Not Quite Mine (Not Quite series) - By Catherine Bybee
Chapter One
Katelyn Morrison stood at the altar with tears welling behind her eyes. She forced her attention to the bride and groom and the vows they lovingly exchanged. Her brother, Jack, reached out to his newly adopted son Danny, and took the ring the six-year-old held in his hand. Danny beamed with pride, his smile and sigh caught the attention of everyone in the church. Katie felt the hair on her arms stand on end when Jack winked at the boy. Her brother deserved the happiness he’d found with his bride and her son. Katie couldn’t be more ecstatic about the woman he’d chosen to make a Morrison.
The emotion that choked her up even more, however, Katie didn’t want to name. She had no right to be jealous of her brother. Besides, green wasn’t a color she chose to wear.
Squaring her shoulders, Katie witnessed Jessie place a ring on Jack’s finger and repeat her vows. When the minister instructed Jack to kiss his bride, his dimples appeared as a wide smile spread over his face and he gathered her in his arms. True Texas catcalls and whistles lifted to the eves of the church when Jack dipped Jessie low and let everyone know she was his. When Danny lifted his hand to shield his eyes from their kiss, the cameras in the church went wild.
Katie let out a laugh and ignored the tears falling from her eyes.
Then she felt him watching, knew the weight of his stare as she slowly lifted her gaze to the best man.
Dean’s gaze soaked her in. Looked through her would be a better way of describing the expression on his face. An unspoken understanding washed over his face and threatened a tidal wave of pain in Katie’s chest. In that moment, Katie held more regret than she’d ever had in her entire life.
Jack and Jessie turned toward the guests at the ceremony while Monica, Jessie’s sister and maid of honor, handed Jessie her bouquet. Katie pulled in her thoughts and memories and moved behind Jessie to fan the train of her dress so she could march down the aisle and not trip on the layers of fabric.
Thank God Jack picked Dean to be his best man and not a groomsman, otherwise bridesmaid Katie would be paired with him for the remainder of the evening. Being this close to him was hard enough. Standing side by side all evening would be torture.
Hell, it was still torture.
The photographer ushered the bridal party outside the church while the guests were funneled in another direction. The bride and groom posed in front of the marble columns and ornate doors. Monica stepped beside Katie with Nicole, the other bridesmaid. A buzz overhead brought everyone’s attention to the sky.
A helicopter hovered over the church.
“Would have been asking too much for them to wait for a press release,” Katie chided.
“I know you said to expect them, but a helicopter?” Monica tilted her head back and shielded her eyes from the sun with her hand.
“With a high powered lens snapping more pictures than the paid photographer.” Having spent the greater part of her life attracting the attention of the media, both here in her hometown of Houston and wherever else she went, Katie was well rehearsed at ignoring their presence. Every mistake she’d ever made, nearly every kiss or affair she’d partaken in, ended up on the cover of a magazine.
“Take the damn picture and go already.” Dean’s voice, even when it was angry, shot up her spine with awareness.
Nearly every affair.
Dean, Tom, and Mike moved closer to the women and shot insults at the hovering chopper.
“Nothing’s sacred,” Mike said.
“At least Gaylord kept the paparazzi on foot far away.”
“Daddy promised them a glimpse from the limo on the way to the reception,” Katie informed the wedding party. “Or a trip to jail for trespassing if they stepped one foot on church property.”
“A night in jail isn’t usually a deterrent.”
The three groomsmen had known Jack and Katie for years. Each one came from a family with money and power and knew the media better than their neighbors.
The noise from the chopper elevated, as did the wind it kicked up.
Danny ran up between Monica and Katie with a worried frown on his face. “Auntie Katie, is that helicopter gonna fall on us?”
She knelt down and took Danny’s hand in hers. The role of auntie might have been new, but the fierce need to protect her nephew and ease his fears was as automatic as breathing. “They wouldn’t dare risk it. Grandpa would tie them up and leave them in the sun to bake if they crashed this party.”
Danny’s eyes grew big. “Really?”
“Ask Grandpa to tell you about the paparazzi and my sixteenth birthday.”
Dean and Tom cleared their throats behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and noticed both of them shaking their heads. A few misguided indiscretions of that day drifted to the surface of her memory. “On second thought, never mind.”
