Cursed by Love (19 page)

He wanted to scoff, but she looked so
earnest, he didn’t. Still, his tone revealed his lack of empathy. “And you’re
how old?”

“Twenty-eight, but they’re still people
I love. Losing someone you love hurts, whether you’re eight or twenty-eight.”

He draped his arm across her shoulders,
thought better of it, withdrew, and then got to his feet again, standing in
front of her. He wanted to move away from this subject and onto the spontaneity
she enjoyed.

To relieve some of the tension gripping
him, he took hold of the support and ran in a circle several times, then let go.
He let it spin her away and bring her back, reaching out to give it another
hearty push with every rotation. Finally, when he had it spinning as fast as it
would go, he jumped back into the section with her, tumbling her backward as he
landed beside her.

Keeping his arm around her, he made his
apology. “Sorry, I don’t mean to make light of your pain.”

Propping herself on one elbow, she
looked down at him. “I only meant that since I know how I feel, I can see how
much worse it would be for a child. But look at the great family you have. It
sounds like you were raised with a whole gaggle of close relatives, and my
family circle has gotten pretty small.”

The merry-go-round slowed with each
revolution. He closed his eyes, blocking out the tree branches and stars above
him, and tried not to imagine the relief he’d feel if only he had less family.
“Fewer relatives. That sounds like a blessing, not a curse.”

She gave his shoulder a playful shove.
“You don’t mean that. It’s obvious you’re close to Sierra. And your niece and
your grandfather. Even Terry and Dominic.”

He huffed out a breath. “I can’t imagine
my life without them, which is why I put up with all the rest. And why I need
the Sleeping Lotus.”

“Ah, now we’re getting to it. I wondered
how long you’d wait to bring it up again. Go ahead and give me the pitch. I’ll
listen with an open mind. How does your family figure into it? Start at the
beginning.” She snuggled against him like it was
storytime
in the park.

He took a deep breath. “Life with
Granddad was always an adventure. We never knew from week to week if there’d be
enough money to go around. He always found a way to get us what we needed, but
that hard-scraping life wasn’t the one I wanted. I studied and worked hard, got
some scholarships, went to college. Got double majors in marketing and computer
programming, did an internship and got hired at P&G.” He shook his head,
unable to believe he was telling her this.

She nudged him to keep him talking.

“They were paying for me to get my MBA.
I made good money and had a nice office, great condo on the river, gorgeous
fiancée, cool car, and motorcycle. The American dream, all very up-and-coming.”
He extended his hand in front of him, gesturing broadly to display the
limitless future ahead.

She’d been watching him closely, nodding
at the appropriate moments, but when he paused, she spoke. “Fiancée?” Her voice
climbed an octave on the last syllable.

He scowled on the outside, grinned on
the inside. “Past tense. Very ancient history. Is that the only thing you heard?”

“No, I was listening. Just wanted to
check on the status of the relationship before I let you grope me any further.”

“Did I pass the groping test?” His hand
slid down to the side of her breast.

She tried to look all prim and
standoffish, but she grinned and couldn’t pull it off. But she moved his hand
back to her shoulder. “Not yet.”

“Okay, with high hopes for future
groping, here goes the rest of it.” He pulled her more tightly against him,
tight enough to feel her every breath and heartbeat against his chest. “I’d get
calls from Granddad to bail one of the others out of trouble, mostly financial,
but not always. I’d have let them pay the consequences once or twice, but
Granddad thinks if it’s family, you do what you have to do to help them.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“I thought you would.” Testing the
no-groping rule, he smoothed his hand down her side again. Toned and supple,
not rock hard. Curvy and luscious, but not overly round.

With his hand inching back toward her
breast, she stopped him with one of the looks that probably worked on
persistent students. “What happened next?”

