Chapter Twelve
The driver pulled up in front of Brooks’s office building and came around to open the door for Leah.
Before she could climb out, Brooks held her back. “You sure you’re feeling okay?”
She rolled her eyes. “You need to stop asking me that.”
He just stared at her until she sighed. “Yes,” she said, giving him the most reassuring smile she could. “The doctor said to take it easy. He didn’t say I had to stay comatose.”
Brooks didn’t look convinced. She climbed out and Brooks jumped out his own side and came around to join her. No sooner had he put his arm around her waist than there was a shout from someone on the sidewalk. They glanced over and flash bulbs started going off.
Brooks gave them a tight smile and tried to hurry her into the building. But more cameras had joined the first and it took Brooks’s driver to help clear the path so they could get in the door.
“Are you okay?” he asked her once they were safely inside.
She took a deep breath. “It’s not always like that, is it?”
“No, it’s usually not this bad. But then I’m not usually escorting my new bride around town.”
She held back a groan. “I hope they get sick of me soon.”
“Hey,” he said, holding the elevator door open for her. “You married one of the most eligible bachelors in town. That’s bound to get a little attention now and then.”
“Lucky me,” she murmured.
Brooks laughed.
Leah’s heart rate had barely returned to normal when they reached the top floor. But then the elevator doors opened, and OMG.
She grabbed Brooks’s arm. “Brooks. That’s…that’s…” She pointed at the man who’d graced posters all over her teenaged self’s wall.
Brooks glanced down at her with a slight frown. “I know. You okay down there?”
She would have answered, but the man of her girlhood dreams chose that moment to put down the magazine he’d been reading to stand up and greet them.
“Hey, man,” Brooks said, holding out his hand. “Sorry I’m a little late. I think we ran into a couple of your buddies outside.”
They all laughed and the men did that guy shoulder-bump thing.
“Naw, you can keep them all,” he said with a laugh. “Besides, I’m pretty sure they were here for you. I was just a bonus. I didn’t have this lovely lady on my arm,” he said with a smile at Leah.
Holy crap. One of the world’s biggest stars had just called her a lovely lady and was looking at her like he expected some sort of response. She opened her mouth and nothing but a weird squeak came out. Brooks looked at her like she’d suddenly turned a crazy shade of neon purple. Oh God, she probably had turned a crazy shade of neon purple. But she couldn’t help it. She’d had a poster of that Gatsby movie with him in his tux holding out a champagne glass on her wall in college.
The theme song to Titanic started playing in her head, drowning out every other thought.
Her arms may have started rising, mimicking that King-of-the-World scene, because Brooks wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her tightly to him, keeping one arm pinned against his side.
“This is Leah,” he said. “I’m sure she’s very happy to meet you.”
Leah nodded, her mind nothing but a jumble of nothingness.
Near…far…wherever you are…
“Well, the pleasure is all mine.”
She squeaked again and Brooks stared at her in open astonishment.
Pull it together, woman!
“Hey there, stranger,” Kiersten said, coming up to their group, hugging one of People magazine’s sexiest men on Earth as if they were old friends.
Then she turned to Leah, her eyes growing wide as she looked at her. Apparently, she did look as bad as she felt. Meaning if she didn’t sit down fast, her ass and the floor were going to become very well acquainted. Unfortunately, she didn’t think she could blame it on the pregnancy this time. Who would have thought she turned into a starstruck idiot the first time she met a movie star?
“We’ll leave you gentlemen to your business,” Kiersten said, putting an arm around Leah’s waist to lead her into Cole’s office.
Brooks watched her walk off, his expression part amusement and part bewilderment. She knew the feeling. She got into Cole’s office and collapsed on the couch, sticking her head between her knees.
“I can’t believe I made a total ass of myself.”
Kiersten laughed. “Are you kidding? You did great. The first time I met him I spilled coffee in his lap.”
“You did?” Leah asked, peeking up from behind a curtain of hair.
