An Indecent Proposition (25 page)

When her gaze reconnected with his, her expression became serious. “I do. I thought I should deliver it in person, and I thought Keegan might be interested as well.”

The tone of her voice suggested otherwise, and Erik locked down the urge to sigh even as he battled the anger trying to get out.

“And maybe,” she continued, “we want to make this conversation a little more private.”

Keegan muttered, “God damn it,” before Erik cut him off.

“Keegan. Why don’t you take Julianne into the media room and get her settled.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Jules agreed immediately. “I could stand to take my shoes off.”

With a curt nod, Keegan led Jules out of the room. Keegan had installed a state-of-the-art theater, where they mostly played videogames. Damn things looked awesome on that seventy-inch screen.

But the only games Erik wanted to play tonight were with Jules, and that meant hearing what Kat had to say, then taking her back to his place for the night. Where he’d leave her to return here.

Kat was going to love that.

Tough shit.

His sister continued to stare at the doorway through which Jules and Keegan had disappeared.

“All right, Kat. What’d you find?”

Her gaze sliced back to his, her mouth pulled into a sneer. “Still playing your dirty games? Does she know what you expect from her? Or haven’t you told her about yours and Keegan’s fucked-up games?”

And there she went, straight for the jugular and back into the hell that had nearly torn apart TinMan Biotronics after she’d called off her engagement with Keegan.

Erik steeled himself against the rising tide of anger, staring at her with a steady gaze. “Do you really want to rehash this? I thought you’d put it all behind you.”

Kat rolled her eyes and started to pace. “I thought I had, too. Then I saw Keegan and… I want to tear his eyes out.”

“I thought you were seeing someone.”

“I am.” Her mouth twisted. “He’s actually a nice guy. And he’s not interested in sharing me with anyone.”

“Keegan wouldn’t have shared you, Kat. You know that. He told you that.”

“Because you’re the only one he shares with. He told me that, too. That he’s never shared a woman with anyone else. Why do you think that is, Erik?”

He knew exactly why, but this was an old argument, one he would never win with her.

After a disastrous affair during her last year of college, and an even more horrendous stay at a psych hospital mandated by their mother, Kat had met Keegan and thought he was the one. The one to fix her.

Stupid Erik had thought maybe she’d been right. Hell, even Keegan had thought so. And Keegan
had
loved her. It just hadn’t been enough for Kat and her demons.

Because Keegan had brought his own demons to the relationship. Keegan had thought, by marrying Kat, he’d be cured of wanting to share women. He’d be normal. Like his parents.

But as their relationship had progressed, Erik knew Keegan was never going to get through to his sister’s cold heart. Finally, Keegan had seen the light, but by then, Kat had heard the rumors and confronted Keegan. She’d nearly had another breakdown, though this time, she’d managed to avoid being committed.

Erik sighed. “Are you going to tell me what you found out, or are we going to end up pissed off and screaming at each other again?”

He’d had enough of those bouts to last him the rest of his life.

Nodding, Kat became all business. She was so good at submerging her feelings. But her eyes… He caught the lingering hurt before she could hide it.

One more thing you can’t make better.

 “You’re right,” she said, meeting his gaze straight on. “I’m sorry. I talked to Stilinski, gave him the information you gave me. You’re right. It was Eggert Labs.”

* * *

“I’m really sorry about this, Jules, I had no idea she—”

“I realize that, Keegan.” Jules smiled at him but it was a struggle when she had all these wild thoughts banging around in her head. “And there’s nothing to be sorry about. I know you and Erik had lives before I met you.”

She just hadn’t known Keegan was engaged to Erik’s sister. He and Erik would’ve been family. Talk about fucked up.

Keegan grimaced. “Yeah, but I know how my engagement to Kat must look to someone who knows about…our preferences.”

“You really don’t have anything to explain to me.”

“Yeah, I do.”

She waited but he still seemed to be debating what to say. So she decided to give him a little help.

“When did you meet her?”

He smiled, just a quick twist of his lips. “Our senior year in college. Erik didn’t talk about his family much. They’re kind of…dysfunctional.”

She raised her eyebrows and he laughed, sounding a little more like himself. “Yeah, I know how that sounds. But Erik’s family might have a lock on crazy.”

Kicking off her shoes, she sat on the nearest black leather couch and pulled her legs under her while Keegan remained standing, leaning against the wall in front of her.

“What about your family?”

He didn’t stop to think. “Traditional Irish Catholic. I’m the oldest of six. When I was eight, my teacher realized I understood high-level math and knew I needed advanced training. When I was ten, my parents sent me to live with my aunt and uncle in Boston so I could eventually attend MIT. By the time I was in college, the rest of my family had moved, as well.”