Monica leaned in and offered her own advice. “How about we make faces at them, Danny?”
He shot her a big smile before he lifted his head to the chopper and stuck out his tongue. Laughter filled the small group as each one of them wiggled fingers and contorted their faces toward the sky. Danny’s giggles kept them all animated. Chances were, the photographer in the chopper wasn’t focused on them, but Danny no longer seemed concerned that the hunk of metal was going to land on them.
Even if their faces did end up on the cover of the Inquisitor, Katie knew she looked fabulous. The floor length maroon silk dress hugged her curves like a lover’s caress. Lorenzo, the designer, had taken all three of the women in the bridal party into his studio and crafted identical dresses to work perfectly for each of their shapes. How he did it was a mystery. Not that he had to work around anything impossible. Both Monica and Nicole were over five seven and slender. And after a little work, Katie had shown them both the pleasure of designer heels. There was nothing sexier than a shoe that brought a guy’s attention to a shapely calf before sending that attention zinging up a thigh and straight to one’s ass. The second Katie had slid the two-hundred-dollar pumps onto Monica’s feet, she knew she had a partner in crime.
Katie made sure the length of her leg peeked through her dress as she wiggled her fingers by her ears for the paparazzi.
As their laughter ebbed, the photographer waved them all inside the church for more pictures.
Danny took Monica’s hand and pulled her with him as the rest of the party followed.
Katie adjusted her dress to make certain the low cut angle didn’t reveal too much.
“You look amazing.” Dean’s voice was low and heated as he slid up beside her.
She hadn’t realized he’d hung back, and she felt a little trapped in his presence. “You clean up well yourself, Prescott.” Boy, did he clean up. He brushed his dusty blond hair that always seemed a little long, but at the same time, perfectly right, out of his eyes. His Texas drawl reminded her of home. She’d worked hard to rid herself of her accent when she was younger, thinking it made her sound stupid. Blonde and rich labeled her as dumb, which she fought for some time. It wouldn’t have mattered if she’d become a doctor or a rocket scientist. The world looked at her as an heiress and treated her differently. Around her sixteenth birthday she’d snapped. Her hormones started to rage and her desire to be noticed ruled her brain. Her skirts rode high, her pants skintight. Those designer heels she loved so much pushed her height past most of the boys in school.
But the ones she wanted to look, didn’t.
Katie glanced into Dean’s eyes and quickly looked away. Her body tingled knowing he stood so close. The spicy scent of his skin made her want to lean in and take a deep breath. She fought her desire and found the silence between them painful.
She said the only thing she could think of, and then regretted her words instantly. “I’m sorry about Maggie.”
Dean’s jaw tightened. “It wasn’t meant to be.” Maggie had broken off her engagement to Dean a week before their wedding. According to Jack, there wasn’t an explanation as to why. Then she’d disappeared and asked that Dean not contact her.
“It must have been hard for you…watching Jack and Jessie.”
Lord knew if she’d been snubbed that close to matrimony, she’d never go to another wedding again.
The smile that always played on Dean’s lips fell. “It wasn’t hard at all.”
Katie wanted to tell him he was full of shit. If anyone knew his dreams, it was her. A wife and family had always been in his plans.
“Are you two coming or what?” Tom called from the door to the church.
Dean tilted his head, acknowledging Tom, then spread his fingers low on Katie’s back to usher her inside.
Heat spread up her body and licked every nerve ending in her skin. The memory of his hands slipping low on her hips, as he explored her lips with his own, washed over her. His hand jerked, as if he, too, shared the memory. He flexed his fingers and guided her forward.
Their time together was in the past, and best forgotten.
“So, what’s with you and Katelyn?”
The question hit Dean in the center of his chest and caused his feet to move in a direction he hadn’t planned. Luckily, Monica was ready for his dance floor flop and sidestepped his foot to avoid a broken toe.
“What do you mean?” Dammit, he thought he’d buried his memories deep in his head where no one could see them.
He was wrong.
“For starters, considering you’ve known her since grade school, neither of you talk to each other unless you have to.”
