Addicted to You (23 page)

On one or two occasions, Katie had been known to snort with the deepest sarcasm when a friend complained of being overshadowed by an older sibling.

“Don’t know where he is,” Everett said. “When I was leaving for my jog I saw him disappear into the woods.”

Katie sighed and padded over to get a cup of much-needed coffee. Autumn was definitely upon them now. Despite the fact that she’d been sure she wouldn’t be able to sleep last night, the cool night air flowing through her window had acted like a soporific.

She was a little shocked at how well she’d slept given the tumultuous events of yesterday . . . despite the fact that she and Rill had practically set his bed on fire. Twice.

The memory caused her muscles to clench tight. Another reason she’d thought she wouldn’t sleep well was that she thought Rill might come to her bedroom. He hadn’t, though. She supposed with Everett in the house, he would find it easier to deny his sexual attraction for her.

“Rill does that a lot, hikes in the woods. I think it helps him to think,” she said as she scuffed to the table in her fuzzy pink slippers. “I hope you didn’t keep him out too late last night.”

Everett gave her a sharp glance. “In case you didn’t notice, Rill and I were up long before you. We had one beer, I tried to talk to Rill, and he blew me off. That was about the extent of our wild night out.”

“What do you mean, he blew you off?” Katie asked cautiously. Rill had seemed so resigned last night, she’d assumed he felt guilty and was planning to atone by confessing his sins to Everett. Rill could be strangely old-fashioned about sex for a Hollywood film director.

“I mean I tried to draw him out, but it was a rerun of when I visited him here last winter. I talk; he grunts a few times and generally avoids looking me in the eye altogether.” Everett glanced out the window onto the gray fall day, his expression thoughtful. “Do you get the impression he’s extremely pissed at you?”

“Are you kidding?
All the time
,” Katie said in a beleaguered manner.

Everett caught her eye. “He seems agitated by you being here, but I think we’re talking about two different things. Sometimes I get the impression I’ve done something to offend him.”

“Have you?”

“Not that I know of,” Everett replied with a shrug. “If anything, I’ve been way too easy on him since Eden died. I tried to help him, he blew me off, and I let him. You did the right thing, you know. Coming out here. Mom thinks so, too.”

Katie stared at him, shocked.

“Mom actually told you that?” she squeaked.

“And Dad. Both of them think you have the right idea. Rill’s in a bad place. Just because he acted like a complete ass when I was here before didn’t give me an excuse to get all self-righteous and bail on him.”

“I thought you were going to lecture me on how stupid and impulsive and childish I was being by coming here.”

Everett gave her a clumsy pat on the back of her hand. “You got it right, Katie. I’m the one who was wrong.”

Knowing that her family wasn’t thinking she was a complete dingbat, that she actually “got it right” by following her heart, caused warmth to flood her. Of course . . . they didn’t know about the job situation yet—

“The stunt I was talking about last night wasn’t coming out here to try and cheer up Rill. I was talking about the fact that you’re sleeping with him.”

Katie paused with her coffee cup three inches from her mouth. Dread quickly replaced the warmth in her veins. “You didn’t lecture Rill about that last night, did you?”

Everett shook his head, his expression sober. “No. I don’t think he realized I knew. Christ, Katie. You’re not just sleeping with him, are you? You’re falling for him.”

“I fell for him a long, long time ago,” Katie replied gruffly.

Everett closed his eyes and let out a sigh. She guessed from his reaction that, like Rill, her brother had never guessed she had feelings for Rill beyond friendship until this visit. She should give herself credit. Apparently, Everett wasn’t the only actor in the family.

“He’s in an awful place.” Everett sounded exasperated and worried by her revelation, but it was the tinge of sadness in his tone that made tears spring to her eyes. “He has nothing to give you right now. Rill will only hurt you, Katie.”

Katie straightened her spine and took a determined sip of coffee even though she was seeing things through a curtain of tears.

“Katie—”

“I’m not leaving.”

Everett looked surprised by her abrupt statement.

“I’m not leaving.” Katie whispered her mantra again, meeting Everett’s gaze. Several tears spilled down her cheeks, allowing her to see the tinge of awe that settled on her brother’s face.

