“I don’t expect anything to work. I know exactly what’s going to happen.”
“What’s that?”
“As soon as Shane hears my name, he’s going to out me as his rival, then he’s going to undermine me, and then Kalissa’s going to walk away.”
Ashton was nodding. “At least it won’t come as a surprise.”
“It won’t come as a surprise. I can handle it.”
A beat went past in silence.
“Why don’t I believe you?” asked Ashton.
“Because I’m lying.” Riley signaled the waitress for a shot.
Ashton held up two fingers. “To me or to yourself?”
“To both of us. I spent half the night trying to figure out a way this doesn’t blow up in my face. I mean, why can’t I have a chance? Why is it automatically impossible that this gorgeous, bright, enchanting woman can be mine?”
“Do you need an answer to that question?”
“No,” said Riley. “I need a plan.”
“That’s a whole lot harder than an answer.”
“Isn’t it?”
The waitress dropped off two shots of whiskey.
Both men downed them and took long swallows of their beer.
“You have to tell her,” said Ashton.
“I know.” That was the only part of the plan that was clear to Riley.
“Before he tells her.”
“He doesn’t know I’m seeing her.”
“He will.”
“He will,” Riley agreed. “I was thinking one more date. We’ve had two, three if you count Monday. And they went great. It all went great.”
“So, be honest with her.”
“I need a little bit more, first.” Riley made a space with his finger and thumb. “One more date. If she knows me better, she’ll have some perspective. Maybe, just maybe, she’ll question some of the negative things he’ll tell her.”
Ashton gave a sarcastic chuckle. “You really are cynical.”
“I prefer to think of it as realistic.”
The Cubs hit a two run homer to take the lead in the bottom of the eight, and a cheer went up in the bar.
“I wish I could stay and help you,” Ashton said as the noise died down.
The words surprised Riley. “You going somewhere?”
Ashton nodded, his attention on his glass. “I took a search and rescue job in Alaska.”
“You what?”
“I gotta get away for a while.”
Riley was astonished. “From what? Sunshine and civilization?”
Ashton looked up. “I told you about Jennifer.”
“Jennifer? You mean the woman who was once Darci’s roommate?”
“I need to clear my head.”
“You said you two broke up.”
“She dumped me.”
“So?”
Ashton normally went through multiple girlfriends a month. Sometimes he walked away, sometimes they did. In the past, it had never bothered him which way it went.
“I don’t get the connection to Alaska,” said Riley.
“I keep wanting to call her.” Ashton signaled for another round of shots.
“So, call her,” There was no harm in trying.
“She was pretty definitive last time we talked.”
“So instead you want to forget her.” Riley thought he got the logic. “I doubt there are a lot of women in Alaska to help with that. Maybe try California.”
Ashton chuckled. “I wish it were that easy. I don’t want another woman.”
“You don’t?”
“I haven’t been with anyone since Jennifer.” Ashton spun his mug. “That was five months ago.”
Riley’s jaw went lax. “Say, what?”
“I need to clear my head. I don’t exactly know what the deal is. I mean, she’s great.” Ashton paused. “I guess that’s it. She’s great. Full stop. And I blew it. And I need to get her out of my head before I can move on.”
The waitress breezed over with their shots, setting them efficiently on the table. She seemed to gauge the mood of the table and didn’t linger for any chit-chat.
“Why didn’t you say something?” Riley asked Ashton.
He could have helped. At least, he thought he could have helped. He’d have tried, even though he wasn’t exactly a relationship expert.
“I thought I could walk it off. I am going to walk it off. But not here. Not in Chicago.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
Ashton held up his shot in a toast.
Riley followed suit.
They clicked the glasses together and downed the whisky.
“Don’t fall for Kalissa,” said Ashton. “It’s not going to end well.”
“Gotcha.” But Riley knew that train was already barreling out of the station.
“Tell her the truth,” said Ashton.
“I will.”
“I mean now. Right now. Women need to trust you. If Shane beats you to it, you won’t be able to dial it back.”
* * *
Kalissa had lingered in Riley’s yard after work was done on Tuesday, but by eight o’clock, he still hadn’t come home. She’d told herself he was obviously dealing with his business problems. She mostly believed herself, but she couldn’t quite banish the worry that he’d purposely stayed away.
On Wednesday, she was needed on another job site. She briefly considered making an excuse to go to Riley’s again, hoping to run into him, but, thankfully, reason overrode emotion. She wasn’t going to go chasing after him as if they were in high school.
She spent the day in Oak Park. It was a big, Tudor style house with peaked roof lines and stone facings. The front yard was sleek and modern. It was a corner lot with a three foot stone retaining wall. The owners wanted the front gardens expanded and the yard re-turfed.
By contrast, the backyard was a traditional English garden. It was terribly overgrown, but it had enormous potential, and they’d be working there with plants that were exotic in Chicago.
