by A. m Madden
I wracked my brain, trying to figure out what would have him confused. “I’m not sure why that’s so.”
Mr. Warner sat in one of the chairs facing my desk and steepled his fingers over his bulbous nose. “He was expecting forty hours and was only billed for twenty.”
My eyebrows rose in question. “That’s correct.”
“He should be your biggest client right now, Jade…other than the Bettermans. At least half your workweek should be spent on his case. The lack of hours tells him he’s not your priority.”
Was he serious? “With all due respect, sir, I have everything under control and decided to focus my time this past week on my other clients.”
“Jade.” His severe scowl, and the way his knotty fingers adjusted his perfectly straight tie, meant a lecture was coming. “You have two junior associates who should be handling those other clients. Part of making a good partner means you’re comfortable with delegating.”
“But sir, my clients depend on me to—”
“Be there for them,” he finished my sentence. “We’ve all been in this tug-of-war over our clients’ egos. However, it’s those with the biggest at stake that need to feel like we’re giving them the attention they deserve.” Before I could say another word, he stood with a victorious smile. “Glad you agree. I’ll assure Mr. Barron he won’t be disappointed next week. I’m off for the weekend.” Of course he was. It was only Wednesday.
“Thanks,” I replied robotically while glancing at the clock on my computer. Just past four, and it felt like I had a mountain of work left to do. So much for getting out at a respectable hour. It was times like now that I wondered why I loved my job or why I wanted more responsibility.
And then, as I caught a glimpse of Gertie walking by my office, I remembered the reason I pushed myself so hard and jumped back into the mountain of work waiting to be tackled.
Making junior partner at Warner, Sicks, & Thompson would open up tremendous possibilities for me, the kind I’d been dreaming of my entire adult life.
By the time I left the office, it was well after the dinner hour. My stomach grumbled from the lack of substantial food. I was afraid to eat, though, hating the sensation that came from nausea. But starving myself just to avoid throwing up wasn’t an option.
At home, I opened the fridge in search of something safe to eat for dinner, but nothing appealed. Deciding on toast and tea, I opened the pantry to grab my favorite blend when a box of instant mashed potatoes caught my eye. Surprisingly, the thought of eating them didn’t gross me out.
“Worth a shot,” I said to myself and then proceeded to prepare and devour a huge bowl of the stuff. Just as I finished, I hoped my prenatal vitamins compensated for my nutritionally deficient meal.
I both welcomed and dreaded that this week had come to an end. Max was due back from Miami today, and truth be told, I missed him. But…come tomorrow, it would be time to break the news of my pregnancy to my family.
As I changed out of my work clothes, an incoming call from Max meant he was home. “Hi.”
“Hey, beautiful.” Predictably, his sexy voice, combined with his preferred endearment, sent a tingle through me. No man had ever caused those elusive butterflies or fireworks or any other fictional response I was convinced hadn’t existed. “We just landed.”
Loving that he called me the moment he could, I said, “Welcome back.”
“Thanks. Looking forward to seeing you.” Bam. Instantly, stress over telling my family was forgotten as the tingle increased while a genuine smile spread. “How are you feeling?”
“The dreaded morning sickness kicked in,” I admitted.
“Oh no. How bad?”
“Let’s just say ‘morning sickness’ is false advertising. This shit happens any time of day or night. I won’t be eating yogurt for a while, among a long list of other things.” Just hearing the word “yogurt” made my stomach roil.
“You need to eat something, Jade.”
“I do eat my weight in saltines at work because they’re easy to hide. And a few nights ago, I discovered my body doesn’t repel instant mashed potatoes.”
“Those aren’t even real potatoes.” He sighed, but all I heard was you should know better.
“Nothing else appeals to me. That’s where my prenatal vitamins come in.” A long pause had me asking, “You there?”
“Yes. Sorry, I have to take this call. I’ll talk to you in the morning?”
“Of course,” I said, hiding my disappointment over our short conversation. “Night, Max.”
“Night,” he said and quickly hung up.
Too tired to do some of the work I’d brought home, I instead found a romantic comedy I had seen a thousand times and blindly watched it with my thoughts on a certain gym owner.
But then, what seemed like minutes later, the sound of my intercom buzzing startled me out of a deep sleep. A quick glance at the clock revealed an hour had passed.
“Yes?” I asked through the speaker while watching the screen.
A woman wearing a hat that read Danny’s Bistro smiled and said, “Food delivery.”
“I didn’t order anything.”
“Jade Easton?”
“Yes.”
“I have an order for you of mashed potatoes.”
Normally, there would be no way I’d grant access to a stranger, but this delivery wasn’t a coincidence. A few minutes later, the young woman appeared, carrying a shopping bag with the same logo as her hat. “Here you go. Enjoy.”
“Wait,” I stopped her to grab my purse then gave her some cash. She thanked me for the tip and rushed back to the elevator.
As soon as I locked the door, I rummaged through the bag. Inside were two huge containers of still-warm mashed potatoes.
“This man,” I said, grinning from ear to ear. Having skipped dinner, I dove right in. The gesture gutted me in the best of ways, bringing a wave of emotional sobbing that felt liberating to let loose.
