Nicole was walking around the cabin on her slowly healing ankle, trying to regain some mobility. It was a lot better, the swelling was down and the bruising had gone from a dark purple to a lighter smattering of blues and greens. “So?” she asked. “How did it go?”
“It went. I took care of it.” He threw the car keys on one of the bookshelves and looked at her. “You’re getting about nicely.”
“All credit to my doctor. I’m not sure if it was the frozen peas, or maybe late last night when he found some creative ways to rehab my ankle.”
“Speaking of which, I’ve got some new positions in mind for today.”
She expressed a mixture of feigned surprise and genuine pleasure at this statement. “I’m a very willing patient.”
“I noticed.” He walked to the cabinet and started to rummage through it. “Hungry?”
“Yeah.” She plopped herself down on a chair and watched him. “So, are you going to tell me exactly what happened or not?”
Red glanced over his shoulder at her. “I told Kane Wright to stick whatever evidence he has against me up his ass.”
She laughed. “No you didn’t.”
“Ummm…yeah. I did.”
“And that was it?”
“I told him to leave my fiancé alone, and I assured him that he had plenty of money at his disposal and there were lots of desperate escorts and sex workers who’d be pleased to relieve him of some of it.”
“Oh, boy,” she sighed, putting a hand on her forehead. “This doesn’t sound like it went well at all.”
“Actually it went great. Shitheads like Kane Wright respond better to a show of strength. That’s the only thing that backs ‘em off.”
“But what about Danielle?”
“Oh, right. I almost forgot.” Red opened a package of bagels, went to the fridge and took out some eggs and bacon. “Breakfast?”
“Sure. Besides, that’s the only other meal you know how to cook.”
“True. I suppose I could have just made you toast.” He started the burner and grabbed a pan from above the stove.
“I’m still waiting to hear about the Danielle situation.”
“There’s no situation,” Red replied. “Kane started bitching about how there’d been an agreement and he was being ripped off. He gave me the sob story about how he’d paid off her debt under false pretenses, yada yada. So I told him I’d take care of it and I did. Phoned my accountant and had him wire Kane the money right after we hung up.”
“So you just spent a hundred thousand dollars on Danielle’s loans?”
“Why not? That’s nothing to me—and it’s worth getting him out of our lives for good.”
“I feel awful,” Nicole said. “I didn’t mean to start this trouble for you. That’s a lot of money. I’m sure Danielle would be happy to pay you back over time…”
Red shook his head. He was throwing bacon strips in the pan and they started to pop and snap in the grease. “I don’t want her money. Consider it my formal apology for being such an asshole and running away from my responsibilities. If I’d been around, you never would have been in that situation to begin with.”
“I guess. It just feels weird to me.”
Red turned to her. “Nicole, that’s our money. What’s mine is yours. Do you mind that I spent our money to help your friend out of a jam?”
“I suppose not.” She still felt uneasy, though. “I’d like to call her and let her know what happened. She still thinks that Kane paid off her debt and I’d rather she know the current situation. I’m sure it’ll put her mind at ease.”
“After breakfast I’ll drive you up the road so you can call her,” he said. “You can’t drive on that ankle.”
Nicole couldn’t help but smile. Even now, Red was trying to protect her, if only from driving a mile up the road on a sprained ankle.
When he was done cooking breakfast, they sat down at the table together and ate. “Not bad,” Nicole told him. “I’m impressed. You sure you don’t have any other recipes up your sleeve?”
He winked. “Maybe one or two.”
She playfully slapped his arm. “You liar! You can cook!”
“Who do you think taught Chef Roland everything he knows?”
“Well, which is it? I thought he taught you.”
Red shrugged and refused to answer. “So. Moving on, we’ve got bigger fish to fry—so to speak.”
“We do?”
He broke off a strip of bacon and popped it in his mouth, nodding and pointing at her belly. “The little elephant in the room. Specifically, in your belly.”
She automatically put a hand on her stomach and looked down. “Is it crazy that I sort of forgot for a second?”
“I don’t know. I just know that we have a lot to discuss.”
“Like?”
“Like, when do we want to tell people that you’re pregnant? And, what’s the next step? Don’t we need to make you a doctor’s appointment and all of that stuff?”
Nicole swallowed. “I—I don’t know the answer to any of those questions. I’ve never been pregnant before.”
“Neither have I, so I guess we’re going to figure it out together.” He chewed his bacon and grabbed her hand in his. “I’m so happy we’re doing this,” he said. “Starting a family together.”
“Do you have a preference?”