A Second Chance (28 page)

“
Right. It was just sex. I
was hoping you would understand that.”

“
Got it.” He picked up his
plate. “Well I think I’ll go see how the party is going. See ya
‘round.”

That wasn’t exactly how Simone had
hoped that would go. She untangled her fingers realizing they were
almost numb now.

She deserved him to treat her like
that. She’d been very forthcoming with him, over too much champagne
on her yacht, that she’d bedded many men. Why she felt he needed to
know that she wasn’t sure. She’d left out the hefty part of the
tale though. Most of those men had been in her bed while she tried
to wrap her head around the fact that Zachary Benson had never seen
her as more than a sister or dear friend.

Lucky for her she loved him the same.
She was glad he and Regan had found each other and now had a
family. But that hadn’t changed her view on herself. Simone
Pierpont longed for what Zach now had. Love, marriage, and a
family. One piece didn’t really fit without the other.

She sucked in a breath. Had she not
made such an ass out of herself in front of Curtis and then ran off
without a word, stranding him on the Rivera to find his own way
home, perhaps she’d have just that.

Simone ran her hands over the slim
satin line of her dress, lingering only a moment on her jittery
stomach.

Well, she thought, at least she’d have
some of what Zach had.

Curtis lifted a glass of champagne
from the tray as he walked out into the garden. He drank it down
fast, the bubbles shot straight into his head. As another waiter
passed, he set it down and lifted another. He wasn’t on call at the
hospital for another two days, he’d surly be fine with a few more
glasses, especially now that Simone Pierpont had joined the
party.

She’d made her way out of the house he
noticed. She stood wrapped in his brother-in-law’s arms as his own
sister looked on lovingly. What an idiot he’d been thinking that it
was wise to have whisked her away that night. They’d taken their
first tumble right there behind the house.

He drank down that glass of champagne.
In all his life that hadn’t been his style. What in the hell had he
been thinking?

There lay the problem. He hadn’t been
thinking. Not with his head anyway. He hadn’t even realized his
brother had been dumped the next morning by his new wife and sent
off to find his ex-wife. No he’d fled the country on that damned
lovely yacht with a near perfect woman only to come home and find
his brother cuddled on his mother’s couch with the woman he’d once
been married to. Talk about a shock to the system.

He knew there was trouble headed his
way when he saw all three of them shift their heads and look at
him. Quickly, he finished the glass of champagne and blew out a
breath as he tried to focus on Zach walking to him. Things were
becoming a bit fuzzy.

“
Regan wants me to go in and
check on Tyler. Why don’t you walk with me.”

It wasn’t an invitation, Curtis
realized, but a request. He followed Zach up the stairs to the
small room where his nephew slept. Zach poked his head in and came
back with a smile.

“
She’s a bit paranoid with
all these people here, but he’s fine.”

“
Good,” Curtis said quickly
and turned for his retreat.

“
Why don’t we go down to the
study and have a drink.” Zach walked down the stairs and Curtis
reluctantly followed. He wasn’t sure another drink was a good idea
and when Zach shut the door he wasn’t sure being in the same room
with the man was either.

Zach moved to the liquor cabinet and
pulled open the doors. “I got a new bottle of whiskey last week
from Ireland. A business associate sent it to me. What do you
say?”

Curtis swallowed the words he really
was thinking and gave his brother-in-law a nod.

Zach poured them each two fingers full
and handed Curtis a sniffer.

“
To Carlos and
Madeline.”

“
To them,” Curtis said as he
threw back his drink and then blew out a fiery breath. Certainly,
it was going to take the next two days off work to sober
up.

“
Good stuff.” Zach looked in
his glass. “Want another?”

“
No.” That came out quickly
enough he thought. He needed to sit, but Zach was walking around
the room as if he needed to talk. Curtis tried to hold on to the
ground with his feet firmly planted, but the room was beginning to
tilt.

Zach sat on the edge of his desk. “I
was surprised to see Simone here tonight, weren’t you?”

Curtis shrugged. “Your house. Your
friend.”

“
She sure is. My dearest
friend in the world.” Zach nodded and then turned his eyes up to
him. “She seems a little nervous to be here. She’s never been
nervous.”

He shrugged again, but when his
shoulders fell he decided he needed to make it to the couch before
the room completely spun on him. “Maybe she’s uneasy being her for
another of Carlos’s weddings.” The thought made him laugh. Two
weddings in two months was that a record or something?

Zach moved to the seat across from the
couch where he’d landed and sat down. “It seems to us she’s a
little uneasy being around you.”

In his current state, Curtis
took that as an insult. Fine, if his sister and his brother-in-law
thought more of some rich French girl than they did of him. Him,
who saved lives every single day. Him, who on occasion, had been
known to save his own sister’s life, but that wasn’t something
anyone talked about anymore. Hell, he should be put on a back
burner just because of the sexy, leggy, raven haired, blue eyed
goddess who seemed to always show up unannounced. He completely
understood why
her
uneasiness was a problem.

No, no he didn’t.

He tried to focus his eyes. How many
glasses of champagne had he had before the whisky? Oh wait, with
more thought, he, Carlos, and Zach had already had a few shots
before the wedding. No wonder he couldn’t focus.

Zach sat back in his seat. “So what
went on between the two of you? Simone has never said, and Regan
and I have only speculated.”

Speculated? Who was Zach
kidding? They’d disappeared together for two weeks. Even the
hospital was
speculating
if he’d return.

Never in Curtis Keller’s entire life
had he blown off responsibility as he had with Simone, but damn, it
had felt good. It felt good until he woke up on the yacht and she
was gone.

