Chapter 25
Libby stretched in her bed, aware of two things. First, the clear dawn sky through her window spoke of another beautiful day in the Cook Islands. Second, the little hand patting her cheek told her Karim was already awake.
Swim…beach…pee-pee…cars…ball…
Karim’s words reached her foggy head mid-yawn. She’d been up most of the night having sex with Dan. Lord knew what time she’d finally slipped out of his bed and into her own.
“Okay, honey. Pee-pee time.” With eyes half-closed, she somehow found the bathroom. “We’ll have breakfast and then go for a swim.”
Or we could just lie on the sand and sleep all day… Like that would ever happen with a two-year-old obsessed with the water.
Dan’s bedroom door was still closed. No doubt he’d be sleeping in. Recovering.
She swallowed back a smile.
He’d definitely earned the rest.
That man was a machine. A solid, hard, rhythmic machine. Last night, for his performance, she’d looped an imaginary gold medal around his neck, and he’d accepted it with grace and humility—and a hot, steamy kiss that had led to another session of helping each other out.
She yawned again. Then her eyes flew open.
Dan’s “I’m alive” post!
It was time to get to work. There was so much to do. Halfway through the night, she’d wanted to log on to her social media, but Dan hadn’t let her.
“It can wait,” he’d said, naked beside her. “There are more important things we need to do right now.” And in case she’d forgotten what those important things were, he’d dipped low between her thighs and reminded her by running his tongue just where they’d both discovered she liked it best.
Her stomach flipped at the memory, but she should really check on things now. Karim washed his hands and padded off into the living room toward his toys. She followed, heading to her laptop. Then halted.
Dan was already on it.
She rubbed her eyes. By the time her vision cleared, Karim had already clambered onto his lap. Spider Hand came out again, and after some tickling and giggling, Dan finally looked up. A knowing smile curled his lips.
“Good morning,” he said, smug and fresh as a daisy. “Did you sleep well?”
“Yes, for all of two hours.”
He chuckled softly. “I woke, and you were gone.”
“I had to get back to Karim.”
“I know.” His eyes drifted up and down her body. “Same again tonight, friend?”
“We’ll see.”
Karim scrambled off Dan’s lap and pressed his face against the glass door to the backyard. Libby opened it for him and stayed in the doorway to watch him play. “So, what’s new?”
“Other than I had a great time last night?”
“Yeah. Other than that.” She tried to shoot him a supercool look, but he was grinning at her, full of sexy satisfaction.
Another memory of his face between her legs flashed before her.
He’d made her come so hard that she was still feeling the aftershocks.
“Man, it’s hot today.” Libby fanned herself, and Dan’s lips quirked, as if he somehow knew what she’d been reliving.
Damn him. “Just tell me what the UK is saying about Daniel Jones.”
He brought her laptop over to her so she could stay watching Karim.
“The national news is all over it still,” he said.
“The tabloids are calling it a Christmas miracle. The trolls are saying it’s a rich guy’s scam, that I’ve been preying on people’s sympathy while I live it up someplace hot. And my agent…”
“The one who dumped you?”
“Begging,” he said. “She’s literally begging me to sign up with her again.”
“Are you going to do it?”
“She’s one of the top sports agents in the country.” He moved toward the kitchen. “You want some coffee?”
“Yes, please. And I’ll have an answer to my question, too.”
When he handed her a cup, his lips curved into a smile. “I’m not sure. I need to think about her offer.”
“And what about…” The word Isabella died on Libby’s lips. Even though Dan’s ex had helped spread the word that he wasn’t dead, bringing her into the room didn’t feel right after Libby had spent the night in his bed. Instead, she asked, “Has anyone else contacted you?”
“Yes. A few people. Remember I told you about the Get Living campaign? Both Michael and Sebastian still want to meet with me when I’m back in England.”
“That’s great. And what about your fan base? The people we really need to care about?”
“Well…” Dan blew on his coffee. “If you mean the three million people who subscribed to your channel overnight, I think they’re pretty interested in learning more about the highs and lows of Daniel Jones.”
“Did you say…three million?”
“Rounded down.”
“Holy sh—”
“Now, now, Liberta,” Dan tutted. “You really need to watch that filthy mouth around children.”
Libby squeaked. Three million? Three…million? She needed to breathe. She needed to fist pump the air and whoop. But all she could do was gawk at him.
