Falling for the Enemy, page 12
“Palmer Industries... I think you and I have gone up for some of the same things recently.”
“We have,” Kit said. It seemed tonight was his time of reckoning. He was done hiding and pretending.
“Nothing wrong with some friendly competition, and if it helps GC I’m all for it,” Dash confided. “And if it’s okay with you, I’m interested in seeing your ideas. For so many years, it was just me trying to come up with things... Well, honestly, I think I was avoiding the town as much as I could.”
Kit realized that Dash was treating him like a friend in a way. Like someone his sister was dating. He wanted to be chill and just see where this went. “Because of Rory?”
“Yeah, and Con and the accident. I don’t know how much you’ve heard about that night but there was a huge car accident and another man died,” Dash said. “It was the worst night of my life.”
Kit heard the pain in his voice. “What happened?” he couldn’t help but ask. To see if anything Dash had to say would help him get the clarity he needed.
Con came over with a tray of baked brie bites. “Try this.” He gave Dash and Kit a curious look. “What are you two talking about?”
“The night of the crash,” Dash replied, taking one and popping it in his mouth. “Fuck, it’s hot.”
“Let it cool down,” Conrad admonished.
Kit took one and waited a moment before tasting it. But his mind wasn’t on food right now. He noticed Rory watching him across the room, and while the last time he’d been sort of cornered by Conrad she’d been sympathetic toward him, this time...she looked like she didn’t know who he was.
He knew that she didn’t. That he’d been lying from the moment she’d introduced herself and he was sick and tired of it. He wanted to just demand to know what happened that night ten years ago. To figure out why his brother was dead, what caused his father to slowly drink himself to death. He wanted to know why his aunt had said one thing but the notes he’d found in that antique wooden chest had shown something else. He wanted...he wanted Rory to look at him like he was a hero and not some villain.
“Why do you want to know about the crash?” Conrad asked him.
“For Rory,” Kit said. “She has mentioned a few things... I just want to know more and I don’t want to push her into talking about anything that makes her uncomfortable.”
“I don’t remember much of the crash. Dash walked away without a scratch. Safe to say he remembers the most. We can discuss it next week when we aren’t around Rory,” Con told him before turning to address his cousin. “Dash, did you tell her about the co-op I mentioned?”
“Not yet,” he said. “For years Con wanted nothing to do with the business and now he’s sending me proposals left and right.”
“You said to get involved,” Conrad said, and turned to Kit. “He’s a pain in the ass. But it was your idea, Kit, that got me thinking. We have a bunch of people with skills that are underutilized, like the Hammond sisters, who had run the kitchens at Gilbert Manor. They taught me to cook.”
“I agree,” Kit said, accepting the change of topic. “Can’t wait to chat with you both more.”
“Enough shop talk,” Indy said, coming over to them. “It’s time to get this party going. Give me those.”
Indy grabbed the snack tray. “What do you have planned?”
Rory had set up a few games to play. Kit hadn’t had a party like this before. It was so small and so intimate. While everyone was taking a seat and she handed out Post-it notes, he pulled her into the kitchen so they were alone.
“What’s up?” she asked.
“I want this to be fun. There’s just a lot of stuff in my life I haven’t really ever talked about. But you are important to me,” he blurted. He realized from her expression that it might not be what she was expecting from him, but still it had to be said. “I’m sorry for starting things before everyone got here. But the truth is... I’m nervous.”
She looked up at him, then put her arms around him and hugged him close. “I’m nervous, too. Since you came into my life I’ve been just diving into things with you, trying to find someone to have in my life. I’ve been in a rush to know everything about you. And that’s not fair to you.”
He tipped her head back and looked down into her eyes, then kissed her long and slow. Everything felt better when she was in his arms. He needed to stop worrying and try to find the right words to say that would make her understand.
Because the truth was, there wasn’t a way to explain what was between the two of them. He would do everything in his power to be the man she wanted.
“I think I want that, too,” he confessed. “I’m not used to sharing things. I’ve always kept everything to myself.”
She sighed. “And I’m trying to share it all.”
“We’re waiting, ladybug,” Dash said, approaching them. “I’m glad you two are having a moment, but it’s time for me to kick Con’s ass.”
“What exactly is this game?” Kit asked as Rory laughed at her brother.
“It’s the Post-it note game. The category is favorite Disney villains.” Rory explained the rules, which involved putting the name of a character on the Post-it and then putting it on the person to the left’s forehead. A series of yes or no questions were allowed until someone guessed who they were.
Although Kit had never played it, he had a lot of fun, which wasn’t surprising, but finding that Dash and Conrad were men that he probably wanted to be friends with was.
Somehow in his head it was okay for him to fall for Rory but actually liking Dash and Con...that was going to take a lot more time to get used to.
* * *
Rory watched Kit more carefully than she had before. It was one thing to tell herself she wanted to take risks and feel completely alive, but the reality was that at times it was still scary.