“Yup. I think these boys forget that we aren’t used to palling around with the A-listers of the world. I’m not sure if they just like to see the reaction, or if they honestly don’t realize how running into someone like that can affect a newbie.”
“How long did it take you to get used to it?”
Kiersten snorted. “I’ll let you know when it happens. You should have seen me when I met the Game of Thrones cast.”
“You met the whole cast?”
Kiersten nodded and Leah squeaked again. “Oh my God. I’d have died.”
“You have no idea. We met them on location. They were all in full costume and everything.”
“What happened?”
“A couple of them hugged me and I started crying.”
Leah laughed. “You didn’t.”
“Oh yeah, I did. I’m a massive fan. It was a little overwhelming to be standing in a castle being hugged by the friggin King of the North himself.”
“What did Cole do?”
She shrugged. “Pretty much what Brooks just did. Stared at me like I had lost my mind. And then left me at home the next time he went to the set.” They both laughed and Kiersten shrugged. “I was also pregnant at the time so I’m sure the hormones didn’t help either one of us.”
“But you were so calm and collected out there in the lobby.”
“Only because I’ve met him a few times. Trust me, there is a whole list of people I’m not allowed to meet because I’d be a puddle of goo on the floor the moment they walked through the door.”
“Good to know,” Leah said, putting her head back between her knees. “Get celebrities in here often?” She hoped she wouldn’t run into any other Hollywood heartthrob on the way out. She’d had her fill for one day.
“It depends on your definition of often. And celebrity.”
“Great.”
Kiersten laughed. “Hey, you’re a celebrity yourself now, you know.”
“What are you talking about?”
“That,” Kiersten said, pointing at the magazine on the table.
Leah risked sitting up enough to see the tabletop. There were three or four magazines spread on top, each one sporting some version of the headline Billionaire Takes a Bride, with a grainy photo of her and Brooks coming out of the courthouse.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” she said, her head rapidly clearing. “It’s been less than a week.”
Kiersten shrugged. “I’m kind of surprised it took that long.”
“Why didn’t you warn me there would be pictures of me all over the media?”
She shrugged again. “I thought you knew that going in. Brooks isn’t exactly a random country boy. And you saw what happened when I married Cole.”
Leah sighed. She fit in with this type of life about as well as a cuddly baby panda would fit in with a pack of hyenas. It had never occurred to her that people would be interested in her or her private life because of who she married. Yes, she knew Brooks was a bit of a celebrity. But she was a nobody. Although thinking of it that way, she could see why everyone assumed it would be a story. One magazine proclaimed it the Cinderella story of the year. Another showed a picture of Brooks with a stunningly beautiful woman on his arm with the grainy photo of her from the wedding up in the corner asking who the mystery woman was as if Leah was the shady “other woman.”
“Are you okay?” Brooks asked, popping his head in the door.
Leah stuck her thumb up and kept her head down. Brooks came in and slumped down next to her on the couch.
“Sorry. Should have warned you he might be here. We had a meeting set up, but I thought he cancelled it.”
He looked her up and down. “I’d say I was jealous you were fainting all over yourself for another man, but I’m pretty sure I was the same way the first time I met him. I won’t even tell you what I did when Gal Gadot walked through the door last month.”
Her eyebrows rose and she glanced at Kiersten, who nodded. “Yeah. Wonder Woman applies to her in every sense of the word. I’m half in love with her myself.”
“Truth,” Brooks said, and Leah elbowed him. He chuckled.
Leah sat up slowly. “What on earth is a megastar actor doing in your office?”
“We’re helping him develop an app for one of his green living companies.”
“Cool,” she said. Lamest answer ever, but she couldn’t for the life of her think of anything else to say.
“So, what were you ladies discussing?”
“Leah’s new celebrity status,” Kiersten said, pointing down to all the magazines.
“Well that didn’t take long, did it?” Brooks said, picking one up and looking at the picture.
