Not happening. Not to Ty.
Jaeger didn’t want a family, didn’t want children.
Ty needed, deserved, a crazy-about-him dad.
But still...didn’t Jaeger deserve to know?
God, she was so confused. Her heart and brain were at odds, and she really didn’t know what to do.
He’s only been back in your life, in Ty’s life, for a week. You don’t need to make this decision now.
Piper latched on to the thought. So much had happened, she kept forgetting Jaeger had reentered her life only a week ago today; she was allowed to slow down, to take a breath. She was feeling emotional and stressed. It was very late. She didn’t need to deal with this now.
Piper watched as Jaeger’s eyes opened. He yawned and turned his head, his eyes connecting with hers. Desire flared, and Piper felt the moisture drying up in her mouth. The special spot between her legs started to tingle, and she briefly wished his mouth was licking her to a fiery orgasm. He would be naked, she would be naked and she would climb on top of him...
“Hey, how was the exhibition?” Jaeger asked in a sexy, sleep-roughened voice.
Exhibition? What exhibition? Piper sent him a blank look.
Jaeger lifted an amused eyebrow. “You did go to see Latimore’s latest work, didn’t you?”
Oh, right. Latimore. Sculptures. Sage slapping him.
God, Piper wished she wasn’t so ridiculously attracted to her baby’s father. Earlier she’d stared at one of Latimore’s pieces for more than twenty minutes, because it reminded her of this man.
“Ah, yes. The exhibition was—” Piper hesitated “—interesting.”
Jaeger’s hand moved up Ty’s back to hold his head. Ty, fast asleep, didn’t react. “A good or bad interesting?” Jaeger asked, his voice a low rumble.
“His works were dynamic and flat-out brilliant. Supersexy.”
Jaeger lifted an amused, and interested, eyebrow. “Really?”
“Mmm. There was one piece I couldn’t stop looking at. It reminded me of you...naked.”
Jaeger flashed his heart-stopping smile. “Were you having naughty thoughts about me, Ms. Mills?”
“I was.”
“I like it.”
“I thought you might,” Piper said, her tone dry. “Oh, and Latimore kissed Sage and she slapped him, hard,” Piper reluctantly admitted.
Jaeger’s low laugh surprised her.
Piper frowned at him. “You’re not upset? The incident is going to be breaking news in the morning.”
Jaeger managed a quick shrug. “If you’re worried about being in the news then you have no business being a Ballantyne.” The corners of his mouth kicked up in amusement. “You are dying to know their history, aren’t you?”
She wished she could deny it but...of course she was. “It was a hell of a kiss and a hell of a slap,” Piper admitted. “Anyone would be curious—in fact, rumors were flying—but if it’s a big secret, then I can live without knowing what it is.” She wasn’t a hypocrite. Sage was entitled to keep her past buried, just as Piper was.
“It’s not a big deal,” Jaeger explained. “They had a thing and something went wrong.”
Piper looked at Jaeger, waiting for more. What went wrong? What happened? “That’s it? That’s all you’re going to tell me?”
“Shh.” Jaeger pointed to the sleeping Ty. “That’s all I know because that’s all she told us.”
“And you didn’t pry?”
“Uh, no. She cried, we threatened to kill him, she threatened to kill us if we interfered and Connor told us to stay out of it, so we did.”
Rats, Piper thought. She wouldn’t know anything more than the gossip she’d heard. Damn these Ballantynes for being so damn intriguing, and interesting. And contrary.
Talking about contrary...
“Why is Ty sleeping on your chest and not in his crib?” Piper asked.
Jaeger twisted his neck to look down at Ty, his mouth curving into a grin. “Ah, that. Well, we were drinking beer and smoking cigars and watching a porno horror flick—”
“You were not,” Piper interrupted, unable to keep the amusement out of her voice.
“Okay, we were watching the game, and midway through me explaining how a technical foul worked, he conked out. Blam! Lights out.”