❦ Kate ❦

"You've got to be kidding me." I groaned at the sight of the Rolls Royce parked in front of my house. Ben was leaning against it talking to Alex and they both looked up at the sound of my voice.

"Good morning, Miss Lewis." Ben walked up to me and reached for my luggage.

"What are you doing here?" I asked not letting go off the handle of my suitcase.

He looked confused. "Mr. Perez instructed me to drop you off at the airport. The jet is waiting for you there."

The man was so infuriating. How could he do this without even asking me?

I sighed trying not to be impatient with Ben. It wasn't his fault his employer was such an overbearing control freak. "Look, I have paid for my ticket so I'm not going with you."

He suddenly looked uncomfortable and he shifted on his feet. "I'm sorrybut your ticket has been cancelled."

"What?" My mouth hung open in disbelief. How on earth did he know which airline I had taken the ticket from me? "I don't have any choice, do I?" I muttered in resignation and let go off the handle of my suitcase. I walked to the car and Alex held the door open for me while I got in.

"I don't believe we have officially met." Alex said as we settled in the back seat. "I'm Alex Reed." He gave me a friendly smile.

I smiled back and shook his hand. He looked to be in his late twenties and just like Ben, he looked as if he belonged in Secret Service. Under his black suit jacket, he had a gun strapped to his hip.

"I'm staying at a hotel near your mother's home. Call me whenever you're going out. I'll drive you." He said giving me his business card. On the back of the card he had scrawled his hotel name and number. "We believe that whoever took those photographs of you is having you followed so I want you to be very careful."

"What photographs?" I asked in puzzlement.

He raised his eyebrows. "Didn't Mr. Perez tell you?"

When I shook my head, an uncertain look flashed on his face. "Uh, maybe it's better if you ask him."

He worked for Jason and I knew even if I begged he wouldn't tell me. So I just let it go. But all throughout the car ride and on the flight to Chicago I couldn't stop thinking about it. From what I found out from Alex before he clammed up, I figured someone had taken pictures of me and sent to Jason. And that was why he hired Alex as my bodyguard.

I made a mental note to call Jason as soon as I reached Chicago and demand an explanation. I wanted to hit someone, preferably him for keeping me in the dark. How could he not tell me something as big as this? With an annoyed sigh, I leaned back in my seat and opened my laptop. I had a bunch of emails from my suppliers that I needed to respond to and I might as well get some work done.

❦ ❦ ❦

My mother lived in Edgewater, which was a lakefront community area on the North side of Chicago. Alex rented a car at the airport and drove me to her house. It was a modest two-story house with a small garden in the front and a spacious porch. The neighborhood had quite tree-lined streets.

I walked up the stairs to the front door and rang the bell. Mum opened the door with a huge grin on her face.

"Oh, darling. It's so good to see you." She threw her arms around me and enveloped me in a big hug. "I've missed you."

I breathed in her familiar scent and hugged her back. "I've missed you too, mum."

"You must be hungry. Why don't you freshen up? I'll fix something for you to eat." She said as she led me inside.

"That's alright. I had breakfast on the flight."

She brushed my hair away from my face in a tender gesture. "You have lost weight. Haven't you been eating well?"

"Mum, stop worrying. I'm fine. I really am."

"I'm your mother. Worrying is what I do. Come on, sit here and talk to me." She sat down on the couch and pulled me down next to her. "I want to know everything that's going on in your life."

To be honest, I wasn't in the mood to talk. All I wanted to do was take a shower and curl up on the bed with my laptop. I had so much work to do. But I knew she wouldn't let go until I gave her something so I started telling her about work. "I love what I'm doing. It's tough and exhausting but I've never been happier." I finished with a smile.

"I'm so proud of you, darling."

"Thanks, mum." A warm feeling passed through me at her words. "I wasn't really that confident at the beginning. I was so overwhelmed about how huge this project was but Jason had faith that I could do it."

I know you can do this.

How can you be so sure?

I believe in you.

I could still remember the moment he said those four words when I so badly needed to hear them.

Mum gave me a searching look. "Given the history that you both share I thought you would find it difficult to work with him."

"Mum, that was 6 years ago. We were young and dated for a week. It didn't mean anything." I felt bad about lying to mum. "We are both adults now and this is just a professional relationship."

