Wynne inwardly groaned. “Derek’s here,” she allowed, not wanting to lie.
“I see.”
Great. Getting the I see from her mother was really just the adult version of you’re grounded. “Don’t get started, Mom,” Wynne warned, anticipating the sermon that would come next.
Derek pressed a kiss to the skin just below her ear. “Tell her I have good intentions,” he whispered.
Wynne shot him a look that clearly said yeah right. She didn’t even believe Derek had good intentions, so there was no way she could convince her mother that he did.
“I can’t believe he’s at your house, Wynne,” her mother chimed into her ear, her tone one of obvious motherly disapproval. “What is going through your head?”
“I don’t know,” Wynne replied honestly as Derek kissed her neck.
“I’ll let you talk in private,” he murmured before leaving the kitchen again.
She breathed a sigh of relief. “Listen, Mom, I don’t want to argue about Derek.”
“I’m just worried about you, honey.” Her mother paused. “But you’re right. I don’t want to argue either. I really want you to come out to Dallas with me to help Kieran pack his things. It would mean a lot to him for you to be there, and I think it would also be good for you to get away a little bit and have a chance to breathe.”
“Give me some time to think about it,” Wynne said finally, stalling for time. She didn’t really want to go to Dallas for a number of reasons. First of all, she wasn’t close to Kieran and despite what her mother believed, Wynne didn’t think he’d be ecstatic to have her show up in Dallas. Not to mention that she really didn’t want to separate Derek and Paige. But she could tell by her mother’s persistence this wasn’t a battle she could win tonight. Postponement would have to do.
“You have until next weekend,” her mother replied firmly. “I didn’t book my flight yet, so I can pick up tickets for you and Paige at the same time. In case you’re wondering, your brother is actually flying into BWI tomorrow afternoon. I’m picking him up if you’d like to come along.”
“Maybe.” Wynne wasn’t prepared to make any promises as far as her brother was concerned.
“I’ll call you tomorrow. Promise me you’ll be careful with Derek.”
“I’ll try.” Yet another matter she wasn’t ready to make promises about.
Utter silence.
Never in her life had Wynne felt more uncomfortable. Thank God they’d finally arrived at BWI, because she couldn’t withstand more of Derek’s attempts at polite conversation followed by her mother’s waspish replies. At least Paige was sleeping, her cheeks flushed rosy pink and her head hanging forward in her car seat. Wynne, on the other hand, had no such luck.
She didn’t know why she had agreed to this ridiculous trip to pick up her brother anyway. Or why she had been naïve enough to invite Derek along and expect her mother to be civil to him.
He had spent the night again last night, but—and she wasn’t sure if she should feel relieved or disappointed—it had been strictly hands-off. At Paige’s insistence, Wynne and Derek had camped out with her in the living room in a makeshift tent. No room for hanky-panky with a four-year-old crammed innocently between them. Her thwarted lust left her in a state of perpetual semi-annoyance.
She snapped at her mother over the radio station—it was fading out, it was too quiet, too many commercials—argued over which drive-through would have the best coffee, and continually shifted in her seat, attempting to escape the slow strangulation perpetuated by her seat belt.
“It will be a surprise for Kieran to see…all of you here,” her mother murmured as she guided her car into a narrow space.
“You mean you didn’t tell him you were forcing me to accompany you?” Wynne kept her voice dry. Unclasping her seat belt, she pinned her mother with an annoyed look.
Eileen fussed with her short gray hair and frowned at Wynne, pulling the keys from the ignition. “I didn’t force you.”
Wynne remained silent as she got out of the car and stretched her legs. True, she hadn’t been forced. Coerced definitely fit the description, though, but not by Eileen, by Derek. After she told him about her brother’s unexpected arrival, Derek had encouraged her to accompany her mother to BWI. Wynne hadn’t seen Kieran—in person, that is—since Paige was a baby. But Derek, having had no family of his own, was the first to stress the importance of family. Besides, Kieran was Paige’s uncle, blah blah blah. He’d been so cute about it Wynne had given in. Okay, the way things stood between them right now, she’d give in to anything Derek asked of her. Scary, but true.
