One Winter's Night (17 page)

Riley opened the door to find this furry white thing standing in front of him. He leaned in the doorway, trying to make out just what or who it was when the person tilted her head and moved away all the fur. “Alpha?”

She nodded. “May I come in so we can talk? It’s cold out here.”

He quickly moved aside. “Get near the fireplace,” he ordered, wondering what in the world she was doing out in this weather. It was in the low teens. He thought it was pretty damn cold and he was used to it. It would be murder on someone like her.

He stood back and watched as she peeled off a long white coat trimmed in fur with a matching hat and gloves. She then pulled a white knitted ski mask from her face before pulling off another coat and two sweaters. When she stood trembling in front of the fireplace in a pair of winter-white stretched slacks and a pretty winter-white pullover turtleneck sweater, he just stared. The outfit looked good on her. Too good.

And when she ran her fingers through her hair to fluff it out, he felt heat on his skin. He swallowed hard and said, “I’ll pour you a cup of coffee while you warm up. And then you can tell me why you came here in all this bad weather.”

He quickly walked away, to the kitchen, and tried to breathe calmly while he poured her coffee. He hadn’t seen her or talked to her since the party, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t thought about her, because he had—every waking minute as well as when he should have been sleeping. She hated cold weather, yet she had come here, on what would probably be the coldest day they’d had since last winter.

Trying to keep his hand steady, he walked back to the living room and found her standing with her back to him, in front of the fireplace, staring down at the flames as if she was in deep thought. He wondered what she was thinking about and knew he would soon find out.

“Here you are,” he said, claiming her attention. She crossed the room to meet him. She took the cup from his hand and the minute their fingers touched, a frisson of warmth flowed through him. He took a step back and watched as she immediately took a sip.

She glanced up at him. “Thanks, I needed that.”

“I’m sure you did. So why are you here, Alpha?”

“I was hoping we could talk. I considered calling but figured you would refuse.”

She had figured right. “What more is there to say? I trusted you more than you trusted me.”

“It’s not just about trust, Riley.”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “Then what else is there?”

“An understanding between us. And I would be the first to admit I didn’t tell you everything, but I had a reason for keeping my family secrets to myself. All we were sharing was an affair.”

She glanced over at the sofa. “May I sit down so we can talk? I think it’s time that I tell you everything.”

A part of him was tempted to tell her no. It was too late to tell him everything. He preferred that she leave.

But he knew he couldn’t say any of that. She had come over in the cold weather, which meant whatever she had to say was important to her. So the least he could do was listen to what she had to say. “Yes, you may have a seat.”

She sat down and he took the chair across from her and wondered why she hadn’t been able to decipher when his feelings for her had changed and he’d wanted more than sex without a commitment. What had she thought those flowers were all about, the amount of time he had spent with her compared to all the others?

He watched her and knew she was trying to gather her thoughts. Why? Was he such a hard guy to talk to? He had shared more of himself with her than with any other woman. Too bad he couldn’t say the same about her.

She looked over at him, met his gaze and he knew he had lied to himself.

He’d awakened that morning with a firm resolve that he no longer wanted her or loved her. But seeing her here at Riley’s Station only confirmed that he still wanted her in a way he’d never wanted another woman. And, more than anything, he still loved her.

She finally began talking. “My identical twin sister, Omega, dropped out of college our first year when she met this older guy at some club near campus. The man convinced her she should be a model.”

She paused a moment and took another sip of her coffee. “Omega was always the more outgoing of the two of us and always wanted that sort of thing—the limelight, recognition, stardom—so her decision didn’t surprise me. And, in a way, I doubt that it surprised my parents. At least it shouldn’t have, since she was the one who defied their every order while we were growing up.

“Anyway, my parents were livid about her dropping out of college. When she left they didn’t hear from her for months, but because she and I are close, I knew her whereabouts. I knew before anyone when she discovered the man hadn’t propositioned her for a real modeling job but for a job as a porn star. He didn’t twist her arm or hold her hostage. Omega could have walked away at any time. It was a choice she made. She thought she had a beautiful body, and she didn’t mind flaunting it. She considered what she was doing a job. She was a well-paid entertainer and nothing else.”

