Balancing Act (22 page)

Seth stared at her, his gaze hard and sharp. “I do believe him, Tessa. What I want to know is why you allowed my father to think you took that money, and why you feel you have to lie to me about it now.”

It would be so easy to tell him everything. Seth would take control. He would do what was right. He’d proven that over and over again with his devotion to his family, but it was that very quality that stood in their way. He had chosen to believe she would take money from his account. He had agreed with his father’s firing her. If she told him she was pregnant, that their one forgetful moment had resulted in a reminder, he would do the right thing, but how could she ever have any faith in him when he’d proven he had no faith in her?

Tessa looked down at her stomach, feeling that sudden churning there. She dragged a hand through her hair. She longed for a nap so much, just standing was a chore, let alone thinking straight.

“Go away, Seth. If we ever had anything besides sex, it’s gone. It’s dead. You’ve moved on and so have I. Just leave.”

“I want to know what’s wrong with you,” Seth ground out. “Zach tells me you’re sick all the time. Damn it, Tessa, he’s worried about you, and so am I!”

Tessa’s eyes narrowed. If they looked half as cold as she felt right now, then Seth was getting stabbed by icicles. “I can tell. Get out, Seth. Get out of my house, out of my life. We did fine before you, and we’ll do fine after the…”

Tessa stopped and turned her face to stare out the window. Christ. She needed to shut her mouth.

* * * *

“After what, Tessa?” Seth’s deep voice was low and concerned. “After what? What is wrong? What’s making you sick?” He knelt down next to her and took her icy hands. “Whatever it is, I can help if you’ll let me.”

Tessa turned a face to him that was once again the cool, composed mask she’d first presented to him so many months ago, before he realized a vital, passionate woman lived beneath it. He knew he would get nothing else out of her. She’d put up the walls and locked him out. In frustration, Seth cupped her face in his palms and kissed her. For a moment, her soft lips yielded to the pressure from his and then she pushed at him.

“Go away. I don’t need you. I don’t want you. Go back to your girlfriend or whatever she is. You were a wonderful teacher, Seth,” she admitted, “really talented in bed, but I’ve moved on, and so should you.”

Seth felt like she’d slapped him. As his jaw tightened and it felt like ice filled his veins, he saw her cringe from him. There was nothing else to be said. “I’m sorry I disturbed you, Tessa.”

Without another word, he walked out the door.

The ice didn’t melt as he got in the Escalade and drove away. The only realization pounding into him was that he was done. He’d reached the end of what he could take, in his personal and professional lives.

* * * *

Tessa buried her face in her hands, waiting until she heard the sound of his car before the first hoarse sob escaped her.

She had composed herself by the time she picked Zach up from school. She said nothing about having seen Seth or knowing her brother had gone to see him. She appreciated what he had tried to do. Tessa ate dinner with him then went in to shower.

She still had another hurdle to face, and that was at work. She remembered Lucy’s comment about needing to keep her figure in order to keep her job, and Tessa worried what might happen to her job once her pregnancy began to show. She arrived early enough to seek Roberto out in his office.

As she told him her situation, he shook his head and her heart sank.

“I can’t have you on the floor waiting tables once your pregnancy shows. How far along are you?”

“About three months,” Tessa admitted.

Roberto scratched his head. “You say you were an executive assistant before you came here?”

“Yes.”

“You won’t make as much money as you do waiting tables, but I can use you as a secretary and a receptionist. The girl I have in that position right now would rather be waitressing anyway. Can you keep books?”

Tessa grinned. “If you have a computer program, I can do anything.”

Roberto nodded at her and gave her one of his rare smiles. “Good deal. Meagan doesn’t have much of a knack with money or math. I figure you got another couple of weeks if you want to keep waiting tables until then to get the tips.”

“Thanks, Roberto,” Tessa said. “You don’t know how much I appreciate this.”

“Well, it’s not something I can do for most of these girls,
nina
, but then you are a lot smarter. Get changed.”

Tessa joined the rest of the girls in the dressing room. Lucy cocked one heavily made-up eyebrow at her. “How’d it go?”

Tessa smiled. “He says I can work as a secretary-receptionist and help with the books once my pregnancy shows.”

“You go, girl!” Tiffany said, joining in.

Tessa was beginning to have trouble getting into her uniform top. It seemed to have gotten a whole lot tighter. She tugged and pushed until she had everything in so she felt it would stay that way. She put everything else out of her mind as she did her best to smile and evade wandering hands. The tips were best on Friday and Saturday nights. Just as he predicted, by the second weekend after she’d told Roberto, Tessa knew it would be her last. While no one else might notice, she saw the tiniest rounding of her belly.

There was an upside. Maybe once she left waiting tables and was behind the scenes, she would lose that feeling of being followed. It had stopped for a little while, but in the last few nights she had the feeling someone was watching her again. Each time, she drove to the nearest police substation until she was sure the car had moved on.

It happened twice during the week after Seth’s visit, and this Friday was no exception, but this time she failed to shake the car following her the first time and made several more stops in hope of losing whoever her stalker might be. It didn’t seem Peter’s style. She didn’t think it would be Seth, but she was reluctant to go to the police, reluctant to do anything that might draw the attention of her aunt and uncle. She would continue to play this game of tag, but she would take no chances on someone finding out where she lived.

It was well after five before she arrived home. She knew she would be lucky to get about three hours sleep before Zach would be up wanting to do something. She managed to grab a nap in the afternoon. Still, she was more tired than she thought possible as she got ready for work the next evening. It would be her last on the floor. While one part of her hoped it would be a full house with plenty of tips, another part of her was so exhausted all she could think about was rest.

