by Natalie Ann
“I’m not sure how exciting a few hours of clothes shopping with me and my daughter is going to be,” she said.
“I guess we'll find out. Are you going to introduce me to her or should I just leave?”
Worth Fighting For
Time to make a decision, Aimee thought. She’d never brought a man home before. Never introduced her daughter to one. There hadn’t been a whisper of a man in her life since Sidney’s dad.
She never came right out and told any employers she had a daughter, not even at Fierce, but she didn’t lie about her next of kin. Or her beneficiaries when she filled out her insurance forms. Which meant Brody didn’t look. Of course, he admitted he didn’t.
But he came to see her so that had to mean something. What exactly, she wasn’t sure. Since she’d heard rumblings and rumors about him in the bar from the local ladies, she got the impression he wasn’t out for much more than a good time.
She tried to push rumors aside since she hadn’t seen him biting at any offers when she’d been around.
She worked for him. She’d only known him a few weeks. They’d shared two kisses.
Two smoking hot kisses that got her body fueled up for more.
Almost three years without a man made her think her hormones were dormant. Now she realized they were just waiting for the right bait. How much fishing did she really want to do?
She looked over at her daughter. The one person who stabilized her life. Who showed her that she had something worth fighting for each day. That getting by for so long was harder to do when it wasn’t just you. When there was someone else relying on you. Depending on you.
It made her realize she should have cut her mother more slack when she was the rebellious teen that was often left alone for part of the night. That had friends and boys over when she was told not to. That snuck alcohol when no one was looking and skipped school when people were.
Now she had a child and now she’d kick her daughter’s butt if she found out Sidney did any of those things.
“Sidney,” she called out softly, watching that curly head pop up and look at her. “Come here and meet Mommy’s boss.”
Sidney’s big brown eyes darted around the room, landing on Brody. Her daughter was scared, she could see. But Brody smiled, then wiggled his fingers at her in somewhat of a wave. It was enough for Sidney to walk over with her doll in her hand, hugging her tight for support of some kind. Aimee knew that feeling well.
Sidney climbed into her lap and held Brody’s stare, then pushed her doll toward him. That was something, at least. No one was allowed to touch Sidney’s dolls but her, Rick, and Melanie.
Brody looked at her, then down at the doll, taking it in his hands and holding it out like it was going to explode. It was kind of adorable.
“It won’t spit up or pee on you,” she said.
“Good thing,” he said, trying to keep his deep voice low. For Sidney’s sake? Wasn’t that just sweet.
Finally, Brody took the doll’s tiny hand in his, shook it, and said, “I’m Brody. Nice to meet you. I like your dress.”
Aww, Aimee’s heart melted. Look at that. The man who flirted with every woman that came into the bar was carrying on a conversation with her daughter’s doll. She didn’t see that coming.
Sidney pointed to the doll and said, “Pink.”
“It is pink,” he said, looking at Aimee helplessly.
She took pity on him. “Sidney. Do you want to eat lunch with Mommy and Brody today? At the store?”
“Store?” he asked, but she waved him quiet.
Sidney nodded her head, and that was enough for Aimee. “The mall. It’s the store to her. She’s two; I keep it simple. If you really want to go with us, that’s the best bet. The food court. Sorry, it’s nowhere close to Aiden’s fare.”
“The food court sounds awesome.”
***
A date. With Aimee…and a toddler. That was a first for him. Going out on a date with an employee was a first, too.
He’d always been one to keep that separate. Had he slept with an employee a time or two in his life? Sure. Had he dated them? No. Never. Fun and a good time. That was it. That had always been the story of his life.
But since his mind was going down a path it never had before, since he knew Aimee was different and he had to keep this secret, he sought her out, out of sight of anyone who’d know them.
Little did he know it wasn’t only her he’d be spending time with today. That it wasn’t just her he had to worry about. That she had a bigger responsibility on her shoulders.
A bigger worry than just keeping her job if the two of them didn’t work out.
Now he had to decide how much fun he was willing to have.
Should he just keep things professional between him and Aimee and not worry about potentially losing a good manager? Or having his siblings find out and losing her that way? Or even keep his own level head, which it seemed everyone was complaining he’d lost lately.
Instead he had to worry about this two-year-old miniature version of Aimee sitting in the car seat behind him giggling away at the wind swirling through her hair as they drove off with the top down.
“I can’t believe how happy she is right now,” Aimee said.
“Why?” he asked, turning to look at her.
“Because she’s really shy. She never warms up to strangers, ever. She barely warms up to people she has met before.”
“Maybe it’s the car. I got all giggly when I test-drove this car the first time,” he said, pushing in the clutch and shifting into higher gear.
“It is a pretty sweet car. But I doubt Sidney is impressed by it,” she said, winking.
He looked in the rear view mirror at Sidney’s bare feet in the air, the wind blowing through her widespread toes. Yeah, that looked pretty awesome to him.
