Just Evil (11 page)

“Long enough to pop a couple of aspirins. I had a hangover,
too. Finishing off that third bottle of wine might have been a mistake.” 

Kit nodded slightly, beginning to enjoy the jolt of caffeine
kicking in. “I like your boat.”

“You didn’t get dizzy or seasick last night, did you?”

“Oh no.” She’d slept like the dead. “Not at all. Well, I got
dizzy this morning when I got up, but it certainly wasn’t from the boat, more
like from an intense alcohol stupor. Poor Pepper’s been home alone all night.
He probably thinks he’s been abandoned.”

He rested his chin in his hand and enjoyed the view from
across the table. Even dressed in baggy men’s clothing she was all woman. A
simple shower had her smelling like spring flowers. Listening to her voice,
watching her mouth move as she talked, he knew what he’d like to do with that
mouth. And the recent memory of getting her out of her dress would stay with
him for some time.

Kit felt his intense stare and glanced up. Her eyes found
his, locked. She steadied her gaze. Even with the throbbing in her head still
evident, she picked up on the heat between them, a sexual energy she wasn’t
sure she’d ever felt until now. Below the pit of her stomach, a spark of lust
ignited, settled in. Wetness pooled between her legs. And she was pretty sure
it wasn’t leftover from her shower.

If her head hadn’t been pounding, she might have acted on
the urge. She tried to tell herself it was the hot coffee making her feel so
warm, not the sparks of lust from his gaze.

Why was he staring at her like that? Never dropping her eyes
from his, she said in a soft voice, “I didn’t mean to put you out of your bed
last night.”

“How do you know that isn’t where I slept? I just got up
first.”

Her face flushed crimson. “Oh really? Then maybe next time
I’ll be awake and you won’t have to take advantage of the situation.”

“Next time…you’ll be awake. Probably all night. And if I had
wanted to take advantage of the situation, I pretty much could have. You were
out for the night. Do you always snore so loudly? You should probably get that
snoring checked. I’m hoping I don’t have a complaint from the neighbors.”

She chewed on the inside of her mouth. “I see. You’re rather
self-assured there will be a next time. Just so you know I don’t make a habit
of falling asleep in strange beds without my clothes on. Don’t you think I
deserve to know how I got out of my dress?” With green fire lapping in her
eyes, she added, “And I don’t snore.”

“Getting you out of the dress was the easy part. Your dress
was wet. You can’t sleep in wet clothes. But the moral dilemma hit me when I
got down to the black bra and thong. Leaving those on, now that was much more
difficult. It took all the restraint I could muster, a great deal of willpower
to take the high road when you were so out of it. I deserve a reward for being
such a saint.”

This playful side to him was new. And the tide had turned.
There was heat here, enough to light a match. “Did you develop a sense of humor
in Japan, Jake?”

He ignored her comment. Instead his thoughts drifted to the
sort of activities they could spend the day doing if they both cancelled work.
The idea hit him that maybe he could persuade her not to be in such a hurry to
leave. “Let’s blow off work, take the boat out. I’ll take you to Catalina for
the day.”

“The workaholic playing hooky? Okay, what have you done with
the real Jake?”

“When you own the company you can take the day off.”

“Since when? This from the man who’s known on three
continents as Mr. Software, the one who’s the first to get to work in the
morning and the last to leave. I’ll say it again, what have you done with the
real Jake Boston?”

“Maybe I’m changing.”

“What’s the old saying, something about a leopard can’t
change his spots? I won’t believe you can change until I see proof.”

“You want proof, fine. Let Baylee handle the shop. Let’s
spend the day sailing. We go out now, come back late this afternoon. How’s
that?”

Kit had to admit, the invitation was tempting. Loving the
outdoors like she did, she couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to
sail. But then she thought of Baylee and then little Sarah. Her face fell.
Baylee would have to deal with customers both in the bookstore and the coffee
house, knew she’d be jumping all day and with Sarah she’d have her hands full.

“I can’t,” she finally admitted. “I only have Baylee
part-time and she’ll have Sarah with her today. It’s too much to ask with the
baby. Maybe we could do it another time, unless of course you’re planning to
take off again.”

