Broken Course (33 page)

"Nope." I laugh.

"
Damn
," Kara groans.

Emma waggles her eyebrows in my direction. "Impressive."

I shrug and smile. They don’t have to tell me.

"Okay, are we done now, Kara? Did you get all the information required for your report?" Emma asks, but Kara just stares into space with a glazed-over look in her eyes. "Kara!" Emma snaps her fingers in front of her.

"Oh, yeah. Let’s go eat. You got a veggie tray, right?" She makes a show of licking her lips, causing us all to howl with laughter.

We exit the room, still laughing. Caleb and Hunter flash us knowing smiles when we meet up with the guys in the kitchen. Leo gives me a puzzled look when I stop in front of him.

"Everything okay?" he asks, draping an arm around my waist.

"Yeah, it’s great. Oh, but stay away from Kara. She makes us look like the definition of sanity."

"Um. Okay?" he says as more of a question than an answer.

Hunter walks over and pats Leo on the back. "Welcome to the group, my man."

"SARAH! WHERE is my new client notebook?" Leo asks, walking into the security room-slash-office.

"The same place it always is. Top drawer on the left," I respond from behind the company laptop.

I’ve been working for Leo for the last six weeks. And when I say "working for," I mean trying to get him organized. How the hell this man has been running a successful business is beyond me. The day I started, Johnson walked in with a yellow sticky note covered in numbers. When I asked him what the hell it was, he told me that was how he turned in his time to Leo.

Head. Exploded.

I thought I was laid back about proper business practices, but a Post-it note time card? Really? Leo has thousands of dollars’ worth of high-tech security equipment, but his client list was handwritten in a spiral notebook. It was almost comical.

"No," he drawls. "That’s the old notebook. I’ve asked you to add at least twenty people since it was last updated. None of them are in there. Fuck, please tell me you added them. Those were some big-name clients, and now I have no way to reach them."

"Oh! The
new
one. It’s in your phone. I added them all to a spreadsheet then merged it with the contacts on your phone."

"Seriously?" he asks, surprised.

"Yes, seriously. I can’t believe you had a freaking notebook to begin with. Aren’t you Mr. Technology?" I ask, leaning back in the chair, propping my feet on the desk.

He gives me a slow, sexy smirk. "Yes, but I’m not Mr. Time. I’ve been doing this alone for a year now." He walks around the desk and sits on the corner. "What else have you been up to?" he asks, running a hand up my thigh.

"Well, the guys now have time cards. They’re still handwritten though. You need to figure out a way to allow them to clock in and out remotely. There has to be an app or something for that. Because I’m really sick of importing all that shit every week. You have too many guys now. It takes me forever."

"Okay,
ángel
. No need to get feisty. I’ll figure something out." He leans in and kisses me.

This might be the only perk of the job. Leo wasn’t lying. He really does pay for shit, but it’s still more than I was making at the newspaper.

"Mmm. You want to do lunch in bed today?" I stand up and wrap my arms around his neck. Yeah. Lunchtime quickies are definitely a perk.

"I am pretty hungry." He sucks my bottom lip into his mouth before raking his teeth across it.

"I have something you can eat." I’m guiding his hand under my dress just as the phone begins to ring. I let out a groan and he chuckles against my lips. "Guardian Protection Agency," I say when I pick up the phone, but I’m greeted by the sound of a dial tone.

"It’s the TV, Sarah." He clicks a button on the computer to answer the incoming call.

Erica flashes onto the screen, but her face is twisted in pain. "I can’t find Slate. My water just broke," she moans, and Leo jumps to his feet.

"Shit. Hang on, babe. Where’s Johnson?" he asks, but Erica doesn’t answer.

Supporting herself on the arm of the couch, she shakes her head.

He moves to the screen of monitors and brings up the inside of Erica’s house. One by one, he goes through each room, looking for any sign of Slate or Johnson. For the last few weeks, Johnson has been staying in Indianapolis so he can be there when Slate goes to train the kids at On The Ropes. They never leave Erica alone.
Someone has to be there.

Not a second later, Leo locates both Slate and Johnson laughing in the basement gym.

"Andrews!" he calls over the intercom and Slate’s head snaps up. "Get your ass upstairs. Your wife’s having a baby."

"What?" Slate responds, but he takes off at a dead sprint with Johnson right behind him.

Leo tracks Slate through the house until he reaches Erica. Slate immediately scoops her off her feet and hauls ass toward the front door. Erica screams out just as he gets to the door, and I swear you can see the pain move through Slate’s face as well. It might be twisted, but it makes me smile.

"He really loves her," I say to Leo as he watches them peel out of the driveway.

"Yeah. He does. You want to go to Indy with me or stay here?" His voice is void of emotion as he begins shutting down all the monitors.

"I’ll go. Let me grab some stuff. You want me to pack you some clothes too?" I ask just as Leo turns to face me. His eyes are nervously flashing around the room and his chest is heaving. "Jesus, are you okay?"

"Um, yeah," he confirms, but he looks anything but okay.

"Leo, she’s not dying. You know that, right? She’s just having a baby."

