Winning Wyatt (The Billionaire Brotherhood Book 1) (24 page)

He
pressed his hips against her. “This isn’t why I asked you over.”

“Don’t
lie.” She flicked one of his nipples.

“This
isn’t the only reason I asked you over.”

“But
now you’ve got a big problem, don’t you? One of us is going to have to move.”

“That
can be me. All you have to do is hang on.” Holding her firmly in place, Wyatt
sat up, guided Kara’s legs around his hips, and then stood. “I think I
suggested going upstairs earlier.”

“Really?
You should have suggested it louder.”

“Increasing
the volume wouldn’t have helped. Nothing short of force would have gotten you
up the stairs.”

“Like
now?” She raised her head from his shoulder. His ear looked particularly
delectable, and she nibbled it.

“Not
at all. There’s absolutely no question of force.”

Her
breasts rubbed against his bare chest as he ascended the steps. The up and down
motion also created an interesting sensation, encouraging Kara to initiate some
movement of her own. “I’m putty in your hands.”

“Good.”
He laid her lengthwise across his bed. “Because there are several places I
haven’t had my hands on yet today. Or my mouth.”

Much
later, Wyatt left her where she’d ended up—in a tangle of sheets at the foot of
his bed—and went to fetch the stuff they’d left in the foyer. Aware this was
her first visit to the master suite, Kara stretched her arms and looked around.
The enormous bedroom was almost Spartan in its decor.

A
bed, dresser, nightstand, and bookcase were grouped at one end of the room near
the bath. Instead of Wyatt’s usual assortment of textbooks and literature and
fine art, the bookcase was filled with books on childcare, child development,
and child psychology.

Only
two spots of color drew attention in entire the room. One was a cork-board with
photos of her and Sean along with their son’s artistic creations pinned to it.
But the focal point belonged to the Helen Thayer painting hanging above the
bed.

“I
didn’t know you had this with you.” She nodded to the painting when he
returned. “Did you bring the rest of your collection from California?”

“No.”
He nudged a corner of the frame, although it looked perfectly straight to Kara.
“After I moved here, I had Nina send this piece to me.”

Kara
thought of all of the magnificent art he owned and glowed at his admission that
he treasured her gift to him. “I didn’t know it meant that much to you.”

“My
most prized possession.” His light tone didn’t disguise the sincerity in his
voice. He studied the painting and seemed to address the canvas rather than
Kara. “I was touched to see you have yours in your bedroom, too.”

Having
his attention focused elsewhere made it easier for her to admit, “My most
prized possession.”

He
dropped down beside her on the bed and took her hand. “It wasn’t until I
brought you home from the dentist that day that I saw your bedroom, and—” he
made a gesture with his hands that indicated voila! “—there it was.”

A
cloud of silence hung between them. Kara’s heart urged her to make confessions
her mouth refused to speak. She remained silent, letting him assume what he
would about the painting’s significance.

“When
I came to see you in New York, and you broke it off with me, I put this one in
storage for a while. It reminded me too much of you. But being at the cabin
reminded me of you, too. And walking on the beach. And going to The Hansett.
And driving my car. When I realized I couldn’t stop thinking of you no matter
where I was, I resigned myself to the fact that I wanted you in my life, that I
would make whatever effort necessary to get you back.”

Kara’s
heart almost stopped beating, fearing he was perilously close to making a
declaration she was incapable of dealing with. She hurried to forestall him.
“You said whenever I wanted it to be over, it would be.”

“I
tried to respect your wishes. That’s why I stayed away so long. Before you, it
had been an easy rule to keep. I had always been the one to want to stop seeing
the other person.”

“Maybe
that’s the problem.” Even sitting on the bed, she started to feel like he was
backing her into a corner. She looked around for any available escape. “You’re unused
to rejection.”

He
gave her an incredulous look. “I know I tend to want to have my own way, but I
wouldn’t have gone to such great lengths to work myself back into your life if
there wasn’t more to it than that.”

