by Aly Martinez
People.
As in other people.
It was eight o’clock in the fucking morning. She should have still been bra-and-panty less in my black T-shirt she’d fallen asleep in.
Those alarm bells in my head switched to screaming.
“What the hell are you doing?” I growled.
“Shit!” she squeaked, spinning to face me. “Jesus, Jeremy. You scared the hell out of me.”
I glanced to the front door and saw her purse on the floor in the same place she’d dropped it the night before, but a pair of black ballet flats were now beside it. The alarm was still armed, but I’d given her my code, so that didn’t mean much. As I was turning my attention back to her, all the puzzle pieces snapped together when I saw the Caddy keys, which usually hung on a small hook in the pantry, sitting on the edge of the bar.
Panic hit me like a freight train. “Did you fucking go somewhere?”
She frowned and shot me a glare. “And good morning to you too, sunshine.”
I thundered toward her, snatching the keys off the bar and thrusting them in her direction as I repeated, “Did you fucking go somewhere?”
Curling her lip, she replied, “Just to the grocery store, and before you get all Mr. Hyde about me driving your precious Escalade, I was going to take the truck, but I couldn’t find the keys.”
The panic inside me twisted into a vortex of fury. “Have you lost your fucking mind!”
Her head snapped back, and her glare became incredulous. “I believe we covered that topic last night. Yes. We have both lost our minds. No use in harping on it.” Her lips turned up into a grin. “At least not when there are hot, fresh chocolate chip pancakes to be consumed.”
She turned back toward the pan, but I caught her arm. “Mira. I’m fucking serious here.”
She pointedly looked at my hold on her arm and retorted, “I can see this, Jeremy. What I’m not following is why you would be serious right now. I’m making pancakes. It’s hardly an offense.”
“You cannot leave this house by yourself. Jesus, woman. Were you not there last night when Mateo said there are some seriously bad fucking men after you?”
Snatching her arm from my grasp, she shoved the pan off the burner and discarded the spatula to the counter with a clatter. “Oh, I was there.” Tipping her head back, she closed the inches between us. Her chest bumped mine, but it wasn’t because she was trying to hug me or seeking out affection. She was pissed to the highest power. Fucking phenomenal. “Were you there when I found out my entire life has been a lie? And the nothing I thought I had before was actually negative nothing because my ex played me so hard that I deserve a championship ring?”
I gritted my teeth. “This did not escape me, Mira. But that doesn’t mean you can go gallivanting around town unprotected.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’d hardly call hitting the grocery store gallivanting.”
I glared.
She returned it, matching my frustrations pound for pound.
Her death glare faded first. “I’m not living in another prison, Jeremy.”
“Not asking you to, but you—”
“The rug was yanked out from under me last night,” she announced. “My life, my career, my dreams were all lies. I should have been crushed. I should still be in bed, lights off, covers drawn up over my head, and toeing the line of being catatonic. But I couldn’t sleep last night. I couldn’t get comfortable. My mind wouldn’t shut off.” Resting her hands on my chest, she shot me a warm, content smile. “Because of you.”
I pressed my lips together and felt my forehead crinkle. “Because of me?”
She pushed up onto her toes and nuzzled her cheek with mine. “I’m happy,” she whispered. “I haven’t had a lot of this in life. I wasn’t sure what to do with it. It scared me. Feeling that kind of perfection made me panic. Not the fact that I’ve almost been killed three separate times in so many days. Nor because there are men who are still intent on doing just that. No. I panicked because laying next to you—the man that I had fallen in love with as a teenager, the one I’d never let go? Well, he asked me to move in with him. And he asked me to move in with him because he’d always loved me too.” Her voice cracked, and it cracked my heart too.
“Jesus, baby,” I breathed, folding her into a hug.
She kept talking. “I couldn’t sleep because I was afraid, if I did, I’d wake up and it all would have been a dream. I couldn’t risk that.” She sucked in a ragged breath and forced a smile. “So yeah, Jeremy, I got out of bed early this morning, went to the grocery store because your fridge was empty, and now we are eating homemade chocolate chip pancakes and sausage because, if and when this all disappears, this time with you might be all I have to take with me.”
