Chapter 17
It is a picturesque Sunday morning. Under Leah’s instruction, the company jet stays stocked with an assortment of essentials, including heather gray sweatpants and matching pullovers. The stewardess has the outfits waiting for them when they board. Camille looks over the sets. Wade brushes against her side to scoop up his sweats. She giggles, jerking away when he nibbles at her ear.
What’s left is a pair in Leah and Easton’s sizes with one extra set with long legs, assuming that they’re for Nancy. She tries on Leah’s set, finding them more her size. Wade plops down on the couch beside the folded sweatpants as she straightens the pullover over her waist.
“No worries,” Wade says, seeing her concern to be wearing Leah’s clothes. He grabs her waist, pulling her down beside him. “They keep backups where the luggage is stored. On long flights home, I change into mine regularly, and they always have another pair waiting for me the next time I fly.”
Camille snuggles into his side as he wraps his arm around her. “You don’t think your mother will be mad that we stayed the night?”
“Are you kidding? When she was leaving yesterday, even she was expecting to not be back last night. How could she be mad if we do?”
Camille isn’t going to list the ways Leah could be upset by what occurred last night. She waits, expecting him to say where Leah told him she would be going in such a rush, but he simply stares into her eyes. The heat between them rises when the stewardess taps on the wall to their right.
“Anyone need anything?” she calls, having ducked out of sight, allowing them to change clothes.
“You can come in,” Wade responds.
Camille sits up, not wanting to be half-lying on him. Wade gives her an amused smile as she puts a few inches between them as the stewardess walks in, nearly knocking Easton’s set of sweats on the ground.
“I’d like a coffee and my briefcase,” he tells the stewardess, who then turns to look at Camille.
“Same,” she echoes, trying to tell if the stewardess is judging her. “Coffee, that is.”
The stewardess dips her chin at them obediently and then disappears to the back of the jet.
Buck is waiting for them in the Rolls Royce when they land.
“How was the trip?” he asks, looking at them through the rearview mirror as the gate slowly opens for them to drive out of the airport.
Wade looks to Camille to answer, arching his eyebrow at her.
“You’re officially looking at a new Bloom and Bloom partner,” she smiles.
“Congratulations,” he says flatly, looking more bored than anything as he hits the gas.
“Our lawyers will go over everything once Evelyn sits down to sign,” Wade says in a low voice. “Do you have your own lawyers to look over the contract?”
“Yeah,” she replies, not sure if she’s lying to him. She’d been to a lawyer’s office with Evelyn when they drew up the contract for their company, giving each of them fifty percent ownership, but she’d been under the impression that the man was Evelyn’s father’s lawyer and not ‘theirs’ per se.
“Good. Always have your people rack through the fine print. Contracts can be a nightmare depending on what’s put in them.” He says it with a bitterness that makes her think that he’s been burned by contracts before.
“Surely you haven’t had to deal with too many of those since you’re the one writing them up.”
He grins at her, the bitterness leaving his voice. “Thankfully, I don’t have to write any of them, but you’d be surprised what people want me to sign or what people are willing to sign.”
She places a hand a few inches above the bend in his knee, rubbing her thumb against the soft sweatpants covering his outer thigh. “Is this one of those contracts?”
“No,” he says, the warmth between them growing as they look into each other’s eyes. He lowers his mouth to her ear. “But I can add any amendment to the terms you’d like.” With that, he gives her cheek a soft kiss.
Flashes from last night bubble to the surface. Heat rises to her cheeks. She checks to make sure Buck isn’t watching them. He isn’t. She shakes her head at the offer, wishing that the car had a partition so they could talk privately, not that talking was on her mind.
Camille should have put it together in her head why Buck was picking them up in the Rolls Royce and not the Audi. She would have at least been more prepared for when they arrived back at the sprawling Los Angeles compound. She certainly wouldn’t have walked into the main house hand in hand with Wade, but she had. No sooner had they entered the threshold of the front door, Leah appeared, her leg resting on her scooter.
