Ember in the Heart: A Novella Read online

  Then he added insult to injury by marching away without another word.

  What. An. Asshole.

  A half hour later, a very drunken Luna was pulled off one of the dining tables by the party planner; Moon and Linzi horrified by the scene had left early, and now Celeste and Luna were leading many of the guests in the can-can and flirting outrageously with all the drunk guests, no matter the gender.

  The drunk guests were really getting into it but as my eyes wandered over the remaining guests seated at tables, I saw the exchange of mocking looks, and caught a few people talking about what an embarrassment my sisters were for Jade. It made me angry on top of the indignation Foster incited. What was wrong with getting drunk at a party and having a good time? They weren’t doing any harm.

  Needing a breather, I escaped out of the function suite, hurried down the corridor and turned the corner to brace myself against the wall out of sight. Fanning my hot cheeks, I tried to get a hold of myself. The last thing Jade needed was me adding fuel to the fire by losing my shit with some of her stuck-up guests. Plus, I reminded myself, it wasn’t all of them. Just a few.

  I wasn’t standing there long when I heard the murmur of deep voices grow louder until I recognized whom they belonged to. They were walking down the corridor toward me.

  “Why did you bring her if she’s pissing you off?” I heard Colt say.

  “Because my father asked me to,” Foster replied. “Look it’s just easier to agree to the date and then tell him we aren’t compatible.”

  “Or you could just tell your dad to go fuck himself.”

  “Oh yeah, I’ll get right on that.”

  “A parent should want nothing but your happiness. You shouldn’t be at an engagement party with a woman who sets your teeth on edge. There are gorgeous, single women here and you can’t approach any of them because you agreed to take Janet as your date.”

  “Who are these gorgeous, single women?” he scoffed and I stiffened at the insult, whether intended or not.

  “Hey, watch the tone,” Colt admonished. “Two of them are my soon-to-be sister in-laws.”

  “Good luck with that. They’re a handful.”

  “They’re a little drunk. And it’s just Luna and Celeste. Celeste is single. She’s cute.”

  “Isn’t she twice-divorced?”

  “So?”

  “Not exactly marriage material for a Darwin.”

  “You sound like your father i.e. a total prick.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  Colt went silent, suggesting he might know what Foster meant. I didn’t. To me he sounded like a judgmental asshole. He’d be lucky to have Celeste. She was adorable, fun, and a total sweetheart.

  “There’s Ember. I know you noticed Ember. She’s smart as a whip. Damn funny too.”

  I smiled at that, feeling all warm and fuzzy toward my soon-to-be brother-in-law.

  “Isn’t she like a thirty-eight-year old spinster living at home with her sister and running some fucking woo-woo occult store?”

  Excuse me?

  “What has gotten into you tonight?” Colt snapped. “One, Ember is thirty-six, she co-owns a house she inherited from her dead parents, she’s a massage therapist, and she owns a spa and store.”

  “Well all that’s fine and good but while you might be into older women, I’m twenty-five, Colt, and not interested in taking on a woman who I assume has a shit ton of baggage. I mean, why is someone like her single at her age?”

  That cheeky son of a bitch.

  Before I could think it through, I stepped out from behind the wall and both Colt and Foster looked over sharply. Colt looked horrified. Foster hid his surprise behind a cold mask.

  I stared at him like he was a bug and detected the slightest flinch in his expression.

  “I’m single because, unfortunately, there are far too many Foster Darwins to Colt Barons. I’d rather be alone than settle for immature man-children who can’t even stand up to Daddy.”

  Taking too much satisfaction for the thundercloud that hung over his expression, I sashayed away, waving off Colt’s apology, and enjoying the feel of my dress fluttering around my legs as I departed on the last word.

  Colt tried to apologize again after what happened. Jade was so angry at Foster at first but then after she spoke with Colt her attitude annoyingly changed to understanding and forgiveness. Shouldn’t your big sister just be on your side no matter what?

  It didn’t matter what age you were. A person needed family to take their side when someone insulted them.

  I crossed my arms over my chest, silently listening to them all talk on Foster’s driveway, but not participating. In fact, my mind wandered, and I stared over my shoulder at our front porch, thinking how it needed a spruce up for summer. Maybe we could swap out of the swing seat for one of those oversized ones that looked like a bed. How comfy would that be, sitting out on the porch with a glass of iced tea on a warm summer’s day? And if spring was anything to go by, we were in for a hot summer.

  A tug on the skirt of my dress brought my attention back around.

  To my shock I found Georgie standing in front of me, head tilted back, dark hair spilling down her tiny shoulders, big dark eyes staring into mine. She gave me a shy smile.

  My heart melted. “Hey.”

  “I like your dress,” she said quietly.

  I crouched down beside her and watched her face light up as the full skirt spread out on the ground around us. “You like dresses?”

  She nodded. “My mommy said she’s going to send me dresses from Parees.” She mispronounced the city.

  “Dresses from Paris? Well you know they’ll be the prettiest dresses in the world.”

  “As pretty as yours?”

  “Prettier.”

