by Dee J. Adams
It was the last thing she wanted to think about, but when Leo looked like he might blow another gasket she nodded. “Yes.” But she had other things on her mind.
“Feel like telling me what happened?” His brows quirked together in a way she’d seen dozens of time in the movies and suddenly her whole relationship with him seemed completely surreal.
“He was drunk off his ass is what happened. I found the envelope from the DMV sticking out of his suitcase and I called him on it. I realized too late that I should’ve gotten out of there faster. He had some whacked out fantasy that we were a couple and he kept calling me Carolyn. He wasn’t making any sense. When I finally made a move for the door he swung me back and just laid into me.”
“You got at least one good shot in,” Leo said. “What’d you hit him with?”
“The heel of my shoe.” She shook her head. “I never thought I’d be thanking God for an earthquake.”
He smoothed his thumb over her knuckles. “Ever since the 7.1, we’ve had a little more shaking than normal.”
“Well, it gave me the chance to hit him. I’m not sure he realized what was happening. Looks like my stiletto’s are good for more than just height.” She thought back to her best friend’s fight for her life, a fight Leo knew about. “Chelsea at least had a pipe when she tried to defend herself. I didn’t have anything as substantial.” That was the other completely surreal part to the day…getting beat up just like Chelsea had so many years ago.
“I saw the door open a crack, then he slammed it shut,” Leo said.
Kim shook her head. “He must have set the maid’s lock when I was in the bathroom. I was so busy running that I didn’t see it until it was too late. He was on me before I could do anything but scream.” Kim shuddered at the memory and her stomach tightened in a painful cramp. A sharp reminder of what she lost tonight.
“Did he say anything?” Leo asked.
“He said plenty,” Kim scoffed. “He was mad that I went with you to the East Coast on such short notice. Mad that I didn’t appreciate him driving across the city to pick up your mail, which we never asked him do,” she added before Leo said the same thing. “He basically confessed to rigging the car, shooting at us in the canyon and screwing with Smokey’s saddle blanket. And of course, the topper…he thought I was Carolyn and that we were good together.”
Leo’s brows snapped together. “Seriously?”
She snorted. “Yeah. It was crazy. He kept calling me Carolyn. I mean, I know we looked alike, but he completely lost his grip on reality. It makes me wonder if he had a thing for her and that’s why he spent so much time helping her out the last few years. His wife left with their daughter and he didn’t have anyone, so he attached himself to Carolyn. Then he took all that time we spent together and concocted a relationship.”
“Isn’t he your first cousin? Your aunt’s nephew?”
“Yeah. But as he reminded me, he’s adopted, so we’re not blood relatives. Maybe he thought he could really have a relationship with Carolyn. Or me, who he construed as Carolyn.” Kim shuddered again.
Leo shook his head. “It’s over, that’s the important thing.”
Another wave of despair crashed in her chest. So much was over. Kim met Leo’s gaze. She had no idea how to bring up the subject of them now that there was no baby keeping them together. How could he even look at her when someone in her family had tried to kill him? The ball of guilt in her chest threatened to suffocate her.
“Why are you looking at me that way?” He sounded leery. The man had learned to read her so well in such a short period of time. Too bad she wasn’t as good an actor as he was.
“You didn’t happen to remember to bring any of my stuff, did you?”
“I brought your purse.” He gestured to the corner of the room. “I set it on the chair.”
At least now she had ID and a credit card. That would get her where she needed to go.
Away. Her heart lurched again as loneliness pressed in on her.
Leo squeezed her hand and she met his gaze. “I called Chelsea. I thought she should know what happened. I told her I’d call back after I talked to the doctor and to you. I think she’s ready to jump on a plane.”
He’d thought of everything. She owed him so big.
“Send her a text. Tell her it’s not necessary.” She’d be leaving herself as soon as she could.
The two officers who’d been first on the scene knocked on the treatment door. One came in and took her statement and the other took Leo outside and talked to him. Fifteen minutes passed before Leo joined her in the room and the policemen left.
“Thanks for being here,” she said after an extended silence.
Leo’s eyes narrowed. “Where else would I be?”
Her throat knotted and she shook her head. She didn’t want to talk about it now. Everything was too fresh, too painful and for tonight, tomorrow and maybe the day after, she’d take whatever Leo had to give. But as soon as she felt strong enough, she’d let him go.
Leo woke up alone. Again. It didn’t take a genius to figure out something was wrong with Kim, something beyond having a miscarriage. Though he never professed to being all that smart, he did know women. Kim had grown distant in the last few days. Leo practically had to beg to keep her in his bed. It wasn’t like he was planning on sex. Hell, he wasn’t that big of a moron. But he wanted her close. Wanted to hold her and take away the bad dreams that woke her in the middle of the night.
She’d given in, but not without a disagreement. Okay, she needed her space. He got that. She’d lost a baby, their baby. She was hurting. Hell, he was too. But shouldn’t she have been turning to him instead of away from him?
While she recuperated at his place, he kept busy with meetings regarding the movie. He talked to his distributor and kept his team involved so everyone stayed on the same page with the movie’s release in four months.