“Look what the cat dragged in,” she says, spinning around to face them.
Camille pulls her hand free from Wade’s as if it were on fire. A knowledgeable grin stretches over Leah’s face looking them over.
“I was starting to worry that there had been an accident.” Leah’s brows pinch together, looking Camille over. “Is that my pair of comfy clothes?”
Wade’s confident, calm demeanor gives nothing away. “We were both tired by the time we left The Hive, so we stayed the night.”
Camille just stares at her. There’s no way Leah didn’t see them holding hands.
“Well, it would’ve been nice to know if the contract was acceptable or not. Our lawyers were sitting around waiting to hear from you,” Leah states, the tone of a mother coming out as she chastises her son. She looks to Camille, her tone lifting. “The terms were good then?”
Camille nods, walking away from Wade’s side. “I’m happy with the deal. I’d say that the terms were much better than the Lichtensteins’, but you already know that.”
“What do you want on your toast?”
Camille looks across the living room at Nancy, standing behind the kitchen island. The toaster next to her pops up with four freshly toasted pieces of bread.
Leah glances over at her. “Strawberry, please.”
Nancy nods, going to the refrigerator taking out a jar of jelly.
“You hungry?” Leah asks, looking at Camille and Wade.
“Sounds good to me,” he replies, his phone buzzing.
“I’ll take two,” Camille adds, glancing over her shoulder at Wade as he takes out his cell phone.
“I…got to take this,” he says, staring down at his phone.
Leah waves her hand dismissively. “By all means.”
Wade hurries past them, answering his phone as he passes Nancy, striding toward the bedrooms.
“Always putting out fires,” Leah sighs.
“Never know how long his phone calls are going to be,” Nancy says from the kitchen.
She adds two pieces of bread to the toaster, eyeing Camille. “I believe a thank you is in order from the both of us for yesterday evening.”
Camille follows her line of sight as Nancy peeks at Leah, who gives her an embarrassed grin.
“So things are going good now?” Camille asks, looking between them.
“Better than ever,” Nancy replies, moving a plate of toast to the opposite side of the counter.
“Yes,” Leah says begrudgingly. She takes the jar of strawberry jelly, slathering it on the toast Nancy made for her. “You really helped me figure things out, but…”
Nancy sets a plate next to the toaster and leans over the island, glancing down at the hallway before looking at Camille. “But we aren’t telling the kids just yet.”
“What kids?” Sadie asks, sashaying into the kitchen in a breeze.
Nancy straightens. Leah pauses mid-swiping jelly onto her toast.
Camille isn’t sure how to react. But as much as Sadie may have surprised them, it’s Leah that levels her gaze on the young woman intruding on their conversation, surprising Camille even further by saying, “speaking of children, what are your plans with my son?”
Sadie’s eyes jump from woman to woman, her mouth gaping open. It’s a brief but enjoyable reaction. Her lips curl as she regains herself. “I don’t know what you mean,” she challenges, heading to the refrigerator.
“What I mean is,” Leah begins, watching her open the fridge door, “is your relationship with my son serious, or is this a fling?”
Nancy takes a bite out of her toast, giving it a loud crunch as she leans against the counter to look at Sadie. Sadie steps back from the refrigerator, holding a bottle of sparkling water. She faces them with a relaxed grin that Camille is impressed that she could muster in a moment like this. She leans back against the cool, stainless steel.
“It’s not serious enough that I would have come this weekend if I knew all of you were going to be here.” She snaps the bottle lid open with a forceful twist, staring at Leah as she does it.
Leah stares back unapologetically. “So you two haven’t been dating long.”
The bottle already to her lips, Sadie shakes her head and takes a drink. Camille watches as her slender throat bobs with each gulp. It’s even hard not to be jealous of her throat. Now that she knows what that stuff tastes like, she resists frowning in disgust, but Sadie seems to enjoy it.
