“He’s adorable. Looks like you,” Lena says.
I open my mouth to correct her, then think better of it. No need to embarrass someone I’ll never see again. “Thanks. He’s a great kid.”
“Seems like it. Carleigh is usually very shy but she’s warmed right up to him.”
We watch the two splash and laugh in the surf. A twinge shoots through me at Aiden’s effortless smile, so much like his brother’s. “He has a great role model.”
“That’s wonderful. It’s so important at this stage in their lives. Kids are everything, right?”
I stare back toward the waves. “Yeah.”
Kids.
“I’m running out of time, Sienna. You know I’ve always wanted a son.”
“I’m pregnant with my second. I know, they’ll be seven years apart, but we really wanted a sibling for Carleigh.”
I force a smile through the clench in my stomach. “Yeah? Congratulations.”
“Are you planning to have more?”
I clear my throat. “Um. No, that’s not in the cards.”
Maybe this awkward silence will finally shut down the painful conversation.
“Can you blame him, sweetheart? He deserves to be happy too.”
I squeeze my eyes shut.
“Marjorie’s pregnant.”
“I’m hungry. We brought food, right?”
I squint up into the dripping, shadowed face of an eight-year-old boy. “We did. One sec.”
“Mommy, Aiden said he’s going to have ice cream. Can we too?” the little girl asks Lena.
Lena chuckles and hands her daughter a bottle of water. “Drink this and let’s put some more sunscreen on. I’ll talk to Aiden’s mommy about that.”
“Oh, she’s not my mom,” Aiden says, shoving half a granola bar in his mouth.
Uh-oh.
Lena’s eyes change, her gaze passing between us. “I’m sorry?”
“Sienna is friends with my brother,” he continues through his snack. He dusts the remaining crumbs off his hands. “Will you go in the water with me, Sienna?”
Shit. Those eyes, but my breathing fractures just at the suggestion.
“Thank you, Aiden. I think I’ll just watch though.”
“Please, Sienna? Pleeeease?”
“That’s what you get for going in the water. I told you the waves would drag you under. You never listen to me.”
My limbs start to tingle. “I’m sorry. I can’t.”
“I’ll go in with you!” Carleigh says. “Please, Mommy?”
“Sure,” Lena says. “Come here so I can check your life vest. And remember no deeper than your knees.”
Carleigh nods and eagerly follows her guide back to the ocean once Lena is satisfied.
“Oh my gosh, Sienna. I’m so sorry about assuming Aiden was your son.”
I force a smile. “No, it’s fine. I should have corrected you, but I didn’t want to make things awkward.”
“More awkward than now?” she laughs.
I try to join her. “Right.”
“So friends with his brother?” Her brow lifts, and I draw in a deep breath.
“His brother is significantly older. He looks out for Aiden and needed help today, that’s all.”
That’s all? Jace’s smile flashes before my eyes. There’s a twenty-three-year-old missing from this scene, and I feel it deep in my gut.
“Aw, you’re a family friend. That’s kind of you.”
“It’s not a sacrifice. Like I said, Aiden’s a great kid.” My phone buzzes, and my pulse picks up at the name on the screen. “Excuse me,” I say to Lena and push myself up from the sand. I walk several paces away and answer.
“Jace?”
“Hey, Sienna. How’s everything going?”
“Good. Aiden’s having a blast. He even made a new friend.”
Jace’s gentle laugh goes straight to my stomach. “Sounds about right.”
“He’s as charming as his brother, apparently.”
“Oh yeah?”
I wish I could see the smile in his voice. “How’s the construction job going?”
He sighs. “Fine, I guess. Just thought I’d check in while we’re on break.”
“No need to worry about us.”
“I wasn’t worried.”
My heart hammers at his intimate tone. “No? So why the phone call?”
“Maybe I just wanted to hear your voice.”
I close my eyes. Pull in a lungful of humid air. “I’m glad you did.”
