by Alexis Anne
It had been a long seven days waiting to get a chance to look Eve in the eyes and let her know I was back.
I pushed through the heavy metal double doors and into a concrete hallway that led to a set of stairs. I waited patiently as Sam took the large steps one at a time when what I really wanted to do was throw her over my arm and haul butt to the offices.
“Daddy?”
“Yeah Sammy?”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
She mounted the last stair and reached for my hand. “Okay good. You’re happy again?”
I absolutely hated that kids were so perceptive. “Yes.” And then I swept her up into my arms. “I’m sorry you saw me sad, but even moms and dads get sad sometimes. What’s important is that we get happy again.”
“Okay,” she said so matter-of-factly I wondered how much she actually understood. It kind of seemed like she understood everything.
“And no matter how sad I felt, I never stopped loving you or Max or Mommy.”
She grinned and put her little hands on my face. “I know that, Daddy. We all love each other always.”
As hard as Eve had just knocked me with her week away, and Max with her little touches, it was Sam’s words that almost made me cry. Any man who doesn’t feel a tear sting his eyes when his daughter says things like that in his arms is fucking dead inside.
“Exactly baby girl. We all love each other always.”
I took the final few steps to the office door and stepped inside. “We’re here!”
Eve’s head popped up from her laptop. She looked beautiful, as she always did. Her dark hair was down in waves, she wore a Rays polo and jeans, and just enough makeup to enhance her features.
“Momma!” Sam exclaimed, squirming out of my arms.
I didn’t want to let her go so I squeezed her against me and pretended it was a game. “Where do you think you’re going? Mom is still working.”
The woman sitting across the desk stood up and grabbed a large purse off the floor. “Let me get out of your way.”
Eve shot me a small smile and reached out for Sam. “Get over here. This is Miss Linda. Her company is helping me organize a big party for the players and some special fans.”
“Hi Miss Linda,” Sam said sticking out her hand.
Linda laughed and shook it. “I’ll email over the final details. Thanks for staying late.” Then she left.
And I was finally alone with Eve.
She scooped up Sam and babbled about all kinds of things in record time. I just stood on the side and observed it, awkwardly sticking my hands in my pockets because I didn’t know what to do with them.
“Max and Zoe are waiting in the car?” she finally asked when Sam took a breath.
“Yeah, Max fell asleep.”
Eve laughed. It was a beautiful sound. “Of course she did.” It had been a long time since she laughed. That was my fault.
“Did you get a lot done this week?” I asked.
We traded a look. One of those silent conversations lovers have with only their eyes. “Yeah, I did. It was good to have a few days to focus on the team.”
“Me too.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.” My feet were cemented to the floor. I wanted to storm across the room and take Eve in my arms. I wanted to show her exactly how good I was doing, but I stayed right where I was. She needed to hear it first. “I’m not angry anymore.”
She took a very slow, deep breath and then let it out just as slowly. “Really?”
“Really.” I tapped my temple. “Clear as a bell up here.”
She blinked a few times as hope and fear flashed across her delicate features in equal measure.
“Daddy is happy now!” Sam crowed and Eve laughed again.
“Is that so? How do you know Daddy is happy?”
Sam grinned at me, then leaned in to whisper in Eve’s ear. I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but whatever it was made Eve smile. Her grin grew until she was fighting off a fit of giggles. It was probably a good thing my little girl decided to come to my defense. Kids were natural truth serum. It would be pretty hard to deny anything she said.
“Okay then…” Eve drawled. Then she closed the gap between us. “Kiss me.”
So I did. I kissed the crap out of her, all while Sam sang a silly song about love and marriage. How did she even know that song? Wasn’t she still too young for that?
“What did she say?” I asked between kisses.
Eve shrugged and kissed me again. “Just that you’ve been smiling all week. And that you played Lego Batman with her on the Xbox.”
“Is that all?” It didn’t seem like such a big deal to me. Sure, smiling was a good sign, and playing with the girls was a great step in the right direction, but Eve seemed absolutely giddy about my transformation.
“She also said,” she kissed me one last time before pulling back to look into my eyes, “that you baked chocolate chip cookies.”
“I did. Used your recipe and everything.” And they’d turned out amazing, if I do say so myself.
“You’re happy?” she asked again.
“Mommy!” Sam sighed. “We all told you already. Daddy is Daddy again. Can we go to the beach house now?”
Wasn’t it amazing how simple the world was to a six year old? Maybe if it had been that simple to me I wouldn’t have wasted so many months.
“Yeah, let’s go,” Eve said with a genuine smile that made my chest expand.
RELIEF ONLY LASTED the length of the drive from the stadium to the house. Greg was waiting for me inside. He had two plane tickets to Maine. Purchased by my wife. We didn’t speak to each other over dinner.
Nope. I waited until bedtime.
“What the hell is this?” I asked, holding up the paper with our receipts.
She took a deep breath and squared off with me. “You cannot possibly leave things with the Senator hanging for the rest of your life. You’re not angry anymore, so now it’s time to patch things up and move the fuck on.”
“But I don’t get a say in the matter? This has been decided for me?” Eve had done some crazy things before, but sending me away like this was a new one.