The sound of Rill’s step on the back stairs and the door opening made them both start. When Rill walked into the kitchen a few seconds later, Katie’s tears were nowhere in evidence. She glanced over her shoulder and attempted a smile. He looked wonderful to her, despite his obvious bad mood. His shoulders appeared even broader than usual beneath a white T-shirt and dark blue, long-sleeved chambray shirt. He’d rolled back the sleeves. Katie’s eyes lingered on his strong forearms. His dark hair gleamed with moisture. His blue eyes ran over her from head to pink slippers, but his expression remained stony.

Katie’d sacrifice her life savings for a means to read Rill’s mind.

“It started raining, huh?” She stated the obvious in order to break the silence.

“Yeah, a bit,” Rill muttered as he reached for a coffee cup.

“It’s supposed to clear up later,” Everett said. “I heard it on the news on the drive here last night. We should do something fun.” Everett wasn’t cowed by Rill’s dark, burning glance. “It’s football weather, and it’s Saturday. Let’s find a game somewhere. Is there a college nearby?”

“Southern Illinois University, in Carbondale. You and Katie shouldn’t have too much of a problem getting tickets. The SIU Salukis aren’t exactly powerhouses,” Rill stated flatly.

“If you don’t want to go to a game, we’ll just watch one on the tube. UCLA is at USC today,” Everett persisted. All three of them had gone to UCLA for their undergraduate degrees. Eden had as well. Everett and Rill had been huge football fans, and the four of them—Everett, Katie, Rill and Eden—had been to a dozen or more games together, in addition to watching a countless number on television over the years. Eden was fairly shy, but she always was completely herself around the three of them.

Katie realized with a sinking feeling that Everett had forgotten a fourth person was missing when he suggested a repeat of the longs-tanding tradition of watching a football game together.

“You know where the TV is,” Rill said before he turned and walked out of the room. A second later, Katie heard his bedroom door shut.

“Smooth,” Katie said to her brother.

“It’s
football
,” Everett said defensively. “If football isn’t safe to mention, what is?”

“Anything associated with Eden is a land mine,” Katie said. She glanced toward the hallway, considering. Everett stood suddenly and clapped his hands.

“Come on. You go first in the shower and get dressed. We’ll go for a drive, check out the river and the fall foliage.”

With a sinking feeling, Katie realized her brother had known she was thinking about going back to Rill’s bedroom.

Great.

Now Everett felt like he had to try to save both of them.

The sun had come out at around noon. It shone brightly in
Katie’s eyes, making her squint as she threw the football to Everett. They’d returned from their drive an hour ago. Katie had made a lunch of salad and grilled cheeses on the seven-grain bread Sherona made for the diner and also—she’d learned last evening—for the co-op. Now that Rill had told her he wasn’t sleeping with Sherona, Katie was starting to feel very warmly toward the woman.

She’d knocked on Rill’s closed door earlier, asking him if he wanted to join them for lunch, but he’d mumbled he wasn’t hungry. Katie had opened her mouth to protest, but then she’d heard the light, clicking sound of fingers on a keyboard.

Wow.

He might be isolating himself from Everett and her, but at least he was writing again. That was a good sign, wasn’t it?

She tried to convince herself it was, anyway.

“Go out long,” Everett yelled. Katie ran toward the creek in the backyard, waiting for Everett’s throw. Something distracted him, however, and he looked toward the side of the house. Rill was walking around the corner. He must have gone out on the porch, heard their voices and walked to the backyard. He’d removed his outer shirt. The white T-shirt skimmed his torso. His hands were tucked in the pockets of his jeans. He paused in the backyard. Katie felt his gaze on her like a palpable touch.

His head jerked back when the football struck his temple.
“Everett,”
Katie shouted in disbelief. She couldn’t believe he’d just beaned Rill that way. It must have hurt. Everett gave a sharp bark of laughter when he saw Rill’s rigid expression of disbelief.

“Sorry, mate. I didn’t realize you weren’t looking.”

Rill didn’t say anything, but something about his posture set an alarm bell to start ringing in Katie’s head. He picked up the ball, stood and stretched back in one fluid motion.

He didn’t throw the ball at Everett. He hurled it. Everett caught the missile, even though he wore a stunned look on his face. Rill lunged, racing toward Everett. Jagged, surprised bursts of laughter popped out of Everett’s mouth as he started to run. He tossed the ball to Katie as Rill closed in on him.

