Guilty as Sin

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To Gajus, who is always there to remind me I can
do it, especially when I’m convinced I can’t

As always, I have to thank the amazing Monica McCarty. I don’t know what I’d do without you, on so many levels. Thank you also to Kim Whalen, agent extraordinaire, equal parts sweetheart and badass and pure pleasure to work with. And most of all, I have to thank you, my readers. Your emails, tweets, and posts keep me inspired to find ways to tell the stories of the people wandering around in my head.

Sandpoint, ID

Fourteen years ago

Y
ou understand what a big responsibility this is, don’t you, Kate?” her father said. “You understand that this is your chance to prove we can still trust you?”

Up until three weeks ago, there had been no reason for Senator Beckett and his wife not to. Sixteen-year-old Kate had always been the good twin, the sensible twin. The twin who kept her head on straight and never, ever threatened the senator’s image as an upstanding citizen who fully embraced so-called family values.

But that was before he’d caught her making out in the sunroom with Tommy Ibarra. While her parents had never fully embraced Kate’s unlikely friendship with the local rancher’s son three years her senior, they’d tolerated it. Mostly because Kate’s mother thought it was good for her kids to be exposed to people who existed outside their exclusive circle of Washington, D.C.’s elite. And because as far as they knew, Kate and Tommy’s relationship hadn’t seemed to go beyond a big brother/little sister dynamic.

Not until this summer, at least.

And to say her father wasn’t okay with it was the understatement of the century. Kate was afraid he was going to have an aneurysm when he caught them.

Yet not even his wrath could compel her to keep her promise to stay away from Tommy Ibarra for the rest of their annual vacation on the shores of Lake Pend Oreille.

“Of course,” Kate replied with a smile.

Her father gave her a smile and bent to kiss her on the cheek. “That’s my good girl,” he said, patting her shoulder as he straightened up. “Even after what happened, I know we can still count on you.”

“Of course you can,” Kate replied. As she looked into her father’s eyes, full of warmth and love, she felt a flash of guilt for what she had planned.

“I know you think I’m too strict sometimes, but I just want what’s best for you and our family. And I know you can do a lot better than Tommy Ibarra.”

Her guilt dissolved in a flash of anger, and she fought to keep her hands from curling into fists. Her father had no idea who Tommy really was, had no idea that there was no such thing as doing better than Tommy Ibarra. All he saw was an older local boy trying to take advantage of his teenage daughter.

And while she knew her father loved her and was genuinely concerned for her welfare, he was equally concerned about the scandal that might erupt if the press got wind of her summer romance. As a U.S. Senator whose platform centered on conservative family values, he couldn’t have his daughter’s steamy make-out sessions with inappropriate suitors become public knowledge.

She pulled her mouth into a guileless smile. “Everything will be fine.”

Her father nodded and gave her another quick squeeze. “All right then, we’ll be home tomorrow around lunchtime.”

“Here’s the number where we can be reached.” Kate’s mother pressed the slip of paper into her hand as she was walking to the door.

“I know, you already taped it on the refrigerator,” Kate said impatiently.

Her mom leaned down to kiss her cheek, enveloping Kate in a cloud of perfume and hairspray.

“And your father has his cell phone, not that the darn thing ever seems to work when we need it.”

Kate closed the door behind them and practically danced a little jig. The situation couldn’t have fallen into her lap more perfectly. Her parents would be gone for the night attending a fundraiser in Boise. Her fraternal twin sister, Lauren, was spending the night at the Burkharts’ house with her friend Hailey. Kate knew that was code for she was going to stay out all night partying because everyone except for Kate’s parents knew the Burkharts let them do whatever they wanted as long as it didn’t end in an arrest.

Which left Kate to stay home with Michael, who had come down with a nasty summer flu and wasn’t going anywhere except the living room couch.

Normally Kate would have resented having to be on little-brother detail when there was so much going on, but not tonight. Tonight all she had to do was throw him a cup of soup and send him to bed, and the house would be all hers.

Hers and Tommy’s.

She went into the great room where Michael was sprawled in front of the TV, his attention focused on the Game Boy that seemed permanently grafted to his hand. An empty glass of melting ice and a box of Kleenex sat on the coffee table in front of him. He was surrounded by a dozen or so crumpled-up tissues.

