Inarticulate

by Eden Summers

  She needed a bath, or a glass of wine. Both would be best. Obviously, at the same time.

  Staff had whispered nervously as she checked in. Their hope-filled eyes tracked her movements. They expected her to fix all their problems. And she would. She just needed a chance to catch her breath and start fresh tomorrow.

  She dropped her handbag and the suitcase handle at the end of the short hall, and shuffled the five steps to plant face-first on the bed. Movement wasn’t necessary for the next twelve hours. She’d eaten an airport sandwich on the cab ride to the hotel, and staff didn’t expect to see her until morning. From now until then, she would rest in a coma-like state.

  Within two minutes her mind was fading to black, sweet dreams hovering on the edge of her consciousness, then the loud trill of the suite phone tore a groan from her throat.

  “Go away,” she mumbled into the comforter.

  The phone continued to wail its siren call, disrespecting her plea. She gave a soft whimper and clawed her way to the other side of the mattress, picking up the receiver from the bedside table.

  “Yes?”

  “Ms. Hamilton, it’s Kelly from reception. I’m sorry to disturb you, but there’s a man here asking to see you.”

  She pressed her forehead against the pillow and closed her eyes. “Are you sure he’s here for me?” Nobody knew she was here. Nobody except hotel staff and her colleagues back in San Francisco.

  “Um…” The receptionist’s nervous hesitation was clear. “He said he’s your cousin.”

  Savannah pushed to a seated position and kicked off her heels. “Are you sure he asked for me?”

  “Yes, ma’am. He asked for you specifically.”

  “Come on, Savvy, let me know your room number.”

  Savannah grinned at the masculine voice calling in the background. The tone was unfamiliar, far too deep for the teenager she knew from her childhood. But the long-forgotten nickname wasn’t. Dominic was the only person who called her Savvy.

  “It’s okay,” she told the receptionist. “Send him up.”

  “Will do.”

  Savannah couldn’t wipe away the grin as she hung up the phone and padded to the bathroom. The unfavorable reflection in the mirror slaughtered her happiness. She looked like a drug addict. Her blouse was crushed, her light-brown hair a tattered mess. The bags under her bloodshot hazel eyes were something she couldn’t ignore, the dark smudges announcing her exhaustion, while her pale complexion told of an unfavorable amount of hours spent in a high-rise office without a glimpse of sun.

  She rushed back into the main room of her suite and yanked her handbag off the floor. She scrounged for her compact concealer and dabbed it under her eyes with less than artistic flare. A quick slide of lipstick later and she was ready for the loud knock that echoed through the room.

  Anticipation bubbled in her belly as she padded to the door and pulled the heavy wood open.

  “Whoa.” She needed to raise her chin to meet Dominic’s eyes. “How long have you been on steroids?”

  Dominic chuckled, his brilliant smile whacking her with a heavy dose of déjà vu. “Is that any way to greet your favorite cousin?”

  He stepped forward and pulled her in for a hug. The scent of his aftershave was all wrong. The feel of his hard muscles, too. Her short and skinny cousin was nowhere to be seen. He was no longer the kid she remembered dragging her under the water on summer vacation. He was a man. Tall, broad, and professional.

  “You got big.” She pushed back from his chest and scrutinized him from head to toe. His blond hair and blue eyes hadn’t changed, but everything else had, including the bump in his once perfect nose. “And you learned how to dress yourself.” His white collared shirt was in better shape than her blouse, not a crease in sight. His charcoal slacks and matching tie were in perfect order, too.

  “And you became completely stunning.” He eyed her with appreciation. “If we weren’t cousins, I’d totally hit that.”

  “Oh, Jesus.” She slapped a hand over her mouth to stop an encouraging laugh. “You’re still as inappropriate as ever.”

  He held up his hands in surrender. “Just paying you a compliment, Sav.”

  “Let’s not make this awkward.” She shook her head and indicated for him to come inside. “I don’t want to regress to the time where I had to punch you in the face to stop you from trying to kiss me.”