Needing to hear his voice, to thank him, I impulsively dialed his number.
“Max,” I said breathlessly when he answered the call.
“Hey, are you okay?” he asked, alarmed. “I just got home.”
“I’m sitting here devouring the most delicious mashed potatoes I’ve ever tasted and crying my eyes out.” Before he could respond, a fresh wave of emotions I didn’t know how to handle sounded over the line. “However, I should mention that I cried over a muffler commercial earlier.”
A sexy chuckle filtered over the line. “Do you want me to come over? I can sit with you until you fall asleep.”
“No, you must be exhausted.”
“Jade. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
Eighteen minutes later, I buzzed him in and then watched him exit the elevator and come toward me looking very handsome, including that dimpled grin that drove me nuts.
The well-worn jeans and heather gray T-shirt he wore showcased every hard muscle from his shoulders to his thighs. My eyes raked down his body, admiring the denim that molded over his long legs. A rip here and there, and a pair of sexy leather loafers, all added to the ridiculous hotness that was Max Navarro.
“Hi, gorgeous,” he said before placing a soft kiss on my lips. “Nice pajamas.”
I looked down at the unicorn centered on my chest and then those dancing all over my legs. “These are my favorite.”
“They work for me.” He leaned down and gave me another kiss, harder than the first. Once he pulled away for the second time, Max wordlessly moved past me into the apartment. His manly scent, a combination of clean and woodsy, forced an urge to lean in and sniff him.
And then…with no warning, I lurched forward and threw up on his T-shirt.
“Oh boy,” he said with humor while humiliation consumed me. And as if one time wasn’t bad enough, bile rose to the back of my throat again
, forcing me to bolt toward the bathroom, just making it to the toilet.
The retching went on for a full fifteen minutes, leaving me to feel like death would be an easier fate. After washing my face and brushing my teeth, I emerged completely mortified to find a shirtless Max in my kitchen heating up a bowl of mashed potatoes. His light gray T-shirt was now dark gray and draped over my kitchen chair to dry.
“Hey,” he said when he heard me walk in. Placing the bowl on the counter, he came over to where I stood. “I walked to the door at least five times to check on you, but then I thought maybe you preferred to be alone. You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine now.” Physically, anyway. “Really. Thank you.”
The concern in his eyes was genuine. “Maybe it’ll stop soon?”
“According to the damn book, it could go on for a while.”
He chuckled before tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “The damn book?”
“That thing.” I pointed to the thick book sitting on the end table. “I refer to it whenever I have a question, and by the time I’ve found an answer, I have a dozen additional questions.”
Max’s line of sight followed to what I was referring to. “Well, let’s ignore the powers of the book for now. Are you up for some more mashed potatoes?”
I scrunched my nose. “Not right now.”
“Okay.”
I scanned down his hard body, and a visual of Max naked on my couch popped into my head. Along with the memory of how he felt buried inside me, while sporting the exact expression he wore now. I shifted my feet, suddenly feeling like a dog in heat.
What the hell was happening to me?
Just as he had when he came during sex, he continued to hedonistically hold my eyes hostage from where he stood, making me feel like I’d been hypnotized. I fastened my teeth onto my bottom lip while gawking at him like an idiot.
It hadn’t taken him long to realize something had me acting weird. “What?”
“Nothing,” I croaked. Swallowing hard, I tried to bring some moisture to the inside of my mouth before I spoke again. I could feel the warmth of his body even from where he stood feet away as I locked my door.
“Then why are you looking at me like I’m a tub of mashed potatoes?”
“You’re making me nervous,” I mumbled. Needing something to lean on, I moved past him to the kitchen counter before he followed close behind.
“What do you have to be nervous about?”
That an overwhelming desire to pounce on you right now is consuming me.
At my silence, he caged me in with his arms until my back was pressed into the Formica. “I really missed you,” he said with sincerity.
My heart flipped at his admission. An inch separated our noses, and it would’ve been so easy to strip off his jeans, climb him, and relieve my ache. But I had just thrown up on him, for God’s sake.
He took my hand, leading me to my couch where we sat side by side. In the sweetest of moves, he began playing with the bracelet on my wrist while holding steady eye contact. “Can I tell you something?”
“Of course.”
“I can’t stop wanting you.” My surprised silence prompted him to place a chaste kiss on my lips.
Could this man be any sexier?
Embarrassingly, I lunged until my mouth immediately covered his. The problem, kissing quickly became groping, and groping quickly escalated to become so much more.
Suddenly, he pulled away, his face twisted with torment. “Jesus Christ,” he said as an explanation. “Jade. I’m sorry.” He looked tortured, regretful. “This wasn’t why I came over.”
“Max, I attacked you.” It was the truth.
“And I let it progress. I think I should go, because if I don’t, then I’ll be spending the night, and that’s the opposite of taking it slow. We have a big day tomorrow. You need to get some rest.”
I wanted to argue, but he was right. I needed a clear head when we told my family about the baby, and having sex with Max wouldn’t help to achieve that.
