Private Parts (4 page)

“Y
OU’RE IN A GOOD MOOD
.”

Kendall’s face was tilted up toward the tall ceiling of the Lloyd Center Mall back home in Portland, an hour-and-a-half drive from Earnest, marveling at the holiday decorations with all the wonder of one of her sister’s two children.

Well, that would be true if four-year-old Mason wasn’t yanking on his mother’s leg, chanting the mantra, “I want the train, Mommy, I want the train,” and if two-year-old Matilda weren’t strapped into her stroller screaming at the top of her lungs that she didn’t want to see Santa, looking like she was a growl away from turning her head three-hundred-and-sixty degrees.

Amazingly, Celia not only appeared unbothered by her children’s demands, she looked…calm.

“I am happy,” Kendall said with a wide smile.

And she was.

She’d woken up this morning in a tangle of bedding, Troy long gone but somehow still there, with her.

Last night…last night…

She found herself curiously without words. So she sighed instead.

“Okay, who is he, how long have you been seeing him and where does he work?” Celia asked.

While Kendall blinked at the question, her sister didn’t miss a beat, wiping the tears from her daughter’s red face and offering her a teething ring, before she handed Mason a toy train from a bag on the back of the stroller.

“Whatever do you mean?” Kendall asked, batting her eyes.

Celia laughed as they continued on, both children instantly, thankfully silent. “I figure it’s either a guy or a juicy case. And since I already know that you’re working a run-of-the-mill contract closing, it’s got to be a guy.”

“Since when have I been this happy about a guy?”

Celia’s steps slowed as she took her in. “You’re right. So who is he?”

Kendall laughed. She leaned over, unfastened her niece from her harness, and lifted the fussy toddler up into her arms.

“Oh, don’t think a kid on your hip is going to
encourage me to change the subject,” her sister warned.

Kendall pointedly talked to the two-year-old about overbearing older siblings and all the fun she had to look forward to being the younger child.

The Banks family wasn’t large. Only their mother, father and the two girls. But what it lacked in size, it made up for in love. Kendall was hard pressed to remember a birthday, a holiday, a Sunday dinner they hadn’t spent together. She was sure there had to be a few, but it was never because they didn’t want to be together.

Laughter. There was and had always been a lot of it. Through life’s highs and lows, scraped knees and broken hearts. Celia’s marriage five years ago to her high school sweetheart and their father’s business woes. They remained a cohesive unit, there for each other through every twist and turn.

And they always shared everything.

Which made Kendall’s desire to keep Troy all to herself all the more curious.

“Give,” Celia demanded.

“There’s really nothing to give,” she admitted.

Because she’d gotten what she wanted. Sex. That’s what she’d proposed to Troy. And that’s what she’d gotten. Pure and simple.

Only there was nothing simple about it. What he’d done last night…

She shivered merely thinking about.

“I’m waiting,” her sister reminded her.

Kendall strapped little Matilda back into her stroller. “Are we shopping or are we playing twenty questions?”

“Both.”

She laughed. “Yes, well, this is just going to have to be one of those times when you don’t get what you want, Cel. Now, where did you say that green sweater was that you wanted to get for Dad?”

Her sister looked at her long and hard, and then a slow smile spread across her face.

“What?” Kendall asked.

Celia shook her head. “Nothing.”

“Don’t give me nothing. You’re obviously thinking something. That evil expression is giving you away.”

“There’s nothing evil about my thoughts or my expression.”

“That’s up to interpretation.”

“It’s just that…”

Kendall waited as her sister steered the stroller into a department store.

“Well, I’ve been waiting forever for you to meet the guy who will do exactly what this one has done.”

She held her hand up to ward Celia off. “Let’s pretend for a minute that what you just said makes sense. Which it doesn’t. What has this supposed guy ‘done’ to me?”

“He’s made you speechless.”

Kendall stopped in the entryway, blocking the way for others, and stared at her sister open-mouthed.

Celia pointed a finger at her. “Got you.”

“W
E NEED TO DISCUSS THE
progress on the holiday open house.”

Troy sat at the dining room table sharing Sunday brunch with the rest of the family, his mind everywhere but on eggs Benedict or the fruit he’d just placed on a side plate, much less the Christmas party the Metaxas hosted at the house every year.

Well, maybe everywhere was an exaggeration. Unless that everywhere led straight to Kendall Banks’s long, sexy legs. Essentially where all roads of thought led to ever since he’d given in to temptation and gone to the bed-and-breakfast the other night.

What was he talking about? He’d been distracted ever since meeting her in the diner Wednesday morning.

His cousin Bryna checked her notes. “We still haven’t decided on the main item for the gift bags.”

“Cookies,” Troy said.

