19. Jensen

The tyres squealed as Jensen pulled up outside Talia's flat. He didn't bother finding somewhere proper to park, simply slinging the car wherever it could fit. There was no doubt he'd find a fixed penalty notice slapped onto the windscreen when he returned, but fuck it.

He'd been in a meeting with the joint venture's CEO when the alert on his phone rang out, warning him that Quinn's voice had been detected in Talia's flat. He'd opened up the app in a panic, spying on what was being said. The few minutes until Warren's arrival had been agonising, with Jensen sat in traffic on the other side of London, glued to his phone as he watched their discussion play out in real time.

When Quinn finally confessed, Jensen almost crushed the steering wheel in his grip, the rage coming off him in waves.

He slammed on the button for Talia's flat, waiting anxiously for an answer.

"Yep?" came Warren's voice.

"It's me," he replied. The buzzer sounded a second later, and Jensen pushed through the block's glass front door.

Across the foyer, the lift opened. A glowering blond man exited, staring daggers at his phone. Jensen rushed forward, shoving his hand in between the lift doors as they closed, managing to catch it by the skin of his teeth.

It was a relief when he finally knocked on Talia's door—and even more of a relief when she threw it open. Her lips twisted with emotion when she saw him, a glassy sheen in her eyes. "J—" she choked, her voice immediately breaking.

Jensen lifted her off the floor, crushing her against his chest. He was fucking furious at Quinn, but Talia needed him more. She threw her arms around his neck, trusting him to hold her steady. The first hint of moisture touched his cheek, just as Talia's shoulders shuddered. "I've got you," he whispered into her ear. "I've got you, baby girl."

Closing the front door behind him, Jensen walked into the flat. The living room was deserted, but through Felix's bedroom door he could see a sliver of Warren sitting on the floor. Clacking noises sounded, as though two plastic toys were being slammed together—closely followed by Felix burbling.

Seeking privacy, Jensen took Talia through to her bedroom. If anything, her cries worsened when they were alone, the door sealing them in their own little world. "Warren messaged me. He told me everything," he murmured, stroking her hair. Warren hadn't messaged him a thing, but how else would he have known without the cameras? "I'm sorry, Talia."

"I'm the one who should be sorry," she sniffed, setting her feet back on the floor. Her cheeks were sodden. "This whole time I was blaming you for not being here for us when…"

Talia trailed off, looking up at him with a look of such despondency that it almost broke his heart.

Jensen held her face in his hands, thumbing away her tears. "There's only one person to blame here, and it's not you."

"Except I let him into my life. I cost us so much."

"How could you have known? You're not responsible for someone else's actions."

The corners of her lips twitched. A tear ran down her cheek, but she turned away from him. Her focus landed on the bed. "Thank you for taking care of me last night."

Jensen tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I'll always take care of you. And Felix."

Talia frowned, her gaze resting on the unmade bed. "What did Quinn do last night that made you think he was so untrustworthy?"

He blinked. "You don't remember?"

"I remember the two of you arguing."

Shit. He knew her memory of last night was bound to be a bit hazy, but he didn't realise she didn't remember it at all. "You were drunk, and he was stone cold sober. I saw him leading you out of Celestial, so I followed. And I found him shoving you up against a wall with his hands up your dress." Jensen gritted his teeth, tension rapping a beat in his jaw. The words scraped out of his throat. "You told him to stop. And he told you to open your legs."

Her eyelids flickered over her watery stare. "Oh."

Jensen went to speak, to comfort her, to try and take that heart-wrenching look off her face, but Talia surprised him.

She reached for him.

And somehow, despite everything that had happened to keep them apart, Jensen knew she was exactly where she was meant to be, safe in his arms.

He swept her up into his embrace, almost intoxicated by how right this felt.

"Thank you," she murmured into his ear, her arms wrapped around his neck.

A shiver ran down his spine at the feel of her lips against his skin. He made a gruff noise of acknowledgment, realising how exhausted she seemed, made all too clear by the purple blush beneath her eyes. "Did you not go back to bed after I left?"