  “I was eight.” He walked past her. “It was dark out, and I thought you were someone else.”

  “We were ten, and it was in the pool before lunch.”

  He snickered. “You have a good memory.”

  “It’s not easy to forget the first time your cousin tries to lay one on you.”

  “First and last. I learn from my mistakes.” He slumped onto the corner of her Queen-sized mattress, dwarfing the bed with his large frame. “So how have you been?”

  “I’m good.” She settled against the tiny desk opposite him, unable to stop mentally noting all the ways he’d changed. His feet were so big. His hands, too. “But I’d love to know how you found out I was here. And why you turned up on my doorstep.”

  He pulled a face, a cross between a wince and a smirk.

  “Don’t tell me.” She put up a hand to stop his explanation. “My lovely Aunt Michelle.”

  He winked at her. “Guessed it in one.”

  Christ. Savannah’s mother couldn’t keep a secret to save her life, especially when it came to her sister. For as long as she could remember, her mother and aunt had been inseparable. They endeavored to lessen the miles between them, from San Francisco to Seattle, by daily phone calls and weeks on end in a family cabin during summer.

  “I gather you didn’t want us finding out,” he drawled.

  “It’s not that.” It was a tricky situation. She hadn’t kept tabs on her cousins’ lives. If she had, maybe she could’ve foreseen the current drama. Years separated the last time they spoke, and she wasn’t confident in assuming they wanted to see her again. Especially when Penny’s involvement in the sale of the Seattle property seemed like a personal vendetta. “I didn’t know your sister was working with Grandiosity. I’m actually here because…”

  How should she put it? Her relationship with Dominic had always been solid. They were born within months of each other. They reached the same milestones together and became long distance best friends.

  Her communication with Penny was in vast contrast. She was the younger relative neither herself nor Dominic wanted to play with. She threw tantrums and demanded attention. She was immature, annoying, and daddy’s little girl even at the age of fifteen when they’d last spoken.

  However, the past didn’t dictate her favorite cousin’s current bond with his sister. He could’ve outgrown the annoyance toward his sibling.

  “She’s stirring up trouble again?” Dominic straightened.

  “Kind of.” Merely scaring grown men and women from their long-term employment. “Is she still a—”

  “Bitch?” he interrupted. “No. I think she’s evolved from that. Being a bitch was mere child’s play.”

  “Perfect.” Savannah chuckled, ignoring the flush of annoyance heating her cheeks. “You still haven’t told me why you’re here.”

  “Yeah…about that.” He flashed a smile at her. “I was supposed to call and make sure you came to a family dinner tonight. I was actually going to do it days ago, but it completely slipped my mind. So instead of calling now and getting an inevitable last-minute rejection, I thought I’d show up and drag you along kicking and screaming.”

  “Kicking and screaming?” It was a possibility. She wasn’t in the mood for a family reunion. Dominic was enough for now.

  “I’d prefer your ire to my mother’s. That woman can hold a grudge.”

  So could his sister. “I’m exhausted, Nic.” She slumped her shoulders for effect. “I don’t want to leave a bad impression after all this time apart.”

  “You’ll be fine.”

  “I’ve been in my suite
less than half an hour. I haven’t even opened my suitcase.” The opportunity to catch Penny in a friendly, family situation was favorable, but Savannah needed a certain mindset to approach danger. A mindset she didn’t think she had the determination to muster.

  “Don’t waste your time with excuses. You know what my mother is like.” He stood, hovering over her. “If I show up without you, I won’t hear the end of it.”

  A smirk pulled at her lips. “That’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

  “So you’ve decided on the kicking and screaming option?” There was no inflection in his tone. No humor. Only a formidable determination in his features. He was going to make good on his promise; she could see it in his eyes.

  “Damn you.” She pushed to her feet and glared at him. He hadn’t changed. Not one little bit. And apparently, neither had she, because she was still succumbing to his stubbornness. “I’ll get my coat.”

