Winter Kisses (12 page)

“S
o give us all the gory details,” Renny said, propping his feet up on the edge of the glass-and-marble coffee table in Alex's living room.

Alex wasn't surprised that both his brothers and his brother-in-law were in his apartment waiting for him. He'd told them all the time his flight was coming in but only Sam knew about the two incidents that had occurred in Aspen. Both of his brothers had keys to his place, just as he had keys to theirs. After the incident where the entire Bennett family was stalked and attempts on Renny's and his wife's life were made a couple years back, they all exchanged keys for safety reasons.

“A gentleman never kisses and tells,” Alex said, dropping his bags near the bar and reaching for a glass to fix himself something to drink.

Rico laughed. “That's why we're asking you.”

Alex returned his brother's grin. They knew him very well, both his brothers—Renny, the tallest of the three Bennett men with his close-cut curly hair and seductive eyes, and Rico with his slanted eyes, thick hair and football-player build.

“It's good to see you made it through the stay in Aspen without a scratch,” Sam, the most sober of the group, said with a small smile.

“Who says he doesn't have scratches? They may be carefully hidden,” Renny joked.

Meanwhile, amid all the banter, Alex fixed himself a rum and coke and took his first swallow. When the cool liquid coated his throat and he didn't feel as if he was about to jump in a cab and return to Monica's house, he finally spoke. “We had an enjoyable time despite your sorry attempts at matchmaking.”

“So there was no match made?” Renny asked.

“You forget I'd already met Monica, long before your little setup scheme. Which, by the way, I want to know, who came up with the idea in the first place?”

Each male stared at each other then back at Alex with fake clueless looks.

“Right,” Alex said with a nod. “It must have been the womenfolk, Bree and Gabriella, right?”

Rico chuckled. “Partially. His wife was in on it, too.” He pointed at Sam, who simply shrugged.

“The other two Lakefield sisters thought it was an excellent idea,” Sam said.

“I'll just bet they did,” Alex mumbled, taking another sip from his glass. “For the record, neither Monica nor I thought it was a good idea. We're adults. If we wanted to hook up we would have.”

“Yeah, in about six or seven months at the rate you two were going,” Rico interjected. “All we did was speed up the inevitable.”

“So is she really as bad as she seems?” Renny asked, only to receive wan looks from both Alex and Sam.

“What?” he asked, shrugging his shoulders. “That woman can be a real bitch.”

Sam grimaced. “She's my sister-in-law, man. Show some respect.”

“And she's not a bitch. So I'll ask you to show me some respect, as well.”

All eyes fell on Alex after he said that.

“Thanks to you guys I had the opportunity to get to know her a little better and she's not as bad as she makes people believe she is.”

“I don't understand. Why go through the trouble of making people not like you?” This was Rico, who had always asked a lot of questions since his childhood years.

“That's what I want to pick Sam's brain about,” Alex said as he walked around the bar to sit on one of the leather chairs in his living room.

“Yeah, I've been thinking about what you said in the email. So a car tried to run you off the road then somebody broke in to Monica's room at the hotel. I don't think the incidents are coincidences.”

Alex nodded. “I don't, either. And when she finally calmed down enough to talk about it, Monica agreed with me. She thinks it could be either of us being targeted for our job or social connections.”

Sam chuckled. “That sounds just like something Monica would say.”

“Wait a minute, somebody want to clue us in to
what's going on? Somebody tried to run you off the road, Alex? When?” Renny asked, concern lacing his voice.

“When we were driving from the cabin into the small town where the hotel was located. Then, after we checked into the hotel, someone broke the balcony doors to Monica's room.”

“You're kidding,” Rico exclaimed. “Did you call the cops? File a report?”

“Yeah, at the hotel the cops came, asked a couple of questions then went down to the New Year's party. They weren't overly concerned, just thought it was some partygoer already drunk and celebrating.”

“Guess they didn't catch him, then?” Sam asked.

“No. He disappeared into the cloud of folks getting ready for the party.”

“Convenient,” Renny replied. “You think somebody's after her?”

That was exactly what Alex didn't want to think. “I don't know.”

“It sounds like it to me,” Sam confirmed. “But who would have known she was there?”

“Maybe her assistant told someone,” Alex offered but Sam was already shaking his head.

“Negative. She called Karena the other night asking where Monica was and when she would be back. Apparently Monica didn't have time to even tell her assistant where she was going.”

“So what did her assistant want Karena to do?” Rico asked.

“She wanted Karena to call this guy because he'd been calling persistently for Monica and sent her some kind of package.”

“That sounds like your guy right there,” Renny said. “He's calling her and sending her gifts. An old boyfriend maybe?”

Alex sighed. “I asked her that and she told me no. Her old boyfriend wouldn't want her back.”

“She's probably right about that,” Rico quipped.

“Hey,” Alex warned. “That's enough.”

Rico looked at Sam, who only shook his head.

“I'll get the name and number from Karena tonight and look into it first thing tomorrow. Where's Monica now?”

“I dropped her off at her apartment,” Alex replied.

Rico sat up in his chair. “Alone? You just left her there?”

Alex frowned. “Make up your mind—either you like her or you don't.”

“I don't like you leaving a woman who might be a target alone,” Rico argued.

“Then that makes two of us. I didn't want to leave her, either. But she insists she's all right.”

“Her building's pretty secure,” Sam added. “But just in case I'll call and see if I can get someone to keep an eye on her until she gets to work tomorrow.”

“I'd appreciate that,” Alex said. He'd appreciate that a lot. He'd also appreciate finding out who this man was who was so adamant about getting in touch with Monica. It didn't matter how much she protested, his protective instincts where she was concerned had already kicked into overdrive.

