“Just… I…” He wanted to say some smart ass comment to get her to forget it. But he hadn’t had anyone to confide his feelings in but his father, and that ended horribly. “I broke it off with Mara.” He said it as he released the breath he’d held, and felt all the pent up emotions flow out as well.
“It’s about time,” Debora said with a grin, and patted his cheek. “I hated that gold-digging bitch.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” he practically whined.
“Is it anything you didn’t already know?” She arched a perfectly plucked eyebrow enigmatically.
“No,” he shook his head. Somehow they herded the children out to the back yard which was fenced. The patio under the balcony held a table and chairs and a grill. In the yard there were several balls and things for the kids to play with, not that they stopped by all that often.
“And you’re already seeing someone else?” She was always the smartest of the pair of siblings, as well as the oldest. Ruben nodded. “Levi doesn’t approve, and that’s why you quit your job.”
“You stopped at the office first.” Gila began to fuss, so he took her away from her mother, and bounced her and patted her back.
“Yes.” She glanced at her younger brother with a knowing grin as he grabbed his niece, but said nothing.
“Why do you call our parents by their first names?”
“Because I can,” she quipped. “I’m right, aren’t I?”
“You’re always right,” he admitted. He felt the toddler’s weight in his arms, and realized for the first time in his life he wanted one of his own.
“So explain to me the one thing I can’t figure out,” she groaned, and stood up to pace. “Why did Ruth show up at my door earlier with her entire set of Louis Vuitton luggage full of clothes, like she’s leaving Levi while he’s still recuperating from his heart attack?”
“Ask mother.” Ruben had been avoiding this conversation like the plague.
“She won’t tell me. She says ask your father.”
“And what did he say?” He made funny faces at Gila until she laughed.
“David, stop hitting your brother,” Debora called out, before turning back to Ruben. “He refuses to say.”
“Then you have a problem,” Ruben grinned, happy to see his sister puzzled for once in her life. She was also a lawyer, and like Kaitlyn, first in her class at William & Mary. She had an office on the fifth floor of Aronson and Cohen, but she hadn’t really practiced since her second child was born.
“Just tell me it’s not an affair,” she pleaded. Ruben remained silent. “I knew it. I knew that bastard had caused Ruth to leave him. Thirty fucking seven years of marriage, and he goes and screws it up. Sleeping around at his age. I can’t fucking believe it.”
Ruben’s eyes grew wide, and he covered Gila’s ears. Thankfully the other children were far enough away that they couldn’t hear their mother.
“Was he fucking some woman when he had that heart attack?” Ruben didn’t answer again. “I swear, I wish he had died and spared Ruth the pain and shame.”
“Debora,” he exclaimed, “Calm down.”
“No,” she spat out, and pointed at the air. “He deserves what he got. And I’m glad Ruth left him.”
“Me too, but take it out on him.” Ruben stared out at the children in the yard throwing glances toward their mother. “Preferably when the children aren’t around.”
He heard a knocking at the gate of the privacy fence, and then he heard Kaity’s voice. “Hello?”
“Well, this should get your mind off of our parents’ problems for a little while.” He grinned as he walked toward the gate to open it. “I am so glad you made it,” he said under his breath as he kissed Kaity’s cheek.
Her eyes were wide with shock when she saw Gila in his arms. “You have a baby.”
“My niece,” he said proudly. “She’s two.” Kaity smiled, and turned toward the other occupants of the yard that she’d never really noticed before. “Those are my other niece and nephews, and this is my sister Debora.”
Debora approached and graciously held out her hand as she studied her brother’s girlfriend. “Fiancée,” she blurted out awkwardly, as she noticed the ring on Kaitlyn’s finger. Kaity took her hand hesitantly, and looked toward Ruben.
“She does that. She’s always been too smart for her own good,” Ruben informed her. “Debora, this is Kaitlyn Morgan. She was also first in each and every one of her graduating classes.”
“Lawyer,” Debora stated, as she noted Kaitlyn’s suit. “William & Mary?”
“Yes,” Kaitlyn replied.
“Nice shoes,” Debora said with a slight hint of jealousy. “Wear the hell out of them. After you have kids, you’re reduced to wearing them once or twice a month.”
Kaitlyn grinned at Debora. “That won’t be for a long time,” she countered.
But Debora’s gaze returned to her little brother, who now had each of his nieces in either arm. “Let’s have a seat, and allow Ruben to spend some time with the kids.”
* * *
They chatted easily about the colleges they’d attended, classes they’d taken, and teachers they’d had in common, while Kaitlyn watched Ruben pretending to fly the children around the yard in succession.
“Let’s have a look at the ring, shall we?” Debora’s eyes lit up when she saw it. “It’s elegant and romantic all at the same time.”
“It’s beautiful,” Kaity agreed. She pulled her hand away, and with her right hand began to twist it around her finger.
“But?” Debora prompted.
“I just met his other fiancée Saturday,” she frowned, and stared down at it. She still wasn’t quite sure what to tell Ruben. Wearing his ring and promising to be faithful to him was one thing. But running away with him was something completely different.
