by Donna Hill
* * *
“Sounds like the storm finally stopped,” Kai said against his chest.
Anthony caressed her back. “Hmm.”
“Can you stay?” she tentatively asked. “Or do you need to get home? I mean, if you do I totally understand.”
He propped himself up and looked down into her face. “Do you want me to stay?”
She swallowed. “Honestly, yes, I do. But that would be selfish. I’d only be thinking of me and what I want. You’re a father. You have a houseguest—whether or not she was invited...” The rest went without saying. His gaze warmed her to her core.
“You really are amazing,” he said in awe before slowly kissing her with all of the wonder that danced inside of him. “As much as I don’t want to admit it, you’re right. But I do love being selfish, don’t you?” he said before spreading her thighs and loving her one more time.
Chapter 18
The light was on in the living room when Anthony pulled up into the driveway. It was after three in the morning. Inwardly he groaned but promised himself that he would not allow Crystal to steal his joy. He parked and entered the house. Crystal was curled up on the couch beneath a blanket.
For a moment Anthony was tossed back in time to the rare occasion when Crystal would try to wait up for him after he’d had a long day at the office. He blinked back the memories and walked in, closing the door quietly behind him.
“I’m up. No need to tiptoe.” Crystal slowly pushed herself into a sitting position. She stretched and yawned. “What time is it?” she asked as if she didn’t already know.
“A little after three.”
He hung up his jacket in the hall closet.
“Rain finally stopped. The lights went out for a bit but came right back on.”
“Generator,” he said noncommittally.
“I was worried.”
He glanced in her direction. “That’s a new emotion for you.”
Her expression hardened for a split second. “When you said you were going out...and then the storm came...I didn’t know what to think.”
“Jessie okay?” he asked, sidestepping her feigned concern.
“Never woke up. Even with all the racket from the storm.”
Anthony half grinned. “I’m turning in. Good night.” He walked toward his room.
“Good night,” she called out sweetly.
* * *
Kai languidly stretched her limbs and burrowed deeper under her covers. The storm was long gone and had left nothing but clear skies and bright sunshine in its wake. She pulled the pillow that Anthony had slept on closer to her so that she could inhale his scent. She smiled. Even though she logically knew that getting in too deep with Anthony Weston could never work, her heart and soul said something different.
She’d had her share of short-term relationships, mostly with overstressed, overachieving doctors, which had all been disasters waiting to happen. No matter how great the sex was or how good the mental connection, the chaotic lives that they led left very little time for something lasting. Nothing could develop when all they could offer was a couple of hours per month, if that.
In her last year at Presbyterian, she’d sworn off men and dating, and focused on her career and on healing the lives of others. Relationships were pointless distractions. When she moved to Sag Harbor, all she wanted was solitude and quiet, time to rebuild her inner self. She’d been on a few dates, but nothing much ever came of them; the closest was Andrew.
She hugged the pillow tighter. Now here she was again, up to her neck with budding feelings for the exact type of man she’d determined to stay away from—the driven, career-dominated man. Maybe the very qualities that she feared were the ones that attracted her. Not to mention that this utterly desirable man came with a child and an unpredictable ex-wife. If she were to add up the list of pros and cons, the list was definitely tilting against pursuing this thing between them.
She sighed, tossed the pillow aside and got up. As much as she would have liked to lounge in bed all day pondering the foibles of her love life, she had work to do.
* * *
“Please don’t tell me what I think you’re going to tell me,” Anthony said into the phone.
“Sorry, bro. Every place that I checked is booked up through the weekend. How long is she planning to stay?”
Anthony ran a hand across his close-cut hair. “Anytime past right now is too long. Hey, I appreciate the help, Linc. I’ll figure something out.”
“Holler if you need me.”
“Will do. Thanks.” He slid his phone into his pocket, just as Crystal and Jessie came into the kitchen.
“I thought we could go into town for lunch and do some sightseeing.”
“Please, Daddy.”
He smiled at his daughter. He knew what Crystal was trying to do and he wasn’t falling for it. “Sure, you and Mommy go into town. Daddy has some work to do. I’ll be here when you get back.” He glanced up at Crystal over Jessie’s head.
“Maybe we’ll stop by and say hello to Desiree and Lincoln while we’re out.”
“Yippee!” Jessie jumped up and down and then ran toward the door.
“We’re not going to do this Kumbaya thing that you’re trying, Crystal. It’s not happening. So spend some time with Jessie and then you need to make plans to go back to New York.”
She drew herself up. Her light brown eyes darkened as she lasered in on him. “All I’m trying to do is let you see how it could be between us again. I’ve changed.”
“In less than two weeks you’ve changed? Tell it to someone who doesn’t know you, Crystal.”
Her thin nostrils flared. She spun away. “Get your jacket, Jessie. Let’s go.”
