Handcuff Me to Your Bed (Single Moms Deserve Happily Ever Afters Book 1)

by Zoe Garcia

  Now I was the one blushing. “Beyond amazing, actually. He tied me up with my own scarf.”

  Alexa gasped. “Naughty! Next best thing to those handcuffs, I bet.”

  She had a point…

  Penelope grinned. “Sounds like my kind of guy. Tell me you’re seeing him again.”

  I shrugged. “He said he wanted to…but that was before I practically pulled him inside and to my bed.”

  Alexa gave me another scandalous look. “Good for you.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “But you know how it goes. That’s probably all he wanted. Just to get laid, get it in. Wham, bam, thank you, ma’am.” The more I thought about it, the more I could see what was coming. I looked around at them. “I mean, how many guys have called you back or texted back after you slept with them on the first date?”

  I waited for them to answer, but all they did was glance down or away.

  Oaklynn gave me a sympathetic look. “You never know.”

  Ruby, Penelope, and Alexa didn’t look so convinced, though. They knew.

  We’d all gone through it. Get our hopes up. Have an amazing first date. Get carried away and take the guy to our beds. Only to be sorely disappointed and heartbroken when he ghosted.

  I’d made the mistake before and I knew better but last night I’d been a little tipsy still, not to mention it had been a long time since somebody had made me feel that way, looked at me like Jeremy had. He’d seemed so sincere.

  Rupert brought my coffee, and I thanked him then took a sip. “It’s okay,” I told the girls. “I know how it works. It was my mistake. I know what to expect so don’t worry. I’m not gonna sit around waiting for him to call or want to go out again. I’m good.”

  Officer Thickett had gotten what he wanted, and so I knew the odds were against me now. It was time to move on.

  6

  Jeremy texted that very afternoon.

  Jeremy: Hey. I was wondering if you’d be up for a cup of coffee sometime in the next week? ;) I’d love to see you.

  I practically leaped out of my chair, letting out a small scream.

  Skye, who was coloring opposite me, looked up. “You ‘kay, mama?”

  I couldn’t help but laugh at the scared expression on her face. Then I gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. “Yeah, sweetie. I’m okay. Sorry I scared you.”

  I walked around the kitchen and tidied up, wondering how to reply.

  Obviously, I wanted to see him again, but I also remembered what I’d told my friends that morning.

  I did not want to get my heart broken. I knew how this usually went.

  Maybe he just wanted more sex. Maybe he wanted something casual?

  Maybe he didn’t.

  How the hell were you supposed to know?

  I needed some perspective.

  After going into our group text, I begged them for help.

  Me: HE TEXTED ME ASKING ME OUT TO COFFEE. WHAT DO I DOOOOOOOO?

  After a couple of minutes of relevant GIFs and emojis, they offered some actual advice.

  What did you want to do?

  Say yes.

  So say yes!

  Be careful but see where it goes!

  Keep your expectations low, girl.

  Have fun but keep your guard up.

  Hey, if it’s good sex… may as well enjoy it while it lasts…Lol.

  That last one while Ruby. She always had an interesting perspective to offer.

  Skye asked me to put on Finding Dory for the millionth time, and we sat down to watch it together while I folded laundry.

  I needed to get back to Jeremy.

  Setting aside clothes, I pulled out my phone.

  Me: Hey. Coffee sounds great. Let me know what day works :)

  Phew.

  A few minutes later, he texted back.

  Jeremy: I’m off on Tuesday. You tell me what time and where, and I’ll be there ;)

  Me: I’ll let you know tomorrow. See you Tuesday :)

  7

  I kept my expectations low, reminding myself that this was just a coffee date.

  Don’t make it awkward.

  So he’d seen me naked and rocked my world? So what?

  No biggie.

  What I didn’t expect was to freak out the day of.

  We were supposed to meet for coffee during my lunch break.

  I had an hour for lunch, so I decided it would be perfect to get out of the office. No need to find a sitter or ask Mom to get off work early for me.

