Page 14 of Nothing to This (Nothing to… #8)

Still peering at JD, she missed Greg and Jim departing the room, leaving their lawyers and a third man just inside the door.

“The twins,” JD said. Not talking to the lawyers, he was looking at her.

“That’s where you came up with the name.

” She nodded once. There was a beat of nothing, then he grinned.

“I love it.” She barely had time to feel relief before JD switched focus to the lawyers.

“Okay, show us what you’ve got. This is the final draft, right? ”

He gestured them over to the boardroom table at the opposite end of the room, behind the new couches she’d had the decorator bring in.

Sometimes it seemed like JD did nothing himself.

If something needed done or she raised an issue, he’d taken to giving her full authority to resolve it.

Probably because he didn’t care enough about it to do it himself.

One thing he wasn’t so loose and easy about was the situation with the lawyers and the contracts.

“Yes,” Mr. Andrews said. “We’ll go over it all. Providing everyone is happy, we can sign today and make it official. Hence why we brought our notary friend.”

“Can’t wait,” JD said, coming up behind her to guide her into a chair like he was eager to get on with things. He pushed her in before taking his own place at the head of the table. “Show us what you’ve got.”

Since her first meeting with her lawyer on the Monday morning after JD moved in, JD had insisted on dealing with his lawyer himself. Leaving the negotiation to his team the first time around had been a mistake, according to him, one he vowed to never make again.

Mr. Andrews, JD’s lawyer, was the one to take them through and explain each clause of the contract. The document seemed smaller than the one she’d signed originally, but its significance was so much greater.

“This contract does everything you instructed us to do,” Andrews said, his particular focus on his client. “I don’t think I have to tell you it greatly reduces your protection. The shield that was built before the subjects were born has served you well for a long time. I can’t see why—”

“Those subjects are my children,” JD said.

“The original contract should never have existed, though I appreciate that was a failing on our side. That contract should have been shredded as soon as my children started talking. Are we expected to deny them throughout their educational career? I will attend events, plays, parent-teacher meetings. How would we explain that if no one knows they’re mine? ”

JD plucked the pen she’d been clutching from her hand.

Before he could sign, her hand landed on his, prompting him to look at her. “Please be sure about this, JD… It’s a big change for all of us and one we won’t be able to undo.”

“It should never have been done in the first place,” he said, freeing his hand from under hers to sign his name in the designated places.

When he was done, he put the pen in her hand. As she tried to lower it to the line she was supposed to sign, it shook. Until now, she and her children had been afforded relative obscurity. After this, nothing would be the same. Her children would never be anonymous again.

She couldn’t.

She couldn’t sign.

Inhaling, she twisted to find JD’s gaze. “I want to interview bodyguards,” she said, a thread of panic in her voice. “It will be expensive, but I’ll find a way to contribute.”

JD cupped her face, smoothing his thumb across her cheek. “I’ll take care of it.”

“They’re going to kindergarten after the summer. They could be exposed to… We won’t be there.”

He offered a comforting smile. “You don’t have to explain. I’ll take care of it.”

“We can postpone signing the contract,” Andrews said. “I’ll add a financial provision for security that caps your exposure.”

JD’s hand dropped to the table with a thud.

“Did you just use the phrase ‘caps my exposure’ in relation to the safety of my children? You see everything around us? Remember every property you’ve ever visited around the world that’s owned by me?

I’d sell it all if it made my children smile.

I’d conquer the damn planet if it meant keeping them safe. ”

Her hand slithered over the top of his to soothe him with a squeeze. “Shh,” she whispered. “Don’t get angry, Overlord. He meant nothing by it.”

JD’s hand turned to link their fingers. While she used her other hand to rub his forearm, he gazed into her. The longer they held that contact, the more he seemed to calm. He’d comforted her without dismissing her worry. Whatever their children needed, she didn’t doubt he’d provide.

“I apologize,” Andrews said. “Given this unexpected development, a postponement may be wise. There is no clause to include additional children. We didn’t believe it was necessary, though your sister implied—”

“His sister thinks she’s funny,” she said, leaning closer to JD, tilting her head, asking without words if he felt better.

He answered by picking up her hand to kiss her knuckles.

Once they were both breathing normally again, JD switched his attention to the lawyers.

“If there are future children, Rylee and I will sign our names together on a completely different contract. I don’t want to postpone, and Rylee trusts me to take care of all the financial needs of our children, especially security.

” He touched her face again. “Don’t you, Siren? ”

“I do.”

JD was beyond generous. She couldn’t imagine him ever withholding anything from their children or from her.

“This document is about disclosure,” JD said. “It lifts all barriers and allows us to freely acknowledge each other without fear of repercussions. Everyone must understand that my family is to be embraced and aided, not to be punished or denied.”

