Heat Up the Fall: New Adult Boxed Set (6 Book Bundle)

by Gennifer Albin

  “I was a fucking idiot!”

  “Just like you’re being now!” I turn around and head for the door. “I’ve got to go.”

  He grabs my arm and pulls me to his chest. His voice softens. “Don’t go this way.”

  My anger ebbs, and I melt into him. “I don’t want to.”

  He cradles my head. “I’m just worried about you. Please let me drive you. I’ll go crazy worrying about you if you drive.”

  “But then I won’t have a way to get home.”

  “I’ll pick you up.”

  “Reed … it won’t be until late, maybe three or four.”

  “Caroline, I don’t care.” He lifts my chin and looks into my eyes. “That’s what love is. Protecting and taking care of the people you love. Please, let me do this.”

  I sigh. “Okay.”

  “But you have to eat something.”

  I shake my head. “You’re relentless. Don’t get used to getting your own way.”

  He winks. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

  I grin. He’s a terrible liar.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  The next afternoon, I’m working in the studio and pleased with my progress. I’ve finished everything for Desiree’s outfit except for the jacket and the trim on the skirt. But it’s close enough to completion that I can have her try it on. My only problem is that Reed has effectively impounded my car. While I appreciate his concern, and agree it’s dangerous to drive, it’s extremely inconvenient.

  Around lunch time, he calls to check on me.

  “Funny you should call,” I grumble. “I’m stuck here carless, and I need to go back to the center for a fitting with Desiree.”

  He’s silent for a moment. “I can’t get away to take you.”

  “Reed, I have to go.” I sit down on my chair, staring at the pink jacket on the dressmaker form.

  “I know. What about Lexi? She’s free, and I’m sure she’d love to take you. She likes you.”

  I sigh, staring at the jacket. Something is missing on it. “I like her too.”

  “Is there a time you need to be there by?”

  I walk behind the form, trying to figure out what’s lacking. “Between three-thirty and four-thirty.”

  “I’ll have Lexi come by.”

  Around three-fifteen, Lexi shows up in the doorway, checking out the room. She’s picked a bad day to see it for the first time. Students are stressed with their approaching deadline, and patience is thin. Not that Lexi seems to notice. She wanders from station to station checking out everyone’s designs. When she reaches me, she examines the jacket. Everything is attached now. It only needs to be bedazzled and have some decorative stitching done.

  She puts her hands on her hips. “This is your best one yet.”

  I grin, surprised how important Lexi’s opinion is to me. “Thanks.” I gather the four pieces and follow Lexi to the parking lot. “Thanks for taking me. Reed is being so stubborn.”

  “He loves you. The thing you have to know about Reed is that he doesn’t do anything halfheartedly. Once he decides to do something, he’s all in.” She grins at me. “And all in with Reed means he plays mother hen. You might as well just give in and accept it now.”

  “Like you and Reed living together,” I say. “And the way he’s so careful about what you do. He’s so overprotective.”

  Lexi presses her key fob and her car chirps. “Sometimes I need the chirp to tell me where the car is.”

  Did she really get distracted from answering or did she purposely avoid answering?

  Once we’re on the road, I decide to renew my efforts. “You and Reed seem close.”

  She beams. “You have no idea. He may be four years older, but he’s always taken his role as big brother seriously. He had most of the boys in my middle school terrified to talk to me. I was never so glad for him to go off to college when I started high school.”

  “When he went to Harvard?”

  She casts a glance in my direction and smiles. “Do you think it will rain tomorrow? If it rains, it’s liable to keep people from coming to the show.”

  Lexi just changed the subject again. I’m sure of it. Why?

  “Did you go to Harvard with Reed?”

  She shifts in her seat. “No.”

  “So where did you go?”

  “A small college out east. I’m sure you never heard of it.”

  “Try me. I might.”

  She doesn’t answer.

  “Did Reed live with you last year?”

  “No.”

  “So this is your first year living together? Why did you change colleges your sophomore year?”

  She draws in a deep breath. “Caroline, you really need to talk to Reed about this.”

  “I need to talk to Reed about where you went to college?” I ask, incredulous.

  Her gaze swings to me. “Please. I want to tell you everything, but I can’t.”

  Dizziness washes through my head. What are they hiding from me? I’m done with Reed’s secret past. Tonight he’s telling me everything, whether he likes it or not.

  Lexi clears her throat. “Brandon asked me out.”

  Her abrupt change of topic takes me a couple of seconds to take in. “Really? That’s great!”

  “I told him I’d go out with him, but I haven’t told Reed. He’ll have a fit.”

  “Lexi, you’re an adult now. You’re eighteen. You can decide who you go out with. I realize you and Reed are close, but this is beyond ridiculous.” Just how controlling is Reed?

  She turns to me, her eyes pleading. “Will you help me? I want to go out with Brandon, but Reed is liable to figure out something’s going on if I don’t come home until late. Do you think you could get Reed to go to your place? Then he’ll never know I went out. Now that he sees you two as more permanent, he’s going to want you around our apartment all the time.”

