Too Sweet to Be Good

by K. M. Jackson

  “That was my favorite part too,” he said. “Well, watching you acting it out.”

  She froze briefly then grinned, her cheeks coloring with the most delicious berry hue. “Was my acting that over the top? Now I’m embarrassed. I must have made a fool of myself. I always go too far when I get excited about something. Breaking out into song and scene at the drop of a hat.” She looked around, then waved a hand at him before shoving a big bite of steak in her mouth. “Let’s hurry up and eat. You can throw me in a cab and we can get this night over with. You must have been so embarrassed. Here we are having a nice night out and I’m about as classy as Charity Valentine.”

  He laughed. “Slow down, sister. Have a glass of wine. I think after all the work we’ve been doing, we both deserve a bit of an escape. But seriously, you really do have a passion for the theater. I don’t understand you giving it up.”

  He watched as a bit of the light dimmed from her eyes. “Oh, this? It’s nothing. I have a passion, sure. But passion and talent are two different things.”

  “Not for you they’re not,” he said. “It’s obvious they go hand in hand. If doors are being closed on you, why don’t you find a window you can break open?”

  She snorted. “That sounds like a felony to me. Trust me, I don’t need a record, mister.”

  He laughed. It was nice to get out of his own head for awhile and think of someone else’s problems for a change. He thought of the little clips he had of her from when she was at the theater and the one from when she was in the field, right before their first kiss. It was almost embarrassing how many times he reviewed it on his phone. He looked at her. “You know, I bet there are those who would love to watch you on video.”

  She shot him a sharp look. “Where have I heard that before?”

  Kellen put up his hands and shook his head. “I’m not going to ask, but hear me out. I’m asking you to think out of the box here. If auditioning is not working out for you, why not create your own space. People do it on the Internet all the time. And, hey, you never know where it might lead.”

  She opened her mouth to protest, then shut it quickly, her brows coming together as she seemed to think over his words. Then she shook her head. “I don’t know, it all sounds great, but those success stories are one in a million.”

  He sighed. “Aren’t those the stats for every success story? But still it didn’t stop you from going out and pounding the pavement time and time again on auditions, did it?”

  She frowned, and he could see the images of the rejections as they washed over her, and in that moment he regretted bringing them to her mind.

  Finally, she spoke up again. “I can see your point, but you don’t understand. You see where I’m from. My parents are just starting to live their lives and barely able to do just that. It’s time I started thinking a lot more seriously about them and all they’ve sacrificed for me. A person can’t go through life just playacting at fulfilling her dreams.”

  Something in her words stopped him cold as at the same time he heard his name come from over his shoulder.

  “Kellen Kilborn, I thought that was you.”

  Kellen turned, not wanting to put face to the voice that was attached to the words. But he did. Jamina Ronson. “Yes, it is you. I thought surely that can’t be Kellen Kilborn here having a late night in New York.” She paused and let her eyes slowly and coldly assess Alexandrea. “Since you couldn’t make it to my RPG new acquisition meet and greet last week.”

  Kellen bit back a groan and plastered on a smile as he removed a hand that he didn’t even realize was covering Alexandrea’s and gave Jamina a wave and stood. “Jamina, it’s great to see you. What are you doing in New York this weekend?”

  Her eyes narrowed despite her deep crimson smile. “Me? I should be asking you the same thing.”

  Kellen fought not to sputter. But still, he found himself making excuses. “I’m here on business with my grandmother.”

  Jamina’s eyes went to Drea. “I can see that.”

  Kellen looked Drea’s way and everything in him willed her not to blurt out anything about the Redheart. Thankfully she didn’t, but as they were all in the same place and time, he had no other choice but to introduce the two women.

  “Alexandrea Gale, this is Jamina Ronson of The Ronson Group.”

  Kellen noticed Boots’ almost imperceptible tightening of her lips as her nostrils flared slightly. Boots stood, and he couldn’t help but notice her uniquely slim but lush figure was almost polar opposite to the sleek, somehow too put together Jamina.

