Page 34 of 7+Us Makes Nine

“Yes, Michaela?”

“Pancakes?”

“Oh, yeah! Can we have pancakes?” Ivan asked.

“With blueberry syrup?” Dmitri asked.

“Oh, so you guys want pancakes,” I said. “What about the eggs I just made?”

“I’ll take those,” Jace said as he came around the corner.

I stole a glance at him and he winked at me before I had the kids’ attention again.

“Pwease?” Michaela asked.

“Dad said he’ll eat the eggs,” Ivan said.

“Uh oh. Is something Dad’s fault now?” Jace asked.

“Nope. But you do get to have six scrambled eggs for breakfast,” I said.

“Sounds like a decent appetizer,” he said with a grin.

The two of us danced around the kitchen while I made the kids pancakes. Every once in a while, I’d feel his hand grace my thigh. Or tap my ass. At one moment, his lips quickly brushed against my cheek. And for the past two weeks, it had been this way. Stealing touches and moments when we could before unleashing ourselves upon the other once the kids went to bed. We still felt it was pertinent to keep our romance from the children. After all, they were going through enough changes and transitions for the time being. Michaela had expressed an interest in preschool, so she had just finished her first full week. Dmitri was still asking about his mother from time-to-time. Ivan was constantly asking back doing sports or going to a summer camp, which meant research on both mine and Jace’s part to see what would fit into our quickly-busying schedules.

We figured adding our affections into the mix wasn’t good for them at the moment.

I fixed up the pancakes and poured blueberry syrup over them. Jace delivered the plates so I could make myself a cup of coffee, then I watched as all of them began to eat. I’d never been a big breakfast eater. My main meal was lunch. Massive salads loaded up with all sorts of vegetables before being slathered in my favorite homemade vinaigrette dressing. That was where it was at for me. I watched Jace talk and play around with his kids on their Saturday morning, and every once in a while he’d look up at me and grin.

And that grin would tell me all I needed to know about my evening with him.

“So what are your plans for your day off, Catherine?” he asked.

“Actually, I figured I’d stick around here. If it’s okay with you guys,” I said.

“You wanna come play with us?” Ivan asked.

“Dad said we’re going and doing a surprise today,” Dmitri said.

“Oh really. What kind of surprise?” I asked.

“If I told you, then it wouldn’t be a surprise,” Jace said.

“Supwise!” Michaela exclaimed. “Swimming?”

“No, sweetheart. We aren’t going swimming. But, the surprise does have something to do with water,” Jace said.

I furrowed my brow as he took a massive bite of his eggs. For the rest of the meal, the kids hounded him. Begged for clues and kept guessing the most insane things imaginable. Were they going to a hotel to swim? Were they going to the public pool to swim? Were they going to the ocean for the day even though it was supposed to storm all day? Were they going to play in the rain? Were they going to fill the house up with water and swim around in it?

I threw my head back at that one and laughed.

“Are we getting a pet alligator?” Dmitri asked.

“Where in the world do you guys come up with these things?” Jace asked.

“I’m telling you. Their imaginations are incredible,” I said.

“Or maybe they simply have an incredible nanny that helps them expand their imaginations,” he said.

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