Progress with Isaiah’s recovery was slow. He was going slightly longer periods without the need for pain medicine. Though too many times he had no choice but to admit he needed it: moments when he wouldn’t even argue. Each day that passed with no word from Kelli was more painful than the physical kind he had to endure. But there were times he went longer than he should have without it. He preferred to deal with the pain from just breathing than feeling woozy all day. So while he’d progressed on some things, his respiratory therapy today hadn’t been one of the best. His lungs were still weak, and they’d begun to feel a bit congested. So he was being monitored closely to make sure he didn’t develop pneumonia.
The lack of motivation he felt to try and get better probably wasn’t helping. After watching the television in his room and seeing the ongoing coverage of the terror attacks—the several interviews AJ had done, including on-the-hour press conference updates where each time his name was mentioned—Isaiah had come to an irrefutable conclusion. Kelli had to know he’d been injured in the attacks. The only thing he’d hoped for when he’d first woken and found out she’d gone back to New Mexico was that she did only because she didn’t know he was in the hospital.
Isaiah’s heart had argued that he had been a total dick to her the last time he spoke to her. Things had ended pretty badly, and he’d led her to believe he was back to thinking of her what he thought before he’d ever arrived in New Mexico. But none of that was excuse enough. If the tables had been turned, no matter how hurt or angry he’d been with her, Isaiah would’ve been at her side the moment he heard she was in the hospital. His siblings all told him how close he’d been to dying. How the earlier television broadcasts were not promising at all and they’d been on day and night. So at one point Kelli knew he’d been close to death and still hadn’t been inclined to come see him.
Isaiah squeezed his eyes shut, willing the sting of knowing all this to go away. A knock at the door caused him, Emi, and Sydney, who were in his hospital room to glance toward it. A second later Moe walked in, holding a file of paperwork.
Moe greeted Emi and Sydney first; then he turned to Isaiah. “How you feeling?”
Isaiah shrugged, giving him a weak smile, but his eyes were back on the paperwork in Moe’s hands. He glanced at his sister, who’d been there over an hour already. “Can I get a minute alone with this guy?”
Sydney was on his feet immediately. “I’m actually getting hungry.”
Emi said they’d go grab something to eat but, no surprise, said she’d have Sydney drop her off again afterward. His siblings had been at the hospital every single day. With the season being over for AJ and Nathan still on administrative leave, they all had more than enough time. They took shifts or often times were there all at once. Between them, Moe, his uncles, and some of their other close friends, Isaiah hadn’t been alone once, not even when he’d been sleeping. Every time he woke up, one or more of them were there.
Isaiah waited until Emi and Sydney were out to ask Moe what he had for him. He hadn’t been lying to Kelli when he told her, if she ever disappeared on him again, he’d hunt her ass down. He was fairly certain where he’d find her, and it’d be a while before he was well enough to do any hunting, but he needed something now. He needed to know she was still worth hunting down or if he’d been right about her before he’d let himself get sucked in by all the lies.
“She’s working for Zachary Walker, heir to the Walker Winery fortune in Santa Fe, New Mexico,” Moe began reading out of the folder. “Guy’s fucking loaded. We’re talking personal jets, yachts, you name it, loaded. His family has wineries all over the world now. They don’t just have homes or mansions either. They have full-blown estates with condos on the properties to house the help.” Moe glanced up at Isaiah, lifting a brow with a smirk. “I can’t even imagine what that would be like. But he stays at the one in Santa Fe. When he’s home, that is. You can imagine a guy like this does a lot of traveling. He’s single with no kids, so the guy is free to travel the world. The position she was hired for was”—Moe lifted his hands and made air quotes—“personal image consultant and stylist.” Moe’s brow rose again with that stupid smirk. “Alright, I guess people who are shitting money can afford to pay for anything. But I don’t know. When I first read this, I had to laugh. Sounds like code to me so he can get away with being able to write off his handpicked personal whore. I mean I went through the list of all the other gals he interviewed—because there wasn’t a single dude in the lineup. They were all about Raquel’s age, and I gotta tell you, some of their resumes were more impressive than Raquel’s. But then what do I know about being an image consultant or stylist, right? The others were just longer compared to hers.”
