Blue Moon

Dedication

To my wonderful friends Sharis Meyer, Kelly Andersen, Cathryn Fox and Nikki Duncan. What would I ever do without you?

Chapter One

“Don’t touch me!” If he did…her heart would shatter.

Pulse throbbing, wide-eyed, Samantha stared at the achingly familiar man standing far too close for her comfort. An onlooker might take her reaction as anger, but it was pure, unadulterated fear that drove her. If Kyle Ackland laid one finger on her, her resolve would dissolve.

“Sam, please.”

Please? How could he sound so sorrowful? Look so hurt? Even his eyes seemed to glisten with unshed tears.

Sam raised her head and looked him straight in the eye. “No! I’m only back for Jennifer’s wedding and then I’m leaving.” She licked her suddenly dry lips.

A commotion in her mother’s kitchen, voices rising and doors opening and closing, briefly stole her attention. The caterer must have arrived. Soon the house would be filled with guests, but her immediate problem was shaking her past long enough to get through this day.

A pent-up breath squeezed from between Sam’s pinched lips.

Why oh why did her youngest sister have to fall in love with Kyle’s best friend, Brad Collingsworth? And why, after all that had happened, had Jennifer insisted Sam be her matron of honor?

For all intents and purposes, Sam was perfectly happy living in Phoenix—alone. Okay. Maybe that was a lie, but she had found a semblance of peace. She got up each morning, went to work, and came home without a thought of Kyle. The nights were a different story.

Inching sideways to put distance between them, she swallowed hard. “Let’s just get through this awkward situation as reasonably as we can. Okay?”

What a laugh.

The sense of
déjà vu
rose so quickly it almost choked her. Had it been two years ago? Another wedding, her eldest sister, Cathy’s wedding. The thought of her sibling’s betrayal still left a bad taste in Sam’s mouth, but it took two to tango. Kyle was as much to blame as Cathy. Sam hadn’t been the only one hurt that night.

Kyle eased back, threading his fingers through thick black hair that fell in waves on top. “We need to talk.”

Sam looked up into his crystal blue eyes and shook her head once again. “We’ve talked.” In all reality she had been too hurt to believe that what she had seen wasn’t real. She swallowed hard, refusing to relive that horrible day. “There’s nothing left to say.”

God. She couldn’t bear to be this close to him. Feel the heat of his body, smell his sandalwood cologne. He hadn’t changed, still the epitome of maleness. If anything his chest was broader, more muscular. Firm thighs wrapped seductively in blue denim were almost enough to send her into meltdown. Almost. But it wasn’t going to happen.

“Two years ago you wouldn’t listen to me.” The veins in his throat tensed, bulged. He moved closer, sending her pulse into high gear. “Sam, I don’t know how Cathy got into my bed that night. I was drunk. We were all drunk.”

Yeah. It had been quite a party—a celebration not to be forgotten.

Sam closed her eyes to vanquish the memory of walking into Kyle’s room the next morning and finding her sister, naked, sleeping peacefully in his arms.

The scene that followed hadn’t been a pretty one. When George, Cathy’s fiancé, stepped into the room, all hell broke loose.

Sam had sat numbly through all the possibilities of how Cathy could have mistakenly wandered into Kyle’s room. She had wanted to believe them. Her sister could be a royal bitch. They had never gotten along, but Kyle had never given Sam any reason to doubt his word. Yet when George had asked if they had fucked, Cathy and Kyle fell silent. Sam remembered pushing to her feet and walking toward Kyle.

“I don’t remember what happened,” he admitted. “But even drunk I would never betray you.”

The rest was a blur. Her hand rose on its own accord, palm cracking across his cheek. The last thing she recalled from that day was running from the room. Funny. But it felt as if she was still running and getting nowhere fast.

A squeaking door forced her eyelids open.

“Oh.” Her mother pulled to an abrupt stop. Wringing her hands, she looked from Sam to Kyle. “I…uhhh…well…” She forced a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Kyle, could you help Brad direct the vehicles outside? It’s becoming a parking lot. Everyone decided to arrive at once.”