She looked convinced and I gave a sigh of relief. The last thing I wanted was her to know how I felt about Jason. But my relief faded in the next second when she asked about Peter.

"Why isn't he here? I thought he would go to pick you up from the airport."

I fumbled with my phone as I figured out how to answer that question. Should I lie to her again and tell her that was he was just busy with work? No, I couldn't do that.

"He doesn't know that I'm here." I finally said without meeting her gaze.

She was silent for a moment before she asked. "What's going on? Did something happen?"

Yes, Jason Perez happened.

"I just needed sometime away from everything to clear my head." I said finally. "I'm not sure what I want so I asked Peter to give me time."

"Oh, darling." She didn't ask me to elaborate and I was grateful for that. I wasn't sure I could tell her the truth even if she asked. How could I tell her that I had cheated on Peter and ruined everything? How could I tell her that even after promising him that it wouldn't happen again I had gone ahead and begged Jason to touch me? I didn't have any self-control or self-respect for that matter when it came to Jason and I couldn't bear to see the disappointment on her face when she found out how much I was like my father.

"Why don't you get some rest now?" Mum said understanding that I didn't want to talk anymore. "Oh, and Paige is coming over for dinner tonight." She added as we both got up from the couch.

❦❦❦

I spent the next couple of hours sitting cross-legged on the narrow bed in the guest room as I created bathroom design models from my laptop using CAD. Jason wanted outdoor shower areas installed in all the beach villas and his architect team had sent me their AutoCAD drawings so that I could develop my interior designs based on them. I was especially glad the architects were consulting with me before they made changes because it made my job a lot easier.

My mind went to Jason and our conversation the previous day in Palm Beach and I immediately pushed it away. I didn't want to be thinking about it right then.

Paige arrived at about 7 in the evening with a bottle of wine and a black forest cake. "You look great." She said giving me a quick hug.

"Thanks. So do you." Paige and I exactly didn't share the ideal sisterly bond. Our personalities and interests were worlds apart. She liked numbers, had always loved them since she was a kid. My passion had always been arts and design.

After school, I would usually spend my time painting, sketching interior design concepts or even making DIY crafts while Paige pored over accounting books and crunched numbers. She moved away to college when I was 17 and after that our conversations reduced to phone calls made only on birthdays and special occasions. I figured the lack of similar interests was one reason we never managed to develop an emotional relationship between us.

"So mum tells me you're working for Jason Perez now." Paige asked as we sat down to dinner. She forked some salad on to her plate and shot me an impressed look. "That's huge. Do you know how many people would kill for a chance like that?"

Paige was away at college when I started dating Jason so she didn't know about it. Mum apparently hadn't told her and I was glad for that. I started telling her about the hotel project and she seemed genuinely interested in my work and kept asking me questions.

After dinner, we sat in the living room, sipping on the wine that Paige brought. Each delicious sip was spreading a nice feeling of warmness through me. Paige and mom were laughing at something mum said and as I watched her double over in laughter, I felt contentment wash over me. I couldn't even remember the last time we spent time together like this.

❦❦❦

❦ Jason ❦

Celebrity parties were not my scene and ten minute after I arrived I was bored out of my mind. It was a private party held at the home of one of Hollywood's most successful directors and the room was full of famous faces. I hadn't wanted to come but Cheryl needed to make an appearance and since she wasn't dating anyone, Nathan or I always stepped in when she needed a date.

"You guys look so good together." Ericka Wilson, one Cheryl's friends, was swaying lightly on her feet as she talked to Cheryl and me. "Too bad you two are not dating. Imagine the beautiful babies you would make together."

"That's what I keep telling her." I said with a smirk. "But she keeps turning me down." Cheryl shot me a mock glare and Ericka giggled knowing I was just teasing.

"Your taste in men sucks, darling." She said to Cheryl. "I can't believe you have friend zoned two of the most eligible bachelors in the world."

Cheryl laughed, said something in reply and then excused us from the group of giggling females.

"I know that look on your face." She grinned. "Let's escape to the terrace for a while. I'll grab some drinks and join you."

"Okay, but ten more minutes and we are leaving."

"Thirty."

I scowled. "Fifteen."

She pouted, knowing neither Nathan nor I could resist giving in when she made that face. "Twenty."

"Fine. Twenty minutes and not a second more."

"Deal." She grinned and disappeared towards the bar.

