Page 54 of Legal

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Or… are you just trying to make me jealous?”

“Are you?”

“God, Chase. I told you I don’t get jealous.” I felt the heat bubbling to the surface, and I wasn’t sure why. “But I do think it’s very rude of her, doing something so bold when you’re here with someone else.”

Deep breath. In her defense, she probably thought I was his mother.

“I agree.”

I had to think about that for a second. At first, I thought he was agreeing to my mother comment until I realized I’d said that in my head. “Is that why you didn’t take her number? Because of the way she did it?”

He looked at me like it was now my entire brain falling off in chunks. “No, Jillian. I didn’t take it because I’m not interested in her. And that wouldn’t have changed whether I was here with you or a group of guys.”

He made it sound so simple when really it was anything but. She was young and gorgeous. Give it another fifteen, twenty years and he’d be all over that shit if she was offering it up. I needed to keep that little fact front and center. Needed to keep things real.

“It’d be easier if youwereinterested, Chase.” I honestly meant that too. I wasn’t doing some stupid reverse psychology crap, hoping for his reassurance. “I’m too… complicated.”

He smiled. “Aren’t all women?”

Time to bring out the big guns. “Remember at Candle Park, the kid I was talking to right before we left?” He nodded. “Who did you think that was—an ex-fling?”

Chase sputtered on his drink. “No, that had not even crossed my mind.” He raised an eyebrow. “An ex who calls you Mrs. Hudson?”

“Maybe it was a Mrs. Robinson situation.”

He shook his head. “What’s going on with you, Jillian?”

“That boy, Ben, he’s my son’s good friend.” Wait for it, wait for it. Hmm…. Nothing. “Technically, my stepson, but I’ve raised Daniel since he was two and couldn’t love him any more if he were my biological child. Without getting into too much detail, I’m pretty much the only mother he’s ever known.”

Chase was quiet for a few minutes, and I kept waiting for him to jump up and tell Southern Belle that he’d made a mistake. “The pictures on your bookshelf, those are Daniel?”

“Yes.” I figured he saw them at some point. I wasn’t hiding them, but I wasn’t thrusting them in his face either. For all Chase knew, they could have been a little brother or nephew or… “Why didn’t you ask me who he was? You seem to ask me everything else.”

“I figured you’d tell me when you wanted to.”

It sounded reasonable. I’d already gone nutso because he fixed my air conditioning; I could see him being a bit leery asking me something on the personal side.

“And now I told you,” I said.

“Am I going to meet him?”

My mouth dropped open and froze there awhile. His question had come hurling at me a hundred miles an hour out of left field. “Uh, he’s in school right now. In Italy.” And he’s only three years younger than you. And I wouldn’t embarrass him like that. And you and I will be done screwing around long before he’s home anyway. So, in other words,hell, no.

“What’s he studying?”

“International Business.”

I knew there was so much more he wanted to ask, his face contorting with unspoken thoughts. We sat across from each other in awkward silence; the easygoing vibe was gone. At least it was for me. Delilah had made herself scarce, and I almost wished for her intrusion. I was that uncomfortable. I wanted to leave.

“Anything else you want to tell me?” he asked. “To show your complication, I mean. Because if you’re trying to scare me away, I’m gonna need more than that.”

“Like that wasn’t enough?” I stared at him wide-eyed. I didn’t have anything more to throw at him right then. In what universe was it not clusterfucked to be sleeping with a guy only three years older than your son?

“No, and do you know why it’s not enough?” I shook my head. I honestly didn’t know, but I’d love to find out the magic secret. Maybe he was a crackpot. Nothing bothers those people. “Because nothing you’ve told me so far changes how I feel. You are still the woman I like. A lot. I still find you interesting and sexy as hell. I very much enjoy your company, whether we are conversing over a table or fucking on it.”

I darted my eyes around, but no one was paying us any attention. “So, you still want to come home with me?” Just because I didn’t want to be at the restaurant anymore with him didn’t mean I’d given up on him completely. I was still crazy enough to want the mind-blowing pleasure. Chase wasn’t running for the hills yet, and I still had a handful of months before Daniel returned.

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