Smolder (3 page)

I
picked it up and began scrolling through channels until I landed on an old
episode of “The Golden Girls” and pressed the button. As soon as I saw my
favorite ladies on screen, I smiled and took another bite of my food.

Jude
turned his head to me and asked, “Seriously? Again with ‘The Golden Girls’
reruns?”

“What?
I love this show,” I replied, smiling as Blanche strutted across the screen. If
there was anyone I aspired to be when I got older, it was Sophia Petrillo…I
loved that feisty broad.

“Oh
I know it, we watch it every single fucking night,” he laughed.

“Hey,
you just gave me total control of the remote and said I could find something I
wanted to watch. Shut up or go spank it in your room,” I answered, irritated.

“Chill
out, Sadie. I was just teasing, you know that. What’s up with you? You’re a bit
more tempestuous than usual.” When I stared at him, he said, “Yeah that’s
right. I know some big words.”

Sighing,
I frowned and replied, “I know and I’m sorry. I’m just grumpy and stressed with
all the stuff Rebel Records has gotten behind on with Jess being on maternity
leave. Who knows? I’m probably getting my period soon. I’m always bitchy like
this right before.”

Jude
made a face and said, “Ugh, stop talking about that shit, I’m trying to eat.
And besides, who the hell can tell anyway? You’re a bitch all the time.”

“You
know, I’m going to take that as a compliment. I’ve earned my bitchiness, thank
you very much.”

“Yes
you have,” he said before he stood from the chair. He rounded the coffee table
and plopped down next to me on the couch.

I
shivered involuntarily as his shoulder bumped against mine and I asked, “Uh,
what are you doing?”

“What,
I can’t sit next to you?”

“N-no,
you can, you just surprised me, that’s all.” Dear God he was sitting so close
and his cologne smelled incredible…

“You
sure you’re okay, Sadie? You just seem off somehow,” Jude said.

I
leaned my head back on the couch and sighed audibly.

“I
don’t know how Jessie handles all this shit day in and day out, man, I really
don’t. I am asking her to hire an assistant in the morning.”

“Sadie,
I know that running a record label isn’t easy at all but come on now, this is
me. I know that’s not all that’s bugging you.” He was right; helping Jessie wasn’t
what was getting to me but I wasn’t about to admit to him the real reason. “Is
it Jagger? Is he messing with you again?”

I
shook my head and answered, “Jagger is still Jagger, he’s been his usual
charming self. Ugh, I don’t know Jude. I guess I’m just feeling burned out.”

He
lifted his large, muscular arm and put it around me, pulling me into his
chest.  It took all of my strength to not moan in ecstasy from being so close
to him.

“You
need a break. Let’s get someone on the payroll as soon as possible to help with
the day to day so you can take a day off.”

I
chuckled and answered, “Not an option, Jude. I am
this close
to
finishing Eternal Down’s album and I can’t take time off now. Besides, I’m a
bad ass girl and I can handle anything that’s thrown at me. I guess I should
have just eased into all of this rather than just jumping right in.”

“Ah
Sadie, that’s what you do best,” he laughed. “However, I still think you need a
break, even if it’s for just one day.”

“Maybe
you’re right.”

“I
know I am. Listen, why don’t we just hang out tomorrow?”

I
grinned and said, “I’d love to but I can’t. I still have a shit ton of work to
get done.”

“Well,
what about Saturday then? We can spend the whole day together just you and me
and we can do whatever you want. Maybe put that pool out back to use for once,”
Jude suggested.

I
smiled at him and nodded. “Yeah I think it’s time we broke that thing in. I
mean it’s only been two years since we became roommates and I think it’s about
time we actually used it.”

 “You’re
right about that. So are we on for Saturday?”

“For
sure. Thanks for this Jude, I think I’m actually excited.”

