The Millionaire Affair(41)

His lips tipped into a smile. "I was going to surprise you. It's going  to be visible from the highway, but I can change the design for a fee.  If we get the new location and info to them by-"

"This is my business, Landon." And evidently she needed to remind both of them of that fact. "My store. My life."

His mouth twitched. "I know that."

"Do you? Because this is the first I've heard about moving my residence  and store, advertising, and letting my employees go. How many decisions  were you planning to make without talking to me first?"

He sighed again, and for some reason the sound made her angry. "Kimber,  I'm not allowing you to live in a questionable neighborhood, at the top  of a very tall flight of stairs."

" ‘Allowing' me to?"

He ignored her. "How are you going to carry heavy groceries into your  house? What about when you go into labor? Are you going to walk down  forty steps and drive your rusted old car to the hospital by yourself?"  His jaw clicked and then he added, "Or are you planning on having Mick  help you with all of that?"

Her mouth dropped open. Mick? This was about Mick? Wonderful. Jealous  and overbearing. "Mick has nothing to do with any of this. And-and I  like my car. I like my apartment. I like my store where it is."

Stunned, she couldn't think of anything more to say. Just because she  was pregnant didn't give him the right to take over. He wanted her  living in his house, running Hobo Chic the way he wanted, with the  employees he wanted. "How can you even be sure a vintage store would do  well in this affluent of a neighborhood?" So not her biggest concern,  but she was desperate to find solid ground for this argument.

He shrugged. "If not, we, I mean you," he amended, "can change what  you're selling. Purses or jewelry or something." He waved a hand like  the subject was closed.

Like her life, her passion, was a trivial thing that could be altered on a whim. "Jewelry or something?"

He gave her a small smile. "Whatever you want."

She threw back the blankets and climbed out of bed. Geez. She was  starving. She braced a hand on the nightstand when her head swam. Landon  reached for her and she stayed him with an outstretched palm. "I'm  fine."

He probably wanted to fix her. He liked to fix things. Clearly. Since he'd tried to fix her entire life around his.

"I can't believe you did all this without talking to me," she said, lowering her arm.

"I didn't do anything." His tone ratcheted up to peeved.

"You did plenty." She slipped her dress over her head, a simple sheath  that coasted down to her toes, and shuffled into her sandals. "This is  my life. My call." She unplugged her cell phone from the charger and  shoved it into her purse.

"That may be true, but the life you have growing inside of you," he said, "is ours."

Indignant, she spun on him. Had their child become a bargaining chip already? "You did not just say that."

Rather than answer …  or apologize …  he pushed out of bed and stalked naked  to the bathroom. "I'm going to get a shower." He shut the door behind  him.         

     



 

Well. She could walk out, too. Leave. For good, she told herself.

Or until Landon quit acting like a horse's ass.





CHAPTER SIXTEEN


Landon drummed his fingers against a yellow pad on his desk as he stared  down his office phone. Kimber had vanished by the time he'd climbed out  of the shower. But he'd purposely stayed in the bathroom long enough to  give her the opportunity to leave.

What he didn't get was why his suggestions had upset her so much. What  expecting woman wouldn't want the father of her child thinking of her  well-being first and foremost? What woman didn't want to be taken care  of?

She had a monkey on her back, two if he counted Mick, he thought with a  juvenile curl of his lip. Landon's offer to move her and her business to  a nicer part of town, buy out her moronic ex, and further financially  support her would reduce her worries by half. Probably more. Couldn't  she see that?

Frustrated, he had the irrational desire to talk to someone.

Not about Kimber and the stupid fight they'd had. Arguments happened. He  understood that. He planned on tracking her down after work. After she  calmed down …  after he calmed down. But he wanted to talk to someone  about the whole situation first. Just to run it by another set of ears  and make sure he wasn't overlooking some major component.

Outside his office windows, his employees gathered in front of the  boardroom across the hall. He wasn't close with anyone at work, but if  he was, he couldn't imagine pulling someone into his office and spilling  his guts. Keeping them at arm's length had been a strategy when he  started his business. In case he had to let someone go, demote or choose  someone for a promotion. He couldn't afford to play favorites. It  benefited his business to remain impartial. The unfortunate side effect  of that rationale was that he'd created an island and marooned himself  on it.

Steepling his hands, he debated calling Evan. But Landon wasn't sure if  Kimber had told Gloria about the pregnancy yet. If he told his brother  and Evan told Gloria …  well, Landon didn't need another reason for Kimber  to be pissed at him. Breaking the news to her best friend would do just  that. There was always his sister, Angel, but again, her connection  with Kimber was reason enough not to call her. His cousin Shane was an  automatic out. August sucked at this relationship stuff-or used to,  anyway, before he'd gotten married. And there was the probability August  would want to talk business and Landon didn't want to get sidetracked.

That left Aiden.

Landon's blissfully happy, walking-on-sunshine, recently married younger brother picked up on the third ring. "Yeah."

"It's Landon."

"I know."

"You have a minute?"

"I have many minutes. Sadie's shoe shopping and I'm holding up a pillar in the center of Osborn Mall."

"You're not at work?"

"You do know it's rounding eight o'clock, right?"

Was it? No wonder his stomach was rumbling. "Forgot."

"You are a machine."

The Tin Man, to be precise, he thought wryly.

"Evan said you hit it off with Angel's friend, Kimber," Aiden said. "That you guys were dating or something."

Or something. "Did he?" Landon said flatly. So much for being incognito.

"Yes," Aiden said, dragging the word out and sounding bemused. "Is that why you called me?"

"What are you talking about?"

"To get relationship advice. Not like you can call Evan or Angel since  they're only one degree removed from your new girlfriend. And Shane  isn't much of a talker when it comes to feelings."

Mind reader. "She's not my girlfriend."

"Now we're getting somewhere." Landon could hear the smile in Aiden's voice. "What is she?"

Just tell him. "She's …  going to be. It's probably too soon to make plans but, ah …  Kimber is … "

"Is … ?" Aiden prompted. "Come on, man. What is she?"

"She's pregnant." He blew the words out on a dizzying breath. "And I am not sure what to do next," he admitted with a wince.

A string of swear words floated through the phone …  followed by a  predictable whoop of laughter. "Congratulations, man! That's …  that's  effing awesome is what it is! I get another niece or nephew? Sweet! Man,  I hate that you beat Sadie and me out of the gate, but I am so happy  for you guys!"

Landon found himself smiling at his keyboard, trying on Aiden's reaction  for size. It was pretty exciting. He had a lot of reasons to be happy  when he thought about it. A baby was something to celebrate. A baby with  a woman he liked a whole heck of a lot. A woman his family knew and  approved of.         

     



 

"Thanks, man," Landon said, adding, "We're really excited."

He didn't know if "excited" was the right word to describe Kimber, but  they'd both been in a state of shock since they found out. They'd still  been trying to figure out how to deal with the whole thing this morning.  How to deal with one another.

It took him a moment to digest that last thought. He and Kimber were in a  relationship. A real one. One where they wouldn't see eye to eye on  everything. A period of adjustment and some arguing could be expected.  What they had was disturbingly …  normal.

After fervently avoiding this kind of connection with another person for  over a decade and a half, Landon had stumbled into a girlfriend …  a  family …  by mistake.

"So, what do you need to know?" Aiden asked. "If we'll babysit? Because  we totally will. I don't know how the commute will work, but if you two  ever need a weekend alone, we're all over the kid. Man! A baby! Do you  want a daughter or a son?"