Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Jaxon spent the morning chasing down leads and interviewing Oliver Eldredge’s friends and employees, and even some customers. A lot of the people he spoke with said that Eldredge was honest and affable; a handful of others, however, didn’t share the same opinion.
Several people who had purchased items from Eldredge claimed he was conceited and supercilious and had swindled them out of their money. It was no secret that Eldredge placed a premium price on his items, but Jaxon couldn’t say he blamed the man for trying to make a living.
From the employee directory they had gotten from the PD, Jaxon tracked down one of Eldredge's employees, a young woman named Mary Beth. She reluctantly admitted that Eldredge was a jerk but that he paid her well, and she had never seen anything suspicious. She worked in the shop full-time and was going to school for art history. She hadn’t seen the painting and had no knowledge of the statue that was still missing.
Jaxon thanked her and left empty-handed with no leads.
Mickelson hadn’t been able to secure an invitation for that week’s auction, so they were currently at a standstill on the tech side.
Aiden was still working his magic in the hopes of hacking in, but last Jaxon heard, he was having a difficult time.
The officers in the precinct had checked pawn shops around the city to see if any of the fenced items had popped up, but so far there had been nothing.
It was frustrating that they had to wait another week for more information, but hopefully, they would be better prepared and get a better handle on it.
The biggest problem was that they had no idea where to begin.
With the items being auctioned off potentially all over the world, it was nearly impossible to find them.
It had been tedious and frustrating, and all Jaxon wanted to do right now was relax and see Jaclyn—and Adalyn.
He strode up to Adalyn’s front door and rang the bell.
She met him only seconds later, Jaclyn propped on her hip, cooing happily.
Her gaze turned solemn when she saw him, though, and he pasted on a smile, ignoring the pang in the region of his heart.
Over the past few days, Jaxon had stopped at Adalyn’s house after work, spending an hour or so with them each night before bedtime.
Jaclyn was beginning to relax around him a bit, but she hadn’t fully adjusted to his presence.
Adalyn’s admission the other day filled Jaxon with a protectiveness he had never felt.
She had admitted that Jaclyn wasn’t comfortable around men, wasn’t used to them.
She couldn’t know it, but he was ecstatic at that little tidbit.
That meant there hadn’t been many—if any—men in Jaclyn’s life since she had the baby almost a year ago.
Despite everything that had happened, Adalyn was his. She still had a slightly guarded look about her, but she, too, had begun to relax in his presence. He moved his gaze from Jaclyn up to Adalyn. “Hey.”
“Hey.” She smiled and held the door for him, her eyes dropping to the box tucked under his arm. “What’s that?”
“Just a little something for Jaclyn.” He stepped inside and toed his boots off while Adalyn locked up behind him. Turning back to Jaclyn, he held up the box. “Brought you a present, baby girl.”
Jaclyn examined it, her big gray eyes curious but unsure.
Adalyn’s voice made up for Jaclyn’s lack of enthusiasm.
“Come on, sweet pea. Let’s go see what Daddy brought you.
” Following them down the hall toward the living room, Jaxon let that word sink in.
God, that sounded good. Adalyn settled cross-legged on the floor, situating Jaclyn in her lap, and Jaxon knelt next to them.
Placing the box on the floor between them, he gestured to it. “Want to open it?”
Jaclyn craned her neck, turning to Adalyn as if asking permission, and Adalyn laughed.
“Go ahead, open it.” Adalyn slipped one lean finger under the seam and tugged gently.
Enraptured by the ripping sound of the paper, Jaclyn turned wide eyes on the present in front of her.
She let out an excited squeal as she tore one long strip of paper off and held it up in victory.
Jaxon laughed and settled on his side, content to watch her.
Finally, they got the box open, and Adalyn retrieved the fluffy pink bear inside.
Jaclyn took one look at the bear, then went right back to the strips of paper littering the ground.
Picking them up, she let them flutter down like confetti, her laugh infectious.
Jaxon turned to Adalyn, taking in the smile on her face, unable to stop the grin covering his own. “I think she likes the wrapping paper better than the bear,” he said wryly.
Adalyn let out a tinkling laugh. “Don’t be offended.
I bought her a doll a couple of months ago, thinking she’d love to have a baby.
I took the doll out of the box, and, yeah…
” She rolled her eyes and lifted her hands in a shrugging motion.
