Chapter 14

Amara's POV:

“Really?” Arlo asked happily, setting down the camera carefully and leaning on the tripod as he looked at his younger brother.

“Yeah, man,” Zavier grinned, looking over at me and giving me a nod.

“That’s so good!” Carolyn said excitedly, already smiling, and went inside to tell her mother, I assumed.

“When will you get these printed?” Charlotte asked Tessa, referring to the pictures we had just shot.

“I will send them to the editors as a high priority, so you might have them by tomorrow?” Tessa explained as she put the camera in its case and then in the suitcase she came with.

“Sounds good,” Zavier said and tucked away his phone into his pocket. Once again, he was dressed in the suit he wore to work this morning.

“One little problem, though,” Charlotte pointed out, catching everyone’s attention. What could we have done wrong this time?

“What might that be?” I asked, sighing as this had barely started and was already becoming too much, but it was too late to back out now.

“You two are as close as strangers,” she pointed out. I frowned a little and looked over at Zavier. His green eyes were focused on me. We did know some things about each other. When things were good, we talked somewhat…That had to count for something, right?

“We know stuff about each other,” Zavier scoffed, almost as if he were offended by what Charlotte said.

“Let me rephrase that: you two act like strangers,” Charlotte said and walked closer to Tessa. Tessa made a thinking face for a moment as she looked at us.

“You know, I think Fischer might ask personal questions, and if you choke during that, he might get suspicious,” Tessa said, biting on her lower lip.

“Perhaps you two should go out for dinner and talk things out,” Charlotte pointed out, making me choke a little. A date? Was she out of her mind? I was scared of the thought, knowing I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from falling for him, which would only end up with me hurting.

“What things?” I asked, hoping we could just forget about this horrific idea.

“Um, you know—basic first date stuff where you get to know the person,” Tessa said, shrugging.

“I’m not too sure about that,” Zavier mumbled awkwardly as he looked over in my direction.

“Well, you should get to know each other before Saturday night.” Charlotte shrugged and went on her phone.

“I’m free tomorrow night,” Zavier said, looking over at me.

“I can babysit for you two,” Charlotte offered, looking at me since the final answer lay with me now. There was no escaping this; they were right. We had to go out, just the two of us, and get to know each other better.

“Fine. Dinner it is,” I said.

“By the end, you should know each other’s dreams, deepest fears, and pet peeves.” Tessa narrowed her eyes at us, once again switching to professional Tessa, the one that scared us all.

“Yeah, yeah,” Zavier grumbled, shaking his head.

“Let’s go and have lunch, which you deprived us of,” I said, glaring playfully at Tessa, who rolled her eyes and smiled.

“Well, if you two knew how to stand in front of the camera, this would’ve gone a lot faster.” She smirked, and we all laughed.

I helped Tessa pack up the suitcases, and the men helped her load them into her car. We all then sat at the dining table and started eating the lunch I had made before. Sebastian was seated on his grandmother’s lap, neither of them letting go of each other. We all had a good time together. There was little to no tension between us all. Once lunch was over, they all went back to work. Charlotte was the only one who ended up helping with the clean-up, and she left afterward. Zavier hadn’t left yet; he was showing Sebastian some card trick.

“Don’t cook anything for dinner,” Zavier said, standing up from where he sat and walking over to me, little Sebastian following right behind him.

“Why?” I raised a brow at him as I put the dressing back in the fridge.

“We’ll go out as a family, remember?” he replied, shrugging. I had almost forgotten about that.

“Oh, okay. Where to?” I asked and looked down at Sebastian, who had his arms wrapped around my leg.

“Whatever you want. Message me. I’ll shower at work then come and pick you two up.” He smiled and waved at Sebastian as he stood by the door now, ready to leave too.

“Okay, sure. Drive safe.” I waved at him, watching as he stepped out, and could see the pout forming on Sebastian’s lips.

“I will. Bye, Amara. Goodbye, buddy." He waved at us and smiled before heading off to his car.

After Zavier left, Sebastian and I went back to the living room, and we called Amelia, so he could chat with her. After a good fifteen minutes, I took Sebastian upstairs and put him down for a quick nap before we’d have to start getting ready. I finally made my mind up; I wanted burgers from Rifa’s. They were the best, in my opinion. I texted Zavier the location, and he replied with an "okay" and sent me the time he’d be picking us up.

I got myself ready for the outing, picking out a pair of black skinny jeans and sliding into them. As for a shirt, I looked through all my options and settled on a satin lilac tank top. I put on a gold necklace and a belt. I then went to wake up Sebastian and start getting him ready. I put him in some black pants with a bright yellow shirt that had a duck on it and paired it with his sandals, the ones he couldn’t take off himself. Just as we walked downstairs, we heard the car.

