As Carter stood at the glass doors to Hue Gallery watching Avery discuss a painting with a tall man dressed in all white linen, he thought about his conversation with his father last night. For all the bad blood between him and Steven, Carter didn’t doubt his dad would do anything for him. They were Chases and that meant so much more than a name. He hadn’t wanted to hear what his father told him; not really. He wanted something easier and quicker, but Steven hadn’t achieved all he wanted to by satisfying a need for instant gratification.
Avery was worth it all. Carter smiled when she turned and her profile showed her belly. She looked ready to bust open and in another month she would. It killed him that the child wasn’t his, but that was life. You mess up and you pay for it. But like Steven told him, he was going to love that kid so much that it would seem as if it was his to everyone, especially to Avery.
No, it wasn’t right, but he had to do what he had to do. It was in his blood and in his last name. He always got what he wanted and he wasn’t about to give up just when he found what he wanted most. He would try his best to do it his father’s way, but God, how he wanted her in his arms, in his bed again now.
By habit, Avery glanced at the front door when the chimes sounded. Seeing Carter walk inside made her unable to turn away even though the customer standing right next to her was still talking. She wondered if there would ever be a day when seeing him wouldn’t take her breath away. He was more handsome than any man had a right to be.
“Morning, Avery.” He used that cool, calm, collected voice that usually got him anything he wanted from anyone.
“Carter.” Avery clenched her teeth together to keep her mouth from smiling in response to his I-can’t-lose smile.
That he still had this effect on her made his day. He gestured to the man behind her. “Your customer?”
“Oh.” Avery shook herself free from her trance and turned back to the customer, who seemed amused by her desertion. “I’m so sorry. You were saying?”
The man looked Carter up and down with an expression that meant one thing and one thing only. “Don’t apologize. I would drop anything I was doing if a man that fine walked over to me.”
Avery felt her face flush with embarrassment. “I . . . I don’t . . .”
“Thank you,” Carter said with an enunciated smile.
“You’re welcome and then some.” The man winked at Avery. “I’ll just look around a little bit and come back to you.”
Avery wanted to protest, but the man was already walking away. She turned back to Carter, who looked so smugly pleased with himself. She couldn’t help but smile. “Stop it.”
“What?” Carter asked.
“You’re enjoying this. The world has to stop when you enter the room, right? You’re so arrogant.”
“Among other things,” he said with a smirk. “I see you haven’t taken Haley’s advice on the banana clips?”
Avery touched the back of her head, reminding her that she was holding her hair together with a banana clip. “Yes, that was Haley who said I needed to come out of the nineties and get a real hair accessory, wasn’t it?”
“It doesn’t sound nearly as rude when you leave the swearing out.”
“That girl and her mouth.” Thinking of all her encounters with Haley, none of them pleasant, Avery suddenly remembered the first time she and Haley met and it saddened her.
“What’s wrong?” Carter asked, seeing her expression change. He thought he was doing well.
Avery shook her head. “It’s nothing.”
“It certainly changed your mood. Or are those just hormones?”
“Maybe they are,” she answered. “Do you remember that night I came to your parents’ house for the first time? When your mom invited me.”
“Yes, I remember. She wanted to keep you from blaming us for the explosion at your shop and making more trouble for us in the press.”
“I just told the truth.”
“Daddy loved you for it.”
“Is that where I went wrong with Steven?” She laughed. “He never really warmed to me.”
“You say that as if he warms to anyone? Dad and Haley are the same in that way. They only have enough energy to show affection for my mother, and the rest of us have to settle for fumes.”
“That’s not funny.” Avery remembered seeing the anger and pain Carter felt over his run-ins with his father and hated that she was often the source of their fights.
Carter took a step closer to her and to his delight, she didn’t step away. “Remember, that was the night you tossed a glass of very expensive wine in my face.”
“You deserved it,” she said.
Carter nodded, remembering fondly those few moments they had alone by the pool before all hell broke loose at the dinner table.
“After you left to change your shirt,” Avery continued, “Haley came outside.”
“You never told me that.”
“I didn’t want to.” She remembered how silly she thought the girl was at the time. “She was upset that Sean wasn’t protecting her anymore. He was spending more time with me because of what happened.”
“So there was an explosion that almost killed you. I was almost killed too and I didn’t need any cuddling.”
“Don’t make light of it.” Avery slapped him on the arm. “I would’ve been killed if you hadn’t come banging on that back door like a wild man. You saved my life.”
She looked into his eyes and for a moment, Avery could absorb the memory of their connection. She had never been closer to a man and she feared she never would be again.
Carter spoke softly. “That was when I first realized that I was falling in love with you. I knew that I wanted you before that, but when I walked into that hospital room and saw you . . . I felt something that surprised the hell out of me.”
Avery wasn’t sure how long the silence lasted as they stared at each other. A few seconds or a few hours; it was too dangerous. He was entirely too dangerous.
“My point was,” she said, averting his glance, “that night when Haley came out she told me that you wanted me. I laughed it off, but she said that you get whatever you want.”
