Darius (Starkis Family #5) (11 page)

Chelsea

I was cursing my stupidity when I pulled into the parking lot of Darius’s office building and didn’t spot his vehicle. I should have called instead of trying to surprise him. For all I knew, he’d be out for the rest of the day and I’d made the trip all the way here for nothing. Not that I hadn’t enjoyed every second of it. The wind whipping through my hair, coupled with my favorite tunes blaring from the speakers, made me feel freer than I had in a long time.

Deciding I hadn’t come this far to turn tail and run, I hopped out and locked the car then walked toward the entrance before I lost my nerve. I recognized one of the women leaning over the reception desk from a photo on Darius’s nightstand. She must have been one of his sisters.

“Can I help you?” she asked with a warm smile.

“Um, I’m looking for Darius.” I barely resisted the urge to shift from one foot to the other as I watched curiosity meld with confusion on her beautiful face. “I’m a friend of his.”

She walked around the desk, extending her hand. “I’m Darius’s sister Kara. And you are?”

“My name’s Chelsea,” I said, accepting her hand. “I work at the—”

“Chelsea?” Kara’s other hand closed over mine. “Oh my God, I’m so happy to meet you. Darius didn’t tell me you were going to be stopping by today.”

“He didn’t know.” I carefully withdrew my hand from hers. I hoped she wouldn’t see it as an affront, but I wasn’t the touchy-feely type. Except with Darius. I had no problem with him touching me. “It was supposed to be a surprise.”

“He should be back soon.” Kara surprised me when she hooked her arm through mine and led me down a short hallway toward several offices. “In the meantime, we can get to know each other better.”

Uh oh. I didn’t have a lot of experience meeting “the family,” but I got the feeling Kara was about to grill me. “Maybe I should just come back later. You probably have better things to do than entertain me, and it was silly of me to drop by unannounced and expect Darius to be here. I know how busy he is.”

“Nonsense,” Kara said, gesturing to a guest chair opposite her desk. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting you ever since Darius told me he was bringing you up here this weekend.”

Kara seemed like a lovely person, warm and genuine. But I was too nervous thinking about how Darius would react to my unexpected visit to put my best foot forward with her.

“Is something wrong?” she asked, sitting next to me.

I’d just met her. I wasn’t ready to open up to her, but if she was anything like her brother, she wouldn’t give up easily. “There are just some things Darius and I need to discuss.” I cleared my throat, forcing myself to look her directly in the eye. “We kind of had a misunderstanding last night, and I was hoping I could explain myself to him.”

“You live in the city, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“You drove all this way just to talk to him? Why not call?”

“Some things need to be said in person.”

Kara’s face fell. “Oh no. You’re not breaking up with him, are you?” She reached for my hand and bit her lip. “I know my brother can be a bit abrasive at times, domineering, opinionated…” She smiled. “Let’s just say I’m not blind to his faults.” She squeezed my hand. “But he’s a really great guy, and when we talked, I got the feeling he really likes you.”

I wanted to ask when they’d talked about me and how she’d gotten the impression we were a couple when we weren’t. Were we? I didn’t know how I would define our relationship. I just knew the thought of him never touching me again made me feel sad. “I really like him too.”

She released my hand, breathing a sigh of relief. “I’m happy to hear that. So what’s the problem?” She clapped a hand over her mouth, her cheeks turning pink. “I’m sorry. That’s none of my business, is it?”

It wasn’t, but I could tell Kara’s heart was in the right place. I wouldn’t mind talking to someone who could give me some insight into what Darius was thinking and feeling. “I haven’t had a relationship in a long time. In fact, I’ve only ever had one serious relationship, and when it ended, I never considered the possibility of meeting someone else.”

“I know what you mean,” Kara said, inching back in her seat. “I felt the same way when my husband and I broke up.” At my questioning look, she offered, “Oh, he wasn’t my husband then. He was my fiancé. We were apart for eight years before we finally had to admit we couldn’t live without each other.” She grinned, but her smile slipped a second later. “Is that the way it is with you and your ex? Do you still have feelings for him?”

While I could see myself opening up to Kara when I got to know her better, I couldn’t tell her about Shaun until I’d told Darius the truth.

