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  Since I’m closest to the side of the room with the window, the sun greets me first. I open my eyes and look over at Jade. She’s on her back, still sleeping peacefully, her long blonde strands splayed out in a halo around her gorgeous face. It seems cliché to say she looks angelic, but that’s all I can think of looking down at her resting.

  I watch as she fidgets and breathes softly in her sleep. I wish this was the way I woke up every morning, with her by my side. This young woman with the fiery attitude came into my life and turned it upside down in the best way. She helps get me through the long days at work and helps take my mind off the everyday pressure I’m under on a regular basis. While I initially thought her reason for approaching me in the alley was nonsense, I’m now grateful she thought I could be such a creep. Otherwise, there’s no guarantee our paths would have crossed.

  Our relationship is fulfilling even without the sex, but with the new addition our chemistry is off the charts. I can’t stop myself from leaning over and kissing her forehead.

  Her eyes flutter for a moment before opening. Her gaze locks on me and a smile spreads across her face.

  “Morning,” she says.

  I push a loose strand of hair from her face and kiss her again, this time on the lips. “I didn’t mean to wake you,” I say. “You were just too beautiful to pass up.”

  She shakes her head and stretches, raising her arms above her head. “It’s fine. I’m sure it’s time for me to get up and get a move on anyway. I’m not sure what time Magdalene and Jacob are returning home and I have some chores to do and a few errands to run first.”

  “No,” I say, dropping my head back on the pillow. “You can’t leave. I’ll pay you twice what she’s paying you so you can be my nanny.”

  Her body shakes with laughter and I watch her now bare breasts bounce freely.

  “You are a character, you know that? I know you have work you are dying to get back to. Some contract that needs signing or some meeting that needs to be held.”

  I shake my head and wrap a few strands of her hair around my finger. “You’re all I have on my schedule today, tomorrow and every day in the near future.”

  She turns to face me and places a hand on my cheek before kissing me. “You say all the right things at all the right times.”

  “I just tell the truth,” I say. “I don’t want to spend a second away from you unless I absolutely have to.”

  She drops her hand and kicks off the rest of the sheets. “Well, unfortunately, you have to spend some time away from me today. You know you have to share me with Jacob, but I promise I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”

  “All right,” I say, sitting up in the bed, resting my back against my leather headboard. “But let’s at least take a bath together before you go.”

  She sits up and kisses me on the shoulder. “A nice hot bath sounds perfect.”

  I slide out of bed naked and head to the bathroom. “You wait right there while I get everything together.”

  She nods and winds her hair, tying it into a knot on the top of her head. Walking into the newly remodeled bathroom, I start pushing buttons on the panel I had installed for the Jacuzzi tub.

  Hot water shoots from the jets and starts to quickly fill the deep soaker tub. I add a scoop of my favorite muscle-relaxing bath salt to the water before grabbing two large bath towels for us to use afterwards.

  Poking my head out the bathroom door, I call to her, “I’m ready for you.”

  Jade slides out the bed and saunters over to me, effortlessly sexy. She enters the bathroom and points at the panel on the wall. “I saw that thing flashing last night and wondered what it’s for.”

  I walk over to the panel and push a few buttons to demonstrate all the bells and whistles. “I love having things automated and ready to go at the push of a button. I have my house in the Hills wired in a similar fashion. It takes the guess work out of everything, plus I like the sleek look it gives a room.”

  She nods and reaches down to test the water. “It feels perfect,” she says.

  “Go ahead and get in,” I say, holding her hand as she steps into the tub and slowly sits down. She bites her bottom lip as she cranes her neck to watch me climb in behind her.

  “See something you like?” I ask.

  She turns and quickly closes the distance between us before pressing her lips against mine. “I sure do,” she says. “But first, let’s get clean.”

  She grabs the soap and loofah sponge, working up a soapy lather. “Turn around so I can wash your back first.”