Talia shook her head.

He pulled her under his chin, dropping a kiss on her head. "Why don't you try and get a few hours' sleep now? Warren and I will look after Felix for the afternoon."

She moved towards the bed, her hand running down the length of his arm. Her touch lingered when she got to his hand. "Come with me."

That possessive instinct fired inside him, moving his legs forward, until he was sliding between the covers with her—and all he could smell was the soft, delicate perfume she'd worn last night. "You need to sleep."

Nestling in the crook of his shoulder, Talia looked up at him, her eyes briefly pausing at his lips. "I never slept as well as I did in your arms."

"Then sleep." He brushed her hair aside, smiling slightly. "I'll be here to keep you safe."

After finally getting his son to sleep, Jensen tiptoed out of Felix's room. He closed the door millimetre by millimetre, letting out a relieved breath.

The afternoon had been… hectic. How Talia managed to sleep through it all, he'd never know.

He'd held her for as long as he could, but eventually Warren had sent a text through saying that he had to leave. Afterwards, for the first time ever, Jensen had been left to look after his son alone.

He'd tried to follow the same routine Talia did, but his ability to put on a nappy needed some refining. As did his ability to dispose of the bastard things. It had taken him a good 20 minutes to work out how to use the fancy nappy bin in Felix's bedroom.

And then there was getting Felix to sleep…

Letting out a long breath, Jensen sat on the couch. His head fell back against it, but he couldn't help but smile, his heart constricting whenever he thought of Felix snoozing in his cot.

Jensen had known that parents loved their children to a mind-blowing degree, but experiencing it for himself was something else entirely. There was so much of himself in Felix.

And so much of Talia.

"You look happy," a soft voice said.

Talia stood in the doorway to her bedroom, her fiery curls draped across one shoulder.

He shrugged. "I was thinking about our son."

A smile touched her lips as she came to sit next to him, reclining back against the couch. "Is he asleep?"

"Just about."

"Are you all by yourself?" Talia's eyebrow lifted. "Isn't Warren here?"

"He left a few hours ago."

Her eyes blew wide, and she glanced towards Felix's room. "Why didn't you wake me? You didn't have to babysit him."

Something about that felt… wrong. "I don't think a dad can really babysit his own son. It might just be called parenting at that point."

A half-chuckle left her. She curled her legs up underneath her, wearing a pair of thick, fluffy socks. "True. And how did you find your first day of parenting?"

Jensen might as well be truthful. There was every chance she was going to watch the security footage back. "I was defeated by a nappy bin."

The giggle she let out had him wanting to pull her into his arms. "You run a company worth billions of pounds, but you couldn't figure out a nappy bin?"

"I'm an owner, not a CEO. All I know how to do is attend infrequent business meetings and watch dividends arrive in my bank account."

Talia's shoulders raised in a brief shrug, her fingers fiddling with a loose strand on her fluffy socks. "You took over for the CEO when you came to New York."

"Mm," he acknowledged, the edge of his lip curling in fond remembrance. "One of the best decisions I ever made."

She reared back slightly. "Really?"

Jensen's nod was a comfortable one. "I met you, didn't I?"

Before that night, his life had been all of a pattern. He had a family he loved, and a job he enjoyed. He may have played down just how much of his time it took up, but now he had more important things to focus on. So what if he was less involved in his business dealings in the future?

Just look at what he'd gained.

Biting her lip, Talia leant towards him. "Would you ever wan—?"

A loud, shrill ringing filled the room. Jensen turned his head. "Is that coming from Felix's room?"

"Nope!" Talia leapt to her feet, her socks skidding across the wooden flooring. She disappeared into her bedroom, and a few seconds later the noise ended. "Hey Darcy," she said.

Ah. That was her ringtone, then.

Jensen stood, padding over to Felix's bedroom. He leant up against the door, but it was silent within. Good. His little boy was still fast asleep.

