Winning Moves

by Lisa Renee Jones

Father?” he asked in a playfully authoritative voice, as if he was the father, not the son.

  Kat gave Jason her back as she grappled with, and tried to identify, whatever this was that she was feeling. She removed her purse from the bag and grabbed her phone from where Jason had set it down. She knew Jason’s calls were probably more urgent than hers but she wasn’t sure she was ready to listen to his.

  She had a number of text message alerts from different people. First was Ellie, who’d let her know that Tabitha had come to her early this morning, claiming her innocence for whatever Kat had accused her of. I suggested strongly that she smarten up and start respecting you. Kat snorted.

  “Like that is going to happen,” she murmured and went on to the next message, which was from Marissa.

  Kat glanced up, giving in to the urge to look at Jason, bringing his profile into view. She could tell that he was now talking to her father about some big investment return they’d both gotten. He leaned on the counter, handsome and shirtless, with his hair rumpled and sexy. But it wasn’t his looks that made her heart beat a little faster. It was the way he was chatting with their families. The way he was truly a son to her parents. He fit her so well.

  Kat inhaled and forced her attention to her phone, and read Marissa’s message.

  Marcus is the most amazing humble, sexy person. I like him too much. It’s kind of scary. Need girl talk, please? Oh, and Tabitha called to apologize. Please don’t fire her, Kat. I don’t want to ruin anyone’s career.

  Kat smiled at that final part of the message. Marissa was a special person and Tabitha had no idea how lucky she was she’d picked Marissa as her target. Kat would give Tabitha another shot because of Marissa. Hopefully, Tabitha would finally see the light, and value her second—correction—her third, chance. Kat checked her call log and found four attempts from her parents to reach her. She set her phone down and picked up Jason’s, an unmistakable flutter in her stomach. His call log also showed four missed calls from his parents. She could just imagine the four of them all sitting together, talking, laughing, and betting that their children were together in the same house. Then urging each other to try the calls again. They hadn’t been worried. They’d been curious and hopeful.

  The final call on Jason’s phone was a number that Kat didn’t recognize and it had gone to voice mail. She punched the button and listened to a studio executive telling Jason how impressive the show’s television ratings had been. The studio wanted to talk contract renewal with Jason.

  “I’m working on that,” Jason said behind her. “Yes. I am. I promise. I’ll let you know when I’ve properly convinced her.”

  She squeezed her eyes shut, certain she knew what he was talking about, because she knew him so very well. Marriage. She wanted to marry Jason again. She wanted it very badly, but it had taken them years to get here, to a place where they were together again.

  She wasn’t going to rush things now. She needed to know they could find a way to make their careers and love mix. No matter what he’d claimed about his career not being important, it was. It mattered and it had to matter to make this work. He’d worked hard and he’d earned a call like that from the studio. She wasn’t going to take that away from him.

  Suddenly, Jason was behind her, having ended the call much sooner than she expected, but then it was the middle of the night in Thailand. “You okay, baby?” he asked, his breath warm on her ear.

  Kat turned around, letting her hands settle on his chest, knowing now what was bothering her. “I need you to know that I don’t blame you for us breaking up. We were young. We made mistakes. I probably didn’t deal with what bothered me the way I should have, and certainly not like I would now.”

  “It wasn’t your fault either, Kat,” he said. “I would have done a million things differently myself. And believe me, I’ve replayed far too many of those things over and over in my head.”

  “That’s just it,” she said. “The past is the past. And Jason, I’m proud of your accomplishments. I’m so very proud. You of all people deserve success. You’re the same humble person you always have been when I’ve seen plenty of others in your type of role get carried away with arrogance and ego. If you get a great opportunity, you have to take it, and I’ll be excited with you, I promise.”

  “Kat—”

  She kissed him. “It won’t destroy us. We’re both at different places in our careers and our lives. If you turn down something wonderful to make me happy, you won’t make me happy at all. We’ll work this out. We will. I know we can.”

