by Powers, Jade
All My Passion
By
Jade
Powers
Table of Contents
Title Page
All My Passion | Copyright Sept 23, 2018 Jade Powers
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Author’s Note
All My Passion
Copyright Sept 23, 2018 Jade Powers
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Written permission from the author must be secured to use or reproduce any part of this book except for brief excerpts to provide critical review or articles.
THE CHARACTERS AND settings in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons or locations is coincidental.
Certain images and/or photos on this page are the copyrighted property of 123RF Limited, their Contributors or Licensed Partners and are being used with permission under license. These images and/or photos may not be copied or downloaded without permission from 123RF
Copyright:
THE MILE HIGH CLUB
Book 1: In My Heart
Book 2: On My Mind
Book 3: In My Life
Book 4: With My Soul
Book 5: All My Strength
Book 6: All My Passion
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Chapter 1
~~ DECEMBER 7th, 2001 – Montana ~~
Kendra pulled into Drake’s driveway with a feeling akin to terror but closer to dread. It was the week before Christmas and Drake had invited close friends and family for a week of relaxation at his new ranch house in Lakeside, Montana. She’d worked with Drake for years before he sold the company and retired to his ranch. Not that visiting Drake bothered her. It wasn’t that. She and Drake went back.
No, it was Drake’s wife, Hannah. Kendra hadn’t started out on the right foot with Hannah. Hell, most of her introductions to people started that way. Kendra had the unfortunate combination of a beautiful face and terrible personality. She could admit it to herself. She was a bitch. Not to everyone and not all the time, but Kendra would much prefer not to deal with people any day of any week of any year.
And yet she was standing here in the middle of nowhere with her rental car parked, and she had to get out of the damn car now before anyone noticed that she was there. Kendra stared at the house, counted the reasons to turn around and drive off. Scared and she didn’t want to admit it to herself. Her dread came from personal interaction. She could make appointments and negotiate terms all day long, but to spend an afternoon in the company of coworkers was daunting. With suitcase in hand, she thought of turning right around, jumping back in her car, and driving off somewhere where no one had ever heard of her.
Kendra was on the verge of turning away when Hannah opened the door. In Hannah’s arms, a baby girl with a fuzzy head and bright smile gurgled. Hannah’s smile was welcoming when she said, “Come in. Did you have a good trip?”
Hannah was kinder than Kendra deserved. They had only met briefly a couple of years back, and Kendra had been incredibly rude. Kendra forced a smile, “It was great. I can’t believe how quiet the freeways are.”
“We’re keeping a low profile,” Hannah joked. She led the way inside. Baby Noel found something particularly funny and gave a high pitched squeal and laugh. Drake, on the other side of the door, kissed Noel’s forehead.
Drake’s house was spacious. Several of the guests had already arrived. Rick and Sven stood in front of the picture window talking. The curtains and blinds were open and the view of the mountains picturesque. Minka, Jenny, and Ezzie sipped tea and coffee from their perches on the huge couch.
Kendra didn’t have any female friends here. She barely had any friends at all, come to think of it, since she never really counted her male coworkers as friends either. So she took a seat on the arm chair across from the chattering magpies and fervently wished that she had planned a different winter vacation.
It was Minka who drew Kendra into the conversation. With a warm smile aimed in her direction, Minka said, “I hear you’re working in real estate?”
After leaving Advanced Innovative Technologies, Kendra sought a job completely unique from her former position. She had the right combination of looks and entrepreneurialship needed to be a real estate agent. Somehow she missed the part about being a people person, but so far, she had faked it. It helped that Kendra wasn’t flirtatious with the husbands.
“I’ve gotten a start anyway. I’ve sold three houses,” Kendra said. Three houses didn’t sound like a lot, but considering that Kendra had only been in business two months and the commission was significant on those sales, she was satisfied that she’d chosen a good direction for her new life.
“I bet that’s an improvement over AIT. To be honest, it’s nice not having to be on the road half the year, even if the pay is less,” Ezzie said. Ezzie had been in the security department and Drake’s people had a tendency to end up deployed around the country for weeks on end.
Kendra wasn’t about to bad-mouth AIT, not in Drake’s house. Not to mention, her ulterior motive for showing up at this party was to keep her name in front of everybody, in case they needed a real estate agent. She wouldn’t even admit to herself how lonely it was working in a new office and making new friends.
“I enjoyed traveling. Hopefully I can handle working in the same place for more than a month,” Kendra joked.
The women spent an hour chatting over tea and cookies. Kendra started to relax, feeling better about her decision to show up.
All of that ended when the door bell rang.
The last person Kendra expected to see at Drake’s Christmas party was Scott Belfore. He and Kendra got along like a dog and a porcupine. The only real question was which one of them would be stuck with quills by the end of the winter getaway. Kendra groaned inwardly when Scott stepped into the room. He was handsome with vivid grey eyes and caramel skin, but his cocky posturing and can-do attitude irritated Kendra like nothing else.
