by Lisa Childs
She smiled as if she was amused that he’d defended her—to her. “Why didn’t you let me do what I think is right now and let me stay home?” she asked.
“I told my mom I would bring you to dinner,” he said. “She really wants to get to know you better.”
“Which is why I didn’t want to come,” Kylie said. “I can lie to Detective Parker no problem but not your mother.”
“You never lied to yours?” he asked with genuine curiosity. Though it was clearly a difficult subject for her, he wanted to know more about Kylie, especially the difficult subjects.
She released a shaky sigh. “I did...when I visited her in prison. I lied and told her that I was fine, that I wasn’t getting teased at school, that living with Grandma was just as good as living with her.” Her voice cracked with emotion. “Then she killed herself.”
Heath gasped. “Oh, my God, Kylie... I am so sorry.” He was most sorry about not knowing everything she’d endured and survived in her life.
“Not your fault,” she murmured.
“Not yours either,” he said. “I hope you know that.”
She nodded. “I do. I know.”
But he wasn’t so certain she’d really absolved herself of guilt or if she was only trying to reassure him that she had no lingering effects from her traumatic upbringing.
“Why haven’t you ever told me about your past?” he asked, as he felt a little twinge of regret and concern that she might not have trusted him to know about it, about her.
She shrugged. “Because it’s the past. I can’t change it. I can’t undo it, and I certainly don’t want anyone to pity me over it.”
She was so strong, so brave, so determined. And he was so damn impressed. He’d never had any challenges in his life like she had in hers—until now—until the murders of his father and uncle.
He reached across the console and slid his arm around her shoulders, pulling her in for slight hug.
“I said I don’t want anyone’s pity,” she said, her voice muffled against his shoulder. “Especially not yours.”
“Why especially not me?” he asked, as that little twinge of hurt struck his heart again.
“Because I work for you,” she said with a little snort of derision, as if the reason was obvious.
It hadn’t been obvious to him.
“Is that the only way you think of me, as your boss?” he asked. He wished so much that he’d already made her a partner in the business like he’d intended before those police officers had showed up at his penthouse door asking him to identify bodies.
“You are my boss,” she said, her slim body tense against his.
“I thought we were more than that,” he said.
“That’s just an act,” she replied. “Just to support your alibi.”
His false alibi. “I meant that I thought we’re friends,” he explained. “And I need your friendship right now more than I ever have.”
“Oh, Heath,” she murmured and slid her arms around him. “Of course we’re friends. That’s why I did what I did.”
“And it’s why you’re going to go inside that house with me,” he said. “Because you’re my friend.”
She pulled back and lightly smacked his shoulder. “You manipulator.”
He grinned at her accusation. “I don’t want to disappoint my mother,” he said.
But he was disappointed—disappointed that she wasn’t as affected as he’d been by that kiss and by the hug he’d given her, that had his body tense with the desire that had gripped him when he’d kissed her. He wanted to kiss her again...so damn badly.
So he leaned down and brushed his mouth across hers. Her lips were so silky and so damn sweet. He nibbled at her bottom one, deepening the kiss. His heart pounded against his ribs as desire rushed through him.
She slid her fingers into his hair, but instead of tugging him away, she pulled him closer, and she kissed him back for a moment. But just a moment before she pulled away with a little pant for breath.
Then she murmured, “Somebody’s watching us.”
He nodded. But he had no idea. He had only kissed her because he’d wanted to, because he’d needed to kiss her again. It had done what he had wanted it to do. It had confirmed that he hadn’t imagined the passion that burned between them when their lips touched.
“We should get in the house then,” she murmured, and when she reached for the handle on the passenger’s door, her hand was visibly shaking.
Was she nervous about lying to his family and trying to fool them? Or was she nervous, like he was, that maybe the only people they were fooling were themselves?
* * *
Kylie had hopped out of his vehicle because she had thought it would be safer inside the house—with Heath’s family—than to be alone any longer with him in the close confines of his car.
That kiss...
She wasn’t certain for whose benefit he’d kissed her, but she suspected more than one of his family members had witnessed it—because they had pounced the minute they’d walked in the door—like they’d been watching for them.
Or watching them.
But their attention hadn’t given her that creepy sensation she’d had the night before, when she’d walked out of the building where Colton Connections was located and she’d noticed that shadow at the window on the ninth floor.
Whoever had watched her then had unnerved her.
She was a little unnerved by the Colton family, as well, though. From some of the smiles directed at them, it was obvious that they had witnessed the kiss. Or maybe they were just smiling over Heath’s over-the-top, affectionate behavior with her. He’d never acted that way with anyone else she had known he dated, and some of his family confirmed Heath had never acted that way with anyone he had dated before Kylie had met him either.
“This is a new side of you, Heath,” his sister Carly remarked. She was so pretty with her pale blond hair and bright blue eyes. “Usually you would leave a date to fend for herself amongst us while you talked business with...” Her voice trailed off as she must have been about to state that he would have talked business with Ernie and Alfie.
