After Sundown (3 page)

"I'm afraid you'll have a long wait
,
" Chuck
a
nnounced.

"What do you mean?" Cole frowned.

"Some guy came in here when you went to the head. He sat down at the bar and that broad came right up to him and asked him if
he'd take her home."

"Did she know him?"

"I'm positive she didn't. He made it perfectly clear when she was walking over to the bar that he didn't know her.
Hel
l,
Cole, you got her all
warmed up
. Hope he appreciates all your work
,
" Chuck
laughed.

"Shit
, that
bitch! I hope I never see that little slut again!" Cole
hissed as he slammed his
glass
on the bar top.

Chapter Two

Kit buttoned up the front of her cotton sundress as
she thought about her phone conversation with Sonny, telling him she would be unable to complete the job.
The entire episode was
utterly
embarrassing. There was no way she would ever step foot into After Sundown again. Looking in the bathroom mi
rror, she pulled her
hair
into a high p
ony
tail and faste
ne
d it with a lavender
scrunch
ie
. Giving her head a gentle shake, she loose
ned
a few tendrils, framing her face in a charming array of soft curls. Untwisting
the lid from a small tub of lip
-
gloss,
her fingertip
swiped up a hint of shimmering g
oo,
and lined her full lips. After a light dusting of blusher, she
was
finished
applying makeup.

What Kit needed to do was concentrate on ways to bring in some extra cash. She was beginning to feel the crunch. If she didn't do something soon
, she would be forced to find outside employment,
leaving Sarah in daycare. Fortunately, Sarah's kindergarten teacher offered Kit one option for extra
money
. One of her daughter's favor
ite school friends, Megan Taylor
needed a sitter for after school. The teacher suggested Kit. Glancing at her watch, Kit hurried into the living room. When she heard the doorbell ring,
she
expected to find Megan's father on the doorstep. Instead, it was her younger brother, Brandon.

"
Brandon
!" Kit's eyes widened in surprise, her hand
gripped the edge of the door, holding it open
. She eyed her only sibling fondly as he walked into the house and she closed the door behind him.
Brandon
stood
at a bit less than
six f
ee
t. Blond, tan and lean, his arms were sinewy muscles, developed by hours of swinging a hammer.

"
Mornin
g,
Kitty
,
"
Brandon
walked directly to the kitchen. "I was worried about
yo
u,
"
Brandon
called over his shoulder as
he
grabbed a ceramic mug from the cupboard and helped himself to a cup of coffee.

"Why?" Kit trailed behind her brother, following him into the kitchen. He turned around and faced her, leaning
his
denim-
clad hips against the outer edge of the stove.

"You seemed so anxious to leave After Sundown the other night. Did something happen in there? You hardly said anything on the way home. I wanted to come over here yesterday, but Susan said I shouldn't pry."

"Since when did you ever listen to your wife?" Kit asked with a snort. She walked to the pantry and retrieved a tin filled with freshly baked cinnamon rolls. Offering
Brandon
a sticky roll, she waited patiently for his answer.

"Not often. Which is why I'm here today. What happened?" He took an enormous bit
e
of the roll and began to chew.

"The place just made me uncomfortable." Kit shrugged,
then
replaced the lid on the canister and set it on the counter.

"It should've
,
"
Brandon
said after he swallowed the last bite of roll and licked his fingers. "A lot of the guys I work with go to that place. And they don't go for the booze."

"Oh yea
h
?" Kit innocently responded. For the thousand
th
time
,
in the past
thirty-five
hours, she thanked the gods that her brother hadn't come into the bar five minutes
sooner. The very thought gave her chills.

"They say for no strings
, uncomplicated sex,
go to After Sundown. What I can't figure is why a place like that would bother hiring a consultant."

"For one thing, his bartender is stealing him blind. But it doesn't matter. I'm not going back." Kit grabbed a cup she placed in the sink earlier and filled it with coffee.

"So why aren't you at work?"
She asked her brother.

"Construction's the pits right now.
I have
a
framing job
lined up, but it won't start until next week. Susan keeps harping on me to go for my contractor's
license
. But hell, the economy is the shits right now, what's the point?"

"Things that bad?" Susan took a sip of her coffee and watched her brother.

"We'll get by
,
"
Brandon
shrugged. He placed his empty cup in the sink. "How about you? You and Sarah doing okay?"

"As long as no emergency comes along, we'll get by.
”

"
Such as?"

"You know, broken furnace, new tires,
or
cavities."

"
Damm
it
Kit
ty
, those aren't emergencies. That's everyday life!"

"I know
,
" Kit sighed wearily. "But to me they're emergencies."

"I'm
s
orry I can't help you more, Kit
ty
."

"I
kno
w,
Brandon
,
"
s
he
reached out and patted her brother's arm. "But it isn't your responsibility. I'm just lucky we have the insurance money to fall back on."
Brandon
frowned. He knew the last thing his sister wanted to do was touch the principle from the two hundred thousand dollar life insurance
money
she received after
Kevin
's death. She'd been living these last two years on a combination of the social security benefit she received from her husband's death and interest from the principle of the life insurance
money
.