  “Come on, Georgie.” Foster was suddenly there lifting his daughter into his arms. He avoided my gaze as he rubbed his nose against hers and said softly, “Time to see your room.”

  And with nothing more than a wave to Colt, Foster carried his kid into his house without saying another word to us.

  So. Freaking. Rude.

  2

  Foster

  Holding Georgie’s hand, he stood at his daughter’s side as the moving team organized her room. He’d paid for two services—moving their belongings and also unpacking and dressing the house. Moving from his apartment, he’d promised Georgie a whole new suite of furniture for her large bedroom and this was the first time she’d gotten to see it in situ.

  “The ladies will hang the princess drapes you chose on the bed canopy.” Foster pointed out to her as the two women working on Georgie’s room unpacked soft furnishings. He’d asked for G’s room to be completed first. They’d get around to painting it whatever color she liked later but for now at least he could make sure her first night in her new home was as comfortable as possible. The furniture she’d picked out was white and the small bed was fit for a princess with four posts. G loved every shade of purple so the drapes, her bedding, cushions, rug, everything was in a variety of her favorite color. “Do you like it so far?”

  Georgie stared around the room, looking bemused. An ache flared in his chest. Weeks ago, G would have been curious about everything in her room. But since Carolyn left for Paris, his daughter had been subdued. No wonder. What child wouldn’t be upset that their mother decided to accept a job offer on another continent?

  Foster and Carolyn argued but there was no arguing with a woman who felt she was owed her chance at the life and career she wanted and would only resent G if she didn’t go for it. In the end, Foster decided he didn’t want Georgie around a mother who felt that way about her anyway. But Georgie was five, old enough to realize her mother had left her, and too young to understand it wasn’t her fault. He could kill his ex for doing this to their sweet little girl.

  Swallowing back his anger, he lifted G into his arms and turned to look out the window. Her bedroom had a large window with white-painted shutters that looked down over their quiet nei
ghborhood. The house was one of the largest on the street, really too big for just the two of them, but it was in a great area and like the Bonet’s, their house came with a pool. Georgie loved a pool.

  “You can watch the world go by from up here,” he said. “I could put a window seat in so we can sit and read together. That sound good?”

  G nodded but her attention was focused elsewhere. Following her gaze, he tried not to tense because his daughter was sensitive and she’d feel the change in him.

  But she watched the Bonet sisters. Colt and his fiancé and her younger sisters were still chatting on his driveway. Foster couldn’t help himself. His eyes automatically found Ember Bonet.

  Now that he was gone, she’d come alive, gesturing with her elegant hands as the others listened to whatever story she told them. Colt and her sisters burst into laughter and Foster wished the window was open so he could hear what she was saying.

  He couldn’t believe his best friend, his business partner, omitted the fact that the house he’d bought was next door to the Bonet’s. When he’d viewed the place the first time there were no signs of the three of five sisters who lived there. The second time he viewed it with Colt, again no sign of them, and the bastard didn’t say a word.

  What was he up to?

  Was it because he knew Foster wouldn’t buy the house if he’d known Ember lived next door?

  And not because he’d insulted her behind her back and she’d overheard and slighted him in return … but because he was pretty sure Colt could tell how attracted he was to the second eldest Bonet.

  From the moment they’d locked eyes at Colt’s engagement party, Foster felt drawn to her. It wasn’t like a normal kind of attraction he felt toward a beautiful woman either. It was … it was like she had some kind of magnetism about her. He’d found himself searching the party the entire night for glimpses of her, feeling something alarmingly like jealousy as he watched man after man invite her onto the dance floor.

  He could tell she loved to dance.

  And laugh.

  She laughed a lot.

  Full of joy.

  And self-confidence.

  It was an alluring combination.

  And at eleven years his senior, single, never been married, a “lowly” Bonet who worked at a profession his father did not respect, Ember was as far removed from the kind of woman Foster was expected to date, and eventually marry, as anyone could be.

  Foster couldn’t disappoint his family again.

  Georgie depended on her grandparents more than ever and a rift between them might mean she’d lose them. Moreover, while his business had taken off, there were no guarantees in life … except for the huge inheritance he was due that would guarantee his daughter’s future. An inheritance his father would have no problem cutting him out of if he didn’t fall in line.

  Dragging his gaze from Ember, trying to shove out thoughts of her flashing, warm dark eyes and lush mouth, he said to G, “Why don’t we leave everyone to get on with the house and you and I go out for ice cream?”

  G looked up at him with big, sad, dark eyes that caused the ache in his chest to flare again. “Can I get rainbow sprinkles?”

  “Only if I can?” he teased as he nodded at the ladies organizing G’s room. They’d stopped dressing the four poster to watch father and daughter walk by.

  G snuggled her head against his chest. “Okay, Daddy.”

  Her forlorn tone broke his fucking heart.

  Later that night, G was conked out on her new bed after a day of Foster, Colt and Jade trying to cheer her up. The engaged pair had decided to join them on their trek for ice cream and ice cream had led to dinner and a walk along the pier. It was clear to them all that the new house really brought it home to G that her mom was gone. That she and her dad were starting a whole new life without her.