Her brother Jones came to Carly’s rescue with a remark. “You don’t even seem to want to leave Kylie’s side. Don’t trust us alone with her?”
“You?” Heath asked with an arched brow at his younger brother. “Not at all...” But then he flashed a wicked grin at her before turning back to his brother to finish, “But don’t take it personally. I don’t want to leave her alone with anyone or no one at all.”
Kylie’s heart skipped a beat over his words and the wicked grin that accompanied them. Was he teasing? Or flirting?
With her?
“I thought you two always spent an awful lot of time together,” Jones remarked. “But I didn’t figure you would ever mix business with pleasure, Heath.”
“He considers business to be pleasure,” Kylie answered for him.
“I can see why with you working at his side,” his brother said with a wink. Jones was good-looking with dark brown hair and bright blue eyes.
But he wasn’t nearly as handsome as his older brother, at least not in Kylie’s opinion. Some women might have preferred his darker, shorter hair and leaner build to Heath’s shaggy blond hair and more muscular build—but not her.
Heath tightened his arm around her. “Stop hitting on my lady,” he warned his younger brother. While he smiled, there was no hint of humor in his voice. He was acting like he was serious, like she was his lady.
Kylie suppressed a shiver of apprehension over how good an actor he was. He nearly had her believing him, believing that he was jealous and possessive of her. A giggle bubbled out of her at the ludicrous thought. “Stop acting like a Neanderthal,” she teased him.
“That’s why you two work,” Carly said. “You’re honest with each other and comfortable.”
Tears suddenly shimmered in her eyes, but she blinked them away. She had probably been thinking about her parents who’d had such a loving relationship.
Kylie had admired the happy marriages Ernie and Alfie had had, but she’d never even considered she might someday be in a relationship like that for herself and especially not with Heath. She was well aware of how hard it was for him to commit to anyone.
He was sure as hell committed to his act, though. He kept his arm around her as his mother called them into the dining room for dinner. Playing into the part of loving girlfriend, Kylie rose up on tiptoe, clinging to his side, and whispered in his ear. “Don’t you think you’re overselling this?”
He shivered and chuckled. “Oh, darling...not at all.”
“Jeez, get a room,” Jones teased.
Heat rushed up Kylie’s face, probably turning it dark red. “I told him to dial it down,” she admitted.
Jones laughed. “Yeah, Heath, I think you’re finally dating someone who can handle a relationship with you with no problem.”
Heath glanced down at her then, but the flirty grin had slid away from his sexy mouth. And the look in his dark blue eyes had gone speculative.
As if he was considering the truth of his brother’s words.
Kylie doubted that she really could handle a relationship with him...or anyone else. While she dated, it wasn’t often or for long. Even the most trustworthy of men had raised doubts in her. Heath’s track record with women wasn’t going to inspire any confidence in her. The only thing she was confident of was that he had not harmed his dad and uncle.
His mother approached them then, her face flushed from the heat of the kitchen. Her long dark hair was bound up on top of her head in a style that made her look younger than she was but for the dark circles beneath her eyes. She obviously hadn’t been sleeping.
Sympathy gripped Kylie over the woman’s devastating loss.
Then Mrs. Colton pulled her into a hug. “I’m so glad you came,” she said. She reached for Sean’s hand, too, as he and January stood beside them. “It’s so great that the family is expanding.”
Kylie swallowed hard, choking on her lies now. His mother thought she and Heath were serious, that Kylie was going to become family. Along with the lies, she choked on a rush of emotion over the possibility of finally having the big family she’d always longed for.
But she and Heath were not a possibility at all—no matter what his family thought.
“Thank you for inviting me,” Kylie said. “I hope I’m not intruding, though.”
“Not at all,” Fallon Colton assured her. “You’re part of the family now, too. Like Sean here.” She glanced at the other Coltons present. “Now the rest of you need to start settling down, too.”
“Mom...” Carly murmured.
Fallon patted her cheek. “I’m sorry, baby. I know you...” Her voice trailed off.
Seeing the discomfort of both women, Kylie jumped in to change the subject. “I would have helped you in the kitchen, but Heath insisted you like cooking alone.”
“You cook?” Fallon asked, and the sadness was gone from her beautiful face, replaced with a look of delight. “That’s wonderful. I would have welcomed your help, as my son knows. He just didn’t want you to leave his side.”
“Guilty,” Heath said as his tightened his arm around her once again.
Sean Stafford chuckled.
Kylie thought he’d dropped by the office the day before because he suspected Heath was guilty of something, like lying about their relationship and his alibi. But the detective didn’t seem too concerned about it now.
“You will definitely cook with me another time,” Fallon said. “You and Tatum.”
Kylie flushed with the certainty that cooking with Tatum would embarrass her. “I’m no professional chef.”
“Me neither,” Fallon said.
“It smells wonderful,” Kylie praised her.
“Yes, Mom, can we eat now?” Jones asked.
