Authors: Ella Celestine
Nate smiled when Jackson glared at him. That dark coffee gaze left him unfazed which only further angered him. “I don’t want to be a part-time father.” The idea of only seeing his son a couple of weekends a month made him ill.
“Easy fix. You move to the upstairs bedroom, and she’ll stay down here. You date other people.”
Jackson scowled so hard his head began to throb. “Not an option.” The thought of her being with another man made him see red. “No. She just has to say yes.”
“Well, one of us needs to do some work today, so I’m heading back to the office. Don’t do anything stupid.”
“Your confidence in me warms my heart,” Jackson deadpanned as he walked his friend to the door. “I won’t do anything stupid, but I am going to get her to say yes.”
~
“No thank you, I’m busy tomorrow.” Ruby reclined on the sofa, remote in one hand, phone cushioned between her ear and shoulder. “Bye, Jack.” She hung up before his stupid deep sexy voice could change her mind. Releasing a long, tense breath, Ruby pressed play on the remote and tried to focus on the stand-up comedy but failed miserably.
Jack was on her mind. Again. Well, constantly, really. For the past two days, he’d called and texted nonstop. He’d had four dozen tulips delivered, all red since they were her favorites. And the gift that brought tears to her eyes was a tulip costume for an infant. He’d called to see if she could join him for dinner, but seeing him wasn’t an option. Not right now. She would have the baby any day now—two weeks according to the doctor—and she would have no choice but to see him. Until then, she needed to protect herself. So she’d politely told him ‘no thank you’ and now she was trying to pretend it hadn’t happened.
Her bungalow now felt too small, too crowded. She’d spent far too long inside that giant mansion Jack called a home, and now she was uncomfortable in her own home.
Damn him.
She picked up the phone and called Monica.
“This better have something to do with your next book,” she said crisply, no greeting necessary.
“Flowers. I want to do something with exotic flowers, and I think I’ll need a ghostwriter or something. Can we talk about something else now?”
Monica sighed and then there was some shuffling and a door closing. “Alright, tell me the latest drama with you and your billion dollar baby daddy.”
Ruby took a deep breath and told her everything. About them living together, sleeping together. Dating. The whole story all the way up to the heartbreaking end. “He just walked away.”
“He didn’t say anything?”
“Nope. Nada.” She’d been stunned at first, then hurt and finally, pissed off. “He just called now and asked if I could meet for dinner tomorrow. I told him no.”
“Why?”
Ruby looked at the phone like it’d grown two heads. “Because he just wants to convince me to marry him.”
“Or maybe he wants to tell you that he’s realized what a dumbass he was and realized he loves you.”
She scoffed. “Fat chance,” she rolled her eyes. “If he realized that he would have come in person to make sure I got the full effect of his gorgeous smile while he said those words.” He’d probably show up with tulips. Red tulips.
“Well you are fifteen months pregnant, what could a free meal, hurt?”
Ruby frowned at the phone. “I thought you were on my side!”
Monica sighed. “Of course, I am, but love isn’t stable. That man wants to be your husband and a full-time father to your child. So what if he doesn’t love you today. He will. Soon.”
She didn’t believe that for one second but she didn’t tell Monica as much. The truth was that soon her life would be difficult, very difficult. There would be a newborn baby waking up every three hours to be fed or changed, and she wouldn’t get a lot of sleep. That was a lot of stress for two people not in love, so she wasn’t willing to settle. “I can do it on my own.” Like I always do.
“Of course, you can, but why would you when you don’t have to?”
That was the same question her sometime assistant Fiona had asked. “Because there is no in between option. I’ve felt like a burden in my life before, and I won’t do it again. Jack can help however he likes, and I don’t need to marry him for that to happen.” She was prepared to do it on her own, and that was all that mattered.
“Oh, sweetie. That man has it bad. Believe me; he wouldn’t see you as a burden.”
