by Lori Wilde
“So you said.” He turned off the road into a residential area and used his calm-the-civilian-down voice. “Is she sick?”
“She’s not there.”
“Is it your sister, then?”
She still wouldn’t look at him. “No. Can you pull up here?”
All the lights were on in the small row house. As he followed her up to the door, which stood ajar, all his senses were on high alert.
“Della! We’re in here. Come on!”
“Adrianna.”
The door at the end of the hallway stood open. Nate paused at the entrance as Della ran forward to embrace the woman seated on the couch. At first he wasn’t sure what she was holding until he realized it was a small child wrapped in a cheerful patchwork quilt.
Della turned to him. “We need to take Perry to the ER.”
“Got it.” He helped Adrianna stand up. “Do you want me to carry your daughter?”
“No, I’ve got her.”
Della grabbed his arm. “I can drive. You don’t need to come with us.”
“I’m coming.” What kind of a guy did she think he was?
He marched back to the car, opening all the passenger doors, and waited patiently as Adrianna maneuvered herself and her daughter inside.
“Where’s the hospital?”
“The one we need is about ten miles away,” Della answered as she buckled up her seat belt.
He lowered his voice as they pulled away. “Wouldn’t it have been quicker to call an ambulance?”
“Sometimes they can take forever to get here, so my sister doesn’t trust them anymore.”
“I’ll go as fast as I can, then.”
He concentrated on the route, testing the speed limits. The roads were empty at this time of night so there was no need to be stupid.
He pulled up right outside the ER and let Della and her sister out. “I’ll look for somewhere to park and come and find you, okay?”
Della looked as if she was going to tell him to leave, but instead she nodded and briefly touched his hand. “Thanks, Nate.”
“You’re welcome.”
It took him a while to find a parking spot. By the time he entered the waiting room, there was no sign of Della or her sister. He made himself known to the nursing staff, sat down in one of the hard chairs, and took out his cell.
He quickly texted Travis and Della and then sat quietly, letting the adrenaline stream out of him. It was weird not just walking through to the back and finding out everything he needed to know. He’d spent way too many hours in hospitals waiting for information he’d had to pass on to distraught families. He’d always hated that part of his job, but it had been necessary. He could only hope Della’s little niece would be okay . . .
* * *
A long time later, when he’d almost nodded off, he felt a touch on his shoulder and Della sank into the chair next to him. She looked as if she’d been crying.
“Hey.” He fought off a yawn. “How’s Perry holding up?”
“She’s stabilized, which is the most important thing.”
A huge sigh shuddered through Della. He instinctively put his arm around her shoulders, and she leaned into him.
Her hair still smelled of roses and he inhaled her warmth and sweetness. Time ticked by, but he didn’t care. Holding her, looking out for her, just felt right.
“Perry has hemophilia A.”
“That’s a blood disorder, right?”
“Yes. It’s genetic. Usually it’s under control, but she gets the occasional breakout bleeding and it has to be stopped.”
“That sucks.”
“Yeah, I know, and it’s incurable, so she’s going to be stuck on medication for the rest of her life.” She swallowed hard. “I called my mom. She shouted at me for not being there for Adrianna immediately, and for abandoning my family and my home.”
Nate kissed the top of her head. “People say all kinds of bull when they’re in shock. She probably didn’t mean it.”
“I think she did.” Della rubbed her cheek against his shirt. “But if I don’t work, I won’t be able to send money home, and then we’d all be in trouble.”
“Your mom probably won’t even remember what she said when she’s feeling better. I’m sure she knows in her heart that you’re doing your best.”
She didn’t answer him, but she didn’t pull away either, so he held her close, smoothing a hand over her hair and down her back in an endless soothing caress. Eventually she stirred and straightened up, wisps of her hair stuck to her cheek.
“Thanks for being here for me—especially after what happened today.”
Nate held her suddenly shy gaze. “Della, I’ll always be there for you. Don’t you know that yet?”
She cupped his chin. “Don’t say that. We hardly know each other and I’m—”
“Not available,” Nate finished for her. “I know.”
“No! That’s not it at all.” She blinked away the suggestion of tears. “I’m not stalking Travis Whitley either. It’s . . . complicated.”
He contemplated her for a long moment, aware of the honesty in her eyes as hope reignited within him.
“I’m here for you, Della. Just tell me what you need and I’ll do it.”
She stood up, one hand on his shoulder. “I need you to be patient with me, okay? I need you to . . . wait.” She shook her head. “Oh Lord, that’s not right either, is it? Why would you bother to do that? We hardly know each other.”
“Yeah, we do.” He grabbed her hand and pressed it to his heart. “We know how we feel in here. So I’ll wait for you, Della, but at some point you’ll have to be honest with me, okay?”
“I will.” She bent to kiss his mouth. “Now let me go and check on Adrianna and Perry. When my mom gets here, we’ll be able to leave.”
* * *
She couldn’t do it.
