The custody proposal Edmund put together was approved by both of them on the first draft. He hoped that he would see Jared more than required, but this established a minimum they were both comfortable with.
He noticed Marie’s coat hanging by the door when he came in, so he knew she was already there to watch Jared. Gavin looked around the apartment, but he didn’t see Marie or Jared anywhere. “Where is everyone?”
Then he heard giggles and splashing from the bathroom. He smiled, knowing Marie was probably soaked. After they’d told Jared that Gavin was his daddy, he’d insisted Daddy give him his bath that night. Gavin had gotten more water on him than the toddler in the tub, he was pretty certain.
Aside from that, the night had gone pretty smoothly. Apparently toddlers didn’t angst about things the way grown-ups did. Gavin was his daddy—great. Let’s go play.
“Marie is giving Jared a bath, although I think they’re probably having more fun with the bathtub paints than actually washing.”
Gavin wanted to peek in and say hello before they left, but he resisted. He’d gotten Sabine to agree to this dinner and the babysitter he provided. Right now, Jared was happy. If they went in to say goodbye, the giggles might disintegrate into tears. “Are you ready?”
She nodded, the luxurious black waves of her hair gracefully swaying along her jawline. “I already told Marie goodbye a few minutes ago so we could slip out. She seems to have everything under control.”
Since it was just the two of them tonight, he’d opted for the Aston Martin. He held the door for her, noting the elegant curve of her ankles in tall pink pumps as she slipped inside. Gavin had no clue how women walked in shoes like that, but he was extremely thankful they did.
They had seven-thirty reservations at one of the most sought-out, high-end restaurants in Manhattan. He’d made the reservation on Monday, feeling confident they would come to an agreement in time, but even then, it had taken some persuading to get a table. Most people booked a table several months in advance, but they knew better than to tell a Brooks no. He tended to get in wherever he wanted to, and he made it worth the maître d’s efforts.
They checked in and were immediately taken to an intimate booth for two. The restaurant was the brainchild of a young, up-and-coming chef who snagged a James Beard award at the unheard-of age of twenty-two. The decor was decidedly modern with lots of glass, concrete and colored lights that glowed behind geometric wall panels.
Their table was like a cocoon wrapping around them and shielding them from the world. A green glass container on the table had a flickering candle inside, giving a moody light to their space. It was just enough to read their menus, but not enough to draw attention to who was inside the booth. It made the restaurant popular with the young celebrity set who wanted to go out but maintain their privacy.
“Have you ever been here?” Gavin asked.
Sabine took in all the sights with wide eyes. “No, but I’ve heard of it. My boss said her husband took her here for her birthday.”
“Did she like it?”
“She said the food was good. The decor was a little modern for her taste, which is funny considering her clothing design has a contemporary edge to it that would fit right in.”
“I’ve been here once,” Gavin said. “It’s fine cuisine, but it’s not stuffy. I thought you’d like that.”
Sabine smiled and looked down. “Yes, there aren’t fifteen pieces of silverware, so that’s a relief.”
Gavin smiled and looked over the menu. He’d learned his lesson the first time they dated. His attempts to impress her with nice restaurants had only intimidated her and pointed out the wide gap of their social standings. She wasn’t like other women he’d dated. A lot of women in Manhattan expected to be wined and dined in the finest restaurants in town. Sabine was just as happy with Thai takeout eaten on the terrace of his apartment, if not more so.
This place was his attempt at a compromise and so far, it seemed to be a good choice. There wasn’t a fixed tasting menu like so many other restaurants. Foie gras and caviar wasn’t her style, and she wouldn’t let him pay two hundred dollars a head for a meal she wouldn’t eat. Here, diners got to mix and match their choice of Asian fusion dishes for the six courses.
The waiter brought their drinks, presenting him with a premium sake and Sabine with a light green pear martini that was nearly the color of her eyes. They ordered and the server disappeared to bring their first course selection.
