His Ex's Well-Kept Secret

by Joss Wood

  “I also need to contact my mom’s relatives. Maybe they have some info on my great-uncle, something to help us understand how he came to own the stones.”

  “That’s a good idea.”

  “Um, so do you want to, uh, maybe come back later and we can look through some more boxes?” Piper asked.

  He wished he could, but Moreau’s Ball was that night, a must-attend event. Yeah, the Moreaus were their closest competitors, but the Ballantynes and the Moreaus had a cordial though competitive relationship. Each Ballantyne sibling had received one of the coveted invitations, and not to attend would be, in Connor’s words, very bad form. Jaeger would love to take Piper as his date; apart from the fact that he enjoyed being with her, he knew she’d enjoy the spectacle of the ball, the elaborate designs and the drama Morgan and Riley Moreau brought to the event.

  But that was impossible. Piper didn’t socialize in those circles, and there would be a lot of speculation about who she was and why she was with him. The press would want to know, and if he didn’t give them the information, they’d go and dig for it. He couldn’t risk anyone finding out about the stones before they sold, and neither did he want anyone digging into Piper’s life. They’d realize she was a single mom, which would raise a dozen more questions, the biggest one being why he would be dating a single mom when he’d told the world, on numerous occasions, he wasn’t the marrying and daddy type.

  God, it would be a nightmare and a headache he didn’t need. No, it was better to keep his relationship—or whatever this was—with Piper a secret for as long as possible.

  “Sorry, Piper, but I have plans. I could come around tomorrow afternoon. I have a breakfast date with my siblings in the morning.”

  “Oh.” He felt her sigh and sensed she wanted to ask what his plans were, whether he was seeing someone else. He braced himself, waiting for the questions.

  Instead of speaking, Piper dropped her head and rested her temple on the ball of his shoulder. “Okay, no worries. I’ll see you if and when I see you.”

  Why was she okay with him dropping in and out of her life? Didn’t she realize that she deserved more, that she had a right to ask for what she wanted? Maybe this loose arrangement was all she wanted...and why did that irritate him?

  He was losing it. Jaeger placed a kiss on her forehead and deliberately pushed his frustration away. “You’re easy to be with, Piper Mills,” he murmured into her hair, his words so low he wasn’t sure if she heard him. “And I still have the morning free.”

  Piper stretched her neck and her lips grazed the underside of his jaw, painting streaks of fire on his skin. He closed his eyes and felt her move away, and he hissed his disappointment. His eyes opened when he felt the bed covers move off his chest and then his thighs, to be replaced with a slim, sexy, fragrant woman.

  Piper straddled his legs, her knees against his hips and her hands on his chest, her happy place an inch away from his. He swelled beneath her and his hands skimmed up the sides of her rib cage, his thumbs swiping across her nipples. Piper’s eyes darkened and her mouth opened, but she didn’t break eye contact.

  She dropped her hips and her heat met his hardness. Jaeger groaned, thinking this was the best type of torture, the sweetest hell. She could spend the next day—year, decade—just sliding up and down his shaft and he would be content to stare into her eyes, wondering what it was about this woman that captured his fascination.

  Oh, her long, slim body was a turn-on, and she was as beautiful without makeup as she was with it. Her hair was soft and silky. He picked up the curl skimming the top of her breast and wound it around his finger. He brushed her nipple with her own hair. Piper shuddered and he watched her, desperately trying to ignore her slick, wet heat sliding across him.

  He wanted to delay this, wanted to slow down and watch her enjoy him. He wanted to figure out what made this woman so different.

  Maybe it was the fleeting emotions flashing in her eyes, which were the exact green of a tsavorite garnet. But the emotions were there and gone before he could identify them. Lust and desire were easy to recognize; she wanted him as much as he wanted her. But behind those feelings he sensed her desire to connect, to push away loneliness, to feel wanted in a nonsexual way.

  He understood.

  Jaeger lifted his hand and cradled her face. As her eyes closed, he watched her turn her face into his hand, seeking more. Yeah, Piper needed tenderness, affection, a connection...

