All I Need Is You (18 page)

When the phone started ringing again, he set the bar back on the rack and rummaged in his gym bag. He pushed aside a towel, an extra weight-lifting belt, and a change of clothes before he found it. He’d missed the call again. When he saw the caller ID, he hit the button immediately to call Tank back. He’d asked the man to contact him with any news about Hope’s father. If he was calling now, it meant he must have found something.

“What have you got for me?”

“Hey, boss. I’ve been keeping tabs on Banner and something finally popped. It appears our guy thinks he has what it takes to be a senator.”

Eli planted himself on an empty weight bench. “That’s quite a jump for a guy who owns a bunch of strip malls.”

“Exactly. The guy has no background in politics and few connections. What’s a second-rate businessman doing running for congress?”

“I don’t know, but I’m less worried about his chances in the polls and more concerned about what he’s willing to do to make himself look good. Maybe he’s worried about Kay running to the press with stories about him once he’s in the public eye?”

“That seems likely. He hasn’t announced his bid officially. This is all based on communications between him and his assistant.”

“As soon as it’s official let me know. He might step up his efforts to scare Kay into silence once he’s officially running. Maybe we’ll get really lucky and he’ll give us the evidence we need to hang him.”

“Will do.”

They hung up and Eli dropped his head into his hands. A quick glance at the time told him he only had about twenty minutes before the end of Kay’s class. Not enough time for him to do much other than some curls. He usually only worked one body part at a time, but since his workout schedule had been so disrupted lately, maybe he could fit in some leg work as well. He was hampered by his need to stay within sight of the dance studio. From this part of the gym, he could see everyone going in and out. There was no way he’d have allowed Kay to go otherwise.

Now that he knew her ex had some pretty good reasons to want her out of the picture, he definitely wasn’t leaving her alone. It would be pretty risky for him to try to hurt Kay when he was about to be in the public eye, but he’d seen people do crazier things. Especially when they saw someone as an obstacle to getting what they wanted.

Eli shook his head in disgust at the thought of a man trying to terrorize the mother of his child because she was inconvenient. His job had stripped away many of his illusions over the past decade, namely that anyone in politics had good intentions. He’d seen far too much of the ugly side of the political game.
 

There was no way he’d allow even a fraction of that to touch Kay or her daughter.
 

“Excuse me. Are you done with this?”

Eli turned, startled, at the voice next to him. An older man pointed at the machine he’d just finished using. He’d been sitting on the weight bench next to it, staring into space.

“Yes, sorry. Let me get these.”
 

Eli lifted the heavy plates off the bar so the other man could get started, then moved to the next machine. He only had a short time until Kay’s class was over, so he’d better make the most of it.
 

TWENTY MINUTES LATER, all Kay could think was that Zumba was a tool of the devil. Huffing and puffing, she edged her way to the corner of the room and slid down the wall into a heap. The rest of the class continued turning and stepping while she sucked on her energy drink and tried to pull more oxygen into her lungs.
 

It was tempting to just sneak out, but she didn’t want Eli to see her and feel compelled to cut his own workout short. He’d been looking forward to this. His routine had been destroyed by protecting her. The least she could do was stick it out for the entire class.
 

Ten torturous minutes later, the class was over. Students milled around chatting. A few people smiled at Kay where she was still collapsed in a heap next to the wall.
 

She looked up to see Eli in the doorway. He’d pulled on an oversize sweatshirt, but he still looked like he was all muscle. The teachers all greeted him, but the blond one especially looked like she wanted to gobble him whole. Eli smiled at her and she placed a hand on his arm and leaned forward. She couldn’t have gotten any closer unless she crawled inside his sweatshirt with him.

Guess I was right.
 

Eli motioned her over. Kay struggled to her feet, too tired to even care if they saw. She crossed the room, dodging the other students who milled in small groups, chatting and laughing.

“Kay, I want you to meet someone.” Eli took her arm and pulled her against his side.
 

She immediately tried to pull back, not wanting him to feel how sweaty and gross she was. The blond instructor was still hovering near his elbow, so Kay fixed a smile on her face and turned toward her, ready to do the whole
hi-how-are-ya
thing, but to her surprise, Eli steered her in the opposite direction.
 

The brown-skinned girl with the seductive hips stepped forward and pulled Eli into a hug. “Where have you been, stranger?”

Eli shrugged. “Around. I’ve had a couple of jobs in the southern part of the state. You know how it is.”

“Unfortunately, I do.” The girl turned to Kaylee with a friendly smile. “This must be the friend you were talking about. Hi, I’m Janet Reed.” She stuck out her hand and Kay took it automatically.
 

