Page 69 of Playing With Temptation

“Awesome. I’m starving,” Colson yelled back, interrupting me.

“Jase, I didn’t⁠—”

“Yay! Taco time!” Juni declared, foiling another attempt to tell Jase we didn’t have to stay.

And it only got worse from there.

“Cole, show Lucas where the placemats are, we’re eating at the big table.”

“Got it, Dad.”

“Juni, sweetheart. You wanna start grabbing the fixings out of the fridge?”

“Sure will. We even graded the cheese.”

“Grated. With a T,” I corrected out of habit.

“Grated,” she repeated and popped up.

“I’m gonna go up and change. Be back to help.”

I guess we were staying for dinner.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Staying for dinner wasn’t the bad part.

Oh, no, that was wonderful, though later I would explain to Jase I’d made dinner for him and his family and had planned to leave them to it as soon as he got home. Not because I didn’t want to have dinner with them, but I didn’t want him to think I was being pushy, trying to horn in on his family’s dinnertime.

The bad part.

The part that made me curse technology and whoever invented Bluetooth and if they were two different people, whoever made it possible to sync a phone to a speaker.

That person should be flogged.

Because suddenly the music I had playing on low from my phone, through Jase’s speaker cut off to announce in a robotic voice—a message from…Mom’s cell.

I jumped up and made a mad dash to Jase’s built-ins next to his fireplace.

I wasn’t fast enough to stop the same flat digital tone to read the message—out loud—for everyone to hear.

Of course you still love him. You never stopped. And of course he still loves you.

Holy shit!

Holy shit.

I stubbed my toe on the corner of Jase’s table which unfortunately slowed me down enough to let the message finish.

Now I want him and those beautiful babies of his at my table as soon as you can arrange it. Janis brags about how wonderful they are.

I snatched my phone off the shelf and fumbled to find the setting icon.

I’ve been waiting a lifetime to meet those children and I’ve missed him. It’s time⁠—

I disconnected the Bluetooth.

But it was too late.