We Could Be Amazing (2 page)

Alex climbed on the bed and patted the mattress beside him. “Lay down, Mommie. You have to stay here until I feel better.”

Then she got it. Her son didn’t want her to leave, so he made up the pain. She had to stay in case this wasn’t an act.

“It might be best if you stay,” Ridge told her. “I can make arrangements to get you to the airport in the morning.”

“All right. I guess I have no choice.”

Ridge left the room, and she assumed he went to his own bedroom, the one he occupied when he stayed in his parents’ home. His usual residence was in Seattle. Since she’d left her overnight bag in the car, she decided to sleep in her bra and panties. Going back downstairs past Ridge’s family wasn’t happening.

When she’d shed her clothing and tossed the dress over the back of the chair, she adjusted her bra so that her breasts fit behind the lacy material. After she’d gotten pregnant with Alex, her size went up one cup, and she didn’t mind that so much as the wrinkly midsection that refused to flatten out anymore.

She yawned and put a hand up to her mouth, then froze solid when Ridge walked in holding her overnight bag. His gaze locked on her naked body, and he too seemed sealed to the spot. Only Ray’s voice from down the hall made her ex move, and he shut the door.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize—”

“You could have freaking knocked—”

She threw her arms across her breasts, which caused them to squeeze tighter together and give the man a greater show. Kiona swung away, realizing too late she showed half her ass in bikini panties. She leaped onto the bed and scurried under the covers, dragging them to her chin.

Ridge grunted. “It’s not like I haven’t seen your body before, KeyKey.”

She squeezed her eyes shut and crossed her legs since all of a sudden, the nether regions were soaking wet.
Damn idiot. He doesn’t have any right to look at my boobs.
She suppressed a groan remembering the lust that blazed to life when she’d squeezed them together.

“I’m going to sleep. You can get out now.” Waiting for the door to open and close, she dared not move, but then the bed sank down on one side, and she yelped, staring up at her ex-husband. “Wh-What are you doing?”

He pressed a hand down between her and Alex, who’d already fallen asleep, and hovered above her. The way he captured her gaze without a touch made it impossible for her to look away. “You do not dismiss me, Kiona. I will go when I’m ready, but don’t think I’m a fool. I can tell when a woman wants me.” His gaze slid over her form like a caress that left her panting.

Kiona dug her fingernails into her palms and raised her chin. “Yeah, I guess you
would
know, wouldn’t you. But don’t come looking my way. I’m sure you’re getting all you need from Anne Marie, and if not, well that’s not my problem.”

For a moment she thought he would respond, but instead, he got off the bed, straightened his jacket, and walked over to the door. In seconds he disappeared, leaving her lonelier than she ever remembered feeling during any holiday season.

Chapter Two

Sunlight blinded Kiona, and she moaned at the hum of her cell phone ringing and Alex bouncing up and down on the bed. Her head pounded, and her mouth felt dry. She cracked one eye open far enough to fumble for the phone. When it tumbled onto the floor, she decided she didn’t care.

“Mommie, Mommie, wake up. I’m hungry,” Alex sang.

“I guess your tummy’s not hurting anymore,” she mumbled to him. Silence reined before he went back to singing. Kiona groaned, and then the scent of coffee gave her the energy to sit up. A knock sounded at the door. She dragged the sheets around her. “Come in.”

The door opened, and to her surprise Ridge stood there. Instead of the suit, he wore a T-shirt and jeans, and the material stretched over his muscles to the point that she felt herself getting worked up again. She looked away. “I thought you would be at work.”

“I agreed to spend time with Alex, didn’t I?” He crossed the few feet to the bed, and she stiffened thinking he intended to come on to her. Instead, he held a mug out. “I remember you can’t function without at least one cup in the morning.”

Kiona glowered at him but took the offering. “Thanks.”

“Don’t cut your tongue on the gratitude.”

“Bite me.” She took a sip of the coffee, and the world began to right itself a little at a time. Ridge bent to pick her cell phone up from the floor. She crossed one leg over the other. “Don’t bother. I can’t imagine it’s anyone but the gallery owner, and I told him I would be unavailable until after the New Year.”

Ridge’s gray gaze rose to hers in surprise. “Gallery owner? Did you sell?”