“Me
too, and anytime, princess,” he answered, kissing my forehead and leaning back
as we watched TV and finished our Chinese food. Being in his arms was about as
close to perfect as I could imagine life to be and even though I craved more,
for now this was enough.

The
next day when I got to Jessie’s house, I stopped in to talk to her about hiring
some help for when she took things back over and thankfully she agreed with me.
Having Kallum had changed things so she agreed it was time to hire a staff to
help run some of the day to day tasks so she could devote more time to not only
finding more bands for the label, but she’d have more time free to be with her
son. After I spent the morning putting some final touches on the last Eternal
Down song I was working on, I decided to break for lunch. Jude was spending the
day with the guys at a Reds game so I decided to close the office down early
and spend some much needed girl time with Everleigh, Danni, Jessie, and the
babies.

Jessie
thought it was a great idea since she’d hardly been out of the house since
Kallum was born so while she got him ready to go, I called Danni and Everleigh
and let them know where to meet us for lunch. As soon as we arrived at the
restaurant we were seated in a closed off private room in the back in order to
keep camera-ready fans from snapping pictures of the babies.

“Thanks
for suggesting this Sadie. It’s so nice to be able to get out of the house,”
Jessie said as she cradled Kallum in her arms. He started to fuss and she
stated, “Oh, I think he’s hungry. Let me just get a blanket out of the diaper
bag to cover with.”

As
she got herself situated and began feeding Kallum, I turned to Everleigh and
asked, “So how are things with you, pretty mama? I feel so out of the loop now
that you all are procreating and shit.”

Everleigh
smiled at me and tucked her raven colored hair behind her ear before feeding
Max a French fry. “Things are great, life is great. I’ve been so busy with this
little monster here that it’s been hard to find time to do much else.”

“I
hear that,” Danni replied. “Beau’s a very involved dad but sometimes I think
he’s forgets that mothers need time away too.”

“I’m
sure if you talk to him he’d be more than happy to let you have a day to
yourself,” Jessie suggested. “Kris is always trying to get me to take an
afternoon and get a massage or a pedicure or something but I’m just not ready
to leave my little man yet.”

“Oh
I know Beau would be more than okay if I wanted some me time but I just feel
guilty asking him, like I’m admitting defeat or something,” Danni answered as
she fed Harlowe a bite of her food.

“Oh
honey, telling your husband that you need a break from being one of the world’s
best mothers for an afternoon doesn’t mean that you’re admitting defeat. It
means that you’re human and you can’t be supermom all the time. You deserve a
break, hell, even the guys do. That’s why they are at their baseball game today.
I was the one that suggested it. I really think that they needed that male
bonding time and to spend one afternoon just hanging out and being friends like
they’ve always been,” Jessie replied.

“She’s
right, Danni. Take a minute for yourself, you know Beau will understand. He
loves you and will never turn down a chance to spend some quality time with his
daughter,” Everleigh said. “Ryder’s never one to turn down one on one time with
Max. He absolutely loves being a dad.” There was something in her tone that
made me take notice and I turned my head toward her.

“Something
wrong, Ev?” I asked her.

Sighing,
she shook her head and replied, “No, nothing’s wrong. I mean, I don’t think it
is.”

“What’s
up girl?” Danni asked.

After
a short pause, Everleigh answered, “Ryder wants to have another baby. Like
now.”

I
furrowed my eyebrows and chuckled.

“Um,
Max isn’t even a year old yet. Why does he want to have another one so soon?”

“Because
he wants a big family and he doesn’t want to wait,” she said.

“But
you do,” Jessie stated and Everleigh guiltily nodded her head.

“I
love my husband and son so much but I feel like we haven’t had enough time to
adjust to being a new family and spend this time focusing on Max, you know? I
mean…am I crazy that I want to wait and just enjoy the family we have now?”

“No,
Ev, you’re not crazy at all. It makes perfect sense. Have you talked to Ryder
about this, told him how you feel?” Danni asked.

