by Leslie Kelly
Kelsey laughed softly, her bad mood quickly evaporating with Celia’s rueful smile. “Oh, right, we never suspected. It’s not as though I can see your car parked across the street when I get home at three o’clock or anything.”
“I won’t bother trying to hide it anymore, then,” Celia said with a grin. “So, do you want to talk about…anything?”
She didn’t, really. What was there to talk about? She knew from the moment she took the job at the station that Mitch and her family would never approve. His reaction tonight had come as absolutely no surprise.
“It was just a typical argument. Mitch heard my show for the first time tonight. He wasn’t pleased,” Kelsey admitted as she curled up in one corner of the sofa.
“I could tell,” Celia said nodding slowly. “From what Fred tells me, you and he have a sort of love-hate relationship?”
“I guess you could say that.” Kelsey kicked off her shoes and tucked her feet beneath her. “Mitch and I have always gotten under each other’s skin. I was a pretty rotten kid, and he was the target of a lot of my pranks. Not that he was much better. He was hell on wheels himself.”
“Mitch? Our Mitch?”
Kelsey grinned at the disbelief in Celia’s voice. “Yes, nice, dependable, studious Mitch. He was a regular juvenile delinquent. He didn’t really straighten up until he was about seventeen.”
“I can’t believe it. I mean, I don’t know him that well, but from what Fred has said, Mitch seems almost…”
“Conservative? Don’t let the brains fool you. He’s somehow managed to keep his emotions suppressed, but I imagine they’re still churning away somewhere deep inside. He just needs someone to remind him they’re there.”
“Volunteering?”
Celia laughed, but Kelsey didn’t join in. “Maybe that’s not such a bad idea.” A slow smile spread across her lips.
“I recognize that look. That’s a Lady Love face. Let me guess, you feel anything but sisterly toward him, right?” Celia asked as she carried two cups from the kitchen.
Kelsey sighed deeply. “Celia, I have been incredibly attracted to that man for years. And now, finally, I know he feels the same way. But when he allows himself to give in to those feelings for a moment, he yanks away as if he’s committed some crime.”
Celia didn’t respond. Kelsey almost regretted taking her into her confidence. She’d never told anyone that she had the slightest interest in Mitch. It had been her secret, a schoolgirl fantasy, for many years. It was the dream she would indulge in while drying her hair or, lately, while bathing. Now that she’d said the words out loud, it was too real.
“You didn’t see the way he looked at you when you stormed up the stairs,” Celia said with a gentle smile. “I thought for a second he was going to grab you and throw you over his shoulder and carry you off or something…it was terribly romantic.”
Kelsey gave her a sour look and stirred her tea. “If Mitch wanted to throw me anywhere, it wouldn’t be over his shoulder…it would be off a bridge.”
Celia sipped her tea silently. She looked like a Cheshire cat, full of secrets, sure of what she knew, and Kelsey couldn’t resist asking, “You really mean it? About carrying me off, I mean?”
“He looked like a man in pain, Kelsey.”
Kelsey couldn’t stop the little stab of malicious pleasure that thought gave her. There had been plenty of girlish nights when she’d cried into her pillow because Mitch had called her “little brat” or given her noogies on her head.
“I think the problem is that Mitch is too decent a guy,” Celia continued. “He’s protective of you, wants to keep you safe from the big bad boys who might take advantage of you. And what he’s feeling for you now, well, suddenly he’s found out maybe he’s still one of the big bad boys.”
Kelsey nodded ruefully. Celia wasn’t saying anything she didn’t already know. Mitch was never going to willingly get involved with her. He was too honorable, too loyal to her parents. He’d accepted the “big brother” mantle her family had thrust on him and would likely never let himself touch her again. Unless…
“Celia, I’ve always meant to ask you. How did you ever get Fred to ask you out? The man is so shy.”
“Simple,” Celia answered with a smirk. “Every time I saw him, I flirted, teased and seduced him without ever letting him know I was doing it.”
“Seduction, hmm? Gee, seems to me I’ve heard a few things about seduction.”
