Lost and Found (12 page)

“
No. No.” He walked around
the side of the couch and stood in front of her. “That’s not why I
sent you—or invited you.” He jammed his hands into his pockets and
leaned back on his heels. “I wanted to be with you and introduce
you to everyone.”

“
Christian did
that.”

He gritted his teeth. He’d never
fought his brother over a woman. This might be the
first.

“
Darcy, I chickened out.
And I’m sorry.”

She shifted her eyes up to
him, her lips pursed. “Chickened out? I’ve now met your
entire
family. Not one of
them fearful in any way. So what would you have to chicken out
about?”

“
Being with
you.”

She let out a grunt and stood. “I’m
not much to fear, Eduardo Keller.”

She started to walk past him and he
reached for her arm, pulling her back to him. Her breath gasped as
she slammed into his chest. He didn’t want to scare her, and he
knew he hadn’t when he saw the surprise in her eyes and heard the
sigh.

“
This has nothing to do
with my family and everything to do with thinking that falling for
my assistant might be the wrong thing to do.”

Darcy’s mouth opened as if she’d
considered arguing, but she said nothing, which was
worse.

Ed raised his hand to her cheek and
caressed it with his thumb. She didn’t back away.

“
I was trying to talk
myself out of this,” he said softly as he slid his other hand down
her arm until their fingers intertwined. “I have feelings for you
and…”

His sentence was cut short when Darcy
stood on the tips of her toes and placed a kiss against his
lips.

Just as quickly, she backed up, turned
for the kitchen, and disappeared.

Ed stood alone in the living room. He
hadn’t expected that. A slap across the face maybe, but not a kiss.
Now what?

Slowly, he made his way to the
kitchen. Darcy was standing over the sink, and her shoulders
bounced as if she were crying.

“
Are you all right?” He
stepped up behind her.

“
No, you idiot.”

That was better. That was how he felt,
too.

“
Darcy, I didn’t mean
to...”

She turned, mascara ran down her
cheeks, and her nose and lips were swollen. She was absolutely
adorable.

“
Didn’t mean to what? Tell
me that you had feelings for me? Because I have feelings for you,
too. But how stupid is all of this now?” She wiped her tears, which
streaked black down her cheeks. “I can’t work for you if we both
have feelings. And I can’t stay in Nashville if I don’t have a job.
And this is all so confusing and…” She shook her head as if she
didn’t want to continue.

Ed moved in closer and took her hands
in his. “I didn’t go tonight because I needed to separate myself
from this. I thought that not going out with you socially would fix
this thumping you cause in my chest.

Darcy sucked in a ragged breath, but
her eyes had gone soft behind the tears that were
drying.

He smiled. “It didn’t work.
Christian called and chewed me out. My mother did the same, but in
her
I’m disappointed
voice, not her angry one, which is worse.”

Darcy laughed.

Ed interlaced their fingers. “The
consensus was they all loved you, but I knew they would. Such a
mixed up lot—all brought together by chance and not birth. But they
support each and every one of us. And I kind of think they support
you over me now.” This time he laughed, but Darcy’s smile had
subsided.

“
What do you mean a family
brought together by chance?”

She let him still hold her hands, and
he found comfort in that. “I mean, the Kellers adopted three of
their children. Most of us aren’t blood related, but that isn’t
what makes a family.”

“
No, it’s not.” She looked
away as if to gather her thoughts. “Who’s adopted?”

“
My dad.”

“
You’re dad isn’t a blood
Keller?”

He grinned. “Didn’t you notice he’s a
little dark?”

She shrugged. It hadn’t really crossed
her mind.

“
He was adopted when he was
seven. His parents had moved here from Puerto Rico, and the Kellers
were friends of theirs through church. But my biological
grandparents were killed in a car accident, and my father was the
only survivor. My grandparents—the Kellers—took him in and became
his parents.”

“
So
you’re
not really a
Keller?”

He lifted a brow, and she shook her
head.

“
You know what I mean,” she
argued.

“
I do.”

“
Who else?”

“
Regan and Arianna. They’re
sisters, blood sisters, but they were adopted when Arianna was a
toddler and Regan was an infant.”

Darcy dropped her
shoulders. How amazing was it that she’d never known anyone who’d
been adopted before, and now here was this whole family who knew
what she was going through. Was that what connected Regan and Zach?
Then it hit her—if Zach and Mary Ellen
were
her parents, had Zach known?
Didn’t women who
got in trouble
give up babies all the time without the father
knowing?

She felt the blood drain from her
head, and Ed’s hands moved from hers to her arms.

“
Are you okay?”

“
Yes.” She swallowed hard.
“I’ve never known anyone, ever, who was adopted.”

Ed laughed. “And I only know those who
have been.”

She nodded. “I’m adopted.”

Ed laughed again. “You don’t say?
Well, this must be fate, huh?”

It was a bold move, but he pulled her
into his arms and she rested her head against his chest. This felt
right. Maybe this could work.

Darcy absorbed his embrace.
She wasn’t alone. Could this Keller family be the very thing she’d
always needed and didn’t know it? Maybe it was a waste to go after
finding her parents. She had parents, and they were good ones. And,
even
if
Zach was
her father and Mary Ellen was her mother, did it matter? Would it
be worth tearing apart this family just so she could have some
peace of mind?

If nothing else, as she got closer to
the Kellers, maybe she could have someone to talk to about all this
silly adoption stuff. Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone on her
side who understood what she was thinking?