“How long do you plan on throwing that up to me?” Then he
quickly changed tactics. “And what’s this about Baylee and Sarah? When I left
last year there was no baby.”

 “Baylee’s not talking. See what can happen when you
disappear for a year.” She stood up, downed the last of her coffee, and headed
into the galley to wash her cup out in the sink. “As soon as I find my shoes,
I’ll be ready to go. The aspirin’s starting to kick in, my head feels better.”

Jake followed her, watching as she rinsed out her cup. When
she turned around, he moved to stand directly in front of her, blocking her way
before placing a palm on either side of the counter, boxing her in. “I’m not
running now, Kit. The question is what are you going to do about it?”

His nearness made her pulse quicken, her breath become erratic,
but she didn’t move, just looked into the depth of his lake-colored eyes. This
is what she’d wanted…for…years. She didn’t answer him and just stood there
staring up at him in wonderment. No longer one-sided, this mutual attraction
took some getting used to.

He took her demeanor for something else, though, and drew
back. “There’s no reason to be afraid of me, Kit.”

That brought her back to earth. “Afraid? Of you? No way.
Nervous maybe. But I’m not scared. I’ve been waiting for you too long.”

That was all he needed to hear. His hands went around her
waist, bringing her into him. He intended the kiss to be tender, gentle. But
then their lips met. Sizzle met burn. Opened-mouths devoured each other. This
was exactly what she’d wanted for so long that now that it was happening she
ached with such longing she didn’t care about work or anything else. She could
stay here in the moment wrapped in his arms for an hour, a day, a week.

Kit ran her fingers through his hair, took a good hold on
his head. Their tongues played tag until a burst of need had his hands rubbing
at her lower back, and then dropping further to her rear, molding her, fitting
her body between his legs.

Kit felt the hardness and moved to wrap him into her. She
couldn’t get close enough. She wanted to eat at him, be devoured by him. The
heat between them was enough to melt arctic ice. When they at last came up for
air, Jake rested his head on her forehead just to get his balance back. Kit
tried to recover by cracking a joke. “I waited a long time for that. And I just
want to say, it was worth the wait. Can we do that again?”

“That’s the plan.” 

As he bent his head to show her, his cell phone went off. He
swore. Within minutes, he was embroiled in the middle of a conversation that
sounded to Kit like a crisis situation with Dylan Burke, his VP of Research and
Development.

At that moment, she heard a muffled ringing coming from her
handbag. As she rounded the counter to reach her purse, she felt her swollen
lips and reluctantly snapped open the bag. Immediately, the ringing grew louder
and brought back the heavy pounding in her head. When she retrieved the
annoying phone, the number appearing in the digital readout belonged to Aunt
Glo. Stepping back into the stateroom, she answered a bit breathlessly, “Hi
Glo.”

“Where are you, sweetie? I’ve been trying to call you all
morning. It’s all over the news.”

“What is?” Kit tried to sound as if she hadn’t spent the
night in Jake’s bed.

“Jessica Boyd’s dead. It’s on the news. She’s dead, Kit,
just like Alana.”

Kit spotted his car, a sporty little black BMW convertible,
parked haphazardly on the street in front of her house with the driver’s side
door open and music blaring from the car stereo.

But it wasn’t until Jake pulled his Mercedes into her
driveway that she actually caught sight of Collin Boyd sitting on the bottom
step with a bottle of whiskey in his hand.

Jake pointed to Collin and said, “What the hell is he doing
here?”

As soon as he cut the engine, Kit grabbed his arm and
pleaded, “Don’t leave me alone with Collin.” Kit saw his questioning eyes and
quickly added, “Please. He’s an asshole in the best of times, but drinking
makes him impossible to handle.”

Jake looked past the fear in her eyes and sensed there was
something more. He didn’t want to believe what he was thinking. But he’d been
gone a year. Anything could have happened during that time. He had only to
think about Baylee and how a year had changed her life.

Not one to act without having the facts at hand, he wanted
to know what he was walking into. “Am I stepping into the middle of something
personal between the two of you?”

Kit gave him an incredulous look. “Personal? You mean like
couple stuff?”

“Yeah, like couple stuff.”

