“This is going to be amazing,” I told her.
Leigh blushed. “I’d forgotten how much I liked doing this. I was thinking about maybe doing more with it, since Sammy’s in school now.”
“You should really think about it. Do what you’re comfortable with, but… you could always have made a career out of this. That’s what I thought you were going to do, actually. When I came back—I was bracing for all these stories from Andy about your successful life in New York City, or Boston, at the MFA.”
“That had been my dream, hadn’t it?” Leigh replied. She shrugged. “Life doesn’t always go the way that you expect it to. But I do love art and I hope that I can keep incorporating it into my life.”
“Well, hey.” My throat was tight and my stomach was clenched with nerves. “If you ever need any help with that, any support—I’m here. I’m not going anywhere, and I’m here, and I’d like to help you.”
The smile on Leigh’s face, and the look in her eyes, was everything.
18
Leigh
I was humming to myself as I headed over to Rachel’s house. The mural was almost finished and I loved how it was turning out. I had to add in mostly details right now, things like the way sunlight would hit the leaves, the dimensions of the grass, that sort of thing. I had to be careful not to work on it too long or my wrist would cramp up.
But it was going to be finished, and Jace was almost done with his work, and then we would get paid and I would be able to put that beautiful check into savings and have an actual cushion to rely on. It was a shocking concept to me. My parents helped out as much as they could and the hardware store took care of us, but we weren’t exactly rolling in it. We were always strapped for cash, a bit. I had to watch myself carefully. This job had really been a God send, and I had Jace to thank for it.
Speaking of Jace, looked like I was here before him. No problem, I didn’t need him to get started, I had a key to the house as well. I opened the door, still humming. It was going to be a bit sad to leave this mural behind. I’d really enjoyed working on it.
I got about halfway up the stairs when I heard someone call out, “Jace? Is that you?”
I froze.
Who would be here? Was that Rachel?
She must be here to inspect how the house was coming along. I finished going up the stairs and went into the master bedroom. “Hey, J—”
What I’d meant to say was, hey, Jace isn’t here yet, what can I help you with, but instead what came out was a shocked, gurgled noise before I slapped my hands over my eyes.
Rachel, sprawled out on the bed in very revealing, red lace lingerie, screamed.
“Oh my God, I am so sorry,” I blurted out.
“What the hell are you doing here!?” Rachel demanded. I heard her moving around, probably to get a robe.
“I’m doing the mural for your daughter’s room!” I snapped back. There was no need for her to be rude. What was going on here?
“Get out!” Rachel repeated. “Just get out!”
Damn, someone was embarrassed—about as embarrassed as I felt, honestly. I felt sick. I turned around and hurried back down the stairs, my face on fire. What had I interrupted? Had Jace been sleeping with Rachel this whole time behind my back when I’d thought he was just with me? Not that we’d ever put a label on things but c’mon, if you were seeing someone else wouldn’t you want the first person to know? Wouldn’t he tell me?
I reached the bottom of the stairs when the front door opened and Jace walked in. He paused, his brows knitting together in concern. “What’s going on?”
I shook my head and shoved past him, dodging when he tried to reach for me. “Leigh?” he asked again. “Leigh, what’s wrong? What’s happening?”
As if I could possibly explain it to him. I was far too embarrassed. I hightailed it out of there, leaving Jace with his—with his other woman, and got into my car, speeding away.
My hands shook as I got out my phone and called Dawn. She picked up on the second ring, thank God. After the pregnancy, Dawn had told me she’d switched her ringtone for my number to a special one and set it so that it would always ring even if she put her phone on Do Not Disturb, so that if I ever needed help with Sammy she could be there. I was humbled by her dedication and loyalty, and so I worked hard to only call her when it was important and to just text her otherwise.
“Hey, hon, what’s up?” Dawn asked.
