"Let go of me. I don't give a shit if you're my boss or if you're some Hollywood star," Cade spat at him. "You're disgusting."
"Disgusting?" He feigned hurt, pressing a hand over his chest. "Why, Miss Williams, you flatter me!"
Cade narrowed her eyes and pulled his hand off her arm. "You smell like retched pus-" Her room door opened behind her.
"Good morning!" Harley's cheery disposition interrupted them.
Jax didn't take his eyes off Cade as he greeted her daughter, "Hey, kiddo. Did you have a good night's sleep?"
"Yeah." Harley surprised them by giving her father a quick hug. Jax looked down at his daughter, messing up her hair. "I'm hungry."
"We'll get some breakfast up here. Go inside and call room service."
Harley obeyed. Once again Cade was alone again with her half-naked boss.
How could he be like that? How could he stand himself? she asked inwardly. He seemed to be getting better at this parenting thing, then he pulled something horrifying. Was it because they were in this city? Was it part of his rock star status? Cade had been able to keep her opinions to herself because she thought Jax was trying to make a difference in his and Harley's lives, but the groupies from yesterday and this morning were enough to convince her otherwise.
"You don't know what it's like," he told Cade, his gaze burrowing into hers. "It's lonely at the top."
Cade furrowed her brows. "It's not an excuse, Jax," she faltered, surprised that she had called him by that name.
"I'm trying. Can't you see?" Jax raised his hands in front of him. "I slipped. It happened. What do you expect me to do?"
"Do what you want, Mr. Clark, just don't do it in front of your daughter. It's Harley I'm concerned about. I want to make sure she doesn't get hurt by people, and that includes you."
"What about me, Cade? Aren't you concerned for me too?"
Cade sucked in a gasp. Why would he ask that? Then she remembered the kiss. Had it meant more to him? After a while, she had tried to chalk it up to this image he had to keep up. The bad boy rocker persona who screwed anyone he wanted, and kissed any woman within grasp. She was sorry she let it happen, and she was even sorrier that she had thought of it more. Thought of him more.
"You're not any of my concern. I'm here for Harley. That's what you hired me to do."
Harley reappeared, holding up a menu and chatting on the hotel phone. "I ordered for myself. What do you guys want?" She looked up at Cade, then Jax.
"I'm fine, Harley," Cade said. Normally, she'd have a big breakfast that would last her for most of the day, but finding Jax in the hallway had turned her stomach.
Jax bent down to Harley's eye level. "I'll have waffles with chocolate sauce, strawberries, whipped cream, and an espresso."
"That's a lot of sugar, Dad," Harley said with a burst of laughter.
If his back wasn't leaning against the threshold, Jax would have stumbled. Harley had just called him "Dad." He pushed a struggling breath out of his mouth and wrapped his daughter in a tight embrace.
***
"You must be Cadence," a beautiful blonde approached Cade, trying to extend her only free hand. She was surrounded with three mini-versions of JP.
Cade smiled at her, shaking her hand. "Cade, please."
"I'm Beth, JP's wife. And these are our hellions, Dante, Derek, and Daniela." Beth lifted the toddler in her arm and patted the two kids gripping the ends of her shirt.
Leaning forward, Cade tickled Dante's cheek and the boy turned away, but Cade caught the big smile on his face. Then she stuck out her hand to the two older children. "Hey guys!" They gave her high fives. "Are they twins?"
"Yeah. They're a little shy. Why don't you sit with Harley on the couch?" Beth pushed her kids towards the sofa Harley was stretched out on.
Harley waved the kids over and Derek and Daniela hopped on her sides.
Cade knew JP was married with children, according to the dossier. Luke was single and always ready to mingle, and Marco was never married, but he had been engaged four times, twice to the same woman. She wondered how a sweet-looking girl like Beth could stand to have a husband as popular as JP. Was she aware of his extra-curricular activities? The groupies?
"How do you do it?" She didn't mean to blurt it out, but she couldn't take it back. The interaction she had with Jax earlier had unnerved her, and that connection between him and his daughter that had followed had done something else to her entirely. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to-"