Walk Of Fame

Chapter 2

2

Quynn woke up Friday morning to the sound of her phone rattling off the nightstand and smashing against the bottom shelf before it fell to the carpeted floor next to her bed.

She bolted upright, disoriented. She looked around the room before she remembered she was in a hotel room somewhere outside Binghamton, New York, pretending to be with Kate Maddox so Katherine could vanish for a night.

Quynn groaned and padded to the bathroom knowing whatever was on her phone could wait a few seconds for her to empty her bladder. She spotted the mini coffee pot on her way back to the room and went ahead and started it, knowing she’d need it to get through the day.

With a fresh cup of coffee in hand, she retrieved her phone from the floor as it vibrated again.

“What the hell is going on?” she wondered aloud as she swiped the screen to read the latest messages.

“Oh, shit.”

Quynn scrolled through alert after alert about Kate Maddox and Christian Blake’s impending reunion.

“No. No, no, no. This can’t be true. She can’t have gone to see him last night.”

Quynn opened one of the many articles about them getting back together and studied the pictures first. She knew Kate better than anyone. She knew the nuances of her outfits, the things she liked, how she fixed her hair, even the changes her body went through. Quynn could spot an old picture, even one that had never been printed before, in a heartbeat.

Except those.

She flipped to another site, but it showed the same pictures. They were clearly leaked from the same source, which was part of what concerned her. They were dark, almost too dark to make out Kate and Christian together.

But on the third site, Quynn grinned. “Busted.”

There was another picture of Kate and Christian. One that showed Kate smiling up at Christian, a look of complete adoration in her eyes. The look made Quynn stop. She hated how hard her best friend fell for Christian. He played her well. So well that even Quynn didn’t see it coming, and it was her job to see things like that coming.

Quynn shook off her dark mood and focused on the picture again. Kate and Christian were getting into a car, his car. Most people wouldn’t notice the difference, but Quynn did. Not only was Kate wearing a pair of boots that she tucked in the back of her closet and refused to wear again, but they were getting into a car of Christian’s that Kate said he sold toward the end of their relationship.

It was all a lie.

Just like everything else Christian said.

But Quynn didn’t know why he was telling everyone they were getting back together. He had a game, like he always did, and she had an obligation to warn Katherine.

She thumbed out a quick text to Katherine telling her Christian was telling everyone they were getting back together. She linked to a couple of pages with pictures, including the one that proved the stories were contrived.

Quynn nibbled on her thumbnail as she waited for Katherine to text back. She reached for her coffee and took a sip, not tasting it as she waited.

Quynn gave up and took a quick shower, with her phone right outside on ring so she would hear it. She got out, check it just in case she missed a reply, then got dressed.

Quynn packed up her stuff and double checked that she had a car coming to take her to Katherine’s parents’ house later that day. She was getting frustrated that she hadn’t heard a thing from Katherine.

A knock on the door had her breathing easier. Katherine was back and they could go. No big deal. They would figure out Christian together.

“Where the hell have you been?” she breathed as she opened the door.

Christian pushed inside. “Where is she?”

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m looking for my girlfriend. Didn’t you get all the alerts this morning?”

“She’s not your girlfriend anymore, Christian.”

He shrugged, his smug smile firmly in place. Those thin lips and shifty eyes made him look like a timid frog. He was attractive enough, but he wasn’t as hot as he thought he was.

“She’ll come back to me when she hears what I have to say.”

Quynn snorted and crossed her arms, holding the door open with her foot. “She’ll never come back to you.”

“Is she here?”

Quynn shook her head. “Nope. Which you can plainly see.”

He rolled his eyes like a teenager with attitude. “Fine. Then I’ll have to stop by her parents’ house this week so I can talk to her.”

Quynn fought to keep her chin from dropping. “We’re not going there.”

Christian chuckled. “Of course you are. Kate always stays with her parents when she’s in town. That’s why you don’t usually come with her.”

Quynn hated that Kate shared so much information with him when they were together. She needed to be smarter than that. No more telling men who she really was. Especially not guys she’d only known for short time.

“Tell her I’ll see her soon. Actually, I think I’ll text her. Give her my news first. Bye, Quynn.”

Quynn glared at him as he walked out then let the door slam behind him. She had to warn Katherine.

Christian was just here. He wants to talk to you. Knows we’re going to stay with your parents.

Quynn tapped her phone on her palm and paced. It felt like forever, but she finally got a reply.

Okay. Thanks. Talk later.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“How are things going so far?” Dillon asked Kristen when he caught up to her Friday mid-day.

“Good,” she breathed. She looked rushed and distracted.

“What do you need help with?”

“Um… It’s fine.”

“Kris, talk to me. What’s up? I’m here. I can help. I have nothing going on the rest of the weekend.”

“I know you’re busy. It’s not a big deal.”

“Kris,” he groaned.

