through that ugliness. Eventually, Mom let Pop-Pop publicly claim her as his daughter, but they did the story exclusively through Aunt Harper’s magazine, Rock America, so they could control what was printed as much as possible.”
Sadness filled her eyes, and I pulled her back onto my lap, needing to comfort her. After a moment, she spoke again. “Then when he died, it became a major entertainment story that she and us grandkids inherited everything even remotely associated with Cole Steel and the Steel Entrapment brand, while Garon didn’t get a single cent. Garon tried to contest the will, but after a few months, he dropped his case.”
Cuddling closer, she kissed my chin. “I want to do a project with you, Jordan. And I’m really interested in the part, but…I can’t if Garon is going to be a part of it too. I won’t betray my mom like that.”
“No, baby. I won’t ask that of you.” If I’d known any of what Garon had put Lana through, I never would have replied back to the first email he’d sent me, let alone taken the meeting with him. “I’ll tell Garon he’s going to have to find someone else to help back this movie.”
“But it could be a really profitable investment,” she argued. “Just because I won’t do it doesn’t mean you have to give it up too.”
“I’ll find a different movie to back,” I told her with a shrug. “One we can do together.” I carefully laid her back against the pillows, my hand flattening against her lower abdomen. “Preferably after this little one arrives.”
Her hand covered mine as a dreamy look filled her eyes. “We don’t even know if there is going to be a little one yet.”
“When was your last period?”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m not refuting that it is a good time for me to get pregnant, just that we don’t know if I am yet or not.”
“How long until we will know?” I asked with a pout.
“I don’t know. At least a few weeks.”
“That’s plenty of time for us to find a house.” I gave her a long, deep kiss. When she started to cling to me, I hopped out of bed, causing her to whine unhappily. “You, my love, need to shower while I call a real estate agent.”
“Fine,” she grumbled petulantly. “But I’m going to want coffee.”
“Better enjoy it now, baby. Because as soon as we find out if you’re pregnant, it will be decaf for the next nine months,” I warned, standing over her.
She shrugged. “I’m okay with that.”
“While we’re talking about things you’re okay with…” I backed slowly toward the door. “I’m having Taylor find you your own personal assistant.” Her eyes widened in surprise, and I continued. “Preferably an openly gay, male assistant.”
“I’m okay with that too, but I don’t think you can legally make that a requirement.”
“I can’t, but Taylor can keep interviewing until she finds what I’m looking for. One who is as efficient as she is, but who won’t drool over my woman’s ass and tits.”
Arella grinned. “Taylor did like what she saw, huh?” Jealousy spiked in my veins, causing my nostrils to flare and her to giggle. “Go make the call so we can find our house, babe.”
“I don’t know.” I took a step back toward the bed. “Maybe I want to remind myself who you belong to.”
“If you get back in this bed, we won’t be leaving it for the rest of the day,” she threatened. “And then we will be one day closer to finding out if we’re pregnant and one day short of finding our forever home.”
Her logic stopped me from diving into bed. “Well played, love. Now get that sexy ass in the shower.”
Twenty-One
Arella
I didn’t think house hunting would be so much fun, but once we started looking at places, I realized how mistaken I was. At every property we were shown, I walked into each room and could actually picture how I would decorate it. But in the end, there would always be something that turned me off about the house, and I couldn’t see us living there forever.
As we stepped outside of the latest listing our real estate agent had dropped everything to show us that afternoon, I felt a little sad that even after seeing seven other properties, none of them had been perfect. We’d seen two houses in the same neighborhood as his parents, three closer to my own, and a few in between. They had all been big enough