Blush

by Nicola Marsh

  “Hey Reid, how’re you going?” Zane held out his hand and Reid shook it. “Jack mentioned you might show me around but I didn’t expect a welcoming party.”

  Before Reid could respond, Chantal stepped forward. “Actually, I’m the welcoming party.”

  Zane’s eyes widened in appreciation as a slow, easy grin spread across his face. “Lucky me.”

  From what Jess had told him, Chantal didn’t take kindly to cocky guys who acted like they owned the world and every woman in it.

  From the way Chantal was staring at Zane—like she’d been presented with her favorite dessert on a platter—Jess had been way off.

  “I’m also your tour guide, so want to get started?” Chantal stepped closer to Zane and Reid wouldn’t have been surprised to see electricity arc between them.

  “Yeah, let’s get started,” Zane said, his smooth, low tone leaving no one in listening distance under any illusion that he wanted to get started with Chantal in an entirely different manner.

  Good. The faster Reid got rid of them, the faster he could convince Adele to get on the jet with him.

  “And this is my girlfriend, Adele,” Reid said, earning a filthy glare from the woman herself.

  Zane nodded and said, “Hi, how are you?”

  “Fine thanks,” Adele said, sounding anything but and trying to make eye contact with Chantal, who hadn’t torn hers off Zane yet. “Chantal, can I talk to you a minute? Because I’ll need a lift back to the city—”

  “No you won’t,” Reid and Chantal said in unison, and Zane joined in their laughter while Adele continued to glower.

  “Let’s go collect your luggage and leave these two lovebirds alone,” Chantal said, her speculative gaze never leaving Zane.

  “Sounds good to me.” Zane couldn’t take his eyes off the statuesque blonde either and all Reid could think was you poor schmuck.

  “Chantal…” Adele said, her tone low and full of menace, but her partner in crime gave them both a breezy wave.

  Zane laughed. “Good to see you again, Reid.” He nodded at Adele. “Nice meeting you,” he said, before falling into step beside Chantal, the striking couple striding through Las Vegas Airport like they had places to go and people to see.

  “This sucks,” Adele said, crossing her arms like a sulky kid.

  Reid chuckled. “If you think this is bad, wait ’til I get you on the jet bound for LA.”

  “As if.” Adele took a step back. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

  For the first time since he’d devised his plan, Reid’s confidence faltered. If he couldn’t get her on the plane to LA and show her firsthand he meant business…

  “I’ll take a cab back to town,” she said, glancing over her shoulder at the nearest exit.

  “Please stay. For our baby’s sake. For our sake.” He touched her forearm, expecting her to flinch. When she didn’t, he took it as a good sign. “Everything got screwed up at your place and I need a chance to make amends.”

  Adele sighed and subtly eased her arm away. “There’s nothing to make amends for. We never had a relationship in the first place.”

  “Because I fucked up,” he said, earning a wry grin for his blunt assessment of the situation. “But that’s why I need you to come to LA with me. A short trip, there and back. To sort a few things out.”

  Adele’s eyes narrowed, as if she suspected his motives. “What things?”

  If he told her the entire truth now, she wouldn’t board the jet. So he had to play this a different way, had to appeal to her maternal side.

  She may not give a shit about him but he knew she would protect the baby whatever the cost. She’d told him as much when she said she didn’t want him being a part-time parent hiding his kid away because of his career.

  He admired that about her. She’d be a great mom. And he intended to be right alongside her as they raised their kid.

  “We’re having a child together and I want to be involved.” He took hold of her hand, hanging on tight when she tried to extricate it. “For our baby’s sake, we need to sort out a whole range of issues and I’d rather clear the air now so we can be proactive together.”

  As expected, her stony expression softened at the mention of their baby. “Why LA?”

  Damn, he knew she’d push for answers. And this was the one question he hadn’t come up with a foolproof answer for. So he winged it.

  “Because I’ve seen your place. I know where you’ll be raising our child. But if you’re to trust me to be a good father, I want you to see where I’ll be parenting.”

