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Cigar enjoyed, time killed, Jayson trudged upstairs to his date.
He’d waited until the band packed up, sitting up and talking to Bran and a few of his friends to further stall the inevitable. He knew Gia was upstairs with Denver. Neither of them had reappeared. Jayson hadn’t been in a big hurry to run upstairs and corroborate that suspicion.
He turned down the hallway to walk to his room when Denver clomped up the stairs behind him, a glass of brown liquid in hand. “One for the road, bro,” he said, his speech wobbly.
Jayson welded his jaw together as Denver disappeared into Gia’s room. Fists balled, he considered his options. Bust into the room and demand his ex-wife stay away from that harebrained, brick-headed dolt, or stand idly by.
There would be consequences if he banged on that door and checked up on her. She didn’t like him undermining her. That was the word she’d often used. Undermining. As if protecting someone he loved was an insult.
Then again, making sure she was safe was worth any consequence, big or small. He’d started toward the bedroom door when her laugh floated out from under it.
He froze in place, at once disgusted and resigned. She sounded fine. Happy, even.
That sucked.
On heavy legs he turned back toward his own room and walked in. Natasha was waiting for him.
“Fix it.” She pointed at the dresser, where one drawer was opened at a weird slant. “I can’t live like this.”
“Can’t have you roughing it,” he said, sarcasm thick, as he fixed the drawer with a quick wiggle. Forget that she was in a Knox mansion overlooking a vineyard, majestic mountains as a backdrop.
All he wanted to do was close his eyes and wake up in the morning.
“You are not nice,” she said. Arguably she was right. He hadn’t been very nice. “I am showering. Don’t join me.” She closed herself into the bathroom. And locked the door.
“No problem, lady.” He sat on the edge of the bed and scrubbed his face with both hands.
He was beat, but he couldn’t sleep knowing what was going on at the end of the hallway. He decided to head downstairs. The bar was closed, but he knew where Jack kept the good scotch. Jayson needed a nip after the day he’d had. Hell, he needed a bottle.
When he exited his room, Gia was tiptoeing out of hers. They shut the doors to their rooms simultaneously. He smiled and she smiled back at him, each amused by the unintentional choreography.
She’d changed from her bridesmaid’s dress into a short pair of cutoff shorts and an oversize pink T-shirt. She looked cute. Relaxed. Warm and sleepy.
The thought of Denver touching her made Jayson want to howl.
She shoved her hands into her back pockets. “Hey.”
“Hi.” Still in his trousers and white shirt from the wedding, he was overdressed for this chance meeting. “Couldn’t sleep.”
“Yeah. My roommate is, ah, he finally fell asleep.”
After what?
He didn’t dare ask.
“Is the party winding down?” She folded her arms over her stomach and shifted on her feet. Fidgeting, the way she did when she was nervous.
“Royce and Taylor took off for the honeymoon. Addi and Bran are in their room. Your mom and dad left a little while ago with the baby. Just catering staff and house staff tidying up downstairs.”
She nodded, glancing away before looking back at him. “I was going to grab a snack. Want to join me?”
“I was heading for the bar, but I never turn down a meal.”
She joined him at the top of the stairs and they walked down side by side. “I didn’t mean to take you from your date.”
If it wasn’t for the way she pronounced that hard T, he wouldn’t have had any idea his ex-wife was jealous. He wasn’t proud of it, but he liked knowing he wasn’t the only one entertaining the green-eyed monster tonight.
Downstairs in the kitchen, she weaved between the house staff, greeting them by name while pulling out containers of leftovers from the fridge.
