“Well, I don’t know what to tell you,” Blaise said, throwing up his hands. “I’m fresh out of ideas. How about you?”
“Maybe I could stay here while you’re away?”
“No!” He opted for a softer tone when he said, “You can’t stay here.”
“You’re right.” A tear glided down her cheek. “He’d probably come looking for me here. But I’m so scared. I have nowhere to go, no one to turn to. What am I going to do?”
Any feelings Blaise had once had for Marla were dead, but that didn’t mean he wanted to see her hurt. Especially if the baby she was carrying was his.
The doorbell rang, and Marla jumped, her eyes widening. “Who’s that? You don’t think it’s him, do you?”
“Relax, it’s probably just my brother. He was going to pick up a key so he could check on the place and pick up my mail while I’m away.”
“You found your brother?” She smiled softly. “That’s great, Blaise. You must be relieved.”
The tender look in her eyes reminded him there had been a time, not so long ago, when he’d cared about her. Before the lies and deception. Maybe a part of the girl he’d thought he loved still remained. He hoped so, at least for the baby’s sake.
“I’ll be right back,” he mumbled.
“Hey, buddy,” Rowan said when Blaise opened the door. “Sorry I’m late. I got a flat tire, so I had to borrow a friend’s bike.” He pointed at the motorcycle in the circular drive. “I guess that’s what I get for buying a cheap junker, huh? I’m trying to get more hours at the restaurant so I can—”
“I need to talk to you,” Blaise said, stepping outside and closing the door.
“You got company?” Rowan asked, pointing at the silver Lexus.
“Yeah, unexpected company.” Blaise sighed, running a hand over his face. “I don’t have a lot of time, so hear me out, Row.”
“Okay.”
“My ex is here, who also happens to be Morin’s wife.”
“What’s she doing here?” Rowan sneaked a peek through the glass panel alongside the front door. “Doesn’t she know you’re with Kiara now? She’s not trying to get back together with you, is she?”
“No, nothing like that.” Blaise hoped she wasn’t harboring any thought of reconciling with him, because that would never happen. “She’s pregnant.” He didn’t wait for Rowan to speak before he said, “There’s a chance the baby’s mine.”
Rowan stumbled back. “Oh, man, talk about lousy timing. Just when you and Kiara were getting close. How do you think she’s going to take it?”
“Gee, I don’t know,” Blaise said, glaring at his brother. “How would you react if your girlfriend told you she was pregnant with some other dude’s kid? My guess is Ki’s not gonna be too thrilled.”
“Are you gonna tell her now?”
Blaise took a deep breath. “No. I don’t want to ruin her birthday.”
“But won’t she be pissed if she finds out you knew and didn’t tell her?”
“She’s gonna be upset no matter when I tell her. A few days won’t make a difference.”
“Your call, man.” Rowan shrugged. “Do you need me to do anything?”
“Stay here with Marla while I’m away.”
“Are you crazy?”
Blaise gripped Rowan’s shoulder. “Please, just do this for me. I need this time with Kiara, to figure out how to tell her about the baby. But Marla’s afraid of Morin. She doesn’t want to go to a hotel, in case he tracks her down, and she doesn’t have anyone else she can stay with.” Blaise knew he was asking a lot of his brother, but he didn’t see another way. He couldn’t live with himself if Morin did something to them and he could have prevented it.
“You need to find out if that kid she’s carrying is yours, bro. She could be taking you for a ride.”
Marla was a master manipulator who’d played both him and her husband, and Blaise wouldn’t put anything past her. “I’ll find out just as soon as I can. In the meantime, will you stay here with her, make sure she’s safe?”
“Sure, but—”
Blaise fished keys out of his pocket and handed them to Rowan. “Drive my Suburban. I’ll take the car to pick up Kiara, and we can take an airport limo from her place. Take Marla with you when you go to pick up your things. I don’t want her staying here alone.”
“You think Morin will come here looking for her?”
