7. Code of Honor

7

CODE OF HONOR

V an rolled over the next morning with the sun glaring in his eyes.

He threw the covers back and sat on the edge of the bed.

The skin around his waist tugged some, but he was getting used to that.

Nothing hurt inside and he'd have to get over the tightness of the scars.

He winced when he stretched, then moved side to side and stood up to go in the bathroom.

When he was done taking a piss, he brushed his teeth, then turned on the shower and looked around the gray updated primary bath.

The whole house had been remodeled in the past five years by the looks of it.

The old man had some nice minimalistic taste and style.

He dropped his underwear and stepped into the massive shower and under the rainfall spray. It was nice to be able to lift his arms over his head and not touch the damn ceiling while he washed his hair.

When he was done cleaning up, he got out and dried off, then made his way to the kitchen.

The white oak hardwood floors were cool on his feet. He'd pulled up all the throw rugs. He didn't need them and didn't like them.

He might think differently in the winter, but for now this was better.

After placing a mug under the one-cup coffee maker and hitting the start button, he went in search of food.

There wasn't much to choose from so he grabbed the loaf of bread and popped two slices in the toaster oven and pulled the peanut butter out of the pantry.

He had to figure some shit out.

Life shouldn't be this complicated, but he was finding that he wasn't getting his wish.

He wanted to see Kelsey again and that was hard for him to admit when he hadn't been around women before that made him want to go back a second time.

But he also had to figure out his next step now that he knew Kelsey was Kyle Raymond's daughter.

His grandfather's business partner in the three hotels that he'd inherited half of.

Obviously Kelsey knew nothing about it. Or didn't recognize his name.

Then he realized he never gave his last name. Just said Van. Which wasn't even his legal name.

He'd yet to step foot in any of the hotels. All of them were on Cape Cod.

His grandfather also left him a few rental properties on Amore Island.

He was a freaking landlord and hotelier and didn't know the first thing about it.

Not even how this all started, other than the legal documents showed that Kyle Raymond had invested in the hotels years ago when Kelsey might have been just a child.

Maybe his grandfather was down on his luck or Kyle was there to take over?

It felt it now because his grandfather's attorney had said that Kyle wanted to buy him out.

He could easily take the money and just live comfortably here for the rest of his life. His share was worth more millions than he'd ever dreamt of having. But he had that in the bank and investments now too.

He could move anywhere he wanted and sell all the properties.

Before he made a decision though, he needed more information. He didn't want to lead Kelsey on either.

His mother had instilled that code of honor in him.

He'd go on one more date. See if the chemistry was as strong as he remembered, then he'd seek out Kyle Raymond and explain himself.

A second date wouldn't hurt.

His toast popped so he pulled it out and spread the peanut butter on it, then grabbed his plate and went with his black coffee to sit at the small table by the big bay window.

He didn't know what to do with all this space. He had exercise equipment he'd bought and set up down in the finished basement that he didn't know if he'd ever use other than that.

There were four bedrooms and two full bathrooms upstairs and he was positive he could count on one hand how many times he climbed those stairs. His primary was on the main floor.

The downstairs of the house was two thousand square feet alone, which was more than double his last apartment.

It felt as if he spent most of his time just cleaning.

He grabbed the remote and turned the TV on in the kitchen to the news. Nothing caught his eye, but the silence was getting to him.

It was barely seven in the morning and not late enough to reach out to Kelsey and see if she wanted to get together tonight.

Then he realized not everyone had their phone next to their bed. Or they shut notifications off at night and in the morning.

He picked his phone up and shot her a quick text asking if she had plans today, then put his phone down and went about doing laundry and other chores for the day.

When he came back an hour later, he checked his phone and noticed the text with a grumpy face emoji and opened the message.

Do you always wake people up on Saturday morning?

Now he felt like shit.

He knew she hated chatting or texting so to be ornery he hit the button to call her.

It rang three times and then a sleepy, "Lo," answered.

"I thought you were up," he said. "Or was that just sarcasm in your text?"

"I was up and when you didn't reply I fell back to sleep. It was good timing though because then Frankie let me know he had to go out when I moved. He did his business and then he and I fell face-first back into bed."

"Your dog sleeps with you?" he asked.

"It's the only male that has been in my bed in...I don't know. I can't think that far back this early. Over a year. Could be two. Urgh, that is a depressing thought."

He smiled and was surprised that he did.

"Didn't mean to depress you," he said.

"It's fine," she said.

She let out a big huff as if she flopped back on her bed. Thoughts of what she might be wearing under the sheets were crowding space in his brain.

"You told me not to make you wait too long. Guess this is one of those times I was too fast."

"Nah," she said. "I should get up anyway. As I said, I was planning on it, but you didn't reply. I don't have any plans today. Nothing more than playing with Frankie."

"It's Frankie when he's being good?" he asked.

"Maybe I'll tell you the story behind his name today if I'm feeling it."

