B00CQUPUKW EBOK (17 page)

That image, and the threat in the man’s voice today had propelled Bryce into action.  He hurried out of the library, across the foyer, and into the garage that housed his Bentley.

“Call Hector,” he said as he climbed behind the wheel and backed out of the garage.  “Hector, meet me at the airport in twenty,” he ordered the minute his pilot picked up.

“Mr. Fontaine, it’s past the normal hours of operation.  The airport is closed.  The general manager—”

“Leave the general manager to me.”

Bryce’s nostrils flared with a mixture of fear and fury as he sped down Fontaine Harbor Road toward Crystal Lake Road.

Five years ago, he’d failed to respond to a threat that seemed harmless at the time. 

He was still suffering the consequences.  He’d be damned if he was going to stand idly by and let it happen again.

CHAPTER NINE

Kaya’s eyelids fluttered before fully opening to the rays of a new day forcing its way through the unclothed window.  Squinting, she rolled over to escape the sunlight, but immediately sat up when her cheek landed on a cold damp spot on the mattress and a rancid smell wafted up her nostrils. 

Did she wet her bed last night?
 She felt for the signs of wet clothes under the white cloud of a duvet, only to find that she was naked.  
Why was she naked
?

Fully awake, she pushed scattered curls from her face and glanced at the clock on her nightstand.  It was twenty-one minutes past noon.
Goodness
.  She’d slept half the day away. From the corner of her eyes, Kaya spotted a pair of pink PJs in a damp pile near the door.

Alyssa
.  She must have crept into her bed last night.  
Had she slept that soundly?

Panic propelled Kaya out of the bed, but as her feet landed on the lambskin floor rug, she remembered that Bryce had hired a baby nurse for the night.  Exhaling a deep sigh of relief, Kaya flopped back down onto the bed, but was sitting up again at the thought of Bryce.

She was turning into a human yo-yo.

She touched her lips as memories of the passionate moments came back at her full force.  She’d let Bryce kiss her, and touch her in her most intimate places.  She trembled as she recalled his demanding mouth on hers, his tongue boldly stroking the sensitive interior of her mouth, swirling around hers, sucking base, unrecognizable sounds out of her.  Her skin burned at the memory of his warm hands crawling along her bare back, across her sides, up her belly, and finally cupping her breasts, molding them, shaping them in his palms.  The feel of his erection pressing between her thighs was like nothing Kaya had ever experienced before.

Bryce had lit a fire inside her.  He’d awakened a wanton tigress Kaya didn’t know inhabited her being.  Oh God, she’s craved him like she’d never craved anything in her twenty-three years of life.   She hadn’t cared that they were enemies—that moments before she was locked in his arms, he’d threatened to take her to court to win custody of the children. 

The only thought in her head last night was to have Bryce undress her and make love to her on the back of that chair, quench the fire he’d ignited inside her.  Men like Bryce Fontaine who could make a woman want to shed her clothes and lie down with him, even after he’d just declared war on her, were dangerous.

Kaya walked into the bathroom.  “That’s why I’m naked,” she exclaimed, as the pile of clothes on the floor reminded her of the cold shower she’d taken after leaving Bryce. 

She could say that she’d been too tired to fight Bryce, that he’d taken advantage of her vulnerability, she argued as she turned on the shower and punched in a number to set the desired temperature.  But she’d be lying.  The stories she’d heard about him and the other members of Granite Falls Billionaire Club had roused her curiosity.

She knew Bryce had stuck Libby on her tail yesterday because he was afraid she’d hear about his infamous reputation from the town gossipers, but by then it was too late.  Yet, learning that he swept through women like nor’easters, and that he’d broken off his latest affair with a French model, only three weeks ago, she’d allowed him to seduce her last night.

She’d never been this impetuous with men.

At the thought of what could have happened if Bryce’s cell hadn’t interrupted them, Kaya grabbed a bottle of gel and her loofa brush.  She scrubbed her body as if she could erase the feel of Bryce’s touch, his smell, the spicy taste of his breath from her memory.

What should have been foremost in her mind last night was the future of her sister’s children.  They were her top priority.  She couldn’t afford to let Bryce derail her again. 