Derek stretched his long, lean body out of the backseat, rubbing the small of her back through her coat in a gesture both possessive and comforting. She loved to have him touch her, to know the freedom of being able to reach for his hand or curve her arm around him, or better yet, kiss him whenever she chose. Wynne briefly leaned back against his solid frame, soaking in his strength and his potency.
“Why did I let you talk me into this?” she half grumbled, half whispered the words to him.
He drew her hair to the side and pressed a quick kiss to her neck. She felt his lips smiling on her skin. “Because it’s the right thing to do.”
“Mmm.” But before she could enjoy him, he pulled away and leaned back into the car to unhook Paige from her car seat. Bad form to make out in front of one’s own mother anyway, Wynne acknowledged on a sigh.
Several hundred curious stares later, they made their way inside the airport. A teenager with braces and a pink sweatshirt that said Love approached them at the front doors.
“Aren’t you Derek Shaw?”
Derek, holding a still-sleeping Paige snuggled in his arms, seemed both dismayed and pleased by the recognition. He smiled easily at the girl. “I am.”
“Ohmigod.” She clasped her hands together as she squealed with excitement. “Can I, like, have your autograph? And a picture?” She whipped out an iPhone. “I so have to tweet this.”
“I’d love to give it to you, but my hands are full at the moment.”
Wynne detected a hint of disappointment in his voice. “I’ll take her,” she offered, reaching for Paige.
Derek relinquished their daughter and accepted the pen and paper his fan handed him—the paper looked suspiciously like a clothing store receipt, but never mind. A pang surged through Wynne’s heart at the sight of Derek signing his autograph. She knew he’d seen all the not-so-covert looks during their trek from the parking lot, and he’d likely enjoyed the attention.
He had been in the spotlight for more than fifteen years. Somehow, she’d been so blinded by her lust for him, and her growing feelings for him too, that she’d been able to overlook the tremendous obstacle of his fame. Seeing him in action made her realize he would never be able to give up his old lifestyle. How could he ever become anonymous, or even want to be, after the life he’d led?
Just as quickly as he had breezed back into her life, he would leave it again. He would leave her. The realization left her staggered. Empty.
“Wynne?” Derek’s voice intruded on her troubled musings,
She blinked and realized his teenybopper fan had disappeared back into the throng of weary travelers and endless luggage.
“Is something wrong?”
Yes, everything.
Inhaling sharply, she forced a smile to her lips. “Not at all.”
“I’ll take her again.” His eyes remained intense on hers. She could tell he didn’t completely believe her assertion.
“She’s fine with me.” Wynne suddenly didn’t want to give up the comfort of holding her daughter in her arms.
“I think I see him!” The exclamation from her mother tore Wynne’s attention away from Derek.
She scanned the crowd for her brother’s tall frame and spotted him easily. Well over six feet tall, Kieran had huge, broad shoulders and coal-black hair. In the midday crowd of tourists, families and business types, he stood out like an angry giant.
All he needed was a bean stalk and a golden-egg-laying goose. He strode toward them wearing a scowl he probably used on the ice to make his opponents turtle.
Definitely not happy to be here.
His hair was longer than it had been the last time she’d seen him on TV, almost brushing his shoulders, and black scruff covered his cheeks and jaw. Although he wore a pinstriped suit, he looked as if he’d just crawled out of a bar. And knowing Kieran, he probably had.
He finally approached them, giving Wynne a good view of his bloodshot eyes—yep, definitely hungover—and a cut above his left eyebrow. Eileen wrapped her arms around him in an ecstatic hug. Kieran grimaced, but gave their mother a halfhearted pat on the back.
“Mom. It’s great to see you.”
“I can’t believe you’ll be so close to us! Having you back in Maryland again is my dream come true.” Eileen was gushing, and she was definitely not the gushing type. But then, she had always been a softie when it came to her little bad boy.
“Yeah.” Kieran grunted, looking distinctly uncomfortable now.
