Inappropriately Yours

by Cara Dee

  "I'm going to give Jack one week," he said quietly, firmly. He'd given this some thought. I could tell. "What I witnessed tonight, as much as it stings, looked serious. My hands are unfortunately tied as long as he treats her well and she's happy, but dammit, I think I deserve an explanation from him. Crossing all sorts of lines with your friend's daughter, isn't that wrong?"

  Possibly. I couldn’t really imagine the scenario. Although, yes, it seemed the respectful thing to do was to be upfront and honest. Aiden did deserve that, and I told him as much.

  "Exactly," he agreed. "So if he doesn’t contact me before next Saturday, I'm going over there, and I won't be friendly."

  Next Saturday. Oh, crap. If I was failing to remain completely unattached and aloof in the span of two, three days, how the heck would I cope with a whole week?

  "You're, um…you're staying, then?" I asked cautiously.

  "Ah, right." He stifled a yawn and shifted in his seat, facing me more fully. A tired, careful smile tugged at his lips. "I was going to tell you as soon as I walked through the door, but—Well, actually this is a good place to start." He took a breath. "My memory—it can be absolutely horrid, and you will probably never meet a man more scattered than I am. If I'm in the middle of writing, forgetting dates and what to pick up at the store isn't unheard of. I can't multitask to save my life. I used to be a—No, I am a dreamer…with a tendency to romanticize and hope for the best."

  Why was he telling me this? "Aiden, you're supposed to seduce me before we have sex."

  He cracked a soft grin and shook his head. "You're a right comedian, darlin'." Oh, he was cranking up the South. His years in LA must've taken his accent from him. "Come here." We met in the middle, and he cupped my cheek and kissed me. "On a brighter note," he murmured in between pecks, "I took a class four years ago and can cook Indonesian, I'm loyal to a fault, I'm actually a really good shower singer, I think I'm a good lover—"

  "Oh my God, you dork, why are you saying these things?" I kissed him once, hard, wanting…so much. Crawling up in his lap, I palmed his face and rested my forehead to his. My stomach was in knots, and I wasn’t sure it was a bad thing.

  "Because I want you, Chloe." He tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. I shivered and melted. "Right now, I don't even think I can leave. You're a captivating, breathtakingly beautiful, funny, sweet, caring woman, and I think your brand of crazy might go well with mine."

  My mouth stretched into a wide smile.

  We can be real. We are real.

  "I've rented a loft here in the Valley for the summer," he admitted. "That way, I can write in peace when I'm not taking you on dates, bugging you at work, and taking up space in your bed. If you want."

  "I want." My cheeks were starting to hurt from the smiling, so I kissed him again. "I definitely want." My mind spun ahead, as if processing everything wasn’t overwhelming enough. "I feel the need to add more emphasis on 'my brand of crazy.' It's not necessarily the fun kind."

  "We'll figure it out." So this was him hoping for the best. Eek, it wasn’t solid enough for me. "All I can think of is exploring with you."

  I gasped as he pushed me down on the couch and followed, covering my body with his. God, he was hard in all the right places.

  "I'm not Gypsy Girl." I spoke against his lips.

  "No, you're far better."

  "I mean it, Aiden." Breathing heavily, I planted my hands on his chest to get some space, and I searched his eyes. "I'm not very exciting. I work too much, I have the boys—"

  He shut me up with a kiss. "And yet, we fucked in the rain. That was a first for me." He gripped my hip and pressed his cock against me. "The excitement isn't a preexisting element. We create the adventures, Chloe. I think…" He grunted under his breath and swallowed hard. "I think we draw it out of each other."

  The relief that coursed through me was indescribable. All the solid I needed. He wasn’t expecting me to be a wild feature in his life. He wanted to craft the wild together. I could do that. I fucking ached for it. He was right; he did bring it out of me.

  "I want you, too." I fisted his shirt and yanked him down on me again. "Right now, I want you here on the couch."

  He smirked and slid a hand under my shirt. "Let's make it happen."

  *

  A few days later, Gray and I were working alongside each other at the inn. We'd had a slow start to the tourist season, but now all rooms were booked—for the most part—all through July, August, and the first half of September.

