“Thank you,” I say and it’s all I can manage. I just want to go home. Now.
Half an hour later, I have stitches, a shot, a warning that my arm might hurt and/or feel heavy as a result of the shot, and two prescriptions. Thankfully there’s a pharmacy in the clinic and Ellen heads off to have my meds filled for me.
While I wait, I check my text messages to find several from Kace. I’m worried. Aria, answer. Please. See? I can use good manners, too. Baby. Please.
I’d laugh but that’s what he wants, to seduce me all over again with charm and his brand of perfection.
There’s a knock on the door and the front desk attendant, who I now know to be Lynn, pokes her head into the room. “You have a visitor who wants to join you.”
My brows furrow. “I have what?” Even as I ask the question, my heart starts to race and I don’t give her time to answer. “Who?” I ask because it can’t be him. How would he know where to find me?
But I know it is. I know even before she says, “He says his name is Kace August.”
CHAPTER TWO
Kace is here.
How can Kace be here?
But even as my mind asks that question, I know the answer. He’s been having me followed since before we ever met. He’s still having me followed.
Lynn clears her throat. “Should I bring Mr. August, or ah, Kace—he said to call him Kace—should I bring him back?”
“No,” I say quickly. “I’ll be out in a few minutes.”
“Okay, but for the record, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen two such good-looking men in one place, and well, I’m not sure they can survive in the same room much longer.”
My brows furrow. “Alexander’s still here?” I ask because the truth is, I wasn’t sure he’d have the wait in him.
“He is, and at the risk of being out of line, I might add, to the extreme displeasure of Kace.” She winks and disappears, shutting the door behind her.
I press my good hand to my face. I don’t know what to do. He probably doesn’t even know that I’ve found those photos yet. Suddenly pain becomes anger. He doesn’t know, but it doesn’t matter. He doesn’t get to use me and manipulate me any longer. I slide off the exam table and walk toward the door. Ellen enters at the same moment I’m about to exit, which successfully defuses my anger.
“You’re all set,” she says, indicating the bag in her hand. “You already took an antibiotic and a pain pill. You should take another in four hours.” She hands me the bag. “And remember, some people do get a heavy, achy feeling in their arm from the shot. That’s why we put it in the same arm as your injury. That way only one side will be affected.”
“Thank you, Ellen. You really are wonderful.”
“I think you’re the one who’s wonderful, judging by the fan club you have in the lobby.” She wiggles an eyebrow. “Hubba hubba.” She backs up into the hallway to allow my exit.
Two men who want something from me do not equal a fan club, I think. I have never needed to be alone as much as I do right now. With my anger tamped down, I exit the room and hurry toward the lobby, but pause at the door, drawing a deep breath, steeling myself for all things Kace August. As if that has any chance of working.
I push open the door and enter the lobby.
Alexander is in a chair, his head back, eyes shut. Kace is literally at the center of the room, pacing, his back to me at present, a rock god in denim, biker boots, and his favorite tan leather jacket. He runs a hand through his longish dark hair, obviously frustrated, one might even think worried, and perhaps he is, just for the wrong reasons. As if they both sense my presence, Kace turns abruptly in my direction, and Alexander bolts to his feet. But it’s Kace I’m focused on. Kace whose blue-eyed stare is locked on me. Kace who fills me up with so many emotions that they are now a waterfall, crashing to the floor beneath my feet.
He closes the space between me and him and I tell myself to back away, but my feet won’t move. They have grown limbs and taken root right here in the tiled the floor.
He stops in front of me, and one of his talented hands is instantly cupping my face, the other branding my hip. His head lowers intimately, huddling us together, two people in a room with others, but somehow alone. “My God, woman,” he murmurs, his voice gravelly. “I’ve been worried. So damn worried. What happened? How are you?”
He smells like man and musk, like fresh grass in the sunshine on a rainy day, like heaven in the midst of hell. He feels like the comfort of home and the fire of desire. For just a moment, I am lost in all of those things. I am lost in him.
“How did you find me?”
“I went to two hospitals, three minor emergencies, and your apartment first. I just didn’t give up. What is going on with you?”
“You haven’t been home, have you?”
“No. Why would I be there when you’re here?” He glances down at my injured hand. “How bad is it?”
He always says the right things, does the right things, but everything right with him is wrong, I remind myself. I shove away from him and step back. “Go home, Kace. You’ll figure out why I wasn’t taking your calls when you get there.”
“Did he do this to you?” Alexander demands, stepping inside the invisible circle that shunned the rest of the room just moments before.
Kace doesn’t even look at him but warns, “Don’t push me, Alexander.”
“Why? You going to hurt me like you hurt her?”
I whirl on Alexander. “He didn’t do this to me. Please don’t start a fight with Kace.” I turn back to Kace and add, “I know everything, Kace.”
“And this everything you think you know, is that why you’re with him?”
“He showed up at the apartment and I needed help.”
“Which should have been me,” he says.
“I know, Kace.”
“Come with me, Aria,” Alexander urges. “I’ll take you home.”
Kace steps closer to me, and this time, I step back at the same time. “Don’t,” I warn, pointing at him.
He lowers his voice. “Whatever you think you know,” he says, “you don’t. I promise you, baby. Talk to me. Let me explain.”
I can feel him pulling me under and it’s terrifying how easily I could drown in this man, quite literally. “We have nothing to talk about.”
“And if you’re wrong?” he challenges. “If you don’t know what you think you know?”
“I do. I know what I know, Kace.”
“And if there is even a small chance you don’t?” he counters. “Is he how you really want to handle this? By inserting Alexander in the middle of us?”
I can’t breathe for the emotion that has now balled in my chest. I should walk away. Why am I not just walking away?
“I’m crazy about you, Aria,” he continues. “And we are good together. You know that. I know you know.”