“I’ll put him in the laundry room for the night.”
“He’ll need more food.” She was still reluctant to let the cat go. Nate would probably toss him out the second she left.
“I promise I’ll feed him and keep him inside. But tomorrow he’s out.”
She couldn’t ask for more than that and couldn’t force someone to take on an animal, especially when he wouldn’t be around much longer to look after it.
She placed Dorito on the floor, and he scurried back under the couch pillow.
Nate grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him. “Do you really have to leave?”
Ava never sent an emergency message. Whatever it was must be serious. But with Nate’s body heat surrounding her and his warm breath tickling the sides of her neck, she was tempted to stay. It took all her willpower to push away.
“I’m sorry, I do. Can we make it another time?” She sounded like she was planning a lunch date, but inside she was shaking in her boots. She’d always been in a relationship when she had sex. Even though she knew it would eventually end, she liked having some kind of commitment first, even if it was only short-term. But Nate had her wanting him like she’d wanted no one before. And this time there wouldn’t be any messy break-up drama. They both knew where they stood. Winning!
He pulled her back to him and gave her a curl-your-toes kind of kiss. It was so hot and sexy it surprised her she didn’t melt into a puddle at his feet.
“We sure can. I’ll see you tomorrow.” His gravelly voice told her he was just as affected by the kiss.
She could only nod and float out of the house.
* * * *
Jade and Lauren sat on Ava’s black leather lounge and watched her pace, more like waddle, in front of the floor-to-ceiling glass windows that looked over Brimland Point beach. Since they’d arrived, Ava hadn’t said a word, and it had been fifteen minutes.
Jade was getting worried. “Please, tell us—”
“I’m not ready yet.” Ava stopped her pacing and held out her hand like a stop sign. Then waddled again.
Jade looked at Lauren. She only shrugged like she too didn’t understand what was going on.
“I could’ve had sex with Nate by now.” Jade flicked her wrist to check the time on her watch. “Will you be pacing much longer? Because maybe I can go back and—”
“You’re sleeping with Nate?” Lauren gasped.
“My SOS interrupted sex?” Ava asked at the same time.
“No, I’m not sleeping with Nate…yet,” she explained to Lauren. “And yes, you interrupted,” she aimed at Ava.
“Wow, you’ve gotten hot and heavy fast with the sexy musician. You really are truly, madly, crazily in lust. That’s my girl.” Ava slowly sat down next to her and tapped Jade’s knee. “Tell us how far you got, what you saw, and what you touched.”
Jade laughed. “You’re still such a perve. I thought married life would have sorted that out. And besides, we’re here for you, not me.”
“That can wait. Tell us,” Ava encouraged.
“There’s not a lot to tell, but there’s definitely an attraction every time we see each other. And today I gave him a lift home after music lessons and things got a little heated, a cat attacked his arse, and then you called.”
For a beat the girls stared wide-eyed with their mouths open. “A cat attack? Is this some new kinky move I haven’t heard of? Because I’ve got every trick up my sleeve,” Ava commented.
“No. We found a stray outside his house and… Never mind. It attacked and you messaged.”
Ava shook her head. “Damn, my timing sucks.”
Jade agreed. “Enough about me. Stop stalling, and tell us why we’re here. And where is your husband?”
“I kicked Nick out.” Ava sighed.
“What!” Jade and Lauren jerked straight-back in their seats.
Ava waved an arm. “Relax. I didn’t kick him out permanently. I just needed space to figure things out.”
Lauren held on to Ava’s hand. “I thought your marriage was going strong. What’s happened?”
“Calm down. We haven’t broken up.”
“Well, when you tell us you’ve kicked out your husband to figure things out what are we expected to think?” Lauren frowned.
“Maybe if you give me a chance to explain without interruptions, I’d tell you.” Ava rolled her eyes.
Jade and Lauren both raised an eyebrow at their friend’s sharp tone but kept quiet and waited for her to continue.
Ava took a deep breath. Her lip quivered, then she sobbed into her hands, “I’m having a baby!”