“It’s been a bit of a whirlwind, to be honest. A week after we met, he found out that I’d never been to Bali and insisted we go.” She sighs, stepping up to the island a few feet from Nancy, gazing past all of them out the back windows. “It was exactly what I needed. It was…a spiritual experience, you know?” She gives each of them the briefest of glances before staring out into the backyard dreamily. “I felt connected to something greater than myself.”
“I bet,” Nancy mumbles, glimpsing at Leah.
Leah lifts a piece of toast to her mouth, tearing more than biting into it. “I saw the receipts,” she states, her teeth crunching into the toast, “It must have been one hell of a trip.”
Camille slowly pulls a barstool back to have a seat. Her toast has long since popped up, but she doesn’t dare take her eyes off of the events unfolding in front of her. The tension building in the room would normally send her running, but being an outside party to it, she can’t look away.
“Do you remember our trip to Bali?” Nancy asks, looking at Leah.
“I do,” Leah retorts. She takes another loud bite of her toast, crunching into it as she glares at Sadie as if it were her that her teeth were biting into. She swallows. “How long have you known my son?”
Sadie finally turns her eyes from the backyard, gazing at Leah as if pulled reluctantly from a fond memory. “A few weeks. He came to the launch of my clothing line. By the end of the night, he’d swept me off my feet. We’ve been inseparable ever since.”
Camille looks to Nancy, waiting on her to make another sarcastic comment.
“How lovely,” Leah mutters, the words sounding forced. Her nostrils flare as she takes another large bite from her toast.
Nancy looks to Camille. “Have you ever been to Bali?”
“No,” Camille replies, reaching across the island for the toaster.
“Here.” Nancy grabs the two pieces from the toaster.
“Just butter please,” Camille requests when Leah offers her the jelly.
Nancy slides the plate of toast and a small butter dish to her, looking at Sadie. “Get a butter knife from that drawer,” she nods at Sadie’s hip.
Sadie opens the drawer with a grin on her face when she hands Camille a knife.
“Thank you,” Camille responds. “I don’t even know where Bali is.”
“It’s in Indonesia,” Leah answers, setting her toast down on her plate. “Part of the Sunda Islands.”
Nancy picks at the crust of her toast. “We took a boat around the islands. It was years ago, but I still remember that blue water like it was yesterday.”
“That’s what I’d love to do next,” Sadie says, looking at Nancy. “Spending a week on a yacht with my girlfriends … going on a private tour of the waterfalls and Mount Batur.”
Nancy and Camille nod along. Camille slathers her toast with butter. Leah seems to be chewing louder than ever as if to drown out the sound of Sadie’s voice. None of them speak a word against Sadie’s assumption that Nancy and Leah went on a girls’ trip and not the lovers’ getaway Camille knew it to be.
“You didn’t want to visit Mount Batur with me,” Easton’s voice chimes in from the hallway.
He rounds the corner into the kitchen, wearing short swim trunks. His chest is bare except for the single long rope of a necklace, hanging halfway to his navel.
Sadie looks his top half over appraisingly. “We didn’t have time.”
Easton breaks out in a grin and walks over to her. “That’s right,” he replies, wrapping his arms around her midsection as she drinks her water. He kisses the side of her head and rests his chin on top of her shoulder, eyeing Camille and Leah across the island. “We barely left the suite.” He winks.
Leah stops chewing, dropping what’s left of her toast. She shoves the plate away from her.
“That’s it. I need to lay down.” She rolls into the living room.
“Careful,” Nancy warns Easton, “if you start talking about your bedroom prowess, your mother may start telling you about her own.”
Leah pauses to cast Nancy a cautious but amused glance.
“No thanks,” Easton huffs, setting his sights on the toaster.
“Come watch some Golden Girls with me,” Leah calls to Nancy, continuing her path to her bedroom. Nancy grabs her plate, tipping her head at Camille as she moves from the island.
