Caleb knew all his faults, knew his fast and loose ways with women. In Caleb's shoes, Derek wouldn't want his sister sleeping with a guy like him, either.
Crap. What a mess he was in.
His cell phone rang, and it seemed fate was rubbing it in his face because the call was from Caleb.
"Hey, I'm back in Pine Falls. Want to do something later today?" Caleb asked as soon as Derek answered.
Dammit. He wasn't sure if he could face Caleb today, but he couldn't think of an excuse.
"Uh, sure."
"I gotta fix my washing machine sometime," Caleb said with a laugh. "Don't think I should be doing my laundry at my dad's house anymore."
Guilt made Derek's gut cramp up. "Why don't I help you fix it?"
"You sure? It's a boring job."
"I'll be over in a couple of hours."
Two hours should be enough for him to get his head straight. Then maybe he could work off the guilt with some honest sweat. At least it might stop him from brooding over Hannah.
"Ah, it's good to put my feet up in my own living room." Frank Willmett stretched out on the couch and laced his hands behind his head as he smiled at Hannah. "Don't get me wrong. Traveling is great, but it's nice to be home."
"I'm glad you're back," Hannah replied as Rosalind bustled in with coffee for all of them. As soon as her stepmom had returned home, she'd taken charge of the kitchen. Not that Hannah minded, but it reinforced the fact that this wasn't her home anymore.
"You look a bit under the weather," Rosalind said to Hannah as she passed her a mug of coffee. "Been working hard?"
"Uh, yes." But hard work wasn't the cause of the knot in her stomach, which had been there ever since Caleb had walked in yesterday. Her brother was now sitting in the armchair opposite her.
"You poor thing." With coffee mug in hand, Rosalind sat herself next to her husband on the couch. A faint crackling noise rose from the cushions. She shifted about, delved one hand behind her to find the source of the sound, and pulled out a small foil packet.
"Oh my!" Rosalind gasped.
Caleb choked on his coffee.
Hannah went stone cold. Her stepmom was holding a condom. An unused condom still in its wrapper, the bright foil shining in the sunlight. As her father and stepmom swiveled their eyes at her, hot embarrassment engulfed her. The condom must have slipped between the cushions when Derek had tossed his shirt on the couch, and gone unnoticed through the cleaning blitz she'd subjected the house to yesterday.
"Hannah?" Her father looked green around the gills.
Gathering the scraps of her composure, she rose to her feet and took the condom from Rosalind. "Oh, that's where that went. I meant to put it in my purse before I went out with-with Amber, but I must have dropped it under the cushions. I'll just put that somewhere safe."
She headed for the door, but Rosalind called out, stopping her in her tracks.
"Excuse me, but you owe us an explanation." Rosalind's voice was higher than usual, almost shrill.
She turned to find Rosalind glaring at her. "I'm so sorry, Rosalind. I never meant-"
"We go away for a week, and you turn my house into a bordello!"
Her house? Pain and embarrassment twisted Hannah's insides. She opened her mouth, preparing to apologize profusely, but before she could, Caleb had jumped between her and Rosalind and Frank.
"Now look here," he blustered. "Hannah's a grown woman, and she's single now. She can have sex if she wants. That doesn't make her a tramp."
Both Rosalind and Frank turned bright red at the mention of sex.
"No one's calling her a tramp," Frank said stiffly. "But we don't want her behaving … recklessly."
"I haven't been reckless." Hannah pushed forward to face her disapproving parent. "It was only one guy, and it won't happen again, I promise you."
Frank and Rosalind exchanged glances. After always being the sensible one, she hated disappointing her dad, but clearly he and Rosalind were of the same mind.
"I hope it won't," Rosalind finally responded.
There was nothing more to say, so Hannah left the living room. She was surprised to find Caleb on her heels.
"Thanks for standing up for me," she said awkwardly.
"I'm your brother." He shrugged. "I'm not letting anyone imply you're a tramp."
