‘Look what the cat just dragged in, Kal,’ Addy says, oblivious to the effect his little sister has on me. Soulful brown eyes snap to my face, her full, pink lips curling inward to what might’ve been a wide grin. She still looks like the girl-next-door still... if the girl-next-door was a fucking model. Her long, black hair trails her bare shoulder, a dusting of dark freckles peeking out from underneath. A heart-shaped face, high cheekbones and tiny snub nose. She’s just how I remembered her, only all grown up. She really the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen—and I’ve seen a lot of women.Fucked an awful lot of them, too.
“Josh,” she says graciously. Even her voice isa turn on.Stop this. She’s only saying hello, for fuck sakes.
‘Hey, Kallie,’ I say, returning her greeting.
As stunning as she is, she isn’t haughty or cold. Exactly the opposite as she gets up to give me a hug.
‘Steady on,’ complains Addy.
‘Piss off, Ads,’ she says. ‘You’re not dad.’
‘Wow, that’s a bit of a change. Confidence is so sexy. I’m also going to guess she’s pleased to see me, judging by the way her eyes don’t move from mine, even as her brother continues to talk. Tearing my eyes from the angel in front of me, I force my attention to him, while Kallie keeps sifting through the cards—while we both pretend like seeing each other is no big deal. As much as I’ve missed her brother, as much as I want to catch up with him, I wished Kallie had been the one to open the front door. How would our first meeting have been? Not so tentative, I feel.
It’s hard to stay calm in the same room as Kallie, but I manage. Even as her mum brings in tea I manage to appear unaffected. Like the sight of this woman hasn’t tipped my whole world on its axis.
Chapter 3
Kallie
He came.
When Josh didn’t show up to the funeral I wrote him off. He was nothing more than a childhood crush anyway, right? I told myself that I probably wouldn’t feel the same way if I ever set eyes on those broad shoulder again.
I was wrong. So bloody wrong.
When he walked into the living room, I was surprised I didn’t squeal his name—yell that I missed him, or that I still think about him. And that’s so not me. I’m a sophisticated college professor to be. Not the girl in the geeky glasses and Marvel tee’s. Except I am. Still. That girl. Oh, but he still looks like the boy of my teenage fantasies, only more. Taller, broader, more... everything.Mooar!From the way his body fills out his dark grey suit to that presence of his that just fills a room.
He’s all man.
As Addy yabbers on about old shit, I pretend to be politely interested and mostly unaffected. I’m not sure it’s an act I pull off with much success as my fingers shake as they shuffle a pack of playing cards that had been left on the table, while I pretend not to listen to their conversation when I’m really drinking in every ounce of his voice. It’s gotten deeper, if that’s even possible. Deeper and huskier, like he’s spent a whole lot of time doing things that he oughtn’t.Bourbon and cigars. Rich women and fine wine.Meanwhile, I’m just me. The same geeky girl, curled on a couch wearing shorts and a t-shirtthat could’ve been plucked from her wardrobe ten years ago. Well, when dad wasn’t looking.
I bet he feels like he’s gone back in time. Or worse, thinks I haven’t moved on.
‘Kallie, you moron, you’re bending the cards.’ At the sound of Addy’s voice, my head snaps up as I realize what I’ve done. The cards in my hand are a mess; some broken, some bent.
‘You marking the cards, Kal?’ Josh’s voice is heavy with teasing. ‘She always was a bit of a shark,’ he says, turning to Addy. ‘This is probably how she always won.’ His eyes slide back to mine for the briefest of seconds as he almost whispers, ‘Except that one time, eh?’
That one time... my brother was off with his then girlfriend, the promise of an evening “babysitting” filling his head. Not that I knew the of the implications. I’m the youngest in our family with no siblings to babysit, and I certainly wouldn’t be looking after the neighbour’s snotty miscreants, according to my father. And I never had a boyfriend until I left home, so I didn’t really understand why Addy would blow off an evening with Josh to join Jenny Fritz in babysitting.
Eurgh!
I mean, I get it now. Kids who live at home have very little privacy. That must be why they fuck like bunnies wherever they find a little space. The sights I’ve seen while walking around a college campus, let me tell you. But that time that Josh turned up at the kitchen door, expecting to find Addy home. Well, that was some day. His brow had furrowed, and he’d cursed under his breath so I’d offered myself up as a consolation prize. I’d meant I’d keep him company—maybe play cards, or watch a movie with him. Even as I’d said the words, between my legs recognized that wasn’t what Josh had in mind. My breath halted as I’d welcomed the dark look in his older eyes.
Good job my parents weren’t home that day.
But Josh was a gentleman, mostly. Raised by a his granny, he knew how to behave. So he didn’t take advantage of me that night. Though he might’ve played with me a little as he taught me how to play poker.Then upped the ante by playing me for my clothes.I remember I could barely breathe for the excitement and anticipation as I’d dropped my blue cotton shirt on the table between us, his eyes branding my skin. But that’s as far as we’d gotten, his running shoes, socks, and t-shirt on the floor and me sitting in my underwear, every inch of me trembling.
And now my thoughts are dancing around like iron filings under the attention of his magnetism again. Damn him. And all the while, he regales Addy with tales of his travels, his company, the life he’s living, I’d barely noticed what I was doing with my hands.
I note the one thing he doesn’t mention is a woman.No mention of a fiancée or wife. No preface ofwe.This gives me a certain satisfaction until I realize it could be because he has so many women drifting in and out of his life. Those kinds of relationships wouldn’t be discussed in polite company. But I’m glad he doesn’t talk about his love life because that means he hasn’t settled down. Glad and surprised and probably delusional. If I had a crush when I was a kid, I’m infatuated, now.
‘What about you?’ Josh asks me. ‘Do you still live in town?’
Realising Josh’s words are directed at me, I shake my head. ‘I escaped to California for university.’
‘I keep telling her she should move back,’ Addy interjects, ‘but she doesn’t want to hear anything about it.’
‘I imagine it’s hard to relocate a family,’ Josh says.
