Page 21 of Something New

He caught himself feeling attracted to this woman, and that caused all sorts of confusing emotions.

She stepped back, looking apologetic for messing with his hair.

"Thank you," he said. He straightened his posture and smiled. "How's this?"

"Uh, you can stop at a mirror if you don't want to take my word for it, but to me, it's great, wonderful, no bad things, all good." She made a gesture with her hands as she spoke. She was being funny and it wasn't awkward at all.

"Am I good, Ethan?"

"At what?" he asked, looking up.

"Do I look handsome?"

"Oh, yeah," Ethan said smiling.

"Thanks, bud. I hope I see you before you fall asleep, but if not, I'll see you in the morning, okay?"

Ethan nodded and the two of them hugged before John-Michael made his way toward the office.

He turned and looked at her before he rounded the corner. "Thanks again, Sadie."

"You're welcome," she said, smiling at him.

It was a weight off of his shoulders that she was willing to stay. This whole ordeal with the interview and photoshoot was not going according to plan. John-Michael was impatient and eager to get on with his life. He had agreed to do this, but it had already taken a lot longer than he anticipated. He did his best to not seem perturbed on camera since the interview would be seen by a lot of people. Everything they did took a long time, though, and John-Michael used forced patience.

***

John-Michael left the two gentlemen in his office once they were finally finished and began packing their things. They thanked him and promised they'd be out in a few minutes.

He went through the kitchen, scanning the downstairs for any sign of Sadie and Ethan. Ethan always slept with his dad in the master suite downstairs, but he had glanced in there when he left his office, and no one was in there. He also had a queen-size bed set up in the playroom upstairs. He and Ethan slept up there sometimes. Sadie would have assumed that was Ethan's room, and she would have probably tucked him in up there. John-Michael took the stairs two at a time.

He could hear the white noise machine running before he could see in the door. He slowed his pace and got quiet as he approached.

"Pssst," he whispered, announcing himself as he walked into the room. They were both lying on the bed, and Sadie didn't move. "Pssst," he said again as he walked toward the bed.

The room was a mess. It was fairly dark in there, but he could clearly see the evidence of a good time. They had been building forts and playing trains, and everything was out. John-Michael loved it. He grinned at how things were set up, and he loved the idea of how much fun they probably had.

He could see as he came further into the room that Sadie was sleeping. She was on top of the covers, lying next to Ethan who was tucked into the other side of the bed comfortably.

John-Michael was careful with her camera. It was on the floor next to her bag. It was dark in there aside from the nightlights and light from the hallway, but his eyes had adjusted. He moved it so that he could approach her without waking Ethan.

There was a note on the table next to her, and his eye fell on it. His name was written at the top, and he sat down on the floor next to the bed to read the note. There was a nightlight nearby, and he could easily make out the handwriting when he tilted it that way.

John-Michael,

Your son is the coolest! I think I'm an expert on dinosaurs by now. We swam, ate, sang, watched cartoons, built forts, played trains, and played with puppets. It was pretty much the best night of my life. Haha! No, seriously, he's really great. Also, I took some photos of him while we were playing tonight, and a few of them might have come out amazing. I should have asked first, but I didn't want to interrupt you, and he was too dang cute to resist. I wanted to make a note about it so I didn't forget to ask you if you're okay with it. If not, I can delete them, no problem. All went well tonight. Ethan is a precious gentleman. He ate two of those bread knots, an apple, and some string cheese. We also shared a slice of cake.

She signed her name at the bottom. He loved the note. He smiled at her handwriting. He caught sight of her bag and her camera. He couldn’t wait to see the pictures. This woman gave him a feeling of anticipation. He turned and looked at her while she was sleeping… her face… the curves and lines of her face were like a work of art. She was beautiful.

Finding love was not on the agenda for John-Michael, but he knew there was no harm in taking a second to enjoy these warm, fuzzy feelings. His heart raced as his gaze reached her mouth. He would never act on it, but he would love to kiss her. He was definitely attracted to Sadie, there was no denying it.

Chapter 8

Sadie

A few minutes earlier

It was eight-thirty when I crawled onto the bed with Ethan. I read to him for fifteen minutes and when I looked over, he was sleeping.

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