We Could Be Amazing (4 page)

When her cell phone rang, she looked at the display and frowned. “What is it this time?”

“Nothing,” Ridge assured her, “except I was wondering if you’d like to come to dinner. Afterward, maybe you could stay to put Alex to bed. He’s been complaining that I don’t read the stories like you do.”

“So it’s Alex.” She flipped from channel to channel with nothing interesting to watch on TV. So far her evening alone was boring.

“Is that a yes?”

She heaved a sigh. “Pick me up at six.”

“Can we make it five thirty? Mom wants to serve dinner right at six.”

“Does she know I’m coming, because I can do without the drama, Ridge. I’m serious. While I think of it, maybe I should just come later when it’s Alex’s bedtime.”

“No drama. I promise. Five thirty.”

She opened her mouth the answer, but the line had already gone dead. Kiona scowled at it. That man thought he was slick getting off the phone before she could tell him no. She rolled off the bed to look through her collection of new outfits. Good thing he didn’t show up without calling. She had a habit of wearing the robes hotels provided over her pajamas or clothes, not caring what time of day it was.

A black dress and low heels would do. They said class, and the simple design made the outfit good enough for dinner but not over the top like she planned to hit the club. After a shower and a shave in all the necessary places, she lotioned her body and gave into the temptation to dab a bit of scent at her nape.
I’m not doing it for Ridge. I’m not doing it for Ridge.

She pulled the dress over her head and yanked it down over her hips. “Oh hell.” The snug fit took the dress from classy to trying to make a statement. She backed up to the mirror to see if she neglected to pull the zipper all the way down. That wasn’t the problem. Peering closer to the tag, she figured out what it was. She’d asked Ridge to grab her a twelve, and he picked up a ten.  When a knock sounded at the door, she cursed. That’s what she got for spending too long in the shower shaving her legs, when she didn’t even bother with that too often. Well, she would ask the driver to hold on while she found another outfit. Ridge’s mother could wait as well. The world would not come to an end if dinner started at six-ten.

Kiona swung the door wide, expecting the same lady driver who collected them from the airport. “Hey, can you wait a bit. This dress isn’t working out—”

“It’s working for me,” Ridge said in his deep, sensual tones.

She glanced up from fighting with the dress into his lust-filled eyes. “Oh crap, why did I think you wouldn’t come yourself?”

He shrugged, but his gaze dropped to her breasts, shown off to advantage over the low neckline.

“Really, Ridge? Give me a break. You’ve seen cleavage before.” She swung away and hurried to her bed to search through her remaining items. “I think I’m going to take this one back. You picked up the wrong size.”

A snap sounded behind her, and she looked to find the damn man had ripped off the tags. Kiona growled.

“Didn’t you hear me? I said I wanted to take this back.”

He moved closer, his hands hovering over her hips as if he waited for permission to touch. He could keep waiting.

“Did you hear
me
when I said the dress works? Come on before we’re late.”

She moved out of reach, and he didn’t follow. He dropped his hands to his sides then pushed them into the pockets of his slacks. His gaze never left her ass. Kiona sighed, but she didn’t pretend—at least to herself—that Ridge’s compliments didn’t please her. In fact, he made her want to run into his arms. To find something to do other than that, she slipped her feet into her shoes and grabbed her coat. At least her makeup and hair were done.

“Fine. Let’s go then before I change my mind. If I suffer all night, it’s your fault. If my big ass busts out of this thing, I’m killing you.”

“Agreed.” He smacked her on the offending object, and she jumped. Ridge strolled out of the room before she could bean him with her purse.

The ride over to his parents’ house was a quiet one and took longer than necessary because they got caught up in ferry traffic. Kiona mused that one had just unloaded, putting them behind their schedule. His mother would be furious. She grinned out the window.

At a quarter after six, they arrived, and Kiona climbed out of the car. She paused to pull the short dress down her legs. Had the thing been her right size, it wouldn’t ride up. Ridge came around to assist her with her door, although she never waited for him. He guided her to the side with a hand at her lower back and shut it anyway. Tingles lit up her spine, and she thought she heard a deep inhale.

“You really do look great,” he murmured too close to where she stood. “And you smell incredible.”

Kiona’s teeth chattered before she clamped them together. “Thanks.” She hurried up the walk, and the front door opened to Alex standing in it with his grandfather behind him.

