But I said, “Not tonight.”
She gave a sharp nod, though she refused to meet my eyes.She turned away and murmured, “Really, Steve, there’s only so much rejection a woman can take.”
“Do you want to know why I won’t?”I asked.
“No, actually.I want to huddle under my covers and cry out my embarrassment, maybe even eat my feelings.”She grumbled something about cookies that I didn’t make out.
“You have no reason to be embarrassed, and if you need to do something with your feelings, I’d much rather it be working them off—preferably in bed with me.”
Her expression morphed from hurt to confusion.“I-I don’t understand?—"
Chapter11
Jasmine
“Ididn’t explain myself yet,” Steve said.“And I’d like to because this—us—is too important to mess up, Jasmine.”
I sucked in a breath and listened.
“Before I join you in bed, before I even start building that new life with you we talked about at dinner, I need to talk to the boys—all of them.About us.I’m sure the girls all have stars and hearts in their eyes, and they think they’re ever-so brilliant, playing us both as they did these last months.But that’s not how I want to do this relationship with you.You matter too much for any kind of subterfuge.”
If that wasn’t the sweetest thing!I nodded to let him know I was listening.
“I guess what I’m saying is that if you can accept me and my brokenness…”
I reached over, running my good hand down his arm.“You’renotbroken.A bit banged up by life, but by our age, all the interesting people have got dents.”
He grinned.“I find you incredibly interesting.”
I rolled my eyes even as my lips quirked up.He took my uninjured hand and cradled it in his.
“If you can accept me as I am and still find me attractive enough, well, then I need to be honest with the kids.I want to tell them what we mean to each other and reassure them that we’ll work hard to remain and maintain our family.”
I pursed my lips, thinking back on his former comments.“Is accountability a show of responsibility or a way to keep you on the straight and narrow, as you said before?”
His gaze was direct, his expression stern.“They deserve our honesty.”
I flinched.“Okay, that shot hit its mark a little too well.I haven’t always been completely honest with my children, and those lies have had consequences for all of us.That makes sense.”
He sighed.“I didn’t mean it like that—not as an attack on you.”
“Well, you don’thaveto sound so sanctimonious.”I clapped both hands over my mouth, my eyes going wide.
Instead of snapping back at me as I expected—like Laurence would have—Steve chuckled.“There are your claws.And I was thinking about Nash and me.”
I dropped my hands and then my gaze.Not everything’s about you, Jasmine.“Oh.Right.Yes.You want to continue to build trust with your son.”
He spoke to the guard at the front gate with familiarity, and a few moments later, he pulled into my driveway.
“I do.Yes.With him.”He used his knuckles to lift my chin.“And with you, too, beautiful.”
My lips curved at his endearment.No one called me beautiful, except my kids, for a long time.I liked the endearment, how it made me feel.There was a heady power to knowing I held a man’s attention, his passion.
“You matter to me, how you regard me matters.It’s what got me through those early years as Nash’s bodyguard, you know.”
I stared at him, wide-eyed with shock and arousal.“I never did…”
“You made me feel worthy of Nash’s affection; you made me realize I had skills and insights to offer.Thanks to your belief in me, I became a better man—one that you and Nash can be proud of.”
