If Looks Could Kill (9 page)

Kaila straightened. “You're kidding!”

Madison shook her head.

Kaila was still stunned. “You meet so many people. Guys are always after you—”

“Joey's one of the best guys I know, but I'm crazy about his wife and kids. I'd never consider fooling around with him, and he's never made a play for me. Of the men who
have
seemed interested…” She paused. “Well, there are just so many diseases out there. Marriage does have its benefits, you know. In my whole life, Darryl was my one big romantic relationship.”

“Oh, my God! How do you survive?” Kaila whispered in horror.

Madison laughed. “People
do.
Sex isn't everything.”

“It's a hell of a lot. I mean, I may not like it all the time, the way…I mean, with…I don't know what I mean.”

Madison smiled again, hugging her sister. “I know what you mean. I still remember my marriage, you know. Sometimes you're in the mood, and sometimes you're not, and sometimes you oblige because you know your partner will just be pissy all day if you don't!”

Kaila laughed. “Yeah, kind of…” She frowned. “And then I feel badly sometimes because…”

“Because?”

Kaila shrugged. “There's nothing really wrong with Dan. I mean, he's…”

“Good in bed, functions like a pro, all parts in working order!” came a cheerful voice from the doorway, and Jassy stepped into the room.

“Jassy, you can be incredibly clinical!” Madison told her, grinning to take the sting out of her words.

“Clinical?” Jassy protested.

“And the both of you are just woefully nosy and personal!” Kaila told them accusingly.

“That's what sisters are for,” Jassy assured her, and glanced over at Madison. “No sex life—at all?” she inquired incredulously.

Madison groaned. “We can't all be having secret affairs.”

“Who's having a secret affair?” Kaila demanded.

“Jassy,” Madison informed her.

“You weren't supposed to say anything!” Jassy gasped.

“Oh, God, I'm sorry,” Madison said guiltily.

“It's all right, because you've told Kaila. But Kaila, if I told you who the guy is, it wouldn't be a great secret affair anymore.”

“Did she tell
you?
” Kaila demanded of Madison.

Madison shook her head, then frowned, looking past Jassy to the door to Kaila's room.

Jassy hadn't closed it all the way. Now Madison thought she saw it move, thought she heard the faint sound of footsteps behind Jassy in the hallway.

“What's the matter?” Kaila asked.

Madison shook her head, wondering why she was suddenly certain that someone had been listening to their conversation.

Furtively.

“Nothing,” Madison said, but she was still frowning. She rose and walked to the door, swinging it open.

The hallway was empty. She had to be imagining things.

“Madison?” Jassy said worriedly.

Madison shook her head. “It's nothing, honest.”

But it
was
something. A strange feeling she couldn't quite shake.

“Let's go back to the party,” Kaila said, smoothing her hair. “I've got a great sitter in my dad's own house, and here I am, sitting in this room and feeling sorry for myself when I have a chance to talk and party with adults and flirt a bit.”

“That's the spirit, kid,” Jassy assured her.

“Yep. Let's go on back out,” Madison said.

In seconds they were headed back to the party.

 

“Madison!” Sheila said cheerfully, calling to her and waving her highball glass in the air. Scotch. Straight Dewar's. Sheila had once told her that Dewar's was the drink of choice—never mix it with soda, soda was what caused hangovers. Sheila could drink Dewar's all night and not look a tad the worse for wear. Madison envied her that ability.

Sheila weaved her way through the crowd until she reached Madison. “Great party—it was really nice of your dad to think of inviting all us Storm Fronts.”

“Dad's a pretty good guy most of the time,” Madison assured her.

“You know, your brothers are all cute, but this newest one…wow.”

“Kyle Montgomery?”

“Is he really your brother?”

“His father was married to my mother.”

“Oh, my God, that's right, I forgot all the scandal when she died—Oh, there's my foot in my mouth again. Sorry, Madison.”

“It's all right. I just come from one of those families that's prone to scandal,” Madison said dryly.

Sheila smiled, her dimples deep, her eyes bright. “Makes life interesting. I wouldn't mind being surrounded by gorgeous males all the time. You do have the life. Your ex looks like Mr. Universe, Trent is incredibly handsome—”

“Trent is my biological half brother, my dad's own son,” Madison reminded her.

“Okay, so avoid incest at all costs. But Rafe—what a cutie. So studious and handsome—just like Clark Kent. And now this new one…umm. Actually, I guess it's a good thing he's not your biological brother. The way he looks at you. And the way you look at him.”

“I don't look at him! In fact, we had something of an argument several years ago.”

“Umm. So it would be okay if…”

“If what?”

“If I made a play for him.”

“I—Of course,” Madison said quickly. What the hell difference did it make who made a play for him? He'd been surrounded by every female in the place all night.

“You don't sound sure,” Sheila observed, smiling. Madison sighed. Sheila wasn't exactly a wild woman. They'd been in the band together for a long time, and they'd certainly become good friends. They were complete opposites, Sheila so petite, Madison so tall. Sheila was, if anything, a connoisseur of men. She didn't want to go through the dinner-and-flowers routine of casual dating; she studied her possible partners, and it was instantly all or nothing. She was careful and discreet and, Madison was certain, responsible and careful. But if she wanted a man…

“Sheila, don't be absurd. Make a play for whoever you want. Do I look like I'd ever want to get involved with…with…my own…my own…”

“Stepbrother?” Sheila suggested.

