To Hate Adam Connor

The line went quiet for a beat. “What do you mean am I still representing your wife?”

I ground my teeth. “Ex-wife.”

“I’m sorry, Adam. It takes getting used to, you know. Well, of course we’re still representing Adeline. Actually, I talked to Helena earlier today and she thinks it’s smarter for you two to get in front of the cameras together and show the world that you’re a united front, that you’ll always do what’s best for Aiden and stay friends, but I assumed you wouldn’t go for that. Is that why you asked?”

“No.” His use of the word ‘world’ raised my hackles again, as if I gave a shit what the world thought of my relationship with Adeline. I managed to keep my anger under control and continued. “There won’t be any need for scheduling interviews, Michel.” I tapped my knuckles on the counter after I put the water bottle down. “I know you’re good at what you do, and I wish I had the time to do this face to face, but I’ve decided to get a different PR team.”

“Give me a second, my office is too crowded right now.” I heard a door click shut. “What do you mean? Is that why you asked about Adeline? I can put together another team to handle her PR if that’s the problem.”

“That’s not necessary. You can keep her on. I just think it’s time we went our separate ways. You do a great job for my parents, and from what I can see in the media, for Adeline too, but I don’t think we’re a good fit anymore.”

“Adam, why don’t you come down to my office so we can talk about what you want? This isn’t the right time for you to make big changes like this or to be irresponsible in your life. You need to focus on your image and let your team handle the rest. I highly suggest we create an opportunity where they can snap some photos of you and Adeline with Aiden.”

I let out a long, humorless laugh and shook my head. “You really have your priorities straight, don’t you? Unfortunately, you’re not that high on my list, Michel. Yes, I’ve had to make big changes lately, but this is definitely not one of them. I’ll have my attorneys contact you about our contract, and we’ll take it from there. You’re a beast, Michel, you really are a PR guru, but it’s just not working anymore.”

Ignoring his words, I ended the call and felt like a huge weight had lifted off my shoulders. This was the easy step. Finding another PR firm was going to be a different nightmare altogether, one I didn’t care for but knew was necessary.

Noticing Dan come back inside, I headed for my room to take a quick shower and change.

Chapter Five

Lucy

Since my feet were starting to kill me from standing on the ladder for almost an hour, when I saw Adam heading inside, I was just about ready to get down and head inside myself so I could bake some chocolate chip cookies for Olive and Jason before they arrived—or at least give it my best try—as a thank you for letting me stay with them.

But instead of following his father, the kid stayed back, so I assumed Adam was coming back too. However, that didn’t happen. Instead of Adam, the girl I’d seen around a few times—presumably the nanny—called out to the boy and then disappeared back inside.

Pretty sure the day’s festivities were over, I took a step down. When my eye caught the kid glancing back at the house and then back at the pool, I hesitated. Why would they leave him out there alone? Thinking a few more minutes wouldn’t hurt the cookie-making process, I decided to wait. Suddenly the boy smiled and reached for the arm floats Adam had taken off him.

Speaking of taking things off, I might have pictured him taking something—anything really—off me a few times here and there. I’m shameless, I know. Can’t help it; the guy looked too lickable for his own good when he was half-naked.

After a few tries, the kid managed to pull one of them on, leaving it around his elbow. However, the second one…despite multiple attempts, he couldn’t get that one on. So as any other kid his age would, he gave up and chucked it away. When he took his first step into the pool from the shallow end, I started to get nervous. Surely he knows how to swim, right? I mean, sure he had arm floats on whenever I saw him get in the water, but they would’ve taught him, right? They probably had an Olympic pool at their house—the one his wife was living in right now—not that I was keeping track or anything.

When the water reached almost to his chest, I started to panic earnestly. That float didn’t look secure on his arm at all, and if he didn’t know how to swim, would one arm float even keep him above the water? On top of all that, the kid didn’t look too sure in the water.

Risking getting caught, I tried to get his attention.

“Psssstttt! Hey, kid! Hello?”

He finally heard me and looked straight at me.

Did he know I’d been staked out over the wall for days?

Grinning, he waved at me.

Shit!

Before I had enough time to panic and get down from the damn ladder, the kid just went for it and hopped in, face first, arms splashing and legs kicking. From what I’d seen the last few days, that was pretty much his style, but when the float slipped off his arm because of the way he moved…my heart just about stopped.

At first he seemed okay and I was able to breathe again; he knew how to swim after all…but then it all went to hell. He panicked, his head disappeared under the water, and it was quiet for a second…a stillness that was too much for me to take. Then he came up—or more like his head came up while his arms flailed, eyes big with fear.

“Shit.” Cursing, I climbed the last two steps and looked around. Nope, no one was coming out. Hell, no one even knew anything was wrong.

“Shit! Fuck! Shit!” Making sure I was cursing repeatedly—because, trust me, the situation most definitely required that—I straddled the wall as fast as I could and basically tumbled down the rest of the way.

I landed on my hands and knees, my phone a few feet away, my face inches away from the ground, and before I could get up, the kid disappeared under the water again.

“Jesus,” I moaned before getting up and blindly running to get to him. I yelled, “Where the hell are you, people?” but didn’t see anyone coming out of the damn house. When I hit the water, his head came up again, his arms barely splashing water anymore as he gulped for air. If he had just stayed calm, he would’ve noticed that he was able to stay afloat, but how can you expect a five-year-old not to panic and get scared when he couldn’t find his footing?

I jumped in and swam toward him. It had all happened in maybe fifteen seconds, twenty tops, and when I caught him under his arms and held his head above the water so he could breathe, my heart was just about ready to fly out of my chest.

Those few seconds had shaved off at least ten years of my life. Hell, my youth was practically gone. I was fully in the right to demand payment from the sexy-as-hell dad in the form of orgasms.

Finally I hit the steps and gathered him in my arms. The kid, probably scared out of his mind, threw his arms around my neck and held on for dear life as he coughed and took big breaths of air in between. Out of the pool, I dropped down to my knees so he could feel safer when his feet hit the ground, but even then he didn’t let go of me.

“It’s okay,” I assured him. I had to untangle his arms from my neck so I could take a look at his face and make sure he was all right. “It’s okay. You’re good.”