by Dee J. Adams
Leo handed over her float. “Did he say anything else?”
“Something about the car, but the line started cutting out and I couldn’t hear him. I told him I’d call him back, but all I heard him say was ‘available’ and ‘tomorrow.’” She shrugged. “So. That’s all I have for now.” She scooped some ice cream into her mouth. “Mmmm, this is good,” she said around her first bite.
It would be even better if he slathered it over her skin and licked it off but that would have to wait for another night.
“You might not want to consider this, but is it possible that his alibi is bogus or that he hired someone else to do it? I mean, he’s a cousin that just lost out on a butt load of money. Don’t discount that fact.” When she didn’t say anything, he kept going. “You know you’re welcome to come back here anytime. Actually, I’d feel a lot better if you were close by.”
She stirred her spoon again before meeting his gaze. “I know. Thanks,” she said quietly. “It’s been pretty quiet the last couple of days. Honestly, if Wilson wanted to kill me he’s had nothing but time.”
Leo didn’t want to push her. It wouldn’t do him any good, but her answer wasn’t enough. He’d have to show her his intentions and that started with tonight. It started with showing her their relationship didn’t revolve around finances and sex. A little patience might go along way…if he could only find it.
There was nothing Kim wanted to do more than stay with Leo, but that would only lead to misery. He watched her closely and she’d never felt more scrutinized.
“Sounds like you’ve made up your mind,” he replied, seeming to read her silence.
“Leo, I can’t.” Staying here meant a merry-go-round of great sex followed by the roller coaster of self-recrimination. She wanted a good relationship with her baby’s father. She didn’t want to end up hating him because he couldn’t return her feelings and she couldn’t hold it against Leo if he didn’t love her. Single motherhood awaited and if she wanted to start holding her own, then now was as good a time as any to start.
“Because…” he pressed. He deserved an answer.
“It’s no secret that I like you, Leo. But liking you doesn’t mean I’m going to change my life for you more than I already have.”
“I don’t remember asking you to change anything for me.”
No, he hadn’t asked. He’d just accomplished it when they’d had sex and she’d become pregnant. It didn’t change much bigger than that. “Look, I’m not blaming you. It takes two. I get it.” She shook her head and turned away, at a loss for words. “I just…” She didn’t want to make him feel bad, but they both knew the emotional risk he’d taken in the past. Zero. So why should this be any different? She refused to force him into a relationship on the basis of like. Like wasn’t strong enough. Not even close. She wanted head over heels in love. She wanted happily ever after. The knight in shining armor. She was a sap. A sucker. A dreamer. All those endings happened in fairy tales, not real life.
Real life happened with a lot more grit and a lot less happy involved.
“You just…” Leo stood right behind her. She hadn’t heard him move and the solid warmth of his presence radiated along her back. “What? What were you going to say?”
It seemed stupid to dodge the question and she’d always been honest with him. Kim faced him. Even beat up, he was drop-dead gorgeous. “I don’t want to be with a man who just likes me. I want a man who loves me. A lot. Despite my faults. I want a guy who’s not afraid to commit. A man who’s in it for the long haul and not until the next best thing comes along.”
Leo didn’t budge, but his gaze flattened and his eyes lost their sparkle. She’d hurt him.
“Let’s be honest, Leo. You really still don’t want to be a parent. You’ve just psyched yourself up because it’s what you think you have to do.” She took a step around him to get some space. “We like each other, sure. I admit it. But that’s not enough. And not only can’t I force you to love me, but I don’t want to make you live a life you’d regret.” She faced him again with a few feet between them. “You don’t deserve that. Neither one of us do.”
“So you’d regret living with me. Is that what I’m hearing?” He wouldn’t even look at her.
“I would regret not waiting for a man who loves me.”
Leo crossed to the other side of the kitchen, his hand brushing through his hair in obvious frustration. “I guess this means you’re ready to take off then.” His body language didn’t match his neutral tone and Kim wished she knew what he was thinking.