“Hey! You done?” A voice shouts in the background. “Get your ass over here!”
And the spell is broken.
“Duty calls,” he grunts. “Tell Aiden I said hi and to be respectful or he’ll hear it from me later.”
“I will. Take care of yourself, okay?” There’s more emotion in my voice than I intended, and Jace quiets for a moment.
“I’ll be fine. Just… thanks for watching out for Aiden.”
“Of course. Jace?”
“Yeah?”
“Who watches out for you?”
No response. My chest tightens again.
“I have to go. I’ll call you later.”
Per our arrangement, I take Aiden back to my place to wait for Jace. I still can’t comprehend a mother who’d lose track of her little boy. Then again, based on what she allows her older son to endure, I guess we should be grateful her only crime is ignorance. Aiden seems well-fed, happy, and all-around healthy so I have no reason to believe the abuse extends to him. I hate that Jace has to shield his brother, but I’m starting to understand his situation.
I’ve already fed Aiden and turned him loose on the TV when Jace shows up around dinner time. He looks exhausted, and I try to keep my concern to myself.
“Thanks again. I can’t tell you how much it means to me,” he says.
“We had a great time.” I search his face, his tired eyes. “Why don’t you come in and rest? I have food left from dinner.”
“Thank you, but you’ve already done so much for us.”
“Please?” I reach up and rest my hand on his cheek, forcing him to look at me. “Just a little food. Aiden’s fine.”
I brush my lips lightly over his. His eyes lock on mine when I pull away, and I’m struck by the most captivating blue-green abyss. I was wrong about Paradise.
“I guess a quick bite wouldn’t hurt. Where’s the little man?”
I point down the hall to the living room. “Watching TV. Go say hi and relax. I’ll heat something up for you.”
“Thanks, Sienna. Really.” He leans in for another torturous kiss on the cheek.
I trap his face in my hands, run my thumb over his lips. Want. My other hand scales his chest and tightens into hard muscle. He pulls in a breath, and we both glance down the hall.
Want.
“Come back later?” I whisper.
“Absolutely.”
Jace barely makes it through the door before he kicks it closed and shoves me against it. I gasp out his name as he rips at my shirt and drags it over my head. His lips devour my skin, and oh how I need his as well. I tug his t-shirt off, watch the guitar pick on the chain he wears fall back between perfectly sculpted pecs. Sun-kissed and ink-marked, his naked body propels me into desperation. I yank on his belt buckle, as much to free it as to feel him against my hips. It’s too much. My blood pounds, streaks searing flames through my body.
Want. So much want. I’m about to implode.
He helps with his belt, and I pull open the zipper of his jeans. Closer. Not close enough. I kiss down his abs as he braces against the wall. Dark boxer briefs are the last barrier, but this isn’t how I want him. No, I want more.
I drag him down the hall and shove him on the couch. He falls back, that sexy smirk wrecking me. I straddle his hips, sinking hard to invite every inch of him to the connection. His smirk disappears, replaced by a hunger I know well, a hunger that’s crushing me too. I lean down and take his mouth, his tongue, threading my hands
in his hair as I rock against him. Sex with Joe was an act. With Jace, it’s primal need.
“What do you want?” he breathes, moving with a rhythm that explodes heat in my belly.
“I’m past that,” I groan, pressing my fingers into his shoulders. “I need.”
“Need?”
“You.”
He grins, and I take his mouth again. Reach down to peel away the last barrier between us.
“Wait. In my pocket—”
“I don’t care. Are you clean?”
“Yeah.”
“Me too. Please. I want all of you.” I trace his beautiful face. “Need it.”
He searches my eyes, fingers running over my neck down my bare chest. “You’re a gift, Sienna Porter. You know that?”
Tears burn with emotion behind my eyes.
You’re a gift.
I suck in a ragged breath, lean in, and give him everything.
“What are we going to do?” I glance up from my place on his chest to wait for his response.
