Chapter Twenty-Three

Save yourself!”

Startled, Jewell lost her hold on her cup of coffee, and was thankful that it bounced into the sink. Timing was everything.

She couldn’t help but smile when she turned around and saw Justin come running into the room with Blake hot on his trail.

“Help, Sissy,” Justin hollered, but the words were scrambled because he was laughing so hard.

“There is no help for the two of you,” Jewell said with mock weariness, and then began laughing when Justin’s socks made him go skidding across the well-polished tile floors.

The boy landed in a heap near her feet. Thanks to the counter, Blake managed to come to a stop, though barely; he might have landed with a splat right on top of Justin.

Jewell had been in a sort of fog for the last three weeks. When Blake said he could get things done, he hadn’t been fooling around. They’d gotten a court date within two weeks — for mere mortals, that would have been miraculous — and had been granted temporary custody of Justin. The three of them had been living in Blake’s new house since they had taken the boy out of foster care a week ago.

So quickly that it made her head spin, they had developed a weekday routine. They got up together and had breakfast, and then Justin went to school while Blake and Jewell headed off to work. She loved her new job with Mr. Rice. It gave her purpose and she felt, for the first time in a long while, as if she was in control.

Maybe not complete control, because she was very unsure of where she and Blake stood, but at least there was some stability in her life, and most importantly, she had Justin back. She would do nothing to screw that up.

But one thing about the situation really baffled her. Blake hadn’t touched her since they’d moved in together. Heck, she didn’t even share a room with him. Since the time that she’d agreed to the marriage of convenience, she hadn’t heard him utter another word about it.

And her fear that this was all a dream prevented her from bringing it up again, though she thought about it almost constantly. How could she not when she was around him so much?

Blake was standing there in a low-slung pair of sweats and a tight T-shirt, his normal morning attire. When he reached up for a mug and then poured himself some coffee, she couldn’t help but appreciate his incredible physique.

She also couldn’t help but wonder whether he now thought this togetherness hadn’t been such a great idea. Still, he was amazing with Justin. Maybe he’d really just needed someone to make the business deal go through, and in the meantime he was getting attached to her little brother.

Jewell didn’t know what to think anymore. Elsa worked part time for them, cleaning and cooking on occasion, but other than that, Blake split the household responsibilities.

The two of them seemed to be nothing more than housemates.

“What are your plans tonight?” he asked as he got out the cereal for Justin while the boy reached into the cupboard for a bowl.

“The ‘girls’ at work asked if I wanted to go out for a drink tonight,” she told him. “I’m pretty excited about it, actually. It’s been a really long time since I’ve been asked to go anywhere with co-workers — not since a long time before my mother died.”

“Ah, that’s good,” he replied, but the expression on his face didn’t match his words.

“Is there something wrong?” she asked as she racked her brain for something she might have missed. “Is something going on later today that I’ve forgotten about?”

“Not at all,” he replied, but he’d lost all the joy she’d seen when he and Justin had first hurtled into the kitchen.

A sense of guilt followed her around while she changed for work and said her goodbyes, but she didn’t understand what she could possibly be feeling guilty about. She hadn’t done anything wrong, had she?

Blake surprised her when he met her at the front door. “Have a nice day at work,” he told her, and he kissed her on the cheek.

She walked to her new car and climbed in almost in a daze. If only she could read him. After all, she was living with the guy. But it seemed that nothing would come easy between the two of them. And maybe she had to bear some of the blame for that.

Jewell felt a great sense of pride when she walked through the beautiful front doors and said hello to the receptionist before heading to her office.

No, her job wasn’t exciting, but she’d had enough excitement in the last year to last her a lifetime. What she absolutely craved right now was peace, normalcy, and the absence of any further disasters in her life.

Did she miss the passion she’d shared with Blake? Well, sure she did, but she’d lived all but four months of her life without having it or missing it, so she could certainly get used to living without it again.

She might even have a chance to find true love one day — romance and passion both. It wasn’t as if she were an old maid, to use a ridiculously dated and sexist term. Yes, she’d have Justin at home with her for the next eight years, but a lot of people had patchwork families, and having a child didn’t scare every guy off nowadays.

If only the thought of being with another man were in the least appealing.

When five o’clock finally arrived, Jewell was more than ready for some girl time.

“Jewell, let’s get the heck out of here. It’s Friday night and I’m hoping to find some cold drinks and some seriously hot men.”

Jewell looked up at her co-worker, Stacy, a single mom in her late twenties who maybe partied a bit too much, but who was said to be a fun person to hit the town with.

“Who’s coming?” Jewell asked after she shut down her computer and was putting on her coat.

“A couple of women from accounting and the new receptionist. I hope you plan on staying out late,” Stacy said as the two of them made their way to the elevator.

“Are we meeting there?” Jewell asked her.

“We should carpool. Jenna has agreed to be the designated driver tonight,” Stacy said, and she grabbed Jewell’s hand and led her to a minivan in the corner of the lot. Four other women were standing there waiting.

“I’ve had a crap week,” Jenna said. “Let’s get to the bar before all the tables are gone.” The woman unlocked her van and the others piled in.

It didn’t take them long to get to the bar, and within an hour Jewell was more than ready to go home. This just wasn’t her scene, and she would much rather have been spending time with Justin — okay, and with Blake, if she were forced to admit it — than with a bunch of women intent on getting plastered.

“May I have this dance?”

Jewell looked up at a nicely dressed man who was gazing down at her as if she were his next meal. The refusal was on her tongue when Stacy leaned over and whispered in her ear. “Yum … he’s beyond hot. Go for it.”

Jewell found herself being pushed from her chair and led to the dance floor. Maybe it was the two drinks she’d had, and maybe it was depression from feeling unwanted by the man she so wanted to need her, but one dance turned into two and then three, and soon she found herself sitting at a corner table with Frank. The guy was telling her the story of his freaking life! And she couldn’t have cared less, but somehow she still found herself sitting there. What was wrong with her?

That was actually an easy question to answer. Everything. Everything seemed to be wrong with her — at least these days.

The only thing keeping her sitting there was the hope that maybe by receiving a little bit of male attention she could somehow push away her all-consuming feelings for Blake.

So far, that wasn’t happening.