She stared at him in disbelief. “No. You should know me
better than that. I’ve known him my whole life. We kind of grew up together,
but we’ve never gone out. Think for a minute. He’s just found out his mother’s
dead and it looks like he’s already three sheets to the wind.”

At that moment her cell phone rang and she looked to see who
was calling. When the digital readout displayed the number of the bookstore,
she pushed the button to answer. “This is Kit.”

Baylee, breathless and scared on the other end, informed
her, “That asshole Collin was here looking for you. He’s drunk, Kit. The
bastard’s drunk. After what happened last time, I thought I should warn you.
I’m pretty sure he’s headed to your house. Don’t let him in, Kit. Do you want
me to call the police or come over?”

“Thanks for the warning and the offer, Baylee, but Collin’s
already here, sitting on the stoop. I have no intentions of letting him inside
though. Jake and I will try to get rid of him, but if we can’t, we’ll call the
police.”

“You’re still with Jake? Is that why you didn’t open up?”

“I’ll explain when I see you. And Baylee, thanks for getting
the store open. Obviously, I’m going to be a little later than I thought.”

Kit hung up the phone and turned her attention to Jake, who
still had questions. “Okay, so he finds out his mother’s dead and this is the
first place he thinks to come. Why here? Why come to your house, Kit?”

Kit bit her lip, puffed air in her cheeks and blew it out.
Frustration from childhood rose up like a brick wall, but this wasn’t the time
to hold back. “A long time ago, Alana and Jessica got it into their heads for
some reason that they wanted the two of us to get together.”

When the light didn’t come on in Jake’s eyes, she rolled
hers and made it clear, “Marry, Jake, they wanted us to marry. Kit and Collin,
Collin and Kit, that’s all I ever heard from both of them ever since I was
little. When Alana wanted me to do something, what did I tell you last night? I
did the opposite of what she wanted me to do, that’s what. I wanted no part of
Collin Boyd or his family. But Collin kind of liked the idea, always has.
Sometimes he’s tough to dissuade.”

“So there’s never been anything between the two of you?”

Kit smiled. Was that a hint of jealousy sputtering in the
depths of his blue eyes? “Collin’s tried—several times.”

The smile left her face and she turned somber. “As kids we
did share a history together, a history based on mutual neglect. I told you I
spent a lot of time hanging out at the Boyd compound when I was a kid. It was
practically my second home before I turned twelve. But we were just kids then,
Jake.” 

Satisfied, Jake moved to get out of the car.

In no hurry for a confrontation she’d had several times in
the past, Kit took her time approaching Collin. She stopped long enough at the
convertible to turn the key in the ignition, shutting off the engine and
putting an end to the loud music.

Together Jake and Kit moved closer to the steps and to Collin,
a man about as tall as Kit with brooding eyes that went with black hair as dark
as a moonless night.

Dressed in a Hawaiian shirt, navy shorts, and flip flops,
Collin looked as though he’d just stepped off a tropical island with enough
booze in him to drown a sailor.

“Well, well, well.” Disheveled, with day-old stubble on his
face, Collin held up his bottle of Scotch as if toasting the air and took a big
gulp, not bothering to replace the cap on the bottle.

“I find out at five o’clock this morning my dear sweet
mother departed this earth and I come over here for a little comfort…just a
little comfort, mind you, between two old friends. A friend that’s recently
lost her mother. What’s it been, Kit-Kat, two days? And what do I find instead?
I get to see Kit-Kat coming in from an all-night party with Mr. Software
himself. And she’s not even wearing her own clothes. I didn’t know the two of
you were an item.”

He stared straight at Kit, accusingly. “I thought you were
over this son of a bitch. Tells you how much I know. Been grieving Kit-Kat,
over the loss of Mama? And you’ve found comfort in a most unlikely place.”
Anger welled up inside the man as he took another gulp from the bottle.

“Collin, you’re drunk. And you’re disturbing the peace,
disturbing my neighbors. I’ll call you a cab; you aren’t fit to drive. You
could hurt someone in your condition.”

“Goddamn it, I don’t need a cab. I can drive. I just drove
here, didn’t I?”

Kit started to press the call button on her cell phone
anyway to make the call, but the gesture set Collin off.