  Surprise widened her eyes, where he glimpsed a hint of admiration.

  He held his breath as he watched indecision war with suspicion across her expressive face, before she gave the slightest nod.

  “Okay, let’s do this.”

  “Great. Let’s go.” Reid clenched her hand tighter to stop from pumping the air in victory. “We’ll be back tonight.”

  She baulked. “Why would you be coming back to Vegas tonight?”

  Because I’m never leaving you again, he wanted to say.

  Instead, he shrugged. “Business.”

  Though this time, it would be business of the heart.

  Adele had been blaming a lot of things on pregnancy hormones lately.

  Forgetting to close the fridge door and leaving the OJ on the bench. Staring at the easiest of spreadsheets blankly, clueless how to make sense of the numbers. Having mind-blowing sex with Reid when he arrived on her doorstep.

  But the biggest pregnancy brain blunder had to be agreeing to accompany him to LA.

  What was she thinking?

  This is your fault, she mentally telepathized to her baby as she cradled her belly, as she followed Reid into his swank office on Rodeo Drive.

  Thankfully, he’d left her alone on the private jet, answering emails and fielding calls, as she’d had a glimpse into how crazy busy his life must be. This, from the guy who wanted to share dual parenting roles?

  Ideally, she never wanted to see Reid again, for no other selfish reason than it broke her heart whenever she did. But she couldn’t keep him from his child, not when he was making such a concerted effort since he’d stumbled on the truth.

  She admired him. Despite what an illegitimate baby would do to his political aspirations—she still couldn’t quite accept he would walk away from it all—he seemed hell-bent on having an active role in raising their child.

  Though considering he’d barely learned the truth and had known of the baby’s existence for less than twenty-four hours, he probably hadn’t thought it through yet.

  Ultimately, that’s why she’d boarded the plane.

  Because she wanted to sit down with him, on his turf, and ensure he knew exactly what he was letting himself in for. And how the kind of negative publicity he would face could affect their child.

  She didn’t want her baby to be labeled at best, ridiculed at worst, for bringing down a possible senate candidate.

  Reid’s dedication to his job, and the way he’d first presented a possible relationship to her—as their secret to keep—spoke volumes. His work meant everything to him. He had grand political goals. And a guy heading for the senate didn’t have room for an illegitimate baby in his campaign plans.

  “Can I get you anything? A drink? Snack?” Reid propped his butt on his desk, ankles crossed, the epitome of a cool businessman.

  But his clenched jaw and the way his fingers gripped the edge of the desk were a dead giveaway he was nervous.

  “No thanks, I’m fine.” She sat on a sofa, clasped her hands in her lap and waited.

  He may have wanted her on his turf but now that she was here, Reid seemed clueless how to proceed.

  She glanced around his huge office: the designer chrome and glass furniture, state of the art computer systems, suede sofas, mini-bar and a partially open door displaying a bathroom. And tried to imagine what this posh office in LA’s swankiest street could possibly have to do with his grand plans for th
eir baby.

  “Why did you bring me here, really?”

  He blew out a long breath and gripped the desk tighter. Looked like they both needed an anchor as they navigated a newly topsy-turvy world.

  “Because I wanted to show you I’m not bullshitting.” He blew out a long breath, stepped around his desk and hit an intercom button. “Dallon, come in here please.”

  A strange mix of confusion and foreboding made her stomach churn as a six-four giant in a pinstripe suit entered the office, smartphone at the ready.

  “Something I can do for you, Mr. Harper?”

  Reid gestured at Adele. “Dallon, meet my girlfriend Adele.”

  Adele stiffened. It was the second time he’d called her his girlfriend today and she was far from that. Besides, she couldn’t be. Not when her past could ruin everything for him.

  Dallon managed a brusque nod in her direction that she returned.

  Reid stood behind his desk, shoulders squared, and Adele’s apprehension increased.

