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“Yes, sir.” He nodded and quickly put the car into drive.
I felt bad for talking to him that way. He didn’t deserve it. The newsstand woman didn’t deserve it. The person who deserved my wrath was Brody, who had gotten me into this goddamn mess in the first place. I had no desire to see his face today or any day soon.
Deep down, I knew I could try and blame everyone else, but this was my doing.
My phone trilled in my jacket pocket. I answered without looking at the caller ID.
“Hello?” I asked, irritation in my voice.
“Well, hello to you, too,” cooed Kiera in a babyish voice.
“What do you want, Kiera?” I asked with a sigh.
“Did you see this morning’s papers? We are a hit!”
“Weare nothing.”
“Oh, come on. America loves us. Hell, Bora Bora loves us. The whole staff was abuzz. We put that place on the map.”
“You’re still there?”
“Of course, silly. Did you really think I was going to pass up on a tan and strawberry daiquiris? Courtesy of Brody, of course.”
I rolled my eyes.
“They actually gave me your suite. Can you believe that? I loved it so much. I had to have—”
“You tend to get what you want,” I cut her off.
“That’s true,” she replied breathily. “You know, while I’m in here, I keep thinking about our night together. That was hot.”
“There was no night together. Nothing happened.”
“Pretty sure I can still taste you, Daniel.”
“I stopped it before it got too far.”
“You’re no fun at all.” I could picture her ridiculous pout.
“Kiera, is there something that you need?” I asked, exasperated.
“I just thought we looked cute in the magazine and wanted to celebrate our little debut.”
“Goodbye.”
I ended the call and shook my head, frustrated. She was loving this and was now probably having her publicist put together another statement for the press.
Sighing, I leaned my head against the back of my seat and stared up at the ceiling of the car. I felt like someone had punctured a hole in me and I was slowly deflating. I felt helpless. The press and their stories were something I had dealt with before. Usually, I could brush it off. But knowing Heart could see this was gut-wrenching. I hated to think she actually believed this shit. I hoped she knew me better than that, especially after I explained to her what my life was like with the press. But still, those photos were pretty incriminating.
I so badly wanted to call her and tell her the truth. Tell her that nothing was going on with me and Kiera. Tell her that I couldn’t stop thinking about her. There was so much to say. But I didn’t think she wanted to hear it. She had made it painfully clear that she never wanted to see me again.
I had already caused enough mess in her life. The thought that I caused so much hurt and stress made my heart feel three sizes too small. If she had lost the baby, I wondered if I was to blame. I had been so preoccupied with my work that I hadn’t given her the time she deserved. And then I was so desperate to win her back that I did something selfish and erratic by showing up at her work, causing her to lose her job. Had I caused so much stress that it had hurt the baby? I hadn’t even thought about it until now, causing me to feel like I was about to spiral.
Reaching into my jacket pocket, I pulled out the ultrasound photo. I had been carrying it around with me ever since her friend had given it to me that day. It was a reminder of a new beginning. A beautiful little being. A new life I could have had with Heart, raising a family together. Things I never knew I wanted until my eyes fell on this little black and white shape printed on this glossy paper.
There were so many things I should have said. So many things I should have done differently.
I should have listened to her at the charity event. She was so angry, and instead of hearing her out, I tried to fix it in one of the two ways I knew how. Sex. And the other times, I had tried to fix everything with money.