“Could have fooled me. Still, maybe she likes me. That would go a long way toward winning her mother over.”
Aimee laughed, a giggle close to the one Sidney was doing. Who was this woman? Not the one that had been working side-by-side with him for weeks. Not the one who kissed him silly and made all his brain cells settle into his pants.
“Are you trying to win me over?”
“I would think that’s obvious. I’m spending my day off going shopping at the mall with a toddler that I just met.”
“Good point. You’re not mad?”
“About what?” he asked.
“That I have a child.”
“Why would I be mad about that?”
“Okay. Shocked?” she asked instead.
“That I am. Why haven’t you said anything?”
She shrugged. “It’s not a secret. It’s all in my paperwork.”
“But you haven’t mentioned her name once. You’ve worked a night on short notice. You never said you’d have daycare issues.”
“Because it wasn’t an issue. And that’s why I’ve never told anyone at work I had a child. It has nothing to do with my job. I don’t want to be judged for it.”
“I’m not judging you.”
“Aren’t you?” she asked. “Would you have scheduled me to work the Tuesday night the comedian is coming if you knew? Or would you have pulled in other staff instead?”
“I would have still asked,” he said. He hoped he would have, but now he wasn’t sure. He might have thought it’d be too hard for her and given the shift to someone else.
“Good. Because I would have been ticked off if you gave it to someone else,” she said. Her voice was firm.
“I wouldn’t want to tick you off,” he said smiling.
She smiled back tentatively. “No,” she said. “You wouldn’t want to. I’ve worked hard to get where I am. I know people look down on bartenders, but it’s not an easy job. Nights like that, it’s good for business and good for tips.”
And that might be part of her driving force now that he saw her living situation. “I don’t show favoritism to people because of need,” he said.
He
wasn’t about to be played. Not again. If she was using him to get prime hours to pad her pockets, then he’d turn this car back around and drop her off, see her at work tomorrow.
“I don’t want anyone to show me favoritism. I want to do my job. I want you to forget I’ve got a daughter at home. It has nothing to do with my work.”
The loud giggle behind him started to warm his heart, though. There’d be no forgetting Aimee had more on the line than a good time.
Crossing the Line
What was she doing right now in the parking lot with Brody?
Talk about stupid and leading with her glands and not her head. Not even her heart, which had betrayed her before. There wasn’t enough there to be anything more than attraction at this point. Right?
She pushed the doubt away from her mind and fastened sandals on Sidney’s feet. Her kid would much prefer to be barefoot, so she didn’t bother to fight with her until absolutely necessary.
The promise of a new toy seemed to help, too.
“Food or clothes first?” Brody asked.
It was nice he asked, but she wasn’t going to be pushy either. “Whatever you want.”
“No. I can wait for food. You probably can, too. But can Sidney?” He leaned down and asked her, “Do you want to eat or walk around?”
Sidney looked at her, then back to Brody, then lifted her arms to her mother to be picked up. “Eat.”
“I guess I’ve got my answer then,” Brody said. “Do you want me to carry her? It’s a long walk to the mall.”
“I doubt she’d let you. It’s too hot and far for her to walk. She’d be fighting me to walk right now if she wasn’t so unsure of what was going on. She’s pretty independent.”
“Sounds like someone else I know. Do you want one of those stroller things in the mall?” he asked.
“No. If you don’t mind going slow, I’ll let her walk if it’s not too busy; otherwise I’ll carry her to move around. We’re just going to a few stores. We won’t be long.”
“There’s no rush. I’ve got all day,” he said.
“You’re not going into work at all?” That might be a first, if the rumors she’d heard were correct. There’d been no shortage of people saying that Brody was always at Fierce for at least part of the day.
“Maybe later. If they need me.”
“They won’t,” she said and watched him frown. “The staff know what they’re doing. You’ve trained them well. Give them some responsibility.”
“They’ve got it.”
“No, they don’t,” she said. Probably not the best time for this conversation, but it was out there and they didn’t have much more to talk about with Sidney in their presence.
“I don’t know how you can say that,” he argued.
“That week you were gone. Were there any major problems?”
“I don’t think so. If there were, someone else stepped in and took care of it. Every time I called the bar, they hung up on me. Orders from my mother.”
She laughed. Jolene was a riot, but she hadn’t thought Jolene would go to those lengths to make sure Brody stayed away. Aimee needed to learn from that. To learn to be that tough with Sidney someday.
“My point is, you were gone a whole week and nothing happened, and if it did, someone resolved it. The world didn’t end.”
“Does it bother you that I still get there before you in the morning?”
Might as well continue to speak her mind. “Yes. When you came in late on Friday I was all excited that you were giving me the chance to do it on my own. Then I worried it was because of what happened on Wednesday and it pissed me off.”
He laughed. “You warned me not to piss you off. And I said I was running late.”
“Yep. Then I was annoyed that you didn’t give me the chance.”
“So there was no winning that day.”
She adjusted Sidney on her other hip, glad they were getting close to the entrance. “Probably not,” she said laughing.