Her world was so small after she awoke from the coma and she was proud of herself for expanding her horizons and really going all in with Kit. But there was a lot she still didn’t know about him—stuff that hadn’t seemed to matter before but now did.
“Hey, kid, you okay?” Con asked as he was eliminated from a round of the game and came to help her in the kitchen, refilling drinks.
“Yeah. It’s just... I didn’t know how this night was going to go,” she said. Then realized that might have sounded dumb. “I mean you know how Dash is and you were all big and scary the last time you met Kit.”
Con laughed. “I tried to be. But your man held his own.”
“I’m not sure he is.”
“Your man?” Con asked.
She shrugged. Why had she mentioned that to him? It might be the rosé that she’d been drinking more of than usual tonight.
“What’s up?”
“Nothing.”
“Liar,” he said gently. “I’m not going to pretend I have any advice for you but I will say this. Falling in love with Indy changed something inside me and I had no control over it. It was terrifying and I fought it with everything I had.”
He grabbed three beers in one hand and Indy’s glass of sauvignon blanc in the other.
“So everyone feels...out of control in relationships?” she asked her cousin.
“Just the ones that matter,” he said with a wink. “Can you get those two?”
“Yes,” she said, picking up her glass and Elle’s.
They rejoined everyone else and as she sat down on the couch next to Kit she looked over at him. He put his hand on her thigh and gave her a squeeze, then their eyes met and he lifted one eyebrow. She just smiled and nodded.
Con’s blunt talk had been what she needed to hear. He was the biggest, baddest-looking dude she knew. And if even he had been scared of love...well, it reassured her somehow.
“You brat,” Elle said, turning to Dash. “Woody is not a villain.”
Dash just shrugged and smiled. “He does pretty much plot to get rid of Buzz. I mean that’s not heroic.”
“You know that’s not what I was thinking,” she pointed out.
“Sorry you couldn’t guess it, babe,” Dash said, pulling her into his arms and kissing her.
“I think we should stop now before things get more intense,” Indy said. “What other games do you have?”
“Monopoly. I saw it on the shelf,” Dash replied.
“I’m not playing that with you,” Rory said, shaking her head. “You’re a dick when we play that.”
“How about Uno or karaoke then?” Kit suggested.
“Ugh, I suck at singing,” Con said.
“You’re not supposed to be good at it,” Elle pointed out. “Yeah, let’s do karaoke!”
Everyone agreed and Kit came to help her get the microphones set up with her TV screen.
“This night is more fun than I thought it would be.” Kit’s voice was soft, wistful.
“Good. Why didn’t you think it would be fun?” she asked him.
“I’m used to parties at my aunt’s house. Lots of small talk and circulating waiters... This is, well, more homey.”
She turned closer to him, looking into his intense brown eyes, searching for something that would reassure her about whatever it was he had to talk to her about later. “Homey is what we do best.”
He quirked one brow at her. “The big parties at Gilbert Manor don’t seem homey.”
She nodded at that. “They aren’t. But that’s for show. That’s for the town and the company. Nights like this when it’s just the three of us...and now our partners. Those are the best.”
He pulled her into his arms, his hands around her waist. “Am I your partner?” he asked gruffly.
She put her hand on his jaw. “I think so. I mean until—”
He kissed her to stop her from talking, which concerned her. The kiss was nice but she knew he’d done it to hush her.
When he lifted his head, he gave her a contrite look. “Sorry. I can’t explain anything now. Being here with your family tonight has given me a glimpse of something that I didn’t know I was missing.”
His admission struck a chord in her. What kind of upbringing did he have? He’d told her about the tragedy and the things that had torn his family apart. But his aunt had surely provided for him... Yet maybe she was a bit like Rory’s own grandfather had been. More concerned about image than about them.
“I’m glad to hear that,” she said softly. “I was sort of pushing you to talk but I get that we can’t now.”
“I’m willing to look away for a few minutes but if you two are going to be making out, I’m not sure I can handle it,” Dash interjected.
Everyone laughed and Rory couldn’t help but blush because she knew that his comment was directed toward her and Kit. But her embarrassment faded as the group brought the mics over and song choices were made. Rory sat on the couch next to Dash as Elle and Kit sang “Rock Your Body” by *NSYNC.
“You were right to move out, ladybug,” Dash murmured. “I was worried this would be too much, but I can see now that you’re becoming your own woman.”
She tipped her head against the back of the couch and looked over at her older brother. “Thanks. I know I was right.”
“Brat.”
“Seems to run in our family,” she said with a laugh.
The party continued until almost midnight and Rory hadn’t laughed that much in a long time. When everyone was gone and it was just her and Kit, she knew it was time for that talk she’d been thinking about all night.
But now that the time was here, she wasn’t sure she was ready to face what was to come.
