A Kiss For You

by Rachel Van Dyken

  “Yeah. Yeah, you did. Wow!”

  Heidi chuckled some more, and I couldn’t help it; I joined in.

  “God, you’re such a bitch.”

  “You love me anyway.”

  “True,” I admitted.

  “So…Landon is back in town?” Heidi asked. Her eyes met mine, and then she glanced away immediately.

  I narrowed my eyes in confusion at her strange body language. “Yeah. He just got into town with his wife. Not so great timing.”

  “Did you see Miranda? Was she there?”

  “Nah. Lucky for us. Sort of, I guess.”

  “Yeah. She’s a nutjob.”

  I nodded. “That’s true. But Landon got upset when he saw Jensen and I together.”

  “Landon is a big boy. He’s a grown-up and married and living halfway across the country. He shouldn’t be upset.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “But you didn’t see his face when he saw us together. I know I haven’t talked to him in forever, but I feel bad for Jensen that we didn’t tell him. After all, he’s his brother and, we probably should have said something when we realized things were getting serious.”

  “Serious?”

  “I guess we’re official now,” I told her with a grin.

  The idea that Jensen was my boyfriend was too exciting to contain.

  Heidi screamed and jumped up and down. “Okay. Well, we definitely need to toast to that.”

  We hurried over to the bar, and Peter poured us some fancy shots that promised to knock us both on our asses. I tipped back mine and could already feel the ramifications of that drink coming on strong. I excused myself to use the restroom, and when I returned, I told Heidi the full details of my weekend with Jensen. I still felt rotten about leaving Landon and Jensen together like that, but it was good to be with my girlfriend. To not have to worry about it at all.

  I was on my third round, and I was unsure of where that put Heidi. If we kept this up, both of us were going to have to cab it back home. I was just debating whether or not to nurse this one for the rest of the night when Heidi perked up in her seat.

  “What?” I asked. I was more attuned to my friend’s behavior than anyone else I’d ever known.

  “Don’t hate me.”

  “Oh God, I already do.” I glanced over my shoulder and saw none other than Landon Wright walking into the bar.

  He looked the same as I’d left him back with Jensen. Dressed down in a polo and jeans, he shrugged out of his jacket to reveal his perpetually sun-kissed skin from hours of golfing outdoors in Florida.

  “Did you invite him here?” I accused.

  “Well, he texted me to find out where you were…and ta-da.”

  “You’re right. I do hate you.”

  Landon’s gaze caught mine from across the room, and his mouth ticked up into a smile. He strode toward us with a purpose that I recognized from my recent, vivid acquaintance with his brother. It was a swagger that I was very familiar with. Strange, considering I didn’t really compare Jensen to Landon when we were together. But it felt impossible not to compare Landon to Jensen.

  “Hey,” he said, slinging his jacket onto the back of the seat next to mine.

  “Hi.”

  “Hey, Landon!” Heidi said with a big grin.

  His eyes moved to Heidi’s and softened briefly. “Hey, Heidi. Thanks for the info.”

  “For sure. Why don’t you two just…” She trailed off, swallowed, and then darted back to the pool table.

  “Do you mind?” Landon asked, gesturing to the empty seat.

  I shook my head and concentrated on my drink.

  “Emery, I didn’t mean to ambush you,” he said at once.

  “Why not? I kind of ambushed you.”

  He breathed out heavily. “Not on purpose.”

  “True.”

  “I just wanted to apologize.”

  I turned my head to look at him again. What was with these Wrights that I always got apologies out of them? They were the kind of men who probably didn’t use the word much.

  “You want to apologize to me?”

  “Yeah, I just saw you there…with him…and I kind of blew a gasket.”

  “I noticed that.”

  “Which I had no right to do.”

  I would have freaked out if I had hypothetically found out he was dating Kimber. Jensen and I should have fixed this long before it got here. I knew that. I’d just been too blissful to consider what would happen and where things were going. I hadn’t wanted to do anything that could hurt something so fragile. And our relationship was fragile.

