“Well, that sounds ominous.”

  “I have every reason to believe it is. Guess when she started At Your Service?”

  Lani’s head tilted as she absorbed the meaning. “Hold the train, she—”

  “Yes, but take a wild guess at the answer.”

  “The fact that you feel targeted has to be because it centered around your father pulling his support.”

  Jordan nodded his appreciation. “See? And she’s brilliant too.”

  Lani smiled a little. “I hope you meant me.”

  “Of course I did,” he shot back. “She started the agency at the beginning of my first semester. My father must have told her what he planned and that he was well aware that my extended course load would make me dependent on his money so he could force me into submission. Those ads that went up on campus near my dorm were placed there mostly for me to see. She knew his efforts would bring me to a desperate point. I was working three jobs, and something had to give. I didn’t think dropping out of school was an option. To me, education was what I needed to prepare me for life.”

  “That right there has me wishing I’d tossed my drink at her,” Lani murmured.

  Jordan chuckled.

  “She was just using you as a stand in for the man she loved.”

  He agreed but didn’t want to think about that. “I chose the easier path, but there were other reasons too. I gave up on love. I wasn’t going to have my heart broken again—it had happened too many times when the girls in my life traded me for Quinn or Zach. I thought of a relationship as a business, and it worked entirely too well. Until it didn’t. When I was with you, I wanted something more. Something real. And Lady Ari is trying everything in her power to take that away.”

  “That won’t happen.”

  “You can’t be so sure. I come with baggage, love. Some of it in suitcases I didn’t realize were traveling with me. I’m feeling my way at this love thing. And unlike some men who’ve been with so many women they can’t keep count—I know the exact number and their sexual histories. Even though they were an arrangement, they were still meaningful to me. It also meant that we were both in control—by putting my stipulations in the contract, I had my needs considered. Quality over quantity.”

  Lani gave him a sly grin. “I can’t lie. I’m glad you went the quality route.”

  “Makes two of us,” he said. “I’m not perfect. This is all so messed up right now. I’ve never hidden things from you. Never wanted you to feel I was in this with you for the wrong reason.” He entwined his fingers into hers then lifted their hands and planted a kiss on her palm.

  “What’s the right reason?”

  “You already know the answer to that.”

  “Indeed, I do.” Lani looked deeply into his eyes. “You know Arianna is not going to let you go that easy.”

  “You’re right.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into an embrace. “After I stormed out of the condo, she grabbed a coat and followed me out, continuing the conversation.”

  “What else could she say?” Lani glanced up at him.

  “A lot, but the most important part is that we came to a truce because as messed up as her actions were, she’s a good person.”

  Lani sat straight up and raised an eyebrow.

  “I’m still mad at her. She knows she can’t be a part of my life and that any attempt to do so will put her agency at risk.” Jordan reflected on Lady Ari’s parting words.

  * * *

  Lady Ari glanced around the lobby as she spoke. “But before you go, I want you to ask yourself this question: If you knew that the only way to reach the woman of your dreams, the one person who is the other half of your soul, the only woman who could make you smile in your dreams could only be found by climbing over mountains of small mindedness, valleys of unpopular perceptions, and a deep river of cultural taboos, would you still take the journey?”

  Jordan stood just inside the entrance and without blinking or thinking, answered, “Yes.”

  Arianna smiled and said, “Then your father raised a very wise son. And it’s why I loved him so much.” As she made a complete one-eighty turn, she whispered, “Goodbye Mr. Spears. I will honor your request but know I’m here if you ever need me.”

  * * *

  “Lani,” Jordan gave her hand a slight squeeze. “Lady Ari knows I chose love and that I choose you.”

  He let the truth of that statement walk the room.

  “Let’s try this love thing one more time.” Her gaze swept across his living room and to the painting he had finished a few days before. “Is that …”

  “You? Yes. That’s the second one.”

  “Second one?”

  “Is there an echo in the house?”

  “Don’t be funny.”

  “Is that lasagna I smelled when I first came in?”

  “So you noticed? And there’s also a bottle of your favorite.”

  She chuckled. “No moscato for me. Dr. Gervais tried to kill me by serving up some plantation run.”

  “Yikes,” he said.

  “And she forced me to have two glasses.”

  Jordan gave her an uncharacteristic eye roll.

  Lani threw her head back and laughed. “You don’t believe me?”

  “Not for a second,” he admitted, switching on the sounds of some old school R&B. You Are My Starship crooned in the background.

  She crossed the distance until she stood in front of his most recent creations. “This is amazing. So … real. Life like. Jordan, you are incredibly talented.” Her gaze went to the fully wrapped paintings that would be delivered to his former clients, then back to the two canvases with her image.

  “Can I see them?” she asked in a breathy whisper with a gesture to the wrapped ones.

  Jordan only unwrapped a few, showing her the ones of Bethany in the Planet Mercury, Shelah in Neptune, and his mother’s image painted inside the earth, but left the others wrapped.

  “I’d like to see the others, too. Nine women, nine planets. I’m sure they are also in planets, too?”