“Fuck,” I rumbled, tucking her face into my neck. “It’s not going to disappear, Mira.”
“Hopefully not,” she murmured. “But, if does, I won’t be blindsided.”
Using her shoulders, I shifted her away from me so I could see her face. “Mira, baby. It’s not going to disappear. We were dumb kids the first time. We both fucked that up and Kurt, being Kurt, he capitalized on it. But look at us now? One weekend and the fire between us is roaring out of control. An inferno like that doesn’t burn out in time. Not seventeen years. Not fucking ever. I’m in this, Mira. So I need you to settle in, get comfortable, be happy, and be in it too. Because it’s not always going to be this easy, baby. No matter how much we say the past is in the past, there are going to be times when resentment claws its way through our flames. And it’s going to take both of us, together, working as a team to fight that back.” I tucked a stray hair behind her ear and allowed my gaze to roam her beautiful face. Fuck, this woman owned me. She always had. Always would. “I’m committing to do that with you, Mira. I’m committing to fight harder than I’ve ever fought for anything in my life. Because we’re fucking worth it.”
She blinked up at me as if she couldn’t believe her own eyes. “Jeremy.”
Dipping low, I brushed my nose with hers and reiterated, “I’m not going to disappear. And right now would be a really good time for you to promise that too.”
“I promise.” Her chin quivered, and tears finally slid down her pink cheeks. And then Mira said the only words I’d ever wanted to hear her say. “I choose us. Now and forever. I swear to you I’ll always, for the rest of my life, choose us.”
Relief tore out of me in a way that made me rethink the reasons I hadn’t slept well the night before. Maybe I had been waiting for her to disappear. Waiting for her to find a better offer and take it, leaving me to wither all over again.
“You sure?” I asked, my voice thick with emotion.
She smiled. “Positive.”
I nodded at least a dozen times, my chest puffing as my lungs inflated with enough air to last me a lifetime strictly because it had once been hers. And then I gave it back to her. “I love you.”
Her face got all squishy in a way that couldn’t possibly be construed as attractive. But it was Mira, and she said, “I love you too.” So it was the most beautiful face I’d ever seen.
I hugged her tight, regretting the moment I had to let her go.
But that was the sweetest part about it. I didn’t have to.
I did, however, have to set her straight about something.
After clearing my throat, I said, “Now, we need to get back to you going to the store alone this morning.”
Her lips pursed and her face unscrunched and it did it morphing into a scowl.
“Jesus, Jeremy. You really know how to ruin a moment.” She tried to step away.
Chuckling, I anchored her around the waist. “See, I disagree. I’m trying to enhance those moments. By making sure you stay alive so we can have more of them together. As the man who has always loved you, has asked you to move in with me, and is planning to start a future with you, I’m kind of hoping that future lasts more than one night.”
With her attitude still on full display, she t
wisted her lips. “I’ve been trapped in Kurt’s prison for a long time, Jeremy. I’ll be damned if I volunteer to stay in it any longer. He doesn’t get to dictate my life anymore. So, if I want to go to the grocery store to make my man breakfast, then that’s what I’m doing.”
I groaned. She had a point. Just not a point I wanted her to make.
I kissed her, short and chaste. “I’m not saying you can’t go to the grocery store, Mira. I’m saying I was right upstairs. You could have woken me up to go with you.”
“Then it wouldn’t have been a surprise,” she argued.
“No, but it would have been a huge fucking surprise if I got a call that you were dead in a ditch.”
Her body jerked, and she opened her mouth, but I didn’t let her get a word in.
“I know this sucks, baby. Trust me, I don’t want you living in his prison, either. But, until we can figure out how to get you in the clear, I need you to play it safe. We have the rest of our lives for you to surprise me with breakfasts. But I only have one of you. And, if something happens to you, knowing I could have prevented it, I’ll be stuck living in that prison forever.”