“Of course, Mary.” Kyle paused to glance back at Sam. His lips parted as if he would say more, but didn’t. Instead, he headed for the door and disappeared outside.

With hastened steps, her mother closed the distance between them. Tender fingertips brushed back a strand of Sam’s elbow-length blonde hair behind an ear. “Honey, are you okay?”

Sam inhaled an audible breath. On an exhale, she blurted, “I can’t do this.” Every nerve inside her felt strung tight, ready to burst. She tried to swallow, but the knot in her throat wouldn’t move. “I didn’t think it would be this difficult.” A single tear broke through her defenses. She swatted at the wayward emotion. “I’m leaving.”

“For God’s sake, Samantha, get a hold of yourself.” Her mother’s raised voice skated over Sam’s skin like an ice pick. “This has gone on for too long. You haven’t spoken to Cathy in over two years. It kills me to have this rift between my children.”

“Well, Mom—” Heat singed Sam’s face as she came eye-to-eye with her mother. “It killed me to find my sister in bed with my fiancé.” The words came out on a rush of anger.

Her mother’s slender body flinched, but it didn’t stop her from continuing. “Honey, Cathy’s changed. Can’t you let it go?”

Why couldn’t anyone see her side? Was she truly supposed to just kiss and make up with Cathy? Forgive Kyle? Maybe in her mother’s time women let men walk all over them—Lord knows their father did when he was alive—but not Sam. She had more backbone.

Fists clenched, she glared at her mother and a surge of pity rose, softening her fury. Once, her mother had been young, beautiful, but time had carved its presence. The light had gone out of her signature blue eyes. The luster waned from her sable hair that used to be so like Jennifer’s beautiful mass. Living with a selfish, unfaithful man had taken its toll. Sadly, his lingering fight with cancer hadn’t been easy on any of them.

“No. I can’t let it go.” Sam spun around just as Jennifer opened the kitchen door and waltzed through it. When she saw Sam she released a squeal. All smiles, she ran into Sam’s arms, pushing an
umph
from Sam’s mouth.

“You’re here! When did you get here? Have you seen Brad? I’m so happy you’re home.” Moisture glistened in Jennifer’s sparkling eyes. “Thank you.” She kissed Sam’s cheek. Not once or twice, but three times in quick little pecks. “Thank you for coming home.”

Their mother flashed Sam an anxious expression that seemed to say
Are you going to break your sister’s heart? Ruin the best day of her life?

Sam held Jennifer close to hide her apprehension, her uncertainty about returning. Could she make it through the next two days? Face Kyle several more times before Saturday? He would be underfoot 24/7. Because of the two-hour drive between his home and theirs, her mother had been forced to offer him one of the bedrooms.

The least he could have done was reject the offer and taken a room in a hotel. But
nooo,
that would have been too easy on her.

And what about Cathy?

When Jennifer choked on another heartfelt thank you, Sam knew she had no choice.

Emotion stinging her eyes, Sam squared her shoulders, and with a final hug, she released her hold on Jennifer. “I wouldn’t have missed it for anything in the world.” She also didn’t miss the relief filtering across her mother’s face or that of her sister’s.

Jennifer cleared her throat. “Sam.” The note of hesitancy in her voice was a glaring red flag, setting off warning signals aplenty. “You know Cathy is com—”

“I’m dying to see your gown.” Sam weaved her arm through Jennifer’s. “Let’s go upstairs.”

She needed to escape, needed peace and quiet to gather her thoughts and make sure her barriers were firmly in place. But peace and quiet would have to wait. All the way up the stairs, Jennifer chatted endlessly.

“Did I tell you that we are going to Rome for our honeymoon?”

About a hundred times during telephone calls, letters, and now, but who was counting?

Jennifer’s face glowed with excitement as she continued. “Brad and Kyle are thinking of expanding their business offshore. While we are in Italy we’ll see what opportunities are there.” She squeezed Sam’s arm. “We might also go to England. Sam, can you imagine that, England?”

“It sounds like their aerospace business is doing well.” A business that she had once thought to be a part of after she, Kyle and Brad graduated college. Both she and Brad had the engineering background, but Kyle had the head for business.