* * *
If finding the letter in his father’s papers had started him questioning everything that his aunt and father had told him about Declan’s accident, this evening had just muddled things even more.
Making it damn near impossible to keep the heat of hatred that he’d had for Dash Gilbert alive.
Because tonight, after watching him tease his fiancée, and duet with his sister and cousin, it was hard to keep that image of a man who was ruthless in his mind. Rory wasn’t going to know what had happened during the car crash. Dash had said he didn’t want to add to her trauma of that night, but next week when he spoke to Con and Dash, he’d learn more, hopefully.
But he was going to have to tell her who his brother was and try to find out more of what had happened at the winter gala, before the accident occurred.
“So...?” Rory was sitting in the big armchair catty-corner to the fireplace, with her legs curled up underneath her.
“I’m not sure where to start.” That much was totally true. He’d made this into something bigger than he wanted it to be by his reactions earlier. And maybe if he’d been better prepared to let go of his vengeance he wouldn’t have.
“Tell me about your family. I don’t know anything about them,” she said.
He moved to sit on the couch corner closest to her. Then glanced around the living room, seeing the work they’d done together to bring this room to life. This room could be a stepping stone to his future. If only he handled this right.
“You know my brother died, and then my dad turned to alcohol, which eventually led to his death.” Starting with the easiest part of his past. Just facts. He tried to keep his emotions in check but it was hard.
“Yes, I do. I’m sorry about that. How old were you?”
“I was a freshman in college. I was on the West Coast when it happened. I flew back when my aunt called to let me know what happened,” he said.
“I was a freshman, too, when everything happened to me,” she told him. “It’s funny that our lives were both changed at eighteen.”
More like ironic. She didn’t know it was the same accident that had shaped them. “Yeah.”
That was all he could say to that. It was harder than he’d anticipated, going back to that time in his mind. The grief and anger and panic. All of those emotions had swamped him and it was only the fact that his father was always drunk that had kept Kit from turning to drink himself.
“So eventually it was just you and your aunt?” she probed carefully.
“Yes. I dropped out of Berkeley and moved back to Boston. Our family business was shattered and I took night classes at a community college while working to try to save it.”
He looked over at her. She watched him with so much pure emotion on her face that it made his insides hurt. She shouldn’t be looking at him with compassion and empathy. Not now. Not when he’d taken what was left of his family company and reshaped it to go after hers.
He’d used those long days to form a plan with his aunt in their shared grief. One that would take everything from the Gilberts in return for what they’d lost.
“Kit, that’s so...” She trailed off.
“What?”
“Sad. So sad.” Turning toward him, she said softly, “You should have been enjoying college and making mistakes and finding yourself, and instead you had to come back and step into someone else’s life.”
Someone else’s? “How do you figure?”
“Well, you didn’t want to run your family company, did you? You had to because that’s what your aunt and father needed you to do. You never had a chance to know if it was what you wanted.”
He hadn’t ever considered that before. At this point, ten years into running the company, he couldn’t think of what else his life might have been. Until this moment, he’d just assumed that even if Dec had lived, he’d still be where he was.
But now he wasn’t so sure.
“I guess so,” he said.
“Did your aunt help you run it?” she asked.
“No. That’s not her thing, really. She’s good at socializing and finding the right connections. And I used those connections to build our business up from nothing,” he explained.
“So you two are a team?”
“We are,” he said. But he wasn’t sure if they would continue to be. He knew there was no way Aunt Mal would accept Rory.
“So why haven’t I met her?” she asked. “That’s the thing I can’t figure out. I know you’re busy and that our relationship is new, but you and I...well, I think we have something real. Or am I just kidding myself?”
Thirteen
That was the thing about Rory, she never pulled any punches. Sitting in that chair cross-legged, watching him with those wide eyes of hers so full of emotion. He wanted to step up. Be the man she needed him to be. And fear made it so hard for him to just let go of the past.
“This is real for me, too,” he said gruffly, the words torn from somewhere deep inside him.
“Okay. Then we can take the rest slow,” she murmured. “I just needed to know you were on the same pages as I am. It’s okay if you’re not.”
“I am, Rory. It’s just family is complicated and my life...well, it’s been on one path until you.”
“Mine, too,” she said.
“What path was that?”
“One where I thought the only way I could prove I was independent was to do everything by myself,” she said softly, tipping her head to the side.
“And now you don’t?”
She got up and walked over to him. “It’s that I don’t have to. I know I can do it on my own, but it’s nicer with you.”
He thought about that as she sat down on his lap, putting her arms around his shoulders. Life was so much fucking better with her in it. That was a given. But there had never been a time in his life where he’d put anything other than family first.
He wanted to come clean but he had to ask himself if that was more for his peace of mind than anything else. Dash and Con had been clear that Rory could recall parts of the night of the gala. The night his brother attacked her.
Would confessing he was Declan’s brother make things worse for her? He didn’t know.
