Anything but Love (23 page)

She sat up straight. “Okay, now you’ve got my attention. What’s going on with you?”

He took a deep breath and told her the sordid details. He hated having to rehash any of it, but he had to. He finished the story, and waited for a reaction, expecting her to tell him to leave her house. She surprised him.

“So what’s the next step? You can’t let her think she’ll get away with something like this. I have half a mind to cancel the interview tomorrow and let her stew in her own juices.”

Cole cleared his throat, too afraid to believe what Kendall just said. “You’re not pissed?”

“Of course I’m upset, but not at you. Cole, you have a past just like I have a past. We can’t do anything about it but learn from our mistakes.”

He rubbed her arm gently. “I hope you still feel that way after my next news.”

She twisted in his arms. “You have more good news?” she asked sarcastically.

He leaned down and kissed her, letting his hands roam over her body, easing her onto his lap. “Smart ass,” he murmured against her lips.

She ended the kiss, but didn’t move from his lap, thank goodness. “You were saying?”

“My ex’s lawyer called Charlie today.” He wanted to lead into it slowly.

“I know, Charlie told me,” Kendall said softly.

Cole wasn’t sure who to be mad at, Kendall or Charlie. “My attorney broke a confidence and told you my business?”

“Oh, will you calm down. You know he is my big brother, besides being your best friend. He knew you were going to tell me anyway, and he wanted me to know what I was getting into. What does Taylor say? Poor thing, he’s been through the wringer.”

He just couldn’t get used to the caring Kendall. “Yes, he has. He says he wants to stay with me, so I’m sure Gabriella is going to continue with the lawsuit. Even if she does drop it, it will still get in the media. Are you ready for that? I’m sure you’re going to come up, and my donation to your hospital.”

Kendall rolled her eyes toward the ceiling. “If you think I’m going to let a little thing like some Broadway actress try to bully me or my man, you must be nuts. We’ve got the best attorney in North America on our side.”

Cole almost choked on the emotions lodged in his throat. “I’m your man?”

“Yes. You think I sit in just any man’s lap? You think I’d risk exposure for just anyone? Cole, I’m willing to risk it all for you. I love you.”

Cole had doubted she’d ever actually admit it. “Baby, I love you, too. I’ve loved you since the minute I laid eyes on you.” He kissed her long and hard. He tried to inhale her mouth and tasted her tears. “Kendall, what’s wrong?”

She shook her head and zoomed back in for another kiss. Cole moved out of the line of her swollen lips. “No, baby. Not until you tell me what’s wrong. You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting to say those words to you. Now that I’ve said them, I can’t take them back. I won’t take them back.”

Her tears were running full force now. She placed a hand on either side of his face and kissed him. “There’s nothing wrong, Cole. In fact, everything is finally all right.” She kissed him again and rose from his lap. She held out a hand. “Come on.”

“You don’t mean…” He stood carefully, hoping his erection wasn’t too noticeable.

“Only if you promise to be quiet.” She led him upstairs and into her bedroom. She turned on the intercom and sat on the bed and began undressing. “If you wake Dylan, you have to put him back to sleep.”

Cole slipped out of his clothes in record time. “You’ve got a deal.” As he got into bed and drew Kendall into his arms, he remembered she had something to tell him, but as he kissed her, the thought flowed out of his mind. He had a much more pressing need to make love to the woman he loved.

CHAPTER 29

Friday morning, Jami prepared her son for the day. She’d hoped he would cooperate that morning since they were running behind schedule. She grabbed her purse and begged her son to get a move on. “Come on, baby. We’re going to be late.”

Dylan was dressed in shorts, a T-shirt, and sandals. “Where’s Aunt Doll? We eat together.”

Jami looked down the hall to the master bedroom’s closed door. Kendall was still asleep. It was near seven o’clock in the morning, and she was still not awake. “She’s sleeping. We’ll see her later.” Jami headed down the stairs. “Maybe we can stop at McDonald’s to get some breakfast. How’s that sound?” She waited for her son’s response, but she didn’t get one.