When Kit and
Kevin
decided to have children, they agreed that Kit would stay home. It was something Kit wanted as much as her husband.
She
was a homebody who enjoyed cooking, sewing and mothering. Now she was desperately attempting to raise Sarah as she had originally planned. It didn't seem fair that the fatal bullet from a
thief’s
gun should dictate something as vital as how
she raised her daughter.
What
Brandon
didn't know
was that,
Kit had
already dipped
into the insurance money, slowly wheedling down her nest egg.
The amount of interest the money could
earn
, combined with Kevin’s social security payments, was not enough to live on.

"But things are looking
u
p,
" Kit said brightly. "One of Sarah's classmates, a really sweet little girl named Megan Taylor, needs someone to watch her after school. It would allow me to earn some extra money while I'm at home. Plus, Sarah would love it."

"Have you met her parents?"

"No. I understand her mother was killed in a plane crash when Megan was just a baby. Her father's name is Cole Taylor."

"Damn, that name sounds familiar
,
"
Brandon
puzzled over the name.

"I think he's in construction, maybe you know him?"

"Shit!
Cole Taylor,
Taylor
Construction! Damn, Kit, his company is getting all the
bids! He's the only one making
money in construction these
days.
"

"Really?"

"He
’
s practically the only contractor
Topper’s
Quick Mart
u
ses."

"You mean the chain of convenience store
s
?"

"Yea
h
. I guess he'd already built about ten of them when another construction company came in with a lower bi
d
.
Topper
’
s
took the lower bid, but the
contractor
screwed it up so
ba
dly,
they called in
Taylor
to straighten out the mess. I heard it cost the company an extra
hundred
thousand. From then on, they only use
Taylor
.
Liste
n,
Kit, if you start watching this guy's kid, you'll have to introduce me. I could sure use the work
.
"

Fifteen minutes later,
Brandon
was saying goodbye to his sister on her doorstep, when Kit's neighbor came for a brief visit.

"Hate to bother
yo
u,
Kit, but I'm in the middle of making George his birthday cake and I'm out of vanilla. Do you mind?" Aggie smiled apologetically, yet knew her neighbor wouldn't refuse.

"No
proble
m,
Aggie. Come on into the kitchen."

"You look adorable today. What's the occasion?" Aggie asked as she followed Kit into the kitchen.

"I'm meeting with Megan's father today. If I pass inspection, I'll be watching his daughter after
schoo
l,
" Kit explained as she reached into the cupboard for a bottle of vanilla.

C
hapter Three

Cole Taylor parked his pickup truck in front of the modest, two-storied, wood framed house. It was a nice enough street, an older neighborhood with fully mature maple trees lining the sidewalk. He glanced at his watch. Realizing he was running a good twenty minutes behind schedule, he cursed silently and slammed out of the vehicle.

His
daughter, Megan,
had
already
gone through
three separate nannies. Each
was
a disaster. Each had been highly recommended.
It was at his sister-
in-law's
suggestion that he try to find a mother who was willing to watch Megan after school.
Initially
,
Cole disliked the idea of his daughter going to a stranger's house. Yet, Megan's teacher suggested Kit Landon
,
and
Megan loved the idea. Cole suspected his daughter's enthusiastic response to the arrangement had something to do with having a full time playmate
, n
amely Sarah Landon.

According to Megan's teacher, Mrs. Landon was a widow who not only volunteered frequently in the classroom,
but also
worked well with the children. The new school term had been in session for just two weeks, and
alread
y,
Mrs. Landon helped in Megan's class on three separate occasions.

Briskly making his way up the stone steps leading to the front door of
the Landon house, Cole was surprise
d
when the door abruptly
opened. He came face to face with a plump, middle aged, woman
wearing a housedress fashioned from blue and white cotton gingham fabric, dusted with a
liberal
coat of flour.

"Mrs. Landon
, h
ello, I'm Cole Taylor, Megan's father."
She looked a bit older than he expected.
His hand reached out to the woman before he noticed her right hand was already engaged.
She held a small
,
brown glass bottle firmly in her grasp
.

Instead of shaking his hand
,
she explained
,
"Oh, I'm not Kit! I'm her neighbor. Why don't you go right in? She's in the kitchen
making tea
. I know she's expecting you."

"Hello!" Cole called out tentatively as he
walked into the house and
closed the door behind him. "Mrs. Landon? Your neighbor told me to come on in."

"Mr. Taylor?" A disturbingly familiar voice called out from what appeared to be the direction of the kitchen. "I'll be right there
.
I'm making a pitcher of iced tea."

Instead of waiting in the entry hall, Cole walked toward the voice until he reached the doorway of a brightly lit, sparkling clean kitchen.
S
nowy white kitchen cabinets
lined two walls. Outdated yellow Formica covered the countertops.
The woman
belonging
to the voice stood with
her back to him
while she filled a
glass
pitcher
with ice.
His eyes went immediately to the shapely legs, beneath the hem of the form fitting cotton dress she wore. His gaze moved upward, noting the feminine curve of her
hips
, and then up her back and shoulders, taking in the complete package. The high ponytail made the pic
ture more girlish, yet no less
sexy.

