Strategic Vulnerability

by Mandy M. Roth

  Everyone in the store looked around, appearing as if they were on the verge of screaming. Kim assumed the ordeal was over. She was wrong. A package of wall decorations leapt free of a shelf and landed at her feet. They were of cartoon mice, running up and down clocks.

  Covering her mouth, she tried not to lose her composure and cry. It didn’t work out as planned. She teared up and the good-looking man bent, touching the decorations as if they were fragile and the most precious thing he’d ever come into contact with. He stared up at her with a shocked look upon his handsome face.

  Kim rushed past him and out of the store, feeling flushed and queasy. She stopped and went to the side of the mall, pulling her cell out and dialing a number she’d come to know by heart—Lukian’s.

  He answered on the first ring. “Kimberly.”

  “Is this a bad time?” she asked, desperately wanting to know if Wilson was all right.

  Lukian chuckled and Kim heard Peren’s voice in the background. “Hang on a sec, Kimberly. My wife is insisting you come and stay with us. She seems to think you’d bask in the glory of all the pregnancy hormones running around here.” He chuckled. “Ouch. Okay, she’s now threatening my life if I don’t convince you to come.”

  “Lukian,” Kim said softly. “Is Wil okay?”

  “Come and you’ll know.”

  She let out a long breath. “I can’t come there. I’m trying to figure out a way to cut whatever tie Krauss’s experiments did to us. It’s not fair to Wil to have that there. He didn’t ask for it and I’m sure it’s their doing. Not Mother Nature’s.”

  “Kimberly, if you manage to find a way to sever the link between you and Wilson, an update on his condition won’t be necessary. He won’t survive without you. I mean that literally.”

  She closed her eyes tight and bent her head. “Don’t say that. He will. He’s strong. He’ll be fine whenever whatever they did to us is done. I just need to know he’s okay. I can’t ask my father. He told me if I asked one more time he’d mystically zap me to Wil’s side.”

  Lukian chuckled. “I can see him doing that. Kimberly, I can’t update you on Wilson because he’s not here. He took much-needed leave.”

  “I see,” she said, glancing up and steeling her resolve. “Good. That’s good. He should.”

  “I gave you his cell number. Hell, I gave you everyone’s numbers. Call him.”

  “I need to go. Tell Peren I said hi and thank her for the invitation. Bye, Lukian.”

  She hung up and tipped her head against the wall. It took a bit to collect herself but she did. She went instantly to a drink vendor for a bottle of flavored water. Another man approached, this one was only about six foot and had black hair. He smiled and tried to pay the cashier for her water.

  “Thanks but no. I’ve got it.”

  “I insist,” he said, the slightest hint of an accent in his voice. “How often can I say I bought a beautiful woman a drink?”

  Trying to be polite, but wanting distance between herself and the man, Kim inclined her head. “As sweet as that is, I’m still going to decline. Thank you though.”

  “Ah, but I insist.”

  A muscular arm slid around her waist and a large hand splayed low over her stomach protectively. She gasped as heat rushed through her entire body.

  “I think the lady spoke,” a deep, familiar voice said. “And I’d really rather another man not buy my wife things, even if it’s only water.”

  Wilson?

  Kim’s breathing grew shallow as she remained rooted in place, scared to turn around and find it wasn’t the man she desperately wanted it to be.

  The dark-haired man who had been trying to buy her water put his hands up and nodded. “My mistake.”

  A powerful arm, much thicker than what she remembered Wilson’s being, shot out with money in hand. The man behind her thanked the cashier and then led her from the stand. He pressed his mouth to her ear and she melted against him, closing her eyes and refusing to get her hopes up.

  “Are you going to look at me or are you just going to call me a jerk again as you storm off? Or are you going to run away after our son acts up in a store again?”

  What?

  Kim opened her eyes and looked up to the find the sexy man she’d collided with standing before her. Confused, she took a tiny step back. “Wilson?”

  He smiled. “See, I was almost hurt you didn’t recognize me. Are you trying to tell me I looked better covered in hair and gods knows what else?”

