Serendipity

Chapter Seven

"Good morning, Sarai," Jax said as he walked into the kitchen. He had a bit of a headache, and the bright light made him want to wince. He wasn't going to show it, though.

He already felt stupid about drinking the night before. A lecture was the last thing he needed.

"Good morning, Jax," she replied from her seat at the table, not looking at him. The two children watched them with interest.

"How come you didn't sleep with mommy last night, Jax?" Mali asked brightly. Sarai dropped her spoon with a clatter and Jax coughed.

"What do you mean, sweetheart?" Sarai asked, her voice deceptively soft. Jax could tell the question made her angry.

"We're not stupid, you know," Able said, putting down his own spoon. He looked at them smugly. "Mali and I know all about where Jax has been sleeping. We've been watching you guys. You're caught."

"Well, I won't be sleeping with Sarai any more," Jax said quietly. "Not unless she decides she wants to keep me for good. I love her very much, and I want to marry her."

"Jax—"Sarai tried to say, but Mali cut her off.

"If you marry mommy, will you be our daddy?" she asked, licking her spoon thoughtfully.

"If you'll let me," Jax said, catching Sarai's eyes. She looked livid, but he didn't care.

She'd changed the rules last night. She hadn't been fighting fair, and now he was done fighting fair. He'd do whatever he could to wind his way into her life, whether she liked it or not. He only had a week; there wasn't any time to mess around. If that meant using the children against her, he'd do it.

"I would let you," Mali said with a shy smile.

"Well, I won't," Able said. "You may not be as bad as our father was, but we still don't need you here."

Sarai and Jax both looked at the boy in surprise.

"You think Jax is better than your father was?" Sarai asked quietly. "I didn't realize you were comparing them, Able. They're two very different people, you know. Jax would never do the things your father did."

A wave of warmth swept through Jax. No matter what she said, at least Sarai knew he was better than Calvin.

"I know that," Able said, looking at Jax as if taking his measure. It was the same look he had given him in the garden after he'd attacked him, Jax thought. Clearly, their talk had given the boy something to think about. "But what you need to understand is that you don't need him, Mom. You have me. I'll take care of you and Mali."

"I know that," Sarai said, her face flushing. "You've always done a good job of taking care of me, Able."

"And Mali," Able added.

"And Mali," Sarai repeated softly.

"Mommy, I'm done with my cereal," Mali announced. "I want to go outside now. Did you know that we don't have any lessons today, Jax? We just get to play all day long because our teacher has to go to the spaceport. Are you going to come and play with us?"

"Sure," Jax said lightly. "Why don't we go on a picnic? I'm sure that your mother would like to join us, too."

"I don't think—" Sarai tried to break in, glaring at him, but Mali squealed with delight, cutting her off.

"We're going on a picnic! Can we go swimming? Mommy says we can't go swimming unless we have grownups with us, but Kally's daddy takes us swimming sometimes. Will you take us swimming?"

Even Able perked up at this.

"We have to do what mom tells us," he said loyally, but his desire to go swimming was written all over his face. "Can we, mom?"

"There's a lot of work that needs to be done around here," Sarai said. Jax laughed.

"Sarai, there's nothing that can't wait. You don't have any vacancies right now, and none of the rooms need to be cleaned. They were just done yesterday," he said, trying to tempt her. "You haven't taken a day off since I've been here. It won't kill you to take a little break. You have to do fun things in life, too."

"You realize the children can't really swim, don't you?" Sarai said. Her voice was wavering; he could tell she was close to giving in. "They just paddle around in the shallow water. We'll have to keep a close eye on them."

"I'm a good swimmer," he said, smiling broadly at her. "Maybe I can teach them."

"You can teach me how to swim?" Able asked, his face lighting up. "Kally's daddy has been teaching me, but I still don't know how to do it very well. We don't get to go very often to practice. Mom doesn't know how, so she doesn't like to take us by herself."

"There weren't a lot of places to go swimming on the asteroid where I grew up," Sarai said defensively. She stood and started clearing the table.

"Well, it sounds like I'll just have to teach all of you to swim," Jax replied. The thought was appealing… What would Sarai wear to go swimming? He'd never seen her wearing anything but her long dresses. He watched her stack the dishes speculatively, enjoying the sway of her cute little butt as she moved. What would she feel like all wet and naked against him? It was a pleasant thought, and he could feel himself hardening in response…

"I don't want to swim in the deep water, though," Mali said. "I'm scared of the deep water, Jax."

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to," Sarai said reassuringly, turning back toward her daughter and smiling gently. "We'll just pack a little lunch and go play in the shallow places, all right?"

Yep, she was all his, Jax thought smugly. By the end of the day he'd have her hot and ready for him. Now all he had to do was keep reminding himself why he couldn't sleep with her. Not until she acknowledged that she wanted him for more than sex.

His plan was going to be harder to carry out than he'd expected, Jax realized later that day. He stood in water up to his chest, bracing himself again the current.

Sarai knelt in the shallows water of the riverbed with Mali, helping her build a little fort out of sand and sticks. Her white shift clung to every curve of her body, outlining her nipples enticingly and even giving a hint of shadow at the cleft between her legs. She turned away from him, and leaned forward to pull some more sand over for her daughter.

The movement pulled the fabric tight against her heart-shaped ass, and he groaned. Even the cold water of the river wasn't enough to keep his erection down. What had started out as his plan to tempt her was turning into his own personal hell.

"Jax, are you ready?" Able called. Jax turned his attention to the boy, who was standing in water up to his waist. His face was pinched and tight with stress, but he insisted on trying to swim out to Jax by himself.

"I'm ready, Able," Jax said, holding out his arms. "I'll catch you, don't worry."

"All right, I'm coming now!" Able shouted, and then threw himself forward into the slowly moving water. He thrashed his arms and legs desperately, slowly inching his way toward Jax. It took all of Jax's willpower not to lean forward and pull the boy to him, but he knew doing it by himself was important to Able. Then the boy was on him, wiry little arms and legs clingy. He twisted in Jax's arms, shouting in triumph.

"Mom, did you see? I swam all the way out here by myself!"

"Oh, no, I missed it!" Sarai called, turning to look at them. "Can you swim back to shore? I'll be sure to watch this time."

"You can do it," Jax said encouragingly. Able twisted to look back at him, scorn on his face.

"Of course I can," he said. Without warning, he pushed himself free of Jax's arms and started paddling back toward the shore. Instead of watching the boy this time, though, Jax watched Sarai's face. Her expression was a mixture of concern and pride. She loved her children so much it was almost painful to watch at times. He felt like an intruder on their intimacy. Could he ever really be a part of the family?

Able had reached the shore, and Sarai wrapped him tightly in her arms. Mali jumped up and down, squealing in delight and clapping her hands.

"I can do it, too!" Mali said suddenly. She leapt forward.

Before either he or Sarai had time to react, the little girl flung herself into the water, flailing her arms and legs.