Bryna leveled an impatient gaze at him. “We already voted against cookies, remember? Besides, we agreed that Miss Thekla can’t possibly be expected to make dozens of cookies between now and then and also cook for everyone as well.”

Troy looked at his watch for the fifth time in as many minutes. He hadn’t liked the way he’d left Kendall’s room Friday night. Thanks to Mrs. Foss, he’d virtually catapulted from the bed, rushing from here to there looking for his clothes, his greatest fear running into the crotchety old woman on his way out. He’d even stubbed his toe against a chair leg.

Kendall had stayed in bed, not bothering to cover her luscious breasts as she’d lain watching him, plainly amused. “Are you sure you want to leave when there’s a perfectly good place for you to sleep right here?” she’d asked.

That had caught him up short. Made him realize what an ass he was being. While she was apparently used to men rushing around her bedroom half dressed and half out of their mind, he wasn’t.

“I’m sorry,” Ari said at his elbow. “Is there somewhere more important you have to be?”

“Actually, there is. I wanted to go to the office to go over those numbers Philippidis faxed through late Friday.”

“Even you have to take time out to eat,” his father said.

He indicated his plate. “I’m eating.”

“So while you’re eating, we talk.”

He should have known better than to challenge any of his family members over food. Greeks loved their meals. The larger and longer the better. And
trying to wiggle out of them was to invite a penalty worse than death.

“Fine,” he said. “Where does everything stand on the decorations?”

“The Berman brothers are coming over tomorrow to start work.”

“Supervising?”

Ari sipped from his coffee cup. “Frixos.”

“Do you think he can handle it? Remember last year they put up red lights instead of clear because Mr. Frixos couldn’t tell the difference between the two,” Bryna said.

“I don’t think it’s a mistake they’ll be making again,” Troy pointed out. “Besides, none of us can spare the time.”

“Because?” Bryna asked.

“Because we’re going over the contract again tomorrow, section three, paragraphs four, five and nine.”

She gave an exaggerated eye roll. “Surely it can’t take all day?”

Troy stared at her.

“Fine. Fine.”

Ari’s fiancée Elena quietly cleared her throat. “I can supervise, if you like. Just give me the work order. If I have any questions, I can always call Ari.”

“Or me,” Troy’s father spoke up.

Everyone looked at him. Interestingly, none of
them had thought of asking him to oversee the work, even though he was the one with the most time on his hands. He’d withdrawn so much as to be little more than a ghost away from the dining table.

“In fact,” he said, “why don’t I help Elena? I’m sure between the two of us, we’ll have this place looking tip-top in no time.”

The two shared a smile.

“Buffet,” Troy tossed out.

“Who’s leading this meeting?” Bryna asked. “You or me?”

Troy made a sweeping gesture. “Be my guest.”

His cousin glowered briefly before going into a detailed monologue of those items that they wanted that Miss Thekla said she could make, and others that they would have brought in and handled by the caterers they’d hired for the night.

“Do you have the contract yet?” Troy asked.

“Are you back to business again?” Bryna asked.

“The caterers. Surely there’s a contract involved.”

“Oh.” Bryna looked through her file.

Ari sat back. “They’re coming by the office Tuesday with it,” he reminded her.

She looked instantly relieved. “Good.”

“Of course,” Troy said, “you’ll want to make sure you read the fine print clearly—”

A collective groan made him grimace.

“Just sayin’.”

“Yes, well, you’re always just saying.” Bryna sighed.

Troy finished off what he could of his eggs and reached for his coffee cup.

Ari smirked. “If we could just get the guy laid, maybe he would lighten up a little.”

The coffee cup in Troy’s hand slipped and nearly catapulted across the table toward his cousin. Bryna gasped and jumped up, little speckles of black liquid across her white blouse.

“Butterfingers,” she said.

His dad handed her his napkin, Elena went off to see if she could scare up a bottle of club soda from Miss Thekla and Ari…

Ari was grinning at Troy as if he, and only he, were in possession of a big, juicy secret.

Troy squinted at him.

“Okay, apparently things are well in hand,” he said, getting quickly to his feet. “So you won’t mind if I excuse myself.”

Silence followed his departure, then Bryna said, “What’s up with him?”

His footsteps slowed as he willed his brother to keep his thoughts to himself. “Oh, I don’t know. You know Troy. Probably he’s having wet dreams about this contract…”

He released a sigh of relief and continued on toward the door and sweet escape.

T
HE FOLLOWING
M
ONDAY
afternoon in the Metaxas meeting room, Kendall watched Troy go over the contested contract points with strength and confidence. Damn, but the man was hot.

“Kendall?”

“Hmm?” She looked to Troy’s brother, who sat at her right.

