Page 16 of Nothing to This (Nothing to… #8)
The high of her day with JD and the kids carried her through to meeting Baxter for dinner.
It didn’t last long beyond that.
They’d met at a gastropub, nothing fancy, just a great place to eat. She loved their cocktails and the friendly staff; she’d been there a bunch of times.
In fact, they’d eaten there so regularly that she’d decided on her dinner order before arriving. While giving their drinks requests, they ordered food too.
“So…” Baxter said, his attention moving from the darkened window next to their faux-leather booth to the bright lights hanging above each table. “Do you want to tell me now why you canceled on me last night?”
Still smiling, optimistic about the conversation, revealing the truth should be freeing.
“I didn’t cancel, I postponed.”
“Usually when it’s his weekend, I have you the whole time.”
“I know,” she said. “And this is sort of his fault.” Though Baxter frowned, she flashed a smile. “Well, not his fault, but… we had a meeting with our lawyers yesterday afternoon and signed new contracts.”
“New contracts? You mean…”
“Yes,” she said, flattening her hands on the table, pushing her arms straight and shoulders back. “The gag is officially gone; I can say anything I like. Everything. Anything is allowed.”
“Rylee…”
His stunned expression enhanced her glee. Had he believed it would ever happen? Had she?
“We had to talk to the kids last night, hence the postponement. It was only right to talk to them first.”
“But…” he said, squinting. “They knew who he was, right? They knew he was their father… didn’t they?”
She nodded. “Yeah, there were other things they weren’t aware of though. We had to loop them in.”
“And… it went well?”
Thinking about their evening poured warmth into every cell in her body. They’d had a lot of fun with the kids, as to how much they took in…? It was difficult to tell when kids got giddy.
“I don’t know that the kids got what we were trying to explain to them. But they’re four, you know, they’ll get it eventually… when I loosen the reins.”
“The reins?”
“Sometimes I haven’t let JD do certain things with them. I won’t have to worry about that so much anymore.”
“JD?” he asked, his brows rising. “That’s him. That’s their father?”
Another smile and a nod. “Jamison Dawes,” she said and frowned in wonder. “I don’t know where I got JD from. Everyone else calls him Jamie.”
From his puzzled expression, she guessed he was figuring it out. “Jamison Dawes,” he said. “Why do I know that name? How do I…” he trailed off. “Jamison Dawes… the billionaire?” He panted out his disbelief, but wasn’t done, another memory hit him. “Wait, didn’t he just buy your company?”
She held up an innocent hand. “I didn’t know he was going to do that… and I already tore into him for it. Though, in his defense, he didn’t know I worked there.”
“He didn’t know where the mother of his children worked?”
Lifting a shoulder, their drinks appeared right on time. “He has enough on his mind. He’s busy and doesn’t waste mental energy figuring out where I spend my days.”
“Apparently he fucking does, didn’t you say you’d started working in the new CEO’s office?”
“Yes, but…” When he put the question in such an impatient way, it didn’t sound great. “He needed someone familiar. He asked me to do the rebrand. I’m not sure I’ll stay in his office after that’s done.”
“Rylee…” he scoffed out her name but didn’t follow it with anything.
In anticipation of his point, she stayed silent while the server put their drinks on the table.
At least she did until the server was gone and the pregnant silence continued. “What?”
“You… you fucked this guy,” he said, ignoring his drink, while she raised hers to her lips. “You fucked him.”
“Five years ago… almost six.”
“You fucked him, had his children, and you’re living with him. Now I find out you’re spending all day alone in some top-floor office with him?”
Breathing in, she let her eyes drift to the side. “And…?”
“And? And he’s a fucking billionaire!”
His raised voice drew the attention of diners and staff. Great, just what she needed, a show.
She offered the strangers a nervous smile before leaning over the table toward Baxter. “I don’t see your point, Bax,” she hissed. “Though I am getting to grips with your attitude. What is wrong with you?”
He pushed against the edge of the table, reinforcing the tension in his shoulders. “Why aren’t you with this guy again?”