  Kim stared at the man. As she locked gazes with him she knew, deep down inside, that it was Wilson. Granted, it was a much-healthier-looking version of him for sure, but him all the same. Tears broke loose and she tried to look away.

  He caught her chin. “Hon, don’t cry. I didn’t mean to upset you. I’ll go. I will but-but… I had to see you, Kim. I couldn’t stay away anymore. I know you said you didn’t want to see me but I wanted, no, I needed to see you.”

  She cried harder.

  He backed away. “Kim, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you hated me.”

  “Hate?” she asked, choking on a sob. “Hate? Pfft. I’m bawling because in my mind you’ve been on death’s doorstep since I last saw you. I’m crying because I’m so happy to see you’re not only alive but healthy,” she let her gaze rake over his incredible body, “really, really healthy.”

  “So,” he dipped his head, “you don’t blame me for what happened and for not being able to find and kill Krauss?”

  “Blame you?” She stared at him in disbelief. “I could almost hit you right now just for the sheer stupidity of that statement alone. I would too if I didn’t know you could kill me with your bare hands.”

  She winked.

  Wilson closed the distance between them, lifting her up and off the ground and hugging her tight. It was then she realized the smell that had caught her attention had been the scent of Wilson—musk, vanilla, and a hint of spice. She wrapped her arms around him, still shocked at how beefy he was.

  “Are you normally this…this…” She patted his arms. “Muscular?”

  He lifted a brow. “Yes. Why, do you prefer me skin and bones?”

  She stared at him, remembering the sight of him when she’d first met him. “Wil, I prefer you! Any version will do.”

  He kept her held off the ground. People glanced at them as they walked past, but Wilson paid them no mind. His gaze seemed locked on her. “Mmm, I missed you, Kim. I would have come sooner, but I guess I wasn’t as fine as I first thought.”

  Her chest tightened. “What happened?”

  “I’m okay now, don’t worry about it.”

  “Wilson,” she said, her tone warning.

  He kissed the tip of her nose and smiled. “Funny, I thought things might be awkward between us, but seems to me you’ve got the scary wife voice down pat.”

  Kim opened her mouth to argue the point with him, and he picked that moment to kiss her. She pushed against his chest as he inched his tongue into her mouth. Kim moaned, running her hands up his thick neck, over his smooth cheeks, and into his close-cut hair. She ate his mouth and he tipped his head, seeming hungry for even more.

  It took Kim a moment to remember they were in a public place. She stopped the kiss and put her forehead to his. “Wil, we, umm, we’re in… Wil.”

  He chuckled. “Yeah, hon, I remembered at the last minute too.” He set her down. “What do you say we find somewhere a little more private to talk?”

  She took his hand in hers and held tight. The fear of going months between seeing him again hit her hard. “Okay, but promise you’ll stay close.”

  He smiled. “I promise.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Wilson held Kim’s hand, his heart beating madly and his senses on overdrive as he led her to his rental car. He was afraid to speak to her for fear he’d break down. She seemed content just holding his hand as he drove to his hotel room. He parked and led her into the hotel. She kept a tight hold on his hand and pressed in close to hi
m on the way up the elevator. He led her down the hall on the top floor and slid his key card into the door. Once it was open and she was inside, he slammed it shut and yanked her against him.

  Every emotion he’d held in for the past two and a half months surfaced. He wanted to be strong in front of her, but it was impossible.

  Kim cried and clung to him, shaking in his arms. He kissed the top of her head and lifted her face, staring down at her, uncaring if she saw him crying. She closed her eyes and went to her tiptoes, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t come and see you,” she whispered. “My father tried to convince me to but I couldn’t, Wil. I felt like you’d been trapped by what they’d done and I didn’t…don’t want you to feel forced to be with me.”

  Unable to believe it, he shook his head slightly and kissed her, not bothering with chaste. When he drew back, her eyelids looked heavy and her lips were parted just a bit. “Woman, from the second I saw you, I knew nothing was going to come between us. If you think for one minute I feel pressured to be with you, think again. I feel pressure to keep from dragging you to the floor and burying myself in you. I feel pressure to keep from hugging you so tight I accidently break you. I feel pressure to keep from telling you things you aren’t ready to hear me say…feelings you’re not yet ready to know I have for you. That’s the pressure I feel.”

