Chapter 12 #2
It was different with Reese. Something about her struck me.
It wasn’t only the sexual attraction; I felt that in spades, though.
The way she talked about her family, her land, reminded me so much of my own.
Legacy was strong on both the Conti and the Montgomery sides.
I knew what it was like being the next generation, being the one who was supposed to push that legacy forward.
Shoving anything resembling feelings out of the way, I took the stairs two at a time, reaching the top step as she disappeared through a door.
I figured she’d close it in my face, but she didn’t, so I stepped inside.
The apartment was deceptively large, with the open living space taking up most of the room.
Reese placed the cooler on the counter but kept her tumbler in hand as she headed toward a hallway extending off one side of the space, with another mirroring it on the other side.
She shook her head, probably in hopes I’d left.
“Well, I’m still changing, even if you aren’t. So wait your ass here.” She didn’t spare me another glance.
Though the temptation to follow was strong, I restrained myself.
Instead, I’d take the opportunity to look around and find out what I could about my Little Trouble.
Making myself at home, I sipped my coffee and strode to the picture-adorned mantel above the fireplace.
At least a dozen photos held places of honor in the room, showcasing what I could only assume was the entire Henley family and then some.
One large family photo of what had to be thirty people at a wedding sat at the end.
Unerringly, my gaze went right to a younger Reese wearing a strapless blue dress that made her eyes pop.
I could barely look away, but forced my gaze onto another photo before I made an ass of myself.
In the next, a young, teenage Reese stood between a boy who had to be Logan and another younger boy who looked familiar, and likely her parents and grandparents. Her sass practically jumped out of the frame.
“You just had to snoop, didn’t you?”
I turned and damn near swallowed my tongue. She’d changed alright, into denim shorts, emphasis on short, and a white top that clung to her breasts as if the damn thing had been painted on. I was not averse to finding out if it had been.
“You did that on purpose.” I didn’t pose it as a question because without a shadow of a doubt she’d done this to taunt me. To tempt me.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Bringing her index finger to her mouth, she tapped her lip a few times. “I haven’t done laundry in a little bit, and this is all I had that was clean.”
Sure it was.
“I don’t believe you,” I whispered as I walked past her toward the door, “and it’s not snooping if the pictures are out in the open. You were cute as a kid.”
Narrowing her eyes, I had a feeling I knew what she was going to say next. “And what? I’m not now?”
“No.” With a pause, I let her stew. “You’re stunning now.”
She stopped dead with a look of shock and confusion on her face.
Like she didn’t know whether she was more amazed I thought it or that I voiced the thought.
That was if she even believed me in the first place.
None of it was a lie. The woman was beautiful, but the fire within her is what catapulted her up in the attractive scale.
It shone brightly and compelled everyone in its vicinity.
At least it had me.
“Whatever. Let’s go.” I opened the door as she exchanged her now empty iced coffee tumbler for the cooler and a set of keys from the hook near the door and then breezed past me.
“You may want to leave the mug.” She gave my clothes a once over with a sly smile that had me placing the mug on the table near the door.
“We’re going to head to the winery so I can make this delivery and introduce you over there.
Then…” She looked at me, almost as if she were expecting me to back out with every word.
“I guess we should talk about your new work schedule. Bet you haven’t had one of those in a while. ”
I followed her as she rounded the corner of the garage.
“I have to admit you’re right. In general, my time is what I make of it.
” Unless my stepfather fucked something up so bad I had to drop everything to take care of his mess, because God knew he never actually made the effort.
“Though if you think I don’t spend long hours at the office you would be sorely mista—” My words stopped as I stared at the truck she’d stopped at.
To say it had seen better days was an understatement. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“What? It runs fine.” She climbed into the driver’s seat as I crossed in front.
The damn thing looked like it was one dent away from falling apart—a rusted hood, chipped white paint, and splattered with mud—it made for quite a vision.
Reaching behind her, she placed the cooler on the floor, then turned back to wave her hand impatiently at me. “Let’s go.”
I tried not to notice the squeaking hinges as I opened the door. It was a miracle the damn thing stayed attached to the body as I gingerly shut it behind me, unwilling to treat any part of this thing too roughly lest it collapse underneath me.
“You sure this is safe?” At least there was a seat belt.
I’d barely fastened the damn thing before she careened out from behind the garage and down a much different road than the one I drove up a few days ago.
The hot Virginia air blew in my face through the rolled-down, manual windows.
Who the hell even had manual windows any longer?
“Does this thing have A/C? What about—dammit, Reese,” I cursed as she hit a pothole.
“What about an actual car? Maybe one with shocks, at the very least.” Now I understood why she told me to leave the mug behind. There was not a cup holder in sight.
“My car’s too small.” She glanced my way, taking me in from head to toe.
To say my cock didn’t respond to the visual inspection would be a lie.
Of course, the damn thing always seemed to be one look, one teasing word, away from ready when it came to Reese.
“Most people barely fit in it, though maybe you could have.”
It took a second for my brain to catch up, since all the blood in my body was currently residing south of my belt.
