Well, no longer. She’d run off to the island to wrap her head around the changes to come, and she felt strong enough now to handle things herself. If Knox thought she’d allow him to make their decisions and control her, he had a lot to learn about Jade Dare.
The plane landed. They gathered their bags and the door opened. Knox stepped out first, turning to take her hand so he could help her down the steps and onto the tarmac. He was a gentleman, and she couldn’t complain about that part of his personality.
They met up with Asher by his car. He immediately pulled her into a long, brotherly hug—one she needed.
“Tell me you’re okay,” he said as he stepped back to study her.
“I am, just like I told you every day when I called you as promised.” She kissed his cheek. “Thanks for worrying. But I’m good.”
Asher looked over her shoulder at Knox, her brother’s worried expression turning into more of a scowl, lips turned down, eyebrows, too.
Jade poked Asher in his side. “Cut it out. Knox took good care of me.”
Instead of being reassured, Asher’s frown grew fiercer. “I don’t want to know how.”
“Eew! Stop!”
Knox stepped forward and extended his hand until Asher had no choice but to accept.
“There. That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Jade asked. “You told him where I was and arranged for the jet to take him there. So what’s your problem now?”
“I feel like something’s going on, and I want to know what it is.” Asher’s gaze darted from Jade to Knox and back again.
“We’ll talk in private,” she said.
Knox cleared his throat. “Actually, I thought we could all sit down and have an adult conversation.”
Jade closed her eyes, counted to five, then opened them again. She didn’t have time to go for ten. She turned to Knox. “I told you I’d like to discuss this with my brother. Alone.”
Frowning again, Asher held up both hands in a stop gesture. “As it happens, the family is at Serenity and Dad’s house. They expect me to bring you home to see them. Then we can go back to the city.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Really? You ghosted them. We’re not the kind of family that goes without talking and texting almost daily.” He had a point. They had group chats for different types of things. Jade, Nick, and Michael for business, the whole family for check-ins and family gatherings, etc.
She swallowed hard. “How many of them are there?”
“All of them.” Asher folded his arms across his chest, looking smug.
Knox stepped closer to her and whispered in her ear. “No running. Not from them and especially not from me. We don’t want this to turn into a game of hide-and-seek.”
She stiffened at his reminder.
“And Jade?” he asked.
She met his serious gaze and looked into his handsome, tanned face. “I will always find you.”
Something about the way he said that sent tremors of awareness oozing through her veins, much the way arousal did when his lips traveled over her body. That was something he’d done often while they’d been alone on the island. He hadn’t had to talk her into anything sexually. They were already sharing a bed. It made sense for them to be together. Especially the first morning, when she’d woken up entangled in his arms, chest to chest, her cheek against his, her body wrapped around him like a spider monkey. With her being pregnant and them both having been tested recently, sex without a condom had been natural as he’d slid into her wet heat.
“I don’t want to know where you just went in your head or why your cheeks are red and flushed,” Asher muttered. “Can we make a decision? Who’s coming to Greenwich?”
Jade made the mistake of looking at Knox, who grinned, then winked at her.
Asher groaned.
And Jade’s face flamed redder. “Fine! Let’s all go!” She raised her arms and gestured to the waiting car, eager to end the embarrassment.
She walked toward the limousine, head high, knowing she’d rather face the guillotine than announce to her entire family that she was pregnant… and Knox was the father.