  I scrunch my nose. “I don’t know, Lexi. Reed will have a fit with me for covering. I don’t want to lie to him.” We already have enough issues we’re still working on. Most importantly, his secrets.

  “I know, but he’s so scared of losing you that he’ll be more understanding if you’re a part of it.”

  I don’t understand why an eighteen-year-old girl needs permission to date. For that reason alone, I decide to help her, but she’s brought up a question. “Why is Reed so scared he’s going to lose me?”

  “Uh….” Lexi pulls into the parking lot. “You know. Because you’ve had a rocky start.”

  I don’t believe her, but she refuses to tell me more. “What if he won’t go to my place? You said yourself now that I’ve been to your apartment, Reed will want to spend more time there. He’s bound to notice you haven’t come home.”

  “Then you can distract him. I’ve seen you two together. That shouldn’t be too hard.”

  My face reddens. It’s weird to think about Lexi knowing Reed and I have sex. And not only knowing, but using it to her advantage.

  “So will you help me?”

  Against my better judgment, I nod. I have a sick feeling that I’ll regret this later.

  The children are excited to see us when we go in, Desiree most of all. As I watch her practice her walk with her outfit on, I’m grateful Desiree’s parents changed their minds. But I also ponder their reasoning for holding her back. They thought letting Desiree get a glimpse of something else, a life she might not ever have would hurt her.

  Was that the reason for some of the things my parents did? Did my mother think I had aimed too high with my dreams? Was she worried I’d come crashing down to earth? When I look at my parents’ behavior through this new lens, my perception changes.

  For the first time in three years, I want to talk to my mom and dad, but I’m running out of time. Scarlett’s right. After the fashion show is over, I need to visit my mother before she dies. Maybe Reed will agree to go with me. He deserves to meet my family and see the world I came from. And I find myself surprised that I want my parents to meet Reed.<
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  ***

  Hours later, I put the last jewel on Desiree’s jacket. I’m exhausted, but I’m also incredibly proud. “That’s it.”

  I did it.

  Reed glances up from his laptop, taking off his reading glasses. It seems fitting that he sees the last piece finished, since he’s been such a big part of the creation of the designs. “I am so proud of you, Caroline. I couldn’t be more proud if I’d created them myself.”

  I lean over and give him a kiss. “Thank you. Although after all of your questions and observations, I suspect you could create your own line now.” I hang the jacket on the form and look over the completed outfit, trimming several stray threads. “Yep, I’m really done.”

  “So now what?”

  “I put all the pieces on my hanging rack, along with my accessories so it will be ready for tomorrow.” I hang Desiree’s outfit on the rack, which already holds all the other designs, and roll it to the back room. Most of the other racks are still out in the workroom, waiting for the students to finish their designs. Quite a few of them have all-nighters ahead of them.

  Yawning, I pick up my workstation. “I’m exhausted. I want to go home and go to bed.”

  “Come to my place,” Reed says, packing up his bag. “I’ll cook you dinner.”

  “Reed, it’s almost nine o’clock. You don’t have to do that.”

  “I want to.” He takes my hand in his. “Let’s get out of here before you fall asleep standing up.”

  During the drive to Reed’s apartment, I realize I’m supposed to be coercing Reed to go to my place for Lexi. But I’m too tired to make up an excuse to stay at my apartment. Maybe I can convince Reed to come to bed with me, and he’ll never notice Lexi getting in late.

  But it reminds me that we have bigger issues to address. Reed accused me of hiding my past, but his is even an bigger mystery. I decide to start with something that’s been bothering me all day. “Reed, when I told Desiree’s parents about my past, why didn’t you seem surprised?”

  He hesitates. “Because I knew.”

  “What do you mean you knew?”

  “The photo on the wall.”

  “So you guessed?”

  “No. I found out. That first day when you saw it and got upset, I wondered why. So I asked if anyone knew the names of the kids on the wall. I got the list and found your name.”

  “When did you find out?”

  “Before your date with Brandon.”

  I feel sick. He must think I’m a fool, worrying about my past when he knew all about it. “You’ve known all this time, and you never said anything? Why?”

  He looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. “Because I wanted you to trust me enough to tell me yourself.”

  “So you hired a private investigator to dig up my past,” I joke.

  He sighs. “It didn’t take a private investigator.”

  I sit upright. “Wait. You investigated me?”

  A scowl covers his face. “Come on, Caroline. Are you telling me that you didn’t look me up online?”

  “No.” Although I’ve been tempted.

  His mouth opens then he swallows. “Why not?”

  “I wanted to trust you.”

  He has the grace to look guilty.

  If we’re going to commit to this relationship, I need to tell him everything. I need to confess my insecurities and worries, then I need him to tell me his past. “Reed, I have to tell you something important.”

  Panic covers his face. “Wait. I don’t want to have this conversation in the car,” he says, turning into the apartment parking lot.

  “It’s not—”

  “Caroline,” he pleads. “Just wait.”

  I’m not sure what he thinks I’m going to say, but his panic scares me.

  My car is sitting directly under a street lamp. I wonder when I’ll have the money to fix it. Now that the fashion show is almost over, I can get another part-time job to replace the one I had before the beginning of this crazy semester. With the Christmas shopping season just around the corner, I’m sure I can get a retail job.

