21

Cookies & Cream

Drew was so caught up in his thoughts that he’d already driven past his brother’s car before he recognized it. He slammed on the brakes and stared at the silver BMW Z4 through his rearview mirror. Then he slung a hand over the back of the passenger side seat and reversed back until he was opposite it.

It was definitely Bryce’s. And it was parked across the road from Kelly’s house.

Had he…

He stared at Kelly’s house. He could see no movement through the lace curtains. The gate and front door were both closed.

A slow, deep anger roiled inside him. Was Bryce going to keep rubbing this in his face? How he’d got the girl? How she’d chosen him over Drew. Again?

Because they always did, didn’t they? He’d even caught Juliet looking at Bryce after their break up; wistful regret or something very close to it. And he’d been powerless to do anything. Oh, he’d tried. He’d loved her until she became his world.

And then everything had changed.

Drew’s lips twisted into a sneer.

He threw the car into drive and accelerated, parking in front of his brother’s car. The car door almost slammed, but he managed to grab the handle at the last second and bring it to more dignified stop. Then he strode up the road, opening Kelly’s gate, knocking hard on Kelly’s door.

God, what if they were busy fucking?

His hand paused, still lifted, and he took a hurried step back. He didn’t want to see flushed faces and disarrayed hair. His shoes thudded down the porch’s wooden stairs.

“Drew?”

There was so much caution in that voice. He swung back, taking in Kelly’s dressing gown, her shaggy hair.

Precisely what he’d been hoping to avoid. “I’m interrupting,” he called back, turning and heading for the gate again.

“Interrupting what? Drew?”

He paused, glanced at her over his shoulder. “You’re… alone?” When he turned back to the street, Bryce’s car was still there. He hadn’t imagined it. But if his brother wasn’t at Kelly—

Drew swung to the side, scanning the exterior of his house from Kelly’s front garden. Was Bryce inside? There was no other explanation for his car standing here.

Then his eyes fell on Penny’s car, parked in the drive. He’d been so caught up with Bryce’s presence, with thoughts of Juliet and Kelly, he hadn’t even noticed it. He surged forward, shaking his arm when something caught it.

“Drew? What’s wrong?”

She was holding onto the sleeve of his suit, her other arm wrapped around her chest.

“Nothing.” He looked over at his house, but Kelly tugged at his sleeve again.

“Can I speak to you? It’s important. Please.”

He inhaled deep. Bryce had to be next door with Angel. But why? Had he been looking for Drew? Had Trent sent him for some reason? Perhaps with a written warning? Or was he here for the Van Der Kloof files? That made more sense; Bryce would have been ready and willing to snap up that case and make it his own. There was blood in the water, and his shark of a twin was circling, circling… circling.

“Drew?”

Kelly took a step back when he turned to face her. Crossed both arms over her chest.

“Of course. Yes. I actually came to—” he gestured at her, flailing for words “—to speak to you. To say…” He trailed off and cleared his throat, nodding when Kelly beckoned him to follow her inside.

She’d been baking — the house reeked of cookies.

“Coffee? I just put on a pot.”

“Thanks.”

“Cream and sugar?”

“Sure.”

“Made some cookies too. Want some?”

“What? Oh, no thanks.”

“You don’t like them?”

“Can’t handle anything sweet right now.”

He followed her into the kitchen. Piles of cookies of every shape and imaginable flavor filled the counters. Kelly moved a cooling rack away with her elbow and began fixing them each a cup of coffee as Drew stared at the confectionery equivalent of a drunken binge.

“You… uh… like baking?”

“Some.” She gave him a tiny smile over her shoulder and waved around the kitchen with a teaspoon. “This isn’t normal though. But I couldn’t decide what I wanted, so I made whatever I could.”

“What do you do?” Drew lifted a chocolate-chip cookie, sniffed it, and put it back. There had been a hint of mint in that whiff he’d caught.

“I’m still trying to decide.” She shrugged, turned, and handed him a cup of coffee. “My ex, he… he had a lot. A lot of money, a lot of girlfriends.” Her smile turned sour. “A lot of issues. Luckily, I only got some of his money in the divorce, none of the other stuff.”

Drew allowed her a twitch of his lips, took a hesitant sip of the coffee, and nodded. “It’s good, thanks.”

“Want to sit?” She pulled out a barstool, sliding aside a tray of what looked like shortbread with chocolate on it to make room for her cup.

“Thanks.” He sat on a stool opposite her, staring through her kitchen into the backyard. Straight at the loveseat where he’d been so convinced she would be his that night. Where she’d made it crystal fucking clear that she was into him.

