Driving Tempo

by Thomas, Raine

  That fantasy had just been brutally shattered. Even though Ryan’s vigilance had detected the ruse, the stalker had gotten close enough that Lily could smell the floral perfume he’d donned with his costume. Now that she thought about it, there had also been the subtle underlying odor of cloves, the same scent she’d detected in the Denver spa.

  All of the hair on her arms stood on-end. She’d very nearly been duped into accepting an intimate gift from her stalker. She might have even put it on.

  Her stomach lurched. The reality of the situation had her sitting down right there on the concrete studio floor.

  She truly wasn’t safe anywhere. How much longer could she keep living her life this way?

  Ryan returned a few minutes later. He didn’t have to say a word for her to know how the chase had ended. The stalker had once again gotten away.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Sage opened the door to Kaila for a date they had scheduled a week ago. He’d tried to schedule something sooner after meeting with his father, but Kaila had been involved in numerous planning meetings preparing for her Wyoming job up until now.

  She had once again taken the time to prepare herself for him. The red top she wore was tasteful while revealing a tempting amount of cleavage. She had paired it with jeans that looked painted on her soft curves, and some strappy red heels that displayed toes painted the same bold shade. Her dark hair was piled on top of her head in a flirty ponytail. Her makeup was subtle except for the red on her lips that highlighted the smile she flashed him.

  “Hey there, stranger,” she said as she walked inside.

  “Hi.”

  He deliberately stepped back to make room for her to enter, not wanting to encourage her to lean in for a kiss. If she noticed, she was good at hiding it. She just winked at him as she walked in and headed down the hallway towards the family room.

  “Sorry I couldn’t get out of those meetings,” she said over her shoulder as he closed the door and followed her. “I really wanted to see you too.”

  He winced when he realized she had thought he wanted to meet sooner because he was eager to see her again. He’d already been dreading this conversation. Now he felt even worse about it.

  “Uh, actually,” he said as they entered the family room and Kaila sat on the loveseat, “I just really wanted to talk to you.”

  She patted the cushion beside her. “I’m good with talking, Sage. We’ve done a lot of it over the years.”

  The comment reminded him again of how much they’d shared together. Rather than stay on his feet and pace like he wanted to, he sat beside her, leaning forward and bracing his forearms on his knees.

  “What’s on your mind?” she asked.

  He turned slightly to face her. “I went to see my dad a couple days ago.”

  Kaila’s eyebrows lifted. “You did? That’s great. How’d it go?”

  “Really well, as a matter of fact.” It still surprised him. He’d stayed with his father in his office until night had fallen, catching up with him on the past few years of their lives. “He apologized for not supporting me in my career decisions.”

  Her eyes widened. “Wow. The Great Abe apologizing? Write down the date!”

  “No kidding,” he said.

  “What prompted you to go and see him?”

  His gaze moved to his entwined hands. “Actually, Rosemary did.”

  When she fell silent, he looked over at her. It belatedly occurred to him that she thought he’d been in touch with Rosemary against his agreement with her.

  “Before Vegas,” he clarified.

  The sparks in her eyes dimmed. Her shoulders eased from a tense, about-to-tear-into-him position to a lower, warier posture.

  “She made me realize that things between me and my dad weren’t ever going to change if one of us didn’t do something different,” he said, “and that I should consider swallowing my pride and taking the first step. Turns out, she was right. My dad said he didn’t know how to approach me after so much time had passed and he’d been such an asshole to me.”

  Kaila looked away, her lips pressed together. “Okay,” she said. “No matter how it came about, I’m still glad you went and worked things out with him.”

  “I’m glad I went too,” he said. “It really made me think.”

  A light of hope entered her expression. “I’m sure it did,” she said. “Things like that make you think about what’s important in life, right?”

  “Yeah.” He pushed to his feet, no longer able to sit still. “It also made me think about my life since high school.”

  “Since we started dating?”

