Protective Love (Hidden Secrets) (3 page)

Smoothing my hair down and fixing my dress, I collected myself and walked over to Mylee and Kylee, my twin sisters
who had just graduated college.  Mylee - the choreographer - and Kylee - the designer - may have been identical twins, but they were as different as different could be.  The one thing that they had in common was their need to be the center of attention.  I shook my head as I watched both of them flirting with the same guy. 

“Hey!” I said as I got to the table they were sitting.

“Hey Kay!” they said in unison and laughed.

It had been a while since I had seen any of the family.  Aside from weekend phone calls to my parents just so they knew I was still alive, I rarely talked to any of them.  I missed them all so damn much, but there was too much I had to deal with to hang around with the constant reminder of what
only I knew happened.

Amazed, I looked around the table as all the men’s mouths dropped open when
my sisters jumped up to hug me.  The amazing part was my sisters didn’t even seem to notice.  I hugged each of them.

“So proud of
you both.”

They both
gave me a huge smile then Mylee turned to the group of men and I could feel my fear kick in a bit as she introduced me to the group.

“This is Mitch, Donny, Kenny, and John. 
Guys, this is our sister Kayla.”

All of them said “Hi.” Three of them turned their attention back to my sisters, but one kept his eyes on me.  The look in his eyes was giving me the creeps.  I tried to hurry away, but the guy stepped in front of me.

“I’m Mitch,” he said, holding his hand out for me to shake.

I smiled and tentatively shook his hand.

“Kayla.  See you around.”

When I tried to pull my hand from his, he wouldn’t let it go.  Suddenly I was so nervous that there were butterflies in my stomach and I felt like I was going to be sick.  It wasn’t a good nervous either.  This guy scared the shit out of me.

“Don’t leave.  We should get to know each other.” 

He brought my hand up to his lips.  Finally able to yank my hand free, I left without looking back or saying a word.  When guys looked at me like that, I could see their intentions.  His were not honorable.  One could tell a lot from someone’s eyes.  I could hear the guy walking behind me.

“Kay Key!” 

I a
lmost jumped with glee. I had never been so happy to hear my childhood nickname.  I looked around to see who was calling me, and there, with his arms opened wide, was my brother Jake.  We used to be close. 

God,
I miss my family.
 

The closeness we
’d once had seemed to have vanished in a single night.  Current events kept me from getting close to them again.  However, this guy Mitch was giving me the creeps, and for the first time in a long time, I hugged my brother.  He seemed to be just as shocked about it as I was, but I wanted to be safe from this guy.

“You’re shaking Kay.  What’s wrong?”

“Is that guy still watching me?  Don’t let him see you look.”

After a moment, Jake said, “Yes.  Why?”

“Just trust me when I say he’s bad news.  He’s giving me the creeps.”

I had no more than finished telling Jake that when I felt my brother stiffen and his arms tighten around me.  The pressure made me start to panic.  I pushed against Jake, but he would
n’t let me go.  Soon I found out why.

“You going to introduce me to your friend, babe?”

“Babe?” I whispered.

Jake finally released me and I turned around.  To my horror, Mitch actually reached for me.  I immediately stiffened.  Then flat out fear broke out when I saw who walked into the backyard.

Alex!

He seemed to be searching for something or someone.  Just then my oldest brother Elijah came into the backyard.

“Kayla!”

I watched in terror as Alex found me, smirked and started walking toward me.  Elijah got to me first and tried to hug me.  I didn’t return it.  I loved my brother, but it was his idea for the ‘party’ they had and it was Carson that screwed Alex over.  Both of their decisions ruined me and the person I wanted to be.

“You’re still mad at me?  This cold shoulder is getting old.  What the hell happened? What…”

I didn’t hear the rest of Elijah’s speech over the top of my heart pounding its way out of my chest.  As he got closer, I started trembling and knew that my eyes had to be as big as my head.

“Hey everybody!
Thanks for the invite.”  Without thinking, I stepped back and behind my brother Jake as he said “Hello Kayla. Pretty as ever even after all these years.”  The smile on his face and the look in his eyes made me start to shake worse.

My brother eyed me oddly.  Without a doubt I knew I was making an ass out of myself, but they wouldn’t think so if they knew the truth.  Unaware of my movements, I grabbed hold of Jake’s hand and was squeezing it hard in my shaking.  Jake looked back at me and I barely registered the concern that immediately lit his eyes
as he looked between Alex and me.

