SHE LANDED ON MY DOORSTEP
By
Floridawn Lewis
SMASHWORDS EDITION
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PUBLISHED BY:
Floridawn Lewis on Smashwords
She Landed On My Doorstep
Copyright © 2011 by Floridawn Lewis
Smashwords Edition License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Cover Art by Floridawn Lewis
Words and Music by April Dawn Lewis
“Just One More Kiss”
“Royalty”
“There Isn’t Anything”
All songs registered through Broadcast Music, Inc. except, “This Once In A Lifetime.” Words and Music copyrighted by April Dawn Lewis
This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is coincidental. The same goes for business establishments, events or locales.
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission by the author.
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CHAPTER ONE
“Not this again.”
Cassidy Van Gordon’s best friend, Kyle, was too mesmerized watching his two step-sisters worshipping the sun on their family’s private beach to even hear what Cass had said to him.
Damn, that Zoë is so gorgeous. Her auburn hair with highlights of honey gold hung down past her shoulders, clinging to the deep crevices underneath her breasts. Gawd damn me to hell. They are so plump and aroused. He noticed the tips were hard, trying to peek out of her beige-colored crocheted bikini top.
She opened her thighs, squirming on her black beach towel. The crocheted bikini bottoms were a combination of black and beige. Actually, they were beige on the top and black where her pubic region might start. Who ever made that little piece of nothing knew how to strategically target the area where most men’s eyes would wander. Kyle’s piercing blue eyes were glued from that moment on.
“Hello, Earth to Doctor Kyle Brandon King,” Cass waved his hand in front of Kyle’s eyes.
Kyle he had just gotten his doctorate degree in International Business Administration at the university in Fox Grove, England, where his family just happened to own a nice flat. He was still lost to Zoë Jayne King’s emerald green eyes staring back at him. Those luscious lips were turned up and smiling at him. Then she waved a hand at him.
His other step-sister, Chloë May King, also had her amber eyes honed in on Kyle’s hard body and California looks, and then blew a kiss to him. Her long, beautiful golden tresses being kissed by the sun to a blinding shimmer. He didn’t even blink at her interest in him. It had always been Zoë that held his interest. Both sisters, fraternal twins, giggled at him when he smiled back.
“She’s only just turned eighteen, Man, and don’t forget that you are getting married this weekend to Amanda.”
Amanda being Amanda Nicole Gatlin…Kyle rolled his eyes and then broke the gaze he held on Zoë and started paddling out on his surfboard to catch the next wave.
Cass shook his head and started to use his hands to wade through the cool water of the Pacific Ocean north of Los Angeles.
Kyle’s father, the great Doctor Cole Knight King bought oceanfront property in the picturesque town of Beachmore, California back in the 1960s for a small amount of change and built his family empire from the sand up, first building the recording studios, then his masterpiece house and then the family compound consisting of numerous beach houses that were used for family and guests.
Doctor Knight King was the infamous music producer who owned Starry Knight Entertainment. Doctor Knight King was only a doctor in the Ph.D. sense.
Kyle caught a slop wave with expertise. His part of the beach wasn’t the best to produce a gnarly wave. The good thing with the crap waves, Kyle could keep his eyes on Zoë. She was now standing with her hand up to her eyes. She’s watching. That made him happy, but his mind wasn’t really on the wave he was riding. He lost his footing and down he went.
Cass had decided to forego the wave and held back as he watched his best friend, he had ever had, wipe out.
Kyle was pissed off, grabbing his board and stomping towards the sand. It wasn’t embarrassment that was fueling his anger, it was the fact that he’d never be able to do anything out in the water without interference from thinking about her.
He knew he could never have her. Her father was married to his mother. Christ almighty! His father was Zoë’s father’s, adopted father. There were too many “fathers” in the equation.
He thought back to when his father had told him how he met his mother, Belle MacDavies, during one of their many father and son chats.
“She walked into my life and landed on my doorstep wanting a job as an intern. Her long blonde hair swayed across her back. When she looked at me with those pretty green eyes, I felt like I’d have a heart attack. I was having problems with my marriage to Tessa when your mother came into my life.”
When he was building his family empire, he married a widowed Tessa Thatcher with her three-year-old son, Jordan James Thatcher, in tow. The elder King adopted the boy and gave him the last name of King a year later. Cole always intended for Jordan to be the heir of the family business, but then Kyle was born and he changed his philosophy. Cole always told Kyle that he was being groomed to someday take over the family business. That meant that Kyle would have to get good grades and be disciplined in his studies. Cole always praised Kyle’s athletic abilities as tantamount to his leadership qualities. A top-notch education would be his ticket to the top, Cole always said.
“You’re young, so you probably wouldn’t understand, but your mother made me feel so young. Here I was more than twenty years older than Belle. I didn’t think I had a chance with her. I never thought for a second that she was interested in me because of my status as a millionaire, and I was right. She said that she fell in love with me because of my sense of humor.”
My dad, he’s a comedian. Kyle loved thinking about how his parents came together.
Now, Zoë and Chloë were both by his side cooing over him and making him feel better about his wipe out.
“Oh, Kyle, are you alright?” Zoë held to his arm, as she looked in his eyes.
“Poor Kyle!” Chloë stated, pouting with her lower lip seductively being bitten.
“Yeah, yeah. Poor Kyle,” Cass said, getting in between his friend and his “sisters.”
That statement got Kyle to thinking back to when he was twelve years old and the day he was told about his parents’ divorce. Doctor Knight King had called a family meeting in the spacious family room of the place where the Doctor Cole Knight King family had called home.
While sitting in the family room on the white leather couch, Kyle’s parents were telling him and his ten-year-old sister, Claire Belle King, that the family was breaking apart. Breaking apart because of Jordan James Thatcher.
“Jordan, Mommy?” Claire asked.
“Yes, Jordan.”
“‘Our Jordan,’ Mommy?”
“Yes, ‘Our Jordan,’ Claire.”
“Now he’s your Jordan, right Mom?”