  Jordan nodded, then shook his head. “Baby, I don’t want to break their confidence by showing you who they are. You’re right about the planet thing, though.”

  Lani nodded, giving him a small smile. “A gentleman never kisses and tells.”

  “Paints and tells,” he amended, smiling back.

  “So what are you going to do with those six empty spaces on the wall?”

  He pulled out several canvases, ones that had initial sketches of the sun, moon, a shooting star, Milky Way, Galaxy, and a comet.

  “No meteors,” she whispered. “Only six images?”

  Jordan stroked her face. “And on the seventh day he rested.”

  “Which was the first one?”

  He guided her to the framed canvas with her image placed inside a planet that was a mixture of purples, greys, beige, and touches of white, then to the unframed one next to it.

  “Which planet is that?” She gave a slight groan as she bent down to get a closer look.

  “Pluto.”

  “The planet that isn’t actually a planet?” she said, blinking twice as though she couldn’t quite understand the logic.

  “I didn’t know it at the time, but I chose it because it’s the furthest away from the sun. At the time, you were the one who was the most distant from me.”

  She gestured to the new painting of her within a galaxy. “So tell me … where are you in all of this?”

  Jordan angled his body and placed a hand over her heart. “Hopefully, I’m still right here.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  “A hundred for your thoughts.”

  “I’m not sure they’re worth all that.” Lani rounded on Jordan as they continued their hometown tour of Chicago. Today’s target was Navy Pier. She hadn’t been there since she was a teen, and the place was more incredible than she remembered. She entered the black gates with the restaurants to her left and Lake Michigan and two large luxury boats on the opposite side.

  “Uh, sorry.”

  It had been a week since they had the conversation about Arianna. She was hopeful but afraid now that things with Jordan were back on track. She shut down her mental wanderings and met Jordan’s gaze. “What did you say?”

  As they strolled hand in hand along the boardwalk, he gently tapped the tip of her nose. “I said, where are you right now?”

  Lani scrunched her face. “I don’t think that’s what I heard.”

  “Exactly,” Jordan said, then crooned, “Your body’s here with me, but your mind is on the other side of town.”

  “And he can sing, too,” she teased.

  “In a shower nearest you.”

  That brought on a smile, which disappeared as she said, “I have a lot on my mind, and much of it has to do with you.”

  She let that statement walk with them for a while as they approached the Pier’s main attraction. A gigantic Ferris wheel that circled high enough to see the entire view of the Chicago Loop and beyond. Up close, the Ferris wheel was not like the traditional ones at amusement parks or county fairs—this one didn’t stop moving. Passengers eased off and on as the wheel inched its way around.

  Lani pointed to it. “I’m not ready for that yet,” she admitted.

  Jordan looked up at the wheel. “We’ll save it for later, but we’re doing it, right?”

  He laced their fingers and led the way. They stopped in a homemade taffy shop and sampled a few flavors. She remembered that he had an insatiable sweet tooth and had to drag him out. The pout on his face was adorable and suddenly she saw a little boy with his smile in her head. That image brought Lani back to the subject they’d left hanging.

  She pushed her sunglasses up her nose. “I need to talk to you about something right now.”

  “Are you about to tell me about all the naughty things you want to do to me?” Jordan teased.

  “I’m trying to be serious.” Lani pursed her lips.

  “You’re serious all the time. At work. At home.” Jordan lifted a hand to his lips and planted a kiss. “I need you to be you with me.”

  The words fed her soul and made her feel bad at the same time.

  “What’s going on, Lani? It’s clear you need to get something off your chest.” He gave her hand a slight squeeze.

  She sighed, running a hand through her hair. “I’m torn about us. You’re turning your entire life around for me and I don’t think I’m ready for—no,” She took a deep breath. “That’s a lie and I don’t want lies between us. I don’t think I’m worth it.”

  “What? You’re priceless. I’d do anything to be with you. To have a life and family with you. I never want you to say something like that about yourself ever again, you hear me?”

  His tone was so firm and passionate all Lani could do was nod, while he wrapped her in an embrace.

  A strange tension always seemed to come between them. Jordan’s determination, Lani’s hesitation.

  She exhaled and regrouped. “I can’t give you what you talk about all the time—a family.” Lani dropped her head to his chest for a moment, realizing that she still didn’t want to tell him about her mysterious family history. Something her grandparents were aware of, but she still didn’t. “But you don’t understand. The emergency surgery that night I told you about was done because the fetus wasn’t inside my womb. They had to remove the damaged fallopian tube, so the odds of us conceiving a child might be problematic.”

  Jordan pulled her closer, and her head lay in the smooth curve of his shoulder. “Knowing that makes you no less perfect in my eyes,” he countered. “Loving you is not something I can just turn off. Not loving you isn’t an option for me. I humbly accept it, why can’t you?”