“You don’t know that” But she did. He didn’t love her, but he cared about her, and for co-parenting that was plenty. “Anyway I’m serious about the book. I’d liked to go to China, New Zealand and maybe Iceland and see what kind of flowers they have.”
“Nice change of topic and its business so I appreciate it.” She tapped a pen against her glass-topped desk. “Fine. I’ll see what I can do to put it all together. If you married the boss man though, you could just use his jet and save the publisher some money.”
“Bye Monica.”
She laughed. “Later, babe.”
Ruby sat back and tossed her phone beside her. She needed to get away from Santa Monica, from her bungalow that was now a poor substitute for the home she’d made for her baby with Jack. “That’s it, a getaway.”
She pushed herself off the lumpy sofa and went to her room. A couple of days at the beach sounded perfect, and she wasn’t due for another couple weeks so she would get in the car tomorrow and drive to Santa Barbara. Enjoy some sun and surf. For the first time in days, Ruby smiled.
Chapter Six
“Going somewhere?”
Ruby gasped and jumped in the air as much as an eight months pregnant woman could at the sound of Jack’s voice. “Why are you lurking outside my house at this ridiculous hour?”
His deep chuckle echoed in the early morning haze. “If it’s so ridiculous why are you leaving the house…with an overnight bag?” His smile was fixed in place even as his temper rose. Was she leaving? “Well?”
Ruby’s gaze met his and she crossed her arms, her smirk defiant. “Contrary to what you seem to think Jack, I don’t answer to you.”
“Yeah well maybe you should.” He stomped up the steps and grabbed her bag. “I’ll help you with that.”
“Th-thanks,” she stammered and followed him quietly to her car. “Why are you here Jack?”
Sliding the bag into the back seat, he turned to her with a smile. “Not happy to see me?”
“More like wary.”
He frowned at her words. He didn’t want her to be wary of him. Jack had no plans to hurt her. Not again. “You don’t need to be wary of me, Ruby. I care too much about you for that.”
She winced at his words. “Okay. Was there a reason for your early morning visit?”
“We need to talk.”
Ruby folded her arms and rested them on her belly. “So, talk.”
“I’m sorry. About my reaction that day and…walking away. I, aw hell, I didn’t know what to say or do.” He raked a hand through his disheveled golden waves and blew out a long breath. “Honestly, I hadn’t even thought about love. All I thought was how great we are together. We always have fun together; we laugh together and in bed we’re explosive. I thought that was enough.”
She appreciated his honesty. “Because you’re handsome, rich and hung and that should be enough?”
He frowned. “What? No! Because you said, you didn’t believe in love, and I thought I couldn’t give love. We were perfect.” Saying it aloud now made him realize how foolish it sounded.
“And now, what do you think?”
“I think you’re not going to believe me when I tell you that I’m in love with you.” Surprised flashed in her eyes for only a moment before it was replaced by wariness.
Ruby nodded thoughtfully. “Well, I’ll let you know when you tell me.” She tamped down on the heart soaring inside her ridiculous heart. “Is that all?”
A growl sounded from Jackson. “Dammit woman I am trying to declare my love for you and you’re trying to get away! Don’t make me carry you inside that house and
make
you listen.”
Ruby’s laugh was full on challenging him. “If you could carry my big ass, I’d be happy to listen.” She instantly regretted her words when that smug smile she loved and hated crossed his handsome face, and he stalked to her.
Scooping a hand behind her legs and one behind her back, Jackson easily lifted her and climbed the short set of stairs. “Open the door.”
She should be ashamed at how easily she obeyed the barked order, but Ruby was all kinds of intrigued, hopeful and turned on by his bossy side. Arms draped around his neck; she was reluctant to let go when he set her on the sofa.
Jackson looked down at her and took a seat beside her so their bodies were as close as they could get without being on top of each other. “So.”
“So.”
“I’ve done some thinking since you left.” He reached out for her hands, brushing his thumbs over the backs of her hands and looking deeply into her eyes. “I was an idiot. I realized that all this time I’ve been in love with you, I was just reluctant to call it love.”