“Yes, Kyle, he’s my Jordan, but most of all he’s still ‘Our Jordan.’”
Our Jordan, like I ever wanted him to be “My Jordan” or “Our Jordan” or anything else for that matter. Geez, Mom. He’s Dad’s Jordan. He’s Dad and Tessa’s Jordan. He’s not “Our Jordan.”
“Why is he your Jordan now, Mommy?” Claire asked.
“We are expecting a baby.”
Claire looked like she wasn’t quite sure what had just been said.
“A baby?”
“Mom, tell us what in the heck in going on,” Kyle demanded.
Belle looked at him and then at Cole, who then took the explanations in hand as he tried very delicately to tell his young children that their mommy no longer loved him and that she had fallen in love with Jordan. Cole seemed awfully calm about the situation. What? Why?
He knew they weren’t sleeping together anymore. He knew that Belle was sneaking around with Jordan, “comforting” him as he was going through the grief of his wife’s death.
Jordan had been married for only five years when his wife, Latin American singer Marisol Magdalena, died in a tragic car crash along the Pacific Coast Highway between Los Angeles and Beachmore. People would describe Jordan as having “it.” The dark looks, the wild charm, the creative sense that kept Starry Knight Entertainment at the top of their game. Jordan was the “golden son.”
“Dad, how does Mom know that the baby is Jordan’s?” Kyle asked.
“Could the baby be Daddy’s?” Claire asked.
“Smart girl, Daddy’s special girl,” Cole said, sweeping Claire up into his arms. She was getting big now, and he really shouldn’t be trying to “sweep” her up any longer.
“Mommy and Jordan are having the baby,” Belle tried explaining, “because Daddy and Mommy have been separated now for six months.”
“Separated?” Kyle asked. “No, you haven’t. You have both been living here, together.”
“Kyle, Mommy and Daddy have had separate bedrooms for quite a while now,” Belle, assured her impertinent son.
“What does all of this mean, Daddy?” Claire asked, tears streaming down her face.
“There, there, my precious,” Cole said, wiping away Claire’s tears and tousling her platinum blonde curls from her cheek.
“Dad, don’t you love us anymore?” Kyle asked.
“Of course I do, Kyle, but Mommy doesn’t love me anymore. It’s time for me to move on and make a different life for myself,” Cole said, flicking back Kyle’s blonde bangs from his forehead.
“Now don’t look at me that way, Claire,” Cole pleaded.
“Where will you go, Daddy?” Claire asked, with big, tearful pool of blue eyes.
“I am staying right here,” Cole said, confusing his children.
“Huh? I just don’t understand any of this Dad,” Kyle said, getting up to pace, “I want to run away and hide somewhere. None of this seems real.”
“It’s very real, son,” Cole said, putting his hand on Kyle’s shoulder, to make him sit down again.
“Can’t you just be happy for me, Kyle?” Belle asked her son impatiently.
“What about our happiness?” Kyle raised his voice.
“We are all going to be happy,” Belle said, contrite. “We are moving into Jordan’s house. You’ll get your own bedrooms. Everything is going to be fine. Daddy will just be a few doors down from us.”
A light went on over Kyle’s head, “Oh, so, Dad is staying here and we are moving there!”
“Yes, silly,” Belle said, tousling her son’s hair.
“You’ll still have your bedrooms here, of course,” Cole said, shaking Kyle’s blonde locks, “Okay with you, Belle?”
“Perfect. You know there’s also a room for a nursery in that house, as well,” Belle said, rubbing her belly.
“When is the baby coming, Mommy?” Claire asked.
“In four more months, darling,” Belle said, kissing her daughter’s forehead.
“Do you know what the baby is?” Kyle asked.
“I have been told that I am having a boy,” Belle said, smiling.
“What are you going to name him, Mommy?” Claire asked, eagerly.
“Chase James,” Belle said, still smiling and looking longingly out into the ocean.
“In the Thatcher family, every male descendent has the middle name of James,” Cole explained to his children.
Kyle rolled his eyes.
“Why don’t you love Daddy anymore?” Claire asked, puzzled.
“I can’t help the way that I feel, Claire, I love Jordan and that is that,” Belle said, matter-of-factly.
“But Jordan is our brother, this is kind of crazy, Mom,” Kyle said, shaking his head.
“Listen, Kyle, he is your adopted brother. He has a different biological mother and biological father than you do. It isn’t crazy,” Belle said, reassuringly.
“What’s biological?” Claire asked.
“It means we aren’t blood related to Jordan,” Kyle said, shaking his head at the dumb question his sister just asked. “Who is Jordan’s ‘real’ father?”
“Are you Jordan’s ‘real’ father?” Claire asked, curious.
“No, Jordan’s ‘real’ father was someone Tessa worked for right out of high school,” Cole assured his children, “He died when Jordan was three.”
“Will Chloë and Zoë be our ‘real’ sisters?” Claire asked, mentioning Jordan’s two-year-old twin daughters from his first marriage.
“Claire, quit being dumb,” Kyle said, still shaking his head, calling the kettle black.
“Those are both really good questions, Kyle, so please don’t call your sister ‘dumb,’” Belle said, “Your questions weren’t dumb, so why would you call Claire’s dumb?”
Kyle shrugged his shoulders.
“Chloë and Zoë will be your step-sisters, Claire,” Cole intervened.
“What does that make Chase?” Claire asked, not even slowing down a bit.
“He will be your half-brother. He will also be Chloë and Zoë’s half-sibling,” Belle explained.
“What is a half-sibling?” Claire asked.
“Half-siblings are the same as a half-brother or half-sister, each one share one parent. In the case of Chase, he will share a mommy with Kyle and you. In the case of Chloë and Zoë, they will share a daddy with Chase,” Belle tried to explain.
“Anymore questions?” Cole asked.
“Yes, I have one more,” Claire said, “When do we move?”
Before the end of the school year, Kyle asked his mother one night after dinner, “Mom, are you happy?”
Jordan was in the middle of giving Chloë and Zoë a bath.