He put his coffee cup down. Then pushed it away with his fingertips. Kelly looked up at the sound of ceramic against granite and gripped her cup to her chest. Looking all the world like a guilty child who knew a scolding was coming her way.

Drew opened his mouth, but she spoke before he could.

“I thought he was you. He… He pretended to be you. Came to my room and—” She gave her head a violent shake, peering into her cup. “But I knew. And I still—” She squeezed her eyes shut.

“Fucked him?”

She nodded, swallowed hard enough that he could see her throat move with the effort, and then took a swallow of coffee. Her hand fumbled, found the closest cookie, and held it to her lips as she nibbled at it.

“I’m not sure why I’m here.”

Kelly looked up, wide eyed with confusion. “I wanted to explain—”

“Why? You made your decision.”

She sat up straight, the hand holding what remained of the cookie falling into her lap. “I thought he was you, Drew. I was waiting for you. You never came back.” And then her eyes flared. “Where were you? I mean, did the thought of being with me send you running back to your… to that girl?”

He set his cup down, ran both hands through his hair. “I was delayed.”

“Delayed?”

“I went home. She was there. Angel. Angel was there. She… needed me.”

“More than I did?”

When he looked up, Kelly’s eyes were wide and unblinking, her face unreadable in its lack of expression.

He shrugged. “You knew. You didn’t stop. I knew. And I didn’t stop.”

There was silence then. Heavy, thick silence that pressed down hard enough to make his shoulders droop. Kelly dipped her cookie in her coffee, but she never ate it. Instead, she put it down on the counter and downed the rest of her coffee. Then she touched her fingertips to her lips, closed her eyes, and inhaled a chest-lifting breath.

“Could we write it off, then?”

He blinked at her. “Write it off?”

“What happened.” She opened her eyes, staring first past him and then straight at him. “That night. Can we pretend you just went home to an empty house and I went to sleep? Can we do that?”

His coffee had grown cold before he could summon the reserves to reply. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse. “I don’t know, Kelly. He’s my fucking brother. It’s not like—”

“—you chose some twenty-year-old over me?” Kelly cut in. She slipped from her barstool, turned away from him, and began haphazardly packing cookies into collapsed boxes. She moved with a dexterity that spoke of experience; either she’d loved baking cookies all her life, or she’d done this for a stint to earn a living. Perhaps before falling into money and out of love.

“Look, Kelly.” He stood, hoping the solidity of the floor under his feet would somehow ground his thoughts. “It’s complicated, okay?”

She threw him a glare over her shoulder. “Complicated is something I don’t need.”

And then she was tossing cookies into containers again, completely ignoring him when he came up behind her.

“You don’t get it. My brother… he’s a virus. He gets into your head, and the next thing you’re—”

“Enjoying yourself?”

“What?” He took hold of her upper arms, but she spun in his grip, facing him with a tight face and trembling lips.

“He was there, Drew. He was there, and you weren’t. Are you honest to God going to blame me? Because if anyone had a choice, it was you.” She made a walking gesture with her fingers, snatching them away before she’d finished speaking. “You could have gotten the hell out of there. Could have come back here. You had a choice.”

“So did you.”

Her chin darted back. “So did—” she laughed, turning her head aside and wrenching her arms out of grip. “You know what? I’m glad this happened. Because now I know how you handle situations like this. You immediately blame anyone else—”

“You really think this is my fault?” He was shouting, knew he had to stop, but he couldn’t. He grabbed her arms again, stopping her from slipping out between him and the counter. “All you had to do was cross your legs and not let him fuck you.”

“Why?” she yelled. “Why would I do that, Drew? It was obvious you weren’t coming back. So why would I? I’m forty-two. It’s not like men are lining up at my fucking door to have sex with me anymore.”

“So you’ll take whatever you can get?”

Her slap hurt like a jellyfish sting. He worked his mouth, turning slowly back to her. Instead of looking apologetic, her mouth had thinned, and she glared at him like she wanted to slap him again.

“Yeah,” she whispered fiercely. “I guess I’ll take whatever I can get. Because that’s just how slutty I am, you piece of shit.”

God, but his mind was a furnace. It billowed with thoughts of Juliet and Angel and his brother, all tangled and indistinguishable. The stab of jealousy he’d felt when he saw his brother leaving Kelly’s house. Now, that pang of concern when he’d realized Bryce was in his home. That Angel might be there too.

But Bryce was always there. Like a vulture circling in the sky. Waiting for him to weaken enough that he could swoop in and devour whatever was left.

