She nodded. “I just hope she’s thinking clearly. Sometimes we Dawsons are too stubborn for our own good.” She sighed and collected the rest of the papers that had fallen out of the drawer. “Like me. I should have been more open with my family about Jack, starting with my marriage going sour. I kept my problems to myself and didn’t ask for advice or help. Look what happened. I allowed him to manipulate me into sleeping with him again. If I’d only shared my troubles I might not have made that mistake.”
“Don’t blame yourself. Sometimes it’s easier not to share the bad stuff in our lives. Besides, Jack’s behind you now. And Deke’s a great guy,” she assured. “Much easier to get along with than Eli.”
Holly hooted with laughter. “I have no problem getting along with Eli. I think he scares you.”
Kylie grinned. “Maybe a little. He arouses me in ways I can’t describe.” She put up her hand to stop Holly’s next comment. “He brings out the worst in me.” Her reaction to Eli wasn’t all about sex. “Arouses my inner bitch, so to speak.”
“No kidding.” Holly’s dry comment hit home.
“Do you think I’m afraid of him?”
“Maybe he’s the kind of man you imagine your father to be. A rolling stone, a ramblin’ man, for want of a better term. But Eli has deep roots here and he’s strongly connected to his brothers. Sooner or later, he’ll settle into a more normal life. Do you want to offer that to him now or let him find it with another woman?”
“I do like the sparks we strike.” She hated the idea of Eli finding another woman on his travels. “We’ve reached an impasse. No conversation but great sex. The less we speak to each other, the less likely we are to argue. Even if I do miss those conversational sparks…” She leaned in. “Make-up sex is the hottest.”
“It sounds to me as if neither of you wants to say anything to ruin a good thing.”
She shook her head. “Everything I want is here on the Olympic Peninsula. My new family, my new home, a business—okay, I can dream, can’t I?—if Marnie does the sensible thing and gives the inn a chance, then yes, everything I want is here.”
“Including Eli?”
“He’s leaving at the end of the summer. He let it slip out about the Himalayas.” She shrugged. “It’s not as if we’ve really connected.” It pained her to say it, because she felt Eli down to her soul, while he, typically male, felt next to nothing. But maybe Holly was right. Maybe Eli felt happy to travel because he had deep roots. No matter where he went, he always had his home and family to come back to.
Holly watched her closely. “But you feel more than casual,” she guessed.
“I do.” It felt great to release the truth. At least to her cousin.
“It can happen faster than we’d ever think possible. With Deke, I went into overdrive at first sight. My mouth watered, my knees went weak and when he walked across the back lot toward me, I didn’t even register that TJ walked with him. Imagine not noticing TJ!”
“I had a lot of that, too, when Eli showed up. I reacted badly and insulted him. I felt like such a fool when you told me about how he teaches in orphanages.”
Holly shrugged. “The whole thing’s physiological and, in a lot of ways, beyond our control.”
“Being out of control with men is one of my worst fears. My mother spent a lot of time warning me off them.”
“Are you afraid of men?”
“Not men specifically, just the damage they cause.” Eli was hurricane force. “Some women bend, but others can be broken like twigs.”
“Was Aunt Trudy broken? She had men disappoint her at her most vulnerable point.”
“It’s not right to talk about my mom. She had a lot of guilt over how I was conceived. She says she knew what would happen at the frat house, but she went anyway, got loaded and high and went into the bedroom willingly.”
“She told you that?”
“My mother was brutally honest about that night. Her behavior appalled her later, but by then, all she could do was hope for the best and get tested for STDs. She was clean, but also pregnant. When I was born, she figured it was likely the Hawaiian guy, but there were others that night. She made no bones about behaving stupidly, but she did go speak to him and he blew her off.” She sniffed and blew out a deep breath. “My mother loved me and I loved her. If you’d been raised with only one parent and no other family, you’d understand.”
“You mean she was raped while she was passed out?”
“Actually, no. She made it plain she’d partied hard several times when she got to college. She was an easy drunk and an easy lay when she drank. She was acting out after a strict up-bringing. Grandad watched her like a hawk in her teens.”