His cousin shrugged, reading off a few more things about Mr. Money, mostly stuff that didn’t really matter to Isaiah: more on his lifestyle, education. Isaiah began to half listen as other things came to mind: Kelli’s own admission that she was grossly under qualified. Jesus, could he really have been that wrong about her? Was she some kind of con artist and Isaiah fell for it? He couldn’t help thinking of her reaction to his telling her that up until a year ago he and Nathan had been living with his little brother. That it wasn’t until he got married and AJ bought them homes to live in had he moved out. It was all she really had to go by as far as Isaiah’s real financial status. If money were all she’d been interested in, she’d seen it in AJ’s beachside mansion. She must’ve thought it was what she was coming into with Isaiah. Not that Isaiah hadn’t invested well over the years, but if that were the case, he was glad now she didn’t know the truth or she might still be here with him and his stupid ass thinking it was all for love. As much as his heart was still arguing that there was no way she could’ve faked her feelings for him so well, the evidence was too damning.
Isaiah turned when he felt the cuff on his arm begin to tighten. The automatic blood pressure monitor activated every few minutes. He tried to take a deep breath, but it hurt too damn much, so he focused on relaxing himself. In spite of all that, Isaiah still didn’t like anyone insinuating Kelli might be someone’s whore, not even Moe, who likely had a lot more to share with him about the girl who still owned his heart. Even with all of his cousin’s playful smirking, Isaiah knew his own expression had gone hard the moment he confirmed she’d taken the job she’d first claimed she had no intention of taking. He was certain Moe had noticed.
“Good news, if you wanna call it that,” Moe said with that ever irritating smirk of his, “is the main house on the property, what they call the Great House and the house Walker lives in, has over twelve guest rooms. There are a couple of buildings on the property with over ten condos each. But not all of the condos are occupied right now. He has two empty, and as far as I can tell, Raquel checked into a swanky hotel nearby three days ago and is still there. So I could be wrong about her title being code for something else. If he had other intentions, you’d think he would’ve moved her into the Great House with him, right? Have access to her whenever he wanted?”
Just when Isaiah was beginning to feel the tiniest bit better about all this, Moe added something else.
“Of course, he could just be doing it for appearance’s sake. Conveniently, the hotel she’s at is just two miles from his place. He could always send for her and have her back at his place in under five minutes. And I have to assume it was his idea to keep her so close, since it’s his credit card that’s paying for her suite there. She’s just the listed guest.”
Isaiah let his head fall back in frustration. Nathan walked in just as the cuff on his arm released the pressure on his arm and beeped. “How we doing?” he asked as all three glanced at the monitor in question.
For the past hour or so, Isaiah had been trying to ignore how increasingly difficult it was beginning to get to breathe. It just hurt too much to do so. He’d purposely let Moe do all the talking, only nodding in response. He’d already been warned not to let the pain get too bad because it could cause hypertension. But in this case, if his blood pressure had spiked, he was certain it had nothing to do with the pain but rather everything Moe had just laid on him.
Not surprising, the nurse was in there soon enough, giving him that same scolding frown she gave him often. “Blood pressure’s up,” Leonor said, pushing a few things on the monitor. Unlike his younger nurse, this one was a bit more cantankerous. “What’s going on, Isaiah? Are you in pain?”
She lifted a brow as the blood pressure cuff on his arm started squeezing his arm again. “Not too—”
“Don’t talk,” Leonor snapped, shutting him up mid-sentence and making his brother and Moe chuckle. “Wait until the machine is done. But I can already tell you are. You’re running a fever.” She came around the other side of his bed and pulled the rail down. “You might have an infection in your wound or your lungs. This is why it’s important to tell us if you’re in pain. Pain is a good warning sign for many things.”
Leonor lifted his blanket, put on her stethoscope, and listened to his chest. When she asked him to breathe in, he did his best, but it hurt like hell and a groan escaped him. “Hurts bad, huh?” Grudgingly, he nodded. “Not good,” she said with a frown, and the blood pressure machine went off again. “Even higher now. I need to call the doctor.”
“The doctor? Why?” Nathan asked with that same anxious expression he and all his siblings had worn those first few days. He was already pulling out his phone. “Is something wrong?”
Leonor placed the oxygen mask on Isaiah. “Your brother’s lungs don’t sound good. Pneumonia is a very common complication in patients who’ve had major surgery like his.” She turned to Isaiah. “The doctor needs to take a listen and decide how aggressive the treatment for it should be. I’m giving you a stronger dose of antibiotics along with painkillers. You need to take deeper breaths and try to cough—get some of that gunk in your lungs loosened up and out of there.”
She turned to Moe and Nathan, who was already doing something on his phone, no doubt alerting the other troops. “No more talking for him. He needs to reserve every bit of energy now for his breathing. It’s the only way he’ll strengthen those lungs.” Leonor pointed at the paperwork in Moe’s hands with a frown. “If that’s work-related or anything that might stress him out, put it away.”
