It's Only Pretend: A Single Dad Boxset

by Piper Sullivan

  My shoulders sagged with relief. “Good.” I put her hands around my shoulders and pulled her close, slanting my mouth over hers for a long hot kiss that had been at least a year in the making. “I love you Sasha. Do you believe me?”

  “I love you too Antonio. And I really do accept your apology.”

  That pulled a smile from me. “Good because I’m going to wine and dine you. Take you out and show you a good time like a real couple.”

  Her hand fell to my jaw. “You don’t have to do that.”

  “Yes I do. I’m going to show you what you mean to me so that sometime in the future when I ask you to be my wife, you’ll have no doubt about how much you mean to me.” I owed her at least this much and I planned to see it through.

  “I’m starting to see,” she smiled and brushed a kiss against my lips.

  “No, but you will.” I pulled another sheet of paper from my pocket and tore it up. “We still share custody of Andreas.”

  “That’s a really good start Antonio. Thank you.”

  “No sweetheart, thank you. For everything.” I kissed her then, with everything inside of me and during that kiss I vowed that I would be the best man she knew for the rest of our lives. She would always know, as would Andreas and any other kids we have, just how much they meant to me.

  I had been given a second chance to love and planned to take it and make it work until we were both old and grey.

  THE END

  Want to read Harper and Rafael's story (featuring Grandma Eddie of course)? Then check out Nanny’s Fake Fiancé here.

  Preview: Accidentally Bound

  Mason

  I watched Trish Danvers walk away with that little swing in her hips that I knew was unconscious, but still sexy as hell. She was a little spitfire all wrapped up in a good girl package that I shouldn’t find appealing. Never had found it appealing before in other women to be honest. But when it came to the petite blond, everything I thought I knew about myself went out the window. She was all the things I didn’t like or want in a temporary woman, uptight, a Girl Scout, with a high cheerleader ponytail that should look ridiculous on a grown woman. A settling down kind of woman. But she did it for me, especially when she was pissed off. That fire that burned in her big blue eyes woke my cock right up.

  I shouldn’t want her. But I did.

  Too bad she was all the way off limits. I didn’t screw around with good girls because they had expectations. They wanted things I wouldn’t give to them, or to anyone else for that matter.

  “She’s getting under your skin?” Zeke’s voice sounded behind me a second before one hand landed on my shoulder.

  “Maybe,” I admitted with a shrug. “But that’s all it is. I don’t do good girls.”

  Zeke threw his head back and laughed, shaking his head in amusement. “Don’t you know, man? Good girls are where it’s at, but don’t just take my word for it. Hey, Nash!”

  The other man who’d become a friend since I relocated to this small town headed towards us with a smile.

  “What’s up? I hate these things,” he groaned and reached for a cupcake. Nash made furniture that was more like art, and he sold each piece for an obscene amount of dough.

  “Nash, tell Mason about the appeal of good girls. Good southern girls,” he clarified with a smile that said he was thinking of his curvy little wife.

  Nash grinned. “No one is as bad as good girls. They surprise you with it. Every fucking time.” His own grin matched Zeke’s and I knew he was thinking about his own smoking hot wife who wrote dirty romance novels. He looked turned on and so damn happy I almost wanted to believe them. Almost.

  “Except bad girls,” I added. “Bad girls know the score, and they’re always up for a good time. Only a good time.”

  They looked at me like I’d grown a second head, but I’d gotten used to it over the past few months. Both men were totally blissed out with their women and working hard to convince me that the one-woman life was the way to go. But guys were guys, and they didn’t push any further. So after we put in face time at the luncheon and ate our fill of Trish’s delicious donuts, we headed out.

  “Vivi wants a tattoo,” Nash grumbled as we walked towards the main drag in town. “If I send her to you man, I don’t want her to come back with big ass angel wings on her back.”

  I laughed at his grumpy words. “Vivi isn’t that type of girl, trust me. She’s more likely to get a butterfly on the ankle, or a magnolia flower on her shoulder. Maybe a hummingbird on her hipbone… I’ll take care of her.”

  “That doesn’t make me feel better,” he groaned which only made me laugh harder.

  “If Mackenzie Stone trusts me with his wife’s skin, you can trust me with yours,” I told him, referring to the mega action movie star who’d helped make me a well-known name in certain circles.

  Nash grunted his response, which told me Vivi was dead set on this course and he didn’t like it. “Just remind her how much it’ll hurt.”

  Zeke laughed and pushed at Nash’s shoulder. “Dude she’s had a kid, this will be nothing in comparison.”

  He wasn’t wrong, but I kept my mouth shut as we walked inside La Belle Bean, the girliest shop I’d ever been in that didn’t sell lingerie. The pain wasn’t what turned people off tattoos, though. In my experience it was the permanency of body art that scared them away.