  Chapter Three

  “Family dinner?” She shot Dominic a scathing glance as they approached a familiar house. The curb on either side of the street was banked with cars. The driveway, too.

  “I think she may be a little over excited.” He parked in the drive behind a shiny silver sports car and cut the ignition. “But it’s free food, right?”

  There were no words. All she could do was glare.

  “Okay, okay, I’m sorry.” The laughter in his tone said otherwise. “I may have known there were a few additional people invited.”

  “A few?” Savannah released her seatbelt and shoved open her car door. “The least you could’ve done was tell me to get changed.” She was still wearing her travel clothes—old comfortable jeans, her crushed blouse that was now hidden under a black suede coat, and a shimmery pink scarf she’d hoped would detract from her laziness.

  It detracted nothing.

  “I’m going to look like the homeless cousin stumbling to the doorstep for a free hand-out.”

  “Don’t exaggerate.” He slammed his car door and rounded the hood. “You look fine. And besides, I wasn’t going to wait for an hour while you tried on a million outfits and plastered your face with make-up.”

  “Now who’s exaggerating?” She walked backward, shooting daggers at him as she approached the single-story brick building. “Just remember payback’s a bitch.”

  “And so are you, my sweet cousin.”

  He was a jerk, but gosh, she’d missed him. The banter and the fun. The laughter and the snarcasm.

  She swung around to the house to hide her smile and bounced up the three stairs toward the front door. Movement nudged her periphery and she slowed, taking in the sight of a man standing in the shadows at the far end of the porch. His hip was cocked against the banister, his eyes hooded.

  Her concentration latched on to him, unmoving as the world around her dulled to a faint hum in her mind. She wasn’t sure what intrigued her. It could be his narrowed stare, the way he didn’t greet her with warmth or kindness. Only sterile appraisal. Or maybe it was the package his arrogance came in—the tense expression, stubbled jaw, and lush lips pressed in a tight line.

  Her tongue tingled. Mouth salivated. She would’ve liked to think it was due to the heavenly aroma of her aunt’s cooking drifting in the air. Would’ve liked to…but that was a load of bull.

  “Hi.” She gave him a friendly finger wave as Dominic came up behind her.

  The man continued to stare, his face still unwelcoming in the shadows.

  “Keenan, don’t be a prick.” Dominic tugged on her arm, stealing her attention. “Come on. I’ll introduce you later.”

  She kept her focus on the stranger, their gazes entwined, hers soft and inquisitive, his harsh and fierce, as her cousin dragged her inside, the door slamming shut behind them. “Who was—”

  “Oh, my sweet Savannah!” Aunt Michelle hustled up the hall, wiping her hands on an old apron tied around her waist. “It’s so good to see you.”

  The familiar face held more wrinkles than Savannah remembered, her aunt’s long blonde hair now gray and thinning. But the beautiful blue eyes were still the same—loving and gentle.

  “It’s good to see you, too.” She ignored the strangers poking their heads into the hall from different doorways and fell into a comforting embrace. “Thank you for the dinner invitation.”

  “Oh, please,” her aunt chastised. “You don’t need an invitation. Come around any time.”

  There was a whirlwind of introductions. Her aunt took position on her right, gushing with affection and compliments, while Dominic remained on her left, muttering snide comments that threatened to make her laugh.

  A timer dinged from the kitchen, a welcome reprieve as her aunt excused herself and left Savannah to take a breath. There had to be twenty people crammed into the small house. All of them smiling and friendly, unlike the man outside who still lingered in her thoughts.

  “You want a drink?” Dominic nudged her elbow.

  Hell yes. “Please.” She followed him to the back of the house, into the laundry, and toward a fridge stocked full of beer, wine, and pre-mixed drinks.

  “Help yourself.”

  He held the door open while she grabbed a small bottle of something red and no doubt comatosingly sweet. “Thanks.”

  “I’m gonna hit the bathroom.” He closed the fridge door and looked at her in concern. “Can you survive for a few minutes without me?”