This wasn’t how Kim wanted the night to end. Something deep and painful made her chest ache as she watched him. “If you—”
Leo’s mobile phone rang and he glanced at the screen on the counter. His face morphed into a worried frown. He snatched it up and turned, giving her a perfect view of his fine ass. “This is Leo,” he said. Then he listened. “When?” He ran a hand through his hair again and started pacing his small kitchen. “Where the hell was the aide when this happened?”
This had to be about Megan. Leo didn’t have any other family members who needed round-the-clock nursing care.
“Where is she now?” He checked his watch. “Yeah, I’ll be there as soon as I can. You have this number, so if you can text the address and number of the hospital, I’d appreciate it.” He listened for a few more seconds. “Yeah, me too. Thanks for calling. I’ll see you soon.” He punched the screen and gave her a cursory glance. “I need to go.” He ran a hand through his hair as he passed her for the hall closet. He pulled out an oversized backpack and a jacket.
“What happened?” Kim kept her voice steady. For a guy with Oscar winning acting chops, Leo didn’t seem to be hiding any of his worry. Then again, she already knew about Megan.
“What’s it matter to you?” He took the stairs with his pack and Kim followed.
“Because believe it or not, you matter to me.”
“After that speech you just gave me, I tend to think otherwise.” He started pulling clothes from his closet and tossing them into the bag.
“Do you need me to call the airlines while you pack?” It was the least she could do.
Leo swore and snatched the phone from his back pocket. He scrolled through his contacts, then he went to the receiver on his bedside table and punched some numbers. “Hey, Jim, it’s Leo.” Jim must have said something funny because Leo actually cracked a smile. “Heard about that, did you? News travels fast in this town. Look, I need a huge favor. I hope you can help me.” Leo nodded as he listened. “I forgot about that. But what I need goes above and beyond.” He paused. “Do you still keep a pilot on call? I need the use of your airplane so I can get to New York ASAP. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.” Leo continued to stuff his pack with essentials. He listened and checked his watch. “I totally understand. I’m packing now and I should get to the airport by…” He closed his eyes and calculated. “Ten-forty. It’s going to be tight, but I’ll make it.” He opened his eyes and nodded. “Thanks, man. I owe you big time. Yeah. I’ll talk to you soon. Thanks again.” Leo pocketed his phone.
“Are you going to tell me what happened?” Kim’s pulse had taken a sudden roller coaster ride, listening to Leo try to keep his shit together.
For the first time he looked at her and she saw the devastation in his eyes. “Megan had another seizure. She fell out of bed and landed face first. She might’ve fractured her orbit, but they still need to take X-rays. She’s been unconscious since the seizure so we could be looking at something else. They’re doing tests now.” The more he spoke, the more it seemed to hit him.
“Leo, I’m so sorry.”
He nodded and glanced around his bedroom, looking lost and alone and Kim couldn’t stand for him to go through this without anyone to lean on.
“So, you have a friend with a private jet that can take you to the East Coast tonight. It’s nice to have friends in high places.”
He nodded again, but she didn’t think he heard a wor
d she said.
She should go, but she couldn’t leave him. Getting on the airplane two months ago had been hard enough, but leaving him when he seemed so vulnerable seemed like abuse. “Can I come with you?” The words were out of her mouth before she even thought it through.
Leo met her gaze and couldn’t hide the quick flash of hope in his eyes before masking it. “I don’t see the point,” he said, snatching his bag and heading downstairs.
Kim followed close on his heels. “I do. You need a wingman. I’ll do whatever you need. Just like the other day in the desert.”
He stopped and turned, and Kim nearly ran into him. They looked eye to eye on the uneven stairs. “Why?”
“Because, believe it or not, I care about you and I want to be here for you.” And maybe, just maybe, she wanted him to need her beyond her body. Maybe it was a suicide mission on her part, but she couldn’t leave him so absolutely wrecked.
Meow. Stella twirled around their ankles.
