Page 89 of King of Temptation

“With what?”

“She’s always rented her dance studio. We moved to a million different apartments, but the dance studio was always constant. She told me tonight that her landlord is retiring, and he sold the strip mall. The new owners aren’t renewing her lease, and she has to move her business.”

Silence meets my words. “Can I help?”

“I don’t think so,” I answer automatically.

“Real estate is actually something my family excels at, you know.”

I smile into the phone. He’s not wrong. “It’s less about real estate and more about money. She hasn’t got any.”

More silence meets my words. I know what he wants to offer but I can’t take his money for my mom. Things are convoluted enough.

I hear him draw in a deep breath. “Just tossing out an idea…wherever we move, if we go together, maybe your mom could come too. That way you’d have family besides me. Might make you feel more secure with me being me?—”

“Leo,” I sit up with a cry, my throat clogging. Because that is an offer that doesn’t just throw money at me. It’s personal, and with a baby on the way, it’s exactly what I need.

“What’s wrong, baby? Did I upset you?”

“No,” I feel my eyes welling. These pregnancy hormones are a killer. “It’s perfect, actually. It’s exactly what I need.”

“We could all move to New York,” he starts. “And in the meantime, we’ve got a guest house here,” he offers up. “She’d be right on the property without being able to hear how I make her daughter cum?—”

“Leo!” But in the background of the call, I hear an intercom. “Wait. Where are you?”

“The airport.”

“Why? Where are you going?” I feel panic rising. Where is he off to and how long will he be gone and how far away will he be from me? It’s one thing to think of him waiting in Las Vegas for me to return when I’m ready.

“Don’t be mad.”

“Why would I be mad?” My worries replaced with suspicion as my eyes narrow and I sit up straighter.

“I was thinking of following you.” He says quietly. “I know you haven’t made up your mind, but I didn’t want to sleep in that house without you. You don’t have to see me, but I want to be close, and I won’t pressure you I promise?—”

“Leo,” I whisper into the phone, relief, not irritation pulsing through me.

“Yeah, baby?”

“Just get here already,” I say with a smile. “And I’ll pitch moving to my mom in the morning. You get a hotel room. We’re definitely not sleeping on this couch together.”

“I sleep anywhere you are, Kim. I mean it.”

My smile grows. “Me too. Turns out, I can’t sleep without your chest as a pillow.”

He chuckles. “That’s because I’m comfortable.”

He is. And his strength makes me feel safe. I want his body next to mine. “I went to my mom’s studio this afternoon.”

“Yeah?”

“It’s the most comfortable place in the world to me besides being with you,” I say with a sigh. “I don’t think I want to be a professional ballerina, Leo.” I swallow down a lump. “I think I want to be a teacher. Open a little studio of my own. What do you think about Henderson? Seems like a good suburb for it.”

“Seriously? You want to stay in Vegas?”

“I do. I want to be with you, and I want our baby to grow up with a big family. Not like mine.”

I hear his silence. “Baby?”

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