  It would have been easier to keep his place in the city, cut the commute to work down, but he wanted to make up for Carolyn’s defection and yanking his kid out of school to move to the city now that her mom didn’t live in the coastal town anymore, would have been selfish. Plus, Colt was moving here for Jade so that meant he and G would have friends nearby.

  Foster stared around the large master bedroom that looked down over the backyard of his place and the Bonet’s. The room was huge and not completely unpacked yet. The team would return in the morning to finish up. There were still rooms in the house that required furnishing but he’d leave that up to his mom. She lived for that stuff.

  Striding across the hardwood floors, he decided he’d need rugs in here. It would be cold in the winter and the room echoed. Opening the French doors, he stepped out onto the small balcony that hung above his back deck and movement from next door’s yard caught his attention.

  Someone was having a late-night swim in the Bonet’s pool. There were lights situated around the pool to illuminate it, and the patio around it. It was hard to tell which sister was swimming… until she climbed out.

  His mouth went dry.

  Luscious curves were displayed in a green bikini.

  Ember Bonet.

  The object of his lust.

  Hot blood rushed south.

  He knew from being up close and personal with her that she didn’t have the tight, slender body of the young society women he’d dated since he was a teen. Bodies honed from frequent visits with a personal trainer and a fierce control over their diet. Ember was soft where they were toned. And she could give a fuck.

  Her hips sashayed from side to side as she strolled toward the house, her heavy breasts jiggling with the movement, and Foster swallowed a groan. Could that woman get any more dangerously sexy?

  He squeezed his eyes closed once she disappeared out of sight.

  It was a good thing she hated him… otherwise she’d be a temptation and distraction he might not be able to resist.

  This couldn’t be happening. Foster tried to modulate his tone so as not to upset Georgie as she sat on the back deck with him, eating the pastries they’d bought from the local bakery. Sundays were pancake day but the kitchen wasn’t unpacked yet and he hadn’t bought groceries yet.

  Sunday was also supposed to be a chill day but he and Colt were in the middle of a huge business deal (as in they were buying out an established but failing real estate company and incorporating it into their brand) and the last thing Foster needed was the nanny he’d just hired calling him to inform him she’d found another situation that was better for her.

  In California.

  Shit.

  Getting up from the patio furniture, he stalked toward the boundary between his place and the Bonet’s, partially hidden by the low fence between them. “And you didn’t think to tell me you were interviewing for another job? You didn’t think that it might be a huge inconvenience to me to be without a nanny the day before she was supposed to turn up?”

  “I don’t like the way you’re speaking to me and I don’t have to put up with it. I’m hanging up now.”

  And she did.

  “Fuck!” he bit out, struggling not to throw his phone at the pool.

  “Problem?”

  He jumped back from the fence. “Jesus Christ.”

  Celeste Bonet had appeared on the other side of it like magic.

  She blinked owlishly at him. “Nope. Just me. I’m sorry if I startled you. I couldn’t help but overhear,” she gestured to his phone. “You’re without a nanny?”

  He nodded. “She was supposed to start tomorrow but took another job behind my back on the other side of the country. I leave early for my commute so I need someone here to get G ready for school, take her, collect her afterward, and be here until I get home.” Foster sighed, running a hand through his hair. “How am I supposed to find someone in less than twenty-four hours?” God, he’d have to ask his mother and he hated asking his mother. She loved her granddaughter but she always made such a big deal out of it if he asked her to watch G last minute.

  “I’m sure Colt will understand if you can’t go into
work tomorrow.”

  He shook his head. “We’re in the middle of an important deal. I need to be there.”

  Celeste screwed her pretty face up in thought. She looked a lot like Ember but for some reason she didn’t make his heart pound. “I have just the solution. Ember!” She turned around to yell across the yard toward the house. “EMBER!”

  He winced, glancing over his shoulder to check on G.

  She picked at a muffin, watching him somberly.

  He gave her a tender smile.

  She smiled back.

  His heart melted.

  God, he never knew it was possible to love another being as much as he loved his daughter.

  “What is it?”

  Her mellifluous voice drew his attention back over the fence.

  There she was, walking toward them in another one of those long, floaty dresses that clung to her curves but hid legs he’d discovered last night were long and fan-fucking-tastic.

  “I’m running late for work,” she said, staring pointedly not at him.

  “You’re going to work?”

  “Michelle called in. Sasha has a fever, so I told her to go home. I’ll cover her.”

  “Michelle is Ember’s No.3 at the spa,” Celeste felt the need to tell him. “I’m her No. 2 but Sundays are strictly my days off.” She narrowed her eyes on her sister. “Right?”

  Ember made a face. “Don’t panic. You are not required today. Now what is it? I need to go.”

  She still wouldn’t look at him.

  It was beginning to piss him off. Even though he knew he deserved it.

  “Foster is in a bit of a jam. His new nanny quit before she started and he needs someone to be here in the morning to get Georgie ready for school and pick her up afterward. You could organize your appointments so they’re all in the morning and I thought you could collect Georgie from school and keep her at the shop with you.” She gestured to Foster who was pissed off he hadn’t seen where the conversation was going. “Foster can collect her from the store.”