by Rose Harris
As soon as Ava left to lay Ashlyn down for her nap, Lexi lit into Jace. “Jace Anderson Johnson, why did I have to hear about your ‘child’ from a reporter?” Lexi was a modern mother. She understood Jace lived the life of the hotshot quarterback, but she had raised him to protect himself and his partners.
“Mom, I didn’t tell you because I was in shock. How was I supposed to tell you I might have a kid?” Jace responded as he looked down at his feet instead of looking into his mother’s disappointed eyes.
“Jace, I will not lecture you. You are a man, and I expect you to take care of your responsibilities, but I want you to look at me when I tell you this.”
Jace obeyed his mother and saw only her love in her eyes.
“First, I love you and your dad loves you.”
Jace looked over at John and felt like an idiot for doubting his father’s love. John sat in a recliner with Roxi perched on the chair arm. John was wearing his standard blue polo shirt and jeans. Pride warring with the disappointment in his eyes.
Lexi continued to talk, and before Jace knew it, he felt her strong arms wrap him with her support and love. “We will stand beside you no matter what happens in your life, but you need to understand you have to let us know what is going on before some reporter does. I don’t ever want to be surprised by something like that again. Understand?”
Jace put on his best little boy pout and said, “Yes, ma’am.”
Lexi pulled back from him, and the love in her eyes shone bright. Jace knew she still thought of him as her little boy. She told him the rest of their decision. “Your dad, Roxi and I think you should stay here until the press dies down a little. Before you say anything, this is a safe place. No one knows about this house. Everything is in Ava’s name. No one will connect it to you. Roxi also told us you’re going to get an appointment with Ava’s law firm and—”
Jace cut off his mom’s speech when he responded with a definite, “Okay.” The look on everyone’s face was priceless. Did they really think it would take a lot of convincing to get him to stay here with Ava for a week or two? Of course, they didn’t know he wanted Ava as much as his next breath.
The gasp at the door was as audible as a foghorn. Everyone turned to see Ava in the doorway, and Jace wondered why she looked so distressed.
Chapter Four
Another restless night of scandalous dreams and Ava was not ready to hear the alarm go off, even with the additional hour she got on Mondays; she pushed the snooze button. She took the next nine minutes to get herself together before getting out of bed. Mondays were always the easiest day of the week. Roxi kept Ashlyn until she had to get to her first class, dropping Ashlyn off at daycare for the afternoon.
Roxi had mastered the ability to get the greatest schedule her senior year of any college student. She didn’t have a class on Monday until twelve-thirty, and the rest of the week, her earliest class was at ten. Ava had never been able to get a schedule with that much freedom.
Ava’s day normally started at five in the morning and ended around midnight. She never complained about her long days or not much anyway. She had landed her job as a legal secretary at the law office of Lawson & Morris right after she discovered she was pregnant. At the time, it felt like a dream come true. Now she hated her job with the creepy Bob Lawson, but the thought of not being able to support her daughter kept her motivated to fight back and stand strong.
Ava felt partly responsible for the company’s constant demands. She’d made herself available at their every beck-and-call for the past four years, but when it came to Bob, she was biding her time before she let him have it.
The hectic schedule caused some problems being a single mother, but with Roxi, her own mom and Lexi helping her out, Ava’s life was manageable. Ashlyn adored her extended family. Thinking about that extended family made Ava think about the man who lay just down the hall: Jace, the only man to whom she had ever given her heart and body.
When she walked into the family room yesterday and overheard he would be staying with them for the next few days, maybe even weeks, Ava had actually gasped aloud. Luckily, she’d used the excuse she’d seen a spider. Everyone associated her audible objection with the spider she had supposedly seen, unfortunately, the faux spider hadn’t been enough of a distraction to get her out of setting up an appointment with Bob Lawson for today. How would Jace feel if he knew Bob was a sleaze ball when he wasn’t acting as one of the greatest civil attorneys in the state of Tennessee?
Snuggled under the blankets in the dark, Ava thought of Jace. She conjured images of the man he was now and not the boy he’d been just a few years before. Thick brown hair that was cut shorter than it had been years ago but was still long enough to be able to grip during a long kiss. She pictured the look of need and want in his eyes when he was about to kiss her.
Jace’s eyes were so blue; waters in the Caribbean looked dull compared to them. The touch of his calloused hand on her face, the way his palms would roam over her body as they made love. Ava lay there becoming more aroused as memories of their one night together played like a movie through her head. An ache seemed to pulse between her legs, and she clenched her thighs in hopes of release.
The obnoxious beep of her alarm brought Ava back to reality, and the memories of her night with Jace vanished from her head as she contemplated getting through the next week.
Reality called, and she had a humdinger of a dilemma.
How am I going to be able to look at him every day, want him, and keep the secret that could destroy him personally and professionally, and possibly destroy the friendship I have with Roxi?
The burden of keeping the secret from her best friend might be the hardest part. Ava would never hurt her intentionally, but the ramifications of Jace finding out outweighed any pain Roxi might feel from the lies for the past several years.
