by Tia Siren
I felt her stir and knew she was waking up.
“Hey,” I said in a low voice.
“Hi,” she murmured.
My fingers were running up and down her arm. It was a natural instinct to caress her. It felt good to wake up with her. I had thought I would be terrified and running scared, but with her, I didn’t have the instinct to flee.
“I’ll go make some coffee.”
She sighed and rolled over, pulling the sheet over her bare breasts. “I’ll be right here.”
I laughed. “Do you want to go sit in the hot tub for a bit or relax in the spa?”
“No. I just want to sleep a little more.”
I kissed her forehead before rolling over, getting out of bed, and strutting naked toward the door.
“Put some clothes on!” she teased.
“Why? I’m just going to get naked again,” I replied, but I headed for my dresser and pulled on a pair of boxers anyway. Cooking anything in the nude was dangerous business. I wasn’t interested in splashing hot coffee on parts I really cherished.
I made the coffee before rooting around in the refrigerator and pulling out some eggs. A noise behind me had me spinning around on full alert. My own nerves were a little taut with all the kidnapping plots going on around me.
“Hey! I thought you were sleeping a little longer.”
She shrugged. “I was thirsty.”
“I’m going to make some eggs. Do you want some?”
She turned up her nose. “No, thanks. I’m just going to grab a ginger ale I think.”
“You sure? You haven’t eaten much of anything. I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but you need to eat. It’ll give you strength, and I’m sure you’ll feel better once you get something in your stomach.”
I pulled out what I needed and made a pan of scrambled eggs. She opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of ginger ale. She sipped it and watched me as I cooked. I liked having her in the kitchen, hanging out and enjoying a Saturday morning together. I dished up a plate for her, hoping she had changed her mind after smelling the breakfast.
“You should try to eat,” I said, pushing the plate toward her.
“I think I’m coming down with something. I’ve not been feeling well the last few days,” she said, looking at the eggs as if they were going to attack her at any given second.
“Kendall—”
She got up and ran out of the kitchen. I followed her to the bathroom, where she slammed the door. I heard her vomiting and instantly felt bad for pushing the eggs on her. I walked back to the kitchen, giving her some privacy and finishing my own breakfast.
When she came back into the kitchen, she looked pale. The dark circles under her eyes looked even darker.
“I’m sorry,” I blurted out. “I didn’t mean to make you sick. I shouldn’t have tried to force you to eat. You’re fully capable of deciding when you want to eat.”
She nodded her head. “It’s fine.”
Something had changed. She was acting different.
“How about some toast?” I said, unable to stop myself from trying to feed her.
“No. I’m going to shower and then I need to run to the store. Is that going to be okay?”
I nodded my head, a sudden realization dawning. It wasn’t like I had lady things lying around the house. It was her time of the month. I wasn’t well-versed in that department, but I knew it could be rough for some.
“I’ll let security know.”
Once she left the kitchen, I quickly scarfed down my last bit of eggs before tidying up and heading up to change as well. She was pacing the foyer when I came downstairs.
“They said I can’t leave yet,” she said.
“They were waiting for me.”
“You’re going!” she said, horror on her face.
I shrugged a shoulder. “Yes. I had thought to. Is that a problem?”
“No,” she mumbled, grabbing her purse and making a grand gesture for the door.
Clearly, she was a little cranky. I heard her mumbling under her breath about needing a limo to go to the drugstore and bit back a chuckle. I had asked for my town car to be pulled out of the garage, and it was now waiting out front.
Kendall looked around the street. “Where’s the limo?”
“I can have it brought over, but I thought it was a little more practical to use the town car. There isn’t a lot of parking in this neighborhood and my limo is a bit obnoxious.”
“Yes, it is,” she snapped.
My driver opened the door, allowing Kendall to climb in. I quickly told him where we needed to go before getting in behind her. There was a lot of tension in the back of the car, and it had nothing to do with sex. She was a prickly pear, and all I could think about was how long the coming week was going to be.
“Here we are, sir,” the driver announced, pulling up to the curb in front of a drugstore.
I unbuckled my seat belt and she panicked.
“No! I don’t need your help! Please!”
I held up my hands. “Okay, okay. I’ll wait here.”
She scrambled out of the car before frantically rushing into the drugstore. I wasn’t sure how she could be embarrassed about something so normal after what we had done last night and other nights. I wouldn’t push it even though I felt like we were in high school or something.
The door opened, and she got into the car, clutching her huge purse close to her.
“Did you get what you needed?” I asked, noticing she wasn’t carrying a bag.
“Yes.”
I realized it was in her purse. She was going to hide the purchase from me as well. The woman had grown up with a single father. I was amazed she was still so secretive about the whole thing. It wasn’t like I’d never seen a box of tampons before.
“Did you need to go anywhere else?” I asked, the driver looking at me in the mirror, waiting for my instructions.
“No. I’d like to go back now.”
I nodded my head and the driver pulled away from the curb. I didn’t bother trying to talk to her on the way back. I felt like I’d been plopped in the middle of a minefield and had no idea where to step without setting off a deadly explosion. The safest bet was to sit down and shut up and wait for rescue. In this case, I would wait a few days or however long it took.
