Then she thought of what was sure to happen if she stayed. Her mother would start in on her usual lecture about everything Kaylee was doing wrong, from her career choices to her parenting. They’d end up having another argument and then they’d all sit in tense silence for the rest of the night. Good intentions or not, she just couldn’t take it.
Not tonight.
“I’ll be back tomorrow,” she muttered, not sure who she was trying to reassure. It was her daughter’s first Christmas. She had every right to want it to be filled with happy memories.
She grinned at Hope in the rearview mirror before backing out carefully. “Time to go home, baby girl.”
* * * * *
“WHO ARE YOU texting? I’m starting to get a little jealous.” Penny poked Matt in the ribs, though it was obvious she was just joking by the way she snuggled up against Matt’s back and wrapped her arms around his waist.
“I’m not texting.” Matt covered the hand she’d rested against his belly with one of his.
Elliott believed in love; it was hard to be a part of his family and not believe in fate, but he’d been a little skeptical that it could happen to guys like him. Rough, blunt guys who didn’t have a Hollywood-perfect face and a lot of smooth lines.
But Matt was a rugged, ex-military man. Eli had a lot more in common with him than he did his brothers. If love could happen for him, then maybe there really was hope for the rest of them.
“Kaylee missed her check-in. She was supposed to e-mail when she arrived at her parents’ house. The GPS on her car places her there but I didn’t get a confirmation from her.”
Eli snapped to attention. “Is she okay? Does she need anything?”
“She’s on her way home now. It’s just not like her to miss a check-in. She knows if she doesn’t keep us updated, she’ll go back to having a constant shadow. As much as we’ve enjoyed hanging with her these past months, I think she was glad to get back to normal.”
More than anything, she was probably happy to get some time away from Eli. He sighed. There were a lot of thing he regretted about his summer and the way he’d treated Kay was at the top of the list. It wasn’t her fault she rubbed him the wrong way, but there was just something about her.
He gritted his teeth. There was something about her all right. She was the epitome of his “type” except for one small detail.
The fact that she was frickin’ jailbait.
When he’d been protecting her, fate had taken every opportunity to test his control, from her never-ending collection of snug sweaters to his sister-in-law Ridley accidentally booking them into the same hotel room on a trip. He’d offered her the bed that night and camped out on a small cot the harried concierge had brought them. But it had been a special brand of torture lying there all night, listening to the rustle of sheets as she moved. Imagining the fabric sliding over her skin.
Torture.
And enough to make him want to give his libido a scalding-hot bath. She wasn’t actually underage, but from his perspective, she might as well be. He was disgusted with himself for even thinking about her that way. She was just a kid and he was now officially a dirty old man. There was easily a decade between their ages. And even if they could get past the age difference, how could she accept his past? He sighed and pushed the idea out of his head.
“I’m just glad we caught the bastard sending those threatening letters,” Eli grumbled.
Over the past summer, they’d been working around the clock trying to uncover the identity of the person sending Kaylee threatening letters. She’d had a near-constant security detail, which had been a challenge for her and for him. Elliott had finally traced the paper used in one of the envelopes to a local store and had been able to find the guy who’d bought it, an old classmate of Kay’s.
His motive appeared to have been simple jealousy. When he’d seen how well she was doing as part of the new pop group, Divine, he’d asked her for a loan and she’d turned him down. So he’d decided to send her the letters as payback.
At least that was the story they assumed was true. The guy had claimed that he had no idea what was in the letters he was mailing. That someone had left him money in exchange for sending them.
Which was ridiculous.
Either way, Eli had spent quite a bit of time guarding Kaylee over the summer. Time when he’d had to constantly remind himself that he was thirty years old and she was barely out of her teens. That she was sweet and softhearted and he was more like a surly bear.
Most importantly that, despite having a baby, she was sheltered and innocent when it came to male-female interactions. He was… not.
He almost choked on his drink as he imagined her reaction to the things in his room at home. He kept a fully kitted closet with everything from blindfolds and bindings to clamps and floggers. He would never bring her there, of course. As soon as she walked in and saw the mirrors over the bed she’d probably faint.
They’d spent most of their time at Kaylee’s apartment. Her tiny apartment. Then when Matt had come to work for him, he’d assigned Matt to her security detail because he trusted him.
Also because you can’t deal with being that close to her all the time.
Eli realized that Matt and Penny were both watching him closely so purposely made his voice casual when he asked, “Is she coming over later?”
His attempt at nonchalance didn’t appear to have worked because Matt gave him a knowing look. “No, she’s not coming. Yes, I invited her. I even offered to pick her up. I think she was planning to spend the evening with her family.”