Just One Night (The Kingston Family Book 1)

Linc, Jordan and Aurora headed to board the private jet for the trip to New York. Linc had to admit he was ready to go home. He had work to catch up with, the upcoming deal to close, and now his sister to get settled.

“Wow! Look at this!” Aurora followed Jordan and Linc onto the plane, awe filling her expression as she entered. “This is really overwhelming.”

Jordan smiled. “You’ll get used to it one day. For now, though, let’s take a seat.”

The women settled in beside each other, talking about everything and nothing, but their chatter told Linc coming down here to find his sister had been the right thing to do.

“Linc? Where am I going to stay?” Aurora asked as he sat in his seat across from them.

“With me at least until we figure out a better, more permanent solution,” he said.

He hadn’t been able to make plans for her before arriving in Florida since he hadn’t known if she’d return with him. He intended to talk to his mother about Aurora moving into the family estate.

“Do you have room?” Aurora asked.

He nodded. “I have two bedrooms and we’ll sort things out.” Soon, because she was very pregnant, he thought.

The flight attendant came over and checked them all. No one wanted something to drink, so she walked away.

He pulled his laptop from his briefcase. As he opened the top, his cell phone rang. He glanced at the screen and saw his CEO Brian Connelly’s name.

“Hello,” he said as the flight attendant shut the door to the plane. “Brian?”

“Linc, we have a problem.”

His stomach clenched. “What’s wrong?”

Jordan stopped talking to Aurora, her gaze swinging to his, concern in her eyes.

“We had a visitor today,” Brian said. “A lawyer. Apparently right before your father died, he’d gotten himself involved in a deal to purchase land upstate.”

Linc pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a severe headache coming on. Only close family and top people in the company knew Kenneth had been dealing with early-onset dementia for the last year.

Difficult even before the diagnosis, his father had refused to step down or stop doing business in his own company. The only choice Linc had was to assign him a babysitter he knew nothing about. Wallace Franklin, as Kenneth’s best friend and the CFO, had been the best suited for the job. He could keep an eye on both his friend and the company’s bottom line.

Yet somehow, something had slipped past him.

“Linc?”

“I’m here,” he said.

“I hope you’re sitting down for this.”

At Brian’s words, Linc braced himself.

“Kenneth signed papers with a secondary partner, and he’s on the hook for big money.” Brian paused and Linc’s pulse picked up as the meaning sunk in.

“Meaning the company is on the hook. Son of a bitch!” Linc swore worse under his breath.

Jordan stared at him wide-eyed. Aurora seemed uninterested, busy on her iPhone.

“I had no idea, Linc, I swear.” Brian’s fear for his own position sounded loud and clear. “But I’m looking into it. The lawyer who came by today said he’d have the papers sent over. He’s stalling telling me who he represents, which tells me it’s going to be a serious problem.”

“So what was the purpose of the attorney’s visit? To gloat on his client’s behalf?” Linc asked.

“He wanted us to know the money was coming due. Failure to pay would mean his client would gain a stake in Kingston Enterprises.”

Linc’s blood pressure rose even higher. “My father put up the company as collateral?”

Jordan gasped.

“He implied as much. We’ll have the paperwork soon. Kenneth didn’t leave anything with our lawyers because he was obviously hiding the deal.”

The pilot announced they were about to take off, and Linc muttered a curse. “Talk to Wallace,” Linc barked into the phone. “Now I need to hang up. I’ll be back in New York in a couple of hours.” He disconnected the call and hoped he didn’t have a stroke midair.

Jordan leaned forward in her seat as much as her seat belt would allow. “What’s wrong?”

Linc raised an eyebrow. “Let’s just say if my father weren’t already dead, I’d dig him up and kill him myself.”

“What?” Aurora let out a squeak and Jordan patted her legs.

“Business problems. Nothing to worry about.” She turned her gaze back to Linc. “What did he do?”

Leaning back in his seat, Linc glanced at the ceiling, trying to stay calm. At the same time, he heard the start of the plane’s engines. “Dear old Dad might have destroyed the entire company.”