  He looked like a guy bracing for battle. A guy about to make a monstrous mistake.

  “Dallon, there was a confidential document I emailed you from the plane and asked you to hold off on opening ’til I got back.”

  Dallon nodded and tapped at his smartphone. “Yes, I have it right here—”

  “I want you to distribute it to our party leaders and hold all calls for the next hour.”

  Confusion crinkled Dallon’s fake-tanned brow. “Can I ask what it’s in reference to?”

  “It’s my resignation.”

  Adele felt faint as Reid’s declaration sunk in.

  He couldn’t…he wouldn’t…

  Reid stared directly at her and grinned, triumphant.

  He just did.

  Dallon blanched. “Your resignation? But…you can’t…I mean—”

  “Please don’t second guess me.” Reid held up his hand to stop his babbling PA. “I’m still your boss until that letter goes out, so please do as I say.”

  Dallon shot an incredulous glare her way. Yeah, like this was all her fault.

  And as the PA strode out of the room and Reid continued to stare at her like he expected a cartwheel or two, the reality hit her.

  Reid had done this for her.

  Shit.

  She stood and barged toward him. “What the hell have you done?”

  “Something I should’ve done a long time ago.” He met her half way, reaching for her, but she shoved him away. “Hopefully, this will prove to you I’m serious about us having a relationship and our baby having a stable home.”

  “You’re out of your freaking mind,” she muttered, hating the flare of hope in her heart. “You’ve just thrown away your life. Everything you’ve worked for—”

  “No, this isn’t my life.” He flung his arms wide, gesturing at his immaculate office. “This is what I do. Did. Not anymore.”

  “You’re crazy.” Her legs wobbled as the implication of what he’d done hit her anew, and this time she let him steady her and lead her back to the sofa.

  “Crazy about you,” he murmured, sitting way too close next to her, making her skin prickle with awareness. “Surely you can see how much I want to be with you?”

  That’s when the real horror sunk in.

  Because she couldn’t be with him.

  Even now, without the possible political fallout from the muckrakers, she couldn’t be the kind of woman he deserved.

  “It’s not too late to take it back,” she said, pointing to the door. “Go out there right now and stop that resignation.”

  Incredulous, he shook his head. “That’s all you’ve got to say?”

  “We can’t be together,” she said, compressing her lips and half turning away from him.

  She couldn’t let him see the devastation in her eyes, couldn’t let him see how much this was killing her.

  She loved Reid. Loved him enough to give him a chance to find a woman more suited to his lifestyle. A woman without a sordid past.

  “Bullshit.” His hand clamped on her thigh and she jumped. “My job was your main excuse. As long as I was on my way to the senate, I couldn’t date someone who worked at Burlesque Bombshell.” He patted her thigh and released it. “Here’s a newsflash for you, sweetheart. I’m not headed for the senate any more. I just quit politics, for good. So we can date, get married, have a baby, whatever it takes to convince you I love you and I’m in this for the long haul.”

  Joy blossomed for a heart-rending moment before Adele slapped it down. This incredible man loved her and he’d gone to great lengths to prove it. He’d given up his world. For her.

  Now she had to tear it down.

  Because until she told him the entire truth Reid would keep pushing. For him to make this giant sacrifice did prove his love. She believed him. But unless she pushed him away once and for all, he would keep trying. And with a baby to co-parent, he would keep pushing. Harder and harder until her life would be unbearable, and she would go insane having to consistently refuse something she wanted so badly.

  “Did you know I used to be a dancer at Burlesque Bombshell too?” She eased into the truth, surreptitiously wiping her sweaty palms against her jeans.

  His flash of surprise made what she was about to tell him that much worse. “No.”

  His slow grin made her heart skip a beat. “But you’re so hot, something tells me you would’ve been very good at it.”

  Typical guy. By the wicked gleam in his eyes, Reid was envisaging her on stage, naked. If only that was the worst of what she had to tell him.

  “Doesn’t it bother you at all?”

