WMIS 04 Rock With Me (12 page)

Leo starts to laugh, not helping the situation at all.

“You have to hide in the closet.” I pull my shirt and jeans on and turn around to
find him glaring at me.

“I’m not sixteen, Sam. I’m not hiding for anyone.” He crosses to me and pulls me in
his arms, and kisses my forehead. “We’ve established this isn’t a one night thing.”

“Right.”

“Our families were bound to find out sometime.”

I swallow hard.
Fuck
. “Right,” I whisper.

“Don’t worry.” He smiles reassuringly just as the doorbell rings.

“Get your pants on,” I hiss at his smiling face and cringe when Luke knocks on the
door. Leo pulls his jeans up and fastens them and I can’t wait any longer for him
to pull a shirt on.

I open the door to a grinning Livie, but a scowling Luke.

“Gee, thanks,” he mutters sarcastically and hands me the baby, pushing past me into
my living room. Natalie happily follows him, grinning at me, when she sees Leo in
the kitchen washing his hands. Luke is struck dumb.

“Hi, Leo.” Nat grins and waves.

“Hey Nat. How are you feeling?” Leo asks and kisses her cheek, drying his hands on
a towel.

“If you’re going to touch my wife, you’d better put a shirt on. Dude, what the fuck
are you doing with my sister?”

Livie’s eyes fill with tears at her daddy’s harsh voice. I kiss her forehead and bounce
her in my arms.

“Luke, chill out.” I pin him with a glare, but he doesn’t care.

“We’re going to be late,” Nat reminds him and offers me a sympathetic smile.

“We will talk about this.” Luke kisses Liv and leans in to whisper in my ear. “Be
careful.”

“We won’t be long,” Nat says. “She has snacks, diapers and toys in her bag. She just
had a nap so she should be fine until we get back.”

“Nat, I’m fine,” I assure her and guide them out the door. “Go.”

“She’s cute,” Leo murmurs and runs his hand down Liv’s plump cheek. The baby immediately
grabs his finger and sticks it in her mouth.

“Here, take her and I’ll get her some juice.”

“Whoa, take her?” He takes a step back, his eyes suddenly scared. He’s hilarious.

“She’s a baby, Leo, not a weapon of mass destruction.” I thrust the baby in his hands,
pull Livie’s sippy cup from her bag and head to the kitchen.

“Can I put her on the floor with her toys?” He calls out to me.

“Sure, just put a blanket down for her to crawl on.”

Damn, he’s funny.

“I think the baby is about to kill your cat,” Leo says dryly and I hurry back to the
living room while capping the cup to find Livie with a handful of the cat’s fur, trying
to put it in her mouth.

“Or eat her,” I agree and laugh as Leo tries to untangle Liv’s tiny, and surprisingly
strong, grasp from my poor cat.

We sit with her and entertain her with her toys for a while, chuckling at how cute
she is.

“This isn’t too hard,” I tell him and he grins at me.

“Nah, not too hard.” He runs his hand over her soft brown hair and then frowns. “Wait,
do you smell that?”

“No.” I stop what I’m doing and sniff. “What is it?”

Leo scowls and glances down at Liv, who’s grinning widely at him, slobber dripping
down her cute little chin. “I think she shit herself.”

“Stop swearing in front of her.”

“Me swearing is not our biggest problem right now.”

We stare at each other for a minute and then he digs around in the diaper bag, pulls
out a diaper and wipes and hands them to me. “Here.”

“Why do I have to do it?” I ask.

“Because you’re her aunt. Duh.”

“I don’t do poop.” I scowl down at the little girl, like she’s done this to me on
purpose.

“What do you normally do when this happens and you’re watching her?”

“My mom changes her.”

“Haven’t you watched her alone before?” Now he’s laughing, Liv is laughing with him,
enjoying the joke, and I’m scowling at both of them.

“Dear God, what did they feed her?” I hold my hand over my nose. “Don’t you know how?”

“She’s a girl. I’m not going to jail.”

“Don’t be an idiot. You won’t go to jail for changing her diaper. You might go to
jail for
not
changing her diaper.”

“Come on, Auntie Sammie,” he winks charmingly, “You got this.”

“Leo is going to lose his manhood if he ever calls me Sammie again,” I tell Liv and
she giggles. Then, suddenly, it’s as if she realizes what she’s sitting in, her pretty
face crumbles and she starts to cry.

“Shit, we need to change her.”

“I’m calling Meg.” Leo pulls his phone out and dials Meg’s number.

“Why?”

“She’s a nurse. She deals with crap all the time. Hey, I’m at Sam’s. There’s an emergency,
and I need you to come here asap. Uh huh. No, no ambulance, just need your help. Okay
thanks.” He hangs up and stuffs the phone back in his pocket. “She’ll be right here.”

“You totally just lied to her.”

“She’ll be here in ten.”

It’s the longest damn ten minutes of my life.

Finally, the doorbell rings. The only reason I hear it is because Liv has taken a
moment to take a breath, thus giving us zero point three seconds of silence.

“Thank God,” Leo pulls her into the apartment and she scowls when she sees the baby
in my arms.

“What’s wrong with her?” She asks.

“She has a shitty diaper,” Leo tells her.

“So change her.”

“Leo’s afraid he’ll be considered a pedophile and I don’t know how.”

Meg takes the baby from my arms and stares back and forth at us, her face incredulous.
“Are you fucking kidding me? You said it was an emergency. I worked all night last
night, and you woke me up for this?”

“Don’t you smell that? It is an emergency.”

“Jesus, you two are worthless.” Meg finds the diaper and wipes, lays the baby on the
floor on her blanket, and gets to work. “This is nothing. At least she didn’t blow
out the diaper.”