The pattern in the carpet was making
him dizzy. He looked up and tried desperately to focus on the bow
tie of Zach’s tuxedo. “I know she’s very special to you, but you
don’t want details.”

Zach smiled with a slow nod. “You’re
right, I don’t need details. She is very special and,” he looked
around the room as if to make sure no one was there. “If you don’t
mind not telling her I said this, she’s a bit of a manizer.” That
seemed to strike Zach as funny and he laughed. “You know, like a
womanizer, only a manizer.”

“
I got it.” But it wasn’t
funny to him. “What about it?”

“
Well we were afraid she dug
her claws into you.”

That would be an understatement as
Curtis remembered it. “Don’t worry about me. I’m fine.”

“
Good. She’s going to be
staying here for a bit and we don’t want it to be awkward for
you.”

Curtis ran his tongue over his teeth
and then did it again. His tongue was numb. “I’ll be fine. I’ll be
working lots of shifts at the hospital so I won’t be hanging around
here too much.” At least not anymore.

“
You’re okay with
her?”

“
Sure.” Why wouldn’t he be?
No reason to get worked up just because a woman used you for a
quick romp. Really, he was more of a man than that.

“
Well I’d better get out to
the guests. Feel free to hang here and rest your head.”

Curtis acknowledged his generosity
with a grunt as he tipped his head back on the couch.

The house was quiet when he finally
pried open his eyes. Someone had laid a throw over him, Regan no
doubt. His head was throbbing and his mouth was desert
dry.

Curtis swung his feet to the floor and
stood slowly. Perhaps the caterers had left something in the
refrigerator. He could do with a sandwich on those senseless little
rolls they had served.

He stumbled to the kitchen, swung open
the refrigerator and the light illuminated the room. He winced and
realized he’d heard a stifled gasp of someone sitting at the
table.

Focused on the small figure at the
table he shut the door quickly. “Thought I was alone.”

“
I was hungry.” Her face was
coming into focus, but the accent alerted him to who the woman in
the dark was. She stood and started toward him. “I just came down
for a little snack. Can I make you something?”

He’d wanted to laugh as he wondered if
she’d ever had to fend for herself in her life. That wasn’t fair.
Obviously she’d made herself something to eat right there in the
kitchen.

“
I’m fine. Go finish your
snack.”

“
You’re angry with
me.”

“
You think?” He stepped back
from her as she approached. That expensive perfume which had
tangled with his senses the last time they stood in that kitchen
was playing games with his body again.

“
Curtis, I’m sorry. I meant
you no harm.” She moved closer to him in the dark.
“
Mon ami?”

“
Friends? Sure.” He turned
and reached into the cupboard for a glass. At the sink, he filled
it with water and felt it land in his stomach. He hadn’t slept on
that couch long enough to ward of the drunk he’d put on. “Damn,” he
said under his breath.

“
Are you all
right?”

“
Just hadn’t planned on
spending the night on my sister’s couch. I wanted to get
home.”

“
I’d be happy to give you a
ride.”

He lifted a brow. “You
drove?”

Simone cleared her throat. “You’ll be
pleased to know I have leased a car. I can drive.”

“
Hmm, well ain’t that
something.”

He thought he knew her well enough
that she’d have had a driver waiting in a car for beck and
call.

Even in the dark, he saw her
straighten. “You think I’m just some spoiled brat, don’t
you?”

“
Honey, if the high heeled
shoe fits…”

Her hand whizzed through the dark and
had he been sober he might have had a chance to block it before it
hit his cheek. The sting of it raced through his skin and a curse
flew from his lips. “Forget the ride. I’d rather walk
home.”

“
Why did I think you had
better manners than this?
Ju
idiote
.”

She stormed out of the kitchen. If she
was going to be around for a while, he’d have a few more chances of
pissing her off and that seemed just fine with him. Curtis rubbed
at the ache on his cheek.

Well the last thing he needed was for
his sister to see him be disrespectful to her houseguest. He’d call
a cab. He’d sleep off his drunk and in two days he’d be at the
hospital buried in broken bones, cut hands needing stitches, and
heart attacks. Suddenly it seemed more appealing than
ever.

Simone paced the floor of her bedroom.
Oh, he’d set her off and what made her angrier was that she
deserved it. Why had she thought things would just fall into place?
She had left him stranded on a yacht in the middle of nowhere. She
hadn’t had the decency to tell him she was leaving or provide for
him a way home. Zach had to wire him the money to make it back to
Tennessee and she’d heard that he was paying dearly for that at the
hospital.

She’d used her wealth to treat him
like a prince and then banish him like a pauper. Hadn’t he made it
clear to her that even though most people thought doctors were
self-righteous and rich, he wasn’t? Hadn’t he told her that he
spent more time at the hospital than he did in his little, poorly
decorated apartment? Those student loans were plenty and paychecks
weren’t, he’d said.

But she hadn’t expected to fall for
him.

Simone looked out over the dark garden
from her window and sighed. She’d spent so much of her life trying
to be in charge she didn’t know what to do when she felt the
control slip from her heart. The fact that she’d had many men on
that very yacht should have kept things in perspective, but they
hadn’t. Curtis Keller was the only one who had taken care of her on
that yacht and she didn’t know how to deal with it.

Sure, many men took care of her. Each
of them wanted a piece of what Simone Pierpont could offer them.
Curtis Keller asked for nothing.

They’d been thrown together as dates
for Carlos’s last wedding. They’d met a few times, but once the
bubbly started and the music slowed, things changed. She’d changed
in his arms that very night and she followed him to that little,
rundown apartment he called home, and she’d loved every moment
they’d spent there.