* * *
Autumn was really looking forward to the end of the workday. Jared was picking her up and taking her for a romantic dinner. She’d barely escaped his sensual clutches this morning, but she’d had a staff meeting that she couldn’t miss. It was nice waking up in his arms. He covered most of the bed with his body, but she didn’t mind because he loved to snuggle. She loved the way he ran his hands through her hair and teased her about the silly way she brushed her teeth. Everything was going well…until Summer blabbed to their mom that she’d met someone. Their parents, Stephen and Judith, were excited to hear that Autumn was dating and demanded to meet him. She wasn’t sure it was a good idea—Bo barely made it through their parental inquisition. She informed her parents that when she was ready, she’d make the introductions.
She and Jared had been so enthralled with passionate goodbyes this morning that he’d left his phone. She’d put it in her purse and brought it with her. She knew the phone was his lifeline to work and she didn’t want him missing an important call. She phoned Morgan and asked her to tell him that his electronic appendage was safely with her.
Planning the wedding had become much easier since Jenna from Marry Me Now was involved. Teri-Lyn was right, that lady had the magic touch. She even kept Autumn’s mom in the loop so she wouldn’t feel left out, and Bonnie stopped giving Autumn deadly looks when she saw her. She knew Bonnie wasn’t so bad. She was just a free spirit who ironically had the most straight-laced kids on the planet. Well, two of them were. For all the straight and narrow ways of Bo and Corbett, Wyatt was the bad boy who broke hearts and loved adventure. Bonnie did make an effort to get to know Summer, and Autumn was grateful her sister wasn’t getting a monster for a mother-in-law.
Autumn readied for the staff meeting, gathering her notes and the status report for the latest game they were developing. It looked like they were going to meet their target rollout date for Corporate Hijack II, the follow-up to the game Summer designed. It was based off the inspiration Bo had given her when they’d met. But after a test of the game over the weekend, Summer wasn’t satisfied. She was sure the graphics could have more flare and pop, and to make it interesting, the person who tweaked it to her liking would be getting a new car in addition to their bonus. The first Corporate Hijack had been one of their best sellers last year.
She picked up her leather binder and headed for the door when Jared’s phone rang. She looked at the display. The picture of a beautiful woman popped up and the name under it said Taylor. What did she want now? A kidney? They hadn’t talked about how he’d let Taylor down about the baby idea and she hadn’t asked. Against her better judgment, she answered it.
“Hello. Jared Reed’s phone.” Autumn sat down in her chair and nervously grabbed a pen like she was going to take a message.
“Hello. Is Jared available?”
“He’s not around right now, but I can tell him you called.”
“Who is this? His cousin Charisma? This is Taylor, Jared’s ex-wife. He said you were working for him now.”
“No, this is Autumn.”
She paused. “I didn’t know he hired another assistant.”
“I’m not an assistant.” Autumn closed her eyes. “I’m a good friend.”
“He’s never mentioned you. Why do you have his phone?”
“He left it at my place last night.”
“I see. Listen, Spring, I wouldn’t get too comfortable with his things. Jared had a hard time with the divorce, and I hear from friends he’s dating everything that crosses his path.”
“The name’s Autumn.” She gripped the cell phone tighter. “I’m curious, did you ever find another sperm donor? Or are you still sniffing around for a living memento of your failed marriage?”
“He hasn’t turned me down yet. We fell out of touch because I had a work emergency. Before we broke up, we were pretty damn good together. Jared always gives me what I want and he’ll agree to have the baby because he still loves me and no silly little thing like a divorce decree will stop his devotion to me. You remember that when he’s gazing into your eyes. I can assure you he’s still thinking about me.”
“You overestimate your hold on him. You should be ashamed that instead of dealing with your regrets about getting divorced like a normal person, you’re resorting to emotional blackmail of a really nice guy.” Autumn disconnected the call.
Her heart felt like it was going to pound out of her chest. The nerve of that snotty twit thinking she had Jared under her thumb. She stood to leave, then sat back down. Why hadn’t he told Taylor that they were dating and that he wasn’t going along with her cockamamie scheme? Because he wasn’t as serious about having a relationship as she’d thought. A dull pain shot through Autumn’s heart, and her stomach felt like it was tied in knots. He hadn’t told her. Here she was thinking of throwing caution to the wind, and he’d been plotting behind her back.
The room was eerily silent as she tried to process her conversation with Taylor. A pop up on her computer screen caught her eye. It was a reminder about the meeting. Autumn glanced at her watch. Damn she was late. She grabbed her binder and sprinted down the hall. She signaled to Summer through the glass doors, then slipped in next to her at the conference table. She tried to deflect the invasive eyes of Summer, who was in the throes of telling the programmers her expectations for the next testing phase of the game. Instead of passing off the meeting to her, Summer launched into her part of the agenda as well and wrapped things up fairly quickly. When it was finally over and all had cleared out of the conference room except the two of them, Summer closed the glass door.