Sheepishly, she looked away.
Yeah. She saw my point too.
Wiggling in close, she asked, “So, if I promise to do everything in my power to keep myself alive and out of a ditch, you think you can park your sexy ass down on a stool and eat this delicious breakfast I risked my life to provide for you?”
I smirked. “Depends. Am I going to risk my life by eating that sausage? We all know what you did with pork last time.”
“Hey! I can cook.”
From the way the kitchen smelled, she was not lying. But it was more fun to pick on her than tell her that. “So you keep telling me.”
“I can!” She glowered and it made me chuckle.
Yeah. Definitely more fun.
Smiling, I kissed her again, this time slowly and tenderly until whatever attitude she had been gearing up to sling at me melted away. Leaving her cheeks pink and breaths labored, I sauntered around to the barstool and sat my ass down. “Then feed me, woman.”
And feed me she did.
Opening the microwave, she produced the largest stack of pancakes I had ever seen. It was as if she had unearthed the holy grail of breakfasts. My mouth watered. I fully expected her to fork off a few onto a separate plate for me, but she didn’t. She just sat the whole damn plate in front of me and grinned.
“Sweets still your weakness?”
My stomach rumbled, answering her question, as I blinked at the heavenly, chocolate-speckled, pan-fried imitation of Mount Everest.
As a general, self-imposed punishment—er…I mean rule—I only ate junk on Fridays, when Rhion brought in muffins and all that other shit for us at the office. I was forty and my career required me to stay in shape. I did not have enough time in the day to work off the amount of crap I would have liked to eat.
However, it had been a few years since I’d had a woman to make me chocolate chip pancakes.
Without tearing my eyes off the pancakes, I asked, “You gonna help me work off the seven thousand calories it would cost me to eat all of these?”
She giggled. “By running beside you at the gym? No. By getting naked and letting you have your wicked way with me? Absolutely.”
My head popped up, a grin splitting my face. “Judging by the height of this stack, that’s going to be a lot of wicked ways, Mir. You sure you’re ready for that?”
Her grin grew to match mine as she placed a bottle of syrup on the bar in front of me. “I think I can manage.”
God, I loved that woman.
I didn’t get the first bite to my mouth before a knock at the door stole my attention.
Rising off the stool, I lifted a hand in Mira’s direction and whispered, “Don’t move.”
“Are you expecting someone?” she asked, anxiety rising in her tone at the end.
“It’s fine,” I lied.
People did not just show up at my door at eight thirty in the morning. People didn’t show up at my door period.
Cautiously, I went to the window that overlooked my driveway, and then my lungs deflated on a rush. Melissa’s Acura MDX was parked directly behind my SUV.
“Shit,” I mumbled.
Melissa didn’t just randomly show up at my house, either. Especially not an hour after I knew she dropped the girls off at daycare halfway across town.
She’d been a bitch when she’d seen Mira in the background of our video chat. I could only imagine she was there to spew more of that shit on me. But I had no intention of taking it. Not with pancakes and a woman eager to help me burn them off waiting.
I yanked open the door. “What are you doing—”
“Daddy!” they squealed, crashing into my legs.
Oh, shit.
Shoving past me, Melissa walked inside, her heels, which probably cost a fortune, clipping on the hardwood. “Good lord, Jeremy. Could you at least put on a shirt?”
“Didn’t know I’d be receiving company,” I replied. Scooping the girls up into my arms, I planted one on each hip and cooed, “Hey, babies.”
“We’re not babies!” they giggled in unison.
“Where the hell have you been?” Melissa snapped. “I’ve called you at least a dozen times. I finally broke down and called Guardian. Sarah said you had the day off. Thank God.”
I flicked my eyes over Mel’s shoulder to Mira, who was standing stiff as a statue in the kitchen, her eyes wide and her face red. Jesus, fuck. Not exactly the ideal way to introduce her to my ex and my kids. But there was nothing I could do about it now.
