Page 11 of Falling For The Enemy (The Gilbert Curse)

“It is. But when I asked to go recently, Dash said no.”

“Does he say no a lot?”

“He does. But the truth is it was just him alone for so long after the accident, and I don’t think he’s sure how to handle both myself and Con being healthy and functioning.” Rory collected more berries, her silence filling in the blanks of Dash’s and Conrad’s lingering guilt.

“What happened to Con?” he asked. He had heard a brief report from his aunt that there were injuries, but Aunt Mal had only known that Rory was in a coma.

“He was thrown from the car because he wasn’t wearing his seat belt and he broke every bone in his body and was covered in cuts from the glass. Apparently, it took multiple surgeries and then months of recovery.”

Kit turned away. Slightly shocked to hear how badly injured Conrad had been. Why hadn’t he ever been told about that? Kit had come back for Declan’s funeral and then flown back to Berkeley to withdraw. By the time he’d returned, his father had started drinking heavily and had been living with Aunt Mal. Dash and his grandfather Lance had crushed all of his family’s prospects.

“I never knew the Beast had gone through anything like that,” Kit said, referring to Conrad by his celebrity chef name.

“He’s better now. In fact he said I should pick blackberries, but then he and Dash got into it and I dropped it,” she said.

“Why?”

“Because I don’t like to see them fight. We’re all each other has. Plus I knew I was moving out and I’d eventually go on my own.”

A shot of fear went through him at the thought of her trying to come down here on her own. “Promise me you won’t come down here alone until there is a handrail.”

“I won’t. That’s why I have you, Kit.”

Hearing her say she had him made him feel...fuck. He wasn’t sure he could do this. He was in some sort of muddy water here with her. Since the moment she’d looped her arm through his and said, “Pretend we’re old friends,” he’d been spinning out of control. He’d been pretending to make up some plan on the fly but he had to face facts right now that the was lying to himself.

He was totally at Rory’s mercy. Hard as he tried to fight it, he was enchanted by her and he couldn’t allow himself to fall for her. She couldn’t be his weakness.

He had to get back on track.

“You mentioned making a pie. Have you made one before?”

“Maybe before the accident. But Conrad recently showed me how to make a crust that wasn’t too complicated, but then Indy showed me a refrigerated one I could buy. So I have two in my fridge. I had been planning to pick blackberries this week.”

“Why did you say you weren’t sure when I asked at the coffee shop?”

She chewed her lower lip for a moment. “I thought you might not want to. But then when you said something so tame as walk down Main Street I realized that if I didn’t start saying what I wanted I’d never get it.”

“Yeah, took me a while to learn that one as well. But with me, Rory, you don’t have to hedge. Whatever you want, if it’s in my power to help you with doing it, I will.”

She turned and put a handful of berries into the canvas bag and then tipped her head to the side, looking over at him. “Anything?”

“Anything.” He was pretty sure that even at her wildest, there wasn’t anything she’d request that he wouldn’t want to do. “Well, nothing illegal.”

She giggled at that but then got serious again. “What about dangerous?”

“More dangerous than coming down here?”

She nodded slowly.

“Definitely.”

“Good. I want to see you push yourself,” he said. “I love watching the joy on your face. It’s like...well, you come alive when you try something new. I love that I get to experience that with you.”

He expected her to ask him for this dangerous thing but she simply shook her head and turned back to her canvas bag. They finished picking the berries and went back to the path. He stood behind her this time, putting his hands lightly on her waist to steady her as she climbed up. She was moving slowly and her legs started shaking at one point, so he was tempted to offer to carry her.

But when he started to, she glared at him. “I want to do this on my own.”

“No rush.”

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