Don't Forget Me (6 page)

Kit turned toward the sound of the voice and saw a huge man standing behind her. His long black hair was pulled back by a bandana wrapped around his forehead. A thin moustache angled down on either side of his mouth, and he had a soul patch in the middle of his lower lip. He was the size of a small landslide. She fought the impulse to duck.

Deirdre nodded at him. “Kit, do you know Chico Burnside?”

Kit licked her lips. The man mountain looked vaguely familiar now that she got a good look at him. “I think we met once a while ago.”

Chico Burnside frowned slightly. “Kit Maldonado?”

“Right.”

He narrowed his eyes as if he were trying to remember her, then his mouth spread in a flat grin. “Yeah. You know my cousin.”

“I do? Who’s that?”

Chico pointed across the room and Kit turned just as the crowd parted slightly. Enough for her to see the one man she’d really hoped not to see again so soon, at least not until she was ready.

Golden skin, black hair, dancing eyes. A body with slim hips and broad shoulders. If memory served, he also had a light dusting of dark hair across the chest and just the right proportion of muscle to bone, along with a light touch that set her entire body on fire.

Why couldn’t fate have given him a beer belly and thinning hair by now? Why did he still look like sin on a stick?

“Nando Avrogado.” Kit sighed. “The cherry on the cake of my day.”

Nando leaned back in his chair, watching Clayton Delaney shoot pool. The kid was good, a lot better than he would have thought. He had that innocent choir boy look going for him too. Nobody had expected him to be able to clear the table his first time out.

Of course, it helped that he was playing the Steinbruner brothers, possibly the worst players in all of Konigsburg. As Nando looked on, Denny Steinbruner scratched for perhaps the fifth time. Probably a record for a single game.

Nando could see potential for Delaney in the future. If he could convince the kid to play innocent until he actually picked up a cue, they might be able to lay a few bets with tourists who expected all good pool players to look like Chico. Thinking of his cousin, Nando glanced over in his direction.

And felt karma’s teeth sink deep once again.

Kit Maldonado was staring at him from the bar, sitting next to the only woman in town who was in the same league with her in terms of looks, Deirdre Brandenburg. He was surprised the two of them side-by-side hadn’t reduced the entire bar to a simmering pool of testosterone.

Standing across from her, Chico gave him a faintly sardonic grin. Of course, Chico had been around during the Breakup From Hell, although he hadn’t known Kit. By now, he probably knew all the major details. Discretion wasn’t exactly prized in the Avrogado family.
Thanks, cuz. Your support is always appreciated.

Nando drew a deep breath and pushed himself up from the table. Only a jerk would postpone this meeting any longer, and Kit’s probable opinion to the contrary, he wasn’t really a jerk. He’d even managed to work up a sort of smile by the time he got to the bar. Not that Kit was doing much smiling herself.

“Hey, Kit,” he said, trying for something that sounded like enthusiasm. “I heard you were back in town.”

She gave him a sort of smile that involved pushing her lips up slightly at the ends. “Hi, Nando. Good to see you.”

That was, he thought, a patent lie, but they both let it go. “Visiting Allie?”

“Yeah, I finally finished my degree.” She gave a sort of shrug. Her whole body looked tense, almost rigid. He just hoped it was nerves rather than disgust.

“Good.” He nodded, trying desperately to think of something—anything—relevant to say. “Good deal.”

Kit’s face, that glorious, heart-stopping face, looked stiff. She kept glancing over his shoulder, as if something fascinating were happening at the pool tables. He had a feeling everybody at the bar was listening to this conversation. Too bad it was so boring.

“So how long are you staying?”

“A while. I’ve got a job at the Woodrose.”

Somehow he managed not to choke. “The Woodrose Inn? Outside of town?”

Kit nodded, her expression still perfectly blank. “That’s the one.”

“Oh. Well, great.” He felt like moaning. He’d managed to achieve a level of lameitude that exceeded even his own expectations.