Dean glanced across the dance floor and watched Tom swing Katie around. The two of them were laughing and having a grand time being the center of attention. The only people currently on the dance floor were the wedding party. The traditional display of royalty every wedding reception took part in would probably be Dean’s only time spent in a woman’s arms that night. Despite his brevity with Katie earlier, watching his best friend get married had stirred memories best forgotten.
“And then there’s that,” Monica said.
“There’s what?” What were they talking about?
“I think a novel would call it a ‘stolen look.’ No, they’d call it a ‘stolen gaze.’ When Katie isn’t watching you, you’re watching her.”
Katie was impossible to ignore. Her long, shapely legs brought her height over five nine. Her curves had haunted him in high school, and threatened to destroy him as an adult. The blonde hair atop her head was as natural as her grace. She honed the ability to attract attention early in life and hadn’t seemed to tire of the spotlight yet. Her claim to fame came from several appearances on a reality TV show featuring other silver-spooned teenage girls. The tabloids often pegged her as an unintelligent heiress, but Dean knew better. She’d gone to college like all of their mutual friends, graduating with a degree in design and business.
Dean skirted his thoughts and focused on Monica. “You know, Monica, even I know it’s bad form to be dancing with one beautiful woman while talking about another.”
Her shoulders folded in with her laugh. “You’re dancing with me because you have to. Luck of the draw being paired with the maid of honor.”
“And here I thought you liked me.”
Monica was charming, witty, and beautiful. In another life, he’d have jumped at the chance to get to know her better. His record with Jack’s family and friends wasn’t exactly stellar…well, with Katie anyway. He knew better than to get involved with someone he’d have to see on a regular basis after the breakup.
His eyes drifted to Katie again.
Monica cleared her throat, snapping Dean’s attention back to her.
“My question is, are you thinking about what was? Or what might be?”
Dean danced around the query by reaching for Monica’s hand, spinning her. He knew for a fact Katie didn’t speak of her time with him any more than he did.
Monica slid back into his embrace with a smile. “I’m staying the whole week with her. If you won’t talk, she will.”
The confidences women laid out to each other were up to them. Being the home of a Y chromosome gave him the right to keep his feelings to himself.
Dean perfected the tight lip in high school. Too bad he hadn’t kept it that way over the last year. Now he lived with his mistake and went back to life’s early lessons. Mouth shut, ears open.
“Oh, fine,” Monica grumbled, giving up her quest for more information. “Give me some dirt on Tom.”
Dean hadn’t seen that twist coming. “So you like Tom?”
Monica managed one of those stolen glances over her shoulder, not realizing that Dean watched. “I didn’t say that. I’m just making conversation.”
Dean allowed a true smile of amusement to crest his lips. “Oh, darlin’, you’re a terrible liar.”
The dance ended and before long Jack had rounded up Dean along with Tom and Mike. He handed each one of them a shot of whiskey and stood back with a silly grin on his face.
“What are we toasting?” Mike asked before Dean had a chance to voice the question himself.
Jack lifted his glass. “To good friends. You guys made this day even better by being here.”
“Oh, Lord, he’s getting all sentimental on us,” Mike joked.
“You laugh now, Mikey. Just wait and see how bright your future looks when there’s a beautiful woman by your side to share it with.”
Dean leaned over to Tom. “Is he gonna start crying?”
“He might if he drinks too many of these.”
“He won’t get drunk if he’s looking forward to his wedding night.” Something told Dean that Jack was more than happy to fulfill his husbandly obligations.
“Knock it off,” Jack told them. “To friends.”
“To friends!” They all lifted their glasses and drank the amber liquid with one swallow. Dean let it slide down his throat with a nice, comfortable burn. Outside of the champagne for the toast, he hadn’t had a lick to drink all night. He took his role of best man seriously. Maybe after the bride and groom left for their monthlong honeymoon, he could kick back a few more.
“Speaking of friends,” Jack started. “I have a favor to ask you guys.”
Dean noticed the switch from carefree to serious cross Jack’s face.
“What’s that?” Mike asked.
“It’s Katie.”
The liquor in Dean’s stomach hit bottom and started to hurt. “What about her?”
“Something isn’t right with her. She hasn’t been herself.”
All four of them turned to search out the woman in question. Dean’s radar found her quickly. She stood next to her father and Danny with a silly grin on her face.
