Kiss Me Goodnight (12 page)

After an eternity sped by, he ended the kiss. He leaned against the sofa and put his arm around me, pulling me back with him. He picked up the TV remote and surfed the channels with me snuggled against his side.

“Tell me something about you, Lacey.” His scratchy command powered over those coming from the television, laying waste to any products I might have considered buying.

As a rule, I don’t talk about myself too much. Of course, by writing this, I’m totally breaking that rule. But I don’t have much practice opening up. Under the weight of his arm, I gave a miniscule shrug as I searched for something of substance that wasn’t too revealing. “I was a band nerd through middle and high school.”

He played with a ringlet of my hair. “I bet you were in the goth section.”

I tilted my head to see him. “Were you?”

“Nope. I played baseball in the summer and basketball in the winter. My musical activities were all extracurricular. I learned to play guitar my senior year because a girl I had a crush on thought guitar players were hot.”

I considered this. Our paths wouldn’t have crossed in high school. “What was the first song you learned?”

I expected something simple, like a nursery rhyme. That’s how I started out. This time, his shoulders rose and fell. “‘Endlessly, She Said.’ Turns out the girl wasn’t into AFI. That killed it for me.” He shifted so he could sprawl the length of the sofa with me tucked into his side. “Tell me a little about John. How old were you when you met him?”

I looked up at him again, checking to make sure he wasn’t analyzing me. His attention seemed to be on a commercial for a vacuum cleaner. I decided to take a gamble. “Six. He was my counselor. By the time I was eight, he’d married my mother. I guess having a crazy kid wasn’t a deal breaker for him.”

Dylan stroked my hair. “That had to be confusing for you. My parents were so in love with each other. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have a stepparent.”

Relating, that’s what he’s doing. Not fishing. I can handle this.
Though my hands tingled because of the topic, the urge to wash them hadn’t become pressing. “My parents’ relationship was over before it began. I never saw them do anything but tolerate one another. My mom and John are madly in love.” I think my father was in love with my stepmother, but I couldn’t be sure. That was too long ago for those memories to be reliable. They were tainted anyway, so I double-checked the locks on the door to those recollections and added another layer of reinforcement.

Dylan dropped that line of inquiry, and I was thankful. Too much pushing would have unintended consequences. He stroked a casual caress over my hair and down my arm. If we spoke again that night, neither of us said anything significant. I think it’s what we didn’t say that’s important.

Chapter Eight

T
HE
N
EXT
M
ORNING
, I woke up clutching my extra pillow to my chest. Dylan had left sometime around midnight. Before that, I’d fallen asleep on his shoulder, and I was pretty sure he’d drifted off as well. He awakened me and told me to lock the door behind him and go to bed.

My job as a sales representative meant I worked mostly in the afternoon. So I slept in, showered, and was dressed by eleven. Not bad. I had some paperwork to take care of before a meeting with a potential vendor. I wanted to have my homework done before I got there. It always impresses clients when I know a ton about their business without them having to tell me.

I checked in with the office, confirmed my schedule, and had lunch. My buzzer rang right about the time I finished off my bowl of mac and cheese. Like last night, I wasn’t expecting anybody. Unlike last night, I now had an idea about who would come to my apartment unannounced.

This time I checked the mirror before I went downstairs to let in my gentleman caller. I opened the door, and a saucy greeting died on my lips.

The man at my door was not Dylan. He was about the same height, but he had a slimmer build (though Dylan was pretty thin), light brown hair that curled at the ends, and hazel eyes. Dressed in a suit, he stood out in this area. Neighbors walking their dogs took a second look at him, then at me, probably speculating as to what kind of trouble I was in.

I spent a moment trying to place him, and then I remembered the goatee. “Mr. Pritchett?”

I hadn’t thought of him since the beginning of summer. A leftover bit of guilt pinged off the lower section of my spinal cord and radiated down my legs.

“Hi, Lacey. Can we talk?”