  “Sort of. More just about my path since I approached graduation.”

  He moved around the family room, less pacing than taking the time to look at the years of photos in frames lining his bookshelves. He reached up and ran a finger along the side of a photo of him and Kaila in their caps and gowns, waving their rolled-up diplomas. He had leaned in to kiss her on the cheek while she cheered at the camera.

  “I realized that I’ve approached the last seven years of my life as though I’ve been walking down a single path,” he said, moving on to other, more recent images of him with his band mates. “That path had no detours. No windows or doors along the way. I’ve been so certain that at the end of that path was a life with you...a life without my father.”

  He turned back and looked at Kaila, who watched him without speaking. Her dark eyes had gone solemn as she listened.

  “Rosemary opened a door for me,” he said quietly. “One I never saw coming. I walked through that door when I got involved with her. By following her advice and talking to my father, I already know my future won’t be the one I’ve envisioned all these years.”

  Her eyes filled. “Sage, we’re working on getting back to that path.”

  “That’s the thing, Kaila. I’m not sure I want to.”

  She got to her feet and approached him, moving slowly as though she sensed his inner turmoil. The tears brimming in her eyes fell when she blinked, clinging to the bottom of her chin like twin dewdrops.

  “I’m sorry, Sage,” she said, reaching out and placing a hand on his shoulder. “Like your father, I’m so sorry. Are you listening to me? Really hearing me?”

  He nodded. There was no mistaking her sincerity. He had no choice but to feel it exuding from her. She lifted her other hand, now using both to frame his face.

  “I live every day with regret that I allowed myself to forget everything we meant to each other when we were younger,” she said. Her breath hitched and she paused to steady herself. “I know you’re unsure about things right now. I can understand that, and it’s all my fault. But it’s only been two weeks since you agreed to give this a try. A few brief dates. That’s hardly any time at all. Please, I’m begging you...for the sake of the love we’ve shared since high school, please give this a little more time before you make up your mind.”

  He couldn’t resist such a heartfelt plea. Although he knew it meant more time with his heart feeling adrift, he once again gave her the answer she sought.

  “Okay,” he said.

  * * *

  Rosemary felt like she’d been living under a cursed cloud since returning from The Void’s tour a little over two weeks ago. It didn’t even have anything to do with the ongoing cleaving pain in her chest over being completely abandoned by Sage. No, there was plenty of other misfortune for her to deal with to worry about such a paltry issue.

  First she managed to snap the heel off of her favorite pair of shoes while rushing through a parking lot to get to a floral appointment with a client. Not only were the shoes the prettiest and most comfortable ones she owned, they’d also been shamefully expensive. She’d picked them up on a seventy-percent off sale and still spent over two hundred bucks on them. In the course of snapping the heel, she had also twisted her ankle. She’d had to limp barefoot into her appointment and explain herself to the wide-eyed florist and—thankfully—sympathetic client.

&
nbsp; Utterly humiliating.

  A few days later, when she was preparing a lonely dinner for one while Monique was out with Fernando, she sliced her finger open with a dicing knife. It just figured that she ended up bleeding all over the first meal she actually felt like eating since getting home from Vegas. She had ended up bandaging her hand and eating soup right out of the can.

  As a more recent topper to her string of disasters, someone had decided to hack her. They had managed to steal her passwords and began logging into her accounts, spamming everyone she knew on social media and, more alarmingly, racking up charges on both her credit cards and her cell phone account by downloading apps. She’d had to cancel all of her cards and put a hold on her cell account until an identity fraud investigation could be conducted.

  She’d been lucky that Petit Planning kept a couple of cell phones loaded with client and vendor numbers handy for reasons like this. She’d been able to borrow one to get by for a few days. Ultimately Ines decided that she would bite the bullet and bring both Monique and Rosemary onto a company plan. Although it had been a pain to transition to the new number, Rosemary hadn’t minded getting out from under one of her monthly bills. Even more importantly, both Monique and Rosemary hoped it was a sign that Ines was getting serious about the partnership offers.