Leo hopped in a fast shower, pulled on jeans and a T-shirt and came downstairs to find Kim dressed in a dark green wraparound dress and high wedge heels, ready to face the world. Physically, she’d bounced back to almost a hundred percent. She still had to take medication to fight any infection from the miscarriage, and the bruises had faded enough to be covered by makeup, but sadness still lingered in her pretty eyes.
“I thought I’d go home today. Chelsea’s mad that I wouldn’t let her come out so I feel like I should get back so she knows I’m really okay. I just made flight arrangements for this afternoon.”
She may as well have knocked him over the head with a two-by-four.
“What?” A stupid question, but the only thing he could utter at the moment.
“I’m going back home.” She kept her gaze on her little black book. “I’ve got a lot of paperwork to figure out from my aunt’s estate. She had a trust and her attorney wants to make sure I have access to everything.”
“Okay.” That made a little bit of sense. She did have to figure out her aunt’s estate and she did have a job in another state, but surely she’d planned to move before having the baby. A cold chill swept down his spine because the baby wasn’t a factor anymore. What if… “When are you coming back?”
Her bottom lip quivered. “I’m not.”
Wham. She couldn’t have delivered a harder blow to his heart if she tried. A combination of anger and hurt swirled inside him like a twister and Leo crossed his arms over his chest to keep the pain inside. “And why’s that?” Years of training made it possible to talk through the crippling rejection.
“Because, I don’t see that there’s anything keeping us together anymore.”
Leo moved toward her, his steps measured. “You think the baby was the only thing keeping us together.” He laughed, but it lacked humor. “Funny, because for the longest time, it was the baby that was keeping us apart.”
Her eyes brimmed with tears and broke Leo in two. “I just think you felt pressured into being with me and now the pressure’s off.” She couldn’t even meet his gaze.
<
br /> “You know what’s off?” He got right in front of her. “You. You’re way off if you think I told you I love you because you were pregnant. You’re off if you think I’m going to let you walk out of my life. I let that happen two months ago and I’m not letting it happen again.” He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. “I love you. I meant it in New York. I mean it now. It’s not something I’ve ever said to anyone else and it’s not something I plan to say to anyone else.”
Her eyes filled with more tears. Seemed like all she’d been doing the past few days was cry. The doctor had said it was natural after a miscarriage, but Leo missed the sharp-witted teasing that Kim did best.
Unless she was crying because she really didn’t love him. He hadn’t thought of that.
“Is it me?” he asked. “Maybe you didn’t mean it when you said you loved me.” The possibility slayed him.
“No, no.” She covered her face with her hands. “I meant it.” She looked at him then, as serious as a heart attack. “I thought that maybe if the baby was gone, you’d be free to… I don’t know. Free to do whatever you want. I didn’t want you to think that you were stuck. Like you were before…”
Leo didn’t know whether to throttle her or kiss the living hell out of her. “How about I show you what I think. What I want. And I hope I make myself very clear with this.” He cupped her face, looked into her eyes as he brought his lips down on hers. The kiss started sweet, just his lips grazing over hers, but he coaxed her mouth open with his tongue and tasted her in increments. Small swipes that led to long, deep kisses. Kisses that reminded his sex starved body that he hadn’t made love to her in too many days.
Kim finally jumped on the wagon and kissed him back. Her fingers threaded through his hair and the little rumble in her chest may as well have been a string to his dick by the way it stood at attention in just a few short seconds.
When they eventually pulled apart, they were both breathing hard. “Did you understand that?” he asked.
She blinked a few times. “I’m sorry, the connection dropped midway through. Do you think you could repeat yourself?” A trace of a smile lifted her lips.
Leo grinned and dove in for another kiss. He still had another week or so before sex was back on the table, but that was fine by him as long as Kim planned to be here.
“I love you,” he told her. The force of his words brushed her hair back. “Pregnant or not pregnant, you’re the one I want.”
Her smile set his soul free. “And if I get pregnant again?”
“Then we’ll make sure we’ll do everything in our power to have a healthy, happy baby.” He grazed his thumb gently over the bruise along her jaw. “I know if nothing else, we’ll have fun trying.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Four months later
The movie theater buzzed with a packed crowd as Kim waited for Leo in the last row. The smell of popcorn hung thick in the air and people talked and alternately used their phones before previews started.
A month ago, the premiere of To the West had been a red carpet event to rival any blockbuster movie. Leo and his team went all out to create as much buzz as possible. Skeptics already doubted the success of a western, but Leo didn’t let the public see his tension. He’d worked so hard that everything else had taken a backseat.
She’d been busy herself, traveling back and forth, closing out her end of the business with Chelsea in Indiana and shipping things to Los Angeles in manageable sizes. Leo treated her like gold and though she felt secure in their relationship, a part of her longed for the official commitment. She knew not to expect anything. Just because Leo said he loved her didn’t mean he planned to marry her. Plenty of people lived their whole lives together without the benefit of a ceremony pronouncing them husband and wife. Even before the miscarriage, when he told her he loved her, he hadn’t said a word about marrying her. Not even for the baby’s sake. His only intention had been to stay involved.