She turned around, hoping and praying her son hadn’t gone into Kendall’s room. He had a bad habit of just walking into her room without knocking. Jami ran back upstairs and that was exactly where she found him, inside Kendall’s bedroom and standing near the bed. But Kendall wasn’t alone. Cole lay next to her. They were huddled together on one side of the bed.

“Mommy, Aunt Doll is sleeping.” He looked at Jami with big eyes. “How come she’s not up?”

Jami hoped she could get her son out of the room before Kendall or Cole awoke. “Shh, baby. Aunt Doll is probably tired. Let’s let her sleep.”
Please God, don’t let her find us in her bedroom.

“Jami?” Kendall’s very sleepy and startled voice stopped her in her tracks. “Jami?”

“I’m sorry, Kendall. I had no idea,” Jami babbled. “It’s just that Dylan was looking for you.” She expected to be fired and homeless in the next thirty minutes.

“It’s all right, Jami,” Kendall said in an amused voice. “You should see your face right now.” She glanced at the bedside clock. “Tell Max I’ll be in around ten.” She turned over and snuggled closer to Cole, effectively dismissing her.

Jami grabbed her son and they left the room. She still couldn’t get used to the new Kendall. Jami had noticed the changes in her boss’s emotional makeup. There was a time when Kendall wouldn’t have allowed anyone to catch her in an embarrassing situation, such as being in bed with Cole. But she had just laughed it off. Jami realized her boss was really in love. She wanted that same kind of love.

* * *

Cole’s eyes opened at the sound of the bedroom door closing. Kendall was still lying beside him, trying to feel him up. So who had been in the room? He moved closer to her, giving her better access to his body. “Was that Jami?”

Kendall looked up at him. “Yes.” She kissed him. “Dylan was looking for me.”

Cole tried to gauge her reaction. He knew how much she valued her privacy. “I’m sorry, Kendall. I should have gone home last night, but you wore me out. I was too tired to move.”

She was still caressing him. Gentle strokes, hard strokes, but she was working magic and his erection grew at each touch. “Hmm, it doesn’t feel like you’re tired now. You feel hard.”

“I’m hard anytime I’m within two feet of you,” Cole admitted. “Now, how about easing my discomfort, baby.” He kissed her, easing her body on top of his.

“All you had to do was ask, Cole,” she said.

The look on her face brought back the incredible memories of the night before. They’d admitted they loved each other and he had confessed everything and Kendall hadn’t sent him packing. Then he remembered. Kendall had mentioned she also had news, but he’d forgotten. Damn. He was acting just like her ass of an ex-husband, James. He watched in despair as Kendall straddled his body. She was right where he needed her, but what was a brother supposed to do? He had to show her he wasn’t just about good sex. He took a deep breath, placed his hands on her slim hips and pushed her away from his erection. “Baby, last night you said you had something you wanted to talk about.”

Kendall stared at him. “You want to talk about James now?” She nodded to his very erect body part.

“Yes, I want to talk about it now. Last night you listened to me talk about my problems, now it’s my turn.” He eased her off his body. “We’re going to talk, and if there’s time before you have to be at the hospital, we’ll resume our other conversation.”

She blew out a tired breath. “A man wanting to talk instead of having sex? What are the odds?” She smiled. “I guess that says something about you, huh? All right, James and I had lunch yesterday.”

“Really?” He feigned ignorance.

“Oh, stop. I know Max snitched. Anyway, we went to one of my favorite vegetarian restaurants in Arlington. I guess he was trying to show me how much he’d changed.”

“They have a vegetarian restaurant here? Wow!”

Kendall playfully hit him. “You know, you could support my lifestyle a little bit. Anyway, James always had a bad habit of lying to me. Eventually I always found out the truth and he was busted. He’d told me the reason he’d returned was because his mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer, but that was a lie.”

Cole could read the writing on the wall. “And you called him on it.”

“Yeah. And to make matters worse, all through lunch, I wanted a cheeseburger. Me. I’ve been a lacto-ovo-vegetarian for the last ten years of my life, and I was craving red meat.”

