by Kira Archer
She lay back against the cushions and he sprinted upstairs. He crashed around a bit in the bedroom, wrestling with something, but she didn’t really think about what he might be doing until he came back to get her. He scooped her up in his arms again.
“This is getting ridiculous. I can walk.”
“And as I said, just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Besides, I like carrying you.”
He brought her into the bedroom and laid her on the freshly changed sheets.
“You changed the sheets yourself?” she asked.
“Why do you sound so surprised?”
“I don’t know. I guess I never thought of you as a sheet-changing type of guy. Don’t you have people waiting in the wings to do that?”
He rolled his eyes at her. “I am capable of taking care of myself. Just because I choose not to doesn’t mean I can’t. I didn’t always have money, you know.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Cole and I were regular kids until we developed our first app in college. I can do all kinds of things that would probably surprise you.”
“Really? Like what?”
“Well, in addition to my awesome bed-making skills, I can also do the laundry, cook, clean a toilet—”
“You clean toilets?”
“I didn’t say I enjoy doing it, or that I did it often. I said I was capable of it.”
She laughed again. “I might have you clean a few toilets for me to prove that. But let me get my camera first.”
He settled her into the bed and pulled the covers up to her chest. “I think right now it’s more important you get some rest. We’ll talk toilets in the morning.”
“Deal,” she said.
He stood up and went to leave the room.
“Where are you going?”
“I thought I would sleep on the couch so you could get some more rest.”
“I can sleep with you next to me.”
“I didn’t want to disturb you.”
“You won’t disturb me, Brooks.”
His forehead creased in a worried frown. “I don’t want to hurt the baby. The last time I was in bed with you…”
She stared at him for a second, waiting until she had her emotions under control before she spoke. “I get what you’re feeling, maybe even more than you do. But you heard the doctor. I’m fine. The baby is fine. We can’t have sex at the moment, but we can sleep together. And to be honest, I don’t want to be alone. I want to be held. So please, come to bed and hold me.”
He stared at her a moment longer and then nodded. “If you’re sure it won’t disturb you.”
“I promise,” she said. “It will make me feel safer.”
His eyes widened a bit at that.
“Yeah, it surprises me, too,” she said with a smile.
He smiled and climbed into bed beside her, though he kept his distance. She wasn’t going to let him get away with that, though. She wiggled back against him until she was spooned up against his chest. It took him a few more seconds, but then he wrapped his arm around her and held her close.
“Let me know if you need more space.”
“I will,” she said, though she had no intention of ever saying a word.
They lay quietly together for a few minutes.
“Brooks?”
“Hmm?” he whispered sleepily.
“I’m glad you were there tonight.”
“I’ll always be there,” he said.
Her heart beat a little quicker at that but she didn’t say anything, just wrapped her arm around his and snuggled back against him.
Never in a million years would she have thought that Brooks Larson would be the type of man she’d want with her in a crisis. But he had kept her calm and gotten her the help she needed when she wouldn’t have done it for herself. She had never felt safer and cherished than she did right in that moment.
If this is what a fake marriage to him was like she couldn’t begin to imagine what a real one would be like. She cut off that line of thought as soon as it started. There wasn’t going to be a real marriage. He might have started out in a middle-class life, but he was living in the stratosphere now and she had no place there. She was a school teacher and was perfectly content to be so. She could never be the socialite wife that he needed despite what he said, but she would play her part for the moment, do what she could to help him, and then they could both go their separate ways.
But for right now, she would enjoy sleeping in his arms. She drifted off to sleep more content than she’d ever been in her life.
Chapter Eleven
Brooks sat on the back of the couch watching as Leah wandered from one corner of his apartment to the other. With the big loft-style space he could see everywhere she went, for the most part.
He found himself watching her face for signs of things that she liked or disliked. It didn’t matter much since she wasn’t going to be there long, but he couldn’t help but hope that she liked his home.
Of course, it was the ultimate bachelor pad, not really decorated with a woman in mind. To impress one, maybe, but not encourage her to stay. The entire space was framed out in an upscale industrial motif with lots of exposed brick and piping, stark leather furniture, and glass and metal fixtures. He didn’t typically bring women back to his apartment. When he wanted to wine and dine them he took them to fancy hotels. If he really wanted to impress them he took them to fancy hotels in Paris or Italy.
His home, though, was his sanctuary away from everyone and everything else. That he’d invited a woman he wasn’t even dating to stay there blew his mind. He couldn’t process her brand-new wife status at all. That was a mind-fuck of epic proportions. As was her wandering around his apartment looking at his belongings because she would be living among them. Surreal, to be sure.
Of course, that wasn’t the only reason he watched her like a hawk. It had been a week since their wedding night when she woke up bleeding. She’d been back to the doctor twice and was cleared to return to her normal life. Sex was still banned for a few weeks, not that he would have touched her anyway. Oh, he still wanted to. So desperately it sent a rush of embarrassment through him every time he thought of it. But the chance that what had happened the last time might happen again terrified him to no end, which was going to make living with her even more interesting. And difficult. But he’d have to power through because he wasn’t letting her out of his sight.