“What didn’t take long?” Cole asked, coming in trailed by Harrison and Chris.
Brooks pointed down at the magazines.
“Oh yeah. Those.” Cole shook his head.
Harrison picked one up and flipped through it. “Heh,” he said. “Did you know that only thirty-six percent of those polled think you guys will make it past the six-month mark?”
“What?” Leah asked. “When did we become a poll?”
“One of the late-night shows started a Twitter poll when your wedding picture hit the internet to see how long you guys will last.”
“Lovely,” Leah said, her head growing fuzzy again.
“Which one?” Brooks asked.
Harrison showed him the article and Brooks grimaced. “Remind me to take him off the Christmas card list.”
Leah looked at him, eyes wide. “He’s on your Christmas card list?” Then she held up a hand. “Never mind. Of course he is.” She dropped her head back between her knees.
Harrison continued. “Looks like twenty-three percent think you won’t make it past three months and thirty-nine percent are betting on less than one.”
“A whole two percent think we’ll make it beyond six months?”
“Well, considering the reputation of the groom…” Harrison said.
Brooks flipped him off.
“Don’t blame the messenger,” Harrison said.
“They’re crazy,” Kiersten said. “I think you guys make a wonderful couple.”
Leah snorted. “Don’t look at me. I’m kind of surprised we made it to the wedding.”
Brooks laughed. “Come on, baby. I have total faith it will go the distance.”
“I guess it depends on your definition of distance,” Chris said.
“Well, hell, anyone want to put their money where their mouth is?” Cole asked.
“Cole. No,” Kiersten said, shaking her head.
“Put me down for six months,” Harrison said, slapping a hundred-dollar bill on the table.
Kiersten gaped at him. “Don’t you start.”
Cole’s hundred joined it. “You guys forget, I’ve known him longer than you. I say three months, tops.”
Brooks flipped him off too.
Chris slapped his down. “One month.” He glanced at Leah. “No offense meant to you at all. It’s totally him.”
She raised her hand, waving off his concern. “I get it.”
“Hey,” Brooks said. “Okay, fine.” He slapped his own bill on the table. “We make it to end game. Baby day.”
Leah and Kiersten glanced at each other, both shaking their heads.
“They’ll bet on anything,” Leah said.
“Probably my fault,” Kiersten said. “I kind of got the whole office pool thing started before Cole and I got together. Now it’s a thing. If they can bet on it, they will.”
“Lucky me.”
Kiersten just grinned at her. “It’s not so bad. It’s amazing what you can get away with when they are trying to win a bet.”
…
Leah had never wanted to take a picture of something so badly in her life. Brooks stood in the middle of her classroom, hands out, fingers spread with a piece of tape dangling off of each digit, with streamers of classroom decorations hanging from around his neck and off both arms. He was like a little grade school Christmas tree whose eyes had glazed over.
She went to get another piece of tape from a finger and stared up at him until he blinked and glanced down.
“Did you go to your happy place?”
His forehead crinkled in a little frown though his lips were twitching into a smile. “My happy place is so far removed from here I can’t even find it at the moment.”
She grinned up at him. “I told you that you wouldn’t have fun.”
“Yes, well there’s being told something and then experiencing it. My apologies. Next time I promise I’ll listen.”
“Uh-huh.” She stuck another decoration to the wall and then grabbed her stapler, waving him over so he could follow behind her as she tacked up the word chart. She climbed up a small step stool to position the banner, and slapped her palm against the stapler flat against the wall to staple it in.
A buzzing came from her pocket and she fumbled the phone out with one hand.
“Here,” she said, “hold this.” She thrust the stapler at him. He glanced at her helplessly. With both hands covered in tape there wasn’t much he could do. She frowned. He opened his mouth with a sigh.
She placed it carefully inside. “Don’t bite down too hard.”
He rolled his eyes but kept the stapler firm while she quickly texted Kiersten back. When she turned back around it was to see Brooks staring at her with an expression she wasn’t sure she wanted to translate.
