This Very Moment Read Online Free PDF Page A

managed. “I’m here to see . . . to see someone.” The man was closer now, and Kylee could see he wore a guard’s uniform and a blue jacket. He had brown hair and a stern face, but she couldn’t make out the color of his eyes. To her relief, he didn’t seem to have a gun.
    Just my luck, a gated community with a live guard.
    “Why didn’t you ring at the gate?”
    Kylee thought fast for an answer. “I . . . I wanted to surprise him.” She took a step back. Could she run for it?
    The guard moved even closer, and Kylee quickly gave up the idea of fleeing. He looked as though he was in good shape, probably better than she was. His eyes traveled over her sequined dress, and Kylee blushed when she realized that he must have seen her climb the gate. “Well, you don’t look like a criminal so I won’t call the police—this time. Come on. Let’s take you back to your car.”
    No! That wasn’t what Kylee wanted at all.
    She put a hand on his arm. “Look. I need to see my friend. Please.”
    “It’s against the rules.”
    “Couldn’t you just bend them once?”
    “I could lose my job,” he said, but his voice was less stern.
    Kylee pushed. “I won’t let you. I promise. I’ll take full responsibility. Just let me go to his place and see if he lets me in. If he doesn’t, I’ll leave with you.”
    The guard hesitated.
    “Please. I just found out tonight that his wife died. She was my friend.” Kylee was accustomed to being persuasive, but she experienced a qualm of guilt about using Nicole this way—even though it was the truth.
    The guard relented. “Okay then. I’ll watch you knock on his door from a distance.”
    “Thank you so much.”
    The guard helped her find Bill’s condo, but when they arrived, she was shaking as much with cold as with nervousness. The hand she lifted to ring the doorbell faltered. It was nearly midnight. What if he was sleeping? But he hadn’t left too much earlier than she had, and after the excitement of the evening, she doubted he could be asleep already.
    If he is, he can just get up. I might die with the cold if he doesn’t.
    Kylee firmly pushed the white button. There was no answer so she jabbed at it again. She had turned to go back down the walk when the door finally opened, and Bill appeared in a sliver of light, wearing a black silk robe. His dark hair was wet and tousled, and when she approached his eyes looked red, as though he’d held them under the shower for a long time. Kylee did this, too—on those rare moments when she thought about Raymond and their brief, tempestuous marriage. The water made the red eyes explainable when tears weren’t supposed to be an option.
    Bill’s eyes widened in surprise. “Kylee?”
    “Uh, yeah.” Suddenly she was speechless. She, the woman who could normally talk rolls of money out of the hardest of billionaires. It didn’t make sense.
    “Do you know what time it is? Never mind, come in out of the cold. You look like you’re freezing.” Bill backed away and opened the door wide. With an inconspicuous nod at the guard, Kylee gladly headed for the light, sighing as the warmth inside the condo rushed out to embrace her.
    “In here,” Bill said, leading the way to a comfortable sitting room. “Do you want a blanket? Your lips are kind of blue.”
    “It’s not really cold out there. Compared to my hometown in Minnesota this is a heat wave. I’m fine.” She set her car keys on the coffee table.
    He laughed. “You don’t look fine. Sit down and put this blanket on you. I was just going to make hot chocolate. Do you want some?”
    His words reminded her of how many times she and Nicole had shared hot chocolate in France. Nostalgia clogged her throat, and she nodded. At least with him out of the room, she could regain her composure.
    Bill left, and Kylee began to look around the sitting room. Covering most of one wall was an enormous cherry entertainment center filled with a large-screen TV and a stereo system with a