Risqué Business (Club Risqué #8)

CHAPTER 1

CHARLOTTE AND JAKE

C harlotte slumped onto the couch and fought against closing her eyes. She was so damn tired, but she knew she didn’t dare take her eyes off her oldest son, Jacob junior, a baby tyrant in the making, who, at just shy of four years old, was at that age where he’d outgrown naps. Which in turn meant Charlotte had lost that blessed oasis of calm and quiet that she used to re-energise herself in the middle of each day. She’d never realised just how much she’d come to rely on it until it was gone.

Her gaze drifted to the proudly built fort of cushions and blankets Jacob had pitched for himself in the living room. He was in there now, among a treasure trove of toys, surrounded by a veritable army of action figures and stuffed animals. His laughter echoed from within, laced with a mischievous delight that set Charlotte's nerves on edge. She knew he was conjuring some new plot of chaos to unleash upon their home.

A sharp crash followed by triumphant giggles brought her out of her thoughts. Wincing, she pushed herself up from the couch and approached the fort. She bent down to peek into the opening, only to be met with an array of toys being flung out. She caught one mid-air, an instinctive mom-reflex taking over even though exhaustion was nestling deeper under her skin with every passing minute, and her head throbbed with a warning pulse.

And of course, the noise woke the baby, even though Evie had been asleep in a different room.

The initial, innocuous tinkle of the baby monitor was immediately followed by her six-month-old daughter’s angry wail.

Charlotte sighed, pressing her eyes shut momentarily as she prepared herself for the dual challenge of the two children. On one hand, she had Jacob, who was a whirlwind of boundless energy and untamed curiosity, and on the other, little Evie, who needed her mother's constant attention and care.

Throwing down the toy she had caught, Charlotte reached in to retrieve Jacob from his fort-cum-battlefield. He emerged triumphant, covered in feathers from a destroyed pillow and sporting a mischievous grin that melted her heart despite his antics. She shook her head at him in mock sternness, then left him to his devices, knowing full well he'd be back to his shenanigans the moment she stepped away. She just didn’t have a choice right now.

The wails were getting louder, so she hurried towards Evie's nursery, brushing off bits of feather as she went. Pushing open the door gently, Charlotte stepped into the tranquil oasis of pinks and whites that always seemed to soothe her frayed nerves.

The baby lay in her cot, kicking her feet indignantly, her tiny face scrunched up in irritation. With practised hands, Charlotte picked up her daughter, swaying gently to calm the child.

But no sooner had she picked Evie up than another shriek split the air... because in the middle of her oldest and youngest was Daniel, woken from his nap by Evie’s cries, like a chaotic, noisy domino effect.

Daniel was a sensitive two-year-old, caught somewhere between the independent world of his older brother and the more infantile one of his baby sister. His cries were a heart-wrenching mix of frustration and exhaustion, much like Charlotte's own state of mind.

She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. This was her life; messy, chaotic, exhausting, but still, she wouldn't trade it for the world.

Quickly leaving Evie in her swinging cradle with a soothing lullaby emitting from the fish mobile, which twirled above her head, Charlotte walked towards Daniel's room, where he lay sprawled in his cot-bed, tiny fists balled up in frustration as he cried. Gently picking him up, Charlotte wiped away his tears.

"Shhh... it's okay," she cooed softly. "Mommy's here."

Soothing him while balancing him on one hip, she slowly moved back to Evie's room. To her relief, the lullaby had worked its magic, and Evie now lay quietly, cooing and stretching out her little limbs.

With careful precision, she picked Evie back up with her free arm and held both her children close, taking in their fresh baby powder scent… Well, maybe one of them wasn’t quite so fresh, she realised, wrinkling her nose.

The peace didn't last long. Another crash sounded from the lounge, this one accompanied by the sound of breaking glass. Charlotte cringed and rushed back to see what had happened, slowed by the child in each arm.

She arrived at the doorway, just as Jacob reached out to grab a mean-looking shard of brightly coloured ceramic from the lamp he’d knocked off of a side table.

“No!” Charlotte shrieked, unable to get to him fast enough. Thankfully, he snatched his hand away, but his bottom lip started to wobble, and a moment later his heartbroken cries filled the room.

“Come here, sweetheart.” Despite her fright, Charlotte regulated her voice to appeal to her son. “Mommy’s not mad. I was just scared you’d cut yourself. It’s sharp.”

Thankfully, Jacob did as he was told for once, clinging to her legs with pudgy fingers and wiping his snotty, tear-stained face on her long summer skirt. With some difficulty, Charlotte made her way down the hall to the playroom, and somehow managed to open the door. Crossing to the playpen, she first set Evie safely inside, then knelt to speak to the boys. “Right, I need you to be good and watch Evie for me while I go and clean up the mess, okay?”

“I wanna go wiv you,” Jacob bawled, his face scrunched.

“It’s not safe, darling. There’s lots of broken stuff that might hurt you. But I won’t be long.”

Jacob hiccupped and looked at her forlornly through tear-drenched eyes. “I don’t wanna stay here,” he replied, and she could see he was building up to a full-blown tantrum, so she tried a different tactic.

“Look, Jacob. You broke something that could cut you or your brother or sister. Or even me and Daddy. I need to take care of it, and you need to behave, and stay here like a good boy until I make it safe, young man. Now play nicely with Daniel while I do that, please,” she said in her best ‘no-nonsense’ voice.

Jacob gave her a wary, wide-eyed look, but he was at least quiet for a moment, so Charlotte took the opportunity to leave the three of them, closing the door behind her so they were safely out of the way.

Sighing, she swept up the mess. She’d loved that lamp. Throwing everything into a trash bag, Charlotte vacuumed the whole area to make sure she hadn’t missed even the tiniest piece, but when she switched it off, she realised it had masked the sound of the screams coming from the playroom. She huffed out a breath and her shoulders drooped, but she dug into her reserves and first took the shard-filled plastic bag to the safety of the trash can. Except of course, she managed to somehow slice her finger on a piece that poked through the plastic as she did so.

It was the last straw. Tears sprang to her own eyes, and she ran her finger under the tap, then grabbed a wad of tissue to stop the bleeding. It wasn’t under control, but she couldn’t leave her three screaming kids any longer, so she hurried back to the playroom. There, it looked like a bomb had gone off. Toys were thrown everywhere, while Evie wailed in the playpen because she was not only cranky from not getting a long enough nap, but was now due her next feed.

There were brown marks on the floor, and Charlotte realised Daniel’s diaper had leaked. He had poop plastered up his back and was spreading it on the carpet as he rolled around on the floor fighting with Jacob.

It was all too much.

Her finger smarted. Her head hurt. Her eyes ached from lack of sleep. And right now, all three of her children needed her at once, but she was only one woman.

A tsunami of emotion and exhaustion crashed over her, and all Charlotte could do was collapse on the floor with her children and her bleeding thumb.

The boys looked at her in surprise, stopping their fighting and crawling over to curl into her, maybe realising on some subconscious level that their mother needed a hug right now. Shuffling to the side, Charlotte lifted Evie out of the playpen and cradled the baby to her chest, mollifying her temporarily with a pacifier.

And that was how Jake found his sniffling, tear-soaked family ten minutes later.