 

“Hello?” Karena answered her house phone at a little before midnight. Sam was still out, no doubt having a rollicking good time welcoming Alex back home. She'd
thought about going to see Monica but figured she'd see her at work tomorrow at their meeting.

“Karena.” Monica's voice sounded weak, distressed. Definitely not the normal Monica.

“What's the matter?” Karena asked, instantly thinking of their parents or Deena.

“I ne— Can you come—” She sighed. “Something's happened.”

“I'll be right there,” Karena said, hanging up the phone and heading to her closet to grab some clothes.

 

Less than the normal hour it took for Karena to drive from her house in Connecticut to Monica's apartment in Manhattan, she was entering the glass doors, waving at Miguel and heading straight toward the elevators.

Monica definitely did not sound right on the phone and Karena was getting bad vibes the closer she came to her sister.

Karena rang the doorbell, because Monica hated when people knocked on her door instead, and waited impatiently for her to answer. When she did, Karena's heart sank.

“What is it, Monica?” she asked as she stepped inside and closed the door behind her.

Monica simply pointed and Karena followed her gaze toward the bedroom. She started back there, looking to see Monica following her as if in a trance. When she arrived in the bedroom she saw wrapping paper thrown over the bed, a tipped-over box and a stuffed rabbit.

“I don't understand,” she said, turning to Monica. “What happened? Did somebody call you and upset you? Was it Alex?”

Monica shook her head and took a deep breath. “It's Yates. He wants me back.”

“Who the hell is Yates and what do you mean he wants you back? Let's just sit down and talk about this,” Karena said, moving to the bed and pushing the rabbit aside so she could sit down.

Monica sat on the floor right where she'd been standing. She used both hands to run fingers through her hair and reached for the sanity she knew she possessed somewhere.

“Yates and I met when I was a sophomore in college. He was an English professor. Not mine,” she said with a nervous chuckle. “That would have been way too cliché.”

“Go on,” Karena prodded.

“He was handsome and worldly and everything I thought I wanted in a man. He had a great position and he was moving up to the board of directors and making a name for himself in the community. He had political aspirations but wanted to first make his mark in education. When he first approached me I was in awe. Maybe it was because he was twenty years older than me, a man compared to all the boys at school, or it could have been how tall and completely good-looking he was. Whatever the reason, I should have known better.

“But I was only nineteen. Thinking about meeting a mature man while I was away at college wasn't really tops on my agenda. But there he was and he wanted me.” Monica shrugged.

Karena watched her closely. “What happened next?”

“He took me to dinner. French restaurants, Italian ones. We had champagne and fine wine and foods I
could barely pronounce the names of. That's when Yates suggested I take all the foreign-language classes, especially since I was going for a business degree. He was very well educated so I didn't hesitate to change my schedule. It was perfect. He was perfect. And so I gave him my virginity.”

Karena sighed.

When Monica looked up at her she had tears in her eyes and Karena slipped off the bed to sit beside her sister on the floor. She took one of her hands, held it and remained quiet, letting Monica tell the story.

“I gave him everything I had, Karena. Everything. He was my entire world and then he…he let me down.”

“How'd he do that?”

Monica cleared her throat. “He was married to some woman from a rich family or something like that. When she found out about us she called me to their house. I'd never been there, not in the three years Yates and I were together. He always took me to a hotel, which, silly me, thought was so very classy. Anyway, his wife wasn't real happy with me, but she wasn't surprised, either, said Yates always picked them young and pretty.”

“Oh, honey, I'm so sorry,” Karena said, pulling Monica close for a hug. Deena had said something happened to Monica when she was away at school. She'd come home acting distant and had only grown more cynical and judgmental in the years that followed. “He was an ass.”

Monica choked out a laugh as she pulled away. “That's an understatement. Anyway, he wanted to continue the affair. I said no. He didn't like that answer and things got ugly for a minute.”

“By ‘ugly' do you mean
physical?
”

Monica read the alarm in Karena's voice and knew without a doubt Karena would tell her parents and Deena everything she knew. So even though she was telling her this much there were some things, some parts of what turned Monica Lakefield from a young, naive girl into an independent, self-preserving woman, that would remain a secret.

“I mean it wasn't an amicable separation. At one point he made some foolish threat that he'd never see me alive with another man.” Monica was shaking her head. “I haven't been with anyone so I don't really know why he's surfacing now. But I know it's him. He used to call me his little bunny. Only Yates would send me that,” she said, pointing to the rabbit on the bed.

“Wait a minute. Did you say his name is Yates? Yates Hinton?”

Monica looked alarmed. “How do you know him?”

“He's been calling your office nonstop. Adonna gave me his number to see if I could help him with something. We thought it was gallery business.”

Monica shook her head. “No. It's personal. The singularly biggest mistake I've made in my life.”

“No. The biggest mistake you made is not telling us about this when you came home. Monica, we're family. You should have known you could trust us. If not Mom and Dad, at least me and Deena. We knew something had happened to you, but you were so closed off about it. I just wish you would have opened up sooner.”

“I know. I apologize for that. Keeping the secret has been hard on me, too. Living the life I've had to live, protecting myself from ever getting mixed up like that again, it's all been really tough.”

“So you said his threat was if you ever saw another
man, which you made sure not to do all these years. Why's he back, then?”

They both looked at each other.

“I'm not ‘with' Alex. This week was just a fluke. Yates couldn't have known about that,” Monica started to say then remembered almost being run off the road and the break-in at the hotel. “Oh, my God,” she whispered, putting a hand to her chest.

“What? He knew, didn't he? He knew about you and Alex. But how?”

“I don't know. I don't know. It's only been three days, three freakin' days. How did he find out that quick?”

“Actually, it may have been before that,” Karena said. “There were pictures all over the tabloids at Deena and Max's wedding. You and I were in the wedding along with Alex. There must have been a shot of the two of you together.”