His green gaze, really the only thing he had in common with Wynne other than their mutual parentage, settled on Wynne for the first time. “Wynne?”
“Welcome home.” She kept her voice gentle, more than aware Kieran hadn’t thought of Maryland as home for a long, long time.
“Thanks, I guess.” He disengaged himself from Eileen and held his carry-on bag at his side almost awkwardly. “Holy shit. Is that Paige you’re holding?”
“Yes.” A smile of maternal pride curved her lips. “She’s four now.”
“The last time I saw her picture, she was this tiny thing with a red face and fuzzy hair.” Kieran smiled too, his gaze dropping away from Paige to settle on Derek. His smile instantly vanished, replaced by a sneer. “Derek Shaw?”
Derek nodded and offered Kieran his hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too. I’ve been wanting to do this for five years, you miserable prick.” With those words for warning, Kieran smashed his fist into Derek’s face.
So meeting Wynne’s brother hadn’t gone as well as he had planned.
Derek’s right eye was almost swollen shut. To top it all off, there had been several photographs following his unmanly fainting spell at BWI, a direct result of the mind-erasing haymaker of Kieran Carter. At least he knew why they called him Killer Carter. And at least his nose had stopped bleeding. Finally.
As Derek sat crammed into the backseat of Wynne’s mother’s Volvo, he tried to maintain a positive outlook. He’d never really been a glass-half-full kind of man, since when there was a glass of alcohol at hand, he had typically drained it and ordered another. But he was doing his best to remain optimistic. If ever there was a time in his life when he wanted a drink more than he wanted to take his next breath, it would probably be now. Because now that Wynne’s brother had begun the battle, Derek was going to have to finish it. As soon as they reached Wynne’s house, Derek was going to have to high gear it into ass-kicking mode.
Maybe his ass would be the one on the receiving end of most of the kicking, but Derek’s pride couldn’t allow that punch to go unanswered. Hell, he would hate to see what good old Killer would have done had he actually been close to Wynne. A knife to the throat?
“Are you okay?” Wynne whispered to him from the other side of Paige’s car seat.
Paige peered at him worriedly. “You got a purpley eye now, Daddy.”
Thank God she’d been sleeping when her Uncle Kieran had decided to let loose with the fists. He tried to wink at Paige, but he could only wink with his right eye and any movement of that eye at all hurt too damn much. “I’m okay, sweetie.”
Wynne brushed the back of her hand over his cheek. “I had no idea he was going to do that.”
“I can hear you, you know,” Kieran growled from the front seat. “We’re in the same damn car.”
“Oooh, Uncle Kieran, you owe me a quarter for saying a bad word!” Paige clapped her hands together gleefully. “I already got twenty-eight dollars in my princess bank.”
“Shit.” Kieran muttered the word, but it was still audible in the backseat.
“You owe me another quarter now,” Paige informed him happily. “Say another one!”
“Sorry.” Kieran’s voice sounded, to his credit, genuinely contrite. “I’m not used to being around kids.”
“Apparently you’re not used to being around normal people, either,” Wynne said, her voice cool.
Derek winced. He’d been on the receiving end of that tone and he knew it didn’t bode well.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Kieran turned to glare at his sister. “I’m with normal people all the time.”
“Hockey players and groupies don’t count as normal people, Kieran.”
“How could I forget that Wynne with her business degree will always be better than a dumb athlete like me?”
Derek watched as Wynne stiffened. Her brother’s words had clearly hit their mark. It seemed like an old argument between them. He slid his arm behind Paige’s car seat to rub the tense ridges of muscle in Wynne’s neck. Closing her eyes, she leaned back against him. God, he liked having the freedom to touch her. And he was planning on doing plenty more of that later tonight. Camping in the living room was not an option.
Supposing he was still alive following his brawl with Killer, that was.
“I’m not going to argue with you Kieran,” Wynne murmured quietly. “You just got here.”
Kieran let out a low expletive not quite discernible and slammed his fist into the car door. Anger management might be a good investment for good old Killer, Derek thought wryly.
