Kismet: A Serendipity Novella (11 page)

A slight breeze blew through the long
dripping branches of the tree. She shivered and eased her body
closer to his, obviously in need of warmth.

He inched his hand up her bare back. “Cold?”
he asked in a gruff voice as her body heat and scent wrapped around
him him.

“Not anymore.”

He looked into her eyes to discover an
awareness that matched his own, glanced down and caught sight of
her lush lips. As they moved together to the music, warning bells
rang in his head, but nothing could have stopped him from settling
his mouth on hers. The first touch was electric, a heady
combination of sparkling champagne and sensual, willing woman. Her
lips were soft and giving, and he wasn’t sure how long their mouths
lingered in a chaste kiss they both knew was anything but.

His entire body came alive, reminding him of
what he’d been missing in the two years since his divorce. That
this woman could awaken him both surprised and unnerved him. It
made him want to
feel
more. He trailed his hand up the
soft skin of her back and cupped her head in one hand. With a sweet
sigh, she opened for him, letting him really taste her for the
first time. Warmth, heat, and desire flooded through him.

“Oh, gross! Just shoot me now!” Tess
exclaimed in a disgusted voice.

Nash jerked back at the unwanted
interruption. “What the hell are you doing?” he asked, the annoyed
words escaping before he could think it through.

“Looking for Kelly. What are
you
doing?” She perched her hands on her hips, demanding an answer.

Wasn’t it obvious? Nash shook his head and
swallowed a groan. The kid was the biggest wiseass he’d ever come
across.

“You found me,” Kelly said, sounding calmer
than he did.

Like that kiss hadn’t affected her at all. A
look at her told him that unless she was one hell of an actress, it
hadn’t. She appeared completely unflustered, while he was snapping
at Tess because the hunger Kelly inspired continued to gnaw at
him.

“Ethan and Faith want to talk to you,” Tess
muttered in a sulking tone.

Obviously she didn’t like what she’d seen
between him and her sister. Unlike Nash, who’d liked it a lot.

Too much, in fact.

From the pissed-off look on Tess’s face,
kissing Kelly and biting Tess’s head off had resulted in a huge
setback in trying to create any kind of relationship with his new
sister. And to think, if asked, he’d have said things between them
couldn’t get any worse.

“Why don’t you go tell them I’ll be right
there?” Kelly said patiently to Tess.

The teenager now folded her arms across her
chest. “How about not?”

Kelly raised an eyebrow. “How about I’m the
one in charge while Ethan’s on his honeymoon and if you don’t want
to find yourself grounded and in your room for the next two weeks,
you’ll start listening now.”

With a roll of her eyes and a deliberate
stomp of her foot, which wasn’t impressive considering she was
wearing a deep purple dress and mini-heels from her walk down the
aisle, Tess stormed away.

“Well done,” he said to Kelly, admiring how
she’d gotten Tess to listen without yelling or sniping back.

“Yeah, I did a better job than you.” She
shot him an amused glance. “But I can’t take any credit. You saw
what she was like before Ethan took over. This change is due to his
influence, not mine.” Her expression saddened at the fact that
she’d been unable to accomplish helping Tess on her own.

He knew the feeling. “Don’t remind me about
Saint Ethan.”

She raised her eyebrow. “There’s always
tension between you and Ethan. Why is that?” she asked.

He definitely didn’t want to talk about his
brother or his past. “Is asking about my life your way of avoiding
discussing the kiss?” He deliberately threw a question back at her
as a distraction.

An unexpected smile caught hold of her lips.
“Why would I want to avoid discussing it when it was so much fun?”
she asked, and grabbed hold of his tie once more.

Her moist lips shimmered, beckoning to him
as did her renewed interest, and he shoved his hands into his pants
pockets. Easier to keep them to himself that way.

“Kelly! We’re waiting!” Tess called
impatiently, interrupting them again and reminding him of why he
had to keep his distance from Kelly from now on.

“Coming!” Kelly called over her shoulder,
before meeting Nash’s gaze. “Looks like you got a reprieve.” A
mischievous twinkle lit her gaze.