The moment she was out of the room, Isaiah turned to Moe. It surprised him to see his usually defiant cousin already closing the file. But even he seemed a little alarmed. The nurse rushing out of there the way she had, informing them that Isaiah likely had pneumonia, was enough to have both Moe and Nathan exchanging concerned glances. “Anything else I need to know?”
“Don’t talk,” Nathan said, a bit exasperated. “Did you not hear what she just said.”
Isaiah rolled his eyes but stared at Moe for a response. “Raquel leaves in four days.”
“Who?” Nathan asked.
“Where to?” Isaiah asked, feeling his chest tighten, and was irritated with himself for still caring—needing to know. “For how long?”
“She’s gonna be everywhere.” Moe flipped through his paperwork. “Mostly Europe for the first month—”
“Month!” Isaiah said then hacked and groaned at the pain it brought on.
“No more talking, Sai,” Nathan said even firmer than the first time then turned to Moe. “Who’s Raquel?”
“The girl he was watching in New Mexico.”
It took a second, but then Nathan nodded and turned to Isaiah, who was already feeling woozy. “Kelli’s short for Raquel,” Nathan said quickly before Isaiah could try to explain.
The doctor and Leonor came in to examine Isaiah, but the pain killers were in full effect now. Isaiah could barely respond with nods and shakes of his head. After listening to Isaiah’s chest for just a moment, the doctor said something about a chest tube. They’d be bypassing the X-ray. The last thing Isaiah saw just before he passed out was Olivia and AJ rushing into the room.
~*~
Kelli
Kelli stared at the television. Turning it on now was like playing Russian roulette. The odds she’d turn it on and there’d be some kind of coverage of what she least wanted to hear about were too great. She hit power and waited the few seconds it took for the monitor to turn on. The moment she saw AJ’s face and that damn interview she’d come across a few times already she turned off the television set and tossed the remote across the bed. She hated the media, and she was officially done turning on any televisions anywhere. Just because they were hell bent on replaying the same thing over and over again, didn’t mean she should be forced to hear about it. She was so over it.
Just like all the times Kelli had thought she might be able to stop thinking about him, her efforts were sabotaged. Today she’d planned on staying preoccupied, and the first damn thing she saw when she turned the TV on was his brother’s press conference appearance again. As she always did, Kelli hit the off button before listening to a single word. She could hardly believe they were still harping on this.
Pissed but determined to not let thoughts of him ruin yet another one of her days, she got up, stalked into the bathroom, and washed her face. After a long while of slapping the water against her cheeks in frustrated anger, she stared at the weary face in the mirror.
“Don’t start,” she whispered. “Don’t you dare start feeling guilty about not even waiting to hear an update. It’s not your business anymore.”
Kelli lifted her chin, grabbed a towel, and stalked out of there. She’d been a prisoner for too long. Isaiah had consumed too many of her thoughts for over a year now. She wasn’t going back to that hell again. It was time she had a life she could enjoy.
Why shouldn’t she enjoy the traveling? Why should she feel guilty about anything—about taking this job. He wanted nothing to do with her—made that perfectly clear. Now that she was free to live her life, she wouldn’t be moping around or on the run. She’d had a lot of time to make up and planned on doing just that—living her life and not looking back.
It’d still be a few days before her condo at Mr. Walker’s estate would be ready for her to move in. In the meantime, he’d put her up at a very nice hotel near his family’s ranch. First, he’d offered to let her stay in one of the many guest rooms in the main house on the ranch, the one he lived in. But Kelli passed, saying she’d be more comfortable at a hotel, even said she’d pay for it herself, but he’d insisted on paying for her.
It was only when her phone rang that she realized she was walking around her suite at a snail’s pace. Glad for the distraction, she answered it. “Hi, Mr. Walker.”
“Raquel, I told you to please call me Zach.”
“Okay,” she said with a weak smile, grabbing the notebook she’d prepared for his call and taking a seat on the edge of her bed. “Hello, Zach.”
“I got to thinking about our call today. Since I skipped lunch, I was thinking maybe we could discuss next week’s itinerary over lunch somewhere instead of over the phone. The restaurant right there at your hotel is one I eat at often because, aside from their fine cuisine, they also have a great selection of comfort foods. You know the kind of food that tastes like Mom made it?” He chuckled softly. “Not that my mom or even grandmother ever cooked much, but one of the nannies did. Have you had lunch?”
Kelli turned to the barely touched slice of pizza she’d bought from the place next door for her late breakfast and sighed. “I had a slice of pizza earlier.”