“Yes, extremely, happy,” Belle said with a gleam in her eye. By this time, she was only one month away from her delivery date of May twenty-first.
“That’s good,” Kyle said, a little discouraged.
“Hey, why the long face, Cowboy?” Belle asked, taking Kyle’s chin into her hand. She looked into his eyes to see what they might reveal to her.
Cowboy. Mom is always calling me cowboy. Why? We don’t live in Wyoming on some cow ranch. We live in a luxurious beachfront setting that is more like paradise. Cowboy, go figure.
“Mom, at the end of the school year, would you be too disappointed if I moved back to Dad’s house?” Kyle said, looking down at his feet.
“Really, Kyle, is that what you want?” Belle asked, bringing his chin up, again.
“Yes,” Kyle said, simply.
“Okay, I am sure your dad wouldn’t mind,” Belle said, looking into her son’s piercing blue eyes.
“It will be permanent, Mom. I won’t be coming back,” Kyle said, matter-of-factly.
“I know. I understand. You don’t feel like the man of the house, anymore,” Belle guessed. “Your father lets you do whatever you want. You are free to be you. He loves that about you.”
Wow, that woman is extremely perceptive.
At the end of the school year, Kyle packed up his clothes and a box full of other stuff, like his toothbrush, a comb and his baseball and glove, and then headed out two houses up to his father’s house.
As he started out of the door, Claire caught him and asked, “Kyle, what will I do without you?”
“Claire, you can always come to live with Dad,” Kyle said, taking Claire’s chin into his hand.
“I can’t leave Mommy, especially with the twins and Chase here, now,” Claire said, shaking her head. “I can’t say ‘no’ to his big saucer amber eyes and cute baby blonde looks.”
“Chase gives me a headache with all that squawking. I need my own space!” Kyle was glad he was leaving.
Lately Kyle had been spending time being the pitcher on his local little league team, trying not to think about his mom and Jordan. He’d spend his summer taking vocal and dance lessons at the local studio, and continue practicing the violin and piano. All to forget about his mother and Jordan. It was his therapy.
He wanted to be well rounded, and most people thought he was. Claire thought he was. Belle, too. Kyle knew better. He wasn’t. He wanted more. More friends, more accolades, just MORE. He thought he was a failure most of the time. Especially in the last year, when he had a feeling that his parent’s marriage was failing.
GAWD all mighty, Jordan has a lot of nerve. The “golden son.” Tessa fawned over him and Cole held him in such high regard. Kyle decided that one day he was going to be the “golden son.” Cole Knight King would regard Kyle Brandon King as the “one” that had “it.”
Kyle kissed the top of Claire’s head and left for his father’s mansion, two doors up from Jordan’s house, not even looking back.
“I love you, Claire. I really do.”
She looked up at him and said, “I know you do.”
Now, at this very moment in time, while still on the beach having just watched Kyle take a dive, Zoë and Chloë got the hint from Cass and stepped away from Kyle, the sun-god of Beachmore. Kyle could do no wrong, after all. Not in his step-sisters’ or even in Claire’s eyes. Christ almighty! They treated like him a rock star.
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CHAPTER TWO
The day of Kyle and Amanda’s wedding started out “perfect.” But…of course, that would slowly change over time…about ten minutes after the groom was waiting for the bride at the altar.
Cass had begged Kyle not to rush into marriage, but he was twenty-six, going on twenty-seven and he knew it was time. There was no way he’d ever be able to be with Zoë.
Kyle and Cass had met Amanda through Starry Knight Entertainment. They both had worked on her video “For Goodness Sake.” Kyle was the casting director and Cass was the cameraman, when Kyle asked Amanda for her hand in marriage, and she shyly accepted.
Amanda was an upcoming Christian pop singer, who had the girl-next-door kind of beauty. Everyone called her Mandy, but Kyle affectionately called her Manda.
Kyle and Amanda booked the chapel at the university for a June wedding. Cass was set to be his best man and Kyle’s sister, Claire, Manda’s maid of honor. Kyle walked down the aisle to wait for his bride. The attendants were all in place and his brother and sisters were playing the “Wedding March.”
Then fifteen-year-old Chase, who was playing the saxophone off to the side of the chapel, was handed a message from one of the guests. Chase walked from the side of the chapel up to the front, all eyes were on him with the note in his hand, but instead of giving the note to Kyle, he gave the note to Cass. Chase walked back to his position on the side and continued playing.
“Hey, dude, what’s this about?” Cass whispered from where he stood. Cass looked down at the folded note and it said in big, black, bold letters, “FOR CASS GORDON’S EYES ONLY.”
“Hey, Cass, can’t you wait to set a date for yourself later?” Kyle whispered.
“Sorry, buddy,” Cass said, putting the note in his jacket pocket.
Then the same guest nudged Chase and whispered into his ear. Chase once again walked up to Cass, nudged him and whispered into his ear.
“Sorry, Kyle,” Cass said, getting the note out of his pocket.
“What? What’s going on Cass?” Kyle asked, in a low, but irritated voice.
“I don’t know, just a minute,” Cass said, putting one finger up. Then Cass opened the note and began to read. He had a look of shock on his face.
“I’ll be right back, buddy,” Cass said, putting his hand on Kyle’s shoulder.
“What are you talking about?” Kyle asked, perturbed.
Cass ignored him, and walked past all of the guests and out of sight. Needless to say, all who attended this wedding were getting a side entertainment in the bargain.
Zoë was a classical piano player who started to tickle the ivory keys when she was just four years old, so she was chosen to play the piano at the wedding. She could sing, but was most comfortable being a backup singer to Chloë, who could raise her voice to an octave six.
Kyle was hoping that someday he could bring Zoë’s vocal abilities to the forefront. He thought that her voice was hypnotizingly melodic, and thought that others would feel the same way someday. He was thinking about suggesting that she take singing lessons from the same instructor that he had been using since he was a boy. He definitely benefited from the instruction he had received to train his beautiful tenor voice to hit a vocal octave of four, five on falsetto. He wasn’t as well versed in the piano as was Zoë, but he was a virtuoso on the violin.
