Curtis (3 page)

But he intended to find out.

~~~

Curtis ran as fast as the treadmill
would go. He felt the sweat run down his back in rivers and even his legs were
sweating. He watched the monitor in front of him without seeing it. The woman
in his office was the only thing on his mind. And the kiss.

Christ, what had he been thinking? He
was mad, sure, but to kiss her like that was…his family, hell, his mother was
going to kill him. He’d been raised to never take advantage of someone smaller,
younger, especially not a woman. He was dead meat.

“You okay, C?”

Curtis looked over at the blond, Linda
he thought her name was, who worked here. “You’re running there like it’s life
or death. I’d very much like it if you’d slow it down a bit and take a water
break. Not having you code out on my shift.”

He didn’t stop or slow it down. He owned
this fucking place and if he wanted to run until his feet fell off and he bled
to death then he’d damn well do it. When she reached over and lowered the speed
he found himself wanting to snarl. Before he could do anything he glanced at
his reflection in the now blackened screen.

He looked…well, he looked insane. Maybe
even was for what he’d been doing and what he’d done. He slowed the treadmill
until he was walking and not running. Linda walked away and went to harass
someone else. He’d come straight here from his office. It was that or go back
to his office, press Kylie against the closest hard surface, and fuck her until
he had her out of his system. But he couldn’t. He wouldn’t. She was and had
been in love with Daniel since they were kids.

She’d been a pest to them all. Daniel
would use her, he’d have her do his homework even though he already had it
done. He would tease her until she blushed while the rest of them would simply
ignore her. He remembered the first time she’d been allowed to hang out with
them.

He’d been sixteen and Daniel had been
just a little over two years younger. Daniel was already showing signs of being
a flirt and was pretty good at it. Curtis would watch him get girl after girl
while he usually stayed home on Friday nights. Curtis had always been overly
shy and it had taken him years to work through it enough that he could go out. He’d
gotten better at it, or the women more bold, as he and his family started
making money, and now he had dates even when he didn’t want them.

But Kylie had always been different. She
had been in puppy love with Daniel at twelve. She would watch them, especially
him, from her perch on the porch of her father’s house. They already had all
the money as far as the Hunters, who didn’t have two nickels to rub together,
but were going somewhere fast. Then they’d been a man short for some football
play.

He grimaced when he remembered her
trying her best to figure out the calls and when she’d been handed the ball by
Daniel she’d frozen. He’d tried his best to stop, but his feet, too big for his
growing body, hadn’t been all that helpful. Curtis had hit her full tilt and
took them both to the ground. When he managed to roll off her she was
unconscious, bloodied, and still holding onto the stupid ball.

He’d been grounded for a week. His
mother had lectured him for an hour then his father had come into his room and
sat on his bed. He didn’t say anything for a long while, simply sat and stared
at the wall across from them. And when he did speak Curtis had been so grateful
and so relieved that he’d never forgotten it.

“Girls want more than they should have. I’m
not talking about jobs, mind you. Some of the women I work with should be in
charge instead of the idiots that are there now. No, I’m talking about playing.”
He stopped talking and Curtis looked at him.

“Playing? You mean sex?” His dad looked
at him and smiled and Curtis knew that’s not what he meant. “You mean football?”

“Yes, sometimes. It could be a girl
might think she’s built for it; some are, but there are ones that simply want to
do it because someone told them they couldn’t. Like little Kylie. Her daddy
doesn’t let her run wild like you boys do. Probably thinks he’s protecting her,
but he’s only hurting her. Maybe she’ll figure it out, maybe not.” He looked at
him. “You understand what I’m saying?”

Curtis thought about it. Did he? He wasn’t
sure, but he was going to try his best. “She wants to play with us because her
daddy told her she couldn’t. She doesn’t even care that she can’t do it well,
she just wants to…to prove that she can.”

His dad laughed. “Something like that. Like
your grades. Remember how that teacher told your mom and me you’d never amount
to much because you had your head in the clouds? What did I tell you then?”

“That I could do whatever I wanted so
long as I did it with honesty and with all my heart.” Curtis looked at his dad
as he continued. “You’re saying that she’s been told she’s a girl and needs to
stay on her porch and wait for some boy to come along and care for her. But she
doesn’t like it any better than we would.”

His dad had stood up and ruffled his
hair. “Kylie Washington isn’t always going to have everything handed to her. Someday,
someone is going to have to come along and show her how to survive. But as
Hunters we can give her a few lessons now to prepare her. Curtis, you were
playing. So was she. If she got hurt it was not only your fault, but hers as
well. But more her daddy’s. You owned up to what you’d done, got her care, and
even stayed with her until someone took her to the hospital. I’m proud of you,
son.”

He’d walked out of his room and Curtis
went to his desk. He pulled out his application to Yale and studied it. He was
graduating from high school in twenty-three days and then to college. He’d only
had three weeks to make a boy out of her.

Curtis was in the shower when his
brother said his name. He’d come in there when he was sure it was empty and
simply wanted to be left alone with his memories. He’d been cruel to Kylie. Not
that he regretted kissing her, but—

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

He looked over at Daniel, who was
standing just outside the showers in his suit and tie.

“She said you kissed her.”

Curtis turned off the shower and grabbed
his towel. “You can tell her it won’t happen again. Did you get her to go over
those proposals I made up?” Curtis hoped he’d go away when he went to his
locker, but when he came out of the changing room he was still there. Curtis
tried to ignore him.

“You were in charge of the paper. Mom
said you were the best at getting the point across without being a hothead.” Daniel
snorted. “I would have normally thought so too, but after this morning I’m not
so sure.”