It took everything in me to keep my voice steady, keep Dawn from suspecting that something was wrong. “Hey, Dawn, things are going a little overtime on the mural and I’ve still got cleaning to do around the house.” I took a slow, deep breath. “Do you think you could do me a favor and pick Sammy up from school, and take him for the afternoon? Make him dinner? I can pick him up around seven.”
Sammy’s bedtime was eight, so that would give me time to get him home, give him a quick bath, and get him in bed.
“Sure, no problem. Everything okay? You sure you’re all right?” Of course, Dawn could tell that something was up.
“Everything’s good!” I said, forcing cheer into my voice. It was harder than I thought. I was a terrible liar, especially to the people that I cared about, people who were so close to me.
“Okay.” Dawn still sounded doubtful. “It’s no problem to take care of Sammy, I’ll make sure he does his homework and gets to play. We’ll play a board game or something.”
Dawn and I often played board games with Sammy when we went over to her house for dinner. “Thanks so much, you’re really the best. I owe you.”
“You don’t owe me anything, hon, I promise. You’ll let me know if you want to talk, okay?”
“Okay,” I promised—even though I had no intention of talking to her about this.
I hung up the phone, and immediately found myself trying not to cry. I hadn’t even told Dawn about how I was sleeping with Jace, how we were sort of, kind of, dating. We were keeping it fairly casual, and I had Sammy to think about, and I just… hadn’t wanted to tell anyone. Especially since I’d known that Dawn would be upset with me for sleeping with Jace and as good as starting a romantic relationship with him without telling him about how Sammy was his son. Dawn had wanted me to tell Jace the truth right away, after all.
When I got home—which was actually quite clean at the moment since I’d done all of my cleaning last night—I just sat down on the couch and took a moment to cry.
I felt so incredibly stupid. Part of it was my fault, I supposed. I had never asked Jace what we were, had never defined our relationship. I had pretty obviously been keeping him still at arm’s length. And I’d thought that Jace respected that and was letting me go slow but what if that was only because he was also seeing Rachel on the side? He’d dated her for a long time in high school, after all.
Had Jace been coming to see Rachel there? Did I interrupt a planned meeting between them? I felt so humiliated. No, mortified. God. It felt like I was fourteen years old again and I was being teased, called a whale, called dumpy. I knew that nobody was insulting my appearance in this case, but it was the same feeling of being exposed and being laughed at, the same sick, twisted feeling in my stomach.
But Jace had never been a cheater. He had been loyal to Rachel while he’d been with her, and they’d been together until I graduated high school. And Jace had always told me that he’d broken up with her because he’d realized he had feelings for me and it wouldn’t be fair of him to be with one person while wanting someone else.
While we’d been together, he’d always been loyal and true. He’d never so much as looked at anyone else or flirted with anyone else while I was with him—and God only knew when he would’ve had the time, anyway, since all of our spare time was caught up with each other.
What was happening? What could I believe?
First things first—I was going to make myself some tea and I was going to have a damn good cry.
And then came the knock at the door.
19
Jace<
br />
I stared in shock as Leigh fled out the front door and Rachel appeared at the top of the stairs wearing a bathrobe. “What the hell is going on here?” I demanded.
What was Rachel even doing here? And in a bathrobe? She hadn’t moved in, had she? I still had to double-check everything and make sure it was all in working order, take care of a few final details. She wasn’t supposed to move in here until next week.
Rachel flushed. “I… Leigh walked in on me in a somewhat… compromising position. I thought that she was you.”
What the hell? “What are you talking about?”
Rachel gave me a coquettish smile and undid the tie on her robe, pushing it off her shoulders so that it fell to the floor, revealing racy lingerie underneath. It was very nice lingerie, I had to admit, and Rachel looked good in it—but it wasn’t doing anything for me. I didn’t want Rachel, I wanted Leigh.
But, God, no wonder Leigh ran out of here. If she saw Rachel all done up like this, and Rachel was waiting for me, or said that she was… shit. I had to find Leigh and explain, make things right.