Whether or not Kenneth’s actions proved to be severe depended on who his partner was and how reasonable the man would be when it came to getting out of the situation his father had left them in.

“Linc, stay calm. We’ll work things out,” Jordan assured him.

And because she seemed collected, he took his cue from her and did his best to stay the same way.

*     *     *

Linc brought Aurorato his apartment straight from the plane and got her settled in before announcing he needed to go to the office. He hated leaving her on her first day in a new state where she knew no one, and Jordan had offered to stay with her. But Aurora insisted Jordan go with him to deal with his work emergency. Linc agreed but not before calling Chloe to come over and meet her new sister so Aurora wouldn’t be left alone.

With Aurora taken care of, they headed to the office. Seated in the back of the car with Max driving since he’d picked them up from the airport, Linc filled Jordan in on what Brian, their CEO, had told him.

“And you have no idea who this man is?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Given my father’s deteriorating state, I’m not shocked he would do a deal behind my back. The man was a wild card in his healthy days.”

And things had only gotten worse after Linc came on board and excelled in the business. He had no doubt Kenneth Kingston felt threatened. How far would he have gone to prove himself better than his son?

“But Wallace was supposed to be on top of things,” Linc said.

Jordan frowned. “I’m going to talk to your father’s secretary. If anyone knows what he was up to, it would be Suzanne, and considering you were kind enough to keep her on and give her job security, maybe she’ll open up to me.”

He glanced at her and once again was struck by how vital she was to both his business and to him personally. “Thank you,” he said in a gruff voice. “Jordan, listen. I know things are awkward after–”

She held up a hand. “Nope. We’re back to work and everything is fine.”

In other words, let it go. The problem was, the more he thought about their night together, the less he wanted to pretend they had never happened.

*     *     *

Jordan woke upearly Saturday morning with her weekend fully planned.

Astounding everyone, including Jordan, Linc had asked his mother to let Aurora move into her huge estate. The house had seven bedrooms and plenty of room, not to mention a staff available for every need, but the fact remained, Aurora was Kenneth Kingston’s illegitimate child.

Yet Melly had agreed. Apparently she was too kind a person to take her husband’s sins out on an innocent woman and her unborn baby.

Nervous, Aurora begged Jordan to come with her. Although Chloe planned to meet them there, Aurora felt more connected to Jordan, no doubt because they shared an understanding about how they viewed the world around them and because they’d spent a lot of time together in Florida. Chloe was still new to her and Linc wasn’t female.

Jordan had no problem joining them. When Aurora saw the Kingston Estate, she might very well pass out, and she’d need support.

Aurora was silent on the way to Linc’s mother’s, her few bags loaded in the trunk of the car with Max driving. Linc was on the phone, his frustration growing because they were no closer to discovering who his father had entered into an agreement with. Wallace was MIA.

Nobody had been able to get in touch with him, and from the way this partner’s lawyer had dropped the information without details, obviously the man in question was enjoying his silence. Which left Linc worried about who he was as well as the amount of money on the line.

Max drove down a secluded, tree-lined street, turned left into a hidden driveway, and pulled up to a gate, where he opened the back window and Linc punched in a code.

“Oh, God.” Aurora’s eyes opened wide. “This isn’t a house, it’s a mansion.”

Jordan put her hand over the young woman’s knee. “Hey, my mother used to be the main housekeeper here. If I can adjust to it, you can.”

Aurora whipped her head around in surprise. “You never told me that!”

“It never came up but I’m not ashamed. It’s how Linc and I met.” The car started up again, and Max drove forward, parking at the top of the driveway, in front of a four-car garage. “But as overwhelming as everything looks, Linc’s mother is a wonderful person. I promise this is all going to work out for you.”

“I have to go,” Linc said to whoever he was talking to. I’ll talk to you again on Monday.” He disconnected the call and turned to face them. “We’re here.”

“Obviously.” Jordan smiled at a nervous Aurora. “Okay. Let’s get you moved in.”