“It depends.” Blaise knew if he did, it wouldn’t end well. “I don’t know how invested he is in their relationship anymore. Maybe he’s happy to be rid of her.” Considering Marla had found him in bed with another woman, that was a distinct possibility. “Listen, there’s a gun in the safe. I’ll text you the combination.”
“I’m not afraid of Morin.”
Blaise admired his brother’s fearlessness, but he had reason to be cautious. “Don’t be an idiot. The guy’s a world-class boxer with a serious mean streak. He hates me, and if he shows up here looking for Marla, he won’t hesitate to go through you to get to her.” Blaise felt guilty for putting his brother in this position. “On second thought, maybe I should just call Kiara and tell her to take a girlfriend on the trip.”
“Don’t you dare.” Rowan grabbed Blaise’s shoulders and turned him toward the door. “You’re going on that trip, and you’re going to show that beautiful lady the time of her life. Don’t worry about things here. I’ve got it covered.”
“Are you sure?” Blaise asked, glancing at Rowan over his shoulder.
“Positive.”
Marla met them in the foyer. “I was just going to come looking for you.” Her eyes landed on Rowan. “This must be your brother.” She stepped forward, offering her hand. “I’m Marla Morin.”
“Rowan Thomas.” He gave her a cursory glance as he shook her hand. “Looks like we’re going to be roomies for a few days, Marla. If you’re okay with that?”
She looked at Blaise. “You don’t mind if I stay here while you’re gone? Are you sure?”
He didn’t exactly have a choice. She had him backed into a corner, and she knew it. “You’ll be in good hands with my brother.”
Marla’s eyes glided over Rowan. “I’m sure I will.”
Blaise was relieved Rowan didn’t seem the least bit interested. Apparently his kid brother had standards. “So I gotta go.” Shaking Rowan’s hand, he said, “I can’t thank you enough for doing this, Row.”
“Are you kidding?” He smirked as he pulled Blaise into a hug. “I owe you big time. This doesn’t even begin to repay my debt. Give your girl a birthday kiss for me, and don’t worry about a thing. Just have a good time.”
Marla’s little bombshell had put the kibosh on the vacation for him, but Blaise would bend over backward to make sure it didn’t ruin Kiara’s trip.
***
It was their third day in the Bahamas, Kiara’s birthday, and she couldn’t shake the feeling something was wrong with Blaise. He seemed distracted, checking his phone dozens of times a day.
At lunch that day, she reached across the table for his hand. “Babe, is something bothering you? You’ve been kind of quiet.” That was an understatement, but she didn’t want to put him on the defensive. They were in a tropical paradise, looking out on a white sandy beach with turquoise water, and Blaise acted as though they were facing the threat of a tsunami.
“No.” He took off his baseball cap and brushed his hair back before replacing it. “I’m fine.” He smiled. “What do you want to do this afternoon? The shopping tour, maybe?”
She knew he was trying to distract her, which only worried her more. “I don’t want to go on a tour. I want to talk.”
He picked up the plastic menu, perusing it. “Wanna split some nachos? I’m not all that hungry, but we should probably eat something.”
“Didn’t you hear me?” she asked, trying to keep her voice down in deference to the diners around them. “I said I want to talk.”
“So talk.” He reached for her strawberry daiquiri and took a sip. “
I’ve never been into these fruity drinks, but I have to admit, this isn’t half bad.”
Kiara stood, reaching for her beach bag. “Let’s take a walk.” No way would she have this conversation in front of dozens of happy couples and families. She wanted to get him alone, on an isolated stretch of beach, where she was free to scream in frustration if it came to that.
“It’s your call.” He slipped his hand in hers as they retraced their steps back to the beach they’d spent the better part of the morning enjoying.
They walked in silence until they’d passed most of the other hotel patrons. She finally said, “I know something’s bothering you. The fact that you refuse to tell me what only makes it worse. My imagination has to fill in the blanks and I—”
“I didn’t want to have this conversation today, Ki. It’s your birthday.”