“Mara? I’m surprised he let it get that far.” Debora shook her head. She looked so much like her brother it was remarkable. She had the same hazel eyes that seemed to change color from one moment to the next, and the same curly dark hair, except hers was longer, and cut to frame her beautiful high cheekbones. “He was feeling pressured by our parents to get married, and Mara’s mother practically insisted. She’s a friend of Ruth.” Kaitlyn looked at her questioningly. “Our mother.”
“Ahh,” she said, but she was still confused.
“He never loved her.” Debora smiled as she watched Ruben. “He’s going to be the best father.” As Kaitlyn watched, she believed it too. “We should be going,” she said and stood up, motioning toward Ruben. “Help me get the children to the car, would you?”
Kaitlyn stared down at the ring, and again felt overwhelmed. She wasn’t ready to have kids. She wasn’t even sure she was ready for a commitment. She sat with her thoughts for several minutes, until she realized that Ben seemed to be taking forever. She stood up and turned toward the door to catch him watching her with an odd expression. He smiled, and held his hand out to her. She quickly walked toward him.
Chapter Twelve
He led her to the sitting room, where several vases full of flowers greeted her. He’d opened a bottle of wine and poured two glasses, which waited on the coffee table. He’d lit candles, and soft music played in the background.
He handed her a glass of wine, and she sipped it daintily. She took a seat on the couch, deciding it was her turn to be demanding. “Talk,” she ordered.
“I’m really, really sorry about the way you found out about Mara,” he insisted again.
“I know,” she said, in a very indifferent way. He’d suggested she grow a backbone, hadn’t he?
“I should have told you.”
“Umhmm,” she replied noncommittally.
She watched as he paced back and forth in front of her. He rubbed his hands together, and gnawed at his bottom lip. When he turned toward her she arched her eyebrows, and he inhaled deeply and began to pace again.
“When I was twenty-two and still in college, I asked a girl to marry me
.” His eyes became dark brown as he spoke. “She was absolutely gorgeous; blonde hair, beautiful tits, face of an angel, and a body to die for.”
“That’s lovely, Ben,” Kaitlyn chided.
“I worshipped the ground she walked on. If she said jump, I didn’t ask how high, I just jumped.” He sounded a little ashamed of himself. “I was whipped. It wasn’t pretty.”
“What happened?” Kaitlyn knew it couldn’t have ended well. They weren’t still together.
“She was at college on student loans and scholarships, plus she was working a minimum wage job. Her parents were divorced, and she was barely scraping by.” He stopped everything, and stared down at his shoes. He wrapped his arms across his chest, and nodded. Even then when he spoke, his voice cracked. “My father just didn’t approve of her. She wasn’t good enough for his son.”
Kaitlyn felt angry. She was mad that Ruben had been hurt. She wanted to stand up and soothe him, but she also wanted him to finish his story.
“Levi Aronson went to her, and offered her money to break up with me.”
“Really?”
“Yes,” he said sadly. “And she took it. She took the money, and stopped seeing me. She stopped returning my calls. And at the end of the semester she changed schools.”
“How much?” Kaitlyn wondered. She didn’t mean to say it out loud, it just came out.
“Seventy-five thousand dollars.” He turned toward her, and she could see the tears rolling down his cheeks.
“Oh, my God!”
“After that my self-esteem was in the toilet. I mean, I hated myself as much as I hated her. I just couldn’t stop telling myself that I was still that fat, ugly kid that the girls used to make fun of.” Kaitlyn felt her own tears welling up then. “I finished school, but I stopped dating. What was the use? Ruth set me up with Mara, and I just went along with it.”
“That’s horrible,” she exclaimed. “What your father did was inexcusable.”
“It saved me a lot of heartache,” he said after several minutes. “Plus, if I’d been with her, I would have never met you.”
She drank all of her wine in one gulp. “Maybe I didn’t want to hear that.”
“Maybe I didn’t want to say it.” He sat down on the chair opposite the couch. She gazed at him then, really studying him. He was gorgeous, charming and sweet, and oh, so sexy. He knew exactly what to do with his fingers and his tongue, and every inch of the beautiful body that God graced him with. She didn’t even want to get started on his musical abilities. Yet, he was insecure, and just a little bit shy.
“I don’t want to hurt you, Ruben,” she started. As soon as she said it his face changed. He had been vulnerable to her over the last few minutes. She could see his expression hardening. “Don’t take it the wrong way. Just let me finish.”
“How can I not take it the wrong way?” He stood up and began pacing again. He sounded angry.
“I don’t want to break up with you, but,” she tried to continue, but he stopped her again.
“Is it Alex? Because he’s not your boyfriend.” He spat out the words.
“What? How do you know Alex?”
“I had one of our PIs investigate him. Do you know where he is right now?” He turned toward her, obviously furious now.
“I don’t know, Ben. And to be honest, I really don’t care.”
“He’s on a cruise with the twenty year old receptionist at the car lot where he works.” She was confused, and Ben seemed to be enjoying himself. “He’s a used car salesman, Kaitlyn. He’s not going to medical school.”
“How?” Her heart dropped to her stomach.
