Slow Burn (The Blake Boys Book 7) (13 page)

Chapter One

Kate Cavanaugh sat on the deck ogling her husband Chris as he emerged from the ocean with his surfboard under his arm and his swimming trunks sloped dangerously low on his hips. She hated to interrupt his fun. A great set of waves had been rolling in all afternoon, but she was getting hungry and he’d promised to cook her dinner. She could hardly believe they’d been married for two whole weeks. They had forgone a grandiose media spectacle and had opted for an intimate wedding ceremony at their Malibu beach house with family and friends. Kate had come down the sandy path from the house barefoot, wearing an elegant, strapless white gown. Chris had looked dashing in his tuxedo. After weeks of intensive training Chris was able to get Merlot, their prized Havenese toy dog, to carry the pillow that held the wedding rings all the way down the aisle.

She wished they had more time together but with their busy schedules it just wasn’t possible. Chris would begin shooting the scintillating new action thriller
Malediction
in a month. She had a lot on her plate these days too. Her record label Atlantis was expanding, and thanks to her neighbor Marvin leaving her a substantial chunk of his estate in his will, she was now one of the principal shareholders of Pinnacle Studios and the legendary record label, Blue Vinyl Records.

Kate rubbed her belly as Chris approached. “You looked good out there. I’m sorry to pull you away, but I’m famished.”

“I can’t have my wife starve. It would be in poor taste.” Chris pitched his short board into the sand and stopped to rinse the seawater off his body.

“I prepped the veggies but I couldn’t throw Myrtle and Ted into the pot.” She scrunched her nose.

Chris laughed and bounded up the deck stairs to kiss her. “I told you not to name the lobsters when we were at the market.”

“But they had so much personality,” Kate pouted. “Remember the way they were waving at us in the tank?”

“Uh, Kate, honey, they were trying to break free. A lobster knows that when their hands are bound, they’re on the menu, not up for a round of bondage games.”

“You should know.” She looked down at the faint bruising on his wrists. “I hope the marks go away before we return home.”

“Don’t want anyone to know your little secret? You like tying me up and having your way with me?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Hey! It’s not like you don’t reciprocate, Mr. I-Ignore-the-Safe-Words. Pomegranate, my ass,” she huffed.

“I really did think you were just hungry for a snack.” He held back a grin.

“Yeah, right,” she said as she led him into the kitchen. “I’m going to take a shower before dinner.”

“I’ll join you.” He pulled on the string of her bikini top.

“You surfed an hour longer than you should have, so now you suffer the consequences.” Kate gave him a peck on the lips and darted out of the kitchen.

* * *

Chris got to work, trying to keep his mind off his wife showering upstairs. It had been an incredible honeymoon, complete with a secluded beach. The time away from their glitzy world had done wonders for his soul. The grind of carving out an acting career was never ending, and if he wanted to reach mega stardom, there was no time to just disappear for a while. He needed to be out there auditioning, attending parties, anything that would keep him visible until the right break came along. And it finally had.

He compared the role of Danny in
The Knock Around Boys
to that of a gymnast who had achieved the perfect dismount. He was sure he’d never again have the perfect storm of a great role and a juicy scandal going on in the background at the same time. Nor did he want to. Even though his scandalous “relationship” with Kate had been pure fiction at the time, people seemed to pay more attention to his career now because they thought he’d bagged his director’s wife. He thought it was funny how after all his risqué adventures, the one that gave him the greatest notoriety was the one that never actually happened.

He took the lid off the pot and picked up the lobsters. “Myrtle and Ted, I want you to know you are not dying in vain. You are being sacrificed for two newlyweds, much like yourselves.”

Chris dumped the lobsters into the pot, put the lid back on, and started the veggies. He loved trying new dishes with Kate, the ever-willing culinary guinea pig. She in return applauded his cooking efforts, but what he liked most was the time they spent in the kitchen preparing the meal. They had the best conversations. She was educated and sophisticated, but she was also silly with a wicked sense of humor. When she looked at him, he felt as though she saw who he was: a boy at heart who was more insecure about his looks and acting abilities than he let on.