The same guest handed Chase another note. Chase then walked towards Kyle with a note in big, black, bold letters saying, “FOR KYLE KING’S EYES ONLY.” Chase handed Kyle the folded note.
Kyle looked puzzled, and a little red underneath the collar. He opened the note, read it, and then bolted past all of the guests, out of sight. What entertainment!
He rushed into a room off to the side where the bride was supposed to be.
“What in the world is wrong?” he yelled.
“Calm down, buddy,” Cass said, in a calm voice.
“Calm down? My bride is supposed to be meeting me at the end of the aisle. What in the world is going on in here?” Kyle yelled, even louder.
“Kyle, I’ve decided that I just can’t marry you,” Amanda tried to explain, flipping her short blonde hair with her hand.
“What? Why? What does Cass have to do with this?”
“Before I ever met you, Kyle, before we ever fell in love, I went out with Cass,” Amanda revealed.
Kyle looked into her stark gray eyes and asked her accusatorily, “What? Why didn’t you ever tell me this? Especially you, Cass?”
“We broke up long before you guys were an item, Kyle, and I just didn’t think it would matter,” Cass said, trying to defend himself.
“So, why are you telling me now, on my wedding day, buddy?” Kyle said, pushing Cass back slightly.
“Okay, Kyle, I understand you are upset, but listen to me,” Cass said, trying to stay calm.
“I’m listening,” Kyle said, with clenched teeth.
“Kyle,” Amanda interrupted, “I’m still in love with Cass. There, I said it.”
Kyle stood there with his mouth wide open, “You said you were in love with me,” Kyle said, still clenching his teeth.
“Yes, yes, I did, but listen, I shouldn’t marry you if I have feelings like this for Cass, right?” Amanda asked, touching Kyle’s shoulder.
Flinching to get away from Amanda’s touch, Kyle directed the next question towards Cass, “And you? What’s your take on this whole situation?”
“Listen, Kyle, I didn’t know that Manda still had feelings for me,” Cass said, reassuringly.
Kyle flinched again. He thought he was the only one that ever called Amanda, “Manda.”
“I swear that he didn’t know until just now, Kyle,” Amanda said, putting her hand on Kyle’s shoulder.
“So that just makes it all okay, right?” Kyle asked. He didn’t know, whoop-de-do!
“Buddy, come on, if Manda still has feelings for me, SHE SHOULDN’T MARRY YOU,” Cass said in a monotone voice.
“You’re right, buddy, thanks for saving me from this day. For the rest of my life. Miss Christian, God loving Amanda Gatlin. I will be forever saved from her!” Kyle exaggerated.
“Now, come on, Kyle, I still love you,” Cass said, grinning and showing his dimples, trying to lighten up the situation.
“Are you in love with her, Cass?” Kyle asked, calmer now.
“Hey, I didn’t want to come between you guys. You know that was never my intention,” Cass said, beating around the bush.
“But?” Kyle asked.
“Okay, I still have a thing for her,” Cass said.
“A thing? Boy, you better have more than just a thing for me,” Amanda said, punching Cass in the arm.
“A thing, huh?” Kyle said, smiling mischievously, “I am giving up this gorgeous lady because you just have a thing for her?”
“Okay, okay,” Cass said, looking whipped, “I am in love with you, Amanda,” he said, looking straight into Amanda’s eyes.
Amanda kissed Cass on the cheek, tossed Cass’s blonde hair with a flick of her finger, and then Cass took her into his arms and gave her a real kiss. Kyle started hugging both of them, kissing Cass on the cheek. There was no way that he was going to lose his best friend over some immature woman who couldn’t make her mind up.
Kyle and Cass announced that the reception would still be held, even though there would be no wedding. They couldn’t pass up a party, after all.
Belle and Cole seemed relieved that Kyle wasn’t getting married, especially after Kyle had talked to each one of them and let them know that he wasn’t devastated. But, am I really okay with this? He asked himself.
“Son, Nancy and I are truly sorry, but maybe it’s for the best,” Cole said, patting his son on the back and then pulling him into a huge hug.
Nancy was Cole’s “new” girlfriend, who also happened to be Amanda’s adoptive mother. She was also Tessa’s younger sister.
Kyle, Claire, Claire’s boyfriend Logan Thatcher, Cass and Amanda all rode to the beach for the reception in a white limousine. Under starry skies and a white tent, his younger siblings were already there at the reception playing a light rock tune while some of the guests danced on the parquet floor that replaced cold sand beneath their feet.
Chloë was singing one of Kyle’s favorite Amanda songs, while Zoë was playing the keyboards. Chase played the drums. Belle and Jordan were even joining in. Belle as a backup singer, and Jordan as a guitar player.
Kyle and Claire joined the group after a few songs, and then Kyle asked Chloë to sing a duet with him, since he didn’t feel it appropriate that Amanda sing it with him. Chloë knew the song inside and out, and Kyle was confident that she’d be perfect. They started singing “This Once in a Lifetime,” and he choked up a little bit, looking out at Amanda, who was dancing with Cass.
Kyle was standing next to Zoë, who touched his shoulder. He looked at her with a tear in his eye, but continued to sing. She smiled at him trying to lift his spirits up, and he overcame his feelings and finished the song strong. After the song, Chloë kissed his cheek, and Zoë came up behind him and hugged him. They could all sense that it was really difficult for him to have sung that kind of song, watching Amanda dance with another man. Claire also came up, kissed his cheek, and then hugged Kyle as well. Chase came up and everyone got into the group hug thing.
Long into the night, Kyle stayed close to the bar and drank vodka-on-the-rocks. He was pretty wasted when his “bride-to-be” asked him to dance with her. Amanda tolerated Kyle’s intoxicated state, but Cass sat Kyle down, and then cut in to dance with her instead.
