Cole

  “Charming here. You should have dinner with me tomorrow night. Ball gown and plastic slippers optional.”

  Her laugh was just as cute through the phone.

  “Have to check my royal appointment calendar.” She paused. “Is seven o’clock too late? I’ve got stuff to do after work.”

  “Stuff?”

  “Yep, princess stuff. O.K.. That’s getting old. I can be ready at seven, but if that’s too late—”

  “Seven it is. Good night, Kensington.”

  “Good night, Cole.”

  Chapter 9

  Kensington

  I looked back at the little girl on the pony. She was grinning so widely, I could see every tooth in her mouth, or at least the ones that the tooth fairy hadn’t run off with. “Ready, Darcy?” I asked.

  Most of the time, Darcy was locked up in her own world, but when she climbed up on Archie’s back, the rest of the world opened up to her. I spent three afternoons a week helping my friend, Trish, run a riding program for special needs kids. Trish had taught me to ride horses when I was barely tall enough to reach the stirrups. Darcy and I had bonded only with the magical help of Archie, the Shetland pony.

  I started to jog, and Archie picked up a slow trot. Darcy was belted onto the saddle but she had great balance. She clutched the reins and kept a broad smile plastered on her face. Occasionally, she’d let loose with a giggle or happy sigh.

  I smiled back at her. “You’re smiling so wide, Darcy. You look just like a grinning Jack-o-Lantern.”

  She made a point of widening her smile even more, letting me know she liked the comparison. According to her mom, eight-year-old Darcy could put together a five hundred piece jigsaw puzzle in an hour. And that was just one of her amazing talents.

  I slowed the pony to a walk and led him around the pen two more times. Darcy’s mom was looking at her watch, which meant it was time to end the ride. After this, Darcy would be whisked away to her violin lesson. She had trouble communicating and forming relationships with people, but when tucked back into her own quiet world, Darcy could do just about anything and do it better than most adults.

  Darcy was very insistent about climbing off the pony by herself. I held Archie steady, and she swung her little leg over and slid down to the ground. We walked Archie back to the barn. Darcy lifted her arms, which meant I could give her a hug. Some days she wasn’t in the mood, but this afternoon she’d been in a particularly friendly mood. We hugged and she let me hold her for longer than usual. Then, without another word, she followed her continually rushing mom to their car.

  Trish came out of the empty horse stall she’d converted into an office. “You mentioned you had a date tonight. Is it Nate?”

  Her reminder brought back the slight case of nerves I’d been feeling off and on all day. “It’s not Nate. His name is Cole.”

  Trish grabbed a brush for Archie’s tail. “Tell me. Give this old married woman a little something to fantasize about. Is he handsome?”

  “He’s definitely easy on the eyes. Probably a little rowdy and tattooed for my dad’s liking, but that’s all right. It’ll probably never get to the parent introduction stage. Oh, and this part will probably cause you to go all groupie crazy, since I know you love Black Thunder.”

  Trish looked around Archie’s butt at me. “What do you mean? Are you going to one of their concerts?” She put her hands on her hips. “How did I not hear about them having a concert? I thought they were semi-retired.”

  “Whoa there, relax lady, I was just going to mention that Cole, the guy I’m going out with, is Nicky King’s son.”

  Trish’s mouth dropped open. “Get. Out. Of. Here.”

  “That’s why I’m not counting on this as being anything more than a flashing flirt. He’s really charming and hot and funny. But I highly doubt he ever dates any girl longer than his attention span will allow.” I lifted Archie’s foot and cleaned his hoof. “Anyhow, it’s just one date.” I lowered the pony’s foot to the ground. “So, don’t bother asking for backstage passes. Didn’t you tell me you and your friends once got caught trying to break into the band’s dressing rooms?”

  “Ah yes, those were the days.” Trish dragged the brush through the pony’s tail. “The security guard carted us out on his golf cart. I was on the backseat, and when he came to a stop, I jumped off and ran out to the stadium to watch the show.”

  “You hardcore rowdy. If I ever go to jail, I sure hope you’re my cellmate.”

