by M. Robinson
His resolve.
His life.
His attraction to me.
Maybe because I was holding his baby girl in my arms, showing him how much I loved her. How much she mattered to me.
Or maybe, just maybe…
It was because he wanted to move on from what was holding him back.
With me.
Chapter 10
<>Camila<>
Dr. Pierce was over to me in two strides, spewing, “Put some fuckin’ clothes on,” in my ear.
Before I could even reply, he turned and walked toward the front door.
“Wow, Camila. You guys could set off smoke alarms with what just happened between you two,” Skyler declared, drawing my gaze away from watching Aiden leave the clubhouse.
“What do you mean?”
“Girl, you don’t need to pretend with me. I saw it before it even happened.”
I looked around the room. “Did anyone else—”
“No. Everyone was too caught up with Journey’s performance to notice.” She smiled at her, rubbing Little Miss’s back, who was sporting a proud expression.
“Then how did you see it?”
“Because I’m rooting for you.”
“What?”
She smiled wider. “It’s one of the many reasons I hired you. I knew you’d be great for the Pierce kids, but also for Aiden. You’re the push I was praying for.”
“Skyler, I think you’re reading too much into whatever just happened.”
“Hardly. I saw how you came to his rescue with Journey. The way you two were looking at each other was as explosive as this monkey’s dance moves.”
I chuckled.
“Camila, he hasn’t been to one of these barbeques… God, in years. The last time he was here, I was pregnant with our first baby and that was over two years ago. And let’s just say… that time it was bad. I think it’s the reason why he stopped coming. It hurt too much.”
“Does it have to do with Mrs. Pierce?”
She nodded.
“Is anyone ever going to tell me where she is?”
She sighed, contemplating what she was going to say. “I’ve wanted to tell you so many times, but I’ve stopped myself. I just can’t do it. I’m already too involved in the Pierce’s lives, it just feels wrong. Like it’s not my place to divulge anything. When he’s ready, I want him to be the one who tells you their story.”
“I understand, but now, with me living there, it just… I mean… I just… I don’t want to disrespect anyone. You know what I mean? Especially someone who’s the mother of the children I love.”
“I know. It’s why I liked you instantly. You’re not that woman. Trust me, I interviewed a lot of them. They saw the house, the money, the fact Mrs. Pierce wasn’t around. They were practically salivating at the chance to score a doctor. You’re different, and I’ve known that since you walked through the door for your interview.”
“Thanks, Skyler. I really appreciate you saying that.”
“I’ll tell you this, Camila. All Bailey wanted was for her family to be happy. They went through so much these last few years and… I know in my heart she’d be relieved that you’re making her house a home again.”
“What am I supposed to do about Dr. Pierce?” I shrugged. “I’m so confused. I’ve felt this strong connection to the man since the moment I first saw pictures of him on the walls, and I don’t understand any of it.”
“He came here today, didn’t he? I think that is what was most shocking to all of us. And you know what? He seemed calm when he walked through the door, and all of that changed the second he saw you in the pool.”
“Yeah I figured so. He just told me to put some clothes on before he left.”
She beamed. “I think everything is going to fall into place exactly where it’s supposed to be. With the kids, with you, and with him. Don’t let the guilt you feel inside kill the obvious connection between you two. There is nothing to feel guilty about. Ya feel me?”
I nodded. “I feel ya.”
“Now let’s go eat some lunch.” She grabbed her belly. “This baby is starving.”
We ate lunch and dinner there, and by the time we got back to the house it was after nine at night. Jackson and Jagger both went home with friends from the barbeque to spend the night, so it was just a sleeping Journey and me.
Or so I thought…
Right when I walked into her nursery to lay her down for the night, I was smacked in the face with Dr. Pierce sitting in the rocking chair in the corner of the room.
Waiting.
For me?
Her Ninja Turtle blanket and On the Night You Were Born book were firmly in his grasp.
He didn’t falter, softly speaking, “These used to be mine.”
That explains why they look so old.
“I was told as a child I could take three things. I chose these two,” he nodded to the photo on her dresser, “and that picture.”
I didn’t say a word, I was barely even breathing. Listening intently to what he was saying as if he was telling me his deepest, darkest secrets. And in a way, it felt like he was.
“I met my wife when I was seven years old. It went from being the worst day of my life to the best. I still remember the way she looked, the way she felt sitting next to me, the strawberry smell of her fuckin’ hair.”
Although he was physically there with me, his mind was somewhere else entirely. It wasn’t me who was standing in front of him, holding his baby girl.
It was Bailey.
Hurting me in ways I wasn’t prepared for.
“She saved me. Right from the start, she brought purpose into my life. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for her. We planned our lives together, down to the name of our kids. Jackson, Jagger, and Journey. We tried for years to have our baby girl, until she finally arrived at the worst timing possible.”
My eyes rimmed with tears, cuddling Little Miss tighter to my body.
How could he say that about her?
Reading my mind again, he added, “I wanted Journey more than anything in this world. Our family wasn’t complete until we had her, but she was what ended that dream.”