“She was very brave to confess all that to him. I can see how she would feel that it was just the two of you against the world.”
Kylie nodded. Her mom had done her best under rotten circumstances. “Sometimes I wonder if instead of protecting me from bad choices, she gave me no choices at all. I grew up afraid of losing control, and with Eli I have no control whatsoever.” Oh, God. She’d said it. A look, a sexy move, an unintentional innuendo and she wanted him.
“Oh, Kylie. Don’t be afraid.” Holly dragged her into a fierce hug that Kylie gratefully accepted. “Your mom didn’t want you to make mistakes or be foolish, but I doubt she wanted you to live like a nun. My dad always said Aunt Trudy had a backbone of steel and as much pride as Granddad.”
Kylie sniffed again. “He was horrible to me when I came here. He hated me on sight and I understand why she stayed away. I’m sorry about her brothers, though. She never gave them a chance.” Maybe Trudy thought they’d reject her as well, so she did it first.
“She never talked about them?”
“No. I knew she had family because I found an old photo album, but that’s all. When I asked, she said the people in the photos were from a previous life and weren’t connected to our lives now.”
They pulled apart. “She was right. We weren’t connected. You know now that the estrangement was her choice. We’ve already put that behind us.”
“A fresh start,” Holly agreed with a nod. “It helps to know her father missed her. Maybe he did design his will to take one last stab at fixing his mistakes.” And Trudy’s.
“He brought us together. And we’ll stay together.”
Kylie gathered her nerve. “I want more than the summer. I guess that’s obvious.” She grinned. “Do you think Marnie will see the potential in the inn by then? The three of us make a good team.” Kylie didn’t know Marnie as well as she’d hoped to by now, but she admired her tremendously. “Or is she so committed to her dance club that she can’t see what she’s got here?”
The distant sound of a vehicle in the parking area of the inn broke through Kylie’s musing. “Maybe she’s back,” she said and headed for the sound. Holly followed and dashed to the living room window. “Is Eli in the doghouse?”
“Not at the moment. But wait a minute, that’ll change,” she quipped. She did miss the sparks. Maybe he did, too.
“We’ve got a flower delivery coming in,” Holly said. “Maybe it’s for Marnie from TJ. I’m sure it’s not from Deke.” Her voice thrummed with excitement.
Kylie opened the front door as Holly slid to a stop beside her, excitement making her bounce on the balls of her feet. Holly accepted the heavy vase while Kylie signed the delivery slip. “Wow, these are all incredible.” Tall and full, the bouquet would span the entire coffee table. Lilies, roses, orchids and more exotic flowers than Kylie could identify filled out the bouquet.
“These are perfect,” she said as Holly slid the vase to the center of the coffee table that TJ had returned to the inn just this morning. “We’ll have to get more for the registration desk when we open for business.”
“I love fresh flowers!” Holly confessed. “I know some people have allergies but I’m always drawn to the fresh scents. And the colors brighten my day.”
Holly fussed over the blooms as she unwrapped
the cellophane wrap and spread the stems to show off the flowers to their best advantage. “In the winter, we’ll lay pine boughs across the mantel on the fireplace. The woodsy pine scent will make the whole inn smell fresh and cozy at the same time.” Her eyes glowed. “I found a card!”
“Open it,” Kylie urged.
Holly hesitated. Her fingernail flicked the corner of a small square. “There’s no name on the envelope. Maybe it’s for all of us.” Still, she hesitated while Kylie balled up the cellophane and stuffed it into the cardboard carrier the florist had used for the base of the vase.
“Open it, I’m dying to know which of the O’Banions is sensitive enough to send such a lovely gift.” TJ? Maybe, but he was the practical man who saw to things like removing the cigarette burns on the coffee table. It could have been Deke, he was more open about his feelings for Holly and the most likely candidate for a grand gesture like this. “It can’t be Eli. His apologies are private.” And since they rarely spoke other than before and during sex and about sex, he had nothing to apologize for.