It’s where Kalissa had focused for the day, wandering through trellises and stepping stones, a burbling pond, creeping vines and a profusion of wildflowers.
She heard her name called and popped her head up from a bed of lavender. The sound was coming from the driveway gate.
“Hello?” she called back.
“Kalissa?”
She recognized her sister’s voice. She rose to her feet, peeling off her gloves, delighted with the surprise.
“Hey, Darci. What are you doing here?”
“Right now, I’m trying to find you.”
“It’s a bit overgrown. Follow the sound of my voice.”
“I’m trying.”
“Can you see the pond?” Kalissa asked. “The stone pathway leads you right there.”
“Oh, yes. Here I am, at the pond.”
“Take the right hand path. I’ll meet you.”
“Got it. Shane,” Darci called out. “Take a right at the pond.”
“What pond?” came Shane’s voice from a greater distance.
Darci came into view, and the two women met under a vine covered pergola that shaded them from the sun.
“This is amazing,” said Darci, looking around.
“Don’t you love it?”
“I want one.”
“Maybe for your birthday,” Shane joked, emerging along the path.
“It’s charming,” said Darci.
“Can you build us one of these?” Shane asked Kalissa.
“Sure,” Kalissa joked in return. “Just let me know where on your hundred acres you’d like me to put it.”
“Anywhere you want,” said Shane. “My mother
was very particular about the grounds. Me, not so much. You can do whatever you like.”
“You should,” said Darci, enthusiasm in her voice. “You should re-do the whole place.”
Kalissa laughed. “That would take a few years.”
Shane shrugged. “It’s a good idea.”
Kalissa waved him off. “Right.”
“I’m serious,” he said, looking like he was. “Take over the grounds.”
She felt the need to inject some reality into the conversation. “It would be a full time job.”
“For more than one person,” he said. “How do you think Megan would feel about it?”
“We are not having this conversation,” said Kalissa.
“It’s not the most outlandish idea in the world,” said Darci. “Your work is terrific. And you’d never have to worry about advertising, finding new clients, dealing with difficult people.”
“You’re not riding in here on your white, billionaire charger and plucking me out of poverty.”
“You’re in poverty?” asked Shane.
“I’m exaggerating for effect,” said Kalissa. Though compared to them, she was certainly impoverished.
She hadn’t told them she and Megan lived above the landscaping shop. She’d feared they’d feel compelled to save her from her frugal circumstances.
“Give it some thought,” said Shane. “The offer’s out there.”
“Sure,” Kalissa lied. “I’ll think about it.”
Shane looked at Darci. “She’s not going to think about it.”
“She might,” said Darci.
“She’s too proud. Not that I blame her.”
“You two can see me standing here, right?” Kalissa laughed.
“You’re going to have to get used to us,” said Shane.
“I’m trying,” she answered honestly. “But I need to manage my own life.”
“I understand,” said Shane. “And I admire you for it. But at some point, it gets ridiculous.”
Kalissa felt her guard go up. “Earning my own living is not ridiculous.”
“You’re Darci’s sister, Ian’s daughter, he—”
“Shane,” Darci’s tone was unusually sharp. “It can wait.”
“It can,” Shane agree. “I apologize, Kalissa.” He glanced around the yard. “Why don’t you tell us what you’re doing here?”
Kalissa knew they hadn’t stopped by to hear about her landscaping job. “What’s going on?” she asked her sister.
“I really want to hear about the garden,” said Darci.
“No, you don’t.”
“Yes, I do.”
“You two sound like a couple of eight year olds,” said Shane, a trace of laughter in his voice.
“That’s because we missed being eight year olds together,” said Darci. “Tell me,” she said to Kalissa.
Kalissa gave in. “We’ll have to cut a lot of it back, and re-do a bunch of the woodwork. You saw the pond? We’re going to expand it and create a recirculating creak, with a little waterfall to aerate it. I love the wildflowers. They attract dragonflies, bumble bees, butterflies. When we’re—”
A figure appeared in Kalissa’s peripheral vision, standing at the edge of the pergola, silhouetted against the sun.
Kalissa shaded her eyes to see. “Riley?”
A glow of pleasure grew in her chest. She was frighteningly glad to see him.
“Hi, Kalissa.” His tone was soft, intimate, his focus intent on her. “Megan said you’d be here.”
Shane swiftly looked over his shoulder. “Ellis?” His voice was incredulous.
Riley’s expression froze, his gaze darting to Shane and sticking.
“What are you doing here?” Shane demanded.
Kalissa’s chest went hollow. “You two know each other?”
“Yes, I know him,” said Shane, turning fully and planting his feet apart. “He’s Ellis Aviation, the guy who’s been a thorn in my side.”
Kalissa didn’t understand. “Riley?”
“I need to talk to you,” Riley said to Kalissa.
Kalissa took in Darci’s tense expression. “What’s going on?”
“He’s not a good man,” Darci said to Kalissa. She looked quite upset.