  “I guess I’ll have to. I’m not going to follow you to the toilet.”

  “Obviously,” he drawled. “You gave up that opportunity when we were eight.”

  “Twelve.”

  “Ten.” He chuckled and walked from the room, leaving her alone with the hovering threat of chatter from the other end of the house.

  It was time to go incognito. She didn’t have the energy to smile at strangers. Alcohol would help, but for now, she needed cool fresh air…and maybe another glimpse at the menacing eyes of the man she’d met on the porch.

  She shoved the bottle into her coat pocket and sauntered down the hall, measuring her steps to lessen the clap of her heels. She reached the front door without notice and pulled it open, slipping into the darkness of twilight without a word.

  The man was still at the end of the porch, a beer bottle now visible in his hand as he leaned over, resting his elbows on the banister. He didn’t acknowledge her presence. She supposed a man with arrogance ebbing off him in waves didn’t have to. His dismissal gave her the opportunity to appreciate his ass stretched in well-worn jeans and the perfection of how his black jacket rested at his hips to give her an unhindered view.

  “Hi,” she offered for a second time.

  He didn’t move, didn’t even spare her a glance as she approached the banister. He continued staring straight ahead as he lifted the beer bottle to his lips and took a long pull.

  “It’s a lovely night for a family dinner.” Was he a distant relative? God, she hoped not, otherwise Dominic’s inbred tendencies were rubbing off on her.

  He replied with a jut of his chin. A jut of his God. Damn. Chin.

  What an asshole. And wasn’t she just the stupidest set of ovaries to walk the earth, because it only made her itch to push his blatant need for solitude, to poke at him with questions until he acknowledged her with the respect she deserved. The respect any human deserved.

  “So… you like beer…” she drawled, glib as hell.

  The corner of his mouth twitched as he continued to focus on the street. But still, no answer.

  She could smell him, could practically taste his delicious aftershave on her tongue with each inhalation. He was a taunt to all her senses…well, except her ears because the pretentious ass wouldn’t say a word.

  He took another swig from his bottle and straightened to face her. She could see his eyes now, the steely silver, almost blue, that made her shiver with their ferocity. He was tall, too. At least an inch above her even with her heels.

  She pulled the pre-mix bottle from her jacket pocket and twisted the lid to keep h
er hands busy. She could see two outcomes eventuating. Either he would smile, knocking her off her feet with the brilliance of his appeal. Or he was going to pull a gun from the inside of his jacket and blow her brains out.

  Player or gangster. He could totally pull off both.

  “I’m usually a wine drinker myself.” She raised the bottle of bubbly red liquid in her hand, slowly tilting it to her mouth. She took a sip, licked the alcohol from her lips in a deliberately seductive provocation, then lowered the bottle again.

  Still, he gave her nothing. Noth-ing. He was the most accomplished jerk she’d ever come across, and yet she still couldn’t ditch the intrigue and walk away. Without a word, he had her tied around his little finger, begging for attention.

  “I like your jeans.” She ogled his crotch, wanting to return the discomfort of how humiliating this one-sided conversation was becoming. “They’re snug.”

  His lips quirked, giving her a glimpse of straight white teeth. Asshole. Asshole. Ass-hole! He was gorgeous, the faintest hint of humor turning his dangerous eyes playful. She lifted the bottle to her mouth again, this time ignoring any pretense of seduction as she gulped at the liquid.

  “Are you always this charm—”

  The front door creaked open and she turned to find Dominic eying them both skeptically. “What’s going on?”

  She smiled, the biggest, fakest smile she had in her arsenal. “I’m having an in-depth conversation with this lovely gentleman.”

  “Really?” Dominic frowned, his brows pulling deeper with every passing second.

  “Yep.” There was gushing amounts of sarcasm in her tone. “First we conversed about our drinking habits, then fashion. I was about to bring up the topic of politics and world peace when you rudely interrupted.”