Chapter Fourteen
Max
It was on my insistence that I be there when she told her family about the baby, but somewhere in between leaving Jade’s apartment and hitting the George Washington Bridge, uncertainty kicked in.
Typically, meeting “the family” was stressful enough. Throw in dropping a mega-bomb such as an unplanned pregnancy and the situation could become a catastrophe.
The closer we got to her parents’ house, the more I worried. But Jade’s silence meant she was also in her own worried little world. And that meant that I needed to push aside my anxiety, to be there for her.
When I felt the weight of her stare, I glanced her way. “What are you stressing over, beautiful?”
“Thank you for doing this,” she said with a small smile.
“No need to thank me, Jade. We’re in this together,” I reminded her, taking her hand, placing a sweet kiss on her knuckles, and resting them on the console. “So, is there anything I need to know going in?”
“Mom and Sapphire have no filter.”
“I can handle that.” A slow smile spread. “Sapphire and Jade. Is your mom named Pearl?”
“No, it’s Ruby actually.” She matched my grin. “Mom is quirky like that.”
“And your dad?”
“I guess now would be a good time to tell you he’s very traditional.” Her pause had me cutting my attention toward her. “In fact, my father prefers to think I’m still a virgin.”
“That’s just fantastic. Does he own a gun?”
“No,” she said and giggled although I was dead serious. “He is a man of few words, and some misinterpret that as being arrogant…where he’s more so inexorable.”
“This is just getting better. And your brother-in-law?” I asked.
“Greg is also quiet but fiercely protective of us. He’s an only child, and I was only sixteen when he and Sapphire started dating. Greg takes the role of my older brother very seriously.”
“More good news.”
She instructed on which exit to take and then squeezed my hand. “You’ll be fine.”
Again, I cut my gaze her way. “Well, if not, there are two men who look just like me roaming the earth.” Placing another kiss on the back of her hand, I then released it to adjust the windshield wipers as a light rain turned heavier. “Besides knowing your nephew loves Superman, and your niece is all about baby dolls, what are they like?” I asked, both of which sat in the backseat, since I insisted once in Jersey that we stop to get them something.
“Trouble,” she said, and I chuckled. “Kenner is a typical four-year-old boy. If there’s something to climb, tackle, or karate chop, he’s on it. And his new favorite word is fuck, but neither my sister nor brother-in-law will own up to who is responsible. Everly is all girl and sweet as sugar…until something pisses her off. She’s walking now and is also a parrot these days.”
After a few more directives, I turned onto her parents’ street. The neighborhood mimicked the one I grew up in on Long Island. Modest colonials on respectable-sized lots clearly revealing the sense of family and community that influenced it.
As we drove through the development, she kept bouncing her gaze toward me. “It’s the blue one on the right.” I pulled onto the driveway behind a minivan and cut the engine.
A proud gnome family sat near the path, welcoming visitors, gleaming from the rain. In spite of the gray, rainy day, everywhere I looked showed signs of late summer at Jade’s parents’ house. The tree on their patch of lawn was heavy with green foliage, and all types of flowers stood tall, lining a narrow flowerbed.
When she turned her gaze to me, I searched her eyes. “Are you ready?”
“As ready as I can be. Let’s hope I don’t throw up on anyone.”
“Aim for me. I’m used to it,” I teased before lean
ing over and placing a soft kiss on her lips. “Okay, let’s go meet the family.”
No sooner had we approached the house when an attractive petite woman with Jade’s hair color threw opened the door. “You’re here!” She pulled Jade into the foyer while engulfing her in a crushing embrace. Once she released her hold, her eyes widened as she noticed me standing there.
“Mom, this is Max Navarro,” Jade said. “Max, my mom, Ruby Easton.”
“Oh my, aren’t you a dish?” she blurted out and then snapped her attention to Jade.
“Mom!” Jade looked up at the ceiling while shaking her head.
“What? He’s stunning…and tall.”
“Why, thank you,” I said on a chuckle, holding out my hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Easton.”
“Yeah, that won’t work.” She swatted at my outstretched hand and threw her arms around my midsection. “Sorry, I’m a hugger, and Mrs. Easton is my mother-in-law…God rest her soul.”
“Grandma’s not dead!” Jade said, her eyes going wide toward her mother.
“Oh, I’m just kidding.” I couldn’t help but laugh at her antics. “Anyway, please call me Ruby.”
My eyes caught Jade’s as she mouthed, Oh my God.
Her mom pulled away and glanced at the bottle of wine I offered her. “For you.”
Dramatically, she placed a hand over her heart. “Oh, this is so lovely, Max. Thank you.”
“My pleasure,” I replied with a wide smile. “Thanks for having me.”
Just as her daughter sometimes did, Ruby’s eyes widened before she motioned toward me face. “Oh Lord, dimples.” She then sucked in a breath while fanning herself. “Has Jade told you dimpled men make her stupid?”
“Mom. Please stop.”
“What? Those are your words, not mine,” Ruby said as if it were a matter of fact.
“Is that so?” I asked with my eyes pinned to Jade’s tomato-reddened face. It made sense now. All the times Jade seemed to slip into a trance, it was because of my dimples.