The car had barely come to a full stop before she darted out and ran up the steps to the front door. The security guard opened it, perhaps out of fear she would go through the damn thing if he didn’t. He looked at me and I shrugged a shoulder, answering his unasked question.
I had no idea.
She was on her way up the stairs as I made my way into the foyer.
“Kendall, will you please relax? It isn’t like I don’t understand the female body. There’s nothing to worry about,” I said, trying to assure her.
She laughed, but it wasn’t a normal laugh. It was strained and more of a choking sound as she disappeared upstairs.
I shook my head, wondering why I had opened my mouth. The ringing phone in my back pocket was the perfect distraction. I immediately recognized Jonathan’s number and answered while walking toward my office for a little privacy.
“What’s going on?” I asked, closing the door behind me.
“They got him,” he said, excitement in his voice.
“Adams?” I clarified.
“Yep. He was in the Bahamas, not too far from one of those vacation homes Kendall told you about.”
“Thank God. Is he on his way back to New York?”
“Yes. They have to do all their legal stuff, but he’ll be here soon. I thought you’d want to know. I think the threat is probably over, but until this can all be wrapped up for sure, it would be a good idea to stay vigilant,” he said.
I nodded, fist-pumping the air with my free hand. “Thanks, Jonathan. Stay in touch.”
“Will do,” he said and hung up the phone.
I couldn’t wait to tell Kendall. The woman could use some good news. I headed up t
he stairs toward her room. I happened to catch her coming out of one of the guest bathrooms on the fourth floor. She was crying.
“Kendall?” I asked, wondering what the hell was going on.
“Leave me alone!” she wailed, pushing past me and going into her bedroom.
I stood there, a bit dumbfounded. I didn’t think she was one for dramatics. I couldn’t imagine going through this every month. It was going to be rough. Then, I realized I had just assumed we would be together in the coming months. That was something I’d think about later.
I took a deep breath, bracing myself for an emotional outburst, and headed down the hall.
“Kendall?” I called out, gently knocking on the door.
“Go away!”
“I’ll be home all day. I’m here if you want to talk,” I said, feeling a little foolish.
I heard her say something unintelligible and figured it was probably best I didn’t understand the words. She was a bit of an emotional wreck. I was going to seek refuge four floors away in my office. That had to be safer than staying close.
Throughout the rest of the day, I made trips upstairs to ask if she needed anything. Each time I received a variation of go away, sometimes with colorful words inserted for dramatic effect.
That evening, as I sat on the couch watching TV alone, I thought back to that morning when things had started off so good. I’d woken with her in my arms, warm and cozy. It was the eggs. That was where I had gone wrong. I would never again ask her to eat eggs.
When it became clear she wasn’t going to leave her room anytime soon, I headed off to bed, alone. It wasn’t exactly how I had pictured the day ending when my eyes had popped open this morning. I would try to tell her about her dad tomorrow. Hopefully, she would be in a better mood. I silently prayed this was a short-lived event. I wasn’t sure I could survive a full week of this.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Kendall
Sunday
The moment I woke up, I immediately acknowledged I felt like shit. For a brief moment, I chalked it up to the flu. No, it had to be a hangover. Then, somewhere in the back of my muddled mind, I remembered just why I felt like I’d been run over by a truck.
I was pregnant.
Still, I couldn’t believe those words, which had been echoing through my mind all day and all night. Even while I’d slept, I had dreamed about being very pregnant with eight babies. My life the last week had been one blow after another. I couldn’t be pregnant. I couldn’t deal with that too. Not now.
Slowly, I sat up, being careful not to jostle my sensitive stomach, and took a few minutes to catch my breath before gingerly walking to the adjoining bathroom. I fished the pregnancy test out of the drawer where I had hidden it and pulled it out to look at it again.
There was still a pink plus sign in the window.
Dammit!
In my haste to get away from the stupid stick yesterday, I had left it in the guest bathroom. It wasn’t until later in the day that I’d realized I had left it for him to find and quickly retrieved it, hiding it in the adjoining bathroom, hoping neither he nor the housekeeper would do any snooping.
“Stupid, stupid, stupid, Kendall. You know better,” I muttered to myself, splashing cold water on my face.
I had to figure out what to do. Dylan didn’t want kids. Why would he? He was enjoying the playboy lifestyle. We were only shacking up temporarily while the situation with my dad remained fluid. Once it was settled, I would go back to my life and he would go back to his. Except my life had been irrevocably changed. I wasn’t sure I’d even have a company to inherit. I could be jobless, and depending on what the police did, I could end up penniless as well.
The stress had me dropping to my knees in front of the toilet as a wave of nausea washed over me. I stayed where I was for a good long while. I thought back to the brief, off-hand conversation Dylan and I had had a couple weeks ago. He had said he wasn’t ready to settle down. He didn’t want a family and all that went with it. His exact words had been he was perfectly happy kissing other people’s babies and didn’t want his own.
“Sorry, kid,” I whispered to my stomach.