“Rill,
don’t
—” Katie yelled.

But it was too late. Rill grabbed Everett’s waist and brought him down in a potentially bone-crunching tackle.

“Are you okay, Everett? What the hell did you do that for, Rill?” Katie demanded breathlessly as she ran up on a pile of close to four hundred pounds of male brawn. Rill’s swift, furious glance silenced her. Nobody said anything as Rill rolled off Everett, stood and stalked through the yard, disappearing around the side of the house. Katie looked down at Everett, her mouth gaping open in shock. Everett just gave her an “I told you so” look.

“Why’s he so pissed at you?” Katie blurted out.

“I told you. I have no fucking idea,” Everett replied, grimacing.

Everett had been right. Rill may act irritated and exasperated with her presence there, but that was
nothing
compared to the explosion of pure fury he’d just shown toward Everett.

“You’ve got to find out, Everett.”

“Mind telling me how? The man’s a black box, and I ain’t got the key,” Everett said darkly as he stood and flipped a layer of grass and dirt off his hip. He winced as he twisted his torso.

“Everett, are you all right?” Katie asked worriedly.

“I’m fine.”

“Do you want me to ask him what’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong is that Rill is a fucking pain in the ass.” He noticed Katie’s expression. He exhaled and rolled his eyes. “No, you don’t need to ask him. I will.”

Something caught Katie’s attention from the corner of her vision—the sight of Rill’s white T-shirt through a slight clearing in the trees. “Why don’t you go and ask him now,” she told her brother, nodding toward the woods. “He’s right there, on that trail. He hasn’t gone too far for you to catch up.”

Everett put a hand on his ass and grimaced. “You go follow him. I’m too pissed to talk to him right now. I’m going to take a hot shower.”

By the time Katie glimpsed Rill’s T-shirt in the distance, she was badly winded. She worked out regularly—she took an aerobics class three times a week and a belly-dancing class every Saturday to keep things interesting—but the trail Rill had chosen went at a fairly steep incline.

“Rill! Rill, hold up,” she gasped. He heard her the second time and paused on the path. As she approached him, she realized he wasn’t even breathing heavily.

He also didn’t exactly seem thrilled to see her. She glanced at his stony expression and blazing eyes. Was he still as angry as he had been down there in the yard?

“You walk so fast, I had to run to catch up,” she said lamely as she approached. She stopped a few feet away from him and struggled to take a deep draw of cool, clear air. “What . . . was all that . . . about?” she asked between huffs and puffs, waving downhill in the direction of the house. He didn’t immediately respond. Katie noticed how tense he seemed, like a coiled spring. “Are you mad at me, as well as Everett?”

“I’m not mad at you.”

“Well, what
are
you, then? I can’t figure you out, Rill,” she panted.

“Come here.” He took her hand and led her over to a large rock. He nodded pointedly and she sat. She placed her hands on her thighs and lowered her head, trying to catch her breath.

She went still when Rill reached out and touched the back of her neck. She’d put her hair in a ponytail before she went out into the yard with Everett, but the band had slipped. The weight of it pressed against her nape. He lifted the bunch of hair and Katie felt the delicious cool air tickle her neck. She shivered, her body going on instant high alert, when Rill’s forefinger glided over the sweatdampened skin of her neck.

She looked up slowly.

He stood closer than she’d realized, looking down while she tried to catch her breath. Her head was level with the zipper of his jeans. If she lifted her hands a mere few inches, she’d be touching his thighs. Her mouth fell open when she realized that the fire in his eyes wasn’t from anger.

All thoughts of trying to figure out why he was pissed off at Everett melted from her mind when his fingertip trailed deliberately from her neck, brushed her earlobe, traced her jaw and then her mouth. He pushed it slowly between her lips and she closed around him. Their gazes locked. She searched his skin with her tongue and tasted salt.

“Maybe I’m mad at Everett for interrupting this,” he said gruffly.

Katie blinked. She hadn’t expected him to say that. Maybe he guessed her thought, because he smiled. “I told you now that it’s done, I’m not going to be able to stop until this fever does. Did you think I was joking?”