Jack (The Family Simon 2)

Jack scowled and climbed into the boat. Sabrina had always had a way of seeing things, of picking apart a situation and getting it right. He couldn’t lie to her and dammit he needed to unload on someone.

“Grace set us up.”

“Grace?”

“Yes, she arranged it so that we were both in Belize last week, and things got out of hand. Wasn’t what either one of us wanted, but it happened. That I can deal with. But she’s hiding something from me and, call me crazy, but I want to know what the hell it is. I pretty much forced her to come here, which now that I think about it, might not have been the smartest thing I’ve ever done.”

Sabrina climbed in and yelled to the kids to swim out to the tube. She sat beside Jack and rested her hand on his shoulder.

“Thing is, Jack,” Sabrina whispered as she kissed his cheek and smiled. “Donovan James doesn’t strike me as the kind of woman to just follow orders. She wouldn’t be here if she didn’t want to be. Trust me on that one.”

Jack glanced up at the house and slowly edged the boat out onto open water.

On one hand, Sabrina was right but on the other, she didn’t know the whole story. She didn’t know that Donovan was desperate to keep her little vacation with Jack a secret. It made no sense really. In a world where celebrity ruled, if the press found out that Donovan and Jack had hooked up, it would only enhance her profile that much more. What celebrity didn’t want that kind of exposure?

He sighed and watched the kids climb onto the tube, pushing the throttle forward slightly in order to get some tension on the rope. But his mind wasn’t on the boat or tubing. Why was he forcing the issue with Donovan? Why didn’t he just let the chips fall where they may and deal with the fallout when he knew the status of her pregnancy?

Why the hell did he care that she was hiding something from him? Caring indicated that his feelings weren’t ambivalent, and that didn’t bode well.

He thought of Brett and his gut tightened. Jack was out here on the water with Brett’s wife and children and damn, but that was wrong. Brett should be out here. He should be living his life. Growing old with the woman who loved him and watching his kids achieve all that they could achieve.

Life was too short. As clichéd as it sounded, those four words were bang on. Maybe it was time for Jack to move the hell on. Maybe it was time for him to cut Donovan loose.

Chapter Eighteen

* * *

Donovan spent most of the day on the front porch of the Simon home with her notebook, a bottle of water, and her guitar.

She’d like to say that it was because she was dedicated to her work—that the melodies in her head needed lyrics to go with them—but if she was being honest with herself, she’d have to admit that she was avoiding Jack. At first it was because she was still angry with him, but when her initial anger wore off, she was left feeling more confused than ever. Add a dose of fear and it had Donovan retreating, which was something she wasn’t used to.

She’d watched him take the kids out on the boat with Sabrina. Watched him bring them back in a few hours later.

She pretended to be hard at work when he was on the beach helping Morgan with her sandcastle. And when he played a game of toss football with Harry, she pulled her Gucci’s over her eyes so that she could watch them properly.

The kids loved him. That much was clear, and it was a bittersweet sort of feeling that

settled inside her as she watched him serve them hotdogs for lunch and then take them back out on the water.

He had a way with kids. There was no denying that.

He deserved to have a family of his own.

And while she was being honest with herself, she may as well just face the fact that the thought of Jack and a whole pack of kids—their kids—made her crazy with want.

Jesus. She needed some sort of intervention. Since when did she fantasize about Jack and forever? He barely liked her and after the stunt she’d just pulled again, she didn’t blame him. Just because the sex was still good meant nothing. They would always have that. There was no rhyme or reason, it’s just the way it was. Their bodies fit well together.

There wasn’t anything wrong about having sex without love. Men did it all the time. Hell, women did too. She’d done it in the past when that particular itch needed scratching.

But I want more.

Nothing compared to the connection she felt when she was with Jack, and Donovan was getting tired of denying herself the very thing that she wanted. Was she crazy to even consider it? Would the truth blow up in her face and end things before they had a chance to begin?

“You look like you’re thinking too hard.”

It was nearly six o’clock and Donovan was down at the beach with Brett. Jack had just returned from town with a few things for dinner—the plan was, food and then a fire. Sabrina insisted Donovan relax and since she was still doing the whole avoiding thing, it hadn’t taken much convincing to get her to agree to keep Brett company while Sabrina and Jack finished preparing the burgers, salad, and corn on the cob.

She offered a smile. “I guess I am.”