Celia’s eyes lit up as she caught Kelsey’s drift. She nodded, a speculative look in her eye.
Kelsey propped her feet up on the coffee table, patting the vacant seat next to her on the sofa so Celia would sit next to her. “Tell me more.”
And Celia did.
5
SOMEONE WAS POUNDING.
Kelsey buried her head under her pillow, but it did not block out the noise. She rolled over, groaning in frustration. Opening one bleary eye, she glanced at the clock. It was nearly nine.
The pounding continued. As she came more fully awake, Kelsey realized the noise wasn’t coming from next door, or the street. It was coming from her front door. It had to be Mitch. Kelsey rolled out of bed, grabbed her robe and staggered out of her bedroom.
“Do you know what time it is?” she snarled as she yanked the door open.
“Good morning to you, too,” Mitch said as he breezed past her into her apartment. “Like bagels?”
He looked bright and chipper and Kelsey really wanted to sock him one. “You know I hate bagels.”
“I know. That’s why I brought doughnuts,” he said as he made himself at home at her small café-style kitchen table and tore open the bag. Her efficiency kitchen was really not much larger than a closet, and flowed right into the living area. Kelsey had placed the table and chairs as a sort of divider, and his large form dominated the small space.
“What do you want?” she grumbled.
“Coffee would be nice. Or even milk.”
She knew full well he was stalling. “I mean, why are you here?”
“I think we need to talk,” he replied. “I did a lot of thinking last night.”
“Then how come you’re up so early?” she asked, shooting him a glare from behind lowered lids. Kelsey plopped onto the sofa, leaned her head back and closed her eyes.
“I never need more than six or seven hours of sleep. Don’t you remember?”
Of course she remembered. When they were kids, Mitch had always been the first one awake in the house, which had driven her right up the wall on many Saturday mornings when she’d come downstairs to watch Land of the Lost and he’d already been engrossed in Johnny Quest.
“Right. Mr. Perfect. Now, what do you want?”
Kelsey realized she wasn’t being friendly. So much for her conversation with Celia about how to attract or, more accurately, seduce, Mitch. Right now she just wanted to shove him back down the stairs, get a little more sleep and face him later in the day, after she’d at least had a chance to brush her teeth.
“I came to apologize.”
Kelsey opened her eyes and sat up straight. “So…apologize.”
“I’m trying to,” Mitch said ruefully. “It’s not easy.”
“I’m sure you’re not in the habit of having to admit you were wrong.”
Mitch helped himself to a powdered sugar doughnut. “That’s not why I’m having a problem. I wasn’t wrong. I still believe everything I said to you last night. I’m just apologizing for ambushing you and for taking advantage of the situation.”
“You mean kissing me?”
“Yeah. Kissing you. It was out of line.”
“Right,” she said in a steely tone. “Kissing me was a crime against the nation. Are you finished?”
Mitch could tell Kelsey was getting upset as she leaned forward and started tapping her fingers on her knee. She wore her little green robe and looked all rumpled, with her hair puffy and wild, and no makeup. Mitch knew if he closed his eyes he would imagine her lying in her bed, without
the robe, beckoning to him.
He forced himself to stop his wandering thoughts. Taking a big bite out of the messy doughnut, he glanced around for a napkin to stall for time.
He was going about this all wrong. His plan was to come up and smooth things over, to start their conversation again, and to try to talk some sense into her. Instead he found himself hip deep in the topic he most wanted to avoid: their kiss. Thinking of that kiss, and of her all sleepy and seductive, had already caused him enough trouble. After he had gotten over his anger at their argument, he’d been able to think of nothing else the previous night.
Mitch had never imagined that one kiss, a first kiss, could start such a flame. He’d burned. Long after she went upstairs, he’d sat in his apartment and done a slow, agonizing burn for her. But he’d mentally doused that fire and decided on a course of action. He would go right back to treating Kelsey like a kid sister, and would never let on that the kiss meant a thing. He’d ignore the fact that he got hard just remembering it.
