All the Pretty Poses (Pretty #2)(28)
Author: M. Leighton

Karesh nods. “Yes, sir. Duly noted.”

I make my way back to Kennedy, still fuming that she’s in a different room. I stop by the crew kitchen to take a bottled water from the refrigerator. When I walk back into her cabin, it’s empty.

I go back out into the hall, my testy temper flaring again as I contemplate where she might’ve gone. Even sick she’s trying to get away from me!

But then I hear the door to one of the hall bathrooms open. I turn around just as Kennedy staggers out, nearly losing her balance as the ship dips. She leans up against the wall and closes her eyes, her face turning a pale shade of green.

“What the hell are you doing up?”

“I thought I was going to be sick again, but there’s nothing left in my stomach. Just dry heaves.”

I stuff the bottle of water in one jacket pocket and the pills in the other before I bend and sweep Kennedy up into my arms. I turn back toward her room, but I pause there, imagining her getting up and possibly falling on her way to the bathroom again. For that reason alone, I bypass it.

“Where are you going? That was my room?”

“Not tonight, it isn’t.”

“Reese, put me down. I can walk. And I can stay in my room.”

“I’m sure you can,” I say, tightening my grip on her.

“Reese, I’m serious. I don’t need special treatment. I don’t want it. I know why you’re doing this and it won’t work. I’m not going to sleep with you.”

I stop in my tracks and look down into the now-dull pools of Kennedy’s green eyes. “I’m not doing this so you’ll sleep with me. But I’m not going to leave you down here when you’re sick. Can’t you just let me take care of you?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m your employee. You wouldn’t do this for the others, so I don’t want you doing it for me.”

I want to squeeze her and shake her and kiss her all at once. “You’re more than just an employee to me, Kennedy. You’re just going to have to get used to that.”

“I’m sure Amber was at some point, too, wasn’t she?”

The ship lurches again. Out of habit, I brace my legs to steady myself. Kennedy turns her face into my chest and makes a gurgling sound. I hate seeing her this way. And I hate that she doesn’t want me to take care of her. But I hate it even more that she thinks she means the same thing to me that Amber does. Or ever did.

I pull her in closer and carry her in silence to other end of the yacht. I know she would never agree to stay in my room for the night, so I stop just short of my door, at the empty stateroom beside mine. Karesh knows that when I’m onboard, that room is to stay empty. I don’t like having anyone sleeping beside me. Not even the women I’m having sex with.

But tonight I can make an exception. For Kennedy. Because I want her close. For her comfort and mine. I want to be able to keep an eye on her.

I open the door and carry her to the bed, laying her gently on the cream colored duvet. Immediately, she turns onto her side, curling into the fetal position.

“Here,” I say, taking the water and pills from my pockets. “These should help.”

I unscrew the cap on the water and punch one pill through the silver packet before handing them both to her. She takes them, pops the pill in her mouth and chases it with a gulp of water. She shivers and hands me the bottle. “Thank you.”

“You should be feeling better soon.”

I set the water on the bedside table. Neither of us says anything for a few minutes.

“You don’t have to stay, Reese. I’ll be fine.”

“I won’t leave until I know you’re okay.”

“I’m already okay. I’m just a little seasick.”

“Regardless, I’m staying.”

I hear her sigh, but she doesn’t argue. I walk to the chair that occupies one corner and I sit down, watching Kennedy’s face slowly relax as her breathing deepens. I feel helpless, but I know I’ve done the only thing that can be done for motion sickness. She’s right. I really could probably leave and she’d be fine. The problem is that I don’t want to. And for me, that really is a problem.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR – Kennedy

I feel drugged when I crack my eyelids to look around. Something is shaking my shoulder. Gently.

It’s Reese, speaking to me, urging me to take another pill with a sip of water. Dizzily, I comply and then lay my head back down. Sleep comes quickly.

Some unknown amount of time later, I stir again, groggy and confused. I see Reese watching me from the chair. A million things go through my head and through my heart, but I don’t want to think about any of them. I don’t have the energy.

Comforted that I’m being cared for, that Reese is close and not upstairs or down the hall with Amber, I relax and go right back to sleep.

********

I’m awake again. I don’t know how much time has passed. My head feels heavy and my vision is fuzzy, but at least the room seems a bit more stable. That or my stomach has learned not to care.

I know exactly where I am. And that the chair Reese was sitting in when I drifted off the last time is now empty. I’m both relieved and disappointed, if that’s even possible. He said he’d stay. I’m relieved that he didn’t because it’s totally humiliating to have anyone see me this way, much less someone I’m trying to remind that I’m stronger than he might recall. But at the same time, I’m disappointed. His quick retreat simply tells me that Reese is every bit the liar that I’ve always known him to be, and that he doesn’t even care enough about me to tell me the truth when I’m sick, much less when I’m well.

I reach for the bottle of water, taking a big swig to rinse my mouth before swallowing. Then gingerly, taking great care to move slowly in case that horrific nausea hasn’t completely abated, I roll onto my back. I can’t help but notice how much more plush and comfortable this mattress is when compared to the ones in the crew cabins. And how much warmer.

In the blink of an eye, I realize that the toasty temperature doesn’t arise from beneath me, but from beside me. I turn my head just enough to see that Reese is lying to my right, his breath tickling my cheek and his body heat radiating toward me like a furnace. As much as I try to steel myself against the pleasure of finding him here, it’s useless. My heart melts a little anyway.

He stayed.

Just like he said he would.

His eyes are closed and his breathing is deep and even. Normally those aqua orbs feel like my undoing. I can’t risk looking at him for very long. But now, with Reese relaxed in sleep, I can study him as much as I want.