Jake moved in front of me and fisted his hands at his sides.

“I think you need to quit looking at my sister like that or you will be dragging your sorry ass out of this party.  I don’t even know why you’re here.  I don’t remember you being on the guest list.”

“Looks like someone’
s edgy today.  What’s wrong, someone piss in your Cheerios this morning?  Didn’t get laid? For your information, I didn’t get an invite.  I am Mitch here’s guest.  He invited me along.  I am not considered part of the family anymore.  I wonder why that is…”  Alex said, looking at me.

I shook my head with so much force that I wobbled a little.  Elijah looked between Alex and
me, then stepped in front of me, blocking me completely from Alex’s sight.

“I don’t know what is going on, but you need to get the hell out of here before I join my brother in beating you to a bloody pulp.  Don’t forget
, I’m a lawyer - I can get us out of this mess faster than you can turn tail and run.”

“You guys are still the big, arrogant assholes you were back in the day.”
Alex said, leaning to the side so he could see me.  “I’ll see you later.  I promise that.”

“Like hell you will
,” Jake said stepping forward.

Alex laughed as he walked
backwards, then glared at me before walking away, Mitch follows him.  I knew this little outburst by my brothers was going to cause some big trouble for me.  As angry as I was at them, I knew they were just reacting to their sister in distress.  The fear over what could be coming had me literally shaking even more.

My brothers turned around just in time to catch me as I started to fall.

“Kayla?”  Elijah asked.

“Kay?  What’s wrong?  Are you okay?”  Jake
asked with concern thick in his voice.

All I could do was shake my head.  My throat was clogged with
fear; there was no way I could even make a noise.  It felt like I was going to suffocate, which caused me to panic. Staring up at Jake with wide, pleading eyes, I silently begged for help for the first time.

“I’
m taking her to go lay down.”  Jake told Elijah. 

He carried me off into the house.  I heard my sisters
ask about me.

“What’s wrong Eli?”

“I don’t know, but I’m going to figure it out.”

Jake carried me to my old room and set me down on the bed
, which wasn’t helping my panic any.  It was like going right back to that night.  I clawed at Jake’s shirt.  Taking deep breaths, but never getting enough oxygen.

“Calm down, Kay.  Please calm down.  I’m right here.”

He began to stroke my hair just as he used to do when I was little to help me fall asleep after a nightmare. In soft whispers he talked, calming me down.  It wasn’t long that the panic faded and I was able to breathe again.  A tear leaked down to my hairline.  Jake immediately picked me up and hugged me to him.

“Kay, you
’re scaring the shit out of me.  Please tell me what’s going on.”

The topic caused my panic to return instantly.  I pushed away from my brother and moved across the room.  There was no way I was getting into
it just then, and especially not there.

“There’s nothing going on.”

“Bullshit!  You and I used to talk about everything.  Now any of us are lucky if we see you at the holidays.  Something is going on.  Tell me!”

“Jake…”

My phone started ringing.  I had never been so grateful for an interruption.  When I looked at the caller ID and saw who was calling, I almost jumped for joy.  It was the perfect way to get away from my brother.

“Dr. Williams.”

“Hello, Dr. Williams.  I’m sorry to bother you.  I know you had that family party today, but we have an emergency that can’t wait for Dr. Hemmings to get out of surgery.”

After listening to the case, I told her I would be there right away.  I closed my phone and faced my brother who was still glaring at me.  It wasn’t going to be easy, but I was going to run like hell out of
there.

“I have to go
, there’s an emergency at work.  It was nice seeing you again.  Take care.”

Turning I bolted from the room with Jake calling my name behind me.  My secrets were mine to carry, not anyone else’s.  I would not drag anyone else down with me.  My secrets
would remain that way for the rest of my life.

I will never taint another’s life with the secrets I carry within me.

As soon as I made it back out to the backyard, I hugged my sisters goodbye, told them congratulations one more time and I ran for the door.  Out the door and down the steps, all the while trying to get my heels off so I can run faster, I started to fall when I hopped right off the walk and lost my balance.

CHAPTER TWO

~JASON~

After having to park almost a block away, I
wasn’t any happier about having to come here.  I didn’t know who these people were and I was just supposed to show up and talk to them like we all knew each other well.  I would do anything for my parents, and I guess I was proving it then.  My mom was sick and unable to fly in to be there for the party herself, so she asked me to stop by and let Mrs. Williams know.  I had hoped to just stop and leave. 

