I've known Serena for twenty-five years, and she loves Dad almost as much as I do. Who better to trust with his medical care?"
"I suppose it does make sense."
Our conversation ended there because we were wiped out. After a nap and a shower together, we lay down on the huge sofa in the living room to watch TV. He cooked me dinner and took me home, assuring me he didn't mind sleeping alone tonight so I could hang out with my family.
Evan and I spent the next day with my family too. He entertained my nieces and nephews, playing games like hopscotch and tag, then heading indoors for three rounds of Go Fish and a half-hour-long princess tea party with my nieces. I couldn't help laughing when I saw Evan MacTaggart wearing a pink, feather-laden tiara on his head.
By the time we got back to his place Sunday night, we were wiped out. In the high-ceilinged entryway, he pulled me into his embrace.
"You'll want to go home soon," he said, "so I'd better kiss you good night."
"I'd rather not go. Unless you'd prefer to sleep alone."
Evan picked me up. "Not a chance in hell of that."
He grinned and carted me up the stairs, taking them two at a time.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Evan
Monday morning after breakfast, Keely rushed home to change clothes before work while I hung around my new house wondering what to do next. Keely trusted me. She'd stayed the night because she wanted to be with me, even without sex, and she'd introduced me to her entire family. Should I do the same for her? My family life was far more complicated than hers. I wasn't sure how my mother would react to meeting the older woman I'd fallen in love with after a month together. Aileen MacTaggart had a traditional outlook on dating in spite of the fact she wouldn't tell me anything about my father.
A knot twisted in my gut. I didn't want to think about that today.
But I did need to check in with Duncan Hendry. A quick exchange of text messages assured me all was well at my mother's house.
By the time I arrived at the store, Keely was busy in her office. I wanted to go in there and talk to her, but the always-cheery Paige waylaid me. She needed help restocking the DVD racks, and after that, she asked for my help with other tasks around the store. Technically, the eighteen-year-old was my superior since she'd worked here longer and had earned the title of shift supervisor. It seemed odd to have such a young lass telling me what to do. I'd gotten used to being the CEO, the one who told everyone else what to do and made the final decisions on everything.
Until I met Keely. For her, I ignored calls and texts from Tamsen.
Which reminded me I ought to call my executive assistant.
By the time Paige released me from my enslavement, I wanted nothing more than to see Keely. Maybe it was a sorry excuse for not calling Tamsen, but I didn't care. I told Paige I'd be conferring with our boss in her office, and I clomped into Keely's office a few minutes later. I shut the door and headed straight for the sofa. When I dropped onto it, the sofa thumped into the wall.
Keely rotated her chair halfway toward me. She had a stack of papers on her desk and held one sheet in her hand. Her reading glasses perched on her nose, but that only made her more attractive and even sexier. The loose-fitting pants and blouse she wore couldn't temper her sensual appeal either. When she picked up a pen and delicately chewed on its end, I felt the blood rushing straight to my cock.
I laid my arms across the sofa's back and braced my ankle on the opposite knee. "You look ravishable this morning."
She pursed her lips as if she were annoyed, but the way one side of her mouth ticked upward gave away her game. "I wore the unsexiest, but still work appropriate, clothes I own. Guess I should've picked the baggy, faded sweatshirt and the schlumpy jeans with paint stains on them from when I repainted the bathroom."
"Wouldn't matter. I'd want to ravish you anyway." I let my gaze travel over her from head to toe and back again. "Why did you want to be unsexy? You can't pull that off no matter what you do."
"I had hoped to discourage you from seducing me in my office." She dropped her pen and flapped the paper she held. "I've gotten behind on going through the job applications. We've had a flood of them, and it's all your fault. You ought to feel guilty enough to stop teasing me."
"My fault? What did I do?"
She snorted, and even that turned me on. "All you had to do was walk around where people can see you."
"I don't understand. Is that a strange American saying?"
"No, it's the plain truth. Let me share some choice excerpts from these applications. Every one of these is an answer to the last question about why the applicant wants to work here." She snatched up a handful of papers and flipped through them one by one as she spoke. "I want to work with the hot Scottish guy. May I please have all my shifts scheduled with Evan. I want to learn about electronics from the mega hottie with the swoon-worthy accent. I would do anything to work with that gorgeous Evan." Keely shook the papers in her hand, but her slight smirk told me she wasn't angry. "See? All your fault."
"Can't help it if women find me attractive."
"The last comment was from a man."
"Don't be jealous. I'm interested in only one woman." I paused for one point five seconds to be melodramatic. "Is Paige seeing anyone?"
Keely tossed the papers onto her desk. They scattered, but she didn't bother straightening them. "Sorry, but Paige has a boyfriend."
I stretched my legs out to set them on the table. "I want you, Keely. No one else. I'm sorry if my presence here has caused you trouble, but it won't be a problem anymore. I hereby resign from my employment at Vic's Electronics Superstore."
She plucked her glasses off her nose and tossed them onto the desktop. "You don't have to quit because of these applications. I was being sarcastic."
"I know that, but I was planning to quit anyway. I've left Tamsen to deal with the company alone for too long, and I have personal issues to handle. It's time for me to go back to Scotland."
Her shoulders caved in, and she slumped back in her chair. "Already? I mean, I knew you'd leave sometime but…"
I dropped my foot to the floor and leaned forward. "Will you miss me?"
Her head jerked as if I'd surprised her. "Of course I will."
>
Next came the part where I took the biggest risk of my life. It felt like the biggest risk, that was for certain. Denying the thugs who'd been blackmailing me was more dangerous and a bigger threat to my business and the safety of the ones I loved, but what I was about to ask Keely had my stomach twisting and my throat going dry.
I sat forward and cleared my throat. "Will you come with me?"
She straightened, tugging on the hem of her blouse. "I'd love to, but I can't. Got too much to do around here."
"Vic told me you have six weeks of vacation time saved up."
"Yes, but the store needs me."
"Maybe it does." I rose and approached her desk, kneeling in front of her. I settled my hands on her knees. "But I need you more."
Her mouth opened, but she said nothing.
"Please, Keely." I grasped her hands. "Please come with me."
"Evan, I—" She swallowed hard enough I saw the movement in her throat. "I want to, I do. But my dad…the store…"
"I spoke to your father this morning. Your mother decided to stay in town for a few weeks, which means both she and Serena will be around to help your father. When I told Gary my plans, he thought it was a wonderful idea to take you with me." I lifted her hands to kiss the knuckles one by one. "Let me show you my real home in the Highlands, Ballachulish and Loch Fairbairn."
"You're going home home? Where your mother lives?"
"Aye. She'll be wanting to meet you."
My mouth had turned to cotton—bone-dry, scratchy cotton. A pain started in the back of my throat while I waited for her response. Never before had I wanted a relationship with a woman, much less to take her home to my family. My cousins would love Keely. My mother might be prickly about it.
Keely nodded once. "Yes, I would love to go with you."
A smile broke across her face like a sunrise on a clear spring morning, bright and full of life. It lit her up like a sunrise too.
I couldn't resist. I threw my arms around her waist and stood up, carrying her with me, and hugged her so tight she must've had trouble breathing. She looped her arms around my neck, holding on to me just as tightly.