  He couldn’t give it to her.

  She wasn’t asking for a lifetime commitment, Jaeger argued with his inner cynic. All she was silently asking for was a brief moment to pretend this was more than an exchange of pleasure, more than a big bang on a Saturday morning.

  Or is a connection what you want?

  Did he want a different sexual experience that had nothing to do with sex and everything to do with giving and receiving emotion, appreciation, acceptance, affection?

  Jaeger skimmed his thumb across her lower lip. When her eyes connected with his, he saw his need for more—just this one time—reflected in those pure green depths. Unable to resist, he placed his hands on her hips and flipped her under him, holding himself up and away to keep from touching her. He just needed a moment to look at her, to burn the memory of her—so soft, so feminine, so open—into his brain.

  “I need to love you.”

  Dammit, he didn’t mean to say the words out loud.

  Piper gave him a look he couldn’t decipher. Then she linked her arms around his neck and pulled him down so they lay hip to hip, chest to breast. Her legs fell open. He nudged at her opening and groaned, feeling her fiery welcome on his tip.

  He wanted more, he wanted to explore, but Piper lifted her hips and slid onto him, hot and tight. When he tried to pull out, she locked her legs around his hips to hold him in place. She surged upward again, and he was buried so deep inside her that his brain shut down and instinct took over.

  He didn’t need to move. Piper was moving enough for both of them, setting the pace. All he had to do was hold on for the ride. It was a strange experience, letting her take control, but it was massively erotic. With every thrust, she squeezed and he felt the pressure build. He gritted his teeth, willing himself to let her drive, knowing the orgasm she pulled from him would be one of the best of his life.

  He felt her internal muscles contract, heard her intake of breath, and when heat coursed over him, he thrust once, then twice and followed her into a deep blinding light he never wanted to leave.

  * * *

  At the Ninth Street entrance to Prospect Park, Jaeger pushed the handle of Ty’s stroller into her hand, walked over to the hot dog stand and ordered a dog fully loaded. God, he’d already had two bowls of cereal back at her apartment, two cups of coffee and three of Ty’s baby biscuits. She’d forgotten how much men ate. Especially ripped, fit men who burned calories like a hot rocket.

  Piper leaned down and checked on Ty. As she’d suspected, he’d pulled off his beanie, both his shoes and one sock. Piper replaced his footwear and tried to tug his beanie back over his ears. Within five seconds, Ty had it off again and in his mouth. Okay, Piper decided, this was a battle she wasn’t going to win. The hat could stay off, but the socks and baby shoes had to stay on.

  Piper watched as Jaeger lifted his hot dog to his mouth and took an enormous bite. She’d expected him to leave right after they made love, but after a trip to the bathroom, he’d climbed back into bed and wrapped his arms around her. Within a few minutes he’d fallen asleep.

  She woke up around eight. Her bed was empty but her kitchen wasn’t. Jaeger had Ty in his high chair, making buzzing noises as he directed a spoon of yogurt toward Ty’s open mouth. Ty would not eat if his diaper was soggy, so that meant Jaeger had changed him while she slept.

  Any other man, she suspected, would’ve nudged her awake, and told her Ty was awake
and yelling for her—when Ty woke up he immediately demanded company. Any other man would’ve buried his head in the pillow and left her to sort out her son. Not Jaeger Ballantyne; he’d heard Ty, went to him, changed him and fed him breakfast, allowing her another hour of precious sleep.

  If he ever needed a kidney, or blood, she was his girl. Hell, she suspected her heart already belonged to him, anyway. What was another organ or two?

  Every minute she spent with him deepened her connection to him; what a fool she had been for thinking she could stop herself from falling for him. Maybe that was why, in Milan, she’d insisted they not hook up again. She’d subconsciously known they could never be just bed buddies.

  Jaeger was a good guy. In fact, he was one of the best she’d ever known.

  He deserved to know about Ty, to be the dad her father had never been.

  Ty deserved to know him. It wasn’t fair to either of them to keep this a secret.

  So how to tell him? And when?