I could be sitting at home right now kicking back in front of my fireplace or sitting out on my deck.  Instead, I am about to walk into a noisy party.
 

My head was already hurting.

I was just walking up to the front of the house when I froze in my spot.  Staring at the sight before me, I watched as a woman came running from the house.  Her long, brown, curly hair was flying like silk in the wind behind her as she ran.  It was like watching her in slow motion.

She was breathtaking.  She had perfect
opulent curves, not pencil thin like most women these days think they need to be.  As she ran, her perfect size breasts were bouncing along.  Just looking at her was making my cock stir in my pants.  I watched as she made her way down the steps trying to get her shoes off.  She was down on the walk, struggling with her other shoe when she started to fall.  I ran in to catch her.  Her hair fell into her face as I cradled her in my arms.

For the first time in a long time, as I held this woman in my arms, I had a feeling of peace come over me.  Something about this woman called to me.  She wasn’t the normal type that I took to bed when I was frustrated.  She was different.  I can’t put my finger on why, but I wanted to get to know her better; a lot better.  She wiggled and her breasts rubbed against my chest and I had to bite back a groan.  I knew it had been a while since I had been with a woman but this
was ridiculous.  No woman has ever affected me like this one.  Instead of making me want to run away, I wanted to get closer. 

Jeez
, you fucking pervert!

A soft,
delicate hand reached up and started to brush the hair out of her face.  Just as she had the hair out of her face, she looked up at me and said, “Thank you.”   I was stunned all over again.  She had amazing blue eyes, like the water at the base of the glacier.  I was immediately lost in them.  Everything about this woman stunned me.  For a minute there, she seemed to be just as struck with me as I was with her.  My eyes dropped to her mouth.  She had lush, kissable lips; I wanted to kiss her.  The urge to taste her lips was almost overwhelming.  I almost started leaning in to kiss her, when I felt her start to tremble. Something broke through my lust for her and told me it was fear causing her to tremble.  Slowly I started to set her on the ground.

“Are you okay?”  I asked
, trying to keep my voice neutral.

She shook her head slightly and stepped back on
to the foot that still had the shoe on and wobbled.  Without hesitating, I reached and pulled her against me again.  She just felt right in my arms.  She pushed against my chest and I slowly let her go.  I didn’t want her to fall and frankly, I just loved the feel of her in my arms against me like that.

“I’m fine.  Thank you.  I was trying to get this shoe off
,” she said, squatting down to mess with it before she sighed in frustration.  “I think I will be forever in this heel.”

I reached out for her foot when she jumped and fell to the ground.  I hurried next to her, but she put her hand up stopping me.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.  You scared me.”

“I was only going to try and get your shoe off for you.”

When I looked in her
eyes, I could see the fear plain as day.  The look pulled at something in my chest; I wanted to protect her, hold her, and let nothing or no one hurt her again.

Son of a bitch!  Where the hell did that come from?

“Sure, you were,” she said so low I almost didn’t hear her.

Something had this woman scared to let men close;
or maybe it was just people in general.  I don’t know why, but I wanted her to trust me.  I wanted to get close to her.  I cleared my throat and began with the formalities.

“My name is Jason Gold.  I am a detective for this fine city
,” I grinned and added, “I’m also an expert buckle smith in my off time.”

I hoped that joking with her would help make
her, trust me a little easier or at least to let her guard down enough to get to know her.  What I wasn’t expecting was a laugh.  Not just any kind of laugh either, this laugh was light, sensual, and wrapped around me like a warm blanket.  This woman was incredible.

“Okay
, as long as you’re an expert,” I could still see the fear in her eyes, but she giggled again and said, “My name is Kayla Williams.  I’m a vet.  I was actually on my way back to work when this happened.” 

She sighed.  Talking like
that seemed to be keeping her calm while I worked on her buckle, so I continued our banter.

“I love animals
- dogs more than anything, but I’m an animal lover all the same.” 

Damn, she really did break it
.

“Dogs are amazing creatures.  I have a Husky
named Cara.  She is two now, but I’ve had her since she was six months old.  She was thrown from a car on the highway and was badly injured, as I’m sure you can imagine.  I fell in love with her right away.  It took three surgeries and six months of rehabilitation, but she is healthy now.” 