Ava knew Roxi was hiding her own secrets about the man who broke her heart years ago; that break-up sent Roxi on her new love ’em and leave ’em path. Roxi always just shrugged off Ava’s attempts to discuss the man or what happened. It had been a stressful time in their friendship. They both were keeping secrets from the other, something they had never done before. Ava refused to give the name of Ashlyn’s father to anyone, and it put a strain on the friendship. She told Roxi she met a guy at a fraternity party. Add alcohol and a warm spring night and she made a life-alternating decision. Ava even went so far as to tell Roxi she went back to find him, but he wasn’t a student. Without getting his last name, she had no way to find him. Roxi had more questions about Ashlyn’s father, but Ava stood by the story.
Sometimes you just can’t share everything, even with your best friend.
With her thoughts turning to Roxi and off Jace, Ava got out of bed to get ready for work and then school.
****
The attempt to open her bedroom door as quietly as possible failed with a squeak from the hinges. Ears peeled for any signs of life throughout the house, Ava was relieved she was alone with her thoughts and made a mental note to fix that squeak.
Daily routine commenced, Ava walked down the hall to peek into her daughter’s room just to make sure Ashlyn was still asleep in her brand-new toddler bed. After assuring all was well, Ava turned to go to the bathroom.
The bathroom door stood slightly ajar. Assuming Jace left it open, she added telling him to keep the door closed on her list of things to do. Ashlyn still thought throwing toys in the toilet was great fun.
The last thing she expected when she pushed the door open was to see Jace standing in front of the old sink shaving in nothing but a tiny pink towel.
Ava stood gawking at him as if he were a giant ice cream sundae, and she wanted to lick him all over. His broad shoulders took up most of the space in the tiny bathroom, and Ava’s palms itched in their eagerness to run freely all over his body. His butt was tight and firm, and she could tell all of his hours working out to keep in shape for the upcoming season were definitely paying off. The man had a body ever
y woman wanted and all men envied.
Oh God, she’d never paid attention to a man’s legs until she saw him running yesterday morning, and now she just couldn’t seem to get enough. He had the legs of a man built for stamina; the kind of legs that could hold you up while you both trembled from orgasms.
That was the man who trapped her against the doorframe between the kitchen and family room when he couldn’t control himself long enough to get to the bedroom. The man she had been with that night forced her to lock eyes with him as they connected their bodies during their mating of souls. She’d never felt more cherished than when Jace looked deep in her eyes with his strong arms cradling her back so the woodwork wouldn’t bruise her flesh. The memory of him giving her a first stars-shooting-across-the-sky, fireworks-inducing orgasm made her body temperature skyrocket, and she trembled.
She felt the blush heat her all the way to her toes. When her eyes finally met his in the mirror, she could tell he must be a mind reader. He stared at her just as intently as he had the night they made Ashlyn.
“G-good morning. I didn’t know you would be up this early. I have to get ready for work.” Ava stuttered as she tried to sound as normal as possible.
Ava knew Jace could see right through her façade, but when he decided to give her a break, she breathed a sigh of relief.
“I’m almost done. I could knock on your door when I’m out if you want me to, or you can get in the shower now.” The last accompanied a flutter of his eyebrows and a hint of his bad boy smile. It came off looking silly with half his face covered in shaving cream.
“Umm, no.” With a smile and laughter in her voice, she said, “That’s okay. I can wait till you’ve finished up in here.” Ava just stood there staring at him. She knew she should leave, but her legs just didn’t seem to work.
Jace continued to shave and then stopped to tell her he’d made coffee and set out a couple of his mom’s famous cinnamon rolls. Ava was a sucker for Lexi’s cinnamon rolls and gave him a friendly smile. “You had me when you said you’d made coffee.” With a girlish giggle, she backed out of the small room and made her way to the kitchen.
****
Coffee, cinnamon roll, shower, and now Ava was ready to officially begin her day. Next were the short steps toward her daughter’s room for her ritual of baby kisses before facing the world.
Ava could hear Ashlyn’s chatter as she opened the door, and the scene that awaited her made her weak in the knees and brought instant tears to her eyes.
She and Roxi had decorated Ashlyn’s big girl room with light pink walls with flowers hand painted in designs only a toddler would love. Ava had even painted a couple of ladybugs around the room for her daughter, as Ashlyn was her ladybug, and she wanted her daughter to feel the love and luck they brought to her.
The white toddler bed was against the sidewall, and Ava had spent all of her income tax refund on the new furniture for her daughter’s room. There were two dressers in the room, a low one she still used as a temporary changing table until Ashlyn was potty-trained at night and a taller five-drawer that held all of Ashlyn’s clothes.
The most important item in the room was the rocking chair that sat in the corner by the window. The wooden rocking chair was the same chair her own mother used to rock her as a baby. Now Ava sat in it nightly and rocked her daughter.
In the rocking chair, which in Ava’s mind represented parental love and patience to a child, was where she found Jace cuddling her daughter, who was talking to him as if he was her new best friend.
The picture of this big, strong, sexy man cuddling her daughter almost brought her to her knees. Jace sat there with his face only inches from his daughter. Ashlyn’s gaze looked so much like his, it hurt Ava physically. She feared being discovered and, ironically, feared not being discovered.