He kissed her nose. “I’ll play with Karim while you do what you need to do.”
Dan used to leave social media stats to his agent—but he had to admit that three million sounded like a pretty cool number.
And not only did it make Libby very happy, but it was also a step closer to sticking it to all those reporters who’d made his life hell recently.
The headlines about him had already changed from miserable to hopeful.
He felt hopeful too, and not just because he’d spent the night having sex with Libby.
Although what they’d done together was certainly making him smile—and wanting more.
As he pushed the ball across the grass to Karim, he glanced through the open doorway at Libby on her laptop.
Her eyes were narrowed in concentration, focused on the screen.
One hand on the keyboard, the other moving the mouse.
Yet he could only see her naked, reflected in the mirror last night as she’d come in his arms.
Something whacked him on the head.
“Ball!”
“Hey,” Dan chuckled. That served him right. “Good shot, squirt. I’ll pay attention now.”
And not think about your mother naked in my bed.
Karim dive bombed him. Dan rolled flat on his back on the grass and raised the boy like a twenty-kilo weight. The ache in his shoulder radiated up his arm as he extended, but it was a good kind of ache. An ache that meant his muscles were being pushed, saying Bring it on, rather than No way.
Karim’s giggles were worth the aches, anyway.
“Let’s bench press,” Dan said, and between the wiggling and laughter, he pushed the kid up and down as best he could.
The game quickly turned to horseback riding.
Dan’s knee wasn’t loving it, so he switched to giant spider back riding, crawling along the grass on his hands and feet instead of his knees.
Karim clung to him, squealing. Whenever Dan felt him slipping off, he’d lower himself to the grass and pretend to collapse in a heap, saying the spider had fainted.
This would make Karim jump on him again to wake the giant spider up and tug his arm so that the game would start all over again.
It was a surprisingly tough workout in the sticky morning heat, but they were both enjoying it.
On the third round, Dan’s new phone slid out of his pocket onto the grass. He pushed it aside so it wouldn’t get crushed, and after the fifth or so round, he collapsed beside it.
That was when he noticed a message had come through. Probably one of his sisters again. They’d been messaging constantly since he’d given them his new number.
Dan played again, but when more messages bleeped through, one after another, he said, “The spider needs a rest. Let’s throw the ball now.”
Karim ran off to fetch it, and Dan grabbed the spare moment to tap on the notifications on his phone. The messages were from an unsaved number and one from Femi that simply said, Sorry. But Isabella really wanted to talk to you.
He tapped the messages from the unsaved number, recognizing the last four digits immediately. Sure enough, it was Isabella.
Femi gave me your new number.
She told me about your phone.
No wonder you didn’t reply to any of my messages.
Where are you?
I hope you’re okay.
He slipped the phone back into his pocket.
Because he was okay. More than okay, actually.
Until she’d contacted him.
“This smells delicious,” Libby said as she sat down to the evening meal of salad, rice, and fish that Dan had prepared.
Busy juggling work and motherhood all day, the only chance she’d gotten to talk to him was when she’d fired quick questions to get his opinion on how she’d edited their interviews.
This morning, she’d put the finishing touches to their videos while Dan played with Karim.
Then, when she’d taken Karim to the beach for the afternoon, Dan had stayed at the hut to work on his social media.
She’d given him a crash course on how best to build engagement, and surprisingly, he had a far from cranky eagerness to learn.
He’d been watching tutorials too, learning as much as he could about social media strategies, which was something he always used to leave to his management company to deal with.
It pleased her that he was venturing away from depending on other people to manage his own public profile, but if those people were now begging to sign him up again, where would that leave her?
“Have you decided yet, about your agent?” she asked.
That must’ve been on his mind all day. Because it had certainly been on hers.
If Dan signed with his agent again, the dynamics of their plans would change—plans that had been agreed on a handshake in a forest and far from legally binding.
She didn’t believe for one minute that Dan would leave her high and dry—and she owned the footage she’d shot of him—but still…
She’d need his full consent to post it. “Having your agent again is one step closer to getting your old life back,” she added.
“Yeah.” Dan nodded slowly, forked up some salad, then chewed like he was thinking things through. “Suze, my agent, said she’d received a proposal for a project.”
“What kind of project?”