“I’m glad we got everything worked out with Edmund. I’ve been looking forward to this night all week.” He met her eyes across the table and let a knowing smile curl his lips. Gavin expected tonight to go well and for Sabine to end up back in his bed. He’d fantasized about her naked body lying across his sheets as he lay in bed each night.
Holding up his drink for a toast, he waited for Sabine to do the same. “To surviving the terrible twos,” he said with a grin, “and everything else the future may hold.”
Sabine tipped her glass against his and took a healthy sip. “Thank you for handling all of this so gingerly. You don’t know how much I’ve worried.”
“What are we drinking to?” A nasal voice cut into their conversation.
They both turned to find a blonde woman standing beside their table. Ugh. It was Viola Collins. The Manhattan society busybody was one of the last people he wanted to see tonight. She had a big mouth, an overabundance of opinions and a blatant desire for Gavin that he’d dodged for years.
“Viola,” he said, ignoring her question and wishing he could ignore her, as well. “How are you?”
She smiled and showed off her perfect set of straightened, whitened teeth that looked a touch odd against her too-tan skin. “I’m just great.” Her laser focus shifted toward Sabine, taking in and categorizing every detail with visible distaste. “And who do we have here?”
Gavin watched his date with concern. He wasn’t certain how Sabine would react to someone like Viola. Some people might shrink away under Viola’s obvious appraisal, but she didn’t. Sabine sat up straighter in her seat and met Viola’s gaze with her own confident one.
“Viola Collins, this is my date, Sabine Hayes.”
The women briefly shook hands, but he could tell there was no friendliness behind it. Women were funny that way, sizing one another up under the cool guise of politeness.
“Would I have met you before?” Viola asked.
“I sincerely doubt it,” Sabine replied.
Gavin couldn’t remember if they had or not. “You may have. Sabine and I dated a few years back.”
“Hmm...” Viola said. Her nose turned up slightly, although Gavin thought that might be more the result of her latest round of plastic surgery. “I think I would’ve remembered this. That’s interesting that you two are dating again. I would’ve thought the novelty would’ve worn off the first time.”
“Oh, no,” Sabine said, a sharp edge to her voice. “I’m very bendy.”
Viola’s eyes widened, her tight mouth twisting at Sabine’s bold words. “Are you?” She turned to Gavin. “Well, I’ll have to tell Rosemary Goodwin that you’re off the market. For now,” she added. “I think she’s still waiting for you to call her again after your last hot date. I’ll just tell her to be patient.”
“You’ll have to excuse me.” Sabine reached for her purse and slipped out of the booth, deliberately sweeping the green martini off the table. The concoction splattered across Viola’s cream silk dress. “How clumsy of me!” she said. Ignoring the sputtering woman, Sabine bent down to pick up the glass and set it back on the table. “That’s better.” At that, she turned and bolted from the restaurant.
Viola gawked at Sabine as she disappeared, sputtering in outrage. The silk dress was ruined. No question of it.
Gavin didn’t care. Viola could use a fist to the face, but no one wanted to pick up her plastic surgery tab to repair the damage. He got up, throwing cash onto the table for the bill and pressing more into Viola’s hand for a new dres
s. “That wasn’t your color anyway.”
He jogged through the restaurant, pushing through the crowd waiting to be seated, and bursting out onto the street. He spied Sabine about a block away, charging furiously down the pavement despite the handicap of her heels.
“Sabine!” he yelled. “Wait.”
She didn’t even turn around. He had to run to catch up with her, pulling alongside and matching her stride.
“I should’ve known,” she said, without acknowledging him. “You know there was a reason I ended this the last time. One of the reasons was that everyone in your world is a snob.”
“Not everyone,” he insisted. He wrapped his fingers around her delicate wrist to keep her from running off again and pulled her to a stop. “Just ignore Viola. She doesn’t matter to anyone but herself.”
