by Sharon Sala
“After what you just had to put up with, I feel as if I owe you something.”
He pretended to roll her words over. “Guilt. I like it.” His eyes teased hers playfully. “When all else fails, I’m not above using guilt.” He knew he had to make his pitch quickly, while the advantage was still his. In some ways, this was not unlike pitching toy ideas to the board, he thought. “So, when are you free?”
Saying that all her evenings were pretty much open didn’t seem like the right thing to admit. She knew that Rachel would highly disapprove if she were listening. But K.C. had never believed in playing games. Besides, she reminded herself, she wasn’t looking to get involved. Even with a man who seemed so nice.
She shrugged, deliberately trying to seem careless. “Why don’t you pick an evening and I’ll tell you if I can make it?”
He grinned. “Honest and physical. What more could I ask for? How’s Wednesday night sound to you?”
Wednesday night. Far away enough for her to feel safe, close enough for her to be able to appease Rachel. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure that Rachel wasn’t around somewhere, listening. “Sounds fine. Your place again?”
Bailey wanted to take her to a play. He had a friend who worked behind the scenes at the nearby Performing Arts Center. A little bartering might score him two tickets third row center for the current play. He knew for a fact that the theater kept a certain amount of choice tickets on reserve for celebrities, critics and special occasions. But he didn’t want to say anything to her until he was sure.
“No, this time I’ll get a sitter even if I have to pay her off in rare toys—”
“Now there’s a bribe.” She wondered if he was referring to certain discontinued action figures her brothers used to collect, benign now by modern standards. “You have rare toys?”
He gave her a deliberately mysterious look. “Rare comes about if the supply is suddenly dried up—or cut off.” He twirled an imaginary mustache. “I’ll do what I have to, to secure a little time with you.”
No matter how hard she tried not to, she kept warming to him. “Put that way, how can I refuse?”
He winked at her, sending a sudden, unexpected and delicious flutter spiraling through the center of her stomach.
Knowing he could make better time if he had physical custody of Bobby’s body, Bailey picked him up. “That’s the idea.” Impulse had him brushing a kiss against her lips at the last moment before he turned away.
The taste of her mouth lasted with him long after he and Bobby left.
K.C. groaned as she sank down onto the sofa in Bailey’s living room. Soft, oversized pillows threatened to swallow her up whole without leaving a trace. She didn’t care. “I am so exhausted, I don’t think I could move off this sofa even if it was on fire.”
He smiled down at her. “We won’t put that to the test.”
Bailey’s eyes swept over her as he thought how good K.C. looked on his sofa. And how good she might look in his bed.
They’d been seeing one another now with a fair amount of regularity for the past six weeks. His busy season was finally behind him. Beginning in the spring and exploding in the summer, it invariably leaked over into the fall. During that period, he worked hard to produce new designs for the toys that would hit the stores in time for Christmas. With the holiday season getting into full swing, he felt he’d more than earned his time off.
And he wanted nothing more than to spend it with K.C.
She seemed to enjoy his company and unless he completely misread all the signs, she enjoyed kissing him as much as he enjoyed kissing her. But like planes circling the landing field, unable to get clearance to touch down, they’d been locked in a holding pattern for a while now. Bailey had no idea how to break it without pushing.
He didn’t want to push.
But he did want her.
Badly.
“All your own fault,” he said, taking a seat next to her. Bobby had been sound asleep by the time they came home. They had put him to bed together, something else Bailey knew he could get used to easily. “You were the one who insisted on going to Knott’s Berry Farm for the day.”
It had been her suggestion and her treat. To pay Bailey back for all the times he’d taken her out. They’d taken Gracie with them, as well. K.C. had thought there was safety in numbers.
But no matter how many people there were, it didn’t erase the effect being with Bailey had on her. She would have been drawn to him in a crowd. And she knew the danger in that.
K.C. could barely turn her head to look at him. “I thought Bobby would enjoy it.”
“Enjoy it? He loved it. And I have to admit that this is the first time to my recollection that he fell asleep on the ride home since I first brought him home from the hospital when he was three days old.” He moved a little closer to her. “Indications are, he’s going to sleep like a rock. All through the night.”
K.C. let out a deep breath. With very little prodding, she could fall asleep right here. It occurred to her that maybe it hadn’t been the wisest thing to drop Gracie off first before they came to Bailey’s house. But like Bobby, Gracie had fallen asleep on the way home and K.C. hadn’t wanted the evening to end.
So they had stopped at the town house first, leaving Gracie for Rachel to put to bed. And now her doubts, so silent before, were inching their way forward, telling her she’d made an error. And was in line to make an even bigger one.
As it was, she knew that in these past six weeks she’d been getting closer to Bailey than she knew it was safe to be. Resisting and losing a battle she knew she had to win.
“You could stay here if you’d like.” His voice wound seductively around her.
Exhaustion vanished, driven away by a salvo of adrenaline. She knew what he was inferring. Something that was on her own mind more and more, even though it shouldn’t be.
Yes, I’d like, but that’s beside the point, K.C. thought.
She slanted her eyes toward him. “That would be complicated.”