Talia's voice was soft as she spoke to her sister, but Jensen moved to stand in her bedroom doorway. He waited until he caught her eye, lowering his voice to a murmur. "Do you want me to cook dinner?"

"One sec, Darce." She pressed the phone against her shoulder, burying the microphone in fabric. "For me?"

"For you."

She nodded, a blush coming to her cheeks. "I'd like that."

Whilst Talia spoke to her sister, Jensen got to work in the kitchen. He'd heard her mention her favourite meal on the security cameras a few days ago—macaroni and cheese. The knowledge may have been acquired using underhanded means, but Jensen needed all the help he could get.

He was thankful her favourite dish was a simple one. He had to pop down to the shops for a couple of things, but other than that Talia already had everything they needed in her kitchen.

Strangely, he hadn't expected to enjoy it this much; cooking Talia dinner as she chatted on the phone, knowing that he'd put their son to bed.

For this afternoon at least, Jensen felt like he'd finally pulled his weight as a father.

When he put Talia's meal on the table in front of her, she seemed almost shy. Was she not used to people taking care of her? She soon would be, that primal instinct within him promised.

Their conversation flowed over dinner, and he found himself thinking that he would be happy spending every day like this—just the three of them, as a family.

He never wanted it to end.

Talia was apparently thinking along the same lines. "Do you want to stay a bit longer?" she asked after dinner, pointing towards the deep, plush sofa he'd slept on last night. "We could watch a film or something."

Or something.

He nodded, in no hurry to leave. "I'd like that."

As Jensen settled on the couch, Talia moved towards the armchair. A second later, however, she returned, fluffy blanket in hand, to sit next to him. "If you want to recline your seat, there's a button down the side," she told him, her feet slowly rising as she reclined her own.

Huh. He wish he'd realised that last night. The sofa would have been a lot comfier to sleep on if he had.

By the time his seat finished reclining, Talia had dimmed the lights and was already scrolling through her streaming services.

"What do you fancy?" she asked, briefly stopping to unfurl the blanket over her legs—and Jensen's.

He paused before replying, casting his eye over her recently watched titles. "You watch a lot of military films."

"Oh," Talia's lips thinned. "Those are all films Quinn and I watched actually. Mostly him, if I'm honest."

A fresh wave of anger filled him at the mention of Quinn's name, followed by a burst of jealousy. How many times had Quinn sat where Jensen was sitting now, huddled under the same blanket? "We can still watch military stuff if you enjoy it."

"It's never really been my thing."

Jensen frowned. There was nothing but military titles in her recently watched list. "Is this his account?"

"No," she admitted. "It's mine. But whenever I picked a film he just ended up nitpicking everything he didn't like about it and…" Talia sighed. "It was just easier to let him pick what he wanted."

He could imagine. "Pick whatever you want," he told her. "I won't say a thing."

"But what if I pick something you hate?"

He snorted. "I visited Warren yesterday. There was some kids show blaring on the TV the entire time. If I sat through that without complaint, then I can sit through anything."

Talia gave him a challenging look, flicking through the algorithmic barrage of action and adventure until she found what she was looking for. "Ready?"

"Sure. What's it called?"

"Bridgerton."

It sounded familiar. "Wasn't this big a few years back?"

"It was," she confirmed, the opening credits beginning to play.

True to his word, Jensen didn't make a sound throughout the whole thing—although it wasn't until the ‘watch next episode' prompt appeared that he realised it wasn't a film at all.

Talia paused it, glancing up at him. "What do you think?"

"It's miles better than the show Lucie was watching yesterday," he confirmed.

"I meant," she laughed, "do you want to carry on watching or shall I switch it to something more manly?"

He let out a snort. "Carry on watching. My masculinity has remained intact so far, but I'll keep you updated."

His masculinity stayed intact for the second episode, and the third and the fourth. By the time the fifth episode came around, the atmosphere was relaxed around them. Talia had cozied up under the blankets, until he could feel the warmth of her body down his entire right side.