“Spill it.” Summer sat next to her. “What’s wrong?”
“Jared forgot his phone this morning so I brought it to work with me. His ex-wife called and I answered the phone. She’s a real piece of work. Let’s just say we skipped the pleasantries and got down to business. He never told her he didn’t want to have a baby with her.”
“What!”
“I know. I know.”
“OK. Let’s think about this. You should hear his side of the story. Taylor could have been saying anything to get you all worked up and by the looks of you it worked.”
She shook her head. “She said she’d never heard of me.”
“Sis, I wouldn’t put much stock in it. She’s trying to mess with your head and keep her imaginary dominant place in his life. We both know asking your ex-husband for sperm for a baby is more than a little wacky.”
“He told me on the island that just because two people break up, doesn’t mean they stop caring about each other. I think he meant it and he still cares for her. Maybe he still loves her.” Autumn sighed.
“That’s ridiculous because I’m pretty sure he’s fallen for you,” Summer replied.
“Don’t say that. It’s more wishful thinking on your part.”
“I’m not blind. I can see how that man looks at you. He’s not thinking about some other woman when he’s with you.” Summer took her hand. “And I think you’re falling for him too.”
The queasiness in Autumn’s stomach ramped up. Despite what she might be feeling, Jared still hadn’t set his ex-wife straight and that spoke volumes. “It’s way too early in our relationship to be thinking about those things.”
“It’s always a good time to let someone know how you feel. You’re having dinner with Jared tonight. Talk to him about it.”
“What if I don’t like what he has to say?” Autumn blinked back the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes.
* * *
Jared was in a great mood as he readied for his date with Autumn. Tonight he planned to ask her to visit Philadelphia with him. He had to go back there to talk with a few clients, but he also wanted to show her his home. Morgan and Seth’s guesthouse was great, but he wanted to show her his loft, which had been featured in a few architectural magazines. Sure he wanted to impress her, but he really wanted to show her the other part of his life. He knew asking her to go home with him would mean
something huge to her, so he thought of a way he could bring it up that wouldn’t sound like he was trying to herd her into the next phase of their relationship.
A bouquet of flowers in hand, he entered the NuWave Gaming headquarters. He’d given it a lot of thought, and tonight he was also going to test the waters with the “L word” too. It came to him this morning that he didn’t want to delay telling her that he loved her.
“Hey.” Jared entered her office and gave her a hug and a kiss. “You look gorgeous. I was thinking we could catch that gallery opening and then get a bite to eat. I got us reservations at this romantic restaurant Seth recommended.”
Autumn stepped back. “I answered your phone today. It was Taylor. We had a rather unfriendly conversation, but I was surprised she apparently still thinks operation stork is a go,” Autumn said.
They stood there for a moment just looking at one another. His heart sank. The look on her face was one of hurt and disappointment.
“She was out of line for talking to you about that. I apologize for that.”
“Why haven’t you told her you’ve changed your mind? We’ve been back from the island two months now.”
“I was just waiting for the right time. We kept getting our wires crossed.” Jared reached out for her, but she backed away.
“It’s a fairly short conversation to have. Was there another reason you didn’t tell her?”
“What do you mean?”
“Are we just a fling?”
“What?”
“Maybe you wanted to keep your options open in case we didn’t work out.”
“That’s not true. We’ve been taking things slow because you wanted to see how it all developed.”
“So is this the part where I’m supposed to double down and tell you that I want to have your babies? So you won’t consider Taylor’s crazy proposal?”
“I wouldn’t ask you to do that. We both know you’re not ready for that.”
“But if I don’t say something, you’re going to run off and give Taylor what she wants.”
“Don’t read too much into this.” Jared cupped her face between his hands.
“One of us has to. Your actions speak volumes.” She pulled away. “Go have a baby with Taylor. You’ll get to be a dad. I know that’s what you want. I think this relationship has run its course.”
Jared felt like someone had knocked the wind right out of him. “Can’t we talk about this? Skip the restaurant, let’s go back to your place and talk this through.”
“Like you said, I’m good at ending things before they get too involved. And having a relationship with a man who is secretly thinking about having a baby with his ex-wife is too involved for me. Please leave.” Autumn opened her office door.
* * *
Jared opened the door to the guesthouse and went straight for the fridge. He needed a beer. Scratch that. He needed some vodka. Maybe the whole bottle. But that would have to wait because Taylor was calling his phone.
He stabbed at the button, anxious to talk to her. “Taylor.”
“Thank goodness you got your phone back. You shouldn’t leave your phone with just anyone. Whoever that was, she needs a lesson in manners. She was rude to me.”
“I can only imagine what you said.”
“What? Why? She started it. I just put her in her place.”
“And by that you mean insinuating I said we’d have a child together?”