My phone vibrated in my pocket and I pulled it out. I was surprised to find a text message from Kate.

Can we talk?

I started making my way through the crowd towards the French doors that opened to the terrace.

"Jason." Someone called my name and I stopped. It was Nicki Bell, who was a very talented and successful actress. I had met her at an event before and we spent the night together. It was just a one-time thing.

"Hey, Nicki. Haven't seen you in a while. How have you been?"

"Better now that you're here." She fluttered her eyes flirtatiously. "What are you doing later tonight?"

"It depends." I smirked. "What do you have in mind?"

She leaned in closer to me, rubbing her breasts against my arm. "Why don't you take me home after the party and find out?" She whispered suggestively and with a wink walked away.

She was beautiful, smart, and knew how to drive a man crazy in bed. I hadn't been with a woman since Kate walked back into my life two months ago. I couldn't bring myself to sleep with another woman while I obviously craved for Kate. I was used to having women throwing themselves over me and knew I could have anyone I wanted. Except for Kate, apparently. I thought darkly.

Leaning against the railing of the terrace, I dialed her number. I wondered what she wanted to talk about. We conducted work related conversations through email so I knew this was about something else.

"Hey." She answered on the second ring as if she was waiting for my call. Her voice sent a pang of longing through me and I scowled in annoyance.

"What's up?" My voice was curt but only because I was angry with myself.

"Is this a bad time?" She sounded hesitant.

"No. Go ahead."

"I wanted to ask you something. Alex mentioned something about some photographs of me that you've received. Is that why you hired him as my bodyguard?"

I rubbed a hand over the back of my neck. "Yes. The photos were of you and me on the cruise and also when we were in Bali. We believe whoever is after me is going to use you to get to me so I didn't want to take any chances."

"You should have told me." She sounded disappointed and angry at the same time.

"I know. I'm sorry. I just didn't want you to get worried."

I could sense she was startled by my apology. "What else are you not telling me?"

"There's nothing else." I grinned into the phone. "How's Chicago?"

"Good. It feels nice to be back here." She paused. "You had my ticket cancelled."

"I didn't think it was a good idea for you to fly commercial given the circumstances." I looked up at the sky enjoying the view. "I didn't tell you because I knew you'd not agree."

"Well that's true." She laughed. "Anyway, I enjoyed my flight. Thank you."

The sound of her laughter brought a smile to my face. "You're welcome." I didn't want the call to end. It felt nice talking to her. "So what did you do tonight?"

If she was surprised by my question she didn't say it. "I had dinner with my mum and sister. What about you? Are you still at work?"

"I was but now I'm out with Cheryl."

"Oh, I'm sorry for interrupting your night."

I heard footsteps behind me and found Cheryl walking up to me with two glasses of champagne. "I just ran into Nicki. She told me that..." She trailed off seeing that I was on the phone.

"I-uh-should go." Kate said quickly, probably hearing Cher's voice. "Good night."

"Yeah. Good night, Kate."

I put the phone back in my jacket and grabbed a drink from Cheryl and took a sip. She was looking at me with a funny expression on her face. "What?" I raised my eyebrows at her.

"Okay, so what's going on between you and Kate?"

She already knew about my past with Kate and what happened on the cruise. So I told her what had happened over the past few days.

"Wow." She exclaimed when I finished. "Getting rejected by a woman, it's a first for you, isn't it? How does it feel?"

I scowled at her laughing face. "I could change her mind if I wanted to, you know."

"Then why on earth are you not working on that? You obviously like her."

"It's complicated. She deserves to be in a relationship, which could lead somewhere. Marriage, kids and a family, you know. I can't give her that. Besides she is getting married to a man who is willing to give her all that."

Cheryl nodded in understanding. She better than anyone knew how I felt about marriage. "Anyway, Nicki told me she is going home with you tonight."

"Maybe."

"Be careful with her. She just got out of a bad relationship and is in a vulnerable place right now."

"Good. I know just the thing to help her forget about her broken heart." I smirked.

"God, you're so conceited." Her lips twitched but she was trying hard not to smile.

I put an arm around her neck and pulled her against me in a light hug. "Yet you love me, anyway."

I wasn't planning on taking Nicki up on her offer of a night of no strings attached sex. But hearing Kate's voice had aroused unwanted feelings in me and I needed a distraction. I just hoped it was going to be enough.