  It had been five days since Rosemary had discovered the identity theft. Now she wondered when the next tragic circumstance would drop itself upon her doorstep.

  “You need to get out of your rut,” Monique announced when Rosemary sat on their couch watching Netflix in her pajamas at seven o’clock on a weekday. “The surgeons on Sacred Grace aren’t going to appear on your doorstep and sweep you off your feet.”

  Rosemary deliberately spooned some of her Greek yogurt into her mouth and ignored her friend.

  “Come on, girl,” Monique said, plopping onto the couch right next to Rosemary. “This is just pitiful. You’re wallowing.”

  “I’m entitled.”

  “Not for more than two weeks. That’s why it’s pitiful.”

  Rosemary frowned. “I told you I loved him. It’s not that easy to get over.”

  “Ugh.” Monique grabbed the yogurt from Rosemary and took a spoonful. “Let’s go on a double date. Me and Nando, you and Zeke or someone else. No strings or expectations. Just to get out of the house for a while.”

  Zeke was Fernando’s best friend. He’d had a crush on Rosemary for years. Going out with him as anything more than a friend probably wasn’t wise. It would give him mixed signals since she really wasn’t interested in him that way. She wasn’t interested in anybody but Sage.

  Still, the annual gathering with her, Monique, and their friends was only a month away. Unless the date of one of her friends ended up backing out, Rosemary would be the only single person there. That would just seriously bum her out. Maybe starting to date again—likely not Zeke—wasn’t the worst idea in the world.

  “Okay,” she said.

  * * *

  “Dinnertime, Lily Momilly,” Archer said.

  She had been sitting at her desk in the library typing away for hours. He knew she had resubmitted her articles to Rolling Stone a few days ago, so she had to be working on a new piece. He hadn’t wanted to interrupt her to find out for sure.

  Instead, he’d spent most of the day helping Peter get settled in the small guest house on the other side of the pool. His friend had stayed there numerous times over the years, usually when he was in town for a series of auditions or for work. When he’d asked if Archer minded if he stayed there up until the wedding so he could look for work and help with wedding planning as needed, Archer hadn’t hesitated to tell him yes.

  Lily hadn’t voiced any objections when he mentioned it to her. Archer was relieved, both since he’d forgotten to ask her before agreeing to Peter’s request and because he hoped this would allow her to get better acquainted with Peter. He suspected she thought Peter was a bit of a loser since he didn’t work a regular job and tended to crack jokes much of the time. There was more to him than that and Archer knew Lily would eventually come to see it.

  He walked over to her and started kneading her shoulders. He felt how tight her muscles were beneath the baggy shirt she wore...one of his with the sleeves rolled up. She stopped typing and sighed, leaning into his touch.

  “How did it get to be so late?” she asked, rubbing the bridge of her nose beneath her glasses.

  “We’ve had a long day.”

  The “Not Mine” video had released at noon Los Angeles time that day. Lily had gotten up early to hop on social media to drum up as much excitement as possible before it premiered. They’d already seen the video, of course, but they had wanted to tune in and watch it on YouTube with everyone else.

  Archer thought it had come together exactly as he’d envisioned, telling the story of a man longing for a woman who wasn’t his to love. The producers had done a magnificent job of transitioning between footage of the band performing the song and scenes of Kymberli on her own, with another male actor playing her love interest, and with Archer.

  Lily had agreed that it was amazing. Her hard work in gearing up for the video’s debut had paid off too. The last time he’d checked the number of views on YouTube, it was up to ten million and climbing.

  “Come and eat,” he said.

  She grunted. “That would involve leaving this chair and you stopping that backrub.”

  He smiled and leaned down to scoop her up from the chair. “I’ll make you a deal,” he said, heading towards the kitchen.

  Her arms went around his neck. “What kind of deal?”

  “You take a break and eat dinner with me like a good girl and then I’ll rub any part of your body that you want.”

