by Taylor Hart
“Are you okay?”
Commanding herself to be a normal person, she nodded and thought about jumping out of the airplane to distract herself.
He squeezed her hand. “Something you’re not telling me, Smalls.”
For a beat, she didn’t say anything.
He was patient.
“My brother was killed in Iraq two years ago.” The relief of admitting it staggered her. She never spoke of Jimmy.
Kade seemed frozen.
“He called me eccentric because I read all the time and talked to him about all these ideas floating in my mind.” She smiled and felt a single tear escape. She wiped it quickly. “I called him jughead because he walked around without his shirt on and flexed for people every chance he got. And he would braid my hair as I sat at the piano playing. Isn’t that weird?” Pain and joy filled her as she spoke of her brother. “He used to say, ‘A real man braids.’” A light laugh escaped her, and she realized it felt natural to talk to Kade. Almost like this could be a real date. She frowned because it wasn’t real.
He cleared his throat. “Your brother sounds like he’d be a fun guy to hang with,” Kade said quietly.
She nodded. “He was.”
For a few moments, neither of them said anything. Kade pulled his hand back from hers, still holding it loosely while tracing the back of it with his other hand.
Once again, the gesture felt too intimate, but for some reason, she didn’t demand it back.
“When I saw you playing the piano today, I could swear you were ethereal, a pixie from a fairy land. Or an angel.”
Caught in the intimate feeling he’d shared with her, she wondered again, who this man was. “You’re not like the Kade Kincaid in the press.”
His face froze just before he reared back with a laugh. Letting go of her hand, he actually put it over his stomach as he doubled over.
“What?” Annoyance rippled through her. What was he laughing at?
He didn’t get to explain because a couple had moved over to them. “Mr. Kincaid, could I have a picture with you?”
Kade stopped laughing and nodded at the couple.
Before she knew what had happened, a lot of the guests were lining up to get selfies with Kade.
It struck her again, how giving he was with his time. She hadn’t been in PR long, but she knew a lot of people didn’t want to stand around doing selfies with the general public, but he seemed like he had all the time in the world just as he had at McDonalds earlier that day.
Finally after about twenty minutes, the ship captain announced drinks and appetizers in the main hall. The crowd finally dispersed, and she was grateful. Which was funny. Why should she care if they spent the whole cruise in a photo session posing with people?
The rest of the people began trickling into the hall, but his hand was in hers again, and he held her back. “Do you mind if we just enjoy it out here for a bit?”
The ship was already going around the lake, and it felt heavenly. She felt released from having to put on a show all the time for the cameras. “Sure.” She followed him to the front of the ship where there was more space to sit. They sat and stared out at the city lights. He squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry I laughed so hard about how I’m not what you thought I’d be, but …” He exhaled a breath and closed his eyes for a second. “The press.” Another big exhale. “I feel like I’ve spent my whole life trying to make the press happy. To not rock the boat. It’s just so …”
“Empty,” she said.
He turned to her. “Explain.”
She shook her head. Why was she even wasting her time doing this? “No, sorry.”
He squeezed her hand again. "Just spit out what you were going to say.”
“Fine.” She saw he had that determined look again. “I spent four years studying communications. Studying a field that by its nature lends itself to working at PR firms where we can ‘manage’ people’s appearances."
“Like mine,” he said quickly.
She nodded. “I’ve just been wondering why I did it, why do I want to protect this image, something that’s not even real?"
He nodded. “Yeah.”
She sighed.
“So why do you?”
“What?”
“Why are you doing it?”
This left her with a stickiness in her throat, and she let out a laugh. “Obviously to pay the bills.” She tried to pull back her hand.
He released it. “Not good enough.”
This floored her. “What?”
“Not good enough."
"Hey, just because you are a billionaire who has the luxury of deciding to buy a house outright as a ‘gesture’ for a date, doesn’t mean the rest of us live that kind of charmed life."
He didn’t respond right away. “Lots of people aren’t billionaires, and they don’t do PR. You can change, right? You can rework your strategy. You can change your plays, pick a new job.”
Glaring at him, she shook her head. “I love how you turn everything into football speak. Not.”
He hesitated, glaring back at her. “Hey, whatever. You can discount what I’m saying or turn it into something it’s not meant to be, but I have worked hard to get where I’m at.”
She didn’t argue with him. As seen earlier when skydiving, the guy had grit. She’d been studying him the past couple of days and knew his training was grueling. He was right. He competed at a high level, and he knew how to give his all.
He exhaled. “I always think at the beginning of any season, if we don’t have the way, we find the way. If we don’t think we can fill a need, we work with a different player and fill that need. When you start asking yourself ‘how’ to do something instead of giving a bunch of excuses, the way opens up."
It ticked her off that he couldn’t see outside of his own experience. She wondered if he’d ever dealt with a heart condition. She rolled her eyes. “This might surprise you, Mr. Kincaid, but everything’s not a stupid football game. Not everyone gets the advantage of seeing the field or seeing the obstacles or the potential obstacles before they come at you.”