Part of his goal in accompanying Wynne to meet her brother at the airport had been to gain acceptance from at least one of her family members. Her mother had already made it painfully clear she detested him, but for Wynne’s sake and Paige’s sake, Derek had wanted to make a good impression on Kieran. After all, they were stuck with each other for the long haul and it would be much more pleasant if Wynne’s family could tolerate him with a smile.
But the fist smashing into his face at BWI had pretty much proved to Derek that as far as Wynne’s family was concerned, he was totally out of luck. At least Wynne and Paige had welcomed him into their lives. And they were all that mattered to him.
No hanky-panky tonight either.
Wynne sighed despondently as she looked at the two pitiful excuses of manhood crashed on her sofa. Her brother had a black eye, a split lip and a swollen nose, and Derek was equally bruised. Looking at them now, she found it hard to believe they had squared off on the sidewalk in front of her building and beat the crap out of each other like macho men.
Derek, for his part, appeared to have won Kieran’s approval. Wynne had to admit he had put up a good fight against her bulkier, more experienced brother. Okay, so inwardly, she could admit watching Derek hold his own against Kieran had been…well, hot. Not that she would ever confess as much to him. Outwardly, she was all frowning disapproval. After all, she hardly wanted to encourage more of his Cro-Magnon man behavior.
A crowd had gathered to watch the two men square off in the street. Her poor mother had been so angry she refused to take Kieran home. As a result, Wynne was stuck with him for the night, a circumstance she wasn’t exactly thrilled over. Kieran hadn’t changed in the years since she’d seen him. He was still a bad boy, still immature, and still had a chip on his shoulder.
“You two look pathetic,” she informed Derek and Kieran, eying them with her arms folded over her chest.
They grinned.
“I feel pretty pathetic,” Derek admitted.
Kieran gave Derek a hearty thump on the back. “You put up a hell of a fight for a pansy-ass actor. You’re lucky I held back, though. I didn’t want to totally kick your ass.”
He turned to Wynne. “Do you have any more beer?”
Wynne frowned at him. “Do I look like your waitress for the evening?”
&nbs
p; “I’m your guest.”
“I didn’t invite you.”
Kieran’s mouth curved into a sneer. “No, you wouldn’t, would you? Big brother has never been good enough for you.”
“I never said that.” She plopped down on the chair across from them.
“You’re probably thrilled they traded me. It just proves your theory.”
“What theory?” Derek and Wynne asked the question in unison.
“Before I quit college to join the NHL, Wynne told me I was making the biggest mistake of my life.”
“Ouch.” Derek sent her a searching look.
“I was looking out for him,” Wynne defended herself. She turned to her brother. “Kieran, I thought you should finish college, that’s all. You can’t play hockey forever, you know.”
“With all the money I made, I can do whatever the hell I want,” Kieran said harshly, giving Wynne a distinctly go-to-hell stare.
She was taken aback by the virulence of both his tone and his language. “I don’t need to argue with you about this. You’ve done well for yourself, and believe it or not, I’m happy for you.”
And she was happy for him, happy he had been able to make enough money to provide himself with the sort of luxurious life he’d always craved. But she had a feeling that eventually, the bed-hopping, the mansions, the bar brawls, and the fast cars would get old. That was what she’d been trying to tell him all those years ago before he left to pursue his dreams in an early draft. She’d been the practical sibling back then. Before she’d gone off the deep end with a sexy actor and her life had forever changed.
“Thanks, sis.” His tone was dry and bitter.
Paige padded into the living room then, swiping at her eyes with her fists. “Mama, I can’t sleep. Can you read me a story?”
Casting another glance at Kieran, Wynne rose and followed her daughter back into her bedroom. Would she and Kieran ever be able to put their differences aside? She had a feeling a great deal of his anger was owed to their father and his absence from their lives. He’d become a famous hockey player and Jerry Carter still didn’t want anything to do with his son. Wynne knew Jerry’s rejection hurt Kieran. She just hoped it didn’t hurt him so much he continued on his path of self-destruction.
Win My Love (Love's Second Chance Book 3) Page 13