Kyle sat at a table void of any guests and drank a cup of coffee that the wait staff fetched for him. The gravity of his situation started to become clear to him, and even the alcohol couldn’t take away the pain in his heart. Claire and sexy, sultry soul singer, Logan, came up to him and begged him to go home to sleep it off. He shook Logan’s hand, and kissed his sister on the cheek, and then started walking towards his house, which wasn’t too far from the reception site.
Logan, who just happened to be Tessa’s nephew, was a guy who had a knack for almost crossing the airwave boundaries when it came to his music videos. He was dark skinned and tall with Latin looks and unexplainable composure and sex appeal. His quiet aura mirrored that of Claire’s, who seemed genuinely enthralled with the best thing since molasses.
Kyle thought he was by himself, but all alone in the dark, walking in front of him, was his other “sister,” Zoë. She looked as if she were shivering and Kyle ran towards her, trying not to frighten her.
“Whatcha doin’ out here, Baby Zee?” Kyle asked, putting his jacket over her bare shoulders.
“Baby Zee?” Zoë asked, stopping and looking up to Kyle, who had his hand on the small of her back, “I like that, Kyle B.”
“A new nickname, I like that, too,” Kyle said, pushing Zoë’s long beautiful brunette hair out of her face. “Let me walk you home.”
“Are you okay?” Zoë asked.
“Huh? Oh, well don’t tell anyone, but I have had just a little too much to drink tonight,” Kyle said holding up his fingers as if he were pinching the air.
“I understand,” Zoë said.
“You do?”
“You know, even if you call me Baby Zee, I am not a baby, Kyle,” Zoë said, stopping and turning around. She knew he was way too drunk to even comprehend what she was trying to tell him, as she looked intensely into his pretty blue eyes illuminated by the light of the moon.
“Hey, you sure are pretty, how old are you?” Kyle was completely wasted, as he put his hand on the small of her back. Of course, he knew how old she was. His heart was broken one more time.
Zoë smiled and slapped him, as he moved in closer to kiss her. “Too young for you, way too young for this,” Zoë said walking away.
“Hey, don’t walk away mad,” Kyle said, trying to catch her. Why in the hell are you teasing me, Zee?
“I’m just walking away,” Zoë said, secretly smiling at the thought of Kyle wanting to kiss her. She couldn’t let him think that she was easy.
“Why are you walking alone out here, again?” Kyle asked, not sure if he had even asked her why she was walking home alone in the first place.
“I wanted to stay later than Chloë, who left a while ago. And my escort was inebriated,” Zoë said, smiling as she reached the deck to her house.
Kyle’s home was one of the family beach houses, several doors down from Jordan’s.
“Escort? Inebri…? Huh?” Kyle stammered.
“Forget it, Kyle B., go home and sleep it off, things will look better tomorrow, I promise,” Zoë said, patting his shoulder and then kissing his cheek.
Home. Home without Amanda. Without anyone but…me. I want to hold you tonight, Zoë.
“Yeah, yeah, okay, g’night Baby,” Kyle said, slurring his words, taking his jacket from Zoë’s hands, which were extended to him.
“Goodnight, Kyle B.,” with that, Zoë turned around and went inside, leaving Kyle to wonder about her.
The next day, Kyle awoke with a huge hangover with no energy to get out of bed. He stared at the ceiling thinking about Zoë. Zoë. She is growing into a beauty. So adult-like, so intelligent, so damn sexy. He thought about her bare shoulders, and how they glistened in the moonlight. Each moonbeam kissing her sweet, soft silhouetted curves. Damn it, Zee, what the hell? Kyle couldn’t possibly want someone that young and innocent. It was completely sinful. Why does she have to be so young? Why was he even thinking about it? About her?
After the “big dump” by Amanda, Kyle felt that he was losing control. Did he ever really love her? Did she ever really love him? He knew he wasn’t ready to begin his life at Starry Knight Entertainment. No matter how hard he tried to will himself to want to become an integral part of his father’s team, he just couldn’t stop feeling depressed.
Things between him and Cass would be just the same as always, he had no doubt about that, but Kyle felt removed from his body, as if he were floating above in the clouds. He had no direction in his life until Zoë had talked to him. Even though Kyle was drunk the night before, he remembered parts of his conversation with his Zoë.
“Things will look better tomorrow, I promise…” he remembered her telling him.
After Kyle spent most of the morning in bed, later in the day he decided to take a walk along the shoreline. He sat down in the cold, wet sand throwing pebbles into the deep azure ocean, when Zoë came up to him and stood in the spot where the two of them were just yards from where they both grew up. Zoë asked him how he was doing.
He looked at her, hovering over his eyes with his hand, as the sun was beating down in the direction of his face. Zoë was tall for her age and athletically healthy. Her long curly hair was tangled most of the time because she was always so active. She never really bothered to make sure her hair was even combed. That didn’t matter, though. You could tell that she was going to grow up breaking men’s hearts because of her looks. But it was her down-to-earth nature that made Kyle feel at ease.
Zoë sat down with Kyle, who was looking out past the horizon, wearing nothing but a pair of Bermuda swim trunks, continuing to throw pebbles into the ocean.
Zoë’s emerald green eyes sparkled, as he said, “Trying to figure out my life.”
“Kind of deep, Kyle,” Zoë said, smiling.
“Yeah, as deep as the ocean,” Kyle said, throwing another pebble.
“What you up to, Baby Zee?” Kyle asked, smiling.
“I saw you sitting here, and thought I’d come and see what was wrong with you, Kyle B.,” Zoë said, throwing a pebble or two herself.
“Have you ever thought about what you wanted to be when you grow up?” Kyle asked her, as he fell back to the sand, his elbows catching him on the sand. His slightly ripped chest had sand sprayed from one end to the other.
“I want to run the company someday, just like you,” Zoë said, matter-of-factly, smiling at Kyle, and looking straight into his eyes, “and…someday I will marry you.” She poked his chest when she said it and then Kyle fell back a little off of his elbows.
Kyle was literally taken aback, and then said, “I believe you will, Zee,” as he thought, I know you will.