She frowned then
, and her beautiful eyes clouded with sadness.  Something about that look made it feel like a rock settled deep in my stomach.  I needed to clear that look as soon as possible.

“Huskies and German Shepherds have always been my favorite breeds.”  I smiled. 

If I wasn’t mistaken, her breathing faltered, then, but I wasn’t sure.  Finally the buckle came loose as I said, “I would love to meet Cara.  Maybe I could come by sometime this week.”

When her eyes widened and she quickly climbed to her feet, I knew I shouldn’t have said it.   There was just no way of stopping myself from asking it.  I wanted to see her again, talk to her more, and get to know her better.  It was strange, but I
had never felt this way about anyone before; I had never felt such urgency. 

“I have to go.  Thank you, Jason.”

Hearing her say my name made my chest hurt and my cock jump in my pants.  I had images of her naked beneath me, screaming my name in ecstasy.  She brushed her hands down her dress and extended her hand to shake mine.  As I took her hand in mine, a shock went through me and straight to my groin, making me harder than was comfortable. 

What
is this woman doing to me?

“It was very nice to meet you, Kayla.  I do hope we see each other again.” 

The last sentence was out before I could stop it.  Just as I expected her to do, she pulled her hand away and turned to leave.  I watched her walk away as her dress shifted back and forth on her very appealing ass.  The silk-like hair was moving on her lower back as she walked.  For a moment, I wondered what it would feel like to run my hands in her hair as I kissed her and held her against me, claiming her as mine.

Damn!  Where are these thoughts coming from?

I stood there and watched her walk to her car.  As she opened the door, she looked at me with that sad expression on her face that made my insides hurt.  Something was going on there, and I wanted to get to the bottom of it.  She slid into her car and drove off.  I watched her car disappear from sight, and wished I knew how to get a hold of her.  With a sigh, I turned and faced the Williams’ house.

All I could think about was how glad I was that my mom
had made me go there.  Even though I had no clue when I would see her again, I had at least met her, and that was what mattered. 

I walked into the house to find Mr. and Mrs. William
s, walking through several rooms before ending up in the backyard. I spotted them right away; Kayla looked just like her mother.  As I walked up, I flashed a smile.

“H
ello Mr. and Mrs. Williams.  I’m Sally Gold’s son, Jason.”

“Yes
, dear, I know who you are.  Is your mother here?”

“
No, ma’am.  She was too sick to make the flight here.  I was sent to let you know that she has gifts coming here for your daughters, something for the two of you and to let you know she couldn’t make it.”

“Thank you, dear.  I’ll have to call her later and find out how she’s doing. Please stay and enjoy the party.  My kids are all roaming about.”

I just nodded my head.  When really I wanted to run out of this place to see if I could find Kayla, but there was no way to do that without being rude.  So, I walked around for a little bit not really talking to anyone, but keeping up the appearance that I was mingling.

Just as I was about leave a man approached me.  I would have ignored him, but I knew right
away that he closely resembled Kayla and decided to see what he had to say.

“Hey.  I’m Jake.”

“Jason.”

“I saw you talking to my sister outside.”

I nodded my head because no response was really required.

“You like her.  I could see the way you looked at her.  Really what I want to do is beat the living shit out of you, but I can’t.”

I wasn’t going to respond, but his statement made me curious.

“Why?”

“Because you were able to get close to her.  You were able to help her.  We can’t even do that.  She likes you.”

I snorted. 

“She ran from me when I asked to see her again.”

He turned serious and angry. 

“There’s something going on there…” 

He stared off for a
minute, then shook his head and looked back at me.

“She likes you.  I know she does.  If you want to see her again, swing by Second Chances.  It’s her clinic.  She works herself to death so it will be the best place to catch her. 
I will just say, if you hurt her… you’ll be sorry.”

With a huge smile on my face, I promised to not hurt her if I can at all prevent it.  As I walked out of the house, I silently thanked the Williams’ for their beautiful daughter.  For the
rest of the day, I felt as if I was on cloud nine.  I’d just met her, but felt like I had known her for years.  Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her.  That wouldn’t have been so bad if it didn’t make me so uncomfortably hard doing so.  I had to see her again; it was a must.  There was no way I could just let someone like that affected me the way she did go and not regret it for the rest of my life.  I wasn’t sure at first if going to her work was going to be a good idea, but the more I thought about it, it was my only option.  I needed to see her again.