“Shit. I forgot about Stella,” he said, lifting the feline in his big hand.
Normally that might cause a problem, but he wasn’t looking at the big picture. “It’s a private jet. Let’s take her with us.”
“Us?” He studied her. “I never said yes to you coming along.”
But he hadn’t said no, either. “Let me help you, Leo.”
He looked at Stella and back to her before sighing. “How the hell are we going to accomplish anything with a cat in tow?”
Kim took Stella from his arms and brushed by him to her bag sitting by the front door. She took out a little black book and a few other items and set Stella inside. She smiled up at him with a flourish of her hands around the bag. “Voila!”
“Fine, so Stella has a bed. What about food, water and a litter box? What about you? You have nothing with you?” He shook his head. “It doesn’t make sense. What makes sense is for you to stay here and take care of Stella until your driver’s license gets here.”
Kim faced him head on. “Do you want to go alone? Be honest.” He opened his mouth, but she cut him off. “None of your Academy Award winning bullshit either,” she said. “If you have some convoluted reason that makes you think you need to go at this alone, then fine, I won’t stop you, but if you want me to go with you. Then just say it.”
Leo swallowed, looked past her, then met her gaze. He shook his head, then sighed. “It.”
Kim’s heart took a flying leap and she blinked back emotion. “Good.” This was the perfect way to begin a solid friendship based on caring and understanding. She headed to the kitchen and filled two large Ziploc bags with dry cat food and two with cat litter. Then she filled a thermos of water, grabbed a small plastic bowl and a shallow pan. Five minutes later, she returned with everything stuffed into a brown bag. She set Stella in her purse so her little head peeked out between the straps. “We’re ready. Let’s go.”
“What about Wilson?” Leo asked as they headed toward his car.
“I’ll call him from the road. He’s the least of my problems.”
Chapter Nineteen
Leo drove to the Santa Monica airport and tried to breathe through the guilt crushing his chest. He could only picture Megan in the hospital, lying flat on her back with tubes running from her body and into machines. They didn’t say she was on a ventilator, but with Megan’s health as precarious as it was, that situation might not be far off.
He didn’t remember arriving at the hangar, or meeting Jim’s pilot and boarding the Gulfstream V. Somewhere over Nevada, he looked down, saw Kim holding his hand and his chest tightened. “Thanks for coming with me.” He hated the unfamiliar hitch in his voice.
“You’re welcome.” Her soft smile gave him hope. Hope that maybe the situation wasn’t as bad as he worried it might be. She was the one person who could help him through this. The only one he’d confided in about Megan. Seemed that no matter what kind of shit rained down, she was there to help shield him. Sure, she cared about him, but she didn’t love him, and he never thought of himself as relationship material. Never imagined he’d want to be with someone ’til death do you part. Was that why Kim had him so off balance? Was it more than the pregnancy? His headache from hell suddenly got much worse and he rubbed his fingers over his forehead to ease the pain. Right. As if that might work.
“Looks like Stella’s adapted pretty well.” Curled in Kim’s lap, Stella snoozed at thirty-nine thousand feet. Kim gently stroked a hand over the cat’s soft head. “She seems pretty good at rolling with the punches.”
He could probably take a lesson from the damn cat.
Kim had boarded this plane without a stitch of luggage. She’d packed cat food and Stella and nothing for herself. During most of the time they spent together, she had practically no personal belongings, yet she rebounded like a champ, without a whine or complaint. “You’re pretty good at it too.”
“Sink or swim, right?” She gave a soft smile and squeezed his hand and Leo fought back the lump in his throat. “So how long does it take to fly to the East Coast in one of these things?” She looked around the interior of the plush private jet with its tan, leather recliners and extra-long sofa across from a big screen. It was Jim’s playroom in the sky.
“The usual. Five and half/six hours. I usually don’t pay attention. I board a plane and sleep.”
