Читать книгу The Best Mistake of Her Life - Aimee Carson - Страница 6

MEMPHIS James stood on the twenty-second floor of the downtown Miami building and looked down at the camera crew on the street below, spectators lining the barricade like curious ants. There was only one chance to get the high-fall right—no do-overs possible. Along with the stunt engineer, Memphis had meticulously checked and rechecked every detail, including his harness, the cable hoist and the wind conditions. No matter how crazy the stunt, death wasn’t likely—more of a distant possibility that hinged on either mechanical error or miscalculation, so nothing was left to chance. Memphis never left anything to chance.

It was a necessary compulsion in this twisted business of mocking gravity. Because if his focus was off, mistakes were made and he could be killed or, at the very least, sustain a dream-crushing injury.

Or worse … someone else might pay the price.

For one second the memory resurfaced, just like it always did before a high-fall. In a now-familiar sequence of reactions, Memphis’s chest cinched tight, his stomach balled into a knot and his heart beat mercilessly against his ribs.

Willing his muscles to relax, Memphis forced the memory from his mind as he gazed down at the two-hundred-plus feet between him and the empty pavement. There was nothing to break his fall save the camera on the ground that would record his descent. His lips twisted wryly. He liked the idea that if something went wrong—and he hit the pavement traveling approximately eighty miles per hour—his last seconds on earth would be recorded for posterity.

If he was checking out, he’d do it with flair and with his name on everyone’s lips.

The stunt engineer broke into his thoughts. “Everything’s set. Wind speed steady at five mph.”

With one last look at the ground below, Memphis said, “That’s as good as we’ll get.”

“You ready?”

Now rock-steady, his pulse at a regular rate, Memphis took his position in front of the temporary window constructed of safety glass. “I’m always ready.” A grin slipped up his face. “But gravity is a bitch of a mistress.”

“An unforgiving one, to be sure,” the man returned with a chuckle.

Memphis’s grin grew bigger in anticipation. “So let’s not keep her waiting.”

One hand clutching the barricade, Kate Anderson shaded her eyes from the sun and stared up at the tiny hub of activity twenty-two stories above the ground. A gentle breeze carried a hint of the salty Atlantic Ocean tinged with hot pavement, and the crowd of curious gawkers pressed in around her, making the warm Miami day even warmer.

Or maybe it was her strained nerves that were overheating.

Up until now, self-preservation had deemed it necessary she ignore Memphis James’s return to town. But today’s tabloid article about Dalton and his fiancée had garnered Kate no less than eight sympathetic glances, three well-intentioned condolence hugs and one unsolicited pep talk from a bitter divorceé—all while simply waiting in line at the local café. As the recent ex-wife of Miami’s favorite homegrown politician, fading into the background was impossible for Kate, especially with a heavy social schedule looming ahead. And for the first time since she’d started dating Dalton at sixteen, she was faced with the prospect of attending an event by herself.

The pitying looks she’d received from complete strangers were bad enough, but the public scrutiny was bound to get worse. Imagine how awful the tabloid headlines would be if she showed up at her high-school reunion alone?

Former Prom Queen Jilted by Her Onetime King

Spurned Kate Anderson Attends Reunion Solo

Inhaling a calming breath, she forced her muscles to relax and renewed her resolve to ask Memphis for help, even if he was her childhood nemesis turned hot-shot stuntman … and a living reminder of the biggest mistake of her life. Apprehension threatened to crack her composure, and she stared up at the window far above the ground.

Where was the condolence hug when you really needed one?

There was a crackle of walkie-talkies from the crew on the street, and Kate caught her breath. One second later the window exploded, glass fragments spraying outward and fanning around the stuntman’s form, Memphis following a graceful descending arc before plummeting toward the bone-breakingly hard, air-bag-less pavement below.

Kate’s mouth turned to dust, her heart turned to stone and her every cell froze as, for several terrifying seconds, Memphis free-fell past twenty-one rows of windows. At the last possible moment the cable slowed his fall until he came to a jerky stop, just inches from the camera trained up at him from the ground.