He nodded. “Did your parents know what she was doing?”

She shook her head. “No, and Omega and I both figured that they wouldn’t find out, either. She was living out in California and had become popular on the West Coast; whereas my parents lived in Florida, the Bible Belt. We thought good churchgoing people would never find out about stuff like that. But we were wrong. It seemed a few men who knew my parents were getting porn off the internet, so you can just imagine how they couldn’t wait to spread the word. Soon it got back to my parents. Someone even sent them a DVD in the mail.”

“That was kind of low,” he said.

“Yes, it was, and it led to a full-blown scandal that embarrassed my parents. Some of their so-called friends stopped socializing with them and, for a while, they lost business at the vet clinic. Mom and Dad tried to talk to Omega. Of course they went about it the wrong way, by making demands, and that only made her defiant. In the end, they threatened to cut her off if she didn’t quit what she was doing and return home. They also forbade me to have contact with Omega, which I refused to do.”

“I’m sure they weren’t happy about that.”

She shook her head. “No, they weren’t. They finally just left me alone and requested that I not ever mention anything about Omega to them. The embarrassment was too much, and in the end they made a decision to disown her until she came to her senses.”

She took another sip of her coffee. “A few years later, I met this guy name LeBron, who moved to Daytona with his job from Ohio,” she said softly. “LeBron and I dated for six months, and I thought everything was going great until one night he presented me with one of my sister’s DVDs and said he’d been a fan of hers for a couple of years. He even said what had drawn him to me was that he assumed I was her. And when he found out I wasn’t, he figured he had the next best thing. He wanted me to imitate what she did on the DVD. He even wanted to call me Omega whenever we made love.”

Riley tensed and anger flowed through his body. “He actually wanted you to pretend you were your sister?”

“Yes. I refused to do so and left. The next day he called, breaking things off with me.”

She didn’t say anything for a long minute. “A year later, I met Eddie when he brought his dog into the clinic. We hit it off immediately. He had moved to Daytona from his family’s home in Palm Beach. They owned a slew of electronics shops, and he’d moved to Daytona to open a new store there. It was hard for me to trust anyone, and after we’d dated awhile, I told him everything. I confided about Omega and told him about LeBron. He was angry that LeBron could be such an ass, and he said what Omega did for a living meant nothing to him. It was her life and he could understand me wanting to keep a relationship with my sister.”

“Sounds like a nice guy.”

“I thought so, and when he asked me to marry him, I agreed. Everything was going along fine until someone, not sure who, sent his parents a copy of Omega’s DVD. They were appalled and demanded that he end things with me. He refused, but they put pressure on him to at least get me to agree not to have anything to do with Omega.”

She took another sip of coffee. “I refused, and he called off the wedding a week before it was to take place.”

She paused, as if remembering that time. “That was another embarrassment for my parents, especially when they thought I should have given in to Eddie’s request. I decided to move as far away as I could, which brought me to Denver.”

He leaned forward. “So when you saw that DVD in my drawer, you assumed I was another LeBron or that I could be another Eddie?”

She held his gaze. “Yes.”

Her single answer gave him pause. “Is that the reason you didn’t talk much about your family?”

“Yes. I know all families have issues but to this day my parents have not forgiven my sister. If they had their way I wouldn’t have any contact with her. My mother is softening somewhat. She at least asks about Omega. But my father is still being hard-nosed.”

“Is your sister still in the business?”

“No, she quit making porn movies a few years ago, but some people have long memories, especially since she was once very popular. I’ve been on business trips when men have approached me asking if I was Omega and could they have my autograph.”

She paused again. “I still don’t understand it. You say you knew immediately it wasn’t me, but that’s hard to believe when most people can’t tell me and Omega apart.”

He nodded. “The first thing I noticed was the dye job.”

She lifted a brow. “The dye job?”

