Drawn Together (20 page)

“Jesus, Mal why didn’t you tell one of us? Where are you living? I have extra space. You’re welcome to stay as long as you like.” Jonah felt sick for his brother.

“Or with me. Daisy would be happy to have you with us, too. She doesn’t blame you and neither do I.”

“I’m looking for a house. I’ve got an attorney. We’re filing tomorrow or the next day.”

Liesl leaned close to him. “Darling, we love you. I’m sorry you felt you had to do this alone. Please tell us what you need.”

“Well, that was pretty nice.” He smiled at their mother and then around the table. “I needed to do it on my own. I was licking my wounds. I’ve known for a while that things weren’t going to get better.”

“How long?”

“About two years.”

Jonah snorted. They’d only been married two years as it was.

“I shouldn’t have married her. But I thought we could work it through. That once she got to know Daisy she’d lighten up. But it’s more than that.”

“She’s got a thing for Levi.”

“Subtle, Eli. Well done.” Levi sighed.

“Well, am I lying? I mean come on. The way she is about Daisy is ridiculous. It’s more than racism, though clearly that’s part of it. It’s that she would react that way to anyone with him. It’s Levi, not who he’s with. It’s that Mal isn’t Levi.”

“Sweet Christ.” Levi looked to Mal. “I hope you know I’d never do anything to facilitate this crush, if there is indeed one.”

“There is one. It’s more than that. She’s obsessed with you. She had an affair last year. The guy looked just like you.”

There was an uproar around the table and Jonah rapped several times on the tabletop to shut everyone up. “Okay, so we’re outraged. Let’s not make it worse on Mal. He’s doing what is right.”

“Indeed. Thank heavens for the prenup.”

“Cal Whaley did a great job on it.”

“Honestly I just want to be free of her. She can keep the house. I have no desire to turn her out into the street or anything. She’s got a good job. We have no kids. It could be worse. So much worse.”

“Yes, well.” Jonah agreed wholeheartedly.

“What does she say? Have you told her?”

“We had a very big fight on the way home from the benefit. I moved out that night. She thinks I’m working out my mad. My attorney advised me against telling her I was going to file. She’ll be served at work and I’ll have a moving crew go in and take my stuff at the same time. She can have the furnishings that aren’t Warner antiques. I just want what was mine when we got married. The rest is all hers anyway.”

“Well, there’s some hope for you, darling. Levi and Jonah have done much better on their second choices. Just get this marriage dissolved and move on. We’re behind you all the way.”

17

The weeks passed as Seattle moved from the delightful color of early fall to the dreary gray of rainy and cold late November.

To Raven it used to be the time she hightailed it out of the Northwest and sought out Los Angeles or Hawaii. But she had roots now. Reasons to stick around. One of them currently looked through a book of birthday cakes Jules Lamprey, a friend of Gillian’s and a pretty wonderful baker, had brought over to Erin’s.

His fourth birthday was approaching and Erin was planning his party to coincide with Thanksgiving and their annual football grudge match thing that Raven made a point to miss every year. She usually made it a point to fly in after dinner and right before Alexander’s birthday. She’d never miss that.

But now she’d be coming over to Gillian and Adrian’s place to help with the food prep while they all played their football game outside. Because Erin had asked her to.

But for the time being, Alexander was trying to choose a cake.

“I bet Jules could make a TARDIS cake.”

His eyes widened and Jules laughed. “I could. I’ve never made a TARDIS cake, but it would be lots of fun.”

“Can I have a Dalek cake?”

Raven looked it up quickly and turned her iPad to Jules. “Just in case you didn’t know.”

Jules’s smile was one of those brilliant girl-next-door things that seemed to enrapture males of all ages. Birds sang and mice made clothes. Or something. She was pretty okay though, as people went.

“I’m a huge
Doctor Who
fan. I think a Dalek cake would be really awesome. I bet we could put mini doughnuts down the sides.”

Raven nodded. “Doughnuts on a cake? Alexander, I definitely think you should have a Dalek cake.”

