Out of the Blue

by Dee J. Adams

  Frustration mounted exponentially and made her want to scream. Stalking into her room, she began shoving all her shit back into the suitcase.

  “Casey, wait. I’m sorry. God, I’m sorry, just hear me out, okay!” Brendan had been on her heels the whole time, but she’d ignored him. It was kind of hard to do that now with him standing in her way of the bathroom.

  She didn’t want to “hear him out.” She didn’t want to look at him because she knew what she’d see, so she spun back to the room to see if she’d missed something. Shit. She was still in her nightshirt and the workout shorts she’d thrown on. Spinning back to face Brendan, she pointed to the door. “Out. I have to get dressed.” She grabbed the closest pair of jeans and a shirt.

  “I’ll get out as soon as you hear what I have to say.”

  Casey clenched her jaw so hard her headache blossomed to explosive levels.

  Brendan knew borrowed time when he had it, so he rushed ahead. “I’m sorry I pissed you off. That wasn’t my intention.” His mom had taught him that apologies went a long way with a woman. He prayed she was right. “It’s just Miles calls before the sun is even up and you’re jumping like he’s your fucking master.” Oh shit. Wrong thing to say. Casey’s face got even stormier. “No, wait. I didn’t mean it that way. I just mean, after yesterday you don’t have to jump every time he calls.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “He made it very clear that he owns me, Brendan. I can’t really say no to him.”

  “The fuck you can’t! Sorry. Didn’t mean to drop the F-bomb. I just want you to stand up for yourself.”

  Canting her head, she put her hands on her hips. Her long hair hung in a messy sheet down her arm. “Not sure if you’ve noticed or not, but I am standing up for myself. You’re blocking my way to the bathroom.”

  Brendan barely got out of the way before Casey mowed him down. She shut the door in his face just as his parents arrived. The cavalry! He’d never been happier to see them.

  “What’s going on?” his mother asked. She wore her blue sweats, which meant she’d been working out already. At least she’d talk some sense into Casey.

  “Casey’s doing some type of morning show. Miles is sending a car for her.” That may have sounded a little second grade, but he needed back up ASAP.

  His parents shared a look and when Casey came out a minute later, dressed in jeans and a form fitting tank top with her hair brushed to a silky sheen, his mom didn’t hesitate. “Honey, do you think you’re up for going out?” Yes. His mom slipped into parenting mode right on schedule.

  Casey dumped an armload of toiletries into her bag and slapped a forced smile on her face. “I’m fine. Thank you, Mrs. St—Terry. Thank you. It’s really not a big deal, and I don’t want to put you out so I’m just going to find someplace else to stay tonight.” She slipped into her sandals.

  Terry’s brows slanted down. “What? Why?” She glanced at Brendan before focusing on Casey. “Where are you going?”

  “Honestly, I don’t know yet, but I can’t stay here.” She shot Brendan a loaded look as she zipped her bag and a second later he felt his mother’s eyes on him too.

  “Jay…” Terry tipped her head in Casey’s direction and Jay nodded. After so many years together the two of them didn’t even need words anymore. His parents weren’t stupid. They knew the potential danger Casey and he faced after yesterday. There was no way they’d let Casey leave without an argument. “Brendan, come with me,” his mother ordered.

  What? Dammit! He hated this shit. He was not a baby. He’d moved out of the house almost two years ago. He had two good jobs, he paid his bills on time. He did not need to be lectured by his mother. “Mom,” he warned even as he followed her.

  “Don’t Mom me.” She reached the end of the hallway and faced him. “What has her so angry? And don’t pretend like you don’t know.”

  Brendan went to throw his hands in the air and a shock of pain in his shoulder stopped him fast. “I don’t know. Maybe I asked if she remembered getting shot yesterday. Something like that.” His mom pursed her lips and shook her head. “She just flipped out on me, okay? She can’t go alone, Mom. I seriously doubt she’s going to change her mind. Miles has her all jacked up. I have to go with her.”

