I slipped on a pair of flat sandals and rolled my suitcase down the hall. Kade was waiting for me.
“Did you get enough to eat?” he asked. “You didn’t finish your eggs.”
My cheeks burned. I didn’t want to discuss food with him, not when I’d been so embarrassed by the things Branna had said. I didn’t think I was the kind of woman who obsessed over my weight, but what would Kade think in three months when I would be six months pregnant? Would he be disgusted, think I was fat? I refused to consider the possibility that he wouldn’t be around in three months.
I avoided Kade’s eyes, fussing with my suitcase instead. “Yeah, I’m fine. Ready to go.”
He took the suitcase from me, moving in to stand close.
“Hey,” he said, making me look up at him. “I’m sorry about Branna. She’s always been . . .” He hesitated.
“A bitch?” I offered, making him smile slightly.
“Possessive,” he countered.
I stiffened. “I didn’t realize you and she were . . . involved.” My heart sank. I’d been hoping Kade hadn’t had that kind of relationship with Branna.
“It was a long time ago and very short-lived,” Kade explained. “We’re friends now, colleagues, nothing more.”
“Does she know that?” I said bitterly.
Kade regarded me seriously. “I told her then that she and I weren’t going to happen again, but I don’t know if she ever really believed me.”
“She’s in love with you,” I said, my voice flat. Kade winced. “If you aren’t in love with her, too, then you’re being cruel not to tell her.” And I could’ve been speaking for myself as well as Branna.
Kade’s eyes searched mine, then he gave a curt nod.
“Let’s go,” he said, and I followed him out the door, locking the house up tight behind me.
Branna and Blane were standing outside, talking, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Kade put my suitcase in the trunk of his Mercedes. I really, really hoped we were taking two cars, because if I had to be in the same car with Branna for nine hours, I just might kill her. To my relief, both Blane and Kade had their keys out.
I stepped up to Kade’s passenger door at the same time Branna did.
“Excuse me, but I believe you have the wrong car,” Branna said, her eyes challenging me.
There was one thing I absolutely would not do, and that was lower myself to fighting over a man. I hated Branna for how she treated me, and yes, I was jealous, too. But I would not stand there and bicker over who got to ride with Kade like we were two sixteen-year-old twits.
“Fine,” I said with a thin-lipped smile. I turned away.
“Kathleen rides with me,” Kade said, stopping me in my tracks. “Branna, you ride with Blane.”
Branna’s fair skin turned pink, but she didn’t say anything, brushing by me to get in the front seat of Blane’s Jaguar. Kade got into his car and I slid into the front seat as well.
The miles flew by and Kade turned on satellite radio. I was really regretting the jeans choice. It felt like I was being cut in two and my stomach was aching. Clearly, vanity had gotten in the way of my common sense.
Being locked in a car with Kade for nine-plus hours, though, was a prime opportunity that I couldn’t pass up. After debating several different openings, I at last picked one and cleared my throat.
“So . . .” I said brightly, glancing over at him. His sunglasses concealed his eyes from me. “I was thinking I really like the name Miranda. Or maybe Luke, if it’s a boy. What do you think?” Nothing like jumping right off that conversational cliff.
Kade’s hands tightly gripped the wheel, but he didn’t say anything. I tried again.
“Or maybe, if it’s a girl, we could name her after your mother,” I said. “What was her name?”
This time I waited, letting the silence between us get thick and uncomfortable. Eventually, Kade answered.
“Shouldn’t you be naming it after a famous Turner?” he asked briskly.
My stomach dropped. He meant that I’d have no choice but to use my last name, because he wouldn’t be offering his. I should look on the bright side—at least it seemed he’d acknowledged that I wasn’t going back to Blane. While that should have been consoling, it wasn’t, and I turned to stare sightlessly out the window.
Nausea began curdling inside my stomach about an hour later, and I leaned my forehead against the cool glass of the window. If I took deep breaths and focused, maybe I wouldn’t get sick. Between not eating enough earlier when I was hungry and the tension between Kade and me, plus the jeans from hell, I wasn’t doing so great.
A few bumps in the road later, and I knew I wasn’t going to make it much longer.
“Can we stop somewhere for a minute?” I asked, my voice weak. I didn’t turn my head, too focused on not puking to look at Kade.
“Yeah, sure.”
To my relief, we were near an exit and minutes later he was pulling into a gas station. I barely waited for the car to stop before I was out and hurrying inside. And not a moment too soon. I’d barely locked the bathroom door before I was heaving.
When it was over, I washed out my mouth and splashed some water on my face. I thought the nausea had gotten better, but my body didn’t seem to like my empty stomach or riding in a car. Even a Mercedes. The thought of food made me want to retch again, so I didn’t buy anything to eat before heading back outside.
Kade was leaning against his Mercedes, waiting for me. When I emerged, he pushed himself away from the car and approached me.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
I nodded, giving him a wan smile. “Fine.” So much for trying to look sexy. Knowing I’d just thrown up in a gas station bathroom was enough to put any man off.
It seemed everything I tried to say or do to bring Kade closer to me was backfiring. All the misguided effort was depressing and demoralizing. And if I thought the day couldn’t get any worse, I was way wrong.
Even though I had nothing in my stomach, I had to ask Kade to stop four more times before we finally hit the outskirts of DC. We’d gone through a drive-thru somewhere in Ohio around midday, but the smell of grease had been enough to send me hurtling from the car. Fortunately, Kade had made short work of his meal by the time I returned. He’d tried to get me to eat, but just the thought of trying to get something down had turned my stomach.
I was miserable and weak by the time Kade pulled into a motel parking lot. It was one of those places I always teased him about, though that was the last thing I felt like doing at the moment. I just wanted to lie down on something stationary, like a bed, and take off the damn jeans, which I’d decided I would burn at the earliest opportunity.
I waited in the car for Kade to rent a room, my head lolling against the headrest. I dozed, jerking awake when he opened the car door. He drove across the lot to one of the rooms and parked again. I saw Blane park a space or two down from us.
Kade got out of the car, then met Blane and handed him a key. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but Kade was there at the car door as I opened it. I slung my purse over my shoulder. My hands were shaking and it took a lot of effort just to stand. But I was highly motivated. A bed was mere yards away. I just had to make it inside, then I could collapse.
I took a step, only to have Kade sweep me up in his arms.
“I’ve got you,” he said softly, and I was too tired to argue. I rested my head against his shoulder as he walked to the motel room door, which Blane was holding open. A moment later, Kade deposited me on one of the two beds. Slipping its strap from my shoulder, he set my purse aside, then took off my sandals.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t realize I’d get carsick.”