I shook my head. I didn’t want to have another conversation with Boss Junior. The past four months had gone pretty well where my worst compulsion was concerned. Now he was like a drug dealer who came to my door because I’d stopped coming to see him.
Please don’t offer me any free samples.

I offered a polite smile. “I have another job.”

With that, I tried to close the door, but he put his hand out and halted the momentum. He was stronger than he looked. I wondered what was going on behind his expensive suit.

He came closer, and I caught the spicy edge of his scent. With his face less than a foot from mine, I suddenly became aware of him as a man: a handsome, commanding presence that made my girly bits tingle. Four months ago, I’d dismissed him outright. Even though I had a serious crush on Dylan, today I couldn’t seem to look away from Junior’s penetrating hazel gaze. Hopefully he hadn’t come over to murder me.

“I’m not here to offer you a job. The company has been dismantled and sold. My father passed away this morning, and I came to ask you about some of the things you said the last time we met.”

My face flamed, and sympathy surged through me. “I didn’t mean it. I was upset, and that was a cruel thing to say. I’m sorry for your loss, and I’m sorry I maligned you and your father. None of it was true.”

His lips set in a hard line. He hovered over me like a dark cloud with a lightning bolt poised and pointed in my direction. “This isn’t a conversation I want to have in a hallway. Is there somewhere private we can meet to discuss this?”

“There’s nothing to discuss. I lied to you, and now I’ve apologized. I recognize that might be too little, too late, but it’s the best I can offer.” I didn’t want to invite him inside. What if he wanted revenge and I end up a Lacey ghost in a pool of blood?

He stepped back, probably realizing how threatening he appeared. He let go of the door and ran his hand through his hair, leaving it ruffled and adding a heaping dose of charm to his demeanor. “I’m not looking for an apology. My father did mess around on his wives. My mom was his third. They divorced when I was five, and we moved to Connecticut. I have two older half-sisters and a half-brother, and I heard rumors about a younger half-brother, but they turned out not to be true. Believe me when I say your accusations didn’t upset me. They just surprised me. That’s all.”

He wasn’t the only one suffering from shock. As I said before, I hadn’t pictured the late Mr. Pritchett as a womanizer. He hadn’t seemed like one of those creepy old leeches. He’d been nice to me, a bit fatherly. I’d liked him.

I’m not sure what about Thomas’s speech got to me, but I let him in. I cleared a corner of my dining table and offered him a seat. “Can I get you something to drink? I have orange juice, water, or I could make coffee.”

He shook his head. “I don’t want to put you to any trouble. I brought you something.” From his inside jacket pocket, he extracted a long, slim plastic bag.

I stared at it, recognizing the swab stick and sterile container from several police dramas I’ve watched. I sat across from him and scooted some papers out of my way. “Thomas, I lied to you. I swear your father is not my father. I knew my father. He died when I was six.”

He shook his head. “I don’t believe that. I think you’re afraid. I came to tell you not to be. If this test comes back positive, his estate owes you your fair share.”

I felt like an ass. I’ve lied plenty in my time, and some of the consequences haven’t been pleasant, but this is the first time I’ve felt like I went too far. Lying to a judge might seem like big potatoes, but it wasn’t personal. This was personal for Thomas.

The directions for obtaining the sample were easy to follow. I took the scraper out of the vial. “This is a waste of time and money.”

“It’s my money, and it’s not taking too much time.” He took a padded envelope from another pocket. It had a laboratory address filled in, and the postage had been prepaid. “If it comes back negative, no harm done. If it comes back positive, you’ll be able to claim part of his estate.”

I didn’t want to claim part of his estate. Shaking my head, I regarded him somberly. I’ve lied with ease for so many years, and now I’m telling the truth and having trouble convincing Thomas of that. Maybe if I come clean about my sordid past?

