Page 15 of Nothing to This (Nothing to… #8)

“That was beyond amazing,” she said, folding her arms on the edge of the restaurant table.

JD topped off her wineglass. “The guilt makes it better,” he said. “Now we share a secret.”

“We’ll have to find some way to betray Kye.” She put her menu on the edge of the table. “We don’t want to play favorites.”

The server came to pick up the menus. “Did you decide on dessert?”

“Yes,” she said, straightening her back. “Can we have a cheesecake and a chocolate mousse to go, please?”

“To… to go, ma’am?”

“Is that a problem?”

The server glanced around like he was being pranked. “I’ll speak to my manager.”

“You do that,” JD said with booming authority. “While you’re asking questions, I’ll be making calls to ensure this restaurant is out of business in under a month. This woman gets whatever she wants. It’s my job to keep her happy. Don’t keep her waiting.”

“I apologize. He’s not himself. I’ve had to let him down gently,” she said and reached over the table to take JD’s hand from his wineglass.

“He spoils me every chance I give him. But I have to keep telling him over and over again, this is sex, that’s it.

That’s all I want from him. Raw, animalistic, sweaty sex.

I won’t leave my husband for him. My children would never forgive me for hurting their father. ”

Both men stared at her. She picked up her wine and gulped some down while still holding JD’s hand.

“Pack up that dessert for us,” JD said. “Clearly you can see you’re interrupting me stealing a woman away from another man.”

The server stumbled in his retreat from the table.

A moment later, she laughed and let go of JD’s hand. “He’s having a memorable night.”

“I’m confused. Am I the father of the kids you’re hurting, or do they belong to your imaginary husband?”

“Don’t think it matters,” she said on a shrug.

He raised his brows. “Do you think sweaty is a requirement of good sex?”

“Yes,” she said and drank more wine. “If you’re not sweating, you’re not exerting enough energy.”

“That’s right,” he said. “I forgot you like it hard.”

Sinking back in her seat, she drew a fingertip down the side of her glass. “I’d make slow love with my husband. It’s my extramarital lover’s job to overwhelm me with his passion.”

His smile widened before it disappeared behind his glass. “I’ll remember that.”

She glanced at her watch. “Brenna will have the kids home already and we haven’t even talked about anything.”

“Is that why you wanted your dessert to go?”

Shaking her head, she touched her wine-damp lip. “Kye’s on a cheesecake kick at the moment. He’ll adore you if you bring him back some… and Sky enjoys licking the mousse from a spoon… she’s always loved the bubbles.”

“The kids and I are going to the zoo tomorrow,” he said. “We’re going to my mom’s for lunch after. Will you join us?”

“I don’t want to intrude.” She shook her head. “Your time with the kids is precious.”

“You let me intrude on you guys last weekend,” he said. “They like it when they have both of us at their beck and call.”

They sure did. Their kids loved having the attention of both their parents and their extended family as often as possible. “That is true.”

“Was Barry okay with postponing your meal?”

“Baxter,” she said. “He was okay with it. He wanted to know why, I told him I’d explain at dinner tomorrow. I’m sure he’ll understand I want to talk to the kids first.”

“Are you worried about telling him?”

“No,” she said, twisting the stem of her glass between her fingertips. “Should I be?”

“Some men find me intimidating.”

The swagger in his tone betrayed his tease. Though, no doubt, there was some truth in that. The glint in his eye provoked her dormant competitiveness and her own desire to play.

While being grown-ups around the kids and in the busy hierarchy practiced with rules and deference at the office, they had little time to think. The opportunities to relax as themselves, as they could in social situations like this, were few and far between.

“I’ve seen both your dicks,” she said, picking up her wine and breathing out slowly.

Narrowing one eye, JD tried to figure that out. “Meaning…”

“I already know which of you is the better lover.”

“How many nights have you spent with him versus the one shot I got to make an impression?”

“Oh, you made an impression, Mr. Dawes. My figure has never been the same since I spent that one night with you.”

“I don’t remember you being in better shape back then,” he said. “Your body’s still worth a second look.”

“Oh thanks, that’s so romantic of you, JD.” She touched her upper chest and pretended to swoon. “I’m lightheaded.”

