Revival Page 17

  But still—it had been wonderful. She grinned at Baron foolishly and tried to straighten up her clothes.

  He zipped himself up and chuckled at her expression. “You look a little worse for wear.”

  “Well, so do you.” He did. And she couldn’t help but feel ridiculously proud that she had made him look so rumpled and hot and relaxed.

  “I just have office hours this afternoon,” she added. “No one ever comes by. So I guess the wrinkled suit won’t matter.”

  “It’s not that bad.” As the car pulled up outside James Hall on campus, he smiled at her fondly. “We’ll have to have lunch again this way soon.”

  Leila laughed and leaned over to kiss him goodbye. “We’ll see about that. I know you’re busy this evening and all day tomorrow, but I’ll see you Friday to take the girls to the movies, right.”

  “Right. I’ll call you tonight.”

  She crawled out of the car, buttoning her jacket to hide the damp blouse and smoothing out some of the wrinkles in the skirt.

  Then, feeling half-embarrassed and half-pleased with herself, she went up to her office, managing to avoid anyone she knew.

  She got to her office and dropped her bag into the loveseat, walking over to the mirror to examine her appearance. Her hair was a mess. Her cheeks were bright red. Her lips looked a little swollen. And her clothes were very, very wrinkled.

  It wouldn’t be too hard for someone to figure out what she’d just been doing. She decided to close her office door and pretend to not be there.

  “I trust I’m not intruding,” a vaguely familiar voice came from the doorway of her office.

  Leila gasped and whirled around, one of her hands flutteringly foolishly to her chest, like some innocent heroine in a Gothic novel.

  Steven James stepped into her office, as slick and smug as ever, his dark eyes scarily observant.

  “What are you doing here?” she demanded.

  “Just paying a visit,” he explained, with a leisurely disinterest that belied whatever agenda had brought him here.

  “What do you want?” She was amazed her voice was as steady and unbroken as it was, since her pulse raced and her breathing was rushed and painful.

  For some reason, she was terrified by Steven’s presence here now.

  “I believe I just explained,” he murmured, with a patience that was obviously put on. “I wanted to pay you a visit.”

  “Stop tiptoeing around. Why are you paying me a visit?”

  “I’ve never been one to tiptoe.” His eyes scanned her, from her tangled hair to her high-heeled pumps. “I’m glad to see you had a nice lunch with my brother.”

  Leila’s cheeks burned, as there was no way to hide from him what she’d just been doing with Baron.

  “I was surprised,” Steven continued. “I’ll admit I was surprised when I discovered he was dating you. I remember you as a child, of course, and I couldn’t imagine what he would see in the silly little girl I recall your being.”

  The words were an insult—in almost every way. Leila shouldn’t have been surprised, but it had been a while since she’d been insulted so directly, right to her face. She just stared at the man, feeling disoriented and like this wasn’t really happening to her.

  Something changed in Steven’s expression as his eyes crawled over her body again. “But you’ve changed,” he said, his voice slightly husky. "You don't look like a little girl anymore."

  She’d seen that expression in Baron’s eyes, and she’d heard that note in Baron’s voice. And, with Baron, it aroused her, made her feel gorgeous and sexy.

  With Steven, it just made her feel dirty.

  “Say whatever you came here to say and get out of here,” Leila gritted out.

  HE took a few steps closer to her. Leila had to fight not to step back. “I never understood why you had such an embarrassing crush on my brother. I was closer to your age.”

  “I never even liked you.” She sucked in a breath and then regretted it, since the motion brought Steven’s attention to her breasts.

  “You never considered it because you were always blinded by my brother. But it might be worth considering.” He smiled again and reached up to cup her face with his cool hand.

  Leila stared at him, shocked beyond even reacting.

  “Don’t pretend you’re not tempted,” Steven said.

  Then he leaned down to kiss her, his lips sliding against hers, his tongue darting out.

  The stunned fog in Leila’s brain took just a moment to clear. Then she realized exactly what was happening.