Applause broke out around her. Dizzy, Kate sucked in a fortifying breath while her heart pulsed back to life, pounding with the aftereffects of an adrenaline surge so strong it had surely melted her nervous system. Kate released the barricade, her palms slick, and tried to brush off the grains of sand that had embedded into her skin during her tight grip. And she watched in shocked annoyance as Memphis calmly and coolly disconnected his harness as the crowd continued their cheering.

He had plunged to the ground at high rates of speed while she had aged five years in the process.

Since the day her twin brother had befriended the then thirteen-year-old hellraiser, Memphis had elicited so many heart-pounding reactions in her body that if her nervous system ever burned out completely, ninety-nine percent of the blame belonged to Memphis.

When Kate spied him heading off she abruptly brought her doubts up short. Without a second thought, she rounded the barricade and strode toward his retreating, blue-jean-encased figure. His well-formed backside and powerful legs brought back memories she’d done her best to forget.

A shout of displeasure came from the security guard to her left, but she ignored it and called out, “Memphis!”

Either Memphis hadn’t heard or chose to ignore her call, but more warning voices came as the crew and security began to target her more aggressively. Sensing time was running out, Kate broke into a brisk walk that bordered on a jog, her casual sundress flapping around her legs and her high-heeled sandals pinching her feet, as if to remind her they weren’t intended for giving chase.

“Memphis, wait!” she called again.

This time Memphis came to a stop and turned on his heel, and she knew the second he recognized her. For a brief moment, his expression froze. The reaction stopped Kate in her tracks, a mere ten feet from the man who was looking at her with those mesmerizing caramel-colored eyes …

Like a movie special effect, immediately she was transported back five years to the last time they’d been together. She had just yelled at him to get out of her brother’s hospital room. A yell fueled by fear for Brian, fury at Memphis and confusion at the memory of him making love to her in a fit of passion that had stripped her of the ability to function. Too bad the feel-good heights had been followed by the inevitable crash.

Dizzying emotional highs and death-defying lows.

Ecstasy and disaster.

Memphis never brought about humdrum emotions, and she needed to remember that truth. But her body was too busy appreciating the light brown, casually cut hair that blatantly defied refined society, the melt-in-your-mouth, thickly fringed eyes and the hard, masculine jaw that was sexily covered in half a day’s growth. His walking, talking, sex-on-two-legs attitude had intimidated her as a teen and aroused her as a young adult.

For a moment she questioned the sanity of her plan. Maybe attending the social events alone and exposing herself to more public ridicule was the better option.

A security guard grabbed her arm, his gruff voice unhappy as he said, “You can’t be back here, miss.”

But Kate dug in her heels and didn’t budge, her gaze locked on Memphis.

Memphis raised a hand. “Let her go, Hal,” he said, his gaze targeting hers as he walked closer, her heart pumping harder with his every step.

“You know her?” the security guard said.

A half smile curled the corner of Memphis’s lips with a familiar teasing humor, his sheer sex appeal cutting all the way to Kate’s heart. “Yeah,” Memphis said, coming to a stop four feet away. “I know her very well.”

It was the slight emphasis on the word very that infused Kate with warmth, and her palms—already damp from the hair-raising fall and the hell-raising man before her—grew even more damp, remembering the passion. The pleasure …

Quietly inhaling another calming breath, Kate pulled a hand wipe infused with organic lavender from the travel container she kept in her purse. Shake enough hands during a campaign and later as a representative’s wife and you learn to carry the necessary accoutrements. The ritual was soothing. Calming. And a vast improvement over the lingering grit on her palms left from the barricade. With the heated way Memphis was looking at her, a cold hosing-off was in order, but cooling her hands was the best she could do.

For a brief moment the apprehension returned, and she fought back the certainty that he’d never agree to her plan. She knew from personal experience that Memphis James did what Memphis James wanted. He always had and always would. Getting him to cooperate was going to require every ounce of the diplomatic skills she’d honed through the years.

