Atonement (The Atonement Series) (5 page)

“You’re quiet. What’s on your mind?”

I looked up and met Colin’s crystal blue eyes. They were magnetic and strong, irresistible and the right combination of nice and naughty. I wonder if he had any idea what kind of pull he had over women?

“Well, I’m just thinking I don’t know much about you. Drew has only mentioned you a handful of times and all the sudden he decides to invite you over for dinner? It just seemed a bit strange.”

He leaned toward me and stared deep into my eyes. “What do you want to know? Drew and I work together but it isn’t like he knows all my deepest darkest secrets. Besides, I think I would find it much more pleasurable to tell you myself.”

I couldn’t help but smile as I shook my head. “You’re incorrigible, you know that? Okay, to start off, are you a Seattle native?”

Colin nodded his head affirmatively. “Born and raised here although not in the city. I spent my formative years on Mercer Island but my parents relocated to Hunts Point when I was ten. I don’t remember meeting you but I know we both lived in HP.”

“That’s because my parents sent me to Seattle Lutheran High School. Both Caitlyn and I attended there as they wanted us to grow up with a more well rounded view of the world, enough religious education to give us a moral compass but not too much. Why, where did you attend high school?”

“Liam and I attended EAA in Bellevue. It was interesting to say the least but nothing I would really like to discuss in detail at the end of the day. High school…is pretty much all the same, don’t you think? Once you enter the ‘real’ world and attend university, you just discover it is more of the same except with a hell of a lot more sex, drugs and alcohol into the mix,” he explained with bored detachment.

“You and Liam? Is he your younger brother?” I inquired out loud.

Before he could answer, his doorbell rang and he stood. “That’s him right now if I hazard a guess. Why don’t you two just meet one another? Describing Liam to anyone who doesn’t already know him is…hard.”

My stomach lurched as my heart began to beat with an intensity I hadn’t imagined was possible. What the hell had I gotten myself into now?

Chapter Four

WILLIAM “LIAM” VAN
der Meer was like a force of nature, a hurricane of energy and destruction no one could stop. Unfortunately, I had to learn this the hard way. He breezed in to Colin’s condo like he owned the place. His tie had been removed and he’d undone the first few buttons of his dress shirt.

The man was sex on a stick with his brown hair interspersed with subtle blond streaks, killer sky blue eyes and a body made for sin. It was obvious he worked out and although he was tall and built, he was definitely more Alexander Skarsgård fused with Ian Somerhalder. Obviously unlike us two slackers, he had a high-powered job and decided a trip to his brother’s would be the best way to unwind.

They both walked into the patio area and took seats cater-corner to me. “Liam, I would like you to meet my traveling partner to Europe, Deirdre Bardot. Deirdre, this is my wayward older brother, Liam.”

I shook his hand. “Nice to meet you.” I licked my lips self-consciously. “I am definitely thinking he should not be introduced to Caitlyn as she would tear you alive.”

Liam and Colin exchanged cryptic glances before his brother managed to give me some attention again. “Actually, I am familiar with Caitlyn Bardot though I can’t say I know her personally. We have met one another at various functions when all the top businesses in Washington State decide to hold the annual pow-wow.”

“Oh?”

“I guess my brother didn’t tell you.” Liam winked lasciviously. Although I found him very sexually attractive, I quickly realized Colin was more of my type. I liked his quiet nature and although he wasn’t as aggressively handsome as his brother, he possessed a wholesome quality about him Liam officially lacked. “I am one of the founders of uConnect—heard of ‘em?”

“I’d have to be dead not to.” I swigged from my beer just as Colin handed one to Liam. “You’re giving Facebook a run for their money.”

“Well, we don’t plan to take the company public and to be honest, we want to be the perfect combination of Facebook and Klout. Friends and business associates can connect with one another, chat, form groups but at the same time, someone who is part of uConnect receives a score on how influential they are on certain topics, subjects, and areas of expertise. It will be the perfect tool for everything: friends, business connections, dating—you name it, we want to do it,” he explained in an excited manner.

I nodded my head in an almost absent-minded way. I wanted to hear more about Liam’s company and I wanted to spend more time in Colin’s presence but I felt myself growing tired. Without meaning to, I openly yawned as they began to discuss a subject I had very little interest in.

Colin looked over at me and smiled before he whispered something to his brother.

“Come on, you. We have a lot to discuss and it is more than obvious it isn’t going to be discussed tonight. Why don’t you go lay down in the guest bedroom. I will show you where everything is,” he explained as he stood and guided me out of the patio area.

“What about Liam? I don’t want him to feel put out. He seems like he really wants to talk to you—”

“Listen, there was an ulterior motive for me buying into this building. Liam is just a few floors up on the thirty-seventh floor. Believe me, the man never gets too drunk he can’t wander back to his place. Lay down, rest and when I get rid of him, we can talk for a while, okay?”

