Before We Kiss (Fool's Gold #14)(39)

Sam followed Kenny upstairs. They walked down the long hallway and through double doors into a room about half the size of an airplane hangar. There were a half dozen or so black leather sofas, a giant television, a big bar and beer on tap. It was a place to relax, to hang out. To escape. Because even now, there were times when the world closed in. When fame was too much and the guys needed to unwind, they came here. No one bothered them.

They’d had a room like this back in L.A. They’d tried to ban Taryn, but she’d retaliated by having their cable cut off, in the middle of a play-off game. They’d never messed with her again.

Kenny walked behind the bar and poured them each a beer. Sam pulled a large towel from a stack on a shelf and tossed it across the sofa, then sat down. Kenny took a seat opposite and leaned back against the leather.

“Folks?” he asked.

Sam shook his head.

“Then it’s a woman.”

Sam grimaced. “I know better.”

“We all do. Except Jack, who is careful to never get involved.”

Sam drank his beer. Kenny was right. Jack was good at making it look as if he cared without getting emotionally engaged. His brief marriage to Taryn had been because of her pregnancy, not emotions. Before and after her, there had been a string of beauties who weren’t interested in much more than saying they’d slept with Jack McGarry. While Jack was involved with several charities, it was always from a distance. If something personal was needed, he sent Larissa.

Sam turned to Kenny. “You still think about what happened?”

“Every day,” his friend said flatly. “Every damned day.”

“Sorry.”

Kenny shrugged. “It happened. I was an idiot. The signs were all there, but I didn’t want to see them.”

Which made his situation sound less horrific than it was.

“You talk to her at all?” Sam asked.

Kenny shook his head. “Never.”

Sam knew better than to ask if his friend ever spoke to the child he’d thought of as his own. The answer would be no. And that was the hell of it.

“You sleeping with Dellina?” Kenny asked.

Sam nearly spit his beer. “No.”

“Why not? She’s pretty. Sexy. She likes you.”

Sam forced himself to sit quietly when what he really wanted to do was jump up and demand, “How do you know? Did she say anything? What have you heard?”

Which was what Kenny wanted. Sam stretched out his legs in front of him and did his best to look casual. “How much are you prepared to lose when we play golf this weekend?”

“I’m kicking your ass,” Kenny told him. “Don’t think I didn’t notice the change in topic.”

Sam smiled. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

* * *

“I HATE YOU,” Dellina said forcefully. “I don’t use that word lightly, just so you know. And I mean it. I really, really hate you.”

Her cursor blinked as if unaffected by her declaration, which was so not a surprise. Stupid computer, she thought glumly. And stupid, stupid program. Why wasn’t it working?

She glanced down at the printout in her hand, then back at the screen and sighed heavily. The job with Score was a big one. She was billing lots of hours and invoicing them for everything she bought. Sam paid her promptly. So why wasn’t she coming out ahead financially?

A party like this one should have provided her with lots of extra income. But when she ran her statements, she wasn’t much further ahead than she’d been two months ago. She would cover costs and walk away with a little extra, but nothing like she’d thought. And nowhere near the amount she’d been hoping for.

She tossed the papers back on the desk and turned from the screen. She would figure this all out after the party, she promised herself. When she didn’t have fifty million things going on. Then she could find out why, after working so hard, she was steadily losing money and facing the real possibility of having to shut her doors.

CHAPTER NINE

IN LOS ANGELES, Sam had lived in a condo. The building had been secure with plenty of staff to keep the world at bay. In Fool’s Gold that hadn’t been an option, so he’d bought a house. The place was bigger than he needed, but it was on the golf course, which he enjoyed, with large rooms and high ceilings. He’d liked all the extra space. The downside of having more rooms was having more bedrooms. And the downside of that was he had no reason to tell his parents they couldn’t stay with him when they came to town. Which was why he was pacing back and forth in his foyer, all the while wondering how long it would take him to drive to Mexico.

He heard a car pull up and opened the front door. Fortunately it was only Jack and Taryn. Kenny pulled up behind them. He noticed how they now blocked the driveway, which would make it harder to escape. Harder, he thought, but not impossible.

It was late afternoon and they’d all come from the office. Taryn wore one of her usual tight dresses that probably cost more than he’d spent on his favorite suit. But she looked good, he thought. Happy. Her relationship with Angel was good for her and—

He swore under his breath. Dear God, it was already happening. Just the knowledge that his parents were only a few miles away was changing him into a woman! He had to get out of here now.

“Don’t even think about it,” Taryn said as she walked up the front walkway. “You aren’t leaving. You’re going to stay and greet your parents like the mature, full-functioning adult that you are. You’re going to listen to their stories and be grateful you have a loving family, no matter how much they annoy and frighten you.”