****
Jace smiled at the child sitting in his lap. She was one of the prettiest little girls he had ever met. She had so many mannerisms reminiscent of her mother, Jace couldn’t help but to fall for her a bit with each passing second.
He was pretty sure she was talking to him about bubbles and a dog, but he couldn’t swear to it. He just kept saying “Really!” and “That’s amazing!” Ashlyn seemed happy with those comments.
Under normal circumstances, Jace avoided contact with children unless it was for a charity event, but when Jace had heard Ashlyn becoming upset when she could not open her bedroom door, he had gone in to try to calm her down. She asked for her mama, and when he said Mama was in the shower, Ashlyn had lifted her arms to him. Once he picked her up and she laid her head on his shoulder, he knew this was what his life was missing.
If he had been asked last week about his life, he would have said it was perfect and he had everything a man could ever wish or hope for: a great job, an on-again-off-again-mostly-off girlfriend, a fast car, money, and a house that was paid for.
Suddenly the little girl on his lap began to almost vibrate with excitement, and he looked up to see what drew her attention away from him. When he noticed Ava standing in the doorway, dressed in what had to be one of the sexiest business suits he had ever seen, she oddly looked as if she were about to pass out.
Jace jumped out of the chair and rushed to get to Ava’s side in case she hit the floor. Once color returned to her pale face, Ava held her arms out for Ashlyn.
Ashlyn reacted as if this was all a joke and jumped toward her mother as soon as she got within arm’s length. Ava gave her daughter a smile that was so beautiful and held so much pride and joy she could have challenged the sun for the brightest morning light and she would win. Ava covered Ashlyn’s face and neck with morning kisses, and Jace couldn’t help but feel jealous of the toddler.
He couldn’t explain the feeling, but he recognized the need to belong in this picture. He wanted Ava to smile at him that way every morning, walk in on him when he was shaving, and never have to hide his hard-on behind a little pink towel. He wanted to be able to come in and get Ashlyn ready and listen to her talk about catching bubbles or getting a dog. He wanted the house with the white picket fence, the wife, the daughter and the dog. He wanted Ava and Ashlyn to be his family, and he wanted to figure out all of this paternity suit crap so he could offer Ava the life he always thought he never wanted.
How was it he had been home less than forty-eight hours, and he’d already made decisions that would alter his life? He would have to call Carmen, the on-and-off girlfriend, and break their arrangement. He would never call their being together a relationship because neither of them cared enough. They agreed they would attend charity functions together, and they had occasionally become bedmates when the mood struck.
Jace walked out to the family room to wait for Ava, giving her some privacy with her daughter. He needed to talk to her about the idea he had to get to her office today without being noticed by the press that was bombarding their hometown.
Framed pictures hung on the walls, and Jace stopped to admire one of Ashlyn. Jace was so engrossed in looking at the child, he didn’t even hear Roxi walk into the room with a cup of coffee.
“I took that picture on her first birthday. Ava tried to make this cake she’d seen on Pinterest. You can see it didn’t work out so well, and the cake looked almost wrecked before Ashlyn even had a chance at it. Don’t get me wrong. It tasted delicious, but it was nothing to look at.”
Before Jace could comment on Roxi’s observations, Ashlyn came running into the room and right into her aunt Roxi’s arms.
“How about you and I go in and get you your breakfast and let Mommy and Jace talk.” Roxi spoke to Ashlyn as they walked into the kitchen.
“What do we have to talk about?” Ava asked Jace as they watched Roxi disappear into the kitchen.
“Well, you know I have to keep a low profile so no one knows where I’m staying.”
Jace looked at her as if he expected her to answer, so she responded with a nod.
He took the simple gesture as an opening to ask his question. Jace blur
ted out, “So I was wondering if I could ride to your office with you today. Once I meet with the lawyer, I could take your car and just pick you up later. I know I keep asking you for favors, but this will be the last one. You were kind enough to get me an appointment first thing this morning, so I was hoping you could give me a ride to your office.”
Ava stared at him, as if she didn’t know what to say. He could almost hear her brain rationalizing the sense of them driving in together. If she said yes, people would know they were friends, and then they might start to piece the puzzle together and realize he was staying with her. But if she said no, she would appear to be a bitch.
When she finally smiled and gave a nod to affirm her response, she replied, “You can go with me, but you can’t keep my car. I don’t want anyone to know you are staying here. The fact that you’d be driving my car would look suspicious.”
Jace ran his hand over his face as he tried to figure out a way to get home from downtown Knoxville. It was not as if he could just take a cab back to the house or even rent a car. He didn’t want the media finding out his location yet.
When everyone had gone to bed last night, he had stayed up and watched both the local evening news and then the sports channels. As a professional athlete, making headlines for the number of passes he had thrown or for his quick decisions made during the crunch plays was commonplace, but seeing his image with the headline “Jace Johnson: Deadbeat Dad?” was disturbing.
Jace knew his best play would be to let Ava have her way, for now, and then tackle the issue of his ride home after he spoke with the lawyer. He smiled his thanks. “I’m ready when you are. Do you want to have breakfast with Ashlyn before we head out?”