“Yes, you once mentioned you’d never dyed your hair and it was obvious the woman on the DVD jacket had. And then when I looked at it further, I noticed she had a mole on her inner right thigh. You don’t. And you don’t have a tattoo near your navel.”

She nodded. “I’m sorry about jumping to conclusions, Riley, but we had agreed on a sex-only relationship because the last thing I wanted was to get seriously involved with someone. I had before—twice— and things didn’t work out.”

“What is your sister doing now?”

“Omega is living in Paris and is happily married to a wonderful guy who knows about her past and loves her regardless. Marlon is a successful businessman and the two of them travel a lot. With his encouragement, she returned to school and now has her graduate degree. But even with her marriage and her other accomplishments and achievements, my parents still haven’t forgiven her.”

“And I take it your father wants you and Eddie to get back together.”

Her eyes widened. “How do you know that?”

“If you recall, I happened to call you one day and you thought I was your father. You said something that let me know he was trying to get you to reinstate your relationship with your ex-fiancé.”

“Yes, but only because Eddie thinks he still has a chance to convince me not to have anything to do with Omega. But like I told him, my sister and I are closer than ever.”

“I’m glad.”

She looked surprised. “You are?”

“Yes, and I’m disappointed you would think that I wouldn’t be. I love family, Alpha. I told you about Bane, the twins and Bailey and the reputation they had around town. Not once did any one of us think about disowning them. You don’t disown family, and I think it’s sad that your parents are doing that to your sister. Nobody is perfect.”

“Yes, but having a bad reputation around town for things you did while growing up is one thing, Riley. Being a porn star is another, and Eddie’s family let me know that families with good names wouldn’t want to have theirs tarnished by such a scandal. Why would I even assume your family would be any different?”

“Because you met them. We aren’t judgmental nor do we place ourselves on any type of pedestal. There are skeletons in every family closet. I told you all the stuff we’re uncovering on my grandfather Raphel.”

He paused a moment and then asked, “Have you ever heard of the Chamberlain gang?”

She nodded. “Yes. Father and two sons did a rash of bank robberies across the country some years back. I was in high school, and one of my classmates brought in an article about them. We all found it fascinating how they were able to pull things off, zigzagging across state lines and evading the FBI for as long as they did before finally getting caught.”

“What they did was pretty scandalous, wouldn’t you say?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Well, I happen to know one of their family members. Brooke Chamberlain. The Chamberlain gang consisted of her father and her two older brothers. They’re still serving time, and I doubt they will be getting out anytime soon.”

“You actually know someone related to them?”

“Yes, in fact I know her very well because she’s married to my cousin Ian Westmoreland, who owns a casino near Lake Tahoe. All of us know about Brooke’s family but none of us hold it against her. We’re also aware she keeps in contact with them and find no fault in that, as well. Family is family, Alpha. I would never have judged you by what your sister did. Nor would I have pushed you not to have any contact with her.”

“I see that now, but because I wasn’t sure, I didn’t want to take the chance.”

“Do you believe me?” he asked, holding her gaze steadily, with single-minded focus. He knew at that moment how much he wanted her to believe him. To believe in him.

“Yes. I didn’t know then,” she said softly. “But I do now.”

He nodded, satisfied with her answer. “Now that we’ve cleared up your issues, let’s discuss mine.”

* * *

Dread rippled down Alpha’s spine. She wondered just what kind of issues he could have. “All right.”

He slowly stood from the chair and paced a few times in front of the fireplace. The glow from the fire reflected on him. In jeans and a pullover sweater, he looked too sexy for her senses. She watched him move and her stomach tightened with each step he took. Moments later, he stopped and turned to face her. “I told you about Bane and Crystal, right?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

“What I didn’t tell you was how much their fiery relationship affected me. Bane loved Crystal with the passion and soul of a man beyond his years. I felt the love whenever he mentioned her or when he would look at her. We all did, and that worried us. In a way, I felt sorry for Mr. Newsome. The more he tried keeping them apart, the more they were determined to stay together at any cost.”