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It struck me how natural it had become to think of her asKellywithout attaching theBenson.
Chapter 21
Adam
After Mom’s call,I downed half a glass of wine and refilled it, then filled another glass before joining Kelly on the couch.
The thought of her braless tits had tormented me during Mom’s call. The way they jiggled when she’d walked by had almost sent me through the roof. But then, any guy would have reacted that way, wouldn’t he? Problem was, I wasn’t any guy. I was the guy who’d seen her naked in the shower mere inches from me.
And Kelly’s line, “And what if that’s what I want?” had been an eleven on the seductiveness scale. I’d resisted her—I deserved a fucking medal for that, or the stupidest-fucker-in-town badge, maybe. The girl was one-hundred-percent female temptation.
I sat next to her and pulled her close. I stroked her side and accidentally caught a bit of side-boob while I was at it. Since she didn’t react, I didn’t stop. It was my first clear indication that her teasing came from mutual attraction.
The wine gave me the confidence to speak. “We need to talk.”
She placed a hand on my thigh,my freaking thigh. “You’ve said that before.”
It was a shitty start, but I sucked it up and went on. “You know our families haven’t liked each other for a while.”
She snorted. “More like outright war.”
“I like you, Sugarbear.” There, I’d said it. If I’d misread her, I’d hear about it soon enough.
Her hand stroked my thigh, getting my cock’s attention—more than I wanted at this point. “And I hope you know I like you too, Mr. Cartwright.” The name grated on me like fingernails on a chalkboard.
“That’s what I want to get past. I want you to think of me as Adam, and leave the Cartwright off.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean it that way.” Her finger drew little figure-eights on my thigh.
I drained my wine glass again. “And I want to start by apologizing for my family, my dad and my uncle in particular.”
“We shouldn’t focus on the older generation. Let’s get to you and Dennis.”
Fuck it, I’m not going there.“There’s a history between our fathers you don’t know, and frankly, it’s one I don’t think my family acknowledges either.”
“I don’t even know how it started, do you?”
I had to tiptoe around this and still get the thrust of it out. “Now I do.”
She waited for more of an explanation than that.
I gulped more of my wine. “It’s my uncle’s fault.”
“The FBI uncle?”
“Yeah, Uncle Jack did something that hurt your whole family, and that started this mess. My uncle screwed up your cousin’s kidnapping case. Your father blamed my uncle, thinking Uncle Jack had caused her death.”
“But now we know she’s not dead.”
“He still screwed up, though. If he’d hadn’t, she probably would have been back with her family.”
“Oh. I never heard Daddy talk about your uncle, just your father.”
“I think that’s because my father took my uncle’s side on it, and the back and forth just got worse. My dad didn’t understand the truth, at least I don’t think he did. I think now is the time to put it all behind us and move forward, with my family admitting our part in this.”
Her eyes held mine. “I don’t see how you’re to blame for anything just because you have an awful last name.”
I had to chuckle. “Only half as bad as yours. All kidding aside, when I heard my assignment would be to protect you, my first reaction was to pull out and hand it to someone else.”