Jensen stretched out his arm along the back of the sofa, the two of them occasionally sharing their thoughts as the show played out before them.

The longer it went on, the more unsure he became.

Last night, Jensen had convinced himself that Talia was supposed to be his, and yet his mind was reminding him of all the reasons she shouldn't be.

She was twenty years younger than him.

She was his best friend's daughter. She was young enough to be his own fucking daughter.

And, most of all, hadn't he done enough damage to her life?

Jensen could never regret their son coming into the world, but Talia belonged with someone her own age. She deserved that.

The other half of his mind raged back. If she wanted to be with someone her own age, she would be.

Not to mention, men her own age could be arseholes like Quinn. Jensen had the experience needed to give her the life she deserved.

The next time Talia paused the TV to get up for a drink, he took advantage. "Would you ever want to go back to university?"

She blinked, rummaging through a drawer. "I don't know. Why?"

"When we met, you were willing to go to… extreme lengths to pay for your degree. And I've seen all the medical textbooks on your bookshelf. It seems like something you were committed to."

Blushing somewhat, Talia sat back down, throwing the blanket over their legs once again. "It was. At the time it was the most important thing in the world, but now…"

Jensen could guess. "You have Felix."

She let her head fall back to rest on his arm. "Exactly. I wasn't enjoying my time at university regardless."

"You didn't enjoy medicine?"

There was a pause before she spoke, letting out a long breath. "Not as much as I thought. For the longest time I dreamt of studying medicine at Columbia because it was what my mum did. She died when I was little, and it was almost my way of being closer to her, if that makes sense."

He nodded, letting one of her fiery red curls run through his fingers. "It does."

"I wanted to make her proud, and Dad too. I wanted to live up to all these expectations I created for myself. But when I got there… " Talia exhaled, winding their fingers together. "Expectations weren't enough."

Jensen squeezed her hand.

"Pregnancy freed me of that, in a way. Suddenly there was a ready-made excuse to come home."

"So you wouldn't go back to education?"

After a pause, her shoulders lifted in a shrug. "The drive is still there. The need to learn. The urge to help people. I want to make my mark on the world, to make Felix proud. As much as I've loved being here with Felix, I still want to have a career."

"Do you have any idea of what that career might be?" Jensen asked, thinking of those shelves packed full of books in her bedroom. From what he saw last night, she had a wide range of titles.

"As strange as it sounds, I actually really enjoyed my pregnancy. From both an educational standpoint and a personal one. I basically dove head-first into the obstetrics literature. Every facet of the process was just incredible to me, from fertilisation to…" Talia stilled, cheeks tinged pink in the low light. "To, er, birth. It was something I'd never been exposed to before. If I was to study anything, I think it would be something pregnancy-related."

"What about midwifery?" Jensen offered. "My aunt—Alison—was a midwife for something like thirty years."

"I didn't know that!"

They were coming dangerously close to the subject neither of them had mentioned since the wedding—Euan. "Once she's back from her honeymoon, she'd be a good person to talk to about it."

Hopefully the next time he and Euan came face-to-face, Jensen wouldn't come out of it with another black eye.

"I will do," Talia nodded, wearing a hopeful smile that made his heart clench. "Want to watch the rest?"

"Sure."

She quickly resumed the show, but leant across to scoop a little blister pack of tablets off the coffee table next to her.

Jensen frowned. "You feeling okay?"

"Yeah, my shoulders have just been hurting all day." The colours from the TV flashed over her face as she popped a tablet out of the packet, quickly followed by a second. "I think I must have slept funny."

Or been slammed into a brick wall outside a nightclub, he thought murderously.

"Come here," he murmured. "I'll massage your shoulders while we watch the show."

He threw out the offer with every expectation that Talia would turn him down, but he was pleasantly surprised when she gave him an endearing smile. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure." Jensen patted the sofa, beckoning her closer.