“He kept after me to do more to help
them, and he has a way of wearing me down. Finally, a couple of years ago, I
gave in and began putting together a plan for Contract Communications. I was
going to keep my job, oversee the contract business on the side and employ all
these relatives. Who oddly enough are perfect for the kind of work we do. You
have to be able to think logically and creatively, not be bound by existing
parameters, and that’s where they all excel.”

“They sound a lot like third graders.”

“What?”

“I spend my days with third graders,
remember? They’ve developed some logic, but they’re still creative enough to
think outside the box. It’s in fourth grade where the education system starts
drumming the creativity out of them.”

“I’ll keep that in mind if I have to
start hiring people. Most of my relatives have the maturity level of third
graders, too.”

She chewed her bottom lip. “So you started
your business before you were ready. I figure something happened to change your
plans. Something big, something bad. Sierra’s accident?”

He nodded.

“Tell me.” This time she put her arm
around him and pulled him closer.

Sierra’s accident. Another one of the
elephants they never talked about. A whole herd of pachyderms lived in the Shaw
household, come to think of it. The house was so crowded with them that he
didn’t know how any of the humans maneuvered without getting trampled. Maybe
they didn’t. Maybe they got stomped on every day, but were so used to it that
they didn’t notice anymore.

His stomach flipped over as he
remembered the stark terror he felt on the night of Sierra’s accident.
Disjointed words poured out as he sat up. “Car wreck. Drunk driver. Lots of
surgeries. The loser boyfriend who was Chloe’s father took off. Granddad did
what he could, but he’s getting up there, and he couldn’t do it alone. Sierra
and Chloe needed more help than I could provide with the long hours I worked at
my job and getting my MBA. So we revised the plan, put it in motion before we
were ready, and here we are, managing on a shoestring.”

Molly sat up, too, rubbing small,
comforting circles on his back. “How much work does Sierra do for you?”

“She works more than anyone else. Lots
of nights she has trouble sleeping. So she puts Chloe to bed and logs onto a
computer at home, or goes back to the office and works. Since she won’t
socialize much anymore, she’s there most weekends, too. Plus, we can’t afford
to offer the kind of group insurance she needs, so she keeps her accounting
job. One of the many reasons I’m determined to make a success of this
business.”

Molly looked at him then, full on, and
he saw so much in her eyes. Warmth, sympathy, understanding, admiration. If he
could have, he would have erased all of it. He didn’t want or deserve any of
the emotion she directed his way.

“You’re a good man.” Molly leaned over
to plant a kiss on his cheek.

Christ, no, not a kiss on the cheek. A
kiss on the cheek was a pat on the head’s asthmatic sister. He rebelled against
accepting a tepid kiss from her, like one she’d give her favorite uncle.

A need for something hot and satisfying
and physical gripped him. He wanted
something
from her, but not too
much. Not too permanent, or too emotional. He turned from her and tightened his
knuckles around the support bar. “Don’t make me out to be something I’m not.
I’m frustrated, I’m broke, and I’m sick and tired of all the responsibility,
but I’m not sure about good.”

“I’m sure. I told you I’d consider
selling the Sleeping Lotus, and I will. You don’t believe in the curse,
although how you can doubt it with your family history is beyond me. But me,
I’m absolutely certain the curse is related to Bella’s death on the Titanic, my
grandfather’s death over Russia, and my mom and dad’s separation. I’d like to
figure out a way to buy your half and give the joined sections to Mom. Then
you’d have the money you need, and if there’s any chance for my parents to
reconcile, they’d have it.” She tilted up a determined chin.

He clamped his teeth together, holding
back his protest. He didn’t have time to wait for her to “find a way” to buy
his half of the Lotus, sweet as the notion was. “That’s an awful expensive
chance.”

“I keep telling you. Some things are
about more than money.” She pinned him with that look again.

With his feet dragging on the ground, he
stacked his hands behind his head. “Message received.”