“Sorry about that,” she said, removing the stapler from his mouth.
He stared at her for a moment, his eyes level with hers for once since she was on the stool. Before she could register his intentions, he had her against the wall, putting his mouth to much better use. Leah mentally protested for half a second before she chucked caution to the wind and joined him in absolute madness. She wrapped one leg around his hip and he growled, grabbing her thigh to anchor his grip. He pressed hard against her while his tongue delved into her mouth and she gasped, tangling her hand in his hair to keep him imprisoned.
“Excuse me!” Mother Genevieve said with a tone caught somewhere between astonishment, disapproval, and perhaps a bit of admiration.
Leah pushed away from Brooks, though he seemed reluctant to let her go.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, climbing down from the stool. She brought a hand up to her mouth, quickly wiping her lips and patting at her hair, hoping she wasn’t too disheveled.
“I thought I’d stop in and see how things are going,” Mother Genevieve said. “Make sure you are all ready for the beginning of the school year.”
Leah glanced around her classroom. Everywhere but at Brooks. If she met his gaze right then she’d have probably melted into a puddle of shame right there on the floor. “I think everything is ready to go. Just putting up some visual aids and decorations.”
The Reverend Mother also looked around, nodding her head in approval. “Very well. Continue. With your preparations, that is,” she said with a pointed look at Brooks who grinned at her. She swept out and Leah sank into the chair behind her desk, covering her face with her hands.
“Oh my gosh, that was so embarrassing.”
Brooks shrugged and started removing the tape from his fingers. “Why? We are married after all. I thought the whole perk of the old ball and chain deal was the legal right, and even obligation, to grope my wife anytime and anywhere.”
Leah opened her mouth to respond and then closed it again.
“Ha. See. I actually have a valid point for once.”
She gave him a slow smile. “You do.”
“Who texted you?”
“Huh? Oh,” she said, trying to get her brain to focus on something other than the hard body she’d just been wrapped around. “Um, it was Kiersten. She wants to know if I can watch Piper next week while she and Cole go to dinner. Their nanny is out of town for a few weeks. I told her that would be fine.”
“What day?”
“Next Friday.”
He thought for a moment and then nodded. “That should be fine. I don’t have anything going on that night.”
Leah blinked at him, trying to process what he’d said. “You want to babysit with me? As in watching an actual baby. Taking care of one, I mean.”
“I’m not letting you go by yourself. You’re supposed to be taking it easy. In fact, it would probably be best if they brought the baby to my place.”
Leah took a deep breath. “Brooks, while I am flattered and think it is beyond sweet that you are so concerned for me you really have got to stop this. I am totally fine. The doctor has cleared me. I am capable of going uptown and watching a baby for a few hours without you glued to my side.”
“I know you’re capable…”
But she shook her head. “I know you’re concerned and I know it was a scary night, but it’s over with. I’m fine now. And frankly you’re driving me freaking insane. You can’t keep me locked up in your apartment forever.”
His concern melted away into a playfully naughty look. “Well now there’s an idea I could get behind.”
He took her hand and pulled her out of the chair, intertwining her fingers with his and pinning them behind her back to press her closer. “I can keep you locked up in my bedroom…” He kissed her. “Maybe even tie you up.” He kissed her again with a quick nip at her lip that sent a jolt of fire straight to her core. “Keep you my prisoner and have my way with you until you’re screaming my name.”
She sucked in a tremulous breath and he leaned down and captured her lips again. He let go of her hands so Leah could drag her arms around his neck and hold on for dear mercy. When he finally let her go, her head swam in a sea of hormones that drowned out any lingering concern. Who cared if he followed her around like some crazed overzealous bodyguard? As long as he took a break every now and then to do that again.
“Maybe it’s not so much concern,” he said, resting his forehead against hers. “Maybe I just want to be with you.”
She cleared her throat, trying to regain her composure. “Oh?”
“Yeah.”
“You find me that entertaining, do you?”
