Jax opened her eyes and raised her eyebrows at Gretchen, who was smiling. “And people think family life is all sunshine and rainbows.”

“I’d like to meet one person who believes that.” Gretchen got out of bed and stretched. Jax watched her long limbs glowing in the morning light. “Go ahead.” Gretchen motioned for Caleb to go to the bathroom. He rolled, dramatically, out of bed and scampered to the bathroom. He didn’t shut the door. “At what age will he start wanting privacy?”

“If spending a lot of time with Wyatt has taught me anything, never. Men wouldn’t even notice if all the bathroom doors in the world disappeared.”

Gretchen smirked and crawled back on the mattress. She looked positively seductive. “When was the last time we had a morning to ourselves?”

“It’s been a very long time.”

“Maybe we can get Amanda to take Caleb for the night. We can talk, get reacquainted, and enjoy a lazy morning together.”

Jax could feel the excitement building inside. “I like the sound of that a lot, but I feel like we’ve passed him off to Amanda too much recently.”

“One more night, and then we’ll pick him up tomorrow afternoon and do something fun. Like take him to the aquarium.”

She did know for a fact that taking Caleb to the aquarium would mean more to him than anything else they did or didn’t do. “Fine. You convinced me.”

“Sorry to twist your arm.” Gretchen started to lean in, her hair falling and ticking Jax’s face.

“Mama!” Caleb’s voice shattered the moment. “I need help.”

Gretchen sat back on her heels and slapped her thighs. “Duty calls.”

“Literally.”

“Just try to forget about this when you imagine all the things you plan on doing to me later.” Gretchen winked and disappeared into the bathroom.

Jax’s mind was flooded with images of Gretchen bent over, ready to be taken roughly. Gretchen always looked delectable on top, riding Jax and taking control of her pleasure. She needed this to happen, and she knew where to find their favorite toy. She rolled over and opened the bottom drawer of the nightstand. Papers were piled up. It seemed their toy drawer had become Gretchen’s junk drawer. She sifted through the papers in hopes of finding at least one of their many favorites accumulated over the years.

“She couldn’t have thrown them away,” Jax said to herself.

“What?” Gretchen’s voice barely carried from the bathroom. She sounded strained, which was not a good sign.

Jax spotted an envelope with her name on it, unmistakably written by Gretchen. “Nothing,” she said distractedly. The envelope was taped to a larger manila envelope, which had the return address of Gretchen’s lawyer in the top corner. She took the documents, shut the drawer quietly, and got out of bed. “I’m going to get ready for work.”

“So early?”