Page 90 of Call Sign: King
“I am.”
“But they said you’d been kidnapped.”
“I was. In fact, you’ve been taking care of my personal bodyguard. He was shot protecting me, and I can’t thank you and the rest of the staff here enough for saving his life. He is so important to me.”
“Ah… well… thank you. I knew Mr. McLean was part of the whole kidnapping event, but I didn’t know… wow… I’ve never met a movie star before, Ms. Monroe.”
“Well now you have. And please, call me Khloe.” Turning on her thousand-watt smile, as Ryder liked to call it, she then added, “I promise, we won’t stay too long, and the last thing I want to do is cause problems, but I’d really appreciate it if you could let me, and my closest friends have a few minutes together before I go to visit my other friends here in the hospital.”
“Em… I guess that would be okay. I mean, it’s against the rules, but… only a few more minutes,” she finally relented.
“Only a few more minutes. I promise. And if you stick around, on my way out, I’d really love to stop by at the nurse’s station down the hall to thank everyone for helping my friends.”
“That would be great. And if it isn’t too much trouble, maybe I could get your autograph? I don’t think my husband is going to believe me that I actually met you. You’re his hall pass you know.”
“Great… another one,” Ryder groused.
He wasn’t wrong. She’d been told many times over the years that she was someone’s celebrity crush — the one person they’d cheat on their spouse with.
“I’ll be happy to give you my autograph after I spend some more time with Trevor and my friends.”
After the older nurse left them alone, it was MacGyver who gave her shit first. “What the hell just happened? She’s been super strict for days and all you had to do is smile at her and she melted like butter on a hot day. Does that always happen?”
The annoyed, “Yes,” was said in unison by the McLeans, the Cartwright-Davidsons, and even her husband.
“Hey, I can’t help it. And you have to admit, it comes in handy sometimes.”
“Yeah… your fame can be handy. It can also get you shot at and kidnapped. After just spending a few weeks with you, I don’t know how you handle it,” Abigail added.
Khloe didn’t say it, but she’d started to wonder the same thing. The problem was, like Ryder had told her many times in the past, the horse was already out of the barn. Unless she decided to have major plastic surgery to change her appearance, being recognized was just part of her life now.
“Oh, for crying out loud, I’m downstairs, giving interviews and trying my best to hold the media at bay and I get back here and you’re having a damn party without me.”
“Jaxson!” Khloe called, rushing forward to give Emma and Chase’s husband a big hug.
“What happened to your face?” he said, looking concerned. “You really need a new makeup person.”
“It’s a long story,” she reassured him before adding. “I know a lot of my protection team took bullets for me, but I’m thinking you just might have been assigned the hardest job of this entire mission. I can’t even imagine the fiasco you’ve had to manage with the press these last few days.”
“You have no idea. Truly, I thought the press dogged us,” he said waving in the direction of his unique family. “You take this publicity gig to a whole new level. I think I could go out there and tell them what you ate for breakfast, and they’d treat that shit as front-page news.”
“That would be newsworthy,” Trevor joked from his bed. “Since she never eats breakfast, at least not if she can help it.”
“Ha ha,” Khloe retorted, although he wasn’t wrong.
“Not anymore,” Ryder said, once again wrapping his arm around her waist before pulling her in for a quick kiss on her forehead.
She wasn’t sure what Ryder was talking about until he added. “Khloe’s going to be eating three healthy meals a day from now on…” he paused long enough for her to open her mouth to argue. His fingers at her lips shushed her, giving him time to add. “She needs to be nice and healthy now that we’re actively trying to get her pregnant.”
Khloe’s jaw dropped. Did he really just announce that to all of their closest friends and even many of his employees?
Whoops and hollers all around brought the nurse running back in, trying her best to make the occupants crammed into the small room quiet down.
“I can’t believe you just blurted that out loud.” Khloe slapped her husband’s chest, not truly mad, just surprised the normally very private Ryder Helms made something so personal public. “I thought we were going to wait until I actuallygotpregnant before saying anything.”
Pulling her into his arms for a proper hug, Ryder looked into her eyes, his love on display for anyone paying any attention.
“If this fiasco has taught me anything, it’s how precious each and every minute of my life with you is. I have absolutely no fucking idea what’s ahead for us work wise. We have a lot of things to think about for sure. But the only thing I know for absolute certain is I love you, Khloe Monroe, and I can’t wait to see you carrying my child. You’re going to be the absolute best mother in the world.”