She shifted across to settle in front of him, her breath hiking when he gently pulled her curls over one shoulder.

"Tell me where it hurts." His voice sounded rougher already.

Talia let out a hum of pleasure as his hands began to massage her shoulders, followed by a breathy, cock-hardening gasp. "Oh, there."

In hindsight, maybe this was a bad idea. Jensen had wanted to do something nice for her, to care for her in any way he could, but those intoxicating noises had him surreptitiously shifting in his seat.

Talia didn't seem to be sharing his doubts. She leant back against him, allowing her head to fall to the side. Her movement exposed the soft curve of her neck, and it took every ounce of his willpower not to press his lips against it.

He ran his thumbs against her muscles, meticulously smoothing away the knots until she was melting before him. "In future, I want you to tell me if you're hurting. Don't suffer in silence like you did today."

Her reply was nothing but a hummed noise of acknowledgement.

Jensen continued massaging, half wanting to make her feel good…

And half wanting to hear more of those noises.

God, he'd missed hearing her blissful sighs. Every little murmur took him back to that night in New York, touching her, feeling her move against him, giving her so much pleasure her legs shook.

Except now he knew just how young she was. Talia was nineteen, and his best friend's daughter. How could any man with a conscience continue to lust after a woman knowing that?

Jensen was so lost in his thoughts that he almost missed what was happening on the TV show.

As Talia hummed and sighed beneath his touch, the couple on screen were removing each other's clothing.

Closing his eyes, he grimaced. His cock was hard enough already. Between the dark, sensual lighting and Talia's low moans, hadn't he suffered enough? Apparently not.

For the first time, Talia shifted in her seat. She edged closer to him, until she was mere inches away.

Jensen couldn't stop watching her, his touch never leaving her shoulders.

"Can I lay against you?" she asked, her words slight and shy.

"Of course."

Talia shifted again—except she clearly hadn't realised how close the two of them were.

She moved not against his side, as he'd expected, but fully into his lap, her rear lodging up against his painfully hard length before he could cover it. Another gasp left her; one of shock rather than pleasure.

He winced. The last thing he wanted was for her to think he was some kind of pervert. "Fuck, Talia I—"

"Can you go lower?"

It took him a moment to digest what she'd said. "You mean massage lower?"

"Mhmm."

Jensen did what she asked. Were they just not going to talk about the fact that his cock was as hot as a brand against her arse?

Talia let out another hum of pleasure. She lay against him, her back to his front, the exposed curve of her neck still tempting him. "You didn't do that."

"Do what?" His eyes widened, realising that he could see down the front of her shirt from this angle.

Don't be a perve. Don't be a perve. Don't be a perve.

Talia seemed to be unaware of the internal battle he was fighting. She nodded towards the TV. "You did more than just kiss me before we had sex."

His cock jerked against her, straining against the fly of his trousers. He let his head fall forward, until his forehead came to rest in her hair. "I'm hanging by a thread here, Talia," he breathed, his shoulders heaving.

She turned in his lap, sliding against his length until they were face-to-face. "Then let go."

Teeth gritted so hard he thought they might shatter, Jensen shook his head.

She gave him a searching look, but Jensen thought there may have been a touch of vulnerability in it. "Is it… is it because I haven't lost my baby weight?"

"What? No!" The denial burst from him before he could stop it. He took her face in his hands, his gentle touch smoothing away her doubt. Was that what she thought of him? "Do you have any idea how difficult it is for me to keep my hands off you? You're perfect, Talia. I'm more attracted to you now than ever, but it doesn't change this chasm between us. If I were twenty years younger…"

Shoulders shaking with exertion, Jensen trailed off.

Beneath her heavy lidded gaze, Talia's teeth sunk into her bottom lip. "Tell me. If you were twenty years younger, what would you do to me?"

The game was so fucking dangerous, but Jensen couldn't stop himself from playing.

Their breath mingled in the small space between them, tension humming in the air. "I'd devour every inch of you."