  “How are you and Jensen?” I asked carefully.

  Landon ground his teeth and motioned for Peter to give him a beer. “I needed some time to cool off.”

  “So, you came to me?” I arched an eyebrow. “Don’t think we were ever the cool-off type. I think we argued most of the time.”

  “Only so we could make up,” he said with a grin.

  I shrugged, unable to deny it. “You know, Jensen and I didn’t mean for it to happen.”

  “I don’t really want to know,” he said, holding up a hand. “It might have been ten years, Emery, but it’s still weird to me.”

  “It’s weird to me, too.”

  “Just…be careful,” Landon said. He dropped his hand onto my shoulder and looked me deep in the eyes. “I love my brother. But he’s an asshole, and he’s bad with women. Plus, he has more baggage than the rest of our family combined, and I think one Wright has hurt you enough for a lifetime. I wouldn’t want to see you like that again.”

  I pulled back and let his hand drop off my shoulder. “I know about Jensen’s reputation and his past. I know that he hasn’t always made the right decisions with women. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s going to fuck this up, too. If I thought he was playing me, I wouldn’t be in his life. This is me we’re talking about, Landon.”

  “I know,” he whispered. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

  I sighed and shook my head. “You know what? I’ve had enough crap for one weekend. I apologized for not telling you about Jensen, but I’m not leaving him because of it. And I’m not being naive about our relationship.”

  “I don’t think you know him.”

  “You’re right,” I conceded. “I definitely do not know him like you do. How could I? But that doesn’t mean I don’t care for him and want to get to know him.”

  “I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”

  I stood from my seat and reached for my drink. “It’s about ten years too late for that, Landon.”

  Landon winced, and I could see that my jab had cut deep. We both knew it. This was why he’d ignored all my messages after graduation. This was why we hadn’t really spoken since.

  “That’s fair. I deserve that,” he said.

  “Let me take care of myself. I’ve been doing it long enough without your help. So, why don’t we go and play some pool with Heidi and hang out for a while? I’d love to see Heidi hustle you like old times.”

  Landon glanced down at his phone. He grimaced, and I had to gather his wife was messaging him.

  “Okay, but I don’t have that long. Miranda is almost finished shopping. It would be bad for both of our health if she found us in the same place, let alone at a bar.”

  “She seems a bit…controlling,” I ventured as we joined Heidi at the pool table.

  “I really do not want to talk about her.”

  I held my hands up. “Okay.”

  “What don’t we want to talk about?” Heidi asked. Her eyes darted back and forth between me and Landon. She had this little worried tilt to her mouth.

  She was seriously confusing me.

  Was she…vibing on Landon?

  No way. That couldn’t be it.

  It had to be that she was just concerned about me and Landon being in the same vicinity after everything that had happened with Jensen.

  “Miranda,” Landon said gently.

  “Is she coming here?�
�� Heidi asked, her voice rising an octave.

  “God, no.”

  “We’re trying to make sure everyone makes it out of this alive. I mostly want to see you kick Landon’s ass in pool. So, hop to. Make this happen for me,” I said to Heidi.

  Heidi grinned devilishly. Her eyes swept to Landon. “You rack, and I’ll break.”

  “I’d expect nothing less,” he said as he got to work.

  And, suddenly, the three of us were back in high school. We’d spent countless nights at Heidi’s dad’s bar playing pool and having a good time. Half of the time, one of Heidi’s boyfriends would show up. There was a lot of making out in back booths and trying to convince someone to get us drinks and a whole lot less actual pool.

  So, this felt normal and comfortable.

  I never thought I’d feel like this around Landon Wright again.

  And it was nice.

  Chapter 24

  Jensen

  One more call couldn’t hurt.

  I’d told myself that after the last five calls.

  But Emery still hadn’t picked up.

