Chapter 28
ADELINE
When I checked my watch for the third time in under five minutes, Amber let out a judgmental sigh. She was sprawled beside me on a lounge chair, with her sunglasses on and wearing enough sunscreen layered onto her skin to survive nuclear fallout.
“You’re on the verge of a stroke,” she said. “Relax. They’ll be fine.”
“I am relaxed.”
She slowly lowered her sunglasses to stare at me. “Right, and I’m emotionally stable.”
I smiled and leaned back in my chair beside the pool, but that same anxious energy was still rattling around inside me. Trying to distract myself from it, I inhaled a deep breath and just looked around again, still not really able to believe that all this belonged to Zach.
The waterfall ran into the swimming pool in a steady rush, sunlight glinting off the sparkling water. Music drifted softly from speakers hidden somewhere in the landscaping. Rolling green lawns stretched into towering trees.
It was absurd but Zach currently had my children somewhere out there on this ranch. Just the three of them. Amber and I had been told in no uncertain terms to take a break while he took them for a bike ride around the property.
“Jennifer asked him this morning if he knows any princesses,” she said, her voice breaking gently into my thoughts. “You know, since he owns a castle.”
“This isn’t a castle,” I replied absently. “From what I’ve heard though, his brother, Will, lives in an actual castle in England now. He married an honest-to-God distant royal.”
“Why am I not surprised?” She snorted. “The place still has a guest house bigger than your condo. I’d say that qualifies as a castle in this country.”
“Probably,” I agreed, rubbing my temples before sinking lower into the lounge chair.
I still hadn’t fully adjusted to wearing a swimsuit in front of Zach, but since he wasn’t here now, I’d taken off the cover to get some sun. The warmth felt good against my skin, so much so that I finally even started to relax a little bit as we lay there.
While I was definitely still nervous about him being out there with both of the girls at the same time, I knew he wouldn’t let anything happen to them. They were safe with him, even if he was going to have his hands full, watching and running after both at the same time.
Amber turned onto her side, propping her head up with one hand. “It’s funny, I really was prepared to hate him.”
I looked over at her. “What?”
“Based on everything you told me about Louis, I think I just assumed that all men who fall into the billionaire class were basically just emotionally constipated lizards.”
I laughed. “Nah, Louis was a breed all of his own. There’s a night and day difference between them, even if Zach is technically several classes above Louis on the billionaire scale.”
“On every scale he outclasses your loser ex,” she said, then shrugged. “Zach has been annoyingly decent so far.”
I stared out at the pool, my throat tightening a little at the thought. Annoyingly decent was an understatement.
Louis had never taken the girls bike riding. He’d never gotten up at five in the morning to scooter five miles with Lu or sat through animated movies while sick, arguing about plot holes like it was a serious intellectual debate he was trying to win.
“Where did you go just then?” Amber nudged my foot with hers. “Talk to me.”
When I turned back to her, there was a furrow between her eyebrows and her head was tilted, worry shimmering in her eyes.
I took a deep breath, trying to decide where to begin, but as soon as I opened my mouth, the words just came pouring out of me.
I’d never talked about this to anyone and it sort of felt like the floodgates just opened now that I actually could.
“I was in love with him,” I admitted in a rush. “Like, embarrassingly, truly, madly, deeply in love.”
A delighted smile spread on her lips. “I guessed as much, and to think, you told me he was just an old friend.”
“He was. I mean, he is.” I felt my cheeks flush. “We were friends first, but one thing eventually led to another years later. Everything with him always felt so easy, like I could just exist around him and still be completely enough.”
“So what happened?”
“My family.” My eyelids slid shut at the admission. “My dad was in trouble and they needed a quick fix. I was it.”
Amber winced in sympathy. “You and Zach were dating when that arranged marriage happened?”
I hadn’t said as much, but I supposed it didn’t take a rocket scientist to put it together. “Yeah, we were. It’d been about a year at that point, but we were talking about the future and making plans. After being friends for so long, it just felt like we were going to make it, you know?”
“I don’t really,” she said, but not flippantly. I saw the worry still shimmering in her eyes. “I can imagine it, though. Having a boyfriend that you’re so crazy in love with and then finding out you’re essentially being sold to another man. It must’ve been devastating.”
“It shattered me.”
“You have a second chance now, though.” Her smile widened. “I know it’s been a while, but you still seem to get along really well and he’s still hot. For an old guy, I mean.”
“Amber!” I groaned. “He’s thirty-two. That’s not old.”
Her smile melted into a smirk. “I notice you didn’t object to what I said about him being hot.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not blind, but that’s part of the problem. He still looks like a demigod and I’ve had two kids.”
She gave my arm a playful shove. “Being a mother isn’t a disease.”
“You know what I mean.” I sighed. “I look different. I feel different. I’m exhausted all the time and don’t even get me started on the state I’m in emotionally.”
“You might look different, but you’re still hot too,” she said without hesitating. “Besides, have you seen the way he looks at you? You’re definitely a mom he’d like to… have fun with.”
“I broke his heart,” I said. “I don’t know if he’ll ever really trust me again. That’s what I see when he looks at me. Sometimes, sure, there’s something a little warmer that breaks through, but it’s mostly just icy guardedness.”