This was not new information. They’d known since the stick she’d peed on turned pink. And Ava’s bulging belly was another clue. Seeing their strong friend break down over something she’d been excited about since she learned of the pregnancy was disconcerting.
“Yes, we know, but why is that bothering you now?” Jade rubbed soothing circles on Ava’s back.
Ava pulled her shirt up to wipe the tears from under her eyes. God, even after a crying jag she still looked stunning. No blotchy or puffy eyes. If that was Jade, her face would have looked like she’d had an extreme allergic reaction to bees.
“I’m going to be a mother,” she wailed.
Again, not new information. “We thought you were happy about this,” Jade said.
“I am. But I don’t know how to be one. I lost mine when I was young, and she wasn’t exactly Mother of the Year. And what did she teach me when she was alive? When things got tough, drown everything out with vodka.”
“Hey.” Lauren got off the couch and kneeled in front of Ava to look directly at her face. “She may not have been a great mother, but she loved you. I had the worst mother in the world, and I’m doing a pretty good job raising Ryan. If I can do it, you can. You know what not to do. You’ll be brilliant. And you have Nick, who will be an awesome dad.”
Ava sniffed. “He will, won’t he?”
“Absolutely. And you have us.” Lauren pointed a finger between her and Jade. “And we will be phenomenal aunties.”
This made Ava laugh, and she relaxed back in the seat. Jade knew she was only having pre-baby jitters and all would be fine.
It got her thinking how great her friends’ lives had become. Both had successful careers. Ava was a partner in a law firm, and Lauren owned a gift shop and was doing interior design. Both were married to incredible men and were starting families. It was something Jade could never see in her future. Husbands and babies in her life would never go together. But she would love to one day have a child of her own. She didn’t need a husband for that. Single women got pregnant all the time and could raise kids without a man.
With her mind made up she announced, “I’ve decided to freeze my eggs, and when the time’s right, get a sperm donor.”
Chapter 12
The next afternoon, grades five and six kids raced out of the hall after class. Today’s music lesson was a success. Not only did four children know some of the music greats, which put a huge smile on Nate’s face, they could follow instructions and play basic notes to a song.
While Jade waited for Nate so she could lock up the hall, she pulled out her phone to check her messages. Lauren and Ava had texted her about the egg donor bombshell.
A text from Lauren read:
Jade, you need to seriously consider your options. Freezing your eggs and getting a sperm donor should be your last one. You don’t have to have a baby on your own. Believe me, it’s difficult. If I didn’t have Jack, I don’t know how I’d cope.
And this from Ava:
Making a baby in a Petri dish is too clinical and so not sexy. Why don’t you get Mr. Musician to help you out? In the fun ‘let’s get naked and sweaty’ kind of way.
Jade laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Nate said as he leaned over the back of her chair, his head inches away from her face.
Jumping, Jade almost dropped the phone on the floor. She swiveled in the chair to face him
. “Oh, Ava thinks she’s come up with a brilliant idea.”
Nate raised a questioning eyebrow.
“I’ve been talking to the girls about having a baby, and I’m considering freezing my eggs and using a sperm donor when I’m ready. But Ava thinks I should use you.”
“What the hell?” Nate straightened and took about one hundred steps back—okay, maybe only two, but his reaction was hilarious.
“Relax. She was only joking… Well, I think she was. With Ava you can never tell. Don’t worry, I’d never ask you to be a donor. Unless you wanted to. Do you want to?”
Nate stood rock solid. Speechless.
Jade burst out laughing, clutching her stomach. “If you could see the look on your face. Scared much?”
Grabbing her hand, he pulled her onto her feet and wrapped an arm around her waist, crushing her chest against his. He ran the pad of his finger along her collarbone. The fingertip glided down the V of her top and back up again. The laughter died instantly, and Jade bit her bottom lip.
“If you could see the look on your face. Turned on much?”
This time it was Nate’s turn to laugh, but it was soon cut off when Jade slid her hand over his arse and squeezed. “I sure am.” No point denying it.