“Just so you know, you did a good job.”
“See? Now you know you can just let me do it on my own. Yet you still showed up on Saturday morning the same time as me.”
“Maybe it’s more about wanting to spend some time with you without witnesses.”
He opened the door for her while she set Sidney down and held her hand, letting Sidney start to walk. “It’s best to not have any?” she asked.
There she was, getting all offended. Was he embarrassed to be seen with her?
“I can’t say or do what I’d like while we’re working,” he said. “And I’d prefer to not bring my family into this. I don’t need any more grief.”
“Because I’m not good enough?” There was heat riding up her face now. Back to the poor girl that the guys wanted to have a good time with, but nothing more. She wasn’t long-term in any guy’s eyes.
He stopped and grabbed her arm, forcing Sidney to stand still, too. “No. Because if my siblings knew, they’d say I’m crossing the line. They’d say it’s a mistake and they’d tell me to back away before it causes you to quit. They’d focus on your employment above anything else.”
“Do you think you’re crossing the line?” she asked.
“I honestly don’t know. I guess that’s for you to tell me. Do you want me to back away? Do you want to forget about Wednesday and today? I can take you and your daughter to lunch, then bring you back home when you’re done and I’ll see you at work on Monday.”
The smart thing would be to say yes to everything he just asked. But she’d never been smart in her life. Why start now?
***
Brody pulled his car in Aimee’s driveway a few hours later. “Do you want me to carry her up for you?” he asked when he saw Sidney, head tilted to the side, her eyes closed, showing no signs of waking up.
“I’ve got her. If you don’t mind, can you grab our bags? She’s pretty tired. I doubt she’ll wake, but if she does, I don’t want her to panic if you’re holding her.”
“I won’t hurt her,” he said.
He thought he was making progress with Sidney and Aimee today. Not that Sidney said more than a few words to him. But she smiled and she didn’t try to hide behind her mom by the time they were done.
“I didn’t think you would, but she’s really shy.”
Aimee walked right by him into her apartment and went straight to the back behind the wall where Sidney had been earlier. There was no way there was a bedroom there, so he decided to follow her.
It was really more of a cubbyhole. A wide hallway? Definitely not a bedroom, but it was wide enough for a toddler bed against the back and open stacked crates with dolls and toys in them. Pretty measly possessions.
“You can bring them into my room,” Aimee said, nodding to the open door behind his back. It was easy to figure out. The other was a bathroom.
Aimee’s room was small. A double bed, a dresser, a small closet, and not much more.
“We’re pretty minimalist here. For obvious reasons.”
He wanted to ask if it was because of the size of the apartment or money, but figured both would embarrass her.
“There isn’t any room in your father’s house?”
“Stepfather. But I do call him Dad. Anyway, Rick has two bedrooms, but I don’t want to impose on him. He hasn’t had a kid in the house since I graduated from high school. I wanted my own space now. This works out.”
“Did someone else used to live here?” he asked. The place was clean, but it was old.
“Years ago. It was rental money. It’s been empty for a while. When I came back, I put some good old-fashioned elbow grease into it. It’s good enough for now.”
He nodded. The only thought in his head right now was that he was in her bedroom. How easy would it be to close the door and pull her into his arms?
He didn’t though. Instead, he turned and walked a few steps out. “Why don’t we move away so we don’t wake Sidney?”
Was that disappointment in her face? Or just wishful
thinking on his part? “She won’t wake, but yeah, let’s go sit on the couch.”
He was at a loss of what to say at this point. He didn’t want to talk about work. He didn’t want to talk about Sidney. What he wanted to do was yank her in his arms and kiss her silly. To tug that full bottom lip of hers into his mouth. The one she’d been chewing on throughout the day. The one her tongue came out and licked several times when they were eating at the food court.
Was she teasing him? Or just cleaning food up? Since her daughter was present, he guessed cleaning, but it still seemed like a tease to him.
“Thanks for spending your day with us.”
“It was fun.”
She laughed. “Then you must have a pretty boring life.”
He actually did, but most people never thought that. He never let on. “It has its moments.”
“So now what?” she asked.
“Now I kiss you like I did the other night. Like I’ve wanted to do all day.” He leaned in, his mouth hovering over hers. “Like I planned on doing when I drove here earlier.”
She wasn’t pushing him back or fighting him off. Nor did he think she would.
No, she put her arms around his neck and pulled him closer, held him tighter and kissed him exactly like she had on Wednesday night.
Like he was one of Aiden’s fancy meals that she was sampling. Taking her time, figuring out the flavors and textures.
When she gripped his shirt and pulled him closer, he was lost to anything other than fitting his body over hers.
Laying her back on the couch, he came down on top of her. Feeling her body under his, squirming and grasping, lifting and touching. Burning everything.
How long had it been since he’d lain on another woman? He had no clue right now, nor did he want to even think about it. Not when she was under him making sexy sounds and sucking him in.