She
shrugged her shoulders and said, “I try to but he’s very convincing when he
wants something bad enough.” Her cheeks flushed a slight pink and I laughed.

“Well
the next time he brings it up you have to stick to your guns. Tell him no
babies or no pussy,” I said and everyone laughed. “Seriously Ev, if you two
aren’t in the same place this conversation needs to happen sooner rather than
later.”

She
sighed and answered, “I know. I’m just nervous and I’m afraid that I’ll
disappoint him. I love him and want to give him everything he wants.”

“Well,
he should want to give you everything you want too, Everleigh, and if more time
with your son before you pop out another kid is what you want he should be
willing to give you that,” I stated.

She
smiled at me as Danni said, “She’s right, girl. This is a really important
decision and you both need to be on the same page.”

Everleigh
agreed and I could tell she was ready to move the conversation to another topic
so they decided to bring up my unrequited feelings for Jude and urge me again
for the millionth time to tell him how I felt. I tried changing the subject by
telling them that he asked me to take a break and spend the day with him on
Saturday but that just spurred them on.

As
they were suggesting different ways that I could reveal my feelings or even
seduce him, I found myself actually listening to them and for the first time, I
was thinking they might be right. I couldn’t keep going on like this and
something had to happen one way or the other. I just had no clue how to handle
it.

The
rest of the week went by in a blur. By Friday afternoon Jessie and I had agreed
on an assistant we both liked and she would be starting on Monday. Shona
Brennan had recently moved to the United States from Ireland and as soon as we
read her resume we knew we had to get her on the payroll. She’d never worked
for anyone in the entertainment industry, but she had worked two and three jobs
at a time before coming here so to us that meant that she wasn’t just a hard
worker, but that she’d be willing to devote a lot of time to helping the label
succeed.

She
had a great personality, positive energy, could dirty joke with the best of us,
and had the most awesome accent I’d ever heard. She was also gorgeous with her
fiery red hair and crystal clear blue eyes and I considered taking bets on how
long it would take before anyone in Eternal Down tried to get into her pants.

After
we got everything with Shona ready to go for next week, I’d finally gotten
caught up with almost everything (for the most part anyway) but by the time I
came home that night I was completely exhausted and crashed as soon as I came
home.

I
knew I was tired but I was generally shocked when I felt someone lightly
shaking my arm to wake me the next day.

“Sadie?
Wake up, princess,” I heard and when I opened my eyes Jude was sitting on my
bed next to me.

“What
time is it?” I asked him, noticing the sun shining brightly through my
curtains.

“It’s
almost noon, thought I’d come in and check on you since you never usually sleep
this late.”

Noon?
Shit! I was usually awake and ready to go by six in the morning.

“Fuck!
I’m up, I’m up,” I grumbled, quickly sitting up and throwing the blankets off
me.

“Relax
Sadie, take your time,” he replied.

“No,
I need to hurry,” I exclaimed, running across the room and pulling an electric
blue bikini out of my top dresser drawer and walking toward my bathroom. “You wanted
us to hang out together today and I’ve slept through half of it.”

“Hey,”
he said as he walked over to me with his arms out. “Kill the motor, princess.
You didn’t sleep through half our day, trust me. I’ve been up for a while
getting things ready outside so you’d be surprised. I just got finished setting
it all up.”

Smiling,
I hugged him around his torso and asked, “You planned a surprise?”

“Of
course I did so hurry your cute little ass up. The pool is warm and ready to go
so just throw your suit on and meet me out back,” he answered and with a quick
hug, he winked at me and walked out of my room.

I
was grinning wider than I had in what seemed like forever as I quickly changed
out of my pajamas and into my bikini. Excitement flowed through me as I tied my
hair up into a messy bun and piled it on top of my head as I quickly walked
through the house, through the kitchen, and out the sliding glass doors that
led to the patio. When I stepped out and looked out at the pool, I gasped and
smiled.