  "Did I tell you I got Gage hooked on Aiden's latest book?" Gray asked me, smiling politely at a couple he was checking in.

  I was handling the checkout for a Portuguese family.

  "Did you, now?" I was skeptical at best, because I knew my eldest son. The only thing Gage liked to read were car magazines.

  "All right, maybe hooked is a strong word," Gray conceded. "But he finished the book in two days and admitted it was decent. That’s something."

  I chuckled, then returned the Portuguese man's credit card. "Thank you so much, sir. I hope you enjoyed your stay. Would you like me to arrange transportation to the airport?"

  "No, that is fine—thank you," he replied with a heavy accent. With a nod and a smile, he spoke in Portuguese to his family, and they left together.

  I turned to Gray. "Should I do any damage control with your brother, hon?"

  Gage and I were close too, but our relationship was different. He'd always felt the need to be more grown-up than he needed, and he was protective by nature.

  "What? No." He frowned, sitting back in the desk chair as the couple went upstairs to find their room. "You mean with Aiden? Nah. He's fine with it. Just bitchy."

  I could handle bitchy. We'd all had dinner together last night, and Gage's hostility was long gone. He'd been merely reserved, which wasn’t too strange. He didn’t know Aiden very well yet.

  Yet.

  I smiled to myself, hopeful about the future.

  "Your face, Mom," Gray chuckled. "Too cute."

  I shot him a dirty look for having fun at my expense.

  *

  "It might snow."

  I gigglesnorted, trapping the phone between my cheek and shoulder. "You're exaggerating." Opening the fridge, I grabbed the bowl with chicken that'd been marinating in oil, honey, and spices all day. "This is summer in Washington."

  "It was hot the other day," Aiden argued. "You know, in that wet, muggy way."

  He was silly. "Sure, sure. Are you getting any writing done?"

  "Not really," he sighed. "I keep looking over at the couch…"

  I flushed and made sure I was alone in my kitchen. Gabriel and Gid were around here somewhere.

  I'd woken up this morning to a note on my pillow. Aiden had told me he'd been bitten by his writing bug, so he was planning on spending the day in his new loft. Being the good new girlfriend I was, I'd brought over breakfast—with every intention of simply leaving the plate outside his door and texting him it was there. That hadn't worked. He'd ripped the door open and yanked me inside.

  "You need some furniture in that place," I noted. Because really, there was only a desk, a chair, and a couch. That was it.

  "You mean more spots to defile you on?" His voice took a husky turn.

  "Mmhmm." I was glad he couldn’t see the heat on my cheeks. "Will you be here for dinner?"

  "I'm already out the door, beautiful. See you soon."

  *

  "Mom, what're you doing?"

  "Shh!" I threw a glare over my shoulder. "I'm eavesdropping."

  Gabriel snuck closer. "On who?"

  "Aiden." I pressed my ear to the door. "He's on the phone with his friend."

  Aiden had been planning to call Jack after dinner while I was talking to my staff up at the inn. I finished early, and now here I was. Maybe I was too curious for my own good.

  "That’s nice," I heard him say inside the house. "What's new with you, otherwise? Been a while since we met up."

  Gabriel smirked and
leaned a shoulder against the house wall. "Is he gonna live here with us now or something?"

  "Goodness, no." I didn’t think any of us wanted that. Aiden and I had just met. We both had children, demanding jobs, and inconvenient "homes." I lived here in a small cottage, and he was renting a loft that had barely any furniture. "We're dating."

  He snorted quietly. "Looks like it's more than dating."

  I raised a brow, confused. "What does it look like?"

  He shrugged and scratched his nose. "Like we're getting a sister soon."

  I didn’t know what to say about that. It was thrilling, only way too soon to even entertain. After a week, it was impossible to say where we'd be at the end of summer.

  "He's cool, I guess." Gabriel offered another shrug, and I smiled at the only way a teenager could give his approval. A shrug and the word cool.

  "You're sweet." I hopped up and kissed his cheek.

  He rolled his eyes, though there was a smile, too.

