Under His Spell (9 page)

Of
course you know what it means, don’t be ridiculous
, she told herself as she drove to Lower
Manhattan to do her shopping.
 

But she didn’t really know.
 
Was this to be the test he’d mentioned
to her the other night?
 
He’d said
that soon it would be her turn to show him what she could do for him.
 

At the same time, Kennedy didn’t really know
what that meant.
 
Did he mean
sexually, emotionally, reading his mind—what?

Of
course he means sexually.
 
There’s
no other way to take any of this.
 
He invited you to a hotel room, so he wants to have sex.

Kennedy found a parking spot and got out
of the car, not even really noticing the traffic on the street, the people
bustling, the sounds and smells of the city.
 
She was too caught up in her problem,
more distracted than she’d ever been by any math problem she’d worked on at
MIT.

Easton didn’t make anything simple.
 
He played a very complicated game, and
he set the rules, changing them when it suited him.

As she walked to a store that she’d read
about online called Cosabella, Kennedy pursed her lips, her brow furrowed, only
half-seeing what was in front of her.
 

How
do you win a game where your opponent makes all the rules?
She wondered.

And then she was opening the door to the
boutique lingerie store, and a beautiful woman with curly dark hair asked her
if she needed assistance.

“Not right now,” Kennedy said,
smiling.
 
“I’m browsing for the
moment.”

“We’ve got plenty to see,” the woman
replied.
 
“Just let me know if you
need anything.”

Kennedy thanked her and then proceeded to
look for something suitable for the evening, not knowing if anything would be
necessary at all.
 
Still, she
thought, it never hurt to be prepared.

Cosabella was gorgeous inside, clean and
white walls with an array of brilliantly colored lingerie tops and bottoms
hanging in orderly fashion throughout the store, and white mannequins sporting
some of the most fashionable looks.

Kennedy started considering the
possibilities more earnestly.
 
Just
how sexy did she want to go?
 
How
risqué was she to play this evening with Easton?

Would the two of them go all the
way?
 
Was she ready to take it there
if he allowed her to call the shots?

As she stood in front of one particular
purple thong and bra combination, Kennedy pulled her lower lip
absentmindedly.
 
She thought the bra
would look good on her, but she needed to try it on.

She picked up the hangers and began
examining them more closely, imagining herself with those undergarments on, and
a little sexy outfit worn over them.
 
Would she be confident enough to take the reigns in the way that Easton
wanted her to, confident enough to anticipate his needs and desires?

Someone else had entered the store and
was speaking with the woman who worked there, but Kennedy was too lost in her
own thoughts to pay much attention.
 
She was still wondering if this was the right combination for her
wardrobe that night.

A moment later, footsteps approached and
she assumed it was the sales lady.
 
Turning, she said, “I think I’d like to try these on, please,” and then
was mortified to see Nicole Jameson standing there with a very odd look on her
face.

“I’m not going to stop you,” Nicole said,
arching an eyebrow.

Kennedy was totally thunderstruck.
 
“I—I don’t…what are you doing
here?”

“I could ask you the same question, but I
won’t,” Nicole said, smirking a little.
 
“Anyway,” she shrugged, looking around, “this is one of my favorite
stores in the city.
 
I love this
entire area, there are lovely little shops all along this street.”

“It is lovely,” Kennedy replied, still
knocked off balance by Nicole having appeared before her eyes like a genie from
a bottle.
 

Nicole seemed to be finding Kennedy’s
discomfort amusing.
 
“Shouldn’t you
be at work, anyway?”

“Well…no…ummm…Easton gave me the day
off.”

And
he told me to meet him at his hotel room tonight
.

“Day off, huh?”
 
Nicole nodded.
 
“Lucky you.”

“I wanted to work.
 
He said he had nothing for me, I’d
completed everything too quickly.”

This caused Nicole to laugh, and she
continued laughing until the few other people in the store were staring at
them.

“Wow, you must be good,” Nicole told
her.
 
“Really, really good.”

Kennedy waited for her sister’s laughter
to finally die down.
 
“Nicole, I
feel like maybe I should go.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, I feel like my presence
upsets you.
 
Obviously you came here
to shop in peace, I’d like to let you do that.”

Nicole crossed her arms and thought for a
moment.
 
“Nonsense,” she said, after
a long pause.
 
“In fact, give me
those.”
 
She grabbed the bra and
panties right out of Kennedy’s hands.

“What are you—“

Nicole turned and grabbed a similar pair
in green.
 
“Now we’ve both got what
we need,” she said, grinning wickedly.
 
“Come on, Kennedy, stop gawking at me like you just saw the ghost of
Christmas past.”

Nicole walked briskly to the register and
began paying for the clothes.

“Nicole,” Kennedy said, “I can’t let you
pay for everything.”

“Oh, hush.”
 

A moment later, the transaction was
complete and they were walking out into the cool, fresh air, Nicole handing
Kennedy her own separate bag.

“Thank you so much—you didn’t have
to do that.”

“I know, but I wanted to.”

They stood awkwardly outside the store,
the breeze ruffling Nicole’s beautiful hair as she watched the traffic passing
by.
 
Kennedy was filled with a
sudden sensation of pure love for her sister, and gratitude that she’d been
allowed even this one small moment with her.