I bent down, picking up Rachel’s discarded bathrobe, and handed it back to her. “You’re a stunning woman, Rachel, but you’re also my boss. You’re paying me. I’m not going to cross a professional line like that. I’m flattered, really, but no. I meant it when I said it the first time, and I mean it now. And it’s going to stay no.”
“What—what about after you finish the job?” Rachel pouted, clearly still thinking she had a chance. “I won’t be your boss anymore after that.”
“The answer is no, Rachel,” I told her firmly, pushing the bathrobe into her hands and forcing her to take it. “It will always be no.”
Rachel spluttered, clearly frustrated and confused. “But—we—I—”
I ignored her. “I have to go.” I had to go and fix things with Leigh.
Rachel was still spluttering as I left. Well, let her fucking splutter. Let her be confused. If she couldn’t understand a simple damn ‘no’ by now then shame on her, for fuck’s sake. I got it, someone who was beautiful like Rachel was beautiful, the conventional kind who was skinny and tall and all the rest. And when you were beautiful in that kind of way, you weren’t used to people turning you down. It was just how society conditioned you, especially someone who was used to wealth like Rachel was.
But I didn’t want her. And dammit, I would go public about my love for Leigh if that was what it took for Rachel to back down and for Leigh to realize that I cared about her.
I drove as fast as I could to Leigh’s place, hoping that none of the police pulled me over. But hey, given the small size of our town, I’d probably know whatever officer pulled me over and I could explain the situation and get off easy.
Leigh’s car was out front of her place and I checked the time—Sammy wouldn’t be home just yet. Good. I didn’t need him to be upset hearing the serious discussion that we were about to have.
I knocked on the door. “Leigh?”
There was no answer.
She was definitely home, though. “Leigh! C’mon, open up, we need to talk. It’s okay, I promise.”
I kept banging on the door, and finally Leigh wrenched it open, an expression of false surprise on her face. “Jace. What are you doing here?”
She was such a bad actress. It was fucking adorable. I was so gone on her. “May I come inside?”
Leigh looked hesitant, then stepped back out of the way and I stepped past her into the house. “We need to talk.”
“Yes, I would say that we do.”
I turned to face her. “I’m not fucking Rachel.” No sense in beating around the bush. “Not now, not ever. Not since we broke up when we were twenty-one and you graduated high school.”
Leigh looked a bit doubtful. “Are you sure about that?”
I was pleased, stupidly so, by the jealousy I heard in her voice. Leigh lifted her chin up defiantly, and I almost chuckled at her. She was so fierce, Leigh, even if she didn’t realize it. “Yeah, I’m pretty damn sure about it.” I walked closer to her. “Why would I be with Rachel when I can have you?”
Leigh’s breath caught, and maybe this was the stupid thing to do, but I couldn’t help myself—I seized her mouth in a searing kiss.
20
Leigh
I melted into Jace’s kiss automatically, clinging to him as he stole my breath and pressed himself up against me. He was such a good kisser, it was like I was giving myself to him for the first time every time that I did this.
Jace pulled away, his hands coming up to cup my face. “I don’t want Rachel. I only want you. Rachel made it clear from the beginning that she wanted me and I told her no, even before you and I were together—or whatever it is that we are. She’s my boss, she hired me, and I don’t do that. And I don’t want to be with her. I want you.”
My eyes got wet, my face hot, and I felt so embarrassed. “I… I just know that we never defined what we were. We never talked about it. And I know I’ve been kind of keeping you at arm’s length and you’ve been so accommodating and so I didn’t know if it was because you wanted… wanted more that I wasn’t giving you—I know you’re not the cheating type but I wondered if maybe you didn’t see it as cheating because I never said anything and I kept you distant…”
Jace shook his head, his thumbs stroking slowly back and forth along my cheekbones. “No, I promise, you’re the person for me. You’re the one that I want, the one that I’ve always wanted.”