Her admission was like music to his ears. “So we eat steaks tonight in celebration?”

“Well, at least you’re not patronizing me,” she said, shaking her head.

“Baby, I have to know. Do you feel anything for James?”

“Sorrow, maybe, but little else. James can be very determined, and he seems to think he and I should reconcile. He knows all about you, so you’d better watch your back. He’s not above doing something to you to get to me.”

Cole didn’t doubt it for one minute. “I’ll be careful. Between our exes, we could be on one of those talk shows.”

She looked at him, then moved on top of him again. “You don’t have to tell me. Now that all that’s been resolved, I say no more talking, at least with our mouths.”

Cole was all for that. He kissed her as he eased inside her body, taking them all the way to paradise and then some.

* * *

By the time Cole returned to his house, he barely had time to shower, dress, and get to the hospital to tape the PSA and do the interview. It was an afternoon he was not looking forward to at all.

His phone rang just as he was getting out of the shower. He hurried to it, hoping it was his son. He was taking him to the hospital to watch the taping of the interview. But it wasn’t his son. It was his ex-wife. He knew Charlie had given her attorney his home phone number. With a sigh, he picked up the phone. “Hello, Gabriella.”

“Cole.”

“What can I do for you?” Or to you.

“It’s about Taylor. He wants to come home. Do you really want me to initiate this nasty lawsuit against you?”

“Gabriella, do what you have to. I’ve told Taylor what you’re planning to do. I gave him the option of returning to New York if he wants.”

“So?”

“He’s not coming back to New York, so let the games begin. I can have him testify about all the lies you’ve told him over the years about me. I don’t know how good your suit is going to look then.”

“I can say you coerced him into coming to Texas,” Gabriella said in the voice that had won her many movie awards. “I can say you aren’t a good role model.”

“Ditto, babe. See you in court.” He hung up the phone and continued getting dressed.

One crazy ex down, one to go, he mused. He glanced at the clock. Kendall should be at work by now, he thought. Their morning session had lasted longer than he had anticipated. But it was worth every minute of it.

His cell phone rang. “What is it now?” He snatched up the phone, unfolded it, and grumbled into the phone, “What?”

“Mr. Highpoint?” a male voice asked.

“Who wants to know?” Cole hadn’t recognized the voice.

“My name is Jason. I work with Holly.”

Great, now she’s conned some poor schmuck into doing her bidding. “What is it now, Jason? Tell Holly the answer is still no.”

Jason cleared his throat. “This is about Holly, but not what you think. I’m risking my job just calling you.”

“I’m listening.”

“Since her meeting with you didn’t go as she expected, Holly has come up with some kind of crazy scheme to make you take her back. I really think she’s not in her right mind, and you should be very careful. You remember what she did to you the last time.”

How could he ever forget? “Oh, yes, I remember. You have any idea of what she plans to do?”

“Since her first plan didn’t work, she’s looking at the doctor. She might just misquote her. I wouldn’t put anything past her.”

Cole didn’t doubt what Holly was capable of for one second. “Look, Jason, I really appreciate the heads-up. I’ll be on the lookout.” He ended the call and threw the phone on the bed. Today might have started out great but, with the last two phone calls, his life had just taken a nosedive. He had to save Kendall.

* * *

Kendall walked into the hospital, instantly noticing the chaos. Cameras were being set up near her office. The hallway was littered with cameramen, reporters, and a lot of people she didn’t want involved with this project. Kendall locked eyes with Holly. She was dressed in a dark suit.

“Kendall, I’m so glad you finally made it.” Holly looked at her slim gold watch. “We just have time to run through the segment before we start taping. Is Cole with you?”

“No, he’s bringing his son with him. I’m sure he’ll be here shortly. I don’t need to rehearse anything unless you’ve changed the questions you gave me yesterday.”

“I might throw in a few new questions. I’ll need to check with Cole first.”

