“Yeah.” He smiled, making soft lines crease around his mouth and eyes. “Women don’t talk to me the way you did last night. And not many men have dared to either.”
I must’ve been insane to have spoken to him in a way others didn’t dare to. But I’d had to do it, and I’d do it again if necessary. For Braiden, I’d do whatever I had to, to give him the father he deserved.
Gulping back some highly-charged emotions, I pulled my hand out from under his, as his touch was freaking me out a bit. “I hope I didn’t offend you with anything I said last night.”
Shaking his head, he ran one hand through his dark hair, disheveling it just the tiniest bit. “Not at all. You just stirred me up a bit. Made me think. And you’re right. Twenty minutes a day isn’t enough to be spending with my son.”
Sarah brought our plates to us, and we both sat back to allow her the space to do that. I looked at the gorgeous plates, heaping with fluffy scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast. “My goodness, Consuela, you certainly can come up with something that looks amazing very quickly. Thank you.”
Gannon took a bite of his eggs and moaned. “So much better than the crap I grab on my way to work. Thanks, Consuela.”
“You two are more than welcome,” came her reply.
It was Friday, and I knew that meant Gannon would be out late. The breakfast was nice, but I wanted him to give Braiden more than breakfast and twenty minutes after work. “So, it’s Friday. Any plans?”
“Many plans.” He bit into his toast.
I waited to see if he’d tell me about them, but he took a sip of coffee instead, prompting me to ask, “Wanna tell me about them?”
“Sure do.” He gave me a grin that told me he was pretty happy with himself. “I’m taking off at lunch today. I want you to make some plans for us. Bonding things. Since I have no idea what kinds of things those are, you have carte blanche. Go crazy. I want to do something with Braiden. And I’m not going out tonight. Not at all this weekend. I want to get into the habit of putting my son first. Just like you said to.”
“Oh, Gannon,” I exclaimed, barely preventing myself from hugging him. “That’s fantastic! I can pack him all up and get him ready for you. How about a trip to the zoo today? I’m sure he’s never been. That witch would never have done something like that for her baby.”
He shook his head. “I’m sure she didn’t. But he’s not hers anymore. He’s mine. And, by default, yours. You have to come too, Brooke. You’re an important part of this little family.” He chuckled as he shook his head. “I never knew I even wanted a thing like this, but now that I have it, the idea is growing on me.”
It was growing on me too.
Chapter 11
Gannon
My mind couldn’t stay on work no matter how hard I tried. Just before lunch, I got a call from Brad. “Hey there, Gannon. Wanna do lunch?”
It took me a moment to answer, as I had no idea how to tell him that I was going to have lunch with his little sister and my son. There just didn’t seem to be a way I could find to put that out there that I saw him taking well. In the end, I had no real choice. “I’m taking Braiden to the zoo. I figure we’ll eat there.”
“On your own?” came his surprised question.
“No.” I chuckled. “Of course not. I still don’t know a damn thing about actually taking care of him. Brooke will go too. She is his babysitter. And she’s really good with him too. Thanks for lending her to me,” I decided to throw that in.
After yanking off to her for a second time, I wasn’t sure how much my best buddy would see through me. I was nearly transparent to him at times. And I figured with his overprotective nature where his little sister was concerned, he’d be able to see right through me. I just couldn’t allow to happen.
I couldn’t lose her.
“The weather today is great for a trip to the zoo.” He didn’t sound as if he was reading anything into it. I breathed out a silent sigh of relief. “Brooke loves the zoo too. Especially the monkeys.”
Without meaning to, I made a mental note to buy her a stuffed one while we were out that day. “Good, then she’ll have a good time too.”
“As long as you get her some ice cream she will.” He laughed. “I recall a certain trip to the zoo when she was about five, and we were on our way to the exit, leaving after a long day there. She saw the ice cream shop and wanted to get some. Dad wasn’t about to let anyone eat in his new car, so he told her she could have some at home. She threw the biggest fit any of us had ever seen.”
