“Yeah.” He laughed softly. “God, babe, I missed you so much.”
“I was gone for two days before I talked my dad into going to pick you up and letting you sleep on the couch.”
“I don’t remember getting much sleep done on that couch,” he reminded me, and I felt a smirk on my face. The memories of that break tumbled back in an instant.
“That’s because you were busy sneaking into my room,” I shared, and he laughed. His laughter was contagious; it made my stomach warm and my heart flutter.
“My girls doing okay over there?” he asked once the laughter subsided; that damn tone in his voice reappeared, and any warmth I felt washed away while defensive walls popped up. Like the glimpse of the man I loved was gone, replaced with the one I didn’t like all that much.
“They’re doing awesome.” I shared, “They love camp and—”
“And you?” he interrupted me, and I froze.
“What?” I whispered, unsure of what he was asking me.
“You are part of my girls, aren’t you?” he asked. I opened and closed my mouth.
“What?” My voice was nothing but a hushed whisper, but even so, it sounded too loud in my ears. He was asking about me?
“You always tell me about Becca and Viv, and in no way am I complaining, Nadia, but I also want to know about you.”
“You do?” I asked, the surprise in my voice clear as day.
“I do,” he answered confidently before clearing his voice. “I know this isn’t the time to talk about this, baby, and we will talk when I get there, but I need you to know something.”
“What?” I asked cautiously as my heart beat furiously to the tempo of hard-beating drums inside my chest.
“I love you.” Those three words made my eyes burn, but he kept sharing, “What we have… we both know it’s not perfect, but it’s far from broken, Nadia.” Just like that, the dam that had been holding on against the laws of physics broke and big crocodile tears rolled down my face. One after another rolled and spilled down my cheeks, and I couldn’t stop them. Relief and love washed through me, and even though they were just words, I was grateful he was finally talking. Letting me in on how he was feeling and what he wanted.
“Fuck,” he growled, and I could hear him shuffling around. “Baby, don’t cry.”
“I’m not,” I lied poorly, knowing my voice gave me away.
“You are.”
“I’m sorry,” I started to say mid-sob, but his soft, comforting words stopped me from saying anything else.
“Shh… breathe, baby.” His voice was soft and soothing. I tried to stop, but I couldn’t; the tears kept flowing. “Fuck, Nadi, I feel like a jackass. I didn’t mean for things with us to get like this. This is my fault.”
“It’s not—” I tried to argue to tell him it wasn’t all on him but equally both of us, when I hiccupped.
“Drink water, babe. When you get upset like this, the hiccups take forever to go away if you don’t drink something.”
“See, it wasn’t just you,” I pointed out, wiping my face with my hand before getting up and heading toward the kitchen. “You know me…”
“I do, but I’ve been an ass.”
“Yeah, you have been,” I agreed and took a deep, shuddered breath. “But I shut down and…”
“Shhh.” His voice rumbled, “We’ll talk… but not tonight. Not over the phone.”
“But…” My argument caught in my throat when I heard what he had to say next.
“I want you in my arms when we talk.” Silence fell between us, and all I knew was I wanted that, too.
“Okay,” I gave in and agreed softly after settling back on the couch, covering myself with the soft maroon plush throw the girls liked to cuddle with.
“Girls asleep?” he asked, and I listened carefully, finding the house completely silent.
“Sounds like it.”
“Good. Rest. I’ll see you in the morning, and after we take the girls to camp, we will go have breakfast and—”
“We can’t.”
“What?”
“I mean, I can’t.”
“Oh?”
“Demolition of the main bathroom starts tomorrow.” I winced. I should have told him about the remodeling plans earlier in the week.
“Demolition? Like tearing it apart?” he asked slowly, and the hairs on my neck stood up.
“Yes.”
“Nadia, you can’t do that stuff alone. You could get hurt or bust something—”
“I’m not,” I quickly added, glad that was what he was worried about.
“What?”
“I hired someone. He’s going to—”
“He?”
“Owen…”
“Is there more to this little trip to the house than you are letting on, Nadia?” he asked, and I fought from laughing. David Leon was very handsome, ten years older than me, but very married and loyal.
“Are you jealous?” I couldn’t help asking as I sat up, pleasantly surprised.
“Should I be?” his deep voice asked.
“Not at all. He’s a contractor who Simone contacted for me,” I explained, my lips twitching. Owen? Jealous?
“So, what? He’s going to fix a bathroom?”
“Both.”
“Both bathrooms?” And here was the Owen I knew. The one who second-guessed every decision I made. “And you decided this without talking to me?”
“When would I have talked to you about this?” I pointed out. He had been the one who didn’t say two words to me this week.
“You told me you needed space.”
“I didn’t. I said we both needed time to think,” I clarified as I started to get pissed. “And believe it or not, I have made big decisions in the past concerning our own home.”
“Nad—”
“And it’s not just the bathrooms; he’s going to do the kitchen, too,” I decided to tell him and let the chips fall where they would.