The instant that Crystal crossed the threshold to the outside, the tension dissipated in the house like morning dew. Anthony took a deep breath of relief. If he had to escort Crystal out of town himself, he would. He went to his small kiosk of an office and checked emails and responded to several pressing issues. Although he was off the clock for two weeks, the work never stopped. He downloaded his electronic subscription of the New York Times, turned to the political section and brought himself up to date on the New York gubernatorial race. Blumenthal was doing well in the opinion polls, but he was going up against an incumbent with a long family tree in the city. It was anybody’s race as trends changed like the weather.
Anthony typed up some notes and emailed them to his secretary for future reference, sent an email to his boss and then signed off. He checked his watch. What he thought would only take an hour had turned into nearly three.
He stretched his tight limbs and stood. He thought Crystal would have gotten bored and come back by now. The last thing he wanted to do with his free mental time was fill it with thoughts of Crystal. Wherever she was, he was certain she was just fine.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and sent a text message to Kai. Thinking of you. Will call later.
* * *
Kai heard the distinct beep of her phone for incoming messages. She put down the patient file that she was updating and picked up her phone. Her stomach did that little flip thing when she read the message from Anthony. Looking forward. She hit Send in concert with the ringing of her office doorbell.
Frowning, she put her phone down and went to the door. She didn’t have any more appointments for the day and she really hoped that whatever the ailment was, it would be minor. She put a smile on and opened the door.
“Dr. Kai!” Jessie squealed.
Kai did a double take. “Jessie...what are you doing here?” She looked around for Anthony but instead saw Crystal walking from her car. Her heart banged. She was even more stunning close-up.
“You must be the magical, Dr. Kai,” Crystal said and extended her manicured hand.
&
nbsp; “Hello. Yes. Dr. Kai Randall.”
“I’m Jessie’s mother. Crystal Weston.” She made a point of emphasizing Weston.
“Nice to meet you. How can I help you?”
“May we come in?”
“Oh, of course. Please.” She stepped aside to let them pass.
“Where’s Jasper, Dr. Kai?”
“Playing in the yard in back.”
“Can I see him? Can I?” She looked from one adult face to the other.
“If it’s okay with your mother.”
“I think that would be fine. It will give Dr. Kai and I a chance to talk.”
Kai took Jessie’s hand and let her out the back door. She returned to where Crystal regally stood.
“So, how can I help you?”
Crystal looked around taking in the space. “My daughter and my husband seem to have wonderful things to say about you. Since I was here in town, staying with Anthony, I thought it only right that I meet you and thank you personally for what you did for Jessie.”
“Thank you, but it wasn’t necessary.”
Crystal’s gaze roamed along Kai’s body as if she wanted to pick it apart. “I’m sure it wasn’t, but I felt it was the right thing to do. And since we’re on the subject of doing the right thing...”
Kai internally braced herself for the “ex-wife scorned” speech.
“Anthony will always be a part of my life. Let’s be clear about that. I’m Jessie’s mother. Anthony and I will always have a connection, a connection that we are working on rekindling. So you may think you have something brewing with my husband, but let me just say this, Dr. Randall, this country life that you live...Anthony would never survive it. He has a full life in New York, a real life...where Jessie and I live. He is slated to be the next district attorney for the state of New York. Do you really think he will have time for a small-town doctor?”
“Are you done?”
Crystal’s brow rose.
“You don’t know anything about me. I live my life as I see fit. And if that fit includes your ex-husband then so be it. I’m not desperate for a relationship, Crystal...but apparently you are, or you wouldn’t be standing in my office posturing about what you hope to have once again with Anthony. If he wants you, more power to him, but in the meantime, I have work do to.” She smiled sweetly, but her eyes held a coldness.
“Nice to meet you, Dr. Randall.” Crystal walked toward the back door, calling out for Jessie. Moments later Kai heard the car pull away.
Kai released the breath she was holding. Her fingers trembled from the outrage that she’d held inside. She stomped back and forth across her office floor. The things that Crystal said reverberated in her head. How dare she? As much as Kai didn’t want to admit it, much of what Crystal said was true. Anthony did have a life that simply did not mesh with the one she had in Sag Harbor. Was she willing to settle for yet another part-time relationship? Was that what she wanted? Was it what she deserved?
She wrapped her arms around her body. She didn’t want to be alone. She really didn’t. She would love to have someone in her life, someone to begin and end her day with.
Her cell phone chirped with an incoming call. She glanced at the lighted face. It was him. She pressed Ignore.
That someone could never be Anthony Weston.
* * *
Anthony was about to leave a message on Kai’s voice mail when he heard the front door open. He disconnected the call, intending to call her back later. He walked to the front room as Jessie burst through door.
“Whoa, little lady, slow down.” He scooped her up. “Have a good time?”
“Yes.” She rested her head on his shoulder and yawned.
“Two seconds ago you were full of energy. Now you want to go to sleep?”