“About what?”
“This. Us.” I run my fingers over his lips as they curve into a smile.
“Us?”
I look away. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“I like it.”
“What?”
“Us.”
My gaze shoots back to his. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
Can your entire body smile? I nestle into him again, treasuring the way his arms tighten around me. He brushes the hair back from my face, fingertips tickling the sensitive skin of my neck. I’d do anything to stay here forever.
“Tell me about your tattoo,” I say, tracing the pattern over his chest and shoulder.
“You like it?”
“I love it.” Beautiful and haunting, there’s a poetry to the design that tells one cohesive story made up of several interlocking images.
“It’s a song called ‘Interview with the Sun.’”
“Wait, I know that one! It’s kind of a play on Icarus, right? Except the guy is intentional about flying toward the sun even though he knows it might kill him.”
Jace nods, a small smile spreading over his lips. “It’s a great song.”
“It really is. It was popular a while ago though. You would’ve been a kid. I kind of remember rocking out to that one in college.”
He laughs. “Yeah, I guess I was. Don’t worry. I didn’t get the tattoos until I was twenty-one.”
“So you like the classics, huh. You like your music how you like your women?” I tease, raising a brow in challenge.
“Yep. Classy, deep, intelligent, and beautiful,” he says, not missing a beat.
I grin and reach up for a thank-you kiss. “Did Aiden mention anything about our trip today?”
“Talked about it all night. He had a great time.”
“Yeah? What did your mom say?”
I feel the muscles in his shoulders contract. “Nothing really. She asked who you were. I said a friend of mine and that was the end of it.”
“I’m sorry.”
A veil drifts over his face. “She’s not a bad person. She never recovered from my father’s death. Louis was…” The veil hardens into something darker. “A copout.”
“Meaning?”
“He had money, his own business. He offered her an easy life. He basically lets her live in her own fantasy and doesn’t ask much of her in return. As long as he gets what he wants.”
“Which is what?”
“Control, as far as I can tell. The illusion of a perfect family for his little kingdom. That’s why we clash so much. Mom and Aiden are supposed to be his now, but I’m standing in the way. King Louis doesn’t like that.” The bitterness is unmistakable now. “He bought us, right?” His eyes flash, gaze locked on the ceiling. “He owns us now.”
I cup his cheek, force his focus back to me. “He doesn’t own you.”
“No?”
My finger brushes over the faded remnants of the bruise around his eye.
“Have you ever reported him?”
“For what? Being a controlling asshole?”
I swallow.
“There’s nothing I can do that won’t end up with Aiden being separated from me. I can’t let that happen.” He clears his throat. “Anyway, things have been good lately.”
“Good?”
“Relatively.”
My heartrate picks up, sending that strange fire burning through my blood again. “I wouldn’t call getting punched in the face ‘good.’”
His eyes narrow. “I told you not to worry about that. Like I said, I fell.”
“Bullshit. We both know what happened.”
He sits up, pushes back to separate us. “I should probably get going.”
“Jace, just… I could call my lawyer.”
His eyes flare. “No.” He reaches for his clothes.
“Come on. I just want to help.”
“I don’t want your help.”
“There have to be options. We’ll figure something out.”
He pulls his jeans on. “How are you not getting it? It’s not your problem to figure out.”
“Why can’t you let someone take care of you for once? You’re too young to carry this kind of weight.”
He stills, gaze arching back to me. “Don’t.”
“What?”
He shakes his head and stalks from the room.
I wrap a blanket around me and follow. “Please don’t go. Just...”
He finds his shirt in the hall and swipes it off the floor.
“Jace! Please?”
Demanding eyes turn on me. “What is it that you really want, Sienna?”
“Huh?”
“This! Me. What am I to you?”
A twinge plummets through me. “Where’s this coming from?”
He lowers his gaze, pulls in a deep breath. “Never mind. I have to go.”