  I turn around and let her gently wash my body. Part of me wants to keep the scent of her on my skin, but the other part longs to feel her soft touch all over my body. I don’t know what came over me asking her to bathe together. Actually, I do. It was an act of desperation. I would have done and said anything to keep her from leaving. Who am I?

  Jade takes her time with the loofah, covering every inch of me in suds before gathering several handfuls of water and splashing it on me to help rinse away the soap.

  “All right, Ms. Sinclair, it’s your turn,” I say.

  She turns around and I take my time washing her body clean.

  “Are you always like this?” she asks.

  “Like what?”

  She shrugs her shoulders and sighs. “I don’t know exactly. Are you always so… attentive?”

  I think for a moment, briefly skimming through my last few relationships. “I try to give women what I think they want, but no, I don’t think women would describe me as attentive. Are you usually this perfect?”

  She shakes her head and gives me what sounds like a laugh and a snort combined. “I’m far from perfect,” she says.

  “You’re perfect for me, and that’s all I really care about,” I say, wrapping my arms around her as I pull her into my body. Her head rests on my chest as we soak in the tub.

  “This feels too good to be true,” she sighs. “I feel like I’m living in a fairy tale and something has to go wrong to bring me back down to reality. I hate to be a downer, but it’s like I’m waiting for it all to come crashing down around me when I least expect it.”

  “No,” I say, running my hands down her body. “I don’t want you thinking like that. Why can’t this be your fairy tale? This is whatever you want it to be. Believe me.”

  The last sentence is a plea, because I know there are things she doesn’t know about me. Things that could change the way she feels about me in an instant. I can’t find the way to tell her what I don’t want her to know, and in some ways, I’m hoping I never have to. I want to be the man she thinks I am, so if I can delay what her intuition is warning her about just to enjoy a few more moments in her fairy tale, I’m happy to.

  “I do believe you,” she says. “I really do.”

  A pang of guilt waves through me, but washes away as fast as the suds when she leans into my touch. We sit in the tub talking and laughing for over an hour. With the press of a button, I reheat the water several times to extend our comfort. I make it my business to keep Jade with me in this moment for as long as I possibly can. When she doesn’t object, I’m certain she doesn’t want the moment to end just like me. It’s by far the most intimate moment of my adult life, yet there’s nothing uncomfortable about it. Everything with Jade is effortless.

  Chapter 19

  JADE

  TIME IS SUCH a funny thing. It comes and goes as it pleases, totally unaware as to how it affects the people who design their lives around it. On one hand, whenever I spend a couple of hours with Asher time flies by so fast. If I didn’t know any better I’d swear it was working against us and speeding up when I’m not looking. On the other hand, those same two hours spent doing anything else, whether it’s cooking, cleaning or being otherwise occupied with Jacob, seem to work at a complete standstill as time creeps by at a snail’s pace.

  I used to stay home on my days off reading books and doing unnecessary housework, but after meeting Asher, I prefer to spend all my free
time with him. One thing I truly love is the fact that there’s never a dull moment with him. Even the dates we’ve spent at his place cuddling, sipping wine and watching TV have been eventful. We have been out together several times now, and luckily no two evenings are the same. I thought my life was pretty good before, but I can wholeheartedly say Asher is the cherry on top.

  I glance down into the stroller at a sleeping Jacob. He’s been napping since we got in the car to begin our adventure for the day. I love our weekly outings because they help give us both a needed change of scenery, but this little trip to the zoo is turning out to be a major fail. I thought this would be fun for us, and more importantly it would help keep my mind off Asher for a little while, but it’s turning out to be useless. Jacob’s extended nap has put a damper on my plans, and so far all I’ve done is push him around the crowded zoo. I could have just taken him to the park if he was going to be such a sleepyhead.

  I’ll wake him up when we get close to the elephant exhibit. I know he’ll perk up once he sees his favorite toy alive and moving about.

