When You Are Mine (3 page)

S
omeone in this elevator smelled good enough to eat.

A sexy-sweet scent of vanilla and brown sugar titillated Walsh’s sense of smell and taste. His mouth watered.

The heavy Tag Heuer watch wrapped around his wrist confirmed that he was late. Walsh bided his time in the packed elevator, revisiting every detail about Kerris from last night. Her face, her hair, her voice, the act of kindness he’d witnessed in the parking lot. Everything about her had haunted him since they’d left the scholars’ awards.

By the tenth floor, everyone had filed out of the elevator. Walsh was startled to see Kerris’s slight frame leaning against the wall, eyes closed. There was no flower in her hair today. Her dark jeans weren’t tight, but still hugged the lean, curvy lines of her petite figure.

“Kerris?” Walsh asked, afraid his half-horny imagination had conjured her up.

She jerked here eyes open wide.

“Walsh, what are you doing here?” She wore a white T-shirt emblazoned with the Walsh Foundation logo. Her dark wavy hair was caught in two low ponytails at her neck.

He couldn’t stop the smile that worked its way onto his face. Talk about oblivious. Here he’d been indulging in guilt-soaked fantasies about a woman not even five feet away from him.

“How’d you hide in an elevator?”

“There were a lot of people in here.” She grinned back, and it felt like they’d had this conversation a thousand times before. “I don’t have on my heels, so I guess I kind of got lost in the sauce.”

His deep-rumbled chuckle and her husky laugh met in the space separating them. Walsh felt it again; that invisible thread stretching between them. Electricity zipped up and down his body like a current on a power line.

“Okay, this is my floor.” Kerris smiled her good-bye.

“It’s my floor, too.”

He gestured for her to precede him into the children’s ward, catching a noseful of vanilla and brown sugar. How had he missed that last night when every other detail had played over and over in his head?

“You visiting someone in the children’s ward?” He paced his long steps to match her shorter ones.

“Actually, a few someones.” She slid a hand into her back pocket over the subtle swell of her bottom. “I volunteer here. We do crafts, mostly making jewelry. Necklaces, bracelets. Nothing fancy, but it seems to cheer them up.”

He nodded, searching his mind for something that would make her linger. She saved him from asking something truly idiotic with a question of her own.

“Are you visiting someone?”

“Yeah. Her name’s Iyani.” Walsh looked up the hall toward the little girl’s room. “She’s one of the kids from our orphanage in Kenya. She has a brain tumor. We thought it had been taken care of, but it’s back. The prognosis isn’t good, but I knew she’d have a better shot with the medical care here than there.”

“You really care about those kids, huh?” Kerris lobbed him an admiring glance.

“Of course. In addition to our own orphanages, there are several all over the world that we support. I’m involved with them all.”

“So you have a thing for orphans, huh?” Kerris’s smile drew him in and warmed him up. “Is that why you and Cam get along so well?”

“I don’t know what Cam told you, but things didn’t start off so smoothly with us.” Walsh couldn’t help but smile remembering his early years with Cam. “He was at one of our camps here in North Carolina. I was down from New York spending the summer with my mom. Cam and I hated each other immediately.”

“He didn’t tell me that part. Just that you guys ended up attached at the hip.”

“Men are not attached at the hip.” He scoffed with affronted male dignity. “But we were close by the end of the summer. A few fights, several pranks, and lots of trash talk later.”

“I know he feels really lucky to have found you and your family.”

“
We
felt lucky to find him. I always wanted a brother. He was it.”

An awkward silence fell between them when they realized their destinations would take them in different directions. Walsh knew that he shouldn’t, but he looked for an excuse to prolong…again.

“I know you have your crafts class, but do you have time to meet Iyani?”

“I’d love to.” She glanced at the watch on her wrist. “I have a few minutes.”

They entered the sterile room, both watching the little girl swallowed by the large hospital bed. Walsh made a note to brighten things up next time he came.

“Mr. Bennett!” Iyani stretched her IV’d arms toward him, like little wired pencils. “You came.”

“I told you I would.” He gave her a quick hug and a smile. “And I brought someone to meet you.”

Walsh noticed Kerris blinking away tears at the sight of the little girl whose smooth, dark skin contrasted against the stark white sheets like coffee against milk. Soft, dark curls were just starting to grow back on her smooth scalp, but a scar streaked its way along one side of her head like an angry lightning bolt. The other side looked swollen, the growth below pushing against the skin. In contrast to the battle-scarred head, her bright smile and shining eyes glowed with simple joy.

“She’s so pretty,” Iyani said in her softly accented voice.

