Page 64 of The Press Secretary's Passion
I’m just transferring the stuff from my regular bag to my cute bone-colored clutch when the doorbell rings. I pull open the door, and Ryan is standing there looking supremely handsome in jeans and a button-down shirt with the cuffs rolled up.
“Hi,” I greet him with a nervous smile on my face.
“Babe,” is all he says.
“What?” I ask, unsure of how I fucked up before we even get to the restaurant. I figured even I would make it farther than the first two minutes.
“Did you even look to see who it was?” he asks.
“No, why would I? I knew you were coming,” I explain, and he looks like he’s praying for deliverance—from what, I do not know.
He lets out a heavy sigh before he steps inside and picks up my jacket from the back of a chair. He holds it out for me, and I turn and slide my arms through the sleeves before fluffing my hair out of the collar.
“Ready?” he asks, and I scoop up my bag and grab my keys.
“Ready,” I reply, smiling at him.
I lock my front door, and we head down the walk to the driveway, where his SUV sits. Ryan walks me around to the front passenger door and pulls it open for me before offering me a hand to hold as I climb up.
He shuts the door behind me, and I pull my seatbelt across my chest as he walks around the hood and pulls open the driver door and climbs in before looking at me and shaking his head.
“What?” I ask.
“Babe, those shoes are ridiculous.”
“I’ll have you know I love these shoes,” I tell him. “In fact, I could probably run the New York City Marathon in these shoes.”
“Really?” he asks.
“Probably not,” I admit with a silly smile. “But I’d give it the old college try.”
He throws his head back and laughs, and I smile until I hear a delicate giggle and an almost masculine chuckle coming from the backseat and realize we’re not alone. I turn and wave with a surprised look on my face.
“Hi.”
“Hi,” they both say back with friendly smiles on their faces.
“Kids, this is Jules,” Ryan introduces. “Jules, this is Cabe and Lacy.”
“Hi,” I say awkwardly again.
“For the record,” Lacy says. “I love those shoes.”
“Me too,” Cabe adds. “They’re sexy as hell.”
Ryan laughs again then backs out of my driveway and takes us to dinner at a fabulous pizza place near the capitol. Apparently, the Black family dine here every other Friday night when they’re with their dad for the weekend. It’s their thing, and they included me. I’ve never been included in a family thing like this before, and being welcomed into the fold so instantly hits me hard, in a very good way.
After dinner, they drop me back at my house with smiles and waves from the kids, and then Ryan walks me to the front door. After I unlock it, he places a sweet but claiming kiss on my lips and wishes me good night. He waits until after I shut and lock the door behind me, and then he and the kids go home.
It’s official. They have claimed me. And Ryan and I have gone public with our budding romance.
Too bad in the days to come that the very foundation of our lives would be shaken, and everything would change.
“Chancellor and Fairchild Shippers Hold Out Hope.”
Chapter 19
King
