Irene turned to Silver, her expression icy. “Excuse me, but this is a private conversation.”
“I’m pretty sure I was here first.”
“Who are you?”
“Silver Tesdal. Drew already told you.” She pretended confusion. “Oh, you mean who am I? I own a traveling bar called AlcoHaul.” She gestured to the storefront bearing her company logo. “I’ll be one of the vendors at the party. And a guest. Hmm, that’s going to be complicated. All of Bethany’s girlfriends are wearing matching T-shirts, including me.”
Silver watched Irene battle with conflicting emotions. She would guess that while Drew’s mother wanted to crush her like a bug, she would be too worried about offending a princess’s friend.
“You know Bethany?”
“Uh-huh. I would have worked her wedding regardless, but now it’s more fun.”
Irene swung her attention back to her son. “And why are you here?”
Silver honestly expected Drew to deny their relationship. In that nanosecond before he spoke, she told herself she would be fine with it. Really. It was okay. Then he totally shocked her by putting his arm around her.
“Mom, Silver and I are in business together. We’re business partners. We just bought two more trailers together. AlcoHaul is expanding.”
Irene went completely white. “What? What! Drew, are you telling me you own a bar?”
“Technically he only owns part of a bar,” Silver clarified. “A traveling bar. We do mostly weddings, but parties, as well. A lot of theme stuff. It’s fun.”
Irene glared at her son. “No. You can’t possibly be telling me the truth. Why would you do this? Why would you want to have anything to do with this ridiculous town? You have opportunities that most people can only dream about. Do you know who you can be?”
She turned her attention to Silver. “If you think you’re going to trap him, you can forget it. He’s smarter than that.”
Silver shrugged free of Drew. “I already had my chance to trap him, Mrs. Lovato, and I didn’t take it. There are a lot of things you can worry about but my relationship with Drew isn’t one of them. Now if you’ll excuse me...”
She gave them both a brief wave, then let herself into her retail space. As the door closed behind her, she heard Irene shrieking something about Drew ruining his future. Rather than listen, Silver hurried upstairs. She might be overthinking the situation but she had a feeling Irene wasn’t going to be thrilled at the thought of being a grandmother.
* * *
DREW MANAGED TO extricate himself from the conversation with his mother, pleading an important meeting back at the bank. On the quick drive there, he tried to figure out what he was going to say to Silver. Irene had been rude, and her fixation with Cade and Bethany’s party wasn’t exactly normal.
He parked at the bank and walked inside. Libby was waiting for him and practically pounced when she saw him.
“You have a package,” his aunt told him. “I put it in your office.”
Since when did Libby do something as low-level as deliver the mail? “Thank you,” he said, not sure of her point.
“It was left in the night deposit.” Her smile turned sly. “It’s not what you think and there’s a note.”
Drew was fairly confident Libby wouldn’t allow anything dangerous in her precious bank, so he wasn’t all that concerned until he saw the large cardboard box on his desk. A box with airholes and a big arrow showing which way was up. As he got closer, he saw the note taped to the top of the box.
Mr. Lovato, this is my rabbit, Mr. Whiskers. I can’t keep him anymore and I cried a lot when Mommy told me. Mommy and Daddy trust you with our money, so I’m trusting you with Mr. Whiskers. Aaron at the pet store can tell you how to take care of him.
Your friend, Emily.
The box moved. No, what was inside of the box moved.
“It appears to be a rabbit,” Libby told him from the doorway to his office.
He lifted the top on the box and found himself eye to eye with a gray rabbit. Mr. Whiskers lunged and Drew quickly closed the box top. Rabbits weren’t vicious, were they?
“He can’t stay here,” Libby pointed out. “You’ll have to take that thing home and deal with it.” She sounded positively gleeful.
“First I’m going to find out what’s going on and then I’ll deal with—” he glanced at the note “—Mr. Whiskers.”
“Lucky you,” Libby said with a smile.
Drew waited until she was gone to call Melissa. His client stunned him by bursting into tears.
“I thought we’d lost him,” Melissa said. “I’m sorry to be such a mess. It’s just everything is so hard right now. Jacob has a rash and the pediatrician thinks he might be allergic to the rabbit. Emily already isn’t convinced she wants a baby brother and now we’re going to have to get rid of her pet. She loves him so much. We’re doing more testing, but until we’re sure...” She made a choking-sob sound. “I’m sorry, Drew. This isn’t your problem.”
Drew glanced at the box. It was a rabbit. How hard could it be for him to take care of it for a few days?
“Tell you what. I’ll deal with Mr. Whiskers until you figure out what’s going on with Jacob. If it turns out he’s allergic, then you can make arrangements for Mr. Whiskers to find a permanent home. If it’s something else, Mr. Whiskers can come back and resume his happy bunny life. Either way, Emily will know her pet is being taken care of.”
“I couldn’t possibly ask you to do that.”
“You didn’t. I offered. It’s fine. I’m good with animals.”
In truth, he had no idea how he was with pets of any kind. As a kid, he’d never had one. But he was game.
“I’ll swing by and pick up some supplies, then take him home.” He would also visit Aaron at the pet store to get the scoop on rabbit care.
