Destiny by Carly Phillips Read Free Book Online Page B

already have one probation issue to deal with.”
    From the day she’d arrived at Ethan’s, they’d been warned that Tess had a juvenile probation officer she had to answer to. While living with Kelly, she’d been arrested for breaking and entering, but owing to her age and circumstances, if she behaved for the next four months, the charges would be dropped. And if she stayed out of trouble until she turned eighteen, her arrest record would be expunged.
    Dare was right. They couldn’t afford for her to slip.
    “Kelly said she’ll keep an eye on her,” Nash said.
    Dare grinned. “And you’ll keep an eye on Kelly.”
    His brother was a wise guy. But Nash was glad he and Dare were back under one roof, even if it was temporary. The condo belonged to Nash. Dare had moved in when the lease on his apartment was up, while he looked around and decided where he wanted to move next. Though he’d bought and was renovating an old house in town, he’d been thinking about selling it on spec and had listed the property. Instead of moving in himself, Nash had decided to take more time to figure out where he really wanted to live.
    “I’m going to bed,” Nash finally said.
    “Me too. Just think about what I said. If you like Kelly, go for it. You don’t need anyone’s permission.”
    “Including yours,” Nash said over his shoulder as he walked to his room and shut the door behind him.
    He stripped off his shirt and sat down on the bed, thoughts of Kelly filling his head. Not thoughts of kissing her, though those recollections were never far away. Instead, he found himself recalling how fiery and defensive she’d become on Tess’s behalf, how outraged she’d been on discovering that Nash and Dare had been separated by the state, and how her innate understanding and caring had affected him earlier tonight.
    How memories of her affected him now. So maybe his brother was right. If they couldn’t escape the attraction, maybe it was time to act on it like two adults, without letting a pint-size teenager dictate their actions.
    Decision made, he finally settled in expecting a good night’s sleep. Instead, he tossed and turned, the anticipation of how things between himself and Kelly would play out keeping him awake all night long.

Four
    Kelly was frazzled. For the second day in a row, Richard hadn’t shown up at work, calling in sick and asking Kelly to take care of things at the office. His receptionist had quit the week before and he hadn’t yet found a new one, so she was answering phones and deflecting new clients until he was better. The one bright spot was that after work she was meeting Annie for happy hour at Joe’s Bar.
    She’d hesitated about saying yes, not wanting to leave Tess, but her sister had invited a friend over from school. Kelly realized she’d have time to come home from work, meet Tess’s friend, and go out later while Tess was doing homework. As usual, Rosalita had no problem staying, so Kelly agreed to meet Annie at eight o’clock. And since her apartment was over Joe’s, Kelly stopped there first to change into something fun for a night out.
    She walked downstairs and met Annie at the door. It was the first time Kelly had been inside Joe’s at night. According to Annie, the bar had been remodeled when Joe Lockhart had taken over the bar for his retired father. The atmosphere was inviting for customers, the walls covered in dark wood paneling and the fixtures casting an orangey glow over the bottles of alcohol lining the wall behind the bar.
    The place was packed and they knew it’d take a while for them to reach the bar to order a drink. While they were waiting, Annie introduced Kelly to people she knew, some for whom she did work as an accountant.
    Kate Andrews, Faith’s best friend whom Kelly had met at Ethan and Faith’s wedding, stopped to ask about Tess and how she was doing in school. Stacey Garner, a pretty bubbly blonde, stayed and talked to them for a while. A dentist, Kelly