  “Damn it smells good in here.” I hung back while Zeke and Nash went to the counter and chatted happily with Trish. Observing the good girl in action was always an erotic experience. She would smile shyly and tuck a stray blond lock behind her ear. Lick her lips before she spoke, or bit down on her lush bottom lip as she listened.

  I needed to get laid if she was getting to me this much. It had been a few months since I had a woman, taking a break while I set up my shop had seemed like a good idea at the time. But my business was established now, and my rich and famous clients had no problem flying to me for their body art needs. Despite not being in New Orleans, I still had plenty of newly minted eighteen year olds who also came to me because they wanted the guy who’d tattooed the guys in Steel Dragon to ink their skin too.

  A break was in order before I did something stupid, like proposition Trish.

  “Can I get you anything?”

  I smiled at the hint of annoyance Trish always had in her voice when it came to me. She was such a good and proper southern woman, that even her irritation was polite. “What are you offering?”

  She rolled her eyes and waited me out, giving me a chance to realize I’d been staring at her so much I hadn’t noticed Zeke and Nash were gone. Leaving me alone with the sexy little sprite. Her pink tongue darted out and left a trail of moisture along her bottom lip, and I had to fight the urge to adjust the front of my jeans.

  “Any of those Irish cream donuts left?”

  She nodded, full lips twitching in a smile before she turned to grab a pink checkered bag and pulled out a tray. “Two left, you want them both?”

  “Sure.” The woman had a way with sugar that only added to her allure, which is why I so rarely came into her shop. That, and we couldn’t seem to stop fighting if our lives depended on it.

  She set the bag on the counter with care and rang me up, nibbling on her bottom lip the way she always did when she was lost in thought or consumed with a task. “What?”

  I don’t know what kind of hell had gone through me, but I grinned and when I opened my mouth, I said, “You’d be so much hotter if you did something with your hair.”

  Yeah, I was an asshole, at least to her. But the flash of fire that flamed white hot in her big blue eyes reminded me why it was so worth it.

  “You’re a jerk, Mason.”

  She tossed my change at me, literally tossed a handful of coins and a few bills at my chest and then kicked me out of her shop.

  I left with a wide, satisfied grin. Totally fucking worth it.

  Trish

  “This is crazy!”

  Molly’s wide-eyed smile across the
counter was contagious as we both handled customers during the busier than usual lunch rush.

  “No idea why this is happening, but I’m happy it’s happening,” I told her honestly. I would never complain, about being busy at work because more business was a constant reminder that I’d made the right decision to stay open later during the week, to add a quick lunch option, and to add fresh bread for other local businesses. “We’re getting low on sandwiches, can you handle the rest while I whip up some more?”

  “Yep, no problem.” She flashed a quick grin and herded the two lines into submission in an orderly fashion.

  The kitchen was quiet, peaceful. I took a deep breath before washing my hands and pulling out more deli meats and sandwich fixings to slice. The butcher always saved me the good stuff in exchange for keeping him in a steady supply of his wife’s favorite muffins. Which meant the sandwiches were always perfect. The different types of bread, including a gluten free option, meant that anyone could stop in for a quick sandwich that was in line with their dietary needs.

  Like Aunt Becca always said, “Everybody is different, and they appreciate it when you acknowledge it.”

  Her words of wisdom often rang in my ears just when I needed them, and they kept me going when exhaustion had me questioning if this was how I wanted to spend the rest of my life.

  “What the hell else am I gonna do, anyway?” Given my lack of a love life, and my poor excuse for a sex life, the answer was a big fat nothing.

  “Hey Boss, we need six vegan sandwiches.”

  I froze and looked up at her. “Vegan?”

  Molly nodded with a look that said she thought I was an idiot. “Yeah. No animal products, but anything else we can whip up. Two of those with the gluten free bread.”

  Aunt Becca’s words played again and I grinned. “No problem. Coming right up.” It was a first for this small town in the deep south, but I had enough ingredients to make it work. I assembled the sandwiches using cucumbers, tomatoes, sprouts, avocado, bell peppers and pickles, adding mustard to some and pesto to others because all of my sandwiches were made to taste amazing. After wrapping each one and labeling the gluten free options, I pushed the door open with my hip and set them on the counter. “Six vegan sandwiches, two with gluten free bread, ready to go.”

  I looked up and froze at the sight of my nemesis, I mean my neighbor. Mason stood with his trademark smirk, a gorgeous tattooed girl at his side.