“You can say no.”
I laughed. “Right…”
“No, really. You can. You can say no and I will totally accept your decision. However—”
“Uh huh, exactly. This is where you tell me that you’ll accept my decision, but you won’t like it and I’m wrong. So basically I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t.”
If she could have shot fireballs at me with her eyes, she would have. That’s how angry she got. Instead she just glared at me and fisted her hands at her sides—probably to stop from hitting me upside the head.
“Do not make me out to be manipulative. I’m not intentionally being manipulative. I’m laying out a course of action and strongly suggesting you take it!”
I held out my hands. “How is that any different from manipulation?”
“It just is!” she yelled. “Jake, you’ve been a miserable zombie. I had a feeling a week apart would knock some sense into you, and it did. I’m grateful to see it. But it doesn’t tie up all the loose ends. And,” she sighed and raked her hand through her long hair, “I want this to end. Now. All of it. Whether you and the Senator makeup or decide to cut ties forever, I support your decision fully. But shit or get off the pot.”
I fought a smile. “Shit or get off the pot?”
She blushed. “Yeah?”
“Okay.” I sure as fuck didn’t like being blindsided and I hated feeling like Eve went behind my back, but I knew she’d done it from a good place in her heart.
And as much as I wanted to forget the entire McKinley family, she was right. It would haunt me until I dealt with it. Better to do it now and get back to our lives than wait.
“Okay?”
“Don’t ever do that again,” I warned, but gently. I honestly wasn’t mad. It was more u
nsettling than anything else.
“I won’t.” Then she grinned and pushed up onto her toes as she padded across the thick carpet. She stopped in front of me and looked up, biting her lip. “Want to kiss and makeup? I’ll let you be in charge of my punishment.”
We never kept score or used sex as payment, but we did play games in the bedroom. Makeup pretend punishment sex could be fun, for sure, but not now. Not when we were barely speaking to each other.
“How about we just makeup? Save the games for later?”
Her grin widened. “I’ll go first.” She went for my belt, loosening the notch, then whipped it free. “I’m sorry I manipulated you.” My cock ignored her words and focused on her touch.
No words were needed as she dug inside my pants. No words at all. The only thing that mattered was being with Eve. All of me.
13
EVE
“He’s doing good,” Greg said. He was calling me in secret from the airport bathroom. “He’s grumpy as fuck, but that’s nothing new lately. I hope this works. I’m the grouchy pain in the ass. That’s my role. I like my role. Having to give it to Jake and be the happy nice guy is killing me.”
I could picture him squirming. I made a face at his fiancée, Marie, and rolled my eyes. “That’s not what Marie has been telling me. She says you love being nice.”
Her mouth fell open and she glared at me, mouthing, “You’ll pay for that.”
I shrugged. Greg grunted and fidgeted. “Whatever. I’ve gotta run, but we made it, he’s fine. I’ll have him call you when we’re done.”
“Sounds good.”
I took a minute to reply to Jake’s text. We’d agreed that he could text since it was less stressful than trying to find words when his mind was so clearly fixated on something else. Good luck. Love you. xo
“Thanks for giving up your man for the weekend,” I said as I tossed the phone to the side.
Marie shrugged. “It’s only one night. No big deal.”
But it was. They were getting married in a month and her family was a bear, so she was doing it virtually in secret. She didn’t need a last minute trip to add to her load. “How’s the wedding coming?”
That got me a smile. “Everything is done. Natalie and her father fly in three days before, Greg’s family is coming the same night, and you’re all here already.”
They were getting married at the Don Cesar, on the beach, with a relaxed clambake themed reception. It was going to be small, personal, and a little bit extravagant. Marie had never been married to her daughter’s father and Greg had never gotten the opportunity to marry his first fiancée before she died. The fact that Greg and Marie were getting married at all was huge, and they wanted to honor everything that it meant.
“It’s going to be beautiful.” I smiled.
“I think so. It’s perfect for us.” She reached over to the coffee table where my wedding album was still laying open from when she’d flipped through it earlier. “Yours was huge.”
I nodded. “It was. But not nearly as large as my sister’s.”
June started laughing from the kitchen. “Oh my god. Cassandra’s wedding was insane. Like, royalty insane.” She set a tray of cheese and crackers on the coffee table and plopped down between us. “If I ever get married I want a justice of the peace and a courthouse.”
“If?” I asked, arching a protective big sister eyebrow at her.
She shrugged. “Yeah, if. I’m young, I’ve got an awesome career, and a full life ahead of me. If a man wants in on this he better be amazing. I have doubts anyone can compete.”
Marie covered her laugh with her hand, then reached out the other for a fist bump. “Right on, sister.”
June nodded. “See? She waited until Greg. Greg’s awesome. Imagine if she’d settled before she met Greg?”
“Greg’s only awesome if you get Greg,” Marie cautioned. “He’s a perfect example of there’s someone for everyone.”
“True,” I agreed. “Marie is perfect for Greg and he’s become the perfect man for her. I swear I don’t know what magic mojo you put in his Knob Creek.”
Marie blushed. “I didn’t do anything except give him the opportunity to be himself.” Then she gave me a pointed look.
