For some reason, that struck her as insanely funny, and Kylie began to giggle.
He grinned at her, visibly relaxing. “It’s true. I thought maybe you’d see the band and fling yourself passionately in my arms and we could ride off into the sunset. Or down Sunset Avenue, at the very least. And I’d hold you close—much, I imagine, like a spider monkey would—and tell you all about how much I love you and miss you, and we’d kiss and I’d end up with most of your lipstick on me and it’d be pretty damn great.”
More giggles erupted from her, and she stared at her bowl. To her horror, her laughter turned into a sob, and she started to cry. Shit, not again.
“Please don’t cry, Kylie. Please. God, I can’t stand to see you hurting and not be able to do anything about it.” Cade set the bowl down on the floor and moved closer to her. His hand went to her waist and he pulled her close, burying his face in the curve of her neck. “Please. I’ll go if you want me to, okay? Just don’t . . . don’t be so sad. Tell me to go and I’ll go.”
“I . . . don’t want you to go,” she admitted softly. She wanted to burrow against him and forget the world.
He took the bowl of ice cream out of her lap and set it on top of his. Then he shifted closer to her on the couch and began to kiss her neck, her ear. “Tell me to stop and I’ll stop.”
Her breath shuddered in her lungs. “I don’t want you to stop, either.”
His fingers moved to her chin and he tilted her face until she was looking at him. “Tell me not to love you.”
She . . . couldn’t tell him that, either. “Oh, Cade.”
“That’s not a no,” he told her.
“I love you,” she admitted. “I just . . . I’m trapped, Cade.” She shook her head, feeling a bit hopeless. “I love you. I want to be with you more than anything, but with circumstances how they are, I just can’t. I can’t be a burden to you.”
“A financial burden?” he guessed.
Her entire body stilled. “You . . . how . . . ?”
“Carmela mentioned that the label had put the screws to you in your contract and they were doing something similar to Daphne.” He smiled broadly. “So I bought myself a record label.”
“You what?” Her heart pounded.
“I bought the label. Reviewed the contracts for myself and found them rather unfriendly. Daphne’s now in better hands, and I have this for you.” He pulled an envelope out of a pocket inside his jacket.
Her stomach dropped. “I don’t want your money, Cade.”
“Well, that’s nice, but this isn’t my money. This is yours.” He pressed the envelope into her hand. Wary, she opened it.
Inside was a check on the record label’s account. It was the exact amount they had charged her for Daphne’s concerts.
“How . . .”
“Like I said, I now own the label.” He corrected himself a moment later, tilting his head. “Well, actually, I own the majority share. But they wanted to make me happy and this was what I insisted upon.”
“Th-thank you.” She stared down at the check, numb.
“Don’t thank me,” Cade said. “Talk to me. Make me understand why you keep running away.” He clasped her hand in his. “I’m pretty sure I mentioned the part about me being rich, right? You could have come to me. I would have gladly given you the money.”
She flinched and pulled away from him. “That’s just it. I don’t want a handout. I don’t want to be a burden.”
“There’s that word again,” he said, and his voice was hard. “I don’t know why you seem to think that supporting and helping someone you love equates to a burden.”
“Cade,” she protested. “They were coming after me for thousands of dollars. Hundreds of thousands if what they told me was right.”
“Then it’s a good thing I have billions.” He shook his head. “It’s not about the money. Tell me what it is, Kylie. Make me understand.”
Kylie stared down at the check, then looked over at him again. “I . . . told you I grew up with my grandmother, right?”
“You did.”
“Well.” Her lips were dry. She licked them repeatedly, feeling uncomfortable and anxious. “My nana isn’t the most . . . happy of people. Her husband died when she was fifty, and then her only child died ten years later. So when she inherited me and I was all of ten years old, she really didn’t know what to do with me. Not only that, but her husband didn’t have life insurance, and neither did my parents, so not only did she have me to take care of, but she had to work outside of the house for the first time in her life. She hated it. And she hated me because of it.” Kylie’s stomach churned uncomfortably at the memories. “She always reminded me that I was fat and ugly, and she had to work two jobs because of me. I was nothing like my mother, who was beautiful and smart and thin. I was a burden, and she told me that constantly. And as I grew up, well, I decided that I’d never be a burden to someone like I was to her.” She gave him a faint smile. “Want to know the ironic part? When I hit twenty or so, Nana Sloane slipped into full-on dementia. She has to stay in a locked-down nursing home with round-the-clock care because her mind can’t stay focused on the present. Now she’s my burden.” Her laugh was bitter. “And she’s a really expensive one. I can’t seem to make ends meet caring for both her and myself, so one of us has to give, and she can’t work, so it falls back to me.”