“Is that right?” Reese said coolly. “I don’t remember seeing you.”
Lee’s mouth thinned.
The doctor walked up just then. “You’re Griffin’s father?” he asked.
“That’s right.”
“Then you’ll be happy to hear nothing unexpected showed up in the tests. As I told your wife—”
“Ex-wife,” Lee corrected.
“As I told Ms. Haines earlier, we’d like to keep the boy a couple more hours, then he can go home. The nurse will provide a dos and don’ts list, but he should be feeling better by tomorrow. I’d advise keeping him out of school at least for a couple of days.”
“Of course,” Kenzie said.
“The nurse will let you know when you can see him.” Turning, the doctor hurried off to take care of another patient.
Lee stared down at her. With her five-foot-four-inch stature compared to his six-three, about the same as Reese, Lee used his height to intimidate her. Not that it worked anymore.
“This is just one more example of your incompetence,” he said. “Griff’s accident will be duly noted in the custody suit I’m filing against you.”
Her chest constricted. “Custody suit? What are you talking about?”
Lee smirked. “You heard me. I’m tired of all this shuffling back and forth. Griff should be living with his father. I plan to make that happen. You can contact your attorney, but it won’t do you any good. You don’t have the money to fight me, and we both know it.”
He turned to Reese. “If you haven’t already found out, she isn’t even good in bed.” Turning, he walked away.
Reese’s jaw looked iron hard, and she had never seen that particular shade of ice blue in his eyes.
“You all right?” he asked.
Kenzie managed to hold back tears. For the first time, she wished Reese hadn’t come with her, hadn’t met Lee and witnessed her humiliation.
“He didn’t even wait to see his son.” She released a shaky breath. “I’m sorry that happened. Lee has never forgiven me for divorcing him.”
Reese’s gaze flicked toward Lee’s retreating figure. “Clearly a good decision.”
Under different circumstances, she would have smiled. “No doubt about that.” She took a shaky breath. “I appreciate the ride, but I need to stay, and I know how much work you have to do at the office. You should get back. I’ll call my grandmother, have her pick me up. It won’t be a problem.”
Reese’s eyes shifted toward the exit as Lee walked out the door, and the glacial blue returned. “I take it you didn’t see the custody battle coming.”
She shook her head. “The divorce was my idea and it was brutal.” Worse for her, since she’d given up alimony and taken a very low amount of child support in order to get it done. She wanted as little to do with her ex as possible.
“Lee never wanted custody of Griff,” she said. “In his own way, he loves his son, but he’s never wanted the inconvenience of having a child around. Not until now. Arthur Haines, Lee’s father, always wanted him to go into politics and I heard Lee’s considering it. Raising a son would appeal to a certain segment of voters.”
“Fighting the suit could get expensive. If you need some help...”
Appalled, she stared up at him. “Thank you for offering, but this isn’t your problem, Reese. I can handle it on my own.”
A flush rose beneath the olive skin over his cheekbones. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.”
She relaxed, felt the faintest hint of a smile. “I didn’t mean to take offense.” She glanced anxiously toward the nurses’ station, eager to see her son. Her cell phone vibrated and she pulled it out and read the name.
“It’s my grandmother. She’s probably frantic.” She pressed the phone to her ear. “Everything’s okay, Gran. I’m at the hospital with Griff. He’s going to be okay, so you don’t need to worry.” Gran explained that Tammy had misplaced her phone during all the commotion and they wouldn’t let her go in the ambulance.
“Tell her Griff’s okay. I’ll call you back as soon as I can and explain what’s going on.”
She ended the call and turned to Reese. “Thank you for bringing me. If it’s all right, I’ll take Griff home and stay with him for the rest of the day. I’ll see you at the office in the morning.”
“You’ve been working a lot of overtime. Why don’t you take tomorrow off to be with your boy?”
Warm gratitude slipped through her. “That would be wonderful.”
The red-haired nurse came up just then, cast a quick glance at Reese, but spoke to Kenzie. “I’ll take you to see your son now.”
Kenzie smiled at Reese. “Thank you again.” He just nodded. As she turned to follow the nurse, she could feel his eyes on her until she disappeared into Griff’s curtained cubicle.
FOUR
Aside from arriving at the office the next morning in the back of a limo to avoid dealing with the protesters milling around out front, Reese’s day started like any other.
Except that Kenzie wasn’t there. Since she had never taken a sick day in the months since he’d hired her, she had been at her desk every morning before he arrived. Been there for their morning briefing and the list of what he needed her to do.
What he needed from Kenzie was a thought that led in a direction he couldn’t allow. In six short months, she had become a necessity, as essential to his job as his laptop or his cell phone.
Which meant he had to ignore the kick he felt every time he looked at her. Kenzie Haines was by far the best executive assistant he had ever worked with. And with the heavy mahogany hair curling softly around her shoulders, perfect curves, and a peaches-and-cream complexion, she was also by far the most beautiful.
Kenzie was the kind of woman who drew a man’s attention without even trying, and there was a kindness about her that shined through her careful reserve. Unfortunately, any physical attraction he felt for her had to be ruthlessly suppressed. Except for riding next to her in the back of a limo, he had never made any sort of physical contact.
As CEO of a billion-dollar corporation, Reese was in an extremely vulnerable position. He had to be careful of every word he spoke, every untethered glance, every thought.
He amended that. So far no one had been able to police the thoughts running through a person’s head, but who knew when that could change.
Until today, he had managed to quash any notion of Kenzie as anything but a highly valued employee, and though her fear for her son had touched him in a way he hadn’t expected, he intended to keep his distance, just as he had before.