  As lunch time grew closer, the more frazzled I got, second-guessing my outfit, my hair, my make-up, even the way I laughed.

  Alexa saw me drop a stack of important papers for our afternoon meeting. She kneeled down and helped me pick them up and reorder them. “Hey,” she said. She waited until I locked eyes with her to go on. “Breathe.” She smiled, and I could tell was kinda amused at me practically hyperventilating today. “It’s going to be okay.”

  I paused, felt myself relax a nano-fraction. “I’m putting way too much pressure on myself and this coffee date, huh?”

  She giggled. “Just a tad.” We stood up, and she handed me the pile of now organized papers. “Watch. It’s going to way better than you think.”

  I nodded, my usual air of confidence now back. “You’re right. I’m Camila. I don’t freak out over dates.” I began strutting off toward my desk so I could staple everything. But not without one final glance back at Alexa. “Guys freak out over dates with me.”

  She began laughing, and I turned back around, only to run straight into my boss.

  Crap.

  He didn’t even try to hide the annoyance on his face.

  “Sorry, Mr. McCallister,” I said, mortified. Like he didn’t hate me enough already. I took several steps back and gave him some space.

  He held out a hand. “Is that for this afternoon’s quarterly meeting?” I nodded quickly. “May I see those?”

  I gave him one of each of the reports I’d printed out.

  He looked at them for half a second. “These are last quarter’s numbers.”

  What?

  I took a closer look myself. He had to be mistaken. I didn’t print off two hundred pages worth of the wrong—

  I had.

  Slowly looking up, I said, “I’ll redo these.”

  He pursed his lips. “If it wouldn’t be too much trouble.”

  With one last disapproving look and microscopic but very clear shake of his head, he went back to his office. Immediately, he shut the door and closed the blinds.

  I rolled my eyes. Alexa came up to me. “Do you know how long it took me to run these reports and print them?” I exhaled. “And it turns out I forgot to change the dates. Ugh. I hate my life.” Correction, I hated this job.

  Alexa took the stack of reports. “Maybe we can use these for…something.” But they were printed front and back.

  “It’s no use,” I said. “I’ll throw them in recycling.”

  I glanced at the clock on the wall. Less than thirty minutes until lunch, and I had to start this over. Our meeting was right after lunch…

  It had taken me well over an hour to compile these, print, and organize them.

  But because my head had been all over the place, I had done it all wrong.

  Great.

  I walked back to my desk, Alexa following close behind. I threw the reports into the large blue recycling bin. Mrs. Arnold, who sat a couple desks away threw me a reproachful look. She hated wasting supplies.

  I ignored her and sat down. “I’m gonna have to cancel coffee with Jeremy because of this.”

  Alexa sat down beside me. “Maybe if you hurry…”

  I shook my head. “Why do you think I messed up in the first place?”

  While the program loaded on my computer, I grabbed my phone and texted Jeremy, letting him know I wasn’t gonna be able to take my lunch as usual. And sorry to cancel last minute but we’d have to do coffee another time.

  At this rate, I wasn’t gonna have lunch until afte
r the meeting at two, and Mr. McCallister hated when we didn’t take our lunch break at the normal time.

  As I began pulling up the correct reports to print off, Jeremy texted me back.

  Jeremy: Do you still want to do today? Whenever you do get lunch?

  I thought about that.

  It would be nice to get out of here a little while.

  Camila: Okay. Can I text you? There’s a coffee shop about one block from here.

  I texted him the name of it.

  Jeremy: Cool.

  The reports were ready and stapled just in time for the quarterly meeting at one.

  My stomach growled as I handed them out to everyone. With one more annoying look, he began his presentation.

  I fought not to do an eye-roll right then and there. He was only a few years older than me and Alexa, but for some reason, he thought someone had died and made him the Queen of England. He took things way too seriously.

  One of these days he was gonna get what he had coming to him. I just knew it. I could feel it in my bones.