He slipped his arm around her. “No, it wouldn’t.” Remembering his promise to himself, he put her needs ahead of his own, although it was becoming increasingly more difficult to behave like an eagle scout when every fiber of his being yearned to make love with her. “I have a spare toothbrush, spare pajamas and,” he added the pièce d’résistance, “a spare bedroom.”
“You don’t want me in the spare bedroom,” she said quietly.
“No, I don’t.” Very slowly, he slid the back of his hand along her cheek. He couldn’t remember when he’d wanted someone so much. “But I’m not going to pressure you, either. The decision where you sleep is yours.”
She caught her lip between her teeth, her eyes never leaving his. “No, it’s not. Not when you look at me like that.”
He couldn’t help smiling. So the ache was visible, was it? “Like what?”
“Like you want me.”
“I do.”
The words vibrated within her chest, making her ache for him. But she knew that being with him would lead to expectations on her part, which would lead to disappointment. Better never to know than to know and then do without.
She touched his face. “Bailey…”
Turning her hand over, he pressed a kiss to her palm. Much as he wanted her, he didn’t want to put her through this. He could see the turmoil in her eyes. “Okay, the discussion is tabled for now. I’d better see you home before my evil twin takes over.”
She laughed at the idea. “You don’t have an evil twin.”
Bailey snapped his fingers as if he were being foiled again. “Just my luck.”
He rose from the seat, then took her hand and helped her to her feet, bringing her up so that her body brushed against his. He knew by the look in her eyes that she felt the same sizzle between them that he did. If his scruples were just a little less finely tuned…
“Of course, I can be talked out of this long, arduous journey—”
She laughed at the exagge
ration. For some reason, it reminded her of some of the toys he created. The endearingly fuzzy Friends in the Forest creatures that talked when you hugged them.
K.C. pointed out the obvious. “I’m staying less than two miles away, remember?”
Now that he had her in his arms, he was reluctant to let her go, chivalrous principles or no chivalrous principles. “Hey, long is an arbitrary word. If I were an inchworm, the trip would take two years.”
K.C. grinned. “What about if the inchworm is driving a car?”
“Even longer.” Bailey deadpanned. “He’d have to make his way back and forth across the pedals, not to mention the steering wheel. Given that method, it might take him years to reach your place.”
Her heart warming, she attempted to mimic his expression and had no luck. “Lucky for me you’re not an inchworm.”
“In more ways than one.” He kissed one corner of her mouth, then the other. She groaned as she melted against him.
K.C. looked at him accusingly. “You’re not playing fair, Bailey.”
“That’s because I’m not playing.”
If only she were braver. Or hadn’t already lost her heart once. If only she could believe that things could really have a happy ending. “Yes, you are. Playing with fire.”
His eyes caressed her face, fanning the flames that were already inside her. “Are you lit up yet?”
She couldn’t lie if she wanted to. He’d know. “Can’t you tell?”
Yes, Bailey thought, he could. If only because she had lit him up inside like a night sky exploding with fireworks. Framing her face with his hands, he kissed her eyes, her temples, her nose, working his way to her mouth. By the time he reached it, his heart was racing.
As was hers. He could feel it against him. Feel her against him. And ache for her with every fiber of his being all over again.
But her protest still echoed in his head. If she gave in to him now, it would only be because he’d broken down her resistance. He knew it wasn’t right, wasn’t fair. Maybe it was old-fashioned, maybe it was because he’d steeped himself in the innocence of children for too long, but he wanted K.C. to be with him because she wanted to be there, not because he’d seduced her into being there.
Still framing her face, he looked at it as he drew away. He was doing the right thing, no matter how awful it felt.
“C’mon, I’d better get you home before I come to my senses.” Turning, he started for Bobby’s room. Though the boy was sound asleep and would remain that way, he didn’t want to leave him home alone, even for the short duration it would take to drive to the town house and back. “I’ll strap Bobby back in and then you strap me down,” he quipped dryly. “Don’t let me up no matter how much I beg.”
Following him, K.C. shook her head behind his back. Bailey made her feel guilty and grateful all at the same time.
“You’re one in a million, Bailey.”
He opened Bobby’s door. “Yeah, which is probably why I’m going to wind up being extinct,” he muttered to himself.
Chapter 9
When K.C. raised her head, she saw Rachel’s reflection in her bureau mirror. Hurrying to get ready for her date with Bailey, K.C. had accidentally left her bedroom door ajar. Rachel didn’t need more of an invitation than that.
Belatedly, K.C. realized she was humming. She stopped, knowing the damage had been done. It didn’t take much to get Rachel started.
“And what are you so happy about?” There was a smug smile on Rachel’s face as she asked the question. “As if I didn’t know.”
Yup, it didn’t take much. K.C. avoided her sister’s eyes in the mirror. An evasive answer sprang to her lips, rescuing her. “Just happy that you’re finally better and that after the holidays, I can go back to my own life, not to mention my own bed.”
“Or someone else’s,” Rachel muttered. Out loud she said, “And that’s why you’re humming?”
Satisfied that she’d done as good a job as she could on her makeup, K.C. turned around to face Rachel. “That’s why I’m humming.”