Emotion clogged my throat, but then the sound of distant shouting interrupted us and I sat up so fast, I nearly cracked a rib. “I hear them. They’re back.”
“Yep. See? There was nothing to worry about.”
“Lu only learned how to ride a bike this morning,” I said, swallowing all that emotion and forcing myself to push it all back down. “You can’t blame me for being concerned.”
Amber and I both stood up, going out to the driveway to greet them. I grabbed my swim cover on our way, slipping it back on and tying it around my waist as we walked. A few seconds after we stepped out of the front door, three bicycles appeared at the end of the long driveway.
Jennifer was grinning from ear to ear, Bear sprinting beside her like her personal security detail. Lu was only a beat behind, riding completely independently and looking like she’d been doing it for years.
Surprise shot through me, my hand flying up to my mouth. “Oh my God. Look at you!”
Zach coasted to a stop on his bike behind her, one hand loose on the handlebars and his sunglasses pushed up into his dark blond hair. His sleeveless shirt clung slightly to his chest from the heat, sweat glinting along his throat.
God, it should be illegal to look that good while teaching a child to ride a bike.
Lu skidded to a stop near the porch, her entire face smiling as she climbed off. “I didn’t crash once.”
“You crashed into that bush,” Zach said calmly as he climbed off his bike in turn, then glanced up at me. “She’s fine, though. Not even a scratch. She handled it like a champ.”
“It wasn’t a crash,” she protested, but she was still smiling. “I just went too close to it and couldn’t stop.”
“That sounds like a crash,” Amber said, then herded the girls inside before they could jump into the pool fully clothed. “Let’s go get you some water, huh?”
“Lots of water,” I agreed, waiting for Zach to join us on the porch before following them inside. I glanced at him, doing my best not to notice the definite twinkle in those green eyes. “You really do like working out, don’t you?”
He shrugged, but I saw the faint curve of his lips. “It was just a bike ride.”
“After you probably ran ten miles with Lu this morning,” I said. “At least. How many times did you go up and down the driveway?”
“A few,” he said vaguely, then grinned at me, clearly exhilarated after the ride too. “I can’t wait to get in that pool.”
“What, to swim a few laps too?” I teased, but he just laughed and walked across the kitchen to grab a huge bottle of water from the fridge.
Amber already had a massive glass of water in front of each girl and they were telling her about their bike ride at full volume. Once their water was done, she took them upstairs to change, promising them the whole afternoon at the pool.
Bear thundered after them like an overly dedicated babysitter and I stayed behind in the kitchen with Zach. It was honestly unfair how gorgeous he was, all flushed and ripped like he was headlining a sportswear campaign.
My pulse skipped out of rhythm as I stared at him, just watching him drink water but feeling like I’d stumbled onto a live-action porn set. “Lu seems to have enjoyed herself.”
“It’s a miracle, right?” He twisted open another water bottle, the muscles in his forearm rippling for a moment with the movement. “She’s informed me that I’m okay for an old person.’”
“Coming from her, that’s basically a gold star.”
“I was honored,” he said, the warmth in his voice making me feel all tingly again.
The realization that he genuinely seemed to like being around them, around all of us, startled me every time, but before I could comment on it, Amber appeared in the doorway.
“I’ve had an idea,” she declared.
Zach visibly braced himself, pausing and slowly pulling the bottle away from his mouth. “That can’t be good.”
She ignored him and focused on me instead. “The girls and I are going to have a slumber party at the guest house tonight.”
I frowned. “What? Why?”
Her grin widened. “We’ll order some pizza and watch movies. They can stay up late. Whatever they want. It’ll be a blast.”
Tiny, pounding footsteps immediately erupted overhead, letting me know that the girls had definitely heard her, but I shook my head when I met her gaze anyway.
“You don’t have to do that,” I protested. “Seriously, Amber.”
She’d been enjoying her paid vacation and letting it be known, and I was enjoying having the girls with me all day again after so long, but she gave me a look I’d never seen from her before. “You deserve some time off, so they’re coming with me.”
The girls exploded into motion behind her, racing down the stairs and almost skidding as they came to a stop in the doorway. They were speaking over each other, both of them facing her and already pleading for their favorite snacks and movies.
She agreed to everything, laughing as she whisked them away to the pool. Zach and I seemed to realize at the same time that we were going to have a whole night alone together, and when I glanced at him, he appeared just as surprised as I felt.
A strange, aware silence settled between us as I caught his gaze, my own nervousness reflected back at me from his eyes, but there was something else there, too. Something that looked a lot like hope.
After another moment of that awkward, cautiously hopeful silence, he suddenly cleared his throat and set the water bottle down on the counter. “So, what do people who technically agreed to a mutually beneficial marriage usually do with an unexpected free evening?”
A soft laugh escaped before I could bite it back. It sounded nervous, even to my own ears, but Zach and I knew each other too well to hide these kinds of emotions from one another anyway. Of all the things that had changed over the years, that sure hadn’t been one of them.
“I don’t know,” I said finally. “It’s kind of weird to say this, but I think we can do just whatever the heck we want?”