  He studied her, his gaze keen. “What was on my voice mail that brought this on?”

  “It wasn’t the voice mail,” she said, and then reluctantly admitted, “Not entirely. You had a call from a studio executive named Sabrina something. She complimented you on the show’s ratings last night and wants to talk about your contract renewal for the television show.”

  He wrapped his arm around her waist. “I’m done with television, Kat. I’ve meant that every time I’ve said it. I want out of the spotlight. But yes, I want to direct. It’s my second passion and you’re my first.” He brushed the hair from her eyes, his expression turning grim. “I’m dreading the day I have to get on a plane for auditions. I have the gut-wrenching fear that it will be the end of us.”

  “It won’t,” she promised. “I won’t lie to you and say I’m not nervous about it, but it’s necessary for all kinds of reasons. I think…I think we both need to know we can survive a separation and be okay. I need to know you’ll be back. You need to know I won’t be gone when you get here.”

  It would be the ultimate test of their relationship.

  * * *

  LATE THAT EVENING, Jason was in the passenger seat when Kat pulled her shiny new black BMW into her garage. They’d been all over the city, and he’d found her many excuses to keep driving more than a little adorable. Ending the night at their favorite Chinese restaurant had been a walk down memory lane in a good way, but then, that wasn’t unexpected. He and Kat had far more good memories than they did bad.

  Kat killed the engine and ran her hands up and down the steering wheel. “I can’t believe I finally bought this car. I think I might have to sleep out here.”

  “Oh, no,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m not sleeping in here, and you’re sleeping with me.” He tried to open his door. She locked it.

  “Oh, no, you don’t,” she said, grinning. “You’re my captive and I want to celebrate.”

  Jason arched a brow. “What have we been doing the rest of the day?”

  “Celebrating,” she said. “But not enough.” She pushed her seat back and then climbed onto his lap, straddling him.

  Jason laughed, and by the time she had that sweet backside of hers nestled against him, he was hard and more than willing to participate in her celebration.

  She tugged his shirt up and pressed soft, cool hands against him with a scorching effect. He reached for her and she leaned back, a teasing glint in her eyes before she moved her finger back and forth.

  “I’m the director of my celebration,” she said. “You get kissed when I want to kiss you.” She sighed and laughed. “Which would be now.”

  Jason chuckled, wrapping his arms around her, and welcoming her mouth against his, her tongue’s soft caress. She tasted like honey and tea, and like forbidden fruit no longer forbidden. He twined his fingers in her hair, deepened the kiss, hungry for more of that taste and more of her.

  His cell phone rang and dang it, he knew who it was, and that he had to take it. He broke their kiss. “I have to answer.”

  “No, you don’t,” she said breathlessly, trying to kiss him again.

  “I do,” he said, struggling to remember why. “It’s important.”

  Her hands were on his face, her lips a hairsbreadth from his. “You do know that you taking a call during my celebration is far worse than me talking about Tabitha while we were making love, don’t you?”

  “Oh, no,” he said. “Not even clo
se.” He punched the answer key.

  “It’s Daniel,” the man on the other line announced. Daniel worked with Jason’s investment guy, Nick, and specialized in real estate.

  “What do you have for me, Daniel?” Jason asked, trying to focus while Kat nibbled at his neck.

  “The house has a good hundred-thousand in equity that we can invest smartly and turn into a larger sum. But the housing market is in the ground right now. Selling it will take a good six months to a year.”

  “I’ll buy it,” Jason said. “Then I get the tax write-off from two properties while you’re re-selling it.”

  Kat drew back and gaped at him. “You took an investment call.” She tried to wiggle off his lap and he laughed and held her, mouthing “I’ll explain.”

  “Sure,” Daniel continued, “We can buy it right away. You want me to contact the owner?”

  “No,” he said, trying not to laugh again as Kat crossed her arms in front of her, and glared at him. “I know the owners,” Jason continued, “I’ll handle contact. You guys just need to deal with the bank while I’m gone. And I’ll give you the hundred grand in advance to go ahead and start investing.”

