Blindsided (6 page)

I drive through the Hills until I reach her house. Then I put in the code Grace’s assistant e-mailed me earlier and wait for the gates to open. When they do, I drive through and up the winding driveway that leads to the Veronica house.

Classy and modern with a hint of old Hollywood in the décor. Grace Veronica nails it once again.

I park my Range Rover in front of the large garage and pocket my keys. The house is huge, and as I walk to the front door, I realize the door is, too. Glass-paneled, double-door kind of huge. I am reaching out to press the bell when one of the doors swings open.

Leah stands in front of me with her lips pursed. Her eyes are spitting fire and anger at me, and I know instantly she’s still pissed at me for earlier. Good.

“Corey,” she says pleasantly. “I suppose I should let you in.”

“Leah!” Grace snaps from somewhere in the house.

Leah takes a deep breath and her eyes focus on the ceiling for a second. “Corey. Come in.” She plasters a smile on her face.

I step over the threshold and pause in front of her. “You could pretend you’re happy to see me, you know.”

“I am pretending,” she hisses.

“You are?” I raise my eyebrows. “Now I see why you don’t act. You’re shit at it.”

“I’m not afraid to hurt you, I swear to God, so you better start walking, cowboy.”

I laugh and walk past her. She shuts the door and looks at me.

“Take your shoes off. Cream carpets.”

I bend down wordlessly and tug my shoes off. Leah takes them from me and puts them in the large coat room behind me then waves over her shoulder for me to follow her. She leads me through a large living area, not speaking a word, and just when she’s about to guide me into another room, I grab her hand.

She freezes and looks up at me. “What are you doing?”

I don’t know.
“I’m…sorry,” I say hesitantly. “I know I’ve pissed you off.”

“Gee, say it like you mean it, why don’t you?” She snatches her hand away.

“Do you want me to go?”

She stops and drops her head back. “No,” she replies softly. “I don’t. Just…cut the crap, okay?”

“Cut the crap?”

“Wow. You’re dense.” She shakes her head. “All the…well, all the kissing me. It makes me…uncomfortable.” She swallows.

“You seemed comfortable enough to me.”

“Corey!”

“Shit. I’m sorry.” I hold my hands up. “Let me make it up to you.”

“I can buy my own game ticket.” She smirks.

Oh, she’s hilarious.

I step toward her and push some hair behind her ear. “No, I wasn’t going to suggest that.” I match her smile. “I was going to suggest we do something. Together.”

“Like a date?”

“Er…”

Her eyes widen at my hesitation.

“I guess.”

“No.” She spins and strolls out of the living area, leaving her sharp word echoing through the room and me wondering if she really fucking hates me that much.

Leah’s great-aunt Ada has been staring at me all night. It’s hovering somewhere between cute and creepy because she has the most adorable little grin she shoots my way whenever I catch her looking. Crow’s-feet appear at the corners of her eyes, and her cheeks flush just a little.

I think she might have a crush on me.

Again, hovering between cute and creepy.

“Aunt Ada. Will you please stop looking at him like he’s dessert?” Leah sighs, taking Ada’s plate from in front of her.

“Stop hooking up with Bert? Whoever is Bert?” Ada replies, looking genuinely confused.

I quirk my eyebrow, and Grace leans across the table. “Hearing aid, Ada.”

The old woman blinks then slips her hand into her pocket. She pulls out a small, nude-colored device and fits it to her ear. “Now, Lele, what was that you were saying about hooking up with Bert?”

Lele?

Leah catches my eye and gives me a death stare. “I didn’t say anything about Bert. I asked you to stop looking at Corey like he’s dessert.”

“He isn’t?”

I cough into my hand.

“Ada, it’s late. I think you should, perhaps, go to bed now.” Grace winks at me and stands.

“But we haven’t danced.”

“People don’t dance at dinner now, Aunt Ada,” Leah tells her. “They eat, they drink, they go home.”

“Well, how boring. You young’uns don’t know how to have a good time.”

Grace swoops Ada out of the kitchen with her still muttering about “kids today.”

“Oh, they do,” Leah murmurs, loading the dishwasher. “They just don’t invite old people along.”

I grin. “Do you need any help?”

She shakes her head instead of answering me verbally. She hasn’t said a fucking word to me since she rebuffed my offer of a date. Even through dinner, she managed to contribute to the conversation without directing a single sentence at me.

And it’s slowly starting to really, really piss me off.

I watch as she scrapes the plates into the trash then bends over and puts them in the dishwasher. Her dress rides up her legs, the hem hovering at the very top of her thighs. If she bends over another half inch, her underwear will be fully exposed to me. So will her ass, and if she’s that kind of girl, maybe her pussy, too.

