Nobody's Perfect (26 page)

She opened the door to find Karla carrying a tray with a teapot and matching bone china cups.

Savi reached out. "Here, let me take that."

Karla executed a half-turn to keep Savi's hands from the tray. "Don't you start that, too. Adam's driving me nuts. I'm pregnant, not a freaking invalid."

Savi smiled, but didn't want to tell her how lucky she was to have a man wanting to take care of her like that. Being pregnant and single was so much harder, even if Savi did prefer to keep men at arm's length. There were times when she'd even wished she'd had Damián there to lean on. At least she'd had Anita when the time came to deliver Marisol. Being alone in that situation would have been even worse.

"Savi, would you like to come across the hall and share a cuppa with me? Adam has ordered me to sit with my feet propped up for the rest of the afternoon while he's over at…I mean, to get ready for the club hours tonight."

Savi glanced over at the bed where Mari was enjoying an afternoon nap, after Adam had worn her out playing in the snow all morning before he'd been called away. "Sure, I think she'll be out at least another half hour."

She followed Karla across the hall into the master bedroom. The hunter green walls gave the room a relaxing feel, too. Karla put the tea tray on a small table near the rise of steps leading to the French doors. The patio and hot tub were covered in the newly fallen five-inch snow. Savi had never seen so much snow in her entire life as she'd seen these few months in Denver.

Karla motioned for Savi to have a seat in the wingchair while she sat in the cushioned glider. After Karla poured them each a cup of berry-colored herbal tea, they both relaxed and enjoyed sipping the soothing brew.

"So, how are you settling in?"

Savi didn't want to be impolite, but she actually missed being in Damián's apartment. When Adam had come over to the apartment the night of her last nightmare, Damián had abruptly announced that she and Marisol would be going home with him. Savi couldn't very well argue. She'd practically insisted it was time to leave. And it was more than crowded over there. Mari didn't even have a yard to play in, as she did here.

Still, for reasons Savi didn't understand, she missed being at Damián's place.

And him. He'd avoided them all week. Savi never thought she'd be thinking such a thing, but she really wanted to see Damián again.

But Karla didn't need to know that.

"We're doing fine. Thanks for letting us stay here."

"It's been great
having
you here. Seeing Adam with Marisol…" Karla's voice cracked with emotion and she cleared her throat. "I can't wait 'til the baby comes. He's going to make such a great daddy."

"Do you know if you're having a boy or girl?"

Karla shook her head. "We want to be surprised. Neither of us is much into traditional baby colors, so that won't make a difference as far as clothes or the nursery. Don't you just love that room you're staying in? I think the colors are so relaxing. It was a wonderfully healing place when I came here after…" Karla looked down at the teacup in her lap. "…after my brother was killed."

"Oh, Karla, I'm so sorry!" Savi hadn't heard that she'd lost her brother.

Karla took a sip, then held the shaking cup in her lap. Her protruding belly pressed against the teacup's rim. "It's still hard to think about him being gone forever."

"I can't imagine."

But she could, in a way. While Savi didn't have any siblings, her Maman had walked out of her life, never to return. Only Maman had left intentionally. The details of that night nineteen years ago were sketchy, at best. She and Maman had spent a perfect day at their beach cave, the same one Damián had taken her to, ironically. Savannah remembered their picnic and watching the sun set before Maman took her back to the house.

The next day, Maman was gone. Her life had never been the same.

Time to change the subject from loss to life. "How far along are you?"

"I'm due the 25th of July. Seems like an eternity."

Savi laughed. "You'd better pace yourself. You do have a ways to go."

Karla bit her lowered lip, then focused on Savi's face. "Adam says we can't have sex anymore until the doctor gives the all-clear
after
the baby is born."

Savi didn't know anything about sex during pregnancy, but had only heard of it being a problem for someone on bedrest. "Are you having difficulty with your pregnancy?"

"Far from it. Everything's going perfectly." She smiled and rubbed her belly and smiled enigmatically for a moment. "We couldn't have asked for more, but he blames himself for somehow causing his son to be stillborn because he likes it a little rough." Karla blushed and grinned. "Sorry. Too much information. But no amount of logic and scientific evidence will get through that stubborn man's head."