Carter spoke without hesitation. “I do.”
He slowly reached up and touched her arm. Avery couldn’t hide the shiver as her body reacted to his touch. Too, too dangerous. “But she said I wouldn’t last six months and she was right. Give or take a month.”
Carter’s hand lowered to his side. “She said that?”
Avery nodded. “I was too soft and weak. She said your family would break me down.”
“Well, she was wrong there,” Carter stated. “My family was harmless. I ran you away all on my own.”
“Why are you here?” she asked. “Don’t you have a law firm to run? If I remember, you were at that office sunup to sundown almost every day of the week.”
“I do whatever I want, remember?” Carter shoved his hands into his jean pockets, unsure of what else to do with them. This only happened with Avery. “I came to tell you I’m happy that your father is home.”
“You didn’t have to come here for that.” She headed for the front counter, hoping she could use it as a barrier between the two of them. Unfortunately, he came right behind the counter with her.
She wasn’t getting away from him that easily. “I also wanted to apologize.”
“For what?”
“Take your pick,” he answered. “The way I treated you, your family, your husband . . . anyone.”
“I appreciate that.” Avery didn’t believe it, but wished she could. “We all do. We just want to move on with . . .” She paused, with her hand on her belly.
“What’s wrong?” Carter asked, alarmed.
“Nothing.” She took a deep breath. “Baby’s been acting up a lot.”
“Maybe you should sit down.” Carter looked around for a chair, but didn’t see any that he could move behind the counter.
“No. If I sit down, it will take about ten minutes to
get back up again. I have too much to do here today.”
“Okay.” He didn’t sound very convinced because he wasn’t. “You do have help, right?”
“Nina is in the back.” She pressed the button to ring the back room. “I’m fine, Carter. This happens a lot. It’s normal.”
“If you say so.” He couldn’t shake his concern and wished he could really show it. “I just wanted to say about the other night when we ran into each other at the restaurant—”
“And you insulted my husband’s profession?”
“Did I do that?” he asked with a grin. “I don’t remember that, but—”
“You think you’re so funny.” Avery pointed to the other side of the counter. “This area is for employees only.”
“Then what are you doing back here?”
Avery sighed, wishing that he would stop being witty. He was such an ass, knowing exactly what effect it had on her. “I’m very busy, Carter.”
“The woman I was with,” he said, walking around the counter, “was Julia Hall.”
“Why are you telling me?” Avery tried to busy herself, her attention anywhere but where Carter could see her reaction.
“I thought you’d want to know,” he answered.
“You thought wrong.” The truth was that she did want to know, so badly that she was almost tempted to call Kimberly and ask. “I’m glad you at least know her name.”
Carter sent her a suspicious frown. “Who have you been talking to?”
“Take your pick.” She repeated his words with a smart grin on her face.
Carter nodded. “Okay, I have been a little bit of a ho of late, but that’s over. Julia is a very special woman and I want to explore a relationship . . . a real relationship with her.”
Avery swallowed hard. “I’m happy for you.”
“I hope so.” Carter knew she wasn’t and that was all he needed to know. “So, you can be reassured that I will be on my best behavior from now on. We’ll probably be running into each other and I don’t want that to be awkward.”
How could it ever not be awkward? “That won’t be a problem once we go back to Miami.”
Carter was taken off guard. “Why would you go back?”
“It’s our home.”
“This is your home, Avery. You don’t have to run away from me or my family anymore. You can’t say that you don’t want to be with your mother. She’s your best friend.”
“No, Carter.” Avery’s resolve was weakened by the emotion that slipped through his voice. “My husband is my best friend now.”
Ouch. Carter didn’t have a snappy comeback for that and he wasn’t interested in pretending that it didn’t hurt. “How nice for him.”
Carter remembered what his father had said he would do to take care of Anthony. Carter opposed the idea at first, remembering what scheming in the background had cost him before, but Steven told him not to worry because he would take care of it all.
“I think that’s good,” Carter lied. “If I really want a chance to get on with my life and build something with Julia, I think it’s best if you’re not around. No offense.”
“None taken.” That was a lie. She felt a hole in the pit of her stomach thinking of how much it would hurt to see him in love with someone else. She had to get over it. His heart no longer belonged to her.
“I wish you all the best with that.” He pointed to her belly.
“Thank yo—” She placed both hands on her stomach and hunched over with a moan.
Carter was behind the counter in a tenth of a second, his arms around her. “This isn’t normal, Avery. You’re in pain.”
“This is the worst it’s gotten since . . .” When she reached to push the button for the back room again, the pain ripped through her like a lightning bolt. She let out a loud groan this time.
“Come here.” He guided her around the counter toward the closest bench. “You’re sitting down. Who is your doctor? I’ll call him.”
“Her, and no, Carter.” She sat down gingerly. She had never felt this pain before and she was getting very scared. “I can do that myself.”
“Stop being so damn stubborn,” he ordered.
