Hush (Just This Once)

by Deborah Bladon

Jordan gives me a curt nod as he walks over to where Chloe’s brothers, her dad and her dad’s fiancée, April, are gathered around the kitchen table. Gabi is in the kitchen putting candles on the birthday cake.

  I walk down the hallway toward our bedroom.

  I hear Chloe’s voice before I see her.

  “You and your daddy are every gift that I’m ever going to need.” Her voice is soft and low. “I love you both with everything I have.”

  The door is ajar, but I push it open and gave at the scene in front of me.

  Warm Sunday afternoon light is filtering in from the window near our bed. Elena is on her back in the middle of the bed dressed in a light pink dress and white socks. Next to her is my reason for living. Chloe, my beautiful wife.

  She’s wearing a white dress and as she lies next to our daughter and gazes down at her, my heart fills with more love than I ever thought possible.

  Chloe adjusts a small ribbon in our daughter’s blonde hair. “One day you’ll meet someone and fall in love with them and it may not always make sense, Elena, but you have to listen to your heart.”

  “Not every relationship begins the same way,” I add as I step into the room and close the door behind me. “There’s no rules when it comes to falling in love.”

  “Come here, handsome.” Chloe waves her hand at me. “Give me a few minutes alone with my husband and daughter.”

  I walk over to the bed and settle on the other side of Elena, on my side, facing my wife.

  “You know that she’s a miracle, right?” Chloe touches my cheek tenderly. “It feels like we’re a miracle too.”

  “We are.” I kiss the palm of her hand. “It’s a miracle that I found you in this city.”

  “I found you.” She runs the pad of her thumb over my lips. “I was the one who came outside in the snowstorm to find you there.”

  “The first words I ever heard you say were that you weren’t a coward.” I think back on that day. I couldn’t have known the path my life would take after that night. “You proved that over and over again.”

  “The bravest thing I ever did was going up to that hotel room with you,” she confesses softly. “If I hadn’t, we wouldn’t be here now.”

  “Sometimes you have to take a chance.” I kiss my daughter’s forehead as she looks at me with her big blue eyes. She has my eyes and nose. Every other part of her is Chloe. “You did and look where we are now.”

  “We should get back to the party. There are presents waiting for me.”

  “I got you one.” I slide from the bed and stalk toward the closet. “I hid it up here so you wouldn’t find it.”

  She moves to pick up Elena before she sits on the edge of the bed. “I knew I should have snooped in there.”

  I retrieve the box and take it to the bed, hoping like hell that I didn’t make a mistake with the gift.

  I place the box next to her before I scoop my daughter into my arms, freeing Chloe’s hands so she can tear through the wrapping paper.

  She does in record time. Paper flies, the ribbon sails in the air until it lands on the bed and then she yanks the cover off with one pull.

  I stare down at my daughter as Chloe searches through the pink tissue paper until her hands land on the square frame.

  “I’m excited.” She leans forward to kiss me. “I can’t wait to see what it is.”

  Her delicate hands shake as she turns the black frame over in her lap. I hear her breath catch when she sees the three photographs lined up side-by-side.

  My daughter is first. It’s an image I took the day she was born.

  In the middle is my wife on our wedding day eight months ago. Her hair is pinned up, her cheeks are pink and her smile could be my sunshine until I take my last breath on this earth.

  The last picture is one that I got from Rocco.

  It’s an image of Irena Jones.

  She’s sitting on a bench in a park smiling softly at the camera.

  There’s no mistaking that Chloe is her daughter. They share the same color hair and eyes.

  “Evan,” she whispers my name softly. “This is so beautiful. Look at the three of us.”

  “Three generation of strong women.” I skim my fingers over the glass of the frame. “I want you to keep this as a reminder of how incredibly lucky I am.”

  “How lucky you are?” She looks at me with tear-filled eyes. “I think I’m the lucky one.”

  “I never thought I’d meet anyone like you.” I look down at Elena before I train my gaze on Chloe. “You turned my world upside down.”

  “In a good way.” She smiles as she reaches for the baby’s hand.

  “In the best way. You made me see that I was capable of love.” I hold the baby closer. “I didn’t think I’d ever have a child, Chloe.”

  “I wasn’t supposed to ever have a child.”

  I nod. “Yet, we have this beautiful human being who will grow to understand how special she is. She was born against all odds which makes her a true miracle.”

  “We’re going to have the most amazing life, Evan.” She leans her head on my shoulder. “I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.”

  “We’ll worry about tomorrow when it gets here.” I kiss her softly on the lips. “And every day after that too. I want us to make the most out of each moment until we’re old and gray and this one has to take care of us.”

  Elena squirms in my arms.

  “I love the sound of that.” Chloe moves to stand. “Every day with you is a gift and I’ll never waste a second of the time we have together.”

  “Let’s go celebrate your birthday so we can kick everyone out and I can give you my other gift.” I hand the baby to her.

  “What’s your other gift?” She raises a brow.

  I tilt my chin toward the bed. “Do you have to ask?”