“You don’t have to keep watching me,” she said.
He glanced up and met her gaze. She gave him a soft smile that sent the warm and fuzzies ricocheting around his body. No one else had ever had that effect on him before. The fact that she could do it with a smile alone frightened him a bit—and he loved every second of it.
“I’m not going to break,” she said. “The doctor said I was fine.”
“I know. I’m making sure you don’t steal anything while you’re casing my joint.”
She laughed and the sound brought a smile to his lips, as it always did.
“So what do you think?” he said when she hadn’t made any comments.
“Very nice.”
“Just nice?”
“You have a beautiful home, Brooks. It’s not exactly to my taste and it could definitely use a woman’s touch,” she said with a smile, “but it’s impressive.”
He gave her an exaggerated scowl. “This place is perfect. What are you talking about?”
“It’s completely perfect for a permanent bachelor. But I might change a few things if I was moving in for real.”
He folded his arms. “Okay, you’ve piqued my curiosity. What changes would you make?”
She shrugged. “Nothing too drastic. A few pillows. Maybe. Or some curtains,” she said, gesturing to the windows that were for the most part bare.
Each floor-to-ceiling window did have a barn-style door hanging to the side of it, except instead of wood it was a hanging sheet of metal that could slide across the window if he wanted to block out the light. I
t worked wonderfully. Not only did it completely darken the room when he wanted it, but when it was open it served as wall décor. Curtains would ruin the whole aesthetic.
“As I said, it’s a beautiful apartment and I can appreciate it for the style that it is. It’s just not to my particular taste.”
“So what would be your particular taste? Aside from me,” he said, running a hand across his chest. She laughed, but her eyes followed the trail he made, and continued checking him out until she realized he was watching her. Her cheeks flashed red and she turned, shrugging like she hadn’t just been caught ogling.
“I like warm woods and earth tones. I guess I’m more of a traditional girl.”
“What? Like two-story house, picket fence, manicured yard in the suburbs?”
She smiled. “Something like that.”
“Really? You don’t want to stay in the city?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never given it much thought. I assumed someday when I was married and having kids I would move to a more kid-friendly area.”
“People raise kids in the city all the time.”
“I know,” she said, her hand straying to her belly. “And I will be, too. Plans change, I guess.”
Her bright smile seemed a little forced. She sat down on the couch and grabbed a pad of paper that she’d been scribbling on, jotting a few more items on it.
“I have a few things I need to do, so if you need to get back to the office you are more than free to leave me to my own devices. I’ll be perfectly fine.”
Brooks blinked at that. He hadn’t been to the office since their impromptu wedding and he had no plans on returning anytime soon. Things would move along fine without him for a little while, and Cole knew how to get ahold of him if he was needed. He had no intention of leaving Leah on her own.
“I don’t have any pressing plans,” he said. “And anything you need I can send out for.”
“Brooks,” she said in that same tone of voice his mom would use when she was trying to get him to understand something he wasn’t quite grasping. “The doctor said I am fine. I feel great. Even the morning sickness has almost disappeared. I’m strong and healthy, and feel better than I have in weeks, and I have a class to get ready for. I need to get supplies. I need to get my classroom set up and I would like to pick things out for myself, not send some employee out to get them. I have a lot of things to do. I can’t sit around in this apartment all day staring at your face.”
He let his jaw drop in mock shock and sucked in an exaggerated breath that had her biting back a smile. “I will have you know that most women would give their left eyeball to be able to sit around and stare at me all day.”
“I’m not saying the view isn’t impressive.”
He gave her a little bow of thanks.
“That doesn’t change the fact that I really need to get a few things done.”
The thought of her wandering willy-nilly around the city on her own sent a bolt of terror through him so strong he gripped the back of the couch. All he could see in his mind was her lying in a pool of blood somewhere without anyone to help her. Overreaction? Completely. But he was still gluing himself to her side.
“Okay, fine. If you need to go shopping then I will take you.”
Her eyes widened. “You’re going to take me shopping?”
“Yeah.”
“Happily follow me around while I stock up on supplies for my classroom?”
“I didn’t say happily, but I have no intention of letting you go by yourself, so you make a list and I’ll get my driver and we’ll get it done.”
“Okay,” she said. “But you’re going to hate it. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“I consider myself fairly warned.”
She smiled at him with a wicked little grin.
“Wait,” he said. “What’s all that about?” He waved a finger at her smiling face.
“Nothing.”
“Exactly how many places are we talking about?”
She shrugged and started wandering around the apartment gathering her things. He followed her like the little lapdog he was turning into. “I don’t know. As many as it takes.”
“And how many will that be?”
“I don’t know.”
“Leah?”
“What?”
“Tell me.”
“I don’t know.”
Then she giggled and walked up to the bedroom to get her shoes. Brooks rubbed his hand over his face. This didn’t bode well.