So he did have something to talk to her about. She knew it. “I don’t care whether it’s my birthday or not. I want to know what the hell’s going on with you, and I want to know now!”
He’d stripped his T-shirt off when they hit the beach, but he was still wearing black board shorts, a baseball cap turned backward, and a pair of Ray-Bans. He looked so sexy, so laid-back, no one would guess he was keeping a secret, but Kiara knew in her gut he was about to say something that would change everything.
“Marla came to see me before I left,” he said. “She had some news.”
“What kind of news?” Her sheer sarong blew up as the waves rushed in, soaking her feet and calves, but she barely felt the cool water.
“She’s pregnant.”
He said it so quietly she had to strain to hear him, but she couldn’t mistake his words, no matter how much she might have wished she’d misunderstood. “She’s pregnant? And she came to tell you. Which means—”
“She doesn’t know who the father is. It could be me or Morin.” He tugged on her hand, pulling her to a stop. Pushing his sunglasses up on top of his head, he gripped her shoulders. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am, baby. We were careful, I swear. But—”
“Condoms break,” she whispered. “She wasn’t using another form of birth control?”
“Apparently not.”
Kiara was grateful for the over-sized shades hiding her tears. Her sadness would only make him feel worse, and she could tell he was already a wreck. “Does Morin know?” She’d talked to her client before she left to let him know he could contact Sabrina if he had any problems while she was out of town, and he hadn’t said anything of a personal nature.
“He just found out the kid might not be his. Marla’s about four months along, so I have to assume he’s known about the pregnancy for a while.”
“But he thought the baby was his?” She wrapped her arms around herself. In spite of the warm sun beating down on her, she was freezing.
“Yes.”
“Why did Marla finally come clean? Was her conscience getting the better of her?” She didn’t know the woman, but based on the stories Blaise had told her, she had to wonder whether Marla even had a conscience.
Blaise rolled his eyes. “I don’t think that woman has an altruistic bone in her body. She told Morin out of spite, because she found him with another woman and was pissed.”
“Huh.” Kiara walked on for a few dozen feet before sinking into a high and dry spot on the sand. She knew Blaise would follow her, but he was giving her a few minutes to process the news before he joined her.
“Do you hate me?” he asked softly when he claimed the spot beside her.
“I could never hate you.” She stared at the impossibly blue sky, thinking how perfect the landscape was, even while her life was painfully imperfect.
“But you don’t want to be with me anymore, do you?”
The question sounded so simple, but it wasn’t. She loved him. How could she walk away? How could she watch him play daddy to Marla’s baby, a woman she already despised? “This is a lot to take in.”
“I know, baby. I am so, so sorry. I don’t know what else to say.”
“There’s nothing you can say.” She drew her legs up, digging her toes into the sand as she wrapped her arms around her knees. “We just have to figure out where to go from here.” Laying her head on her knees, she looked at him. “Do you want the baby to be yours?”
He was staring straight out at the water, refusing to look at her. “Honestly? I don’t know. At first, I panicked. I would have done anything for it not to be true.”
“But now that you’ve had some time to think about it, you’re warming to the idea of being a daddy.” She tore her gaze away, unable to look at him when he confirmed what she already knew.
“This has nothing to do with my feelings for Marla. If I’m totally honest, I can’t figure out what the hell I saw in her.”
Kiara had seen pictures of Morin and Marla online. “She’s beautiful. Any man would likely be attracted to her.”
“Her beauty is only skin deep.” Blaise sighed. “Inside she’s a pretty ugly person, but I guess I am too. Maybe that’s why we got along so well. We had a lot in common.”
It bothered Kiara that he judged himself so harshly. She saw a completely different side of him when they were together. “I know if this baby is yours, you’ll take care of them. I wouldn’t expect any less of you, knowing how hard you tried to protect your brother.”
“It’s a boy,” he said softly. “Marla found out the baby she’s carrying is a boy.”
