Savin' Me (10 page)

Erik leaned over and kissed Annie on the
cheek. “Why would I care what she thinks tonight any more than I
ever have?”

Annie snatched a wooden spoon from its holder
on the counter and swished it in his face. “Don’t you sass me.”

Erik knew from experience that wooden spoon
stung like fire, and he suspected, in her eyes, he’d never be too
old for her to use it on him. “Yes, ma’am.” He leaned over the
stove, closed his eyes, and drew in a deep breath, savoring the
comforting potpourri of basil, garlic, and onion that filled the
steaming air. “You made my favorite, and it smells fantastic. As
always.”

Straightening, he walked to the extra
refrigerator in the garage-sized pantry and grabbed two Budweisers.
His parents were wine connoisseurs who never understood his
preference to beer, but at least they were kind enough to keep his
favorite brand on hand.

Annie glanced at the beers and frowned. As a
strong Southern Baptist, she’d never approved of his drinking, but
she also never outwardly condemned it. Except when it got out of
hand. Those times, she didn’t hesitate to treat him like a child
and hand him his ass in a sling.

She turned back to the stove and resumed
stirring the thick sauce. “I hear you got a new girl.”

“Jesus Christ—” The wooden spoon spun around
and shook in his face. “'Scuse me, but this town is so fuu… fuuu…”
He stepped out of range of the spoon. “Friggin’ unbelievable.”
Annie glared, prompting him to flash his special
get-out-of-jail-free smile. She’d been the first to respond to that
smile, and once he understood its power, he set out to perfect it.
Of course, in addition to personal gain, he worked to perfect it
because it always made Annie smile, and he’d do just about anything
to make her happy.

Since his mother hadn’t cared for the messes
associated with babies and toddlers, she turned most of the
child-rearing duties over to Annie. And thank God for that. Annie
had been a mom who seemed to think he could do no wrong, whereas
his biological mother had remained a cold, distant female who
happened to occupy the same house.

Thinking what his life would’ve been like had
his mother actually taken an interest in him sent a shudder down
his spine. He’d probably be in the study right now, sipping wine,
engaged in boring conversation. And worse still, he’d be with
Elise.

That thought was as nauseating as it was
distressing and sent him straight for the beer in his hand. When
he’d finished taking a healthy swig, he said, “There’s a new
account executive handling my advertising. She toured the plant
yesterday, and last night I took her pizza and helped her unpack.”
He shrugged. “That’s it.”

Annie kept her measuring black eyes trained
on him while she stirred the sauce, which made him jumpy as hell
because she knew him so well, she could probably look straight
through his skull and see into his mind. And wasn’t that a scary,
scary thought?

He fought the urge to squirm by downing the
rest of his beer, then dropped the empty bottle in the recycling
container. Opening his second, he said, “Guess I better go speak to
Mother.”

“I want to meet her.”

He whipped around to face Annie. “Excuse
me?”

“You heard me, child.”

“Why?”

Annie smiled and said nothing, just went back
to stirring and humming.

Shit. She never cared about meeting anyone he
went out with. She knew it was a waste of time. So what had she
seen in him that made her want to meet Kat?

Jesus, going to see his mother suddenly
sounded like a great idea. She wouldn’t have a clue what was going
on with him. Nor would she care. “How long am I going to have to be
in there?”

Annie checked the oven and smelled the sauce.
“About fifteen minutes.”

“I can probably survive that.” As he followed
the sound of voices coming from the study, he wondered if everyone
felt a sense of dread like this when attending a family birthday
dinner.

He took a deep breath, then stepped through
the doorway. His parents' house, decorated with dark wood,
substantial antique furniture, and heavy upholstering, had always
felt oppressive. But nowhere was it more evident than in the
cramped study.

He engaged in brief conversation with his
father and Mr. Winstead, then moved to the settee, where his mother
and Mrs. Winstead sat chatting about the upcoming garden club
meeting. He wrapped his arm around his mother’s shoulder, which was
as close to a hug as they ever got, and said, “Happy birthday,
Mother.”

“Thank you.” She lifted her chin and studied
him. “I hoped you would shave for my birthday.”

