One More Promise

by Samantha Chase

  He held up a grocery bag. “And I come bearing gifts! I heard I couldn’t go wrong with anything chocolate, so I found chocolate-chocolate-chip ice cream with brownies in it. I hope that will work.”

  Gabriella looked at him before glancing over at Megan and Summer. “Will that work?” she asked with a laugh. “I may have to leave my husband for you! Thank you!” She kissed him on the cheek and immediately put the bag in the freezer. “What else was in there?”

  “I bought some butter pecan and some cookie-dough ice cream in case the guys wanted some,” he teased. Turning, Alex shook hands with Zach and Ethan and then came over to kiss Summer on the cheek. “Good to see you, Summer.”

  “Hey, Alex,” Summer said with a smile.

  He crouched beside her and smiled at Amber. “Look how she’s grown,” he said softly, reaching out to touch the baby’s hand. “Hey, Princess. How are you?”

  And right then and there, Megan’s ovaries nearly exploded.

  Taking off his sunglasses, Alex smiled at the baby and made a couple funny faces before he straightened and took the beer Zach was offering him. “Thanks.”

  “Zach and I were trying to remember, Alex, if you and Megan had met at our wedding,” Gabriella said. “Megan said she didn’t remember, but I feel like I remember seeing you guys dance.”

  Megan averted her eyes, but she could feel Alex staring at her, and she didn’t want to give anything away. So she busied herself with smoothing her sweater and pulling imaginary lint from her pants.

  “We might have,” Alex said casually, “but it was a long time ago, so…who’s to say.”

  “Well, then let me reintroduce you,” Gabriella said, oblivious to how awkward the moment was. “Alex, this is Zach’s cousin Megan. Megan, this is our friend Alex.”

  With no other choice, Megan looked up, smiled at him, and offered a shy hello, and when he returned her smile, she was grateful to be sitting. Without the sunglasses, he was lethal.

  Stepping forward, Alex held out his hand to her. He was close enough that only she could see the amusement in his eyes. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Megan,” he said, and to the casual observer, it was a simple and pleasant greeting. To Megan, it was like a caress.

  Swallowing hard, she put her hand in his. “Thanks,” she said quietly. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

  If his hand lingered a little long, no one seemed to notice.

  But Megan did.

  And just when she was about to sigh dreamily, Zach spoke up.

  “C’mon, we’ve got about thirty minutes until the grill is ready, so let’s go shoot some hoops!”

  Alex let go of Megan’s hand, but his gaze stayed on hers for a heartbeat longer. Then as if they hadn’t just shared a moment, he turned and clapped his hands together. “Let’s go! I’m looking forward to beating you at something else today!”

  Zach kissed Gabriella.

  Ethan kissed Summer and Amber.

  Alex gave Megan a sly wink as he walked out the door.

  * * *

  He played basketball and won.

  He joked with Ethan and Zach as they grilled dinner.

  And he made pleasant conversation with Gabriella and Summer.

  As expected, Alex ended up sitting next to Megan, and when his knee brushed hers under the table, he heard her soft intake of breath.

  He’d missed that sound.

  All through dinner, conversation flowed, and while Megan was polite to him, she also wouldn’t look directly at him. At first, he was amused, but now her avoidance was starting to piss him off.

  “So, Megan,” he began, “Zach mentioned how you moved here from Albany. That’s a pretty drastic move for a job.”

  This time she did glance at him and offered a small—but forced—smile. “My contract with my previous employer ended, and I was trying to find something new. So when my father and uncle mentioned that Zach’s office was looking to change over its computer system, it seemed like the perfect opportunity.”

  Alex nodded. “So it was the job that brought you here then. Nothing else?”

  She looked at him with mild irritation. “Well, the thought of working with family was certainly a perk.”

  “All the Montgomery offices are going to change over to this system, but we’re doing it first because I was smart enough to snag my favorite cousin,” Zach said.