  She gave Jamina Ronson a cool up and down that rivaled the one she just got. Kellen would have laughed if the situation wasn’t fraught with so many pitfalls. But as if a switch was flipped, she suddenly smiled brightly and reached out to shake Jamina’s hand. “Nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you. Your reputation precedes you,” she said.

  Jamina gave Drea a cool smile in return. “I’m glad to hear it. If they are not talking about you, then you might as well be dead. Or so they say.”

  Drea pulled a face. “I don’t know about that. Dead is pretty final. But I’m not going to argue with you. You’re the one with the reputation preceding and all.”

  Kellen wouldn’t mind being dead in this moment or at least out of this situation.

  The young man next to Jamina looked to be in his early twenties, and about ten years or so younger than Jamina. He seemed to be about to introduce himself when Drea intercepted and started speaking. She held out her hand to the younger guy. “Hi, I’m Drea. I feel like I’ve seen you before. Don’t you train over at Core Circuits and More? No, wait, didn’t I see you dance in XPat’s latest video?” The young man, who was trying to look stoic up until that moment, perked up and gave Drea a beaming grin.

  “Yes, that was me. I’m Rick and I do train there. Part time. I do personal training too, for special clients.”

  Jamina gave him a quick nudge in his side and he gave her a sheepish side-eye and looked back at Drea with a grin. “I have many part-time jobs,” he said low, under his breath.

  Drea nodded then and Kellen couldn’t help but notice Jamina’s bored expression as her eyes moved away from her and Rick with the fine core and all her focus went back to him. Jamina sidled up to him then and snaked her arm through his. His body suddenly stiffened, giving away his emotions.

  “It’s a shame you two are just finishing up right when we’re coming in. We would have joined you.” She looked Kellen in the eye. “As you know, there are things to discuss.”

  He gave her a long stare. “And we will. But now is not the time.” He looked to her friend, Rick. “It was good to meet you, man. I’m sure your table is ready.”

  Jamina continued to give Kellen a hard stare, then her gaze went over to Drea. Then back to him. “That’s fine, Kellen. You’re right. Now is not the time, since both our hands are full. You just be sure when the time is right, you have my theater in hand.”

  Though she did no more than blink, Kellen felt Boots’ reaction in that moment as if it was a hard right to his left jaw. Wham!

  He glanced at Drea, their eyes connecting for a moment, hers giving him that blazing fire thing that she did so well, but amped up to blowtorch status. She turned to Jamina and flashed her brightest smile. “It was so nice meeting you. Next time, maybe we can get in on one of Rick’s classes together. He really is incredible when it comes to core workouts.” Then her gaze strode over to Rick, slow, languid, and incredibly sexy, before she landed on Jamina again and chuckled. “But then again, I don’t have to tell you that, now do I?”

  Chapter 20

  Speed

  Renovation work over the next few weeks went at a much faster clip than anticipated. But everything else in Kellen’s life felt like it was going impossibly slow, stuttered and uneven. Even his breathing felt ragged.

  After Jamina, in all her perfect timing, had interrupted the almost perfect day and night Kellen and Drea were enjoying, there seemed to be no coming back
from it. Kellen had tried to explain once they left the restaurant and in the cab home, but Drea seemed to have shut down, shaking her head.

  “You know what, no; you don’t have to do that, Suit. You don’t owe me any answers or excuses. I don’t need them and frankly I don’t want them. This whole Redheart deal is your business. Your grandmother hired me to do a job and I’m getting paid to do that job. Beyond that, I have no control.”

  He knew it was awful, but part of him had been relieved by her response. Even though he knew the implications of it. Still, fool that he was, it didn’t stop him from reaching across the car seat and attempting to place his hand on hers.

  Idiot. Why should she have expected any less when she pulled away? She folded her hands on her lap. Way too quickly they were pulling up to her place and she was facing him. “Thanks so much for the show.” She had put on what he’d now come to know as one of her well-trained acting voices, sounding like a cultured British woman straight out of a period piece. “Miss Alexandrea Gale gives her most heartfelt regards,” she said, and she reached for the door handle.