Did Bailey die in childbirth? Is that what happened to her? Is that why he can’t hold his daughter?
“I can see your mind spinning with questions. Do you have any idea how badly I want to hold Journey? How it kills me inside that I can’t? She called me Da today, and I never once told her that was who I was. That was all you, Cami. All you.”
I cleared my throat and swallowed hard. My heart beating rapidly with the effect his words…
His demeanor…
His tone…
Was having on me.
“After the way I’ve treated you, you’re still here. In my face, hearing me out, helping me, not just my kids, which is what I pay you for. But me.” He was looking through my body, not at me, when he questioned, “Waiting for what? What the fuck do you want from me?”
I was taken back, not expecting him to ask me that.
“I don’t want anything from you.”
“If that were true you, wouldn’t be standing here right now. Try again.”
“I don’t know what you want me to say.”
“The truth. I want the fucking truth.”
“I am here for your kids, Dr. Pier—”
“Enough with the ‘Dr. Pierce’ bullshit. My name is Aiden, say it,” he gritted through a clenched jaw.
“I… I… I…”
“For Christ’s sake, you’re like talking to a child.”
My eyes widened. “Actually,” I snapped, “I can’t say what I want to you, because I have a sleeping baby in my arms. And unlike you, I’ll be the one up with her all night if she wakes up.” I regretted what I said as soon as he stood up, growling from deep within his chest.
Shit. I awoke the beast.
Journey chose that instant to stir awake. Sleepily reaching her arms out toward him, she mumbled, “Da.”
Completely halting his
uproar.
The pained expression on his face once again took over…
Everything.
Giving me the courage to express, “You want to know what I want? I would love for you to just for one second stop blaming everyone for what you’re going through. It’s not fair. You’re pushing the people who love you away, and for what? To be miserable and alone? That’s what you want?”
Without faltering, he stepped into my personal space, his muscular build looming over my petite frame. I didn’t cower. If anything, I stood taller. He cocked his head to the side, reaching for a piece of my hair, twirling it around his finger.
“I’m not alone. You’re here.”
My lips parted, and his eyes followed the subtle movement of my mouth.
“You’re not living in the south side anymore sweetheart. Cover your body the next time you’re around my family. I don’t appreciate men looking at my kid’s nanny the way they were today.”
“What about the way you were looking at it?”
“Carajo. Fuck. Did I really just say that?”
“Yeah, you did.”
I sucked in my lips, biting my tongue.
“Last I checked, I’m a grown ass man. I can look at what I pay for.”
My mouth dropped open.
He grinned, letting go of my hair and placing a finger under my chin to shut my jaw instead.
“Careful, Cami, there’s sure as hell a lot more I can do besides look at you. Unless that’s what you want?”
“I’m paid to take care of the kids not entertain you. How the hell do you go from one extreme to the next?”
“That’s what you do to me. I can’t seem to control myself around you. And I have yet to figure out if that’s a good or bad thing.”
I threw his question back at him. “What do you want from me?”
“I’ve yet to figure that out either.”
He took one last look at me and left me hanging, walking out of the nursery.
What the fuck?
In a stupor, I laid Journey down in her crib and turned on her white noise player before kissing her head and leaving her room. Gently closing the door behind me.
It was only then I heard the garage door slam shut.
“Of course he just left. That’s what he does. Stewing all Aiden like.”
Taking a deep breath, I walked into the kitchen and there on the island was a brand-new iPhone with a post-it note with the phone number scrawled on it.
You’re welcome for the upgrade. – Aiden
Considering he was the one who broke my phone, I found it funny.
“Bastard.”
But he changed my phone number? Because of Sean? I opened the box and pulled out my new phone. Turning it on while I grabbed one of my Hint waters from the fridge.
“The nerve of that man.”
I made my way outside on the patio, turning the lights on, wanting the fresh air to clear my head. Only I completely lost my mind.
“God!” I peered up at the night sky. “That just happened, right? I didn’t just imagine that encounter, did I? I don’t get it… what was that? Was he coming onto me? No, right? That’s not what happened… he was just being friendly? In a weird ‘I’m coming onto you’ sort of way?” I shook my head. “Why do I keep finding myself in these situations, God? Is it me? Am I attracting these broody, possessive men that don’t know what they want?”
I waited, nothing.
“You’re not helping!” I shouted into the air. “What am I supposed to do now? I feel like he just drew the line in the sand and I’m over here like… do I step over it? Do I wait for him to?” I talked with my hands. “Are we now going to play this cat and mouse game? Like, what the fuck? Sorry!” I winced, surrendering my hands. “I did not mean to cuss, but holy Jesus… what do I do with what just happened? Do I pretend like it didn’t happen? Is he going to start letting me in? Does that make us friends? Are we friends?” I scratched my head, confused. “Oh man, I’m so screwed…woooosaaaaahhhhh, Camila, woooosaaaaahhhhh…” I repeated Martin Lawrence’s therapist term from my favorite movie Bad Boys.