“Jesus, Nadia, do you know how much that is going to cost?”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m not using your money,” I furiously threw back. My blood heated in my veins. “I don’t know why you’re so surprised either. I told you what I was coming up here to do.” Did he think I was stupid? Of course, I knew how much it would cost!
“I thought you were trying to make a point. I’d head over and we would be back in a week or two,” he argued back. I felt like a bucket of ice water had been thrown over my head, like an ice bucket challenge.
“Did you really think we could fix what’s wrong with us in a couple of days? Two weekends? Which is essentially only four days with you, since you have to get back to work?” I asked him, my voice somehow steady, and I swallowed hard.
“Nadia—”
“It’s not that easy, Owen,” I pointed out. How could I think we were turning a corner?
“I never said it was.”
“I told you I was going to be here for the summer. I told you I was going to fix up the house,” I reminded him. “And I meant it.”
“Nadia, you’re talking about renovations that will cost over twenty thousand dollars. You didn’t even talk about—”
“I did. I did talk about it with you. What you didn’t do, was listen. Which honestly, I’m not surprised about.”
“Nadia—”
“That’s one of the problems, Owen. You don’t listen.” My voice cracked. I hated how upset I was getting. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not your money I’m using.” My grandmother had left me some money when she had passed away, and I had been smart with it.
“Again with this my money, your money crap? My money is ours, Nadia.” He sighed passively.
“Right? That’s why you’re questioning me. Like I’m stupid and have no idea what I’m doing.”
“I didn’t say that,” he growled, but I was too angry to keep trying.
“Do you have any idea what I do for you and the girls?”
“Nadia—”
“The decis
ions I have to make because anytime I try to talk to you, you’re just too busy?”
“Nadia—”
“And I’m not just talking about what to make for dinner or whether to buy cage-free eggs or grass-fed meat, Owen. I mean real decisions,” I stressed.
“Babe—”
“Financial ones. I make them all the time. You just don’t have the time to think about it, or you probably never realized it. But I balance our checkbooks. I make sure the bills are sent and paid on time. I make sure the girls’ after-school activity fees are never late, and that they have the equipment they need.”
“I didn’t mean—” he started to backtrack, but I was done. I didn’t want to hear it.
“Good night, Owen. If you want to see the girls before they leave for camp, the bus picks them up at eight in the morning.” Without a second thought or hesitation, I ended the call.
It might have been childish or selfish of me, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t stand to talk to him a second longer.
Chapter Ten
Owen
WITH A PLAN SET in his head, sleep had been difficult to achieve the night before. But even the lack of sleep had not stopped him from leaving the house early and heading out to Santa Barbara.
Parking on the sidewalk at 7:58 a.m., he stepped out and rushed over to his girls as they were stepping out of the house to walk to the bus stop. Their squeals of joy as they ran toward him must have caught Nadia’s attention. He could feel her eyes on them and simply looked at her and told her he was going to walk them. Hand in hand, he walked with Vivian and Becca as they shared about camp and their week a mile a minute. After giving their foreheads a kiss as they stepped onto the bus, he walked back to the small house they’d bought and thought back to a moment in time before they had even been able to buy an investment property. Hell, they hadn’t even been able to splurge on a steak dinner while living in their tiny studio apartment back then. But he had surprised her with a quick getaway up to Santa Barbara, and they had found themselves walking around a residential area and had talked about their goals and dreams. What life would be like. She had pointed to a house and said she would one day want a place like it. Something small they could go to as a family to escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life in LA.
He had felt overwhelming pride when escrow closed on the place. Proud he had been able to make that dream come true for her. Looking at the house, the disheveled state of it, what had been the point of the purchase if he never had a chance to get out here?
He was always too busy to spend time with his girls when they came here. Or on the rare occasion he did head out, he was always hidden away behind a laptop, catching up on work shit instead of spending time with them as they ran through the sprinklers in the backyard during the summers or walking hand in hand with them in the winter through the craft fairs they liked to visit.
“You’re early.” Nadia’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts, and he took in the black tee and faded worn-in jeans he knew did amazing things to her incredibly luscious ass.
“I wanted to be here before the girls left,” he explained and didn’t miss the way her eyes softened.
“I’m glad. They’ve missed you.” She stepped toward him. It wasn’t lost on him she didn’t say she missed him. Why would she when all he did was put his foot in his mouth lately? When she reached him, he wanted to grab her by the waist and pull her in close, kiss her hard. Remind her of what it was like to be them. Instead, he cleared his throat and they both walked to his car, where he took his bag out.
Silence surrounded them as they walked back to the house. Taking in the space, he could see that she had already started to work on redoing it. Blue painter’s tape trimmed the baseboards, art that she had carefully found and hung up now sat on the far corner next to the outdated TV they had brought from home. She was definitely serious about fixing the place up, and for a moment, he wondered if it was her preparing to make a bigger move. Would she want to live here if they split up? Would she leave him in their big house all alone?
