His Every Touch (For His Pleasure, Book 8) by Kelly Favor Page A

found in his old copy of Blue Horizon. The picture had been of an older man in a wheelchair.
    “I understand,” she said, not really understanding anything, but knowing that there must be some connection.
    Hunter nodded, his shoulders coming down even more, as if her words had soothed him somehow. “Can’t even fucking walk. Probably needs twenty-four hour care, and some people…” He shook his head slowly. “Some people just don’t get it.”
    The rest of the drive was quiet, and of course some of the magic had gone out of the day. When he pulled up to the end of the private road to let Kallie out, Hunter suddenly reached over and took her hand.
    “I’m sorry you had to see that,” he told her.
    She looked at him. His eyes were sad, deeply sad, she thought. “It’s okay.”
    He smiled at her. “I’ll be in touch soon.”
    Kallie nodded, and then opened her door and got out. Hunter gave her a quick wave, turned the car around and left.

    ***
    Kallie wasn’t prepared for what she found when she went inside the house.
    There was a loud argument going on in the foyer, and at first she was almost wondering if she’d been dropped off at the wrong mansion.
    There was an older woman dressed in a lovely olive overcoat, wearing a jaunty hat and standing beside a small rolling suitcase. And this woman was screaming at Nicole, and Nicole was screaming back at her.
    “I don’t know how you got past the front gate,” Nicole was saying to the older woman, her arms crossed, her face redder than Kallie had ever seen it.
    Instantly, Kallie thought about Nicole’s blood pressure. “Nicole, is everything—“
    The old woman ignored Kallie completely. “I’ll tell you how I got through the front gate. I told them who I was. I’m Red Jameson’s mother, and I’ve known him a lot longer than you have. I raised him from when he was in diapers. Do you know what that means? No, you haven’t a clue.”
    “What I know or don’t know about raising a child has nothing to do with this,”
    Nicole told her. “Red does not want to see you right now. I’ve tried my best—“
    “You’ve tried your best?” his mother laughed. Actually, she cackled, Kallie thought. The woman’s eyes were like two little black marbles, rolling in her head. She looked totally unhinged.
    “I did,” Kallie said. “I tried to make peace, I tried to be a buffer. But you make it impossible, Erica. If you’d waited until we were ready to invite you…”
    Erica stepped forward, pointing. “I want to see my son and I want to see my granddaughter. I will not be treated like this, Nicole.”
    Kallie was completely caught off guard. She had no idea what was happening or what had caused the situation, but she was more than aware of Nicole’s health concerns.
    But Nicole wasn’t backing down. She stepped forward too, and she was taller than Erica, and her eyes were suddenly just as fierce. “You listen to me,” she said. “This is my house. I want you out of here, or I will have you removed.”
    Kallie saw a strange look of fear—or maybe it was hatred—pass across the older woman’s face. But then she simply turned around, grabbed the handle of her suitcase, and started to walk to the front door.
    Kallie was standing in her way and she stepped aside.
    Erica gave her a nasty up and down look. “Is this who was going to remove me from the premises? I’d like to see her try it.”
    “Just get out or I’ll throw you out myself,” Nicole said, tiredly.
    Erica looked back at Nicole with a sneering, puling expression. “There are some things you might rather not know about your amazing, wonderful husband, Nicole. I’m warning you. You’re going to regret treating me this way. Maybe it’s time you realized who it is you really married.”
    And with that, Erica opened the door and left. Kallie closed and locked it behind her.
    Nicole sighed with relief, but then walked quickly to the phone on the wall.
    “Hello, my mother-in-law was somehow