“She looks fine to me,” Tom said.
“She’s not. Her smile isn’t as big, her usual eccentric self isn’t as large. I’m worried about her.”
“Maybe she’s growing up, Jack,” Tom said. Which translated in Dean’s brain to mean, growing out of her reckless ways.
Tom reached around to the bar and took another shot from the bartender. “I haven’t seen her in any headlines in quite some time. Maybe she’s bored with the spotlight. It does get old after a while.”
Dean kept his mouth shut. He’d noticed the shift in her personality as well.
“She asked me if she could design the interior of the new hotels.” Jack had started a new chain of family friendly hotels to add to the Morrison Empire. His first baby was nearly finished with the initial phase of construction. Dean knew the project well. Prescott Construction ran the job site in Ontario, California.
“Katie wants a job?” Tom asked.
All four of them twisted toward Katie again. Just thinking of her sexy ass in high heel shoes parading around the workers at the hotel made Dean cringe. Work would grind to a painstaking halt faster than lightning could strike the Empire State Building.
“Has a job,” Jack corrected. “Design and fashion are her gig. It isn’t like I could say no.”
Damn. “That means she’ll be staying in Ontario for a while.” Southern California was where Dean had moved his life after he and Katie went their separate ways.
“I was hoping you and Mikey could keep an eye on her while she’s there.”
“I’m not sure what you want us to do, Jack. Katie’s never lonely for company and chances are she’d see right through us if we knocked on her door and asked her if she wanted to hang out,” Mikey said.
“Just keep an eye on her, will ya?”
“We will,” Mike told him.
Dean nodded.
“Looks like I’m off the hook with this one.” Tom reached for a third shot of whiskey. Tom lived in Houston.
Dean glanced up as Jessie walked toward them. Jack stepped forward and brought his wife into his arms.
“They want us to cut the cake now.”
Jack wiggled his eyebrows. “I’ve been waiting to squish cake on your nose all night,” he teased.
Jessie narrowed her eyes at her husband. “Careful, cowboy. You have to live with me for the rest of your life.”
The couple laughed as they walked away.
Katie toed off her heels and fell onto her couch.
“You Texans sure know how to throw a party.” Monica melted into the soft leather beside Katie.
“Big, loud, and never ending. But damn it was great.”
“I don’t think Jessie could be happier.”
“Jack either.”
“I think the two of them are going to be the rare ones that keep it going forever.”
Katie agreed. She and Monica both knew what it was like to come from a broken family. Katie’s mom had walked away from her husband and kids and never really looked back. She couldn’t even be bothered with showing up at her own son’s wedding. Same could be said for Monica and Jessie’s dad. They didn’t even know how to get hold of him.
“I’ll bet Jessie’s pregnant within the year.”
“Less if Danny has his way. He and my dad were already hinting about Danny needing a baby sister or brother.”
Monica tucked her feet under her bum. “You’d think he’d have waited for the wedding cake to digest before talking about babies.”
“My dad drove himself hard for a lot of years. I think he wants to make up for lost time now that he’s older. He loves Danny and can’t wait for more grandkids.” Grandkids he’d have to get from Jessie and Jack. The thought sobered her and brought a thick ball of emotion to the back of her throat. The whole night had been an emotional roller coaster. “I’m beat,” she said, pushing off the sofa.
“Me, too.”
As both women started down the hall of the high-rise hotel penthouse Katie lived in, the buzzer on the front door rang. Both of them jumped at the noise. It was one thirty in the morning.
“What the…?”
Monica followed her to the door. The complex had the tightest security money could buy, so concern for her safety didn’t enter her mind as she opened the door.
The landing between her door and the elevator was empty.
A tiny noise drew Katie’s attention to her feet.
Behind her, Monica gasped.
Cradled in a bundle of brown and pink blankets and nestled in a car seat was the most delicate tiny baby Katie had ever seen.
She dropped to her knees and lifted the blanket away from the infant’s face. Slow, even breaths blew through pink lips. Tucked beside the child was an envelope. Katie lifted the paper away from the sleeping baby, careful to not wake her.
Katelyn Morrison was written in a flowing script.
“Oh, my God.” Monica voiced Katie’s exact thoughts.