She shook her head, the waves of her hair falling into her face as she looked down at the sidewalk. “It’s the same as last time, Gavin. People in your world are never going to see me as anything other than an interloper. Like you’re slumming for your own amusement. I don’t fit in and I never will.”
“I know,” he said. “That’s one of the many things that make you great.”
Her light green eyes met his for a moment, a glimmer of something—hope, maybe—quickly fading away. “Stop fooling yourself, Gavin. You belong with someone like Viola or this Rosemary woman that’s waiting on you to call again. We’re all wrong for each other. You’re only here with me now because of Jared.”
“Let me assure you that if I wanted a woman like Viola I could have one. I could have her, if I wanted to. She’s made that very clear over the years, but I’m not interested. I don’t want her.” He took a step closer, pulling Sabine against him. “I want you. Just as you are.”
“You say that now, but you wouldn’t answer her question,” she said, resisting his pull on her.
“Answer what question?”
“She asked what we were drinking to. You don’t want anyone to know about Jared, do you? Are you ashamed of him? Or of both of us?”
“Absolutely not!” he said as emphatically as he could. “I will gladly shout the news about my son from the rooftops. But I haven’t told my family yet. If Viola found out, it would be all over town. I don’t want them to hear it from her.”
Gavin slipped his arms around her waist, enjoying the feel of her against him, even under these circumstances. “I’d like to tell them tomorrow afternoon. Would you be able to bring Jared to meet them? Maybe around dinnertime? That would give them some time to adjust to the idea before you show up.”
“Why don’t you just come get him?” she said. Her bravado from her interaction with Viola had crumbled. Now she just looked worn down.
“Because I want them to spend time with you, too,” Gavin added. “I know you’ve met them before, but that was years ago. This is different.”
“And say what, Gavin? ‘Hey, everyone, you remember Sabine? Since you saw her last, she’s had my son and lied to all of us for over two years. We’ve got that worked out now. Don’t mind the nose ring.’”
“Pretty much,” he said with a smile. “How did you guess?”
Sabine’s gaze shot up to his. Red flushed her cheeks and she punched him in the shoulder. She hit him as furiously as she could and he barely felt it. He laughed at her assault, which only made it worse. She was like an angry kitten, hissing and clawing, but not dangerous enough to even break the skin. “I’m serious, Gavin!”
“I’m serious, too.” He meant every word of it. Gavin had gone into this thinking that he could indulge in Sabine’s body and keep his heart thoroughly out of the equation. She had no idea how badly she’d hurt him when she left, and he didn’t want her to know. But he’d opened the door to her once. No matter how hard he fought, it was too easy to open up to her again. It wasn’t love, but it was something more than his usual indifference.
Perhaps this time would be different. Even if they weren’t together, they would always be connected through Jared. They would be constants in an ever-changing life and he welcomed it, even if he didn’t know what they would do with it.
He slipped his finger under her chin and tipped her face up to him. “Serious about this.”
* * *
Gavin’s lips met hers before she could start arguing with him again. The moment he kissed her, she was lost. She melted into him, channeling her emotions into the kiss. Sabine let all of her anger, her frustration, her fear flow through her mouth and her fingertips. She buried her fingers through his dark hair, tugging his neck closer.
He responded in kind, his mouth punishing her with his kiss. His hands molded to her body, his fingers pressed hard into her flesh. The rough touch was a pleasure with a razor’s edge. She craved his intensity. The physical connection made everything else fade away. At least for tonight. Tomorrow was...tomorrow.
“Take me to your place,” she said.
Gavin reluctantly pulled away. “I’ll have the valet bring the car.”
Within a few minutes, they were strolling into the Ritz-Carlton Tower. They took the elevator up to Gavin’s apartment. It had been a long time since she’d been here. She’d walked alone down this very hallway after she broke up with him. Pregnant and unaware of that fact. It felt strange to traverse the same carpeting after all these years.