“Coming,” she calls after her.
“I don’t think your mother likes me,” Sadie pouts after a moment.
Camille catches herself about to nod in agreement and takes a bite of toast instead.
“Nonsense,” Easton protests, snatching up the first of the three slices of bread out of the toaster. “You’re hot, and you’re smart enough to run your mom’s clothing line. What’s not to like?”
Sadie frowns at him as he reaches for the strawberry jelly. “I don’t think your mother cares about my looks. You should have seen the way she was glaring at me. Am I right?” she asks, looking at Camille.
“Easton’s her baby,” Camille says with a shrug. “She’s a protective mother.”
“Protective my foot,” Sadie grumbles, picking up the next piece of bread that pops up from the toaster.
Easton frowns a little.
“She sure doesn’t care what her other son spends his time doing,” she mutters, biting into the toast.
Camille opens her mouth to ask her what she means by that when Sadie’s face turns to one of utter disgust.
“Ugh,” she barks, dropping the toast next to the toaster. Crumbs bouncing off in all directions as it hits the counter. “I am not wasting calories on this glorified cardboard.” She spins around for the chrome-plated phone on the kitchen wall.
Easton swipes up the discarded toast, adding it on top of the one covered in jelly. He bites into them like a sandwich.
“Tastes fine to me.”
He takes the piece of toast off Leah’s plate and adds it to his toast sandwich.
“We’re going for a swim if you want to join,” he offers Camille.
“Maybe in a bit,” she responds, almost finished with her toast.
Sadie puts her hand over the phone at her ear. “I’ll be out there in a minute.”
“Chop, chop,” Easton says, heading for the patio where the pool awaits with new towels rolled up at the foot of each pool chair.
Sadie turns to the phone receiver, grumbling. “I am not going to eat toast when there’s a perfectly good chef on the payroll,” she glances back at Camille and lets out a sigh in annoyance, returning the phone to the receiver. “No answer.” She examines Camille in a way that she tries to ignore, focusing on what’s left of her toast.
“What do you think about how Easton’s mother was treating me?” Sadie asks.
“Leah?” Camille chokes, hurrying to finish her last bite. “She was only trying to get a feel for you. She should be protective—she’s their mother. You are dating her baby.”
Sadie crosses her arms over her chest, scrutinizing something on the counter. “Nah,” she retorts, slowly shaking her head, “I don’t think that’s it. It’s me.”
“Come on—” Camille starts but Sadie’s quick to cut her off.
“I don’t think you know these people like I do. Leah may come off all loving, and maybe she is, but as much as she’s protective of Easton, she’s got to know what her oldest son has done. And if she’s okay with him ruining people’s lives, then who is she to judge my character.” Sadie’s voice takes on an edge, a darkness passing over her eyes in a way that Camille knows that she needs to proceed with caution.
“Wade?” It comes out like a question, but she already knows he’s who Sadie is talking about.
Sadie’s eyes meet Camille’s.
“Yes, Wade.” She glances past Camille out the window. “It’s people like him who give the decent men in the world like Easton a bad name.” Sadie moves closer to Camille. “Did Wade tell you what he did to my sister?”
Camille should have prepared herself for something like this the second she realized that Sadie was related to the girl in those texts. Wade’s messages from V. Quinn were the words of an immature woman. There’s no telling what she’s told Sadie about their date and the subsequent texts, not that she expects someone to openly admit to their family about how deranged they’d acted.
Sadie sneers at her, not waiting for an answer. “Of course, he didn’t tell you. He probably hasn’t told a soul. Why would he? Men like him use women up and spit them out.”
Camille’s eyes start to glaze over. She doesn’t want to hear this, doesn’t want to be a part of bashing the man who just gave her one of the best nights of her life.
Sadie turns her head toward the hallway as if wanting Wade to hear her. “He’s probably hoping she’ll get rid of it, but he’s got another thing coming. Men who don’t care about human life make me sick.”
