Sawyer rubbed his chin. “Have you ever considered why she doesn’t want to give up her job?”
“I’m not sure whether she’s afraid to lose the money or whether she feels like she has to keep working.”
“Maybe.” Reagan shrugged. “But maybe she likes to work. It may not be at those jobs, just somewhere. Have you ever considered giving her a reason to leave her jobs? Something to leave them for besides to have the baby?”
“Is there anything she really wants to do?” Sawyer asked.
“She always wanted to go to culinary school.” Suddenly the light went on. My head snapped up. “I need to give her the chance to go to culinary school.”
Reagan’s lips curved up. “Now you’re getting it.”
I grabbed a rubber band off the table and pulled my hair into a low ponytail, tired of it hanging in my face at the moment. “Hopefully, she agrees. It kills me to see her so tired all the time.”
Sawyer nodded. “She will. Just let her see you want her to be what she wants instead of working in places she doesn’t. You’re giving her options and knowing Jenna that’s exactly what she wants. To make the choice on her own and not be told what to do.”
I sighed and dropped my head onto the back of the couch.
The room fell silent, but I could still feel their eyes on me.
“Want to tell us problem number two?” Reagan asked.
I lifted my head to look at them, deciding just to go for it. It was something I’d been thinking about for a while. “I want to move in with her.”
“That’s great.” Sawyer smiled. “We have plenty of room.”
Half the weight lifted from my chest. But their reaction to living with an infant wasn’t the only thing I worried about.
“You guys wouldn’t mind Jenna moving in here, even with the baby?”
Sawyer and Reagan looked at each other, something passing between the two of them before their focus came back to me.
Reagan shook his head. “Not at all.”
“We love Jenna.” When I narrowed my eyes at him, he lifted his hands. “Not the way you do obviously, but we”—he glanced over at Reagan again—“can’t wait to be Uncle Reagan and Uncle Sawyer.”
In that moment, I realized why the band truly was my family. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the hell out of my mom and dad, but there was something to be said for the family that chose you. And to be able to give Jenna a family of her own meant the world to me.
“Hopefully, it’s that simple.”
“What do you mean?” Sawyer’s brows drew together.
“The house she lives in used to be her grandmother’s.”
“Shit,” Reagan muttered. “Let me guess, she doesn’t want to sell it.”
“I honestly don’t know if she’ll want to sell it. I haven’t asked, but I can imagine she may not be real fucking happy with the idea.”
“So how the hell are you two going to move in together if you live here and she’s not going to want to leave her place?” Sawyer demanded.
Reagan eyed me for a moment, then scooped Sawyer’s hand in his and pressed a brief kiss to the back. “He’s thinking about going to live with her.”
“Heath wouldn’t move out.”
I glanced away and said nothing, knowing Sawyer probably wouldn’t be happy with this arrangement.
Sawyer leaped from his seat, shaking off Reagan’s grip on his hand. “You can’t be serious. You’re the one who convinced us to move out here in the first place so we didn’t have to commute that far each day.” He paced up and down the middle of the living room. “You’re looking at three hours on the road every day and that’s if traffic to the studio is good.”
“Sawyer…” Reagan’s tone held a clear note of warning.
I brought my eyes back to Sawyer. “I love her.”
That took some of the wind out of his sails, his feet freezing. “Yeah, but…”
“There are no buts. I love that woman with every fiber of my being. She makes me feel whole. Something I hadn’t imagined since my own grandmother passed away.” He narrowed his eyes and I rushed to continue. “Don’t get me wrong you, Reagan and the rest of the band are my family. You’re always there for me when I need you, but she gets me like no other person on the planet and I’m tired of being without her. She’s going to be the mother of my child, for fuck’s sake. And while I would love nothing more than to move her in here with me, I’ll do anything that will make her happy, even if it makes life a little harder on me.”
Reagan got up and walked over to stand in front of Sawyer. “You do realize that’s how much I love you. I gave up a career at one of the most prestigious law firms in the state to stand by your side.”
Sawyer opened his mouth to say something, but Reagan simply covered his lips with his fingers.
“Let me finish.”
Sawyer nodded and sealed his lips.
“And I would make the same decision over and over again if it meant I got to keep you. Don’t you see that’s what Heath’s doing for Jenna? He wants to be by her side no matter what. Not everyone finds that in this lifetime. We’re some of the lucky ones.”
Sawyer gazed into Reagan’s eyes for a moment, before turning to face me. “I’m sorry, man. I know how it feels to want someone who’s so far away all the time. If she’s willing to sell the house, great, if not, we’ll find a way to make it work with your commute.” Sawyer walked over and held a hand out to me. I placed mine in his to shake, but he pulled me to standing instead. “Just know that I’ll miss the hell out of you if you’re so far away,” he whispered in my ear.
My throat burned as I pushed back the emotions racing to the surface. I knew exactly what he meant. Sawyer and I had never lived more than five minutes from each other since the first day of our freshman year of college. It would suck to be that far away from all of them too.
“I’ll miss you, too.”