  He felt his cheeks burn with embarrassment then. Not only was she mad over the whole Jamina thing, but he’d blundered it further by using her full name. He let out a long breath. “What was I supposed to do, Drea, introduce you as Boots?”

  She shot him a glare. “I don’t know, but maybe you could have dropped the pretense at least a bit. And if you chose not to be honest with Jamina Ronson, you could have been honest with your grandmother, with me, or at least yourself.” She had let out a frustrated huff and rubbed a hand across her forehead as she blinked back what he feared were unshed tears. “You know what? I’ve said too much and gone too far. You were right all along. I should mind my own business. It was silly of me to have forgotten that.”

  Once again Kellen reached for her, and she pulled away; still he didn’t want her to go. He didn’t want her to leave his side. Not tonight, not tomorrow night, not any night that he could imagine. He wanted to be with her and it had nothing to do with her dress or her lips or her shapely exposed ankles.... Well, maybe something to do with her ankles, but still he wanted to be with her to talk to her and explain the churning feeling he had going on inside him.

  “Alexandrea, please,” he started as she went for the door handle.

  She turned to him, her smile bright once again and a total kick to the gut. Damn, she really wasn’t a bad actress at all. “I told you I get nervous when you call me that, Suit. Thanks again. I’ll see you in the morning for our flight. Please thank your grandmother again for the tickets. Ta-ta!”

  Kellen could do nothing else but laugh against the pain as he watched her leave. Ta-ta indeed, Miss Gale.

  * * *

  And he did thank his grandmother, though she wasn’t too happy with his thanks or his attitude when he had nothing fantastic to report after seeing the show. Way too perceptive, even with Drea’s stellar acting skills, she picked up on the tension between the two of them, and that was saying a lot given their history. Still Kellen was grateful for the fact that with them bickering less, and the reno in full swing, his grandmother was so wrapped up in it that she’d barely had time to focus on any more elaborate matchmaking scenes. She was like a woman on a mission. He tried to make her slow down, fearing she was pushing herself too hard, but she would not be deterred.

  His grandmother even went as far as to send him back home late one morning for her plan book, which she had forgotten on her shelf. Kellen was rushing back when he was slowed down by a late model sedan on the service road in front of him. Pumping his brakes, he bit back a curse when he noticed who it was. Boots. What was she doing here? Usually she was at the theater by this time. Trying her best to be in whatever part of the building he was not.

  Seeing her in front of him made him immediately think of his own growing hunger and how much he’d missed his morning breakfasts at Goode ’N Sweet. He showed up at the bakery the Monday after their return and was shocked when Miss Joyce opened the door for him at 7:00 on the dot instead of Boots, who’d stayed firmly behind the counter making herself busy with other customers the whole time he was there. She did the same for two days following, so he’d decided to give her space.

  The whole idea of it made his blood boil. The coffee just wasn’t the same if she didn’t make it!

  Frustrated, Kellen revved his engine and whirled around her, sparing her a quick glance as he shot past her on his way up the road.

  * * *

  Of all the freaking jerks! First he thinks he can humiliate me in New York, then stop coming in for my breakfast, act all two-faced in the theater, and then he had the nerve to pass me in that souped-up roadster of his!

  Drea was mad. No, she was more than mad; she was furious, and the object of her ferocity was currently speeding away in front of her like he owned the road as well as her heart. Well, she’d show him. Drea hit the gas and willed her dad’s old sedan to go like never before as she fought to gain on Kellen and his sleek sports car. When she reached him and was neck and neck, she suddenly didn’t know what to do so she looked him in the eye, then stuck out her tongue. His reaction, instead of being one of outrage, came back at her as only confusion.

  Crap. Who was she? Who stuck out their tongue? It wasn’t like she’d passed him. She tried to floor it, but the old car wouldn’t do it. It couldn’t push past him and it started to sputter and cough, making her afraid it was going to peter out.