As the daughter and granddaughter of two political giants, and a political ex-wife, God knows she’d had plenty of practice engaging in small talk. And given her history with the man in front of her, keeping the conversation superficial seemed wise.

She glanced up at the high-rise. “I see your death wish is still intact,” she said lightly.

He sounded amused. “If I had a death wish I would have jumped without the cable.”

“I heard you did while making the movie The Indestructibles.”

“That was a special circumstance,” he said.

“Special as in ‘crazier than usual’?”

He lifted a shoulder nonchalantly. “All in a day’s work.”

“Jumping off tall buildings? Leaping out of helicopters?” She lifted a brow. “Driving cars off cliffs?”

Good God, when Kate had finally watched that much-anticipated stunt on the big screen, her heart had stopped during the slow-motion scene.

Memphis’s brow bunched in amusement, and his voice held more than its fair share of suggestion. “You following my career, Angel Face?”

The nickname struck her hard, and emotion punted the protest from her lips. “Please,” she said, the light tone now a struggle to maintain. “Don’t call me that.” She’d hated his name for her as a teen, and had even more reason to despise the label today.

“Well,” he said, an amused sparkle in those sinful eyes. “Angel Face fitted the placid, rule-obsessed girl you used to be.” And then his gaze flared with a fire that sparked through the air and lit an unwelcome blaze in her, too. He stepped closer, looking down at her with the knowledge of a man who knew all her secrets, his rumbling voice loaded with memory. “But I guess we both know at least one incident where the nickname doesn’t fit.”

Fighting for calm, she sent him what she hoped was her legendary campaign-cool smile. “Angel Face didn’t suit me nearly as much as Devil did you.” It was time to set the ground rules of their new relationship. They were both adults, certainly they could move beyond the past to a more … sedate friendship.

One could only hope.

“So forget about coming on to me, Memphis,” she went on firmly, ignoring the disturbing sensation his proximity created. “I’m not that easily intimidated teen anymore. The years have taught me how to maintain a certain amount of grace and dignity, no matter the adversity.” A humiliating tabloid-dissected divorce had helped, as well.

“Are you referring to me?” he said.

“Yes,” she said. “You take pride in being as adverse as possible.”

“A guy has to be known for something,” he said easily. “Is that why you’re here, to put your new skills to the test?”

“It’s an unfortunate perk,” she said. “I’m here because I need your help.”

The surprised scoff was sharp. “My help?” He stared at her for a moment, and then the hint of a teasing grin reappeared. “The circumstances must be dire for the mighty Kate Anderson to request assistance from little ol’ me.”

The soft Southern twang he reverted to when irritated, or aroused, only made his already rough voice sexier. The small knot of anxiety in Kate’s stomach bloomed bigger, and she licked her lips. It was a risk pinning her hopes on the wildly unpredictable Memphis.

But which was worse? Suffering through more of the humiliating public sympathy that, deep down, she knew she mostly didn’t deserve? Or enduring the taunting tone of the only man outside her marriage who knew why?

“Why are you coming to me for a favor?” Memphis crossed his arms across a well-cut chest, and his biceps bulged beneath his T-shirt, momentarily throwing Kate’s concentration. “Is Armageddon upon us?” he said wryly. “Is the end of civilization at hand?”

“It is according to the man holding the sign on the corner of Fifth and Main,” she said, striving for a nonchalant tone. “But on the off chance that doesn’t pan out, my ten-year high-school reunion is a month away. And there are several pre-reunion functions that I don’t want to attend alone.”

Memphis tipped back his head and let out a genuine laugh. Yes, compared to the end of days her predicament did seem rather trite. But right now the doomsday feeling was real.

“The solution seems simple to me,” he said. “Just don’t go.”

“I have to attend,” she said. “I’m in charge. I’ve been working on this reunion for the past year.” As chairwoman of the event she’d spent months coping with her isolation and loneliness by stressing over every detail. She had no choice. “Skipping out isn’t an option.”