  “That’s awfully tempting,” came a male voice, “but I think I’ll just take the meal, thanks.”

  Archer saw Peter strolling into the kitchen from the open side doors leading to the pool just as he and Lily entered. Lily wiggled in Archer’s arms until he lowered her to the ground. He kept his hand around her waist as they moved closer to Peter.

  “There’s no way you’ve been a good girl today,” Archer tossed back to his friend.

  “Yeah, that didn’t sound like me.” Peter’s gaze moved to Lily. “How about you?” he asked her with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

  Knowing his friend’s antics were making Lily uncomfortable, Archer reached over and shoved his shoulder. “That’s enough. Help me haul some of this out to the patio. It’s a nice night. We’ll eat out there.”

  “You’re inviting me to crash your evening?” Peter said.

  “As long as you help carry the food.”

  Peter obligingly turned to the counter where the housekeeper, Barbara, had left a small spread. He grabbed the wooden salad bowl, tongs, and bottle of dressing and flashed Archer a grin as he headed outside.

  “Are you okay with him eating with us?” Archer asked Lily in a low voice.

  “I’d certainly better be,” she replied, giving him a pointed look as she carried the plates, utensils, and napkins outside.

  Oops.

  He really had to remember that she lived here now. They were just beginning their life together. He couldn’t make decisions that impacted both of them.

  Deciding he would make it up to her later, he picked up the crock of pasta and carried it outside. He made another trip to grab a bottle of wine, a corkscrew, and three glasses. Peter went with him and carried back the cutting board bearing a loaf of crusty bread. A few minutes later, they were pouring wine and loading their plates with food.

  “This smells fantastic,” Peter said as he scooped some of Barbara’s pasta dish onto his plate. “What is it?”

  “Cheese tortellini with spinach and peas in a brown butter sauce,” Archer said, repeating what Barbara had told him earlier.

  “Peas and spinach? Damn Californians,” Peter said with a laugh. “Where’s the red meat? Maybe throw some bacon in here for added flavor?”

  “Next tim
e you can do the cooking if you want,” Lily said.

  Her tone was overly sweet. Archer exchanged a look with Peter, whose smile faded. He cleared his throat and took a sip of his wine.

  “Sorry,” he said. “It really does look great. Thanks for letting me share this meal with you.”

  “Sure,” Archer said.

  “So, uh, what are the video views at now?” Peter asked.

  They had checked them periodically throughout the day as Peter got settled into the guest house. It meant a lot to Archer that his friend was interested in the video’s success.

  “Eleven point two million,” Lily said around a bite of salad.

  “When did you check?” Archer asked.

  “A couple minutes before you came to get me for dinner.”

  Peter let out a low whistle. “Damn, man. You’ll hit the twenty-mil mark by dawn for sure.”

  “It’s looking like it,” Archer agreed.

  He reached over and briefly grasped Lily’s hand on top of the table, wanting to share the moment with her. She smiled at him.

  “Hey, I’m happy for you, Arch,” Peter said, lifting his glass in a toast before taking a sip of wine. “You’re livin’ the life. Beautiful house, great career, plenty of money, and soon you’ll have a gorgeous wife to top it all. No one deserves it more.”

  His friend’s accolades should have thrilled Archer. Also among The Void’s recent accomplishments was that “Not Mine” had officially been certified double platinum. It had become known as the hit of the summer. Grammy rumors were running rampant that it would make the nominee list alongside “Welcome to Wonderland.”

  Archer should have been on top of the world, but the looming threat to Lily put a pall over everything.

  First, of course, he had learned about her nearly face-to-face confrontation with her stalker. Immediately after being told about that, he discovered that Lily had been receiving more and more threatening e-mails, the tone of them darker and more horrifying than he could have imagined. She had been forwarding them to Ordinem without telling him, trying to keep him from worrying. The Ordinem team still hadn’t found the source of the e-mails.