로그인I stared at her. “A boy,” I repeated.“My son.”“Who’s only a few weeks along.”“Three months,” she said too quickly, then smoothed out her voice. “I mean, early trimester.”I looked at her a little longer.Three months.The number lit up faintly in the back of my mind, but I didn’t pick it up yet. Because Poppy had just been mentioned like an item in an inheritance meeting, and that took priority.I closed the folder with one finger. “Kelsey.”I watched her swallow.“What do you want?”“I want you to stay away from Sebastian.”I laughed, one short sound that made the woman at reception glance over, then immediately pretend to be deeply occupied with her computer screen.“You’ve got nerve.”“I’m serious.”“Worse.”“You and Poppy need to stay away from him.”“Don’t put my daughter’s name in your mouth again,” I growled softly.Kelsey pressed her lips together. “I’m trying to warn you.”“With inheritance documents and a male fetus. Very maternal.”“Sebastian’s father isn’t going to let
I sighed and walked ahead of her to take a seat at the quiet end of the lobby.There were two low chairs near the side window, separated by a small round table with nothing on it but a slim vase of white flowers. Very corporate. Very clean. Very inappropriate for a conversation with the woman who had once turned my marriage into an expensive pile of rubble.I sat first because I didn’t want her choosing the chair that would leave my back to the room.Kelsey sat across from me, knees together, handbag in her lap, that camel coat still folded too neatly over her arm. She used to sit like that in the waiting area outside Sebastian’s office, shoulders slightly hunched, big eyes, soft voice, making everyone want to give her a second chance before she had even used the first one properly.I had once been one of those idiots.“So,” I said, setting my coffee on the table. “Talk before I change my mind and have security remove you in a way that still fits my company branding.”Kelsey opened he
I stared at him for a few seconds. “Congratulations?”“It wasn’t an announcement.”“It sounds like something that should be printed on a Christmas card.”The corner of his mouth moved slightly, but his eyes didn’t join the joke. “I was just answering your question.”“I didn’t ask one.”“You spent almost ten minutes investigating the lingerie in my closet.”“That was situational observation.”“That was jealousy.”I lifted my mug. “This is hot coffee. Choose your next word carefully.”Sebastian moved closer instead.Just one step, but enough to change the space between us from a normal conversation into something wildly inappropriate to be doing in a kitchen while our child was screaming about the human rights of her bangs a few doors away.I stayed where I was. If I stepped back now, the man would keep that tiny victory until he died and probably put it in his will.“There is no other woman,” he repeated quietly.“I heard you.”“Hasn’t been for a long time.”“I heard that part too. My
“I see?” I repeated. “That’s your response?”“What response were you expecting?”“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe something that starts with, ‘Jasmine, there’s a perfectly normal explanation for why my house has a miniature women’s department store hidden inside my bedroom.’”“It’s not hidden.”“The door was closed.”“Closets tend to have doors.”I hated him. “And the robe.”“The robe.”“The ivory robe.”“I know what ivory looks like.”“Well, at least your education paid off.”Sebastian picked up his coffee and leaned lightly against the counter.“Because this is fascinating. Yesterday, you said no woman lives here.” I kept going before he could introduce logic into the conversation.“Correct.”“No Kelsey.”“Correct.”“And then this morning I wake up and find a women’s robe in your bathroom, lingerie in your closet, sweaters in a very specific size, and enough clothes to make me question whether you’re secretly running a socialite relocation program.”He drank his coffee.I stared at him. “Ar
I wanted to hit him with a croissant.Unfortunately, there wasn’t a croissant within reach. Just a fruit bowl, a coffee pot, and one four-year-old staring back and forth between us like she’d just discovered the first scandal of her journalism career.“Mommy, but if it wasn’t mosqui—”“Why is your hair sticky?”The most elegant subject change in the history of diplomacy.Poppy stopped immediately.Sebastian lowered his gaze to the small head in his arms.I set down my mug, stepped closer, and pulled at one long strand of Poppy’s hair stuck to the side of her cheek. My fingertip immediately met something sweet and sticky.I looked at my finger, then at Poppy. “This is syrup.”Poppy’s eyes went wide. “No.”I held up my shiny finger. “Poppy.”“It might be honey.”“Worse.”“I don’t know how it got there.”Sebastian turned slightly toward her. “You poured syrup onto your pancake from a foot above it.”“It was technique.”“You hit the table.”“I’m still learning.”“You hit Bunny.”Poppy imm
I stopped in front of the mirror.It fit perfectly.The shoulders fell exactly where they should. The belt sat at the right point. The hem hit mid-thigh. Modest enough, indecent enough, enough to make me look like a mafia wife, well, maybe like Krystal, who had just taken control of the family resort after three elegant murders.I narrowed my eyes. “Interesting,” I muttered.I walked out of the bathroom, then noticed the walk-in closet door was slightly open.I shouldn’t have gone in.I really shouldn’t have.But I had already ruined my life once because of a computer that hadn’t been logged out. Apparently, I learned nothing. Or maybe I was simply the kind of woman who saw a secret door and immediately opened it while carrying fire and family problems.Sebastian’s walk-in closet, unsurprisingly, had never heard of the concept of enough.The left side was suits.A lot of suits.Black, navy, charcoal, several shades of gray that could only be distinguished by rich people and Daniella.