“Liar.” The taller of the two by two inches, Rachel bent over and kissed K.C. on top of her head. “I’m thrilled for you.”
K.C. raised her eyes to Rachel’s. “Thrilled I’m going back to my own life?”
How long did her sister intend to play this ridiculous game? How long was she going to pretend that she wasn’t in love with Bailey?
Because Rachel loved her sister, she elaborated. “Thrilled that you finally are going to have a life.”
The prediction, meant to be a comfort, instead sent a cold shiver of fear down K.C.’s spine. Fear of what was to come. Fear of the inevitable.
There was no denying that she’d enjoyed going out with Bailey and his son, enjoyed being with them doing absolutely nothing. But she was getting too comfortable with this. She was feeling things for Bailey. Things she didn’t want to feel.
Throughout her day, when she wasn’t with him, K.C. found herself thinking of him. Humming. Remembering little things he’d said to her, how he looked when he laughed. How it felt when he kissed her.
The realization that she’d been down this path before, only to find herself suddenly alone, seized K.C. in an iron grip that hurt as it tightened around her. She didn’t want to feel anything for Bailey because to feel meant to open herself up to the emptiness that went hand in hand with the joy. The emptiness that was so overwhelming, it washed away all memory of the happiness that came before, leaving only hollow ashes in its wake.
K.C. straightened slightly, squaring her shoulders. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Rachel.”
Something in K.C.’s body language warned Rachel not to push it no matter how much she wanted to. “Okay, have it your way.” She began backing away, leaving K.C. to finish getting ready.
“I intend to.” She said it with such finality, Rachel stopped to look at her.
Biting back a comment that would only start an argument, Rachel glanced at the floor. “You’d better put your shoes on. He’ll be here any minute.”
The shoes weren’t the important thing, K.C. thought, reaching for them. What she needed to put on was Bailey-proof armor.
Bailey came for her at seven. Came with flowers and looking so good, she had to throw bars up around her heart just to keep it from leaping out of her chest.
“They’re beautiful.” The fragrance swirled around her even as she took them from him.
“Roses, how lovely.” From out of nowhere, Rachel materialized to take the flowers from K.C. and put them in a vase. “They’re K.C.’s favorites.”
“Yes, I know,” Bailey acknowledged, his eyes never leaving K.C.
He knew a lot about K.C. It hadn’t been easy, drawing information out of her little by little these past two months, but he had slowly managed to construct a whole picture out of the bits and pieces he’d husbanded and felt he knew as much about Katherine Colleen Haley as she would allow anyone to know. And maybe a little more.
Knew enough to know he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.
“Ready?” He put his hand out to her.
She slipped her hand easily into his and said, “Ready,” but knew she wasn’t.
Restless, the small box burning a hole in his pocket, Bailey tried to broach the subject all evening. During the drive over to the restaurant, and then over dinner. But each time he began, K.C. would curtail his words with a counter movement of her own, changing the subject or making light of it, taking the conversation in directions that veered away from where he wanted it to go.
He was not unaware of what she was doing and wondered if perhaps she knew what he was trying to lead up to, or if he was reading too much into it.
The main course had come and gone. There were now half-eaten servings of dessert at their table and he was no closer to taking the box out of his pocket than he had been when he’d driven over to her sister’s town house.
Now or never, he thought.
A slow song was beginni
ng to play, setting the scene for him. “Would you like to dance?”
She smiled her answer.
Bailey rose, rounding to her side of the table. “C’mon, I want an excuse to hold you in my arms.”
He keeps saying things like that, she thought. Sweet, lovely, romantic things that turned her head and upheaved her heart. But how long could that last? How long before all that was followed with “Goodbye?”
Taking her hand, he led her onto the moderately populated dance floor.
“You know,” he murmured, holding her close as the music surrounded them, “you’ve been acting skittish all evening. I thought we’d worked our way passed that.”
Nothing got by him, she thought. The fact that he could pick up on her moods still managed to surprise her, although she was beginning to learn that he was very in tune to her. As she was to him. And she had the uneasy feeling that something was up.
“‘Worked?”’ The choice of words amused her. She knew he hadn’t actually meant anything by it. “Has it been work for you, being with me?”
Bailey felt her smile against his chest. Warm feelings enveloped him.
“At times,” he admitted. She raised her head to look at him quizzically. “You’re not the easiest woman to get to know.”
K.C. had always had two faces, one she turned toward the world, and one she wore in private, for those she loved. It unsettled her a little that he could see through her so easily. “Sure I am. Ask any of my patients.”
“I know all about you being witty and outgoing and kind. A stranger could figure that out after a few minutes in your company.” But he didn’t want to be lumped in with her patients or to be just another peripheral person in her life, someone just passing through. Not anymore. “I’m talking about the real you. The K.C. who worked so hard to overcome a stutter in first grade. The one who always felt she had to take charge of things, even though she was the youngest. The one who can’t watch a greeting card commercial without feeling a tug on her heart. The one who always wanted a puppy as a little girl, even though her father said no and made up for it by playing with the neighbor’s dog, secretly pretending it was hers and naming it Conrad.”