Wouldn’t
he? She wanted to believe him. But time and again, she’d seen the way he
operated. He always appeared to go along with everyone else’s preferences,
never seeming to object to their plans or wishes. But in the end, he always
managed to get his way. “I thought you’d wormed your way back into my life
because of Sean.”

“When
I came to New York last fall, it was because I wanted to come face to face with
you and see if what I felt for you was real or a fiction invented out of unfulfilled
desires. With the revelations about Sean and the adjustments we’ve needed to
make since then, my feelings have been subjected to repeated re-evaluations,
but they haven’t changed. Except to intensify.”

His
words touched her deeply, but terrified her even more. She could only deal with
their relationship, motherhood—even life, if it came to that—in small
increments and separate chambers. Kara pulled her hand from his and jumped up.
Dragging the top sheet with her and wrapping herself in it, she retreated as
far from him as possible, hoping distance would allow her to think clearly. She
had to stop him before he admitted anything scarier. “I can’t believe out of
all the women there are to choose from, all the women you know, all the women
you’ve had, I can’t believe I’m the one you think you can’t live without. If
that’s what you’re saying.”

“Believe
me, Kara, I can’t believe it either.” His shoulders lifted in a
self-deprecating shrug. “And God knows, after you left, I tried to convince
myself it was the sex that I missed. I’m way past enjoying one-night stands.
But I met a woman who was smart, funny, and attractive, but when I was with
her, all I could think about was you. We didn’t have the ‘when it’s over’ talk
because we didn’t make it to bed. When she left, she told me she was sorry she
wasn’t the one I wanted. I was sorry, too.”

He
gave a disgusted shake of his head. “That’s when I decided to do whatever I had
to do to get you back. I even knew your conditions. You wanted a child. By that
time, I decided I wanted one, too.”

Kara
halted her pacing between his dresser and closet and whirled to face him.
“That’s not true.”

He
crossed his heart and raised his right hand. “Haven’t you wondered why I wasn’t
dismayed to discover I had a child?”

“I
was surprised about that.” She crossed her arms in front of her. “But I thought
it was a throwback response to some ingrained Wyatt-Maitland tradition of
family and responsibility.”

Rising
from the bed, he moved toward her. “I wanted you, I wanted the child, and I
wanted a family. I wanted the whole package. I still do, Kara. Do you want
that, too?”

She
covered her face with her hands, unsure whether she was trying to hide her
feelings from herself or from Wyatt. She wanted him. She knew that. She loved
him. She was almost certain. But could she trust him not to leave her, not to
hurt her, and not to break her heart? “I don’t know.”

Gentle
fingers circled her wrists and removed her hands from her face. His thumbs
rubbed her cheeks where her tears left a trail. “Don’t fret, love. It’s taken
me almost four years to get to this point. You don’t have to accept it all in
four minutes.”

Kara
attempted a smile. He cradled her head against his broad chest. He was giving
her time, but he wouldn’t wait indefinitely. She’d have to come to a decision
at some point. But for now, she accepted the comfort of his arms with gratitude
and closed her eyes against the rush of conflicting emotions.

“I’m
not sure what you’re suggesting, but it sounds similar to what I had before.”
Her voice came out weak and muffled. “And that started out like heaven and
ended up like hell. I don’t know if I can go through that again. Even for you.”

His
fingers eased their way beneath the hair at the nape of her neck, moving in a
circular pattern that eased and soothed her tension better than a sedative.
Pleasure danced down her spine.

“Is
trusting me within the realm of possibility?”

With
his fingers working their magic, she could almost conjure up the image of
trusting him with Sean. Trusting him to stay with them. Trusting him enough to
love him and let him love them in return. “Maybe.”

Hooking
his thumbs beneath her chin, he lifted her face. “Sean and I have gotten to
know one another, and you and I are getting along better. Why don’t we try some
family outings?”

His
words acted like a whip, cracking the tension back into her neck with a snap.
She remembered the conversation she’d overheard earlier. “Like Atlanta?”