“I guess you’re still with the police, right?” She picked up her beer, one perfect eyebrow arching.

Nando nodded. “Yeah. I’m on full-time now.”

Kit sipped, dropping her gaze to the bar. “Good for you. I know that’s what you were looking for.”

He tried to think of something else to say, something not totally inept. “Yeah. I guess everything’s worked out.”

He sensed a slight tensing in the bodies standing at the bar.
Okay, that probably didn’t sound the way I meant it
. “I mean, jobwise.”

Kit took another swallow of her beer, then set the glass back on the bar. “Thanks, Tom. This is good beer. Looks like you have a nice place here.”

Tom nodded, glancing back and forth between them quickly. “It has its points. Come back and see us again sometime.”

“Maybe I will. Time for me to walk back home. I’ve got to get to the Woodrose early tomorrow.”

She pushed away from the bar, giving Nando a slight nod and a smile that looked like a brief flex of muscles one step up from a grimace.

“You’re walking?” he blurted. “To Allie’s house?”

She narrowed her eyes, throwing him a cool glance. “It’s not that far. I can walk it.”

“It’s night. You shouldn’t be walking around Main.”

“That’s ridiculous.” She shook her head. “I’ve walked around Main my whole life.”

Tom Ames cleared his throat. “Actually, he’s right. Things are a little rougher around here at night. We’ve had a few problems with drunks over the past month. If you can wait a little while until the evening rush dies down, I can walk with you.”

Kit shook her head. “No, don’t do that. I can walk home by myself. Really. Don’t bother.” She turned toward Deirdre. “Tell him to stay here, okay?”

Deirdre shrugged. “He’s right, as a matter of fact. There was a mugging in the park last week. It’s really not as safe as it used to be, unfortunately.” She cast a quick look at Nando. “Not that the police aren’t doing a good job, but we’ve got a lot more people around town now than we did when you visited as a kid.”

“But I don’t want to take you away from your work, Tom.” Kit cast another slightly desperate glance around the bar.

“I’ll walk with you,” Nando muttered.

Her eyes widened slightly as her lips compressed. She looked as if she’d prefer taking her chances with the muggers.

He held her gaze for a moment, keeping his own desperation to a minimum. “You said it wouldn’t take long.”

She blew out a breath, then gave him another of those grimace smiles. “I think I can guarantee it’ll take no time at all.”

Kit wondered which of them would break first as they walked up the street. Actually it was more like a trot than a walk. Clearly, he didn’t want to be walking along Main at her side any more than she wanted him to be. Still, talking would probably have been an improvement over the strained silence between them. Except that she couldn’t think of a thing to say that didn’t sound idiotic.

When they reached the intersection of Firewheel Lane and Milam, Nando turned toward her. “I saw you in town.”

She stiffened. So he had seen her that afternoon. She took a breath, trying to think of some way to downplay the whole panic thing. “Oh?”

“Yeah, you were talking to Docia.”

Docia.
She blinked. “Oh. A couple of days ago.”

“Yeah. I should have said hello I guess. I didn’t…” He shook his head. “Look, we need to talk.”

Kit pulled herself up, wishing she had on heels that would bring her eye-to-eye with him. “About what?”

“We’re living in the same small town.” He sighed, stabbing his fingers through his hair. “We know the same people. We go to the same places. We’re going to run into each other regularly. We need to agree on how that’s going to go down, or people are going to start running in the other direction when they see us coming. I mean, you saw how everybody acted tonight—like we were going to explode or something.”

Kit’s jaw tightened. She wished she could see an error in his logic, but at the moment she couldn’t. “So?”

“So how about a truce?” Nando looked at her directly for the first time since they’d left the bar. She’d forgotten the depth of those brown eyes, sort of like black coffee. As she recalled, they turned to velvet when he was aroused.

Pull it together. Now.
“A truce involving what?”

