Sadie quietly let herself into the car. She had lifted the keys from Lorenzo when they arrived at the clinic. She had told herself she would only use them if she was sure Laurel would be okay. Now that she was certain that Laurel would be fine, she decided to make a bid for freedom. Yes, she had rumblings in her stomach about this, but what happened to Laurel had just made her even more worried about her daughter. She had to check up on Mandy – she was her main concern. She just had to talk to her. She had to know everything was okay.
Sadie froze as Lorenzo swung himself into the car. He stared at her, and slowly she slumped and held out her hand with the keys.
Lorenzo let out a long breath. “How old?”
“What?” she asked startled. Her hands lowered to her lap.
He gave her an intense look. “Your kid? How old?”
Sadie gave him a level look, ignoring the throbbing worry inside her. “She just turned twelve.”
“Shit,” exclaimed Lorenzo, scrubbing a hand down his face. “Please tell me I didn’t abduct you and leave your kid to fend for herself?”
Sadie shook her head. “She’s with her dad, but I…”
Lorenzo opened the glove compartment and took out her phone, handing it to her. Sadie snatched it and eagerly searched through it for missed calls or pleading messages from her daughter to come save her. There was nothing.
Well, there were a couple of missed calls from her boss – wanting an update on where she was with selling all her products, but none from Mandy. Plenty of pictures of her at Disneyworld however, with her dad and his girlfriend and all of them looking incredibly happy together.
She felt a twinge as she stared at her daughter with Al and his girlfriend. They looked like a perfect little family. Yes, she wanted the cookie cutter perfect family, but she also knew no family containing Al would ever be truly happy.
“Everything okay?” Lorenzo asked tonelessly.
Sadie nodded and smiled at a picture of Mandy riding the teacups.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” he grumbled.
She looked at him sheepishly. “Would it have made a difference?”
Lorenzo glared at her in disbelief. “Of course it would.”
Sadie tightened in anger. “So you don’t want me because I have a kid?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Why do you think I’ve been trying to run away?” she demanded.
He shrugged half-heartedly. “I figured you just wanted to get away from me.”
“From you? You’re hardly Bluebeard.”
Lorenzo frowned. “Who? Is that the pirate from Treasure Island?”
“What? No, not even close, he’s… look, it doesn’t matter.”
“I just thought that because of, you know…” He gestured to his face.
“Because of what? These?”
She reached out, and her fingers brushed his face. He froze.
“They’re just a few scars.”
“They’re bad. You know they are.”
Sadie scowled at him. “Do you really think I’m so superficial?”
“No, I just think they really are that bad.”
“You shouldn’t think so little of me,” she huffed, feeling a little more put out than perhaps she should.
She shouldn’t really blame him – after all, she was trying to escape him.
“You should have told me about your kid,” he said softly. “I wouldn’t have tried to keep you from contacting her.”
“Just everyone but her,” she said wryly.
He smiled slightly. “Yeah. Look, Diego will stay here tonight, so I’ll drive you back to the compound, we can get your stuff, and I’ll drive you home.”
Sadie stared at him. “What about the two weeks?”
The two weeks in which he was supposed to be showering her with woo. Though so far, it seemed to involve a lot of hiking.
“What about them? Your…”
Sadie alighted in a fury, getting out the car and slamming the door. Lorenzo followed, giving her a perplexed look.
“Really?” she hissed. “You really don’t want me because I have a daughter?”
He frowned at her. “That’s not…”
“So I have a kid? So what? Why does that suddenly make me ineligible to date?”
He was just as bad as the other guys at the speed dating. Play the mommy card, and suddenly you’re invisible.
“I didn’t say that.” Lorenzo rounded the car to her in record speed and gently held her arms. “I don’t think that at all.”
“You’re using it as an excuse to get rid of me,” she said, a tad petulantly.
“No, I just thought you’d want to be near her.”
Sadie rolled her eyes, perhaps realizing her frustration wasn’t entirely about him. Sadie had been kidnapped, and out of reach for days and her daughter was having too much fun to notice. Perhaps she was feeling a little sorry for herself. Perhaps she needed to feel a little needed.
“She’s in Disneyworld,” said Sadie. “Whether I’m at home or not makes no difference to her.”
“You don’t want to go,” he said slowly and carefully.
“Well, ah…”
“Because you’ve been trying to escape since you got here.”
He was using a special voice usually reserved for escaped lunatics and people who thought that turkey burgers tasted better than regular burgers.
“I was just worried about Mandy, but I can see she’s okay. I just want to be able to call her, to hear her voice,” she said, feeling somewhat foolish.
Yep, she tried to escape when he kidnapped her and then yelled at him when he tried to let her go. She must seem crackers to him. Possibly even cheese and crackers.
“Done.”
“What?”
“You can have your phone to call your kid, and you’ll stay, right?”
His eyes gleamed, and he held his breath waiting for her response.
“Right,” she murmured.
His lips twitched into a small, pleased smile.
Sadie reached up to his face and brushed one of his scars. “Don’t,” she murmured.
“What?”
“Flinch.”
“I don’t like them being touched,” he rumbled.
Could have fooled her. The small growls he made whenever she touched him gave her an entirely different impression.
“Well, get over it, dummy,” she said – ever the diplomat.
Then she leaned up and pressed a kiss to one of his scars. His chest expanded and he let out a small groan.
“A little touching can’t hurt,” she whispered.