"Oh, Caleb." She leaned her head briefly on his shoulder. Right now, she needed his support more than ever, so it was a good thing he'd never find out about her and Derek.
Caleb patted her back. "Things will be better when you move into your new house."
And when Derek went back to L.A. But somehow that didn't make her feel as relieved as she'd hoped.
"Easy there. Up a bit your side," Derek said to Caleb as they maneuvered the double bed into Hannah's tiny bedroom.
Hannah was moving into her new house, and Caleb had roped Derek in to help. Derek found himself in a dilemma. On the one hand, he really wanted to help Hannah, but on the other, he didn't know how he would go spending several hours with her and Caleb and pretending nothing had ever happened. Hannah seemed to find the situation just as awkward because she was constantly running about, and whenever they were left alone, she darted off on some other chore.
"Where do you want this bed?" Caleb hollered to his sister.
She poked her head in. "Against that wall, otherwise I won't be able to open the closet."
Derek helped Caleb nudge the bed into position. He gazed down at the bed, and his imagination conjured a picture of him lying there with Hannah in his arms. Glancing up, he caught Hannah's eye, and her cheeks colored as if she knew exactly what he was thinking.
Caleb shook his head. "I didn't realize this place was so small. You sure you'll be okay here? I do have a spare room at my place."
"Thanks, but no thanks. I didn't move back to Pine Falls to pick your socks off the floor again. Besides, you don't want your older sister cramping your style with the ladies."
"True. And we all know my prowess with the ladies." Caleb winked at his sister before transferring his attention to Derek. "Speaking of ladies, I'm seeing one tonight, and she happens to have a friend visiting. You want to double date?"
Derek quickly shook his head. "No, don't think so."
"Aw, come on. I've met the friend before, and she's really hot, and she's dying to meet you, bro. You'd go for her, I guarantee."
Out of the corner of his eye Derek noticed Hannah looking slightly sick. Damn, he hated this subterfuge. The only woman he wanted to go out with was the one in front of him, and she wouldn't admit to sleeping with him.
"Sorry, dude. I'm not interested."
"Not interested in hot chicks? What's got into you?"
Why can't Caleb shut the hell up? "I must be getting old," he tried to quip.
"Must be." Caleb shook his head in disappointment. "Oh, well, I tried. I'd better get my power drill so we can hang up the blinds." He exited the room, leaving Derek alone with Hannah.
"Sorry about that," he muttered, pushing his hands into the back pockets of his jeans.
"You don't have to apologize," she quickly answered.
A pause developed. Derek didn't know what to say.
"Caleb told me about the condom fiasco." The words came out before he knew it had happened. He felt himself flushing. Damn. Way to go making her feel comfortable.
"The condom fiasco." Her cheeks were just as red. "That's one way of putting it."
"I'm sorry about that too. It was my fault."
She glanced over her shoulder, no doubt to check on Caleb's whereabouts. "It's okay. Makes a change to be thought of as the wild one in my family."
He wasn't okay. When Caleb had told him, he'd felt all kinds of guilty and had just barely kept himself from confessing the truth. Before he could say anything further, Caleb returned, and the conversation turned to more mundane things.
They were all having a coffee break in the living room when Caleb waved at the small TV set.
"You need a big screen to watch football," he said.
"I don't watch football," Hannah said.
"What if I want to bring around my Xbox?"
"Why would you do that?"
"I saw how you liked that dance game we played the other week. We could have dance offs every Sunday."
"Sounds like fun." Hannah's gaze shifted and locked with Derek's. She was thinking the same thing he was, reliving their ‘Moves Like Jagger.' But she wouldn't be dancing with him; he'd be back in L.A. His throat tightened at the prospect of being so far away from her and Caleb and the moments they shared.
His cell phone rang. When he saw the Caller ID, he couldn't help frowning. Marla Beaudry. She'd sent him several text messages yesterday asking him to call her, but he hadn't. He didn't want anything to do with her anymore. But he couldn't just cut her off cold, so he excused himself, moved to the kitchen, and answered reluctantly.
"Hey, Marla."