“Mommie,” her baby shouted, and he leaped into her arms. Kiona held him tight and kissed his little cheeks.

“Hi, baby. What did you do all day?” She let him lead her into the house.

“Alex,” Ridge called, and in an instant her son let her go to grab his daddy’s hand. Kiona looked away from how cute they appeared together, and that’s when she noticed the additional guests. Her blood ran cold, and if she had the power to kill with her eyes, Ridge would be dead and gone.

Ridge frowned. “Anne Marie, I had no idea you were coming.” He moved closer to Kiona and bent to speak, but she bypassed him and headed into the living room.

“Hi, Sam, mind if I have a drink?” She sank with graceful ease onto the couch. Too bad she felt like a cow in the presence of the socialite bitch her husband cheated on her with. Anne Marie Cunningham was the woman Marian wanted Ridge to marry, and the person she threw at his head every opportunity that arose.

“Uh sure,” Sam mumbled. “What would you like?”

“I’m making my specialty,” Marian announced in a loud tone as if no one could hear her. Kiona could guess what that was, and it didn’t take that much skill to mix. Marian gave her a pointed frown because Kiona hadn’t spoken. She knew what she’d done when she invited Anne Marie.

“We’re making Christmas Cheer,” Anne Marie volunteered. Kiona didn’t know why she was so proud of herself. The drink included eggnog and peppermint schnapps, nothing else.

Kiona gave her a tight smile rather than a fist to the chin. “Good for you.”

“But that’s for later,” Marian put in. “It’s time for dinner now.”

“I’ll have a Harvey Wallbanger, Sam. Thanks so much.” Kiona touched his arm and raised her eyebrows. He shuffled off to make her drink.

Marian’s cheeks reddened. “Let’s all go into the dining room.” When Kiona stood up and pulled her dress down, Marian’s gaze said all she apparently felt about it. “Sweetheart, do you really think you have the figure for that?”

Kiona froze, and Anne Marie made a show of rising from her seat, showing off her size two figure.

“Mom, leave Kiona alone. I for one think she looks incredibly beautiful.” Ridge’s lust-filled gaze told her he wasn’t lying, and the displeasure on Marian’s face made the compliment sweeter.

They all moved to the dining room. Marian tried maneuvering Ridge next to Anne Marie, but he took the spot next to Alex. Kiona sat on the other side of their son. While they ate, Kiona studied Anne Marie to see what Ridge had seen in her. Of course she came from a wealthy background like his, and she was a beauty. What man could resist the long blonde hair, the big breasts, and the child size waistline? In fact the only thing Kiona could fault Anne Marie for in the looks department was her choice to have lip injections. Not a natural look and too obvious in her opinion.

Kiona glanced at her ex-husband as he ate. Did he regret what happened between them? Was it still going on? At the thought, intense pain pierced her heart, and she slid her chair back and stood. When all eyes turned to her, she held up her glass. “I thought I’d make it myself.”

Marian didn’t appear pleased, but at least she didn’t say anything. Kiona had to pass into the other room to get to the wet bar, glad for the break. She selected the bottle of vodka and poured a measure into her glass. Ridge’s hand covered hers. “I didn’t know she would be here.”

Kiona shrugged. “Makes me no never mind. I’m here for my son.” Rather than mix the drink, she downed the vodka straight and started past him. He touched her arm.

“KeyKey, are you okay?”

She flashed him the brightest, most flirtatious smile she could muster and brushed against him. To her satisfaction, his cock grew hard pressed into her belly. “I’m fine. Thanks.” She left him standing there to return to the dining room and finished her meal.

After dinner, Kiona played with her son in his room for a while. She gave him a bath, and then they watched one of his many movies together. Kiona began nodding off, feeling her brain turn to mush on the happy songs about flowers or colors or some such. When she checked the time, she realized it had been a while since dinner, and Ridge hadn’t come in to help her put Alex down. Maybe he figured they wanted alone time, but this was his visit with Alex, and he should be here.

She leaned over and kissed her baby. “Okay, Mr. Sleepyhead, you’re starting to nod off. Time to hop in the sack.”

“Aw, Mommie.”

“Don’t aw Mommie me. Up.” She swatted his butt, and he took a flying leap onto the bed. She shook her head. What was it with boys and having to be daredevils? She tucked him in and prepared to read a story, although she doubted his little eyes would stay open more than a few sentences. She kissed him again. “Hold on, sweet pea. Let me go see if Daddy wants to be here for this, so he learns how it’s done.”