"Yeah, I know. It’s just…hearing her scream. I…um… Fuck, it just brings back some shit. That’s all." He shoves a rough hand in his hair and strides out of the room. As he heads for the hall bathroom, I decide to give him a few minutes to collect himself.

I quickly pack an overnight bag for both of us before going to the kitchen to make a few sandwiches for the road.

"How long does that labor shit last?" he nervously questions, suddenly appearing behind me.

"It all depends. If we leave now, I bet we can make it before she has the baby."

"No. I don’t want to be there for that. I can’t listen to her scream. I’ll lose it. I, um…" His voice cracks and it cuts me deep. He reaches up and grabs the back of his neck. "I can’t be there, Sarah. I…I just can’t." His chin quivers, exposing exactly how much this is affecting him.

"Leo," I breathe, dropping the mayo-covered knife and rushing in his direction. I throw my arms around his waist and desperately try to offer him the same comfort he always provides me.

"I know this isn’t rational. But my whole body is thrumming because she might be scared right now and I’m not there to fix it. Shit…" His hands begin to tremble and he nervously cracks his neck. "I also know that, if I were there, I’d be tearing the hospital apart trying to get to her."

"She has Slate. She’s not alone," I try to reassure him.

"I get that. But that doesn’t make the instinct to protect her any less consuming."

"Okay, so what do you want to do? Go or wait? I’ve never actually had a baby, but I don’t think it’s as dramatic as they make it out to be in the movies. We could always just drive to Indy and check into a hotel until she has him. That way we are close by but you won’t end up brawling with a doctor."

"Yeah. That sounds like a plan."

A few minutes later, Leo walks silently to my car after I inform him that I’m driving. He doesn’t argue, nor does he eat any of the food I packed. About an hour into the trip, he reaches over and grabs my hand, giving it a tight squeeze.

"I’m sorry. I get a little wigged out about her sometimes," he apologizes, bringing my hand to his mouth.

"This probably isn’t the best time to ask this, but you know me…so I’m going to ask it anyway. Have any of your therapists ever mentioned that you might have some form of PTSD from the events of that day?"

"Yeah. They have," he responds quietly, but he doesn’t elaborate. He goes back to silently staring out the window.

Another hour later, Leo’s phone chirps in his lap. He picks it up and lets out a loud relieved laugh. He turns the phone to me, revealing a picture of Erica smiling while holding a tiny baby with thick, brown hair. You can’t really see the baby, but God bless Slate for knowing exactly which face Leo really
needed
to see.

As we continue our trip, Leo glances down at the picture several times. His mood significantly lightens as well. Holding my hand tight against his thigh, he even leans over to give me a few kisses. About ten minutes from the hospital, he asks me a question of his own.

"Do you want kids?"

My head snaps to his. "Um, I don’t know. I mean, I always planned to have a family. It’s just things haven’t exactly worked out that way. Plus, I’m getting older, so I’m just not sure it’s in the cards for me anymore."

"Sarah, you’re thirty-five. You’re not too old to have kids."

"Well, ‘I don’t know’ is still my answer. What about you?"

"I just don’t see how I could ever have anything to offer a kid. I just freaked the fuck out over Erica giving birth. Can you imagine what a whack job I would be as a dad?"

"I think you’d be a great dad. That’s kind of how I think you treat Erica already. It’s weird in some ways but really freaking sweet in others. My dad was this big, tall, quiet guy. He loved me and Emma more than anything in life, but he was never that over-the-top, don’t-touch-my-daughter-or-I-kill-you type of dad. However, I can see you being that way. Cleaning guns in the living room when her fifth-grade boyfriend comes over to play." I laugh, but Leo just turns to stare back out the window. "I’m okay with no kids, Leo. In case you were worried about that."

He nods and squeezes my hand but doesn’t say anything else.

"YOU WANT to hold him?" Erica asks.

"No, babe. I’m good," Leo declines while staring down at Adam Slate Andrews wrapped up in a blanket sleeping in his bassinet.

"Can I?" I ask when I’m not able to resist any longer.

"Of course," Erica answers warmly.

Stepping around Leo, I lift all eight pounds of baby Adam into my arms and cradle him tight against my chest. "He’s gorgeous," I say, lifting his tiny hand from under the blanket.

As shameful as it may be, jealously immediately creeps into my heart. I was supposed to have this. I’m thirty-five years old. I shouldn’t be starting over from scratch. I should have a baby with my blue eyes…or maybe even chocolate-brown. I glance up to find Leo watching me intently. I try to give him a forced smile, but it only makes the tears spill from my eyes.

Leo walks behind me, wraps his arms around my waist, and drops his chin to my shoulder. "You okay?"

"He’s just really cute," I half lie, wiping the tears from my eyes.

"I love you," he whispers into my ear, making the world right again.

The fact is that, if I had a school of kids running around my feet right now, I wouldn’t have Leo. No matter how fucked up it may be, in this moment, I’m thankful for the broken course that led me to here. All of the wrongs somehow feel right. And if Leo James is all I ever get, I can honestly still say that this life would be an absolute win.