“Oh. Well, perhaps you’d like dessert? That restaurant also has some of the best desserts in town.”
Kelli thought about it for a moment. She was about to politely decline then changed her mind. Maybe comfort food was exactly what she needed. It might do her good to get out of her room, away from the television, and do something that might be construed as social for the first time since . . .
“You know what? That actually sounds good. Can you just give me like twenty minutes to change and get cleaned up?”
“Sure, sure,” he said cheerfully. “No need to dress up or anything. I know you’re a stylist and image consultant, but today, you can be off the clock.”
They confirmed where and when they’d meet, and Kelli got to changing as soon as she was off the phone. Despite his saying she shouldn’t worry about dressing up, there was no way she was going down there looking like a bum. Maybe if she knew the guy better. Even that made her slow and think of Isaiah again. How quickly and easily she’d felt comfortable with him, as if she’d known him forever.
Shaking off the thoughts, she finished twisting her hair up in a bun, covered the circles under her eyes with concealer, and dabbed on a little lip gloss. She’d dressed a pair of jeans up with a dressier top and a pair of wedge shoes that matched her small handbag. After applying some light makeup, she gave herself a once-over in the long mirror in the bathroom then sprayed on some perfume.
Exhaling long and a bit exaggerated, Kelli walked out of the bathroom, wondering how long it’d be until she was feeling normal again. Maybe, once she could stop dreading turning on the television or opening her browser, she could make some progress.
Mr. Walker was already waiting for her downstairs at the bar where they’d agreed to meet. When Isaiah had asked her about Mr. Walker on the plane, Kelli had been vague for good reason. She’d heard it in his tone almost immediately. Not only was Mr. Walker an exceptionally good-looking man, he’d actually shared a little about himself in her initial interview. He explained about having recently acquired his masters of science in business analytics. He’d also mentioned being single. It came up when he explained all the traveling they’d be doing. It was also one of the things he’d wanted to make sure she’d be open and available to do—traveling with him—very frequently. He reiterated often that she’d be gone for weeks, sometimes months, at a time. Since, at the time, she’d been single and ready to leave her life behind, she’d assured him she’d been more than willing. It was pathetic that in such a short time she was right back to where she’d been then: desolate, alone, and single. Kelli only hoped that traveling the world would be enough to distract her from any unsettling thoughts that she’d made the wrong decision.
He stood up from the barstool he’d been sitting on when he saw her. His light gray eyes sparkled as he smiled, taking her in. “Would you like a drink before we eat?”
Kelli shook her head immediately. It was silly, but she always felt weird drinking in the daytime, unless, of course, she was in Vegas or in an environment like the chili cook-off. Gads. Why did her head always have to bring him into her thoughts? “No, thank you, but go ahead and finish.”
“I can finish this in the restaurant. I’ve already paid for it.”
Glancing up at one of the televisions mounted above the bar, Kelli agreed with a nod and started quickly out toward the restaurant with Mr. Walker. Was there nowhere she could turn and not be reminded of Isaiah? One of the handful of interviews that’d been airing all week of AJ was on again. Kelli couldn’t get out of their fast enough.
As they were escorted to their table by the hostess, Kelli made an observation. Mr. Walker hadn’t brought a briefcase or even a folder. He’d made it sound as if this were a business lunch. She’d likely be having a lot of lunch and dinner meetings with the guy, possibly lots of breakfasts too. Hell, she may as well try to enjoy it.
They sat, and this time Kelli did order a glass of wine. So what if it was still early in the day? She could use a glass right about then. So when the waitress took their drink order and Mr. Walker ordered another whiskey on the rocks, she decided what the heck? After some small talk about her stay at the hotel so far and his telling her that her condo might be ready sooner than he expected, they got right down to business. She got her answer about why he hadn’t brought a briefcase. Apparently, he had everything he needed in his phone.
Kelli felt like a dinosaur sitting there with her notebook and pen. But she worked best taking notes on paper then transferring everything onto an Excel spreadsheet on her laptop.
She ordered the chicken pot pie at Zach’s recommendation. He’d reminded her again to call him that, and then she caught herself again a few times almost referring to him as Mr. Walker. But by the time they’d sat there eating for nearly an hour and she’d had a couple of glasses of wine, she was feeling a bit more comfortable with him, and for the first time that week, the wine hadn’t made her weepy. She’d actually laughed a few times.
More than likely it was the alcohol, but Zach had opened up to her about himself in a way she never would’ve expected so soon. The previously very professional and reserved man she’d met on her interview and again when she’d reported to work a few days ago, had a vulnerable side she’d been surprised by. The whiskey had maybe made him open up a bit too much. But she was glad she found this out now rather than later.