“I guess it never occurred to you to go alone,” he said, and his voice lowered a notch. “Or is Kate Anderson still unable to show her face in public without an adoring sap on her arm?”

The critique stung. “I don’t need adoration.”

“You certainly were on the receiving end of plenty in high school.”

“I just want company.” She inhaled a breath, struggling for calm. “Who I go with doesn’t matter.”

“Just a hint, Angel Face.” Amused, he tipped his head, as if sharing a secret. “That’s no way to make a guy feel special.”

“You aren’t special,” she said lightly. “You’re trouble.”

His brow bunched together with exaggerated concern. “Clearly you need to work on your dating techniques,” he said. “I prefer to be wooed.”

“Wooed?” she said, struggling to maintain her composure. “This won’t be a date. You’d simply be attending as my friend.”

His eyebrow climbed meaningfully. “Except, I’m not your friend.”

“You are my brother’s friend and I’m asking for a favor.”

Two heartbeats passed before he said, “I guarantee you, Kate.” His eyes grew dark with an emotion that left her spinning. “You don’t want my help.”

She steeled herself against his sensually teasing tone. By the look on his face it was clear he showed no signs of relenting, and her anxiety edged higher. With Memphis accompanying her, no one would dare lecture her about moving on from being the discarded wife. “I’m asking nicely, Memphis.” She tried not to sound as desperate as she felt, digging deep for the Anderson smile that she’d perfected from an early age. “I just need a little of your time,” she said, laying a hand on his arm.

The muscles beneath her fingers bunched, and the last trace of teasing amusement in his eyes died. A myriad of expressions flitted across his face, none of them obvious. But when he spoke, his voice was resigned.

“Sorry. You’ll have to find another guy to parade around town,” he said, and then he turned and headed for the crew gathered around a monitor, watching a replay of his spectacular fall.

Kate followed him. “There isn’t anyone else.”

He kept his eyes forward. “Where are all your groupies from that expensive private high school you attended?”

“I didn’t have groupies.”

“Okay, I stand corrected,” he said, and then he glanced down at Kate. Unfortunately those long legs of his kept right on going, forcing her high-heeled sandals to double as track shoes. “Perhaps flock of admirers is a better phrase?” he went on.

“I didn’t have those, either.”

He let out an amused laugh. “That’s not how I remember it. What I remember is a straitlaced, popular princess who attended the high school with the highest per-capita-income area code in the state, Biscayne Bay Preparatory Academy.” He stopped and stepped close, and Kate’s discomfort stepped up a notch, too. “A girl who was too good to give the time of day to a kid from lowly County High on the seedier side of town.”

Heat crept up Kate’s face. As a teen, there had been a whole host of reasons why Kate had treated her brother’s best friend with a nonchalant reserve. Money had never entered her extensive list. “Your memory is jaded, Memphis.”

He cocked his head, staring down at her with the look of a man who wasn’t going to play along. “My memory is fine. It’s your perception that’s off.” His eyes lingered on her face, and a combination of desire and dread tap-danced across her chest. “Then again,” he went on softly, “burying your head in the sand was always your specialty.”

By God, her marriage had proved that right.

But if she stopped to list all her mistakes she’d never get anything done. “I didn’t come to discuss the past, Memphis.”

He took a stray lock of her hair between his fingers, absently rubbing the strands, the back of his beautifully muscled forearm millimeters from her breast. “It doesn’t work that way, Angel Face,” he murmured. Her body throbbing, she blinked back the disturbing emotions, careful to keep her face blank. His all-seeing eyes held hers as he went on, his voice reflective. “Yesterday is inextricably linked to tomorrow via that inconvenient concept we call today.”

He toyed with her hair a moment longer before dropping his hand.

She hated sounding desperate, but her tone came close to crossing that line. “I need your help, Memphis.” She paused before going on. “Please.”