  Jaeger approached her and lifted up his half-eaten dog. “Want a bite?” he offered.

  Piper shook her head. “God, no. Processed food and carbs and preservatives.”

  Jaeger looked at his hot dog, then at her, and took another enormous bite, his eyes reflecting pure mischief. He chewed and swallowed. “Tastes damn good.”

  “Smells good, too,” Piper reluctantly admitted.

  Jaeger popped the last piece of his third breakfast into his mouth, and they walked into the park, her pushing the stroller with one hand. She loved this park. It was her favorite place to walk or run, with Ty or not. Both she and Ty loved being in the fresh air, and in the summer she’d spent a lot of time lounging on a blanket with Ty in the Long Meadow. She turned her head to watch Jaeger, who was looking around with interest.

  “Have you been here before?” she asked.

  “I’m ashamed to admit I haven’t. It’s stunning.”

  “In summer it’s a riot of green, but I think it’s prettiest in fall, still pretty in winter. A little starker, a little emptier, but...” Piper shrugged, suddenly embarrassed. “I think it’s awesome. I’ve been coming here since I was a kid, so I consider it my personal playground.”

  Ty shouted and Jaeger jumped, his face instantly worried. Piper laughed. “He’s fine. It’s his way of telling me he’s happy to be outside.”

  Jaeger turned around and walked backward, looking at Ty. “He’s missing a sock and a shoe,” Jaeger pointed out.

  Piper stopped the stroller and let out a long sigh. Jaeger bent down and lifted a tiny sock. “The sock is here. One shoe is definitely AWOL.”

  Piper looked back to see if she could find it on the path. There it was, about sixty feet from them. Jaeger spotted it and immediately jogged away to pick it up. When he returned, she tucked it into her tote bag. “I can’t tell you how many shoes I’ve lost in this park.”

  She walked around to the front of the stroller and pulled Ty’s sock back onto his foot, tucking his blanket around his feet to keep him warm. Ty held up his arms and sent her his patented, hard-to-resist, please-pick-me-up smile. Without asking her, Jaeger reached down, popped the button to release his five-strap safety belt and lifted the baby to his chest. Ty sent her a See how irresistible I am? look, happy to perch on Jaeger’s forearm. Jaeger pulled Ty’s blanket from the stroller, draped it over Ty’s shoulders and tucked it under the baby’s butt. Ty just patted Jaeger’s face with tiny, excited hands.

  Jaeger smiled at him. “Happy now?”

  Ty blew him a raspberry and shouted at a pigeon flying past. His hand narrowly missed hitting Jaeger’s nose.

  “He’s happy,” Piper said, her tone dry. “And you’re a sucker.”

  “He’s a very cute kid,” Jaeger said as they resumed their walk.

  “I think so,” Piper softly replied.

  Jaeger ran his free hand down her hair, over her back. “I think you are pretty awesome, you know. You’re raising a kid on your own, and you seem to have it all under control.”

  “I don’t have a choice,” Piper stated. “Life gives you what it gives you, and you have to handle it as best you can.”

  “And his father? Does he have any contact with Ty?”

  She’d dodged this question last night, and here it was again. After Jaeger fell asleep last night, she’d rehearsed answers for when he asked again. All those carefully constructed responses were forgotten as she stared at the pathway in front of her.

  She didn’t know how to tell him the truth.

  “I never told him,” she admitted.

  Jaeger jerked to a stop. She knew that behind his aviator sunglasses, he was frowning. “Why not?”

  Piper rocked on her heels, unable to look into his face. “It’s complicated.”

  Jaeger transferred Ty to his other arm and turned him around so Ty faced the road, Jaeger’s strong arm across the baby’s chest. Ty yelled his approval at his new view, and Jaeger rubbed his chin across the baby’s head.

  How would he react if she blurted out the news that he was holding his son, that he’d provided half Ty’s genes? It still amazed her that nobody could see they shared the same eyes, the same face.

  But if she did blurt it out, everything between them would change immediately. She had a week, maybe two left with him before the sapphires sold. Was it so wrong to want to delay the inevitable so she could enjoy being with him, just for a little while?

