She swayed it in time to the beat of the music, grinding her body against mine. I honestly couldn’t remember the last time I was a club patron where I intended to dance, not perform, meet people, shake hands, and network.
So, I followed her lead, taking a swig of my beer and my free hand glided from her back to her hip, following her sway as our hips met each other. We grinded together until her body left me with a semi on the dance floor.
My anonymity was short-lived when the music was suddenly cut, and somebody spoke into a microphone.
“Do my eyes deceive me, or is Sebastian Lowe on our dance floor for Boom Boom night?” Everybody began chattering and looking around until all the eyes in the room found Bex and me. And then the cheers began. “Sebastian Lowe, who would’ve ever thought you’d grace our little bar? Would you do us the honor of mixing something for us tonight?”
The DJ pulled off his headset and held it to me as I glanced at Bexley. She lifted one shoulder and then dropped it before smiling.
“If you don’t want to, we can leave. It’s supposed to be a bit of fun.”A bit of fun. When was the last time I honestly did that? As much as I loved my career, it was work and a nonstop kind of work at that.
I couldn’t remember the last time I made music just for fun, so I released my grip on Bexley, pausing long enough to adjust myself in my pants before walking to the DJ table and taking the headset off him.
“Thanks, brother. I appreciate it.” I grabbed the mic and introduced myself, thanking them for letting me join in for their “Boom Boom Night”—whatever that was. I observed the DJ’s setup. Looking at Bexley, I clicked the first song that caught my eye.
“This one is for the most perfect woman I’ve ever had the pleasure of dancing with. And I hope to be able to dance with her for many years to come.” Whitney Houston filled the room as the crowd cheered, and I began remixing it, overlaying several tracks, including “I’ve had the Time of My Life” as a nod to Mountain Resort.
While I played, Bexley danced in front of me, and as I finished the small set, thanking the DJ over the loud chorus of cheers and applause, I slipped back onto the dance floor and grabbed Bex’s hand. I twirled her once before reeling her against my body when the song shifted to a slower tune.
The last time I slow danced with someone was at my wedding to Eleanor. After that, we never danced again, and I never asked. But with Bexley, feeling her against me, knowing how close we could be was all I needed.
“Let’s go outside,” Bexley said with a smile as if she read my mind. We weaved through the bodies and took a set of stairs leading onto an upper patio. The fresh lake air saturated my lungs, and Bex leaned against the rail overlooking the lake, reflecting the full moon. I braced my hands on it, leaning in around her as my lips brushed her ear.
“I don’t want this to be pretend anymore.” After our night on the mountain, I wanted to tell her this but hadn’t the chance yet. It had gone unspoken, but it was too important to let it linger without words. “I’ve loved every minute with you since the moment we met. The more I get to know you, the more I want you in my life for good. When I said I wanted it all the first night, I meant it, but I need to know what you want. I’m not asking you just to pick me, I’m also asking you to pick my kids, and that’s a big change to the life you’ve lived up until now.”
Her hands slid between us, her fingers covering my lips as she stared at me with a soft smile. “Slow down there, Magic Clown. I never said I didn’t want kids. Hell, you never even asked me. You just told me I could only have your cock if you could give me babies.” Maybe I should’ve been embarrassed about my demand, but at the time, I was so consumed by her, only seeing the future I wanted to have with her. Telling her shehadto have my babies might’ve been a bit extreme.
“Sorry,” I mumbled before staring at her, “Do you, though? Do you want kids? Because when I lay at night thinking about what the future holds for you and me, I see Sophie and Tommy, but I also see another child. I see you with a heavily swollen belly. I see smiling and laughing and growing old together. So, I need to know if that’s what you want too.”
“Why wouldn’t I?” She whispered, cupping my face. “Why wouldn’t I want that with you if you’re willing to give it? The other night, when you told me you wanted to impregnate me, I felt excited, not fear. I know how hard it is to ask somebody to come into your life and fill a void you didn’t ever think you wanted to fill. I can only imagine the fear you feel at the idea of asking your children to accept me as a secondary mother. At what that might mean for our relationship. But I want you to know, I don’t want to replace your first wife, and as long as she never holds us back, I most definitely want to be your second.”
Chapter14
Bexley
I couldn’t believethe week was almost over. It was so long and yet so short at the same time. But with Sebastian and his family leaving soon, I needed to make a decision. When it came to us, I was pretty solid. Mostly, I needed to decide whatI was going to do.
I had a contract at the resort I needed to finish. It was my professional responsibility to do it, and yet, at the same time, I couldn’t stop thinking about the song Bastian and I had worked on.
His suggestions about the song while we were writing it made it so much better. Plus, he wanted to produce it, which meant going to LA.
But I still need to look at my contract here and figure out what I could do. I had a bad feeling I would be stuck here until at least September, which meant a month and a half without Bastian. As it stood right now, I could barely stand being gone from him for eight hours—hell, I was barely surviving four hours.
I’d had a short shift today with only two performances, and then I had the rest of the night to spend with Bastian and the kids. We rented a canoe and planned to take them out in it tonight. I was looking forward to that. I loved the water and outdoors, and luckily, so did Sebastian.
Collecting all the toys scattered across the lawn, I threw them into the tote. As I rose and lifted the tote, I tilted it onto my hip and was surprised to find somebody standing there.
Not just anyone—Bastian’s mom.
“Mrs. Lowe,” I said nervously, looking around. She wasn’t supposed to know about this, and I’d done well so far to keep myself in the clubhouse when I could see her and Mr. Lowe walking around. She wasn’t around for the last half hour while the kids played, so where had she come from?
“Hello, Bexley. Do you have a minute to talk?”
A nervous fluttering of butterflies in my stomach began. “Do you have a minute to talk” never ended well, and I suspected she wasn’t here because Sebastian told her. He would’ve warned me.
“Yeah, sure.” I set the tote down and turned to face her with a smile. “What’s up?”
She looked me up and down before her eyes met mine again. “I guess this wasn’t a gig you picked up this week because they were short-staffed.” I licked my lips, suddenly feeling childish and immature for some reason.