Chapter Twelve
The driver pulled up in front of Brooks’s office building and came around to open the door for Leah.
Before she could climb out, Brooks held her back. “You sure you’re feeling okay?”
She rolled her eyes. “You need to stop asking me that.”
He just stared at her until she sighed. “Yes,” she said, giving him the most reassuring smile she could. “The doctor said to take it easy. He didn’t say I had to stay comatose.”
Brooks didn’t look convinced. She climbed out and Brooks jumped out his own side and came around to join her. No sooner had he put his arm around her waist than there was a shout from someone on the sidewalk. They glanced over and flash bulbs started going off.
Brooks gave them a tight smile and tried to hurry her into the building. But more cameras had joined the first and it took Brooks’s driver to help clear the path so they could get in the door.
“Are you okay?” he asked her once they were safely inside.
She took a deep breath. “It’s not always like that, is it?”
“No, it’s usually not this bad. But then I’m not usually escorting my new bride around town.”
She held back a groan. “I hope they get sick of me soon.”
“Hey,” he said, holding the elevator door open for her. “You married one of the most eligible bachelors in town. That’s bound to get a little attention now and then.”
“Lucky me,” she murmured.
Brooks laughed.
Leah’s heart rate had barely returned to normal when they reached the top floor. But then the elevator doors opened, and OMG.
She grabbed Brooks’s arm. “Brooks. That’s…that’s…” She pointed at the man who’d graced posters all over her teenaged self’s wall.
Brooks glanced down at her with a slight frown. “I know. You okay down there?”
She would have answered, but the man of her girlhood dreams chose that moment to put down the magazine he’d been reading to stand up and greet them.
“Hey, man,” Brooks said, holding out his hand. “Sorry I’m a little late. I think we ran into a couple of your buddies outside.”
They all laughed and the men did that guy shoulder-bump thing.
“Naw, you can keep them all,” he said with a laugh. “Besides, I’m pretty sure they were here for you. I was just a bonus. I didn’t have this lovely lady on my arm,” he said with a smile at Leah.
Holy crap. One of the world’s biggest stars had just called her a lovely lady and was looking at her like he expected some sort of response. She opened her mouth and nothing but a weird squeak came out. Brooks looked at her like she’d suddenly turned a crazy shade of neon purple. Oh God, she probably had turned a crazy shade of neon purple. But she couldn’t help it. She’d had a poster of that Gatsby movie with him in his tux holding out a champagne glass on her wall in college.
The theme song to Titanic started playing in her head, drowning out every other thought.
Her arms may have started rising, mimicking that King-of-the-World scene, because Brooks wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her tightly to him, keeping one arm pinned against his side.
“This is Leah,” he said. “I’m sure she’s very happy to meet you.”
Leah nodded, her mind nothing but a jumble of nothingness.
Near…far…wherever you are…
“Well, the pleasure is all mine.”
She squeaked again and Brooks stared at her in open aston
ishment.
Pull it together, woman!
“Hey there, stranger,” Kiersten said, coming up to their group, hugging one of People magazine’s sexiest men on Earth as if they were old friends.
Then she turned to Leah, her eyes growing wide as she looked at her. Apparently, she did look as bad as she felt. Meaning if she didn’t sit down fast, her ass and the floor were going to become very well acquainted. Unfortunately, she didn’t think she could blame it on the pregnancy this time. Who would have thought she turned into a starstruck idiot the first time she met a movie star?
“We’ll leave you gentlemen to your business,” Kiersten said, putting an arm around Leah’s waist to lead her into Cole’s office.
Brooks watched her walk off, his expression part amusement and part bewilderment. She knew the feeling. She got into Cole’s office and collapsed on the couch, sticking her head between her knees.
“I can’t believe I made a total ass of myself.”
Kiersten laughed. “Are you kidding? You did great. The first time I met him I spilled coffee in his lap.”
“You did?” Leah asked, peeking up from behind a curtain of hair.
“Yup. I think these boys forget that we aren’t used to palling around with the A-listers of the world. I’m not sure if they just like to see the reaction, or if they honestly don’t realize how running into someone like that can affect a newbie.”
“How long did it take you to get used to it?”
Kiersten snorted. “I’ll let you know when it happens. You should have seen me when I met the Game of Thrones cast.”
“You met the whole cast?”
Kiersten nodded and Leah squeaked again. “Oh my God. I’d have died.”
“You have no idea. We met them on location. They were all in full costume and everything.”
“What happened?”
“A couple of them hugged me and I started crying.”
Leah laughed. “You didn’t.”
“Oh yeah, I did. I’m a massive fan. It was a little overwhelming to be standing in a castle being hugged by the friggin King of the North himself.”
“What did Cole do?”
She shrugged. “Pretty much what Brooks just did. Stared at me like I had lost my mind. And then left me at home the next time he went to the set.” They both laughed and Kiersten shrugged. “I was also pregnant at the time so I’m sure the hormones didn’t help either one of us.”