Curtis

This
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of
the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed
as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, organizations, or person,
living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

WCP

World Castle Publishing

Pensacola, Florida

Copyright
© Kathi S. Barton 2013

ISBN:
9781938961878

First
Edition World Castle Publishing February 1, 2013

http://www.worldcastlepublishing.com

Licensing Notes

All
rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner
whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations
embodied in articles and reviews.

Cover:
Karen Fuller

Photo:
Shutterstock

Editor:
Brieanna Robertson

Chapter 1

She was late. He wasn’t really surprised,
but it did annoy him. He looked at his watch again and wondered just how much
longer he was supposed to wait before it would be considered bad form if he
left. Probably should give her more than ten minutes. But he wasn’t giving her
much more than thirty. He had things to do. And none of them had anything to do
with waiting on a woman who was forever late.

Curtis hadn’t wanted to come to this
meeting, but his brother Daniel had begged off by saying that he had to be in
court. Curtis was pretty sure he’d been had, that nothing more pressing than
not being here with Kylie was all it was. She’d been a thorn in his side since
they’d been kids.

Kylie had hung on Daniel’s every word. And
as far as she was concerned, there was nothing he couldn’t do or say that she
didn’t believe. And Daniel had used the girl mercilessly by having her do his
homework and chores every chance he’d gotten. That is until he’d found Meghan
Steele and her boobs when he’d been fifteen.

Curtis ordered a salad, thinking that he’d
better do something in the event the girl didn’t show. He grinned at the
waitress when she winked at him, but sobered quickly when he saw his mother
coming toward him. He stood when she approached the table and pulled out her
chair when she moved toward it.

“I didn’t think I was going to make it.”
She ordered a small salad and a glass of tea and turned to the empty seat. “Is
she in the ladies room?”

“No. Late. I just ordered a salad
because I can’t wait much longer. I have a meeting with some of the people who
are helping Kasey with her training on the new system. She’s going to be a heck
of an addition to our security team.” He nodded when his mom ordered a salad
too. “I was trying to remember when the last time we saw her was. Kylie, I
mean. She must have been about seventeen or so.”

“I think you might be right. Her father
said she toured Europe for about two years while she worked at different papers
there. Then when she’d settled down in France, she’d landed a good job at one
of the bigger papers and worked her way through her Masters in Journalism. Jon
is very proud of her.”

He wouldn’t have thought the girl had
that much spine, but said nothing. When the owner of the restaurant came toward
them he was sure it was to tell them that Kylie wasn’t coming and that she’d
meet them later. He was stunned when he pulled out a chair and this…vision sat down.

“I’m sorry I’m late. I overslept.” She
smiled at his mother. “Hello, Mrs. Hunter. It’s been a very long time. How is
your family?”

“Kylie?” The girl nodded and glanced at
him. He could tell she was upset or nervous. Maybe both. “My goodness, look at you.
I wouldn’t have recognized you for any amount of money. Curtis, say something.”

He didn’t, couldn’t. He could only stare
at her and think that he was very happy with his brother right now and hoped
that he’d be able to repay him. Finally, when she cocked a lovely brow at him,
he cleared his throat. “I’m sorry. Like my mother, I didn’t recognize you. You’ve
grown into a very beautiful woman.” He smiled when she flushed. “I didn’t mean
to embarrass you.”

“It’s nothing.” She looked around. “Is
Daniel coming? I thought he and I were going to meet. Is he running behind as
well?”

“He’s not coming,” Curtis said quickly,
then flushed when his mother gave him an odd look. “What I mean is, he’s tied
up in court. He sends his apologizes.”

Curtis thought he heard Kylie say
something like, “I bet he did,” but didn’t get a chance to ask when the waiter
took that moment to come and ask if they were ready to order. He also set his
mother’s salad and his in front of them.

“Oh my, look at this.” Curtis looked at
his mother who had a small book in her hand. “I have to be at the library right
now. I completely forgot about it.” She turned to the waiter and asked him if
he could please box up her salad. He took off to do her bidding.

“Mom, you said you cleared your day to
be here with Kylie so that we could get those articles taken care of as well as
a couple of other things.” He both wanted to see her stay and also have her go.
But he couldn’t let go of the look on Kylie’s face when she’d heard that Daniel
wasn’t coming.

“I forgot.” She stood up and he did as
well. “No, no. You two can iron this out. I have to go. Thank you, dear, for
coming here and please call and we’ll have to get together for lunch again.
When I’m not so busy.”

Then she was gone. Curtis looked at
Kylie who was suddenly very interested in her menu. He didn’t know why that
pissed him off, but it did. She wanted Daniel and Curtis would never stand in
the way if he wanted her too. “You don’t have to stay. I can have my brother
call your office and set something more up if—”

“We both know that he no more wants to
be here than you do.” When he started to answer her, she leaned down and picked
up a steno pad. “Let’s just get this finished, shall we? I’m sure you have
plenty to do other than sit with a childhood pest and try to make small talk.”