“Reese, there’s not a damn thing small about me.
” I loved the way her hands tightened the slightest bit on the steering wheel.
“And I think the fit would be exquisite.” The way she sucked in her breath told me she understood I wasn’t talking about a fucking car.
It was all her and me. “But you are sort of little.”
“That’s not my damn fault.” She smacked her hand on the steering wheel before finding another damn pothole.
“I've got the same genetic background as Kellan, and look at him. I think he got part of the height I should have had. Like, does he need to be that tall? Wouldn’t six-two-or-three work, and I could have had an extra inch or two?”
This time I couldn’t hold back my laughter.
“I don’t think that’s the way genetics work.
” She cast a quick glare my way. I saw the smile playing on her lips seconds before she located yet another pothole.
“Dammit Reese. Would you please watch those things? Are you trying to give me a concussion?” She shrugged, and something about the gesture made me want to crawl across the bench seat and let her know exactly how that would go for her.
Then, her words from seconds ago hit me.
“Wait, who the hell is Kellan? Don’t you mean Logan?
Though I agree, he’s not exactly a small man.
” The chef’s height and build made him quite a presence in the kitchen.
“First off, Lo’s adopted, so I can’t blame him. Though understand, I would if I could.”
“Duly noted.”
“Second, Kellan is my other brother.” When I didn’t respond, she slowed and stared at me. “You really didn’t do much research on us at all, did you?”
Her words hit. I never went into business negotiations or dealings unprepared.
My team was the best I could assemble, and they would have everything—every financial, every weakness and strength, every opportunity, every player in the game—laid out for me.
This time I’d barely consulted them for more than the cursory financials.
Hell, even Grandmother’s pages of internet printouts would have given me some preparation.
Instead, all I’d thought about a few sleepless nights caused by the woman next to me was to get to her as quickly as possible and figure out why she affected me so much and get this property.
I was doing a piss-poor job at the second and all too good of a job at the first.
“Seriously?”
She threw her head back, laughter bubbling out of her.
The sight was fucking mesmerizing. From the minute I’d shown up, she’d had an air of stress surrounding her, which I likely played a role in.
The only time it had slipped was when she’d been in my arms. Then passion, uninhibited and wild, had taken over her features.
Completely in the moment, she’d ensnared me in whatever web she had been weaving around me.
“This is amazing.” Her words dragged me back to the present, only a slightly less dangerous place to be.
“I’m so telling Kel there are people who don’t know him.
” She swiped at the tears slipping from her eyes, laughter still shaking her small frame.
“He thinks he’s the greatest thing since sliced bread, for God’s sake, so this will take him down a notch.
Though you aren’t a female, so there’s that.
Females allllllll seem to notice my baby brother. It’s sort of gross, actually.”
I thought back to the one picture. “Was he the other kid in the photo?”
“Yeah, that would be him.” We got to the end of the drive, and I’d realized we’d been pothole free for the past few minutes. Reese turned toward me, one hand resting on her thigh and the other draped over the wheel. “Kellan Henley? Anything? Think.”
“Reese, why would I know your bro—wait a second. Rookie of the Year Kellan Henley? All-Star Kellan Henley?”
A grin brighter than the sun pouring into the cab of the truck took over her face.
Pure pride and love washed over her. “That’s him.
I never, not in a million years, imagined my baby brother would be in the Show.
My parents got him one of those plastic bat and ball sets when he was about two.
He went everywhere holding on to that ball, even to sleep.
” A tear formed in the corner of her eye as she averted her gaze, staring straight out in front of us.
“Watching him chase and achieve his dreams has been one of the best things in my life, and it’s not even my accomplishment. ”
I watched as she brushed away that stray drop and thought she might be wrong.
Kellan couldn’t have reached the heights of baseball stardom he’d managed in only a few short years without the love and support of a family behind him.
Instinctively, I knew every one of the Henleys were there for the good and the bad.
They believed in him, probably even when he doubted himself.
That, along with unmatched talent, was what got him where he is.
It made me think of my own situation. I often wondered if Mother hadn’t believed in me, if that was why she’d allowed Reginald to take control and did nothing to prevent him from keeping it after she died.
There had been plenty of time for her to rewrite her will after she got sick.
Plenty of time to make sure Conti-Montgomery stayed in the family’s hands.
Still, she hadn’t.
Silence blanketed the cab of the truck, both of us lost in our own thoughts.
“I never had dreams,” Reese’s words came out on a whisper.
“Never had that overwhelming knowledge of what I was supposed to do like Kellan. Or Logan for that matter. He’s been cooking since he was a kid, standing on a stool next to Mom in the kitchen.
I was always…I don’t know, there maybe.” Turning toward me again, I tried to figure out the look in her eyes but was afraid of what I’d see.
“This is the first thing I’ve really ever dreamed of.
” She turned back to the front, breaking our eye contact. “I’m hoping it doesn’t get fucked up.”
Staring out the window, her words hit hard because, in that moment, I wanted her dreams to thrive as much as my own.