“Why would I be with him? Because he’s my boss or because he’s squatting in my house?” she asked. “If people made romantic choices based on those roles, we’d have a lot of CEOs in polygamous marriages and no such thing as roommates.”
“You have kids together.”
“I’m confused,” she said, sensing an increase in his anger. “Do you want me to be with him? Are you telling me to be with him?”
“I’m telling you I don’t understand why you’re not… Has he made a move on you?”
“JD? Since when?” she asked, her upper lip curled. “Not since the night we were together. He would never compromise me like that.”
Baxter didn’t look to be buying it. “Why not?”
“Because he respects me,” she said. “Because I’m the mother of his children and our relationship is about the kids, not about sex. Sex complicates everything, there’s no way we’re compatible beyond that. If we tried to make ourselves be something we’re not, we’d only end up hating each other.”
“So you are attracted to him?”
“What?” she snapped. “Where did you get that?”
“You just said there’s no way you’re compatible beyond sex, that means you think you’re sexually compatible.”
Putting down her glass, she ran a hand through her hair. “Jesus, Baxter,” she exhaled his name, but he wasn’t appeased. “Was the sex good? Is that your question?”
“I want to know if you think about it now. Do you think about having sex with him?”
“No!” she said. The quiver in the back of her throat made her feel like a liar.
“Look, sometimes JD and I have an… energy.” His mouth opened.
“But it’s not something we’d ever act on.
Honestly, ninety percent of the time we’re more interested in competing.
We’re selfish together. We’d be too busy racing to our own orgasm to worry about pleasing each other.
” His eyes widened. “Shit, Bax, I… what I mean is that we’re not interested in any kind of relationship.
We’re not. We don’t care about each other that way.
I care about what he means to my children, that’s it.
Honestly, if you met him, you’d see, he’s just not husband material. ”
“Why not? What’s wrong with him? Seems to me he’d be a perfect husband; he’s got the cash for it.”
“Cash?” she asked. “Funny, ‘cause that’s what JD used to think the world was all about too. You’d be sick if I told you how much he tried to pay me in child support before the twins were born.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
“I have no idea why you don’t feel just fine,” she said. “So what if the father of my children has a few bucks? I don’t know why that changes anything.”
He leaned in. “It’s more than that,” he said, lowering his volume. “You work with him. You live with him. Shit, Ry, why are you living with him? The guy has enough money to rent a whole damn hotel if he wants.”
“The kids asked him to stay,” she said. “I told you that. It means something to them to have their father around every day. They’ve loved having him at the dinner table and cooking breakfast for them.”
Disbelief and some kind of resentment bubbled out of him. “He cooks?”
“He’s a better cook than me,” she said, slanting back when the server brought their food.
The man could clearly sense tension at the table, or maybe he’d heard the shouting.
“What else does Mr. Fantastic do?”
So much for looking forward to eating; her appetite had disappeared.
Baxter was heavy-handed in arranging his plate and adding more ketchup to his burger.
“What is wrong with you, Baxter? Since we got together you’ve wanted to know about the twins’ father. Now I’m being honest with you and you’re being… unreasonable.”
He stopped dealing with his food to glare at her. “You call this unreasonable? All this time you’ve had a brilliant billionaire in your back pocket, and you never thought to even so much as hint that—”
“Do you know something? I never thought about JD’s bank balance, never thought about it.
I really didn’t. I used to think about how many weekends he failed to show up when he was supposed to have the kids.
About the hours they spent with their grandmother wondering if Daddy was going to grace them with his appearance.
I’m sure this is a shock to you, but I never considered JD brilliant either.
I didn’t think about his business or wonder if he was any good at it.
I thought about my children and if he’d disappoint them again. ”
“Seems that’s all changed, huh? Now you’ve moved him in.”
“Yeah, and maybe that’s why,” she said. “Even if I hated the guy, I still have to recognize that he is the father of my offspring, Baxter. That’s something you’ll have to get used to if you want to continue this relationship.
” In the silence that followed, she tried to read him, but he gave little away. “If you don’t, that’s your choice.”