When they were done with lunch and after Zach had already ordered another bottle of wine they could share, Kelli decided to balk. She felt bad because it was too late to cancel the bottle, but she’d already begun to giggle a little too much with the two glasses she’d had.
Just as they brought the bottle out, Kelli excused herself to the ladies’ room for two reasons. She wanted to make sure she hadn’t rubbed any of the concealer off from under her eyes. The dark circles had begun to get pretty bad. But she also needed to gather her thoughts about everything Zach had just admitted to her.
She walked out of the restaurant toward the ladies’ room, refusing to even glance in the direction of the bar with the mounted television sets. The last thing she needed now was another reminder of him.
“Is that why you haven’t bothered to check on how my brother’s doing?
Kelli felt her stomach take a dive at the sound of the voice; then it took an even sharper dive when she turned and came face to face with Nathan.
He motioned to the restaurant. “Is he the reason why your cold hearted ass—?”
“Excuse me!”
“I wish there really was an excuse for women like you. I seriously wished it all the way here. That maybe you had just gotten a job out here—”
“I did get a job out here,” Kelli countered with as much conviction as Nathan was speaking to her with. How dare he? “And for your information, I wouldn’t have taken the job if your brother hadn’t dumped me.”
Kelli swallowed hard, irritated that just seeing the intensity in Nathan’s eyes already had her feeling emotional. They reminded her so much of Isaiah. But that last statement seemed to have stunned him, so she continued while she still could without her emotions betraying her.
“Yeah, things between us were perfect when we landed in San Diego that first day. But whatever you said to him changed everything.”
“So you just up and leave? Is that how much you care about him?”
“You wouldn’t even begin to understand how much I care about him. But there’s only so much of my dignity—”
“Your dignity?” Nathan said, shaking his head. “Is that what this is about? Your pride? Have you not watched the news? Don’t you know what’s going on?”
“Oh, my God.” Kelli groaned and shook her head in exasperation. “I’m so sick of hearing about it. And, yes, excuse me for having some pride. He made it clear enough when we spoke last, Nathan. He wants nothing to do with me. I’ve given up enough of my dignity for him already. I’m not doing it anymore, regardless of what he may be going through.”
“Raquel, is something wrong?” They both turned to look at Zach, and Nathan let out a scoff under his breath.
“No, everything’s fine. I’m sorry. I just got caught up with something, but I’ll be back in there in a few minutes.”
Zach glanced at Nathan, who tilted his head and glared right back with a purpose. Thankfully, Zach ignored Nathan practically calling him out, nodded at Kelli, then turned back into the restaurant. As awkward as the interruption had felt, Kelli was grateful for it. She’d begun to get choked up just before she heard Zach’s voice. It gave her a chance to regain a little of her composure.
The second she turned back to Nathan whatever composure she’d regained was shot. The lump at her throat from just looking into those damn eyes suffocated her instantly. “You have no idea what I’ve gone through this past week.”
His incredulous expression was so disgusted she thought he might spit. “Yeah, I can see that. You look pretty broken up on your date, laughing and drinking wine. You sure don’t waste any time, do you?”
Nathan’s tone didn’t even surprise her. She’d since accepted that Isaiah had been spot on. Kelli could never and would never be able to compete with his family, and this was proof of what they thought of her still. “I am not on a date.”
“No?” His eyebrow rose. “Then who the fuck is that?”
“That’s my boss and this is business.”
Even him rolling his eyes was so reminiscent of his older brother. “Oh, I see. So you need a whole bottle of wine to discuss business? You’re so full of shit.”
“You don’t know anything—”
“I know enough!” His words were so loud he stunned her silent. “You know what? I was pissed when I first saw you with this guy. All the way down here I hoped we were all wrong about you. That you weren’t some lying, conniving, heartless bitch that played my brother—”
“I did not play him!” she said through her teeth even as the hot tears blurred her eyes. “I love Isaiah.”
“Yeah, well, you have a hell of a way of showing it. I’m glad I came down now. This wasn’t a waste of my time after all. Get back to your little business date.” He stabbed his finger in the direction of the restaurant. “I’ll go home and let Isaiah know everything he suspected about you was right on the money. Just know this. This better be the last we hear from you!”
He spun around so fast Kelli didn’t even have time for all the words he’d assaulted her with to register before he was out the front door. She stood there, completely flabbergasted; the words and everything else she wanted to scream at him stuck in her throat.