He leaned back and clasped me on the shoulder, looking away but not before I saw the moisture in the corner of his eye. Yep, I knew exactly how he felt.
“Now go convince your woman about your great ideas.”
I chuckled. “Hopefully, she thinks they’re great ideas.”
I went to my room to get a few things together while I waited for the right time to leave. After a few hours, I grabbed my keys from the table near the door and could hear a muted conversation between Reagan and Sawyer. I’d thank Reagan later for stepping in. Right then, I wanted to go talk to Jenna before I could change my mind.
The drive took longer than normal, with traffic backed up for miles because of construction. I worried she might be asleep when I got to her place. The one benefit to the drive was all the time I had alone to think. It wasn’t like being at home where I could distract myself with a million different things. In the car, I only had my thoughts.
It made me think about what kind of dad I wanted to be. And while that was on my mind, the words to a new song ran through my head. One that could express the love I felt for both Jenna and our little girl. I grabbed my phone off the seat and recorded the words so I’d have them for later.
When I pulled in front of Jenna’s place, I saw the TV on in the living room. Thankfully, she was awake. I climbed out of my car and grabbed the bookbag I’d thrown in the car earlier while waiting for her to get done work. After a month, I had some things at Jenna’s like a toothbrush, but I hadn’t brought any clothes. Hopefully, that would change tonight. Whether it was me bringing clothes here or me taking her to my place, either way would make me happy.
I walked up to the door and pushed it open. I knew she’d be waiting for me to show. Her long strawberry blond hair hung in waves over the back of the couch.
“Evening, stranger. I didn’t expect you so late.”
I dropped the bag by the door and kicked off my shoes before walking over to take the seat next to her. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and brought her into my chest. “There’s a shit-ton of traffic on the interstate. They’re still do
ing those repairs.”
She snuggled in closer. “I missed you. I hate that it’s such a long drive for you to get here.”
I hooked my finger under her chin and tipped her face up to mine, pressing our mouths together. She slid her tongue across the seam of my lips and I was powerless to deny her anything. I parted my lips and let her inside. Our tongues twisted and tangled as our bodies molded together. Her fingers slipped beneath the hem of my T-shirt.
You need to talk, I reminded myself.
If I let this go any farther, we’d be naked and beneath the sheets before I got the chance to talk to her about anything. So, as much as it killed me to do it, I broke the connection of our lips. My chest rose and fell with each panting breath I took. The wild glint in Jenna’s eyes made me realize she wanted more. And I’d sure as shit give her more after we talked.
“Heath…” she whimpered as I stopped her hands from exploring my chest.
“Soon, babe. There’s something I want to talk to you about first.”
Her eyes connected with mine. In them, I could see as the lust slowly subsided to be replaced by curiosity.
Both of our breathing had evened out. Hell, who was I kidding, I tried to buy more time. I was nervous about how she’d react to any of this.
I guided her back down to my chest, rubbing light circles across her shoulder.
“I want to talk about your jobs.”
I felt her let out a breath against my chest. “Not this again.”
“No, just hear me out.”
She sat up and moved back into the opposite corner of the couch with her arms crossed over her chest. “My guess is you want me to quit my job. Lay it on me now so I can tell you to shove it and get back to what we were doing.”
“I do want you to quit your job.”
She tried to leap from her seat and I could tell how frustrated she was that she couldn’t with her belly. I thought about helping her, but she seemed pissed off enough already. She eventually just threw her hands up in the air.
“How many times have I told you, I’m not quitting my job? I refuse to not work and stay at home living off you.”
I lifted my hands. “I know that. And I don’t expect you to live off me. I’ve known about that stipulation since you first told me you were pregnant.”
“Then I don’t get why you think I’m going to up and quit my jobs.”
“Because I want to give you the chance to get the job of your dreams.”
“There’s only one job I ever wanted,” she whispered. “And there’s no chance of that happening at this point in my life.”
I slid over on the couch until our legs were touching and cupped her face in my hands. “Yes, there is. You’re going to have to take some time off for the baby anyway. After that I want to give you the chance to go to culinary school.”
Her mouth dropped open and her eyes widened. I used my thumbs to close her jaw.
“I’ve got it all figured out. When you’re ready to go back, I’ll take care of the baby. I’ll take her to the studio if I have to. But I want to make your dreams come true, not take away what you already have. After that you can get a job in a restaurant.”
Her eyes shimmered for a second, then the tears began to fall.
“Are you serious?” she whispered.
“Very serious.”
She let out a shuddered breath. “I don’t…don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything. I want to give you choices you’ve never had before.” I rested my hand on her belly. “You’re my family and I will do anything to keep you happy.”
She pulled the corner of her lower lip between her teeth. “And you won’t stop me from working once I finish school?”
I scoffed. “Not on your life. I expect you to contribute to the household.”
Her eyes narrowed and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep myself from laughing. She must have seen the mirth in my eyes and gave me a shove to the shoulder.
“Ass.”
“Probably.” I chuckled. “So what do you say?”
