Rock Wedding (Rock Kiss #4) - Nalini Singh Page 0,94
soon enough.” A “clean-cut” singer or model would get caught snorting coke, or a glamour couple would break up, or some celebrity kid would throw a tantrum.
Abe had lived in the glare of fame long enough to know it was a fickle beast.
“I’m not sure it’s going to work this time, Abe,” Thea warned. “Especially after they twig to the pregnancy. For now I’ll see what I can do to head them off, buy you both a little more time and privacy.”
Hanging up after thanking the publicist, Abe was about to go up and share Thea’s intel with Sarah when he caught sight of a card propped up on the bookshelf. He’d noticed it that day he’d helped Sarah clean, had smiled because it was the one he’d sent her, but now the image on the front had a sick feeling churning in his gut.
It was a fairground.
Memories, harsh and unforgiving, punched through the misty veil created by the shit he’d been putting into his body during that time, of a night when a bright-eyed Sarah had asked him to accompany her to a fair. He’d said a flat no. One of Tessie’s final outings after the doctors let her come home because there was nothing more they could do had been to a local fair—he’d carried her fragile body all wrapped up in blankets, stood beside her with his arm around her on the merry-go-round so she wouldn’t fall off her horse.
She’d died two days later.
And Abe couldn’t even smell kettle corn or cotton candy without wanting to break the world into a million little pieces.
Only he’d never explained that to Sarah. He’d just turned her down, tried not to see the tears she was trying to fight back, then fucked off somewhere else.
The sick feeling grew stronger. “Suck it up, Abe,” he muttered. “And do better this time around.”
Making a few quick calls on the heels of that order, he went up to the bedroom. “So Thea had some news,” he began, then wolf-whistled.
He’d caught Sarah just as she finished hooking up her bra, her back to him and her fingers quick and clever. Her panties were the same dark blue lace as her bra, the color lush against the rich brown hue of her skin. That bra cupped her spectacular breasts as if it had been painted on, while the lace of the panties drew his attention to her equally spectacular ass.
Throwing him a startled look over her shoulder, Sarah smiled, looking a little shy and pleased at the same time. “What’s happened?”
Abe didn’t want to go there just yet, didn’t want to steal her smile. “I’m sorry, I’ve lost my mind after seeing you.” Walking over to grip her hip from behind, he tugged her back against him. “How about we just stay in bed?” Kissing her throat, he slid one hand around to play his fingers over her navel.
Her belly was still only curved the gentlest amount, nothing anyone who didn’t know her intimately would notice.
Moaning and laughing at the same time, his wife spun around to face him, her hands on his chest. “I want to go out.”
He sighed and stroked the sleek line of her back. “What do you want to do?”
“Flossie needs to be taken for a walk first of all.”
Flossie looked up from where she was sitting comfortably on the bed Sarah must’ve made. Her tail began wagging like a metronome at the word “walk.” Abe patted Sarah on the butt. “You spoil that dog.”
“I know, but she’s so wonderful.” She kissed his jaw. “Beach walk again? I liked that.”
Abe had zero willpower where Sarah was concerned. “Yeah, why not—but we might meet a few more vultures today.” He told her what Thea had shared. “You still want to do the beach deal?”
Sarah thought about it, but only for a second. “Yes. How much scandal can they wring out of a couple taking their dog for a walk?” Narrowed eyes. “I’m stronger now, not so easy to bully.”
“You’re fucking amazing, that’s what you are.”
First, however, they went to visit Aaron after Abe gave a couple of paps in cars the slip. No one was going to make a quick buck with Sarah’s grief. She didn’t cry today, just spoke to her lost baby with purest love as she made sure his resting place was neat and tidy and his toys were where they should be.
Flossie sat beside her on one side, Abe on the other.