  She folded her arms across her chest. “I don’t think Miles is going to let you ride in the car with her, honey. You know you’re not his favorite person.”

  “He’s probably not even going to be in the car. It’s taking her right back to the studio. I’ll follow her. I want to make sure no one’s tailing her at the very least.”

  “I thought your brother knew how to do that stuff. Since when did you become a private investigator?”

  “Blake and I talk. Besides, I’m not trying to be covert. I just need to see if someone else is following Casey or not.”

  “So I don’t have to remind you that you also got shot yesterday?” She rolled her eyes at his deadpan stare and glanced at the ceiling. “Fine. I’m not going to stop you. I know what it’s like to do what it takes to keep someone safe.” She tipped her head toward his room. “You better hurry and get dressed or she’s going to be out the door before you’re ready.”

  Brendan turned to go, his brain already calculating how fast he could get ready.

  “Brendan.” His mother’s voice stopped him. “We need to talk about the way you communicate with people.”

  Seriously? He communicated just fine. Most of the time. Brendan rushed to his room, eased his arm out of the sling to get a T-shirt over his head—which hurt like a motherfucker—pulled on some jeans and his boots, slipped back into the sling, and he was good to go. Almost. He rinsed with some mouthwash and made it into the hallway as Casey barreled out of the guest room.

  She stopped for a second when she saw him, gave a look to his Dad, who still stood in the middle of the room, then headed off again.

  “Look, I know you’re pissed and I’m not going to stop you from getting into the car, but I am going to follow you to make sure no one else is.” He stayed right on her heels down the stairs.

  “I can’t stop you,” she mumbled.

  “But please reconsider…” he stopped when he realized she didn’t have her suitcase with her. Had his dad talked her into staying?

  She spun at the door. “Reconsider what?”

  “Staying here,” he said softly. He moved toward her, his heart pounding hard. He wanted to touch her so badly he hurt with it, but he was afraid if he tried that she’d run. Emotion knotted his throat and Brendan swallowed back the gut-wrenching fear of her walking out of the protection of the house…walking out on them. “Case,” he whispered. “I’m sorry. I don’t want you to be mad at me.”

  Canting her head, she studied him. “Do you even know why you’re apologizing?”

  He actually didn’t. “We need to talk about the way you communicate with people.” His mom’s words flashed in his head. “Because I need to work on my communicating, I know. I’m really sorry.”

  She huffed a breath, turned to go, then instantly turned back. “Here’s the deal, St. John. I swore to myself that I would speak up when something bothered me. I’m not yours. You don’t own me. You can’t tell me what to do or when to do it. Understand?”

  He nodded. “Yes, I understand, but this is your life we’re talking about. This is your safety. This is me wanting to ensure that some whack-job isn’t going to make a move on you without going through me first.” He wanted to put his hand on her shoulder, caress her cheek with his thumb. She had the fucking smoothest skin he’d ever seen. They hadn’t been this close in weeks and he got lightheaded just from her elusive fresh scent. “I’ve missed you, Casey.”

  Emotion welled in her eyes along with confusion, but Brendan kept going.

  “You know, I think back to that night in Hawaii all the time.” He stepped closer and watched her pulse beat a fast rhythm in her neck. “I replay all those hours of having you next to me. Skin to skin. I remember what’s it like to taste you, be inside yo
u.”

  “Brendan…” She whispered his name, sounded conflicted as hell as she glanced at his mouth.

  Encouraged and torn at the same time, Brendan barely managed to keep his hands to himself. “I’ve missed you so much,” he whispered. “You have no clue.”

  With a subtle shake of her head she said, “What are you doing to me?”

  He almost didn’t her soft question and he didn’t have an answer. She was turning him inside out. Because he didn’t have words, he wanted to show her so he slowly bent his head, taking time to weave a spell, hoping like hell she wouldn’t run.

  “The car is going to be here any minute. I should wait outside.”

