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What I really wanted to do, was stay in my house with my Yiayia on our last night, but Yiayia would not have it.
“Oxi, koukla. I gonna go to bed early and you need to get Jace used to sleeping at Vander’s, with you. You go. Have a fun.” When I went to argue further, she lay her hand against my cheek. “Koukla mou. I need time by myself to say goodbye to this old house.”
This made sense to me, and I would not deny her. “Okay, Yiayia. If that’s what you want, that’s what you’re going to have.”
“Ah, bravo. Good girl.”
Which is how I found myself cuddled up with Vander on one couch, Jace lying full out on the other, eating popcorn and watching a movie.
I couldn’t stop looking at them together. How did I not realize Jace was Vander’s son? Their mannerisms were the same, the way they smiled, the way they walked, the way they looked.
Jace blossomed under Vander’s attention. He called Vander ‘dad’ easily, and while he didn’t offer hugs the way he did to me, I noticed that he would position himself beside and just a little in front of Vander often, and Vander never failed to rest his hand on the nape of Jace’s neck. As soon as Vander made contact, Jace relaxed back and leaned in.
The first time I saw Jace lean in like that, the mixture of grief and gratitude on Vander’s face forced me to turn away. Every time I saw Jace do it, Vander’s face reflected his gratitude and adoration, but Jace? Jace lit up like a beacon.
As the movie credits rolled, Jace stretched and rolled off the couch. He leaned over me and gave me a hug.
“Goodnight, Momma,” he muttered tiredly. “I love you.”
“Goodnight, agapimeno mou.” I cupped his cheek. “I love you, too.”
He turned to Vander and held out a limp fist bump.
Vander chuckled and bumped him, then Jace leaned over and hugged him.
The smile fell off Vander’s face as his arm came up to embrace his son. “Goodnight, Dad. I love you.”
Vander’s voice sounded strained. “Goodnight, buddy. I love you, too.”
Jace stumbled off to his room, his footsteps light on the stairs.
Vander and I sat unmoving. I reached for his hand and winced at the pain on his face. He swallowed hard and squeezed my hand.
“Sometimes the sadness sneaks up on me,” he admitted softly.
I swung around to straddle his lap and wrapped my arms around him. His arms around my back crushed me to him painfully like bands of steel. “I’m sorry, Ruby-mine.”
I sighed. “I’m sorry, too, agapimeno mou. I should have figured it out.”
He tucked his face in my neck. “I’m so damn sorry. I hate that you were alone.”
I tunneled my fingers gently through his thick hair, lightly scratching his scalp. “I’m not alone now. Neither are you. Vander, agapimeno, we need to let the guilt go.”
His chest heaved with his inhale, my ribs ached from his hold on me, and despair rolled off him in waves. Instead of pulling away from the pain of his hold, I melted against him. He spread his arms out, splaying his big hands across my back, and I took a breath.
“I’m selling my company.”
I jolted with the information. “What? What do you mean?”
He leaned back and rubbed the tops of my thighs. “I don’t need to work if I don’t want to. I’ll have enough to set us up, take care of both boys’ education, look after your Yiayia, and my parents if need be. I’ll need something to do, though. I might work on a consultancy basis. But I think we need to step things up with your franchising project. I’d like to get that sorted while I’m still heading the company.”
I didn’t want to talk about franchising. Not tonight, and being honest with myself, at least, not at all.
What I did want, was to take him out of the dark place full of grief and despair. I spread my hands over his chest and flicked his nipple through his t-shirt, then brushed my mouth softly across his.
“Can we talk about that later,” I teased softly. “At a time when I’m not straddling your lap?”
He grinned. “Oh, yeah? Is this a problem for you?” He smoothed his hands up my thighs firmly and rounded to my ass, yanking me forward.
“Well, yes,” I said primly. “It makes me feel dirty. Like I’m screwing the boss for favours.”
I quelled my smile and maintained my prim demeanour as his eyes lit up.
“You are screwing the boss.”
His lips tugged up at one side and he smiled into my eyes, then he cupped his hand around the back of my neck and tugged my face closer to his.
Looking into my eyes, he murmured softly, “And I’ll give you all the favours you’d never think to ask for, including getting you as dirty as you want to be.”