“These are my favorite flowers. Every one,” Holly said. Her mind raced with possibilities as she stared at Kylie. Her finger still flicked the envelope as her nerves clanged.
The full display weighed at least ten pounds and took up a three-foot circumference. This thing had better not be from Deke; she’d wonder what he’d done that he had to make up for.
Unless this was how he brought his affairs to an end. Her belly dropped. He wouldn’t. Not so publicly and not out of the blue. “If it’s from Deke, maybe—” She passed the card to Kylie. “You open it.”
“If it’s from Deke, it’s because he loves you, not because there’s anything wrong.” Kylie patted her shoulder and tsked. “Men don’t spend this kind of money to say good-bye.”
“Thanks.” She gave Kylie a weak smile. “Now, open it.”
She watched as Kylie pulled the card out. She frowned and gasped. Then handed the card over without a word.
The world tumbled away as her eyes fell to the precise handwriting. Jack. A parting gift.
A match made in heaven gone to hell…burn, baby, burn.
Her belly may have dropped when she thought Deke was sending her a kiss off, but this felt off. “It’s Jack and it’s not like him to be extravagant.” He’d always picked up single flowers or small bunches at the grocery store.
“It’s big enough for a funeral arrangement. They’re lovely though.” She sniffed a rose. “I guess this is Jack conceding defeat?”
“Yes, of course, that’s it. His final good-bye.” She folded the card to hide the words and slipped it into her front pocket. “His idea of a joke. He always had a flair for drama. No worries.” She grinned at her cousin, wishing she didn’t feel cold all over. “He picked all my favorite flowers.”
She centered the vase on the table and stepped back to admire the burst of color, ignoring the dread that grew in her chest. Must be heartburn. Jack had always given her heartburn.
“Hey, what’s this?” Deke came in and wrapped his arms around her from behind.
“Flowers for the great room. I thought they’d add color and scent. Maybe in the winter we could bring in pine boughs for over the mantel.”
Kylie frowned. “Flowers are just what we need in here,” she said with a curious glance at Holly. Thankfully her cousin didn’t correct the impression Holly had given Deke.
“The winter, huh? Does that mean you’ll be here that long?” He nuzzled at her ear and tightened his grip around her waist.
“If you’ll have me,” she said and wrapped her arms around his as he rocked her side to side. If the rigid cock at her back was any indication, Deke was a happy man.
She wouldn’t call Jack. That was exactly what he wanted. She refused to play his game.
This time she’d call in reinforcements.
22
Marnie still hadn’t called, and at nearly four thirty in the afternoon, TJ’s patience was shot. Her meeting with Dennis had been hours ago. The temptation to phone her rode him hard, but he forced himself to resist. But the waiting was torture.
He gripped the end of the last log and settled the notch into place on the log below. “We’ll get the roof done Monday.”
“But the women are in a hurry,” Eli said.
“We can take one day off,” TJ snapped and climbed down the logs. “The crew’s exhausted. Besides, Kylie’s not happy with the floor plan.”
Eli made a disgusted face. “She’s only happy sometimes.”
“Then it’s time you two settled things. You’ve got everyone walking on glass around you.” Did he have to take care of everything himself? Frustration made him snap again. “You’re the electrician, if you think we can rearrange the walls, then we will. Just man up and talk to Kylie.”
Eli followed and landed with a thump beside him. “We haven’t discussed it. We’ve agreed to avoid conversation. Makes sleeping with her a lot more fun.”
“Brother, you are fucked up.” He shook his head in disbelief. “Most women like to talk to the men they’re sleeping with.”
“Most women aren’t Kylie. She’s so prickly I never know what’ll set her off.”
“It can take a while to figure that out, but in the meantime, don’t make promises you won’t keep.”
“Now you sound like her. She’s convinced I’m never going to settle down.”
TJ sat on a bundle of roof shingles. “Shit.” He stared off into the distance. “Here’s me, wanting Marnie, ready, willing and able to offer her anything she wants. While Kylie’s the one who wants to be here and she’s stuck on you!” A sick and twisted irony.