“Are—” I tried to pull away. “Maybe we should take a break, maybe we need space—”
Jace let go of me but shook his head. “I don’t want space. I want more, not less.”
“You’re not sure what you’re saying,” I whispered. I wasn’t nineteen anymore, we were adults, and I had a child.
“I am, though.” Jace smiled at me, small but warm. “I want more of you, and more of Sammy. I want to be in your lives.”
My eyes welled up with tears again and Jace made a distressed noise low in his throat. “Oh, baby, don’t cry, hey.” He wiped my tears away and then kissed me, and I clung to him. This was what I had been hoping for but hadn’t dared to ask about. How could I possibly have asked for something like this?
And there was still the weight, the guilt, of Sammy being Jace’s son. He didn’t know about that, he didn’t know the truth, and I didn’t know how to tell him—I didn’t know how I could reveal it without it upsetting everything—
Jace kissed me again, and again, soft, reassuring, and I thought… well, I just gave in. I wanted him, I wanted him so badly, and I knew I should tell him but… we could also talk about this later. My mind was a whirl, my heart was pounding in my ears, and I wanted to be with him.
We kissed so much it felt like we were going to fuse together, and I honestly wouldn’t have minded that much. I wrapped myself around him, pressing up against his firm, taut body, reveling in the feel of him as I led him upstairs to the bedroom. Jace held onto me the whole time like he was worried that I was going to slip away from him—as if he had been the one to see someone trying to come onto me, instead of the other way around.
“You’re so fucking gorgeous,” he murmured, helping me to yank my clothes off. “Why would I want anyone else but you, huh? You’re perfect.”
I love you. It was stuck in my throat. Should I say it? Could I say it? I kissed him again instead.
Jace held me tightly, kissed me fervently, like he was trying to make it clear through his every action that he’d meant what he said. And I believed him, I did. There was no reason for him to worry. Before he had left me… he had never been the type of man who made me doubt his loyalty. I was scared of him just up and leaving, yes, I was a bit. But I wasn’t scared of him cheating on me or lying to me. If he said that Rachel was nothing to him, and that he only wanted to be with me, then I believed him. He had never given me any reason not to.
I wanted to do something—something to show him that I did trust him, and that I wanted him in m
y life, too, that I wanted all that he was offering. I pushed him down onto the bed and rode him, felt his cock getting all the way into me, sinking down onto it until every inch of it was inside of me and it felt like there was nothing separating us.
Jace stared up at me the whole time with that awed look on his face again, his hands anchoring me, keeping me steady as I worked him. God, it felt so good. I never wanted to give this up again and it made me flush, made me fill with heat, to know that this was all just for me. That Jace wanted to give this only to me, to only do this with me…
It made me come so hard that I saw stars, collapsing against him afterwards, each breath in my lungs burning like fire. And Jace held me, held me like I was something precious to him, like he never wanted to let me go, and God, I loved him so much. So much that sometimes it hurt.
“Tomorrow’s Saturday,” Jace said quietly, stroking my hair. “I was thinking… I could take you and Sammy out for a special day, just the three of us?” He paused, then cleared his throat. “I wasn’t sure if I could offer something like that, how much you wanted me around Sammy. And I get it, you want to protect him. You have to think about him first. But if you’d be okay with that… I want to be in his life, too. He needs another parent and you need someone to help you out.”
My heart was in my throat. Should I tell Jace?
But what would that do? Maybe I should just never say anything. After all, what did it matter if Jace thought Sammy was his biological son or his adopted son, if we got that far and Jace ended up proposing? And there was so much that could change or go wrong in between now and possibly, maybe exchanging vows.
What if telling Jace the truth ruined everything?
“I’d like that,” I said instead. “To take a day together tomorrow. If you really want to.”
Second Chance with Brother's Best Friend: A Single Mom Secret Baby Romance Page 11
