Patrick glared at him. “She stayed in the guest room and there was nothing weird about it. She’s a friend who needed help. I’d do the same thing for anyone.”
“Yeah, but…” Pausing, he chuckled softly. “I mean…come on. You can’t tell me you’re not even a little bit attracted to her. It’s not possible.” Then something occurred to him. “Is that why you don’t date much? Do you have a thing for Marissa?”
If the death stare Patrick was giving him was any indication, Jamie would say he was definitely on to something. However…
“I date plenty.”
“Really? Because I haven’t seen you with anyone in…”
“Unlike the rest of this family, I enjoy my privacy. And I don’t date local.”
That was…an odd statement.
“You mean you don’t bring your dates anywhere in Laurel Bay or you don’t date anyone who lives in Laurel Bay?”
Groaning, Patrick rubbed a hand over his face. “Dude, can you please just let this go?”
He could, but…
“Just tell me how you’re meeting these women and I’ll stop.”
Reaching for his phone, his brother held it up. “It’s a dating app. There. Are you satisfied?”
Frowning, Jamie shook his head. “Wow. That was a little anticlimactic. Meet anyone interesting?”
“I thought so, but…” After a moment, he shuddered. “Anyway, enough about me. How are things going with you? How’s Asher? Have you heard from Jenn?”
Doing his best to keep his expression neutral and not comment on the fact that Patrick really didn’t answer his question, he shared how things were going. “So basically, he’s sleeping better, but it will be a few months before he sleeps through the night.”
“Maybe Fallon should stay over more often then. You know, to give you a couple of nights where you can sleep.”
“Uh, yeah. Um…maybe…”
“Oh, no…”
“What?”
His brother gave him a look that said, “Really?”
“Why are you looking at me like that?” And yeah, he knew playing dumb certainly wasn’t helping.
“You slept with Fallon.”
“How do you do that?” he asked incredulously. “I mean, seriously. How could you even know that?”
“First, you blushed. Then you stuttered. It’s a dead giveaway every time.” Then he groaned. “Don’t you have enough on your plate without messing with a family friend? And I thought you didn’t even like her?”
He shrugged. “Turns out I was wrong. She’s awesome. We’ve been spending a lot of time together and believe me, it wasn’t all one-sided.”
“Yeah, okay. Great. So what happens next week when Jenn comes back?”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“For starters, this girl seems like she has issues. I mean, she jerked you around and never told you she was pregnant, she dumped Asher on your porch, and then disappeared. You think when she comes home and sees that you’re sleeping with the nanny that it’s not going to trigger anything? C’mon, Jamie. Even you’re smarter than that.”
Actually, he wasn’t, because that aspect never even occurred to him.
Shit.
“Just…be careful,” Patrick said after a moment. “And seriously, I need some of the chowder. Please. I’m starving.”
“Yeah, sure. I’ll be right back.”
Most of the time he ignored any advice his siblings gave him because he thought he knew better. But this time, he seriously hoped that was the case.
“Dear Ms. Murphy, thank you for your application, but at this time…blah, blah, blah…”
Fallon deleted the email without giving it much thought. She felt too good for anything to get her down.
It was amazing what good sex and personal happiness could do to someone’s perspective.
While it had only been four days since the turn in her relationship with Jamie, she felt lighter and happier than she had in possibly her entire life. Having this kind of time away from her normal life was exactly what she needed to start figuring out what came next for her.
Moving forward, Fallon decided that she wasn’t going to look for any more executive positions. She was going to start small and work her way up and hopefully people would see another side to her if given the chance. Maybe starting with a small charter school or even a private school or nursery school. There was a good chance her advanced degree would be a red flag to potential employers, but she had a feeling that now that she had unclenched a bit and wasn’t so stressed out, she’d make a better first impression.
Lying on the living room floor with Asher while he had some tummy time, she smiled as she watched his little arms and legs moving around. He was holding his head up for a little longer each day and she loved seeing all these milestones. Sometimes she’d take out her phone and catch something cute on video that she’d either send to Jamie or show him when he got home.
But most of the time when he got home, if Asher was asleep, his attention was fully on her.
And she loved every second of it.
In fact, she was loving him.
The analytical part of her brain was all like, “This is too soon. You don’t know what you’re doing.” But her heart said otherwise. They’d known each other for over twenty years. They weren’t strangers or just mere acquaintances. They had a strong foundation, even if a lot of it was built on animosity.
She was falling in love with Jamie and there wasn’t anything she could do to stop or change it.
Since the night they first made love, he’d become more attentive. He brought home flowers or desserts that he knew she loved. He texted her during the day just to see how she was. Over dinner, he encouraged her to follow her dreams and not sell herself short while searching for a job. But mostly, he spent every night making love to her like it was his absolute mission in life to bring her pleasure.
Some nights, she swore she would die from it because it felt like it was too much.
Jamie just took that as a challenge.
One that she was more than willing to allow.
They slept in each other’s arms, they got up in the night with Asher together, and it felt…right. It felt like they had formed this perfect little family and it was one that she desperately wanted to be a part of.
Neither spoke about the future, but she knew he had to be wondering when he was going to hear from Asher’s mom and what kind of drama that was going to bring. And not that she’d ever say anything to him about it, but she was thinking a lot about that herself.
As far as their personal relationship went, Fallon felt that they were good—solid. But would she still be here in a nanny capacity a week from now, or would they decide to send Asher to daycare? Or would Jenn want to take custody back? Would Jamie allow that? There were so many questions that she was afraid to ask because she didn’t want to rock the boat. Things were so good that she hated the thought of introducing a topic that would make things…less good.
“Or maybe I’m just a coward,” she murmured, reaching out and letting Asher hold her finger.
Most of her life, Fallon thrived on having a plan and a schedule. She hated surprises or being caught off guard. But right now, it felt like that was how she was almost being forced to live because she didn’t want to know what was coming. Sort of like ignorance being bliss and all that.