“What do you think? Surely Philippidis won’t like the revision.”

She twisted her lips. “Philippidis never likes anything that isn’t to his advantage.”

Quiet laughs from around the table.

“I’ll advise him of your wishes and get back to you,” she said.

She wasn’t sure when it had happened, but sometime over the past week she’d come to feel more a part of the team surrounding her than Manolis
Philippidis’s. But he was her client. Which meant she was obligated to put him and his interests first.

So far, she’d been given carte blanche, with any inquiries she consulted him about lobbed back at her to handle as she deemed best.

The problem with that was that her loyalties were shifting. And staring at the man responsible for the change like she had just gotten out of his bed and wanted nothing but to jump back into it wasn’t going to help matters any.

She cleared her throat. “Now, I do think we need to take a closer look at page thirty-three, Paragraph two…” she directed.

The fact that a man was swaying her emotions during a negotiation didn’t bother her as much as it should have. She was coming to recognize that the people around him were as much to credit. His brother Ari was as shrewd as Troy, but willingly sat back when he surged ahead, giving him the front seat without argument, even if his handsome face mirrored his amusement. What was also always there was respect. Not merely from Ari, but from everyone there.

She’d never met Caleb Payne before this. But she’d since done a little snooping within the Philippidis organization and understood that while Caleb had served in a consultant capacity over the years, Manolis had considered him his right-hand man.

Watching Caleb now interact with Troy with enthusiasm and deference spoke volumes.

And the fact that her mind kept traveling back to the other night quite possibly had more than a little to do with it. Talk about hot!

The meeting began to break up. Kendall found herself immediately seeking out Troy’s gaze. She hadn’t spoken to him since their Friday night activities. And found she wanted to almost desperately. If only to have his full attention on her for a few, uninterrupted moments.

“Okay, everyone, let’s break for the day,” Troy finally said.

But instead of looking at her, as she’d hoped, he gathered his things together and spoke quietly to his brother, inching his way toward the door.

Kendall scrawled a note on the corner of her pad, tore it from the page and casually got to her feet. Nodding to the others, she walked over to the coffee set up on a table near the door.

“Oh, excuse me,” she murmured, working her way between the brothers and brushing ever so slightly against Troy as she did so. She registered his instant expression of surprise and smiled. “I, um, just wanted a bit of coffee while I finish up my notes.”

Ari tucked his chin against his chest, not doing a good job of hiding his amusement while Troy failed miserably at disguising his own emotions as he moved quickly back away from her.

She squashed a laugh as she discreetly tucked her note into Troy’s jacket pocket and then continued on toward the coffee table.

T
ROY WALKED TO HIS OFFICE
, ignoring the looks his brother gave him as he walked beside him.

“That’s one hot woman,” Ari commented.

Troy grimaced. “Yes, well, I’m sure Elena would appreciate you saying so.”

“I didn’t mean for me.”

He ducked inside his office. “Since when have you appointed yourself matchmaker?”

Ari prevented him from closing the door. “Since your sad lack of a love life has made you the dark cloud in the room.”

His brother squinted at him.

Troy scowled at him, afraid of what he might see if he looked a little too closely. “Don’t you have work to do?”

Ari grinned.

Troy shut the door in his face.

He should have smothered him when his parents first brought him home from the hospital.

He walked to his desk and checked his messages. Patience, his secretary, had left early to see to some appointment or another, so whatever questions he had or calls that needed to be made he’d have to see to on his own.

One of the messages was from a supplier who
had directed Patience to write DONE in all capital letters. At any other time, with any other supplier, he might have questioned what it meant. Not here. He knew it meant that his order had been cancelled and there was nothing further to discuss.

Of course, Troy had never learned to take no for an answer.

He put the messages down, his gaze catching on a familiar square of green. He picked up the envelope and turned it over as if it might bite him.

Hadn’t he thrown this out?

He sighed, deciding that Patience must have thought the unwanted holiday greetings from his ex-girlfriend and ex-friend had fallen into the garbage can and fished it back out for him.

How thoughtful of her.

He reached around his desk and threw it in the can again. Then drew in a deep breath and took it back out.

Oh, just open it and be over with it already, he ordered himself.

He worked his thumb under the gold seal on the back and then slid the card out. The front featured a black-and-white photograph of downtown Earnest during better times. He opened the card.

“Troy.”
It was Gail’s swirly handwriting.
“Ray and I hope you are doing well. We both miss you and would love to see you. Please accept our calls. Happy Holidays. Love, Gail.”

He stared at the words but they refused to make sense. She wasn’t possibly suggesting that bygones by bygones and the three of them should be friends? Not after all that had happened? He didn’t care if they had gone on to get married. His best friend had stolen his girl, and she’d gone willingly. As far as he was concerned, that’s where the story ended.