He grinned slow and sexy. “Let’s get out of here.”
“I wish I could, but I have a meeting in about ten minutes.” Jade sighed.
“Another meeting? Is your friend okay?”
“This is a parent-teacher interview for one of my students. And yes, Ava’s good. She’s pregnant and had pre-baby jitters.”
“What about tonight?”
“I meet the girls every Tuesday night at Jovi’s for drinks. It’s a ritual we never miss unless there are dire circumstances.”
The golden flecks in his hazel eyes flashed liquid heat. “I can think of something dire that’s making me extremely uncomfortable at the moment. Are you sure you can’t miss it?”
Her gaze dropped to his crotch for a beat. Yep, there was no mistaking his discomfort. “Sorry, we never put guys before girls.”
Stepping away, her body already missed his closeness and heat, but she really had to go. She picked up her bag, and they walked out of the hall, locking the door behind them.
Then she remembered the cat. “How’s Dorito?”
“Full and happy. I put him outside this morning, and I haven’t seen him since.”
“You didn’t keep him?” What was she saying? She already knew he couldn’t.
He frowned. “I’m not staying long enough to have a pet.”
The thought of him leaving left her with a heavy heart. It was probably because they’d become friends—hopefully, friends with benefits. And a man so gorgeous would make any woman sad to see him go. The weight on her chest couldn’t be for any other reason.
* * * *
A scrawny ginger cat sat at his doorstep when Nate arrived home. “I knew if I fed Dorito, he would only keep coming back,” Nate grumbled.
He walked up the two front steps and frowned. Christ, now Jade had him calling it by name.
Big copper eyes stared back as he dug the keys out of his pocket. Dorito wound his body around Nate’s legs and meowed.
“If you think you can sweet-talk me into letting you inside for more food, you are mistaken big time, buddy. You don’t have a sexy redhead here to help you out this time.”
Once he had the door unlocked, he didn’t open it fully. He squeezed himself through the small gap so the cat couldn’t squirm his way in, and quickly shut the door behind him.
“Surely he’ll find another sucker to feed him.”
After a quick shower, Nate went into the kitchen to see what he could put together for dinner. When he opened the fridge, he smiled. Fi-Fi had come over sometime during the day and left him a tray of lasagna. But what had made him smile was a note she’d left propped on the dish.
There’s enough for two. Maybe you’d like to share it with your cute teacher. Enjoy.
Love, Fi-Fi.
Nate knew his grandmother would have done some research on Jade. Fi-Fi could be like the FBI and probably had a file thick with information. He shook his head. She meant well. She wanted to see him settled down and happy.
After cutting a slice of lasagna, he heated the meal in the microwave. When it was done, he took the plate to the living room and set it on the couch—the coffee table now firewood. He pulled out an old Cold Revenge vinyl and put it on the record player he’d pulled out of the garage of his grandmother’s house. The rough and raw sounds of electric guitar, bass, and drums filled the room; sounds that as much as Nate tried to emulate, he could never achieve. His dad was a genius in his craft.
As he listened to the scratchy sounds of vinyl—the way music should sound in his opinion—an unmistakable meowing noise came from the front door. Dorito.
Nate turned the volume up to drown out the sound, but as he went to fork a bite of food into his mouth, the meowing only grew louder. Like the cat knew he had to compete with the music.
Sighing, Nate dropped the fork back on the plate. If Jade found out he ignored the stray, she’d be spitting mad and he’d never hear the end of it. He got off the couch, marched to the door, and swung it open. The cat darted in the house like the Flash, jumped on the couch, and scoffed into his pasta.
“Hey! That was my piece.”
There was no chance Dorito was giving up his feast, and Nate had no intention of fighting for it. Going back to the kitchen, he heated another plate of food and ate it standing up. He didn’t want to take any chances of the cat stealing more.
Back in the living room, Dorito had finished his meal and curled up in a corner of the couch, purring like a freight train. He was one content feline and didn’t look like he was going anywhere soon.
