Complicated Desire

Chapter Nineteen

Bianca hadn't had time to absorb the last of the words Kade spoke before Matt's eyes filled with a rage she'd never seen before. But as soon as he stalked toward her, Kade's voice boomed through the silence.

"I would focus your anger on me, rather than her, if I were you. If you put your hand on her, even to shake some sense into her, whatever hand you use will never fully regain its function."

Matt stopped in his tracks, ran his hands feverishly through his hair until it stuck out every which way, and kicked one of the dining room chairs. "I would never, in a million years, hurt my sister. I just want to know how this fucking happened."

Bianca opened her mouth to come up with some sort of simple explanation, but the words wouldn't form. There were no words or sentences she could string together that would allow this all to make sense to them.

"After the dramatic dinner last Saturday, I checked on Bianca. I hadn't gone there for any reason but to talk and see if she was okay. Things progressed, and we've seen each other every day since."

"Progressed?" Matt repeated. "In my fucking house?"

She watched as Kade shook his head. "I decided it was best to take her back to my place that night. She returned early the next morning."

"But you had no problem seducing my daughter in my house, did you?" Her dad asked.

Bianca could see his hand was a mere inch away from the steak knife placed beside his plate, and from the look on Kade's face, he'd noticed, too. Still, he kept his composure as he had since it all came out. "On Sunday night, yes. I assure you, that was the only time."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better about a man, older than me, for christ's sake, screwing my daughter under my roof while I was home?"

"Not better," Kade relented, "but hopefully not worse."

Her dad let out a sarcastic laugh before turning his attention to her. "How about you? Don't you have anything to say for yourself?"

Bianca wrapped her arms across her stomach is a lost effort of comfort. She could feel her body trembling beneath her arms, or maybe it was her arms that were trembling. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry that you screwed a man over twice your age? Sorry that you screwed your brother's father-in-law, your friend's father? What? What exactly are you sorry about, Bianca?"

Bianca looked over at Kade, who was staring back at her lovingly with a timid, closed-lipped smile. That was the only comfort she needed. "I'm sorry that me falling in love hurt people I care about, but I'm not sorry for that love."

Another laugh from her father as he shook his head. "Un-fucking-believable."

As she watched her father's finger twitch against the handle of the blade, Bianca stepped back. "Dad, can you please move that knife? You're seriously freaking me out right now."

His eyes glanced up at her, then down at the sharp object, before he picked it up and dropped it on Kade's plate. "There, you can use that to stab me in the back a second time."

"I never intended to stab you in the back, Michael, and I didn't intend to fall in love with your daughter. I never intended to fall in love at all. But it happened, and I wouldn't take it back for anything."

"Why the hell are you being so quiet?" Matt asked Kara. When all she did was shake her head in response, he seemed to catch on. "You knew about this, didn't you?"

"I set up this dinner, because they wanted to come clean about this as soon as possible, so I wouldn't have to lie to you."

"But you did lie, didn't you?" Michael asked.