“Melissa, this is—”
“Listen, I need you to keep the girls. Amelia was running a fever when we got to the daycare today, so she couldn’t stay. I have a huge meeting this morning that I can’t miss.”
I looked to my daughter on my left hip and asked, “You feeling okay, sweetie?”
“I’m Sophie,” she replied.
Christ, they looked so much alike.
I winked. “Of course you are.” Then I looked to Amelia on my right and repeated the question. “You feeling okay, sweetie?”
“No,” she croaked, resting her head on my shoulder.
Melissa put her hand to Amelia’s forehead. “I gave her medicine before we headed this way. Her fever should break soon.” She flipped her hand to Sophie’s forehead. “This is the one you need to keep an eye on. She’s fine right now, but you know they pass this stuff back and forth. It’s only a matter of time before—” She slapped her hand to her chest when her gaze finally landed on Mira. “Oh, God.”
And here we go!
Silently, Mira lifted her hand in an awkward wave. It would have made me laugh if I hadn’t felt Melissa swing a pair of green laser beams on me.
Bracing, I glanced back at her.
“Is she seriously still here?” she seethed, her face so tight that it was a wonder it didn’t shatter.
I shrugged, the girls’ red curls jostling with the movement of my shoulders. “Well, she kinda lives here now.”
Yeah. I could have been gentler while dropping that bomb, but it didn’t matter when or how I’d dropped it. To Melissa, it was always going to be a bomb. It also didn’t matter that we were divorced. Or that she was with Brent. She’d find a reason to be pissed off no matter what. But, with the girls in my arms, I knew she’d at least keep it together long enough to get them—and hopefully Mira—out of earshot.
Her mouth fell open, and her narrowed, green eyes filled with disgust. “She lives here? She”—she pointed a perfectly manicured red fingernail toward Mira—“lives”—she pointed to the floor—“here.”
I gave her a side-eye and warned, “Watch it.”
“Watch it,” she repeated, incredulous. “There is a woman living in my house and you want me to watch it?”
My body tensed as I fired back as calm as I could manage, “One, not your house anymore. I bought it outright when you decided to mov
e. Two, not another word in front of the girls.”
Her eyes bulged. “Of course. Not in front of the girls. Our girls. Our children, whose home you moved your little plaything into without talking to me first.”
The muscles in my neck strained, but I dropped into a squat, placing the twins on their feet. And then I performed the miracle of keeping my voice low and even as I said, “Sophie, Amelia, go play in your room for a minute.”
Melissa barked a laugh. “Ohhhh, no, you don’t. They aren’t staying. No way in hell I’m leaving my kids with some woman I’ve never met before.” Grabbing both of their hands, she started to the door, continuing to rant. “You all but ran a security clearance on Brent before he was allowed to meet the girls, and here you are just up and moving a woman into our house. No discussion. No notice. No…” She snatched the front door open. “No nothing.”
My blood was boiling. Pissed was one thing. Acting a fool in front of the kids was totally different.
“Mel,” I growled.
And, because things were already going so smashingly, Mira decided that this was the perfect moment to wade into the chaos. “No, wait. Please. It just kinda happened yesterday. We weren’t planning it or anything. We’ve only officially been together a few days, I’m positive he was going to talk to you before we got my things today.”
Dear. God. Shoot. Me.
Melissa’s mouth fell open, and she did a slow blink at Mira.
I dropped my head back between my shoulders, stared up at the ceiling, and called out, “Not helping, baby.”
Melissa ominously whispered, “A few days?”
Mira tried to defend me again. “Well, I mean—”
“A few days!” Melissa screeched—fucking screeched—right there in front of my kids. One of whom was sick. Both of whom were too damn young for this bullshit.
“Enough,” I snarled. Striding toward the door, I hooked an arm around Sophie first, easing her back on my hip, before doing the same with Amelia on my other side. Then, leaning toward their mother, I ordered, “Outside. Now.” Firm, but at least a dozen octaves below the shout I wanted to use.