  He froze. Shit. Okay. No kiss. He could live with that…for the moment. He just needed to find common ground with her. “The driver can ring the intercom. You don’t have to go anywhere.” They locked gazes again and Brendan suddenly realized that his best offense was space. He backed up a step and gave her room. She blinked, stood taller and he instinctively knew he’d done the right thing.

  “Please give me a chance to make things right,” he said. Her ex had seriously done a number on her. He had to remember that. “Whatever it takes.” He spread his good arm wide. “But please don’t walk away from what we have. What we can have.” They’d had some great times during the show. They’d laughed and talked for hours, mindless of cameras rolling. “We’re good together, Case. Give us a chance. Give me a chance.” He saw the turmoil in her eyes. She couldn’t deny all the good times they’d shared both in bed and out of it.

  The intercom buzzed—dammit.

  Brendan yanked the phone from the side table in the living room. “She’ll be right out. Give us a minute.” He hung up and took Casey’s hand. “Just think about what I’ve said. Please. I’m worried about you.” Instead of reading all that indecision in her eyes, he led her through the house toward the back kitchen door. “C’mon, get in my car and I’ll take you out.”

  “Bren, I can walk the distance to the street.”

  “I know that. I just want you to have as much cover as possible.”

  “So you’re saying that someone followed us here from the hospital last night? That’s pretty unlikely.”

  “Maybe.” He opened the back door, walked outside and checked the driveway before motioning her out. “But can you play it safe? For me? Because I’d lose my mind if something happened to you.”

  “Bren, we need to talk. This thing between us…” She shook her head. “It’s not, it can’t be…”

  “What?” he asked, standing in front of her. “It’s not real because of the way we met or the circumstances we’ve been in since then? It can’t be real because we still don’t know a ton about each other? Fine, then let’s take the time we need to get past all that. There’s nothing stopping us, and there’s nothing I want more than to see where we can take this.” He paused and searched her reluctant eyes. “I knew you were special when we met in Hawaii. I knew I wanted to see you again when we got back to California.” The urge was too much and Brendan couldn’t stop himself. “Dammit, Case,” he said softly, and kissed her.

  He wanted to make sure she understood just how much she meant to him and it seemed the only way to do that was by showing her. He stroked his hand through her long, soft hair. It wasn’t their first kiss, but it may as well have been. He wanted her even more than he did in Hawaii. He wanted her sweetness, her softness. He wanted the taste of her on his lips, his tongue. He wanted her soft sigh as they came together. He wanted her surrender to the emotions swirling between them like a tornado.

  Brendan brushed his tongue across her lower lip and went to heaven when she opened her mouth and invited him in. Their tongues met in a long, full mating of perfection. She tasted minty and clean, hot and delicious. He pulled back before he got too carried away because it was too easy to do with this woman.

  “I guess the question is what do you want?” he asked.

  Chapter Twenty

  Casey didn’t know what she wanted, but sitting in the spacious black Town Car heading to a local morning show to do an interview did absolutely not make her list. Especially with zero notice and a raging headache. To top it off, she’d caved and kissed Brendan anyway. Even though she was furious at him and confused as hell. One second he was ordering her around and the next, he was the sweet guy who said all the right things and kissed like a dream.

  Aside from Jeff and one other boy in college, she had very limited kissing experience. She’d been the odd ball in high school…too tall, shy and gangly, and the boys she’d liked hadn’t returned the feeling. She’d expected things to change in college, but one disastrous make-out session with a frat boy had turned her off to the party scene. Meeting Jeff at the gym had changed her life. Through the rest of college, he’d been her one and only. It wasn’t that he’d been a bad kisser, he just didn’t waste his time on it the last couple of years. Not when he could be doing other stuff, or make her do other stuff.