Maybe it was time for him to do the same.

He slid his hands up Kelly’s neck and sank his fingertips deep into her hair. Where her eyes had been narrowed into a glare, they went wide. Her lips parted, and she pushed back from him, going onto her tiptoes as if she planned to climb over him to escape.

But he kissed her before she could.

And it was as if they’d never left that spot on her love seat outside; her lips were just as soft, just as warm. Her kiss just as ravenous. He leaned into her, and she melted under him, her hands climbing up his back until she gripped his shoulders.

And then he was scooping cookies aside with his arm to make space for her as he lifted her and deposited her on the counter.

She gasped.

Their lips broke contact.

And then sought each other out again, as voracious as before.

Her hands went to his shirt, unbuttoning so fast that she tugged the fabric against his back.

Drew yanked open her shirt — she had push-clips instead of buttons — and cupped her breasts, one in each hand. Her legs were around his waist, squeezing him against her as she slid closer.

He slid his hand down her stomach, opening the top button of her jeans. Her zipper didn’t need much encouragement to slide down, and his hand was already digging between that rough fabric and her underwear when she tore her mouth away from his and pushed him away.

“Wait. Drew, please. Stop.” Her voice was breathy and hoarse. She cleared her throat, tugged his hand out of her pants and swung her leg around him so she could slide off the counter.

Her fingers shook when she began clipping her shirt closed again.

“What… what’s wrong?” Jesus, his dick ached, and all she could do was give him a sidelong glance and a tight mouth? “Did I do something—”

“What I did on Wednesday…” she turned away from him and ran both hands over her hair. “I shouldn’t have come onto you like that. I’m not—” she gestured at the crumbly countertop where he’d been an inch away from fucking her “—this isn’t me. I don’t do this.”

Her chest expanded as she took a huge breath and faced him. Then she crossed her arms over her chest and stared him down like he was the school bully and she was tired of being given wedgies.

“I like you, Drew. I like you a lot. I don’t just want a one-night…” she glanced around, bit the inside of her cheek and shrugged, “a one-noon-stand with you.”

He was still facing the counter, unwilling to turn so she could see the boner she’d given him. He put his fists on the counter and leaned on them, exhaling hard enough through his nose that he stirred some of the crumbs under him.

“Couldn’t have had this conversation before I began feeling you up?”

“There wasn’t any time!” Then she put her hands over her eyes and inhaled aloud. “I’m sorry. You’re… damn hard to say no to. But I want something more than a mid-life crisis fling.”

Her hands slid down, and she blinked her olive-green eyes at him as if she wished he could see inside her mind so she wouldn’t have to explain herself.

That would be neat; it would prevent a helluva lot of confusion on both their parts.

“I’m too old for flings, Drew. I want this to mean something. And I need to know that you’re ready for that. That I’m not going to be some… some—” she waved her hand in a vague circle, the other going to her hip. “Just a distraction.”

At least his hard on had faded with the serious turn the afternoon had taken. He closed his eyes, let his head drop down, and inhaled a whole lot cinnamon and chocolate. Possibly some coconut, too.

Jesus, was there anything she hadn’t baked?

“Okay.” He pushed away from the counter and loomed over her. “I hear you. I do. But things are a bit… complicated at the moment, what with…” he pointed in the direction of his house. “With Angel and all of that.”

Kelly cocked her head at him. “No, it’s not. It’s really freakin’ simple.” She gripped the counter behind her, leaning back and looking for all the world like she hadn’t just blue-balled him with malicious intent. “If you want to date me — and I mean date me — then you can’t see her. She can’t live with you. She can’t be here, in this general vicinity.”

“What do you have against her? You don’t even know her.”

“I don’t want to. And I don’t have to. I’m not the sharing type, Drew.” She drew a breath, brushed away a strand of hair from her forehead with the back of her hand. “I thought you liked me. That you liked me enough to start a relationship and see where it led. I’m not looking for a fling, I told you.”

“Neither am I.” He swiped a hand through his hair. “Neither am I.”

“Well then.” Kelly crossed her arms and gave her shoulders a shrug. “Make it happen.”

He opened his mouth. Closed it again when he realized there was no way to put into words anything that involved Angel.

Because she electrified him. She made him feel like he was twenty again, and had the whole of his life to look forward to.

Kelly… Kelly made him feel every one of his forty-six years. Not in a bad way, but in a way that made him feel like the responsible, hard-working adult he’d always dreamed he would become.

Except… that was starting to feel like someone else’s dream. Not his.