Kiona couldn’t help straightening her back in pride. “I sold two pieces, for a hefty sum. I’m on my way.”

“I’m proud of you, baby.” He seemed to catch himself on the endearment, and she snatched the phone from him to move away toward the window.

Behind her, Alex shouted good morning to his daddy and apparently launched himself into the man’s arms from Alex’s declaration of good catch. She shook her head and checked the phone’s display. Four calls from her grandmother. She frowned wondering what was up. She wasn’t due back until late tonight. While she considered it, the phone rang again, and she answered.

“Nana, what’s up? You know my plane doesn’t get in until seven right?”

“Hello, my sweet potato. I’m glad to know you had a safe flight over there.”

Kiona raised an eyebrow. “Really, Nana? Sweet Potato?”

“Yes.” Her grandmother laughed. At eighty, she had the energy and alertness of mind of a person twenty years younger, but she amused herself with what came out of her mouth more than anyone else. Kiona loved her for it. “I called to tell you, you don’t have to come.”

“Whoa, what do you mean I don’t have to come?”

“Well your brother Andre is taking me to Hawaii, if you can believe it.” Her excitement bubbled through the phone.

Kiona switched the cell from one ear to the other and adjusted her sheet. She took a seat. “I know who my brother is, Nana, but we already said we were having dinner together. Why would he suddenly spring Hawaii on you? And why Christmas of all times. Who spends it in some hot place where you can’t even hope for a bit of snow to make the mood?”

She knew she sounded grumpy, but Nana and her brother, who she tolerated only around the holidays, were all she had other than her son. With Alex spending Christmas with his dad, where did that leave her? Alone? Kiona didn’t want to be alone. She wanted to laugh and open presents while eating too many cookies and drinking eggnog, even though the stuff was so strong a couple of swallows would do until next year.

“Oh don’t be so glum, baby,” her nana told her. “Cheer up. You can spend the holiday with Ridge. That would be nice, wouldn’t it?”

“No, it wouldn’t.” She began to think this was a setup, and she didn’t like it one bit.

“Oh, honey, they’re calling for our boarding now. I have to go.”

Kiona sat with her eyes wide. In the background, an official-sounding voice echoed. Her grandmother really was at the airport, and talk about fast. Did they cook the idea up the minute her plane left the ground? She ducked her head and took in a deep breath. “Okay, Nana, have a safe trip. Give me a call when you land. I love you.”

“I love you too, pumpkin spice. Talk to you soon.” The line went dead on her grandmother’s self-satisfied chuckle, and Kiona gritted her teeth.

“Everything okay with Nana?” Ridge asked. He had always liked her grandmother, and Nana treated the man like a god among men, which was good when they were together and irritating after they divorced.

She grumbled. “I’m sure you heard. She’s abandoning me.”

“Dramatic much?”

He irritated her too when he stole her lines, especially when no self-respecting white man should talk like that. Of course it
did
piss of Marian. She almost chuckled. “My brother’s taking her to Hawaii for…wait, I don’t know how long. Probably two weeks since she brushed me off for Christmas day.”

 “You could always stay here.”

“Here!”

He frowned. “You don’t have to sound so horrified, Kiona. My family are not ogres.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’ll get my hotel stay lengthened. No sense rushing home, and I can take just one flight back home.”

“I’m paying your airfare, and it makes me no difference if it’s one flight or two.” He walked to the closet to search through clothes hanging there. She hadn’t noticed them before. “While we have plenty of room here, I won’t argue with you about the hotel.”

“You can argue. You’d lose.”

“However,” he went on as if she didn’t say a word, “I hope you’ll agree to spend some time with me.”

“What?”

“For Alex. He’s not used to spending so long away from you, and I think that’s what upset his stomach last night.”

Although she felt like Ridge manipulated her, easily done with everyone else playing into his hands, he had a point. Ridge had always flown down to Baltimore for extended periods to spend with their son, and knowing Kiona wasn’t far gave her baby comfort. Because she had explained it to him and showed him on the map, she knew Alex understood that they were now on the opposite side of the country.

Still, spending time with Ridge was a bad idea. She didn’t want him to catch onto how she felt about him, even if it made no difference whatsoever.