  She tore herself away from him. Then pushed him away from her with a hard shove. “Bastard,” she hissed. “Don’t you ever touch me!”

  Steven looked briefly surprised—although surely he couldn’t be so sure of himself that he couldn’t imagine she might have reacted that way. Then he laughed, as scary and disturbing a sound as she’d ever heard.

  “Get out!” Leila rasped, holding on to as much dignity as she could. “Get out. Right now.”

  Steven kept laughing but—to her infinite relief—he made his way toward the door. “We’ll be seeing each other soon. I’ll make sure of it.”

  Before she could respond to this appropriately, he gave her an exaggerated nod, a mockery of civility. “It was, as always... a pleasure.”

  He left before she could scream and throw something at him.

  She ran over and slammed the door shut. Then she locked it. Then she rubbed her mouth violently with the back of her hand and tried to spit away the lingering feel of his kiss.

  She leaned against the closed door, shuddering, gasping, and trying to think what to do.

  Her first instinct was to call Baron. But telling him what his brother just did would enrage him. It would further stoke the fires between him and Steven. And that was a conflict that could end up hurting—even crushing—Baron.

  Leila didn’t want to do that, but she couldn’t lie to him either.

  So she closed her eyes and tried to decide what, and how, to tell Baron.

  All his life, Steven had wanted anything that belonged to Baron. He’d taken it whenever he could, simply because it was Baron’s.

  Maybe that was all this was about.

  She certainly couldn’t think of anything else Steven had hoped to accomplish today.

  ***

  “Can you read it again, please, Mommy?” Jane asked, adjusting in her bed and peering at the final page of the dog-in-the-castle book.

  “No, sweetie. Just once tonight. You both need to get to sleep now.”

  Charlotte let out a dramatic sigh, but she crawled out of Jane's bed, where they'd been reading the book with Leila, and into her bed without complaining. “Why do you have to see Mr. Baron right now, Mommy?” she asked, pulling the covers up to her chin.

  Leila leaned over to kiss Jane. Then she leaned over to kiss Charlotte too. “I told you already. I need to talk to Mr. Baron, and sometimes it’s better to talk in person than on the phone.”

  Leila hadn’t yet told Baron about his brother coming to her office that afternoon. It felt too awkward to explain over the phone. Baron seemed to have recognized that something was wrong because he offered to come over to her place that night, after his dinner meeting, but Leila had told him not too.

  She didn’t want to have that particular conversation with the girls in the house. That much was true.

  But she was also postponing the conversation for as long as possible. That much was cowardly.

  So, over an early supper with the girls, she’d come to the reluctant decision that she should go over to Baron’s place that evening to talk. She’d been too nervous to call and too unsure of how to explain the visit, so she figured she’d just show up. His dinner meeting would be over by nine.

  But first she had to put the girls to bed.

  “Miss Martin is in the living room. If you need anything or get scared, she’ll be there to help you. I’ll be back as soon as I talk to Mr. Baron, but you should be asleep by
then.”

  "And you'll give him our card?" Charlotte confirmed.

  "Yes. I'll give him your card. I have it in my purse." Leila kissed them both again, since they were so sweet and she loved them so much.

  “Is it bad?” Jane asked, her green eyes wide and worried as Leila started to leave the room.

  “Is what bad?”

  “Is your talk with Mr. Baron bad?”

  “Are you gonna break up with him, Mommy?” Charlotte asked.

  “No, no,” Leila assured them, upset that they had somehow read her mood and were worried about it. “It’s nothing like that. It’s just that some things are important and so you go to talk about them in person. It’s nothing for you to worry about.”

  She wasn’t sure they were convinced, but they didn’t ask any further questions.

  Leila kissed them one last time and told Miss Martin she’d be back by midnight. Then she grabbed her purse and left the house before she changed her mind.

