Page 41 of Only for the Moment
A string of curses left his lips. What the fuck was the bastard thinking? He had to know Isaac wouldn’t take this without a word.
When he finally got himself calmed down, it was to the realization that the trace of tears in Grace’s voice had become flat-out sobs. Then he cursed himself. She’d worked herself to the bone for this benefit, and all he’d done was add to her stress. “I’m sorry, love.Look, it’s going to be okay. I’ve already got some feelers out; I’ll keep looking for—”
“No!” Grace sucked in a couple of deep breaths, the wheezing sounds making him flinch. “I’m done with this, Isaac; do you hear me? I’m done carrying this alone. It’s been five years! You’re the only family I have left, and I need you, not just thousands of miles away where you can’t be anything more than avoice on the damn phone, but here.
“You’re not gonna keep looking for someone else when the perfect performer is staring back at you in the mirror. You know it, and it’s time you stopped playing the coward and lived up to the responsibility. You are the artist I need, and you better start making plans to be here.”
He stood in stunned silence, his gaze locked on the desert in the distance.
“I’ll e-mail you all the details you’ve probably ignored thinking you were going to get out of supporting me again this year. Be looking for it. I expect to hear back from you in the next day or two with travel plans so I can start advertising. Again.”
Click.
Isaac pulled the phone from his ear to stare at the blank screen. “She hung up on me.”
He sensed Nick’s approach despite the man’s soundlesswalk. “She’s not little Grace anymore, Isaac.”
How the hell would Nick know that?
“She’s been carrying this a long time. Now, with the anniversary…”
Isaac jerked around to face his friend. “What about the anniversary?” Five years; he knew that better than anyone except Grace. It tore him up inside every time the number rang in his head.
Five years. Christ.
Nick’s gaze met his. “She needsyou there. And…” His mouth thinned into a tight line. “Goddamn it, Isaac, she deserves it.”
What the hell? “I—”
Nick didn’t give him time to finish. He held out a hand, nodding toward the phone. The instant Isaac laid it in his palm, Nick walked out on him.
The afternoon was spent in silence, and not only because his best friend refused to speak to him. Every time he picked up his guitar, heput it back down again, unable to settle, to get back to the place where he’d been this morning. Happy. Focused on Kennedy. All he could think about was the sound of Grace’s tears and the scenes from his nightmares, pulling him under, drowning his peace. By seven, when he was supposed to pick Kennedy up, agitation clawed at him and all he wanted was his woman beside him, under him, drowning himin something far more beautiful than the cold killer sea.
The soft glow of her desk lamp shone into the hall as he approached her open office door. He leaned against the doorjamb and soaked in the view—the thick red hair gathered in a messy bun at her nape, the vee between her eyes as she studied a paper in her hand, but most of all, the calm he could actually feel radiating off her every timehe was near.
Well, not every time. Nothing shattered Kennedy’s calm like sex. The thought sent a spasm of need through him.
He rapped his knuckles against the door.
Kennedy swiveled in her chair, her eyes going all soft and happy as she caught sight of him—then hot and dark as her gaze raked his body. His woman was getting wet just looking at him.
He straightened before the effect of thatlook became too obvious. “Hey.”
“Hey, yourself,” she said.
He stepped inside. “Still working?”
“Just finishing up.” As he stopped beside her, she dropped her head back onto the headrest to stare up at him. “How was your day?”
He really didn’t want to talk about his day. Instead he leaned over her, the position emphasizing how small she was compared to him, almost delicate, and he couldn’tseem to stop the swell of his pride or his cock. Just short of meeting her lips, he paused. “Are there rules about kissing in the office?”
“Corporate rules or my rules?” She flashed a saucy grin. “You’re the rule maker, right?”
Damn right. “In that case…” Warm, full lips opened beneath his, accepted his thrust. Their tongues dueled. Feeling her, tasting her, Isaac let the stress of the afternoontrickle away. He didn’t stop until Kennedy laughingly gave him a push.
“I need to breathe,” she teased.
“Hmm.” He traced her bottom lip with his thumb and couldn’t miss the shiver of pleasure that shook her in her seat. “I guess I’ll have to save the rest for later.”