“She’s really exhausted,” Crystal said, coming up behind her to place a hand on Jessie’s back. “We had a full day. She should probably take a nap before dinner.”
“I’ll put her down.” He walked with Jessie to her bedroom and got her settled down for a nap.
When he came back up front, Crystal was in the kitchen puttering around as if she belonged there. “What are you doing?”
She turned toward him and smiled. “I thought I’d put something together for dinner.”
Who was this woman and what had she done with the real Crystal?
“Have you made other arrangements for a place to stay?”
She turned to him with her hand on her hip. “You’ll be happy to know that I’m leaving in the morning. I thought I would take Jessie back with me.”
“She was supposed to stay with me these two weeks.”
“I didn’t think you would mind.”
His jaw tightened. “Did you say anything to her about going home?”
“She’s all for it. She misses her friends.” She took out a package of ground turkey from the fridge. “Spaghetti okay?”
“Fine, Crystal.” He turned and walked away.
When he returned to his room, he shut the door behind him. At least she was leaving. Although he’d hoped to spend some more time with his daughter, he wasn’t in the frame of mind to debate with Crystal about it. The upside to it all was that Crystal would be gone. He was willing to make the sacrifice.
He took out his phone and called Kai again. Again it went to voice mail. This time he left a message asking her to give him a call when she had a minute.
Chapter 19
Jessie ate her dinner in the living room while she watched one of her favorite cartoons. Anthony and Crystal sat opposite each other at the kitchen counter. He picked at his food wondering why he still had not heard from Kai.
“Not hungry?” Crystal asked, breaking into his thoughts. She refilled his glass of wine.
“Things on my mind.” He took a swallow from his glass even as he knew he should eat something to take the edge off the wine.
“I know I’m not the best cook in the world, but you always liked my spaghetti.” She smiled sweetly. “Work?”
“Huh?”
“Thinking about work?”
“Yeah.” He finished off his wine and she topped him off again.
“How are things going with the campaign? Do you think Blumenthal will win?”
“He has a good shot.”
“If he wins, you’d get your dream job. That’s a pretty big deal.”
“Hmm.”
“I know how hard you’ve worked over the years. You deserve to be D.A.”
He glanced across at her. “According to you, my job and my ambition was the cause of our marriage falling apart.”
She lowered her gaze. “That was the old me, Tony. The selfish me.”
“Oh, I forgot you changed.”
“Why do you have to be this way?”
“What way?”
“This way—cold and distant.”
He pushed back from the counter, taking his drink with him.
She got up and followed him into the living room. “I don’t want us to keep fighting,” she said. “I know that you don’t believe anything that I’ve told you. All I’m asking is that you at least give me a chance to prove that you’re wrong about me.”
He turned toward her. “And give me one good reason why I should do that.”
She lifted her chin. “I’ll give you two.” She put her hand on his arm. “Because I still love you. And I want you to love me back the way you once did.”
He studied her for a moment, trying to see beyond this fairy-tale facade that she’d constructed. His head swam slightly from the wine and lack of food. He almost believed her. Almost.
“It’s over, Crystal. Accept it and move on. We can be civil, but we’ll never be an us again.” He walked away.
* * *
<
br /> Anthony stretched out across his bed. He could hear the television and Jessie’s giggles. Crystal was in the next room. For a moment he imagined what it could have been like without the craziness and the lies and the betrayals. Not for all the money in the world would he put himself through that again. He wasn’t sure how or if things would ever work out between him and Kai, but he wanted to try.
Kai was everything that he wanted and needed in his life. It was crazy that in such a short space of time he could come to that conclusion. But if nothing else, he was a man of action. He went after what he wanted with a relentlessness that made him successful in his career. Now it was time to turn those same qualities to his personal life. It wouldn’t be easy. He understood that, but if Kai was willing even a little bit to give it a shot, so was he.
He checked his cell phone thinking that he may have missed a call or a text from Kai. Nothing. He stared up at the ceiling and his eyes drifted closed.
* * *
Crystal got Jessie settled down for bed, read her a story, then took a long, hot bath. She languidly smoothed her skin with her favorite body lotion and slipped into a nightie that she’d purchased for a very special occasion. She turned out the light in the bathroom and walked down the hall toward Anthony’s bedroom.
* * *
“She came to your house?” Tiffany asked incredulously.
“Yep. Live and in living color.” Kai pointed the remote at the television and mindlessly surfed the stations with the phone propped between her ear and her shoulder.
“Damn, that’s bold. So...what is she like?”
Kai took a breath. “Pretty. Tall. Classy dresser.”
“Yeah, I figured as much, but what is she like?”
“It’s hard to say exactly. She comes across as being sincere but there’s something just beneath the surface, like she’s playing with you. I got the sense that she would do whatever she needed to get what she wanted. And she made it very clear that she has every intention of getting her husband back.”