“We have a bachelor’s party coming in tonight,” Tiffany told her as she was getting ready. “I know you can use all the extra money you can get, with it being your last weekend. You want me to seat them in your area?”

Tessa shook her head. “Even though the money would be nice, I don’t think I could handle a large party tonight, Tiffany. I’m so tired.”

Tiffany smiled in commiseration. “Pregnancy has a way of doing that to you. Don’t worry. I’ll put them in the VIP section.”

Tessa didn’t correct her that it was more than the pregnancy affecting her.

The club was crowded, and Tessa wasn’t lacking for customers willing to give her generous tips. She was putting in another drink order for a table of out-of-town businessmen when the bachelor’s party arrived. Tessa gave them a cursory glance and went back to serving her customers. Tiffany seated the party on the other side of the club, which suited Tessa fine. She turned toward the bartender and grimaced as she adjusted her top, afraid she was going to spill out of it.

He winked at her. “You moving to the office soon?”

Tessa made another face. “Tuesday. Good thing too. I don’t think I could get everything in this top by then at the rate things are going.”

James glanced at her belly, “If it weren’t for everybody looking at your cleavage, darling, Roberto would have already moved you off the floor.”

Tessa glanced down. “Am I showing that much? I didn’t think it was noticeable.”

James laughed. “Just a bit, but I know you.” He waved to the customers. “They have nothing to compare you to.”

Tessa grinned in relief. “I guess you’re right. Thanks.”

She picked up her tray and wound her way through the tables to the customers near the stage where Lucy danced. As she set the drinks down, one of the men patted her on the bottom.

“Look all you want, honey, but don’t touch,” Tessa said and smiled at the man to take some of the sting out of her words.

He laughed. “In other words, no lap dances at this club?”

“No, sir. Not here.” Tessa picked up the tray again, smiling at the twenty the man had deposited there, and began to check on her other customers.

As she moved through the tables, she had the uncomfortable feeling someone was watching her. Trying not to make it obvious, she looked around, suspecting Peter was somewhere in the club. Instead, she encountered a glittering gaze from near the bar. Seth leaned against the gleaming wood and brass, a wine glass in one hand and an expression of controlled fury on his face. She had to walk past him to give James her drink order.

“What the hell are you doing, Tessa?” he snarled as she stood near him waiting on James to get the drinks. “Is this some kind of joke?”

Tessa did look at him then, lifting her chin in challenge. “It’s no joke. It’s how I make my living. What are you doing here?”

Seth nodded toward the bachelor party. “My sister Stacey’s fiance, Jason Winchester, is having his bachelor party. I’m the designated driver, but Bran is sober, so maybe he can drive and you and I can talk.”

“I don’t think we have anything else to say,” she replied. With deliberation, she picked up the twenty sitting on the tray and shoved it in between her breasts. She never did that. James kept a tip jar for her behind the bar and held her money until the end of the evening. But it achieved the desired effect.

Seth’s face flushed with anger and he spun on his heel. She kept her face toward the bar, her hands trembling as she tried to force herself to calm down.

“You okay?” James asked
sotto voce
as he set two mugs of beer on the tray.

“Yes.”

“Someone you know?”

She nodded.

James wiped the bar down with a towel. As a bartender who doubled as a bouncer when necessary, he was almost as big as Seth, with one major difference–James was gay, so Tessa knew he was no threat to her. “If he bothers you, Tessa, let me know.”

She smiled gratefully. “Thanks.”

She was conscious of Seth’s gaze following her as she worked. She tried to ignore it, but it added to her stress. It also made her less cautious about who else was in the club. An hour from closing time, she felt a hand trail up her thigh as she took a drink order. She moved and started to smile down at the offender, but it died on her lips. Peter stared, his insolence plain, and his lips curled in a sneer.

“What will you do for the right tip, baby?” he asked, drawing laughter from the crowd he was with. “I’ve got something you can sit on. It will get you a big tip, and I’m not talking cash.”

All of the men in the group guffawed. Tessa turned away and marched over to the bar.

“James,” she murmured just loud enough for him to hear, “let Tiffany know my slimeball cousin is back. I need someone to take table ten.”

The next hour crawled. Between Seth’s hostile glare and Peter’s insolent, leering stare, Tessa felt like she was being stabbed over and over. She sighed with relief when the lights came up. After collecting her tips, she headed straight to the back. Hoping to lose both Seth and Peter, she lingered in the dressing room.

Lucy waited and walked out with her. Tessa looked around. She didn’t see Seth’s Escalade, nor did she see any other cars beside hers and Lucy’s. The two women said good night as usual. Tessa unlocked her door with the remote and slid into the driver’s seat. She bit her bottom lip as she sat there for a moment. If she would just tell Seth… He would stand by her. But that was like getting a crumb when she craved the whole loaf. She heard Lucy’s car start and the crunch of gravel as she left the parking lot.

Someone grabbed her from behind, slapping a hand over her mouth before she could scream.

“Give me the keys, cousin,” Peter taunted. When she froze and didn’t respond, he yanked her hair with his other hand. “Give me the keys, bitch!”

Tessa darted a frightened look around the parking lot. Everyone else had gone. The only cars left were the clean-up crew and it would be at least an hour before they were through. If Seth had just cared enough to stay. Now, more than ever before, she needed the comforting presence of his sheer size. But he wasn’t there, and she would have to deal with this on her own.

She knew in a flash Peter had been the one following her, and she was terrified of what he might do. They were no longer children, and as sick as he had been then, there was no telling how the intervening years had changed him. She held up the keys. He grabbed them, then tied a gag around her mouth.

He dragged her from the car and popped open the trunk. Tessa struggled. For all she was small, she was very fit. Peter might be bigger, but one look at him told her he was soft. If she could loosen his hold, she had no doubt she could run from him.