The Secret Between Them. Cathryn Parry

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СКАЧАТЬ had their heads together, sharing what looked like a romantic moment. She was leaned in close to him, and he was murmuring something into her ear.

      For a moment, Kyle lost his breath. Stupid of him. It shouldn’t hurt to see her like that. Kyle wasn’t meant to be with anyone romantically. He was fine with that state of affairs.

      Jessica glanced up. She sucked in her breath when she saw Kyle. Her eyes widened.

      Kyle focused only on her. The rest of the room seemed to melt away.

      “I won’t take your career away from you, Jessica. Whenever you have time, all I ask is that you squeeze in your hours at the rink. You won’t have to do anything you don’t want to do there. I’ll take care of everything that needs doing. You can sit in Joe’s old office, away from everybody, doing whatever pleases you. I just want you in this partnership with me, however you need to do it to make it work for both of us—so that we both get what we want.”

      Her mouth dropped open. For a moment, no one made a sound.

      Kyle figured he’d screwed up. He probably should have gotten on his knees and begged her forgiveness.

      Well, dammit, his knees were tired. It was best she made her decision soon, because his leg wasn’t going to allow him to stand here all day.

      * * *

      A PARTNERSHIP. THAT would make both of them happy.

      Kyle understood her better than her own boyfriend did. Then again, Kyle had lived her history with her. He’d been in that rink with her for most of her time training. He’d seen what she’d gone through. And vice versa.

      Maybe she was crazy, but something about Kyle drew her...enough to overlook her guilt. Enough to be curious about him.

      He seemed fine. He’d come back from his tours of duty unscathed. He didn’t seem to blame her for the fact that his relationship with Joe had suffered.

      “All right,” she said, her eyes lowered. Because Sebastien was present, she forced herself to stand and cross her arms, acting more businesslike than she felt. “You have a deal, Kyle. I’ll do this under the terms that you and Natalie specified.”

      Kyle stared at her, directly into her eyes. Again, that silliness—her knees felt weak. He’d bulked up so much—it was apparent now with him standing there in a wool sweater. And his beard was so bushy and full. He looked nothing like the wiry, defiant teenager he’d once been. But he still seemed capable and honest.

      He tilted his head and looked at her, almost as if he was reading her mind. As if he saw something in her that nobody else did. Maybe she should have been worried, but she wasn’t.

      In a flash, the moment was over.

      “Kyle, may I see you a moment, in private?” Natalie murmured to him.

      He nodded, and with deliberate steps he left the room.

      Jessica gazed back at Sebastien. He was fiddling with his phone, scrolling through his messages.

      I’m alone in this, she thought. Six months. I have to do six months in that rink without him, on my own.

      She tucked the half-opened envelope with Joe’s letter back into her purse, too dispirited to read it just now.

      * * *

      “KYLE, I HOPE you understand there’s more to making your business successful than just paying Jessica to show up and doing everything else yourself,” Natalie said, her soft voice filled with concern.

      “Yes, ma’am,” he answered, and without breaking stride he swiped Joe’s envelope off the table and stuck it in his back pocket. He also pocketed the key to Joe’s house.

      He wasn’t concerned about doing all the work, whatever needed to be done. Based on their past history, he fully assumed Jessica would be avoiding him most of the time. He was prepared for that.

      “Where’s the key to the rink?” he asked Natalie.

      She exhaled. “I can’t give it to you just yet. I’ll need to walk both you and Jessica through the facility on the first Monday in March. That will give you two weeks to give your notice on your job and to settle your affairs in Maryland. Is that acceptable to you?”

      It made sense, actually. But his mind couldn’t help racing ahead, to the important stuff. “What’s going on with the rink? I drove over yesterday, but it was closed. It looked deserted.”

      “It’s been closed for most of the winter, except for weekday afternoons when the high school hockey team holds their practices.”

      “What about the kids’ leagues at night?” Kyle asked. “And the high school games on Saturday? And...public skating in the morning?”

      Natalie shook her head. “Joe had to cut back. His poor health necessitated it.”

      Wow. Kyle swiped a hand over his face. “Do I have any employees to work with?”

      “I spoke with several of them, and there are three who want to come back.”

      A skeleton crew. Shit. “Do I know any of them?” Kyle asked.

      “Carol from the office, plus Patrick and Mike who do maintenance work and operate the Zambonis.”

      Kyle had no idea who any of them were. His heart was sinking fast. What did he expect? That this would be a walk in the park with two good legs? Right.

      “Let’s not worry about that for now,” Natalie said. “You and Jessica will figure it out together.”

      He refrained from snorting. Natalie didn’t need to doubt his attitude. Instead, he nodded at her. “Thanks. Those three employees will be good for me to start with.”

      “And Jessica,” Natalie repeated. “You’ll have Jessica.”

      No, he would never have Jessica. If anyone had Jessica, it was her boyfriend. The two of them were close enough that he’d accompanied her to Natalie’s office and had done a lot of the negotiating for her, too, it seemed.

      Kyle sighed. What he had from Jessica was strictly a business agreement to sign on with him for Joe’s crazy deal, just long enough to meet the insane six-month waiting period to make sure that the rink ended up in Kyle’s hands.

      He had no doubt he’d be required to buy her out at the end of the summer. That was fine with him. Preferable, even. She was welcome to Kyle’s money until then—that wasn’t a problem in his mind, either.

      The only thing he did care about was that the rink wasn’t being sold to a stranger. Torn down so some rich developer could get even richer putting up more condos. Taking away what had meant most to Kyle.

      Kyle shook off the worries. He’d gotten Jessica to agree to Joe’s terms. That was all he needed to start his new life.

      Well, he hoped that was all he needed, because in no way did he deceive himself that Jessica Hughes would ever really be his partner.

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