He realized she was mad. He had no idea
why that made him want to laugh, but he was smart enough to know to keep his
laughter to himself. But before he could comment his phone rang. While he
answered his brother’s call she pulled out a small recorder, as well as a very
feminine pen.

“Well?” Daniel asked. Curtis knew what
he was asking him, but didn’t want to answer his question.

“Well what?” A pause at the other end
had him chuckle and he looked into Kylie’s eyes when she looked at him. He
decided that green was his favorite eye color.

“Well is she still a rolly polly kid in
braces? Or has she gotten fatter? Christ, you don’t think that is possible, do
you? She was nearly as big as a house then.”

“You’d be incorrect in that assumption.”
Curtis hoped his brother was smart enough to know that he’d not be able to
answer him and he confirmed it with his next question.

“She’s right next to you, isn’t she? Shit.
Curtis, please tell me she’s not a raving beauty and that I’m a sucker for not
going to the meeting with her?” His pleading voice had him smile. Then he
looked at her.

They all knew that Kylie had been
lovesick over their brother. It had been the source of many fights when they’d
sang the
k-i-s-s-i-n-g
song as boys. Now, though, they were all grown up
and Curtis wanted to see if she kissed as well as he thought she might.

“Of course. You can speak to her
yourself.” He handed out his phone to her. He could hear his brother yelling at
the other end. “It’s Daniel. He’d like to speak to you.”

She put the phone to her ear and smiled
at him. “He seems to think you are going to die an untimely death soon and that
he’ll be going to prison for a very long time.”

“I can take him.” Curtis ordered for
them when the waiter returned. Kylie spoke to Daniel and pointed to what she
wanted. Nothing small and girlish about her appetite and he found himself
envious of his brother.

~~~

Kylie’s heart fluttered when she heard
his voice. It had been at least a decade since she’d heard it and even him being
obviously pissed at his brother made her think of him in the nicest way. But
she kept glancing over at the man beside her and nearly missed what Daniel was
saying to her.

“…tomorrow night if you want. I can get
out of the fund raiser with my family and we can go and have a nice quiet
dinner and get reacquainted. I can pick you up at your place and—”

“I’m sorry, but if you mean the charity
thing tomorrow night, I’m already going. Our firm is making a donation and my
father is going to give a speech. You can meet me there if you’d like.”

She wanted to do just as he’d asked her
to. Alone with the one man she’d spent nearly all her, life wanting to marry. She
was beyond that now, but to be seen with him, be with him, she would have done
just about anything. With the exception of disappointing her dad. Not even for
Daniel.

“I’ll have a date with me, but she’ll
understand about old friends.” She knew that it would to her no matter who she
was and how old of friends they were. “I’ll see you there then. Can I please
speak to my brother?”

Kylie handed the phone to him and dug
into her salad. She heard him say a few things, nothing that she understood,
but it didn’t matter to her. She was going to be seeing Daniel tomorrow night. And
the dress she had would be perfect. She looked up at her lunch companion when
she heard the phone close.

“He said to tell you thanks.” His voice
had gone from gentle and nice before the call to now sounding hard and a little
pissed. As he ate his own salad she tried to think what she’d done. When
nothing was forthcoming, she asked him.

“Nothing.” That didn’t sound any better,
but before she could ask again, he continued. “I’d like to set up a series of
articles about the thing that happened with my sister-in-law a few months back.
It’s been settled, but I want to make sure that other firms aren’t having the
same thing happening under their nose. She and some others that worked for us
were abused. I’m not at liberty to say much only to say how they were hurt and
they were taken advantage of by one of our employees.”

“So we’re talking PR. Okay, I can make
you look as good as you think you need to. I would suggest that you—”

“I don’t want you to make us look good.
I want you to paint the picture just how it happened. I want you to tell your readers
that we screwed up. That we had a problem and we didn’t take care of it until
it was nearly too late. I want it to be about how we didn’t know, but that didn’t
make us any less guilty.”

She glared at him after their lunch was
served and their salad plates taken away. “You want me to ‘paint,’ as you
called it, that you’re the poor victim in all this and everyone should feel
sorry for you?” She could tell he was pissed at her, but she was getting just
as pissed at him. “Oh wait, you want me to make it sound as if you’d been taken
advantage of and that the only way you’ll feel better is if someone comes and
buys whatever it is you’re selling.”

When he leaned back in his chair and
glared she thought maybe she’d pushed back a little too hard. Damn it. He’d
started this. But her dad had told her that she was to do whatever they needed,
that the Hunters could mean the difference between their company surviving for
a few more years or not. Her dad had just figured out that no one was reading
papers anymore and wanted it online or on their phone. She had to smile at his
assumption that the paper would be fine. Not without being a little more modern
it wouldn’t, and she was going to work on that as soon as he’d let her.

“Do you always come across as a bitch
when trying to drum up business or is it because I’m not your precious Daniel?”
Curtis stood. “I think you’ll write what you want and, frankly, I’m not sure I
care what you do. But you write anything other than what I want and I’ll own
that failing paper of your father’s as well as all the property he’s mortgaged
to keep it going.”