“I crossed the line again, didn’t I?” Kara said, wrinkling her nose. Before I could respond, she raised her hand. “You can tell me to mind my own business, but Darius is my brother, which means it’s my job to look out for him. If I think he’s setting himself up to get hurt, it’s my obligation to tell him.”

“It’s not what you think,” I said when I realized I couldn’t pacify her without some explanation. “My ex is no longer in the picture.” I considered how to tell her the truth without revealing more than I wanted to. “I can never get him back.”

She frowned. “But you would want him back if you could?”

For months after Shaun died, I’d prayed I would wake up in his arms to find it had all been a nightmare. During those dark and lonely days, I would have given anything to have him back, but I had time and perspective on my side now. And I had Darius. “I don’t think so.”

“You don’t think so?” She frowned. “I’m sorry, but that doesn’t sound very convincing. My brother is a great guy. He doesn’t deserve to be your second choice.”

Now she sounded just like her brother. “With all due respect, this is between me and Darius.”

I heard Darius’s voice in the outer office, asking the receptionist where Chase was because he’d seen his car in the lot.

“Sounds like my brother,” Kara said, standing. She went to the door and crooked a finger, beckoning Darius closer. “You have a visitor.”

I resisted the urge to cringe when he poked his head in the door and the look on his face was one of disbelief instead of a smile as I’d hoped.

“Hi,” I said.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“I’ll leave you two alone,” Kara said. “I have to meet Dustin for lunch. Nice meeting you, Chelsea.”

“You too.” I didn’t believe for a second she meant it. She was just being polite for Darius’s benefit.

Once his sister left, he closed the door and took a few steps toward me. “How did you get here?”

“Chase lent me his truck.” I twisted my purse strap in my hand while licking my lips.

“Why would he do that?”

“I went to the comedy club to see if you were there. I told him I really needed to see you, so he suggested I come here and surprise you.”

“Well, it worked. I’m surprised.”

“Not the good kind though, huh?” When he didn’t respond, I jumped up. “I should go. This was a mistake.”

He stepped in my path. “You’re not going until you tell me why you came.”

I’d thought I was brave enough to do this. I’d rehearsed my speech in the car, imagined his reaction, pictured him understanding or even consoling me, but now that I was here, faced with his anger and confusion, I wasn’t sure I could go through with it. “I’m sorry about last night.”

He stepped back, still looking wary. “What exactly are you sorry about?”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you about what happened with Shaun.”

His eyes narrowed, and he almost seemed to be holding his breath. “Are you saying you’re ready to tell me now?”

“I think so.”

After a sharp nod, he reached for my hand. “Fine, but we’re not doing this here. This is private.”

I was grateful he seemed to understand I wasn’t comfortable spilling my guts with strangers milling just outside the door. “Where are we going?”

“Have you had lunch?”

“No, but…” I felt as though all he ever did was feed me. “I can grab something later.”

“We’ll go back to my place. We can grab a quick bite there.”

“Okay.” I appreciated that he wasn’t taking me to a restaurant, where I would have to worry about servers interrupting us or other patrons listening in on our conversation.

He held the door of his truck for me and closed it before he moved to the driver’s side. I could tell he was tense by the way his hand curled around the steering wheel as he gunned it out of the parking lot.

“Thanks for listening,” I said. “I know I’ve given you every reason to write me off by now.”

“Chase must really like you to have lent you his car.”

That was what he was upset about? “It’s you he likes. He was under the impression you would want to see me. That’s the only reason he let me borrow his car.”

He glanced at me as he pulled up to a light, but since he’d slipped his shades in place, I couldn’t read his expression. I breathed a soft sigh of relief when he reached for my hand.

“I am glad to see you. I barely slept last night, thinking about what went down between us. I know it’s way too soon for me to start making demands like that. If you’re not ready to tell me about your ex, I’ll back off.”

“I am ready.” Being honest may have been one of the hardest things I’d have to do, but I wanted to come clean with Darius. Hiding the truth only made it feel like a shameful secret. “I just need you to understand it won’t be easy for me. Forgive me if I have a hard time getting it out.”