  After Landon had stormed out of my house, I’d called Morgan, and she came over. She hadn’t known that Landon was coming in early either. So, she hadn’t been able to warn me. Though she thought the whole thing was poetic justice.

  I thought she was full of shit. I had been planning to tell Landon. That wasn’t bullshit, as Morgan kept insinuating. But a part of me had known he would freak out. I’d told myself that I never would have gone after her if I’d known who she was. I’d told myself I never would have touched her if I’d thought she was staying in town. I’d told myself I’d stay away from her when I knew she was here for good.

  With Emery, I couldn’t seem to keep my promises to myself. And I didn’t want to.

  I didn’t believe in coincidences. If I kept running into her, it was for a reason. Not on accident. And I wasn’t about to walk away from someone just because of what might be.

  But I hadn’t wanted to face Landon. That much was for sure. And it had gone much worse than I had anticipated.

  I didn’t know what he was doing. I didn’t know what Emery was doing. And I just wanted to make this all right.

  Landon was wrong about me hiding my problems. I’d fixed one problem this weekend when I bought Tarman Corporation out from under Marc’s nose. I could fix this one with Landon a lot quicker if I could talk to my girlfriend.

  Except she wasn’t answering her phone.

  Morgan gave me a worried look. “Maybe you should let it go.”

  I wanted to throw my phone across the room. “I can’t just let it go. Landon is out there, pissed off at me. Emery isn’t answering my calls. What the fuck am I supposed to do, Morgan?”

  “I don’t know. You made this mess.”

  “Well aware of that. Thanks.”

  “Look, I’m not patronizing you. But you knew this was going to happen. You knew that you would have to tell Landon.”

  “And I planned to,” I told her for what felt like the hundredth time.

  “Then, you should have just done it.”

  “You’re right,” I said with a sigh. “Do you have Heidi’s number?”

  Morgan frowned. “I might.”

  “I need it.”

  “No.”

  “Why not?” I asked tersely.

  “Emery is not answering your calls for a reason, Jensen. Give her some time. I’m sure that she is freaking out about all of this. No one likes to be ambushed.”

  “So, I should let her walk?”

  “That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying, give her space. If you were the one freaking out, would you want her to bombard you?”

  I closed my eyes and sighed. That was how I had reacted with every other woman post-Vanessa. I hadn’t liked to be bothered. I’d wanted my space. I hadn’t slept. I’d just worked. That had been my life. I didn’t know what it was like anymore.

  “Normally, no, but right now, I’m considering going to her house to see if she’s there.”

  Morgan rolled her eyes. “You men, so dramatic.”

  “What if this were Patrick?” I countered.

  “This also has nothing to do with me or Patrick. Stop projecting. I cannot believe I’m even having this conversation with you. With Austin, sure. He’s the one who fucks everything up. He even fucked up whatever was going on with that girl in HR.”

  “Julia?” I asked. “They were together?”

  Morgan shrugged. “They’re not anymore. But I thought you were always the one who had your shit together. Austin always has trouble with women. Landon has Miranda.” She scoffed. “Enough said. But your life is put together, even with everything going on with Vanessa. Why are you acting crazy over one girl?”

  “I care about her. And I care about Landon. I don’t want to see either of them hurt. Not knowing is making me feel insane. I have to go out there and do something.”

  I reached for my jacket and pocketed the keys to my car.

  “What exactly are you going to go do?” Morgan demanded, following me into the garage.

  “I don’t know. I’ll make it up as I go along.”

  I hurried past the empty space where my black Mercedes always rested and hopped into my truck. Morgan stood, watching, as if she wanted to jump into the passenger seat or talk some sense into me. I noticed the exact moment when she decided it wouldn’t matter. She sighed and looked resigned.

  “Will you let me know how it goes?” Morgan asked.

  I nodded briskly and then pulled out of the garage. Before I had a second thought, I was already barreling across town. The logical explanation was that Emery was at home. She’d wanted to check on Kimber to make sure everything was all right. They were probably up late, talking, or maybe they had gone to sleep.