Oh dear lord
, Savi did not want to continue this conversation, either. So out of her league.

Karla grew serious. "But I'm not going to wait that long." She grinned. "I have a plan to batter down his defenses yet again. I'll drive him crazy, until he reaches his monumentally high breaking point. Then, I'll bring that man to his
knees
, he'll want me so badly."

The sheer determination in her voice made Savi worry for Adam. He didn't stand a chance.

"Sex wasn't an issue I had to worry about during my pregnancy."
Thank God
. If Savi had been with Damián or any man during her pregnancy, she probably would have welcomed a reprieve from having to have sex. As she'd grown stronger away from Father, she'd wanted to close off that part of her nature forever.

Karla's eyes opened wide. "Oh, no,
I'm
the one who's sorry! I totally wasn't thinking. All of my brain cells must be going straight to the baby lately."

Karla must have thought she'd
wanted
Damián in her life back then. "No, don't apologize. It is what it is—and everything worked out just fine." Until Lyle and her father found her and Mari.

"You're stronger than I am, Savi. I don't think I could have faced becoming a mother without Adam by my side, even if I do want to wring his neck at least once a day." She smiled and placed her hand over the baby cocooned in her belly. "The man can't communicate worth a darn, but at other times, well, let's just say I'll always know where I stand with him. He shoots from the hip, just like the ancestor he keeps telling me stories about. That's him on the far right in those photos on the dresser."

Savi looked over at a line of framed portraits of six men in uniform. The one Karla referred to looked like a 19th-century photo—probably Civil War era or soon after. The man inside the picture looked young and handsome in his uniform. "Adam's mom gave him those photos for Christmas. They're duplicates of the ones she has of his relatives who served in the Marines."

Savi's eyes stung. Karla's baby would have a whole ancestry and lots of love from both sides of the family. Savi hadn't been able to share the details of Mari's heritage with her daughter. Not only had she known nothing about Damián's background, but her own family's mementos were lost to her, too. Of course, Savi could care less about her father's side, but being able to share Maman's French heritage would have been…

Karla's hand squeezed Savi's. "You okay?"

Savi forced a smile to her lips and raised her hand to rub her eye. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just got something in my eye."

"Listen, why don't you come down to the club tonight?"

The abrupt change of topic caught her off guard. "No, I don't think…"

"It's pretty laid-back on Wednesdays—more social than anything. You'll meet a lot of great people. We run a really nice club. You can have a couple drinks, listen to my show, meet some of Damián's friends."

"No, I need to stay with Mari."

"Grant and I can take turns watching her. Adam only lets me do two sets a night now when the club's open, so I'll just start the first one later on when things start hopping. One of the other members can tend bar for Grant tonight."

"No, I don't want anyone to go to any troub…"

"No trouble at all! If I'd known Marc would be on another overnight expedition, I'd have asked Adam to bring Angie back to the club." Karla rolled her eyes. "Adam's fit to be tied that Marc's let Angie move back to Aspen Corners. They're so perfect for each other. Wish I knew what happened, but neither of them is talking." Karla glanced down at her cup, lost in thought, then she gave herself a mental shake, then looked up and smiled. "Sorry. Anyway, Grammy Karla would love to spend some time with Marisol—and Auntie Grant would, too. We love that little girl like crazy. And I'd love for you to see our club."

Savi decided to put an end to this notion immediately. "Thanks for the offer, but I'm really not interested in…that kind of thing."

Karla leaned toward her. "If you're like me, you probably have a lot of preconceived notions about this BDSM stuff. Believe me, most of my notions were far from reality. If you met most of our members at their jobs or on the street, you'd never guess what they do in private."

Damián had said the same thing.

"And if you stay in the great room, there really isn't anything too kinky that goes on there—not most of the time, anyway. We don't have any demos planned for tonight, either, as far as I know."

"Really, Karla. I appreciate the invite, but I'd feel too uncomfortable there."