I nodded my head and allowed him to walk me to a very nice and open guest bedroom which was completely equipped for all my needs. The bedroom nestled in the corner of the condo and was quite a distance from the master bedroom but both contained walk-in bathrooms and closets.

The furniture was all beautiful and cold. Steel, black and Chinese red seemed to dominate the color scheme but somehow, it all worked. I walked past the black Persian rug and lay on the silk comforter which was a deep red. There was a large forty-two inch flat screen television mounted to the wall and I turned it on if just for background noise. I quickly channel-surfed, caught the beginning of an episode of
Sons of Anarchy
and smiled at the hotness that was Charlie Hunnam.

Once the show ended, I turned off the television and slipped out of my clothes until I wore nothing except my bra and panties. It was a chilly night so I was grateful for the temperate warmth of the bedroom. It wasn’t icy cold but it wasn’t overly warm either; in fact it was perfect for curling underneath silk sheets and a matching comforter.

I thought about how the day had gone and it wasn’t long before I began to ponder my meeting with Colin. He was a great guy, good looking, rich and seemed to have his shit together. We hadn’t gone into our high school years yet or even university but he seemed like a stand-up guy.

It didn’t take a genius for me to realize I would eventually have to stop living behind Drew. He was my best friend but he also deserved happiness as I did and it wasn’t fair to deprive him of that because I was afraid of being alone or not finding anyone who even resembled the “one”.

Perhaps with him being my first love, it kind of spoiled the whole mystique or maybe my standards were set impossibly high. I certainly was no prize, professional student that I was with a wall of degrees but no real job skills. I wasn’t hopeless of course. If worse came to worse, I could easily find a job at one of the big time companies here in Seattle or if I wanted to do something more noble, I would have absolutely no problem finding a teaching position at one of the local private schools.

My life was my own to live but since my father was gone, it seemed like I had given up and didn’t want to rejoin the living though I knew I had to eventually. It just wasn’t healthy or normal not to want to do anything with one’s life beside pursue degree after degree as a coping mechanism for not having to start “real life”.

I closed my eyes, only to rest them for a moment. Although I could have sworn it was only for a few minutes, when I felt the weight of a body and Colin touched the comforter lightly, I jumped up. I should have had more modesty as I wore my cute Victoria’s Secret bra which really gave the illusion of major cleavage which I didn’t have but I immediately took a defensive position. I pulled my knees towards my body and wrapped my arms around my calves.

“Hey,” he whispered. “Did I wake you? We can talk in the morning if you like?”

I shook my head. “No, I’m okay. Sorry, I haven’t been sleeping very well and I assure you my bed at home is just as soft and comfortable. I’m glad you insisted I stay though because if we’re going to Europe together then we have to set some ground rules.”

Colin’s crystal blue eyes never changed as he smirked and scooted closer to me in bed. “Ground rules, huh? Why can’t you stop being such a controlling chick for a moment and go with the flow? Why can’t we take this at a relaxing pace? We aren’t doing
National Lampoon’s European Vacation
and there is absolutely no rush. I’m more than happy just exploring city centers and walking into museums or parks that take our fancy. I thought you might like that too.”

My hands raced through my thick silky hair and I breathed deeply. “Listen, I like to be as impromptu as the next person but I also like to have a plan written down just in case. No one said we can’t deviate from the plan but it is never a bad idea to know what you expect out of a vacation.”

Colin glared at me in irritation before he lay out on his stomach beside me and sighed. “Fine, plans and ground rules…me, personally, I usually just go with the flow and I have always been that way. Probably why I used to get into all kinds of trouble with a big brother like Liam.”

I laughed out loud at this revelation. “Liam used to get
you
in trouble? First off, who is the professional who has the world by the balls and who is the loser brother wasting a perfectly good MBA from Harvard here? You can try to hide all you want but working at a coffee shop and a bar doesn’t make you a better person than that thieving grandfather of yours. So you gave away a bunch of money to assuage your conscience but do you ever plan to use that degree or is it just something you have to decorate the walls of this amazingly expensive condo?”

“Wow. You’re one to talk. You and I—we’re not that different and you know it. So you volunteer at a soup kitchen slash halfway house for abused women but why don’t you become a counselor and you know, get
paid
for what you do. It’s not like you’re hurting for money either so what stops you from moving on and wanting to live like a young, productive adult?”

He had me there. Nothing at all was stopping me and perhaps that’s what made my situation so very frustrating to me, my sister and my mother. We all knew I had to be suffering some sort of deep seated inertia. The fear of moving on because if I did then I would eventually forget my father the same way I’d forgotten my real mom and then what would I have? Nothing except the present. No past, no real family except my half-sister but could I see myself in a relationship which could lead to a husband and children?

It was a scary proposition because I didn’t feel grounded myself. How could I possibly be a good mother when I was a mess myself? My life was a disaster area. Yes, I was educated and wealthy but other than that, I almost felt like I didn’t have a legitimate reason to complain. Not like some of the women I met in the halfway house who had nothing and yet they were slowly picking up the pieces of their ruined lives.