Accustomed to his mother’s attempts at guilt
trips and manipulations, he drew a hand across his jaw and
smiled—not his special smile—and said, “I did. I shave every
morning.” And he did; he just used a guard to keep it close, not
gone, like she preferred.

After a brief exchange with Mrs. Winstead and
a terse nod thrown toward Elise, who sat in a chair opposite the
settee, he moved to the window. He pushed the heavy drapery aside
and stared at the river, wondering, yet again, why his mother
insisted on keeping such a magnificent view locked away behind huge
fabric panels.

Then again, he didn’t understand anything
about his real mother, which was why he valued his surrogate
mothers so much. Annie had loved him unconditionally and always
treated him like her own. As he’d grown older, Steve’s Mom, Mama
Vex, had also become a major influence, especially through
adolescence.

The Vex house would probably fit into his
parents' home three times. And although Mama Vex had been gone a
lot, working two and sometimes three jobs to make ends meet, she
managed to create a bright, cheery, and welcoming home. Erik had
loved every minute he spent there, and that was why he’d recruited
her help in decorating his own home. He wanted it to be like the
Vex house, not stifling, pretentious, and depressing as hell, like
his parents’ home.

Kat would hate it here, just like Lindsey
would’ve. He swallowed hard and rubbed his chest, trying to ease
the tight fist of guilt and shame that accompanied the sudden and
unwelcome thought.

No matter how hard he tried to explain it,
he’d never been able to make Lindsey understand why he didn’t bring
her home with him. Her parents were kind and welcoming to everyone,
much like Mama Vex.

His? Not so much.

Would Kat understand that, or would she be
hurt like Lindsey had been?

What the hell does it matter? She’s not part
of your life. It’s just sex, remember?

“Tell me, Erik,” Elise said in a tone
dripping with bitterness. “How did it come to be that Rusty turned
your account over to Kat?”

Not in the mood for slicing and dicing with
her tonight, he continued to stare out the window. “I don’t know.
You need to ask Rusty.”

“Oh, touchy.” She settled into the chair next
to the window. “Are you sure you didn’t know her before she came to
work at SMG?”

At that, he cranked his head around and gave
her a once over. Everything about her posture, from the crossed
arms to the raised chin to the swinging foot, was that of a
petulant child who firmly believed she’d been wronged… and intended
to make things right.

He sat on the ottoman in front of her and
rested his elbows on his knees. Keeping his voice low, so only she
could hear, he said, “What do you
really
want to know,
Elise?”

“Why she left R&A, a large, established
firm to come to a small, Podunk agency like SMG?”

Erik raised an eyebrow. “Wow, does Rusty know
you think so highly of him and the agency he’s worked hard to
build?”

She curled her lip defiantly, but diverted
her gaze. “Rusty’s no fool. He knows his agency is peanuts compared
to R&A.” The swing of her foot picked up its pace as her
irritation grew. “I’ve made calls to media reps and a few competing
agencies in Charlotte. No one will tell me anything.”

Erik smiled, even though the thought of her
trying to harm Kat made him want to latch his hands around her
neck. “Maybe there’s nothing to tell.”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, please.”

“Why does she bother you?”

Her foot stopped swinging, and a frown
settled in as she studied the floor. She was quiet for so long he
decided she wasn’t going to answer, but then she looked up and took
a deep breath. “Can we go out on the patio? Just the two of
us?”

The request was made in a soft, demure tone,
and her body language had shifted so drastically he found himself
oddly curious about her thoughts. He stood, then offered a hand to
help her up. “Sure.”

The wind often blew in the late afternoon and
evening, but it had been blowing at a solid fifteen to twenty knots
all day and seemed to have picked up even more since his arrival.
Elise’s perfectly styled hair whipped in the breeze, and she
wrapped her arms around her waist, shivering.

“Here,” Erik said, as he shrugged out of his
sports coat and wrapped it around her shoulders. He took her by the
elbow and led her around the corner of the house, which provided
shelter form the wind. “All right, what’s going on? The whole
story.”