“Can I get you anything?” Kate asked, wrinkling her nose as she picked up a tissue between her thumb and forefinger and threw it in the trash.

Michael’s eyes, blue to match hers, slanted in her direction. “Maybe a pizza?”

“You threw up all morning. I’m not getting you a pizza. How about some toast?”

He shrugged, which Kate took as yes. The phone rang just as she was putting some bread in the toaster.

Kate rushed to answer. She’d told Tommy her parents were leaving at five and to call any time after. “Hey,” she said breathlessly.

But it wasn’t Tommy’s voice on the other line. “Hey, Kate, it’s John.”

“Oh, hi,” she said, her brow wrinkling as she wondered why he might be calling her. She’d known John Burkhart almost her entire life—her father and his had been close since college, and they’d been vacationing here in Sandpoint together for the past six years.

“Is something wrong with Lauren?” She looked at her watch. It was only five thirty, presumably too early for her and his younger sister, Hailey, to have gotten themselves into trouble, but you never knew.

“Uh, no,” he said, clearing his throat uncomfortably. “Nothing’s wrong. I was just wondering, uh, I mean I know you’re home alone with Michael…”

“Yes,” she prompted as his voice trailed off. But the uneasiness in her belly made her unsure if she really wanted him to go on.

“I was thinking I could maybe come over with a pizza and a movie or something and keep you guys company.”

“Aren’t your next-door neighbors hosting their big bonfire tonight? You never miss it.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve been enough times, one summer isn’t going to matter. And I think this would be a good chance for us to hang out.”

“Since when do you want to hang out with me?” Kate asked with genuine confusion. John was twenty, a junior at the University of Colorado, and had always acted like he was way too old and way too cool to hang out with Kate and her sister.

He blew out a harsh breath. “Please, Kate, the fact that I’m interested in you can’t be a total surprise. Why do you think I’m always giving you and your sister rides and going to parties with you?”

Kate practically dropped the phone in shock. John Burkhart was interested in her? Since when? “Uh, I thought it was because you were giving Hailey a ride anyway and we were tagging along.”

He gave a forced-sounding laugh. “Okay, fine, you want me to lay it out there? I like you, Kate. I’ve been interested for a while, but I was waiting till you got a little older to make my move. So what do you say? Can we stop with the pretense that I’m nothing more than a family friend? Let me come over.”

Kate spared a moment to wonder what kind of pheromone she was putting out that suddenly made guys take interest. Kate was the quiet sister who stood around the edges of the crowd while the boys chased Lauren. In any case, though she truly did view John as little more than an acquaintance she never would have known had their parents not been friends, she wanted to let him down easy. “You know my father would go ballistic if he knew I was home alone and had someone over.”

“Kate, it’s
me
. Your father’s known me all my life. He trusts me.”

“And, more important, he trusts
me
,” she said, feeling a little pinch of guilt at the knowledge that he no longer had good reason too, “and I can’t risk violating that, even for you.”

“We don’t have to tell him.”

“Even if I don’t, Michael might, and even so, I’m not lying to my father.” Not for you, anyway.

“Tomorrow then. Let me take you to Mary’s for dinner,” he persisted.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Kate said warily.

“Kate, do you have any idea how many girls in this town would kill to go out with me?” John snapped.

His arrogance brought an edge to her own voice. “Then ask one of them.”

“What’s the matter, Kate, am I not man enough for you? Do you only get turned on by guys who get dirty and work with their hands, like that gardener of yours? You ever wonder what he does when he’s on his ranch, all alone out there with his sheep—”

Kate’s grip around the phone tightened. Apparently news of her hookup had made it to the Burkhart house. “Good night, John,” she said, and hung up. She buttered Michael’s toast, put it on a plate, and poured herself a Diet Coke over ice. But the sweet fizziness wasn’t enough to chase away the bad taste the conversation had left in her mouth.

The awkwardness was going to be unavoidable—they’d be thrown together constantly for the rest of the summer. She could only hope John would let it go and they could just pretend the whole thing had never happened.