“Look, let’s chalk it up to the heat of the moment and forget about it, okay?” He tried very hard to keep his voice steady and noncommittal. “It was a kiss. Big deal.”
To Kelsey, it had been a big deal. But Mitch obviously didn’t view it the same way. Kelsey wished she was still in bed and this was all a dream. The day was going from bad to worse, and she’d only been awake for five minutes. Having Mitch angry at himself for kissing her had been bad enough. But having him blow off the whole event as no big deal just plain hurt.
“Fine. Right,” she replied, determined not to let him see how his words affected her. “As the song goes…’a kiss is just a kiss.’ And, hey, look who you’re talking to…Lady Love. I should know.”
Mitch’s jaw stiffened. “You wanna explain that?”
“No, Mitch. As I told you last night, I don’t have to explain a thing to you,” Kelsey said. “I am an adult. You are an adult. We happen to live in the same building. What I do for a living has nothing to do with you.”
Mitch nodded slowly. “I know.”
Kelsey ran a weary hand over her eyes, trying to follow his logic. “You know? Then why are you here?”
“Just because I know you’re right that it’s none of my business doesn’t mean I like it, or that I won’t try to talk you out of it, Kelsey. It simply means I acknowledge the fact that my opinion really doesn’t matter to you.”
Mitch wouldn’t meet her eye, and Kelsey felt a moment’s remorse for some of the things she’d said to him the night before. Mitch did matter…she was beginning to suspect he mattered too much!
“That’s not true. Mitch, I respect you. I think you’re a very intelligent man and I value your opinion. But, in this case, I don’t know that you’ve formed your thoughts rationally. You heard one show. Give me a chance, please. Listen in a few more times. The show is not what you think it is.”
“And if I listen, and my views don’t change?” he asked, arching an eyebrow at her as he waited for her reply.
“I don’t know, Mitch,” she said, eyes flashing as she stood and walked toward him. “I guess if your views don’t change, you have the right to turn the radio off and pretend I’m the weather girl. I’m not going to tell you I’ll quit my job because you don’t like it.”
Her robe swished around her body as she walked. He couldn’t stop staring at the peach flesh of her upper leg, exposed as her robe gapped with each step. She reached the table and stopped right next to him.
“So what you’re telling me,” he replied slowly as he let his gaze burn a path up her thigh, across her body and up to her face, “is that I should give you another chance, listen more, and maybe I’ll like what I hear, but if I don’t, then I should go take a flying leap. Do I have this right?”
Kelsey grabbed a glazed doughnut, held it speculatively in front of her face, then looked down to stare at him.
“Yeah, I guess you do.”
Mitch stood very slowly. She had come to stand close to him, nearly between his legs, and he did a slow slide up her body, feeling a crackle of electricity flash in the scant inch that separated them. She had to tilt her head back to maintain their eye contact, and Mitch suddenly had the advantage.
“Kelsey?” he said softly, a dangerous gleam in his eyes.
She backed up a tiny step. He followed until again they were nearly touching.
“What?”
“To hell with that,” he retorted.
Kelsey watched Mitch drop the half-eaten doughnut on the table, turn and stride out the door.
“Well,” she muttered after he’d gone, “so much for seduction!”
LATER THAT DAY, after Kelsey had managed another hour of fitful sleep, she went downstairs, carrying a paperback and a tall glass of iced tea. It was still relatively warm for mid-October, and she meant to enjoy the weather while it lasted. Not wanting to risk another confrontation with Mitch, she was quiet as she slipped through the kitchen to the back door.
Slight hints of yellow tinged leaves on the trees. A smoky smell hung in the air, and Kelsey knew someone was anticipating the cold weather with an early season fire. Dragging a lawn chair from the garage, she placed it under a tall shady maple in the backyard. Her long-sleeved cotton shirt and khaki pants were perfectly adequate for warmth. Kelsey breathed deeply, invigorated by the clean, crisp breeze. She would lie here and read her romance novel and not think at all about Mitch.