Inside the apartment, little had changed. The same elegant, expensive and uncomfortable furniture that was better suited for a decorating magazine than to actually being used. The same stunning view of Central Park sprawled out of the arched floor-to-ceiling windows. There was a newer, larger, flatter television mounted to one wall, but that was about it.
“You’ve done a lot with the place since I saw it last,” she said drily.
“There’s new additions,” he insisted. He pointed to a corner in the dining room where there was a stack of children’s toys, new in the packages, and the car seat from the Mercedes. “I’m also doing some renovations to one of the bedrooms.”
Gavin led her down the hallway to the rooms that had once functioned as a guest room and his office. Inside the old guest room, a tarp was draped over the hardwood floors. Several cans of paint were sitting in the middle of the floor, unopened. Construction was under way for some wainscoting and a window seat that would cover and vent the radiators. Jared was too young to enjoy it now, but she could just imagine him curling up there, looking out over Central Park and reading a book.
“You said his favorite color was red, so I was going to paint the walls red.” He gestured over to the side. “I’m having them build a loft with a ladder into this niche here, so he’ll have his own tree house–like space to play when he’s older. They’re delivering a toddler bed in a few days with a Spider-Man bedding set and curtains.”
“It’s wonderful,” Sabine said. And it was. A million times better than anything she could afford to get him. “He will love it, especially when he gets a little older. What little boy wouldn’t?”
Sabine took a last look and moved back out into the hallway and past the closed door to his home office. She didn’t begrudge her son anything his father gave him, but it was hard for her to face that Gavin could provide Jared with things she couldn’t. “What’s this?” she asked, pointing toward a touch panel on the table near the phone.
Gavin caught up with her in the living room. “It’s the new Ritz-Carlton concierge system. We didn’t have dinner. Would you like me to order something?”
“Maybe later. It’s still early.” Sabine kicked off her heels and continued through the apartment to the master suite. She reached behind her and began unzipping her dress as she disappeared around the corner.
She’d barely made it three feet inside before she felt Gavin’s heat against her back. He brushed her hands away, tugging her zipper down the curve of her spine. His fingertips brushed at the soft skin there, just briefly, before he moved to her shoulders and pushed her dress off.
Sabine stepped out of her clothing, continuing across the room in
nothing but the white satin bra and panties she’d worn with it. There were no lights on in that room, so she was free to walk to the window and look outside without being seen.
She heard Gavin close the door behind them, ensuring they were blanketed in darkness. The moonlight from outside was enough to illuminate the pieces of furniture she remembered from before.
She felt Gavin’s breath on her neck before he touched her. His bare chest pushed into her back, his skin hot and firm. He swept her hair over her left shoulder, leaning down to press searing kisses along the line of her neck. One bra strap was pushed aside, then the other, before he unhooked the clasp and let the satin fall to the floor.
Sabine relaxed against him, letting her head roll back to rest on his shoulder and expose her throat. She closed her eyes to block out the distraction of the view and focus on the feeling of his lips, teeth and tongue moving over her sensitive flesh. His palms covered her exposed breasts, molding them with his hands and gently pinching the tips until she whimpered aloud with pleasure.
“Sabine,” he whispered, biting at her earlobe. “You don’t know how long I’ve waited to have you back in my bed.” He slid his hands down to her hips, holding her steady as he pressed his arousal into her backside with a growl.
The vibration of the sound rumbled through her whole body like a shock wave. Her nipples tightened and her core pulsed with need. Knowing she could turn him on like this was such a high. She never felt as sexy as she did when she was with Gavin. Somehow, knowing she could bring such a powerful man to his knees with desire and pleasure was the greatest turn-on.
Sabine turned in his arms, looking up at the dark shadows across his face before she smiled and slipped out of his grasp. Her eyes had adjusted to the light. It made it easy for her to find her way to the massive bed in the center of his room. She crawled up onto it, throwing a glance over her shoulder to make sure he was watching the swell of her backside peeking out from the satin panties. Of course he was.
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