“Umm…”

Sheila studied her for a long moment, and her smile deepened. “Honey, you're right. You don't look like you want to get involved with Kyle.”

“Right.”

“You just look like you want to fuck him. But that's okay. I'll take what you're saying at face value. But then again…anytime you want to stop me, just say so.”

Smiling sweetly, she walked over to the group surrounding Kyle.

Madison wanted to smack her.

In a mature, dignified manner.

 

The party was winding down.

And Dan wasn't coming.

Okay, so he was an attorney. That didn't mean a man had to work every Saturday. He was always gone. And she was always home. He was always dressed up in a suit and tie. And she was always in jeans or shorts and T-shirts stained with the latest foods—baby applesauce, chocolate fudge, grape drink—or spit-up or diarrhea. She loved her kids. God forgive her, she really loved her kids.

But she was just so…

Restless.

Hurt. Worried.

She was twenty-five years old, and most of the time it seemed that her life was over. That she would never be young again. It was different for Dan. He went out; he worked. His job was important. She was supposed to understand. Anytime she was on the phone, he was free to interrupt her with a crying baby.

Anytime he was on the phone, she was supposed to make sure that you could hear a pin drop throughout the house.

Yet tonight…

He
was here.

And at last he approached her, as she had known he would. Casually. But so nicely.

“You okay?”

She felt a strange sense of excitement just at the husky warmth of his words. “Fine.”

He hunched down next to her where she sat, dangling her bare feet in the pool. Her heeled sandals and piña colada were at her side.

“You look gorgeous.”

“Thanks.” She looked at him. “You're not bad yourself.”

He smiled back. “God, Kaila…Dan has everything I want. Everything in the world, and he doesn't even know it. Great kids. And a beautiful wife. If you were mine, I wouldn't leave you alone for a minute.”

“That's sweet of you to say.”

“You should give me a chance.”

“What?”

“Trial run.”

She stared at him, feeling a flush spread through her. She was tempted. God, he was good-looking.

“I'd give up ten years of life just to see you naked,” he whispered.

She thought he was teasing at first, trying to make her feel better. But then she looked at him. And he wasn't teasing.

“I'd die just to touch you…to…” He moved his lips closer to her ear and whispered a few graphic words describing with explicit simplicity what he wanted to do to her.

“It would be wrong!” she whispered.

“Why?”

She shook her head.

She should have been horrified; she should have stood up, slapped him and walked away.

Except that she was tempted. And his words were both soothing to her wounded ego and…exciting.

Exciting as…fantasy? she asked herself. Or reality?

She wasn't sure.

“I…I…can't…” she whispered.

“You're not ready. And you don't believe that I love you. And that I need—no I crave—to be loved by you in return. You don't take me seriously. You can't imagine how much I'll love your children, how good I'll be—how I can share being the caregiver.”

“I…”

“You need time. I'll be waiting.”

He rose and moved away.

He was great. So charming. So handsome. So many women were quick to crowd around him….

And she might not have this chance forever!

But still…

Kaila hugged her knees close to herself. She'd been married a long time. She didn't really know any other man, and she was afraid. Surely, as mad as she was at him, she loved Dan.

Didn't she?

Or was he just a habit in her life?

She leaned her head down, feeling dizzy. Too many piña coladas. She should be happy. On paper, her life looked perfect. They were financially secure, and they did have three happy, healthy, beautiful children. What kind of a horrible human being was she to be so miserable?

She didn't know.

She just didn't know….

 

Jassy stepped from the house onto the patio. The guests were beginning to leave. The night was growing quiet.

She walked around the pool and toward the dock, staring out at the water. The night was beautiful. She felt wonderful.

Arms suddenly slipped around her. She would have cried out from surprise, except that a hand quickly covered her mouth and a husky voice whispered, “Shh…”

Her heart pounded furiously.

The hand slipped from her mouth; the arms holding her eased.

She spun within his now gentle embrace and kissed her new lover. The kiss deepened. His hands wandered, cupping her breasts. Tongues met and mingled. At length, Jassy drew back, groaning softly.

“Not here, not now!” she whispered breathlessly.

Her lover sighed. “I don't know why we can't just—”

“It's too soon. I want to be taken seriously.”

He smoothed his fingers along a straying strand of her hair. “We need to go somewhere,” he said, kissing her again.

She barely broke her lips from his.

“Can't.”

“Have to,” he whispered against her mouth.

“Can't,” she repeated, her mouth against his again.

“We need to be together.”

She broke the kiss at last with a sigh. “I can't leave here tonight. You know that. Not without a lot of explanations.”

“You're a doctor—have an emergency.”

“I'm a pathologist. Dead people don't have emergencies.”

“Ah, come on. Sure they do….”

“Other people are on duty.”

He caught her hand and drew it down the length of his chest, then lower, pressing her fingers against the bulge beneath the button fly of his jeans. “See what you're missing?”