A sparkle he found infectious. She had
spunk, confidence, and an independent spirit he admired. His
ex-wife had been as opposite of Kelly as he could imagine, more
sweet and in need of being taken care of. Kelly could obviously
hold her own.

And Nash didn’t plan on giving her the upper
hand. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he lied.

She patted his cheek. “Keep telling yourself
that.”

He would. For as long as it took to convince
himself this woman would only cause him and his need to have a
relationship with Tess boatloads of trouble.

*

Kelly Moss stood at the bottom of the
circular stairs in the house that was nothing short of a mansion
and yelled up at her sister. “Tess, let’s go! If you want to have
time for breakfast before school, get yourself downstairs now!” It
was the third time she’d called up in the last five minutes.

“I said I’m coming!” came Tess’s grumpy
reply.

Ethan and Faith had left yesterday morning
for their honeymoon, one week on the beautiful, secluded island of
Turks and Caicos, where they had their own villa complete with
private butler.
Talk about living the life
, Kelly thought.
Hers wasn’t so bad either, since she got to stay in this huge house
with her own housekeeper while they were gone.

Tess’s door slammed loudly, startling Kelly
back to reality as her sister came storming out of her room, then
stomping down the stairs.

The old days, when Kelly had been raising
Tess alone and doing a god-awful job at it came rushing back, and
Kelly clenched her fists. “What’s wrong?” Kelly only hoped it was
something easily fixable, not a problem that would lead Tess to
turn back to running wild.

“This!” Tess gestured to the school uniform
she wore, a navy pleated skirt, white-collared shirt and kneesocks.
“I hate it.”

Kelly knew better than to say it was better
than the all-black outfits the teenager used to wear, including the
old army surplus jacket and combat boots. “You’ll get used to
it.”

Tess passed by Kelly and headed for the
kitchen. “It’s been a month and I still hate it.”

The clothes or the school?
Kelly
wondered as she followed behind her sister. “Is it the skirt?
Because you didn’t mind the dress you wore at the wedding.” In
fact, she’d looked like a beautiful young lady.

“It’s the fact that I
have
to wear
it. I hate being told what to do.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Kelly
muttered, having been Tess’s primary caregiver for longer than she
could remember.

“I heard that.”

Kelly grinned. Tess really had come a long
way, thanks to Ethan Barron. Kelly shuddered to think of what might
have happened if she hadn’t taken drastic steps.

Both Tess and Kelly’s mother, Leah Moss, had
been a weak woman, too dependent on men and incapable of raising
Tess. She’d been different when Kelly was young or maybe that’s how
she wanted to remember her. Or maybe it had been Kelly’s father’s
influence that had made Leah different.

Kelly would never know because her father
had died of a heart attack when she was twelve. And Leah had
immediately gone in search of another man to take his place. Her
choice was a poor one. Leah struck up an affair with her married
boss, Mark Barron. Yet despite how wrong it was, for Kelly, her
mother’s years as his mistress had been stable ones, including the
period after Tess was born. But with Mark Barron’s passing ten
years ago, Leah had spiraled downward, and both Kelly and Tess
suffered as a result.

She’d immediately packed up and moved them
to a seedy part of New York City, far from their home in Tomlin’s
Cove, the neighboring town to Serendipity. Leah said she wanted
them to start over. In reality, their mother had wanted an easy
place to search for another lover to take care of her. But Leah
never found her next white knight, turning to alcohol and a
never-ending rotation of disgusting men instead.

Since Tess had only been four years old at
the time, a sixteen-year-old Kelly had become the adult, juggling
high school, then part-time college with jobs and raising Tess.
Fortunately, her mother had moved them into a boarding house with a
kindly older woman who’d helped Kelly too.

But last year, their mother had run off with
some guy, abandoning her youngest daughter, and something in Tess
had broken. Angry and hurt, she’d turned into a belligerent,
rebellious teenager, hanging out with the wrong crowd, smoking,
drinking, and ultimately getting arrested. Desperate, Kelly had
turned to the only person she remembered from their years in
Tomlin’s Cove, Richard Kane, a lawyer in Serendipity who’d put her
in touch with Ethan Barron.

