Piper tossed the phone onto the cushions of her couch. So excited she was unable to sit down, she walked the carpet in front of her blank TV, holding her wine and willing Jaeger to call her back. God, she was bursting with excitement, and there was no one else she could tell about this... There was no one else she wanted to tell.
* * *
Piper pushed her fist into her sternum. No matter what, Jaeger would always be the person she wanted to talk to first. Whether it was about Ty, or a piece of art that excited her, or a memory that made her cry or laugh, Jaeger was the only person she wanted to tell.
He was the one she wanted to go to bed with. His was the voice she wanted to listen to for the rest of her life. She wanted to watch him interact with Ty, wanted to make another child with him. She wanted to grow old with him, laugh with him, love him.
God, she loved him.
Loved. Him.
Her cell phone buzzed and Piper, seeing the light indicating a message, felt her heart go into overdrive. Jaeger! Yay. Her clumsy fingers pulled up the message, and her heart plummeted when she saw it was from Ceri, telling Piper to tune in to a local TV channel. The ten exclamation points indicated that tuning in was vitally important, so Piper pointed the remote at the TV and found the right station.
It was a typical scene from any entertainment show—velvet ropes holding the peasants away from the popular folks, the bright and beautiful of New York working the red carpet. Piper looked at the headline and realized it was the entrance to Moreau’s Ball, the most glamorous social event on the city’s calendar.
“As I promised earlier,” the slick presenter stated, “I’m about to chat with Jaeger Ballantyne. He’s just leaving the limousine with the rest of the Ballantyne clan. Dear Lord, they are a good-looking bunch! Jaeger, over here!”
Piper watched, fascinated, as Jaeger fastened the button of his designer tuxedo and ran a hand down his solid black tie. Sage stood just behind him, wearing a gold gown and to-die-for shoes, dwarfed by her bigger, brawnier brothers. The siblings started to make their way up the carpet, and paparazzi cameras flashed.
Jaeger stepped up to the presenter, who stroked Jaeger’s biceps. Piper glared at the screen. “How nice to see you, Jaeger.”
“Annette, how are you doing?” Jaeger replied.
“Why, just wonderful. Thank you for asking.” Annette’s voice slid into a drawl, and Piper rolled her eyes.
After a lot of sickening simpering and inane questions, Annette went in for the kill. “This is the premier event on the social calendar. I would’ve expected you to have a date on your arm. So why are you here alone?”
Jaeger sighed and shrugged. “It’s a special event and, as per usual, there’s no one special in my life. So I thought I’d do this solo.”
There’s no one special in his life...
Wait! Stop! Think! You’re an adult and you know how dangerous the press can be. You’re intelligent enough to know that what is said isn’t always what is meant. Jaeger might not be in love with you, but he’s been fairly damn wonderful.
Before you hang, draw and quarter him, give him the benefit of the doubt. That’s what adults do.
But why those words?
Of all the billions of words he could’ve thrown together, why did he choose the one phrase that had the ability to unravel her?
Piper stared at Jaeger’s image on the screen, watched him give Annette an air kiss and kept her eyes on him as he walked down the red carpet and disappeared into the venue. Piper licked her lips as her heart shriveled up and died. The annoying presenter was talking, but Piper couldn’t hear anything but Jaeger’s words on a continuous loop.
There’s no one special in his life...
Piper knew she was on a downward spiral, losing her grip on rationality, but she couldn’t help it. Destructive emotions flooded her system as her inner insecure girl started to panic.
She was nothing to him. What she’d thought they had was nothing. Sleeping with her was okay but taking her out in public, being seen with her, was another kettle of stinky fish. Piper felt herself rolling back in time, asking her father to take her to the park and him refusing.
Asking if she could take his name and him refusing.