Zoë was wearing a yellow flowered sun outfit. Her top was a midriff, and her shorts were loose fitting around her smooth, flat waist. She had a pair of white sandals on her feet. She kicked off her shoes and dug her feet into the sand.
Kyle was thinking about all the sinful ways that he wanted his step-sister, as he caught a glimpse of her belly-button.
“Maybe you can be the vice president,” Zoë said, kiddingly, smiling, and giggling.
“Yep, I believe it,” Kyle said, shaking his head, trying to get the sexy image of her out of his brain.
“Kyle B…” Zoë said, slowly.
“Yes, Zeeee…” Kyle said, even more slowly.
“Are you going away?” Zoë asked.
“Why would you ask that?” Kyle said, puzzled.
“It just seems like you aren’t happy here, so maybe you should go and find happiness somewhere else,” Zoë suggested.
“Like where?” Kyle asked, tousling Zoë’s hair.
“Fox Grove, maybe,” Zoë said out-of-the-blue.
“What? Why?” Kyle asked, puzzled. “I just got back from there.”
“I plan on living there someday. I want to go to the university in Fox Grove,” Zoë reported.
“Is that so?” Kyle asked, “And England, come on, there’s got to be something better for you like one of the Ivy League universities.”
“I have it all planned out already,” Zoë revealed, “I am going to go to the local university to get an international business degree, and also spend a semester or two at the university in Fox Grove.”
“Same university that I went to, huh? Are you trying to copy me?” Kyle smiled.
“I want to be close to home while I go to school and work at the company,” Zoë said, matter-of-factly.
“A kindred spirit, after my own heart,” Kyle said, wanting to try and kiss her again. He knew that Zoë was a lot more sophisticated and intelligent than he initially thought.
Zoë smiled and giggled, “You should go to England, Kyle. Maybe you will find your happiness there.”
Kyle thought about it, and looked out into the ocean, sitting up straight. Shit, what in the hell am I going to do? He was so focused on running the company and showing up Jordan. How can I show up Jordan if I run away?
He got up, and took Zoë’s hand to help her up, after she slipped her sandals back on. He needed to talk to his father.
He walked hand-in-hand with Zoë until they came to Jordan’s house, “Here’s your house, pretty lady, thank you for the wonderful conversation.”
“Do you feel better, Kyle B.?” Zoë asked, looking up into Kyle’s face.
“Much better, Zee,” Kyle said, tousling her hair again, “Much better. Take care of yourself, okay?”
Zoë scampered up the steps onto the deck of the beachfront house that she had grown up in. Kyle thought to himself that she certainly didn’t look or seem like she was a young girl. She was definitely a young, sophisticated woman.
Kyle knew he was going to have to tell his father that he was putting his career on hold. He wondered if his father would disapprove. He hated thinking that his father would be disappointed in him. He’d tell his father at dinner, that night.
* * * * *
CHAPTER THREE
The greenery in Fox Grove, England was lush in the springtime. Kyle loved the bedroom overlooking the garden below. He could sit and play his violin for hours there.
The flat that his family owned was real close to the university in Fox Grove, which he had been attending off and on for the violin and opera workshops that it offered. He loved being able to work on his music. It gave him the opportunity to enjoy his passion of the creative side of music, and not just the cold business side of things. The best of both worlds.
All the time, growing up, Kyle drove himself too hard, he thought. He burned out, and then after Amanda left him at the altar, he just couldn’t function anymore. His priorities went haywire. He needed to stay away from the temptation that he knew was living a few doors up from his own beach house at the family compound. Zoë needed time to grow up. Live her freshman year at the local university in Beachmore without him.
His sister Claire was so mad after he left California that summer. She hated not having him around. She’d spend all of her free time traveling to Fox Grove to see Kyle, so he really didn’t have to go to LA. He flashed back to Thanksgiving when his mother had begged him to join her little family get-together. Seeing his mother wasn’t a huge need for him, it was more for Claire and Cole than anyone else, oh yeah, and to spend time with his favorite girl, Zoë.
He was seemingly happy living a simple life in England. He was content in that respect. So then, why was he still searching for a purpose in life?
Claire picked him up from the airport. Kyle and Claire had an interesting relationship. They loved playing practical jokes on each other. This time it was Claire’s turn to pull one on “Cowboy.”
She held up a huge sign that said, “Kyle King, America’s Sweetheart.” It had a touched-up close-up picture of Kyle wearing a cowboy hat. She had several girls come up to her to ask who this Kyle King was. She fibbed and said that Kyle was a rodeo champion, and single.
She had a few of the girls actually waiting around to see the hunky rodeo hero. Kyle came sauntering around the corner to get his luggage from the baggage claim, when Claire recognized him, and so did about six teenage girls. He wasn’t wearing a cowboy hat, but he looked hot. He was wearing a pair of jeans, with a black tight T-shirt, that showed his nicely built abs. His shoes were black leather boots, but they weren’t cowboy boots, and he was carrying his black leather jacket and sunglasses. He definitely looked like he was a celebrity. One of the girls even asked for his autograph. Kyle looked at Claire, who had the widest smile on her face that Kyle had ever seen.
They walked to the limo that was waiting for them after picking up Kyle’s bags. Kyle waited until he got in the limo to let Claire have it. He looked back out of the limo window and he saw that the girls had followed him out.
“You, you are so bad,” Kyle said, shaking his finger at his sister.
“That was so much fun, though, wasn’t it?” Claire said, hitting Kyle’s upper arm, and continued her huge smile.
“I’ve missed you, Sis,” Kyle, revealed, hugging Claire tightly.
“Come home, Kyle, you still seem so depressed,” Claire acknowledged, looking into his vacant eyes.
“How is coming home going to change that?” Kyle barked, looking out of the window, seeing nothing but palm trees.
“At least you’ll have your family with you,” Claire begged him.
“I still need to find the answers, and I think they are still in England,” Kyle told her.
“I just don’t understand,” Claire said, taking his hands in hers.