  Daniel whistled. “Your wish is most definitely my command.”

  Jason ended the call and Kat immediately blasted him. “We were…celebrating, and you took an investment call. Seriously, Jason? Maybe I don’t know you because you never would have done that before.”

  He laughed hard. She glared harder. “Ask me why that investment was important,” he ordered.

  “I don’t care about the investment.”

  “Not even if it was to help your parents.”

  She deflated instantly and then blushed and buried her face in his shirt. “Oh, no. I’m sorry.”

  He ran his hand down her hair. “I’m not.” He pressed her against his lap, showing her what he meant. “You’re sexy when you’re mad.”

  She lifted her head. “While I might, ah, appreciate your method of complimenting me,” she said, “I still feel like a jerk.”

  “I talked to your dad about selling their house and investing the money.”

  She leaned all the way back. “What? Why? You think they’re staying in Thailand? Jason, I grew up in that house. I love that house.”

  “I’d pay it off and just give it to them, but they wouldn’t go for that. I had to be a little more creative to make this happen. I told them we weren’t going to need two houses, but I needed a tax write-off so I’d keep my house and just let it sit. I explained that if they take it over, it saves me from paying a property management company to look out for it.”

  “And they didn’t ask why you’d need a property management company when you were here in town?”

  “Of course they did,” he said. “I told them my schedule was too crazy to think about a second house.”

  “You really want to give up your house?”

  “I’m home with you, Kat. Right here is fine by me.” He grinned. “I do mean the house, not the car. I like the car, but it’s a bit cramped.”

  Her fingers curled in his shirt, her gaze fixing on his chest. “I don’t want a house that’s mine. If we do this, Jason.” Her lashes lifted. “If we really get back together—”

  “We’re already back together.”

  “I want something that’s ours.”

  She couldn’t have said anything that would make him happier. “Then we’ll call my guy back and start looking.”

  “Not yet,” she said. “Not until after the auditions, when we have solid time together.”

  Translation: not until she was sure he was really coming back to stay. “Kat—”

  She kissed him. “I know you’re coming back.” She tugged his shirt upward, and he helped her pull it over his head. Then he watched her remove hers. Next came her bra. She sat there, looking gorgeously naked, with her full, high breasts and her pretty pink nipples begging for his mouth. He wanted her.

  When she leaned in and pressed his hands to her breasts and her mouth to his, he wanted her even more. But he couldn’t celebrate. Not until he was home to stay. No. Not until she believed he was home. And somehow he had to make that not about a place, but about them, about their relationship, about being anywhere in the world, and being home because they were together.

  Together. That was the key, and one he couldn’t turn, at least not until he was home for good, with the auditions behind them. The next seven weeks were going to feel like a lifetime.

  18

  THE WEDNESDAY NIGHT opening came with a full house and huge success. Despite Jason’s departure the next day, and to of all places, Denver, Kat was happy. She stood backstage in the midst of a flurry of excitement with champagne and roses everywhere, and was not one bit surprised to find Marcus beside Marissa.

  “Aren’t you two a cute pair,” Kat teased.

  “Cute is really not what a guy wants to hear,” Marcus said with a grimace.

  “It works for me,” Marissa said playfully, laughing up at him, and Kat didn’t miss how the rather timid Marissa didn’t seem timid with Marcus at all.

  Jason joined them, not one bit of hesitation over Marcus’s presence showing in his demeanor. “It’s over. I feel like I just gave birth instead of Ellie.”

  “Great show, man,” Marcus said. “You and Kat make a hell of a team.”

  Jason glanced at Kat. “Damn, he really is a nice guy. I’m gonna have to like him, aren’t I?”

  “Funny,” Marcus replied. “I said the same thing when Marissa was telling me about the way you treat the cast and crew.”

  Kat watched the two men shake hands and if it was possible to fall more in love with Jason, she did in that instant. So few people could be as accepting as Jason was about Marcus.

