“The press would have a field day with that,” she mumbled.
“They already are,” I informed her. “They’ve seen us go in and out of here all week. Hudson and Cooper have been sending me links to some of the articles. The speculation about our relationship is rampant. That’s another reason why I think you should stay here.”
I didn’t really care what the media thought, but I had to tell Harlow so she was aware.
She groaned. “What are they saying?”
“It depends on what news outlet you look at, but everyone is curious to find out if my dating days are over,” I said drily. “The less information they get, the more they make up crazy stories. The last article I saw suggested you were pregnant with my child, and that’s why you haven’t been seen back in the lab at Montgomery.”
“That’s ridiculous,” she sputtered. “Even if I was pregnant, I could still work.”
“Not if I was hiding you away so none of my future conquests would know,” I told her with a chuckle.
She snorted. “It’s not like you can hold me hostage. That’s the silliest bunch of garbage I’ve ever heard.”
“Obviously, you’ve never seen the I-was-abducted-by-an-alien-and-now-I’m-having-their-love-child type of articles,” I teased as I pushed my empty plate back. “I’m generally way too boring to make those scandal sheets, but even they have a conspiracy theory now.”
She rolled her eyes. “What do we have to do to get off their radar? Those ludicrous stories will get back to my mother, eventually. She hasn’t said a thing so far because she’s not much for celebrity gossip, and I figured if she did find out, I could just tell her we’re dating. But I think the secret baby thing would be a shocker for her.”
“We get extremely boring,” I suggested. “Maybe like…if we live together and get seen around town once in a while. If we act like a normal couple, they’d be disinterested within a week.”
“Jax Montgomery, are you telling me that just to get your way?” she asked suspiciously as she put her fork on her empty plate.
I might be…
Still, the idea would work like a charm.
“You did ask how we could get them off our ass,” I reminded her. “That would work.”
Okay, maybe there were other options, like just ignoring them until they went away, but I had to admit, I liked my solution a hell of a lot better.
“Why do I have a feeling you’re just picking your favorite fix?” she questioned skeptically.
Shit! This woman knew me way too well.
I wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her soft, curvy body into my lap. “Because you’re way too smart to fall for my bullshit,” I said regretfully. “But it would get them to go away, and it would make me a very happy man. Win-win.”
“You’re shameless,” she said with a sigh as she wrapped her arms around my neck.
“You have no idea how depraved I can be when it comes to you,” I warned her.
I felt her body quiver as she looked down and our eyes met. “Then show me just how badly behaved you can be,” she whispered right before she leaned down and kissed me.
I scooped her body up in the middle of the embrace and headed toward the bedroom without taking my mouth from hers.
Maybe I was a lousy cook, but wicked and sinful were definitely my specialties.
Jax
“It’s been five damn weeks, and I still haven’t been able to talk Harlow into coming to live with me,” I told Hudson and Cooper as the three of us hung out on Hudson’s patio. “Every time I bring it up, she tells me she’ll think about it. What is there to think about? She packs her stuff, I get it moved to Coronado, and it’s done.”
Harlow and Taylor were at a baby shower for one of their colleagues at Montgomery, so Cooper and I had grabbed a few pizzas and headed over to Hudson’s place. We didn’t get a chance to just hang out and have a few beers on a Friday night very often, so we’d taken advantage of the opportunity.
Cooper swallowed a slug of his beer before he said, “I noticed your plan for keeping her off work until after the holidays didn’t go so well, either.”
Bastard! He would have to bring that up!
“We compromised,” I replied. “I’m lucky I got another month from her.”
Harlow had just started back to work at Montgomery a week ago.
She’d wanted to go back to work right away.
I’d wanted her to wait until after the holidays.
I’d ended up caving and settling for the beginning of December.
All she’d had to do was accuse me of not trusting her judgment, and I’d really had no choice but to negotiate.
“Are you two doing okay?” Hudson asked.
“Yeah,” I told him. “Everything is great. I’ve never been happier in my entire life. I can’t say we never argue. She’s stubborn. But nothing major.”
Cooper raised a brow. “She’s stubborn?”
I let out a long breath. “Okay, we both are, but all I want is to see her more often. The house is way too quiet at night when she’s not there. Hell, even the dogs are moping.”
“It’s not like you don’t see her,” Hudson observed.
“She got caught up in work twice this week, and she didn’t come over because she left the lab a little late. If we were living together, I’d still see her when she got home.” I wasn’t about to tell Harlow what to do. Sometimes I had to stay later at the office, too, but it would nice if we still saw each other, even if it was later in the evening.
“I get it,” Hudson commiserated. “I guess I’d feel the same way if I didn’t see Taylor’s smiling face at the end of the day. Why don’t you just ask her why she’s hesitating?’
I shrugged. “I guess I want it to be her decision, and I don’t want to pressure her into it. She knows how I feel. I’ve made it pretty damn obvious.”
“I don’t really see the point of having a woman around all the time,” Cooper grumbled. “Isn’t it enough to get laid occasionally and call it good.”
“No!” Hudson and I said in unison.
Cooper shook his head. “Both of you are pathetic,” he answered disgustedly. “You might as well just jump off the cliff and ask Harlow to marry you—like Hudson did with Taylor.”
“I’ve had the ring in my pocket for three weeks now,” I confessed. “If I can’t get her to live with me, I hardly think she’ll say yes to a wedding proposal.”