Page 2 of Falling For The Enemy (The Gilbert Curse)

“Well, I’d settle for being on my own and trying all the things I missed in the last ten years.”

Dash stiffened. “I agreed to you living here but the other stuff—”

“Too late,” Rory said. “That’s why Kit’s here.”

“WhyamI here?”

“To help me experience all the things I missed in the last ten years,” Rory explained.

“The hell he is,” Dash said.

Rory wasn’t going to argue with her brother in front of Kit. He wasn’t at all what she was expecting but she’d hired him from a website that had offered discreet help for anyone experiencing extreme anxiety or problems leaving their home. Everything from the everyday stress of ordering a coffee to sex. Rory wasn’t sure what she’d need, so had checked all the boxes. Frankly, after ten years in a coma, there was so much she didn’t know. Like, did Lizzie and Gordo stay together? But also stuff like social media. The solutions, according to what she’d read, were designed to push her out of her comfort zone.

And she needed that.

As much as she’d been saying she wanted Dash and her cousin Conrad—who was like another older brother—to stop treating her like she was made of spun glass, a part of her had no idea how to do it.

Ten years in a coma had been hard to recover from. Physically, she was still stretching her limits and trying to regain her strength. If she overdid it and was on her feet for too long she had to use a cane. But those physical limitations were somehow easier than the mental ones. Rory had found it too easy to stay holed away in her suite of rooms at Gilbert Manor, with the staff eager to cater to her every need. She had started to really live in what she couldn’t help but think of as her cushy tower. And, in many ways, she knew that she’d let herself fall into a second coma of sorts.

Butno more. She’d used some of her inheritance to buy this half of the duplex and was determined to fix it up and make it into something that was hers. And as part of her grand plan, she’d hired Kit. But he was a bit more handsome than she’d been expecting. Okay, more than a bit. He had dark black hair that he wore short and spiky on top, and he had a light dusting of stubble that made him look stern until he smiled. A sigh escaped her as she continued to drink him in. He had a full, firm-looking mouth, which indicated that kissing him wasn’t going to be a problem.

In fact, she couldn’t help wondering what his mouth would feel like on hers, which stirred feelings that a twenty-eight-year-old woman should be able to handle. But while that might be her actual age, mentally she still felt like she was eighteen. Rory hadn’t been sexually active before the accident, so she had a lot to catch up on.

So she’d hired Kit.

He was going to teach her everything she needed to know about modern dating and help her get over her fears of being touched. He was going to just help her do those things she was afraid of doing. Like going into Lulu’s crowded coffee shop and ordering a coffee. Or going into the city to eat at Conrad’s exclusive kitchen.

She’d tried to do it on her own, and knowing she’d see her cousin had gotten her out the door. But then she’d frozen. Part of it was the walking stick she still had to use. It was hard not to feel like everyone was staring at her. Which in Gilbert Corners was a very real fear since she was a Gilbert and everyone was aware she’d been in a coma for ten years.

She knew that fear had dominated her for too long, so when Dash made it clear he did not approve of her plans with Kit, Rory felt her hackles go up.

Pulling her arm from Kit’s, she squared her shoulders and faced off with her brother. “Dash, I know, in your eyes, I’m still that little sister who was sleeping for too long. So I get that you want to protect me, but you are slowly smothering me. I need someone who will help me embrace all of the things that I’m a little bit scared to try but that I know I have to do.”

“And you think this guy is the one?” Dash asked stiffly.

“I do,” Rory assured him. “He’s not a stranger. As I said, we’re friends.”

She glanced back at Kit. His mouth was a firm line and when their eyes met for a moment, she wasn’t sure what she read in his gaze. But then he gave her a nod and a wink.

He turned to her brother. “I give you my word that I will not let any harm come to her,” he promised.

“That’s not necessary,” Rory said. If she’d learned anything from Elle and Indy, her soon-to-be sister/cousin-in-law, it was that women didn’t need a man to back them up. Rory was doing this forherself. That said, it was nice to have Kit along for those panicked moments she knew would come. Case in point...she’d already had an anxiety attack as she’d entered the house that she planned to make over.

As a coping mechanism, she’d stood there, doing box breathing and then singing that one song that always cheered her up. “Island in the Sun” by Weezer. She’d just sung it over and over until she’d heard the moving truck outside. Then she shoved her anxiety into a box, like her therapist had said to, flashed a smile and met the movers.

She hoped that doing stuff with Kit, living in this house on her own, finding her voice and strength again would slowly start to feel normal. That maybe she’d be able to face her fears and not worry about crying or shaking or having to sing “Island in the Sun” over and over again.

“Fine. But I’ll be keeping tabs on both of you,” Dash warned. “And, Kit, I’ll need your full name.”

“No, you won’t!” Rory protested. “He has nothing to do with you.”

Dash gave Kit a tight smile as he took Rory’s arm in a firm but gentle grip. “Will you excuse us for a moment?”

He didn’t wait for Kit to answer but just led Rory out of Kit’s earshot. “You’re a Gilbert and a very wealthy woman,” he whispered. “It’s irresponsible for you to spend time with someone we don’t know. Just let me have him checked out.”

“No. Dash, I mean it. You know I wanted to move across the country so I’d be forced to stand on my own. However, I stayed here in Gilbert Corners because I love you and I want us to be the family I remember. But you have to let me do this my way.”

It would be easy to give in to Dash’s demands and stay locked up inside Gilbert Manor for the rest of her life. She’d have a nice, safe life, one where everyone took care of her, but Rory was beginning to realize she wanted more.

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