Della opened her eyes as the car drew into the parking lot of the hotel and Nate turned the engine off. She was dog-tired and Perry still hadn’t been given the all clear. Her mom had decided to stay at the hospital with Adrianna, so after checking in with the neighbor who was watching Josie, her other niece, Della was free to leave.
“I’ll walk you up to your room.”
She jumped as Nate opened the car door and offered her his hand. It was funny how important and necessary his strength had become to her. He was as solid and reliable as a rock. She’d never had someone to lean on before. It was both thrilling and scary at the same time.
“Thanks.”
It was quiet in the hotel lobby, the lights dim, and no one was manning the desk. Within moments they were standing outside the room, and Nate used his card to open the door.
“Sleep tight, Della. Call me if you need anything and I’ll be right here.”
She gathered her courage and faced him. “If you stayed right here, you’d be much easier to find.”
“I need to go check in with Travis.” Nate took off his hat and smoothed a hand through his brown hair. “He offered me a bed in his suite.”
“So you’d rather be with him than me?”
“You told me you wanted me to wait, and hell, I don’t feel like waiting with you standing there, all lush and rumpled and . . .” He took an unsteady step backward. “When we make love, I want it to be honest and true and . . .” He groaned. “Special, okay?”
“Okay.” Now that she knew what she wanted, she could wait another day if he could. Rising up on tiptoe, she kissed the firm line of his mouth. “Good night, Nate, and thanks a million.”
She closed the door behind him and contemplated what she had to do. Grabbing a pen and her notebook, she sat down and wrote a list of all the people she needed to contact before she lost her nerve. She was done with being scared. Seeing her niece fighting for her life again had reignited her desire to make the best of her time in this world, not to allow others to steal her joy.
It came down to something very simple. What was more important? Maintaining her self-respect or runnin
g scared from Wade’s threats? She’d been looking at it from the wrong angle, allowing fear to dictate her responses. Now she’d met Travis, she couldn’t imagine sharing her photos with the loathsome Wade, who would surely sell them to some celebrity site and make a fortune.
She was good at her job. She’d rather find an honest way to help Adrianna and Perry with the crippling costs of her ongoing treatment than give in to blackmail.
Opening her laptop, she pulled up her email and started at the top with the CEO of her company, cc’ing Wade.
To whom it may concern . . .
“Her niece has hemophilia?”
“Yeah.”
“Which type?”
“A, I think she said. I don’t know much about it myself.”
Nate sat across from Travis in the suite, where they were sharing a lavish breakfast. It was still early in the morning. He’d hardly slept and hadn’t yet shaved.
Travis put down his fork. “Do you know you pay for the prophylactic doses by weight? So the bigger the kid gets, the more it costs?”
“That’s like the blood transfusions, right?”
“Yeah, and guess how much that runs to a month? Thirty thousand bucks.” Travis whistled. “Can you believe that? And sure, insurance covers most of it, but there are always extra costs, like visits to the ER and days lost for working parents and all kinds of shit.”
“Which probably means Della is helping to support her family,” Nate said. “That’s a heck of a burden on everyone.”
Travis finished his coffee in one gulp. “It’s not a burden if you love someone. I bet Della would tell you that.”
“How come you know so much about hemophilia?” Nate asked slowly.
Travis studied the bottom of his mug. “Because I have a son. He’s the same age as Perry and has the same condition.”
“You have a kid?”
“Yeah. No one knows, okay? His mother didn’t want anything to do with me or my fame or any of it, and I . . . let her go. But I pay for my son and I see him as much as I can. He’s not doing too good at the moment, but I keep praying.”
Nate reached across the table and briefly squeezed Travis’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. I promise I won’t tell a soul.”
“Thanks, because if this got out, my ex would kill me. I slipped up last week and was seen near her house, and now everyone wants to know who my ‘mystery lover’ is.” Travis managed a faint smile. “So did you and Della really fall out over her family obligations?”
Nate gladly accepted the change of subject. “Nope. I had no idea Perry was sick until Della needed a ride to the ER.” Seeing as Travis had shared something so intensely personal with him, it only seemed fair to reciprocate. “Della was taking pictures at the wedding.”
“So was everyone.”
“She was just taking pictures of you.”
Travis let out a breath. “Shit.”
“I asked her whether she had some kind of thing going on with you and she got mad and insisted she was stalking you.”
“She’s not one of my regulars, and trust me, I know them all.” Travis grimaced. “They follow me everywhere. In fact, I’ve never seen Della before in my life.”
“She could be a secret stalker.”
Travis raised an eyebrow. “Right. Or maybe she wanted the pictures for another reason. She said she worked in digital marketing or something? Maybe she was going to sell them to someone.”
Nate felt like someone had stabbed him in the chest. “Della wouldn’t do that.”
“She might if she needed the money for Perry.”
Nate sat back. “Damn. I need to talk to her.”
Travis reached for the coffeepot. “You go do that, and let me know what she says.”
* * *
After the mechanic fixed her car, Della packed up her stuff and attempted to pay the extras on the bill at the desk, only to find that all the charges had already been taken care of. Considering everything that was about to go down, it was the least of her problems and could wait. She walked back up the stairs and found Nate knocking on her door.