  She took a cab, since parking would be difficult at Baron’s downtown building. On the drive over she smoothed her hair into a low ponytail and powdered her face. She was just wearing jeans, a stretchy t-shirt, and a fuzzy red hoodie. She wasn’t looking glamorous or sexy, but she supposed it didn’t really matter.

  She was so, so scared about how Baron would react.

  She was genuinely worried that Baron would be hurt by what she had to tell him, but it was more than that.

  As selfish as it sounded, she was even more scared about how this might affect her relationship with him.

  She knew Baron was trying. She knew all of this was new for him. She knew he wasn’t used to being in a real relationship. And she knew he was almost crippled by all the work and responsibility that had been dumped on him in the wake of his father’s death.

  She was trying to think positively about things, but it was so hard not to expect the last straw to finally land, the one that would break the back of their relationship.

  Things were going so well right now between Leila, Baron, and the girls, but this could easily be the last straw.

  Leila swallowed over her nerves, hating Steven James with everything inside her but determined to deal with this problem in a mature and honest way.

  After she paid the cabdriver, she got out in front of Baron’s building. She had to wait in the lobby until the doorman got permission for her to go up in the private elevator to his place.

  She spent the whole elevator ride to the top breathing deeply and mentally rehearsing how she would begin her explanation.

  When the elevator doors slid open, Baron was waiting for her in the foyer. He wore a white t-shirt, dark pants, and bare feet.

  Leila’s heart clenched when she saw him.

  “What’s the matter?” he asked, his expression and voice reflecting obvious concern, “Leila, what is it?”

  She shook her head, ridiculously touched that he was so clearly worried about her. “Nothing. I mean, it’s nothing like that. I just had to talk to you. Sorry I didn’t call first. It’s late. I should have called.”

  Baron shook his head and put his hand on her back to lead her into his apartment.

  She’d never been to his place before, but it was exactly as she would have imagined it—sleek, glossy, polished, modern, incredibly expensive.

  She liked the feel of his hand on her back, but it also made her feel weak and clingy. She moved away from his hand as they walked, trying not to make the move obvious.

  She sat down in a black leather chair, and Baron sat down on the low sofa across from her. His expression had changed. It now looked guarded and closed.

  Not a good sign.

  Leila opened her mouth to begin but nothing came out. She cleared her throat. Tried again. “Baron,” she began. “I... I...”

  “For God’s sake, Leila,” he interrupted roughly, something desperate suddenly awakening in his eyes. “Just say it. Are you trying to break up with me?”

  Leila blinked. “No!” she burst out after a stunned moment. “No, of course not! Why would I break up with you?”

  Baron’s face conveyed relief before he masked it. “I don’t know, but that’s what it felt like.”

  Hating that she’d made him believe such a thing, even for a moment, she said, “I’m sorry. No, it's nothing like that. The girls thought I was breaking up with you too. What’s wrong with everyone? Am I crazy?”

  Baron smiled for real at her rambling reply, but on her last words he looked a little confused. “Crazy?”

  “Breaking up with you would be crazy,” she explained, a little embarrassed now. “And I’m not crazy, am I?”

  He actually laughed. And the sound warmed her so much she got out of the chair and went to sit by him on the sofa. She leaned against him, sighing when he put his arm around her.

  “I’m sorry, Baron. I’ve messed this whole thing up. I've gotten too uptight about this, but I'm nervous about it and..." She trailed off, seeing nothing worthwhile coming from trying to finish that incoherent sentence. "I do have to tell you something.”

  “So tell me.” His body had tensed slightly beside her, but he didn’t pull away.

  And maybe it was cowardly of her, but she stayed cuddled up beside him as she began, so she didn’t have to see his face as he heard her first words.

  “Your brother came to my office after you dropped me off this afternoon.”

  He tightened palpably against her. “What did he want?”

  “I’m not exactly sure what he wanted. He didn’t say. He said he was just paying a visit. And obviously he was causing trouble of some kind, but his purpose wasn’t really clear. At least, not to me.”

