I hesitated. “I’m definitely falling for him,” I admitted.
I felt a little surge of fear as I made that admission out loud. It forced me to confront the choices I was making and the secret I was still keeping from Jake. What would he do when he found out who I really was? How would he react if he realized I was his dead wife’s half-sister? I knew I should have told him a long time ago, but I was just too cowardly to have even attempted the conversation. Now I had dug
an even deeper hole for myself by sleeping with him before telling him the truth.
I knew I would have to tell him—and soon. I made a promise to myself that I would come clean with Jake, for the sake of this new and exciting relationship we had embarked upon. I just hoped that it wasn’t too late for me.
“He has a kid,” Melody reminded me.
“I love his kid,” I admitted. “Noah is special.”
“It’s still a big commitment, getting involved with a guy who has a child.”
“I know, but it doesn’t matter to me at this point.”
“Fuck, present tense, Kristen,” she said, looking at me carefully. “You’ve fallen.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Jake
“When’s my next appointment?” I asked.
“An hour from now,” Kristen replied. “It’s only two blocks away, so you still have a while left.”
“Right,” I nodded. “Thank you, Kristen.”
“Of course, sir,” she nodded.
There were two other people from the department in my office today, Matt and Samantha who were coordinating a few things with me. Because of their presence, Kristen and I were forced to maintain an air of stiff professionalism and formality. She had seamlessly fallen into calling me sir again, and I had changed my tone to one of impersonal indifference.
It was harder than I expected to look at Kristen without smiling and to keep my eyes from wandering to her even in small, quiet moments. She was wearing a white dress with a high collar. Her auburn hair was turned up into a tight knot at the back of her head, and her hazel eyes looked particularly bright this morning. She looked like a 1920s movie star, and I wondered what on earth she was doing working under me when she could have been out there conquering the world.
Just as she was leading Matt and Samantha out of my office, Kristen turned back and gave me a secret smile that was meant for me alone. I felt a little tingle of desire, and then the door closed on the three of them. Sighing, I leaned back in my seat. I had made this big speech to her not even two days ago about taking things slow and waiting to have sex until we had gotten to know each other better. But already, my resolve was weakening.
My mind kept wandering to the night we had slept together. I kept remembering the way her thighs had felt wrapped around my waist, the way her hair had tickled my skin, the way her mouth had felt on my neck and my lips. She was like my own personal siren, pulling me in, reminding me what it was like to be a red-blooded American man again.
I was looking through my papers, preparing for my meeting in an hour, when a call came through on my personal line. Only Noah’s caregivers and teachers had that number, so I answered immediately. I had dropped him off barely two hours ago.
“Hello?” I said, forgetting all phone etiquette in the panic of the moment.
“Hello?” a voice I recognized as one of Noah’s teachers spoke. “Am I speaking to Mr. Middleton?”
“You are,” I said.
“I’m Kate Lowry,” she introduced. “I’m Noah’s teacher.”
“Is Noah alright?” I asked impatiently.
She heard the panic in my voice and rushed to reassure me. “Don’t worry, Mr. Middleton, I think Noah’s just caught a stomach bug. It’s been going around lately. He’s been feeling a little under the weather ever since you dropped him off. It’s nothing a little hot soup and rest won’t fix.”
“Okay,” I said, feeling a little better now that I knew it was nothing terrible. “How is he now?”
“He threw up a little while ago, so we thought it was best to call and inform you,” she said. “I think it would be best if you came and picked Noah up so that he can rest his body. He might need to stay at home for a few days until he recovers completely.”
I glanced at my schedule sitting in front of me. “Okay,” I agreed. “I’ll get him picked up in half an hour.”
She was still talking when I cut the line, but I was in a rush and needed to get to his babysitter as quickly as possible. I knew Elaine wouldn’t show up on such short notice, so I skipped her altogether and dialed Emily’s number.