“It’s doing great.” Jennifer pushed open her bedroom door and the scent of roses filled the air. Yellow roses to be exact. They were everywhere.

Sam had almost forgotten how much her baby sister enjoyed the flowers, but this was going overboard. She cast an inquisitive glance at Jennifer.

Her sister giggled. “Two dozen have arrived each day for the last five days. One in the morning and one at night.”

Brad did this? The pencil-pushing nerd she had gone to school with? Sam had to ask. “You really love him?” She had no idea when this relationship had bloomed since she tried to stay away from anything connected to Kyle, and Brad was a connection.

Jennifer met her gaze head on. “More than anything in this world.” The decisiveness in her voice, the look of love on her softened features sent a jagged pain to Sam’s chest.

She had been in love like that once.

Sam mentally shook off the sorrow threatening to pull her down into a familiar depression. Instead, she graced her sister with a trumped-up smile. “Well, Sis, clearly he loves you.”

Jennifer’s exhale was breathy, dreamy. “He does, doesn’t he?”

Sam reached deep inside to find the happiness she knew hid there for her sister. “Yes. He does.”

Then she shook her head.

Who would have thought that Sam’s brainiac friend would fall for her little sister? “Now show me that gorgeous dress you’ve been telling me about.”

Kyle stumbled, nearly falling over the hose stretched across the yard. Several more wobbly steps and he found his footing.

What the hell had Brad been thinking? Hmmm… That was the problem, his friend hadn’t been thinking past the woman who would be his wife in two days.

Love. It had to be the most infuriating, fucked-up thing that could happen to a man, and Kyle should know.

It might have been a little easier if Brad and Jennifer were having separate bachelor and bachelorette parties, but they had decided on one big party the night before their wedding, just like Cathy had. And look what a clusterfuck that had become.

Kyle threaded his fingers through his hair.

“She’s here?” were the only words Brad said as Kyle joined him beneath a large oak tree.

Above them was a flutter of wings and chirping.

“Oh yeah. She’s here.” It was only by luck that he had found her alone.

Brad waved a delivery truck to the left of the circle driveway, toward the kitchen entrance. “Well?”

“She despises me.” Kyle glanced back at the two-story ranch home with log siding that sat on five acres of grassy fields and tall pine trees. It was a large home with at least ten bedrooms. The house held a lot of good memories and some not so great, too.

“Nah, not Sammy. She doesn’t have a vengeful bone in her body. She wouldn’t know how to hate.”

“You didn’t see her face.” But Kyle had. Sam looked as if she’d crawl out of her skin to get away from him. And who could blame her? “Dammit, Brad. How did that night get so screwed up?”

Cathy would have been the last sister he would have climbed into bed with. She was egotistical, self-absorbed, more into herself, while Jennifer and Sam were just the opposite.

Kyle had beaten himself up trying to figure out how the night had devolved into a nightmare. Of course, numerous games of beer pong and shots of tequila washed down with Jägermeister someone kept pushing into his hand could be the answer. Fuck. It wasn’t like him to get so trashed, so out of control to not remember a thing but the sweet scent of Sam’s perfume.

Brad shrugged. “We were all foxed. It was amazing more than one couple didn’t end up with different partners come morning.”

“Nice try, but bad conjecture.” Kyle forced a weak smile for his friend. “Man. You should see her.”

“Sam?” Brad ushered another delivery truck toward the kitchen entrance. “Still got that beautiful thick hair and eyes that are so deep blue you feel like you’re falling into a well?”

Kyle slid his gaze toward Brad. “Uhhh…yeah.” When the hell had his friend noticed Sam’s eyes?

Brad burst into laughter. As if he read Kyle’s mind, he said, “They’re kind of hard to miss. Besides Sam, Jennifer and Cathy have the same eye coloring as their mother.”

Although all three sisters were similar in stature, neither of the other sisters truly compared to Sam, not in Kyle’s mind. At five-four, she was small and delicate, perfect, like a porcelain doll. She had a musical laugh, a warm, giving heart, and she was intelligent as all get-out. Her mind could run circles around him. When he was with her everything in his life seemed right. Now his world was disconnected, pieces missing. Heartbroken.