“Hey,” she called out to him. “I was just going to text you. Where’s Travis?”
He turned toward her, his expression grave, and her heart gave a little jump. Would she lose him now? Had everything she’d just done been for nothing?
“Why do you want to talk to Travis?”
“Not for the reason you think.” She stopped walking and stared him down. “Please? I want you to be there as well.”
“Okay, but—”
“Just let me get my purse.”
She went into the room, leaving him leaning against the opposite wall, and picked up her bag from the bed. One part of her was terrified; the other felt strangely at peace. A last check around to make sure she hadn’t missed anything and she returned to find Nate.
“How’s Perry doing?”
“A lot better.” Della was glad to be able to give him some good news. “She’ll be coming home today.”
“Awesome.” He picked up her bag and pointed at the elevators. “We need to go up to the top floor.”
There was a bodyguard stationed outside Travis’s door, but he waved them both through.
Travis was sitting by the window drinking coffee. It was weird how the lack of the right cowboy hat made him almost unrecognizable. He gestured toward a seat, but Della was too uptight to sit.
“Morning, Miss Della, and what can I do for you today? Did my old friend mess up his apology?”
“Apology for what?” Della asked, looking over at Nate.
“Thinking you were a stalker when all you were doing was taking my picture for reasons of your own.”
Her knees wobbled and she dropped into the chair behind her. “You . . . knew?”
“Honey, I’ve been in this business long enough to spot paparazzi fifty miles away. You were an amateur.”
She took a deep breath. “I want you to personally erase all the pictures I took of you on my phone and my camera.” She rummaged in her purse and put both items on the coffee table between them.
“Why?” Travis considered her as Nate took the seat beside him.
“Because I couldn’t use them.”
“Why not? You could’ve earned big money for every picture.”
“I know.” She met his calm gaze. “But it would’ve been a gross invasion of your privacy, and to be honest, I wouldn’t have made any money. It was my boss who ordered me to get the pictures.”
Travis just looked at her encouragingly, so she kept talking.
“He was mad when I wouldn’t sleep with him and said he’d get me fired if I didn’t do what he said.” She pressed a hand to her chest. “I was afraid to say no because my family needs the money I earn to pay the extra medical bills. My mom’s close to losing her house. It’s no excuse, but at first I thought, it’s just a few pictures, it’s not hurting anyone, and my sister needs that money, but then I met you and liked you, and I didn’t like myself very much at all.”
She forgot how to breathe during her long and complicated explanation and took a big gulp of air to compensate.
“So what did you do?” The question came from Nate.
“I refused to send the images.”
“Which means you’ll probably be fired.”
“No, I beat them to it. I quit.” She shrugged. “It’s just a job. I’m fairly certain I can find another one.” At least she hoped she could.
“Della . . .” Nate reached for her hand just as Travis started talking.
“Let’s do this. Sell the images yourself, Della.”
“What?”
Travis shrugged. “I’d rather you got the money than anyone else. At least I know you’ll use it for a good cause.”
Della and Nate exchanged startled glances.
“Are you serious?”
“Hell yeah. I can even get my publicist to tell you where you’ll get the best price. Do you want to take a selfie of us together? Because then the public
might think we’re together and leave my ex in peace.” He winked. “Sometimes we have to play ball with the bad guys if we want to be left alone.”
“My old boss would be furious.” Della imagined Wade’s face if the pictures came out. “Actually, that might be awesome payback.” She got to her feet, her gaze going from Nate to Travis and back again. “Thank you for the offer. But I still can’t do it.”
“You sure about that?” Travis asked.
“Yes. One hundred percent sure.”
Travis rose and tipped his imaginary hat to her. “You’re a woman of integrity, Miss Della, and I appreciate that.”
“Thank you.” She knew she’d done the right thing and had no regrets, but she could only wonder what her sister and mother might say.
Travis opened the outside door and beckoned to his bodyguard. “Get my bags, please.”
“Yes, sir.”
Nate walked over and took Della’s shaking hand.
“You okay?”
She managed to nod as Travis turned back to them.
“The suite’s paid up until the end of the week and I’ve ordered you dinner at eight. So I suggest you make good use of your time together.” He winked. “From what I can tell, you two have a lot in common.”
“How’s that?” Della had to ask.
“You both turned down big-money deals with me. And in a weird way I appreciate your honesty enormously.” Travis gave them one last killer smile. “Let me know the date of your wedding, okay? I’m singing.”
“Thanks, Travis,” Nate said, his attention still on Della. “Thanks for everything.”
“You’re welcome, buddy. Keep in touch.”
Chapter Five
Nate smiled down at Della as the door closed behind Travis and his bodyguard.
“You okay?”
She looked up at him and he caught his breath at the conflicting emotions in her brown eyes.
“I’m just about holding things together. Considering that I’ve quit my job, refused to sell candid shots of one of the world’s biggest country-western stars to the gossip rags, and pretended to be a stalker all in a twenty-four-hour period.”
“Pretty impressive.”
She placed her palm against his chest. “And I hurt you.”