She slid her leg over mine, straddling my lap. “Yes.” She smashed her mouth down on mine. Her tongue pushed inside as she ground her hips down against my hardening erection.
I groaned, wanting to strip her naked, but I knew we weren’t done with our conversation yet. Once again, I broke the connection of our lips.
“Dammit, Heath. Why do you keep stopping us?”
“’Cause there’s one more thing I want to talk to you about and then I promise I’ll take you back to your room and do all the things you want me to do. Deal?”
She pushed out her lower lip into a pout and climbed off my lap. “Fine, but make it quick.”
I wanted to laugh at how insatiable she’d been the last week or so. I fucking loved every minute of it and hoped like hell it wouldn’t end after the baby was here.
Jenna called my name, pulling me from thoughts I didn’t need to deal with at the moment.
“What else do you want to talk about?”
For a moment, I thought about sugarcoating it, making it seem like the perfect solution for both of us when that really wasn’t the case. Time to just rip off the Band-Aid and face her reaction, whatever it might be.
“I want us to move in together.”
She froze as she moved back to the seat she vacated. Her hand still held on to the edge as she helped herself down. She didn’t move for so long, I thought she stopped breathing.
“Jenna?” I whispered softly.
Suddenly she started shaking her head rapidly back and forth. “I don’t know if I can. I don’t know.”
I placed both my hands on either one of her shoulders and pulled her into me.
“Relax. I didn’t say you have to move in with me. I know how much this house means to you. I just want us to live together.”
“I get that, I just don’t know how we’ll make that work. I can’t expect you to drive three hours a day for work, but I’m also not sure I can sell this place either.”
I hated seeing her so upset and for a moment, I thought about dropping the whole conversation, but I knew I couldn’t do that. We’d have to face this decision eventually.
I tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and bent until I caught her gaze. “I’ll be honest, I don’t care where we live. And I don’t give a shit about the commute. All that matters is I love you and I want to go to sleep next you every night and wake up with you every morning and if that means a little bit longer of a drive to get to work then so be it.”
She opened her mouth to argue and I shook my head.
“Let me finish. All I want is for you to think about it. No one said you have to make a decision right now. But I’ll be honest, I’m also not going to drop it either, so at some point you’re going to have to make up your mind, but it doesn’t have to be tonight.”
I got up from the couch and helped her to stand. “But for now”—I swooped down for a kiss—“let me take you to your room.” I reached out and cupped her breast beneath the fabric of her shirt, thumbing her nipple. “I promise to make it worthwhile,” I whispered against her lips.
Her eyes once again filled with lust. She nodded and led me down the hall.
CHAPTER 33
Jenna
“Hey,” a familiar voice called from the front door.
Not believing my ears, I dropped my clothes into the hamper and walked down the hall to the living room.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked, wrapping my arms around Rachel.
“Wow, I don’t even get an I’m so happy to see you. I’m here to check in on you. Make sure you’re doing okay.” She tightened her grip.
It seemed like forever since I’d seen her. At least since Nana’s funeral. And so much had changed. My eyes welled up so fast, I didn’t have a chance to fight back the tears. She leaned back. “Why are you crying?”
I brushed a hand over my cheek. “’Cause this baby has made me an emotional mess.”
She laughed and took a step back, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. She placed her free hand on my belly.
“Look at you. You’re gorgeous.”
I rolled my eyes. “Right. If you can look gorgeous while also looking like I swallowed a beach ball.”
“You do no look like you swallowed a beach ball.” She led me over to the couch, where we sat down.
“Since when aren’t you blunt as hell?”
“Since I don’t want to upset the pregnant lady. But I’m serious, you have this glow and smile about you. “Wanna tell me what that’s about?”
When I stayed silent, she lifted a brow and I knew she had the patience to wait me out if she wanted to.
“Heath left about an hour ago.”
“Oh, did he now? Should I guess he is no longer just baby daddy?”
“Jesus, Rachel.”
She shrugged. “Just calling as I see it.”
I dropped a hand over my eyes and ran it down my face. “Why are we friends again?”
“’Cause you love me. Now give me the scoop.”
“Fine, we’re definitely more.” My conversation with Heath from the night before ran through my head. I still had no idea what to tell him or what my answer should be.
“Okay, why do you sound a little put out by that? Do I need to kick someone’s ass?”
“No. Besides, you just said I looked happy.”
“Well, you did until a second ago.” She took my hand in hers. “Talk to me. Why did you sound so sad for a minute?”
“It’s just that he wants me to quit working so I can go to culinary school.”
“That’s great,” Rachel exclaimed. Excitement etched in every line of her face. “I don’t get how that would make you sad. It’s what you always wanted.”
“It is. He’s even offered to pay for it.”
“Okay,” she drawled and I could hear the question even before she asked it.
“He wants me to move in with him.”
Understanding dawned on her face. “And you don’t want to sell the house.”
The back of my throat burned. “It’s all I have left of her.”
Cover Me (Jaded Ivory Book 3) Page 24