Kaya stepped out of the shower and slipped on a white terry velour robe and wrapped a towel around her wet hair.  She was back in the bedroom stripping the soiled sheets from the mattress when she heard a knock on her bedroom door.  She stared at the door, wondering if it was Bryce.  Alyssa would have barged right in, and Jason, well, he wouldn’t be seeking her out.  She wasn’t ready to face Bryce just yet.  Maybe if she kept quiet, he’d think she was still asleep and go away.

“Miss Kaya?”

Kaya chuckled.  Now there was a name she’s never been called by until last night when Mrs. Hobbs showed up on the doorstep.  She dropped the sheets on the floor and hurried to open the door.  “Good morning, Mrs. Hobbs,” she said on a bright smile.

“Good morning, Ms. Kaya.  You look rested,” the middle-aged woman said, smiling back. 

“I feel rested, and a little guilty for sleeping so late.”  She tightened the towel around her head.  “I must have been really tired.”

“No need for apologies.  Mr. Fontaine told me that you have been working hard all week, and he insisted that the children not disturb your sleep, although I couldn’t keep little Alyssa from sneaking into your bed last night.  I hope she didn’t keep you awake.”

“No.  I didn't even know she’d slept with me until I woke up to a wet spot on the mattress.  She’s been wetting her bed lately.  Since we told her about her parents.”

“Yes, Mr. Fontaine warned me about that.  I found her in the playroom, naked as the day she entered the world.”

Is there anything Mr. Fontaine hasn’t told her
?

“I came to tell you that I’m leaving,” Mrs. Hobbs said.

Although she felt like her old self again, Kay couldn’t shake the anxiety of being alone in this big house with the children.  There was always somebody around this past week to help out with the funeral arrangements, but now that the funeral was over, people had gone back to their lives—everybody but her and the children, and of course Bryce.

The last chapter of their old lives had ended last night.  A new one was beginning today. 

“You sure you can’t stay the rest of the day?” she asked Mrs. Hobbs, the thought of being alone with Bryce causing her heart to race.  “I’ll pay you.”

“That’s very sweet of you, dear, but I have another commitment, another family to get to. I’m a fill-in from a nanny agency.”

“Oh,” Kaya said.  “Can you at least stay with the children until I’m dressed?  I won’t be long.”

“Take your time, Ms. Kaya.  The children aren’t here.”

Kaya felt as if a hand had closed around her throat.  “What do you mean they’re not here? Where are they?”

“Mr. Fontaine came and took them this morning.”

“Took them where?”  She tried to control the spasm inside her.

“Out.  He said you need time to talk.” 

“With whom?”  
Oh God.  Was Jack in Granite Falls?
If her mind hadn’t been so preoccupied with Bryce last night, she would have remembered to call and make it perfectly clear to Jack that they were over.  That she wanted him out of her apartment and out of her life.

“The little boy,” Mrs. Hobbs replied.

The constriction around her chest eased.  “But you said Mr. Fontaine took the kids out.”

“Just the girls.  He left the boy.”

So they could talk
.  Kaya shook her head, unable to wrap it around the man’s intentions. Why would Bryce hire a nanny for the night so she could sleep?  Why would he take the girls to give her uninterrupted time with Jason?  What would he gain if she made peace with the boy when he was determined to take him away from her?  She didn’t understand the man.

“He wasn’t happy about being left behind,” Mrs. Hobbs continued, clearly oblivious of the turmoil in her head.  “He’s been in his room since Mr. Fontaine left with the girls.  He didn’t even come down for lunch.”

She could only imagine how Jason felt when Bryce left him behind.  She sighed.  “Thanks for all your help, Mrs. Hobbs.”

“Goodbye, Ms. Kaya.”

Kaya went back into her bedroom and took her time getting dressed.  Only now did she feel the weight of the responsibility that had been placed on her shoulders.  She’d spent the week preparing the children to say goodbye to their parents.  It was time to prepare them to live without them.

God, help me to help them
, Kaya prayed as she left her bedroom and headed in the direction of Jason’s.

She knocked on his door and called his name.  There was no response.  “Jason.”   She repeated the knock, hoping he hadn’t locked himself inside again.  She had no idea where the master key was.