“Jace.” I duck around him to block the door. The blanket falls, and it’s the first time I’ve felt naked with him as his gaze moves over my body. Judging?
“Just let me go.” His quiet plea hurts more than the anger a moment ago.
“Not yet. What’s wrong?” I reach up, but he backs away.
“Know what I see when I look at you?” His eyes roam my face. “A woman. A beautiful, sweet, intelligent woman I want to spend time with. Someone I want to get to know.”
My heart grows and shatters in the same moment.
He takes another step back when I move again. “Sometimes I believe that’s what you see when you look at me. A man. But then”—He shakes his head, pain filling his eyes—“it changes. It’s like I’m not your equal. I’m a mission. A boy you want to protect.” Finally, he moves toward me, stance softening and fingers reaching for my face.
I close my eyes at his touch. Raise my hand to mold it against my skin.
“If you want to be my girlfriend, then be my girlfriend, Sienna. Not my mother or a social worker or a counselor. Treat me like your boyfriend, not a child.”
Girlfriend? That word is perfection on his tongue. I don’t dare mention it and break the spell.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel that way.”
He sighs. “I know.” His thumb moves over my cheek before he pulls away. “I’ll call you later, okay?”
“I’ll be waiting.” I pull him in for a kiss and let out a content breath when our bodies melt together again. “Hey, Jace?”
“Yeah?”
I release the mischievous spark firing through me. “My boyfriend is hot as hell.”
A slow grin creeps over his lips, aqua eyes shining. “Damn. Now we’re talking.”
Karen preps in front of my hallway mirror, checking hair and makeup for the sixth time since she arrived. A defensive critique rests on the edge of my tongue as I watch. After all, her concern is a bit unnerving considering it’s my boyfriend she’s hoping to impress. She’s never tried so hard for any of my other friends or family. How much soci
al media stalking has she done since that ill-fated dinner at Thai Palace? I hate the thought almost as much as myself for thinking it.
You’re a terrible friend, Sienna. She’s just being supportive.
“You look fine,” I say, also for the sixth time.
“You think?” She shimmies some serious cleavage at the mirror. Part of me wants to warn her against such shallow tactics knowing Jace won’t be impressed. Then again, I’d be a hypocrite to ask her to be someone else when I hate that she demands it of me. She tries, so damn hard. That’s who she is, and probably why she’s still trying at forty-one.
“Jace is taken anyway.” I say, going for playful. Maybe I pulled it off? She rolls her eyes at me.
“I know that. But he’s important to you. I want to make sure he likes me.”
Sure she does.
Ugh. Why am I being so bitchy all of a sudden? I’m the one who invited them over to meet each other.
Yeah, because she badgered you. Because he was too nice to say no.
Jace shows up not a second too soon, and my sour mood falls away. Funny how he has the opposite effect on me. Peace, security. That’s what I feel with Jace—comfort to be myself. I barely painted any makeup on my face tonight, much to Karen’s chagrin.
“Is that really what you’re wearing?” she’d said, eyeing my jeans and, what I thought was, a nice top. Her look had said otherwise.
Jace doesn’t seem to agree with her when his face lights up and he draws me in for a quick kiss. Of course he looks ridiculously hot like always in a jeans ensemble that coordinates with mine much better than Karen’s tiny cocktail dress. I love that he doesn’t seem to have noticed her yet.
“You look great,” he says.
“So do you.”
We exchange a smile, another quick kiss, and he turns to my other guest.
“You must be Karen,” he says, all effortless charm and blue-green female kryptonite. “Great to finally meet you.”
“You too,” she says, thick lashes batting at him in all kinds of innuendo. “I’ve been bugging Sienna for a while but better late than never. I swear, she’s so smart about some things, but not others.”
I try not to flinch openly when Jace shoots me a look that Karen misses. She doesn’t know him well enough to recognize the tick in his jaw.
Young Love Page 7
