Hell, he wouldn’t forget the sight of her in all that leather. Leather. He flashed back to the last time he’d seen a leather getup—on Lisa Burton. Come let me show you my props, she’d said and dangled a pair of fur-lined handcuffs at him. Son of a bitch, Rick thought.
“I belong?” Kendall asked on a high-pitched laugh. “Ask these people if I’m one of them.” She shook her head and he realized her entire body was trembling.
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “We’re going home.” Much as he wanted to settle things with Lisa once and for all, he needed to take care of Kendall first. “I don’t know for a fact who did this,” he told her. “But I have a hunch. You need to realize it feels bad now, but it doesn’t mean a damn thing.”
She jerked out of his grasp, staring at him with a wide, incredulous gaze. “Are you serious? It means everything.”
His stomach churned at the force of her words. Obviously she believed this had changed things for her. For them.
She’d not only withdrawn but he could see her flight mechanism kicking in, something ingrained in her from her past. When things got tough, her relatives shuffled her from one house to another. When her life as an adult got shaky, she got into her car and ran. With this photograph, Kendall was facing her biggest challenge—would she gather her inner courage, stay and fight?
Or would she continue to withdraw from him until she felt justified in leaving?
“I’m not going to argue with you now.” He tugged on her hand and forcibly pulled her away from the staring eyes and the not-so-hushed whispers, and led her toward the car.
He couldn’t force her not to run again. He just had to remind her of how he felt before that damning blown-up photograph. He loved her and he’d damn well tell her again, when she was ready to listen. Right now, the shock and pain were still acute. After she’d had time to absorb and deal with this embarrassment, he’d divulge his feelings once more.
If she left after that, at least he could tell himself he’d given her everything he had to offer. Just as he’d done once before with Jillian.
And so much more was at stake now.
They pulled up to her house and Rick started to get out of the car.
Kendall turned toward him, her eyes vague and blank. “You don’t need to walk me inside. Besides, I need some time alone.”
His stomach plummeted at her plainly spoken words. “To pull further away?”
“You should really check on Raina,” she said instead of answering him. “The shock of seeing that picture couldn’t be good for her heart.”
“The only thing that will happen to my mother’s heart as a result of tonight is that it’ll hurt for you. I’m sure she can handle this.” He clenched his fists at his sides.
“You should still check on her.”
He couldn’t argue that point any more than he’d be able to get through to Kendall tonight. Her walls were miles high and excluded him. “You’ll call if you need me?” he asked.
She nodded. But as she got out without a word, slamming the car door behind her, he knew he wouldn’t be the one hearing from her tonight or any other night soon.
* * *
Raina paced the floor of her kitchen. Her unwilling co-conspirators in her health scheme surrounded her. Eric sat beside her at the white Formica table while Roman and Charlotte stood by the cabinets across the room. They’d met up here after tonight’s fiasco and though no one had seen or heard from Rick since Kendall’s picture had been plastered across the screen for the entire town to see, all were concerned.
The only person missing was Chase. Since he’d had an employee covering the slide show for the paper, he’d missed the action and wasn’t here now. Thank goodness since Raina wasn’t ready to deal with her oldest son and her own lies tonight. Tonight she wanted to help the child who needed her most.
“Tonight was a disgrace,” Raina said. “A complete and utter disgrace. I can’t believe anyone would do such a thing.” She frowned at the memory of what she had seen flashed upon the screen.
“I hardly think posing for a lingerie catalogue constitutes a disgrace,” Charlotte defended Kendall. “Isn’t that true, Roman?”
He cleared his throat. “I agree. Even if the . . . uh . . . props were somewhat kinky, I think Kendall looked hot.” Charlotte jammed her husband in the ribs with her elbow.
“Great. I mean Kendall looked great,” Roman corrected on a forced groan. Then he reached out and pulled his disgruntled wife into a hug. “You know what I meant. I adore you but a guy would have to be dead not to look.”
Raina rolled her eyes.
“You should have quit while you were ahead, son,” Eric said, chiming in at last.
“She wasn’t a disgrace,” Roman said.
“I agree.” Eric propped an elbow on the table.
Raina smiled. She’d knowingly taken the temperature of the room and it had registered high on Kendall’s side. “Okay, now that we’re all on the same wavelength, what are we going to do to help Kendall out? Lord knows the poor woman must be mortified.”
“The most we can do is cut off any gossip we might hear and support her. Beyond that I’m sure she’d like the whole thing dropped,” Charlotte said.
“Dropped?” Raina said, outraged on Kendall’s behalf. “First of all, someone set the poor girl up.”
“And it’s up to her to figure out who did it,” Roman said in a stern voice meant to warn Raina to mind her own business.
She ought to know considering she’d been on the receiving end of his outburst before. But she’d given birth to him and that gave her some seniority and the right to continue her thoughts. “Second of all she’s like family and I’m sure Rick would appreciate it if . . .”
“We all minded our own business,” Eric finished for her.
Raina scowled