“That’s the roofie I slipped into your wine,” he said and extended his arm to expose his watch from beneath his cuff. “I should get you in the car before you pass out.”

Smirking, she held her glass closer to her chest. “Explaining that to your son would be interesting,” she said.

“You also seem to have forgotten that I’m a single parent of twins and you’re living in my apartment.

Most nights I’m so tired you could probably slip into my bed and have your way with me, and I wouldn’t have the energy to object. ”

His eyes stopped smiling as they became more intense, compelling her to lower her glass. “Energy or inclination?”

That had to be rhetorical. Did he expect an answer…? She wasn’t sure she’d have an honest one for him. They sat there, just looking at each other, losing track of time. The moment was broken when the server came back with two boxes, presumably containing their desserts.

JD sat up to say something about the restaurant logo on the boxes being unacceptable, setting the server on edge again. The boy thought he’d done well, but her date wasn’t doing much to encourage him.

Her date. That description made her think twice. It wasn’t a romantic date. They were parents, friends, and colleagues. Complications in each other’s lives. Still, it was in their children’s best interest that they get along. There was nothing sexual about their association.

Sexual. There was another word that stuck in her mind.

Now there was nothing sexual about their association. But there had been… once. Their link began with sex. When they’d first laid eyes on each other, sex had been in the forefront of their minds. Did attraction like that just evaporate?

They were older, far more mature, and far more capable of keeping their impulses in check.

“Babe?”

Stolen from her daze, she read JD’s concern, which suggested he’d tried to get her attention more than once.

“Sorry,” she said. The server and boxes were gone. “The kids not getting their dessert?”

“They’re not getting it in boxes that provide Sky with evidence we ate Flounder.”

Neither had eaten that specific fish, but his point was valid. “You can tell her during your father of the bride speech at her wedding.”

“Don’t forget about the tower,” he said, pouring the remainder of the wine into her glass. “No man is getting near my baby girl.”

“She might not be your baby by then,” she said. “Who knows how many more kids you’ll have.”

“Think I’ll care less about Sky if I have other girls after her?”

She shrugged. “You haven’t talked about your intimate life,” she said. “Do you have a serious girlfriend?”

“If I did, you’d have met her in the last two weeks. We live together, Ry.”

“You haven’t met Baxter.”

“I know he exists.”

“Should we come up with rules?” she asked. “The kids are older now; it’s harder to hide things from them. If you’re going to be in town, I guess you’ll want to be dating.”

“I’d say the most important rule is that as long as the four of us are under the same roof, the apartment belongs to the kids. We shouldn’t have any… intimate time there.”

Perfect first rule. Ensuring the kids had a safe haven was most important.

“Agreed,” she said.

The server came back with two blank boxes.

JD handed over a credit card without saying a word. “Babe, you seem distracted.”

The last thing she wanted to do was share her muddled thoughts. “I’m tired.”

“Want next week off?”

Her boss had the authority to grant that wish. Damn, complications. Her boss. Father to her children. Her roommate. Former lover. Tormentor. Friend?

Brenna was her best friend and didn’t exactly offer an impartial ear, understandably.

Did JD have someone to lean on? Greg was his friend, but she had no clue whether their colleague knew about their history or that they’d shared a night together.

Either way, she’d have to look Greg in the eye at work.

Maybe it was best to be in the dark. Gossip didn’t interest her.

“I want to go home and hug my babies,” she said. “Will you take me home, JD?”

He nodded once and stood up to come around and help her from her chair. The server rushed back and, from the corner of her eye, she noted JD handing over a significant cash tip.

JD put his card away and then laced his fingers between hers. “Let’s go hug our babies,” he said, picking up the desserts in his other hand.

It was nice to have support, to have someone take care of things.

Life was going to get more complicated as people absorbed the truth of her children’s parentage.

As long as their babies were okay, and had the support of both parents, they’d work everything else out.

JD would do his part; she had full confidence in that.

He was a good father. Though that wasn’t exactly something she could be proud of herself given it was luck of the draw.

Serendipitous. Still, she had done a good job of picking a counterpart.

Primitive biology at work, she presumed.

He loved their children, and she couldn’t ask for anything more than that.