“That’s probably a good idea.” She pushed the recliner back, so Leo did the same. The leg rest automatically came up and they looked at each other. “This is really decadent.” The sparkle in her eyes lifted his spirits and that old feeling returned. That urge to lavish her with gifts and surprises and all the girly things she loved so much. Her smile faded as she watched him. “You just let me know what you need, when you need it and I’ll be here for you.”
“But just for this trip,” he said. He wanted to take back the words. To kick the shit out of himself for even bringing it up, but the truth was right there, staring him in the face.
“Leo, you don’t want more of me and you’re not in love with me. But you do have my support. Always. You’re the father of my baby.”
Leo swallowed back the hurt and regret. Her words crushed him like an avalanche. It’s what he deserved. Why should she stay with him when he couldn’t give her what she wanted? What she needed?
“Thanks for coming with me.” He couldn’t look at her when he said it and purposely avoided the expression on her face. Pity or compassion…he didn’t want either.
“You’re welcome.” She squeezed his hand again and Leo didn’t feel so alone.
He must have slept because the plane jolted him awake and the rising sun cut a blinding shard of light through the plane windows.
“Welcome to New Jersey, folks,” the pilot said over the intercom as the engine noise ratcheted down. “Mr. Carrey has arranged for a car for you.”
“Mr. Carrey?” Kim repeated. Her green eyes rounded like half dollars as Jim’s full name came together. “Jim. Jim Carrey?”
Leo stretched out the kinks, and his back and knees cracked in the process. “You know him?” He grinned at her surprise. He loved that look on her face. “I’ve known him for about fifteen years. In fact, he owes me. I turned down Bruce Almighty because of a conflict in my schedule, and it was the highest rated Memorial Day weekend opening of any movie.”
She cocked her head to the side, her smile brilliant as she adjusted Stella in her lap and unbuckled her seat belt. “Is that why he loaned you his jet?”
“That might be part of it. I also got him a good deal on his current house when I set him up with the seller. They didn’t use any brokers and saved a fortune in fees. I think that’s the debt he thinks he’s repaying.” The plane slowed as it neared a row of hangars.
“Who knew you were such a nice guy?” Kim said as the plane came to a stop. She eased Stella back into her bag. “We’re going straight to the hospital, yes?”
Leo stood and tossed his pack over his shoulder. “I’d like to if you don’t mind.”
“
It’s your show, Leo.” Kim rose and faced him. “I’m here for you.”
Leo watched her for a second, taking in her confidence and letting some of it bleed off on him. She rarely seemed to falter. It was something he admired about her. The urge to kiss her hit him like a club. He needed her in a way that overwhelmed his senses. She filled up every empty part of his soul when she looked at him like that. Instead of doing something she’d regret later, he took her hand and headed for the door. The pilot came from the cockpit and opened it. “You two have a nice stay. Our plan is to remain until Mr. Carrey calls us back or you’re ready to go home.”
“Thanks, Travis. I appreciate the last minute service.”
“My pleasure, Mr. Frost.” They shook hands and Leo started down the stairs with Kim behind him. A few clouds dotted the mostly clear sky and cool early morning air felt good after so many hours in the plane.
Leo headed toward the black stretch limo thirty yards away near the closest airplane hangar. “If you want get a taxi while I’m at the hospital, that’s fine with me. You probably need to pick up a few things to get through the next couple of days. I need to make another phone call, but I’ve got a place for us to stay.”
“I’ll figure out my stuff later from the hospital.”
Leo gave her a sidelong glance. She constantly surprised him. “You know when I first met you, I thought you’d be nothing but high maintenance.”
“I am very high maintenance,” Kim told him, a grin sliding across her beautiful lips. She kept pace with his long stride. “You’ve never seen me in my natural habitat.”
A pink bedroom with a ruffled four-poster bed and white carpeting blossomed in his mind. Maybe a few turquoise pillows popped some color into the space. Her place would be as put together as she was. Then he imagined himself there. With her. He could see stripping her bare and taking her down on that frilly bed in her natural habitat.