“Good enough. You’ve been sending me in
circles all night, now I’m going to take you for a spin.” Hopping off the
merry-go-round, she grabbed hold of a support, kicked off her sandals, and
started running. When she had it circling at top speed, she jumped into the
section with him and snuggled into his side. “Do you know what I’m going to do
now?” Drifting her fingers idly around his ear, she leaned toward him and drew
near enough for him to feel her breath on his cheek. “I’m going to tell you,
because you’re a person who always like to know what’s going to happen next.”

Even with his head spinning wildly, he
had a pretty good idea of what she had planned.

“I’m going to kiss you.” Her words
whispered softly into his ear. “
Really
kiss you. With no one watching,
with no cameras, and no interruptions.” She raised her eyebrows impishly. His
tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth, which wasn’t at all where he wanted it
stuck. “
Not
a kiss on the cheek. I’ve been dying to do this, ever since
the restaurant.”

The merry-go-round began slowing down.
His tongue finally came unglued. “Only if it’s going to be bad.”

Her lips grazed his as she asked,
“What?”

“I only like to know what’s going to
happen if it’s going to be bad.” And so many things did turn out badly. And
while the kiss would be fabulous, it didn’t take one of Sierra’s crystal balls
to foresee that Gabe and Molly’s future had disaster written all over it.

Well, to hell with it. Tonight he’d let
his Shaw-persona reign and go wherever this path led them. He’d find a way to
get everything under control and back on track tomorrow.

“You be the judge,” she murmured.

Her lips curved in a smile when his
mouth claimed them. She wasn’t kissing him so much as being kissed. But hell,
it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but devouring her, inside and out.

He inhaled deeply, breathing in her
scent, not just her
Dreamsicle
fragrance, but her
deep-down, depths-of-her-soul, never-to-be-forgotten scent. Her hair, her neck,
her soft skin, her sweet breath. Nothing smelled more tantalizing than Essence
of Molly.

Their tongues danced, entwined,
tentative and sweet, deepening to something intense. More real. More unique,
yet completely familiar.

Surrounded by darkness inside a small
pocket of light, he could have kissed her all night. But a sense of urgency
spurred Gabe’s desperation for her. He rolled Molly on top of him. Eagerly, she
stretched out along the length of him. With his arms wrapped around her, he fit
her hips precisely against his.

He meant to ease up on the heat, give
them some air, or at least, that’s what he thought he meant to do. When he
dragged his feet on the ground, the motion lifted his hips, increasing the
pressure, heightening the friction. His fingers played along the ridge of her
spine, until his palms flattened against her back and then he pulled her close.
Closer.

Desire had Gabe by the throat, urging him
to explore every inch of her, but Molly tilted the moment into something else.
Laughing in pure fun, she turned them in a different direction, rolling them
onto their sides, arching into him. Sexy, plenty sexy, but bringing her special
brand of joy to the moment. And that’s when the truth slammed into Gabe’s heart
and brain.

Watching her laughing face, deep down he
understood that he wanted Molly in any and every mood, in any and every part of
his life. Stunned that he didn’t just want the Sleeping Lotus and/or sex from
her. Stunned that he wanted Molly. Only Molly. Abruptly he sat up.

The timing couldn’t be worse. Nothing
could be less convenient or welcome, at this moment in his life. He sure didn’t
have the time or money, patience or temperament for anything called love. And
more to the point, he didn’t have the strength to squeeze one more person he
cared about onto his already over-loaded plate. But it didn’t matter what he
thought.
Thinking
didn’t enter into it any longer.

Even with the money from the Sleeping
Lotus, it would be years before the company would be stable enough for him to
do as he pleased. Hell, before it would be stable enough for him to buy a car,
or afford his own place, let alone—let alone— His breathing came a little too
fast for him to contemplate the larger steps he’d have to take to keep Molly in
his life. He inhaled her delicious scent and pushed his fingers into the hair
at the back of her head, massaging her scalp, meeting her eyes, enjoying the
wonder of every part of her.