  She lifted her head and blinked back tears. He was tearing down every wall she put up. “Because your mother, your brother, and sisters, your aunts and uncles are all you talk about. I love you enough that I can’t let you make such a sacrifice. It’s not—”

  His lips on hers silenced Lani so thoroughly a few bystanders whistled and applauded. When he ended the kiss, Lani was dizzy. “When you love someone, it’s never a sacrifice.”

  She squinted, then closed her eyes as she realized what she’d said. You sneaky … I didn’t want you to know that I loved you. I had to open my big fat … I’m so screwed.

  “I think it’s time to conquer the Ferris wheel.” She pushed her arm through the crook of his and they walked to the line.

  “Honey.” A curvy blond wearing a form-fitting, mint-green sundress approached. “I’m early for our … appointment.”

  Lani’s eyes widened at the flicker of recognition on Jordan’s face. Then anger flared in his eyes and his fist clenched at his side. “You have never been a client of mine.”

  “Oh, oh, oh. She’s not one of yours?” The woman gave an apologetic smile.

  “I am his.” Lani pulled him closer. “And he no longer does that type of work. So you can permanently erase his contact information from your phone because he has only one woman in his life now. And that’s me.”

  “You heard the woman.” Jordan’s shoulders dropped in relief as he kissed Lani’s cheek.

  “Whatever you say.” She shrugged and smiled sweetly. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

  “If you do, expect me to be right by his side.” Lani was fuming. Had he lied about being out of the business?

  Jordan wrapped his arm around Lani’s waist as if he knew what was going on in her mind. “Ms. Hardy, there won’t be a next time unless you plan on being arrested.”

  The blond simply winked as she sashayed past them.

  Lani broke out of Jordan's hold and stalked away the moment Ms. Hardy cleared the area. The fall from the other day had left her sore in a couple of areas and she was easily winded.

  “Wait, Lani.” Jordan trotted to catch up. “It’s not what you think.”

  “Mmmhmm.” She was close to tears as she wove in and out of the crowd. “We’re done here. And I’m not about to play games with you.”

  Jordan continued talking, but she wasn’t listening. She was too consumed with how she had bared her soul to him only to be played.

  “Lani.” He stepped in front of her as they neared the exit as if realizing his words weren’t registering.

  She felt like someone had dropped a building on her heart. “How does that woman know about your services unless she’s used them?”

  “That woman is a former employee and has been stalking me.” Jordan retrieved his phone from a pocket.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Lani shifted to the right to go around him. “I thought we agreed we wouldn’t keep secrets from each other. You could have told me when we discussed Arianna. I don’t want to be caught off guard when these women approach me.”

  “This happened before that conversation. With everything going on at your job, I didn’t want to burden you with it. She’d gone silent. I was hoping she had moved on.” Jordan took one of her hands in his. “Baby, I know you've been hurt before by trifling men. This is not that.”

  She folded both arms over her chest, ignoring the onlookers gawking at them. “I’m listening.” If she walked away permanently this time, she’d at least know she had heard him out before making the decision. The first time taught her not to make rash decisions without at least trying to get all the facts.

  Lani allowed him to guide her to a less populated area and listened to the backstory on the situation. Was Ms. Hardy the person calling and threatening to reveal my secret?

  Jordan unlocked the phone and showed her the text messages she’d sent him. Doubt lingered even after she saw the proof. She didn’t know if it was because of this particular incident or that everything about Jordan was just too perfect. Was she looking for a reason to run from her feelings for Jordan despite everything they just shared? In that moment, she had to admit she was afraid to drop her guard and truly love Jordan because she was expecting the worst-case scenario to happen.

  “No more secrets, right?” Jordan whispered with a regretful glance at the Ferris Wheel. “We’ll have to take that ride another time. I have someplace I’d like to show you.”

  “Where?”

  Jordan hesitated a moment. “The Everett Arts Center.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.” Jordan stopped short on his way in through the front door of his mother’s house and turned an accusatory gaze on her. Then he tossed a disdainful glance at the one person he wouldn’t lose sleep over not seeing again. “What’s he doing here?”

  This totally blew the high he’d been on since he had taken Lani to the center, and she was hella impressed. Plastered him with a kabillion questions. But the main one was that she needed help understanding why he persisted with having that “other life “when he could easily have settled on one woman and led a “normal” life long before now.

  Nothing about his life had ever been normal. His asshole brother wearing an ear to ear smirk was proof of that.

  “He called and said he needed to talk with me,” Sarah replied with a wary look in Quinn’s direction. “When I mentioned you were coming, he arrived a few moments before you did.”

  “I haven’t seen Sarah in such a long time.” Quinn lounged on the sofa as if he still lived there and gave Jordan a sly smile. “Thought I’d make good on my promise to check up on her. Shoot the breeze a little. Catch her up on a few things.”

  Tension crackled in the air, but Jordan refused to take the bait.

  Sarah flickered a worried glance from her son to Quinn, then back again. “What kind of game is he playing?”

  “The kind he’s always played,” Jordan replied, keeping his focus on his half-brother. “Trading on the fact that he believes he knows something that you don’t.”