  I finished up with Archie and Trish returned to the office. She popped her head out before I left. “Have fun tonight, and I’ll want all the details.”

  My phone buzzed as I headed to the car. It was a text from Nate. He’d left the party early and I’d stayed behind, but it hadn’t stopped him from texting twice to ask what I was doing tonight. “Want to go to a movie?”

  I decided to be blunt. “I’ve got a date.”

  His text came back as I climbed into the driver’s seat. “Are you still mad at me, baby?”

  I shook my head with a laugh as I texted back. “How does my date have anything to do with you? I’m not mad.” I nearly finished it with the part about not caring enough about him to be mad, but I held back.

  The phone rang and I sighed in frustration. But as I glanced at the screen, I saw it was Cole. I felt a flash of disappointment thinking he was calling to cancel. There was a lot of clamor in the background, voices, hammering, truck engines. “Hey, sorry about the noise. I’m on the construction site,” Cole spoke loudly into the phone. “Just checking that we’re still on for tonight. I sort of took advantage of your state of tequila-ness to ask you out. So I thought I’d make sure.”

  I caught a glimpse of myself in the rearview and realized I was smiling. I’d been doing that a lot since I’d met the man. “I’m not sure if there is such thing as a state of tequila-ness, but I was definitely drunk. I’m still planning on it. Unless you need to cancel.”

  “Nope, I will see you at seven. Oh, and Kensington, I’m looking really forward to it.”

  “Yeah, me too. See you soon.” I hung up, and there it was, the smile, still stuck on my face, just like Darcy’ permanent grin when she was in the saddle. Now my only real worry was setting myself up for disappointment because while the rest of my life always ran pretty darn smoothly, the romance end of it was always like opening up a beautifully wrapped gift and finding a new pair of socks. The only good thing was that I was growing used to finding the socks.

  Chapter 10

  Kensington

  Dad and Mom were in the dining room when I came downstairs. Mom had spent the last week trying to convince Dad to take her on a river cruise in Europe, but she was having a tough time of it. Which was unusual because she could normally talk him into anything.

  Dad was sitting in front of a half eaten steak and potato, shaking antacid tablets out of a bottle and onto his palm.

  “Is that a trendy new dessert, Dad?”

  He looked up and did a double take of my outfit. My dress was admittedly a little short, ending just above mid thigh, but I was feeling especially flirtatious. I’d even pulled on my cowboy boots.

  “You mom is giving me indigestion,” he complained.

  “Oh, John, you do like to exaggerate. The reason you keep getting indigestion is because you never take a break from work.”

  Dad grumbled in agreement and chewed his tablet like a cow with cud. “That’s an interesting outfit for a first date. Now, who did you say this man was?”

  I plucked a dinner roll from the basket and pulled up a chair. “I really didn’t say. He’s living on the property next door.”

  “What?” Mom placed her hand against her chest to punctuate her shock. “Those motorcycle hoodlums from next door?”

  I laughed. “You know between dad’s hooligans and cu
rmudgeon and your hoodlums, you two could really revive the old fifties family sitcoms. And, Cole is not a hoodlum. He rides motorcycles for sport. His dad owns the property. Cole runs the family construction business, Kingston Construction.”

  Dad’s look of worry turned to interest. “Really? The company that’s building the casino? Well then, that’s better.”

  “Oh, so now that he’s not a hoodlum and he works for a big company, he’s on your approved date list?” I bit off a piece of roll.

  “Well, when you put it that way, it sounds a little shallow, but yes.” He popped another chalky disc into his mouth and pressed his fist against his chest.

  “Dad, you need to go to a doctor and make sure you’re not getting an ulcer.”

  He waved off my concern. “I wonder who owns that property now.” He laughed. “You’ll never guess who used to own it. In fact, he even tried to start a vineyard.”

  “Nicky King?” I asked.

  “Yes. How did you know?” Dad asked.

  “Nicky King,” Mom said, suddenly looking a little starry-eyed. “He always had the most wonderful British accent. His tight leather pants were rather wonderful too.”

