Kylie was frozen where she stood. The hand wrapped around her wrist morphed in her mind’s eye. When she glanced up, it wasn’t a stranger’s face she saw. No, it was Ezra’s. Her hands started to shake and the nearly full bottle of whiskey slipped through her suddenly numb fingers to shatter on the floor.
“Don’t move, Kitten.”
Kylie blinked several times. “What? How…when did you get here?” God, had she blacked out and lost time?
“Just now,” Remy told her as he moved around to the back of the bar to help her.
Kylie watched as he grabbed one of the bar towels and used it to push all the glass into a pile. She stared at him while he got the mess she’d created swept and mopped up. She stood there, as if frozen in place, while he turned to the guy who’d grabbed her wrist.
“You owe da lady an apology.”
The guy must have heard the blatant threat in Remy’s voice because as soon as he apologized for grabbing her wrist, he beat a hasty retreat.
“Why are you here, Remy?”
“I couldn’t stay away, cher, not wit’ da way tings were when I left. I tink you got da wrong idea from what I said and I wanted to fix it. You’re still shaking, Kitten. Please, let me take you home. Emelise will understand and someone else can run da bar for tonight.”
She should have told him no, but she couldn’t find it in herself to do that. “Okay.” Why oh why had she agreed so quickly? She let Remy guide her out from behind the bar. “Tara…”
“Go. It’s obvious you’re not feeling well tonight. I can handle the craziness for one night. I hope you feel better,” Tara, the other Drink Mixologist for the VIP Lounge said to her.
With that, Kylie had no other choice but to let Remy escort her downstairs. “I need to find Emelise and let her know I’m leaving.”
“I know, cher. We’ll find her.”
She felt drained as she walked beside him down the stairs and when he slid his arm around her she found herself leaning into him a little. She spotted Emelise and made a beeline for her. “Eme…I think I need to call it quits for tonight. I’m just having…a lot of issues tonight. I dropped a bottle of whiskey and broke it. You can take it out of my pay.”
Emelise shook her head. “Accidents happen, Kylie. Don’t worry about it. You just go get some rest. You’ve not been sleeping well and you’ve been really pushing yourself.”
“Thank you.” She nodded at Emelise and let Remy lead her out of the club.
“I had to park a few blocks away, cher. Do you want to wait here?”
Kylie shook her head. “No. I can walk to your truck, Remy.” She bit her lip as they made their way down the block. “I’m sorry I was a bitch to you earlier.” She heard him suck in a breath in response to her comment.
“You’ve been under a lot of stress, Kitten. It’s understandable someting would make you snap.”
“That doesn’t excuse what I said, Remy. You were trying to help and I got nasty with you.” When they reached his truck and he opened the passenger door, a soft sound escaped her. “Oh my God, those are…where did you find these?” she asked, picking up one of the bouquets of orchids.
“A street vendor was sellin’ dem. She only had tree dozen or I’d have gotten more.”
Kylie blinked. “Three dozen? Are you crazy? That couldn’t have been cheap.”
“You’re worth it and so much more, cher.”
She felt her cheeks warm as she let him help her into the truck so the beautiful flowers weren’t damaged. Would he still think that when she told him everything?
“I’ll help you get settled at da house. I’ll even stay if you want me to.”
She glanced over at him. “I-I don’t want to go there tonight.”
“All right den, Kitten. I’ll take you to my house. We can sit on da porch swing all night, if you like.”
“I think I’d like that.” She watched the city pass by outside her window. She was so deep in thought, she didn’t realize they’d reached the docks until Remy touched her arm.
“Are you all right, cher?”
“I don’t know.” It was an honest answer and the only one she had at the moment.
