Change of Hart (19 page)

“Why are you dressed as a phallic symbol?” Lindsay asked as she walked over to us, holding Emma’s hand. Addison burst out laughing again.

“I am a banana,” I defended. “I’m sweet. I’m good for you. And hopefully by the end of the night, a sexy monkey will eat me.”

“Ohmygod we haven’t even left yet,” Addison said, still cracking up while Lindsay made gagging sounds.

“Why do I ask these things?” Lindsay said under her breath.

“Because you never learn,” Sam answered, shaking his head.

“Mommy, I want to eat a banana,” Emma remarked, throwing Addison into another fit of giggles. She was laughing a lot tonight. I liked seeing her so happy.

“Don’t say things like that,” Lindsay remarked. “It’s disgusting.” Emma just looked at her like she was nuts and then took off running to catch up with Jaxon.

“I swear to you, Addison,” Lindsay started, “she is only inappropriate when she’s around Jason. She gets it from him.”

“Oh no you don’t!” I said defensively. “She is exactly like you! Don’t blame her sense of humor on me!”

“Whatever,” she said, rolling her eyes. “But really, what is this costume about?”

“I’m incognito,” I said, eliciting another eye roll.

“You’re incognito dressed as a giant piece of fruit?” she said. “You stick out like a sore thumb.”

“Maybe. But the shape of the costume hides my size. The top of the banana hides my head. And the yellow makeup hides my face,” I justified. “By the time we get close enough for anyone to recognize me, they’ll be too distracted by candy anyway to pay attention. See? It’s not just beauty up here. Its brains, too,” I said, tapping my temple with my finger, causing Addison burst out laughing again, making me start to wonder if she was on a sugar high, too. Lindsay just smacked her palm to her face.

The four of us continued to banter back and forth as we followed the kids from house to house. We spent a good two hours trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. Several times, Jaxon conned me into knocking on the door with him. I kept my head down and begged for candy along with everyone else. It was actually really fun. One of the neighbors was giving out full-sized candy bars. We tried to go back more than once, humiliating Addison, especially when the neighbor caught onto us and turned us away.

By the time the kids were done with the fun, Emma was knocked out and being carried by Sam, so they didn’t stick around. After we all said our goodbyes and they left, Addison, Jaxon and I headed into the house where Jaxon and I dumped all our candy on the floor and dug through it. We made three piles . . . all the good stuff, the stuff we’ll eat at some point, and the really bad candy to sell back to the dentist the next day. Yes, his dentist spends the day after Halloween weighing bags of candy and buying it from kids for a dollar per pound. So that’s where all the strawberry Tootsie Rolls and Pixie Sticks were headed. All the full-sized candy bars were going in my pocket once Jax went to bed.

“Come on, Jaxon, it’s time to get some jammies on and brush your teeth,” Addison said.

“Ok,” he said with a yawn, meandering down the hall to his room. He must have really worn himself out because I had never seen him so willingly stop what he was doing to get ready to sleep.

Addison turned to me saying, “I’ll be right back. I’m going to change into something way more comfortable than this.”

“Really,” I said, raising an eyebrow.

“Shut up,” she laughed. “I’m putting on yoga pants.”

“Yoga pants,” I said, raising both eyebrows this time. “I like yoga pants!”

She swatted my arm playfully. “Well I don’t have any in your size, so you’ll have to put on your own clothes. Unless you wanna stay dressed like a banana the rest of the night.”

“No way. I have no idea how you women wear tights and pantyhose all the time,” I said, standing up. “These are the most uncomfortable things I’ve ever worn in my life.”

“Which is why all women have multiple pairs of yoga pants,” she said while walking away from me.

I grabbed my clothes to change and headed toward the bathroom. If I thought getting the costume on was hard, getting it off was even worse. But my legs had never felt so free once those tights were finally in a pile on the floor and not suctioned to me. The tights were easier to get off than the makeup. Apparently, regular soap doesn’t get costume make up off all the way. Lesson learned.

“Is he already asleep?” I asked Addison when I walked out of the bathroom. She was bagging up our pile of “to be sold” candy.

“He’s brushing his teeth,” she said. “He was hoping you would tuck him in, actually.”

“Really?”