He agreed with him silently and
continued to dress. But apparently Daniel wasn’t going to be put off nor, it
seemed, was he going to do as he’d asked him and get her to sign off on the
proposals.

“She’s going to talk with us tomorrow
night at the ball. You’d better be nice to her or Mom will hear about how you
made her cry.” Curtis started to say something nasty to his brother, but was
stopped when he raised his hand. “I mean it, Curtis. I like this girl and I won’t
have you messing it up for me.”

And that, as they say, was that. He
nodded once and grabbed up his jacket. He stared at Daniel for several seconds
before he put out his hand. “Congratulations. I wish you all the best.”
Like
hell
, he thought. But he wouldn’t do anything, not all the things he’d been
imagining doing with her, to her since she’d come across the restaurant in that
little skirt and oh so lovely blouse. No, Curtis would never encroach on his
brother’s women. No matter how much he wanted to.

His phone was ringing when he entered
his office. He nearly didn’t answer it, but picked it up anyway. Harriet was
already gone and, apparently, had forgotten to put the calls to the service
again. Curtis needed someone to replace her, but was too sure that in her
family she was the only one working and it wouldn’t go well for them.

“I thought I’d get…I need to make an
appointment with you. I have tomorrow open and then Monday. After that I have
other things I have to do.”

Curtis closed his eyes to Kylie’s voice.
He didn’t need this. “I turned the whole thing over to Daniel. He’s the one you’ll
be meeting with from now on.” He opened the calendar on the shared drive that
they all added to. “He can meet with you Monday morning at eight.” He didn’t
point out that he was busy after ten and that she needed to be on time for this
one. She was no longer his problem. He waited for her to answer with this
fingers curved over the keys.

“All right. I have everything in my
possession, including the file.”

He keyed in the time and with whom,
hoping she’d just hang up.

“Why?”

He stopped typing and waited for more.
When nothing was forthcoming he leaned back in his chair after saving the
entry. He knew what she was asking him, but didn’t want to deal with it. Or why
he’d done it. “Because I have other commitments that have cropped up. I have a
large firm I’m purchasing in a few days that needs my utmost—”

“That’s not what I meant and you damn
well know it. Why did you kiss me? Especially being so angry?”

She had claws. He liked that. She’d need
them if Daniel and she were to become a couple. Daniel hadn’t been a one woman
man since he’d been a kid. He frowned when he still didn’t have an answer.

“I won’t allow it to happen again.” He
sat up in his chair, suddenly too tired to cope with her. “If you have any more
questions please refer them to Daniel. He’ll work with you from now on.” He put
the phone in the cradle then stood. He sat back down, ignored the ringing phone,
and pressed another button. After putting the phones to go to the service he
left. It was going to be a long night.

Chapter 3

Kylie called her dad. He wouldn’t help
her, she knew. One, because she wasn’t going to tell him why she didn’t want to
go tonight. And secondly, she couldn’t go tonight no matter what. If she had to
see even one of the Hunter men she might not be able to keep from killing them.

She caught her fingers on her lips
again. Damn it. The man could kiss, but she’d not had the time to enjoy it more
when he suddenly ripped—

Kylie stopped that train of thought. It
was bad enough that she’d dreamed of the bastard all night, and now this. When
her dad answered she nearly cried.

“If you’re calling again to tell me you’re
too sick to go then I’m coming over there and beating your butt. I should have
done it more when you were a kid, but now…well, I won’t let you bail on your
old man now.” She sat down hard on her bed. “And you’d better be on time. No
more ‘just one more thing.’ You know how you are, thinking you have all the
time in the world and you should’ve been dressed hours ago.”

“I wasn’t calling for that.” He didn’t
believe her if the snort from the other end was any indication. “And I’m
dressed. I have only to pull on my shoes and I’m walking out the door.” Which
was another lie. She still had on the towel she’d had on for most of an hour. And
the only thing she’d done to her long hair was brush out the tangles. It hung
in a mass of curls down her back. Reaching behind her she wondered if anyone
would notice if she went bald.

“Dressed are you? Well, good. What is it
you’re wearing? I wish you’d have let me pay for your dress. No girl as pretty
as mine should have to go in anything but the best.”

She looked over at the dress she’d
purchased in France with her first pay check. Nearly all the first pay check. She’d
had such a good time there and hoped someday to be able to go back. But her
daddy needed her and she would move heaven and earth for him.

He’d done well for them. His father had
left him a nearly broken newspaper and her dad had brought it back to life. But
he’d not changed when the world around him did. He’d waited nearly too long to
realize that the computer age was here to stay. And now that subscriptions were
way down he was losing money and not able to upgrade to what they needed. She
glanced over at the file that she and Daniel were to go over on Monday.

They wanted to take over her family’s
company and pay a hefty price to do so. The money was going to go a long way to
getting the computers where they needed them to be. And all the employees, who’d
not had a raise in nearly three years according to her dad, would be slightly
compensated with the little extra money they’d have. Kylie hated it.

Not the proposal, but the man who’d come
up with it was what terrified her really. She didn’t think they needed his
money, but her dad did. Well, not Curtis singly, but with the entire firm. And
even though they had to sell some of their stock, they were selling it at a
good market rate. She just didn’t want to take it because of him.

Her fingers drifted to her mouth again. He’d
kissed her. She couldn’t get that out of her mind. When he’d stood before her
and yanked her to his body she’d been so shocked that, when his mouth had
covered hers, she didn’t know what to do. Her body did, though.

He’d devoured her mouth, ate at her
until she’d surrendered to his tongue and allowed it into her. Moaning, she’d
been amazed he tasted so delicious and so hot. Before she could wrap her fingers
through his hair and pull him closer, he pushed her away.