Nate left him alone, turned off the record player, and went to work on the songs Mike had emailed him. It was too late to call him in New York to discuss them, so Nate grabbed his laptop from his bedroom and sat gently on the couch next to Dorito, trying not to disturb him. What the hell! He was worried about waking the fleabag now?
Opening his laptop, he pulled up the email. You’d think he’d just opened a can of tuna because Dorito’s eyes flew open. He stretched, pushed himself under Nate’s arm, and made himself comfortable on his lap. The cat closed his eyes, tucked his face under a paw, and the loud purring started again.
For a moment Nate sat stunned with his computer sitting precariously on his knees. How was he supposed to work with this bag of bones on his lap?
He nudged him with a finger. “Move.”
Dorito didn’t bat an eye.
He poked again, this time harder. “I said move.”
No response. As soon as the cat woke up, he was going back outside. And Nate would never feed him again, no matter how loud he meowed.
He shifted so he could reach the keys on the computer and scrolled through Mike’s email. Listed were five new song titles with lyrics. “He’s been busy.”
He skimmed through them, making notes of what he liked and what needed fixing. Then he opened the video Mike also sent. He’d titled the song Stop Calling. Nate watched his drummer and guitarist perform. It was good. Edgy and heavy on guitar. The fans would love it. Much like his father’s music, it had all the rough sounds of a heavy rock band.
“Why don’t I love it?” He rubbed the back of his neck. He’d grown up listening to this style, was taught it the second he was big enough to hold a guitar. The son of Liam Harvey had his father’s passion passed down to him.
Maybe it was too soon after the tour to appreciate what Mike had sent. He was tired. Months of non-stop touring and living two different lives had drained him. He needed the break to recoup and focus on the band and make new music.
He didn’t bother opening any other videos. Instead, his gaze drifted to the guitar leaning against the wall. A strong pull to pick it up and play made him gently shift Dorito and move him on the couch. One eye cracked open to give Nate a
dirty look, and then he rolled into a ball.
Nate put the computer on the floor and walked over to his six-string. The manager at Jovi’s said he could play there whenever he wanted. And if that wasn’t motivation enough, Jade said she would be there. With that, he picked up the guitar, flung the strap over his shoulder so it sat on his back, and was about to leave the house when he stopped short. He had to put Dorito outside.
Turning back, he looked at the scruffy pile of ginger hair fast asleep on the couch and didn’t have the heart to kick him out onto the street. He’d deal with him in the morning, and if he kept coming back, maybe he could find him a more permanent home.
Happy with his decision, he left the house.
Chapter 13
A light summer drizzle fell as Jade ran from her car to Jovi’s Pub, damning the frizz that the rain was doing to her hair. Under the pub’s awning, she tried to smooth it out with her hands but eventually gave up and pushed through the timber doors.
Immediately, she heard a voice she would recognize anywhere. Not Nathan Harvey, the grungy, edgy style that sang for Harvey’s Territory. It was the smooth, crooning voice of the ever so sexy pub singer, primary school music teacher, and the man she was truly, madly, crazily in lust with—Nate Miller.
It didn’t take him long to spot her. Probably because she was so entranced by the music and the hot singer, she’d bumped into a table and empty glasses toppled over, causing a crashing sound loud enough to echo through the room. Because of the ruckus she’d made, she received a few dirty looks from people sitting at nearby tables. She smiled apologetically and then made her way to where Lauren and Ava sat.
“You sure know how to make an entrance,” Ava whispered.
“The table jumped in front of me,” Jade said as she took a seat between them.
Ava rolled her eyes and laughed.
“Shhh.” This came from Lauren. “I want to listen. He’s so good.”
Ignoring her friend, although Jade agreed one hundred percent, she leaned toward Ava and said, “I don’t know if I should be happy to see him here or annoyed. I told him we couldn’t meet tonight because I was having drinks with you girls. And now here he is.”
Trouble in Disguise Page 9
