Page 23 of Jealous Bodyguard

STACEY

Two Weeks Later

It’s two weeks since I met Steve. Two weeks that have changed my already easy life for the better.

“How did you know? I mean, was itthatobvious?” I ask Mom.

She smiles to herself, easing back in her deck chair, looking over the rims of her designer sunglasses.

After a week of bliss, alone with nothing but Steve and me doing what we do best, my parents shocked me by insisting Steve come along when I joined them in Paris.

The city of love... Not my cup of tea but it meant staying with Steve, plus I know he’s got more than a free holiday in mind. Something in his behavior tells me he wants to make this a little more permanent than just boyfriend-girlfriend.

He was all for the idea of us coming, and daddy seems to have taken a real shine to him, which is no surprise really. I mean, what’s not to love about the guy?

“Honey, a mom just knows… Awomanjust knows,” she sighs, letting her eyes shift to my dad and Steve who’ve reached a critical moment in their game of shuffleboard on the deck of the yacht.

The family yacht, as daddy calls it now. Finally playing with all his rich boy toys that he never enjoyed. Not without my mom by his side.

“I gave it two weeks, you and that…bodyguard,” Mom adds dryly, almost sounding apologetic. “But leaving you two alone while I re-educated your father in what a womanreallyneeds, I have to say… Steve’s quite the catch.”

I flush at her words, the idea that she even thought Steve would get sick of me so soon. But worse than that, Steve and I really thought we’d managed to keep our not-so-little thing for each other a secret. From my dad at least, but if mom’s figured it out, then…

“No… Your father doesn’tknow. Not from me anyway,” she assures me, reading my mind the way only mothers can.

“I don’t really blame you for not coming to me about it either,” she adds. “Haven’t exactly been mother of the year material.”

“Why did you come back?” I ask. I guess it’s the only other thing on my mind lately. After Steve, of course.

“Look at your man there,” she coaches me, stabbing her head in Steve’s direction. “He’s nothing like your father, not physically anyway. But he’s just the same. A man like that comes once in a lifetime, trust me. It just took me ages to figure it out about your father.”

My face twists with confusion. I’ve never been any good at riddles, but Mom likes to talk in them sometimes.

“Your dad waited for me to come home, Stacey. He refused to divorce me and forgave me in a second. And not once did he ever think about another woman or anything else the whole time I was gone…”

She says it matter-of-factly, but it has a huge impact on me. Making me fall in love with Steve all over again in my mind because I know Mom’s right.

Steve would do the same for me. He’d never give up or ever let go. Not that I’d ever leave him in a million years, but Mom made a choice that only ended up showing her the man she truly loved was right in front of her the whole time.

“Did you do it, though?” I ask. “Did youre-educatedaddy?”

My question takes her off guard but also makes us both laugh like we never could before. Now I’m a bona fide adult.

Got the stamped card to prove it!

“I think he’s learning,” Mom purrs, both of us looking over to our men. The relief inside that Mom not only guessed about us but approves of Steve as well means more to me than she’ll ever know.

But it’s my dad who’s the odd one out, the only one who hasn’t joined the dots. Or has he?

Feigning tiredness after yet another loss to Steve at shuffleboard, daddy makes a fuss over Steve helping him with some of the rigging on the yacht.

Although it's not a sailboat, it's a little bit bigger than that. The yacht does have a lot of rigging, and for whatever reason, daddy’s got it in his head that a big strong man like Steve is just the fella to help him with whatever he needs doing.

Mom sighs to herself again, but it’s the sigh of a lover watching her beloved. I know it by heart because I catch myself doing it over Steve constantly.

They’ve moved to the back of the yacht, but I can see Steve just fine. He gives me a shrug in return when I catch his eye, which is focused on me every waking moment.

“Not like that, like this!” I hear my dad holler in a friendly tone, eager to show Steve just how it’s done, whatever he's doing.

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