“
Your neighbor said to come right
i
n,
" Cole explained again as he walked into
the
kitchen. Kit startled and swung around to face the intruder. Her eyes widened in horrified recognition.

"You!" He thundered in an accusatory tone. "You're Sarah's mother?"

Kit closed her eyes for a moment.
This couldn't be happening!
Taking a nervous swallow, she opened her eyes, briefly hoping that he would transform into someone else.
However,
he was still there
, t
he man from the bar. The man she
kissed, t
he man who brought her to a climax before a bar full of people.

"You're Cole Taylor?" She asked weakly. Inside her stomach was churning with a queasy, sickening sensation.

"That's right, we didn't exchange names the other night
,
"
h
e spat nastily. "Well, I guess that ends this interview! I sure as hell won't have
someone like you
watch my daughter!"

Cole's nasty words jarred
Kit
,
and anger quickly replaced embarrassment.
The old double standard
, she thought.

"What about yourself, Mr. Taylor? You obviously
aren’t
a novice to
After
Sundown
."

"Another thing
,
Mrs. Landon
,
"
h
e sneered, taking two more steps into the kitchen. "
I find it d
ifficult to believe you need babysitting money, when you obvious
ly
have more lucrative skills.”

"Why you sanctimonious hypocrite!" Kit flared, fully prepared to throw the entire pitcher of tea at his head.

"You stay away from my
daughte
r,
Mrs. Landon. Do you hear me? If I find out you've volunteered in her class again, or in any class for that matter, I'll talk to the school board about you!"

In a fury
,
Kit flew across the room, her open palm aimed at his face.
Effortlessl
y,
Cole captured her hand before it landed. Roughly securing each of her wrists in his hands, he pulled her to him. He could feel her full breasts pressing against his chest. Her sweet scent inundated him and he could feel the tightening in his groin. Leaning forward, his mouth was just inches from hers.

"You still owe me something
,
"
h
e whispered hoarsely, his voice rag
g
ed. Her eyes were wide. His intense glare held
her
as if she were
a
frightened rabbit trapped in the headlights of an oncoming vehicle. She could no more move than could the rabbit.

"I don't understand
,
"
s
he whispered. Her mouth was suddenly dry
,
and she
felt
a t
ightening in her chest. S
he recalled the sensation of her unwanted climax on the dance floor
,
but
instead of being
rep
ulsed,
she felt desire. Cole
closed the space between them and
his mouth descended on hers. His wet tongue traced the seams of her lips until they opened in invitation. Pulling her closer, his mouth plundered hers, exploring and hungry.

Her body, no longer able to refuse itself the pleasure
s
denied for so long, responded in conflict with her brain. Cole's kiss intensified and became more demanding. Releasing her wrists, Cole's right hand moved down her hips and over her thigh, gently pulling up the fabric of her skirt until his fingers slipped beneath the dress and moved up the middle of her naked inner thigh.

Kit gasped in surprise when she felt his fingers move beneath the thin cotton panties, boldly exploring her feminine curls. She tried to pull away, but his left arm was like a steel band holding her in place.

"God, you're already wet
,
"
h
e breathed into her mouth as he removed his
lips
from hers.

"No!" She protested
shakily
. Kit jumped frantically, attempting to pull away. Her mind wanted to escape, her body wanted to succumb.

"You aren't getting away this time
,
"
h
e growled. "You owe me. And you want this as much as I do." In a flash
,
Cole's hands gripped Kit on either side of her waist and roughly lifted her onto the kitchen counter. Start
l
ed by the abrupt and unexpected movement, Kit hit the back of her head against the kitchen cabinet as her bottom crashed onto the counter.
Instinctivel
y,
her hands went out to her sides, attempting to regain her balance so she wouldn't fall off the counter. Cole tossed up the skirt of her dress
, tugged her panties downward in a quick jerk,
and roughly pushed apart her knees.

Moving between her spread thighs, Cole's hand began to unzip his pants, fully prepared to release his bulging erection and send it pumping into Kit. Glancing up to Kit's face, Cole froze. Tears silently st
r
eam
ed
down her pale face. Her blue eyes were wide in fear as her bruised lips trembled.

Cole cursed softly and released Kit. Taking a step away from her, he watched in horror as she slid from the counter top to the floor. Rolling into a protective ball
,
Kit
broke into pitiful
sobs.
Refusing
to look up, she moved away from Cole and huddled along the baseboard as if she was attempting to slip into the woodwork. For a moment
,
Cole could only stare.

Washed in unexpected guilt, he knelt beside her and reached out in an attempt to comfort. Kit flinched at his touch.

"Please leave
,
"
s
he pleaded quietly, her sobs breaking into soft hiccups.
“Jus
t leave." Her eyes were squeezed shut. For a moment
,
there was no sound
except
her pitiful utterances. Finally
,
she heard his footsteps
,
followed by the front door opening and closing.

He was gone.