He frowned. “I wasn’t saying—”
She put up her finger, remembering again why she didn’t get close to people. “You have no idea who I am or what I’ve been through, so please, don’t placate me with platitudes about how ‘it’s not around the obstacle, it’s through the obstacle’ or ‘your attitude determines your altitude.'”
Holding her gaze for a moment, he scoffed. “Guess you’ve already decided who I am.” His eyes hardened, and he looked away.
She scoffed back. “Yeah, the guy who walks on a cruise ship and automatically gets upgraded from the buffet.”
Pointing to himself, his eyes got wild. “Oh, I can eat a buffet, Ms. Song.”
“Can you?” she asked back, sounding every bit as wild as he was. She felt ludicrous.
“Oh, we’re totally eating the regular buffet now.”
“Fine,” she said, wishing she wasn’t pushing it because she really didn’t enjoy buffets.
“I can be every bit as normal as every other guy.”
“I guess we’ll see,” she said snarkily.
Neither of them spoke for a few moments, and she felt an extreme awkwardness.
It was funny. She felt more awkward now than she had all day with the cameras on them.
“Real is scary,” he said quietly.
Swiveling to face him, she noticed the laser-like way he was looking at her again. The same way he’d been looking at her while she’d played the piano. The same way, it appeared, Kade Kincaid approached anything he was extremely interested in. Her heart rate kicked up a notch. “I don’t know what you mean?”
Letting out a light laugh, he stood and took her hand. “I like it when you’re not pretending for the camera." He kept staring at her. “Actually, I just think I like you period, but obviously, it’s hard for you to let others see the real you.”
Once again, her heart kicked up a notch, somethin
g it had done more and more around Kade. She didn’t know what to say.
Smiling, he started moving down to sit where the normal people sat. “C’mon, Song. Let’s eat the horrible buffet you had planned.”
Chapter 12
Kade sat at dinner, eating a few of the shrimp from the buffet and trying not to think it was an actual buffet. Mostly, he’d just pushed his food around the plate, except the meat. He thought he could be safer with the meat.
The MC for the dinner cruise was funny and had pointed out the fact he and Felicity were on the ship for their date.
Of course, people had turned and waved, and then there was a line of people casually sauntering over during the music to get a selfie.
Felicity had kept up a good front. At the moment, she was talking with another of the wives of the guys who had stopped at the table. Just then, she leaned back her head and laughed.
Again, he wondered about this woman. He thought he’d be awful at managing people’s images. It would tick him off like it ticked him off to manage his own. Especially the guys on his team, who were pretty much unmanageable. Doing stupid things all the time.
The MC turned the show over to a country western music band, and they led with one of Texas Water’s songs—Fire and Ice.
Surprising him, she leaned her head back into the booth and tapped her fingers to the rhythm. He wouldn’t have pegged her for a country kind of girl, especially after watching that little concert she gave earlier in his music room and knowing everything that morning had been a show for the cameras. She sang beneath her breath to the chorus and she sounded good.
Taking a chance, even though he was sure after his track record tonight he’d get shot down again, he put his hand out. “Want to dance?” He turned to the line of people. “Sorry, guys, gotta make the pretty lady happy.”
Her eyebrows shot up, and she gave him a look of astonishment. “You want to dance?” She looked extremely doubtful.
The crowd dispersed.
Knowing her scheme, but finding it rather funny, he couldn’t stop himself from laughing. “You really don’t think I dance.”
“I know you dance, I just know you don’t like dancing. You avoid it at all costs. The past three years you’ve bought a ticket to all the major balls. And you never show. I’ve seen footage of your face when you attended one benefit, and you looked insanely miserable on camera. Yes, Kade Kincaid couldn’t hide how much he detested dancing from the camera."
The fact that she’d studied him so much left him feeling unprepared. How had he been so naive? Actually, he knew—he hadn’t thought he would care that much. Hadn’t thought this date would matter. My, oh my, this girl had caught an interception and none of his linemen could stop her. Standing, he stuck out his hand once more. “May I have this dance?”
There was another moment of vulnerability between them, and for a second, he wondered if she would turn him down.
She stood and, with a pinched look on her face, escorted him out to the dance floor. “Let’s do this.”
Kade heard and saw people taking pictures of them. It was nice not to have the “official” cameras making a spectacle of everything.
Taking her into a gentle two-step, he was pleasantly alarmed when she seemed to meld into him. The words of the music fell around him as he focused and danced with her.
“You know this song?” she asked, seeming a bit bewildered.
“You know I like country music.”
“Right.”
“But you don’t know everything about me, Ms. Song. I think you might want to quit thinking you do.”
The song finished, but he kept her in his arms, feeling the chemistry and tension between them building. “Can I have the next one?”
A fast swing came on, and people around them started doing fancy moves.
Her smile widened, and he knew she thought he’d been ensnared into a trap. “If you want.”
Taking a chance, he pulled her in quick then let her go, and within a couple of steps, he discovered she was good at dancing too.