His eyes were so wide there wasn’t much to do but lean down to kiss his forehead.

“Yes, please. Doughnuts, Daleks and cake!”

“All right then. I’m sort of excited about this one.” Jules closed the book. “I hear you’re both coming out with us tomorrow night. I haven’t been out dancing in so long.”

Jonah had actually craftily conned her into this “group date” thing. His daughter was coming back home for Thanksgiving and he’d be busy with all that stuff so he wanted a fun-filled evening to tide him over. She assured him she wasn’t upset that he wanted to spend time with his kid, for heaven’s sake. He then told her he wanted Raven and Carrie to meet while she was back in town.

No pressure.

When she opened her door at his knock he took a long, meandering look from the toes of her shoes up to her face. He paused at her nipples, of course.

“You wearing it?”

He meant the chain he’d left in a box on her bed before he’d left to go home several nights before. In it was also the dress she currently wore.

“You spoil me.” And she liked it. She’d never been spoiled before.

“Listen, before we go, I want to talk to you about something.”

“Ugh, really? Am I going to want to punch you in the throat after you tell me?”

He laughed and led her to the couch where he pulled her to sit with him. “I hope not. But it’s been on my mind. Up front, I’m telling you this not because I did anything wrong, but because if you heard about it from someone else you might get hurt and I can’t have that.” He brushed a fingertip over her heart, against the curve of her breast. His fingers sought the cool metal of the choker she always wore. For him.

“You better tell me because now I’m getting worried.”

“At the Halloween thing at Gillian’s, Levi asked me if I wanted him to do a background check on you.”

Was that it? She’d frankly expected him to have done it already anyway. “Oh. Well, what did you find out?”

He shook his head. “I said no. Or rather, look, as he was talking Erin overheard and she was really pissed off. She tore a strip off both of us. Her anger was righteous. She did it to defend you. And you deserved defending. But I was about to tell him no, thanks, when she came down and got in my face.”

Erin hadn’t said a word. Still, it made her smile to imagine what Erin had been like. Her usually laid-back and happy friend could really get scary when people she cared about got threatened.

“I expect your brother was concerned about my lack of stability in the past. He’s just trying to protect you. Though if Erin got that mad he probably made a gold digger comment.” Which would hurt her feelings considering she’d never done anything like that, ever. She was used to being misjudged, but it still sucked.

“Charlotte has treated me like an ATM these last years. Hell, pretty much since day one. She came from money so I figured she was used to a certain level of comfort and as her husband it was my job to provide it. And then when she had Carrie she used to use that to get more from me. A few thousand here to go on spa trips. Plastic surgery. New wardrobes. Whatever. Even after the divorce she was like that. He’s sensitive about it because he saw me get hurt by it. It doesn’t excuse any hurt you’d have felt if it had happened in your earshot, and believe me when I tell you that when Erin was finished defending you, Levi felt like complete and utter shit. He likes you. He was just trying to protect me. Anyway, I’m not doing it and he’s never asked again. I was going to let it be once I figured Erin hadn’t told you, but I began to panic about how hurt you might be if you heard it from anyone else but me.”

She shook her head. “I don’t even know what to do with you. I mean, the sex stuff, sure. But the heart stuff? I don’t know how to manage it. If you’d done the background check, you know you could have found out about whatever happened in my past. You’d have answers to your questions.”

“I want to find out from you. Your past, the things you’ve endured and survived, aren’t something I should hear from reports. They’re yours. To go around you and find out when you’ve slowly been revealing yourself to me would be a rejection of what you mean to me. I admire you for how you survived. It’s your story, you should tell it.”

She looked up at the ceiling to hold back the tears, blinking quickly. “I don’t know how to do this stuff. I’ve never been in a relationship before.”

