And hopefully she’d stay out of his way because after this nightmare of a meeting, he didn’t want any reminders of it for the rest of the weekend.
When they finally reached the main floor, Leanna stopped and put her hand over her chest. “Oh, my goodness. That is quite the walk and that was going down! I don’t even want to think about climbing up at the end of the day. Or when I have to bring in my luggage!” She was smiling as she said it, but he imagined it wasn’t exactly an ideal situation for her.
“There’s an elevator you can use.” Pausing, he watched as her mouth dropped open. “Yeah, um…if you follow this hallway around the back here, you’ll see the double doors that open to it.”
“Thank God!” Laughing, she started to walk again and he followed her back out of the house and over to her van. No one had come around because it was the same mess they left earlier. And he watched as she immediately went to work picking up ruined cupcakes and placing them in the tray they had fallen from.
“I’ll be right back,” he said as he turned to go back inside, but felt mildly guilty leaving her at all. It was a no-win situation and he knew the sooner he got what she needed, the sooner he could help her.
“Brody!” his mother called. “What are you up to, darling?”
He didn’t slow down as he grabbed a plastic sandwich bag and filled it with ice and then went in search for the pain killers. “Hey, Mom! Just going out to help the baker with some stuff.”
She arched one perfectly shaped brow at him. “Really?” Then her eyes narrowed. “Why?”
Dammit…
“I saw her moving a bunch of stuff by herself and offered to give her a hand. She mentioned having a bit of a headache so I told her I’d grab her some…” He shook the bottle of pills at her.
“That’s very sweet of you. I should probably go out and say hello and let her know where she’ll be staying…”
Brody stepped in front of her before she could go more than two feet. “She’s staying up in the rooms next to mine, right?”
“Yes, but…”
“I’ll let her know and I’ll help her with her bags,” he said quickly. “I’m sure you have a million things to do, so I’ll handle Leanna.”
A slow smile played at her lips. “Oh, you will, will you?”
He nodded.
She hummed as she reached up and cupped his cheek. “It’s nice to see you getting so involved, Brody. It means a lot to me. To all of us.”
Again, all he could do was nod because he really needed to get back outside.
“Go help Leanna and I’ll see you later.”
He kissed her on the cheek and watched her walk away before turning and running from the kitchen and back out to Leanna and the mess.
But when he stepped outside, all remnants of the cupcake carnage were gone. He walked around the back of the van and saw it was empty. Then he made his way over to the trailer and stepped inside and saw Leanna standing in the far corner. Her back was to him and if he didn’t know any better, he’d swear she was crying.
Guilt washed over him as he made his way over to her; as he got closer, he confirmed she was crying.
“Hey,” he said cautiously. “Everything okay?”
She didn’t turn around but she shook her head. Her hands covered her face briefly and she quickly wiped away her tears. “Sorry,” she murmured. “I think it all just hit me and I needed to get that out so I can move forward.”
When she still didn’t turn around, he placed the ice and bottle of ibuprofen on the stainless-steel counter and gently grasped her shoulders to turn her around. Her eyes were red, her skin was a bit splotchy, and he quickly realized two things.
First, she was almost as tall as he was.
Okay, she wasn’t six feet tall, but she was definitely taller than most women he knew.
And second, she was actually very pretty.
Splotchy skin and all.
Slowly–and with eyes never leaving hers–he pulled her in close and loosely held her because she looked like she needed it.
They stood like that for several minutes and Brody hated the silence. “Um…I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to do or say here…”
Her face was pressed against his shoulder as she let out a shuddery sigh. “I’m so embarrassed. This is beyond unprofessional.” When she went to move away, his arms tightened around her and she didn’t even fight it. He heard her let out a few long breaths before she looked up at him. “Thanks. I think I’m okay now.”
Unable to help himself, he reached up and gently felt the back of her head. Her soft hiss told him he found where she was hurt and he reached around with his free hand and grabbed the bag of ice and carefully placed it over the small lump.
“It’s really not so bad,” she said, her voice no more than a whisper. “I didn’t land on my head initially, so…I think it’s okay.”
Normally he would agree, but…he didn’t want to take any chances.
“Can I ask you something?”
He nodded.
“You were really upset earlier. I’d like to think it wasn’t personal, but…”
There was no point in lying to her; he already knew she had been filled in on what had happened between him and his family last weekend.
“Let’s just say I’ve been warned about not doing anything to mess up this party in any way, shape, or form. So ruining a batch of cupcakes and knocking the baker unconscious…”
It was her turn to nod. “Ah. Gotcha.” She offered him another weak smile. “Sorry.”
“For what?”
“For upsetting you like that. I’m sure the last thing you need right now is more stress. It seems to me like your family is already putting enough of that on you.”
All Brody could do was stare. Was she serious?
“Leanna, I was the one who wasn’t looking where I was going. I was jogging and looking at my watch reading an email and ran into you. I’m the one who’s sorry.”
Dammit! He hadn’t meant to admit to that.
Her smile grew a little. “Do you often jog around knocking people over?”
She was teasing him? Really?
Her hand reached back to secure the bag of ice and Brody lowered his arm so it was around her waist again. “Listen, um…I meant what I said before. I’m going to help you with the cupcakes. Just tell me what I need to do and I’ll do it.”
She was about to answer when someone opened the trailer door and stepped in.
His mother.
Brody hung his head and groaned.
“Well,” she sang with a knowing grin. “You two look cozy! I’m not interrupting, am I?”
Chapter 3
Stressed spelled backwards is desserts.
Leanna felt Brody’s arms tighten around her briefly and wasn’t sure how to react. But when his mother started to move closer and he still didn’t release her, she knew she was going to have to do something.
“Hi, Mrs. King!” she said cheerily. “How are you?”
Sylvia King continued to walk toward them and her smile grew with every step.
Weird.