“What does that mean?” I’m not sure that I really want to know.

“When the poop goes up their back, into their hair, all over the place. Now that’s
gross.”

“Isn’t the point of a diaper to catch the poop?” Leo plants his hands on his hips,
frowning at Meg. “I mean, if they don’t do their job, what’s the point?”

Meg laughs and snaps the baby’s jumper back in place, all clean and happy. “There,
all done.”

Liv smiles and leans her head on Meg’s shoulder when Meg lifts her off the floor.

“This is our secret,” I tell her. “Luke will never let me live it down if he finds
out that I couldn’t change her diaper.”

“It’s fine.” Meg waves me off and hands me the baby. “Have you fed her?”

And, as if on cue, Liv burps, spitting up whatever she had for lunch.

“I’m so not having kids,” I mutter.

“Good call,” Leo agrees and offers me his fist for a fist bump.

***

~Leo~

“Thanks again for coming to help.” I lean on Meg’s Range Rover and offer her a grin.

“You got me here under false pretenses.” She glares at me and then laughs, shaking
her head. “You both looked ridiculous.”

“Yeah, maybe no kids for me.”

“You’d do great.” She shrugs and grins, her dimple showing. “Looks like things are
going better.”

I just nod and step back from the car, pushing my hand through my hair. “Yeah, things
are better.”

“Good. I’m going back to bed.”

“Okay, get some sleep.”

She grins wider, and I have the feeling she’s about to say something that I really
don’t want to know.

“Will’s home. I’m going back to bed, but not to sleep.”

“Stop saying shit like that, Meg. I mean it.” She laughs and pulls away from the curb,
waving as she merges into traffic.

And now that I have visions of my sister shagging Will Montgomery, I want to poke
out my mind’s eye with something sharp and hot.

I turn back toward the building just as Luke and Natalie return and park. As I approach
them, Luke’s gaze is on me, not friendly, and I feel the bro talk coming on.

“Hey baby, you go on up and get Livie. Tell Sam I’ll call her later.”

“Okay. See you later, Leo.” She waves and walks into Samantha’s building. Luke watches
her until the glass door closes behind her.

“How is she?” I ask him.

“She’s great, baby’s great, now let’s get down to it. What the fuck, man?” He crosses
his arms over his chest and scowls at me. I glance around us, watchful of anyone with
a camera or phone pointed this way. The last thing we need are photos posted on the
internet of Leo Nash and Luke Williams having it out on a street in Seattle.

“Look, Sam’s great…”

“I know, I’m her motherfucking brother.”

“What’s your problem?” This is more than brother overprotection. “You know I’m a good
guy.”

“You’re a celebrity. Sam has been hurt by this industry enough.”

“What are you talking about?”

“That’s her story to tell.” He shakes his head in frustration and paces away. “Your
lifestyle isn’t for her.”

“Sam is a grown woman, Luke. She can make her own decisions. You and I both know how
damn smart she is.”

“You will hurt her, and I’ll be damned if I sit by and watch.” His index finger is
pointing at me, and he’s pissing me the fuck off.

“I’ll fucking protect her. Luke, my band members have wives and families…”

“Is that what you want with her?” He asks sarcastically. “The womanizer Leo Nash wants
a family?”

Fuck you, asshole. You don’t know what I want.

“I’m crazy about her, dude. If you think I’ll let anything hurt her, you’re nuts.”

“You can’t protect her from this business, and you know that. You should leave her
alone now, before it goes any further.”

“I will do everything to keep her safe,” I repeat, my jaw aching from being clenched
so tightly. “I’m not going to stop seeing her.”

Luke watches me rub my chest, where an ache at the thought of not seeing Sam anymore
has taken up residence, just shakes his head and sighs. “I can’t believe she’s doing
this again,” he whispers. But before I can ask him what the fuck that means, he follows
it up with, “I’m telling you, when you’re done with her, she’ll be a wreck. It took
her years to recover from last time, and I don’t know that she could do it again.”

What the fuck happened?

“Ready?” Natalie asks as she comes out of the building, holding Liv on her hip. The
baby’s face lights up at the sight of her daddy.

“Yeah,” Luke responds and watches me thoughtfully as Natalie settles Olivia in her
car seat. “You better protect her, Nash, or I’ll fucking kill you.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Chapter Nine

~Samantha~

“Ms. Williams, your references are impeccable, and your credentials are spot on. We’d
love to have you come down to L.A. to meet with us and the other editors to see if
this would be a good fit for all involved.”

“Thank you, Mr. Foss.” I grin into the webcam on my Mac and the handsome man on the
other end smiles in return. “I’d like that.”

“Would next week work for you?”

“Yes, I believe my calendar is open next week.” I’m bouncing up and down on the inside,
but manage to remain calm on the outside.

“I’ll have my assistant email with the travel arrangements. I look forward to meeting
you in person. Have a good week, Ms. Williams.”

“Thank you, and likewise.”

The screen goes black as Mr. Foss disconnects the Skype chat and I sit back in my
chair, chewing on my lip.

I need new interview clothes.

Shopping helps me think. It may sound stupid, and my brothers tease me incessantly,
but roaming through racks and racks of clothes and shoes helps me clear my head.

So I throw on a jacket and grab my handbag and set out for the shopping district.

I don’t live far.

One of the reasons that I chose to buy this condo was the convenience of being downtown.
It was close to my old job, shopping, the market, and I love being in the middle of
the hustle and bustle of the city.

I’m a city girl.

I push my way into Nordstrom; the heat from inside the store is a deep contrast to
the cold weather outside. I make my way to my favorite section of the store, the underwear,
and let my mind wander.