“A son.” Kiara felt bitterness burn the back of her throat. She loved Blaise. She’d hoped to one day give him a son, but it seemed Marla had beaten her to it. “You may be having a son.”
“It all seems so surreal,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I still can’t wrap my head around it.”
“When will you know for sure whether the baby’s yours?” The sooner, the better as far as she was concerned. She didn’t want Blaise to live in limbo indefinitely, possibly falling in love with a baby that wasn’t even his.
“Marla said it would be dangerous to do the paternity test before the baby is born. I didn’t believe her, so I did a little research yesterday. Turns out she was telling the truth. It would require amniocentesis, and there’s some risk associated with that.”
“What kind of risk?” Kiara felt sick just thinking about the months of uncertainty they were facing, but she couldn’t put a baby’s life in jeopardy just for a paternity test.
“In rare cases, amniotic fluid can continue to leak, which means the baby would have to be delivered or the mother would miscarry. Since Marla’s only four months, I’m pretty sure the baby wouldn’t stand a chance.”
“So that’s not an option.” Obviously. “So you wait.”
“I guess.” Blaise rubbed the stubble on his jaw. “I’m not gonna lie, this’ll be the longest five months of my life.”
“I’m sure.” Kiara was at a loss. She didn’t know what to say, how to express her anger, or whether she even had the right to be angry. Did she have a right to be angry that fate was a cruel bitch who’d interceded when Kiara had finally found a man she could imagine spending her life with? Maybe. Maybe not. It didn’t matter, because she was seething. And sad. So sad.
“I hate that I had to tell you about this now. I wanted today to be special for you. I had this great dinner planned tonight and—”
She shook her head. “It’s okay. I’m glad you told me. I knew something was bothering you. It must have been rough to keep it from me these past few days.”
He reached for her hand before shifting his body so they were facing each other. “I hope you don’t think I was trying to be deceitful. I had every intention of telling you after the trip.”
“I know.” Looking into his eyes, she saw his sincerity. She knew he would never intentionally hurt her—that was what made it so difficult. She was in pain, yet neither of them were at fault. No one was.
“Baby, I need to know where we go from here. Not knowing is killing me.”
“I love you.” She touche
d his face. “I’m not going to stop loving you just because another woman is carrying your baby.” Just saying it aloud saddened her. How was she supposed to get through the next five months?
“But this has to be brutal for you. I know if you told me you were pregnant with another man’s child, even if you’d conceived before we got together, it would destroy me.” He kissed her hand. “I want that with you, Ki. I love you. I see a future with you, and that means”—he flattened his palm against his chest—“that I get to be the father of your children. Me. Not some random guy you used to know.”
He was trying to tell her that Marla didn’t mean anything to him, perhaps never had, but that didn’t make it any easier to process. “I’m not going to lie, I had the same feelings when you told me.”
He lowered his head, looking at the sand. “Ever since I found out, I’ve been trying to put myself in your position, and it hurts like hell just thinking about it. I can’t imagine how you feel.”
“I’m not sure I know how I feel yet. I’m still kind of numb.” When he looked at her, she said, “I’m sad. I’m really sad and hurt and confused, but that doesn’t mean I blame you. I don’t.”
“But you may blame me for the decision I made when I found out.”
Oh, no. Judging by his despondence, Kiara knew his news was about to go from bad to worse. “What did you do?” She withdrew her hand from his, holding her breath as she waited.
“I kind of invited Marla to stay at my house while I was away.”
“You what? Why?” Kiara scooted back on the sand, putting some distance between them. “Why would you do that?”
“She was afraid Morin would come after her now that he knows the truth about the baby. They got into a fight before she left.” He sighed. “I told you about his volatile temper, that he abused her.”
“You were trying to protect your baby.” She closed her eyes, wishing they weren’t essentially trapped in a tropical paradise together. She needed to get away from him. To think. To take back some control and figure out what her next move should be. Right now she felt powerless, as though everything was happening to her.
Going For It (Texas Titans #7) Page 14