  Baron pulled away from her, which worried her at first, but he put his hands on her shoulders and turned her upper body so he could look into her face. “Leila,” he said, his voice deadly serious. “Baby, what did he say?”

  She swallowed. “He made a few fake pleasantries about how he hoped he wasn’t intruding. Then he made some snide comments about my having lunch with you.”

  Baron winced slightly, but he nodded for her to continue. His eyes were scarily focused. As focused as his brother’s always were.

  “He said he was surprised that you were keeping company with me since he remembered me as a silly little girl. Obviously, he was insulting me, but I couldn’t really tell what the purpose was in it.”

  Baron’s brows drew together. “I’m not sure either. What else did he say?”

  This was the part that Leila really didn’t want to tell him. She dropped her eyes.

  “Leila?” he prompted, raising her chin with his hand. “I know it’s going to be bad. Tell me what he said.”

  “He got... he got offensive... in a different way. He leered at me and said something about how I wasn’t a little girl anymore.” When Baron sucked in a breath, Leila realized he hadn’t expected that. So she just blurted out the rest. “Then he said I never noticed him before but I should consider liking him now.”

  Baron was frozen across from her, one of his hands still on her shoulder. She couldn’t read his expression. Didn’t really want to.

  “There’s more. Tell me.”

  She took a long shuddering breath and stared at her hands. “He... Oh, God, Baron, I’m so sorry. He tried to kiss me.”

  When Baron didn’t reply for a long time, she darted her gaze up to check the expression in his eyes.

  She had to turn away from what she saw there.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said again, feeling like she might cry. “I’m sure he doesn’t have any interest in me, so it must just be a way of trying to get in between us—to hurt you or something. Or take away something you have.”

  “I don’t know,” Baron said at last, his tone chilly and disturbing.

  “You don’t know what?”

  “He might have an interest in you. It wouldn’t surprise me. But he can’t have you.”

  “Of course he can’t have me!” she exclaimed, so surprised she reached o
ut to Baron and grabbed his hands. “I hate him. He disgusts me. I pushed him away. Hard.”

  A ghost of a smile crossed Baron’s lips. “Did you?”

  “Yes. He’s horrible. And I can’t stand that he tried to hurt you through me.”

  Some of the shock had worn off in Baron's expression, and he was evidently able now to reflect more rationally on what she’d told him. “He wouldn’t have just been trying to hurt me.”

  Leila opened her mouth to argue, but Baron shook his head and continued. “Yes, he might try to hurt me. But he’d have a motive beyond simply that. He was trying to accomplish something.”

  She paused, thinking about what he’d said. “He couldn’t have thought I would actually... respond to him.” She took comfort in the fact that Baron hadn’t pulled his hands away from hers. In fact, he’d turned hers around so he was holding them.

  “Maybe not. Although he’s so arrogant it’s hard to know for sure. But he was trying to gain a position of power with me in some way. That much is certain. I'm just not yet sure exactly how.”

  “Well, he didn’t,” Leila said, her voice earnest and broken. “He didn't gain anything. He didn’t make any headway with you or me. He didn’t come between us.” She swallowed hard. “Did he?”

  “No.”

  She was almost crying now—more from an overflow of emotion than anything else. “I’m so sorry I had to tell you this, Baron. I’m so sorry about it. Is there anything I should do?”

  “No,” he said, pulling his hands away. He looked a little closed off now. “I don’t think so.”

  She sat in silence for a long time. She wanted to pull him against her, kiss him, comfort him, but she knew he’d pull away. “Please don’t let this mess everything up. Things were going so well. I thought... I thought we were... I thought you were...”

  “Happy,” Baron finished for her. He wasn’t looking at her now. He was staring blankly at the air in front of him. “I was.”

  “Baron, he doesn’t have the power to take that away from you. Please don’t let him.”

  “I don't want him to,” he said, obviously thinking hard. He shook his head slightly as he spoke. “I just need to figure out what to do.”