“Well, if there’s any woman who could make me hang around, it’s Kylie.” Eli studied his boots. “She’s a challenge every day. Keeps everything inside me hopping. I could spend my life trying to stay one step ahead of her.”
“You told her this?”
“Like I said, we don’t talk.”
“Marnie and I talk a lot. We agree on most things and she’s smart and ambitious and—aw—fuck it. She’s going to stay in the city and I want to be here. I don’t fit in Seattle any more than you and Deke do.”
“You got that right. I’ve only traveled because I’ve been free to come and go. If Kylie wanted me to stay, I would. But she’s convinced I’m like all the other men in her life. A rat bastard. Did I ever tell you what she said about me the first time we met?”
“No.”
“She called me a sex tourist, like I’m some pervert who travels the world abusing women. She said that and she didn’t even know me.”
And yet he still found her doable. “Women, they do what they do. We’ll never know why.” He’d said much the same to Deke about Misty and her betrayal.
Eli studied him then ducked his head. “Marnie’s too smart to walk away, Teeje. She’ll make the right decision. You should go after her.”
“I did that once. I won’t do it again.” He’d sat at the bar in his plaid shirt and new jeans like some grizzled, strange mountain man. Marnie had noticed that he didn’t fit in. “She has to decide for herself in her own time.”
“Go home,” Eli suggested. “We’re done for the day. Deke’s already gone off to get Holly. He can’t keep his hands off her.”
“At least one of us is on track.”
“Yeah.” Eli nodded.
A shout and loud crack from the other side of the cabin brought their surroundings home. The crew was still here and unsupervised. Blue curses split the air overhead. TJ was the first to tear around the far side of the cabin.
A near miss with an axe. Sam Whitaker lay sprawled on his back, red faced and cursing. “Sam, take it easy, I don’t see any blood and your foot’s still at the end of your leg.” The kid’s eyes were stark with fear.
“Really?” His face flooded red as he caught his breath.
“Really.” Eli gave him a hand up.
“Thanks,” he said when he stood. He shook his leg. “I don’t know what h
appened. My hands slipped, I guess.”
“We’re all tired. It’s been a long week,” TJ said. “Get some rest tonight.”
Sam shook his head. “I’m working at the station tonight and tomorrow,” he said as he bent to pick up the hard hat that had slipped off in the fall. He slapped the dust from his jeans and headed toward his mom’s sedan.
“Adjust that hat so it fits properly,” TJ instructed. “I’d hate to lose a good laborer.”
Sam nodded as his face split into a grin. “Thanks!”
TJ took off right after Sam did and left Eli to his thoughts.
Until Kylie, the only people who had ever succeeded in making Eli feel like an awkward kid were his brothers. He’d spent his younger years running to catch up with them, hoping to be included. Eventually, he’d grown enough to simply run away.
Kylie tied him in knots. He didn’t know from one minute to the next what new hell she might concoct for him. She piqued his interest and his anger.
He used a tarp to cover the roofing materials, because even though the weather report called for sunshine, on the Peninsula that could change in a heartbeat.
“Eli.” He knew before he looked it was Kylie come to torment him.
He secured the end of the tarp with a chunk of wood to hold it down and then faced her. “Kylie.” Her face held a secret, but he’d be damned if he’d ask. He kept his expression impassive and waited. She’d get to the point eventually.
“I’m happy with the cabins as they are. I’m sorry I insisted on changing the floor plans.”
He nodded, wary at her new attitude. “I should have explained about building with logs. The holes—”
She held up her hand to cut him off. “Deke explained it all. You must think I’m such a bag, always being so mean and difficult.”
“And rude,” he said, wondering what new aggravation she had planned.
“And rude.” She stepped close and palmed his pecs. “I don’t want to fight with you.”
“What do you want?”
“You.” She bit her lip. “I want you. Not just sex with you. I want to talk and argue and be myself with you.” She shrugged and looked pensive. “I mean, you know, if you want to be yourself with me, too, feel free.”
Men Times Three Page 26