“Fine. We need help in the fields. We’re struggling to get everything set for tomorrow. We have our plans, but we need to get it all ready.”

“I got it, Kris. Get your stuff ready for today. I’ll find Henry and Ryan and take care of tomorrow.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Absolutely. Now go.”

Kristen grinned and sucked in a deep breath. Her shoulders eased as her eyes closed. He felt like a shitty cousin for putting so much on her. They all worked together. She didn’t need to be so stressed.

“Hey, Kristen?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t hesitate to ask me for help, okay? This weekend or any time.”

She paused a second then nodded. “Thanks, Dillon.”

He nodded and headed back to his office. He shut down his computer, told his sister, Andie, he was leaving for the day, and headed home.

Dillon’s home was his sanctuary as much as anything else. He had one of the two bedroom homes on Amavita Estates to himself. A lot of his cousins shared their houses, but Dillon always lived alone. For a while, he thought he was lucky, but lately he wondered if it was just because none of his cousins or siblings had any interest in living with him.

Dillon stripped out of his work clothes and dragged on jeans and an Amavita Estates t-shirt. He went back out into the field, texting his cousins to find out where they were and what he could do to help.

He met up with Henry and Ryan near the first tour stop. Kristen planned out a whole weekend of activities to kick off the summer over Memorial Day weekend. Saturday was supposed to be their biggest day, with a day of tours through the vineyard and tastings at each spot.

But the best laid plans and all that…

“What’s going on?”

Henry sighed. “We’re just trying to figure out how we’re going to do all this.”

“Like what?”

“If we’re going to have tastings out here, we need a lot in place. We’ve been talking about this, but it doesn’t feel like it’s going to work.”

“Have you guys finished up what you’re doing today?”

Henry and Ryan shook their heads. “Not even close. We’ve been working on all this for Kristen. We haven’t done any trimming or had a chance to get to all the vines.”

“Get out there. The most important thing is to make sure this vineyard stays running. I’ll work on the logistics for tomorrow.”

Dillon went the opposite direction of Henry and Ryan, toward his parents’ house. He grabbed the golf cart his parents had and went to work.

Hours later, Dillon was hot and sweaty and f*****g exhausted. He straightened out everything with the tasting and got Kristen’s approval, along with Henry and Ryan’s. He helped his cousins in the field for the rest of the afternoon and went home feeling f*****g fabulous.

And exhausted.

All he wanted to do was take a hot shower and crash. Too bad he had to go back to the wine and appetizers tasting event for the evening.

Dillon allowed his gaze to travel over the fields he’d just left as he headed toward his home on the edge of the property. His cousins worked hard and they were doing well, but Dillon loved getting his hands dirty. As acting CEO, he no longer needed to work in the heat of the summer, but he loved it once in a while. He’d been feeling restless. Cooped up in the office was never his dream, but as the oldest, he didn’t get a choice. His dad had him assigned to the CEO role long before he went to college. Dillon liked to be outside, though. Get his hands dirty.

As he rounded the corner toward his house, he groaned. On his front porch was a woman. He didn’t think he could give a woman what she needed after his long day, but he also only liked his women around when he asked them to be. He didn’t do well with drop-ins.

Dillon drove closer, the electric cart silent and unnoticed by her, and examined the firm backside covered in stylish jeans as she bent low to look in the front windows. Her heavy breasts swung free when she leaned over, and his c**k twitched in his shorts despite his exhaustion. Her long hair was the color of the dirt Dillon was covered in, and he wondered why the color was so sexy on her but not on anyone else.

A few more seconds and he was within speaking distance of her, but he found himself inexplicably mute. He tried to place those hips, the gentle sway of her seductive a*s, the breasts that were teasing him from a sideview, and the hair that he wanted spread over his pillow, but he couldn’t figure out who she was.

If she was one of his former flings, he was pretty sure he would make time to see her again, but first he had to figure out who she was.

Dillon cleared his throat and the woman jumped. She spun around and faced him, her rich brown eyes rendered him speechless as quickly as her hips and breasts had done before he looked into her eyes. She had eyes that reminded him of the cat his mother took in after finding it in the field one day, eyes that betrayed all her emotions and hid her true secrets.

Son of a b***h.

It was her. The woman he’d spent the night before with. The same one he hadn’t been able to get out of his head all day. Whose bed he left after three rounds of the most amazing s*x of his life.

And she was looking down at him, hands on hips, like gum on the bottom of her expensive looking boot.

“I was told to come here. I thought someone was going to meet me.”

She snapped him out of his trance, and he mirrored her aggressive stance. “Well, since this isn’t a hotel, I have no idea what you’re doing here.”

Her face and demeanor changed instantly. She had the decency to look chagrined and he nearly smiled at her discomfort. “s**t, I’m sorry. The woman at the inn said I could stay here for the week. I have a reservation. I thought you were the person I was supposed to meet.”

