“The north side. The kitchen is on the north side. There are four levels of the house. The basement houses all the fun stuff—the bowling alley, the theater, shooting ranges, the billiards room, and the pool. First floor has the kitchen, formal dining, and living room, the family room, the library, my father’s office, which has a meeting room adjacent to it, and the famous trophy room. Second floor has most of the bedrooms and a few other rooms like my mom’s craft room. If you ever need to find Kaelynn while you’re here, check the library. It’s her favorite place.”
“Who are you talking to?”
The sound of her voice left me breathless. I had been standing around the corner, so when Kaelynn came in from the garages, she must not have seen me.
“What?” Millie asked, startled that Kaelynn had made it up to the house so quickly.
“How did you get here so fast? My phone just went off that you came through the gate.”
“I’ve been home the entire time, I didn’t come in through the gate,” Kaelynn said. “Who are you talking to?”
Millie motioned for me to stay back. “Um, shit. That must be Jack then.”
“Does he know I’m home?” Kaelynn asked, a bit of surprise in her voice.
“No, but he’s about to find out that both of you are here and . . .” Millie looked at me and then used her head to signal for me to step out. The second Kaelynn saw me she smiled. Then it disappeared as quickly as it appeared.
“Oh shit,” Millie and I both mumbled at the same time.
“What are you doing here, Nash? How did you know I was here . . . oh, wait. That’s a stupid question.”
“Kaelynn,” I started before she cut me off.
/> “Did you have me followed here?”
“No! Of course not.”
Millie stepped between us. “Okay, stop. Jack doesn’t know what happened between you two. He’s very protective of his sisters, and if he finds out Nash caused you to run from Austin, he’ll shoot him.”
My gaze jerked from Kaelynn over to Millie. “What? Shoot me? You’re kidding, right?”
Both girls answered me. “No.”
My eyes widened in horror. “Well, can I just go hide?”
Kaelynn shot me a dirty look. “My hero.”
“Your sister just said he would shoot me! How do you want me to respond to that?”
“No, you’re going to have to pretend everything is okay. Kaelynn brought you home to show you where she lived.”
“Why can’t we just tell him the truth?” I asked. “I’m really not in the mood to play pretend anymore.”
Kaelynn looked at me with hurt in her eyes. I felt like a dick, but I was done playing games.
Placing her hands on her hips, Kaelynn lifted her shoulders and stood taller. “Fine by me. Tell him the truth then. I’m sure he’ll be very interested in hearing that you ran a background check on his sister, slept with her, and then kept it from her.”
“Okay, I’ll be sure to note how you gave me a fake last name, never told me about your family except for the things you wanted me to know, oh, and when the going got tough, you ran.”
“Is that what you think I did? Ran? Nash, I was in a state of shock. You had my whole life history in an envelope stuffed in your jacket pocket.”
“Yes, and I never had any intention of reading it. I told Blake I didn’t want the damn background check done. Even when I found out Dotson wasn’t your real last name. I had a feeling you were about to tell me. I wanted you to trust me enough to tell me on your own, Kaelynn. Not fucking lie to me. I had enough of that with Lily.”
Kaelynn’s eyes turned watery, and she looked down at the floor. “I was afraid you’d only want to be friends if you knew the truth.”
“You never even gave me a chance to figure that out on my own, which I wouldn’t have pushed you away. I . . . I care about you.”
Shaking her head, she looked up at me. “Nash, you even said in the car you didn’t want a woman who came from money. Take a look around here, will you? I come from money. My whole life I’ve been trying to figure out who is really my friend and who is really out to gain something from me. It was easier to be someone I wasn’t to guard myself.”