That was nice to hear, but she wasn’t convinced. “Why?”
“Because I thought I’d been in love before. Turns out I really wasn’t then and I know that because it wasn’t anything like how I feel now.”
Ruby wanted to believe him, but she needed to be sure. “And how do you feel?”
He smiled, and it was the kind of smile a girl waited her whole life for. “My heart soars when I know I’m going to see you. It’s sappy, I know but I can’t remember ever being happy to come home. Happy to sleep or just to leave the office, but never to come home. Until you.” Turning over one of her hands, he pressed a soft kiss to her palm, making her shiver. “I want to call you all day to tell you something funny, to vent, and to see what you’re thinking of photographing. I just want to hear your voice. And I miss you in bed.”
Ruby smiled as she rolled her eyes and he laughed.
“Not just the sex, even though it’s the best sex of my life, but just having you in my arms at night. Listening to you sleep and those little moans you make when you stretch or turn during the night. I missed it all.”
“I missed you too,” she whispered, tears swelling in her eyes. “But how can I believe you when just a few days ago you walked away from me?”
Jackson cupped her face. “I’m asking you to trust me. I will prove it to you and to our son. I promise.”
She smiled. “Say it.” Ruby knew it was needy to ask it, but she needed to hear him say it.
“Ruby I love you. I love your sexy smile, that lush mouth, that contagious laugh and especially your kind heart.” He pressed a sweet kiss to her mouth that quickly turned hot and needy. “How was that?”
“A good start but,” she paused feeling an odd sensation pass over her but not quite understanding what.
“But?””
Then she felt it, and her heart stopped and started beating double time. “I think my water just broke,” she lifted up her sundress and, yep, “the baby’s coming.”
Jackson wasn’t proud to admit he’d freaked out until he and Ruby were safely checked into the hospital and waiting to meet their son. He’d gone through the entire morning in a strange fog where everything was slower and more vivid. Then hours later, his sweet and calm Ruby began to make noises he thought only found in the depths of hell.
And then their son was born. Evan Jackson Silver entered the world early and without much fanfare. He had his mother’s green eyes and soft wisps of blonde hair she just knew would end up in tight curls like hers. His skin was café au lait brown, and his lungs were strong.
When Jack returned with a vase of red tulips and a plush fire truck, he picked up his son and smiled. “You’re as fascinated by him as he is by you,” Ruby laughed in affectionate ribbing at the way Jackson and Evan stared at each other. Completely enchanted by one another.
He looked at Ruby with tears in his eyes. “He’s perfect, thank you.”
Ruby brush a hand on her baby’s head. “He is perfect.” Reaching for her baby, she snuggled him close and kissed the top of his head. “He smells good too.” She was happy to finally meet her son and fall in love with him all over again. “He’s going to break hearts like his papa.”
“Those days are over. Your papa’s a one woman man now, son.” He gazed lovingly at her with her flushed skin from labor and the glow of meeting her son. “You’re beautiful Ruby.”
“Thanks,” she started crying again, snuggling Evan close.
Jackson smiled. “So earlier you said, ‘a good start but,’…care to finish that thought?” He was thankful a smile replaced her tears.
“A good start but I’ll have to let you know after hearing you say it for the next fifty or sixty years.”
“I love you, Ruby.”
She smiled.
Yep, that’ll never get old.
“I love you too, Jack.”
His smile brightened. He was just Jack to her. Always Jack. “I can’t wait to make you my wife.”
A tear slipped from her sparkling emerald eyes. “Maybe I can’t wait to make you my husband.”
“And the father of your children?”
She nodded. “And the star of my every wicked fantasy.”
His gaze darkened and he stepped closer and slid a ring on the hand that cupped their son’s back. “The more wicked, the better.”
Ruby blushed prettily and lifted her face for a kiss. “Did I ever tell you the one about the couple stuck in a rainstorm?”
The End