His eyes swept the room. He hesitated a split-second when he saw Kendra, his eyebrow quirking up, and then he turned to Hannah with a slightly wider-than-normal smile as she welcomed him.
Dismissed again. Kendra ground her teeth, but turned her head back to the women on the couch and forced a smile. That man. He annoyed her no end.
“Scott, it’s great to see you, man.” Drake crossed the floor in two strides. The men hugged it out, clapping each other on the back. They were old friends. Drake tilted his head toward the upstairs, “Everyone is bunking in two massive groups. Tight quarters, but it’ll be fun.”
Drake led the way upstairs. He had a couple of huge rooms—one was a library and one a game room. For the sake of this party, they had both been converted. Drake had actually rented furniture, rows of bunk beds for the occasion. Must be nice to be rich. Kendra thought as Drake led Scott up the stairs.
She stood, “I’ve been sitting around too long. Anyone want to go for a walk with me?”
Kendra honestly wouldn’t have minded wa
lking alone. She had to get out of the house. Scott’s presence changed everything. Drake hadn’t mentioned Scott in the invitation. Kendra would have steered clear had she known he would be there. Either way, she needed out of the house before Drake and Scott came back down.
Minka stood and stretched. “I could use a walk. Let me get our coats.”
Kendra liked Minka best of all of the women she’d associated with through AIT. Not that Minka had ever worked for the company. She was Sven’s girlfriend first, and now wife. The thing with Minka was that she didn’t view Kendra as a threat, and she had a hilarious wit. Kendra was glad that if anyone was going to accept her invitation to walk, it was Minka.
The air was freezing cold, the wind blowing down from the mountain with icy, driving force, but Kendra stepped down the stairs without complaint. They walked along the dirt road that curled away from the house. The road lasted a mile before turning into gravel which eventually opened onto a highway.
The bracing temperature was just what Kendra needed. They walked a short way before Minka said, “Are you okay? I didn’t know you had a problem with Scott.”
Kendra’s mouth dropped open, “Was it obvious? We didn’t even say anything.”
“You were both looking anywhere but at each other. I don’t know if anyone else noticed.” Minka pulled on her gloves as they walked. She wore a knitted black hat with puffs that looked elegant.
“It goes way back. He wanted to see Drake and I wouldn’t let him through. I had no idea they were close, and my job was to keep people away,” Kendra explained. She walked with her hands shoved into her coat pocket. She should have grabbed her gloves, but she was too anxious to get away.
“He should understand. That’s a normal part of your job,” Minka said.
Kendra breathed in the cold air, grateful because it gave her a clear head, “He probably does. The thing is, so many people wanted to get to Drake that I became rude. It felt like sometimes I was pulled at hundreds of times a day by people who wanted something and it was my job to say no. Pretty soon saying no became easy. I became the Ice Bitch of AIT.”
“That’s a pretty strong name, and I’ve never heard anyone call you that or refer to you in anything but glowing terms.” Minka said. She felt like she was practically running next to Kendra. Kendra was a tall woman and in her state of upset, she was taking long strides.
“Thanks for that. I overheard it once from a sales rep. His company never got close again, though. I can tell you that.” Kendra flashed a smile at Minka.
Minka could see the problem. Kendra had a competitive spirit. Left unchecked, she probably could become icy as the need arose. But Kendra was also caring, an aspect of herself kept hidden, no doubt for good reason.
Seeing Kendra shiver, Minka said, “It’s too cold to hide out here all night. Let’s pretend you only just met everyone in the house. Interact with Scott as if you’d never had a problem with him at all. I’ll tell you a secret. Lots of men like strong women. You probably turned half of them on even while you were turning them away.”
Kendra rolled her eyes, “Great. That does not make me feel better. But I like your idea. I’ll pretend that I’ve just met him.”
As they strolled down the dirt road, their sneakers crunching on the frozen dirt, Minka said, “You’ll get on fine. Fair warning, they’re planning on some form of charades after dinner tonight.”
Kendra smiled at the thought. She could kick Scott’s ass in charades, and then subtly apologize for blocking him so thoroughly that day so long ago, and all would be well. She said, “Sounds like fun.”
By the time Kendra and Minka returned to the house, everyone had shifted. Drake, Sven, and Scott were in the kitchen chopping potatoes and carrots for a roast, while Hannah changed Noel. The rest of the guests were circled in the living room, catching up on one another’s lives and telling tall tales.
Drake and Hannah had arranged the room for maximum comfort. There were armchairs and multiple sofas in a rectangular pattern around a pair of coffee tables so that the guests could talk comfortably with enough space for every guest. Currently two sofas and two arm chairs were unoccupied. Minka nudged Kendra and swooped in for one of the love seats. Kendra followed meekly along. It wasn’t her style to sit with anyone else, but in this, she decided it would be better to let Minka lead.
Minka wove Kendra into the conversation with her vivacious smile and quick wit. She was a completely different person from the Minka Kendra had spoken on the phone with when she set up the safe house a couple of years back.