  She cried harder, clinging to him. “I’m so sorry I didn’t come.”

  Wilson didn’t tell her it had been for the best. That he’d spent over a month in a drug-induced coma in order to heal the damage Green had feared would be permanent. He didn’t tell her that upon waking he’d had to undergo massive amounts of rehabilitation and that he’d used her as his guiding force. He didn’t tell her that he fought through it all, beating the odds, plus some, just to be able to go to her and to his unborn child. She wasn’t ready to know that—to know he was in love with her.

  He held her close and slid a hand down the length of her, coming to rest on her tiny swell of a tummy. He sensed it then, his child in her. Wilson laughed through his tears and Kim drew back, giving him an odd look.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “We’re having a baby and we haven’t even—”

  Her jaw dropped open and she playfully socked his upper arm. “See, I was right. You are a jerk.”

  Catching her hand with his, Wilson planted a tiny kiss on the back of it and smiled mischievously at her. “I missed you so much.”

  She blinked, her green eyes seeming more intense now that they were rimmed with red. “I missed you too.”

  “How are you feeling?” he asked, his gaze sliding to her stomach. “What does the doctor say? Is the baby healthy? Are you healthy?”

  “We’re both fine.” She snorted. “In fact, they tell me your son is measuring bigger than he should be. So, I think we might be having a linebacker or something.”

  My son.

  The sound of that was music to his ears. He reached out for Kim, needing to hold her. She came to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. Her scent filled his head and his cock hardened. He cleared his throat, hoping it would help to clear his hard-on as well.

  No such luck.

  She slid her fingers into the top of his jeans and clung to him as he kissed the top of her head. She kissed his chest. “I feel like if I let go, you’ll disappear. I don’t want you to be a dream.”

  Cupping her chin, he forced her gaze upward. “I’m not. I’m here, and we won’t ever be apart again.”

  She laughed through her tears and he bent, capturing her mouth with his. His kiss was hot and branding. Kim tugged at his shirt, pulling it free of his pants. She moaned into his mouth as she ran her hands over his abs. “I thought you were rock-hard when I helped you shower.” She kissed his chest again. “I had no clue you were normally like this. You’re quite the intimidating specimen of a man.”

  He smiled. “Who is still,” he took her hand and pressed her palm against the distended flesh in his pants, “rock-hard.”

  Kim licked her lower lip and fire shot through his body. “Mmm, I see that. Hard. Very hard.”

  “Kim,” he whispered. “I want to throw you onto that bed and bury myself so deep in you that we forget everything but the moment.”

  She blinked and stared up at him with lust-filled green eyes. “Then by all means, get the show started. I’m dying here, Wil. Touch me.”

  He groaned, his cock twitching. “I can’t. We can’t. I don’t want to hurt the baby.”

  Laughing softly, she touched his cheek. “Sweetie, you won’t. Please give this to me. I need to feel you in me. I need to know you’re really here. That this isn’t a dream.”

  “It’s no dream, and as much as I want to take you and claim you fully as mine, I want to do things right.”

  She appeared puzzled. “Meaning?”

  He smiled as a knock sounded on the hotel room door. “Wait right here.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Kim waited in her spot as Wilson disappeared from her line of sight. She heard him talking softly with someone and then he reappeared with a long garment bag in his hands and a huge, sexy smile upon his handsome face.

  “Wil, what’s going on?”

  He set the garment bag on the bed and turned to face her. “I planned a weekend for us, Kim. I want us to get to know one another the way we should have without outside interference.”

  A swell of emotions rushed over her and she nodded, wiping her cheeks in an attempt to keep them tear free. “I-I’d like that very much.”

  He exhaled looking relieved. “Don’t worry about your father. He knows about this. He’s the one who told me where you’d be today.”

  She gasped. “I didn’t think he knew when I left the house.”