Elation filled him as he swung her and felt the pull of momentum between them, and then their eyes locked. There it was. Skydiving girl. Free. That’s how she looked at this moment.
He couldn’t help but laugh. He pulled her up into a lift, and she laughed too.
When she came down, they stayed with the steps until the end of the song when, to his surprise, he saw the other couples around them had stopped dancing and were clapping and laughing with them.
Felicity, seemingly caught up in the moment, took off her hat and waved it in the air, moving into him, putting her arm around his middle.
He pulled her into his side and mimicked her by taking off his hat and waving it.
People clapped and hollered out.
Another song came on, and she gestured to the table. "I need to sit.” She put her hand over her chest for a moment, pausing to walk and reaching out to support herself on him.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Fine.” She pulled her hand back and sucked in a breath. “Just maybe overdid a bit. Can we sit?”
Taking her hand, he led her back to their table, not stopping when people tried to chat with them.
Without warning, she looked a bit pale to him. Or was he just making that up? Dang, he felt way too keyed into this woman.
Slinking into the booth, she picked up her water and took a long sip, leaning back with a smile on her lips. “You’re good.” She playfully slammed her glass down onto the table. “How’s that? I thought I would best you, but you’re good. And you know it.”
He grinned. “Takes a lot to best me.” He shrugged. “Maybe you got close today.”
She laughed and swatted him in the shoulder. “I thought for sure you’d back out of the sky diving, but you didn’t.”
He liked the casual manner she had with him.
Yes, that’s what he really liked about her. She didn’t treat him like a billionaire.
Leaning over to her, getting a whiff of the fruity scent she wore, he said, “You want to know why you never had footage of me liking to dance?” Not understanding it, he felt his palms go sweaty. He wasn’t a sweaty palms guy. He never had to wipe his palms down his pants. Most girls pretty much threw themselves at him or he knew they would if he gave the word.
“Why?” she asked, looking genuinely curious and still a bit pale.
“I’ve never found a partner I liked dancing with as much as you. I had a good time tonight.”
Her cheeks flushed.
He liked it.
Rolling her eyes, she tsked her tongue at him. “I told you, Mr. Kincaid. Don’t fall in love with me.”
He could see a playfulness in her at the moment, and he grinned back. “I thought you were being so uppity when you told me that, but I don’t know if I can abide by that contract and not see you again.”
Chapter 13
This was not how Felicity had seen this day going at all. Was Kade Kincaid really hitting on her? Really telling her he could like her for more than a publicity stunt?
Letting out a long breath, she said, “Wowee, Cowboy.” It sounded ridiculous, and she didn’t know why she said it. She just felt so awkward. Unable to sit there any longer, she stood. “Gotta go to the bathroom.” She pretty much rushed off, looking and feeling like a complete fool.
Getting to the bathroom, she knew she’d overdone it. She could feel it in the way her heart was feeling a bit tight and constricted inside her chest. No. No. No. She didn’t need her heart problems to flare up at the moment. All she knew was she needed to get home and get to bed and forget the way Kade looked at her and how it made her feel.
When she got back to the table, she slid into her seat. She was grateful he was distracted talking to someone else. They were taking a selfie.
When the people left, Kade turned to her. “Are you feeling okay?”
Shocked by his question, even more so by the fact he’d even noticed, she had a flash of a worry.
What if he found out about her condition? “Fine.” She blurted it out. Waving down the server, she asked for more water.
A few minutes went by, and neither of them spoke. There were still people dancing, but most were mingling with other tables or kind of making out by themselves.
She didn’t want it to be awkward, but she was feeling more and more tired as every minute passed.
“Are you okay?” he asked again, this time taking her shoulder and forcing her to look at him.
“I don’t know. I’m feeling sick. I think I overdid it today.”
Searching her face, he frowned and stood and was gone before she could see where he went.
Five minutes later, she felt the boat jerk, and Kade was back.
“What did you do?” Even as she asked, she already knew what he’d done.
He shrugged. “I spoke to the captain, and he’s getting us right in. I also called my driver. He’ll be waiting with your things when we get there.”
The faintness and lightheadedness was getting worse, and she felt herself lean back into the booth.
Kade’s arm was around her, and he pulled her close. “You really are sick.” He smoothed her hair.
“I’m fine.” But she closed her eyes, fighting to just hang on to some control. She could get through this, get home, and get to bed.
Kade didn’t say anything, only gently rubbed down the side of her arm. “You're okay, for real? We can land the helicopter on this boat and get you to the hospital."
"No!” she said a bit too loudly. She opened her eyes, and she could feel her body fighting. Her breathing was becoming increasingly shallow, but she kept telling herself it was okay. “Like I said, I just need to get home.”
“You’re not kidding,” he said lightly, but she could feel his worry.
When they finally docked, he helped her up, and she had to lean on him while they rushed off the boat. She was thankful she was able to walk. Sometimes when this hit her, it was like hitting a wall and she would collapse. Don’t collapse. Don’t collapse. Don’t collapse. She kept muttering it to herself.