“Noted. Get the babysitter ice cream to make sure she doesn’t throw a fit.” I laughed as I picked up my jacket, heading out the door. I was eager as hell to get home and get things going.
“Yeah, I’d hate to have her teach your little boy how to throw a real fit. Have fun man. Maybe we can meet up later tonight. I’m thinking Monaco’s for dinner, then clubbing. You?”
“Making a home night with the boy. You know, trying to make him the most important thing in my life. That’s what your sister says to do. I’ve never even thought about being a parent, so I’m following her sage advice.” Giving nods to Janine and several others who were in the reception area, I walked out the door and headed to the elevator.
“So she’s doing well, then?” he asked.
Pushing the down button, I waited for the elevator as I thought how to put it into words how well she was doing. I couldn’t help but gush. “Dude, she’s amazing with him. I swear she’s already falling in love with him. She looks at him with just as much adoration as I do. It’s crazy how fast she’s become completely devoted to him.”
“She’s always been a real kid-lover. That’s why she wanted to make a career that has them at the core. Brooke’s a natural with kids.”
The elevator finally came up, and I stepped in amongst the other people who were heading to lunch. “That she is. Thanks again for letting me borrow her. I’ll talk to you later, bro.”
“Later.”
Ending the call, I kind of felt terrible, but also great at the same time. I was keeping my hands to myself, right? Mostly? What I did alone didn’t count, I promised myself.
The thought came to me that it had felt good to place my hand over hers while we were talking at breakfast. I honestly hadn’t meant it in any way except in thanks for the lesson she had taught me, but the jolt that shot right through me shocked me. Literally.
It felt like I’d accidentally put my hand on a live wire. Nothing like that had ever happened to me. And by the look on her face, the wonder in her blue eyes, I thought she might have felt the same thing.
The ride back home took way too long, as I was anxious to get to them. My little family. It had just been so damn long since I’d had one. So long since I had anyone other than myself to think about or come home to.
As soon as I came through the door, I heard Braiden’s screams of delight, and he ran around the corner, flying into my arms. As I grabbed him up, I couldn’t help but notice Brooke smiling away at us. “Good, you’re here. He’s been dying for you to show up so he can go see the animals.”
“Oh, I thought he was happy to see me.” I wanted to ask Brooke if she was happy to see me too, but the smile on her face told me she was.
“He’s happy about that too, daddy.” She laughed and hooked her thumb in gesture to the door behind her. “I’ve laid out your clothes on the bed. I was pretty sure you wouldn’t want to wear a suit to the zoo, so I laid out proper dad attire.”
No one had laid clothes out for me since I was ten. I wasn’t exactly sure I liked that she did that. But I was nice about it. “Thanks. I’ll get changed, then we can leave. Did you guys eat lunch yet?” I put Braiden down and headed out of the room.
“No, I thought we’d eat with you.” She took Braiden by the hand. “We can eat at the zoo if you want. Whatever you want to do.”
A smile plastered on my lips. I said, “Okay, we’ll eat at the zoo then.”
As I went into my bedroom, finding my clothes laid
out on the bed, I thought about her going through my closet to find the clothes. At first, I was incensed the tiniest of bits. Then I was turned on as I thought about her hands flowing over my things, picking out what she wanted me to wear—what she wanted to see me in.
My cock jerked, and I stopped the train of thought instantly, warning myself sternly, “Quit it.”
The ride to the zoo was full of laughter, as we both adored Braiden and his silly antics. And strolling through the zoo, me pushing the stroller that I’d rented that looked like a golden cage that Braiden loved, I felt like a real family.
Brooke walked at my side, pointing out each animal, saying its name, and making the sound it made. Braiden tried to mimic her, something she said was good, as he didn’t talk at all yet. At two, he should be saying a few words, she told me.
I assured her if anyone could have him talking soon, it would be her. We passed a small gift shop, and I saw stuffed animals inside. “Hey, can you take over with him while I do something really quick, Brooke?”