Marriage. Kim had let go of that dream. It should be enough that she had a man who loved her and wanted to be with her, someone who appreciated all her parts instead of just the ones visible to the eyes. She was better off focusing on the fact that she and Leo were a team. She’d even helped him get to this point.
The work leading up to this opening night had been exhausting. The morning shows, talk shows and personal appearances had kept Leo busy for weeks. Kim wanted to do something special for him, but it had taken her several weeks to figure out what he’d love most.
Though she was officially a millionaire these days, she didn’t feel any different than she used to. She didn’t spend crazy amounts of money mainly because she’d learned a hard lesson the first time around. She was not a repeat offender. With the exception of Leo’s surprise tonight.
Leo and she had contingency plans depending on the movie’s outcome, be it a massive flop, mild success or sleeper hit. Kim’s money certainly kept them way above water, but it didn’t put them quite in the category Leo was used to. And Leo wanted his toys back.
Kim waved at Leo as he walked in the theater. Wearing a cap and glasses, no one would’ve recognized him. Kim almost hadn’t recognized him when he’d come out of their bedroom in his disguise. He’d been growing extra scruffy since the premiere last month and now she knew why. He liked to go to opening night of his movies in a regular theatre with a regular crowd to see the audience’s reaction first hand.
So far, the critics had loved To the West. So much so that Leo worried about the audience reaction. “Good reviews don’t mean shit if the theaters don’t fill up,” he’d told her last week.
Understood.
On the off chance the seats didn’t fill up or the crowd didn’t like the movie, Kim planned an end to this night that Leo would never forget.
Already she’d seen the movie more than a half dozen times. Her fascination came from watching Leo watch it. He didn’t enjoy it like the pressure was off. He’d watch with a critical eye and always found at least one thing he would’ve done differently if he’d directed the whole thing and not just a few scenes. He still loved it and had pride in it as a writer and producer, but he liked that, more than anything, he’d learned from it as a director.
Kim had bought them drinks and snacks at the concession stand while Leo had been in the men’s room and she dipped into her popcorn. The usher introduced the night’s movie and the crowd cheered. Kim squeezed Leo’s hard thigh, more excited than she’d been at the premiere. She understood now what Leo had meant. Premieres were fun, but most of the people attending were friends, acquaintances and people in the business who wanted to suck up. Few were likely to give Leo honest feedback if they didn’t like it. Critics not included.
Yes, tonight was the real test. Kim didn’t know how Leo looked so calm. She was ready to jump out of her skin.
The lights dimmed, and trailers for new movies started rolling. It felt like twenty minutes before the opening began and Kim nearly forgot to breathe.
For the next ninety-five minutes, she watched the crowd’s reaction. She felt their tension during fight scenes and rapt attention during a smoking hot love scene.
Kim still wondered why watching Leo make love to Carrie Ann Loughlin didn’t bother her. Maybe because she knew Leo’s feelings toward his co-star. Maybe because she didn’t know him then. Or maybe because she had the real deal and knew what it meant to be in the man’s arms. Of course the last possibility was that the woman now lived in a mental institution for committing murder.
Would her indifference last with any of his future films? It did her no good to think about it. One film at a time. Besides he told her every second of what happened during that love scene. How he had to shift his head at the exact right time to accommodate a camera angle or the fact that Carrie Ann had eaten some onions during lunch and her breath stunk. It all sounded extremely unsexy.
But on screen…they burned up the theater.
Kim watched the women as Leo kissed Carrie Ann. The dreamy faces an
d parted lips.
Yeah, her man was a hottie of major proportions. She grinned. How the hell had she ended up with Leo Frost?
He linked their fingers together and Kim glanced over just as he shot her a flash of his signature smile. God, she loved him. She couldn’t wait to show him just how much.
The last fight scene of the film had the crowd cheering for the hero. Leo inserted just enough humor to keep the audience in the reality, yet subtle enough to lighten the mood. When he kissed Carrie Ann at the end, the audience cheered wildly.
Kim’s heart soared and she squeezed Leo’s hand. Success. She never thought she’d feel so much pride for another person. Sudden tears pricked her eyes and she blinked them away.
If this audience was any indicator, then Leo had a hit on his hands. Kim hoped for his sake that it was.
They waited for the crowd to clear out. Leo liked to listen to comments as people walked by. Discussing the movie, the turning points, the action or love scenes. He considered every comment to be a potential learning tool. How could he make his next performance better?
Walking out hand in hand, they strolled to the exit. The parking lot had mostly cleared since this was a midnight showing and it was the middle of the night.
Kim waited for Leo to figure out the problem. It didn’t take long.
“Hey. My car’s gone.”
She looked up from her phone, where she’d been intentionally distracted. “What? What do you mean?” She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling.
“I mean, my fucking car’s gone. It must have been stolen.” He spread his arms wide. “I don’t fucking believe this. Tonight? Of all nights? Really?” He pulled out his phone from his back pocket. “I’m calling the cops.”
“Wait, Leo!” Kim stopped him. “What’s that over there?” She pointed to the very corner of the large lot where a lone black car sat under a tall parking lamp.
“I don’t know,” Leo said, hardly paying any attention. “It’s obviously not my Benz.”