  Going back to my stealthy eavesdropping, I caught the tail end of the conversation, and Aiden sounded more clipped now. Whatever Jack said wasn’t what Aiden had hoped for.

  "Yes, you too," Aiden replied tightly. "Have a good weekend."

  Gabriel chose that moment to tilt his head and peer through the window. A couple seconds later, Aiden was opening the door with a wry smile.

  "No need to be sneaky, love. This is your home."

  I lifted a shoulder modestly and grinned sheepishly.

  "Yeah, I'll just…" Gabriel pointed toward the living room, then entered the house and went upstairs.

  "How did it go?" I wondered.

  Aiden sighed and shook his head. "I gave him every opportunity to fess up."

  Walking to the kitchen, I asked about Saturday—which was tomorrow—and poured us some coffee.

  "Oh, I'm driving over there," he said firmly. "He mentioned having plans—guys' night with his brothers and a couple friends from his childhood, but to hell with that."

  I smiled into my mug and leaned against the counter. "You're hot when you get all angry."

  "Is that a fact?" His eyes flashed with something dark, wicked, and he took a step closer. "It's difficult to make me angry, so you have your work cut out for you." His hand skimmed my hip as he dipped down and kissed my neck.

  Whew. A shiver ran down my spine. "I'll give it my all." I slid my fingers up into his hair and nipped at his jaw.

  "Mm, me too." Gripping my chin, he lifted my face toward his and planted a firm kiss to my lips. "For now, I'm going to go upstairs and ask Gabriel and Gideon if they're interested in checking out the sports bar on Fourth with me on Sunday."

  "Oh?" My breathing hitched. The lust swirled in my head, but that was a good way to break through the haze. There was only one reason he'd go out of his way to spend time with my sons.

  He nodded and stroked my cheek. "I've already made plans with Gray, and Gage promised he'd give me a shout next time he's in town."

  I touched my mouth, unable to keep from smiling. "You spoke to Gage?"

  "Well—I sent him a message. Gray gave me his number."

  "Goddamn." I refused to get emotional. "You know, I'm sort of looking forward to when you forget a date or something, because right now, you're way too perfect to be real."

  He chuckled, hugging me to him. "I could say the same about you."

  Either way, I was beyond happy, and now I could only hope Isla would like to get to know me, as well.

  25.

  Aiden Roe

  "Here we go." I rubbed my hands together quickly, crossing the street and wishing I'd put a sweater on over my tee. Washington weather was odd. Warm, sunny morning, rainy and humid afternoon, cold evening. Cold for someone used to LA weather, at least.

  Right before I went behind Jack's building, I spotted Isla on the couch in the living room and Jack coming down the stairs. Judging by the tie he was putting on, he was getting ready to head out for his precious guys' night.

  I don't think so, buddy.

  Rounding the building, I climbed the three steps and knocked on the door. My gut tightened, though I wouldn’t back down. Yesterday had been the last straw; he should've come clean when I spoke to him. Unfortunately, I couldn’t dictate my daughter's love life, but I could give my friend hell for going behind my back.

  The lock was turned, and I steeled myself. It was Jack who opened it, and his eyebrows shot up as he saw who it was.

  "Surprise?" I twisted my car key between my fingers and cocked my head. What was that, guilt? Understanding? Did he realize I wasn’t stupid?

  "Aiden, I—yeah, you could say it's a surprise. Jesus, man. Come on in." He opened the door wider and rubbed his forehead, his gaze flickering toward the living room. "It's good to see you." He extended his hand.

  I eyed it, irritated yet calm in a way I couldn’t explain. "We'll see about that." I shook his hand and went inside.

  "Fuck," I heard Jack sigh behind me.

  I continued past the doorway that led to the kitchen and into the living room. Isla looked up, instantly shocked, and I hated the moment a little bit more.

  "Oh my God, Daddy?"

  That was why I hated this. She stumbled off the couch and hurried toward me, and then I had her in my arms. She hugged me tightly, and I was powerless to do anything but return the embrace. Because she was my little pumpkin, the girl who'd pushed her beanbag into my study to be with me while I worked, the bright-eyed, freckled sweetheart who had declared she was going to be an author like me one day.