  Casey cringed at the way she’d caved to Jeff for so many years. Usually she didn’t think about it but sometimes it crept up on her. The way he’d used her without caring about her feelings. The way he’d made her do things assuring her that she’d grow to like it and the important thing was pleasing him. Pleasing him made their relationship stronger. What an absolute load of horseshit. How could she have fallen for that for so long? Why had she?

  Because she kept hoping the man she met at the gym would reappear. He’d been funny and thoughtful and he’d come from a good family. For two years he’d treated her like gold. She’d invested in him…her heart and soul. Then he’d met a group of men at one of his father’s fundraisers and he’d slowly changed. He spent less time with her, and when they were together, his short temper almost always got in the way. Casey had been sure she could bring back the man she fell in love with. All she had to do was work harder. Make him happy. Jeff was happy to perpetuate that notion. The scales became unbalanced. Jeff made her believe she needed him because he was the whole package. The star quarterback of the football team with a 4.5 grade point average. Then a law school student training to take over his dad’s firm, before a political career like his father. He’d whittled away her self-esteem until virtually all of it was gone and she second-guessed everything about herself.

  What would’ve happened if she’d actually married the guy? Casey shivered.

  Maybe the other question was how would Jeff react in this situation? She snorted. He’d call her paranoid and stupid for thinking someone wanted her dead. He’d tell her she wasn’t worth anyone’s time to go to that much trouble. How could she really compare the two men when they were exact opposites? Brendan had repeatedly saved her and nearly died in the process. He thought she had talent and laughed at her jokes. He made her feel special and wanted. The only times he sounded bossy was when her safety concerned him. Could she really hold that against him?

  She looked over her shoulder for the tenth time to see if Brendan was behind the car. They both agreed not to say anything to Miles in case the man went ballistic that Brendan was in the vicinity, and Brendan wasn’t worried about her once she got through the studio gates. The last minute notice for them probably meant her stalker wouldn’t know about it either. Plus Brendan thought the guy had lost them after they’d gone into the hospital and to his parents’ place afterward.

  At the studio, the stylist at Write Your Ticket dressed her in a sleek, muted green dress and gold Jimmy Choo wrap sandals. A speedy quick makeup and hair session gave her face a little color and cleaned the blood out of her hair before Casey was rushed out for the last segment of the morning show. With a deep side part and her hair flipped over to cover the stitches, Casey did the interview robotically. She plastered a smile on her face and answered the questions. It all happened so fast that she barely remembered any of it. The familiar bright lights reminded her of the reality show and the interview process every week after a different contestant got booted out. She kept expecting to wake up f
rom a dream…or nightmare if she included yesterday.

  In an “unprecedented” change of plans, Miles had told her he’d rescheduled the rest of her talk show tour, preferring instead to get to the music while she was still a hot topic. So new plan: Today was the day she started writing. Miles wanted songs. A lot of songs. The pressure made her headache throb harder and brought back her queasy stomach.

  Casey expected the car to take her right back to the studio or the St. Johns’ house, so she texted Zoe, needing a pep talk from her big sis. She looked up when the driver stopped in front of a gray one-story building. Across the parking lot stood another similar building. “Where are we?”

  “This is the final stop,” he said with a slight German accent. His blond crew cut and ice blue eyes gave her the creeps.

  Casey didn’t like the way he said final, and Miles had left in a separate car after the morning show segment, saying he’d catch up with her.

  Peering out the dark tinted window, Casey looked at all the expensive cars parked in the lot. If the driver planned to kill her she’d probably be in the desert by now instead of some ritzy spot in Hollywood.

  “You can go in,” the driver said. “They’re expecting you.”

  They? She hated that even the driver knew more than she did. It made her feel like the child Jeff sometimes accused her of being. God, she had to get that man out of her head!

  The blazing sun smacked her like an oven as she walked toward the main entrance. Each step ratcheted up her anxiety until her headache throbbed with renewed force. She didn’t see any handles on the door so she hit the blue neon button on a small panel. A buzz and click sounded and a lady opened the glass door and continued out. Cool air breezed through Casey’s hair as she walked in.