“Thomas, I lie. I’ve told lies since I was a little girl. It’s a compulsion, something I can’t stop. I do it when I’m stressed or anxious.” I wrung my hands together and let that washing motion bring me a little comfort. “I took a job in payroll because it seemed like it would be unexciting and not stressful. And it was until you came and started firing people. I knew the moment Alec said you’d been looking for me that you were going to fire me. I needed that job.”

He held up a hand. “I hadn’t planned to fire you that day. It was my intention to get into your records to figure out whether I should close completely or pare down costs and sell.”

Either way, I would have eventually been out of a job.

“When you got hysterical, I wasn’t sure how to handle the situation. My father was dying, and I was stuck in a place far from home. I don’t have family, not really, and I don’t have friends here. I just wanted to finish and get back to Connecticut.”

He’d managed his confusion nicely. I nodded. “So, you fired me and availed yourself of the files. Did you fire everybody?”

He shook his head. “After you stormed out, word got around. Within a week, over half the staff was gone. I sold it.” Lifting his hand, he indicated the swab stick I held. “If you’re my sister, you’re entitled to your portion. And that wasn’t Dad’s only holding. He liquidated most of his assets years ago. I don’t know why he held on to the distribution center so long.”

If he’d known he was coming to the end of his life, he’d probably wanted to simplify, but he hadn’t wanted to bow out of the game entirely. That did explain why such a wealthy man would show up at one lowly company once or twice each week. He’d wanted to remain connected to something.

I put the DNA test kit down. “I’m not your sister.”

“You said you’re a liar. How do I know you’re telling the truth?” His smile was encouraging and ironic. Did he find my confession funny? I revealed something to him that I’ve only relayed to a limited number of people. His lack of reaction was anticlimactic. Jane had cried. Luma hadn’t talked to me for three days. Thomas seemed to note the fact and move on.

I couldn’t afford to lie about this. “If you ask me if I’m telling the truth, I’ll give you an honest answer.”

He stroked the beard part of his goatee. “A DNA test will give a definitive answer. Anything you say won’t matter.”

I think the last time we met I’d been too overwrought and focused on my melodramatic lie to notice that Thomas was a truly frustrating man. For some reason, that insight made him even more attractive.

Setting down the test kit with an authoritative finality, I rose from my seat and took the two steps required to put me next to his chair. “Thomas, I am not your sister. We are not related. If we were, I wouldn’t do this.”

Splaying my fingers wide, I ran them across his cheeks and into his hair. It was short around the ears and longer on top, so my fingers didn’t disappear into anything thick or luxurious, but what I did encounter was soft.

He looked at me, curiosity morphing to shock. His hazel eyes smoldered with danger. “Lacey—”

Before he could protest, I touched my lips to his. They were silky and firm, and his goatee tickled against my face. I’d never kissed a man with facial hair before, and I have to admit I wasn’t expecting much. Wow, was I pleasantly surprised.

With a soft moan, I deepened my foray. Thomas took over, and tingles beat a path all the way to my toes. When I started this, I hadn’t thought it would be anything special.

Our kiss ended slowly, and I could tell he was as reluctant to part ways as I was. Bits of clouds floated around my head, and something firm pressed against my bottom. I looked up and realized Thomas had switched our positions.

He loomed over me, a handsome specter in an expensive suit, and his expression was grim. “Get the DNA test done, Lacey.”

That jarred me back to reality. “Thomas, I swear—”

“I know what you said, but I can’t get the image of you storming out of your office out of my memory. The next time I kiss you, I want there to be no doubts in my mind.”

He picked up a pencil and wrote on a file folder. “This is my cell number. I’ll be expecting a call in two weeks.”

With that, he left my apartment. I sat at the table for a long time, staring at the ten digits he’d scrawled on a folder that contained account information for The Majestic, my first client.

What did he mean by “next time”? He was planning to see me again if the test proved I wasn’t his half-sister? Did getting the test done mean I wanted to see Thomas again? What about Dylan? What if he decided he was over Nadia and wanted me?