“Jaclyn tossed the doll aside to play with the box for half an hour.”
Jaclyn turned toward Jaxon as he let out a loud laugh.
This time, though, it didn’t seem to scare her.
She examined his face intently, then seemed to relax when she saw that he was happy.
He watched as she pushed up from Adalyn’s lap and made her way to her toy box.
She dug around for a minute, then brought him a soft gray elephant.
She held it out, and he slipped it from her fingers. “Is this for me?”
She nodded solemnly, then plopped down next to him and picked up the pink bear he had brought. Moving the bear around, she chattered happily in her high-pitched voice, the words slurred and unclear. He lifted his gaze back to Adalyn. “Does she talk much?”
She shook her head. “A few words here and there. The pediatrician says it’s normal.”
He nodded. He hadn’t spent any time around little kids, so he took her word for it. Dropping the bear to the floor, Jaclyn jumped back up and made a beeline for her toys. He watched as she lugged a drawstring bag over to him. She pointed to the strings, indicating he should open it.
“You want this open?” She nodded and pulled at the strings but couldn’t figure out how to open it.
“Here, sweet girl, let me help.” Working the strings loose, he watched as she upended the bag and dumped dozens of colorful blocks on the floor.
She picked up a bright pink one and held it up to him, then reached for another.
With each block he stacked, she handed him another.
Soon they had a good-sized tower going that was taller than Jaclyn.
He threw a grin at Adalyn. “Want to help?”
She let out a throaty little laugh that wrapped around his heart. “Hey, you’re the one who said you liked to build things.”
“Oh, come on.” He lifted an eyebrow in challenge, and she just shook her head with a tiny smile, holding her hands up in front of her.
“No way, I’m staying out of the destruction zone.”
Before he could process her words, blocks showered down around him as Jaclyn smashed her tower, demolishing it into a pile of rainbow-colored block rubble.
He let out a gasp of mock outrage and turned his gaze on Jaclyn, who stared back at him expectantly. “Oh, you think that’s funny?”
She let out a tiny giggle, and he reared up on his hands and knees, slowly stalking toward her. She laughed as he neared, pushing to her feet and running in a wide arc away from him. He collapsed to the floor, playing dead, and waited a long moment with his eyes closed.
He could hear the tiny patter of her footsteps as she got closer, and she let out a little shriek as he opened his eyes and reached for her, drawing her into his arms. A deep belly laugh filled the air as he tickled her tummy, her arms and legs flailing with delight.
Just as quickly as it started, Jaclyn rolled from his grasp and held up a tiny hand in his direction.
“No!”
“No?” he asked.
“No.” She crossed her arms over her middle and shook her head emphatically.
Biting back his smile, he pretended to think for a moment.
“Well, then…” Out of the corner of his eye, he spied Adalyn sitting within arm’s reach.
Faster than a snake striking, he snatched her ankle and yanked her closer to him.
Adalyn let out a gasp, then dissolved into giggles as his fingers danced over her ribs, tickling her.
Jaclyn laughed along as shrieks for mercy interspersed with peals of laughter fell from Adalyn’s lips. It was such a welcome sound that he couldn’t help the smile from forming on his face. He wondered when she’d last allowed herself to really have fun.
Using his body to press her into the floor, he moved more fully over top of her, still tickling her. Her chest heaved as she drew in deep, gasping breaths, and he smoothed his hand down her side. Her humor quickly fled as she took in their precarious position, and those gorgeous eyes met his.
Only inches away, he could have dipped his head and pressed his lips to hers.
He wanted to. God, how he wanted to. But not here, and not like this.
Without breaking eye contact, he slowly lifted his body away from hers and sat back on his heels.
He offered a hand, and she slipped a trembling palm into his so he could pull her to a sitting position.
Pushing to her feet, she murmured an excuse about getting dinner started and slunk off to the kitchen.
He watched her go, his eyes glued to the slight sway of her hips as she put distance between them.
He watched her surreptitiously from the corners of his eyes, rewarded when he saw her peek over at him a couple of times.
It sent a tendril of hope curling through him.
He wanted her to look at him with something other than wariness. He wanted her to look at him with longing and desire and lust—the way she had a few minutes ago. He wanted everything from her, and he was determined to get it.