Chapter 6 Kimberly
KIMBERLY
"Hey, you've had her enough. It's my turn now," I told Reese, impatiently tapping my foot.
She’d been holding Rose for the past forty minutes. Yes, I'd counted.
My sister chuckled, handing her to me. "I can't fight you on it. I have been hogging her."
"That's right, come to Aunt Kimberly. I know I'm your favorite," I murmured in Rose's ear.
"I heard that," Reese said as she walked over to join Aunt Lena, helping her serve up the pie.
I loved visiting my aunt and uncle. It felt like home, even though they didn’t live here when I was a child.
They used to live in a huge house surrounded by a vineyard about an hour away from Chicago.
Reese and I went there every day after school with Gran.
Then later into the evening, when Dad would finally get home from work, a driver would take us back to our house.
I was convinced that most nights, Dad didn't even know if we were home or not.
The years after losing our mom were very hard on him.
In fact, Reese and I were so young, we could barely remember her.
Dad loved her very much, and I wasn't sure back then that he'd manage to recover at all.
He threw himself into work, and it became his refuge.
Honestly, I was grateful it wasn't something worse, like alcohol.
Once we were out of the house, Dad moved to London. He remarried recently and shortly thereafter had a baby girl. The news came as a shock to all of us, since he hadn't even told us he was dating, let alone that he got married.
One day, I spontaneously jumped on the Eurostar to London and took him out to lunch.
He'd been so nervous and coy that I'd almost been afraid he was going to tell me he was terminally ill. That’s when he sprang on me that I was going to have a baby sister.
I'd been pleased, despite the shock of it all, but I wanted my dad to be happy.
I didn't begrudge him our childhood. He did the best he could.
But having an absentee father left its mark on Reese and me.
I kissed Rose's head, inhaling her sweet scent, then went to the table, needing my piece of pie. I was side-eyeing everyone, already prepared to defend my time with Rose if need be, but no one attempted to take her away from me. They'd probably seen me watching Reese like a hawk earlier.
I loved that we got together so often, though it had been about three weeks since the last time. We all spent Christmas together, and everyone had their plans for New Year's, but this was the first get-together in the new year.
Lena handed me a plate with a generous piece of pie, winking at me. She knew all about my addictions and had no problem enabling me. It was one of the reasons I loved her so much.
After taking my plate, I went to the couch and sat next to Gran. She looked great! She was super active for her age. She still went to The Happy Place a few times a week. It was the first ever bookstore she and grandfather opened, and she kept it when they sold all the other stores.
"You look good with a baby on your hip," she said.
I kissed Rose's head. "I do, don't I? I should take the little one more often to babysit and have fun. I can't wait for her to grow up a bit."
"Why?" Travis asked, appearing next to me.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" I asked. "That's between little Rose and me. She loves her aunt Kimberly, yes, she does. Look how snuggly she is in my arms."
"Oh, Kimberly, I hate to tell you this," Bonnie said, coming up next to Travis, "but I think Sam is still her favorite. No one's been able to get her to sleep as fast as he does."
"Challenge accepted."
I hadn't tried to put her to sleep, but I would do my best whenever the opportunity arose. I set my pie on the coffee table so I could grab a forkful every now and then.
"So, how are things with the new hire?" Gran asked, looking between Travis and me. "You seemed to think that he might give you a headache."
"No, I'm good with him, though he's a bit set in his ways," Travis said. "He was in a big hotel chain before joining with us. He keeps talking about implementing systems, and I think that's generally a good idea, but I don't want him to scare our team by introducing too much too fast."
"You don't have anything to add, Kimberly?" Gran asked.
I shrugged. "I still stand by everything I said at Christmas. He's not easy to work with. I think my instincts were right about that. He's still on probation."
Travis looked stunned. "He is? You didn't tell me that."
I cleared my throat. "Not on a professional level. I mean on a personal one."
Bonnie straightened up at that.
“Drake’s giving you a hard time? I want to know," Travis asked.
"No. If anything, I’m giving him a hard time," I replied. I loved Travis, but he was even quicker than me to jump the gun. Though I truly didn't mind the overprotective streak. "I'm very vocal about my disagreement with his methods. That tends to get a rise out of him."
It had been a week since our lunch together, and things had not improved.
Travis opened his mouth, then closed it again.
"How did I not get wind of that?" he finally asked.
I smiled sweetly. "We're both very discreet, sparring under the radar, so to say."
"Jesus, Kimberly. Don't scare the dude away, okay? We just got him."
"Hey, you're the one who lost our last manager."
Travis groaned. "True. I still can’t believe he went back to Oceanside Bay."
I left my aunt and uncle's house a few hours later. Shivering, I turned on the heat in my car. I really should have ordered a car with all the bells and whistles—more specifically, the option to turn on the heat via the remote before I even climbed in it.
Taking out my phone, I checked my emails, keeping my fingers crossed that delivered the air fryer I'd ordered yesterday. Oh, they did. Thank heavens for Prime delivery. It was awaiting me at the hotel, as I’d set that as my default address.
I drove straight there, parking in the underground garage and then hurrying to reception. Nina was on shift tonight. She was one of our very best receptionists.
"Hey, Kimberly, can I help you with anything?"
"Yeah, I got a package today. Did they take it up to the office or leave it here with you?"