“Must have been tough, being away from your family that young.”

His smile was a little more natural now. “As much as I fought with my brothers and sisters, I missed the hell out of them when they weren’t around. My aunt and uncle are great, but they didn’t have kids. They were kind of at a loss as to what to do with me so they overcompensated. I’ll admit I was fairly well spoiled.”

“Sounds like you had a good childhood.”

“I did.” He glanced at the door and his expression tightened again.

She wanted to make this better for them but had no idea what to do.

“You should go out there and back up Erik.”

“Yeah, I should.”

Instead, he walked over to the couch, put both hands on the cushion behind her head, and bent to kiss her.

Hard and demanding. She wanted to melt into the couch and let him follow her down. Her stomach clenched, her heart stuttered, and she reached for his shoulders to hold him to her, kissing him back with as much passion as he put into it.

Groaning low in his throat, he made her shiver in response as she opened her mouth to his tongue. He flicked it against hers, teased and taunted, making her shift restlessly on the cushion, an ache building low in her gut and radiating to her pussy.

When he pulled away, his cheeks flushed and his eyes intent, she smiled up at him, stroking one hand against his cheek.

“I’ll get Erik to take her back to his place, but he’ll be back. We have plans for you.”

She smiled, a little of that weight leaving her chest. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Good. I don’t want the night to end yet.”

After another brief, hard kiss, he turned and stalked out.

Leaving her alone with her jumbled thoughts.

* * *

By the time Keegan got back to Erik and Kat, they were huddled over a file, side by side on the couch.

Stopping in the shadows of the hall before they noticed him, he watched as they discussed…whatever they were discussing so intensely. Kat had a law degree that she used to defend her father’s consulting firm from whatever sludge might be tossed its way. And since Arthur Riley consulted with some of the richest men in the country, she made a healthy amount of money and wielded a fair amount of power. What business exactly Arthur consulted on, Keegan had never understood completely.

And because of the nature of her work, Kat had never wanted to talk about what she did. At least, not with him. And since she didn’t understand what he and Erik did, they hadn’t talked about that either.

What the hell
had
they talked about when they’d been together?

Damn if he could remember.

He only remembered that when they’d decided to call off their engagement, months before the explosion, there’d still been a lot of hard feelings between them.  Keegan had hang-ups he freely admitted to. Kat had hang-ups she couldn’t bear to think about much less talk about.

Even so, he’d loved her. He’d thought their hang-ups would eventually work themselves out if they loved each other enough.

Turns out neither of them had.

A lot of blame to go around. And it’d put Erik in an awkward position that Keegan had always regretted—

Erik’s head snapped up and his gaze latched on to him, eyes gleaming in triumph.

Shit
. He knew that look.

Keegan wanted to turn around and go back to Jules.

But it was Katrina who spoke first. “I apologize for showing up unannounced, Keegan. I didn’t mean to screw up your plans.”

Her expression held no hint of the disgust he remembered seeing on her face only minutes ago. Obviously Erik had said something to her about her earlier comments.

Or maybe not, if the surprised look on Erik’s face was any indication.

“If you don’t mind lending Erik your car,” she continued, “he can take me back to my hotel.”

“What hotel?” Erik frowned. “You don’t have to stay at a hotel. You can stay with me.”

Katrina shook her head. “I don’t want to interrupt your…life.”

Grimacing, Erik sighed. “Kat—”

“Take the car and take her where she wants to go.”

Keegan just wanted her gone. Yeah, he sounded like a prick, but at the moment he didn’t care.

Katrina’s mouth tightened into a scowl at his callous tone, and Erik rolled his eyes in exasperation, but Keegan didn’t want to deal with her. Not tonight. Old wounds and regrets would make him bitter, and that’s nothing he wanted to bring to bed with Jules.

And he
wanted
her in his bed. So far, they’d only been in Erik’s.

Why the hell that mattered didn’t make sense, but then Keegan didn’t want to examine his feelings right now.

He’d already pulled the keys out of his pocket and dangled from his finger. The anger he thought he’d worked out of his system years ago burned like a dull ache in his gut.

This time, though, it wasn’t directed at Katrina… Well, maybe that wasn’t exactly true. He was pissed off that she’d just appeared, like a bad memory he wished he could erase.

But there were other issues…

With a ragged sigh, Erik stalked toward him and grabbed the keys.

Then he leaned in and spoke low enough that Katrina wouldn’t hear them. “I’ll be back as soon as possible. Try to keep it together until then.”