Torn [SHAWN MENDES]

~4~

Shawn walked on the shady side of the street while Piper pointed and babbled, trying to converse with him about what she saw. At nine months old she was precocious, but she only said a dozen or so real words. "Dog!" she exclaimed as she bounced up and down in her stroller.

He looked over and saw what had gotten her so excited. It was fluffy dog, probably a goldendoodle or something along those lines. It let out a happy woof from the other side of the wrought iron fence.

"Dog!" the baby repeated.

"I see! That's a cute doggy, eh?"

His (or her?) similarity to Hendrix reminded him of the ongoing debate he and Yasmin had about pets. He really wanted a dog or even a cat, since he missed his furry friend terribly, but she was against it. She didn't like how messy pets were and also felt it was too much with the baby.

When he and Taryn first separated, they shared custody of their sweet dog. He was at their old house with her most of the time, but two to three days a week, Hendrix would stay at the apartment he rented. He'd really regretted selling his condo after they split up, because finding a new place to live while dealing with a broken heart had been miserable. His professional realtor mom helped, but she was angry at him about not trying harder to save his marriage, and that made the experience even worse. His father was so frustrated that he'd once yelled at him, saying that this was a bigger mistake than pushing the car into Winter's house had been. Years had passed and his family still hadn't forgiven him for the divorce.

Eventually he moved to California and let her take sole ownership of their dog. For awhile there, she'd send him texts with pictures of him, but after he got married, she stopped. Aaliyah would sometimes hang out with Taryn since they remained friends, and she gave him updates on Hen. Would he even remember his first dad? Did he love his new dad more?

The dog ran back to its house, and Shawn continued down the sidewalk. He circled the block and ended up back at their long curved driveway twenty minutes later.

Their home was impressive. It was in the Spanish style, and they'd had it painted a cream color with grayish-green trim since the original yellow was too bright for Yasmin's taste. The roof was made up of curved brown tiles and on the rare occasion that they got a heavy rain, the sound was musical. Yaz wanted to replace the tiles with traditional shingles but their contractor talked them out of it, explaining that they fit the architecture of the home. Shawn was relieved that she listened to the professional since she'd ignored his request to keep the original roofing.

The interior had been professionally decorated, which was good since they didn't have much of their own. Shawn rented a furnished place when he first got to Los Angeles, and Yaz lived with a group of models. Everything was white. White furniture, white walls, white trim, white cabinets, white counters. There were a few pillows, rugs, and vases that added a splash of color, but otherwise it was monotone.

The only exception to their simple color palate was Piper's room, which was a pretty shade of pink. Her furniture was white, of course, but the walls were filled with pretty prints and there was a floral rug that spanned the whole room.

After a snack and a diaper change, Piper played on the floor of the master suite while her daddy unpacked his bags and started a load of laundry. Then he changed into a pair of trunks, put the baby in a swim diaper, and took her into the pool to splash around until dinner time.

"The spa was swamped!" Yasmin said dramatically when she returned home a couple hours later. "But the good news is that they were also able to give me a wax and do my brows. I feel like a new woman. Where's Pippy?"

"I played all the energy out of her, so she went to bed a little early."

"But now she'll be off schedule. What if she wakes up at dawn?"

"Then I'll get up with her. I thought you'd be happy to have some time alone with me."

"I'm overjoyed! So much so that I'm willing to cheat on my diet and share a bottle of wine with my sexy husband," she told him as she kicked off her shoes.

"Red or white?" he asked as he got up from his spot on the ultra-modern L-shaped sofa.

"White. Dry. Maybe a Sauvignon Blanc?"

He poked around the wine fridge until he found what she'd requested. It was an expensive bottle, but that was okay. He opened it and poured both of them a glass.

Yasmin took a sip. "I'm sorry if I was crabby when you got home. I'm not really the full-time mom type, which you know better than anyone. I like sharing our parenting duties."

"I know, honey. We can look into hiring someone to help out the next time I travel, okay?"

It wasn't that Yaz hated being a mom; it just wasn't her whole life. She wanted to wait until she was out of the peak of her modeling career to start a family, but she'd agreed to do it sooner since he was older than her and was eager to have a baby.

"I wouldn't need a full-time nanny, just someone to pop in for a few hours a day. I'm going to go give our love-bug a kiss," she said. "Why don't you draw a bath."

Shawn smiled and nodded as he followed her down the hall. She stepped into the nursery and he continued on to the master suite at the far end of the one-level house. After setting his wineglass on the side of the huge jacuzzi tub, he started the water and stripped naked. He couldn't remember where Yaz kept the fancy bath salts, and when she joined him, he was kneeling in front of the row of cabinets looking for them.

She went to the closet next to her side of the counter and retrieved the jar of pink salt. "Is this what you wanted?"

"Yep. We don't have bubbles do we? That might be more fun."

"No, and they aren't good for the jets in the tub. I'm not sure if we should use the salts, since they might sting where I was waxed."

"Well we definitely don't want that. Water is good enough for me," he told his wife as he started to remove her clothing. Once she was naked, he took a few seconds to admire her lean tanned body, and unsurprisingly, he began to get aroused.

"I missed you while you were gone," she whispered seductively as she reached out to touch him. "Did you miss me?"

A groan escaped his lips. "Can't you tell?"

They stepped into the bathtub, and he used the remote to dim the lights, turn on some music, and start the jets. Yasmin climbed onto his lap, straddling his thighs as her hands ran over his chest hair. When they became one, he closed his eyes and got lost in the pleasure.