“Of course.” She took over for me, pushing the stroller to keep him moving. “And that’s a monkey over there, Braiden. It says, hoo hoo.”
I heard a chorus of similar sounds as the monkeys in the cage called out to her. Inside, I purchased a stuffed monkey for her and a stuffed tiger for my son.
Heading back out, I caught up to them, as they’d stayed nearby. Giving Braiden the tiger first and receiving a fantastic smile from him, I handed Brooke the monkey. “I saw this and thought of you.”
She laughed, and the sound was beautiful. So fresh and innocently happy. One perfectly-arched brow arched a bit more as she took the monkey out of my hand. “So you think I look like a monkey, Gannon? Thanks.”
That didn’t come out right at all.
“No, I don’t think you look like a monkey at all. You’re gorgeous.” I stopped, as that last part wasn’t supposed to come out. It was meant to sit silently in the back of my mind. And the blush that covered her cheeks as she quickly ducked her head shyly told me she totally caught my little slip. “Your brother told me you like monkeys.”
“Oh.” She shook her head. “Of course he did. Did you talk to him today? Tell him where we were going?” She held the monkey like a baby on her hip, and it was ridiculously, over-the-top cute, to where I wanted to kiss the breath out of her.
“Yeah, he called, and I told him. He also mentioned that I had better buy you an ice cream before leaving here or I’d face a tantrum from you that would end all tantrums.” I laughed and watched a smile crack her lips too.
“Man, I guess I’ll never live that down.” She swayed a bit as we continued walking. “In my defense, I was four. I’d missed my afternoon nap and had a sugar rush from cotton candy and lemonade they gave me earlier.”
“Oh, well that explains it all.” I fought the urge to wrap my arm around her narrow shoulders and pull her close, kissing her cheek. Man, how I wished I could just do that.
“Gannon, can I ask you something that’s a bit personal?” She looked at me, and we stopped underneath the shade of a tree. Giant goldfish swam to the surface of the pond that ran underneath the little bridge we’d stopped on. Gulping air at the surface, it was plain to see zoo patrons would feed them from this spot.
I put a quarter in the machine that released a handful of what looked like dog food pellets and tossed them to the fish. Braiden laughed and clapped as he watched them frenzy over the food. “Sure you can, Brooke.”
“Why haven’t you found someone to settle down with?” She eyed me as if gauging if I was going to be truthful with her or not.
I found I was going to be honest as I opened my mouth and the words poured out freely. “I’ve been busy building a successful business, for one. And once I got that largely completed … I realized I don’t want just anybody. I want a woman who has it all. And I’ve never met one.”
“Never?” she asked as she hugged her little monkey.
The honesty just kept on flowing, “Well, I wouldn’t say never. You see, I think you just might have it all, Brooke.”
She blushed and had to look away. “Gannon.”
I had to save myself. “The guy who gets you will have more than just your brother to answer to. You’re my number one girl, so he’ll have to answer to me too. I don’t envy the poor soul.”
Her eyes cut back to me. “I’m your number one girl. What does that mean, exactly?”
My smile was crooked, I could feel it. “You can figure that out, I’m sure.”
I moved on, pushing the stroller and feeling good about what I’d told her. A bit of how I was feeling about her was out there. Not enough to get my ass handed to me by her older brother, but just enough to let her know I thought a hell of a lot about her. It wasn’t a crime. Right?
Chapter 12
Brooke
The trip to the zoo was fantastic. The dinner together later that evening was, too, as Braiden had his first ever pizza. Then we gave him a bath together, to deal with all the tomato sauce and cheese, and got soaked. Finally, Gannon read a bedtime story to Braiden and made me sit on the other side of the bed as he read. He told me he wanted me to be a part of this with his son too.
Part of me knew it wasn’t the right thing to do, and that Braiden and I both might get hurt when Gannon finally met some woman he wanted to marry. Then she’d be the boy’s mother.
Even though that stayed in the back of my mind most of the time, I couldn’t help what was happening between the poor little boy whose mother abandoned him and me. I loved him, and he loved me. It was simple, and there was no way to stop it from happening.