He leaned over and threw the card away for a final time and ran his hands over his face. What was the world coming to?

He dragged in a deep breath, his senses instantly filled with Kendall’s sweet scent. He stretched his neck and shoved his hands into his jacket pockets, feeling the desire for a nice, long run. Physical activity that would help relieve the tension that had built up between his shoulder blades and appeared to be going nowhere.

His fingers hit the edge of something in his pocket. Frowning, he pulled out a bit of lined yellow paper.

“Meet me at the Hideaway Motel at nine.”

Now that was one written request he would be happy to honor…

T
HE MOTEL WAS A REAL HOLE
in the wall a distance from town. Not that Troy didn’t already know that. He’d been there on a number of occasions in the past, related mostly to high school activities like homecoming and after-prom parties. But if the squat,
L-shaped twelve-room unit had been bad back then, it was even worse now.

He slowly pulled into the lot, asking himself for the fifth time in as many minutes if he was sure of what he was doing. To have slept with Kendall once was forgivable to a point—how long was a man expected to ignore such a hot invitation?—but going back for seconds…

Well, that negated his argument that what he’d shared with the attractive attorney amounted to a one-night stand. But since he’d never indulged in one before, he wasn’t sure what the rules were. Or if there even were rules.

Did a second time a relationship make?

He grimaced, spotting Kendall’s red sports car immediately between a twenty-year-old rusty pickup truck he was afraid he recognized and a plain sedan bearing Montana plates.

He parked and killed the engine but didn’t immediately get out. It wasn’t too late to turn back…

And do what? Torture himself with thoughts of his ex…or exes?

Ever since giving in to the temptation to read the greeting card from Gail and Ray, he’d been mulling over everything in his mind. Revisited memories that he’d thought were long forgotten.

But that didn’t matter. There was no forgiveness to be had in this case. He was betrayed. Plain and
simple. There was no going back. No changing events that were forever etched in the back of his mind.

And he certainly had no interest in rekindling a friendship with either one of them.

Okay, truth be told, he did miss Ray. But he put it down more to routine than any genuine emotion. Back then he and Ray had been closer than he and Ari had been. They’d run together nearly every morning, enjoyed beer and darts at the pub a couple of nights a week, and had been each other’s sounding board.

Then came that one fateful night that changed everything…

Muttering a low curse under his breath, he jerked open the car door and climbed out, scanning the closed windows and doors. Just because her car was parked in front of one room, didn’t mean she was in that particular room. Perhaps the truck had already been parked there and she’d taken the spot next to it? The same with the sedan. Hell, he was parked in front of a room and it wasn’t his.

The door directly in front of her car opened and she stepped into the doorway, leaning against the jamb and smiling at him suggestively.

Troy knew a moment of hesitation. Not because he was having second thoughts. Rather, he was amazed that the instant Kendall Banks entered the picture, all other thought was wiped from his mind.

She’d removed her suit jacket, but otherwise was
dressed much as she had been earlier at the mill. Her white blouse dipped low between her breasts and her pencil skirt drew his gaze to her narrow waist and her mile-long legs, legs made longer still by the stiletto pumps she had on.

“I wondered if the place scared you away,” she murmured as he drew closer.

He looked around him. “It didn’t always use to be this bad.”

“Oh? Come here a lot?”

He grinned. “Let’s just say that I’m…intimate with the place.”

She raised a brow, her golden hair a sexy halo around her face.

“When I was back in high school,” he admitted.

She smiled and moved from in front of the door. “At least you have memories of better times. Quite honestly, the place nearly scared me away.”

Troy closed the door behind him. She’d already drawn the curtains and rather than switching on the TV, she’d turned on the clock radio instead, the tinny sound of a Seattle jazz station filling the room along with occasional static, the result of a weak signal.

She’d stripped the bed of the spread and thrown the patterned navy and green polyester over a chair in the corner. The bed was covered in simple white sheets, the pillows fluffed and laid at odd angles.

“I had to call twice to get them to bring newer
sheets,” she said, walking around the other side of the bed.

“I bet.”

He was surprised she’d made the effort.

Then he noticed that housekeeping hadn’t been the only thing she’d been up to. A bottle of red wine was breathing on a nightstand, two glasses that didn’t belong anywhere near this seedy establishment placed next to it. And at least a dozen white candles of all sizes burned on either side of the bed, the only source of light in the room.

And if he wasn’t mistaken, fastened to the head-board were two straps.

He walked closer, examining the lengths of leather.

“Two of my belts,” she said quietly.

He stared at her.

Her smile looked decidedly devilish. “So are you ready to have the time of your life, Mr. Metaxas?”