Page 72 of Nothing to This

Pushing his chair up from its recline, he frowned.“I have a date?”

Greg pointed at him.“You thought it was cool to set me up.Guess Ry’s on a roll and it’s your turn.”

“Whatever it is, put it off.We didn’t eat as a family last night.I want to be with the kids tonight.”

“You can’t put it off,” she said.“You promised your mom you’d go to the dinner party her lawyer is having tomorrow night, and you have the Entrepreneur Association Ball on Thursday.”

“Is Mom watching the kids at hers or ours?”

“Neither,” she said.“You promised Sky you’d take her to the ball, so you’re taking Kye with you tomorrow.Something your mom’s lawyer will probably hate, but he wants to impress you, so he’ll let it slide.”

He bobbed his head.“My daughter will go to the ball.I remember now.”

“Good.You don’t have time to go home and change.I’ll call Anya and ask her to pick something up from the apartment and drop it here.The royal blue shirt brings out your eyes, but the gray shirt will get you laid… do you have a preference?”

“The blue,” he said.“If you’re sharing a bed with my sister and the kids, I don’t think sex is a good idea, do you, Siren?Unless you want to wait until they’re asleep and sneak out somewhere with me…” Propping an elbow on the desk, he stage-whispered to Greg.“From memory, she has a thing for high-class hotels.”

“Good thing you can afford it,” Greg said, wearing a smirk.

“Bastian owes me.”

Shaking the messages at him, she forced him to take them.“You could reserve Buckingham Palace, your cock would still spend the night lonely if it was waiting for me.”

Another inhale from Greg.

Slapping his hands on the desk, Greg rose to his feet and pushed away.“You’re on your own, man.I’m out.”

Moving one memo aside to put another on top, she tapped it as Greg left and closed the door.

“This one’s about daycare changes.Read it, it applies to your children,” she said and started for the door.

“Babe, don’t walk out without—Gabby.”She stopped.“What the hell is this?”

About-facing, she saw he was reading the message she’d written.

“She has reserved a table in the restaurant of her hotel, though says the room service is excellent if that’s what you’d prefer.”A blatant invitation, but whatever, that wasn’t her prerogative.“Do you want me to ask Anya to bring condoms too?”

“Babe!”he barked, surging to his feet almost like he was offended.

“You said she wasn’t wild about the idea of kids.If you feel like playing roulette on that—”

“Ry, I’m not going to sleep with her.I don’t even want to see her.Why would you arrange a date for me with my ex—”

“Because she wants to discuss the details of your meeting in California next week.”That stole some of the outrage from his expression.“Yeah, I loved getting blindsided with that one.Thanks.You’re leaving Sunday?You know the kids’ birthday party is on Saturday?That’s a great birthday present for the kids, JD.Just great.Were you going to tell them or was that going to be left to me?Were we just going to wake up without you on Monday?”

“I… it was going to be a surprise.Greg and I were literally just talking about it.I was going to take you with me, all of you… We can rent a place out there on the beach, take a break from the—”

“That’s convenient.You get caught in a lie, and suddenly it’s a surprise.”

“Ry—”

“Go to dinner with her.Make your plans for next week.Your family won’t be home tonight, and there’s a gorgeous woman in a private suite with room service just waiting for you.”

She began to turn, but he spoke fast.“Wait, Ry, Siren!Babe—”

“You know what I don’t get?”Whipping around, she was talking before he got to her.“If you wanted to leave us, you could’ve just told me.I’ve dealt with disappointed children before.You think they’ve never come back from your mom’s upset that Daddy never showed?”

“That’s not fair!You know it’s different now.I would never disappoint—”