A booming laugh rang out from the kitchen and Kendra heard Drake say, “I shouldn’t have lost that bet, not in a million years.”
Having finished their chopping, Drake and the men scooped up their carrots and potatoes, added them to the in-progress roasts with the pearl onions, and set the timer for an hour. They were still chuckling when they returned to the gathered crowd.
“What bet?” Hannah asked. Noel gurgled, lifting her arms and laughing as Hannah buttoned up her pajamas. Noel was almost ready for potty training. This was the month she turned two.
Drake lifted an eyebrow and gave his wife a secret smile, but it was Scott with his devilishly handsome grin and gorgeous grey eyes who said, “I don’t even know how to tell them about Dread.”
“Your dog?” Minka stage whispered to Kendra, “He has a three-legged, one-eyed, torn-eared dog that Scott named Dread Pirate Roberts after The Princess Bride.”
“To be fair, he does look like he belongs on a pirate ship,” Scott said. Laughing he said, “And the name Drake was already taken.”
“I’m not named for a pirate. If anyone was wondering...” Drake added. His focus wasn’t on his guests, but on the little princess in her mother’s arms.
“Right, so we had a surveillance op in a really bad neighborhood. Run down warehouses, homeless guys under cardboard. It was a shit hole.” Scott said. By this time he had strolled across the room and found a spot on the couch at a right angle to Minka and Kendra’s sofa. His knee was just inches from Kendra’s. She wanted their knees to touch.
“How does the bet come into it?” Minka asked. She had heard about Dread’s rescue, not so much the bet.
“There was this ghost dog. The damn dog stole my sandwich right off my lap while I was perched on a concrete stairway. I’m still not sure how he managed to leap over my head and take it before I even knew he was there. We had a small team with a two day plan in place.”
Kendra grinned, “And that dog was Dread.”
“Yeah. The dirtiest thing you ever saw. And wild, absolutely feral. That’s why I didn’t bring him. Too many people. Even though he’s a sweetheart, I wouldn’t want to stress the poor fellow out.” Scott stretched his legs. They were so close, Scott just millimeters from Kendra’s legs. She wanted to stretch forward a little and brush against him. She stayed right where she was, feelings notwithstanding.
From across the room where he was holding Noel, Drake said, “Scott was always bragging about how much he loved dogs and how they naturally understood him. He didn’t want to leave that poor animal behind. He said the dog stole Scott’s sandwich because the dog knew that Scott wouldn’t punish him. So I bet that Scott couldn’t get the dog into a carrier so that we could rescue him when we flew out.”
“I had two days. So I bought meat, the good stuff and a dog carrier. And I sat on that stoop and waited. That dog never once growled at me. Not then and not since.” Scott’s wide chin and high cheek bones gave him such a jovial expression that Kendra could believe he might tame a lion, even if he failed utterly at trying his charm with her that first time they met.
“The plane stank for days. I should have told you to wash him first,” Drake joked. Bouncing Noel on his knee while she giggled, Drake asked, “He never did share his secret. I saw that dog and he was so skittish, there is no way he just walked into that cage. I still can’t believe you managed to wrangle him into it without getting your hand bitten off.”
Ezzie murmured in agreement, having seen the dog at its worst.
“I would have put sleeping pills in the meat or tranquilized the dog or something. That would be an easy win, especially if it was starving.” Kendra said. She was actually enjoying herself. Somehow Scott had forgotten or chosen to ignore their first and rather disastrous first meeting and was watching her with a merry light in his eyes.
Drake had been looking down at Noel, but now his head snapped up with a dawning understanding. Scott smiled sheepishly. He groaned and looked up at the ceiling, “We never said I couldn’t use chemicals. Now my secret is out. But that dog was on the plane as agreed.”
“Seriously? I figured you’d tossed meat in the cage,” Drake belly laughed, and the entire group fell into it with him. There was something about one person laughing that when Drake laughed and Scott with him, then Kendra giggled, too. As soon as one person slowed down, someone would make a funny noise or ad lib a joke about the stinky airplane and everyone would start laughing again.
“All this time, I thought you’d actually coaxed that dog into the crate. He was wide awake by the time the two of you boarded.”
“To be honest, I cared less about the bet than getting that dog out of there,” Scott said.
The timer for the roast went off. When Scott stood, his leg finally brushed just the slightest bit against Kendra’s knee. He didn’t notice, so she pretended not to. Drake and Sven were also heading for the kitchen.
“I regret coming up with lasagna,” Minka said. Kendra’s name was on the dinner schedule with Minka and Hannah for tomorrow night. They would be making beef lasagna with salad and rolls.
“You didn’t say we’d make home made rolls, did you?” Kendra asked. As much as she liked Minka, she did not want to spend her whole vacation in the kitchen pretending that she could cook.
Hannah laughed, “Are you kidding? Even if we pooled every bit of knowledge, I don’t think any of us could make rolls.”
