Page 13 of Falling For The Enemy (The Gilbert Curse)

“You won’t. There are some towels in the powder room if you want to dry off and the kitchen is in the back. Join me when you’re done,” she said.

Rory linked her hands together and turned away to keep from touching him. She wished she’d stroked his face when they’d been so close the other day, but she hadn’t. Now with the rainwater on his face, his thick eyelashes had stuck together and he looked starkly masculine with that water dripping off him. She’d wanted to put her hands on his face and kiss him.

Feel that strong mouth against hers.

But she wasn’t sure whathewanted. Maybe that was why the memories of the past had been swirling around in her mind. She would never want to force herself on anyone.

After two days away from Rory he’d told himself he could come back, do the recon he and Aunt Mal needed and keep his perspective. When his brother was killed in the car accident, their family had lost everything. Lance Gilbert was no help and Dash was even worse, punishing their family while they were still grieving the loss of his brother.

Aunt Mal had been the one to keep them together as his father turned to drinking, and Kit, who had switched colleges and was still going to night school, tried to get up to speed on starting their own business. Returning from Berkeley had been a sort of wake-up call and he’d gone from frat boy to the one everyone relied on in what felt like a heartbeat.

The days away had sort of helped to clear his head. There was no way Rory could be as...enchanting as she’d seemed. And he knew that there wasn’t another person on the planet that he’d describe that way.

But Rory had left him with that impression. He’d almost convinced himself that he’d been wrong until she’d opened the door to her cozy cottage on this cold, fall day. She’d smiled at him like she was happy to see him and invited him into her home that smelled of vanilla and blackberries.

She’d been so chill, not like women he’d dated in the past would have been after two days of total radio silence.

But of course he wasn’t dating Rory. Was he? He’d come back for more Gilbert family secrets. That was all.

Except he knew that wasn’t the truth. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about how she’d felt in his arms. Hadn’t been able to talk himself into staying away from Rory Gilbert. Or Gilbert Corners. Hadn’t been able to stop regretting that he hadn’t just leaned down and kissed her after they’d picked those blackberries.

So here he was in her powder room, staring at himself in the mirror after having toweled off most of the water, trying to convince himself that he was cool with letting go of his need for revenge if it meant hurting her.

And the thing was, he didn’t buy it.

Lying was such a slippery path. He could justify going after Gilbert International—after all Lance Gilbert had made promises to Declan that he’d reneged on when he’d sold the factory. He knew there had been a big fight at the winter ball between his brother, Dash, Conrad and Lance. But the details...well, no one on his side of the family knew them. But Aunt Mal and Kit assumed it had to do with the closing of the factory. Declan had been a hothead and there was no doubt the loss of the factory would have set him off. Had their brother tried to stand up for the family? Or had anger dominated him that night, making him do something rash? They’d never been able to get any answers and Kit feared they’d never know the truth. It had died with his brother in the accident.

What a mess.

He opened the door to the powder room, left his boots near the door and put his leather jacket on a hook before heading toward the kitchen. Stopping in the doorway, he realized that Rory was singing along to “Helena” by My Chemical Romance.

When she tipped her head back and screamed, “What’s the worst that I could say,” he realized that whatever lies he might have been trying to convince himself with were just that. He wanted this woman. He wasn’t here for any other reason than that she was enchanting him.

Kit shook his head and started to sing along with her. He had already decided he wouldn’t do anything to harm Rory and he was going to have to trust himself not to. Because he couldn’t walk away from her. And he wasn’t going to pretend otherwise.

Her eyes flew open and she gave him a huge smile. “You know this song?”

“Love the band,” he said, offering her his hand and pulling her into his arms.

She leaned into him for a second, and he felt her hands flutter against his chest as she looked up at him. Their eyes met and everything masculine in him went into overdrive. There wasn’t a part of her that he didn’t want to claim.

He skimmed his gaze down her face, over her pert nose to the pink of her cheeks to that sweet mouth that he had spent way too many hours thinking about. Kit started to lean down, not wanting her to feel pressured in anyway, and she came up on her tiptoes, her eyes closing. He felt the brush of her breath against his lips just as his brushed hers.

Suddenly, the kitchen alarm went off and she jumped, her feet slipping on the hardwood floor. He steadied her and stepped back as she muttered about the pie. She walked slowly to the oven, opening it.

The scent of freshly baked pie filled the kitchen, but honestly it was the scent of her perfume that lingered for him. He watched her as she bent over to retrieve the pie, then had to turn away after noticing how curvaceous her hips were.

“Done,” she said.

“Looks good.” Those were the only words he could force out as his mind was busy thinking of how he would love to have his hands on her waist and his body pressed up against her and this wasn’t the time to indulge in such carnal thoughts.

But his needs had always been more savage than he wanted to admit. And with Rory he knew he needed to be more of a gentleman than he’d ever been before.

She just stood there in awkward silence after she’d placed the pie on a trivet, and he knew he should say something to make her feel at ease. But what? Forcing down the lust that was clawing at his self-control, he turned to the windows, saw the water dripping down from the rain. It had changed to a light, steady drizzle.

“It’s been so long since I’ve been in the rain,” she said, almost under her breath. “Before I used to like walking in it.”

Just those words calmed the beast in him.Before. She was a woman recovering from something that took more strength than he’d ever understand.

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