means—”
“It’s an imposition, I realize. Do you—” He swore under his breath, unable to put off asking. He didn’t even want to know, but it might help control his still thriving attraction. “Is there someone in your life this will affect?” he forced himself to ask.
She stilled, not looking at him. After a long second, she nodded. Then she lifted an expression that was frozen between tortured and fretful.
He swallowed, surprised how deeply the knife thrust and twisted even though he’d braced for it. Even though she had every right to get on with her life. He certainly had no right to possessiveness. This situation was going to be unbearable.
Let her call an agency.
Before he could work up the will to make the concession, soft, pitiful whimpers rose over a lullaby being sung on screen. Evie’s sobs turned into a heart-wrenching wail that made Jaya’s eyes pop. She rushed toward the girl.
“Baby, what happened? Did you hurt yourself?”
Theo lowered his lids in a wince. “I didn’t realize what you’d put on. That’s Rowan’s voice as the fairy godmother.”
Jaya gathered up the toddler in a cuddle and murmured words of comfort. Her swift loving care to a child she barely knew struck into his toughened heart like an axe, leaving a wound that gaped and ached. He’d just realized how perfect Jaya was on the heels of learning she belonged to another man. She should be with someone. She deserved to be happy.
He still hated himself for never calling her back. He’d never felt so alone and lonely—and he knew loneliness like other people knew the lyrics to a favorite song.
With his breath burning his lungs, he asked, “What should we do?”
He meant, Should we call in someone else? But she only rocked Evie and said, “There’s nothing we can do. Little ones need their mamas.” Her brow flinched before she tried to distract Evie with a cheerful, “But we could go swimming. Do you like to swim?”
The bait and switch worked and after waiting for swimsuits and special diapers, they all climbed into the pool. Again Jaya was a natural, showing him how to hold Androu and coach him to kick while Evie proved to be part mermaid, pushing herself free of Jaya’s grip and swimming to the edge where she came up to grin proudly.
It was a surprisingly conflict-free hour as he shifted his focus onto the moment and the safety of the children. Okay, he was also pretty damned aware of Jaya’s nipples poking against the wet cups of her modest one-piece black swimsuit, but thankfully the cool water kept his libido from responding too wildly. She was way off-limits, even further than when she’d worked for him, so he suppressed his interest as best he could.
They were back to their Bali roles, polite and capable of basic camaraderie as they discussed neutral topics like the children, the weather, and Marseilles.
Until she said, “Theo,” with surprising gravity behind him.
“Yes?” he prompted, keeping his back to her as he boosted Evie toward the edge.
Ah, hell, he had his back to her. Inner tension came on so fast he felt like he solidified and fractured in the same breath.
The scars should have become less of an issue for him in the last year. His whole family had started coming to terms with their childhood, but he’d spent so many years clenching his teeth against it all that he couldn’t bring himself to open up to any of his siblings about what was plain as the stripes on his back. There didn’t seem any point and they were still so awkward with each other. He wanted to be friends with his older brother, but making that happen was easier if they both pretended the ugliness in their early lives hadn’t happened. Maybe it was counterproductive, but all of them had been raised to be polite and ignore. They very easily fell back on that coping strategy.
Jaya was private and quiet, but she was soft. Anything that moved her started at heart level. If she asked him about this, it would be
“It’s an imposition, I realize. Do you—” He swore under his breath, unable to put off asking. He didn’t even want to know, but it might help control his still thriving attraction. “Is there someone in your life this will affect?” he forced himself to ask.
She stilled, not looking at him. After a long second, she nodded. Then she lifted an expression that was frozen between tortured and fretful.
He swallowed, surprised how deeply the knife thrust and twisted even though he’d braced for it. Even though she had every right to get on with her life. He certainly had no right to possessiveness. This situation was going to be unbearable.
Let her call an agency.
Before he could work up the will to make the concession, soft, pitiful whimpers rose over a lullaby being sung on screen. Evie’s sobs turned into a heart-wrenching wail that made Jaya’s eyes pop. She rushed toward the girl.
“Baby, what happened? Did you hurt yourself?”
Theo lowered his lids in a wince. “I didn’t realize what you’d put on. That’s Rowan’s voice as the fairy godmother.”
Jaya gathered up the toddler in a cuddle and murmured words of comfort. Her swift loving care to a child she barely knew struck into his toughened heart like an axe, leaving a wound that gaped and ached. He’d just realized how perfect Jaya was on the heels of learning she belonged to another man. She should be with someone. She deserved to be happy.
He still hated himself for never calling her back. He’d never felt so alone and lonely—and he knew loneliness like other people knew the lyrics to a favorite song.
With his breath burning his lungs, he asked, “What should we do?”
He meant, Should we call in someone else? But she only rocked Evie and said, “There’s nothing we can do. Little ones need their mamas.” Her brow flinched before she tried to distract Evie with a cheerful, “But we could go swimming. Do you like to swim?”
The bait and switch worked and after waiting for swimsuits and special diapers, they all climbed into the pool. Again Jaya was a natural, showing him how to hold Androu and coach him to kick while Evie proved to be part mermaid, pushing herself free of Jaya’s grip and swimming to the edge where she came up to grin proudly.
It was a surprisingly conflict-free hour as he shifted his focus onto the moment and the safety of the children. Okay, he was also pretty damned aware of Jaya’s nipples poking against the wet cups of her modest one-piece black swimsuit, but thankfully the cool water kept his libido from responding too wildly. She was way off-limits, even further than when she’d worked for him, so he suppressed his interest as best he could.
They were back to their Bali roles, polite and capable of basic camaraderie as they discussed neutral topics like the children, the weather, and Marseilles.
Until she said, “Theo,” with surprising gravity behind him.
“Yes?” he prompted, keeping his back to her as he boosted Evie toward the edge.
Ah, hell, he had his back to her. Inner tension came on so fast he felt like he solidified and fractured in the same breath.
The scars should have become less of an issue for him in the last year. His whole family had started coming to terms with their childhood, but he’d spent so many years clenching his teeth against it all that he couldn’t bring himself to open up to any of his siblings about what was plain as the stripes on his back. There didn’t seem any point and they were still so awkward with each other. He wanted to be friends with his older brother, but making that happen was easier if they both pretended the ugliness in their early lives hadn’t happened. Maybe it was counterproductive, but all of them had been raised to be polite and ignore. They very easily fell back on that coping strategy.
Jaya was private and quiet, but she was soft. Anything that moved her started at heart level. If she asked him about this, it would be
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