“Yes, sir, but Miss Hampton is not technically your family.”

“She’s the mother of my children.” He didn’t skip or hesitate a second.

“Short of my children themselves, I consider her the closest family I have,” he said.

“It’s ridiculous to tell the children they can be honest about their parentage and then demand their mother call them liars or remain mute.

Furthermore, I object to her being treated like she has done something wrong.

The very existence of the contract in the first place is such an affront that we should all be grateful to her for giving us the time of day. ”

“Baby,” she murmured, inching closer. “You’re getting yourself upset again.”

“Damn right I am.”

“Can you gentlemen give us a minute, please?” she asked.

The lawyers gathered their things.

“No,” JD said, his brow creased in a frown. “Sign the contract, Ry, and then these gentlemen can go. We don’t want them hanging around more than they have to.” Picking up her hand to kiss her knuckles again, he wrapped each of her fingers around the pen. “Please.”

If she was just going to sign the contract after calling them back in, it made sense to sign it and let the lawyers go on their way.

Inspired by his determination, she clutched the pen tighter and put her autograph everywhere they needed it before pushing the contracts toward the lawyers. In a daze as the notary did his thing, she stayed numb during the conversation JD had with the trio of men before getting up to show them out.

She hadn’t so much as left her chair. JD came back over and swiveled it around to crouch in front of her, something he did with the kids when he was being tender or understanding.

“Talk to me, Siren,” he murmured, gathering her hands. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s gone,” she said. “There are no more rules.”

She couldn’t match the glee that became a grin on his face. “That’s right. I can finally claim my family without obstacles.”

Without her putting up obstacles was what he was really saying.

Her mind raced; there wasn’t time to nitpick. “We have to tell the kids.”

Standing up, he guided her to her feet. “Let’s go get them now.”

She glanced at the clock above the powder room door.

“They’re gone already.” His instant look of concern motivated her reassuring hand to land on his chest. “Brenna picked them up. This is your weekend. She’s bringing them back to the apartment later…

We didn’t know what time you’d be out of the office, so she said she’d stay with them…

I’m supposed to have dinner with Baxter. ”

“Are you looking forward to that? You can tell him the truth, no more secrets.”

Shaking her head, she inched nearer. “Not before we’ve told the kids,” she said. “They should know first.”

He squeezed her shoulders. “They know I’m their father, it’s not a big reveal for them.”

“No, but they don’t know about your means or that you own the building they spend their days in.” Feeling a sliver of anxiety, she touched the edge of his tie. “Have you decided if you’re going to hang around?”

“Hang around? You mean have I changed my mind about living here full time?” he asked and scooped a hand around her face to bring it up.

“I’m going nowhere, babe.” They looked at each other for almost a minute, saying nothing.

“Why don’t you delay your date until tomorrow night?

You and I can make a plan while Bren has the twins.

” Smiling, he brushed his thumb across her cheek.

“We can be seen in public now. Where’s your favorite restaurant? ”

Tipping her head further back, she curled her fingers around his lapels. “A seafood place by the water,” she said. “But if you take me there, your daughter will never forgive us.”

He leaned down. “We’ll tell her we had steak. Do you like seafood?”

She nodded. “It’s my favorite. But Sky tells me sea creatures are mermaids’ friends and so she makes me feel guilty if I suggest eating it.”

“When was the last time you ate there?”

“A long time ago, it’s expensive,” she said. His brows rose. “I don’t mind gouging my children’s father as long as I’m making him a co-conspirator in my crime.”

He shrugged. “I’m pretty sure we’re going to screw them up anyway. Isn’t that what all parents do?”

“Yep, and there’s always the added bonus that if she runs away, she becomes Grama’s problem.”

JD was laughing when the office door opened and Greg came in. Though she tried to be discreet in removing her hands from his lapels and stepping away, there wasn’t much space behind with the chair blocking her.

“We’re going to dinner,” JD said, running a hand down her arm as he headed for his desk.

“It’s barely five,” Greg said.

“Brenna has the kids.” JD shut down his laptop and gathered some papers. “She’ll drop them off at the apartment later. We have to get some things straight first.”

Shock reverberated through her. “What?” she asked, amazed to read the lack of surprise in Greg. “JD?”

He was all at ease. “You told me not to make it difficult for you,” JD said, picking up his things.

“But Greg knows exactly who you are and all about the kids.” Still standing dumb when JD came over to thread his fingers between hers, it was too confounding for words.

“Come on, babe, we’ll go home and change. Does this place have a dress code?”

“I…” Her laptop bag was over his opposite shoulder and his own computer and files under his arm. “We won’t get a reservation tonight.”

“Oh, we will. Let me worry about that,” JD said, pulling her toward the door. “Let’s go home.”