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“Did…” I hesitated and he raised one brow. “Did you pay for the dress too? Because I went to give it back—I mean I went to return it, but they refused me saying it had been paid for.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Jax winked at me, then he cast an arm wide. “Ready to meet the kids?”
I wanted to press him further because I had returned to that store with a detailed excuse for taking the dress, but they refused to accept it. Now it hung in my closet like a confusing secret, and Jax had been the only person I’d met who had seen me in that dress.
Before I could ask more, Jax turned and headed down another hallway, so I followed quickly.
“I saw that woman, I’m so sorry if I’m underdressed. I didn’t realize this was a formal thing.”
“Nonsense,” Jax smiled, “there’s nothing formal here.”
Jax stepped into the conservatory and immediately, a blur of bright blue and black flew across the room and crashed right into Jax’s legs.
“Daddy!” squealed the child and Jax laughed, ducking to scoop the child up into his arms. She had the same black curls on her head, but they were much longer, pinned into two pigtails, and she wore a bright blue dress dotted with dinosaurs.
“Hey sweetie,” Jax grinned, pressing a wet kiss to the child’s cheek much to her squealing disgust.
“Summer, this is Bonnie, my daughter.”
Bonnie turned her brown eyes on me and immediately fell silent, shoving her thumb into her mouth as she stared at me.
“Hi Bonnie,” I smiled as warmly as possible despite my racing heart. “It’s lovely to meet you.”
“Bonnie, do you want to tell Summer how old you are?” Jax prompted.
Bonnie immediately shook her head, curls bouncing.
“She’s four and a half,” stated a matter-of-fact voice, and I glanced down in surprise to see another child, a boy, staring up at me with dark blue eyes and dark skin. “I’m five,” the child stated, and he stuck a small hand out to me. “I’m Kane.”
He was soformalthat I almost didn’t know how to react. Quickly, I dropped to my haunches and shook the offered small hand. “Hi, Kane, it’s nice to meet you.”
“And that’s Ava.” Kane turned and pointed towards a third child. A small girl with short auburn hair who was leaning over a small, plastic table, crayon in hand and her tongue sticking out in concentration. “She’s four.”
It took until I looked at Ava for me to click how different this room was. It was a normal family room with a television in one corner, some bookshelves against one wall, and several tables strewn with various colorful toys and books. The table Ava was scribbling on had multicolored legs, and from the ceiling hung rows and rows of paper streamers. Nothing in here screamedbillionaireand it certainly didn’t fit with how luxurious this house had looked from the outside.
“Hi, Ava,” I called after processing the room. “My name is Summer.”
Ava’s head snapped up, and she looked over at me with her tongue still sticking out; then she returned to her drawing which caused Jax to chuckle, reminding me he was still here.
“Ava is Luke’s daughter,” Jax explained, “and Kane is Theo’s son. They’re both around here somewhere but there were some issues with the flight plan or something.”
I smiled brightly at him and Bonnie, who still remained silent in his arms. “That’s no problem. Is there anything in particular you’d like me to do?”
“Not at all.” Jax flashed me one of those dazzling smiles, and my slowly calming heart melted. What was it about a handsome man carrying a child that triggered my mind to fill with fantasies of another life? I had scraped by so far with a threadbare family, something like this wasn’t for me. And yet, in that moment, I craved it.
“We just want you to spend time with the children, get to know them, and see how they react to you. Lunch will be served soon so you’ll get to see how chaotic that is, but other than that…” Jax trailed off as his attention switched to Bonnie, who started to whine softly. “I’m sorry, she’s a little shy around strangers.”
“That’s okay,” I reassured her quickly, softening my smile. “I like your dress, Bonnie. I like dinosaurs too.”
Bonnie continued to watch me with wide, dark eyes, so I moved closer to Kane, wanting to give her some space.
“So, Kane.” I smiled down at him, and he stared at me with awe-filled eyes as if he had never seen someone like me. I kneeled down to his level and leaned close. “Do you want to show me what toy you want to sneak on holiday without your dad knowing?”
“Yes!” Kane burst into action and raced across the room to a colorful toy chest. I quickly discarded my coat and bag and followed. When I reached him, Kane shuffled close with his small hands clutching something to his chest.
“This is it?” I whispered.
“Yeah,” Kane whispered back. “But my dad says I can’t take it because it’s not allowed.”
