“Because you’re challenging the control I’ve built of myself. These feelings are coming on so fast, I feel like I’m completely out of control.”
I knelt there, holding his hands, looking into the tortured eyes of the man I loved. I understood what Rita had told me, there was untapped, unspoken of power and danger inside his soul, caused by what I didn’t know, but I knew one thing. “I’ll be here for you, Kade. I’ll be strong enough to soothe the demon inside you. I’ll be your strength if you need it.”
“And I’ll be yours,” Kade said, looking into my eyes. “My Princess.”
We stayed there, holding each other’s hands, until the pins and needles in my calves became too much to bear. Kade saw the pain in my eyes as I shifted slightly, and shook his head. Placing his hands under my armpits, he carefully lifted me in his arms and set me on the sofa. “Come on, let’s get some circulation back in those legs, and then we have shopping to do. Then we’ve got evening plans.”
“May I ask what?” I said, sighing as warmth crept back down my legs and I wiggled my toes. “You seem excited about it.”
“OMSI’s IMAX screen is doing a special tonight, Phantom of the Opera. It’s a program they do called Broadway on Screen, full surround sound. I’ve always wanted to go, now I’ve got a perfectly good reason to.”
“Sounds wonderful.”
Chapter 20
Kade
The Delta 737 banked and aligned itself with the runway, touching down exactly five minutes late for our arrival. Next to me in her first class seat, Alix looked both anxious and excited to be back in Southern California.
“You okay?”
Alix shrugged, then looked down, where we were holding hands. The first class cabin was nearly totally empty on the early flight, and I’d deemed it an acceptable risk. “It’ll be the first time I’ve seen Mom since the apology.”
“I know,” I said, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. “But on the other hand, you’ll have plenty to distract you. You have to sign the papers to have the agent put your place up for rent, get your keys for someone to drive your car up to Portland, all of that.”
“And pack some more,” Alix replied. She leaned in and whispered in my ear. “I’ve got a few outfits I’d love to show you. It pays to be a model, you know.”
I smirked and sat back. “Ah, it’s good to be the King.”
We let go of our hands as the plane stopped and a stewardess came around. She gave me a look I’ve been familiar with for years, and it was funny to see Alix’s contained yet still defensive reaction.
“Slut,” she whispered under her breath, and I had to laugh. “What?”
“You know what,” I said. The light overhead went off and the bell dinged, and I undid my seatbelt, standing up. “Come on, let’s go see Dad and Layla.”
As we walked through the airport toward the baggage claim area, Alix looked over at me. “With the new baby, do you think Derek would mind if I started calling him Dad?”
“I think he’d take it as an honor. He knows how you felt about Paris Nova.”
Alix shuddered and nearly spit on the floor at the mention of her birth father. “Yeah, don’t remind me. Damn, was I screwed up on that one. I’m glad you straightened me out.”
“Don’t say anything, he thinks you figured it out on your own,” I informed her. “He was adamant that I respect Layla’s wishes.”
We got to baggage claim, and I looked for the one bag we’d checked, a suit of mine since I didn’t have any at the Laguna house. Alix had plenty of clothes, both at her house and at Dad’s, so she didn’t need any. Instead, she got to fidget while I waited for my bag. “Where are they?”
I pointed, seeing Dad and Layla just outside the security barrier, and any concern Alix may have had about awkwardness with seeing her mother again evaporated. Instead, Alix nearly sprinted across the gap between them, shouldering the door aside to embrace her mother. I was about a minute behind, my suit bag in my hand, and they were still hugging, the sound of twin muffled sobs coming from the two nearly six-foot-tall women. Dad had a gleam in his eye, and he quickly sniffled it away to shake my hand. “Kade, it’s good to see you, son.”
I set my bag down on the ground to embrace my father, hugging him tightly before letting him go so that we could turn to the two women we loved. Alix and Layla both turned to look at us, smiling with a bit of embarrassment. “Sorry,” Layla said, “must be the hormones.”
“There’s no reason for you to be embarrassed, Layla,” Dad said. “Alix, you either. It’s just the greatest thing I’ve ever seen that you two are reconciled.”