“Um, hello,” Kay said finally, sure she sounded like an idiot. But the other woman wasn’t paying attention, already absorbed in a conversation with Eli about the recent changes he’d made to the gym’s security system.

They tried to include her in the conversation, but Kay couldn’t do much more than smile and make appropriately vague noises of agreement. Her mind was in too much of an uproar for her to make conversation. She surveyed the other woman with open curiosity.
This was Janet Reed?
The girl with the big hips and the even bigger smile? She glanced up at Eli. He didn’t seem to notice her befuddlement because he was too busy chatting with Janet.
 

Finally Janet hugged Eli again and waved good-bye to Kay before trotting over to one of the other students. Eli watched her go with a wistful smile before turning to Kay. “Are you ready to go?”

She shrugged and took another pull of her energy drink, trying desperately to get her thoughts together. As they walked out of the gym toward the nursery to pick up Hope, she finally said, “So, that’s
the
Janet Reed, huh?”
 

He winked and leaned down to whisper, “I told you she was perfect.”

“SO, DID YOU enjoy the class? It’s pretty intense at first,” Eli asked as they drove away from the gym, Hope safely buckled into the backseat.

Kay shot him an incredulous look. “Intense is walking up a few flights of stairs. That was taking my life in my hands. I could barely breathe, and I didn’t even do the whole class. It was still fun though.”

They shared a chuckle at the thought. He’d noticed her slumped down in the corner when he’d first entered the studio but had chosen not to mention it. He’d assumed she hadn’t enjoyed the class due to her murderous look when he’d first seen her.

“Janet’s been teaching dance classes for years. She always loved to dance, even in high school.”
 

He could feel Kay’s eyes on him, but he didn’t dare turn to look at her. Just the heat of her gaze on his skin was dangerous enough.

Eli knew he’d shocked Kay. Her face was so expressive. She’d been completely stunned when he introduced her to Janet. She’d also seemed a lot more relaxed and comfortable after meeting her. Janet had given him a sly look behind Kay’s back and a thumbs-up. She’d apparently figured out the real reason he’d wanted her to meet Kay. Not that he minded.
 

“That’s your idea of perfect, huh?” she whispered.

He knew what she was really asking. If that was his idea of perfect, then how did he feel about her? Was she perfect?
 

“It is. Healthy, strong, curvy, and loving life. It doesn’t get any better than that.” His fingers tightened around the steering wheel, the truth making him feel uncharacteristically vulnerable. His answer was way too revealing, but Kay needed to hear it more than he needed to protect himself.

Kay was quiet for a few minutes. They turned off the highway and onto the quiet residential streets leading to his house.
 

“I need to understand why.”

Her quiet plea got his attention. “What?”

“The why of it. I need to know why we can’t be together. You can’t just keep telling me that you’re not good for me. Because as soon as you do that, you turn around and do things like this. Perfect things. Things that make me fall for you all over again.”

Eli’s heart banged an extra rhythm in his chest. The ache in her voice was a killer. Second only to the tears sparkling in her eyes.

“Kay—”
Her name from his lips was a ragged plea. For her to stop, for her to keep going. Hell, he had no idea.
 

“Do you know what Danny and I were talking about in the restaurant that night? Before everything happened?” she interrupted. She turned from the window to face him. Damn, she was magnificent, so strong and resolute as she faced off with him.

He shook his head.

“We were talking about how much it sucks to have your heart held hostage. To be stuck in a holding pattern, waiting to see if the person you care for will ever see you the same way. Will ever want you the same way.”

“Wanting isn’t the problem, Kay. It never has been. You know I want you. More than my next breath.”

“Do you honestly think that helps? Knowing that you want me as much as I want you, but I still can’t have you. It’s torture, Eli. Telling me to move on doesn’t make me forget. If you want me to have even a chance to move on, help me understand. Tell me what you’ve done that’s so horrible.” She looked at him and the tears in her eyes almost broke him. “It would be so much easier if I could hate you. Even just a little.”

Eli realized then that he’d made a mistake keeping her in the dark. It had been nothing more than his own narcissism, his own egotistical desire to keep her love, to have her look at him like he was her hero, that had kept him silent. He had the means to help her get over him, and he’d just been too selfish to use it.

The truth. All he had to do was tell her the truth. She’d never look at him the same way again.

“You’re right. I’ve been keeping things from you and that ends tonight. I’ll tell you everything. Then you’ll understand.”

And she’d finally be free.

DINNER WAS MAINLY a silent affair. Kay shoveled in the chicken breast she’d sautéed, trying to hurry up and get to the part where he told her his story. They’d both showered and changed clothes as soon as they got home, and then Eli had disappeared while she made dinner. They hadn’t spoken the entire time. Hope seemed to sense the tension because she was cranky and cried off and on while Kay was trying to feed her.