Suddenly, finding out who actually
gave birth to her wasn’t so important.

Darcy pulled back. “So now what? What
are we going to do about all of this? I mean, can you at least help
me find a new job?”

Ed focused his eyes on her. “Let me
get this straight because it’s been a long time since I’ve told a
girl I like her.” The corner of his mouth turned up, and the dimple
in his cheek deepened. “So I like you, and you like me?”

Darcy dropped her shoulders and
laughed. “Yes. I like you. An awful lot, I think.”

Ed nodded and bit down on his lip. “So
it would be safe to say that we’re both willing to feel this thing
out? You know,” he said as he pulled her in closer, “I could call
you my girlfriend?”

That made Darcy giggle. At this very
moment in her life, she was glad he had a little bit of a childish
side.

“
Yes.” She raised her arms
around his neck. “I would very much like to be your
girlfriend.”

Ed rested his hands on her hips.
“You’re dad isn’t going to come after me with a shot gun, is he?
I’m a little older than you, and I’ve only known you a
week.”

“
What did you say a little
bit ago? This was fate?” Ed nodded, and Darcy rose on her toes
again. “Then I think he’ll be fine with it.”

She pressed her lips to his, and his
arms came around her in a possessive hold as if he were pulling her
as close as two people could possibly get.

Ed deepened the kiss, and Darcy could
feel every muscle in her body become fluid. Dear Lord, if this man
could kiss like this—what else could he do?

When their lips parted, Darcy lowered
herself back off her toes. “I’m a lucky girlfriend. You’re a good
kisser.”

“
You’re not too bad
yourself.”

She swallowed hard and looked into his
dark eyes. “Now what do we do?”

Ed lifted his hand to her cheek again
and brushed it with his thumb. “I’m going to kiss you one more time
and then I’m going to leave.”

“
Oh,” the word choked out
of her throat.

“
I’m a gentleman above
anything else. I stood you up, and I came to apologize.”

“
Yes, you did.”

“
So now I’m going to take
my overheated body home and jump into a cold shower. Then I’m going
to meet you Monday morning at the office, and everything will be
normal.”

Darcy was feeling the pang of
rejection shoot through her. “Okay, but I have to wait until Monday
to see you again?”

Ed shrugged. “I have this meeting in
Memphis tomorrow. It’ll take most the day.”

“
That’s right. I scheduled
that.”

“
Yes, you did.” He smiled.
“Valerie will be glad to hear about us. She had way too many
questions about you the other day.”

Darcy wasn’t sure how to take that,
but she understood they were friends, and from what she’d learned
about Valerie, she had no cause for worry.

Ed kissed her cheek. “I think I
remember your coffee of choice. It’ll be on your desk.” He gave her
nose a tweak with his finger.

She was feeling like a child herself
now, and she wasn’t sure what had transpired.

Ed leaned in and kissed her softly
again, just as he said he was going to do. “And about that job. You
have a perfectly good job with me. In one week, you’ve done more
than a hundred temps have ever done. And Mary Ellen is very fond of
you. That means a lot in the company.”

Darcy hoped he didn’t see her jaw
clench.

He turned for the door. “There isn’t
any reason we can’t work together.”

“
But your uncle fired your
aunt.”

“
Circumstances were much
different.”

“
How so?”

Ed only smiled. “They have their
secrets.” He nipped her forehead with a kiss. “By the way, I don’t
intend on keeping us a secret. I’m heading upstairs to tell my
brother to stay dressed when you’re around and to keep his hands
off of you.”

“
He’s never had his hands
on me,” she growled out.

“
That’s very
reassuring.”

Darcy was having second thoughts about
this. He made her sound like a paid girlfriend—a kept woman
perhaps. That wasn’t what she was thinking when she’d said, so
childishly, that she’d be his girlfriend.

“
Goodnight.” Ed turned and
raced up the stairs.

Darcy shut and locked the door. She
walked back to the couch and dropped down onto it.

Ed Keller was an interesting man, to
say the least.

She buried her face in her hands. What
was she doing? She liked him. She really did. And she was going to
need a cold shower too, but getting involved with Ed was going to
cost her everything. He held her job in his hands. Her house was
under his control, too. Even her neighbor was part of this
intertwined life. Now if something went wrong she’d lose her man,
her job, her house, and a family she was falling in love with as
much as she was with Ed.

What if she had stumbled upon the
truth of her birth parents? Would that eventually mean the end of
everything? And what kind of secrets did Zach and Regan have that
caused him to fire her? Had Regan found out about him and Mary
Ellen?

There was a different zip in Ed’s step
when he walked into the office with a bouquet of flowers and
Darcy’s coffee in his hand. It had been freeing to tell her how he
felt and to kiss her on Saturday night.

Things were going to work out. He’d be
damned if they didn’t.

But, because he was a man who liked to
thoroughly think things out and this thing with Darcy was the most
spontaneous thing he’d ever done, he decided that if they didn’t
work out he’d relocate her in the company and they’d keep her
rental agreement intact. That would ensure that she wouldn’t have
to run home to Kentucky just because he was an ass—because there
was a great chance that just might prove to be his
downfall.

He sat at his desk and started sifting
through the bid sheets. By nine, he still hadn’t heard what had
become the familiar sound of her desk drawer opening. Maybe the bus
was late.

Ed walked to the door and looked down
the hall toward his uncle’s office. Perhaps she’d stopped by Mary
Ellen’s desk. It wouldn’t be odd for him to just walk down that
way, poke his head in, and say hello.