“I can’t thank you enough.” Melissa sniffed. “We’re so happy to have a baby, but it’s a much-bigger adjustment than we’d realized.”
“You can take Mr. Whiskers off your worry-about list. I’ll be there in a few minutes. Oh, just one other question. Do rabbits bite?”
* * *
JASPER ROLLED ONTO his side and watched Wynn walk to the bathroom, his attention captured by the sway of her hips. She was naked and unselfconscious about her body. He liked that about her. She was slightly pear-shaped with an ass a man could hold on to. He liked that, too.
It was nearly noon. Wynn had arrived less than thirty minutes ago. After very little conversation, they’d taken things into the bedroom. That was their routine—she left work and came to his place. They made love. Sometimes she stayed and they had lunch, sometimes she didn’t.
She returned to the bedroom, pulling her shirt over her head. She had long, dark curly hair and dark eyes. Based on her high cheekbones and her dark olive skin, he would guess she was of mixed race—but it wasn’t anything he’d ever asked about. He didn’t know about her family, where she was from or why, of all the places in the world, she’d chosen to move to Happily Inc. Not because he hadn’t asked—he had. But with Wynn, conversation was kept superficial.
He stood and stretched. “Are you staying?”
She smiled. “I thought I’d make us an omelet before I head back to work.”
“Maybe the boss would let you take off an extra hour or two.” Humor, because she owned the company.
“That bitch?” Wynn laughed. “You know she’s going to insist I hurry back as quick as I can. But I have time for lunch.”
She left the bedroom. Jasper washed up and got dressed. He found her chopping vegetables. The eggs were already whisked together in a bowl and the pan was heating.
He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She snuggled in close, pressing her butt against his groin.
“This is nice,” she said. “A little sugar in the middle of my
day.”
“Maybe we could go to dinner sometime.”
She didn’t look up from her chopping. “You and I go to tournament night nearly every Monday. If you want to buy me a burger along with a drink, I won’t say no.”
He released her and started a fresh pot of coffee, then dropped bread into the toaster. While she cooked the vegetables, he set the table.
Their routine was familiar. Comfortable. This was what it was and he liked that. So why did he feel an uncomfortable need to push for more? He thought of his recent text from Hunter and had a feeling that was a big part of it.
“How’s work?” he asked as she dumped the cooked vegetables onto a plate, then wiped the pan clean before pouring in the egg mixture.
“Busy.”
“You never said how you came to buy the printing business. That’s all it was at first, right? You added the graphic design part?”
She kept her attention on the pan, carefully swirling the egg mixture until it was even. She collected a bag of shredded cheese from the refrigerator, then returned to the stove.
“Why all the questions?” she asked.
“It was two.”
She checked the omelet. After adding the vegetables back to one side of the pan, she sprinkled everything with cheese, then carefully flipped the other half of the cooked eggs over. Using the spatula, she cut the omelet in half and slid a piece onto each plate.
They sat across from each other at his kitchen table. She sipped her coffee, then looked at him.
“Don’t be curious about me, Jasper. I’m not going to tell you more than I have.”
“Why?”
“I don’t want to talk about it. You need to respect that.”
“I’ve known you a long time now. More than two years. Don’t you trust me?”
Her dark gaze gave nothing away. “It’s not about trust.”
“Sure it is. Don’t you want more than what we have?”
She smiled. “You mean like a commitment and a ring. Do you?”
A question he hadn’t been expecting. Did he want more?
Before he could decide, she laughed. “Uh-huh. That’s what I thought. This is good for both of us. I like things exactly as they are and you do, too. Every now and then you get a bug up your butt about wanting more, but it passes.”
“I don’t understand you.”
“How many women do you understand?”
He chuckled. “You make an excellent point and an equally great breakfast.”
“Thank you.”
“How’s Hunter?”
Her good mood faded. “Jasper, I swear, you don’t give up. Maybe it’s a writer thing. You know what I said about Hunter.”
“I never get in touch with him, Wynn. You know that.” He didn’t have to. Hunter always found him.
He supposed by not telling her that, he was being an asshole, but some part of him was willing to risk it. Partially because he liked hanging out with the kid, and partially to see what would happen when it all hit the fan. Because one day it would. Happily Inc was too small for it to end otherwise.
Was he hoping she would relent? That she would tell him what they had was worth saving? Or was the more likely scenario that she would simply turn and walk away? And if he believed that and hung out with Hunter anyway, what did that say about what he thought of their relationship?
“I do know,” she told him. “Now eat your eggs before they get cold. Then you can tell me all about your trip to New York and how great your editor thinks you are.”
“She does think I’m pretty great.”
“Of course she does.” Wynn’s smile faded. “Jasper, I like you a lot. I like this, but don’t be fooled. If you cross me, it’s over.”
“I know.”
“When we started, you said this was enough. Is that still true?”
He nodded. “I’m not looking for more.”
“Good.”
Her smile returned and they both started eating.
Later, as he walked her to her car, he wondered if he’d been telling the truth about not wanting more. He was pushing things with Wynn; he was restless in ways he couldn’t explain. What did that mean? She drove away and he retreated to the house.