He took her hand, kissing her fingertips. “Sure you have. You’re in a relationship with Erin, who is quite the defender, let me tell you. She loves you. You’re in a relationship with Alexander. Hell, and Poppy and Martine. Rennie, who stares at you like you’re a disco ball or something equally shiny and miraculous.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

“I know. But you seem to think you can’t do this simply because no one has really been worth it before. And I’m telling you, you
have
made a commitment to people and you’ve done it successfully. And you’ve made one to me. And that’s pretty damned successful too. I love you, Raven. You make my heart beat faster, even when you’re being particularly vexing. I want to be worth it for you, the way you are for me.”

She swallowed past a knot of emotion. “You don’t love me. You can’t love me. I’m a novelty, nothing more.”

“You really make me angry when you say stuff like that. I’m not twenty, or a fucking cat. I can tell the difference between novelty and love. I’ve loved you since the start.”

“I’m sorry. I’m not trying to hurt your feelings or offend you. But see how I am? I do it without even trying. I can’t fit into your world of benefits and swanky dinners and people with names everyone knows. I’m not that girl.”

“You’re
my
girl. That’s what counts. Can’t you see that? I had a wife who looked good on my arm at parties and was nothing more. You’re so much more than that. Can’t you see yourself? Hm? You’re here in Seattle for Erin and Brody. And Alexander. You do for other people all the time. They don’t even need to ask, you just do it. You’re something so special.”

“And you.”

He cocked his head.

“I’m in Seattle for you.”

He smiled. “Yeah?”

She nodded, not knowing what else to say, so she just kept quiet.

He pulled her close, kissing her temple. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. About the whole background-check thing.”

“You didn’t tell me to spare my feelings. I get it, Jonah. You’re rich. Good god, I’d be such a liar if I pretended I didn’t know that. Levi wanted to protect that, and given the women you all married, well, I get it. If you want to run a check, I won’t be hurt. I don’t have an arrest record. I have five figures in the bank. I own this condo and my car. Well, I pretty much own the condo; I only have a year of payments left. The point is, I don’t have any real debt. Mainly because I didn’t really stay in any place for very long to accrue it. I live simply except for my addiction to travel and panties. I do like nice underwear. Probably comes from wearing hand-me-downs and garage-sale stuff for most of my childhood. I don’t want your money, but I love the presents you give me. I’m with you because of who you are to me, not to everyone else.”

“You say you don’t know how to do this, but you’re doing just fine.”

He was so glad he’d told her. He’d been worrying over the last month about it. Vacillating between wanting to let it go and wanting to tell her so it wouldn’t pop up to hurt her.

A weight was off his shoulders and after their conversation, she never ceased to touch and surprise him. Things felt good. Better than ever.

And now he watched her move. Goddamn. They’d done a little dancing when he’d taken her to the big band club the month before. But this . . .

A distinctly Latin remix played in the club and she switched her hips back and forth in time with the beat, her tits moving just right, enough to render him so hard it nearly hurt. Of course, knowing she wore the chain helped too.

He just stood there and let her make him look good. He’d confessed he wasn’t much for club dancing and that’s what she’d told him.

She backed up to him, whipping her hair back. He slid his hands over her shoulders and then down to her hips. Her head was turned to the side, her gaze locked with his as she brushed that luscious ass against his cock and then dropped it low, stood, bent at the waist and pressed back as she slowly stood again when the song ended and something else came on.

Her hands went up and he held her waist as she stayed against him. This was his woman. Oh, he saw the glances. Saw that some of the people knew her. One or two of them actually got near enough for her to shake her head no and turn back to him. Far from feeling jealous, it made him hot all over. Others may have wanted her, but she was his. Totally and utterly.

That was fucking sexy.

Finally after a while she turned to him, encircling his neck with her arms. “I need a drink. I’m hot.”

He bent to kiss her. “You sure are. I think I can buy you a drink in thanks for all the entertainment your ass has given me all night long.”

He walked in front of her, keeping her behind him, one arm reached back to keep her against him and to take the bulk of the crowd so she wouldn’t get bumped.

“What would you like?” he asked when they finally reached the table where their group had set up.

“A water and a cosmo. Please.”

She scooted in next to Erin and he followed. The waitress caught his eye and came over. He indicated a reorder of what everyone already had at the table and got his and Raven’s drinks.