  Everyone laughed, and Alex saw the blush on Megan’s face.

  “I have to admit, the obvious choice was to go to San Diego and be with Christian, but so far I’m pleased with my decision,” she said.

  “Who’s Christian?” Alex asked with a little more aggression than he had intended.

  “Megan’s brother,” Zach said around a mouthful of hamburger. “He’s running the San Diego office my brother Ryder used to run.”

  “And what happened to Ryder? Where is he?” Alex asked, confused by the sheer number of Montgomery family members and where they were all located.

  “Ryder is in North Carolina,” Ethan answered. “He went there for a bit of a sabbatical and ran into an ex-girlfriend, and they reconnected and got married. She has a business there, so Ryder decided to relocate.”

  Nodding, Alex turned toward Megan. “Any other siblings?”

  “I have another brother—Carter. He’s a chef,” she replied.

  “Wow! A Montgomery who isn’t in the finance empire?” Alex asked with amusement. “How did that go over?”

  Zach was the one to respond. “I think everyone would have been a lot more upset if Carter wasn’t a genius in the kitchen. He’s got restaurants in LA, Vegas, and New Orleans, and he’s looking to expand in the next couple years. After the success of the first place, no one brought up his straying from the family business again.”

  Megan laughed. “Carter’s lucky the whole chef-restaurateur thing worked out because my parents thought he was crazy. Even after the first place succeeded, they still thought it was a phase,” she said. “When he started appearing on the morning talk shows and showing up in the tabloids as a ‘celebrity chef,’ they finally accepted his choice of careers.”

  “Oh my gosh,” Summer interjected. “Ethan and I went to Carter’s place in New Orleans last year while we were on vacation, and I don’t think I’ve ever had a meal like that.”

  “He knew we were coming in,” Ethan explained, “and when we arrived, the servers were instructed not to give us a menu. Carter prepared a special meal for us, and it was …it was…I’m telling you, it was spectacular.”

  “I still don’t know where he got his talent,” Megan said. “My mother was never creative in the kitchen. I mean, she always cooked perfectly fine meals for us, but nothing on the scale of what Carter does.”

  “What about you?” Alex asked. “Do you cook like your brother?”

  Megan’s eyes went wide, and then she laughed out loud. “Oh God no,” she said. “I am not someone who cooks. I know the basics, but I end up getting takeout or microwave meals way more than I should.”

  “You can’t be that bad at cooking,” Summer said. “I remember staying with you one summer during college, and we didn’t eat out all that much.”

  “Sandwiches and salads,” Megan said. “I make a mean sandwich, and I am practically a gourmet with salads, but if it has to be cooked? I can’t do it.”

  “Oh, come on,” Gabriella said. “You have to be exaggerating.”

  Megan gave her a look. “Are you willing to test that theory and let me make dinner one night?”

  “Um…maybe we could…I mean…I’m sure we could try…” Gabriella stammered.

  “What my wife is trying to say,” Zach interrupted, “is she takes her meals very seriously these days, and maybe sometime after the baby comes and if she wants to lose weight, she’ll consider it.”

  Megan laughed at her cousin’s attempt at patting h
er on the head. “Oh, I can guarantee you’ll lose weight, Gabs, if it’s up to me to prepare meals. No worries. I’m your girl.”

  Conversation veered away from her brother and cooking skills and moved on to the plans for what they wanted to accomplish tonight and what they were going to try to finish the next day.

  “We can move some of the furniture tonight too,” Zach said. “I think between the three of us we can get it all done.”

  “We can help,” Summer volunteered. “Well, I mean, Megan and I can. Amber’s asleep, and if we all lend a hand, you’ll get done faster and then we can have dessert!”

  “Oh, sweetie,” Gabriella said, “we are having dessert even if the guys aren’t done. I’m already thinking of the ice cream Alex brought. All of the ice cream.”

  “But Megan and I can do stuff like take pictures down or strip the bedding in the guest room…you know, nothing major.”