  Or maybe that was my stomach growling again…

  The meeting ended, and I finally took my lunch.

  I scarfed down my sandwich and fruit and texted Jeremy that I was on my way to the coffee shop.

  Then I left work, purse in tow.

  Jeremy walked up to the front entrance just as I did. He gave me a wide smile. “Fancy seeing you here.”

  I grinned back and let him open the door for me. “Same.”

  Once we got inside, I gave him an awkward hug. “Thanks for working around my crazy schedule.”

  He stuck his hands in his pockets. He was wearing black joggers, a t-shirt, and some sneakers. And I had to say he wore the sporty casual look well. “Sure. I was off this afternoon anyway.”

  We walked toward the front. “Well, I’m sure you had things to do,” I went on.

  “One or two things,” he said with a chuckle. “But it’s okay. I’m glad this worked out.”

  I smiled at him, realizing that he’d still been up for this even though I had switched things up last minute on him.

  Together, we glanced over the pastries behind the glass near the register.

  He asked, “So what do you recommend?”

  “Well, it would totally ruin that six-pack of yours, but I really like that one, especially if you go crazy for banana cream filling,” I said, pointing at my favorite pastry.

  When it was our turn to go up to the register, he told the girl, “Two of those, please. And two coffees.” He handed his card over, and I opened my mouth to say something but all I managed was, “Iced, please.”

  Once we had our coffees and pastries in hand, we found a table and sat down.

  I held up my coffee. “Thanks for this.”

  He smiled. “Of course. So how’s work today?”

  I told him what kind of work I did and all about that morning’s fiasco with the quarterly reports. We laughed about my boss. A lot, actually.

  And I loved the sound of Jeremy’s laugh. “Sounds kinda like my sergeant. We’ve thrown him two retirement parties, and then he decides he doesn’t want to retire just yet. He’s an old grump. We love him.”

  I wiped some banana cream off my chin. “See, grumpy old people are adorable. People our age who choose to behave like Scrooges? Just plain annoying.”

  “Good point,” he said, taking another sip of his coffee. He set it down, and I noticed the way his eyes glanced down to my mouth before settling on my eyes again.

  It had me feeling kinda hot. I glanced around for a second.

  “What is it?” Jeremy asked. “Not turning shy all of a sudden, are we?”

  I looked back at him. “No.” But he was kinda right.

  Just knowing that I’d known him less than a week, but he’d seen me, all of me, and known me in ways that not a lot of people had… it definitely felt kinda crazy.

  Good crazy, I thought, but I wasn’t completely sure just yet.

  I liked Jeremy and liked being around him so far, but this was just our second date.

  Maybe I was getting far ahead of myself. I tried to focus on just enjoying the moment.

  My phone buzzed with a text. It was Alexa.

  Alexa: You always lose track of time so here’s a ten minute warning! Lunch is almost over!

  She was right. I was about to turn back into a pumpkin.

  Jeremy watched me text her back a quick thank you. “Time for you to go?” he asked.

  I nodded. “Yeah. I can’t believe my lunch is already up. Those reports aren’t gonna run themselves.”

  We stood up and walked outside.

  “I’m glad we were able to do this,” Jeremy said. “It was good to see you again.

  “Me too,” I said, looking up at him. “This was fun. Thank you again for the afternoon pick-me-up.”

  He grinned. “Any time.” He came in for a hug. Yep, his chest was just as firm as I remembered…

  Just when I decided I could’ve stayed in his arms forever, he gave me a quick kiss on the forehead and took a step back.

  Was it me or had my panties just dropped on their own?

  He smiled. “Have a good rest of your day. I’ll text you?”

  Still flustered, I managed a nod. “Yeah. I’d like that.”

  As I walked back to work, I could hardly think of anything besides Jeremy.

  Was it me or was this becoming a little more real?

  We were past the one-night stand stage. We’d gone on a second date, and he was gonna text me. He’d given me a kiss on the forehead.