“Well, I was just thinking the same thing about you.” Kerris’s smile widened when Iyani brightened even more under the faint praise.

“How are you feeling today, Iyani?” Walsh leaned in to drop a kiss on her forehead.

“I am good, Mr. Bennett,” she assured him with a vigorous nod. “A little tired from our long trip.”

“Did you enjoy your first plane ride?” He brushed his hand across hers.

“It was a lot of fun!” Iyani shared a heart-melting smile with Walsh and Kerris.

“Well, I think your doctor will be coming through in the next hour, so I thought I’d come hang out for a little while until then,” Walsh said.

“No more Uno.” Iyani left her voice serious, but her eyes laughed.

“I thought you loved Uno.” Walsh put on a mock-offended frown.

“Just so much…” Iyani scrunched her nose.

“We got bored on the plane, so we kind of played a little Uno,” Walsh explained to Kerris.

“Sounds like more than a little.” Kerris’s eyes teased him. “Well, Iyani, if you have some time, I’m about to meet some other little girls down the hall, and we’re going to make necklaces and bracelets and rings. Would you like to come?”

“Can I, Mr. Bennett? Please, please, please?” Iyani clasped her small hands together under her chin.

“Let me get this straight. You’d rather go make jewelry with a bunch of
girls
than hang out here with me and play Uno?”

“Yes! I mean…just this once?”

“I think it’ll be fine.” He laughed, hazarding a glance in Kerris’s direction. “Lead the way.”

“Oh, you’re…you’re coming with us?” Kerris’s smile slipped a little.

“Well, I’m responsible for this young lady. I need to see what she’s up to.”

An hour later, Walsh watched Kerris flit from one small, drawn figure to the next, helping them bead strings and glue on sparkly ornaments. She showed that same compassionate heart to these desperately sick children that he’d glimpsed with the sweet old lady.

He thought of the childhood she’d probably had, similar to Cam’s. This loving, generous, captivating woman had probably lived through hell and emerged like a butterfly with scorched wings. He wanted to pull his eyes away from the vibrancy of her, but he just couldn’t.

“Okay, kiddos.” Kerris passed her smile out to each of the girls. “I’ll see you on Tuesday.”

The gaggle of girls laughed and squealed their excitement, admiring their handmade treasures.

“Iyani.” Walsh reached for her hand. “Come on, sweetie. It’s time to meet Dr. Myer.”

Her small face fell. He knew that, for a little while, she had actually forgotten her reason for being in this hospital so far from home. Then she brightened and turned in Kerris’s loose embrace.

“Will you come again on Tuesday? We could make jewelry again.” Iyani’s eagerness and hope strained and stretched out of every pore.

“Sure will.” Kerris gave her a gentle squeeze and bent down to whisper in her ear, just loud enough for Walsh to hear. “And maybe I’ll see you before then. Would that be okay?”

Iyani offered a shy smile and nod, shuffling her feet under the stiff hospital gown.

“Iyani, we have to go,” Walsh reminded his small charge, glancing at Kerris. “I guess I’ll see you at the river later.”

“Maybe.” She pushed back a dark brown tendril that had slipped forward. “I have an appointment that could take a while.”

“What could be more important than lounging by the river?” Walsh knew he should just let her go, but between his genuine curiosity and his desire for a few more minutes with her, he couldn’t stop talking.

“Well, I’m opening a business.”

“Didn’t you just graduate last week?” His laugh provoked her to roll her eyes.

“Yes, but my roommate, Meredith, and I are opening a thrift store.”

“A thrift store? Like a Goodwill kind of thing?”

“Think a step above.” A defensive note entered her voice and pride tilted her chin. “Higher end, gently used stuff. Items that are excellent quality, and when first bought, were probably pretty expensive. When the wealthies are done with them, they pass ’em onto places like ours. And the wealthies’ gently used is usually
barely
used.”

“The wealthies, huh?” Walsh glanced down at his jeans, which probably cost as much as a small car payment, and figured he’d fall into that category. “That’s your term?”

“Yeah, my term, but I don’t mean it in a bad way.” She offered him a smile that stole any sting from her words. “Your family’s the best kind of wealthies. Not snobs. Always looking to help. I don’t resent people who have money.”

“I’ve never felt guilty about it. My grandpa Walsh taught me you shouldn’t feel guilty about having money. You should feel responsible, and make sure you do the right things with it.”

“He sounds like a very wise man.”

“He was.”

“Well, I’d better run.” Kerris ran her hand over Iyani’s hair as the girl waited, twisting the beads on her new bracelet. “We’re scoping out a few locations, and I’m already late.”