  Not that she’d ever stripped completely but to someone who she’d pegged as conservative when they’d met, she’d imagined her first confession would’ve daunted him more than it had.

  He tilted his head, studying her. “No, should it?”

  Adele gnawed on her bottom lip, hating how he’d look at her when she told him the truth, knowing it was the only way to end this.

  “I used to take my clothes off in front of a roomful of people and that doesn’t bother you?”

  “Why should a job in your past bother me?” Reid waved a hand between them. “You know what the problem is with us? We never got to have a real relationship. To get to know each other. To discover the quirks and the faults and all those little hidden secrets that make us unique.” He captured her chin and tipped her face up. “There’s nothing you can say that would bother me. Other than the fact you won’t give us a chance.”

  Adele stared into Reid’s eyes, a dazzling blue filled with hope and excitement, and prepared to say the one thing that would change everything forever.

  “I used to be an escort.”

  Confusion clouded his eyes as she edged her chin out of his grasp, the shame of her past weighing so heavily she could barely breathe.

  “Escort?” The word rolled off his tongue like something distasteful.

  She should be relieved. Instead, all she could think was how he would never look at her the same way again once she told him the rest.

  “Years ago, in Chicago.” She plucked at a tiny fray in the denim covering her thigh. “My mom was an alcoholic. We had no money, no place to live. So to pay rent on a tiny, grungy apartment, I worked as a hostess at a bar.”

  Reid remained silent, staring at her with increasing wariness.

  “It catered to foreigners mostly. Businessmen. The hostess would be assigned to a client for the evening.” She clasped her hands together to stop fiddling, her apprehension increasing the closer she got to revealing the entire truth. “We’d talk. Get them to buy as many drinks as humanly possible. And then…”

  Adele swallowed the bile scorching her throat. She couldn’t look at Reid to deliver the rest, couldn’t face the disgust that would contort his handsome features.

  “Then we’d perform favors for them.”

  “What kind of favors?” His frigid tone made her shiver and she wrapped her arms around her middle.
<
br />   “Hand jobs. Blow jobs. They’d pay a lot for it.” Adele dashed a hand across the tears pooling in her eyes. “No intercourse. But the other stuff was bad enough.”

  She focused on a spot on his immaculate rug. “I’m not proud of what I did. But I came through it, looked after Mom ’til she died, left Chicago and made a new life for myself in Vegas.”

  The spot she stared at blurred as the tears she’d been battling finally fell. “I’m successful now. And I’m going to be the best damn mother I can be to our child.” She stifled a pathetic sob. “So that’s what we need to concentrate on now, working out our co-parenting arrangements. And if you’re smart, there’s still time to renege on your resignation.”

  The constant ping of emails landing in his inbox from the computer on his desk was the only sound breaking the tense silence.

  Adele sniffled and wiped away the tears, waiting for him to say something, anything, so they could move past this and focus on the only thing binding them: their unborn child.

  “Say something, damn it,” she muttered, finally risking a glance at Reid.

  What she saw took her breath away.

  She’d expected repugnance and loathing and retribution.

  Not pity. And certainly not compassion.

  “I won’t lie to you. I’m frigging furious that someone as special and classy as you had to stoop so low to make ends meet.” He dragged a hand over his face to eradicate the tension. “But you were desperate and you did what you had to do to survive. And to look after your mother who obviously needed help.”

  Stunned by his acceptance, Adele struggled to process what he meant. This wasn’t turning out how she expected. She couldn’t have him accept her wholeheartedly because that would mean…what? That she had no more arguments to deliberately sabotage the only relationship she’d ever had, and she could take a risk on loving a guy like Reid?

  Touched by his understanding, she hugged her middle tighter. “What are you saying?”

  He braced his elbows on his knees and lowered his head, pondering for a few moments before straightening. He eyeballed her and the fervor blazing there sent a jolt of something inexplicable through her.

  Reid truly loved her.

  He believed in her enough to accept her past and move forward.