While Elise stared at the river and gathered
her thoughts, Erik leaned against the stone wall of the house and
took a moment to look at her. The fit of his jacket exaggerated the
slump of her shoulders, her mouth turned down in a serious frown,
and her brow sported a series of creases that were going to lead to
wrinkles, and quickly, if she kept at it.

“My parents never expected me to go to work
and actually support myself. They assumed I’d go to college, then
get married and become a social wife. Like my mother. Like your
mother.” She turned her head slightly and looked at him from the
corner of her eye. She chewed on her bottom lip, then averted her
gaze back to the river. “My parents always assumed I’d marry
you.”

This wasn’t shocking news to Erik since his
mother had pushed and prodded him in that direction all his life.
But he was surprised to hear Elise admit it, especially since this
was the first time they’d ever talked about anything of
consequence.

“Since that’s the only thing they ever
expected me to do, and I failed, they consider me flawed.” The
dejected resignation in her voice, combined with her parents'
fucked-up logic, caused a small piece of him to soften toward
her.

He never stopped to consider things from her
perspective. Since he was three years older, he never considered
her anything more than a serious pain in his ass. She followed him
around everywhere he went, and he always had to share his toys with
her. Nothing in this house had been sacred or off-limits to
Princess Elise.

Then, as a teenager, she had an obvious crush
on him that left him feeling awkward and uncomfortable any time
they were together. Their parents had encouraged a relationship,
and while Elise seemed game, Erik had inwardly cringed. Elise was
too much like his mother. No thanks. He always knew, back in the
day when he still thought of getting married, that he’d marry
someone down to earth, fun-loving, and free-spirited like Mama
Vex.

Like Kat.

It was ridiculous for Elise’s parents to find
fault with her because of his lack of interest. He brushed a strand
of windblown hair from her face, and said, “Elise, that’s crazy. I
had no idea they made you feel that way. We’ve known each other all
our lives, and… well, it’s not you. It’s me.”

At his use of the ridiculous cliché, she
snapped her head around and stared at him. Seeing him laugh and
realizing it had been a joke, she laughed too. Pity she didn’t do
it more often, because she was much more attractive laughing and
smiling than wearing that perpetual I-am-superior smirk.

“Would it make a difference if I talked to
them?”

She shook her head and sighed. “No. And I’ve
given up trying to prove myself to them, or trying to make them
happy.” She stiffened and anger flashed over her features.
Apparently the lighthearted moment was over. “But I do have
something to prove to myself. I understand Rusty’s need to hire
someone to replace Stephen. But the VP of Client Services position
should have been mine.” She straightened with renewed
determination. “Kat is hiding something. I just have to find
it.”

He understood the pressures parents could put
on their children. Their backgrounds were similar in that regard.
They both grew up in the high-powered world of the self-important,
who believed it was acceptable to do whatever was necessary to get
what you wanted.

He had the benefit of outside influences,
like Mama Vex and Annie, as well as Lindsey and her parents, to
teach him that being born into a certain class didn’t make him more
entitled than anyone else. Elise hadn’t had the benefit of those
influences, but that didn’t excuse her behavior.

Thoughts of her harming Kat caused everything
he looked at to have a reddish tint. Trying to curb his temper, so
hopefully he’d have a shot at getting through to her, he said,
“Rusty made the decision to hire Kat and put her in that position.
You need to have a conversation with Rusty about this, rather than
trying to harm Kat, who’s innocent.”

Elise scrunched up her mouth, crossed her
arms, and turned away from him. “I should have known you’d take her
side.”

He grabbed her arm and turned her back around
to face him. Looking her directly in the eye, he said, “It’s not
taking sides. And believe it or not, I do understand where you’re
coming from. But your approach is wrong. I guarantee you, it’ll end
up backfiring.”

Before Elise could argue, Annie appeared in
the study announcing dinner. God bless her, her timing was always
perfect.

They’d finished the main course and Annie was
clearing dishes when Erik’s cell phone beeped, indicating a new
text message. When he saw Kat’s number on the display, that
stupid-ass grin reappeared. God help him if Annie caught him
grinning like a fool and figured out who was behind it. Working
hard, he forced it away and opened the text.