Walsh watched Kerris until she’d disappeared down the hall, but the images of her from the afternoon they’d spent together lingered in his mind. Laughing with the children. Patiently showing them how to make their precious jewelry. In his circles, most of the women had led a pretty privileged existence. Other than his mom and Jo, he’d never met one who gave as much as this woman, despite her having been given so little in life. The combination of her kindness, beauty, and sweetness filled his thoughts after he left Iyani and drove to meet his friends by the river.

When Walsh reached the riverbank, Cam, Jo, and even Sofie, his childhood friend from New York, along with the rest of their usual summer entourage, headed farther down the Eno River, looking for the rope they’d used to dive into the icy water years ago. Walsh passed, saying he’d grab a few winks and be ready to play when they returned. He spread out a blanket on the verdant grass, succumbing to the rest he’d been denying himself since he’d departed Wilson Airport in Nairobi two days ago. A dark-haired girl awaited him in his dreams, and she set his pulse pounding even in his sleep.

K
erris pulled her ancient car half in one space and half in another, barely pausing to lock the doors before dashing across the street to the bungalow where she saw her best friend’s Volkswagen. Something good was going to happen. She could feel it. Though you wouldn’t know it from Meredith’s face.

“Mer, you okay?” Kerris asked, thrown by the frown marring the delicate features of her usually optimistic friend.

“You’re late, and I’m about as nervous as a cat ready to be spaded.” Meredith held out one hand, loaded down with silver rings. “Look at my hands. They’re shaking, Kerris!”

“Calm down.” Kerris used the Zen voice she reserved for her friend’s high-strung nature, nothing she couldn’t handle. “We have a great concept. We have our business loan. And today, we’ll get our space. I have a good feeling about it.”

“We’d better.” Meredith ran a trembling hand down her face. “I want my parents off my back.”

Meredith’s parents wished their first-generation Japanese-American daughter had pursued one of the industries her siblings had obediently entered—computer programming, physics, or biochemistry. Meredith, to their dismay, had shown more interest in
Vogue
than the periodic table.

Freshman year, Kerris had been seeking work to pay her way through college when she’d seen the ad for hardworking, responsible students willing to clean. She’d been shocked to discover the owner of the cleaning business, Maid 4 U, was only two years her senior, and just as driven as she was. Now, between working together and sharing a small apartment not too far from campus, they were nearly inseparable.

“This will work, Mer. Your parents will be proud of you. I guarantee it.”

“Like I care about that.” Meredith rolled her eyes at Kerris’s knowing look. “Okay, so maybe I care a
little
about that.”

“Right. Just a little. Where’s the agent? I was late and I still beat him here.”

“Why were you late?” Meredith peered up the road, searching for the agent and rationing only half her attention for Kerris.

“Oh, I um, I had to go by the hospital, remember?”

Meredith’s radar was infallible. She always knew when Kerris was not being completely forthcoming. With a childhood haunted by dark, shadowy corners, there were lots of things Kerris didn’t want to discuss. Meredith had learned when to press and when to back away. Kerris’s expression must have led her to press.

“Something held you up there?” Meredith tilted her head, studying Kerris with telescopic intensity. Kerris always felt like the edges of her soul had been peeled back under that look.

“No, there was just this new little girl from Kenya.” Kerris forced herself to stand still on the bungalow porch. Maybe she could slide past without piquing Meredith’s interest further. “She’s the sweetest thing, but she has a brain tumor. She was in the crafts class, and I spent some extra time with her. Sorry I was late.”

“Kenya?” Meredith bit her bottom lip, a dangerous sign that she was working out a problem in her head. “How’d she end up here from Kenya?”

“Oh, Walsh brought her from the foundation’s orphanage.” Kerris leaned against a post, keeping her tone casual.

“Walsh? As in Walsh Bennett?” Meredith pounced, her dark, exotically tilted eyes lit with speculation. She twirled a lock of the plum-colored hair she had dyed and hacked into a stylish, blunt bob. “You didn’t tell me you were meeting him at the hospital.”

“Well, I didn’t go to meet him—”

“But he was there.”

“Well, yeah.” Kerris felt like a mouse lured into a trap by fake cheese. “He just happened to be there.”

“Hmmm, I’ve never met him in all the years he’s been coming to Rivermont.”

Kerris narrowed her eyes at her friend, unresponsive to her fishing.

“He’s hot, though.” Meredith dropped the words between them, curiosity etched on her pretty face.

“Really?” Kerris stripped her voice of all intonation, feigning interest in the still-empty road. “I hadn’t noticed.”