Zavier opened the door and saw us both standing there. He smiled as he looked at us. “You two look adorable." He took Sebastian from my arms and held him, kissing his cheek.

“Are you okay with the place?” I asked Zavier, stepping out of the house and locking up.

“Yeah, of course. It’s been a while since I had burgers. I do have one question: is there food for him? I can imagine a burger being a bit too much for a two-year-old,” he rambled on, leading the way to a different car, opening the door for me, and strapping Sebastian into his car seat.

“Oh, no worries, they have some sort of kid’s meal. He loves it; it comes with mango juice,” I assured him, knowing how much Sebastian loved the food from there.

“Yeah!” our son cheered and grinned, understanding where we were going—or maybe it was the mango juice that got him all amped up.

“Well, let’s get going, then,” Zavier said.

When we arrived, we noticed it was quite crowded, so we decided to have our meal in the car. It would be a lot better that way. Plus, that was actually how I usually did it with Sebastian. I went in and placed our order for two chicken cheeseburgers with extra sauce and a side of fries and chicken strips. For Sebastian, I got fries, dino-shaped nuggets, and, of course, the mango juice. When I got our order, I walked back to the car and found Zavier had already taken Sebastian from his seat and placed him on his lap.

I dealt out the food, giving each person what belonged to them. We started to eat, with Zavier helping Sebastian out a little so that he wouldn’t make a mess.

“Is it good, bud?” Zavier asked, looking down at our child as he ate his dino nugget.

“Yeah.” He smiled and looked up at his father.

“Do you like it?” I then asked Zavier, not too sure whether this was truly his thing or not.

“Yes, it tastes so good. I never even knew about this place,” he replied, taking the last bite of his chicken tender.

“Nicole and I found it when I was pregnant and starving one night,” I told him, smiling as I thought back to the night we came across this place. Nicole and I were both impressed by how good the food and service were.

“Ah, I see. Do you eat out often?” he asked, wiping the corners of his lips.

“Not very often. I always preferred my own cooking, but certain places have some dishes I like,” I replied truthfully. “You?”

“Not as much. It’s one of the reasons why I had a cook.” He shrugged, putting everything in one bag so we could dispose of it easier.

“I see…” I sipped on my soda then popped the drink back in its holder.

“All done, bud?” Zavier asked, checking his paper bag to see if there was still something left.

“Yeah, Daddy,” he answered, clapping his hands.

“Come on, let’s get those hands cleaned.” I took a wet wipe from my bag and leaned over to clean up Sebastian’s hands and mouth. Once we disposed of our trash, we decided to head back home after a bit of chatting, of course. Sebastian didn’t talk too much before we met Zavier, but ever since his dad had come back into our lives, he had started talking more and more.

After we got home, we got Sebastian ready for bed and tucked him in. I watched as Zavier read him a story. It was quite adorable to see him interact with our son. I pressed a kiss to Sebastian’s forehead before getting up soundlessly and walking out of his room, closing the door. I went to my room and got ready for the night myself. As tired as I was, I couldn’t fall asleep yet, so I decided to go downstairs, where I saw Zavier sitting on the couch and watching a movie.

He had changed into his nightwear which consisted of just a grey pair of jogging pants. Just that and nothing else.

“Can’t sleep?” He looked over at me, his hair a mess like he just left it as it was after he stepped out of the shower, and honestly, I found it quite adorable.

“Nope, not yet.” I snapped out of my thoughts. “Do you mind if I join you?” I looked at the TV to see what was playing right now.

“Sure, the movie just started.” He moved aside and patted the seat next to him.

I nodded and sat down next to him, keeping a safe distance between us, but the longer we watched the movie, the closer we got to each other. At some point, I fell asleep and unknowingly found myself on his chest with his arm wrapped around me, holding me close to him. We slept through the night like that. It wasn’t until morning that I woke up and jerked out of his hold. Luckily, he was a deep sleeper. I rushed to my room and went to shower.

I kept thinking about how warm his skin was and how his firm hold made me feel safe. His scent was still on me, even though all we did was cuddle. I washed off the soap from my skin and then changed into a pair of shorts and a shirt before heading downstairs to start on breakfast.

When I got down, I saw Zavier wasn’t there anymore. He must’ve gotten up already.

