The boy nodded eagerly.
“All right, but we need to see how much longer your mom will be busy. We don’t want to make her wait for us.”
Brexton returned to the salon, found out Blossom would be at least another two hours, and then he happily went toward the building that had captured Drew’s attention. When they walked through the doors, they were all three tagged with bracelets that showed they were together and would give Drew the freedom to roam, and Brexton could understand the need for security. It might have been a child’s paradise, but it looked like a parent’s nightmare. Games buzzed and dinged all over the place, there were large plastic tunnels that covered the ceiling, and a massive pit filled with rainbow-colored balls. While it wasn’t all that busy right now, on a weekend it was probably utter chaos.
“First time here?” one of the employees asked.
“That obvious?”
She giggled. “A little. You have that thunderstruck look that most parents get their first trip to Gator Games. There’s not much here for your daughter to enjoy, but if you sit close to the stage down front, there’s a large screen behind the curtain and a movie will be playing soon. Your son should probably stay in the toddler area, which is also near the stage.”
“Thank you,” Brexton said, feeling warm inside at the thought of Drew and RaeLynn being his kids. Even though he was only twenty-nine, he’d wanted a family for a while. Even at nineteen, he’d dreamed of finding his mate.
Although, he was a little confused. It was rare for someone not to recognize him. Or if she had, she at least hadn’t been fawning over him. Not to mention, most of the Zelthranite/human pairings had resulted in children with either lavender skin or purple eyes, and neither of the children with him had those characteristics. Her words confused him, but he shrugged it off. He noticed a few moms looking his way and whispering amongst themselves. People tended to stare and point when he was spotted out in public, so he was accustomed to the attention.
Brexton pushed RaeLynn’s stroller closer to the stage and signed Drew into the toddler area, which had a small fence around it. There were small rides, a smaller pit of the plastic balls, and a mini-tunnel system. Only two other children were inside the fence, and they seemed to close to Drew’s size. He kept an eye on the boy while trying to entertain RaeLynn so she wouldn’t start crying. The kids had to be starving, but he didn’t know what type of food they were allowed to have. Did they eat regular food like adults?
His phone chimed and Brexton pulled it from his pocket. His manager had sent a message that had him a little puzzled.
You’ve kept kids hidden? How did no one know you had a family?
What the hell was she talking about? He scowled at his phone and was about to respond when instinct told him to check social media before saying anything. He searched for his name online and was bombarded with pictures of him, Blossom, and the children out shopping. Several of him with his hand on her back or around her waist, and a lot of him holding one or both children. How had anyone managed to take their picture without him noticing? The half a dozen pictures proved that there was no such thing as privacy in his world. He pulled up an article from a relatively reliable online paper, hoping to find out what was being said.
Sources say that Terran actor Brexton was seen today with a woman and two children. The woman is his girlfriend, and now fans are wondering why he kept this family hidden from the public view. The pictures speak for themselves, and that is one doting daddy. Sorry, ladies, it looks like another sexy alien is off the market.
They assumed that Blossom’s kids were his? He rubbed at his beard as he eyed the kids in question. Both of them did have dark hair. Drew’s hair was more of a dark brown, but RaeLynn’s was black as pitch, just like his. Not knowing what color Blossom’s hair was naturally, it was hard to say if Drew had inherited his coloring from her or his father. He didn’t know how Blossom would feel about this, or how the kids’ dad would react. The children were small enough, it was his hope they wouldn’t notice or react to what was going on around them, but he truly had no idea how human children would respond to something like this.
Drew played until he looked about ready to drop from exhaustion, and RaeLynn had already fallen back asleep in her stroller. Brexton gathered the kids and left, hoping that Blossom was finished and ready to go home. He was starving, and the kids had to be as well. They’d been really good though, not really fussing much. At the salon, he froze in the doorway. He’d known that Blossom was beautiful. Seeing her now though… his heart skipped a beat then took off. He’d never understood the expression that someone took your breath away, until this moment.
Blossom danced from foot to foot, wringing her hands in front of her.
“Do you hate it?” she asked.
He left the kids in the waiting area and moved closer, somehow remembering how to walk, and reached for her. She’d had a few inches cut off her hair, bangs swooped across her forehead, and her plain blue hair was now a myriad of blues with aqua highlights.
“You look beautiful,” he said. Even that word didn’t do her justice.
Her cheeks flushed and she glanced up at him bashfully.
“They colored it, did a deep conditioning, then cut and styled it. I didn’t want to spend too much, but they said my hair was in bad shape.”
“Don’t worry about the cost. As long as you’re happy with it, that’s all that matters.”
The stylist noticed him and hurried over. “I tried to style it so she could keep it long, but it would be easy to tame into an updo or something else equally appropriate for the red carpet. I figure now that you’re out in the open with your family, you’ll want to show them off.”
Blossom ran her hand through her hair and bit her lip. He could tell she wanted to correct the woman about them being a family, but she kept quiet. He wondered how many times something like that had been brought up during her appointment, and whether or not she’d been uncomfortable being left alone. If the kids hadn’t been antsy, he would have stayed to make sure she was all right.
“Blossom,” he said softly, drawing her attention back to him.
He held out a hand when her gaze fastened on his and she came toward him, sliding her palm against his. Leaning down so that only she could hear him, he whispered in her ear.
“Please play along until we can discuss this more at home. I promise we’ll figure things out.”
She smiled up at him, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. Hopefully no one else would notice. Since he’d outright lied to those fans at the baby store, his manager would need to do some damage control. He just hoped that Stella had some ideas on how to handle the situation.
Brexton paid the bill and gave the stylist a generous tip, then ushered Blossom and the kids back out to his car. After everyone was buckled, he went straight home. The kids fell asleep during the car ride, and Blossom stared out the passenger window, not saying a word. Her silence bothered him. Shouldn’t she be asking a lot of questions, or expressing her displeasure over his lie? She wasn’t acting at all the way he’d thought she would, and it confused him even more.
He pulled to a stop at the foot of his driveway and rolled down his window to enter in the gate code. The tension rolling off Blossom was thick as he pulled through the gate and drove toward the house. He’d had trees and shrubs planted that hid his home from view of the road, and when they entered the clearing, he heard her gasp.