  Wilson chuckled. “Oh, he knows. I don’t think he’ll ever not have some sort of mystical tab thing going on you. Though he swore to me that he’d stop while we’re together. I don’t blame him one bit.”

  Kim rushed Wilson, tossing her arms around him and hugging him tight. He lifted her off her feet and laughed as he spun her around. “You’re an amazing man.”

  He set her down and blew on his knuckles, arching a brow cockily and smirking. “Yeah. I know.”

  “Dork,” she said, slapping his arm lightly.

  He caught her around the waist and made her pulse speed. “Yeah, but I’m your dork. Don’t forget that.”

  Kim ran her thumb over his lower lip. “And here I thought I’d want a pony when I grew up.”

  “Well,” he blushed, “we have to take the good with the bad.”

  “And are you bad, Wil?” she asked, hoping he was the bad boy she sensed he could be.

  He winked. “I’m an angel, honey.”

  She stepped out of his hold and stared upward.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Waiting for God to strike you down for lying.” As her gaze met his, Kim had to fight with all her being to keep from peeling her clothing off and begging Wilson to take her.

  Wilson motioned to the garment bag. “Yours is in there. I’ll step into the other room and change into mine.”

  “Huh?”

  He pointed to the bed. “Open it and see.”

  She did and her breath caught. A long, pale green evening dress with a scalloped-edged bottom lay there. It looked to be sleeveless and form-fitting. That wasn’t all. It was a Vera Wang. “Ohmygod, Wil, it’s beautiful!”

  “It will bring out the green in your eyes,” he said, lifting it and handing it to her. “When I saw it, I knew it was the one I wanted you to wear tonight.”

  She shook her head. “I can’t accept this. It’s too much.”

  He gave her a funny look. “No it’s not. It’s not nearly enough.”

  “Wil,” she said sternly.

  He wrinkled his nose and laughed as he rushed out of the room. “Get changed, woman, or I’ll do it for you!”

  Kim held the dress up and was shocked to see how accur
ate his guess on her size was. Wilson was turning out to be a man of many layers. She hoped he’d allow her to see all of them.

  She dressed quickly and found a pair of matching heels near the closet door. They were exactly her size. Kim slipped them on and waited for Wilson to emerge, nervous about how she looked. She skimmed her hand over her lower abdomen, which seemed to show more with the way the dress hung. It was easy to see she was pregnant in the gown. She sighed and felt the weight of someone’s stare on her.

  Turning, she found Wilson standing in the doorway. He was dressed in a tux that looked stunning on him. He was also staring at her with an off expression on his face.

  Kim went to move away but he was there in an instant, spinning her in a slow circle, staring at her as if he wanted to devour her.

  I look like a whale.

  He shook his head. “No, honey, you look like the most beautiful woman in the world. The mother of my son.” He put his palm on the swell of her stomach and closed his eyes. “I know we didn’t plan on this, but I’m damn happy about him…” He slid his hand up her body slowly. “About you, Kim. About us.”

  Kim groaned and pinched his ass. It was hard to get enough flesh to do so, but she finally managed. “Pretend like that hurt, bucko.”

  Wilson had the courtesy to act as if she’d wounded him with her pinch. He took her hand in his and led her from the room. Kim wanted to ask where they were going, but the thrill of the surprise kept her silent.

  He led her onto the elevator, putting his hand on the small of her back and staying close to her. The doors opened on the second floor and the view left her speechless. The hotel corridor was lined with white roses. Red rose petals covered the floor and Wilson offered a half smile as he drew her out into the hall. “Ready?”

  “Wil?”

  He glanced sheepishly around. “Do you like it?”

  Kim gawked at her surroundings. “You did this? For me?”

  Nodding, he put her arm through his and continued down the hall. She stepped on the soft petals and followed close by his side. They went past all the doors on the floor and headed straight for a staircase. Wilson tightened his hold on her arm as he led her down the stairs. A large sign spanned the top of the archway that read “The Cellar.” Confused, she glanced at Wilson only to find his game face was on.