“I really don’t either, Cee,” Kyle said, using his nickname for her, “All that I do know is that Cass and Amanda, even though I have forgiven them, hurt me a whole lot deeper than I realized.”
“Is this just all about what they did to you?” Claire asked, looking into Kyle’s eyes.
“No. It’s about me not being able to fulfill my dreams the way that I had always envisioned them. It’s about having dad disappointed in me, it’s about me proving myself to Jordan, it’s about the fact that I had the woman of my dreams, and I thought that she loved me, and she doesn’t. It’s about why she doesn’t. Why doesn’t she love me?”
Kyle broke down and the tears filled his eyes. Claire took his head and put it on her shoulder. She stroked his hair. He let his head fall onto her lap facing out, and she continued to stroke his hair, as a tear came to her eye as well.
After spending the night at his place, Kyle attended Thanksgiving dinner the next day at his mother’s house, and got all the niceties out of the way. Saying hello to Jordan, and shaking his hand. Hugging his father, and kissing his cheek. Then there was the adulation and hugging from each one of his younger siblings. Chase idolized Kyle. Kyle touched knuckles with his fifteen-year-old brother, while he hugged Chloë, who was at least a head taller than she was the last time he saw her and a very pretty eighteen-year-old.
Zoë sat back in a white leather chair in the front room watching it all. Kyle was the one that went to her. He sat down on the ottoman in front of her and smiled. Beautiful. Her long brunette hair flowed down past the small of her back. Her eyelashes surrounding her emerald green eyes were long, thick and inviting. Her lips full and kind of pouty. She is going to break someone’s heart one day. She was definitely a real looker. She was more filled out than when he saw her last. It wasn’t lost on Kyle that she was wearing an outfit that accentuated her newly formed body.
She was wearing a black and white checkered skirt with a tight white short-sleeved sweater, which accentuated her newly formed body. She had white high socks and a pair of black leather loafers on. She looked like a naughty little schoolgirl to Kyle. It turned him on.
It seemed like such a long time had passed since they had their talk in the sand. He remembered her feet digging into the sand, and the sparkle in her eye. She smiled at him, not saying a thing. Not telling him that she remembered him leaning back on his elbows, his bare chest exposed to the sun, with tiny pieces of sand clinging to the crevices surrounding his ripped chest. She blushed just thinking about it. She remembered how it made her feel about him. Attracted and vulnerable. It didn’t help now that Kyle was wearing a tight white long-sleeved sweater, which continued to show off his nicely built chest. The tight pair of flared-legged black jeans that hugged Kyle’s nicely built body only made her want him all the more.
They heard Belle calling, “Dinner’s ready!”
He took Zoë’s hand, as she got up out of the ottoman. She was taller than she was before. Her skirt dropped down right above her knees as Kyle led her to the dining room to eat with the others. He stared at her legs and was a little too obvious, blushing when she caught his eyes.
Claire hadn’t showed up, yet. Kyle knew that she had been busy at Starry Knight Entertainment as a studio musician and also spending all of her free time with her live-in-lover, Logan.
Just as everyone sat in their chairs, Claire entered the room with her beau following behind her. They held hands and nibbled on each other’s ears as they took their seats.
Kyle got out of his seat to shake Logan’s hand, and as Claire and Logan joined the table, Cole started to say the Thanksgiving grace. After the prayer, Jordan carved the turkey and everyone enjoyed the meal.
Kyle was quiet for most of the dinner. Belle had told everyone not to ask too many questions before Kyle even showed up for the feast. After dinner, Kyle decided to go for a walk along the beach to take some of the weight off of his stomach. He hated the fact that he always felt groggy after eating turkey. He would rather walk it off, and then sleep.
There was a November nip in the air, and Kyle was glad he had grabbed his black leather jacket, as he headed out of the door, alone.
Now at the water’s edge, Kyle looked out into the ocean, as the sun was setting. The horizon was a dark blue, seemingly unending. He sat on the beach making a circle in the sand with his index finger, when someone came and sat down next to him, drawing two eyes and a smile within the circle of sand with their index finger.
Zoë’s hair was blowing in the wind, catching the last rays of the sun. Kyle loved the way her hair sparkled in the thinning daylight. She had changed into a jogging suit.
“So, Kyle, have you found your purpose in life, yet?” Zoë asked, seriously.
“You said I’d find it in England, and I haven’t, yet. To tell you the truth, I’m getting impatient, now,” Kyle said, reflectively.
“I bet that you’ll be a new man before summer’s here,” Zoë reassured Kyle.
“You know what? I believe you,” Kyle said, smiling.
Kyle brushed the hair out of her eyes. I want you, Zee. Right here, right now.
When you touch me like that, I want to be yours, completely, Kyle, Zoë thought, shutting her eyes for just a moment.
Kyle put his hand on the small of Zoë’s back, “You up for a little one-on-one?”
Zoë looked toward the basketball court that sat to the side of Kyle’s house. She was already half way there before he finished even asking her.
Now, back in Fox Grove, Kyle shook his head and came back to reality from thinking about last Thanksgiving. In just a few weeks, his family would be coming out for spring break. He was going to see Zoë.
It was only three months before summer. Zoë had claimed that Kyle would find himself before then. Why did I ever listen to her when she told me that I’d find myself in Fox Grove, England?
There was a basketball court in the green, which sat beyond the garden at Kyle’s flat. Kyle never really saw anyone ever use the court, except two older fellows every once in a while. Basketball was therapy to Kyle. The court was virtually all his.
One day, while he decided to work on his lay-ups, Kyle thought back to when Cole had told him about when he had met his mother.
Kyle kept his father’s words in his head. “She walked into my life and landed on my doorstep.”
Zoë. She’s walked into my life and landed on my doorstep. I want her to be mine. Why does she have to be so young? Will she even want me?
He threw several three-pointers and then took a sip of water. Kyle smiled to himself. He was looking forward to having his family join him the next weekend for a spring break. He missed Claire’s sweet smile and Zoë’s, well Zoë’s everything. He felt guilty for always thinking about his step-sister, seeing as how she was his step-sister and still only eighteen. But then he thought to himself, just another month, and she will be nineteen. Why in the world do I think about my step-sister that way? She is still so young. Remember that you couldn’t even handle being an adult at that age? Impossible. Completely impossible.
