Hold Me

“Starr goes to a boarding school. She’ll be going back there.”

Kipling frowned. “She doesn’t live with you full-time?”

“No. Just for the summer. I’m her legal guardian now, but that’s more for handling logistics.”

“Oh. And she’s okay with that? With not having a real home?”

Destiny didn’t like the questions. “She has a home.”

“Where?”

Destiny didn’t have an answer to that. Starr had only spent a few days at Destiny’s place in Austin before they’d left for Fool’s Gold. The apartment wasn’t really big enough for the two of them.

“I guess I haven’t thought that part through,” she said slowly.

“You should talk to her and find out what she thinks is going to happen in the fall. She might not be as excited about going back to boarding school as you think.”

“Why would you say that? You don’t know her.”

“I know kids. I jumped at the chance to join the ski team and loved every second of it, but there were kids who would rather have been home. No one likes being sent away.”

She’d been a kid, too, she thought with faint irritation. For her, being sent away had been the best thing to ever happen to her. But she’d been going to live with a loving grandmother while Starr was going away to school. Those were different destinations.

“She has friends at school,” she said, aware she sounded defensive. Partly because if Starr wasn’t going back, then Destiny didn’t know what that would mean. She loved traveling for her career, but with a fifteen-year-old, moving from place to place every three months wasn’t possible.

She shook her head. “You’re fixing things again. You need to let that go.”

“I can’t help it,” he said with an easy smile. “It’s part of my charm.”

“If you say so.”

He laughed. “Not impressed? I could get you references, if that would help.”

“I can’t begin to imagine what they would say.”

“It’s all good,” he promised. “I’m a fun date. Speaking of which, come with me to The Man Cave opening. It’s going to be a hell of a party.”

“I’m really not the bar type.”

“This isn’t a regular bar. Come on. It’s the opening of my business. How can you not want to be there to see all the magic?”

She tried to figure out why he was so appealing. Other men were as good-looking. Maybe more so. He was plenty smart, but not brilliant. He had characteristics she found mildly annoying, but they didn’t seem to diminish her attraction.

A date. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been on one. Did she even remember how?

“I won’t sleep with you,” she told him.

Kipling didn’t bother reacting to the blunt statement. “I don’t remember asking, but thanks for the update. Are you saying that night or ever?”

Ever. She should say ever. Because he wasn’t what she was looking for. She was clear on her goals. Clear and determined.

“Ever,” she said firmly.

He leaned back in his chair. Amusement twinkled in his blue eyes. “Yeah, you are so lying. You want me. Admit it.”

Destiny told herself he was teasing. That all she had to do was laugh with him and everything would be fine. Only she couldn’t. Not really. Because she was attracted to him. More than she wanted to be.

She opened her mouth, then closed it. She felt herself blushing and wished to be miraculously transported somewhere else. Preferably to another hemisphere. When that didn’t happen, she grabbed her backpack, stood and mumbled, “I have to go.”

Kipling was on his feet in a second. “Destiny, no. Don’t. I was teasing.”

She shook her head and bolted.

For whatever reason, Kipling didn’t follow her. Gratitude and fear propelled her to her office. A ridiculous place to try to hide, she thought, even as she closed the door behind her and leaned against it. Like he didn’t know where she worked?

But there was nowhere else to go. She could only hope for a few minutes of solitude. An hour or so to figure out what on earth was wrong with her and how she was going to fix it. Fast.

* * *

BY FIVE THAT AFTERNOON, Destiny had managed to put the Kipling issue out of her mind. The reprieve was probably temporary, but she was willing to go with that. Mostly out of guilt. Starr guilt.

While she wanted to try to forget the man, she couldn’t seem to let go of his words about her sister. That Starr didn’t technically have a home to retreat to. That there was no place she called her own.

Destiny didn’t know how to fix that problem, but she knew how to offer a distraction. In the time-honored tradition handed down by generations, she cooked.

First up was a pie. Grandma Nell had taught her the secrets to a perfect crust. She’d used first-of-the-season blueberries. Now the pie was cooling on a rack on the kitchen table.

She’d bought chicken for frying and ingredients for salad. Because there weren’t many problems that couldn’t be fixed with fried chicken for dinner.

“I’m back,” Starr called.

Destiny walked into the living room. The teen looked happy as she dropped her bag onto the sofa and collapsed next to it. Destiny sat across from her.

“How was it?” she asked, then mentally crossed her fingers. Please let the report be good.

Starr grinned. “Great. I’m really tired, but in a good way, you know? The camp is huge. There are all these classrooms and different areas. I’m with the drama and music kids. There’s some tech classes and lots of sports stuff, too. It’s busy and loud and fun. We had lunch in shifts, which was good because with that many kids, it would be totally impossible.”