“Oh, no, you don’t. I’m not going anywhere.” And with that, he stepped inside and closed the door behind him.
She gasped and backed up, not really afraid of him but mad. Mad and weary. This was all going so wrong. “You have no right to be in this room.”
He leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms. “I’m not leaving until I get that memory card. And since I’m pretty sure I got here before you’ve had time to send it to your buyer, I figure if I lean against this door long enough or even camp out here, you won’t have time to send them in. Those tabloids aren’t getting those pictures. Cole and Tulip won’t be on the cover of a gossip rag in the morning. And you won’t be making money off their happy moment. Sorry,” he finished snidely.
His words struck hard and true. “You’re a jerk.”
He laughed harshly as he thumbed his cowboy hat back on his head. “I’ve been called worse. What do you call yourself? A thief. Taking unauthorized pictures and selling them to the highest bidder. Doesn’t that make your skin crawl? You look nicer than that. But I guess that’s the deal—if you look all innocent like you do, then nobody suspects it.”
His words hit home, making her feel even dirtier than she already did. She didn’t flinch, though she was crumbling inside. They glared at each other and she refused to show how deep his words had cut. She saw all of her hopes die. If what he said was true, then she had already lost the money she would make from the pictures if she sent them in by eleven. The big payoff for the photographs would not be deposited into her bank account by tomorrow afternoon. This meant she wasn’t going to be able to open her own business. She wasn’t going to be able to make a home for her son.
Emotion clogged her throat. She might lose her son without the stability that she needed in order to keep her son supported.
Her insides caved and the sting of tears burned behind her eyes. Her knees went weak as emotions rolled over her like a bulldozer. Finally, unable to hold up, she sank to the edge of the bed, and dropped her elbows to her knees and then her forehead into her palms. Without the payoff, she very well could lose her son…he was her life.
Her heart hurt. Pain cut through her. She knew what she had been doing was wrong. Maybe there was no excuse, but she was desperate and now she was completely overwhelmed.
She fought hard to hold back a sob…but there was no holding it back.
* * *
Staring at Rita slumped on the edge of the bed—sobbing, if the shaking of her shoulders were any indication—Levi felt like a dog. Why, he wasn’t sure. He was justified in his anger and determined to get the memory card and to keep Cole and Tulip off the front covers of the tabloids. They had gone through too much when they first met, and having their wedding splashed in the headlines just wasn’t going to happen on his watch. All they wanted was to live a boring life, as Tulip called it, and he would do whatever he could to give her that. How had this woman gotten through the many layers of screening that had been done at the wedding in order to keep the paparats out, as he called them? She was one of them, he reminded himself as his anger faltered now. Why was she crying? This was unexpected.
Her dark wavy hair hung over her hands, exposing her shoulders. She had very nice shoulders, he couldn’t help noticing. And legs. She had nice legs. The white hotel towel barely covered her body sitting there on the edge of the bed; they were very visible. He felt sleazy thinking about her legs when she was crying and wasn’t happy about it.
She needed to get dressed. “It’s obvious I’m going to be here for a while until you give me the memory card. Maybe you should put some clothes on.”
Lifting her head, she wiped her eyes with trembling fingertips and then stood, carefully making sure the towel stayed in place. Her expression grim, she walked to the overnight bag on the dresser. She snatched a pair of jeans and a shirt from the bag and some pink underwear.
His pulse kicked in at the sight of the pink panties and he felt uncomfortable. He didn’t like the idea that he had busted in on her and she was in a vulnerable position wearing just that towel.
He ignored the fact that every time she looked at him, there was an undeniable flash of fire between them. Of course, it could just be that she was furious with him and he was furious with her. That kind of friction would cause a blaze.
Once he caused her to miss her deadline and had the memory card in his hands, he’d go back to his ranch and tending to his cattle, and she could go wherever it was that Rita Snow had come from.
He was still confused by her sudden crying after appearing so defiant. Was it a ploy to get him to let her keep the memory card? His lips flattened into a determined line as he hardened his resolve.
She strode across the room, into the bathroom, and closed the door behind her.
He glanced around the room, trying to figure out where she would have hidden that memory card. Probably in that bag. But the idea of going over and digging through her bag didn’t sit well with him. But the way he looked at it, if he had to stand here all night so she couldn’t load that memory card to her computer, then he’d do it.
Moments later, she walked out of the bathroom, looking fresh in the blue jeans, a yellow T-shirt and though he couldn’t see them, he knew the hot-pink bra and panties were somewhere underneath the clothes.
He tried not to think about that.
“That’s better. Now, could you give me the memory card and save us both some trouble? Then I’ll go on my way and you can have the rest of the night here all by your lonesome.”
She had calmed down while she was dressing, and she met him with cool eyes. “No. I’m going to call the police. You are in my room, and I didn’t invite you in.”
“No, I don’t think you’re going to call the police.” He walked across the room and quickly unplugged the telephone, then took the phone and held it behind his back.
She walked over to the bag and pulled out her cell phone. And immediately pushed the keypad.
“Fine. Call 911. And when they get here, they’ll probably haul both of us to jail. Fine by me since that’ll mean you won’t be emailing photos to anyone. Either way, I can assure you I’m going to get those photos off that memory card.”
At least he hoped his claim about the photos would get her hauled in with him. His phone buzzed and he glanced at the incoming text from his lawyer that he had been delayed.
Of course. Now what?
Reason with her?
“Come on, be a human. What if you were getting married and some sleazy paparazzi person took personal pictures of you enjoying moments of pure happiness and sold them to the world to ogle at? A moment that you wanted to be private for just your friends and family, not to be sold to the highest bidder and be splashed across all the tabloids with who knows what headlines. Would you like that? You look like a nice person.” She really did and that was what was so startling about all of this. She did not look slimy. She looked lovely.
She looked vulnerable again. Her gaze shifted downward.
He pushed forward in earnest. “I can’t imagine that you do this for a living.”
Guilt flickered in her beautiful eyes. She rubbed her forehead, took a deep breath and then she stuck her phone into her back pocket. “Fine, you win,” she said, defeat in her voice as she crossed the room to the bed. She reached between the mattress and the box spring and pulled out the memory card.