And what I was feeling for Gannon was just the opposite. I knew it was wrong. I knew I had to stop it. And it was far from simple. No, it was the most complex situation I’d ever been in.
I was falling hard for a man who was ten years older than me. And the fact that he was a bad-boy womanizing man who was used to getting what he wanted didn’t make things any better. When you added in the fact my brother would kill us both, you had a recipe for disaster.
So I knew I had to keep my thoughts to myself and try to keep Gannon from catching me when I looked his gorgeous body up and down. And most of all, I had to try hard not to let any of the staff see me drooling over the man who was our boss.
After Braiden had fallen asleep that night, after the long day at the zoo, Gannon and I stepped out of his bedroom and into the hallway. There was the adjoining door between my bedroom and Braiden’s, but I wanted to walk out with Gannon—walk by his side just one more time before I went to bed.
“Did you have fun today, Brooke?” He stopped after closing the door and leaned up against the wall.
Why does he always have to look so damn hot?
“Yes, I did. Thank you for taking me with you guys. Did you have fun too?” I leaned up against the wall opposite him, folding my arms in front of me.
His eyes sparkled as he nodded. “I did have fun. More fun than I ever remember having. And I want to do this all weekend. What do you say? Think you can handle all this fun I’m dishing out?”
Oh, the things I’d love to try to handle …
“I’ll try to keep up with you.” Rolling my shoulders, I moved off the wall and headed toward my bedroom—the one that was just right across the hallway from his.
He caught up to me, his shoulder barely brushing mine as he walked next to me. “Night, then. See you at breakfast.”
“Night.” I went into my room and closed the door, leaning against it, sighing, and wishing like hell things could just be simple and easy.
As I went through the drawer with my nightclothes in it, I spied something I didn’t realize I had taken from the dorm in the small box of feminine toiletries I’d packed.
In a brand-new package, unused, there was a pink vibrator. My college roomie had gifted it to me when I moved out of the dorm, teasing me that I might find it handy, living with someone as hot as Gannon.
As I pulled it out of the box that
was pushed into the far back corner of my nighty drawer, I felt my stomach tighten. My inner thighs pulsed and I went damp inside.
“Hmm.” I walked from one of the bedroom doors to the other, making sure they were both locked. Then I went to my bed and tossed the package on it. Undressing, I kept looking at the thing.
Stripping all the way down, I got under my blanket and took the long pink thing out of the package. Pushing down on the end, I found it buzzed to life and was even getting warm.
“Okay, here we go then.” I pressed the tip of it to my pussy and found my eyes closing all on their own. “Oh, yeah. I can see why people like these things now.”
Moving it around, I pretended it was Gannon’s mouth on me down there. I moved it through my folds, up and down the slit, and pressed it to my sensitive nub. “Oh, yeah!”
Holding it there, I let Gannon’s body fill my mind. Those muscles, those tats, those eyes …
As I shuddered, feeling pleasure roll steadily over me and build with astonishing speed, my mind kept drifting to the man who was in bed just across the hall. A man who’d bought me a monkey and some ice cream. A man who’d made my cheeks hurt as we laughed more than I ever had before. A man who could look at me almost the same way he looked at a little boy who he openly loved.
My hips lifted and pumped hard and fast, grinding myself against the toy, urging me higher until I had to grab a pillow to muffle my scream. Finally, I put the vibrator aside and lay there, as stunned by the orgasm as I was by the realization.
Could Gannon Forester actually be falling for me the way I was for him?
Was that even possible?
I’d Googled Gannon a few days back, during some free time I’d had while Braiden napped. I’d found more than a few pictures of him with gorgeous, full-grown women on his arm. A few even showed him kissing some raving beauty. But in not one of those pictures did I see the face he showed his son and me.
Not one picture with adoring women gazing at him had him gazing back at them the way I caught him looking at me way more than one time.
Nightclub Sins: A Billionaire Romance Series Page 6