“Eventually,
yes. That would be the ultimate family field trip. First, let’s try someplace
closer to home.”

Kara
stopped to worry her bottom lip between her teeth. “What do you have in mind?”

“What’s
something Sean might enjoy?” He seemed to pull an idea out of the air. “The
circus? One of my earliest memories is of Jonah and Izzy taking Allie and me to
the circus with their own children. We had a great time. I bet Sean would love
it.”

“You
want to take him to the circus?” He rarely went any farther than the back yard.
He went all the places he needed to go, like to the doctor and the dentist. But
she didn’t have family in the area, and his babysitters came to him. What other
engagements did a two-year-old have on his calendar? Who knew what could happen
to him away from the safe environment she’d created for him?

“I
could see about bringing the circus to Sean.” His eyes twinkled, but she
wondered if he was joking or not. If he wanted a circus, she had no doubt one
would appear. “But I’ll bet elephants are murder on the lawn.”

She
didn’t want to be teased into agreeing to something she opposed so strongly.
“He could get hurt.”

“At
the circus?” Wyatt didn’t roll his eyes, but she imagined he wanted to. “How?”

“It
would be hot and dirty and crowded. I don’t want him around people who might
have who knows what kind of illnesses. The big top could fall down. A lion
could go berserk. Anything could happen.” Spoken aloud, her fears sounded
ridiculous even to Kara. She expected Wyatt to laugh, but he didn’t.

“Anything
could happen to him at home, too, but it doesn’t, because you take the best
care of him humanly possible. But you can’t keep him in a protective cocoon
forever. Not letting him leave your house is as detrimental in its own way as
any of those other things you mentioned. Children go to circuses every day
without suffering any ailment worse than a tummy ache from too much cotton
candy.”

“A
tummy ache?” Her own stomach clenched at the thought of her child suffering
unnecessarily. “Oh no, we can’t have that.” Kara’s hands fluttered nervously
like a trapped hummingbird.

Wyatt
caught them in his. “Maybe the circus is too aggressive for our first trip. How
about something simpler like a walk in the park, story hour at the library, or
a Disney movie? I don’t care where we go, Kara, just so the three of us go
there together. As a family.”

“I’ll
think about it.” The knowledge that a more traditional relationship was
important to him was encouraging. The fact that he didn’t dismiss her concerns
out of hand pleased her, too. “Ask me again tomorrow, and maybe I’ll surprise
you.”

“You
usually do.” He hugged her to him like he never intended to let her go.

She
wanted to hug him like she believed him, but the memory of trusting another man
she loved with a child just wouldn’t let her surrender her doubts.

After
successful forays with Sean to the park, the library, and finally the circus,
Wyatt persuaded Kara to agree to the Atlanta trip. Before they left, Wyatt
checked and rechecked every possible detail. By the day of departure, he was as
prepared to take a trip with a two-year-old as any human being could be.

The
ringing cell phone halted him with his suitcase in one hand and the doorknob in
the other. A last-minute call couldn’t be good. A quick glance revealed a
number he recognized all too well.

With
phone to ear, he said, “I’m on my way, Kara.”

A
high-pitched wail answered him. “We can’t go.”

Fearing
the worst, he headed for the car. “Has something happened to Sean?”

“N-not
Sean,” she said in a tight voice that told him she was close to tears. “My mother.”

“What
about her?”

“My
brother just called. Mother’s had a stroke. They need me to come home right
away.”

“I’ll
be right there,” Wyatt said, already pulling out of the driveway.

This
wasn’t like a pretend cruise. She wouldn’t fake something this serious just to
avoid the trip. His heart went out to her as he sped toward her house, all the
while considering the best way to assist her. He could have his assistant
contact the best specialist in Indianapolis, if nothing else.

She
flung open the front door when he arrived. Anxiety pulled her features into a
tight mask, and her hands fidgeted. “Oh, God.” She threw herself into his arms.
“I don’t want to lose anyone else.”