Summer was coming and he promised himself that he’d move back to California when he finished trying to find himself. He was hoping that was in June. Not only that, he made a promise to his step-sister, Zoë, and he intended to keep that promise. Kyle shook his head, got up and went back to shooting hoops.
* * * * *
CHAPTER FOUR
The Fox Grove City Airport only handled chartered and private airplanes. Kyle could see his family through a huge glass window getting off a chartered jet. One at a time, from the largest, being Jordan, to the youngest, Chase, each King stepped out onto the tarmac with a small piece of luggage in tow. In between Jordan and Chase were Belle, Logan, Claire, Zoë and Chloë.
Kyle chartered a bus to take them all to the flat. He felt like he was part of a traveling minstrel show. Each member carried an instrument, except for Zoë and Chloë because Zoë usually played the piano and Chloë usually sang, so, it was common to be musical instrument free. Besides there were miscellaneous instruments back at the flat. The family room was used as a music studio, where throughout the years the Kings would hold private concerts when they traveled to Fox Grove.
“Cowboy, come give your mother a kiss,” Belle said, as soon as she saw Kyle leaning up against a post by the entrance that his family just walked through.
Kyle kissed his mother, and then shook Jordan’s hand. He did his knuckle shake with Chase while Claire couldn’t hold back any longer and jumped into Kyle’s arms. He spun her around, and lightly kissed her on the lips. She sure is pretty, Kyle thought, shaking his head, thinking back to the time that they kissed in Logan’s video. His mind raced thinking about how inappropriate that all was, when Logan took Kyle’s hand and shook it.
It had been years ago. He remembered it quite well. On the day of the shooting, Kyle looked over his video script, just shaking his head. Kyle couldn’t even fathom “acting” like he was making love to his own sister, even if it was all “make-believe.” Kyle felt that his mother had gone too far as the director.
Even though Claire had some sort of cloth draped over her by wearing a skimpy red baby doll outfit, and Kyle was in a pair of boxer briefs, jock strap underneath, Kyle felt uncomfortable right away.
While making the video, Kyle had to kiss Claire, convincingly, and he had to hide the fact that he was actually, and in true life aroused by that. He became embarrassed and blushed, just as Logan’s character was hanging out by the door, watching his best friend and his lover from afar.
In the video, the lover and the best friend had to look up and spot Logan by the door, and Kyle’s actual blush was just what the video needed.
After the shot was wrapped, Kyle pushed past Logan and went straight for Belle. Belle praised her son for his acting ability, but he laid into her.
“I think it’s darn inappropriate, if you really want to know the truth!” he shouted at Belle.
“You pulled it off, though, Cowboy,” Belle said, pushing Kyle’s hair out of his face.
“Stop calling me Cowboy, mother. I am not seven years old anymore. And don’t you ever put me in that kind of position, again.”
Now years later, his mother was still calling him “Cowboy” and Claire was still a knock-out. Then there was Chloë. Chloë looked longingly at him and planted a nice long kiss on his lips, much to Jordan’s chagrin, making him clear his throat rather loudly. Kyle wasn’t expecting the kiss and definitely had a sense of dread when the kiss ended, as he was thinking that Chloë must have an unrequited crush on him that he was going to have to deal with eventually. Even though she looked like a movie star with her blonde curly locks flowing past her waist and she was dressed in a gold lamé mini dress, showing off the most awesome legs ever, he had no intention of ever falling for her.
Zoë was just standing back, taking it all in. She was dressed in a pair of tight blue jeans, with a white Victorian lace blouse that showed her curves and ample cleavage off. She had a pair of black heals on and carried a black leather coat in one hand and a black leather tote in the other. She looked like a rock star with her hair curled and flowing past her curved derrière.
She just stood there. She could always make him come to her. She didn’t flaunt herself in front him, and she never pushed herself on him. Kyle thought to himself that she knew exactly what she was doing. Almost nineteen and already had Kyle in the palm of her hand. How could he ever notice Chloë when perfection was staring at him straight in the face with this one?
Back at the flat, everyone settled into a routine. It had been years since anyone of them had been there, but each remembered which bed they used last time, and from there it was a piece of cake to make themselves comfortable. Kyle had moved out of the master bedroom in order for Jordan and Belle to take it. He took the smallest bedroom, so that the others could share the three remaining bedrooms.
The travelers were weary, so they ordered dinner in and called it a short night. Zoë was in the very next room from where Kyle was lying down and staring out into space. Her bed was just on the other side of the wall where she was cuddled up under the blankets, staring at the wall thinking about what Kyle looked like on the other side.
What are you thinking, Kyle? Do you ever think about me? If so, what do you think about when I cross your mind? Is it the day we were on the beach together, sitting in the sand? Zoë would always think back to Kyle lying there with pebbles of sand strewn across his nicely built chest. Or do you just think of me as your “sister” with no fantasizing thoughts of me at all? She sighed, falling fast asleep picturing themselves on the beach, running towards each other in their swim clothes. He picked her up, twirled her around and then they came together and kissed while the sun was setting.
The next morning, Kyle welcomed his guests with a pancake breakfast. Then after breakfast, he thought it would be nice if he took his family to the Memoir Palace, which had over two thousand acres to explore. It was only about a thirty-minute drive and Kyle hired a limousine to escort the Kings in royal style.
In the limo, Zoë would shoot him little smiles. Then she would suddenly blush and then she would have to turn away. If he hadn’t had only eyes for her, he would have noticed that Chloë was doing the same thing to him.
When the limo arrived at the palace, Kyle took Zoë’s hand to help her out. He didn’t seem to notice that Chloë was a little perturbed that he hadn’t done the same thing for her. In fact, he never noticed her the whole entire time that they were all at Memoir, where the dukes and duchesses of old England had once called home.