15

“Over the first week of the winter break, would you and Miles come to Miami with me?”

She looked up from where she’d been working on her computer just a few feet away. He’d set up a mini workstation at her house and she’d begun to get used to him there.

“I have some meetings to attend. There’s a producer I really want to work with for my new CD and he’s going to be in the U.S. for a short period of time. I have to go for a few days and I thought it might be a fun family trip to take. And, well, I’d like to introduce Miles to my team.”

At his excited nervous tone, she turned in her chair to face him fully.

It would come. She knew this. Knew that their blissful time of anonymity would end at some point and it would become widely known that Adrian had a son. His people knew already, and they weren’t the only ones.

This alarmed her most. The way that something Miles had come to take for granted like his relationship with his dad could put him at risk and threaten his privacy. Already some in the press knew, like the prat who showed up on her doorstep the day before.

“I want him kept out of the media as much as is possible.”

Adrian’s gaze raked over her in that way he had. “Is there something you’d like to tell me, Gillian?”

Oh so much.

“A reporter came to the door yesterday. He stopped in town and spoke with Cal and Jules threw him out of Tart.”

Adrian’s gaze shuttered. It rarely had with her since the truth about Miles had come out. But it hurt to see just then. Hated to see that distrust aimed at her.

“What did you tell him?”

“I described that birthmark you have on the back of your thigh. You know the one, right below your arse cheek. Was I not supposed to?”

“Gillian, be serious.”

“Yes, since I so rarely am. Not that you knew just how much I crave being interrogated as if I had given a total stranger the code to your front gates. I told him nothing. You might recall just how infrequently I share my personal business with total and utter strangers out to manipulate me to exploit my child and my boyfriend.” She rolled her eyes. “I told him to get off my porch or I’d call the police. But I did call the school and tell them to be extra wary about visitors on campus.”

He blushed. “I’m not trying to do that. It’s just . . . hard to get used to the constant level of attention by total strangers. It’s hard not to get taken in by it all at first.”

“I get that. I do. But you have to deal with the fact that the people in your life care about you and aren’t out to collaborate with the media to expose your love of root beer and jelly beans.”

He grinned and the tension eased a little. “Good idea with the school. What did your friends say?”

“Cal’s not a moron, you know. And I just told you Jules threw him out of the shop.”

“Sometimes they get their hooks into you and you don’t even know it until the story shows up. I still think you should let me see about putting Miles into private school.”

“He loves his school. He loves his friends. He’s built something here and I think he’s had enough change for the next little while. If he wants it when it comes time for high school, fine. But for now, I don’t want to upset his schedule or his life any more than it has been already.”

“Stalkers are out there. I know this from experience.”

She hated that his niece was murdered. Hated that such violence had touched their lives. It made her even more hesitant to tell him about her father.

At the same time, she didn’t want to give in to fear and send Miles’s life into further upheaval when there was no reason to go there yet. She knew he worried a lot. Knew he had reason to. But this situation was not the same. A single reporter sniffing around was not what happened to Erin and her baby.

“I know you had a horrible experience, Adrian. But this is Miles’s home. Some of the kids at school know since you came to the jazz band performance and they’ve seen you around with him. But so far there’s not been an issue. I don’t want to move him unless it’s absolutely necessary. Rennie goes to public school, for goodness’ sake. Children of celebrities do go to public school. Not everywhere, but I don’t see any reason to move to private at this point.”

There was something so wrong with her, but every time they started to spar like this, the energy between them sharpened and made her all deliciously woozy. For him too. She saw the spark in his eyes, even as he set his mouth in a hard line.

“Rennie isn’t my child.”

“A fact that I appreciate. And still I don’t see the point in moving Miles when he’s happy and there is no problem. His life is far from normal. I accept that. But he should have the normal parts when he can get them.”

“Are you saying I’m not normal?”

She cocked her head at him, eyes narrowed. “Are you picking a fight for some reason?”

“You’re the one who said you wanted him kept safe. I offered you a way to make that happen and you rejected it.”

“Oh no, you don’t. I brought up safety concerns as it related to these trips and bringing Miles out into the open as your son. I didn’t say I found his school or home life unsafe. I said, in point of fact, that those were safe. I said I didn’t want to take him from school to put him in another unless it was necessary and I even gave you reasons.”

“You had a reporter at your door, Gillian!” He burst from his chair. “And you didn’t even tell me until today.”