“Hell yeah,” he said with that mischievously crooked grin that sent her insides quivering.
“Well, don’t plan on being too entertained. That might get us into trouble. The doctor hasn’t cleared me for everything yet.”
Brooks released an exaggerated, long-suffering sigh that brought a smile to her lips.
“Good point. Still, it would be easier on you if they brought the baby to us.”
She patted his cheek. “If that makes you feel better, I’ll tell her.” She took a second to shoot off another text to Kiersten and then gathered up her things. She slung her bag over her shoulder, leaving several bags for him to carry. “But if you’re going to be there, you have to actually help.”
He draped two bags over each shoulder. “I don’t think I mentioned anything about helping.”
“Hey, you’re the one insisting being there. You’re not just going to sit and watch me do all the work.”
“Well, yeah, but…”
“Actually, this might be a great idea,” Leah said, enjoying watching him squirm. “Babies are a lot of work, and you’re the one who wants me to take it easy, so maybe you could take care of her and I’ll watch you.”
“Wait,” he said, hot on her heels.
“Oh, no worries. You’ll do fine. Babies are easy. You just have to make sure she’s fed, changed, and burped, and that she gets her naps, is kept clean, and that she doesn’t roll off or under anything. She’s not crawling yet so that’s not a problem. Of course, babies poop a lot, but I’m sure you’ll handle that fine.”
“Wait, did you say poop?” He hurried after her, but every time he got in her path she moved around him, trying and failing to keep the smile from her face.
“Leah, I heard poop. There’s going to be poop? I think I’ve changed my mind.”
Her phone dinged and she looked down at the message, her grin widening. “Sorry, too late. I already told her to bring the baby over and that you’re helping out. She loves the idea. Thinks it’ll be good for you. Said you used to work wonders with barnyard animals. You’re going to have to tell me about that sometime.”
He scowled. “There was an incident with a cow that I’ve vowed never to speak of again.”
Leah stopped in her tracks and Brooks bumped into her, doing a little hopping dance to keep from running over her without dropping all the bags.
“A cow?” she asked. “Kiersten needs to spill the beans on that one if you won’t.”
She started walking again, leaving Brooks still fumbling with the bags. He caught up quickly enough. “I think I just remembered I have to do something that night.”
“Not a problem, you can cancel it.”
She marched off to the car, laughing while Brooks scurried behind her, coming up with one excuse after another. There was no way she was letting him off the hook after he insisted on being there.
Oh, this was going to be fun.
Leah pushed aside the stack of essays she was supposed to be grading and went back to staring at the screen with the cursor blinking at her. She had no idea what else she could say. She’d been sending regular messages to Marcus, using the Facebook messages almost as a pregnancy journal. She hadn’t wanted to tell him over the computer like that, but since she couldn’t get ahold of him and her belly wasn’t getting any smaller, she didn’t want to blindside him after the baby was born.
So she finally broke the news and then had begun keeping him updated. Every time she went to an appointment she’d send a message saying how it went. She’d uploaded photos of the sonograms, even a clip of the baby’s heartbeat that Brooks had recorded. She had gone back and forth on whether she should tell Marcus about Brooks. It seemed wrong not to, so she’d finally mentioned that she was married now. Of course, she hadn’t gone much further than that and she certainly hadn’t told him the real circumstances of their marriage. She did tell him Brooks’s name, though. He had a right to know who the stepfather of his child was, even if the marriage wouldn’t last much longer.
Mostly, she just stuck to the baby. But she couldn’t go on sending him Facebook messages forever. She’d stop once the baby was born. He could get ahold of her if he wanted to after that.
She sent the message off and sat back, her hands cradling her belly.
“Still no response?” Brooks came up behind her and rested his hands on her shoulders.
She sat back and shook her head. “No, but I don’t know what else I can try.”
He leaned in closer, looking at the image on the screen. His hands tightened on her shoulders. “Wait…is that the father? Marcus Cassidy?”