  Except I didn’t believe that.

  I didn’t know why.

  But I just had this feeling. A gut instinct.

  I wanted to shake it, but I wouldn’t until I saw for myself that she was there. I careened down Milwaukee Avenue, out toward her sister’s house. Pent-up tension and energy coursed through me. I felt on edge about her lack of response to my messages.

  I parked my truck across the street and killed the engine. Shoving my hands in my pockets against the cold, I dashed across the street and up to the front door. I went to ring the doorbell and then shook my head. I couldn’t ring the doorbell because Lilyanne could be asleep. That would be a real dick move. I didn’t want to wake her up. They probably had a crazy routine to even get her to sleep in the first place. Instead, I knocked on the door and hoped someone was up to hear it.

  After about a minute, the door cracked open, and Kimber’s face appeared. “Jensen?” she asked in surprise.

  “Hey, Kimber. I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

  “Oh, you didn’t. It’s almost time, and it makes it kind of hard to sleep.” She placed her hand on her belly and gave me a genuine smile. “Can I help you?”

  “I was hoping to talk to Emery.”

  Kimber frowned. “She went out hours ago to meet Heidi. She hasn’t come home yet.”

  “Oh,” I said slowly. “I see.”

  “Have you tried her cell?”

  “A couple of times.”

  “Heidi is a bit of a bad influence. Love the girl to death and back, but they’re trouble together. I can’t even tell you what they went through in high school.”

  “I believe it.”

  “Do you want me to give her a call and see where she is? I didn’t even check before she left.”

  “Uh, no. That’s all right.”

  “Just come on inside. It will only be a minute,” Kimber said with a kind smile.

  I ducked inside without another protest.

  She shuffled over to her phone and then smiled. “I have a text here. Looks like Emery is on her way home. She should be here soon, I guess.”

  I clenched my jaw and then released it. Emery was responding to Kimber’s messages but not mine
? What the fuck?

  Something was wrong here. I could feel it. I could sense it. But I didn’t know what was happening.

  “You can stay and wait if you want?” Kimber offered.

  “Oh no,” I said immediately, backing away. “Uh, no. I’ll check in with her tomorrow. If she’s safe, then that’s fine by me.”

  Kimber tilted her head in worry. “Are you sure?”

  “Completely,” I said.

  Then, I exited the house and hurried back to my truck. The reasonable and rational thing to do would be to wait until Emery got home. I wanted to talk to her about Landon—the things that had been said and the things that I suspected about Landon. I needed to clear the air. I needed to figure out why they had broken up and what Landon had meant about me not knowing her.

  But maybe tonight really wasn’t the best night for it. Maybe we should have that conversation when I was in a better headspace.

  I shook my head at my own frustrations and then put the truck into gear. I touched the accelerator and hurried down the road. I was almost out of the neighborhood when my eyes cut to the car that was passing me—a black Mercedes.

  There was nothing special about it. Nothing to draw my eye at all. It was a plain, standard black Mercedes. It should have been completely unidentifiable. Any number of people could have the same car in this neighborhood where wealth was on display.

  But my instincts told me it didn’t belong to just anyone.

  My instincts told me that it belonged to me.

  I waited until the car passed me before making my decision. I did a U-turn in the middle of the street and slowly drove back to Emery’s house. When I turned onto her street, I cut my lights and parked two houses down the street. My stomach cramped, and tension bottled in my shoulders. My hands were white on the steering wheel. Of all the scenarios I had concocted in my head, this had never been one of them.

  The Mercedes was parked at Emery’s house. The Mercedes that Landon had driven off in earlier that day. He always had access to my cars when he was in town. I’d never cared what he drove or when. Getting a rental when I had a garage full of cars seemed ridiculous. Now, I couldn’t believe that he was using my car to come here.

  The passenger door opened. My gaze darted to it in surprise. Then, Emery stepped out, and my hands shook in disbelief.