I gave her one right back. We’d had a few conversations about the challenges of falling in love with complicated men. “Touché.”
June looked back and forth between us. “Is she saying Jake is weird?”
My sister lacked the filter that was supposed to exist between her brain and her mouth. “Yes. He’s mine. He’s my weirdo.”
June scrunched up her face. “He’s perfect. What on earth are you talking about?”
Maybe he was perfect, but he was also unique. Not everyone liked unique. In fact, it seemed like most people preferred normal, and Jake and Greg were definitely not normal guys.
“June Bug, you have rose colored glasses on. Greg is a crass pain in the ass who needs people around him to soften the blow.”
Marie nodded emphatically. “Eve handles the big sister roll. She tells him like it is and smacks him around when he needs it. I, on the other hand, am the woman who loves him. It’s my job to make sure he relaxes and enjoys life. Kind of like Eve does for Jake.”
“Jake’s a workaholic without me,” I agreed. “He would bury himself in work and be a cranky old man if it wasn’t for me.”
June shrugged just as Cassandra flopped down on the other side of me. “I’m exhausted. If I ever say a baby is cute, smack me.”
She had just gotten to the most sacred level of motherhood: all three kids were in elementary school, when she got pregnant with Easton. “Naw, I’ll just send Max and Sam up to tear your house apart. That’ll fix you.”
She grimaced. “I knew it would be hard to go back to diapers and exhaustion, but damn. It’s harder now than ever.”
I patted her head. “At least you have us.”
She nodded. “Did I hear you guys giving June advice about marriage?”
June snorted. “More like scaring me away from it forever.”
Cassandra rolled her eyes. “Great job.”
“What?” June laughed. “You’re dead tired, Eve is stressed, and Marie is a handler. I will take my single carefree life and run.”
But you’ll be lonely, sister dear. I would never say it to her, and neither would Marie or Cassandra, but as I looked at them, I saw the same thoughts in their eyes: it’s work, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
I CHEWED on my lower lip as I paced back and forth at Tampa International Airport. They’d landed fifteen minutes ago and sat at the front of business class. They should be here any minute.
Bright light filtered in and the voices of hundreds of hurried travelers filled the air, sounding more like a rushing stream of water than individual voices.
It sounded a lot like my head, actually. At least for the last few weeks. Things had gotten progressively louder and more chaotic to the point I could barely focus. And then, all of a sudden, that was nothing but a memory.
Jake smiled the moment he saw me and everything else vanished. There was no noise, no light. No one else existed. For a few brief moments the world tilted, then it righted, and everything was the way it should be again. He strode toward me in long, fast strides, taking me in his arms so fast that he swept me off the ground.
“I love you,” he rumbled.
I squeezed his neck so damn tight. “I love you, too.”
He didn’t set me down. Instead he held me close, rubbing his nose along mine. “I’m back. All of me.”
My damn lip started trembling as all my fears hit me at once. “You are?”
He nodded quickly, then kissed me once on the lips. “Yeah. You were right. I needed to see him face to face. We had too many things left unsaid.”
“No more doubts?”
He shook his head. “Out of my system.”
“Can you set me down?” He frowned, but did it. I took his face in my hands, needing to feel his scruf
f against my palms.
He turned and kissed my hand. “Let’s get back to our family.”
Oh…when he said things like that…I wanted to give that man a thousand babies. He made fatherhood sound like the sexiest thing ever.
Luckily Greg cleared his throat and brought us both back to reality. “Uh, can you guys save the humping for when you get home? I’ve been with ‘overly-grumpy-asshole Jake’ and ‘way-too-happy-to-get-home Jake’. I need space and my woman.”
I peeked around Jake. “I’m going to tell Marie you called her that.”
He grinned like the caveman he secretly was. “She knows.” He winked. “And she likes it.”
I stuck my tongue out at him, even if we did have it coming. Greg had caught us in far too many compromising kisses. And positions. Jake shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t know what to do with us, so I went around him and gave Greg a great big giant hug.
“Thanks for this.”
He looked away with the telltale sign of a blush. Greg was a big old softie underneath it all. “Anytime,” he grumbled. “You know that.” Then he punched Jake in the arm—most likely to counteract all the feelings. Jake punched him back.
And just like that, we were back to normal.
I GOT the details of Jake’s trip over date night. Date night was also naked date night. It was also naked date in bed with cocktails and pizza on the porch. Have I mentioned lately how much I love my husband? Because I do. He totally gets me. Sure I love a nice night out just the two of us all dressed up. I love expensive food and dancing. But I also love the simplicity of being naked and alone with good food and my best friend. The girls were at the beach house with my sisters and Zoe, so we had our house all to ourselves for a change.
“So you agreed to the same deal Adam and Elizabeth have?” I almost choked on my slice of pepperoni, mushroom, pepper, onion, spinach, and basil.
This was…unexpected. Yeah, I was going with unexpected (because “Holy shit are you insane” was not the helpful response.)
He smiled and his gorgeous dimple lit up his face. “I did. It felt right. After we explained and I yelled, Rose came in and we did it all over again. Then we sat down and really talked.”