Her tone instantly softened him, although the longer he stared at her certain parts made him harder with the memory of the way she’d responded to him. For some reason he wanted to protect her, to take care of her. There was a fierceness in her eyes but also a vulnerability. He could tell her initial bravado was false, and in the face of defeat, she was beginning to crumble.

Of course it also pissed him off that she didn’t seem to remember him at all and it’d been less than twenty-four hours since he’d licked her until she came then slid his c**k deep into her.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. This is my house, not a part of the inn. You said you have a reservation?”

“I do. Or I did. There was a family up there that said they had a reservation but something went wrong. They drove all day to get here only to find out they had nowhere to stay.”

Dillon sighed wondering what it had to do with him and his house. And why his one night stand was on his porch.

“We have lots of guests that like to come and see how things are done, taste the new wine, and enjoy the beautiful weather this time of year. I’m not sure how that relates to me.”

“The woman at the inn said I could rent this house for the weekend. She said she’d work it out, but I didn’t know it was your house. I’ll go.”

Her lower lip trembled, and he worried she was going to burst into tears. Instead she sucked in a shaky breath and straightened herself up. She lifted the suitcase tucked behind the porch column and started back down the steps.

He stepped toward her as she descended the stairs, close enough that when she reached the bottom he caught a whiff of her sweet scent. It was soft and natural, not hidden behind a heavy stench like so many of the women he slept with. He noticed her face was bare again, only a dot of lipgloss coated her perfect bow shaped lips.

She smiled at him as she walked past, her brown eyes sad, defeated. “I’m sorry I was rude to you.”

She turned and started to walk away without another word. Dillon stood watching her for a few moments, frozen in place and trying to figure out what he should do.

Before his brain fully kicked in, he called out to her, “Are you seriously just walking away? You weren’t here looking for me?”

She turned, her eyes sliding down him. He wasn’t amused by the disinterested look in her eyes. There wasn’t even a glimmer of recognition.

Wow. And he thought their night was pretty f*****g fabulous. Nice to see she didn’t feel the same.

“I’m sorry,” she said, shaking her head and starting to walk away. “I don’t think we know each other.”

Dillon chuckled to himself. “I might not have told you my name last night, but I think I know you pretty damn well.”

Her step faltered, and he wondered if she would turn and come back or simply keep walking. She seemed to be warring the same choices with herself. Finally, she threw back over her shoulder, “Where did we meet?”

Dillon’s eyebrows rose and an amused grin curled his lips. “Matty’s in Ithaca. Before you even got a drink, we walked out the door. We went to your hotel next door, and, just in case you forgot, you came at least ten times in the three times we had sex.”

Her gasp was just as throaty as the night before and his c**k took notice. He happily would have her n***d and screaming his name this time, but he wasn’t sure how he felt about his one night stand following him home.

Even if a part of him was impressed.

“How did you find me?” he asked.

Her eyebrows winged up, angling high above eyes that slid over him again. She shook her head. “Are you really him?”

“Who else would be able to tell you all that? Who the hell could I be?”

She shook her head, avoiding his eyes for a minute. Every nerve in his body told him there was something off, something she wasn’t telling him, but he couldn’t shake the need to protect her. That flash of vulnerability he saw in her eyes told him he couldn’t let her walk away.

“You can stay here,” Dillon finally said. “I have a guest bedroom. It’s not the luxury of the hotel, but it’s clean and it’s private.”

“I can’t put you out like that. There has to be somewhere else.”

He shook his head. “Not here. And you’ll have to drive a ways to find somewhere else. All the places to stay until you get up to Seneca Falls are small B&B’s. This weekend is big for everyone. You said a week?”

She nodded.

“It’s fine. We have a wine and appetizer night up at The Drunken Grape tonight and tours all day tomorrow if you want to see a little more of the vineyard. Come on in and chill out for a bit. We’ll head up together and straighten all this out.”

He heard her muttering something to herself before she finally gave in and headed back to him. “I’m not putting out again,” she stated when she stood in front of him, her dark eyes blazing with anger and a hint of fear.

Dillon leaned back on his heels and looked down at her. He kept his eyes focused on hers, willing himself not to drift from her face. “I don’t remember saying that was part of the deal.”

She looked him over, taking her time. He stood there and took it, knowing she wouldn’t find him lacking. He kept himself in very good shape, especially for his thirty-seven years. She’d definitely found him more than adequate the night before. Sharing a house instead of a bed was much less of an intrusion. And hell, he was the one letting her into his home.

“Thank you,” she finally said, meeting his eyes.

“You’re welcome. Can we go in now? I’ll show you around then I need to shower before we go back to The Drunken Grape. By the way, I’m Dillon Young.”

“I’m…Katherine Price,” she said, almost as though she couldn’t remember her name. He narrowed his eyes wondering why she hesitated before giving her name, but Dillon realized he didn’t care. She was staying with him for the weekend and then would be at the inn and gone from his life forever.

Besides, it wasn’t like she could hurt him.