When You Are Mine(7)

"Here they come." He stood and reached down to help her up.

She ignored his hand, standing on her own and brushing imaginary grass  from her jeans. He searched her face, silently questioning, but she  ignored that, too. She gave him a brief smile constructed mostly of  plastic, before taking off toward Cam, who sprinted forward, grabbing  her by the waist and lifting her up. They shared a smile that twisted  Walsh's stomach into a knot.

"Get everything done?" Cam kissed her lightly on the lips. "You feel good?"

"I feel better now that I'm with you." She smiled into the tenderness of his kiss.

"Hey, dude." Cam smiled at Walsh over Kerris's shoulder. "'Bout time you  joined the living. I hope you won't be such a drag all summer."

Walsh returned his smile, watching Cam lower Kerris back to the ground.  She was where she belonged. He'd only just met the woman yesterday. He  refused to believe the signals his heart kept sending him. Things like  that didn't happen in real life. Cam was the best friend he'd ever had.  The bond they'd built over years of happiness and hurt-that was real.

A silver-blond goddess walked up behind Cam, looking like she'd walked  off the set of an Abercrombie & Fitch shoot. Knowing his friend  Sofie, she might have.

"Did you have a good nap, Walsh?" Sofie stepped close enough for him to  smell her perfume mixing with the scents of the outdoors.

He'd known her since preschool. Her father had been right beside his,  building the Bennett empire. Her recent success in modeling had landed  her on an unwritten "It Girl" list, and she was starting a new role as  celebrity goodwill ambassador for the Walsh Foundation. He knew, though,  that he was the real reason she was in Rivermont.

She caught his hand. He sharpened the look he gave her to a fine point, hoping she knew what it meant.                       
       
           



       

Don't even think about it. It's never going to happen.

"Yeah, it was just what I needed." He freed his hand, deliberately and  gently. "You ready to meet the Walsh Foundation board on Monday?"

"I think so." Un-Sofie-like tentativeness filled her bottle green eyes. "I just hope I'm what they're looking for."

"They're looking for someone refined, well-spoken, and who'll bring  positive attention to our cause." He reassured her with his smile,  forcing himself to keep his eyes trained on her, rather than straying to  the couple still talking a few feet away. "And the fact that your dad  is my father's right-hand man doesn't hurt. Plus, your good looks don't  hurt."

"So you do think I'm pretty?" She slid a chunk of hair behind her ear and flashed a too-wide smile.

He had known since high school that he could have Sofie whenever he  wanted her. Problem was, he just didn't see her that way. She was  beautiful, with a cover-worthy body, but there wasn't enough beyond the  shiny packaging to hold his attention.

"Look at you, fishing for compliments." He brushed a finger down her  perfect nose, keeping his tone fraternal. "Does it really matter what I  think when the rest of the world is at your feet?"

"It does to me," she said, no smile.

"Sof-" She stopped whatever he'd been about to say with the well-manicured finger she placed across his lips.

"When you're ready to give me a chance, I'll be waiting." She dragged  him toward the riverbank, smiling like she knew what was best for him.  "For now, let's show these country bumpkins what the captain of the  rowing team can do."

"Is it a race?" He glanced past her to where their friends were lining  up canoes on the river. He was nothing if not competitive, another  legacy from his father. He felt a tiny thrill of anticipation. He hadn't  rowed in years, not since high school.

"Yeah, it's a race," Cam said from his canoe, where Kerris had already  settled in front of him. "And we're gonna kick your ass, Bennett."

Never one to leave a gauntlet on the ground, Walsh staked his claim in  the canoe beside them, helping Sofie get situated. He and Cam had a  time-honored tradition of competing. The more trash talking, the better.

"You gonna kick my ass, Mitchell? That'd be a first."

"Would you two just load in and stop with all the talking?" Jo laughed from her canoe. "I'm ready to kick some ass myself."

