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“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. I was just trying to check on…”
“I don’t want to hear your excuses. You have no right to…touch me,” I snarled.
“It’s okay. This is my brother, Robert Bennett,” Katherine interjected. “He’s probably just worried about me.”
“I know who he is. We’ve met before,” I said, bitterly.
Katherine looked at me, then at her brother. “I guess it didn’t go well when you did. Sorry about that. Robert has broken a few hearts over the years.”
“He didn’t break mine,” I stated flatly. Just haunted my dreams.
“That’s good,” she said.
“I don’t recall your being so…unwelcoming the first time we met,” he said.
“Well, I recall your being…too friendly,” I reminded him.
“That’s funny. I believe you kissed me,” he stated.
“Which by the way, you really shouldn’t have kissed me back like that. It was totally…inappropriate and…you should be ashamed of yourself.”
“I don’t know about you, but I was enjoying myself. Why shouldn’t I take advantage of what you were offering?” he asked.
“You make me sick.” I turned back to Katherine, and said, “Your brother is here now, so you don’t need me any longer.”
I went to stomp away, but the damned stilettos made that impossible. My ankle twisted, and I fell right into his arms.
“Throwing yourself at me again?” he teased.
“Robert, what’s wrong with you?” Katherine said, sounding shocked at her brother’s behavior.
You’d be shocked if you knew how he held me and kissed me that day.
My temper was getting harder to control. So far no one had noticed anything going on, and I wanted to keep it that way. In a low tone I snarled, “You disgust me.” I steadied myself and walked away to join the others. My words didn’t seem to have any effect on him as I could feel his eyes on me. I was tempted to look back and give him a warning look, or even a few choice words, but I knew it wasn’t going to do any good.
I could only imagine what Katherine was thinking right now. She probably was confused by our interaction, and how her brother wasn’t acting very priestly. She wasn’t the only one puzzled by his flirtatious demeanor. He didn’t even try to hide it.
How can he look at me like he…like he wants me? It’s…shameful.
It hadn’t been easy for me, but I had fought the urge to smack that grin off his face. There were only two reasons I hadn’t. First, Katherine was already in a delicate situation. She didn’t need me adding more stress at this time. And secondly, this was Lori’s and Ellen’s day. I wasn’t sure how it happened, but no one seemed to have taken notice of what had just taken place. I needed to keep it that way.
There were photos to be taken, and I was required to be in several of them. For my friends, I’d put on my best poker face and smile and did my best to try to forget about everything else. It was impossible. Even though I didn’t want to, I couldn’t help but scan the crowd to see if Robert was still there, if he was still watching me. He was nowhere in sight, and neither was Katherine. I could finally relax.
“Who are you looking for?” Ellen asked.
“No one,” I lied.
“Are you sure? Because you seem very…distracted,” she whispered to me.
“Did Katherine leave?” I asked.
“I saw her heading out the door a moment ago. If you want to talk to her, you probably can still catch her,” she stated.
“No. I just wasn’t sure if she was staying for the celebration.” I was glad she opted to go, because her brother had no reason to stay behind. It meant I’d be able to relax and enjoy the rest of my party without looking over my shoulder.
“Katherine was invited, but I heard she wasn’t feeling very well and decided to leave,” Ellen explained.
“I’m sure she wanted to get some rest.” It didn’t seem as though Katherine had mentioned her pregnancy to Ellen. It wasn’t the place to mention it now.