"What do I need to do to get you to feel it?" he asked.

He wasn't used to flirting like this but found there was so much in his life that wasn't the same that he might as well just roll with the punches and call it a day.

"So far it seems you don't need to do much. Do you want to make plans?"

"I wouldn't have woken you up if I didn't want to see you again."

"Awww," she said. "That sounded almost sweet."

"That's me," he said drily. "Sweet."

"There is some sarcasm. I think I might like that better. Does that make me a bad person?"

"No," he said. "It only makes you honest."

"To a fault," she said. "Not always a good thing either."

He needed some honesty in his life when he felt so much could have been lies.

Trying to weed them out was proving troublesome.

"I'm not sure it's so horrible either," he said. "Since I'm new to the area, I don't know what there is to do."

"There are all sorts of things to do. My father owns a ton of tourist attractions things. Bowling, movies, ax throwing. On a summer Saturday though, it will be mobbed. There are tons of places to eat. We can get a ferry ride to Plymouth or Boston and sightsee. The same with Cape Cod. Have you seen a lighthouse yet? We have a few on the island, but those on Cape Cod are nicer."

"No, I haven't," he said.

"Do you mind getting on the ferry?"

"I'm fine with it," he said. "What about Frankie? Do you just leave him home or can he go with us if we are only sightseeing?"

"Really?" she asked excitedly. "You don't mind bringing Frankie?"

"Seems he likes me," he said. "And we know I can catch him if I need to."

"Sweet," she said. "It's only eight now. I can be ready in thirty minutes if you want to pick me up. We can catch the ferry at nine. Otherwise we've got to wait until ten."

"You can get ready in thirty minutes?" he asked.

"Hey," she said. "I'm not getting ready for work. Just the weekend. Don't expect miracles or a lot of makeup. I'll text you my address, bye."

She hung up on him and he found himself laughing.

He went to his room and changed out of his gym shorts into a pair of tan cotton ones and a navy T-shirt with a logo on the front corner. Maybe he could have found one that wasn't as fitted to his body, but he was feeling the urge to find a bit of himself again.

He'd caught her eyes on his arms last night. She'd even run her hand down his arm after she pulled him in for that quick taste of her lips.

She'd said he looked as if he needed it.

He did. Enough that he wanted to yank her back and kiss her properly, but he wouldn't do that out in public.

Not after he found out who she was.

He didn't know what was going to happen after today and he didn't need to have too many people see them out together as if they were a couple.

Which didn't explain them riding the ferry to Cape Cod, but he imagined he had less of a chance of running into people she knew going there than if they did something else on the island.

He killed as much time as he could and then left for her house. It was only a few minutes away before he pulled into the light yellow-sided house.

It looked sunny and cheerful just like her.

It was two stories, but the upstairs didn't look the same size as the rest of the house, leading him to believe there might only be one or two bedrooms up there. She probably lived on the first floor like he did.

He got out of his truck and went to the front porch. He would have preferred coming over on his motorcycle. That was the mode of transportation he used often. She left before she could see him get on his bike last night.

He knocked on her front door and had to wait a minute before it was open.

He was going to make some comment about thinking she'd be ready, but she had a backpack type thing on that looked floral. As if it was a purse or something. Frankie had a blue harness on and was clipped to a matching blue leash.

"I was just getting us all ready to go. No reason to go back in the house. We are excited for this outing. My first with my child."

He lifted an eyebrow at her. "You haven't taken the dog anywhere yet?"

"He goes to work with me a lot," she said. "But the only other ferry ride he had was when I brought him home. I've only had him a month. He loves the car, no big deal there. I've got treats and some food and a bottle of water in my bag along with a little plastic bowl. We can buy more water if need be."

"Just like packing a diaper bag," he said.

"That is how I looked at it. And...don't laugh. If he's tired enough, he fits in this. I can put him in it and carry him in front of me or in the back. I'm hoping that doesn't happen, but you never know."

"I guess it's better than a stroller," he said.

"No," she said. "I draw the line at pushing a dog in a stroller. Not happening."

"Nice to know there is a line," he said.

"I hear the humor in your voice," she said. "Damn, I'm glad you've got running boards on this thing or I'd never be able to get in it."

"Do you need help?" he asked, moving around to the other side.

"Nope," she said. "I've got it." She had her hand on the door and pulled herself up while she had Frankie in the other arm.

He forgot she was on the shorter side. Or maybe he was too busy looking at her legs that weren't all that short in her jeans shorts rolled up some.

They were above mid thigh but not showing all that much. No sneak peek of a lady part. Bummer.

She had an orange T-shirt on that was a little on the baggy side but tucked in. Canvas sneakers on her feet with no socks.

Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she was bare of much makeup.

The classic girl next door and he was drawn in even more than when she had those sexy heels she'd picked up in the road.

He never thought he'd find someone who would have his head spinning and could only think his mother was laughing at him over this.