“Lucy? You still there?”
“Yeah. Awww, look at that.”
“What?”
“He is doing sit-ups now and the kid is hugging his knees with his little arms and counting.”
“Awww. Picture. Picture.”
“Okay, hold on.”
I took another photo and sent it.
“There is definitely a bulge,” I added as I tried to shift on my feet to get a better look. “He is definitely hung.”
“His kid is there, Lucy.”
“And? How do you think he created that kid? Do we have to talk about where babies come from again?”
Olive laughed in my ear, and I smiled, picturing her shaking her head at me.
“Oh, shoot. Jason is coming up; I have to go.”
“Up? Where are you?”
“In bed. There were some fans camped out in front of the hotel when we came back from a late dinner, and he went down to sign a few things for them so they wouldn’t spend the night out there.”
“Got it. Well I’ll let you go then, have fun with the crazy fans.”
“You too. Oh, he is here. I’m hanging up now. Get down from there.”
And the line went dead.
I spent a few more minutes watching the perfection that was a dad and his son spending time together, then reluctantly got down and went inside to work on those offers some more.
After that encounter, I spent most of my time up there, checking things out. Was I proud of myself? Eh, maybe not so much. But do you know what’s hotter than watching Adam Connor work out in his backyard every day? Watching him spend time with his son. Instant reason to jump his bones. Instant. He was practically dangling himself in front of me, daring me.
Certainly it wasn’t my fault that I was a weak human being, and as long as I didn’t hurt anyone, it couldn’t be that wrong, could it?
So it was my last day alone, and I was up on my perch again, watching my temporary neighbors as discreetly as I could as Adam jumped into the pool. The little version of him sat on one of the lounge chairs playing with his iPad, kicking his little legs every now and then. Holding on to the ladder, I rested my chin on the wall and stayed vigilant. Repeating the process every day for the rest of the week.
Because you never know, right?
Chapter Four
Adam
I swam to the other end of the pool and came up for air. My arm muscles were burning, and the pounding in my head was getting worse as the hours slipped by. I wiped the water off my eyes and spotted Aiden sitting in the same exact spot he’d been occupying for the last thirty minutes, eyes focused on his iPad, face happy.
I looked over his head and my eyes caught sight of his nanny, Anne, standing just outside the door of the house. We had two nannies. The other one was Marta. She stayed with Adeline, half nanny, half assistant to Adeline, and Anne stayed with us when it was my week with Aiden. She gave me a shy smile, and I nodded at her. It was good that she was keeping an eye on Aiden.
Leisurely, I swam back to my son’s side, making sure to splash some water close to his seat before I got out. He was looking over his shoulder and laughing at something. When he realized I was close, he took off his headphones and grinned at me.
Just looking at him constricted something in my chest.
“What’s up, bud?” I asked, walking toward him.
“I’m bathing in the sun, just like Mommy.”
