Page 46 of The Trouble With Her (The Forbidden Love 4)

As soon as he leaves, Jessa lifts Bentley from his highchair and suggests we take a walk outside.

The day isn’t as overcast, with pockets of blue skies appearing here and there. The grounds of their property are large, manicured hedges and what seems to be a maze toward the left. Everything is so green, a vast difference from the desert environment we grew up in.

There’s a small outdoor setting near a patch of grass. Jessa places Bentley on the ground so he can explore. He notices a plane in the sky, pointing to it while trying to mouth out the word. It gives me a moment to ask the burning question on the tip of my tongue.

“So, you just quit writing?”

Jessa folds her arms across her chest with a gaze that flicks upward. My honesty has struck a nerve, yet perhaps it needs to.

“I didn’t just quit. As I said, I’m having a break.”

I nod, then purse my lips.

“What?”

“Nothing,” I say, shrugging my shoulders.

“Your nothing is always a something.”

“You’re taking a break, I heard you.”

“No, you didn’t. You think I quit because Benedict’s family insisted I be a wife and mother.”

“Well, did they?”

“You know what, Andy?” Her sudden change in mood is so typically Jessa. “Life isn’t easy. Sometimes we have to make sacrifices.”

“There’s making sacrifices, but you should always come first.”

Jessa shakes her head as her lips press into a white slash. Then a smile plays on her lips, oddly so. Finally, she lowers her gaze, but whatever I said appears to be amusing.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing,” she’s quick to respond.

I cock my head, sighing heavily with exaggeration. “Go on. You know you want to say something.”

“It’s inappropriate.”

“We crossed that line when you offered to give me a manscape of a lightning bolt,” I remind her.

A sly grin graces her beautiful face, giving me a glimpse of the Jessa I remember.

“I was drunk on various liquor we poured into a bowl because it was all we could find in your apartment. Thankfully, you rejected my offering.”

“Best decision of my life,” I mutter. “So, what was so funny about what I said? I mean it, you should always come first, Jessa.”

She clears her throat, but with her lips pressed flat, suppressing her smile, I can see something is still amusing her.

“I guess coming first wouldn’t be so selfish.”

And then the penny drops. How stupid of me not to see that. Being around professional people who have no sense of humor has rubbed off on me.

If Jessa were mine, she would be first every goddamn time.

My pants leave nothing for the imagination, forcing me to look into the sky and think of anything to calm my dick down. Seriously, the last time I slept with a woman was Nina, and that didn’t turn out great.

“Some things never change with you,” Jessa muses. “Lucky, you’re single.”

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