She winked at him, and he giggled. After setting the book aside, she walked across the room and stepped into the hall. When she started for the stairs, a movement to her left caught her attention. She turned and froze. Ridge’s room lay next to Alex’s, and right then, sneaking out of Ridge’s room dressed in nothing but a sheer mini-robe with hair tussled about her head like she’d just gotten some, was Anne Marie. When she spotted Kiona, she raised her chin as if in defiance.

Kiona backed away. She stumbled over the first stair, almost toppling down them. If she’d kept her heels on, she would have. Her eyes clouded with tears, and she swung away to run down the steps.

“Kiona?” Ridge called. He stood at the foot of the steps, but she raced by him, going who knew where. Down the hall, she came to a door and flung it open. The space beyond happened to be the garage, and she ran across it. Ridge caught up to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He hauled her backward into his chest, so that her feet dangled above the cold floor.

“Let me go,” she shouted. “I don’t give a fuck what you do. We’re divorced, and if you want her that bad, you can have her.”

“What are you talking about?” He forced her around to face him, but she turned her head. He grabbed for her chin, but she managed to bow her head to avoid his touch. “KeyKey, stop. What’s this about?”

“You know what,” she screamed, figuring half the house heard as well, but she was beyond caring. “I saw that witch sneaking out of your room, naked, and her hair a mess. You didn’t even come to help me with Alex. Just forget it. I don’t care. I don’t care, I tell you!”

At last, he got hold of her chin and raised it. Ridge’s face blurred because of her tears, and he made a crooning sound. “Then why are you crying?”

He hauled her so tight in his embrace, she thought he would crack a rib. Kiona sobbed, humiliating herself more and more. Ridge rubbed her back, muttering something she didn’t understand because she couldn’t hear him over her stupid emotions.

“Did you hear me, baby?” he asked again. When she didn’t answer, he dropped a soft kiss on her lips. For some reason, that quieted her down. “Good. Now, first, I wasn’t in my room. I admit I was on the phone dealing with a business matter that came up. For that I was wrong. I set aside this time for you and Alex. I should have honored that no matter what. If you will think back, you’ll realize you ran past me at the bottom of the steps, honey.”

Kiona stared at him. She blinked the tears away and thought about it. A shuddering sigh made her press a hand to her mouth. The whole thing seemed so accidental, so real, down to Anne Marie lifting her chin like she wasn’t ashamed of stealing another woman’s man.

Kiona shivered, and Ridge picked her up to carry her back to the house. He set her on her feet at the bottom of the stairs and kissed the top of her head, much like she’d done to Alex. “Go and pack Alex’s things,” Ridge instructed her.

Her eyes widened. “Why?”

“The three of us are leaving right now to go to my house. Get your shoes on.”

“But it’s late.”

He nudged her up a couple of steps. “Yes, so get a move on. The sooner we’re there, the sooner we can get Alex into bed. Don’t argue. Go. Tonight we stay together—just the three of us.”

Chapter Four

Kiona stepped out of the shower with her mind spinning. She couldn’t believe she’d agreed with Ridge’s plan to go to his house. They had driven down to take the ferry over to Seattle and then the few miles to his house. She had flown here with the intention of going back home, to keep her distance from Ridge, and here she was in his house.

Little furniture decorated the place, and only Alex’s and Ridge’s bedrooms had beds. Thinking about it, she bit her lip and swiped a hand over the mirror. She had two choices—sleep with Alex in his twin size bed or with Ridge in his. At least at Ridge’s parents’ house Alex’s bed was a full size. Still, even as she thought about it, she knew what she would do.

“I definitely can’t forgive him…can I?”

A knock on the door made her jump. “Hey, you okay in there, baby?”

“I’m fine.” Why did he have to keep calling her baby and honey? She shut her eyes, leaned heavily on the sink, and searched for the resolve she had arrived with. The thing didn’t exist, or it lay buried beneath the memory of her ex-husband’s touch, of his lips slanted above hers.

When she could delay no longer, she left the bathroom. She’d selected the one in the hall rather than inside Ridge’s bedroom and took her time moving along the passage. Ridge had tucked Alex into bed, and she visited his room to give him a kiss. On her way to the other side of the house’s upper floor, she passed another room, and it looked like there were at least two more. Ridge could raise an entire family here. A pang stirred her heart, and she pushed those thoughts aside.