  “I don’t mind helping,” Megan said.

  “If you’re sure,” Zach said.

  Everyone was in agreement, and once dinner was completed, Summer and Gabriella started cleaning up the kitchen while Megan went to help with the little stuff so the guys could start moving furniture. Alex waited a minute to see how everyone was going to disperse, and when he watched Megan walk in one direction and Zach and Ethan in another, he saw his opportunity and grabbed it.

  “Why don’t I start moving stuff out of the guest room while you get the tools and whatnot?” he suggested.

  “Good plan,” Zach said. “Megan can take down the pictures and put any of the knickknacks into drawers. And if you can get some of the stuff moved—we’re going to try to put as much as we can in the office—I’ll get Ethan started on taking stuff down in the bathroom, and I’ll do the nursery.”

  With a nod of agreement, everyone sprang into action, and as Alex headed toward the guest room, he had to remember to breathe. He didn’t miss the fact that she had practically dashed from the dinner table—no doubt to get away from him—but she couldn’t avoid him forever.

  Hell, he wasn’t even going to let her avoid him for another five minutes.

  “Hey,” he said softly as he ducked his head into the room. Her big brown eyes went wide at the sight of him, and those soft pink lips parted as she gasped.

  “Oh! I…I didn’t think anyone was ready to start in here yet. I thought I’d…um…” But her words died away.

  Smiling, Alex stepped into the room and explained the plan he and Zach had come up with.

  “So…we’re supposed to start moving stuff into the office?” she asked.

  Nodding, he looked around. The room was large with a queen-size bed, two nightstands, and a dresser. There was a flat-screen television mounted on the wall along with several pictures. Megan was moving some things into the dresser drawers and was doing her best to keep her back to him. Alex chuckled.

  “What? What’s so funny?” she asked, still not turning around.

  “You’re going to have to look at me eventually, you know,” he said casually and was pleasantly surprised when she did. She looked a little flushed and embarrassed, but at least she was looking at him.

  “So you’ve been here a week already. How are you enjoying Portland?”

  She returned her attention to her task. “I haven’t gone out sightseeing or anything yet. This whole week has been spent getting settled in at work. Summer’s been great with pointing out things on our way to work and all, but—”

  “And you’re staying in the guesthouse?”

  “For now. I was relieved to have a place to stay right away. It takes some of the pressure off so I can focus on work.”

  Work. Yeah. That was a sore spot with him where she was concerned, and right now, he was kind of glad she wasn’t looking at him because he was certain his displeasure was written all over his face.

  “I’ll start looking for a place of my own in the next couple of weeks, but it’s nice to not have to think about it yet. As it is, I have to buy a car.”

  He looked at her oddly when she turned around to start moving other items into drawers. “Didn’t you bring anything with you from New York? I know it wouldn’t have been easy to drive cross-country, but it seems like you must have sold everything in order to move here.”

  “I did,” she said as she closed a drawer. “The cost of moving all my furniture and keeping it in storage until I found a place wasn’t cost-effective. I figured I would start fresh when I got here.”

  Nodding, he slid his hands into his pockets and waited to see if she would offer up any other information about herself without him prompting her.

  But patience wasn’t his strong suit right now.

  “So, how have you been?” he asked, stepping closer to her.

  “Good.”

  He chuckled softly. “Good,” he said. “Me too.”

  She nodded and then moved to unplug the lamps. When she went to turn away from him, he placed a hand on her arm to stop her. She turned to him, and he saw every emotion she was feeling right there in her eyes. His heart melted a little, and he couldn’t help but smile.

  “Hey,” he said softly.

  That one word seemed to do the trick because she visibly relaxed.

  “I was surprised when Zach told me you’d moved here,” he said quietly, his hand still on her. He wanted to skim it down her arm and take her hand in his, but he knew it was too soon for that. “I wish you had called and let me know.”