“I’ll be in my office,” Kendall said, walking down the cluttered hallway. She entered the room and took a deep breath. Holly almost seemed normal. Maybe Cole was overreacting because of their past together. Kendall hoped so.

Jami opened the door and stepped inside. “I want to talk to you, Kendall.” She closed the door and walked to her desk.

Kendall watched her friend take a seat in the leather chair. “Sure, Jami, what is it?”

Jami took a deep breath. “I can’t apologize enough for Dylan this morning. I have enjoyed staying in your home, and I love working for you.”

Kendall gasped, then laughed. “Jami, I’m not going to fire you for Dylan being a little boy. We usually eat breakfast together, and he couldn’t find me. It’s expected. I had intended for Cole to go home last night, but we fell asleep. So I should be apologizing to you. You know you’re welcome to stay at my place as long as you want.”

She stood. “Thank you, Kendall. I think you should know that Holly has been here all morning asking very impertinent questions about you.”

That had Kendall’s attention. “Like what?”

“She knows that I’m living with you. She wanted to know how many times Cole stayed over. She wanted to know if you got along with Taylor, and she wanted me to go through your bills. I didn’t give her any information because I felt it had nothing to do with the interview. I don’t trust her, Kendall.”

“I don’t, either.” Kendall walked to her friend and hugged her. “Thank you for telling me, Jami. Holly wants Cole back.”

“But he doesn’t want her, does he?”

Kendall shook her head. “No, he says it’s definitely over, and he only went along with this interview thing ’cause it was so important to me.”

“Yes, that’s what Max said. I just want you to be careful around her. Something about her is making my skin crawl.” Jami left the room.

Kendall sat in her office waiting for all the players to get in place. When she heard the commotion in the hallway, she ran out of her office. As if the day couldn’t get worse, Karl, Jami’s husband, was making an appearance.

He stood in front of the nurses’ station, calling Jami every name in the book and then some. Kendall wanted to defuse the situation before Max got involved.

“Karl, now is not the time to do this.” She approached the large man. As she came within smelling distance of him, her nose turned up at his rancid odor. Kendall glanced at the cluster of people and waved them away. The fewer people involved in this mess, the better.

“You damn bitch,” he roared at Kendall, but pointed at Jami. “You got her thinking she don’t need me, and she’s not going to live without me.”

Kendall realized Karl was high as a kite. She didn’t have much experience handling drug-induced fits, but knew making him angrier wasn’t the answer to the problem.

She looked at Jami’s frightened face. Tears were streaming. “I’m sorry, Kendall. I called and told him that I’m going to file for divorce,” Jami croaked.

In any other circumstance, it would have been the right thing to do, but today, of all days, it wasn’t. “Karl, why don’t we go talk about this in my office? Maybe we can figure out a solution to satisfy everyone.”

He rubbed his head as if he were thinking about her proposition. “I need you to just shut up.” He paced the area in front of the desk and began talking to himself.

Kendall really didn’t like that. She noticed Holly slowly making her way to the front of the crowd. Surely, this stupid woman could see this was a volatile situation.

But Holly had her own agenda. She started throwing questions at Karl, sending him into a more agitated state. “Mr. Lewis, what do you plan to do today? Are you going to take the doctor hostage?”

Kendall took a deep breath.
Thanks, Holly. If he wasn’t thinking about it, he is now!

Karl looked in Holly’s direction. “You’ll be the first to know.” He stared at his wife. “How could you do this to us? You know I love you. You know you can’t make it without me. I’ll make sure of that!”

Kendall had to do something. The situation was a powder keg and Karl held the match. The more he spoke, the more afraid Jami became.

Before she could think of a plan, Karl came up with one of his own. He stepped toward Kendall. “I’m tired of you messing up my life. I knew she had nowhere to go, but you took her in. If I could have gotten past your guard, I would have killed you and then her.”

Kendall opened her mouth to speak, but suddenly felt a crushing blow and everything went black.

* * *

Cole entered the hospital just in time to see Kendall hit the floor, hard. Some large African-American man stood over her limp body with a gun in his hand, aiming it at her.