Since I was already in my bikini, I decided to swim away our heated conversation, and cool off instead of continuing to talk to myself like a crazy person.
Once I made sure I could still hear and see Journey through her monitor, I threw off my shorts, tank top, and dived into the pool. Almost losing my bikini top in the process. Letting the water take me under before I resurfaced. Relieved I was alone, and no one was home other than a sleeping baby.
While swimming laps around their Olympic-sized pool that looked as if it was made for a hotel and not a privately-owned residence, the silence was deafening. I got out and turned the music on my phone.
Dancing.
Dancing always helped me forget.
I quickly downloaded the Spotify app and logged into my account then pressed play. “Bum Bum Tam Tam” by MC Fioti reggaetón beat began to blare from the speakers.
Setting my phone down on the lounger where my clothes were spread out, I started moving. My hands instantly dropped to my knees and my booty began to bounce. Up, down, swaying my hips left to right on my private dance floor. Allowing the melody to take over my overly-consumed mind.
Where nothing else mattered but making love to the music.
Chapter 11
<>Aiden<>
I got in my car, ready to take off like a bat out of hell. However, this time I wasn’t trying to escape the reality of my life.
This time, it was all her I was running away from.
Camila.
My kids’ fucking nanny.
With my foot on the clutch, one hand on the steering wheel, and the other on the stick shift, I couldn’t bring myself to leave.
Not for one second.
For the first time since Bailey left me, I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to stay and work through the turmoil that only was destroying me in the end.
Camila was right, I wasn’t just hurting myself. I was breaking apart what was left of my family.
And for what?
Nothing made sense anymore.
Not one goddamn thing.
I stepped out of my car, walked back into my house, and straight up to my office. Thinking about everything that had happened in the last two days.
In forty-eight hours, my whole life did a three-fucking-sixty.
Except, did it?
The desire to talk to her again was so strong as I walked toward my desk.
Though it was her voice hollering, “God! That just happened, right? I didn’t just imagine that encounter, did I?” that caught my attention. It was my instinct that made me gravitate toward the bay window by the pool.
My office being the closest room overlooking the patio.
“I don’t get it… what was that? Was he coming onto me? No, right? That’s not what happened… he was just being friendly? In a weird I’m coming onto you sort of way?”
Was I coming onto her?
Yeah, I was.
“Why do I keep finding myself in these situations, God? Is it me? Am I attracting these broody, possessive men that don’t know what they want?”
The fact that she was comparing me to her piece-of-shit ex only added to the bullshit raging through my mind.
“You’re not helping!” she shouted into the air. “What am I supposed to do now? I feel like he just drew the line in the sand and I’m over here like… do I step over it? Do I wait for him to? Are we now going to play this cat and mouse game? Like what the fuck?! Sorry! I did not mean to cuss, but holy Jesus…”
I scoffed out a chuckle, only she would apologize to the man above.
“What do I do with what just happened? Do I pretend like it didn’t happen? Is he going to start letting me in? Does that make us friends? Are we friends? Oh man, I’m so screwed… woooosaaaaahhhhh, Camila, woooosaaaaahhhhh…” she quoted my favorite movie, only intriguing me more.
Everything in my body, in my heart, in my core was tellin
g, screaming, bellowing for me to go downstairs and talk to her.
To try and figure this shit out together. I was as confused as she was, if not more.
“Bailey… Beauty… I’m so fuckin’ sorry. What do I do? What do you want me to do?” I found myself pleading.
It wasn’t until she started taking off her shorts, that I realized I had no fucking choice with what happened next. My cock jolted and sprang up high, aching. My mouth went completely dry and parted slightly.
She threw her shirt off next before diving into the pool. Swimming laps, trying to forget about me and the way I left things.
It wasn’t that easy, was it, Cami?
My question was answered when she slowly, stepped out of the water.
Her skin flushed.
Her body wet.
Her nipples peeking through her triangle top.
My scowl trailed down her neck toward her tits, which were popping out at the seams, just waiting to be freed from her tiny, black bikini. Right down to her narrow, small waist.
I envisioned gripping onto her hips, guiding her down my cock.
A thought that should have never crossed my goddamn mind, but I was still a man.
Her tan skin, her slender thighs, her round, plump ass…
Made me lose my control.
Handing it right the fuck over to her.
Narrowing my eyes, I continued my visual assault down to her tight, flat stomach, wanting to kiss my way toward what I imagined to be her perfect pussy. My cock twitched at the thought of her riding my face.
“Fuck me,” I stressed out in pain.
I’d memorized every curve to her body, every inch of her skin, every part of her was now engrained in my memory.
And I wasn’t just talking about this moment, it was from earlier that day.
She was absolutely unaware of the reaction she evoked in me from seeing her in the pool this afternoon. Her bikini left little to the imagination, and that pissed me off just as much as it turned me the fuck on.
Remembering Noah’s words from yesterday as if he was saying them to me right then, “For Christ’s sake, at least stroke your cock to her once, so it takes the fuckin’ stick outta your ass.”