“Oh, come on. You’d have to be dead from the neck down not to notice him.”

That sounded about right. Dead from the neck down included the heart and all her arouseable girly parts, which had remained stubbornly unresponsive over the years.

“He’s Cam’s best friend. That’s all I need to know.” Kerris peered over Meredith’s shoulder at a car approaching, a Realtor logo on the side. “Hey, I think this is the agent. Ready?”

With one last assessing glance and a glint in her eye warning she wasn’t done digging, Meredith nodded. Her features set into the familiar mask of consummate professional and driven businesswoman that Kerris had come to know and love.

The smell of vanilla lured Walsh from the warm cocoon of much-needed sleep. That perfectly sweet scent shimmied up his nostrils and brought him around. He rolled over without opening his eyes, surprised to encounter something soft and warm. His eyes popped open, widening at the sight of Kerris, asleep on his blanket.

She’d pulled her knees up to her chest, and her small hands curled under her cheek. He studied the woman, wishing she wasn’t as spectacular as he’d remembered. He knew he should let her sleep. She’d been flagging even in the elevator this morning, leaning up against the wall dozing. But he couldn’t resist.

“Kerris.”

She blinked drowsily a few times before jumping when her eyes set on him, leaning over her.

“Walsh,” she said, eyes still languid. “Hope you don’t mind me plopping down here to wait for everybody to get back. I wasn’t sure where they’d gone, and I was so tired.”

“It’s fine. You were obviously as done as I was. How’d it go?”

“Go?” She blinked, sitting up and taking the elastic bands from the ponytails at her nape. Running her fingers through the heavy fall of hair, she let out a relieved breath. “Sorry. Those were tight. How’d what go?”

Walsh watched the thick hair tumbling over Kerris’s shoulders and down her back, forgetting that she’d asked a question. Her eyes slid away as she licked at that plump, raspberry-colored bottom lip, clearing her throat and squeezing her lips against her teeth. It finally sank in for Walsh that his extended silence was making her uncomfortable.

Idiot!

“Sorry. Um, how’d your appointment go?” Maybe his casual tone would distract her from the fact that he’d practically gobbled her up with one look. “Weren’t you considering some space for your thrift store?”

Enthusiasm for the venture lit her up. She talked about the property, sketching pictures in the air with her hands, bringing the retail space to life with her slim fingers.

Cam’s girl.

She stretched her pretty mouth into a wide smile, laughing through her description of the Realtor, who’d been late and eccentric.

Cam’s girl.

She bit the corner of her lip, pleating her brows with her calculations of what it would take to whip the space into shape.

Cam’s girl.

The reminder beat a guilty rhythm in his head, but he couldn’t stop watching, couldn’t stop wishing, couldn’t stop wanting to know everything about her…for himself. Not for Cam.

He felt like a cryptologist facing a magnificent strip of code, determined to crack it and understand the secret language he read in her guarded eyes.

“So, let me get this straight,” he said when she paused to draw a breath. “Instead of having professionals come in and do the remodeling work for your thrift shop—you said it’s called Déjà Vu, right? You’re asking for the money so you can do it yourselves?”

“They wouldn’t stretch the allowance like Meredith and I will.” Kerris’s hands finally stilled, clasping around her denim-clad knees. “And the money that’s going toward labor, we can use on our space. You know?”

“Can’t say I do. I like professionals doing the things they’re supposed to do, and me paying them to do it.”

“Only one of the many differences between us, I’m sure.” A wry smile tugged up one side of her mouth.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He sat up straighter on the shared blanket.

“No offense. It’s just the kind of response I’d expect from someone who doesn’t have to save money.”

“Not that again. You do realize this is reverse snobbism, right?”

“Wait,
you’re
calling
me
a snob?” She threw back her head and laughed, locking eyes with him. The sound of her laughter, raw and free, punched him in the gut.

The intensity simmering between them had knocked him over from that first glance. It was still there, right below the surface, coiled like a whip poised to crack at any moment. He felt it now, and knew the moment she felt it, too. The laughter withered on her face, replaced by the guard she’d probably never meant to let down.

“What’s wrong?” Walsh knew. It was wrong for him, too, but he still had to ask.

“Nothing.” She didn’t look up from the simple floral pattern on the blanket. Apparently daisies fascinated her. “Just wondering if Cam said how long they’d be gone?”

Walsh looked up the riverbank, squinting against the sunlight. Their friends were walking toward them, laughing, with a few canoes hoisted on their shoulders.

“Here they come.” He stood and reached down to help her up.