  She props up on her tiptoes to give me a soft kiss. “We should send everyone home now.”

  “Patience, Mrs. Scott.” I place my hand on the center of her back. “I have the night off. I plan on spending every second of that showing you how much I love you.”

  The baby cries out and we both laugh.

  “I’ll take what I can get.” Chloe sighs. “I don’t care if it’s ten minutes or ten hours, being in your arms is where I want to spend the rest of my life.”

  It’s my dream come true and every day only gets better.

  Preview of BARE

  From the Just This Once Series

  The first and last one-night stand I had ended with zero orgasms for me and my wallet gone.

  I fell asleep after the man who called himself Kent rolled off of me and out of my life.

  The only thing he left behind was a business card on the floor next to the bed.

  Griffin Kent. Attorney at Law.

  Since I don't know a soul in New York, I head straight to the jerk's office on Madison Avenue to get back my wallet and reclaim my pride.

  I'm not prepared for what happens when I arrive at the prestigious law firm of Kent & Colt.

  I doubt that the real Griffin Kent would leave a woman unsatisfied in any way. He's tall, dark haired and dangerously handsome. He's also the complete opposite of the imposter I spent the night with.

  The arrogant attorney orders his assistant to help me, but he's the one who enrolls in the art class I came to Manhattan to teach.

  He may be my student, but something tells me that Griffin is going to be schooling me in the art of seduction.

  Author's Note: This sexy standalone novel contains a dirty talking attorney, nude male models and a HEA the hero will do anything to fight for. BARE is part of the Just This Once Series. Each book features a different couple and since the books are not connected, they can be read in any order.

  Chapter 1

  Piper

  "Griffin Kent is the worst lover I've ever had." With tears welling in the corners of my eyes, I stare at the woman sitting behind the sleek wooden reception desk. "I can't believe I slept with him. I called the p
olice. They're going to be here any minute."

  She looks past me to the frosted glass doors at the entrance of the law offices of Kent & Colt. "If it's a crime to be a dud in bed, my ex-husband would be serving twenty to life right now."

  I scrub my hand over my face, mascara staining my palm. "I didn't call them because of that."

  "Can I get you a glass of water?" The kind-looking woman is on her feet now. "You look about ready to pass out. Why don't you sit down? We can discuss this."

  Discuss what? I went to a hotel with a man last night, we had really bad sex and when I woke up an hour ago, he was gone along with my wallet and my smartphone.

  "I don't want to talk about it." I look beyond her to the massive, exquisitely designed space that obviously houses a number of offices. "Where's the asshole? I need to see him now."

  Her lips curl into an unexpected smile. "He's not here. He never gets in until at least nine fifteen."

  My gaze drops to my wrist but the silver watch I always wear isn't there. "He took everything from me."

  The middle-aged woman rounds the reception desk until she's next to me, her arm slung over my shoulder. "You listen to me. I don't know what happened between you and Mr. Kent, but there's not a man on the face of this earth who can take everything from a woman."

  Great.

  I'm in the middle of a crisis and this woman is on her soapbox preaching about the merit of my inner strength.

  Griffin Kent took that from me too.

  "I don't know what to do," I mutter to myself.

  The self-appointed cheerleader next to me adds her two cents even though I didn't ask for it. "You're going to calm down and let me help you. What's your name, dear?"

  I feel like I should covet every ounce of personal information after what just happened to me. I was open and trusting when I met the attractive man in the bar last night. I told him my name when he asked. He reciprocated by telling me his. Kent.

  An hour later we were in a hotel room and I was proud of myself for checking a one-night stand off my bucket list. I need to wipe that list clean now and focus on one thing and one thing only.

  Find some common sense and use it.

  "Where are the police? I used the phone at the front desk to call them before I left the hotel. They should be here by now." I stare down at my dress. It's silver shimmer, low cut and much too short to see the light of day. I'd never wear this in broad daylight and yet, here I am.

  Thank the heavens above that my parents are in Denver, completely oblivious to what their only child is doing on her third day in New York City. The move here was supposed to change my life, not drive the entire thing into a ditch at high speed.

  "I think we can straighten this out without involving the NYPD."

  "How?" I face the woman. She reminds me of my first art teacher in high school. That shouldn't offer me any comfort, but it does. "He needs to be arrested and thrown in jail after what he did to me."

  "Were you hurt?" Her eyes scan my face, locking on my green eyes.

  I know exactly what I look like. I didn't have time to shower when I crawled out of the hotel room bed, but I did catch a glimpse of myself in the bathroom mirror. My makeup was beyond repair. My shoulder length brown hair was such a mess that I used a bright pink hair elastic to tie it up into a tight ponytail.

  At least, Griffin Kent left behind my clutch with the hair elastic, a tube of lipstick and my apartment keys inside of it.

  Either the bastard has a heart, or he overlooked my keys as he was stealing my wallet.

  "He didn't hurt me." I fiddle with the business card in my hand. "He took my wallet and my phone when I fell asleep. My watch too. He took it all."

  "I find it very hard to believe that Mr. Kent is responsible for this."