  She stepped forward, as bold as her appearance, and flashed a smile that softened her tough girl demeanor. “Thanks. Apparently, butthead is tongue tied in front of a pretty girl,” she said with a laugh, nodding in the direction of the brooding tattoo artist. “How much?”

  I told her the total with a grin. “He is kind of a butthead, isn’t he?”

  She laughed again, the sound husky and melodic. The kind of laugh that invited you to join in on the fun. “Totally. He has been a world class butthead since the day I met him.”

  “You were literally like five hours old,” he grunted from behind her, giving a clue to their relationship. Why I cared that she was his sister and not his woman, I wouldn’t examine now. Or ever. “And don’t talk about me like I’m not here,” he told her, wrapping her in a headlock with one arm and putting money on the counter with his free hand, showing off strong, golden forearms that made my mouth water.

  Or maybe it was the sandwiches. It was definitely the sandwiches. I added the sandwiches to a large box used mostly for donuts, along with a few napkins. “Enjoy your sandwiches,” I told her, ignoring her brother.

  “Thanks. I’m Magenta, his younger, but oh so much wiser sister.”

  “Yeah, Mags is a brat,” he added with a playful grin that, somehow, made him even hotter. Dammit.

  “I’m Trish,” I told her and extended my hand to her. “I love that tattoo, it’s beautiful.” It really was, a colorful fantasy land covered her shoulder in exquisite detail. “It reminds me of that painting, Garden of Earthly Delights.”

  Her face lit up at the compliment. “Thanks! That was my inspiration.”

  “You never compliment my tattoos,” Mason said with a pout.

  An actual pout.

  It made me laugh, because I didn’t want to think about getting an up close and personal look at the ink on his body, mostly because I was certain his arm wasn’t the only inked part of him.

  “You’re never nice long enough for me to get a good look at them.” Thank goodness.

  He winked at me over Magenta’s head and I gripped the counter to avoid drawing attention to his affect on me. “You can have a good long look anytime you want, Trish.”

  Yeah, right. “As soon as I do something with my hair to look hot, right?” Yeah, I hadn’t forgotten that little bit of unhelpful advice. I hadn’t forgiven it either.

  “Nah, I decided I like the ponytail. It’s kinda cute.”

  Cute. Exactly what a twenty-seven year old woman aspired to be. I rolled my eyes at that backhanded compliment, and handed the change to Magenta. “Have a good day Magenta, it was nice to meet you.”

  “You too, we should hang out sometime. Butthead is the only person I know in town.”

  I could use a new friend, particularly a single one, since both Maddie and Vivi were happily wed. “Sounds good. I’m usually here most days, so I’m not hard to find.”

  She took the bag and headed for the door, leaving her brother to give me a long, intense look that held all kinds of promises. “Just let me know when you want that look, Trish.”

  Right. Now. Please.

  That’s what I wanted to say, instead I gave him a polite smile. “No thanks. Have a good day, now.”

  With a smirk he walked away, and I may have given his long legs and perfectly shaped ass a good long look. I couldn’t help it, the man made jeans looks as sinful as a thong and oil slicked torso. He was singlehandedly responsible for my new fascination with denim.

  The jerk.

  Trish & Mason’s story continues in Accidentally Bound!

  About the Author

  Piper Sullivan is an old school romantic who enjoys reading romantic stories as much as she enjoys writing them.

  She spends her time day-dreaming of dashing heroes and the feisty women they love.

  Visit Piper’s website www.pipersullivan.com

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  Also By Piper Sullivan

  Accidentally Hitched: An Accidental Marriage Romance

  Accidentally Wed: An Accidental Marriage Romance

  Accidentally Bound: An Accidental Marriage Romance

  His Takeover: An Enemies to Lovers Romance (Boardroom Games Book 1)

  Sinful Takeover: An Enemies to Lovers Romance (Boardroom Games Book 2)

  Naughty Takeover: An Enemies to Lovers Romance (Boardroom Games 3)

  Fake Fiancé Next Door: A Small Town Romance

  Knocked Up By My Best Friend:A Friends to Lovers Romance

  Stranded: A Mountain Man Romance

  Cowboy's Fake Fiancée: A Single Dad & A Virgin Romance

  Cowboy's Barmaid: A Small Town Military Romance

  Seal's Professor: A Military Roommate Romance

  Let’s Pretend: A Fake Fiancee Romance

  Dr. Daddy Next Door: A Single Dad & A Virgin Romance

  Dating the Doctor: A Single Dad Romance

  Seal'd to Her: A Second Chance Military Romance

  Safeguarded: A Bad Boy Mafia Romance

  Boxsets & Collections

  Single Dad Kisses: A Collection

  Nanny Down Under: A Single Dad & Nanny Box Set

  The Takeover Boxset

 

 

 
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