Wyatt
hugged her close. “What’s the prognosis?”

“Too
soon to know, but they said I should get there as soon as possible, just in
case.” Her voice quivered, but in a second she had it under control again. “I
called the airline. I can get a plane to Indianapolis at two.”

“No
need to wait.” He led her to the family room where Sean watched Toy Story. “The
jet’s all fueled up and ready to go. We can change the flight plan and take you
home as soon as you want.”

“I’m
packed and ready.” A pair of suitcases sitting by the door confirmed the
statement. “But I can’t leave until one of the Tag Team gets here. I didn’t
have anyone scheduled for today, of course. The girls have a class this
morning, and Marco’s not home. I left word for one of them to come as soon as
possible.”

During
Kara’s disjointed speech, Wyatt leaned over and ruffled Sean’s hair. The child
clamored to be picked up. Wyatt swung him into his arms. “Why do you need the
Tag Team?”

“To
stay with Sean.” Kara looked at him like he’d missed the obvious. “I can’t take
him with me. My dad and brother will be staying with Mom. My sister and her
husband are on vacation in Australia, and we don’t know how soon they’ll make
it back. And my sister-in-law is expecting her baby any day now, so I can’t
leave Sean with her. And I can’t expose him to so many germs at the hospital.”

She
settled on the couch for a moment then leaped to her feet. She fluffed a pillow
then straightened a picture. Nervous energy spurred her around the room.

“Kara...”
Wyatt chose his words carefully. At her next spin in his direction, he pulled
her to a stop. “Kara, Sean’s going with me.”

“With
you? But you’re going to Atlanta.”

“That’s
right,” he said evenly.

Her
response was automatic. “No. Oh, no.”

“Yes,”
he said, dismayed to see what little color had been in her face drain away. He hoped
she had come to trust him more than this. Wyatt returned Sean to his seat in
front of the movie and pulled Kara aside. “Do you have a problem with that?”

She
obviously had several problems with it. He could almost see each of them
flicker across her face. But in the end she only said, “You’ve never taken him
anywhere by yourself. He's used to staying here with the Tagliattis.”

He
put his hands on her shoulders while pleading his case. “I’m offended that you
prefer for Sean to stay with a babysitter rather than with me.” He would never
take their son against her wishes, but he greatly wanted her to agree. “If you
think it’s absolutely necessary, and one of them is available, I’m willing to
take one of the Tagliattis with me. We’ve come a long way in the past few
weeks, and now I’m asking you to trust me again. Will you?”

When
Wyatt turned the full force of his attention on her, Kara could hardly think
straight at the best of times. But today, while anxiety for her mother pulled
at her, there was no way she could resist him. Everything he said rang true. No
reason beyond her compulsive obsessiveness called for keeping Sean at home.

Wyatt
had every right to take him. He loved him and knew him well enough to know when
he needed to go potty, when he wanted his blanky, and when he was tired and
needed a nap. He was as familiar with as many of Sean’s idiosyncrasies as any
of the Tag Team, and almost, with as many as Kara.

With
worry gnawing at her to get to Indianapolis as quickly as possible, she
imagined leaving Sean. Would she be more comfortable thinking of him with Wyatt
or with Angela? The decision was almost a toss-up. If Wyatt would stay with him
at home, no question, Kara would agree to leave her child with his father in a
second. But he wanted to take him to Atlanta.

A
long way from home.

A
long way from her.

A
long way from safety.

A
refusal hovered on the tip of her tongue. Before she could speak, Sean got up
and claimed Wyatt’s attention.

“Watch,
Daddy. To infinity and beyond!” He pointed his arm in the air and jumped,
promptly falling on face. Kara propelled herself toward him to check for any
possible damage and dry any tears, but Wyatt got there first and knelt beside
him.

“Good
try, Buzz.” Putting his hand on the boy’s tummy, he gave him a gentle tickle.
“Try it again.”

Sean
giggled himself into a ball before launching himself into his father’s arms for
a spirited attack. “No, I tickle Daddy.”

