“Yes, I know you are,” I said as I heard Julia cry.

Thank God for Julia, I thought to myself. Ellery got up from my lap and walked out of the office. Denny got up from his chair and shook his head. “You better get moving on those plans for that art studio you just promised her.”

“I’m going to do that right now,” I sighed.

I pulled out my phone and dialed Paul. It went to voicemail, so I left a message for him to call me back right away. He could locate a place for Ellery’s art studio.

As I walked out of my office and passed the living room, I noticed Ellery sound asleep on the couch. I grabbed a blanket from the closet and gently covered her with it. I needed a scotch, so I walked over to the bar and poured myself one. The smoothness going down the back of my throat soothed me, as did the sight of my sleeping wife. My eyes gazed at her as my mind was punishing me for keeping something from her. A few moments later, she opened her eyes and looked at me from across the room.

“How long have I been sleeping?”

“I’m not sure. You were asleep when I came out of my office,” I said as I walked over to her, sat down on the edge of the couch, and pushed a few strands of hair from her face.

When she sat up, she took the glass from my hand and took a sip. As always, she made the same face when she drank it.

“Why do you take a sip when you don’t like Scotch?”

“I was thirsty.” She smiled.

I leaned closer towards her and brushed her lips with mine. Her lips responded seductively as she hardened our kiss. Just as I laid her back and hovered over her, kissing her passionately, my phone rang. Taking in a sharp breath as I broke our kiss, I pulled my phone from my pocket and saw that Paul was calling.

“Baby, we have to continue this later. I have to take this; it’s Paul.”

“It’s all right. Go ahead and take your call. I’ll go check on Julia.”

“Hey, Paul,” I answered as I walked into my office and shut the door. “I need you to find me a space that I can convert into an art studio for Ellery.”

“I’ll get on that right away, Connor. Do you have a certain area in mind?”

“Somewhere close to the penthouse. I think she’ll like it better if she’s close to home.”

“Got it. I’ll call you when I locate something.”

I had a good feeling about this art studio. It was something that I should’ve done a long time ago, but with Ellery’s illness, the wedding, and now Julia, she didn’t really paint too much, and I didn’t give it any thought. Perfection was what I needed the studio to be. It needed to be a distraction from the daily grind of the trial.

As I picked up Julia from the changing table, my phone started to ring. I held her up over my shoulder and walked over to take it from where it was sitting on her dresser.

“Hi, Peyton.”

“Hey, Elle. I thought we were going to see that bitch in jail.”

“We are. The day we talked about it was visiting day, so now we have to wait until next week.”

“Oh okay. I was just wondering because you were really adamant about going and then you never mentioned it again. I thought that maybe you’d changed your mind. Actually, I was hoping you’d changed your mind.”

“No, Peyton, I haven’t changed my mind.”

“Okie dokie, Elle. What are you doing?”

“Staring at my sexy husband as he’s standing in the doorway. I’ll call you later.”

As I hit the end button, Connor walked over, took Julia, and sat in the rocking chair. My greatest love was watching my husband with his daughter. I took the new clothes I bought for Julia and hung them in the closet. My stomach tied itself in knots when Connor asked me a question.

“What haven’t you changed your mind about?”

I stood facing the inside of the closet as I hung up the clothes one by one. My skin started to feel fiery and nerves set in. I needed to think of something fast.

“What?” I innocently asked.

“I heard you say to Peyton that you haven’t changed your mind.”

“Oh, that. It was about going with her next week to look at flowers for the wedding.”

“Why would she think that you’d change your mind?”

“She didn’t. She was just making sure that I didn’t change my mind,” I said as I looked at him in confusion.

“Shouldn’t Henry be going with her?” he asked.

“Did you go with me, Mr. Black?”

“Good point.” He smiled.

Emerging from the rocking chair, he took Julia downstairs and put her in her swing. I followed behind as I let out a sigh of relief. If he ever found out that I was going to see Ashlyn, I didn’t know what he’d do.

I picked up toys around the living room and put them in a basket, then walked to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. Connor came from behind and wrapped his strong arms around me, taking in my scent as his hot breath traveled down my neck. As I put my hands on his arms and tilted my head to the side, his lips began their journey across my skin.

“I wish Mason was here right now to take Julia for a while so I could fuck you on this kitchen counter.”

“We don’t need Mason. You can still do it. Julia’s being good in her swing. We may not have a lot of time, but we can certainly try.”

A low growl developed in the back of his throat as he reached his hand between my thighs and started cupping me below. I quickly turned around to face him. He picked me up and set me on the counter while his hands made their way up my shirt and to my breasts. I brought my hands to his head and ran my fingers through his hair. Our mouths devoured each other. Suddenly, we heard someone clear their throat. I jumped, and Connor looked across the kitchen.

“Am I interrupting something?” Denny asked as he walked to the refrigerator.

“Damn it, Denny.”

“Relax, Connor. Julia would have made sure you two didn’t get any further.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at his comment as I got off the counter and straightened my shirt. Just as I was about to say something, my phone rang. I looked over to where it was sitting.

“It’s a call from Chicago. I bet it’s Sal’s brother. I’ll be right back,” I said as I walked out of the kitchen.

“Hello.”

“Ellery?” a male voice spoke.

“Yes, this is Ellery.”

“Hi, this is Vinnie, Sal’s brother. He said he was going to call you about my art gallery showing here in Chicago.”

“Yes, Vinnie, Sal did call me, and I’m very interested in doing a showing.”

“That’s great, Ellery. I’ve seen your work and I think you’re an amazing painter. Is there any way you can fly out to Chicago and we can meet for dinner to discuss the opening?”

“Sure. When would you like to meet?”

“The sooner, the better. That way, you can get a feel for what I’m expecting.”

“I can probably fly out tomorrow,” I said.

“That’ll be great. Call me or send me a text to confirm, and I’ll make reservations for dinner. I look forward to meeting you, Ellery.”

“Thank you, Vinnie. I’ll be in touch.”

Excitedly, I walked back to the kitchen, where Denny was holding Julia and Connor was sitting across from him.

“Well?” Connor asked.

“I’m flying to Chicago tomorrow to have dinner with Vinnie. So make sure the plane’s ready.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Connor smiled. “I’ll clear my schedule for tomorrow and fly with you.”

“You don’t have to go, Connor. I know how busy you are.”

“You’re not going alone, end of discussion, Ellery,” he said in a serious tone.

I looked over at Denny as he raised his eyebrows at me. When I slowly walked over to where Connor sat, he looked up from his phone at me.

“What?”

“I love you, but if you ever take that tone with me again, I will hurt you. Do you understand?”

The corners of his mouth curved up into a sinister smile. “Then I’ll make sure to use that tone more often, especially in the bedroom.”