“Dinner is served,” Chris yelled upstairs.

“How did I get so lucky and land a man who could cook?” Kate descended the stairs wearing a pretty sundress. “If we weren’t married already, I’d marry you again.”

Chris kissed her hand. “You bring out the best in me.”

“I’m going to miss this island. I can’t believe there’s some place on the planet that doesn’t allow outside communication.” She chuckled.

“No media to spy on us here. When all of this attention dies down, I’m hopeful that ‘Chr-ate’ will have privacy again.” Chris poured her a glass of wine.

Kate rolled her eyes. “I want to know who made up that preposterous blending of our names.”

“Doesn’t matter. You’ll drive yourself crazy trying to trying figure it out.”

“I’m sure there’s a betting pool out there somewhere on when we’ll divorce,” Kate mused.

“There’s one going on in my circle of car enthusiast buddies. I think two years is the longest period so far. It’s nice when your friends have faith in you.”

“I’m on husband number two within three months of my divorce.” She grimaced, then thought about it for a minute and smiled. “Hey, I’m a bad girl.”

“Yes, you do run through men like Kleenex.” Chris waved his forked at her. “My reputation up this point was that of commitment dodger. You on the other hand seem to be in love with love. Should I be worried?”

“Afraid you’re going end up like Ted?” Kate lifted the lobster off her plate.

Chris laughed. “Nah. Myrtle had Ted tied up long before some fisherman found him. I’d happily meet my demise in a steam pot with you.”

Kate went over and sat on his lap. “That’s the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me.”

“I don’t want to go back,” Chris said. He wrapped his arms around her and rubbed his bearded cheek against her neck.

“Neither do I, but reality awaits us. What time is our flight tomorrow?”

“Eleven thirty.”

“You have fifteen hours to make love to me before we leave paradise,” she said, sliding her hand beneath the waistband of his swim trunks.

* * *

The last place Kate wanted to be after a fabulous honeymoon was in a courtroom continuing the legal battle with Henry Weismann. Since he’d stormed out of the reading, Henry had made good on his threat to contest his father’s will, and after a lot of legal drama over the last three months, it had come down to the hearing today. Waiting for the judge’s decision seemed interminable. Clara came to show support for Kate, testifying that the will was legitimate and that Henry’s alienation from his father’s life and exclusion from his will was years in the making. Now it was time for the legal system to weigh in on the matter.

The judge returned from his chambers. Kate took a deep breath and hoped for the best.

“I find this case is without claim and the last will and testament of Marvin Weismann will stand as filed.” The judge banged his gavel and walked out of the courtroom.

Kate let out a huge sigh of relief, elated it was finally over. She hugged her attorney and friend Natalie Griffin. She looked at Henry. His pupils were dilated and he was sweating. Clara went over to talk to her son, but he wrenched away from her grasp.

Henry walked over to Kate. “This isn’t over.”

“Actually, Henry, according to the state of California, it is,” Kate responded.

“Come on.” Henry’s attorney grabbed him and hustled him out of the courtroom.

As the doors swung open, Kate could see the camera crews out in the hallway.

“There’s another way out of here,” Kate said.

“No. We’re going to walk out the front of the building together. We’ve done nothing wrong. Henry is responsible for that media circus outside, not you,” Clara replied. “I understand that he’s upset, but Marvin loved you like a daughter. Henry should have respected his father’s last wishes.”

Kate smiled and nodded at Natalie. Clara was a tough old broad. Since her husband’s death, Kate had witnessed a phenomenal strength in her.

They waded through the cameras and the reporters, Clara made a few glib comments about the decision rendered being the correct one and that Marvin would have been happy about it. As they made their way to Kate’s car, she could see Henry across the street taking his anger out on a garbage can. He kicked it a few times but when that didn’t satisfy him, he picked it up and threw it into traffic. His attorney grabbed him and pulled him down the street.

* * *

Kate offered to take Clara home, but the older woman preferred to go shopping for her upcoming trip. Kate reluctantly dropped her off at The Grove and arranged for a car service to pick her up in a few hours. Once she was on her way to the office she gave a quick call to Chris to apprise him of the courtroom events. He’d offered to go to court with her but she’d refused. He still had a little free time before he was thrust back into the limelight, and she thought he should take full advantage of it.