They stepped out of the car just as one of the garage doors opened and Melissa Kingston stepped out, looking as elegant as always, her dark hair reaching her shoulders, subtle but perfect makeup on her face.Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

“Mom, hi.” Linc kissed her cheek.

“Hello, honey.” She turned to Jordan. “It’s been a while. You’re looking well. It’s good to see you again.”

“You, too,” Jordan murmured.

Melly’s gaze shifted. “And you must be Aurora. Welcome,” she said warmly.

Aurora studied Melly, who was a contradiction. On the outside, she was a wealthy socialite, but on the inside, she obviously had a warm heart. The young girl needed to relax enough to see the hidden parts of Linc’s mother.

“Hi,” Aurora said. “Thank you for your generosity. I know it can’t be easy for you to overlook who I am.”

Jordan winced.

“Aurora–” Linc started to speak, but Jordan grabbed his arm, indicating he should let the two women find their footing.

Melly stepped over to Aurora. “To me you’re a young woman who got a raw deal that wasn’t of your own making. My son likes you and wants you to become part of the family.” She took Aurora’s hand. “So when I say welcome, I mean it. And I can’t wait to have a baby around again. It’s not like my sons are rushing to give me grandbabies,” she said, shooting Linc a pointed look.

“Well, Chloe’s getting married, so you can focus on her, too,” Linc said, obviously eager to take the spotlight off of him.

“Speaking of Chloe, she can’t make it today, but she promised to call you later,” Melly said to Aurora. “Now how about we go inside?”

Max picked up the bags and followed them in through the garage and the lower level, with Aurora gaping at the enormity of the mansion and the décor. Aurora had bought suitcases in Florida so she could pack her things and bring them to New York. Max placed those in the bedroom Melly had chosen for Aurora to stay in. Then he excused himself and said he’d be waiting when Linc was ready to head back to the city.

Linc left the women and excused himself to make some calls. The man was constantly working, Jordan thought.

In the half hour they’d been in Aurora’s new bedroom, it became clear Melly intended to treat Aurora like a daughter, and the young girl relaxed, becoming more like her normal, talkative self.

It didn’t take long for Melly to realize Aurora was sadly lacking in clothing and to take charge of the situation. She announced they were going shopping.

“Jordan, come with us please?” Aurora asked, obviously overwhelmed.

But Aurora needed to get to know Melly, and Melly hadn’t extended the invitation.

“I can’t,” she told Aurora. “I have laundry and things to catch up on at home. But you have fun! I’ll check in later, okay?”

Aurora stepped forward and pulled Jordan into an awkward pregnant hug. “You’re the best. You’ve been so good to me.”

“You make it easy.”

“I’m going to get my handbag and freshen up. I’ll be back in a couple of minutes,” Melly said, walking out of the room.

Aurora swept her arms around. “Look at this room! It’s meant for royalty!”

Taking in the queen-size bed with a gorgeous floral spread in beautiful colors, draperies on the windows and a large television on the wall, a private bathroom and walk-in closet, Jordan had to agree.

“It’s gorgeous. There’s space for a crib in here, too. Or you can put the baby in the room next door.” Jordan turned toward her. “You’re going to have to go shopping for baby supplies. But something tells me Melly is going to want to help,” Jordan said with a grin.

Aurora sat down on the plush mattress. “She’s really sweet. I think I’ll be happy here, at least until I can figure out my life.”

With a nod, Jordan joined her. She wasn’t going to pressure her now with questions she already knew Aurora had no answers to. “When Melly gets back, I’m going to go find Linc.”

“Speaking of Linc, how long have you two been together?” Aurora asked.

“What?” Jordan whipped her head toward Aurora. “We aren’t together. We’re just friends and I work for him.”

Aurora raised her eyebrows. “R-i-i-ght.”

“What? Why wouldn’t you believe me?” Jordan asked.

Aurora shrugged. “Because you two are close. I’ve been with you both for over a week now, and I see how you look at each other. How you read each other’s mind. Stuff like that.”