"Let me check." She looked under the desk and said, "Nothing here for you."
"Thanks, I'll go up."
"You want me to get it for you?" she offered.
"No, it's fine. You stay here." I didn't like asking the staff to do anything personal for me. It felt like I was taking advantage.
I jogged up the stairs, which I usually did if I wasn't in a hurry.
It was a good workout. I hated the StairMaster at the gym—it was the bane of my existence—but I did like walking up and down the stairs here at the hotel.
The office floor was dark and quiet, as I'd expected.
I flicked on the light in the corridor, first checking the table by the coffee machine.
We usually dropped the packages there, but it was empty.
I assumed whoever signed for it took it to my office, so I headed there next.
The package was on my desk. It was also much bigger than I thought.
I would need to carry it with both hands.
I wasn't sure I’d be able to see anything over it.
Thankfully, it wasn’t heavy, so I lifted it easily.
The box reached up to my nose, so I had to be very careful where I stepped.
No question, I was going to ride the elevator back down to the parking garage.
I was headed to the elevator when a voice caught my attention, and I nearly dropped the package. Who could be here on a Friday evening? I listened intently.
"Suze, don't worry. I promise we'll figure it all out, and I'll be there for you every step of the way." He sighed. "You don't need any of that, Suze. Trust me. Want me to come to your place tonight?"
Drake. I'd recognize his voice anywhere, though it was incredibly soft.
I was rooted to my spot for a few seconds before deciding I had to move on. I didn't want to listen, as it was obvious it was a private call.
"Wait, I think there's someone here. I’ll call you later. Love you too. Bye."
My heart somersaulted. Definitely personal.
"Who's there?" he called.
Caught in the act.
"Just me. I came to get a package," I said loudly.
Glancing to the side of the box, I noticed that Drake was looking straight at the box, probably because he couldn’t see me from around it.
"That's huge. How are you even carrying it? Let me take it from you." He grabbed it right away.
"It's light, but thanks. I won't say no if you want to carry it for me. What are you doing here? It's Friday night."
"I was catching up on some work."
"Drake, I know your workload. What is it that you're catching up on?"
He smirked. "I like to be prepared, Kimberly. To always be one step ahead."
"Yes, but I mean, don't you have places to be? A personal life?"
He narrowed his eyes as we walked along the corridor. "You were listening to my conversation."
"I’m sorry. I didn't mean to. I was walking by and was so surprised to hear a voice that I stopped to listen, and then… well, one thing led to another, and it sounded like there was someone who needed you. I don't want your girlfriend to hate your new job already."
He cleared his throat as we stepped inside the elevator. "She's my sister, not my girlfriend."
What is that I'm hearing? Angels singing?
My stomach was somersaulting. There was a thin sheet of sweat on my skin.
Why is that, Kimberly? He's still off-limits.
But at least I didn't have to feel guilty because my panties caught fire every time we made eye contact.
"It sounded like she could use your company."
"She probably does, but she's stubborn. Keeps telling me I don't have to check in on her every day."
"Is she the reason you're back?" I asked, taking a stab in the dark. "Sorry, you don't have to answer that. You said you don't want to talk about your personal life, and I respect that."
We were both silent until the elevator dinged in the garage.
"Yes, she's the reason I came back. She's going through a rough time and has no one else besides me. But my return isn’t helping her as much as I thought it would."
I felt a rush of kinship with him.
"Drake," I said softly. He looked up in surprise as we stepped into the garage.
He wasn't used to this tone of voice from me.
"Sometimes all we can do is be there for the people we care about.
I think it helps even if you can't tell.
Just knowing she has someone to lean on is probably a great comfort. Don't be so hard on yourself."
"Easier said than done."
I grinned. "That's right, because you always expect perfection from everyone, huh? Yourself included."
"You got that right about me, Kimberly."
I opened the door to the back seat of my car, and Drake lowered my package onto it. When he straightened up, his gaze focused on my mouth again.
Oh, sweet Lord. How could I react like this every time he did that? My entire body was on edge.
We'd made a bit of progress tonight. Maybe he wasn't an ass after all. Maybe he was just in a stressful situation. People tended to have a short fuse when they were under pressure.
Or perhaps you're just looking for excuses because you know he's single, and you have a penchant for attracting the wrong man. He's not for you, Kimberly. Even though all it takes is one glance for you to catch on fire.
"How come you came back to the office?" he asked, nodding at my package. “Just for that?”
"Yep. As soon as I got an email that my air fryer was delivered, I wanted to pick it up so I can experiment with it this weekend. I was at my aunt and uncle's for dinner earlier, so it was on my way home."
"You often get together for dinner with your family?"
I nodded. "Yeah, it's the best way to catch up. Otherwise, we can go a long time without talking to one another, especially now that all my cousins have their own families to look after. Although we text a lot, it’s not the same as seeing everyone.
Anyway, you should take off in the evenings, Drake.
I wouldn't want your sister to think we're overworking you. "
"Is that an order, Kimberly?" His eyes glinted dangerously. My girly parts exploded.
“If I say yes, will you follow it?”
“Not my style.”
I smiled. "Then let's call it a piece of advice. Would you be more inclined to take it?"
He laughed. "I'll take it under consideration."
"Will you look at that? We're making progress," I said as he walked with me to the driver's door, opening it for me.
"That we are."