“Okay, that’s fine.” She drained the rest of her coffee and stood up.

Ridge nodded, all business. “Good. We can start with today, if you don’t mind. I planned to take Alex to Poulsbo and explore the shops. He can see the stone statues and watch the boats. Then we can have lunch and think of something else or come back here afterward.”

Kiona saw no problem with the plan, except that she looked forward to it. As she showered after Ridge vacated the room, she told herself the excitement lay in exploring the island once again and not in the pig-headed man who thought the sun rose and set on him.

When she stepped back into the room, she noticed a child’s outfit on the bed. Alex sat at the top, legs draw up to his chest and mesmerized by some show she had turned on for him before going into the bathroom. She inspected the top and pants with a raised brow and then recalled Ridge going through others in the closet. She strolled over to it and sorted through the seemingly endless supply. No his mother did not go out and buy Alex clothes like she didn’t think Kiona had sense enough to dress him decently. Then Ridge went and chose one to lie across the bed as a hint.
Hell no.
She knew what it was about to. He didn’t want to upset his mother. Well she was going to be a lot more than upset if she thought she could dictate to Kiona how to dress her son. Ridge could pacify the woman on his own time and with his own clothes. Let him wear bowties, shorts, and suspenders for all she cared.

Kiona chose an outfit from the dresser among the things she’d packed for Alex. She got him cleaned up and into his clothes, and then they headed downstairs. Only now that she wasn’t tired did she notice the living room, professionally decorated with an all white tree, red bows, and assorted old-fashioned looking ornaments. A giant wreath hung above the fireplace, garland had been strung along the mantle, and lights and candles graced the windows. Someone had laid a white bear skin carpet in front of the fire and placed bowls of walnuts on the coffee and side tables, complete with nutcracker tools. The entire scene would have been heartwarming and put her in the mood if she didn’t know for a fact that Marian paid a service to come in and do everything.

When she and Alex entered the dining room, Kiona responded to greetings but watched as Marian appraised her baby from head to foot. She dared the woman to say a word, but her lips thinned into a straight line, and the heightening of her color told Kiona she wasn’t pleased. Sam nabbed Alex to place him in a chair with a booster seat, and Kiona took another on the opposite side of the table. She’d forgotten they enjoyed having meals together. That was a good thing, she guessed, but she intended to finish fast and excuse herself.

Conversation flowed around her, but Kiona remained quiet. She selected scrambled eggs, toast, and a single slice of bacon. Ridge frowned at her plate. “That’s all you’re having?”

“I’m trying to get a few more pounds off.”

Marian waved her hand. “Oh, forget that, dear. A woman is supposed to have a little meat on her body.” She eyed Kiona critically. “And let’s face it, after three years, all the extra isn’t coming off.”

She did not just call me fat.

Ridge opened his mouth to speak, but his brother beat him to it. “I think you’re sexy as hell, Kiona. Curves in all the right places and full…” His gaze dropped to her breasts. She’d been an idiot to wear a low cut blouse, another unnecessary weakness to make Ridge gnash his teeth.

“Shut up, Raymond,” Ridge growled.

“Thank you, Ray,” Kiona simpered, flattening a hand across her chest, “though I’m hardly a pig at a size twelve.”

Ray agreed.

Not soon enough, Kiona finished her meal, and after she made sure Alex’s hands were clean and he hadn’t stained his shirt, they piled into Ridge’s car to start their day together.

“I had a TV put in,” Ridge announced as he fumbled with some buttons. Kiona glanced over her shoulder in time to see the gadget lower. Another button powered it on, and Ridge handed headphones to Alex. “Hey, buddy, try these.”

Her son popped them onto his head, and before she knew it he watched his favorite shows on recording. She grinned seeing his excitement as Ridge pulled out of the drive. She slipped her shoes off her feet and drew them to the seat.

Ridge glanced at her. “You always did that as soon as you got into the car.”

She shrugged. “My way of dealing with the fact that I don’t like being cooped up. Although, the Benz is nice enough.”

He smirked. “Thanks.”

She sighed and turned to look out the window. They were good when they didn’t argue.

“Alex would enjoy the ferry over to Seattle later,” he suggested. “And you would like Pike Place Market. They actually have a glass blowing demonstration not far from there.”