She clapped her hands together and said, “Of course. Everybody, sit down. Let’s eat.” But as she walked around the table, she glanced at the empty chairs at both ends—the chairs that Alfie and Ernie must have taken. Almost reluctantly she settled into a chair to the right of an empty one, and her sister did the same at the other end.
And another twinge of sympathy gripped Kylie’s heart for the pain on their beautiful faces. They were too young to be widows, too young to have lost the men with whom they’d intended to spend the rest of their lives. It wasn’t fair.
Tears rushed to Kylie’s eyes, but she blinked them back. She was not going to fall apart, not when all of the Coltons were being so strong. As she settled into the chair Heath held out for her, he gripped her shoulders briefly and squeezed. He must have seen her reaction, or he was just acting again. But when he sat down next to her, she noticed that he was blinking hard, too, fighting against his own rush of emotion.
As she glanced around the table, she noticed similar reactions from everyone else. But for Jones, whose jaw was clenched nearly as tightly as he clenched a beer bottle in his hand.
This wasn’t easy for any of them—being here—without the men whose larger-than-life personalities had always dominated a room. They’d been such vibrant men, such brilliant men, such loving family men.
Kylie reached under the table and touched Heath’s thigh, murmuring, “Sorry.”
He glanced at her, and if he’d been fighting back any tears, they were gone, replaced with a glint of desire as his pupils dilated. “You might be if you do that again.”
She jerked her hand away.
He chuckled, which brought a smile to his mother’s face again.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen you like this, Heath,” she said. “I like it.”
“It’s sickening,” Jones remarked.
“It’s sweet,” January defended them. “They’ve gone from being friends to being...” Her face flushed, and Sean chuckled now and leaned over to kiss the blush on her cheek.
“I always knew they were perfect for each other,” his grandmother remarked.
Kylie glanced in surprise at the older woman, who sat across from her daughter Farrah. “Really?” She hadn’t seen Abigail Jones as often as she had the rest of the family. The older woman had only occasionally stopped by Colton Connections with one of her daughters.
“It was the way that Heath talked about you,” Mrs. Jones explained. “With admiration.”
Heath uttered a wistful sounding sigh. “I do admire her. Even more so now.”
Now that he knew about her past. She hadn’t told him her sad story because she’d been worried that he would pity her. She hadn’t realized it might have the opposite effect on him. Not that he was falling for her or anything. And she would be wise to remember that so she didn’t do something stupider than providing him a false alibi, so that she didn’t fall for him.
“Yes, they are perfect for each other,” Simone remarked. She was the cousin closest to Heath’s age. In fact they’d been born just days apart. With her brown hair, she looked more like Jones than she did her sisters January and Tatum. The psychology professor was very like her father Alfie, very astute, so much so that her comment unsettled Kylie.
Could Simone be right?
Kylie cast a surreptitious glance at the handsome man sitting next to her. She had always admired him, as a CEO, but she’d never considered him as any more than a colleague and a friend. A hot friend.
But just a friend...until that kiss. That kiss had sparked something between them, a chemistry Kylie had never felt before with Heath or with any other man.
Could there ever be something more between them than friendship? Since their fake relationship was built on nothing but lies and deception, she doubted it. It reminded Kylie too much of the relationships that had led to her mother’s greatest humiliation and
downfall.
To her arrest. And losing her medical license, her freedom, and then ultimately her life.
She shivered.
“Are you okay?” Heath asked with concern. “Do you need a sweater? Or I can get your jacket for you?”
She shook her head. “I’m fine. I’m not cold. I just felt...” What was the saying? Like someone had walked across her grave. It was more like she had walked across her mother’s, though. Like she was walking in her shoes.
But that was silly. She had always been so careful not to make the mistakes her mother had, not to want so badly to be loved that she chose untrustworthy men.
“What the hell is he doing here?” It was Mrs. Jones who spoke up, her voice sharp with disapproval, so sharp that she startled everyone else at the table.
“Who, Grandma?” Simone asked from her seat next to the older woman.
“That detective.” she pointed toward the window behind Kylie and Heath.
Kylie turned and saw Joe Parker stepping out of his unmarked police car. And nerves tightened in her stomach.
He must have figured out that they’d lied. That she’d lied.
It probably wouldn’t have been hard to verify that she hadn’t been where she said she’d been—with Heath—at the time of the murders. He could have looked at phone records or talked to her neighbors or his.
She should have known better than to try to provide Heath with a false alibi. But she’d been worried that he would be dragged off to jail like her mother had been.
Unjustly...
But now she was worried that she was about to be arrested for interfering in a police investigation. She was more like her mother than she had ever wanted to admit. She was probably about to go to jail over something she’d done for a man, too.
Chapter 12
Joe Parker would have rather been home having Sunday dinner with his family than interrupting the Colton family dinner. But he had news he knew the widows had been waiting to hear. He also wasn’t that big a fan of his mother-in-law who was sitting at his table right now, spoiling his son and criticizing everything that wasn’t up to her exacting standards.