“You seemed open to having a baby before you went on vacation.”
“I met someone there. She’s really great and—”
“You’re throwing away a chance to become a father for some random tart you just met on vacation? Please tell me you’re not serious?”
“She’s not a tart. Her name is Autumn and she’s great. I haven’t felt this way about someone in a long time.” There. He said it. And despite what Autumn thought of him right now, he meant it.
“How can you know you’ll have a future with her?”
“It’s called faith,” he said. “I knew when I met you, I would have a future with you…but I was a little off on the forever part. I didn’t factor in you being obsessed with your career. It wasn’t you trying to best your snooty med school friends, it was the incessant need to please your father and top his medical feats.”
“When you have a parent who’s at the top of his profession, there are things that are expected of you. I could never get you to understand that, coming from a middle class family where the expectations aren’t the same.”
“You’re really following in your old man’s footsteps. Now you’re sounding elitist, just like him. I’m proud that I come from a family of hard-working people. I may not have been born with a silver spoon in my mouth, but I was never a snob either. And by the way, Autumn is worth millions, but that doesn’t matter to me.”
“I didn’t mean anything by it. That just came out.”
“You want to know why I didn’t call you when I won the Iconic Architecture Award? Because I knew deep down you wouldn’t be happy for me. You’d be more impressed with the prestige than with it being an acknowledgment of how I’d grown in my craft.”
“This sounds like one of our old fights, and I don’t want to argue with you. We have history. We loved each other deeply at one time. I’m not asking to reconcile. I just want—”
“My sperm?” he balked. “You do know it’s middle-class sperm?”
“Again, I regret making the comment. Please don’t hold that against me.”
“I won’t hold that against you, Taylor. Like it or not, you’ve always been an intoxicating mix of personality traits that I both loved and hated. And I do love you, but not enough to rob myself of the chance to be happy.”
“You don’t mean that. I know you don’t.”
“I hope you find what you’re looking for. I think you’d make a great mother.”
“But I want you.”
“Take care of yourself, Taylor.” Jared hung up before he could hear anything else. There was so much to say and there was no more to be said.
He needed to talk to someone so he went to Morgan’s. She was in the sitting room watching television and munching on popcorn, but Seth and the kids were nowhere in sight.
He sank down on the couch next to his sister. “Where is everybody?”
“Seth’s helping the kids clean up the playroom. What are you doing home? I thought you had a date with Autumn.”
“I did. But now I don’t. Taylor called while Autumn had my phone. They had it out. I tried to tell her that Taylor was lying, but she didn’t want to listen.”
“So, you hadn’t told Taylor that you weren’t going through with her sperm donor ploy?”
“No.” He ran a hand over his face. “Looking back with 20/20, it was stupid and foolish to put it off until the perfect time. There would never be a perfect time to say no to Taylor.”
“Were you afraid of Taylor being out of your life for good if you turned her down?”
He hadn’t thought about that. What would his life mean if she no longer dropped in whenever she wanted? Although, he was now pretty certain the periodic check-ins in the past before she appeared in his loft that night were to make sure he hadn’t found anyone. “I suppose it’s possible.”
“It’s not a crime to have a soft spot for the woman you were once married to, but it’s awful if you’re using it as some excuse not to get on with your life. Heaven knows I could never fathom what you saw in her. She pranced around with her nose in the air, trying to one-up everyone. I remember I wasn’t too keen on Sydney back then, but I recall when she put her in her place that time at Sunday dinner when Taylor made some remark about me being a spoiled brat.”
“You two never did get a long.”
“That’s because she wanted you all to herself, and I think she felt the attention you gave me was robbing her in some way. I figured it wasn’t my place to judge who you loved. I was there. There was no man more loving and committed than you. Witnessing how you and
Robert and Charles treated your spouses helped me cling to my convictions that somewhere there was a man out there who would treat me the same. I learned to love by your example.”
Jared was so taken aback, he didn’t know what to say. He’d always thought Morgan was toiling away in her own little world, not paying attention to them.
Morgan continued. “I can see why Autumn would be upset. Learning the guy you’ve been dating is too afraid to break some bad news to an ex, an ex-wife, no less, has caution written all over it. It seems like you were hedging your bets, and I know no brother of mine would make a woman feel that way, even if it were accidentally. Autumn is an amazing woman, that’s why the family rallied so hard to get you two together. I haven’t seen you this happy, ever.” Morgan gave his hand a good squeeze.
Jared sat there with his sister, trying to get his thoughts together. How would he feel if Autumn decided to do something as intimate and life-affirming as having a child with another man? It pissed him off to think of anyone sharing something that special with her. He could see cute versions of her running around the house, getting into trouble like his nieces and nephews. He could also see himself going into the laundry room to sneak a kiss or two before the kids found them.
Stranded in Paradise (The Blake Boys Book 13) Page 10