  Dad cast an annoyed brow lift her direction. “I’m sure he still has the accent . . . and the pants, no doubt. I never did hear who bought the property from him.”

  I got up from the chair and kissed Dad’s forehead. “That’s because he never sold it.”

  I walked around the table to give Mom a kiss and allow Dad time to absorb everything.

  Mom turned her cream covered cheek toward me and I kissed her.

  “Kensington Rae, are you telling me you are going out with Nicky King’s son?” It always made me smile when he felt the need to use my middle name. Something told me images of the hoodlum were floating back into his head.

  “Yes I am.”

  He reached for the antacid bottle.

  “Dad, don’t worry. You know how short-lived my relationships are. It probably won’t go past this first date.”

  Chapter 11

  Kensington

  Cole turned the truck and headed along the onramp. He’d put on a nice blue shirt and jeans. Even though my dad’s eyes had nearly popped from his skull at the tattoos running along Cole’s neck and forearms, he was quickly calmed by Cole’s affable personality. Cole had my mom blushing like a schoolgirl as well.

  “I guess I should have warned you that the parents were around. But you did good. You’ve got that confidence thing going on, and my dad likes that.”

  “He seems like a cool guy,” Cole said.

  “Yep, if you like the sweater wearing, golf cart driving, one scotch in the evening type, then my dad’s the guy.”

  “See, I could use the same sentence for my dad . . . with a few tweaks, of course. If you like the skin tight leather pants, Lamborghini driving, one scotch in the morning with eggs and the rest throughout the day type, then my dad’s your man.”

  “See, they are almost two peas in a pod. I can’t complain though. My dad’s always been one of my closest friends.”

  “For as little as I saw my dad growing up, we’re really close too.” Cole reached forward and turned up the music. “This truck is kind of noisy when it gets going faster than fifty.”

  We were heading south toward San Diego. “Exactly where are we going?” I asked. “I just threw on this dress and my boots because I wasn’t sure,” I said it casually as if I hadn’t agonized over what to wear for an hour. Suddenly, I was back at sixteen when I’d first started dating, and everything, including the flavor of lip gloss, had to be carefully thought out. Cole had brought that excitement out again, and I hoped it would last. At least for awhile.

  “I can’t tell you yet,” Cole answered. “But I think you’ll like it. Or, at least I hope you will.” He glanced briefly my direction. “And the dress, like the princess dress, is fucking perfect. I have to admit, I’ve been kind of nervous about this date.”

  “Nervous? You? With the way you handled meeting my parents, you must be an impenetrable steel wall when you’re feeling confident.”

  “I wasn’t nervous about meeting your parents. It’s you who I want to impress.”

  He pulled off the freeway. The night sky was just turning from slate gray to black and a light fog had covered Pacific Coast Highway. “Are we heading to the beach?”

  “We are. Is that all right?”

  I looked down at my mostly bare legs. “Might be a little cold, but I guess I’m tough enough to handle it.”

  “Well, we’re going to the beach, but we won’t be directly on the sand. My Uncle Nolan has a place down here. It’s a little bungalow right on the beach.”

  “Nolan? Isn’t that the name of Black Thunder’s drummer?”

  “Yeah, that’s him. We call him Uncle Nolan even though he’s not really related. Dad’s band has always been more family to us than any of our real relatives.” He turned on one of the many small streets that led down to the beach.

  Damp, salty air crept in through the vents on the truck, and I wrapped my arms around myself.

  “Are you cold?” Cole asked.

  I shook my head. “Not really. Just rendered completely wimpy by the constant high temperatures at home. I always forget it’s way cooler down here.”

  Cole pulled up behind a garage that was attached to a beach cottage. It was small and the paint and wood siding were weathered, but in this location it was worth a lot of money.

  We climbed out of the car. Cole walked around to my side and offered me his arm.

  “And they say chivalry is dead,” I quipped. We were both a little stiff and nervous and it made me want to laugh. We walked up to the door which had been painted forest green. Cole unlocked it, and we stepped inside.