  Imaging the way his eyes will light up brings a smile to my lips. Just then, my cell phone vibrates in my pocket, interrupting my happy moment, and I reach for it, hoping it’s Asher.

  I wonder if he can get free for an hour or two and come to the zoo for a little impromptu date.

  Unfortunately, it’s not Asher, and the disappointment makes my heart sink a little. Rachel’s name flashes across the screen and I debate answering her at all. I know she’s going to be upset that we haven’t talked in a while.

  “Hello?”

  “Oh my God, Jade! I was just about to hang up and call your parents,” says Rachel.

  I walk over to a covered bench and take a seat. Anything dealing with Rachel is a “sit-down” type of conversation.

  “Why on Earth would you call them?” I ask, turning the stroller around to face me so I can watch Jacob, who’s still snoring peacefully without a care in the world.

  “I thought you were dead or something,” she says. “I haven’t heard from you in weeks and we haven’t seen each other in over two months!”

  I laugh and shake my head at her theatrics. My schedule has always been busy, but with Asher stealing away all my free time I guess my best friend has gotten the shaft a little more than usual as of lately. After years of knowing her, I certainly don’t expect anything less than her exaggeration.

  “Well, here I am, alive and well, so there’s no need to call in the cavalry. Go ahead and fill me in on everything. What’s been going on with you lately?”

  “Oh no, I didn’t call so we could talk about me. You tell me what’s been going on with you. What’s got you pulling a disappearing act on me? You’ve got something going on, I just know it. You’ve seen my texts and missed calls, don’t tell me you haven’t.”

  She’s right, I did see all her calls and messages, but Rachel is worse than a veteran police detective searching for the missing piece to an unsolved mystery. She knows when someone is hiding something from her and I don’t want to be subjected to the third degree. I’m not very good at lying. I can do it, but I really don’t like to. Plus, I’m not sure what to say about Asher and what we have going on just yet. I haven’t even worked through how I feel so I’m not ready to share anything with Rachel.

  “I’ve just been busy,” I say, skirting around the question, while silently reminding myself that is the truth. “You know, the older Jacob gets, the busier he gets, so I spend a lot more time chasing after him.”

  “Yeah sure,” says Rachel, her voice thick with disbelief. “That accounts for some of the time, but not all of it. I used to be a nanny, I know exactly how active kids his age can be. A busy baby isn’t taking up that much time, so spill it.”

  I sigh, and decide to go ahead and tell her. She has an uncanny way of chipping away the layers of a person until they relent and give in to her demands. I’d rather break the news myself than be tricked into revealing too much.

  “Well, there’s this guy,” I begin.

  “What!” she screams. “You met a guy and didn’t tell me? I thought I was your best friend and you’re over there keeping secrets!”

  “It’s not like you think,” I say. “I haven’t been seeing him very long, so there’s really not much to tell. We’re still getting to know each other, you know how that goes. Slow and steady wins the race, right?”

  “Bullshit,” Rachel huffs. “Don’t you dare think you’re going to blow smoke up my ass and downplay this situation. I’ve known you long enough to know when there’s more to a story than that. For whatever reason, you always start avoiding me when you really like someone. It’s not like I’m going to run a background check on him or something.”

  I roll my eyes and find a comfortable storytelling position. “Right, like you did the last time?”

  “In my defense,” Rachel begins, “Eric was awful and he deserved to have someone poking around in his background. You should be thanking me for helping you dodge that bullet.”

  “Thank you,” I say with sarcasm. “I don’t think that will be necessary with this one, though.”

  “Go on,” she says intrigued. “Tell me everything.”

  “Well, I met this guy outside my building and he asked me out. I figured I’d give it a shot and go on a date instead of staying home reading. So far, all the dates have been great and I’m just having a little fun.”

  There. Short, sweet and to the point. I didn’t even have to lie. I was just very selective about which details were necessary.

  “Nope,” says Rachel. “That’s not enough backstory. I know there’s more. What’s his name? Where does he work? Does he have kids? Send me a picture, I know you have one.”