But she couldn’t even open the book. She kept staring at the picture on the cover. The hero was gorgeous, larger than life, but he still wasn’t as handsome as her frustrating landlord. As for the heroine…well, Kelsey figured she’d have a really tough time buying blouses that fit.
“Shall we try this again?” came a familiar drawl.
Kelsey jerked her head and dropped the book at the sound of Mitch’s voice. He stood right beside her. She hadn’t even detected his approach.
“You’re quiet as a cat,” she said. “That’s the second time you’ve done that to me.”
Kelsey watched as Mitch leaned back against the maple tree and stared down at her. Taking a few deep breaths, she tried to slow her rapid pulse. She would play this cool if it killed her. What had Celia said? Flirt, seduce, all without his knowledge. She could do that. After all, she was Lady Love. Kelsey felt like a soap opera diva at the thought.
“Look, we live under the same roof, whether I like it or not,” he finally said. “And we have to find a way to get along.”
“We already do get along, Mitch. I really don’t see the problem.”
“Right. Yeah, well, that’s what I came out to say. There’s really no problem. As you said, I’m merely your landlord, of absolutely no importance in your life. That fact has finally sunk in. You do your thing, Kelsey, and I’ll mind my own business. And as you also said last night, I’m really nothing to you. We’ll be acquaintances who nod at each other on the stairs, all right?”
No. No, that was not all right. Acquaintances? How could he say that? Even if Kelsey had never laid eyes on Mitch until she moved to the city, if their childhood lives had never collided, she still felt they were a heck of a long way from mere “acquaintances.” However, since she’d said much the same thing during their dispute, she couldn’t very well disagree with him now. She wished she’d refrained from arguing with him and just continued up the stairs when she’d gotten home last night. But then, if she’d done that, they would never have shared that kiss. And she knew down to her very soul that she would never regret finally being in Mitch’s arms.
“Please, don’t get the wrong idea,” she said, “I really didn’t mean to offend you earlier. I care what you think, I really do.”
Mitch shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. As far as I’m concerned, it’s finished.”
Kelsey watched him turn to leave. Mitch was in such a strange mood, so somber and unemotional. In all the years she’d known him, she had never seen him so…remote.
“I’ve gotta go,” he said as he walked away.
> Mitch managed to reach the house without turning back to look at Kelsey one more time. He refused to let her see that their conversation bothered him in the least. She’d looked so lovely, with a few loose tendrils of hair blowing free, and her angelic face turned toward the sun. But he had to stop thinking of her in that way. There were plenty of beautiful women in Baltimore. As far as he was concerned, Kelsey barely even existed anymore.
Mitch had spent a good bit of the morning racking his brain over their fight and hadn’t been any closer to a solution when he’d received a call an hour ago. Kelsey’s mother wanted to welcome Mitch home, and to sincerely thank him for “taking care” of Kelsey. She assured him again that she and Ralph were so happy Kelsey had a “member of the family” to look after her in Baltimore.
Fifteen minutes later, Nathan called and he heard the entire speech over again. Mitch was tempted to tell her brother that while Kelsey might seem a fairly inexperienced young woman, her alternate persona, Lady Love, seemed an expert. Instead, he’d kept Kelsey’s secret and assured Nathan that she would be as safe in his house as she’d been at home. That meant safe from everyone. Including himself. So it was time to draw the line and stay well behind it.
Mitch still believed this solution was for the best. He’d already allowed Kelsey to creep into his life and it was time to put a stop to it. If she wanted to go on the radio and titillate the entire city, she was welcome to do it. He didn’t have to think about it, absolutely was not going to listen, and they certainly didn’t have to socialize. There should be no reason why they should have more than minimal contact. And that was fine with him.
“NOT ON YOUR LIFE, Mitch Wymore,” Kelsey whispered as she watched Mitch enter the house. “You are not going to shut me out.”
Mitch wanted to pretend they meant nothing to each other. Well, he could pretend all he wanted to. But he wouldn’t get away with it. They lived in the same house, parked their cars two feet away from one another, bumped into each other at the mailbox, or while getting the newspaper. No way was he going to be able to avoid her.