Kelly’s heart shattered as she basically
deposited her baby sister on a stranger’s doorstep and ordered him
to step up as her brother. But it was that, Kelly sensed, or heaven
knew where Tess would end up. So here she was months later,
starting her life over but still rushing Tess out for school, she
thought, grateful things were finally looking up.

She and Tess ate a quick breakfast, after
which Kelly dropped off Tess and headed to work. Another thing for
which she owed Richard Kane, her job, working for him as a
paralegal, in downtown Serendipity.

She stopped, as she did daily, at Cuppa
Café, the town’s version of Starbucks. Kelly had worked hard all
her life and she’d learned early on to save, but her entire day
hinged on that first cup of caffeine. It had to be strong and
good.

Kelly stepped into the coffee shop and the
delicious aroma surrounded her, instantly perking her up as if she
were inhaling caffeine by osmosis.

She was pouring a touch of milk into her
large cup of regular coffee when a familiar woman with long, curly
blond hair joined her at the far counter.

“You’re as regular as my grandma Emma wanted
to be,” Annie Kane joked.

Kelly glanced at her and grinned. “I could
say the same for you.”

“Good point.” Annie laughed and raised her
cup in a mock toast.

Small-town living offered both perks and
drawbacks. Running into a familiar face could fall into either
category. Kelly and Annie frequented Cuppa Café at the same time
each morning and they’d often linger and chat. If pressed, Kelly
would say Annie was the closest she had to a real friend here, if
she didn’t count Faith Harrington, Ethan’s wife.

Annie was Richard Kane’s daughter, though
from the pictures on Richard’s desk, Kelly noticed Annie looked
more like her mother than her dad. From the first day they’d met at
her father’s office, Kelly had liked this woman.

Kelly took a long, desperately needed sip of
her drink.

“So what’s your excuse for being up so early
every day?”

“Routine keeps me young,” Annie said.

Kelly rolled her eyes. “You
are
young.” She looked Annie over, from her slip-on sneakers to her
jeans and light cotton sweater. “I bet we’re probably close to the
same age.”

“I’ll be twenty-seven next month,” Annie
said.

“And I’ll be twenty-seven in December.”

Annie raised her cup to her lips, and Kelly
couldn’t help but notice her hand shook as she took a sip.

Kelly narrowed her gaze but didn’t comment
on the tremor. Instead, she dove into cementing her life here in
Serendipity. “Listen, instead of quick hellos standing over coffee,
how about we meet for lunch one day?” She was ready for a real
friend here, someone she could trust and confide in. Kelly adored
Tess, but a fourteen-year-old hardly constituted adult company.

“I’d like that!” Annie said immediately.
“Let me give you my phone number.” As she reached into her purse,
her cell phone rang and she glanced at the number.

“Excuse me a second,” she said to Kelly.
“Hello?” she spoke into the receiver.

Kelly glanced away to give Annie privacy,
but she couldn’t help but overhear her end of the conversation.

“I’m feeling better, thanks. Yeah. No you
don’t need to stop by. I called the plumber and he said he’d make
it to the house by the end of the day.” Annie grew quiet, then
spoke once more. “I can afford it and you don’t need to come by.
You weren’t good with the pipes when we were married,” she said,
amusement in her tone.

Some more silence, then Annie said, “If you
insist, I’ll see you later,” she said, now sounding more annoyed
than indulgent.

She hung up and put the phone back in her
bag. “My ex-husband,” she explained to Kelly. “He thinks because I
have MS I need his constant hovering.”

The admission caught Kelly off guard and she
felt for Annie, being diagnosed so young. Richard liked to talk
about everything and anything when he was in the office, but he’d
never mentioned his daughter’s disease. Kelly didn’t blame him for
omitting something so personal. In fact she was surprised Annie had
mentioned it at all.

“I’m sure you noticed my hand shaking
earlier, and if we’re going to be friends, you might as well know,”
Annie said as if reading Kelly’s mind.

Kelly met Annie’s somewhat serene gaze.
Obviously she’d come to terms with her situation. “Thanks for
telling me.”

“Hey, if I go MIA one day, at least you’ll
know why.” She shrugged, as if the notion were no big deal.

Kelly didn’t take the other woman’s
confidence or situation as lightly. “Well, if you ever need
anything, just let me know.”