  “And by the way, Marcus,” Jason added. “We appreciate you helping us out the other night.”

  “I think me being here was in the cards,” Marcus joked, and slipped his arm around Marissa to be clear about what he meant. Marissa blushed and Kat grinned at her.

  “Kat!” someone yelled.

  “Jason!” someone else shouted.

  “Someone call 911!” came another cry.

  Kat and Jason took off running toward the voices, which led them to the hallway outside the stage. Kat gasped as she found Ellie slumped over on the ground, with Tabitha of all people, kneeling beside her.

  “She was dizzy and stumbled, and God, Kat,” Tabitha said urgently, “I tried to catch her but I couldn’t. She fell hard.”

  “I’m okay,” Ellie said as Kat and Jason bent down beside her.

  “No,” Kat said firmly. “You are not okay. You’ve been working too much and you won’t listen when I tell you to go home.”

  “You won’t listen when I say I’m fine,” Ellie said, trying to smile and failing. “Nag, nag, nag.”

  “Apparently, nagging is a skill I need to perfect,” Kat said. “Or you wouldn’t be on the floor.”

  “Get the hotel medic!” Jason shouted, standing up. “Someone go find the medic and make sure 911 is on the way.”

  “I’ll go find someone myself,” Tabitha said, hurrying away.

  “My husband can give you lessons,” Ellie said, and then gasped with pain.

  “What was that?” Kat asked, officially terrified for Ellie. She should have forced her to slow down.

  “Same pains as last week,” she said. “They’re normal but… David, my husband. I need to call my husband.”

  And that alone told Kat that Ellie didn’t think she was okay.

  Jason squatted back down beside Ellie. “I’ll call him, Ellie. What’s the number?” He punched it in and then rubbed her arm. “Try to relax.”

  Ellie laughed in the midst of a frown. “Nothing like the floor for a good rest.”

  Kat drew Ellie’s hand in her own, reading her fear through the humor. “You’re not alone. You’re not. I’m here and Jason is here.” But Kat knew there was only one person that could possibly comfort Ellie right now, and that was h
er husband, who was in another state, and couldn’t possibly get here tonight.

  * * *

  KAT AND JASON sat in the hospital room with Ellie, who was dehydrated and exhausted. She was also very lucky that she and her unborn baby were fine.

  “I guess I won’t be joining you for auditions tomorrow,” Ellie said, trying to laugh but sounding like she might cry instead.

  “The auditions don’t matter,” Jason replied. “What matters is you and your baby. The studio knows that.”

  “The studio is about money,” Ellie insisted. “They can replace me for the season and work me out of the show. My contract is up this year.”

  “You have a contract though,” Jason said. “They can’t do that to you this year and you’ll be on the live shows which are the ones that really matter.”

  “Read the fine print in your contract,” she said. “I’ve read mine. They can replace me. They still have to pay me but it will be my final check.”

  “If they replace you over this,” Jason asserted, “I’ll be clear that I’m walking out.”

  “What?” Ellie gasped. “No, you will not. Kat, tell him that no, he is not.”

  “I’m not going back next season anyway,” he said. “I think now would be a good time to tell them that. It will encourage them to hang on to you. They won’t want to shake anything up too dramatically.”

  “Or it could make them think they have to make changes and so they might as well get it over with,” Ellie said. “So that will do you no good. You can’t quit. Do you know how much they will pay us for next season?”

  “I don’t care,” he said firmly. “I’m done, Ellie.” He shifted his attention to Kat and back to Ellie. “Not only is the spotlight not for me, I’m ready for roots and family. I’m ready to have my wife back.”

  Ellie’s expression softened. “I understand that. I can see that in you. I don’t want to care, either. I don’t. The pressure feels too much sometimes. I want to have this baby and enjoy every second.”

  “Then have the baby and enjoy every second,” Jason insisted. “This baby, this pregnancy, is an experience you can’t relive.”