Dipping her head, Jordan closed her eyes and shook her head. “We’re just friends,” she insisted. “Look around you. You’re overwhelmed by this kind of wealth and they’re your family. I don’t belong as anything more than his employee and close friend.”

“That sounds stupid.” Aurora pushed herself up and stood, bracing a hand on her back, her belly protruding in front of her. “It should be about how you feel, not how much money you have. But I get what you mean. I’m not sure I fit in here, either.”

Jordan rose. “You will learn to be comfortable,” she assured Aurora. “I promise.”

“Are you ready?” Melly returned, lipstick touched up and a Chanel handbag on her arm.

“I’m ready,” Aurora said.

“You two go on. I’m going to check my messages and then go find Linc. Aurora, I’ll call you tonight.” Jordan smiled and watched them go.

Ignoring what Aurora had said about her assessment of Jordan and Linc’s relationship, Jordan pulled out her phone, surprised to see a message from a number she didn’t recognize. She hit play and discovered it was Suzanne Ashton, Kenneth Kingston’s secretary. She’d given the woman her phone number in case she remembered anything about the deal Jordan and Linc were looking into. From the urgency of the voicemail, the woman clearly wanted to talk.

Tapping on the number, Jordan waited and Suzanne picked up.

“Hello, Jordan?” Suzanne said.

“Yes, hi. Did you remember something?”

Suzanne was silent for a moment, then said, “I never forgot but I couldn’t talk in the office. I didn’t want anyone overhearing and reporting back.”

“To who? What’s going on?” Jordan asked, sitting back down on the bed.

“You know Kenneth and Wallace Franklin were close, right?” Suzanne asked of Linc’s father and the company CFO.

“Yes.”

“Well, Wallace was aware of Kenneth’s quieter deals. He helped move money and allowed him to do things Linc didn’t know about. And this current contractual situation you were asking about? The man Kenneth went into partnership with was Beckett Daniels,” Suzanne said. “I didn’t want Wallace to know I was revealing information they expected me to keep secret.”

“Thank you, Suzanne. The revelation won’t be tracked back to you. I promise. And I’m really grateful you called me.”

“Of course! Mr. Kingston, Linc, I mean, was good to me. He kept me on and made sure I didn’t lose my job after his father died.” Suzanne sniffed. “If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to call after office hours.”

“I will. And thank you again.” Jordan hung up and glanced at the ceiling, trying to put pieces together.

Beckett Daniels. Beck. She knew the name. He was a definite competitor of Linc’s in many real estate deals, and they’d gone to college together and had once been close. She’d assumed they had drifted apart. But that’s all she knew.

Grabbing her purse, she headed to find Linc and fill him in on what she’d learned.

*     *     *

Linc sat inthe study behind the desk in the corner. Since his father had had an office on the other side of the house, his mother used this room as her sanctuary, and for some reason, he’d retreated here now when he needed to think clearly.

He could wrap his head around his father doing sneaky deals behind his back. But even with Kenneth’s illness, Linc couldn’t comprehend him risking the company, and if he had tried to do such a thing, why would Wallace have let him?

No matter who he asked so far, he’d hit a dead end. No one he’d called knew where Wallace had disappeared to, and clearly the person pulling the strings, Kenneth’s so-called partner, was keeping Linc dangling. And he wanted to know why.

A knock sounded on the door and he glanced up. “Come on in!”

Jordan opened the door and stepped inside. She was wearing a pair of black leggings and a white boxy cropped top that revealed a strip of skin above the waistband, and one look made him drool. Black Chucks completed the cute, sleek outfit.

“Am I interrupting anything?” she asked.

He shook his head. “No. Come sit.” He rose from behind the desk and walked around to join her, lowering himself on the couch.

Her floral scent surrounded him, and he wanted her in his lap now, his fingers in her hair, her lips on his. Instead he took a look at her face and knew immediately something was wrong.

“What happened? Is there a problem with my mother and Aurora?” he asked, knowing how panicked Aurora had been about meeting Melly.

Jordan shook her head. “God, no. They’re like this.” She crossed two of her fingers in the air. “But Suzanne Ashton called me.”

