As quickly as April’s previous online experience went viral, the crew had dismantled their equipment and skedaddled. Ethan evacuated soon afterward, too.
Which left just her and Jack.
She didn’t move from where her back pressed against the front door. This was partially because she didn’t want one of the children, Kitty, or any of the others who regularly breezed through to come back quite yet.
Also, Jack stalked toward her like a predator.
A really yummy predator.
He trailed a fingertip along her jawline. “You were fantastic.”
“I was, wasn’t I?” Without any care that he’d had his suits dry-cleaned and pressed recently, she gripped his lapels and drew his face toward hers.
He got the message. It wasn’t exactly encoded in secret ink or anything, and he was a smart guy. So yes, he absolutely got her message, pressing his mouth to hers.
She drank him in. Confident and calm and they had days to just be them. The work done,Practical Parentingwould never meet such a calm mom.
Bonus, tonight was Kent’s night with the kids, so she and Jack could enjoy the victory and the promises their lips currently made to each other.
He gazed at her with such intense longing, she thought she might break in two from the pressure. That was the kind of gaze that made promises before words were spoken.
She pulled away. Held his head in her hands. “Jack. Don’t.”
Don’t ruin the time we’ve got left.
He pressed his forehead to hers, eyes closed, breathing heavy. Generally speaking, they had to get a whole lot hotter and heavier before he got to that point.
“I received a call.” His eyes remained closed, but the intimacy of their shared space remained.
She drew her palms along the broad width of his shoulders. “I know, I saw.”
He opened his eyes, and she tipped topsy-turvy into those crystal blue pools, treading water.
His lips parted, closed, then parted again. Like he regretted what he was about to say. “It’s a client in L.A.…”
A little fissure in her newly restored heart opened up to a low ache.
“You have to go,” she finished for him. This was what they knew would be coming. What she’d braced herself for.
He pinched his eyes closed again, then opened them. “Yeah.”
“They need you?” she asked. Of course they needed him.
He nodded.
“Then you have to go. Go help them like you helped me.”
“I…” He rubbed at the back of his head. “I was considering not going this time.”
Why on earth wouldn’t he? He had to go. They all knew he’d be leaving soon. Today showed that she’d be fine, and she was ready to prove that to herself and to everyone.
“I was thinking I could come back afterward.” He bit into his bottom lip. “Spend a little more time here—with you. With the kids. Maybe see where that takes us.”
“I…” April’s fingertips went cold. Numb. Then her arms. Then her chest. Then her lips. But, inexplicably, the part of her that did not lose feeling was her heart. The one part of her that she would’ve preferred to stop feeling was all in on the ache. “No. That’s not…”
She sighed, because of course she wanted more time with him. Who wouldn’t? He wasJack. All business on the outside, but aware of everyone and what they needed on the inside, especially her.
But no. She wasn’t doing the forever thing again. Not when it had failed so spectacularly the first time. This was better—him leaving now before they got in any deeper.