My cock twitches at the thought. Fuck—I want to go over there and see. I want to flick that stupid fucking dress up and see what kind of underwear she wears, and if that doesn’t make me hard imagining it…

“Are you staring at my ass?” she asks, her words slicing through the silence easily but sharply.

“On a scale of one to ten, how honestly do you want me to answer that?”

“Very honestly.”

My eyes coast over her smooth skin. “About a fifty.”

She slams the dishwasher shut and turns. “Seriously? Is me telling you to cut the crap an open invitation to ogle me?”

“No, but you wearing a dress that short and bendin’ over is.”

Her lips thin. “And you wonder why I won’t go out with you.”

“Maybe I’m not bothered.”

“Yeah?” She rests her hands flat on the table opposite me and leans over. “So why’ve you been looking at me all evening like I’m a math puzzle you can’t figure out?”

“Because you confuse the fuck out of me.” I hold her gaze. “One night, you don’t want me. The next, you’re in my arms, fucking
whimpering
into my mouth. Then, not even twenty-four hours later, you’re tellin’ me where to go. That’s why I keep looking at you.” My eyes drop to her tits. “That and you’re hot as hell.”

She stares at me until I bring my eyes back up to hers. “Wow. And that right there is why I just told you no when you asked me out.” She pushes off the table and stalks away from me.

She pushes off the table and stalks away from me.

“What the hell are you so mad for?” I get up and follow her out to the backyard. “You’re the one sending me more mixed messages than I can keep up with!”

“Then this is the last one!” she yells, turning to face me. “No. That’s the message, Corey, all right? I can’t go out with you. I cannot be seen in public with you. I do
not
need the media craziness that will come with being associated with you.”

“You’re Grace Veronica’s daughter. They photograph you getting a coffee for fuck’s sake!”

“And that’s why I don’t need any more attention!” She runs her fingers through her blond hair. “I just don’t, okay?”

“Why? It makes no sense.”

“It does to me.” Her eyes soften and she wraps her arms around her waist. “It’s dangerous for me, okay? I can’t explain why, so you have to accept that as it is. You have to take my no for a no and just leave it alone.”

“See, that’s where the problem is. I can’t,” I say, moving closer to her. She doesn’t move. “I wanted you the moment I saw you in the bar. I wanted to fuck you, Leah. I still do. I’d love nothin’ more than to have your body beneath mine right fuckin’ now. But you turned me down with that sassy mouth of yours, and now, I’m intrigued by you.”

“Intrigued by me? There’s nothing to
be
intrigued by. I’m pretty boring.”

“You’re wrong,” I mutter, dipping my face close to hers without touching her. “I want to get under your skin, darlin’. I want to consume you. Even if it’s only for a night. I want to finish what I set out to start when I walked up to you in that bar.”

“You can’t.” She swallows.

“I can and I will,” I say, echoing her words from earlier. “I won’t leave you alone, Leah. I will pursue you until I get what I want. Until I get you.”

“You won’t. Get me.”

I cup her jaw and brush my nose along it. “I want you, Leah. And I always get what I want.”

“Y
ou look like you got attacked by a swamp rat.”

I look up at my mom, my mouth full of Cheetos. I chew and swallow and shrug. “I’m working. All day. Which means I’m staying in my pajamas and eating a whole bunch of junk food.”

“So I see.” She casts her eyes over my bed, which happens to be littered with various full soda cans, bags of chips, and candy.

“Hey, I showered.”

“Thankfully. Quinn said he’d e-mail the photos over at four this afternoon.”

“Awesome.” I add a capped sleeve to the dress I’m designing then erase it.

“Macey left a message on the phone. She might come by after work.”

“Cool.” I shove a Cheeto into my mouth.

“Ada is at the community center all day.”

“Mmhmm.” I crush my design into a ball and throw it in the general direction of my trash can. I miss.

Mom picks it up and drops it in. “Leah!”

“What?” I whine, turning around. “I’m trying to work!”

“I know, but I only want to talk for two seconds.”

“Fine.” I put the pencil down. “What is it?”

“Corey’s on the phone.”

I glare at her. “That better be on hold.”

She nods.

“Good. I’m not here. Okay?”

“Leah.”

“I said I’m not here. Okay?”

She sighs but nods. Then she brings the phone to her ear. “Sorry, Corey. She’s not here. I must have missed her… All right. I’ll tell her… Bye, hon.” She throws the phone on my bed and looks at me pointedly. “He said he’ll call again later.”