I shrugged it off and went to start making us all breakfast. While doing so, I started chatting with Amelia briefly. She just wanted to check on me and see how things were going. By the time I finished up breakfast, I had ended the call and saw Zavier rushing down with Sebastian on his back, both of them giggling.

“Good morning, baby,” I said, smiling at Sebastian.

“Good—my bad,” Zavier mumbled and laughed it off.

“Uh, good morning, Zavier.” I laughed awkwardly.

“Morning, Amara.” He smiled and set Sebastian down, who finally got a chance to greet and hug me.

“Come on. Breakfast awaits us.” I smiled and patted their shoulders, leading the way to the table.

“You’re incredible, you know that?” Zavier said without thinking after he saw the way the table was set out. Amelia was right—the way to a man’s heart sure was food.

“I do have such an idea.” I smiled and sat down.

“Charlotte asked for your number, so I gave it to her. She mentioned picking out a time for her to come to pick up Bash, so we can go on that ‘date’ later,” he told me, pulling the chair for Sebastian.

“Oh, okay. I wonder how he’ll do with her,” I said out loud, not meaning anything towards Charlotte. I just never left Sebastian with anyone besides Amelia, Ivan, and Nicole.

“I only know she’s good with kids, and she seems to love him, so I think he’s in good hands,” he assured me. Everything went the same as yesterday. Once we were done with breakfast, Zavier went upstairs to put on the rest of his suit then rushed back downstairs, played with Sebastian for a good 10 minutes, and left for work.

Charlotte started texting me around 9 a.m. and asked if she could come to pick Sebastian up at 2 p.m. I figured that'd be fine since it would be after I dropped off Zavier’s lunch. It was a little early, but she mentioned having the perfect day planned for them. I got myself and Sebastian ready and, of course, Zavier’s lunch. When I stepped into the office, there were many eyes on me, but luckily, Zavier was standing right in the middle of the floor, so I was out of the room the moment I handed over the bag.

I was now on my way to meet with Nicole for lunch. I still had to tell her about the little “date,” which I was not looking forward to. I arrived at the cafe and took a seat outside. It seemed like I had gotten there first. I pulled out my phone and went through my social media, finding articles about Sebastian, his father, and Zavier’s mystery woman all over the place. There was a reason I stopped going on social media, and this just reminded me why. I tucked away my phone and looked up to see Nicole arriving.

“Hey.” I smiled and looked up at her as she took a seat.

“Hello. Man, I miss you,” she said, reaching for the menu.

“Me or my food?” I raised a brow at her teasingly.

“Your food and little Bash,” Nicole smirked and winked at me, making me roll my eyes.

“I see how it is.” I sighed dramatically and threw my head back a little.

“Tell me all about living there,” she then demanded and leaned forward towards me, so our conversation wouldn’t be too loud.

“It’s so peaceful; there’s so much space and privacy. I truly missed living in a house,” I explained with a smile on my lips. I was already loving it, and that was bad.

“Is he a good dad to Bash?” Nicole asked curiously.

“Yeah, he really is. Even his mother warmed up to Sebastian,” I answered truthfully. There was no denying what a good father Zavier was to Sebastian. He seemed to love the kid and wanted to be in his life.

“What about you? How’s your life?” I then asked Nicole, nudging her.

“I might have a big project with Tessa coming up; I’m so excited,” she said, grinning. I could tell just how excited she was about it.

“I can imagine. You totally deserve it.” I winked at her. “I also have a date with Zavier…” I muttered softly, looking down at the menu.

“A what?” she asked loudly.

“It’s to get to know each other and make an appearance for the public,” I explained, hoping she’d understand.

“Hmm,” she hummed, seeming like she wanted to say something else.

“Hello, can I take your order?” a young waiter came up and asked with a friendly smile.

We placed our order. We ate, chatted, and hung out a little longer before each going our separate ways. Once I got home, I did some laundry and cleaned up a little before taking a well-deserved nap.

When my alarm went off, I got up and took a long shower that included washing my hair, scrubbing my body, doing my skincare routine, and shaving—the whole package. I stepped out, wrapped a towel around my body and hair, and went in front of the mirror to continue my skincare routine. I let my hair down and used the blow dryer.

Since we’d be going out in public, I figured I should wear something pretty, so I went through the dresses in my closet and stumbled across a Fuentes dress. It was a gorgeous red bodycon dress; I had to wear it. This wasn’t even up for debate. I’d wear it with my nude heels, which reminded me to quickly put some red nail polish on my toes. After putting on the nail polish, I slid on the dress and started doing my hair. I planned on leaving it loose, but it had to be styled a little. I put on my jewelry and checked the time— Zavier would arrive any moment now.