She ignored his hand, standing on her own and brushing imaginary grass from her jeans. He searched her face, silently questioning, but she ignored that, too. She gave him a brief smile constructed mostly of plastic, before taking off toward Cam, who sprinted forward, grabbing her by the waist and lifting her up. They shared a smile that twisted Walsh’s stomach into a knot.

“Get everything done?” Cam kissed her lightly on the lips. “You feel good?”

“I feel better now that I’m with you.” She smiled into the tenderness of his kiss.

“Hey, dude.” Cam smiled at Walsh over Kerris’s shoulder. “’Bout time you joined the living. I hope you won’t be such a drag all summer.”

Walsh returned his smile, watching Cam lower Kerris back to the ground. She was where she belonged. He’d only just met the woman yesterday. He refused to believe the signals his heart kept sending him. Things like that didn’t happen in real life. Cam was the best friend he’d ever had. The bond they’d built over years of happiness and hurt—that was real.

A silver-blond goddess walked up behind Cam, looking like she’d walked off the set of an Abercrombie & Fitch shoot. Knowing his friend Sofie, she might have.

“Did you have a good nap, Walsh?” Sofie stepped close enough for him to smell her perfume mixing with the scents of the outdoors.

He’d known her since preschool. Her father had been right beside his, building the Bennett empire. Her recent success in modeling had landed her on an unwritten “It Girl” list, and she was starting a new role as celebrity goodwill ambassador for the Walsh Foundation. He knew, though, that he was the real reason she was in Rivermont.

She caught his hand. He sharpened the look he gave her to a fine point, hoping she knew what it meant.

Don’t even think about it. It’s never going to happen.

“Yeah, it was just what I needed.” He freed his hand, deliberately and gently. “You ready to meet the Walsh Foundation board on Monday?”

“I think so.” Un-Sofie-like tentativeness filled her bottle green eyes. “I just hope I’m what they’re looking for.”

“They’re looking for someone refined, well-spoken, and who’ll bring positive attention to our cause.” He reassured her with his smile, forcing himself to keep his eyes trained on her, rather than straying to the couple still talking a few feet away. “And the fact that your dad is my father’s right-hand man doesn’t hurt. Plus, your good looks don’t hurt.”

“So you
do
think I’m pretty?” She slid a chunk of hair behind her ear and flashed a too-wide smile.

He had known since high school that he could have Sofie whenever he wanted her. Problem was, he just didn’t see her that way. She was beautiful, with a cover-worthy body, but there wasn’t enough beyond the shiny packaging to hold his attention.

“Look at you, fishing for compliments.” He brushed a finger down her perfect nose, keeping his tone fraternal. “Does it really matter what I think when the rest of the world is at your feet?”

“It does to me,” she said, no smile.

“Sof—” She stopped whatever he’d been about to say with the well-manicured finger she placed across his lips.

“When you’re ready to give me a chance, I’ll be waiting.” She dragged him toward the riverbank, smiling like she knew what was best for him. “For now, let’s show these country bumpkins what the captain of the rowing team can do.”

“Is it a race?” He glanced past her to where their friends were lining up canoes on the river. He was nothing if not competitive, another legacy from his father. He felt a tiny thrill of anticipation. He hadn’t rowed in years, not since high school.

“Yeah, it’s a race,” Cam said from his canoe, where Kerris had already settled in front of him. “And we’re gonna kick your ass, Bennett.”

Never one to leave a gauntlet on the ground, Walsh staked his claim in the canoe beside them, helping Sofie get situated. He and Cam had a time-honored tradition of competing. The more trash talking, the better.

“You gonna kick my ass, Mitchell? That’d be a first.”

“Would you two just load in and stop with all the talking?” Jo laughed from her canoe. “I’m ready to kick some ass myself.”

In the end, Sofie and Walsh triumphed, and rubbed it in mercilessly.

“Did we forget to mention that we were both captains of our high school rowing teams?” Sofie asked, hoisted on Walsh’s shoulder like a trophy.

Kerris laughed like everyone else, not begrudging them their fair and square victory, but a knot of briars rolled around in her stomach at the sight of Sofie and Walsh together. They both looked so perfect. And she had no right to this feeling, whatever they were to each other.

“Disgusting, huh?” Jo settled on the ground beside Kerris.

“What’s disgusting?” Kerris looked away from their good-natured gloating, meeting Jo’s eyes.

“Them.” Jo smiled and pointed her chin toward Sofie and Walsh. “I mean, it’s not enough that they both look genetically engineered. They have to have the money, education, and athleticism to back it all up. What line were they standing in to get all that, huh?”