Tori Carrington - Reckless

She moved toward the bedroom, realizing she hadn’t turned on any of the lights since she’d arrived home, relying on familiarity to find her way.

But what was familiar in her life now? Certainly not what she’d done at the café.

And what about Kyle?

She stumbled over her own feet.

What agenda might Kyle have after tonight? As Jesse’s best friend, would he feel compelled to tell Jesse what had happened?

Kyle would go back to being nothing more than Jesse’s good friend, she told herself firmly.

KYLE HAD MANAGED to avoid running into Jesse all morning, but couldn’t miss the meeting set before lunch because it was the final review of the Kitchner house. He did, however, arrive late, happy to find that things were already moving ahead without him.

“There he is,” Jesse said by way of greeting. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were avoiding me today.”

Kyle knew he meant it as a joke. He only wished that it weren’t true.

God, what in the hell had inspired him to sleep with his best friend’s girl?

The question had kept him up most of the night and he found himself alternately picking up the phone to call Jesse…and Heidi.

He’d awoken to find he hadn’t come any closer to an answer than he’d been the night before.

“Do you have the prints for the kitchen redesign?” Jesse asked.

Kyle unrolled the drawing Jesse was looking for on the worktable set up in the foyer of the thirteen-thousand-square-foot mansion they were building together. Jesse was the head of the construction team, Kyle the head architect.

“As you’ll see,” Jesse was saying to the owner, pointing at the redesign, “when we reconfigure the scheme the way you want, there isn’t room for the industrial-sized double-door refrigerator that you chose. One solution—”

Kyle peered at his friend. The issue he was discussing was two design revisions ago.

Thankfully Jesse seemed to catch himself and grimaced at Kyle before pretending the prints were upside down and turning them right again.

“Why don’t you explain it to him, Kyle?” Jesse said, looking at his watch. “There’s another appointment I need to make in fifteen minutes.”

“Sure.” Kyle stepped up, clearing his throat to regain the attention of the five men crowded around the table who were watching Jesse instead of the prints. “As you see here…”

He began explaining the proposed adjustment to the room dimensions and offered up alternatives and cost overruns. As soon as he had everyone’s attention, he switched to autopilot and watched as Jesse took off his hard hat and then climbed into his truck cab, looking as distracted as Kyle felt.

Was it possible that he knew what had happened last night? Had his friend stopped by the café? But the door had been locked, and so far as he could tell there was no way to see inside the kitchen from the parking lot.

Jesse’s tires kicked up gravel as he left the site.

Kyle frowned and finished up. “If you decide to pursue the changes, completion date will be pushed back at least five days.”

“Five days?” the owner said.

Kyle began rolling the print back up and shrugged. “It is what it is. The skeleton has already been built and the team already moved to another site. We’d have to pull them back…” He could recite the words in his sleep because he’d run into similar setbacks in nearly every project he’d worked on. Either the wife decided she wanted an Olympic-sized bathtub instead of the regular whirlpool in the original design, or the husband wanted a larger work area. It always meant delays and cost increases.

His cell phone vibrated in his pocket.

He fished it out and started at the caller ID even as he finished up his spiel. Heidi.

“If you’ll excuse me a minute, gentlemen, I have to take this call.”

“I THINK Jesse knows.”

Heidi nearly dropped the plate of boneless chicken breasts she was planning to turn into croquettes for a barbecue that night. She lowered the plate to the counter then stepped away for fear of doing even more damage in her distracted state.

“What do you mean you think Jesse knows?”

“I’m not sure. Did you say anything to him?”

“Me? I haven’t even talked to him yet.” Heidi realized she was whispering even though she was alone in the house. She paced into the living room. “How about you?”

“I just saw him at a meeting, but he left quickly—like a man with something on his mind. I think he might be on his way to see you.”

“Here? Me?”

Heidi stopped cold in the middle of the living room, no longer whispering but bordering on shouting.

Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God.

“Heidi? Are you still there?”

Yes. Unfortunately she was.

She made a choking sound thatwould have to pass for confirmation as she edged nearer the front window and peered around the sheer curtains, looking for Jesse’s truck.

“Actually, I’m surprised he isn’t there yet.”

“Which site are you at?”

He told her.

“That’s only a fewminutes away.When did he leave?”

“About ten minutes ago.”

She swallowed hard. If he’d been coming here, he surely would have arrived by now.

“He hasn’t called?”

“No.”

“You’ve had your phone on?”

“Of course I’ve had my phone on. I may not like what happened, but I’m not about to hide from it.”

Or whatever happened as a result of it.

She’d worked on various explanations all morning while cooking for the Johnson barbecue, where she would be both caterer and guest…along with Jesse and probably Kyle and half of Fantasy, Michigan.

“Are you going to tell him?” Kyle asked quietly.

Heidi bit her bottom lip. “I don’t know yet. What about you?”

“I’m kind of playing this by ear.”

She heard him curse, cutting off her need to do the same.

Heidi resumed her pacing, staring at the empty driveway every time she headed in that direction.

If Kyle was right, and Jesse planned on coming to the house, she’d have to face him and make her decision about how to handle the situation sooner than she would have liked. But if given a choice between sooner or later, she supposed it was probably better to get everything out in the open now. If only so they could begin the healing process.

“You know, there’s always the option of not telling him,” Kyle said softly.

Heidi gripped the telephone receiver tightly, vivid images of his hands against her skin, the expression on his face as he’d reached climax sliding easily through her mind.

“I know,” she whispered.

She heard another voice on his end and he said, “Look, I’ve got to go.”

“Sure,” she said. “Okay.”

“Is he there yet?”

Heidi checked through the curtains again. “No. Not yet.”

“Okay.”

She wanted to ask what he was thinking, but decided she had enough to work out without adding his troubles.

“Heidi?”

“What?”

She realized her voice sounded a little impatient, but, damn it, she figured she was entitled.

So she’d experienced a weak moment. She was only human, right? Surely Kyle should have been the stronger one, stopping what should never have started after she’d kissed him.

“If you need anything…” he said.

“Yeah. I know where to find you.”

“Just call.”

Oh, trust me, she thought. I will.

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