  Of course she'd say that. She's the first face anyone sees when they come through the doors of this law office. It's on Madison Avenue. I doubt like hell that her monthly paycheck has less than five zeroes at the end of it. I'd say that's well above the going rate for what blind faith costs in this city.

  I shove the business card at her. "I have the proof right here."

  She reaches to take the now tattered card from me, but I hold tight to the corner of it. It's evidence. He left this behind. I found it on the carpeted floor of the hotel room next to one of my heeled sandals that I'd kicked off before I got into bed with the thieving bastard.

  Griffin Kent. Attorney at Law. It's right there in black raised lettering on the card.

  If that's not proof, I don't know what is.

  "Did he give that to you?"

  "He dropped it," I explain. "It must have fallen out of his pocket."

  Her tongue skims over her front teeth. "What does Mr. Kent look like?"

  I survey the office. There's no movement anywhere. I can hear muffled voices in the distance, but I haven't seen another soul since I walked through the doors to the reception area.

  Since the hotel I was at is on Columbus and Eighty-first, I walked here though Central Park. I spent the bulk of that time rehearsing what I was going to say to Kent once I saw him. I never expected to be subjected to a pre-confrontation interview by his receptionist.

  "You know what he looks like," I bite back with a sigh. "I know that he spent the night with me and then robbed me blind."

  "Humor me, dear." She gives my shoulder a squeeze. "Describe Mr. Kent to me."

  If it's going to take that to chase away the look of doubt that's plastered all over her expression, I'll give her what she wants. "He's the same height as me, blonde hair, full beard, really nice brown eyes."

  "What the hell is going on here?" The low rumble of a deeply seductive voice asks from behind me.

  "Mr. Kent." The woman next to me turns quickly. "This young woman is here looking for … well, sir, I think I'll let her explain why she's here."

  Mr. Kent? The voice I just heard isn't the same one that invited me up to that hotel room last night. I turn around.

  Dark brown hair, blue eyes, a smooth chiselled jaw and a face so handsome that women must stop and stare when he passes them by. I know I would. I can't tear my gaze from him now.

  "I'm Griffin Kent," he says smoothly as he nears me. "And you are?"

  Coming Soon

  Preview of THIRST

  A Standalone Novel

  Do you see what I see? I see my half-naked neighbor staring at me whenever he gets a chance.

  When I moved into this rundown apartment, I knew I'd get used to the six flights of stairs, the broken radiator, and the squeaky floors. I didn't know I'd grow accustomed to the lustful stares of the gorgeous man who lives in the building next to mine.

  He watches me when dusk falls with an intense hunger in his eyes I've never seen before.

  I sense his gaze trailing over every inch of my skin as I strip slowly, just for him.

  It’s innocent until I finally get the chance to pitch my business idea to a trio of private investors. That’s when I realize that the man who stands at his window every night with his gaze cast on me is one of the three people who hold the future of my start-up in their hands.

  Rocco Jones has seen my body, and now he wants to touch it. I want my business to succeed, and I want him, but is it possible for me to have both?

  *Author's Note: Although a few characters from my past books make appearances in THIRST, it's not necessary to read any of my other books to enjoy this sexy standalone.

  Chapter 1

  Dexie

  “I don’t understand why you haven’t invested in window coverings for this place.”

  I turn to see my friend, Sophia Wolf, standing at one of the many windows of new apartment.

  �
�I like the light,” I answer quickly. “Besides, the landlord said that he’d eventually get around to adding blinds. The man is busy and I don’t want to keep bothering him about it.”

  “You pay rent which means it’s his job to keep you happy.”

  Spoken from the lips of a woman who lives in a beautiful apartment with her novelist husband and daughter.

  “Don’t worry about it, Sophia.” I place another cardboard box on the kitchen counter. “I really like this place. I have a lot more room to work on my purses and the rent is cheaper than the last place.”

  “I can’t argue with that.” She takes in the large open space. “Are you thinking of setting up your workstation over there?”

  I haven’t given it any serious thought yet because my time is limited. I work full-time in the marketing department for a cosmetics company and part-time helping Sophia with her clothing line.

  My purse design business has yet to take off but I’m working on changing that. I’ve put out some feelers to try and find a private investor for my company.

  Supplies aren’t cheap and even though I have a steady stream of customers willing to pay for my one-of-a-kind handmade purses, it’s not enough cash inflow to take my business to the next level.

  “I’m going to get all my stuff in and then I’ll figure that out.”

  She taps her heel on the hardwood floor. “That makes sense.”

  I point at a lamp on a table near where she’s standing. “Can you turn on the light? It’s getting dark.”

  She hits the switch on the lamp and it instantly fills the room with a soft glow of light. “I have one more concern and then I swear I’ll shut up.”

  I don’t look at her as I unpack a box with dishes. “What?”

  “Your bed is right in front of that window. Aren’t you worried that your neighbors will watch you while you sleep?”

  I picked this apartment because it’s a bachelor. My bed is feet away from my kitchen and the main living space. The only area that is separated by a door is the bathroom.