“He’s been lying to you the entire time.” He sounded so damn smug, so happy to be hurting her.
“Where does he work?” she demanded, almost as if she didn’t believe him.
“A place on Third Avenue called Max’s Used Cars,” he said.
She wanted to say she didn’t care about Alex. And she didn’t really, but it hurt like hell to think how much he’d lied to her and manipulated her. To what end, she had to wonder. It wasn’t like she’d given him money or bought him expensive gifts. And there was no way they were going to get married. She rarely saw him.
Or was that his plan. To somehow get her to trust him, then marry him, then live off her money. But why? She would eventually find out that he had lied to her. Did he think she’d figure it out too late? While all those thoughts went through her head, Ben watched her and waited. And when she looked back at him, he seemed satisfied with what he’d done.
“Why would you tell me this now?”
“I want you to know that you can’t fall back on him.”
“I wasn’t going to,” she mumbled. Her voice grew stronger as she continued. “I was just going to tell you that I wasn’t ready to get married. We haven’t known each other that long. I wasn’t going to break up with you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” It was his turn to look confused. “I didn’t do anything but tell you the truth. Why are you angry at me?”
“It was the way you told me,” she countered. “It was the tone of your voice. You were getting off on it.”
“I just wanted you to see that he was wrong for you.”
“And that you are right for me?”
He shrugged. “Yea.”
“No.” She shook her head, and held her hands out in front of her. “Just, no.” She noticed the ring on her left hand, sparkling in the candlelight. She removed it quickly, and placed it on the table, beside her empty wine glass. “And I was really falling for you,” she said, as she hurried toward his front door.
“Wait,” he said, and he caught her before she made it to the staircase. He grabbed her and held her against him as he moved toward her, and shoved her against the wall. Her body reacted to him, betraying her. “Don’t go, please,” he groaned into the back of her neck. She shivered when she felt his hips rub against her backside. “I’m sorry. Stay with me.”
He wrapped his arms around her waist, and kissed her neck and her ear. His hands moved down to her thighs, and he flexed into her harder. She felt breathless. She tipped her head back to let him kiss her. His tongue plunged into her, and she couldn’t stop her insides from responding. She knew how that tongue felt on every inch of her body.
“Come upstairs with me, and let me make love to you,” he whispered. “I’m sorry, I swear.”
She was too weak. She nodded, and he took her hand and led her to his bedroom. More candles and flowers waited for her there. She sniffed one of the lilies, as he quickly removed his shirt. He walked up behind her, and swayed to the music.
“Why do you want to run away?”
“What?” He stopped then, and turned her around to face him.
“Why are you running?”
“I want to prove to my father that I can make it without him,” he said as he stared at her. “You are so beautiful, Kaitlyn.”
“And?” She looked up into his eyes. They were bright green. He was excited, aroused.
“I want to prove to him that you will come with me. I want him to see that I was right, that you want me, not his money.”
“I want you, Ruben. But I’m not going to run away from my family, because of some argument you’ve had with your father.”
He exhaled loudly, and moved his hands to her shoulders. He tipped his head down and touched his forehead to hers. “So you won’t leave with me?”
“No.” She shook her head, and took a step away from him. “No. I’m not going to run away with you. Stay here, and prove to your father that we can be together.”
“I can’t work here. And if I can’t make money, I can’t support you.”
“I don’t need you to.” She took another step. “I just need you. Maybe one day you’ll figure that out.” She gave him a weak smile and turned, then made her way down the stairs and out the door.
* * *
He stood at the window and watched her leave. He was always saying or doing the wrong thing
with her. Why did he let himself get carried away like that? She had already shown him she could ignore him when she felt like it. She’d spent days not answering her phone.
Now he had to make a choice; stay here and pursue her, or leave like he’d threatened his father he’d do. He had no idea what in the hell to do. He called her, but of course she didn’t answer.
So he decided to phone his sister. She answered after only two rings. “What’s wrong? Did you have an argument?”
“How did you know?” He shouldn’t even ask. His sister knew everything.
“It was obviously a special night for you. If you were making love with your beautiful fiancée, you wouldn’t be calling me, would you?”
“True. I said the wrong thing, and she walked out.”
“And you need some advice from your know-it-all sister,” Debora chuckled.
“Do I stay, or do I go?” He couldn’t put it any plainer.
“Why do you have to leave? What’s Levi said?”
“He’s going to disown me if I go through with marrying Kaitlyn. So I quit my job.”
“And there’s a non-compete clause in your contract,” his sister finished. “Stay here and concentrate on your music; you don’t have to leave. I don’t think she’d want you to go.”
“There’s no way I’d make enough money with my music.”
“Enough money for what?” his sister scolded. “Your condo is paid for, and so is your car. You have stocks and bonds. You have plenty of money for six months, and that’s all you’ll need before you can start your own firm.”
“But I want to support her and take care of her,” he whined.
“You don’t have to take care of her, love. She can obviously take care of herself.”
Kaitlyn had told him the same thing. Maybe he should have listened. “Thanks, sis.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Are you admitting you don’t know everything?” he asked. She chuckled. “Love you,” he said as he hung up the phone.
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