“Thank him for offering Paul a job at Scarpetta Industries. He’s going to be the new head accountant. Looks like we’re staying in Atlanta. He’s going to make the job work from home. I thought you knew.”
“No,” I shook my head.
She gave a small smile and touched my shoulder. “He’s not completely terrible, huh?”
“Guess not,” I sighed.
First Nathan’s daughter and now he’d helped out Carmen and Paul. This man was determined to push his way into my life, inch by inch. It wasn’t enough to just be the father of my child and my husband.
No.
I saw what he was trying to do.
Getting up, I went off to find him. I was going to let him know that I was on to him. When I found him, he was eating breakfast with Enzo by his side. Enzo took one look at my face and left us to our own devices. I took his spot.
“You’re going to stop,” I told him.
He paused, a fork full of eggs, halfway to his mouth. “What, now?”
“I see what you’re trying to do and it’s not going to work.”
Thierry looked thoughtful. He was clean shaven and probably running on three hours of sleep. He surprisingly, didn’t look annoyed. I would have been pissed.
“Tesoro,” he said before eating. “Spit it out.”
“You’re not going to be my best friend.” I shrugged.
His look turned pointed. “What are you talking about.”
“You gave that donation for Nathan’s daughter,” I sighed.
Thierry’s eye twitched at the mention of Nathan’s name.
“And you sweet, wonderful asshole,” I paused for dramatic affect. “You gave my best friend’s husband at job where he can work from home. So, she won’t have to leave me…too.”
I hadn’t meant for that last part to slip out and my voice cracked momentarily with emotion. Thierry had caught that, but he didn’t say anything. Instead, he grabbed my hand and pulled it into his and raised it to his lips. He offered a soft kiss, my flesh felt ignited under his touch. His brown eyes never seemed to betray anything; our gazes were locked. For a moment it was just us in time and space.
Until the child we had made began to cry, and my brain felt as though it were seizing. My brain was so different now that I’d become a mother; I was in tune with this child like nothing else. So many things I was learning that I wished my mother had taught me.
“He wants his mama,” Nanny said. “Nothing I do will soothe him ma’am.”
“Thank you, Nanny,” I took Tibs into my arms.
He was wailing his little heart out. My heart in turn was starting to break, and I began to hum that damn lullaby to him that I hadn’t known that I knew. Nanny left the three of us alone as I pulled out my breast and Tiberius finally calmed down.
“What was that you were humming?”
I looked up startled and found Thierry frowning. “I’m not sure. It comes and goes. Sometimes, I think I’ve cracked it…that I know it but can’t place it. Have you heard it before?”
“Maybe,” he frowned again. “But maybe not.”
“Sometimes…sometimes I think my mother is just out of reach. I’ll turn a corner and get a hint of her perfume. She used to wear this old Avon scent called Imari.”
“Avon?”
“You don’t know what Avon is,” I clutched my invisible pearls and baby.
He grinned looking boyish, “I have a feeling you’re about to give me a lesson.”