  Reed leads me upstairs to his apartment, but tonight is different than the night before. When we get in his apartment, he takes my coat. “I’m going to get a drink. Do you want one?”

  “Um, sure. What are you having?”

  “Whiskey.” He pulls a bottle out of his kitchen cabinet.

  Now he’s freaking me out. I’ve only seen him drink twice and both times were at a bar.

  He pours a glass and looks up at me.

  “No.” I shake my head. “Reed, I need you to listen to me.”

  He takes a sip and waits.

  “The reason I’ve dated guys who met certain criteria—the things I told you the night I met you—was because after living the childhood I did, I swore I’d never live like that again. That I’d sure never put my kids through that. That’s why I didn’t want to get attached to you. I didn’t think you’d make very much money on a college professor’s salary.”

  “It’s very rare to find a college professor so underpaid they’re forced into homelessness, Caroline.”

  I shake my head, embarrassed. “I know. It’s just the fear is so inbred in me, that the thought of even coming close to living like that again, sends me into a full-fledged panic. It’s irrational, I know that, but knowing it and accepting it are two different things. I’m still working on it, so I need you to be patient with me.”

  “Okay,” he says, but he’s acting weird.

  “So in an appeal to your patience, I need to know how much you owe in student loans.”

  He looks at me like I’ve asked him to speak Japanese.

  “Your student loans from Harvard.”

  He sags against the counter. He looks sick. “That’s why you were asking about Harvard and scholarships a few nights ago.”

  “When you asked me if there was anyone else, I knew that I didn’t want anyone else. I only want you. But you have that massive debt. It took me a few minutes to calm down and figure it out. But you never came back, and then you never returned my calls.”

  “Figure what out?”

  “That I love you enough not to care if you have a mountain of debt. As long as I have you, I have everything I need. I’m still worried about kids, but after seeing how protective you are of Lexi and me, I know you’d never let your children suffer like I did.”

  “Oh, Caroline.” He puts his drink down and loops his arms around my waist. “Do you have any idea how much it means that you trust me this much?”

  I lift my face and kiss him, glad I’ve told him. Relieved he knows my fears.

  He grabs my face and leans my head back. “I love you.”

  “I love you too.” But my stomach knots at the worry on his face. Why does he look so scared?

  “Caroline, I don’t have any student loans.”

  I shake my head. “But you told me you didn’t have scholarships.”

  His face hardens. “I didn’t.”

  “Reed, I don’t understand. If you went to Harvard….” My voice trails off.

  I wait for him to continue, but he doesn’t. That’s all he shares.

  My anger flares. “Are you serious? You tell me that you didn’t need loans to go to Harvard, and you don’t volunteer anything else?”

  “Caroline….”

  “So you’re not going to tell me?”

  He heaves a breath. “I will, but I want to wait until Lexi comes home. We should tell you together.”

  “I tell you about my past, and you give me a flippant I already know—”

  “I would hardly call it flippant—”

  “And then when I ask about your past, you still blow me off?”

  “Caroline, I’m only asking you to wait.”

  The hell with waiting. “Where’s your laptop?”

  “What?”

  “Give me your fucking laptop. If you’re not going to tell me I’ll just do an Internet search. You were surprised I hadn’t done one. You obv
iously expected me to, so why don’t I take care of that right now?”

  He looks like he’s about to protest, but he takes the computer out of his bag and sets it on the kitchen counter, entering his password on the startup screen.

  When it boots up I search Reed Pendergraft.

  The search results turn up a few posts about Reed at Harvard and Reed at Southern. There are no images. Nothing from his past. Just enough to give him a web presence but not enough to answer any questions.

  I search Lexi Pendergraft and I get less on her. Just her page at Southern, nothing about the other college she attended or about her high school. It’s as though she were dropped here at Southern with no past at all.

  Look how well that worked for me.

  Reed pours more whiskey.

  How bad is this?

  What are they hiding? My imagination runs wild. Are they criminals? Right. Criminals who go to college and live in a nice apartment?

  Maybe they’re in the witness protection program.

  Then I latch on to another idea.

  Reed doesn’t have student loans. He lives in a nice apartment.

  Reed is a representative of the Monroe Foundation.

  I type Reed Monroe into the search box.

  The page fills with multiple results for Reed Monroe, images even. Reed’s face appears on the screen.

  The top result says: “Reed Monroe, heir to Monroe Industries, was seen at the Monroe Foundation Annual Fundraiser Ball with socialite Amelia Mitchell.” When I click, I see Reed in a tux standing next to a gorgeous woman, who is wearing a formal gown that had to cost thousands upon thousands of dollars.

  Half the images are photos of Reed with Amelia.

  He’s the heir to Monroe Industries, yet he’s here at Southern pretending to be someone else. He’s used to dating rich, beautiful socialites. So why is he with me?

  But most importantly, he says he loves me, but he’s never made one attempt to tell me. He’s known about my past, but waited for me to trust him enough to tell him on my own.

  Reed doesn’t trust me.

  Or he had no intention of ever telling me.