He stiffened in surprise. “Now? On your cell over the weekend?”

She nodded. “I know who your father’s partner is, and you’re right about Wallace helping him hide it. And apparently it’s not the only secret deal.”

Jaw clenched, Linc nodded, glad to know his instincts were right. “Wallace,” he muttered. “Okay, and the partner?”

“Beckett Daniels.”

Linc jerked in his seat, shock running through him. “Beck,” he said, a roaring sound in his ears, and he forced himself to focus.

Beck. Linc’s rival in business, but their past worried him more. Beck was clearly still harboring anger and resentment against him, and the bitch of it was, Linc didn’t blame him. But a man with an emotional grudge was an unpinned grenade waiting to explode.

Linc had never told anyone what had happened between him and Beck. His father hadn’t known, which meant to Kenneth, Beck had been a convenient person with whom to do business, but to Beck? His father and his illness had made him easy prey to get to Linc.

Nobody but family and trusted people inside the office knew about Kenneth’s dementia. Clearly Linc had made wrong choices there. But with his father’s more fragile mental state, it would have been easy for Beck to swoop in. But Wallace was supposed to protect them all. Shit. Linc scrubbed his face with his hand. What had Wallace gotten out of the deal?

Jordan’s soft hand rested on his arm. “Linc? What is it?”

He didn’t know how to tell her. She was his best friend and the person he trusted most, yet he’d kept this from her. Not even his brothers knew. He blew out a long breath, reminding himself if he could trust anyone, it was Jordan.

He just hoped she looked at him the same way after he told her his deepest secret. “It’s about Beck. We have history.”

She met his gaze. “I know. You went to college together.” Bending one leg, she rested her knee on the sofa, settling in.

He let out a groan and decided to get the truth out there and over with. “Okay, here goes. Beck and I were best friends, and late sophomore year, his room was next door to mine.”

She raised her eyebrows. “I didn’t know you were once close.”

Linc nodded. “He was one of the first guys I met. And when you finally get away from your parents and their rules, you go a little crazy. Drinking, parties. Fun. Anyway, by sophomore year I had a girlfriend.”

“Lacey,” she said. “I remember.”

“And Beck had one, too. Her name was Jenna. The four of us hung out together when we could, but Beck was on scholarship and he had to work. A lot.”

“I know what that’s like,” she murmured.

His gut churned but he continued. “Jenna resented the time Beck spent working, but there wasn’t anything he could do.”

He hesitated and Jordan gave him an encouraging nod. “Go on.”

“One weekend, Lacey went home to see her parents. Beck had to work Saturday night and I went to a frat party. I got drunk. I mean completely shit-faced, typical college, lucky-to-remember-anything wasted. When I made it back to my bed, the room was spinning, and I really thought I was going to hurl.”

She let out a light laugh. “I can relate more to Beck’s working than your partying, but I saw it all the time around me and I understand. What happened?”

He shrugged. “To this day I’m not one-hundred-percent sure. I remember a woman crawling into my bed, telling me she was back and she’d missed me, and then she kissed me. I swear to God I thought it was Lacey and she was home early, that is, if I was thinking at all. What I didn’t know or even sense was Jenna had crawled into my bed.”

“Oh, no.” A horrified expression crossed Jordan’s face, and he wanted to die. “You have to know that, sober, I would never cheat. I grew up with my father fucking around. I wouldn’t do it. And I sure as hell wouldn’t sleep with my friend’s girl. But I was so far gone I was still half drunk the next morning. When Beck walked in and Jenna popped up in bed, crying, telling Beck she was sorry, it just happened, I could barely lift my head.”

“But he didn’t want to hear it,” Jordan guessed.

Linc shook his head. “She wanted his attention, and oh, boy, did she get it. Meanwhile, I got a punch in the jaw and would have had a black eye if one of the other guys didn’t come in and pull Beck off me. Then, I finally threw up.” Linc drew a deep breath and leaned back against the couch. “Needless to say, I lost my best friend and my girlfriend. Beck ditched both me and Jenna, who tried to play the martyr for him, and when that didn’t work, she had the gall to attempt to convince me to go out with her.” The woman was a psycho.