“He’s the scheming competition,” Shane barked. “Tell me how you know him.”
Kalissa recoiled from the anger in Shane’s voice. “We met a couple of weeks ago.”
She scrambled her thoughts back to the restaurant that night, trying to remember how it had played out. Riley had though she was Darci. And he’d confronted her, accused her of spying on him.
“By chance,” said Riley.
“I just bet it was,” said Shane. He shifted, putting himself between Kalissa and Riley.
“We need to talk,” Riley said to Kalissa, moving so he could see her.
“I don’t think so,” said Shane.
“You knew them,” she said to Riley, assailed by a feeling of betrayal. “You knew them all along.”
“Not the way you think,” said Riley.
“What way do I think?”
No wonder Shane was angry. Riley had played her, and she’d fallen for it hook, line and sinker. She’d dated him. She’d slept with him.
“What did you tell him?” asked Shane, his voice bitter.
She hadn’t told him anything. What could she tell him? She didn’t know anything.
“Leave her alone,” demanded Riley.
Darci moved closer to Kalissa, linking their arms.
“Me leave her alone?” Shane spat out.
“It’s not her fault,” said Riley.
Shane’s voice lowered, sounding more controlled. “What’s your game?”
“My game?” Riley scoffed.
Kalissa’s throat went tight. She felt a tremor start deep inside her. She couldn’t listen to this. She couldn’t stand to know she might have compromised Darci and Shane.
Riley had pretended to like her in a bid to undermine her family. Mortification washed over her as she remembered the things they’d done together.
“Do you want to get out of here?” Darci whispered in her ear.
Kalissa gave a jerky nod.
“Let’s go.” Darci urged her to the side of the pergola, skirting Riley.
“Don’t go,” he called to her.
“Who are you?” she managed, her voice quaking. “Why would you do that to me?”
“I came to tell you,” he said. “The reason I’m here right now is to tell you the truth.”
“You expect me to believe that?” She was through being naive.
“Don’t talk to her,” said Shane. “Talk to me.”
Riley shot him a glare.
Darci urged her forward, and Kalissa went willingly.
Seven
Riley moved to go after Kalissa, but Shane was on him in a second, blocking his path.
“Don’t talk to her,” Shane growled. “Don’t touch her. Don’t go near her ever again.”
“Back off,” said Riley, voice tight, sorely tempted to take a swing.
“No, you back off, you son-of-a-bitch.”
Riley saw red. He stepped up, only inches from Shane’s face. “Are you out of your mind? My mother was one of the sweetest, most gentle, hardest working people who ever lived. I don’t give a damn what you say to me or about me, but don’t you ever, dare—”
“Whoa,” Shane drew back, looking shocked. “It’s an expression.”
“Yeah, right,” Riley spat with disgust. “It’s just an expression.”
“It is.”
“Nothing to do with you and me.”
It shouldn’t have surprised Riley that Shane was
feigning ignorance of their relationship. It was all he’d ever done.
Shane’s expression hardened again. “Kalissa is what has to do with you and me.”
Riley’s anger warred with regret. He didn’t want to cause her any grief. “She didn’t tell me a thing. She didn’t have to. Your moves are pretty obvious.”
“My moves? My moves?”
“The engine mounting bracket.”
“What engine mounting bracket?”
“You’re going to lie about it, too? Come on, Colborn, at least be man enough to admit it when you undermine me.”
Shane looked confused. “You’re the one who headhunted my guys.”
“I did that. And I was up front about it.”
“You failed.”
“I got a couple of them,” said Riley.
“Not the best.”
“Not yet.”
Shane’s tone seemed to moderate. “You’re still trying to sink me?”
“You’re trying to sink me. Every Bradley lower front engine mounting bracket from every distributor? Not a lot of finesse to that move.”
“Somebody bought up just the lower fronts?”
“Yeah, you did.”
“It wasn’t me.”
Shane looked so sincere that it gave Riley pause.
“Are you that good at lying?” asked Riley.
“What would be the point of lying?”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.” Riley knew it was going to be fairly easy to confirm.
Shane drew an exasperated sigh. “Stay away from Kalissa. She’s got nothing to do with this.”
“Agreed.” Riley didn’t want Kalissa to have anything to do with the feud between him and Shane. “But I’m not staying away from her.”
“Oh, yes you are.”
Riley sputtered a ragged laugh. “Not happening.”
Anger flooded back into Shane’s eyes. “Are you looking for a fight?”
“No. But I’m not backing down from one either.”
Shane would try to sway Kalissa. Riley couldn’t stop that. But he had a side to this story, too.
He wasn’t going to tuck his tail between his legs and walk away from what he wanted because his golden-child half-brother demanded it.
Not this time.
“I can protect her,” said Shane.
“You don’t have to protect her. Not from me.” Something compelled Riley to be honest. “I’m not going to do a thing to hurt her.”
Seduced by the CEO Page 9
