Piper stared at the Manet painting-her eyes immediately assessing the brush strokes and his masterful use of light.
"My circumstances are different. Can we leave it at that?" Without waiting for his answer, she changed the subject. "Tell me what you know about Manet."
"Are you avoiding the subject?" Jaeger asked.
"Sure," she answered truthfully, obviously surprising him. "We spent a short time together in Milan and we reconnected yesterday, Jaeger. There are things I don't feel comfortable sharing."
"Fair point."
Piper noticed his sensual mouth had turned grim. His tone was equally hard when he spoke again. "Okay, just tell me the sapphires weren't illegally acquired by either you or one of your ancestors."
That was a question she could answer. "The gems are not stolen."
Jaeger stood up straight, removed his jacket and rolled the cuffs of his shirt up to reveal strong wrists and corded forearms. "Okay, that's a relief. I can deal with the rest. Let's get to work."
Happy they were off the land mine subject, Piper gestured to the Manet. "So, about Manet?"
Jaeger's eyes darted from the painting to her face and back again. "I know absolutely nothing about art except what I like. Why?"
"Because it's a fake."
Jaeger winced before shrugging. "Not my problem."
Piper rubbed her hands together and approached the collector's cupboard containing what seemed like a hundred drawers.
"So, you're going to buy me pizza if I find you a green diamond ring?" Piper clarified as she pulled out a drawer filled with rings nestled in foam rows.
She chuckled, reached for a ring and lifted the green gorgeousness up to the light. "Anchovies, capers and olives on mine, please."
Five
Jaeger, sitting on the Persian carpet in Piper's den, grabbed a cold slice of pizza and placed another file back in the box, frustrated at not finding anything so far pertaining to the sapphires or Piper's great-uncle.
Shoeless, he crossed his feet at the ankles as he munched his way through the slice. He'd arrived at Piper's place midafternoon and she'd immediately sent him to the attic.
He should've agreed to let Rainn do the work, he thought. The space was dusty, overfull and dark, and he now had a backache from bending his too-long frame trying to shift boxes. Yet despite hauling boxes, Piper's dishwater-tasting coffee-how could anyone mess up coffee?-and there being a baby in the house, he felt relaxed, at ease. The moment he'd stepped through her front door and into her slightly chaotic home, he'd felt his shoulders drop and the knots in his muscles loosen. He hadn't felt this way about a house, a space, since he'd left the family brownstone to go off to college.
He liked being here, and he didn't like it that he liked it. Dammit.
He'd ordered pizza while Piper fed and bathed Ty, trying his best to stay out of their way. Ty was, as Piper informed him, not fully well and unusually fussy, which meant Piper had him on her hip for much of the afternoon. It had taken her ages to get Ty to settle, and when she returned, she'd eaten one slice of pizza and curled up on the couch. She'd fallen asleep about an hour ago. Jaeger glanced at his watch; it was a little past seven and he needed to leave for dinner at the Den. His family was expecting him.
Standing up, he stretched before shutting the pizza box and picking up the papers below Piper's hand. He placed them back in the folder and put it on the coffee table, staring down at the sleeping beauty below him.
She wasn't classically beautiful, he thought. Her chin was a bit too stubborn and her cheekbones a little too pronounced, but she was fascinating. Strong, charismatic, interesting.
Interesting was far more dangerous than beautiful, he thought, and a lot harder to resist.
Brain injury or not, how could he have forgotten meeting her before? They'd had dinner-he knew that-but what else? Had he kissed her? Did he try to take her to bed? Was this a new attraction, or had he felt the same in Milan? Jaeger cursed, frustrated. He needed to remember her.
God, she was hot...
Two fiery kisses were nowhere near enough. He wanted to kneel on the wide couch and wake her up with kisses along the cords of her throat. He would suck her plump lower lip into his mouth, giving it a light nip, followed by a soothing swipe of his tongue. He wanted to know how her breasts filled his hands, whether her nipples were as succulent as he suspected. He wanted to taste her, stroke her, slide into her. Thoughts of doing all three constantly snuck up on him, and at night, his fantasies took flight. When he did sleep, it was to dream of her.