“That’s a big bag for a weekend,” she pointed toward the suitcase he’d packed up, and he nodded.
“I’m here for the month,” he announced, not missing the way her eyes widened and narrowed in clear disbelief.
“A month?” she repeated. He nodded again.
“Yep.”
“How did you get Claudia and HR to—”
“It was actually her idea,” he sighed, being honest with her. This whole thing between them was going to be harder before it became easier.
“It was your boss’s idea for you to take a month off?” she asked incredulously.
“And HR agreed,” he filled her in and knew what she was going to ask next.
“What did you do?” she asked suspiciously, and he frowned.
“What?” His own eyes narrowed. Maybe he didn’t know what she was going to ask.
“What did you do, Owen?” she repeated. He didn’t miss the way she took a step back and her arms crossed in front of her.
“What do you mean?” Why does it have to be my fault? he thought to himself defensively.
“You hardly ever get a complete weekend, and if you do, you always bring work home to hide out in your study,” she pointed out. He deserved it, so he wasn’t going to try to argue. “So, what did you do?”
“Nothing. Look, it worked out perfectly, since they need to hire me a new assistant,” he told her, and she blinked, silent for a long second. Her tanned skin paled and something ugly flashed in her eyes before she straightened her back.
“What happened with Monique?” she asked him. There was something about the tone in her voice he didn’t appreciate. Even though he could understand and saw the issues that regarded Monique, he didn’t like what she was wordlessly implying.
“She quit.”
“She quit?”
“That, or she would have been fired. Either way, she’s gone and HR is going to find someone new for me,” he explained, but her expression didn’t change.
“Why?” she asked again, and his jaw clenched.
“Why?”
“Why did she quit?” she asked, taking yet another step back, crossing her arms. The space felt like an ocean separating them.
“Do you think something happened between Mo—” he started to ask, hating he would even have to. But he needed to clear the air between them so they could start laying the groundwork on getting their relationship to a better place.
“I don’t know,” Nadia answered honestly, her back ramrod straight. His jaw twitched.
“Nothing unprofessional happened between us.” He tried to stay calm.
“What do you consider unprofessional?” she asked, her eyes flaring. At least she wasn’t pale anymore; he noted the pinkening in her cheeks.
“I’m not trying to pull a fast one over on you, Nadia. I would never lie to you,” he told her and watched her shake her head. “Don’t you believe me?” he asked, taking his own step back.
“I don’t know what to believe,” she whispered, and frustration grated him. He might be able to see where she was coming from, but he was still human. How can she have lost faith in me? In us?
“I’ve never stepped out on you. Jesus, Nadia. I sure as hell wouldn’t touch my assistant,” he growled, taking two quick, long steps forward, his hands grabbing her hips, done with keeping his distance. She was his. He needed to remind her that he was hers, too.
“You both worked long hours,” she pointed out. He breathed in deep, trying to taper down his emotions.
“We did,” he agreed because it was the damn truth. “But she was never in my office after hours or alone,” he stated and watched her blink. His words processed in her mind, so he kept going. “She was spreading rumors. Stupid shit. That I was going to leave you and go to her.”
“She did that?” Her eyes widened.
“Yeah. I guess to anyone who would spare a moment to listen.”
“Why would she do that? Did y
ou give her—” Nadia tried to get out of his embrace, but he held on to her.
“I never did anything around her away from you that I wouldn’t have done in front of you. Baby, you are everything to me.”
“You could have fooled me.” When her eyes flared, he had to bite away a smile, a wave of relief washing through him.
There. There she was.
The girl he had fallen in love with.
The one who would never let him get away with shit.
The one who called him on any crap he tried to pull.
The girl he had somehow lost and forgotten to protect and cherish and nurture.
The girl he would fight heaven and earth to be by her side.
“You are everything to me, Nadia,” he repeated.
“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes. She was straining to get away from him, but his hands held on to her, loving the way her body fit in his hands. Made for me.
“I think I need to remind you.” He leaned down. His lips twitched at the sharp intake of her breath and the way her body relaxed and leaned toward his.
Touching his lips to hers, he kissed her.
Slowly.
Softly.
Taking his time, his hands roamed upwards, leaving a trail of heat up her arms and through his own body, until he was cupping the back of her head. Nadia’s silky hair in his fingers, he swallowed up every sexy sound that escaped. Her soft moans and the way her fingers dug into his biceps felt like a gift. Pulling away was difficult, but he found the strength to do it and rested his forehead on hers.
“I love you,” he panted, and her eyes met his head on. She opened her mouth, and the doorbell rang.
“That’s—”
“David Leon,” he finished her sentence. Her head nodded slowly, surprise obvious on her face.
“How did you—”
“Simone.”
“Tell me you didn’t call her.” Her face scrunched up, which made him want to laugh. “That’s not funny, Owen. She is on—”
“Vacation, and no, I didn’t. I guess she cc’d me when she first emailed you. I read it after we hung up last night.”
“Oh.”
“Come on. We have work to do,” he told her, and she tilted her head.
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