She shrugged and smiled at me. “Only if you’re comfortable with it.”

“Sure,” I said. “Wow. That’s . . . wow. I’m really flattered.”

As if on cue, Jaxon came walking down the hall right then. “Jason, will you put me in bed?”

“Sure, buddy,” I answered, still feeling a little shocked. “Why don’t you give your mom a kiss goodnight.”

Addison stopped what she doing and knelt down as Jaxon walked over to her. “Night, Mom,” he said, wrapping his arms around her neck.

“Goodnight buddy,” she said, closing her eyes and hugging him tightly. “Do you know how much I love you?”

“To the moon and back,” he mumbled in her hair.

“Oh, it’s so much more than that,” she said.

“No it’s not,” he said, pulling away from her. “It says right there on that picture, see?”

I looked over and sure enough, hanging on the wall was a large picture frame with three cut outs. All three had pictures of Jaxon in them and on the bottom was a placard that read, “To the Moon and Back”.

“Huh,” she said, looking at the frame. “So it does. Well, that’s a whole lot.”

“I know,” he said, turning away. I followed him as he drug himself down the hallway to his room.

As many times as I’d been in this house, I’d never been in any of the bedrooms before. Jaxon’s room was painted a nice grey-blue. The walls were covered in football memorabilia and posters. Some of them were posters of me, which was kind of cool. On his bed was a Cowboys comforter with a matching pillow. Yep, he certainly wasn’t a fair-weather fan.

Right next to his bed, sitting on top of the nightstand, was a picture of Jaxon with a man that I assume was Austin. They had the same brown hair and the same brown eyes. Jaxon had to have been about four in the picture and they both looked so happy. It was obvious Austin just adored his son. It was a weird feeling . . . I was still so pissed at Austin for how much he wounded Addison. But at the same time, I respected how much he deeply loved his son. I could fault him for being a douchey husband, but I appreciated him for being a good dad. Talk about conflicting feelings.

“Did you have fun tonight, buddy?” I asked as he climbed into bed and crawled under the sheets.

“Yes,” he said, yawning. “It was the most fun Halloween ever.”

“Really,” I said, tucking the sheets in around him. “What made it so fun?”

“You dressed up like a banana,” he said with a giggle. “My dad never dressed up for trick-or-treating.”

“He didn’t?” I asked, kneeling down next to the bed.

“No. He got home from work when we were already trick-or-treating, so he met us on the sidewalk. But he always carried my pillow case full of candy and he never stole any of it!”

Dang. Maybe I should rethink swiping those full-sized bars
, I thought to myself.

“Sounds like he was a really good dad.”

“He was,” he said with a yawn. “But this year was better,” he said sleepily.

I chuckled as I watched him start to fall asleep. “I’m glad you had fun, buddy,” I said as I bent over to kiss him on the forehead. “I love you. Sleep well.”

As Jaxon drifted off, he said, “I love you, too, Daddy.”

My eyes widened and I froze, looking down at Jaxon in disbelief. He just called me daddy. I mean, I knew he was falling asleep and we had just been talking about his dad, but, whoa. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. But . . . I think it didn’t feel . . . bad. It actually felt kind of good.

All of a sudden, that one little sleepy mistake made think about the future. My future. Did I have a future with Addison long term? Because Jaxon would be part of it if I did. And that would, in fact, kind of make me Jaxon’s dad. It was a scary thought. And yet, not that scary at all. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t racing out to buy an engagement ring or anything. But it did cause me to pause momentarily and think about the path I was on. Frankly, it felt good. And it helped me make a decision I had been toying with. At that moment, I knew I was ready.

When I rounded the corner back into the living room, Addison was sitting on the couch, her head back and eyes closed. When she felt me sit down next to her, she lifted her head and opened her eyes. I picked one of her feet up and placed it on my lap, rubbing the arch.

“Mmmm . . . that feels good,” she said, turning her whole body toward me and laying back against the armrest.

“Are you tired, baby?” I asked. “I can leave if you need to get some sleep.”

“No, don’t leave yet,” she said. “Is Jax asleep?”

“He barely made it under the covers before he was out. I was toying with coming out here and stealing all his giant chocolate bars,” I said, looking around the room. “But he guilted me out of it when he said Austin never used to steal any of his candy.”