The last thing I wanted was to fall apart in front of him, but I hadn’t told anyone this story. My friends at the comedy club knew what had happened, but I hadn’t had to share the details with anyone.

“Take all the time you need, Chels.” He brought my hand to his lips. “I have nowhere else to be.”

I knew he was just being kind. He had to deal with dozens of issues every day, and since we’d started driving, he’d already ignored his buzzing cell phone twice. “I won’t keep you from your work for long, I promise.”

His eyes swept over my body, taking in my fitted white cotton sundress and multi-colored flip-flops. “Believe me, work is the last thing on my mind right now.”

His reaction lifted my spirits. He seemed still as interested in me as I was in him. “I told Chase I’d have his truck back to the club by six.”

“I can drive it back for you if you want to stay a little longer? I keep another car in the city.” He grinned. “It’s my fun car.”

“Your fun car?” I was almost afraid to ask. We were driving in a late model pick-up, which was dusty from taking a lot of back roads. This car made it easy to forget his family were billionaires, but I had a feeling the
fun car
would be a little—no, make that a lot—flashier.

“Yeah, it’s a ‘69 Chevrolet Camaro ZL-1. There were only sixty-nine built. Believe me when I tell you she’s my pride and joy.”

I rolled my eyes. “Boys and their toys.” Even though his classic car was probably as expensive as any modern sports car, I liked his choice. It reinforced the fact he wasn’t flashy and didn’t feel the need to impress people with the symbols of wealth everyone would recognize.

“You got it, baby.”

I gasped when I caught sight of the Atlantic Ocean. It seemed crazy that, living so close, I’d never taken the time to truly admire it, but I’d always been too distracted by survival to appreciate the things other people took for granted.

“It still takes my breath away every time,” he said, squeezing my hand.

I loved that Darius appreciated the simple things even though his life had undoubtedly been filled with exotic vacations and dream homes worthy of television segments. We pulled onto a dead-end gravel street, and Darius made his way to the end, squeezing my hand whenever we went over another pothole. His street wasn’t at all what I’d expected. These weren’t homes; they were cottages. Some were run-down, others pristine, but all were fairly small judging by the exterior.

“Here we are,” he said, pulling into a long straight drive. He cut the engine and set his hand on the back of my seat, slipping his glasses up on his head as he shifted to face me. “What do you think?”

I gaped at the tiny white clapboard cottage of my dreams with the ocean and white sandy beach in the background and rose bushes and peonies flanking a flagstone path leading to a sky-blue door. I was speechless. “I love it.”

“Really?” He smiled. “A little old lady lived here most of her life. Her family finally had to put her into a nursing home when she got dementia. They wanted to sell the place, but I asked if I could rent it for a year before I decided if I wanted to buy it.”

If I’d had the money, I would buy this place tomorrow.

“There’s about an acre, so my plan is to knock it down and—”

“You can’t!” I blushed and lowered my head when I remembered I had no right to tell him what he could or couldn’t do. “I mean, it would be such a shame to knock this down. It’s so cute.”

His lips curled. “Yeah, well, a single guy doesn’t really want a cute place, Chels.”

I understood his point, but I could only imagine all of the wonderful family gatherings this place had seen. “Does the homeowner have children?”

He seemed surprised by my question. “Yeah, three. There are only three bedrooms, so the two youngest had to bunk together from what I understand.”

I looked at him, waiting to hear more. I didn’t know why, but I wanted to know the history of this place.

“Her youngest daughter did the walkthrough with me when I rented the place,” he explained. “She bored me to death with stories of when her mother had planted the rose bushes and her father built the cabana.”

“Why don’t they want to keep it?” If I’d had a family and a home full of the good memories we’d shared, I wouldn’t have let it go for anything.

“None of them live in the area. The family is from Kansas, but they used to spend their summers here as kids. Apparently all three of the daughters are so busy with their own lives they just don’t have the time to travel back and forth to make use of the cottage.”

“That’s a shame,” I whispered, rolling down my window so I could feel the ocean breeze on my face. I inhaled deeply, thinking I’d never tire of the fresh scent that made me feel as though I’d stepped into another world.