All I've Ever Wanted - Adrianne Byrd [49]
“All right. I’ll stop by the office after I see Dossman. Uh-huh. Later.” He hung up and then rolled onto his side. “I hope I didn’t crush you.”
“It’s a great time to ask.” Kennedy sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. A quick glance over her rumpled top told her she had at least remained clothed.
“Hey.” He touched her arm. “You’re not mad at me for something, are you?”
She shook her head and refused to look back at him.
“Well, you could have fooled me.” He waited a moment, and then added, “It isn’t about last night, is it?”
Humiliation burned through her. “You must think the worst of me.”
He laughed, unaware that in doing so, he made things worse.
“I have to use the phone,” she said, changing the subject. “Do you mind giving me some privacy?” It was all she could do not to start crying.
He didn’t respond.
“Please?” she added.
“Not until you look at me.”
His tone left no room for debate, but she did so anyway. “Please, go.” Her whispered plea tumbled from trembling lips.
For a long while, the room grew loud with silence.
“As you wish.”
The bed creaked as he got up. There was another rush of relief when she saw that he still wore his pajama pants.
“Just remember,” he said, when he reached the door and turned back to face her. “It’s almost noon.”
She frowned.
“You promised to come clean then.”
Had he slept with her to get a confession? Her gaze fell to the floor as that thought sickened her.
“I really need to make this phone call now.”
He studied her, then said, “Fine. But afterward, we talk. And I won’t be put off so easily next time.” Without waiting for a response, he slipped out of the room.
She stared at the closed door and tried to piece together exactly what just happened, but she let it go. She had more important things to contend with at the moment.
Her first call was to the Warners and she couldn’t prevent the ball of alarm from rolling over her fragile emotions.
Like before, she reached the answering machine and she hung up. When she dialed her grandmother’s, her hands shook and her mouth went dry. But after the seventh ring, she started to hang up.
“Hello.”
The sound of her grandmother’s voice temporarily rendered her speechless.
“Hello,” she repeated.
“Grandma, it’s me, Kennedy.”
“Thank heavens. Your friends and I have been trying to reach you all night.” A rush of relief echoed in her voice.
“Reverend Warner is still there?” she asked.
“No, he and his wife dropped Tommy off and left about an hour ago. But there’s this other young fella here who said that he came to see you. Do you want to talk with him?”
Before she had the chance to answer, a new voice came over the phone line.
“Hello, Kennedy. I’ve been looking all over the place for you.”
Disbelief racked her body when she recognized the deep, sinister voice of Keenan Lawrence.
Chapter 23
Max slammed pots around more out of frustration than in any genuine effort to cook breakfast. By the time he’d taken the bacon and eggs out the fridge, he’d started wondering why he was fixing breakfast instead of lunch. He cursed and put everything back.
Frustrated, he glanced over his shoulder, down the long hallway. The look she’d given him at the door had seemed loaded with regret and disgust. The word disgust echoed in his mind and fed his anger.
She was the one who’d come on to him. Yet, she looked at him as though he’d slipped something into her drink and taken advantage of her. He cursed again and vowed to detach himself emotionally from this situation. The only problem was that vow—he genuinely liked Kennedy St. James.
He snatched open the cabinets and searched for something to cook. His thoughts however, remained focused on the woman in his bedroom. The same woman who had felt so soft and right in his arms last night… The one he could have made love to but hadn’t…
“None of this was supposed to happen,” Sandra Hickman said. She jabbed her finger at the man in front of her.
Aaliyah crept closer to try to get a better look.
“It was unavoidable. He was going to the Feds with this,” the man said.
“No.