When it felt like I could move without tossing my cookies, I got dressed and packed up the few things of mine Dylan had picked up from his penthouse and sent over to the townhouse. I couldn’t stay with him another minute. I wasn’t prepared for him to know what was going on. I couldn’t tell him—not yet. Maybe not ever.
Digging my phone out of my purse, I called Vanessa.
“Are you home?” I asked the second she answered.
“No. Why? What’s wrong?” she asked in a hazy voice, and I knew I had woken her up.
“I have to get out of here.”
“What happened?”
“Nothing. Well, something, but I want to talk to you in person,” I said.
“My grandparents left for their annual cruise, so I’m here at the house alone. I could pick you up,” she said, her voice clearing the more she talked.
“Good. Yes. Do that,” I demanded. “I’ll meet you at our favorite coffee shop in”—I looked at my phone and checked the time—“three hours. Be there in three hours!”
“Yes, sir!” she said, laughter in her voice.
I hung up and debated what to do next. I didn’t want to be in the house. I also didn’t want to sit in a coffee shop, overwhelmed by the scent of coffee, for three hours. I was convinced my stomach would not tolerate it.
Hopefully, Dylan was still in bed. I’d leave him a note, thanking him for the hospitality and saying I would be in touch. I headed for the kitchen, carrying my small overnight bag, doing my best to be quiet as I walked down each flight of stairs.
“Going somewhere?” His voice cut through the silent house.
Spinning around, I nearly screamed in alarm. I took in his attire, which was nothing more than a pair of swim shorts, a towel around his neck, and immediately felt that familiar burn in my stomach as I stared at his wet skin.
“Uh, yes. I’m going to stay with Vanessa for a few days,” I stammered, focusing on his eyes and willing myself not to look at his gorgeous chest.
“Why?” he growled.
“I need some space. I need to clear my head, and time with Vanessa in the Hamptons is a good place to do that,” I said. “Besides, her grandparents left on a cruise, so she’s alone.”
“Okay,” he said, shrugging his shoulders as if it were not a big deal at all.
“What?” I asked, sure I couldn’t have heard him correctly.
“Okay. I’ll arrange to have a security guard follow you.”
I knew there had to be a caveat. He was not the kind of guy who caved in so easily.
“I don’t need security. No one will know where I’m going,” I protested.
He used one end of the towel draped around his neck to wipe his face. “It isn’t safe, Kendall. My guy will make sure you get out there safe and sound.”
“Vanessa is picking me up,” I said, putting a hand on my hip and daring him to tell me she couldn’t.
His eyes narrowed as he shook his head. “No way. Call her and let her know I’ll have someone bring you to her.”
I inhaled a breath through my nose, striving for patience. I was not used to being told what I could and couldn’t do. He wasn’t my boss or boyfriend and had no right to try to tell me what I was going to do.
“Look, I appreciate everything—truly, I do—but I am going to Vanessa’s and there’s nothing you can do to stop me. She is picking me up at a coffee shop and that’s that.”
“No.”
My mouth dropped open. “Excuse me?”
“No.”
If my small travel case had been a couple pounds lighter, I would have tossed it at him.
“Goodbye, Dylan.”
“Kendall, you are not walking out that door alone. It isn’t going to happen. Remember the last time you pushed me? I’m not above locking you in that damn room. Be sensible. My security guy will go with
you. He’ll wait with you outside the coffee shop, then follow behind you just to see that you both get to the Hamptons safely.”
I shook my head. “I’ll agree to the first but not the last part. He isn’t following me. He can follow as far as Long Island. Then he needs to go away. I want to be alone, Dylan.”
I watched him think about my proposal before finally agreeing. “Fine.”
“Fine,” I repeated, raising my chin a little, feeling good about my minor win in the battle.
He stalked to the door, talked with the security guy there, and then came back.
“Give him fifteen minutes and then he’ll take you.”
Without another word, he turned and walked away, heading upstairs without even saying goodbye. It felt strange to leave without saying goodbye, but I likened it to removing a band-aid. It was better to get it over with as quickly as possible.
Vanessa showed up at the coffee shop a few minutes early, and I was standing outside her car door, ready to head out of the city, before she turned the motor off, but she insisted she get a coffee.
“You did wake me up at the crack of dawn,” she reminded me.
“It wasn’t that early.”
We headed back inside, the security guard maintaining his distance while keeping a close eye on me.
“Sit,” Vanessa ordered, taking a seat at one of the small bistro tables. “Tell me what happened.”
I looked at her and burst into tears. Her face filled with horror, anger, and shock.
“What did he do?” she hissed. “Tell me and I’ll go right over there and kick his ass!”
I shook my head. “It isn’t him. I mean, it is him, but not that.” I wiped my eyes and looked at her. “I’m pregnant,” I blurted out, bursting into a fresh round of tears.
“Wow. You seem thrilled,” she said dryly.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” I moaned. “How did this happen?”
She looked at me, one eyebrow raised. “If you don’t know how it happened, we need to have an entirely different conversation. And what you’re going to do is what you know is right.”