“You make me sound like a Casanova.”
“Weren’t you?”
“No. I was not. Yes, I’ve spent time with a number of women, but seduction for its own sake has never interested me. I was … looking for someone. The right someone.” He lowered his head until their noses touched. “You.”
Her heart did that melty thing. “Oh, Rule …”
He kissed her forehead, her cheeks, and finally her lips—sweet, brushing kisses. “Will you please go to sleep now?” He tucked the covers closer around her. “Close your eyes …”
And she did.
The next day was Saturday. Sydney left Rule having breakfast with Trevor and Lani and spent the morning at the office, where things were pretty quiet and she got a lot done.
She returned home at lunchtime and spent the rest of the day with Rule and her son and her best friend. She and Rule went out to dinner that night and then, at home, made slow, wonderful love. They fell asleep with their arms wrapped around each other. Her last thought before she drifted off was that she had it all now. Her life was exactly as she’d once dreamed it might be.
Sunday she stayed home, too. She and Rule took Trevor to the park in the morning. She watched Rule pushing Trev on the swings and thought how already they seemed like father and son. Trev adored him. It was “Roo” this and “Roo” that. The feeling was clearly mutual. Rule seemed to dote on Trev. He never tired of listening to Trev babble on about the things that mattered to a curious two-year-old.
And an older lady, a woman there with her grandson, leaned close to Sydney when they sat on the bench together. “Your boy looks just like his daddy.”
Sydney smiled at the woman. “He does, doesn’t he?”
Later, at lunch, Trev was back into his knock-knock jokes. He and Rule played a never-ending game of them until Sydney put her hands over her ears and begged them to stop.
Trev laughed. “Mama says, ‘No more knock-knock!’“
Rule piped up with, “Mama says, ‘Touch your nose.’“ He touched his nose and then Trev, delighted, touched his. And Rule said, “Mama says, ‘Rub your tummy.’“ They both rubbed their tummies.
Trev caught on about then and they were off on the “Mama” version of Simon Says. Sydney laughed along with them.
The woman at the park had been right. And Lani had noticed the resemblance, too. They were so much alike, really. They even had mannerisms in common—the way they each ti
pped their head, a little to the left, when thoughtful. Even the way they smiled was similar—slow and dazzling.
Sydney supposed it wasn’t all that surprising, how much Trev resembled his new stepdad. The sperm donor she’d chosen had a lot of characteristics in common with Rule—hair and eye color, height and build. And the similarities weren’t only physical. The donor had an advanced degree in business and enjoyed travel and sports. And the description of him compiled by the staff at the cryobank? All about how charming and handsome and bright and dynamic he was. How well-spoken and articulate, a born leader and a good listener. His profile also said that family was important to him and he believed in marriage, that he felt it could and should last a lifetime.
She’d selected that particular donor mostly because he sounded like the kind of man she’d given up on finding. After all, a woman hopes her child might inherit traits that she admires.
A little shiver skittered up her spine as she watched her son and Rule together and compared her husband with the man who had supplied half of her child’s DNA. Life could be so strange and amazing. Really, she’d chosen her own personal fantasy man as her sperm donor, not even realizing that he was destined to materialize in the flesh and promptly sweep her off her feet into their very own happy-ever-after—let alone that he would so quickly become a doting father to her son.
That Sunday was sunny and clear, with a high in the mid-eighties, a little warm for mid-April. It was a great day for splashing around in the pool—which they did as soon as Trevor woke up from his nap. Later, Lani made dinner, a fabulous Greek-style shrimp scampi.
Monday it was off to work again. Rule showed up at a little after eleven. Sydney introduced him around the office and two of the partners were only too happy to join them for lunch at the Mansion.
It was a working lunch, and a very productive one. By the end of it, Rule had set up three dinner dates where he would introduce her colleagues to more potential clients.
After lunch, he returned to the house and she went back to work.
Their days fell into a certain rhythm. The office owned her during the long weekdays, but she spent her nights with her new husband and managed to get most of the weekend free to be with Trevor, too. Rule spent a lot of time with her son and the growing bond between the man and the boy was something special to see. Rule would play with him for hours during the day and read him his bedtime stories most nights.
Sydney worked and worked some more. Rule often appeared to take her to lunch—and he moved forward on the goal he’d set for himself of giving her partners enough new business that they wouldn’t consider themselves cheated when she moved on.
There were more tabloid stories. Sydney didn’t read them, but evidently a few of her coworkers did. She found more than one discarded scandal rag on the lunch table in the break room. Somehow, they’d gotten her high school and college graduation pictures, and there were pictures of Rule, bare-chested on a sailboat with a blonde, and also wearing a tux at some gala event, a gorgeous redhead on his arm. Sydney hardly glanced at them. Rule said that when they got to Montedoro, a press conference would be arranged. They would answer questions for a roomful of reporters and let them take a lot of pictures. That should satisfy them if they hadn’t already moved on to the next big story by then.
Twice during the weeks it took her to finish up at the firm, Rule had to travel. He had business in New York and spent four days in Manhattan. And he also returned briefly to Montedoro to meet with a certain luxury car manufacturer who was considering giving one of his new designs, a sleek high-end sports car, the name “Montedoro.”
Sydney missed him when he was gone. Her bed seemed so empty without him there to keep her warm in the middle of the night. Trev missed him, too. “I sad, Mama. I want Roo,” he would say. And she would remind him that Rule would return soon.
On the last Friday in April, Sydney came home late as usual. Rule was back from Montedoro. He and Lani had waited to have dinner with her. They’d even invited the ever-present but usually silent Joseph to join them. Lani had outdone herself with a crown roast of lamb. Rule opened a lovely bottle of Syrah. And Lani announced that she’d decided to take them up on their offer and come with them to Montedoro.