You Are the Reason by Renae Kaye Read Free Book Online Page A

got the joke and laughed, casually restoring the table to its place, according to the discreet strips on the floor.
    “Settle, you two. Davo, please don’t move the furniture around. I like my man without the bruising. Patrick, give Davo a break. If, by chance, Maxine does sleep after midnight, I have other plans for you that Davo would ruin by being in the same house.”
    Patrick was still looking upset. “Did he just deliberately move that so that I would—?”
    “Yes,” Jake answered. “It’s called teasing, and friends do it all the time. It’s okay. It’s a sign of affection.”
    “Affection, my arse,” Patrick muttered as he filled his mug with coffee.
    Jake chortled and came over, bringing his own mug. I watched as Jake patted him on the rump. The love between the two of them was obvious. “And if he does have any affection for your arse, Patti-cake, then we don’t speak of it.”
    Jake kissed Patrick on his chin and rescued me by taking the baby out of my arms. I was so relieved. It was like I’d just run a marathon. My arms were aching and I felt as if I had been holding my breath for hours. I dropped back into my chair with a huge sigh of relief and scooped up the last of my pancakes with my fingers.
    I peered out of the corner of my eye, trying not to stare as I observed Patrick come up behind Jake. With one hand he encircled Jake’s waist, and with the other he cupped Maxine’s head where she rested on Jake’s shoulder, amazing me with the accuracy of his touch. Even blind, he knew exactly where the two most precious objects in his life were. I found myself envying them.
    Love.
    Maxine was only four weeks old, and yet I could no longer picture either man without her. She’d completed the family unit like she’d been created simply to fill the space. Together they were an equilateral triangle—each side bonded to the other with equal strength, no one bond larger or smaller than the other. And together they were the strongest shape known.
    Suddenly I realized what all the fuss was about. Imagine coming home each night from work to that . Not the sex, not the companionship. That .
    And that was strong enough to weather any petty fights about money or whose turn it was to take out the rubbish bin.

Chapter 6

     
    W ITH M AXINE resettled in her bassinette, Jake fussed around the kitchen and whipped us all up another batch of pancakes. I told Patrick about Lee, not seeing any reason to hide it, especially since I knew that Jake would tell him all about it once I was gone anyway.
    “Pheromones,” Patrick declared halfway through my explanation.
    “What?”
    “Pheromones. You know, like moths?” Patrick asked me.
    I looked at Jake in silent query. He shrugged and said, “Patrick, you need to dumb it down for us. We aren’t working on doctorates in biology, like you.”
    I noticed what could’ve been a blush on Patrick’s face as Jake placed a plate of pancakes in front of him. “Sorry. Pheromones are like a scented hormone that the body releases. Female moths are especially known for releasing this scent when they’re ready to mate. The male moth smells it and follows the trail back to the female to mate with her.”
    I frowned. “So Lee wants to mate?”
    Patrick smiled. “Every single human who’s fertile has the urge to mate. But no, that’s not what I’m saying. I’m simply illustrating what a pheromone is. Humans have pheromones. We’re not as receptive to them as animals and insects, but we still unconsciously respond to them. There have been loads of studies done on it. We put synthesized pheromones in perfumes.”
    Perhaps it was the blindness, but Patrick’s sense of smell was out of this world. It was no wonder he worked in a perfumery, “smell checking” the batches as they were produced. He also held a doctorate in chemistry and a degree in biology.
    “Synthesized pheromones?” I asked.
    “Man-made ones,” he clarified. “Real human pheromones are found in sweat,