She'd told him she hadn't slept much last night, but he knew Ty had kept her up, not thoughts of him. She had blue stripes under her eyes, and her skin looked a shade or two paler than her normal creamy complexion. Interesting be damned-she was beautiful. She was his type of beautiful.
Jaeger turned as he heard a low cry coming from the baby monitor on the coffee table. He quickly scooped it up, hoping to muffle the noise. Leaving Piper to sleep, and asking himself what the hell he was doing, he carried the monitor with him and ran up the stairs to the second floor of her home. He passed a larger bedroom-obviously Piper's, judging by the hot-pink bra on the floor by her door-and stopped at the door to Ty's room.
You can do this. You have to do this. Beckett and Sage will have kids one day, and you can't keep avoiding Shaw forever. Go inside. It's a baby, not a bomb. Piper's baby...
That Ty was hers didn't matter, shouldn't matter. He had to conquer this fear at some point and it might as well be now. And if you have a panic attack and start dry heaving, Ty won't tell anyone.
Just try, dammit.
Jaeger pushed open the door. In the glow from the night-light next to the crib, he saw Ty sitting up, rubbing his eyes. Hoping Ty wouldn't yell, and ignoring his hummingbird heart, Jaeger lifted the baby and held him under his arms, his chubby legs dangling. "Hey, you. Why aren't you asleep?"
Ty blinked at him, his eyes wide. He spat out his pacifier and grinned at Jaeger. So far, so good. Shaking hands and a tight chest, but he wasn't about to have a heart attack.
Jaeger returned Ty's smile. "Yeah, you're cute. So, why aren't you asleep?"
Jaeger caught a whiff of something very unpleasant and grimaced. "Aw, c'mon, you're kidding me!"
Ty kicked his legs, gurgled and waved his hands in the air as if to say, Let's see how tough you are, big guy.
He wasn't that tough.
He should take Ty downstairs, wake Piper up and ask her to deal with her son's full diaper. That would be the most efficient and least disgusting way to handle the situation. But Piper was exhausted and she really needed to sleep...
But Ty wouldn't go back to sleep until he was clean and changed. Dammit. Jaeger didn't change diapers; he hadn't even changed any of Jess's diapers. Andrea had insisted on doing everything for Jess, and being young and thinking he was dodging a bullet, he'd let her. Now he had no idea where to start...
Piper-he'd wake her up. He made the decision and then shook his head. If he could negotiate, fight and scheme his way out of various dicey situations in third world countries, he could change a baby's diaper. Billions of people did it every day; it couldn't be rocket science. All he needed was instructions, and he knew someone who could give him some.
Tucking Ty against his hip as he'd seen Piper and Ceri do, he dug into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out his phone. He placed it on the table next to the changing pad and used his voice app to instruct the phone to call Linc. His brother answered within two rings.
"Where are you, Jay?" he demanded. "We're starving!"
Jaeger lowered Ty onto the changing table and flipped on the lamp next to his phone. Ty rolled, and Jaeger slapped his hand on his rump to keep him from falling off. "Hold still, dammit."
"Um...what are you doing?" Linc asked in his what-are-you-up-to voice.
"Trying to change a diaper on a wriggling baby," Jaeger replied. "I need you to talk me through it."
Linc didn't reply, and Jaeger wondered if he'd lost the connection. Then he heard Linc's voice and knew that he was on speaker. "He said he is changing a baby's diaper."
Beck's voice rose from the mobile. "Tell him that's he's drunk and to catch a cab home." Beneath their laughter, Jaeger heard amazement and concern. Yeah, well, he was concerned, too. He'd intended to avoid babies and kids for the rest of his life.
Okay, yes, Piper needed to sleep, but his decision to deal with Ty went deeper than that. There was something about this warm house in Brooklyn, and Piper, and being here with her, that made him feel stronger, better, able to face his past. Or at least, feel that it was time to try. "I'm being serious, and take me off speaker!"