Maybe it didn’t have to mean anything, he thought. After all, more than one VA therapist had warned him his experiences had left him emotionally shattered. He’d been warned he might never be whole. So what he had with Wynn should be perfect. A beautiful woman, great sex and nothing more. Only he found himself in the uncomfortable position of having to admit that some days, it wasn’t enough.
CHAPTER TEN
SILVER WAS GOING to throw up. Doing the right thing was highly overrated and she was, honest to God, going to throw up. Not that she had a choice—she’d put off telling Drew about Autumn too long and now they were less than two weeks from Leigh and Denton’s wedding. Autumn was due to arrive, there was a big royal party to plan for, construction was nearly finished on the first trailer and Drew’s mother was back in town. Other than that, and telling Drew about their child, she was fine. Completely and totally fine.
She paced the length of the retail space, careful to avoid the stacks of new furniture still wrapped in plastic, and did her best not to bump into the stripper poles. She was still getting used to where they were and had crashed into one the previous day. An incredibly dumb thing to think about but better than her conversation with Drew.
He was going to be so angry with her, she thought grimly. No, he would be hurt and even as she told herself she hadn’t done anything wrong and it wasn’t as if he’d ever asked about their kid, she couldn’t help feeling...guilty.
She heard the door opening and spun to watch him walk inside. It was barely noon. He’d come from the bank for what he thought was a business lunch.
“Hey,” he said with a grin as he approached. “Tell me this isn’t about my mother.”
“It’s not.”
“Excellent. Then I have news. I have a rabbit.”
The statement was just unexpected enough to momentarily distract her. “Excuse me?”
“A rabbit. Mr. Whiskers is a standard chinchilla rabbit, which means he’s kind of gray and very soft. He’s around seven pounds and get this—he’s litter box trained. Seriously. He uses a little litter box with this wood pulp litter. He eats a special kind of hay and lots of greens. Lettuces and kale and carrot tops. He’s actually not too bad to have around. He sleeps a lot. I put him in one of spare rooms, but when I’m home I let him out.”
“A rabbit? As a pet?”
He pulled her close, hugged her, then chuckled. “Doug and Melissa adopted a newborn.”
He explained about Emily and her new baby brother and the rash and Mr. Whiskers. “I’m keeping him for a couple of weeks, while they get everything sorted out.”
She took a step back. “I really can’t see you with a rabbit, but if it’s working...”
“It is. And people say I have commitment issues.” He led her to a couple of folding chairs. “What’s up? Everything okay with the construction? I haven’t heard from Walter except to have him say they’re on schedule.”
“It’s not about work.” She looked at him and hoped this was going to go a lot better than she’d imagined. “Drew, I want to talk about the baby we gave up for adoption.”
He stared at her. “Now? It’s been years.”
“I know.” She swallowed, then told herself to just get it over with. “We had a girl.”
He looked surprised. “I figured we’d had a boy, but I guess that’s because I’m a guy.” He hesitated. “Did you see her after she was born?”
“I did. Her name is Autumn.”
“You named her?”
“No, I didn’t. I, ah, it was hard after we broke up and I found out I was pregnant. My uncle helped me find a nice c
ouple to adopt our baby. They lived in Los Angeles and I ended up staying with them until Autumn was born.”
He surprised her by taking her hand in his. “Jeez, Silver, I’m sorry. I never thought about it before, but you were pregnant. I mean you had a baby growing inside of you for nine months. I signed some paperwork and I was done. I’ll bet it was hard.”
She briefly closed her eyes and wished he wasn’t being so understanding. In some ways, that made it harder to tell him.
“Leigh, that’s Autumn’s mom, was so wonderful to me. We became like sisters. She’d known from the time she was a teenager that she couldn’t have children. It was a congenital defect and she knew she wanted to adopt. We got really close and after Autumn was born, I stayed with them for a while.”
He pulled back and stared at her. “You lived with our baby?”
She nodded. “Just for a few weeks. Then I came back to Happily Inc, but I couldn’t settle. I started getting into trouble. My uncle gave me the tough love lecture and I ran away.” She raised a shoulder. “Not my most mature moment. Anyway, I ended up back in LA and I moved back in with Leigh.” She cleared her throat. “And her husband, of course, and Autumn.”
His expression tightened. “For how long?”
“Two years. I worked, went to community college and—”
“Two years?” He came to his feet and glared at her. “You lived with our baby for two years and never said a word?”
“What was I supposed to say?” she asked as she stood, telling herself to stay calm. This was all new to Drew and of course he would react.
“Drew, you weren’t interested in our child. You said it yourself—you signed the paperwork and you were done. I’m not trying to be mean or judge you, I’m just pointing out that it was different.”
“Of course it was different. You had a relationship with our child and you never told me. You kept it a secret from me all this time.”
She felt her temper flaring. “It’s not as if you were asking for information. You went on with your life. I’m sorry if you feel like you missed out on something, but if you do, it’s only in the last five seconds. Because for the last eleven years, you haven’t given her a single thought.”
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