“Linc, I’m sorry. Why didn’t you ever tell me any of this?” Jordan asked.

“Nobody knows and I mean nobody. Would you admit you screwed over your best friend?” He could barely look at her now.

She sighed. “Let me ask you a question to put this into perspective. If a man climbed into bed with a completely drunk woman, pretended to be someone he wasn’t, and slept with her, would there be any actual consent? If someone did that to Chloe, would you blame her for sleeping with someone she thought was her boyfriend?”

He lifted his head. “Hell no.”

“Right.” She pinned him with a determined stare, the one she used when she wanted him to think the same way she did.

And when he thought about his sister in his position, he could look at things differently. “I would consider it rape and I’d beat the shit out of the guy.” His hands were already clenched into fists.

She braced her hands on his shoulders, getting his attention again with her touch. “Linc, Jenna set you up. You didn’t want to sleep with her. You didn’t agree to sleep with her.”

He appreciated her not calling it rape. He didn’t think that was something he could discuss or consider. “None of that matters since I did the deed. I slept with Beck’s girl, and now he clearly somehow managed to partner with my father, and if I can’t come up with the money to cover this down payment, Beck will become my partner in my business.”

And the more Linc thought about it, the more pissed off he became.

Jordan squeezed his shoulders before dropping her hands. “Listen. He’s been holding a grudge for over a decade. It’s time for him to get over it. And if it just so happens it was a good business deal? There’s no doubt he saw the upside of sticking it to you.”

Linc nodded, relieved and grateful Jordan was looking at this from a rational point of view and not thinking he was the scum of the earth he’d thought himself at the time. And had for years after. He’d kicked himself so often, he forgot to think about how he missed Beck as a friend and regretted that things had gone south between them and he’d lost a man he’d once thought of as a brother.

“Since you know who it is, can you go see him and discuss possibilities to fix this without losing a piece of the company?” Jordan asked.

Linc winced. “I can try. But we’ve been bidding against each other for years without actually having face-to-face contact. But I plan to see what I can do because Dad owes much more than our liquid assets.”

A few quiet seconds passed and Jordan finally spoke. “Are you okay?”

He rolled his stiff shoulders. Now that she knew everything, much of the emotional burden had been lifted. But the future of his company was at stake, and he’d be damned if he’d let an old grudge stand in the way of keeping it in the family.

“Linc?” She ran her tongue over her lips, moistening them. Tempting him.

“Yeah.” He glanced at Jordan.

She tipped her head to one side, her ponytail brushing her shoulder. “Maybe you can use your father’s dementia to declare the contract null and void.”

“No.” He shook his head. “We agreed to keep the news to the family. If it gets out, any deals he did in the last year, even legitimate ones I knew about, could be undone by someone with regrets taking us to court.”

She visibly cringed. “Okay, I understand. So what do you suggest?”

“Either I get Beck to be reasonable … or I find a way to pay.”

Jordan nodded. “So you have a plan.”

He shot her a grateful look, once again struck by how vital she was to him. How understanding even when he didn’t expect it or think he deserved it. How he couldn’t live without her in his life. “Jordan?”

She looked at him, concern in her gaze. “What is it?”

He drew a deep breath. “Thanks for not judging me.”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t thank me. I know you, Linc. And there is no way you’d deliberately hurt a friend. Or cheat. Discussion closed, okay?”

He was dying to pull her into him and kiss those soft lips, in much more than gratitude. He leaned forward, unsure what he planned, and Jordan jumped up from her seat.

“I vote we go back to the city. I have a ton of laundry and cleaning to do.” Cheeks burning, she turned away.

God dammit. What did he need to do to ease her into being comfortable with testing the waters of a relationship? He couldn’t stop thinking about their night, their compatibility in all ways, and he wanted to see if they could make a go of things.

Had he done a one-eighty? Yes. But he couldn’t imagine another woman who understood him as well or who he desired more.