"Uncomfortable where?"

Savi turned to watch Adam walk in and suddenly the walls of the room closed in on her. The man's size and presence seemed to suck all the energy from the room.

"Adam! I didn't expect you back so soon." Karla stood and walked over to him, giving him a hug.

She turned her face toward him, clearly wanting a kiss on the lips, but he kissed her on the cheek instead. Karla didn't hide her disappointment.

Adam smiled and patted her growing belly. "Turned out everything's okay."

Karla's face and body relaxed visibly, but Adam didn't elaborate about what or whom he'd been checking on.

"Adam, I was just trying to talk Savi into coming to the club tonight."

"Excellent idea. What's the problem?"

"She won't say yes."

Savi wished they'd quit talking about her as if she weren't here—and that they'd quit trying to get her to go to their damned club. The last place she was going to be found in was a sex club.

Adam turned to her, his expression stern, as usual. "What are you afraid of?"

Savi pulled herself up in the chair. "I'm not afraid of anything." He grinned and might as well have called her a liar. When he smiled, his entire face changed. He should do that more often. Of course, he usually smiled for Karla, and sometimes Damián.

"I need to stay with Mari."

"I told her Grant and I could alternate babysitting for a couple hours."

"Problem solved. I don't expect a big crowd tonight, just the regulars."

How could she get out of this? "I don't have any…of those kinds of clothes."

She thought she saw a twinkle of laughter in his eyes. "What kinds of clothes would that be, hon?"

Her face flushed. "I don't know. High heels, latex, fetishwear."

He grinned. "Why don't you just wear a pretty blouse and a pair of jeans?" He looked down at her athletic shoes. "The shoes you have on now are perfect. Bare feet are fine, too. Everyone chooses their own style of dress and comfort. You'll fit right in."

Really?

"But I don't know how to act…kinky."

Adam laughed heartily now. She was glad her discomfort provided him so much entertainment. "Hon, you leave kinky to the rest of us. Just be yourself."

Why was it so hard to argue with the man? Because he wouldn't take "no" for an answer. Like Damián. She shivered.

Adam kissed Karla on the cheek again. "I have some paperwork to draw up."

Good. Maybe he would leave this ridiculous idea alone. Then he turned to Savi. "Come down to my office when you finish here and we can go over the guest contract. No one gets into the club without reading and signing it."

But I don't want in your damned club!

Without waiting for her response, he turned and left the bedroom. Damián had mentioned a contract. What would she have to agree to do—or not to do? And why did her curiosity about this part of Damián's life pull at her so strongly?

* * *

Savi had no clue why she was doing this, but she signed her name and pushed the contract across Adam's desk again. She pulled her hands into her lap and clasped them to control the shaking. What had she done?

Adam pored over the two pages of the contract and nodded. He set it aside and looked at her. "Damián has talked with me about the security concerns for you and Marisol."

Savi had been so focused on the club's contract and what might happen tonight that she hadn't prepared herself for this line of conversation. She wondered how much he knew. "Did he tell you who we're running from?"

"I'd rather hear that from you."

Savi swallowed, then took a deep breath. "My father's business partner found me in December. He's the one who beat me. He was supposed to take me back to…" She shuddered. "Father thinks he owns me. He won't stop until he finds me, but I'm more afraid of what he'd do to Mari."

Adam's mouth drew tighter. She had to remind herself that his anger wasn't aimed at her, but still she retreated against the back of the seat, wanting to place a little more distance between them.

"I just want you to know I have you covered, just as Damián did. Nothing is going to happen to either of you under my watch."

Savi looked down at her hands and saw that she was picking at the skin around her fingernail. She clasped one hand over the other to hide what she'd been doing. She needed to stop that nervous habit. She looked up at Adam, wondering why she'd confided in him. Something told her he could be trusted to keep a confidence. The contract she'd just signed talked about the importance of confidentiality. Would he honor that outside the club, as well? Wasn't that in the contract she'd just sign, an agreement not to "out" anyone she might meet in the club if she knew or saw them outside this world?