  There’s the Rachel I know and love. This is exactly what I have been avoiding, and a small part of me feels justified in my decision to keep the details under wraps.

  “His name is Asher, he owns his own business, he doesn’t have kids and I absolutely will not send you a picture of him,” I say, carefully measuring everything I say so as not to reveal too much.

  “Damn it, Jade,” she snaps. “None of that is interesting. Where are the juicy bits? Why all the secrecy? Oh my goodness… is he married? That’s it, isn’t it? You’re keeping a low profile because he’s married, aren’t you? I totally understand, but c’mon, you can tell me, you know I won’t say anything, and I certainly won’t judge you.”

  I groan loudly into the phone. “He is not married, and you know me well enough to know I’d never share a man,” I remind her. “I’m not being secretive, I’m being private for the time being. If we get serious, I promise you’ll be the first person I call.”

  “Fine,” she finally says. “I’m going to hold you to that, but based on your behavior and the fact that you have completely blown me off for this guy for weeks, I’d say you’re heading to serious street.”

  “Right now we’re just circling the block and having a little fun,” I say.

  Jacob squirms around in his seat and I know that’s the beginning stage of his waking up process.

  “Listen, I’m at the zoo with Jacob and there are a few more exhibits I want to see before we head back home.”

  “All right, Jade. You take care of yourself and don’t scare me with another disappearing act. The very least you can do is respond to my text messages,” says Rachel. “Or next time I’ll show up with the SWAT team at that swanky place you live.”

  “I promise to do better about returning your calls, especially since I know you’re serious about the SWAT team,” I giggle. “Talk to you later, bye.”

  I end the call and shove the phone back into my pocket. Jacob is awake and squirming now, staring at me with those intense green eyes of his.

  “Why hello, sleepyhead,” I say, rising to my feet. “Now that you’re up, let’s go see some animals before it gets too dark.”

  I ruffle his hair and head to the elephant exhibit. As soon as I turn the corner, the beautiful anima
ls come into view. I pull the stroller to the fenced-in compound and kneel next to Jacob.

  “Let’s get you out of this thing so you can see, buddy,” I say, unhooking his straps.

  Hoisting him into the air, I hold him against my hip. “Look Jacob,” I say, pointing to the elephants through the fence.

  He excitedly blows spit bubbles and bounces up and down as soon as he spots them.

  I’m lucky he’s such a good baby. It doesn’t take much to keep this kid happy, and that smile is the greatest reward.

  My phone rings again and I reach into my pocket to grab it.

  I need to assign Asher a special ringtone so I can stop getting my hopes up for nothing.

  “It’s your mommy calling, let’s see what she wants.”

  “Hello?”

  While I’m sure it’s Magdalene’s voice on the other end of the line, I can’t make out what she’s saying. I ease Jacob back into the stroller so I can free up my other hand, and give my undivided attention to the phone call.

  “Slow down, Magdalene, I can’t understand you,” I say.

  What I do understand is that she’s sobbing and completely incoherent.

  “Take a few deep breaths,” I coach her.

  There’s a break in the crying for a moment and I try yet again to figure out what’s going on.

  “Now, slowly, tell me what’s wrong. Why are you so upset?”

  “Heath and I just had a fight,” says Magdalene.

  Okay, what else is new? You could have waited for me to come home to tell me that.

  “Is everything okay?” I ask, feigning interest and concern.

  “He threatened to take the condo away. I’m going to lose everything and be out on the street!” she cries, starting to sob again.

  Shit. Things must have gotten heated for him to threaten to take the condo away. He usually doesn’t go that far.

  “Wow! What happened to make him say something like that?”

  “That’s just it,” she says. “Nothing happened. One minute everything was fine and the next he was trying to pick a fight with me for no reason. I think he wants to put me out just so he can move another woman in here. I’m not sure if I told you, but I found lipstick on his collar a few days ago.”