  The memories she made now would have to last a lifetime. He’d never see her the same way once he knew.

  She’d tell him. She would. Soon. Just...not today.

  “When my girlfriend told me she was pregnant, I was furious. But under the anger, I was soul-deep scared.”

  It was Piper’s turn to stop, and the stroller jerked when she slammed on the brakes. “You have a child?” She shook her head to clear it, not sure whether her ears were playing tricks on her.

  Jaeger ran his free hand through his hair before shoving his sunglasses on top of his head. His eyes were a shade of blue she’d never seen before—colder, harder, full of pain. “I was twenty-one. She was twenty. I wasn’t as careful about protection as I am now—”

  Piper told herself to keep her mouth shut.

  “I was in college. So was she. Luckily I’d come into some money a few months before—money from a trust my parents set up for us—so I could house and feed us and still attend college.”

  “What did you study?”

  “Geology, gemology, business,” Jaeger replied. “Andrea dropped out and moved in with me, and we got engaged. It was...difficult.”

  Piper watched as his mouth tightened and the tension in his jaw increased. Ty felt it, too, and he immediately twisted his head to look at Jaeger. Jaeger turned Ty around to face him, and Ty immediately dropped his forehead into Jaeger’s neck and closed his eyes.

  Within ten seconds he was asleep.

  “He’s asleep?” Jaeger asked, his eyes wide with surprise. “How does he do that?”

  Piper smiled. “That’s—” she pulled back the your just in time “—my son. Want me to put him back into his stroller?”

  Jaeger shook his head. “I’ll carry him.”

  They resumed walking, and Piper flicked a glance at him. “You were telling me about Andrea?” she prompted him.

  “Yeah.” Jaeger blew out his breath. “One minute we were college students. The next we were about to be parents with no friggin’ idea what we were doing. Andy threw herself into being a stay-at-home mom, spending money and preparing for the baby. It was all she could think about, all she could talk about.”

  “She was excited?”

  “Insanely.” Jaeger’s bottom lip disappeared between his teeth. “Her entire focus became the baby. She couldn’t think about anyone else, even me. I was competing for her affection with our
unborn child and I was losing.”

  “You loved her,” Piper stated.

  “I did. She was my world. Then Jess arrived and we seemed to gel into a family. I was working part-time for the company, still studying, but life was good. Andy was happy being a mom, Jess was amazing and things smoothed out.”

  Jealousy oozed into Piper’s veins. Lucky, lucky, lucky Andrea to be the first and probably only woman to be loved by this amazing man. “What happened?”

  Jaeger placed his hand on Ty’s back, his jaw brushing the top of Ty’s head. “It was a Sunday morning. Andy nursed Jess and put her down in her crib. I went to check on her fifteen, twenty minutes later and she was gone. Just...gone.”

  Piper placed her hand across her mouth, knowing what was coming. “Oh, God.” she murmured. “SIDS?”

  Jaeger nodded. “I tried to resuscitate her, but I knew my efforts were useless.”

  Piper blinked her tears away. What an absolutely horrible thing to have happened. “I’m so sorry, Jaeger.”

  “Yeah. It was rough. Andy fell apart. Our relationship fell apart. Everything fell apart,” Jaeger stated. “It was a very bad time.”

  “Could you not stay together?” Piper asked, hearing the pain in his voice and wishing she could crawl inside him and fix his cracked heart.

  “I tried. For about six months, we tried to go back to what we were, what we had, but she was in a very bad place. Eventually we split up. She went back to live with her folks, and it took her a while to deal with the loss, to conquer the depression.”

  There was still more to this story, Piper thought. “Did you ever see her again?”

  Jaeger nodded. “About four years later, I called her to see how she was doing, and we met up. She told me that she missed me, that she still loved me.”

  “And you still loved her?”

  “Yeah. I wanted her to move in with me, to pick up where we left off, but she refused. She said we had to take it slow, get to know each other again. I hated waiting. I wanted to live with her, be with her. But I was thrilled she was coming back to New York. To me.”