* * *



In the end, Sofie and Walsh triumphed, and rubbed it in mercilessly.

"Did we forget to mention that we were both captains of our high school  rowing teams?" Sofie asked, hoisted on Walsh's shoulder like a trophy.

Kerris laughed like everyone else, not begrudging them their fair and  square victory, but a knot of briars rolled around in her stomach at the  sight of Sofie and Walsh together. They both looked so perfect. And she  had no right to this feeling, whatever they were to each other.

"Disgusting, huh?" Jo settled on the ground beside Kerris.

"What's disgusting?" Kerris looked away from their good-natured gloating, meeting Jo's eyes.

"Them." Jo smiled and pointed her chin toward Sofie and Walsh. "I mean,  it's not enough that they both look genetically engineered. They have to  have the money, education, and athleticism to back it all up. What line  were they standing in to get all that, huh?"

Kerris looked at the couple again. She'd noticed the way Sofie looked at Walsh, as if at any moment the sun would set on him.

"Have they known each other long?"

"Only since birth." Jo skipped a pebble across the river's surface. "If  arranged marriages still happened, you'd be looking at one. Not  formally, of course, but everyone knows that's where Walsh'll end up."

Kerris watched Sofie and Walsh splash water on each other at the edge of the river.

"Sofie's father is Uncle Martin's right-hand man. They've always been in  the same schools. Hung in the same circles. And she's always loved  him."                       
       
           



       

"And how does he feel?" Kerris wished she could retract the nosy question.

"Walsh may date other girls, sleep with other girls even, but everyone  knows the deal. He may play the field, but Sofie's home base. That's  where he'll settle down."

Kerris felt more than saw the speculative glance Jo flitted between her and the couple.

"A guy like Walsh has the world in the palm of his hand. He needs a  woman who knows what to do with it. That's Sofie. They aren't people who  can marry just anybody."

Not just anybody, and certainly not a nobody. Remember that, little  girl, Kerris told herself. He's out of your league. He's gorgeous. He's  been groomed to charm birds from trees. He flies all over the world,  rescuing orphans just like you.

There were a million reasons she had responded to Walsh Bennett the way  she had. And a million reasons she should avoid him. She would spend the  whole summer making sure she didn't forget that.





Chapter Six



Over the next month, Kerris and Meredith put their shoulders to the plow  readying Déjà Vu for its end-of-summer grand opening. In the mornings,  they cleaned houses for Maid 4 U. They needed a comfortable financial  cushion as insurance for the thrift store's potential slow start.  Meredith had a nice little nest egg, and Kerris refused to touch the  money she had won as Scholar of the Year.

They cleaned houses all morning, squeezed in a hurried lunch, and then  resumed cleaning in the afternoons. From there, they would comb the city  and surrounding areas for unique finds to stock the shop with the  beautiful, unusual, affordable pieces they wanted to build their  reputation on. They spent most evenings sanding floors, painting and  wallpapering, staining, decorating-whatever it took to transform the  space into what they dreamed it could be.

It was a bruising pace, but Kerris knew it was worth it, and in another  month, they could have it all done. They didn't deny themselves little  breaks here and there. When one of them received an invitation to a  party, or a picnic, or even a game of volleyball, they gave themselves  permission to take guilt-free advantage of it. These slices of leisure  kept Kerris sane. Most of those times were spent with Cam and his  friends, who were determined to enjoy the gorgeous weather and one  another's company.

They were halcyon days filled with horseshoes, baseball games, outdoor  concerts, and the river. That summer Kerris fell in love. In love with  the water, sometimes placid and tranquil, other times rushing so  violently that the banks alongside seemed barely able to contain it. In  love with the lullaby of moving water whispering its promises to her as  she drifted off to sleep under a canopy of trees. Cam's cottage was just  over the hill, so the river became the centerpiece of that summer, her  oasis from the commitments she balanced to make this new chapter of her  life unfold.