For a fraction of a second he looked as if he cared that she was almost begging him. A muscle in his jaw ticked. “Why?”

How to explain to a man who could never relate? “Today I was forced to listen to a divorceé give a detailed description of how her sex life improved after her lousy husband dumped her, and then she proceeded to inform me to get back on the horse before it was too late.”

His eyes crinkled in humor. “Sound advice.”

A skeptical scoff escaped her lips. “I’m growing weary of all the advice.”

“She was just offering you her sympathy.”

“I don’t need sympathy.”

“Yeah. And I’m not sure you deserve it, either,” he said thoughtfully, and a surge of guilt threatened to swamp her. But she pretended not to know what he was talking about when he went on. “Don’t you have any friends you could ask?”

“No one who is available.”

“Everything is for sale in this day and age,” he said easily. “How about an escort service?”

She forced a patient look on her face. “I’m not hiring an escort.”

His eyes crinkled in amusement. “It would come with some pretty powerful perks.”

Kate pressed her lips together and counted to five, reminding herself that Memphis did whatever Memphis wanted. And right now it was clear he was intent on making her pay for the past.

Kate briefly closed her eyes, inhaling deeply and seeking a peaceful calm, not the turbulent chaos that he specialized in eliciting. “I’m not looking for perks.”

Several seconds passed before he said, “Sorry, Kate.” He almost sounded as though he meant it. “I am not going to be your go-to patsy.” A hard glint flickered through his eyes. “I fell for your damsel-in-distress routine before, and I’m not doing it again.”

She ignored the old shame and concentrated on today’s humiliation instead. She had one trick left to get Memphis to agree. Her name was firmly attached to this reunion and, if nothing else, she would make sure it went off successfully.

“Brian told me you’d refuse,” Kate said. At the mention of her brother, Memphis froze, his face devoid of emotion. The pause was the most awkward to date which, given their history, was saying something. “He asked me to tell you to consider saying yes as a favor to him.”

Memory torqued his every muscle, and Memphis’s body tensed as he remembered the last time he’d seen Kate, right outside Brian’s hospital room. It was the only time in their history he’d seen her so tenaciously outspoken, not to mention livid, fighting for what she wanted. The feisty female he’d sensed all along but had rarely seen.

Until today.

Apparently the change was now permanent, and Memphis wondered how much their history together had contributed.

For the first time since she’d chased him down Memphis allowed himself a moment to take in every detail. The sleek blond hair was arranged in a loop at the back of her neck, a style that was casual yet elegant. A few loose tendrils framed her face. The blue eyes were clear and cool—and used to flip-flop between an infuriatingly eager-to-please manner toward her family and the frustrating ice-princess look of disapproval she’d saved for Memphis. Especially while lecturing him after every stunt he and her brother pulled as teenagers. And then there was the slim figure in a classy sundress that covered her gentle curves, a sight that could tempt a man into doing things he knew wouldn’t turn out well for him. A body that in one memorable night had ferried Memphis straight to heaven right before it had condemned him to hell.

Memphis cleared his throat, sorry all the memories weren’t as easy to banish. “How is Brian?”

“He’s getting around better now,” Kate said, the words expanding the uneasiness in his gut. For a moment her expression softened. “You should give him a call.”

Regret made his voice gruffer than he’d planned. “Eventually.”

There was an awkward pause before she went on. “Well,” Kate said. “Will you help me?”

He’d rather face the harrowing drop he’d done off the rim of the Grand Canyon last year, the one that had come close to getting him killed. All for an action film remembered only for its death-defying stunts by Memphis James and its lethal lack of a decent script.

Memphis ruffled an impatient hand through his hair, studying Kate. His teasing, provoking behavior in the past had all been in response to a teenage obsession that had frustrated the heck out of him. Fortunately, hellaciously sharp chemistry aside, experience had made him immune to her now. But Kate had definitely changed, correctly surmising the one weakness he had left and using it against him—which meant he was caught between the woman he’d sworn off long ago and the friend to whom he owed a debt that could never be repaid.