After the third futile attempt, Kaya turned the doorknob, relieved to find it unlocked.  She stepped inside.  Jason was sitting on the foot of his rumpled bed, still wearing his pajamas. 

The room was a mess.  Clothes, action figures, video game jackets, and half-eaten plates of food were scattered about.  The cleaners hadn’t been able to get to his room last night because he’d locked himself inside it.  This was the least of her worries, Kaya thought, picking her way through the chaos.  An untidy room she could clean.  Convincing a hurting child to trust her was an uphill challenge.

“Is it okay if I sit here with you?” she asked, dropping down beside him before he could refuse.

He pushed his hands under his thighs and turned his face away, squaring his shoulders in defiance.  He was clearly sending her a message.  

“Jason,” she said, determined to send him her own message.  “You may not believe this right now, but I do love you.  All I want is what’s best for you.  You were blessed with a wonderful mother and father who loved you very much.  Everyone talks about the special connection you and your mom shared.  I want you to know that I would never do anything to interfere with that bond.”

He drew his shoulders tighter together. 

“I know you overheard me telling Miss Libby that I was moving you and your sisters to Florida,” she continued.  “I can only imagine how scared that made you feel.”  She cleared her throat.  “This is all new to me, you know.  I’ve never had to take care of anybody but myself before.  I was doing what I’ve always done, which is thinking about my needs.  I expected you and your sisters to fit into my world without even considering the possibility of me living in yours.”

He turned his head and gave her a piercing stare.  “Are you taking us to Florida?”

“I don’t know what I’m going to do, Jason.  But—”

“I’m not going with you.”

“Jason—” 

“If you take me away from Uncle Bryce, I’ll run away.  I swear I’ll run away and you’ll never see me again.”

“Okay, Jason.  Okay.”  The words ripped out of Kaya before she had a chance to analyze them.  She said she’d do anything for them, and the thought of Jason running away and living on the streets of Florida was a gamble she wasn’t willing to take.  She’d been there and done that. The streets were nowhere for a child to be.  “I wouldn’t force you to move to Florida.  I’ll stay in Granite Falls.  I’ll stay here with you.”  At least for now until he learned to trust her. 

His chest rose on fell on two hard breaths.  “Forever?”

“Jason, forever—” Kaya paused on a deep breath.  She was going to say that forever was a long time, and that they should take it one day, one week, one month at a time.  But this child needed much more than an ephemeral promise that could be gone with the closing of a door.  She had to prove that he could trust her to keep the rest of his world together, that he needn’t be afraid of more losses, of more changes.

Kaya had no idea how this change would affect her or how she would manage financially.  All that mattered was that this little boy and his sisters were happy and safe.  They were happy and safe in Granite Falls.  She could make it easy on everyone by handing them over to Bryce and returning to her life.  But Kaya knew that she would be miserable if she went back to Florida without them.  She couldn’t live without them now.

She smiled through her fog of uncertainty.  “Yes, forever, Jason.”  The pulse-pounding admission was dragged from the place deep inside her where her own soul cried out for love and acceptance.

For so many years, her career had been a substitute for human intimacy.  By day, she threw her passion into her work, brightening the homes of her clients.  But at nights when she went home to her empty apartment, the loneliness devoured her inch by inch, piece by piece.

Even her relationship with Jack had been a crutch.  She’d needed someone to care about her, someone she knew she could never love, knowing that if he ever walked out on her, her heart would remain unaffected.

She’d played it safe until the moment she’d stepped into these children’s lives and found she’d been forced out of her comfort zone.  The love she felt for Jason proved that she was capable of loving someone, even if he didn’t love her back.

She wasn’t afraid of love anymore.  If only she’d found this out when Lauren was still alive.

“Did you and my mom have a fight?  Is that why you never came to see us?  Were you mad at her?”

Kaya shook her head.  “No.  I wasn’t mad at her, Jason.  I guess I just thought she would always be here and that some day we would have gotten together eventually.  I regret—”

“My dad says it’s a waste of time to regret things you should have done.”  Jason shot off of the bed and kicked his way across the floor.  “You never came to visit Mommy and now it’s too late.  Regretting it isn’t going to make it happen.  It wouldn’t change anything.  You missed your chance to get to know her.”