“What’s going on?” Nina asked as she rushed over to the two of them. The look on her face was sheer panic. “Oh my God! You’re going into labor?”
“No,” Avery said. She couldn’t do it. Not now. Anthony was in Miami. “I’m sure it’s just false labor.”
“You can take over here, right?” Carter asked Nina, who nodded in response without taking her eyes off Avery. “Fine, then let’s go, Avery.”
“Carter, I don’t need you. If you can just get me my phone, I’ll call my moth—”
This time she yelled loud enough to be heard throughout the entire gallery, and the two customers inside rushed to the front in alarm.
“Yeah, right.” Carter lifted her up from the bench. “Let’s go.”
“It’s a month early.” Nina followed as Carter led Avery out the front door. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” Carter snapped back at her. “Just handle the store.”
“Nina,” Avery called back to her. “Please call my mother now! Tell her to call my husband.”
“It is early, Avery.” Carter led her a few feet from the store where his Maybach was parked. “Maybe there is something wrong.”
“I don’t know.” Nothing was wrong, she thought. The baby was really due in one week.
He opened the passenger door, thinking of how crazy he would be if anything happened to her. He looked into her eyes and said, “It’s going to be okay. I won’t ever let anything happen to you or this baby.”
Avery’s eyes never left his as he sat her in the seat of the car. He was speaking as if he knew the baby was his. If she wasn’t in so much pain and scared to death that her secret would be found out, she would be able to appreciate his concern. It was fate that Carter would be around when she went into labor. This was a sign from God. She wasn’t going to get away with this.
When Carter got in the car, he was worried about the look of anguish on Avery’s face. “I only ask one thing.”
“What?”
“This is a four-hundred-thousand-dollar car, so please do not let your water break until we get to the hospital.”
“Just drive!” she ordered, trying not to laugh because it would hurt.
At least he made her smile. Carter was satisfied with that.
12
“I don’t want this!” Evan pushed away the glass of juice Marisol placed in front of him at the kitchen table.
Marisol grabbed it just before it tipped over.
“Hey.” Michael put his copy of the Wall Street Journal down just in time to see this. “You almost spilled that, Evan. Stop acting up and drink your juice.”
“I want apple juice!” Evan raised his little arm in the air as if he were protesting some type of injustice. “I will only drink apple juice.”
“Just shut up and drink it,” Daniel said without even looking up from his cereal.
“Don’t say shut up,” Michael scolded Daniel.
Maybe it was the fight last night, but this morning looking at his two boys eating breakfast, Michael saw so much of himself and Carter in them. Evan was always starting something and Daniel was always the calm and collected one. They fought constantly but would act as if you were trying to kill them if you separated them for even a minute.
Boy, how things changed. Now Michael felt like the older brother, the only one with a sane head on his shoulders, and Carter was the impulsive one. Michael didn’t like this change one bit. He wanted his brother back and he’d wanted him back since Avery took him away.
“Apple juice is too sweet.” Michael refused Marisol’s offer of another croissant. “It’s not good for your teeth. Marisol squeezed the oranges for the orange juice herself.”
Evan rolled his eyes as Marisol slid the juice back toward him and patted him on the head. “This sucks.”
“Hey.” Michael gave him the sternest look he could without laughing. To be safe, he hid his face behind the paper.
“Fine!” Evan exaggerated his sigh. “But this is messed up, Daddy. Can we at least watch cartoons?”
“No,” Michael answered. “We’ll leave the news on until I hear the traffic.”
“Where’s Mommy?” Daniel asked.
Michael put his paper down. He never got any reading done around these kids when Kimberly wasn’t there to deflect their attention. “She’s asleep.”
“She’s sick?”
“Stop that,” Michael ordered as Daniel tried to undo his tie. He hated wearing those stuffy private school uniforms. “She’s not sick. Why would you say that?”
Michael didn’t know what was wrong with Kimberly. He hadn’t been happy to come home last night to find his wife gone, but after a few drinks it didn’t matter anymore.
“When I went by the room”—Daniel popped a piece of fresh melon in his mouth—”you were in the shower and she was in bed looking sick.”
“She’s not sick.”
“Cartoons!” Evan slammed his fist on the table.
“Do that one more time,” Michael warned.
“If you make my glass spill I’m gonna punch you,” Daniel warned.
Evan looked furious at the threat. “See if I don’t punch . . . Hi, Mommy!”
Michael turned around to see Kimberly standing in the archway to the kitchen. She looked awful and he guessed maybe she was sick. “Hey, baby.”
Kimberly grumbled something as she dragged herself to the counter where Marisol was already pouring her a cup of coffee. Seeing the three of her men sitting at the table together only brought last night’s disaster back to her. She could hope it was a horrible nightmare, but it wasn’t. Her life was over and the worst part was that she wasn’t dead.
“Mommy.” Evan spoke in a baby’s voice. “Can you pour me some apple juice?”
“That’s it.” Michael pretended to push away from the table and it was enough to make Evan put his head down and start eating quietly.
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