  A small, round table had been set in front of the picture window overlooking the beach. Pink and yellow flowers flowed from a blue vase in the center of the table, surrounded by sparkling white china and polished silver. There was a bottle of wine in a cooler.

  I stood there shell shocked, trying to decide if anyone had ever gone to this kind of trouble for me before. The closest I could come up with was a boy named Trevor, who I’d dated in my senior year of high school. He’d had a bouquet of red metallic balloons delivered to my homeroom class on Valentine’s Day.

  Cole walked over and lit two candles. He smiled my direction. “Well?”

  “You, sir, are totally getting that kiss tonight.”

  Chapter 12

  Cole

  We’d finished dinner and taken our glasses of wine and a blanket out to the small yard that overlooked the Pacific Ocean. We’d talked and laughed through the entire meal, and all I could think was that I didn’t want to blow it with this girl. I’d dated a lot of women, too many to count, following, not necessarily so proudly, in my dad’s footsteps. But Kensington was different. I wondered if this was how Jude had felt when he’d met Eden. I could remember him stomping around in an even darker mood than usual after Eden had moved in to be Finley’s companion. I hadn’t understood it right away, but it didn’t take me too long to figure out that my brother had been trying futilely to fight his feelings for Eden. I wasn’t going to fight my feelings for Kensington, but I was going to fight like hell to keep her interested.

  Kensington sat and held her wineglass between her hands as she stared out at the ocean. Her button nose twitched as a long strand of dark hair curled across her face. She pushed it back behind her ear, and I stared at the side of her face, thinking she was perfect from every angle. I gazed at her, thinking just how fucking perfect she’d feel in my arms.

  I sat next to her on the small wall lining the back of the house. She pressed her leg against mine as she scooted closer to me for warmth. I wrapped the blanket around our shoulders.

  “Ooh
, you’re like hot coals,” she said and pressed closer. “Hey, an unintended pun.”

  “Yep, it’s part of my plan.”

  “You planned body warmth? Then, well done. Just like the meal. Thank you for that. I really enjoyed it.”

  “My pleasure.”

  Her nearness was definitely having a profound effect on me. I was impressing the hell out of myself. Self-control around a beautiful girl had never been my strong suit.

  She scooted her feet closer to the wall to keep her bare legs under the warmth of the blanket. “I know what I was going to ask you. On the way to the bathroom, I stopped to look at some of the pictures hanging in the hallway. There was one of you when you were young, maybe eight.” She paused and looked over at me. “You were such a cutie, by the way. Anyhow, you were out on the beach in front of this house with your dad and Jude and Finley. There was another little girl in your dad’s arms. She looked a lot like Finley.”

  It always took me a few seconds to relieve the ache in my throat when I thought about Chloe. “That was our sister, Chloe. She died when we were kids. I can honestly say it was the darkest period in our lives, and with my dad’s fame, we’ve gone through some heavy rough patches. Including the few years when Finley had bound herself to the house, a prisoner of her own anxiety. Chloe’s death had something to do with Fin’s panic disorder. Fin had caught a flu at school and Chloe caught it from Finley.” I stared out at the water and thought about the summer when that picture was taken. Chloe would sit for hours building sandcastles for her dolls. “Chloe was always quiet. She was a thinker. You could always see the little gears churning behind her blue eyes. She was always pale and thin compared to Finley. She just couldn’t fight the flu.” I’d drifted off back to that time, but I could feel Kensington sitting next to me, listening to every word.

  I sat quietly for a second trying to remember if I’d ever talked about Chloe’s death to anyone other than my dad. The waves rustled against the shoreline, and in the distance, someone was playing music. The briny breeze flowed steady over the sand. “I still remember my dad’s face when the paramedics took Chloe out to the ambulance. His skin was this awful gray color, and his eyes were sunken deep in his face. I was scared he was going to fade away and die too. Finley’s mom took off not long after that. Said she couldn’t bear being around the house where Chloe had gotten sick. Fin blamed herself for her mom leaving.”