Although she had many places to visit, Atlantis was her first stop. The employees at Blue Vinyl and Pinnacle had yet to warm up to her, but Atlantis was her home, her command center. It was the only place where she was still
Kate
.

Thunderous applause broke out when she walked through the doors of Atlantis Records. It was good to be home.

“She’s back!” Sabrina, her executive assistant, threw her arms around her.

Kate returned the hug and looked Sabrina over. “Did you cut your hair?”

“Yes, I did.” Sabrina pulled a pair of glasses out of her pocket and placed them on her head. “Do I look like a big shot movie director?”

“Looks good, but you’re too cheery. Jack always has this permanent look of disdain on his face.” Kate laughed. When her ex-husband was directing a movie, he would be in a perpetual bad mood for months.

“I’ll work on that.” Sabrina giggled. “We have to talk.”

“Welcome back.” Her partner John Gray appeared beside her.

“Thank you.” Kate linked arms with him and began touring the office, while trying to decipher the crazy eye signals coming from Sabrina. After a half hour of gushing about her honeymoon to everyone, they finally made their way to Kate’s office. She opened the door to find a beautiful bouquet of lilies on her desk.

“What an exquisite arrangement.” Kate dropped her purse on the desk and sank into her chair. She recognized the penmanship on the card immediately. Chris. She chuckled at the dirty limerick he’d scribbled. “So how are things around here?”

“Status quo.” John took a seat and began a rundown of things.

Kate tried to focus on his face as he rattled on, but her thoughts kept going back to her honeymoon. The sun. The surfing. The great food. Chris looking good in those damn swim trunks. It was going to be harder to delve back into work than she thought.

“Earth to Kate!” John yelled.

Kate rolled her eyes. “What!”

“Are you going to float around here indefinitely?”

“Perhaps,” Kate sighed. “Did you enjoy the wedding?”

“It was great until Chris pulled that stunt.” John’s jaw ticked.

“Still mad about that near miss with my garter belt? I’ve never seen you move so fast in your life.” She smirked.

When Chris threw her garter in John’s vicinity, he dashed out of the way and nearly knocked over the wedding cake in his escape. Luckily, Evan Darchon stepped in and caught it. His girlfriend, Kate’s attorney Natalie, almost choked on her champagne.

“Yes,” he grumbled. “Puma took a cab home after she saw me ducking for cover.”

“I do recall seeing you two in a heated conversation after that graceless debacle. And really? Her name is Puma?”

“She’s—”

“Please, just…no.” Kate rolled her eyes. What was she going to do with him? For the life of her she didn’t understand his aversion to commitment. “Have you ever loved anyone?”

“I love you.” John smirked.

“You know what I mean. Have you ever been
in love
with someone?”

John closed his eyes and groaned. “Why on earth would I want to endure that tortuous bullshit?”

“Love is a good thing, Mr. Gray.”

“I’ll take your word for it. How’s Chris?”

“He’s fine. He’s starting the new movie soon.”

“That was cool of you to let us play a game of touch football on the beach.”

“How often do you get a chance to make every man in your life happy?” She smiled. “Playing touch football with Seth Blake is a football fan’s dream come true.”

“I hope you don’t mind. Chris and I talked about hanging out.”

Kate rubbed her chin. “Why would I have an objection to my two favorite people getting better acquainted?”

“The threat of death is still in place if he screws you over. But I don’t meet many guys who just want to grab a beer and watch a game.” John snorted.

“Thank you for asking him. That was very sweet of you.” Kate’s eyes glossed over.

“Time for me to go. You’re doing it again.” John stood.

“Doing what?”

“That happy crap again.”

Kate sighed. “Where’s Andre?” It was always hard to pin point the whereabouts of Atlantis’s elusive vice-president.

“In his office.”

“How’s he been?”

John shrugged. “You know Andre.”

“Anything else I should know about the business?”

John looked away for a moment then back to her. “Sabrina walked in on me in a…delicate moment.”