“Don’t you look inspired?” I asked. “Okay, so about the laundry room and your muse-vacation accrual time—”
He glanced up at me and immediately stood up straight. “What’s wrong?”
A dozen smartass responses ran through my head. Of all my friends and porn family, Bee was the only one who knew about Charlie, my parents, and Bundles of Joy. At first, it was too hard to talk about. It hurt too much. But then I was embarrassed. I felt guilty that I had never wondered if my parents could afford the electricity bill or if we’d go on a family vacation any given year.
But Isaac . . . he could understand.
“Diapers,” I finally said.
My answer disarmed him, and a faint smile curled at his lips. “Your diapers?”
The coffee maker stopped dripping, and I poured myself a cup. “My family’s,” I said as I opened the refrigerator door to find an array of flavored creamers Isaac had had delivered for me. Along with flavored pickles, Capri-Sun, and more hot sauce. We really were a pair.
“So what would you say if I told you I was the heiress to a diaper empire?” I asked as I poured mocha peppermint creamer into my coffee until it was faintly tan.
He laughed, low and a little confused, and then I turned to him, my expression unmoving.
“You’re serious?” he asked.
I curtsied. “I don’t want you to see me any differently, but you’re looking at one of two living heirs to the Bundles of Joy diaper dynasty.”
He blinked once, twice. Then he placed his hands on both my shoulders and guided me backward into a barstool. The weight of his hands seemed to release my first deep breath since getting off the phone with Charlie last night.
He sat down across from me so that my thighs were staggered between his. I felt weak in this moment. Like, it would just be too easy to lean into him. Into us.
“Well, my parents decided to die when I was in tenth grade,” I said. “Rude.”
“You don’t have to joke with me,” Isaac told me, his gaze all hot and intense.
I pouted in response, but he refused to look away. It was the same look so many teenage girls all across the world had fallen in love with, and you’d think that would make this moment feel less special, like I was just another fan. But that wasn’t it at all. Instead it was proof that at least this small piece of him that so many had fallen so hard for was real and true.
“How did it happen?” he asked.
I looked down at our bare feet, nearly touching. “A car accident after Christmas. A drunk driver ran a red light and T-boned them. Mom died on impact. Dad went right after, at the hospital.”
He leaned forward and gripped my thigh.
“Don’t say you’re sorry.”
“I would never,” he said with a sad smile, like it was some sort of silent grief club pact. “But it fucking sucks. And I hate that you lost them.”
“Thanks,” I told him as I let my hand rest atop his for a moment.
“So the diapers,” he finally said as the moment slipped away.
I nodded. “The diapers. My brother is the current CEO and he’s a stuffy asshole. He wants to take the business public, but wants me to give up my board seat. I guess a part-time porn star isn’t on brand for a publicly traded diaper company. I haven’t even performed for over two years, by the way.”
“I’m aware,” he said.
I bit down on my lips until they disappeared.
“Let’s just say I couldn’t get you out of my mind after that night with you and Jack.”
“Wait, do you watch Jack’s porn too?” I had to know.
“Is there a right answer?”
“Certainly.”