A moan left her, and she slid her hand down his chest, coming perilously close to his throbbing length. "Then do it." She shot a mischievous, almost challenging glare at him. "The memories I have of our night together are getting fuzzy, and I want some new ones to think about when I'm touching myself."

Eighteen months of pent up lust coursed through him, charging the air around him with so much electricity he was surprised it didn't crackle.

Before he could move a muscle, a small, raspy cry came from Felix's room.

Talia scooted off the sofa, and Jensen followed. He hung back at Felix's door, relieved when his erection softened. Jesus. He had been a moment away from throwing his decency out of the window.

"You okay, cyw?" Talia murmured. She was little more than a hazy outline in the darkness, bent over Felix's cot.

Jensen approached, joining her at their son's bedside. "Did you have a bad dream, wee man?"

Felix slurred a response, already falling back to sleep. Jensen grinned; if only it had been this easy to get him to sleep earlier.

"Come on," Talia pulled his arm, her voice a whisper in the dark.

Back out in the living room, Jensen glanced at the clock in the kitchen; it was almost midnight. "I hadn't noticed how late it was," he admitted.

"Will you stay?" she asked, her eyes bright with innocence. "I could really use a hand with him overnight."

He nodded, knowing full well she was doing her best to break his resistance. "But I'll sleep on the sofa again."

Talia leant against the wall, swirling a lock of her hair around her finger. "Then I guess I'll see you in the morning. Can you turn off everything out here when you're ready?"

Blinking at the abrupt end to their night, he nodded. "Sure. See you in the morning."

It didn't take him long to get ready for bed. He'd grabbed the overnight bag he kept in the car when he nipped to the shops a few hours earlier. It always had a weekend's worth of clean clothes and toiletries ready to go, and it had come in handy on several last-minute business trips.

He never thought he'd end up using it a mile from home, but there was a first time for everything.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jensen glanced at Talia's bedroom door.

Nope. He wasn't even going to think of Talia's first time.

When he settled down for the night under the blankets, his unfulfilled erection from earlier returned.

He could almost hear Roman's sarcastic remark now. Erection 2: Electric Boogaloo.

Jensen groaned, pulling his forearms over his eyes. Why did he agree to stay?

But, staring up at the darkened ceiling, he knew exactly why. Talia.

A soft noise made him glance around. Was that coming from Felix's room? He threw the blanket back with every intention of getting up to check if his little boy was okay, but the next noise rooted him in place.

Buzzing—swiftly followed by a gentle moan.

Please tell me she's not doing what I think she's doing.

His eyes closed at the next gasp. She was trying to kill him. She was actually trying to kill him.

In the darkness, he glanced over towards her bedroom door, eyes widening at the sliver of light at its edge. No wonder he could hear so much—she'd left it open for him.

A tiny red light flashed in the corner, presumably from one of the many security cameras Tarik had installed around the flat. The security cameras that he had access to on his phone… including in Talia's bedroom.

Sitting up, Jensen leant his elbows on his knees, dropping his forehead into his hands. The longer it went on, the weaker his resolve became.

He could open up his phone right now and see every inch of what she was doing. The memories of New York were so far away, and his baser instincts roared at him to do something. Watch her on his phone. Join her in her bedroom, as she so clearly wanted him to. Anything but sit here on this fucking couch, nursing a raging erection.

"Fuck," he grunted. Talia's moans seemed to be coming quicker now. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck."

He couldn't invade her privacy, and he couldn't give in to his lust.

When her gasps stopped, he breathed a sigh of relief. She must have finished.

Light suddenly spilled across the floor, and Jensen looked up to see Talia standing there in a silky dressing gown, her cheeks flushed.

"Talia—"

She spoke over him, her strong, certain glare freezing him in place. "I am a grown woman," she snarled, untying the dressing gown's sash and pulling it apart to reveal she was naked beneath. It slipped off her shoulders, and she let it fall to the floor. "And I know what I want."

Jensen's restraint snapped.