“Why are you up so early, kiddo? It’s Saturday.” he asks.
“I heard footsteps,” Cassie explains.
I crinkle my nose. “Sorry, I tried to be quiet.”
Jaxon comes up beside me as Cassie turns her attention to her teddy bear. “Why didn’t you wake me?” he asks quietly.
“You were sleeping so soundly.”
“So you weren’t trying to sneak out?”
Busted.
“No,” I fib. “I thought you could use your rest after…” My words fall off. Jeez, what am I supposed to say? I thought you could use your rest after you fucked me so thoroughly, just like you promised. And yeah, I am going to feel him for all of next week.
His hand brushes mine, a light caress that sends shivers skittering though me. “You didn’t have to rush off.”
“School. Studying. Busy.”
“Yeah?” He inches back, his blue eyes latched on mine, studying me carefully.
“Yeah.”
“Rachel,” he begins, but stiffens when a knock comes on his door.
Cassie wiggles from her chair, and darts down the hall. “Who could be at your door this early?” Then another thought hits. “I hope it’s not the guy from the bushes.”
“What guy from the bushes?”
I’m about to explain when voices reach my ear. Jaxon stiffens. “Shit.”
I touch his arm, and his muscles are so taut, I’m sure they’re about to snap. “Who is it?” I ask quietly.
“The in-laws.”
I suck in a panicked breath. “I really shouldn’t be here.” I’m about to run from the kitchen, sneak out the back entrance, when Cassie comes rushing in with her grandparents behind her.
“Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa are here.”
The elderly couple breeze around the corner but come to an abrupt halt when they find me standing there next to Jaxon—dressed in his clothes.
“Oh, and who is this?” the woman with the blue eyes and silver hair asks as she touches her pearls—not beads. Very expensive pearls by the looks of things.
Jaxon opens his mouth but Cassie beats him to it.
“Rachel is Daddy’s girlfriend. She does laundry and dishes and is going to babysit me,” she blurts out and hops back into her chair. “We’re making pancakes, but Rachel can’t find the mix. Daddy is going to show her to make them.”
The strong scent of expensive perfume wafts before my nose as Cassie’s grandmother smooths her silver hair from her face, the gold bangles on her wrists clanging with the movement.
I fidget uncomfortably, and wait for Jaxon to explain, even though I’m not sure how he can possible explain this without them thinking he’s an unfit father who brings random women into his house for sex. Really though, when it comes down to it, that’s exactly what I am. We’d only exchanged our first words yesterday, and last night confirmed it was a one-shot deal. None of this was going to help him look like the doting father he really is…unless.
“That’s right. I’m Rachel, Jaxon’s girlfriend.” Jaxon stiffens beside me as I hold my hand out. “Nice to meet you both. I’ve heard so much about you. Just yesterday, Cassie had to do a family picture for school, and you were both very prominent figures.”
“Is that right?” Cassie grandmother says, a smile on her face as she bends to give Cassie a kiss.
Cassie’s grandfather—tanned and trim in his dress pants and crisp white shirt—steps forward to take my hand, his bushy brows are drawn tight as his gaze takes me in, carefully, suspiciously. “And here we’ve heard nothing about you.” He casts a quick disapproving glance Jaxon’s way.
“That’s because you’ve been away for the last few months, Karl,” Jaxon explains.
“The relationship is new, then?” Karl asks as Cassie’s grandmother eyes the clean kitchen, her head nodding slowly.
“I’ve known Jaxon for a few months now,” I say. Not a lie. I’ve ‘seen’ him and his daughter for a few months, we just hadn’t spoken until yesterday.
“What do you do, dear?” Grandmother asks.
“Judy…” Jaxon says between clenched teeth, his tone holding all kinds of warning, but I put my hand on his arm to let him know it’s okay.
“I’m a fourth-year student at Penn State. I plan to go into family law next year.”
“Oh,” she says, her eyes wide from surprise. “Isn’t that lovely.” But the words are dry on her tongue. She’s either unimpressed or doesn’t believe me. Her gaze goes to her granddaughter again. “Jaxon always did like the smart ones.” Jaxon stirs beside me, a sound catching in his throat, and I touch his arm when I see the real pain in Judy’s eyes. She runs her hands over her granddaughter’s hair. “I suppose Cassie could use a positive female influence in her life.” She arches a brow, and aims a direct look at Jaxon. “And a clean living space.”
Ignoring the jibe, Jaxon asks, “What brings you both here so early?”
Judy blinks, and shakes her head like she’s pushing haunting memories to the back of her mind. “We just got in this morning, and thought we’d take Cassie for the long weekend. We’ve missed her.”
“Yay,” Cassie says and starts clapping her hands.
Jaxon pushes off the counter. “I was going to get out her pool today. It’s been so warm here.”
“Daddy, pleasssseeee…”
“She can swim in our pool,” Karl says, smugness in his voice. “Our below-ground is much better than that rubber thing you blow up and try to squeeze into.”
“Daddy…”
Jaxon’s chest rises and falls as he takes in air, and while I don’t know him well, my guess is he’s trying to keep his temper under check. “Let me feed her first,” Jaxon says, giving into his daughter’s pleas, and Cassie starts clapping again. “We were about to make pancakes.”
“No need.” Karl holds his hand up, palm out. “She’ll have breakfast with us.”
Jaxon lifts his daughter from her seat and she says, “Can we have chocolate chips in our pancakes?”
“Of course,” Judy says.
“Let’s get you packed up, kiddo.”
Jaxon disappears down the hall, leaving me with his in-laws. A heavy silence comes over the