  Not now, old girl, don’t embarrass me like this.

  Sputter, cough, cough, sputter. She was pushing it too hard. With a sigh Drea let off the gas and pulled to the side of the road. Letting Kellen go and herself and the car both catch their breath. He wasn’t worth it anyway. The project was going well. It would be done in a matter of weeks and she could get on with her life. A life where she would not have to see Kellen Kilborn ever again. New York or maybe even LA—she hadn’t decided yet, but both were starting to look more and more appealing.

  Drea looked up as she saw another car approaching from the front. What the—? Did he turn around? Kellen had turned around and was now pulling up behind her. She briefly thought about slinking down in her seat and hiding, but nope, that wouldn’t work. Bracing herself, she turned to him as he rushed over to her window.

  “Yes,” she said as if this was the most normal greeting.

  “What was that all about back there?” he asked, his eyes slightly wide. “Are you and the car okay?”

  She looked around at first, guilt grabbing her, but then it quickly turned to anger. “The car is fine and I’m fine too. And I should be asking you what you’re about. Who do you think you are speeding around me like that? You don’t own the road, you know. You can’t just do whatever you want, contrary to what you may think.”

  He let out a breath. “You’re right. I was an idiot for doing that. I don’t know what came over me. I was completely stupid.”

  “Well, you’re right about at least that, Slick.”

  He rolled his eyes. “So, I’ve gone from Suit to Slick?”

  She shrugged. “If the slick suit fits.”

  Kellen let out a breath. “Come on, that’s not fair.”

  She got out of the car and slammed the door, meeting him face to face, then instantly realized that might not have been the best idea. It had been a while since they were in such close proximity. “What do you know about fair? Is it fair that you’re essentially lying to your grandmother with this whole reno ruse? Why are you even doing it if you plan on selling the space to that Jamina woman? How can you do that when you know how much it means to Mrs. Betty?”

  She saw his jaw harden as he said, “You’re talking about something you don’t even know about. I have the company’s future to think about—there are employees, a history to consider, and a legacy to build.”

  Drea folded her arms across her chest. “You say all that and then tell me I don’t understand. Man, you really are dense. Seriously, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to f
igure things out, but you act like you have to take the world apart and put it back together again. And here you were talking to me in New York about out-of-the-box thinking and all that. Why aren’t you doing the same? There are builders here that you could utilize to do exactly what the Ronsons want to do and keep it all in the community. What I don’t get is why you’re continuing the ruse. Why don’t you just tell your grandmother straight out that you’re a sham? That you’re still going forward with that Ronson woman.”

  He looked at her hard and the look seemed to cut her right to her core. “How about for the same reason that you haven’t told her? I don’t want to break her heart.”

  Drea was just about to say something when the words got held up in her throat. He was right. She could have said something to Mrs. Betty and, if not Mrs. Betty, then at least to her aunt, which would have been practically the same as telling Mrs. Betty. Why didn’t she?

  Just then Kellen’s phone buzzed and he reached in his pocket. Drea watched as he clicked it over, answered, and then his face seemed to pale.

  “Yes, I’ll be right there,” he said, clicking off but not moving.

  Drea looked at him as fear suddenly grabbed her by the throat. “What is it, Kellen? Why are you not moving?” He blinked and then looked at her. “It’s . . . it’s my grandmother. She was feeling short of breath at the theater and they took her over to county hospital. I—I have to go.”

  Oh God. Not Mrs. Betty. Drea blinked back tears that seemed to spring out of nowhere, but then she looked at Kellen, who seemed in no shape to drive. She reached into her car, grabbed her purse, and locked the doors. Turning to Kellen, she took him by the hand and led him to his car, opening the passenger side door. “Get in.”

  “It’s okay,” he said. “I’ve got it. Don’t worry about me.”

  She looked at him sternly. “Be quiet, Suit. I’ve got you.”