Free Loving by Karen Kingsbury Page A

reason why she would mess things up between them now.
    The sun was even warmer than it had been at Will Rogers, and though they walked in silence, the tension between them eased. Bailey could feel her heart start to relax. That didn’t mean she should stay in LA, or that she could avoid the conversation ahead, but it made what she needed to say possible. After all, if she returned to Indiana, she wasn’t breaking up with him, right? Just taking a step back. So she could be sure she was headed in the right direction.
    Before they reached the boat, the sound of screeching tires sounded from behind them. Bailey whipped around, but Brandon tightened his grip on her hand. “Don’t look. The gates are locked.” He kept his gaze straight ahead. “They can’t reach us. We’ll be behind tinted glass before they can snap a picture.”
    Bailey’s knees trembled, but she kept walking, following Brandon’s lead.
    He forced a smile, ignoring the commotion behind them in the parking lot. “This is it.” Brandon led her onto the boat andtoward a doorway to a living room on the main deck. He didn’t exactly sound enthusiastic, but he was trying. Even behind the privacy glass, she could hear the paparazzi shouting at them. But Brandon was right. They couldn’t get past the locked gate.
    As if no one was shouting at them or snapping pictures of the yacht, Brandon motioned toward a small flight of stairs headed to the lowest deck. “The bedrooms are down there, and the top deck is sort of a covered observation area. The captain can pilot the boat from up there or here, on the main level.”
    “Wow.” Bailey tried to put the paparazzi out of her mind. She sat on the built-in sofa. “It’s beautiful, Brandon. Do you get out on it much?”
    “Not really.” He shrugged. “The studio uses it to entertain producers and other actors. I’ve only been out once in the last year.” He stepped into the small kitchen. “I had them stock it with turkey and bread … fruit and avocados. Bottled water and iced green tea.” He smiled at her. His expression was still weary from the past hour, but clearly he was trying to start fresh. “I thought maybe we’d sail along the coast and eat out by Paradise Cove. Spend a few hours on the ocean together.”
    Bailey felt her heart melt under his gaze and the sincerity of his words. He never would’ve taken her on his yacht to impress her. It had only come up now because she wanted to talk and he figured the ocean would give them time alone. Time away from the photographers. “I’m touched, Brandon … really.” She ran her hand over the leather seat beside her. “That you would think of this. Today.”
    As they talked, the captain came down from the top deck and introduced himself. His name was Alex and he was a thirty-something guy from Ukraine. He turned to Brandon. “The paparazzi are aware of our trip.”
    “I’m not worried.”
    “Yes, sir.” Alex smiled. “Ready, then?”
    Brandon nodded. “Definitely.”
    The captain hurried up the stairs again and in no time they were backing out of the slip, headed through the marina toward open sea, leaving the photographers behind them. Motion didn’t usually bother Bailey, but between the craziness of the afternoon and the conversation she still needed to have with him, she quietly prayed she wouldn’t get sick.
    They sat inside, across from each other on separate sofas watching the marina pass by behind them, not saying much. Brandon pointed out the boats belonging to a few other celebrities — yachts much larger than his. “I like getting out here when I want to.” His face looked relaxed, the way she was used to seeing him. “But I definitely couldn’t live on the water.”
    “So you don’t need a floating mansion.” She understood him. The way she had always understood him since the day they met.
    “Exactly.”
    When they cleared the breakwater, the sea grew choppy and Bailey grabbed a handhold anchored to the wall near