  Megan took a step away, and he instantly missed the feel of her.

  “Alex,” she began, “it’s been two years. I…it would have been weird to reach out to you after all that time.”

  “Why?”

  “Seriously? What if you were involved with someone? And why would I even assume you’d want to see me? After the way things ended—”

  “Do you?” he interrupted, fairly blurting out the question.

  She looked at him curiously. “Do I what?”

  “Do you want to see me?”

  Her brows furrowed. “I’m seeing you right now, Alex.”

  He laughed. “I know, but…did you want to see me? Did you think about looking me up when you got settled?”

  Her hesitation wasn’t encouraging.

  “Alex…”

  Then he stepped forward and reached for her hand. “Okay, it wasn’t fair of me to put you on the spot like that. But I want you to know I’m happy you’re here. I…I think about you a lot.” His eyes met hers, and he saw confusion in those dark-brown depths. “I mean it. I hated the way things ended between us.”

  “I did too. But geography wasn’t on our side, and then my job, and…I don’t know… I don’t expect you to feel obligated to make something more of it than it was.”

  Okay, that wasn’t what he was expecting, and this time it was he who stepped away. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Megan sighed. “Look, I’m sure this is awkward for you because Zach’s a good friend and I’m his cousin. No one knows about us, so there’s nothing that says we have to do anything now—you’re off the hook. Zach will never know, so we’re free to be…acquaintances or something.”

  Was she for real? Did she really have no idea that was the last thing he was looking for? Hell, he’d practically lived his life in limbo for the past two years because he couldn’t get her out of his mind! And now she was saying it didn’t mean anything? “Megan, I—”

  “Hey, man,” Zach said as he walked into the room. “I grabbed a screwdriver and a drill for you. I think you’ll need them to take the television bracket from the wall.” Without any indication that he felt the tension in the room, he grinned. “Let me know when you’re ready to start moving furniture, and we’ll come in.” Then he looked at Megan. “Don’t worry about helping with all of this. Seriously. The girls are in the kitchen, and I saw my wife pulling ice cream from the freezer
.”

  Megan smiled—a real smile. Not the forced ones she’d been throwing his way all night. “It’s fine, Zach. I may not be strong enough to move the furniture, but I can at least help with some of the smaller stuff.”

  Walking over, he hugged her and gave her a loud, smacking kiss on her head before he left the room.

  When they were alone again, Alex knew it wouldn’t last too long. Things needed to be done, and he wasn’t going to get the answers he wanted from her tonight. With a sigh of resignation, he said, “I’m going to work on the TV. If you could take those pictures and put them in the office, that would be great.”

  Nodding, Megan turned and immediately took one painting from the wall and then the other. They worked in silence for a few minutes, and then he needed her help. The television wasn’t large, and he had carefully started to take it from the wall, but a second set of hands was required to disconnect the wires. “Can you give me a hand with the cords?”

  She was right there and did what was needed. She was so close he could smell her perfume, and he had to fight the urge to inhale deeply. “Thanks,” he murmured and quickly stepped away and took the television to Zach’s office. And that’s where he stayed for a moment to catch his breath and try to regain some focus.

  “This is crazy,” he mumbled. Leaning against the desk, Alex took a couple of deep breaths, let them out, and forced himself to clear his mind. He was pinching the bridge of his nose and trying to push away visions of Megan when Ethan stepped into the room.

  “Don’t tell me you’re taking a break already!” he teased. “Dude, even Megan’s moved more stuff than you.”

  It was the perfect way to break the tension, and Alex laughed. “Yeah, well…if I hadn’t won the game against the two of you earlier, I’d have a lot more energy.”

  Ethan clapped him on the shoulder. “Nice try. But I’m on to you now, and I’ll be making sure you pull your weight so we can get this done in one weekend.”

  “Don’t worry about me, old man,” Alex teased. “If anything, I’ll be checking up on the two of you to make sure you don’t hurt yourselves.”