  That meant something in guy speak, right?

  Was this going a little too fast?

  I had no idea.

  I did know that, as always, I was going to do whatever this was with a clear head. Despite what my heart ached for.

  And no matter what, no matter absolutely what happened, Skye and what was best for her always came first.

  If I did that, I knew I’d be okay too.

  8

  When I walked into work a couple days later, there was a large vase of lilies at the front desk.

  I rolled my eyes. Somebody’s boyfriend probably had them delivered to someone here, which meant one of my co-workers would be bragging about it all damn day.

  It was too bad because lilies were my favorite flower. They were beautiful, but one of my biggest pet peeves was the bragging and puppy eyes that came with such a gesture, especially when no one had ever done the same for me.

  I wondered if these were for Angelica. Her boyfriend did cheesy things like this sometimes and she always practically paraded around the office telling everyone about it.

  After I set my stuff down at my desk, I booted up my computer.

  Alexa was already at hers. “Good morning,” she said, way too chipper for eight in the morning.

  I turned to her. “Is it, Alexa? Is it a good morning?” I asked sarcastically.

  I liked to mess with her sometimes.

  “There’s always something to be grateful for,” she said with a wink. “Oh, there’s something for you up front. You should go ask.”

  With an exaggerated exhale at the thought of standing back up and walking over there, I slumped over. Then I made a big show of practically dragging myself back to the front desk. I could hear Alexa’s giggles behind me.

  Angelica sat behind the front desk. She hardly looked up at the sight of me. There was a mutual dislike between us. No biggie.

  I leaned against the counter, careful not to knock over her lilies. “Alexa said there was something for me up here?” I asked.

  Wow, I sounded bored. I needed some coffee to perk me up.

  Looking just as bored as I felt, Angelica quirked a brow and glanced at the lilies beside me. What, did she think I shouldn’t be this close to them?

  “Yeah,” she began. “Those are yours.”

  I looked around, not sure what she meant. “What is?” Was there a package around here that I wasn’t seeing?

 
Now she was the one rolling her eyes. “The flowers. They’re yours. They were delivered this morning.”

  With that, she stood up and huffed off to the bathroom. I stood there, taken aback. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

  Then I turned to the flowers. She was joking, right? These couldn’t be mine.

  I didn’t have a boyfriend who did cheesy things like this.

  Glancing around, I wondered if this was some sort of prank. But everyone was busy at their desk or on the phone. Walking to the copier.

  There was a small note in the flowers. I read it.

  Beautiful flowers for a beautiful woman.

  I hope these brighten up your day like you’ve brightened up mine lately.

  Go out with me on Saturday?

  - Jeremy

  My mouth fell open. Like not slightly. As in jaw practically to the floor.

  Okay, this had to be a prank. But no one jumped out from behind a potted plant and yelled out GOTCHA! with their phone in their hand.

  Nada.

  Still in shock, I walked back to my desk with the lilies.

  Over half the office stared at me in just as much shock.

  I sat down and just looked at the flowers in disbelief.

  Meanwhile, Alexa slid over in her chair. So that’s why she’d been extra chipper this morning. She had known.

  “These are so cute! And that note…” She swooned. “You are so lucky.”

  I turned to her slowly. Of course she’d read the note too.

  Just then, our boss walked by and he shot one of his disapproving looks, this time at the flowers. “Camila, can you check your email please. There’s an urgent matter I need your response on.”

  As quickly as he’d appeared, he left.

  Alexa slid back to her desk, and I moved the lilies so they weren’t in my way. Then I moved them even more so they were in full display. My day to shine, bitches.

  I responded to that “urgent” email and then texted Jeremy that we were definitely on for Saturday and thank you for the flowers. All with a big cheesy smile on my face.

  I had mentioned once that lilies were my favorite flower. On our first date. And he’d remembered. I was very impressed.

  So far I’d been impressed in several ways…