When We Touch(3)

He didn't press the issue. He motioned to a soft leather couch. "Have a seat. Let's get this on your hand."

She was tempted to choose one of the hammocklike chairs that hung from  the ceiling instead. They had, no doubt, come from Mexico or some other  country and looked comfortable. But, in deference to her injured hand,  she decided against getting into something she might have difficulty  getting out of.                       
       
           



       

Once she was settled in, he examined her hand before putting the ice pack on it. "You should get this x-rayed."

"I couldn't have broken any bones throwing a tantrum," she said, but she  knew that was denial talking. She just didn't want to face that she  might've caused herself some stiff medical bills and the inconvenience  of going home in a cast.

"I'm not so sure," he responded. "If the pain doesn't go away in the next day or so, definitely have it checked."

He should know about broken bones. Not long ago, he'd tumbled off a  cliff in Switzerland and broken his right leg in three places. They'd  replayed the footage of it on the local news over and over. Almost  everyone had seen it. As a result of that spill, he'd been on crutches,  convalescing for much of the last year she and Kyle were dating. In the  past twelve months she'd seen him around town more often than she had in  the ten years since prom.

He arranged the ice pack on her hand and headed back to the kitchen.

"Do you ever get lonely out here?" she asked, looking toward the giant  window directly across from her. From where she sat, she couldn't see  the water, but she knew the river cut through the ravine below.

"Not really."

That was a stupid question, she told herself. Why would he get lonely? He could have a woman visit any time he wanted.

"Do you ever get lonely in Sacramento?" he called back.

After living at home with her family since college, and dating Kyle for  three of those years-seeing him every day-Sacramento had been a big  change. She'd been more than lonely; she'd been positively bereft. But  no one wanted to hear someone sniveling on and on about a past  relationship. Other than that lapse of sanity in her car, she thought  she'd managed to absorb the pain without showing how bad she really  felt. "I try to keep myself so busy I don't even have time to think  about stuff like that."

"No wonder you lost your cool."

His response surprised her. "Excuse me?"

"You haven't dealt with the blow."

"I refuse to feel bad about a man who could do what Kyle did. That's all."

He reappeared with some painkillers and a glass of water. "Here, take these."

She swallowed the pills, then eyed him dubiously when he said, "To be honest, I don't understand why you're here."

"You invited me," she pointed out, purposely misunderstanding.

"You know what I mean."

With a wince, she adjusted the ice pack. "Everyone's wondering whether  I'll show up. I felt it was best to come back with my head held high.  Not coming would only have confirmed to Kyle and Noelle that I'm still  hurt."

"I admire your courage, but … "

He thought she'd bitten off more than she could chew. That episode in the car proved it. "I won't break down again."

"There's no shame in loving someone, Olivia."

As if he knew anything about it. She almost said that, but stopped  herself. Why be unkind? He wasn't the person who'd wronged her. She knew  better than to give him the chance. "There is if that someone is  marrying your sister," she grumbled. "Everyone's watching me, waiting  for the tears to flow." And he'd actually witnessed them …

His expression softened. "Kyle screwed up."

"I appreciate the sentiment, even if you are sort of obligated to say that to someone who's going through what I am."

He didn't try to convince her he'd meant it more honestly. "Just because  you're in town doesn't mean you have to stay," he said. "I'm the only  one who's seen you."

"You're suggesting I leave? Miss the wedding? She's my sister."

"That goes both ways. Most people would say she had no business hooking up with your boyfriend."

The fact that Kyle had been her boyfriend made him that much more  desirable for Noelle. It was a strange but undeniable dynamic. Noelle  had always coveted what she had. "What good would it do to nurse my  resentment? To tear my family apart?" she asked. "Besides, I have to  attend the wedding. I'm planning it."

His thick eyebrows jerked together. Because he'd removed his sunglasses  the moment they walked into the house, she could see his eyes. She  wasn't sure that was a good thing. They were so beautiful they could  render a woman helpless with a single, smoldering glance-especially a  woman who needed to feel desired again.

"You're planning it?" he said. "Why the hell would you do that?"                       
       
           



       

The anger in his voice made her stiffen. "That's what I do for a living. That's what I've been doing since college."

"Doesn't mean you had to do this wedding. Why didn't you say no?"

"To my parents?"

"They had no right asking you."

"They couldn't afford anyone else. I have all the contacts. I could do  it much more easily than they could themselves. Besides, they want me to  forgive her. They want to maintain peace and harmony in the family."

"That's bullshit. They should've protected you, told her to elope."

Olivia had never dreamed she'd be commiserating with Brandon Lucero.  Apparently their mutual dislike of Kyle had pulled them onto the same  team. "Why haven't you ever gotten along with your stepbrother?" she  asked.

"Kyle's not bad," he replied. "Not anymore." He returned to the kitchen a  third time and came back with two glasses of wine, one of which he  handed to her.

"That didn't really answer my question."

"I was fifteen when he came into my life."

"And?"

He seemed reluctant to continue, acting as if it was in the past and didn't matter anymore. But she could tell it did.

"Oh, come on," she said. "He was sleeping with my sister within a week  of our break. We weren't even supposed to be seeing other people. I'm  not going to stick up for him."

"There's no need for anyone to stick up for him. Everyone knows I'm the black sheep."

"You're saying he's had it easier than you?"

He took a sip of his wine. "By the time he came into my life, it'd been ten years since my dad died."

"I heard he was in a plane crash. Is that true?"

"It was his own plane. He loved to fly; but there was a malfunction...."

"I'm sorry."

"I was only five when it happened." He sat across from her. "But by the  time my mother remarried, I was comfortable, no longer craving a father  or a brother. My mother and I were doing just fine."

"Then she met Bob Houseman and … everything changed."

He nodded. "Suddenly I lost the company of my friends and found myself  in a new town, a new school. Not only that but I had this father figure  who was bossing me around and laying down strict rules. I had a brother,  too, who meant the absolute world to him, which meant I could never  compete. That made having a dad more of an illusion than a reality." He  studied the wine in his glass. "The worst part was how it affected my  mother. She was so eager to please them both that I was quickly  relegated to the backseat, expected to understand and adapt." He fell  silent before finishing with, "There were just a lot of changes."

So he felt that Kyle and Kyle's father had stolen his previous life and  his mother from him. When she looked at it from his point of view, she  could see why. It sounded as if Kyle had been in a better position to  enjoy the new family dynamic. It would be hard to start over in high  school, hard to have your position usurped.

Was that why he'd used his good looks and charisma like a weapon?

"How do you feel about Kyle now?" she asked.

"None of what bothered me then seems to matter anymore. I've come to terms with it."

She got the feeling that wasn't completely true. Maybe the animosity had died down, but.... "Do you think you'll ever be close?"

"Probably not. Imagine taking two boys with strong personalities,  competitive personalities, both oldest sons and trying to force one to  become ‘the little brother' after years and years of living a different  life. Although I was younger, I refused to let Kyle best me at anything,  and he resented the constant challenge."

"I'm sure it didn't help that you went your own ways so soon after your parents were married."