“He’s always done that,” Piper admitted. “He goes flat-out and then drops like a stone.”
“It could be because he motors over the floor like a Formula One racer.”
Piper lifted her hands, not understanding. “What are you talking about?”
“His crawling.”
Piper shook her head. “He isn’t crawling yet.”
“He crawled from the den into the kitchen and spent the evening crawling all over the floor,” Jaeger said, both hands on Ty as he swung his legs down and sat up in a fluid, easy movement.
“That really sucks,” Piper muttered, standing up.
“Shouldn’t I have let him crawl? Is that a problem?”
Piper heard the worry in Jaeger’s voice, the self-doubt, and her feelings of resentment instantly disappeared. “No, of course not. I would’ve just loved to see him crawl for the first time. It’s a big deal, and I wanted to be here.”
“I’m sorry,” Jaeger said, still holding her sleeping son—their son—in his brawny arms.
“It’s okay.” And it was. Jaeger had missed out on so much; she could give him this moment with Ty. And if she didn’t tell him about Ty, soon, he’d miss out on him walking and talking, his first day at school...
Cool your jets, Mills. It all depended on whether he was prepared to be part of Ty’s life or not.
You weren’t going to think about that again tonight, remember?
Piper stepped forward to take Ty from Jaeger, but Jaeger shook his head. “I’ll put him in his crib if that’s okay.”
“Sure.” Piper nodded and watched as Jaeger left the room, the gift he’d given her in his arms.
As Jaeger stepped into the hallway, Piper saw him duck down to drop a soft kiss on Ty’s head. The gesture of affection made the urge to tell him he was Ty’s father rise within her once more.
It was one kiss, Mills. You can’t spill your guts because of one spontaneous gesture in the middle of the night.
Ty looked angelic. Anyone with a heart would want to kiss his gorgeous face. It didn’t mean Jaeger would be a good dad, that he would be there for Ty every step of the way.
Midnight kisses given to sleeping babies were easy; kisses after grueling days were a lot more difficult to dole out.
It didn’t matter. Jaeger wasn’t going to be around long enough to prove anything to anybody. In a couple of weeks, this would all be over. The stones would be sold, she’d own her house and Jaeger would be on the road again, searching for amazing jewels. The order of the universe would be restored.
If that was what she wanted, what she craved, then why did she feel sick at the thought of a life without Jaeger in it?
Nine
Jaeger placed a kiss in the center of Piper’s back and glanced at the weak sunlight behind the curtains. Piper didn’t stir, so Jaeger pulled back and rested his head in his hand, his other hand sweeping over the smooth, creamy skin of Piper’s back and butt.
He should leave soon, and he knew he should let her sleep, but part of him wanted to wake Piper up and make love to her again. After putting Ty to bed last night, he’d kept her busy until the early hours of this morning. So, yeah, he should let her sleep.
Jaeger released a frustrated sigh and looked around her bedroom. It was full of color—bold, bright jewel tones ranging from the dark teal wall behind him to the scarlet chair in the corner, the multicolored cushions he’d tossed from the bed to the floor before he’d lowered her naked body to the multihued comforter. Her love of art was revealed by a collection of sketches grouped on the far wall and the sexy abstract painting above their heads. It was wild and bright and bold, perfect adjectives to describe his lover.
His temporary lover, Jaeger amended. This wasn’t going anywhere, couldn’t go anywhere. He was in the country only until he’d finalized the deal to buy the Kashmir Blues. To complete the deal, he needed to find something proving where the stones came from and explaining Piper’s connection to the sapphires. After he’d dotted those i’s and crossed those t’s, he was out of here; there were Colombian emeralds to find, deep blue tanzanite to discover in Kenya, alexandrite in Siberia. He had places to visit, stones to buy.