Her eyes began leaking, and although she
tried to hide it, Nicole turned and saw her crying.

“What’s wrong?” Nicole said.
 
“I thought things were going well
between us,” she laughed, a little uncertainly.

“No, no, they are going well.”
 
Kennedy sniffled, trying to wipe the
tears away but they didn’t seem to want to stop coming.
 
“It’s just that I’m happy to see
you.
 
I know that’s ridiculous, but
it’s how I feel.”

“It’s not ridiculous,” Nicole told
her.
 
She looked up and down the
street, and then she started grinning.
 
“Come on,” she said.
 
“Let’s
get you a coffee or something.”

The two of them walked up to the corner
where a small coffee shop was located.
 
As they went inside and stood in a small line, Kennedy looked at Nicole
again.
 
“Where’s Riley?” she asked,
her eyes finally drying.

“Oh, Red wanted to have a father-daughter
day together, so he took her out to the park and I came here.”

They stepped up and ordered coffees.

“I’m paying for this,” Kennedy said.

“Don’t be silly,” Nicole said, starting
to pull out her card.

But this time Kennedy held firm.
 
“Nicole, I’m paying.”

“Okay, okay.”
 
Nicole sighed as Kennedy paid for their
drinks, and then afterwards she touched Kennedy’s forearm lightly.
 
“Thanks for that,” she said.

“You’re very welcome.”

They got their coffees and sat down at a
small table by the window, watching passersby and traffic for a little while.

Nicole sipped at her coffee and watched
Kennedy closely.
 
“Is it all right
for me to ask you about your parents—I mean, your adopted parents?”

“Sure, I don’t mind,” Kennedy said.

On the contrary, she was absolutely
thrilled that Nicole was even speaking to her, let alone showing interest in
her life.

“Were they nice to you?” Nicole asked.

Kennedy thought about it.
 
The question should’ve been easy, but
just lately, it no longer felt so easy to answer just what she thought of
them.
 
“I suppose, in their own way,
they were good to me.”

“Sounds complicated.”

“You read my mind.”
 
Kennedy blew on her coffee.
 
“The thing is, they were very
strict.
 
I’m not sure if it’s
because they thought that I was vulnerable to temptation because of where I
came from—but they were relentless in keeping me under their watch.”

“They were worried about you.”

“Yeah.”
 
Kennedy shrugged.
 
“I never questioned it until I found out
I was adopted, and now I look back and question absolutely everything that
happened to me.”

“But being adopted doesn’t change who you
are.
 
You’re still you.”

“I don’t know,” Kennedy said.
 
“I ended up at MIT because I assumed
that my parents knew what was best, that all the things they told me were
important and all the ways they pushed me—that those things meant
something because they were my parents and I belonged to them.”

“But then you realized that they’d kept
something from you,” Nicole said, “and that made you wonder if all your
assumptions about your life were based on lies.”

“I couldn’t have said it better myself,”
Kennedy smiled.

They sat in silence for a while, but
Kennedy was surprised to find that it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence.
 
It was so natural, as if they’d been
meeting like this for years.

“I’m sorry I judged you so harshly,”
Nicole said, out of the blue.

Kennedy sat back in her chair.
 
“It’s okay.
 
I don’t blame you.
 
What I did was pretty crazy.”

“Yeah, it was,” Nicole laughed.
 
“But still, I wasn’t fair to you.
 
I didn’t put myself in your shoes.
 
I was too upset that you’d come along
and spoiled the fantasy I had about Mom and Dad.”

“I’m sorry I hurt you.
 
I never intended—“

“It’s okay,” Nicole said.
 
“You didn’t do anything wrong.
 
None of this is your fault.”

“Thanks for saying that.”

“Just promise me that you’ll be more
honest with me from now on, not hide things until you feel like letting the cat
out of the bag.
 
Okay?” Nicole said.

A guilty pang shot through Kennedy’s
stomach as she thought about Easton, and the fact that they were pretending to
keep a professional relationship when it was nothing of the sort.

Should she now tell Nicole?
 
What effect would that have on Easton’s
career?

“I’m sorry I didn’t just tell you right
off the bat that I’m your sister,” Kennedy said, not knowing how else to
respond.

Nicole smiled at her.
 
“Well, you made life interesting for a
bit, but everything’s okay now.
 
It’s just a matter of adjusting.
 
And I’m great at adjusting, luckily for you.”

They got up and walked back to Kennedy’s
car together.
 

“Let’s do this again,” Nicole said.

“Really?” Kennedy asked, her heart so
happy she thought it might burst.

“Yes, really,” Nicole said.
 
“I had fun.
 
I want to see more of you, Kennedy.”

And then Kennedy couldn’t help
herself.
 
She threw her arms around
her sister and gave her a hug and didn’t let go for a long while.
 
Finally, she let Nicole go, and this
time it was Nicole who had leaky eyes.

“Should I call you?” Kennedy asked.

“I’ll call you.
 
But let’s do something this coming week,
okay?”

“Okay,” Kennedy replied, her smile so
wide her cheeks hurt.

Nicole started off, then turned around
briefly and called out to Kennedy.
 
“Hey!” she yelled.