“Yes. Do you know him?” she asked.
When he didn’t answer right away she glanced up to see him glaring at Marcus’s profile picture, his jaw clenched. She shifted under the pressure of his fingers and he snapped out of it, easing his grip.
“Sorry. Yes, I know him. Knew him. A long time ago. We went to college together.”
“And?”
He shrugged. “It was several years ago.”
“It doesn’t seem like knowing him was a good thing.”
He gave her a half smile. “When you have two roosters in a hen house a few feathers are going to fly.”
She laughed. “Where did you hear an expression like that?”
His grin was more genuine this time. “I picked up a couple good ones on the last poker retreat Kiersten planned for us. Which is why she’s no longer allowed to plan our retreats, by the way.”
“I really need to get some details from her one of these days.”
Brooks ignored that and went back to semi-glaring at the computer. “Have you considered the possibility that he’s read the messages but has chosen not to respond?”
“Yes.” That didn’t really answer her question, though maybe it did. Brooks didn’t seem to think much of Marcus. And though the thought probably should hurt, it didn’t. It might even be a relief if he didn’t want anything to do with the baby. It would at least make things less complicated.
She sighed. “But there’s no icon. See,” she said, pointing to the screen. “A little check mark appears when the message has been delivered and when the person has read the message their profile picture appears in a little bubble next to it. So as far as I can tell he hasn’t seen these yet. But I don’t have any other way to communicate with him. His whole account is set to private. It won’t allow anyone to post on the wall, only send messages. I can’t even see his friends list to try and contact him through them.”
“Do you want me to try and find him?” Brooks asked quietly.
“Will you?” She turned to look at him but couldn’t read what he might be thinking. His face was a total blank. “You would do that?”
“If you asked me to.”
She hesitated. She didn’t want to hurt Brooks and she had a feeling if she said she wanted his help in finding Marcus that it would hurt him. But at the same time, Brooks wasn’t always going to be there and Marcus was the baby’s father. He did have every right to know. Once he knew, they could deal with it then. But Leah wanted to make sure she did what she could to let him know that he had a child.
“If you think you might be able to help, that would be great,” she said.
Brooks nodded and looked at the screen. “Is this all the information you have on him?”
“Yeah,” she said, trying to stamp down the familiar rush of embarrassment that she’d had a one-night stand with a man she’d never met and had no intention of seeing again.
There was no judgment on Brooks’s face. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thank you.”
He gave her a small smile and kissed her on the forehead and then left the room.
Leah sighed and put her hands on her belly. “I don’t know what to do, little peanut,” she said. “The father you have doesn’t know you exist and the father I want you to have…”
She stopped, not realizing until the moment she said it out loud how true the words were. She glanced back at the door through which Brooks had disappeared. “The father I want you to have is probably better off without us,” she whispered.
Brooks had seemed happy over the last few months, but there was no denying she was cramping his lifestyle. She still felt more like a guest in his apartment than someone in her own home. Despite a few feminine touches here and there, the place was most definitely a bachelor pad. The furniture was stark and cold, all steel and leather and glass; not an environment you wanted a baby learning how to walk in. And while people raised babies in the city every day, Leah had always envisioned raising her child in a less hectic environment.
At the school, at least, they were on the outskirts and behind the stone walls with all its gardens and quiet corridors. The world would have been a bit smaller. Ideally, she wanted the whole white picket fence thing. It was a clichéd dream, but she couldn’t help envisioning her little one running around on the back lawn, maybe playing on a swing set, learning to ride a bike on a quiet cul-de-sac, playing with friends in the summer. Leah was fairly sure she’d be a nervous wreck raising her baby on the busy streets of New York City. She would do what she needed to, of course. Even though she wouldn’t stay there forever, she knew she was more fortunate than most of the world’s population. So while it wasn’t exactly what she dreamed of, she would be grateful for every moment she spent there. With him.
And when it was over…well, she wouldn’t think of that just yet.