Helping Brian’s sister was the least he could do.

“Okay,” he said, letting out his breath and giving one last swipe through his hair. “I’ll do it.” He dropped his hand to his side. “Exactly what does this favor entail?”

“In celebration of completing our task, the reunion committee has voted to combine business with pleasure,” she said. “There are several meetings that have been turned into social functions.”

“Sounds like the kind of pompous crap your private-school classmates would pull,” he muttered.

“I want you to go with me,” she said.

He narrowed his eyes at her, growing wary. “How many events?”

Dropping her gaze to his shoulder, she fingered the belt of her dress, and her uneasy fidgeting didn’t bode well for Memphis. “A dinner party, three cocktail parties …” Kate met his gaze again. “And then there are the two events on the reunion weekend itself.”

Memphis’s mind balked at the thought. “No wonder you can’t find anyone to help you. I’ll agree to the dinner party and one cocktail party.” He shot her a you’re-crazy look. “But I didn’t attend Biscayne Bay Preparatory Academy. No way am I going to your reunion.”

“But that’s the main event I don’t want to attend alone.”

Memphis enunciated each word succinctly. “I am not going to your reunion.” Brian’s old classmates would take one look at Memphis and remember his highly publicized mistake. The one that had almost killed his friend … “That’s beyond the kind of torture I can take. You’ll have to find someone else for that phase of your plan.”

Kate blew out a breath and eyed him steadily. “One dinner party, two cocktail parties, and the reunion weekend,” she said, going on smoothly. “Brian will be there, and he’s looking forward to seeing you.”

Damn, another low blow. “One reunion event,” he said, hating that he’d caved in the face of her less-than-subtle pressure. “Either Friday or Saturday. Your choice.”

“Deal,” she said, and then her eyes swept down his well-worn jeans. “And I get to select the clothes you wear.”

The grin hit him hard, as did her sweeping gaze. “You got a problem with my wardrobe?”

She lifted a brow. “I remember what you wore after one of my misguided classmates invited you to our prom.”

“Tiffany Bettingfield didn’t mind my faded kakis and athletic shoes. Because after I watched you get crowned Prom Queen alongside your golden-boy Prom King—” his smile crept higher “—Tiffany suggested we head to my car. I was happy to show her that there are more important things about a man than his clothes.”

“Hopefully she’s recovered from her lapse in judgment by now,” she said with a sarcasm that was so smooth he almost missed the tone. “Do we have a deal?”

Despite everything, Memphis was delighted with Kate Anderson’s new spunk wrapped in her usual class. “Deal,” he confirmed. “But just to be clear, I’m doing this for Brian, not you.”

Her lips twisted. “Don’t worry, Memphis. I’m under no illusions you would ever do a favor for me.”

A sliver of anger shot through him, momentarily dimming his good humor. There was a time in his teens when he’d have done anything for Kate, if she’d only hinted that she cared. But those days were long gone, killed in a fateful night that had had far-reaching consequences that neither of them could have predicted.

Her ice-princess behavior and hands-off attitude used to frustrate the hell out of him, but these days things were different. He was certainly done touching Kate, but now he was impressed and intrigued by her cool demeanor and polite facade, especially in the face of their tumultuous past.

Yet a small part of him longed to see her emotional cool crack, just for a moment. And, after their teen years, provoking her was as ingrained as breathing.

“I did you a favor once.” He deliberately turned his voice husky. “Do you remember?”

He took comfort in the slight catch of her breath, a small smile forming on his lips as Kate clearly struggled to remain composed.

“Memphis,” she finally said, recovering her cool and holding his gaze. “That was a long time ago. And even you can’t be so conceited as to think of sex as a favor.”

He studied her for a moment and then he leaned close, inhaling the haunting scent of lavender he’d come to equate with Kate. “Well, it ranked right up there as one of the best nights of my life,” he murmured, and the bitter truth in his teasing words made his smile grow tight. “Right up until I found out you and Dalton were still married.”