“Polite conversation when we have to. Silence as long as we can do it without making other people uncomfortable.”

“Works for me.” She kept her gaze on his Adam’s apple.

He sighed. “All right then.”

She glanced up the street toward Aunt Allie’s house. “I can go on home by myself from here.”

He nodded. “Okay. I guess I’ll see you around.”

Not if I see you first.
She watched him start up the street, trying unsuccessfully to ignore the pinch of her conscience. “Nando.”

He half turned back. “What?”

“Thanks for walking me home.”

He nodded. In the dimness between the street lights it almost looked like he gave her a small grin. “
De nada.”
He turned and headed back up the street toward Main.

Chapter Four

Kit walked in the front door at Allie’s, telling herself she was perfectly okay. She’d seen Nando. She’d exchanged a few sentences. She’d escaped unscathed. More or less. She didn’t really feel nauseated. She wasn’t really short of breath.

Okay, it hadn’t exactly been her finest hour, but she’d gotten through it. And she’d managed not to show anybody how she felt about seeing him again. Her chest tightened, and she closed her eyes for a moment. Surprising how much it still hurt. It had been over a year, after all.

But there hadn’t been anyone else during that year, or no one else who made her feel the way Nando did. That mixture of ecstasy and terror, the certain knowledge that nothing that hot could last.

And she’d been right, of course. It wasn’t like he’d cheated on her just yesterday. It sure felt like it, though.

“Aunt Allie,” she called. “Are you here?”

“Here.” Allie’s voice drifted down the hall.

Kit saw a light in the kitchen. There was a faint thumping sound. She headed toward it.

Allie was seated on the floor, surrounded by pots and pans. Apparently she was rearranging the cabinets. Which Kit knew for a fact she’d already done only a couple of days ago.

“Hi,” she said, tentatively. “Need some help?”

Allie blew a lock of hair off her forehead. “I’d say yes, but I’m not sure what I’m doing yet. The way I set this up the other day just isn’t working. I can’t seem to get things exactly the way I want them to be.” She started rearranging the pot lids on a sliding rack.

“Steve’s not here?” Kit settled into a kitchen chair.

For a moment, Allie’s jaw tightened. Then she shrugged. “No. He went home for the evening.” She went back to rearranging the lids again.

Ooookay.
Kit leaned forward on the table. “I saw Janie this morning before I headed to the Woodrose.”

“Yeah?” Allie said absently. “What’s new with her?” She slid the rack back and forth slightly, narrowing her eyes.

“She says she’s got some more pictures of bridesmaid dresses to show you. You’re supposed to drop by the bookstore tomorrow when you get a chance.”

“What?” Allie stared at her, sliding the lid rack into the cabinet with a sudden clang. “Why? Why would she want me to do that?”

“She said she’d seen some nice dresses in this magazine and maybe they’d work…” Kit’s voice trailed off. “Is something wrong?”

Across from her, Allie’s hands were clasped so tightly on the floor in front of her that her knuckles showed white. Her eyes looked suspiciously bright. “She’s always trying to get me to make decisions on dresses when I’m not ready yet. I just wish everybody would back off on the whole wedding thing. Just back off for a while and give me room to think.”

Uh-oh.

Kit leaned forward in her chair, placing a hand on her aunt’s shoulder. “Aunt Allie, what’s happening? Did you call off the wedding? Did Steve?”

“Call off…” Allie stared at her blankly. “No, of course not. Why would I call off the wedding? The wedding’s great. Steve’s great. Everything’s great. I can’t wait for the wedding. Whenever we get around to it.”

“Get around to it?” Kit narrowed her eyes.

“Right. Well, I’ve just been so busy. The holidays, and then I went to that food festival in Florida. And I’ve got the cookbook coming out.” She licked her lips. “I’m sort of behind on my wedding planning. I haven’t done as much as I should. But, I mean, why would you think we weren’t getting married?”