There’s a whooping sound from within the bowels of the house then the sound of footsteps moving at speed. Coop rounds the corner of the hallway and barrels into his dad’s legs.
“Hey, kid.” Jared ruffles his hair and then picks him up. He tickles his side. “Have you been good for Grandma?”
“Yes! Daddy, stop!” He giggles and shrieks.
Jared stops and kisses his son’s head. “Missed you, buddy.”
“Missed you too.” Then his gaze slides past his father to me, and I feel the weight of that little boy stare keenly. “Nee Nee! Why you at Grandma’s house?” His words bumble together, as if some of them don’t fit his mouth properly quite yet.
I glance at Jared, unsure how to broach this. We probably should have discussed it before.
Jared, thankfully, steps in. “She’s Daddy’s friend. She’s going to spend the day with us.”
As he says this, an older lady steps into the hallway. Jared is the image of his mom, right down to the slope of his nose and the set of his eyes. His jaw is more angled, sharper and his build is significantly bigger, but there’s no denying he’s her son.
Her eyes move from him to me then back to him. There’s no judgement there, but there is a heap of curiosity.
“I thought I heard you come in.”
Jared bends and puts his son down on the floor. He scampers off toward what I assume is the living room.
His mom seizes the chance now we’re alone to ask, “Who’s your friend?”
“Mom, this is Nia. Nia, this is my mom, Grace.”
I wave, feeling a little nervous and awkward, but his Mom smiles at me. “It’s nice to meet you, Nia. Are you…?”
Jared scrubs a hand over his face. “Yeah, Mom, we’re dating.”
She looks gleeful at this. “Are you both staying for something to eat?”
“No, we’re going to take Coop out, maybe the park or something.”
Grace’s smile gets bigger. “That sounds wonderful. Let me grab Cooper’s things and you can get going.”
She disappears down the hallway and into a room off it. Jared drapes his arm over my shoulder and kisses the side of my head.
“I think she likes you.”
“She barely knows me.”
“She’s a good judge of character.”
I smile at him. “Smooth.”
“It’s also true.”
I let out a breath. “Cooper didn’t seem too fazed about my presence either.”
“He likes you too.”
“Hmm, I’m sensing a theme with the Michaels family.”
He kisses my mouth this time and I melt into his touch. We only break apart when we hear Coop returning.
Jared picks the little boy up and rests him on his hip. I reach for the bag Grace is holding out. This should freak me out, how normal and natural this situation feels, but it doesn’t. I want to be here, with Jared, with Cooper, doing normal everyday things.
I’m falling for Jared, hard, and I don’t know what to do with that.
All I know is now that I’ve seen into his inner circle, I don’t want to let him go.
21
Jared
I watch Nia pushing my son on the swing and my heart swells. I didn’t think I would find someone who was as in love with my boy as I am, but Nia seems smitten. My kid can be charming when he wants to be. He can also turn into a demon child at the flip of a dime. It’s fifty-fifty which way he might go. Today, he’s turning the charm up full.
“Okay, enough, kid. Let’s go and get some ice cream.”
That’s about the only thing guaranteed to get him off the swing. Nia helps him down and he surprises me by reaching for her hand instead of mine.
All right then…
We’re walking toward the ice cream parlor when my phone beeps. I pull it out and see a message from Slider.
SLIDER: Done at the apartment. Heading over to the store now.
“Problem?” Nia asks. I realize I’m scrunching my forehead and relax my face.
“Slider was just updating me about the alarm systems.”
“Oh?”
“One down, one to go,” I tell her. I don’t want talk of what happened to mar the good time we’re having, but she deserves to be kept in the loop.
“Oh…” she forces a smile. “I really can’t thank you enough for this.”
I wave her off. “Sweetheart, I want you safe.”
I glance down at Coop who is holding my hand and Nia’s. I don’t want him to hear too much of this conversation, and Nia seems to intuitively understand this, because she stops talking about it.
We get ice cream. Coop ends up wearing most of it around his face. I feel relaxed, at ease for the first time in a long time—maybe ever. Nia makes the world around me slow. I don’t know why and I don’t care, I just know when I’m with her everything feels as it should be.
I don’t deserve her. She’s too good for me, but I’m not willing to give her up either. I’ve had her and I want more.
I watch her across the booth, interacting with my son. She’s so good with him, a natural, in fact. I love how patient, how gentle she is.
Her phone rings and I watch her as she fishes out her phone from her purse. Her brows pull together and I go on alert as she slips out of the booth to take it.
“Where’s Nee Nee?” Coop asks, pouting a little at having lost his latest friend.
“She’ll be back in a second.”
I’m not sure who I’m assuring, him or myself, but my gaze tracks her as she moves to a quiet part of the ice cream parlor. I can see the tension in every line of her body and I hate that it’s there. It shouldn’t be.
I focus back on my son and try to clean him up a little.
When Nia returns to the table, she’s smiling, but I can tell it’s forced. I give her a questioning look and she glances at Coop before saying in a far too light voice, “That was the officer who came around the night of the break-in. He spoke to Thomas. He has an airtight alibi for both incidents.”
My stomach sinks. I was so sure it was him doing this, but if it’s not him then who the hell is it? I felt better knowing who the enemy was. This unknown factor has me on edge.
“We’ll figure it out,” I assure her.
She shakes her head. “This… it puts you and it puts Cooper at risk. That can’t happen, Jared.”
“Nee—”
She shakes her head more vehemently this time. “No. This has to end. I’m sorry. I won’t put either of you in danger.”
She moves before I can stop her, heading for the door.
Shit.
I throw some money on the table, grab my son and take off after her. She’ll be on foot, so I know she won’t get far, but she’s got a head start on me.
As I get outside the ice cream parlor, I see her rushing up the sidewalk.
“Hang on, buddy,” I tell Coop and take after her at a run, my kid pressed against my chest.
I catch up with her quickly. I have the height advantage, which gives me a longer stride.
“Nia, wait.” I grab her arm, pulling her up short and I turn her to me. There are tears staining her cheeks and I hate that they’re there.