Kara
wanted to check Sean for bumps and bruises, but watching the two of them
laughing and playing gave her pause. She might know Sean better than Wyatt did,
but sometimes, his instincts were right on the money. He reacted in a natural,
spontaneous way, while her reactions were based on fear and
over-protectiveness.

“I
promised the Tag Team the week off. Let’s let them have their break.” Making
the decision, she went to the closet and got out Sean’s jacket. “If you two are
about finished, I’d like to go see my mother. And it would probably be best for
you two to get to Atlanta before Sean’s bedtime.”

During
the flight, Kara tried to take her mind off her worries by making a copious
list of instructions concerning the care and tending of Sean. While he and
Wyatt tossed cards into a hat, raced Hot Wheels on a portable track, and played
guessing games, she occasionally looked up and quizzed Wyatt. “What kind of
juice does he like?”

“Apple
and grape, but not orange.” Wyatt answered every question correctly, but Kara
would add the information to her list anyway.

By
the time they landed in Indianapolis and taxied into the terminal, she was
almost frantic at the thought of letting them go on without her. Issuing more
unnecessary advice was the only way she could control her fear. “If he misses
his nap, he’ll be cranky.”

“I
know.” Wyatt’s patience with her obsessiveness made her love him even more.

“Be
sure and keep him away from the pool. That water’s going to draw him like a magnet,
and he’s not used to being around one.”

“I
will.” The plane slowed to a halt and Wyatt unbuckled his and Sean’s seatbelts.

On
the verge of coming unglued, Kara blurted, “Did I tell you he’s allergic to
beets? They make him break out in hives.”

“I’m
pretty sure beets won’t be on the menu, but I’ll tell Izzy, just in case.” He
helped her into her coat. “You can stop worrying, he’ll be fine.”

“I
know. I know he will.” She shrugged helplessly. “It’s just—” Lifting Sean into
her arms, she hugged him tightly. “I’ll miss him so much.” Their eyes met over
the child’s head.“I’ll miss you both.”

“You
won’t miss us for a while yet.” Wyatt took her elbow and led her to the exit.
“We’ll go with you to the hospital to see how your Mother is doing.”

“But
the plane—”

“—will
wait for us until we’re ready to leave.”

“Must
be nice,” she muttered to hide how comforting she found his concern. Just like
him to go out of his way to prevent her from facing the coming ordeal alone.

She
switched on her phone and checked the texts for information from her brother.

“Any
change?”

Her
shoulders slumped. “No change.”

“There’s
a car waiting for us. Let’s go see how she is for ourselves. Sean and I can
even stay here if you prefer.”

“But
your mother’s expecting you,” Kara objected, although she was touched by the
offer and tempted to accept.

“We
can leave tomorrow or the next day and still be there in time for her birthday
party.”

She
pictured interminable hours spent in hospital waiting rooms, family members
taking turns outside the intensive care unit, no sleep, no food, and lots of
worry. She’d be grateful for Wyatt’s company, but hated to think of Sean
keeping such an erratic, unhealthy schedule.

“Thanks,
but I don’t want Sean to wait around at the hospital, and if you have to
entertain him by yourself, you’d probably be more comfortable in Atlanta than
at my parents’.”

He
handed Sean to Kara, then picked up her luggage. “Let’s go see how your mom’s
doing,” he said with an encouraging smile, “and then we can decide.”

At
the hospital, they were greeted with the news that Kara’s mother’s condition
hadn’t changed. Wyatt met Kara’s father and brother for the first time. They looked
at him with suspicion, and he figured he was more of an outsider and a
distraction than a help. After a brief discussion with them about notifying him
if they needed assistance of any kind, he returned to the airport with Sean.

Their
arrival in Atlanta caused a furor. At first the child stuck close to Wyatt, but
in the glow of so much attention, he soon learned to exploit his status as
little prince. Wyatt worried his son would be spoiled beyond recognition before
he could return him to Kara. Otherwise, things proceeded smoothly.