She giggled. “He actually did steal some candy. But I think the kind he stole is in your ‘to be sold’ pile.”

“Ew. I can see why you were thinking of leaving him. How could you ever respect a man who likes strawberry Tootsie Rolls?” I asked with a grimace.

She rolled her eyes. “You say some of the weirdest things. It’s a good thing you’re hot.” She laid her head back on the armrest as I rubbed the pads of her toes with my thumbs.

“So, I’ve been thinking about something,” I started.

“Mmm-hmmm,” she said, not bothering to lift her head up or open her eyes.

“Every year I go to this giant fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. It’s a real high-class event. Black tie, formal dinner, silent auction, the works,” I put her foot down and picked up the other one to work on it. “I was wondering if you’d want to go with me.”

“Will Deuce and Vanessa be there?” she asked.

“Probably,” I said. “But don’t answer yet. There’s more you need to know.”

She lifted her head and looked at me, eyebrows furrowed as she listened to what I had to say.

“It’s always treated as a red carpet event.”

“So I’d really need to go get a new dress and get my hair done and stuff.”

“Well yes,” I said. “But I’ll pay for all that so don’t even worry about that part. It’s the other part of a red carpet experience I’m asking about.”

She cocked her head in question. “What part are you talking about?”

I took a deep breath. “The press,” I said, locking eyes with her. “We would be expected to walk down a real red carpet when we got there, take some pictures together, do some interviews. Real public relations stuff.”

I stopped the foot rub to watch her reaction.

“So you’re not just wanting to take me to a fancy gala,” she said. “You’re wanting to take me out in public.”

I nodded.

“Jason Hart,” she said playfully, sitting up and crisscrossing her legs. “Are you asking me to come out of hiding?”

I smiled. “I’m kind of asking if you would go public . . . as my girlfriend.”

She smiled so wide it about lit up the room. “Really?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I like you, Addison. A lot. And I want everyone to know.”

She bit her lip before crawling over to me and climbing onto my lap, straddling me and putting her arms around my neck.

“I think,” she started, “that as much as I love being anonymous, I would be honored to go out in public as your girlfriend. I’m ready.”

She kissed me with so much passion that I thought I would combust. As I slid my tongue against hers I ran my hands down her back and cupped her ass, pulling her harder against me. When our bodies met, I couldn’t help but grab her hips and rock her against the bulge in my jeans a few times. Her breath caught and she moaned just slightly.

I pulled my mouth away from hers as I stopped moving her hips.

“Addison,” I said quietly.

“Yeah?”

“If I don’t leave right now, I’m not sure I’ll be able to.”

We didn’t move from that position, but our eyes opened, looking at each other, trying to assess what the other person wanted. When neither of us moved one way or the other for a few seconds and we just kept panting, I knew there was still too much internal struggle for it to be right just yet. So I did what any man in my position would do.

I grabbed her thighs, stood up and tossed her back onto the couch, making her squeal.

“Sorry, baby,” I said as I bent down and pecked her on the lips one last time before backing away. “You’ve got me really, really hot and bothered. I’ve gotta go.”

She giggled as I walked away.

“Hey Jason,” she called after me. I turned around to see her lounging on her back on the couch. It took everything in me not to jump on top of her and take her right there. “The night of the gala . . .”

“Uh huh?”

“Make sure your apartment is clean.”

I cocked my head, not quite understanding.

“I’m sure I can get Mick to watch Jaxon overnight. And I want you to take me on a tour of your place. Starting and ending in the bedroom.”

My eyes widened and my jaw dropped open. She rolled over on her stomach waving her feet in the air and letting her hair drape around her shoulders in front of her.

“You don’t mind if I spend the night, do you?” she flirted.

I just shook my head, my eyes and jaw still stuck in the open position.

She smirked at me while she bit her lip.

“N-n-no, that’s fine,” I said. “Um . . . ,” I started, finally getting my wits about me. “I gotta go.”

With that, I turned quickly and walked out the door, closing it behind me. I couldn’t be sure, but I swear I heard her laughing through the door. I’m glad she found her seduction funny. Because it would be another cold shower for me tonight. And I highly doubted it would give me any relief.