  Except…she was also the young woman who had—just a week ago—jumped into the arms of a man as if she'd lost her heart to him.

  "I can't believe you're here! What are you doing here? Why didn’t you call?" The questions tumbled out of her in a rush. "When did you get here—whoa, are you wearing jeans?"

  I looked down. "Maybe." Chloe had helped me since I'd only packed for two days when I flew up here. "I think you know why I'm here."

  "I…" She looked confused, then glanced over at Jack and bit her lip.

  "I'm assuming he knows." Jack walked over, hands in his pockets and a serious expression on his face. "I'll, uh…" He gestured at the kitchen. "I'll go cancel my plans."

  "You can fuck right off while you're at it," I told him.

  "Dad!" Isla dropped her jaw.

  Jack's features tightened, thought he left without responding.

  I looked back at Isla with a frown, and I folded my arms over my chest. "You can drop the act, Isla. How long did you think I was going to let you play me for a fool?"

  She flushed, visibly embarrassed as well as upset. "That doesn’t give you the right to come here and tell him to fuck off."

  Was she serious? I stared at her, bewildered. "Are you honestly trying to discuss respect and manners with me? Because the way I see it, Jack lost that privilege when he decided to sleep with my daughter."

  "I'm standing right here!" She gestured with her arms. "That daughter of yours is all grown up."

  I nodded, knowing she had a point. "When your friend in high school dated your ex, weren't you livid?"

  "I was seventeen!" she cried out.

  "So you've changed your mind, then?" I wasn’t going to let this slide, god-fucking-dammit. "You don’t think it was disrespectful that one of your closest friends suddenly began dating your ex-boyfriend without saying a word to you?" I was getting seriously angry with her. She couldn’t cherry-pick what offended her and then do the same and call it something else.

  "That’s so not the same." She gritted her teeth and balled her hands into fists along her sides. "I'm an adult. I don’t need to ask your permission to date someone! She was my friend!"

  "What the hell do you think Jack's supposed to be to me?" I shouted back. "It wasn’t you I said could fuck right off!"

  I had here there, and she damn well knew it. She snapped her mouth shut and glared, and she could fucking dream on. I was going to get an answer.

  "Well?" I demanded. "How i
s this situation any different? Other than the fact that you're my daughter, my flesh and blood, not a high school crush."

  "It's not any different." The reply came from behind me, and it was Jack who was ready to join the fight. "I should have come to you a long time ago."

  "Are you defending his entitlement?" Isla asked him incredulously. "He's got no right to barge in here and tell us what we're doing is wrong."

  "Are you defending your own hypocrisy?" I wondered. "Right and wrong kind of flies out the window when you share my exact opinion on a matter where you're the one who ends up hurt."

  "In that case—" She stopped herself, seething, only to shake her head and run upstairs.

  Whatever she was going to do up there, it wouldn’t be anything that made me less right.

  "I want you to know I would never do anything disrespectful toward her," Jack told me. "We didn’t plan this, Aiden. I'm well aware I fucked up where you're concerned, but this wasn’t something we started for fun."

  I gave him a flat look before giving the living room a cursory inspection. Seeing all the books only fueled my anger. He and I used to be close. I'd like to say we still were, with the exception that we didn’t see each other as often these days. But back when he lived in LA, we could discuss books and literary scholars for hours. Literature was what brought us together when he was a wide-eyed freshman and I was a ragged-running TA.

  On the eastern wall under the letter R, my published works stood in a neat row, all eleven titles of them. He'd slipped in Isla's book after mine.

  "You're together," I stated. I supposed I wanted it confirmed it wasn’t mere…screwing. Perhaps it was none of my business, but it fucking mattered, nonetheless.

  "Yes."

  I nodded slowly, hearing Isla huffing and stomping upstairs, and moved over to the other wall. Letter H, where are you? I scanned the shelves, finding the right one above the fireplace. Jack had always disliked male pseudonyms for women, so I had a feeling I would find Stephen G. Tallentyre's books under her real name.

  "I understand I'm the last man you want your daughter with."