Camille snaps out of her disinterested trance. “Wait, get rid of what?”
Sadie rolls her eyes. “Have you not been listening? The baby.”
Her response sends Camille reeling.
“What baby?”
“I told you,” Sadie repeats, lowering her voice. “He took my sister out on this amazing date. She gushed to me the next morning about how charming and charismatic he was, how he listened, how they’d laughed together. I told her she’d been stupid to sleep with him on the first date. When he ghosted her, I kept my mouth shut. What was there to say besides I told you so?” Sadie waves her hand dismissively. “Plenty of guys do stuff like that, but when she told me she was pregnant and that she’d told him, and he didn’t care … I was beside myself. That’s when I found out that his brother happened to be in New York and thought maybe I’d get him back by stringing his brother along. I couldn’t believe it when Wade’s brother turned out to be such a great guy. I mean, I guess one piece of crap in the family is enough, am I right?”
Camille nods though she’s no longer listening. An amazing date followed by a one-night stand … how stupid could she be? Unlike Victoria, Camille didn’t have a sister to confide in, but she’d planned to tell Evelyn once she got back. She’s probably going crazy not knowing why she hasn’t responded since texting her about the last-minute trip out of town for a business dinner with Wade Bloom.
And a baby? Her head keeps circling around to the painful memory of laughing along with Wade at the poor woman who he never mentioned sleeping with. Not that he would have confided such things to a near stranger, but a baby?
“I hope you keep your distance from all of this,” Sadie scoffs, turning back to the kitchen phone. “Are you wanting anything besides toast?” She brings the phone to her ear. “I’m going to have the chef make me a vegan omelet.”
“I’m good,” Camille says, rising slowly from the island. “I need to go to the restroom.”
“Hello,” Sadie barks, ignoring Camille as she walks past her. “Yes, I can hear you. This is Ms. Quinn. We need you to come to the main house for some breakfast.”
Camille picks up the pace once she’s out of sight from Sadie. Surely, this is a mistake. Victoria Quinn could be dating plenty of guys, especially if she looks half as great as her sister. Sadie got them confused is all. Camille gets to the door, finding it partially ajar.
“That’s right, you heard me,” she can hear Wade saying.
She brings her hand up, about to knock, when his voice grows louder.
“Don’t tell me that. I’ve done my part. I’m telling you it’s a done deal. Okay? Then get your ass in your car and drive down there and get it signed if it’ll make you feel better.”
She opens the door quietly, peeking inside to see Wade standing in front of the window, his back to her. His silhouette is almost as menacing in the morning sun’s beams stream out around him. “Leah’s already got two other manufacturers getting started on production. The papers will be in your hand come Monday, Tuesday at the latest.”
He’s talking about her contract. It’s a done deal…I’ve done my part. Her stomach tightens. Was last night him doing his part?
What a fool. What a stupid, day-dreaming fool she’d been. Showing up to Los Angeles, thinking that this crazy rich family could truly be this good to someone like her. What if Sadie was right about her sister and Wade? There’s no telling what that contract really says within its pages. She hadn’t even bothered to look past the first page.
Wade turns and stares at her. He opens his mouth to speak. She doesn’t want to hear it, whether it’s to her or whatever employee of his he’s chewing out on the phone.
She bolts.
“What kind of chef doesn’t cook breakfast? Unbelievable,” Sadie’s complaining when Camille reappears in the kitchen.
She doesn’t respond, doesn’t so much as look in her direction. She’s out the door—through the back patio—across the lawn—past the pool.
“You coming to swim?” Easton asks, bobbing up and down in the deep, sitting on two pool noodles that stick out between his legs like a kid at play. She turns her head toward him. The hurt plastered on her face causes his smile to waver. Camille forces the corners of her mouth to curl into a hard smile.
“Wade really sucks, you know that?”
His smile returns to his face. “Oh, I know he does. Go get your bathing suit on, and I’ll tell you some stories.”