“Hey, don’t worry about it.” Parker’s voice was soothing. Reassuring. I hated how easy it was for him to set me at ease. “I’ll take care of Alley-Cat, don’t worry about a thing. We’ll have a fun time and I’ll make sure she eats her veggies.”
I could feel a knot in my chest loosening with relief. “Thank you, Parker. I really appreciate it.”
“Of course.”
“I won’t be too long.” I didn’t know what else to say, feeling awkward with how… relaxed and comfortable I felt, knowing that I trusted Parker with my daughter, trusted him to do this, to be a part of the family in this way.
I couldn’t let myself slip into depending on him too much. I was already attracted to him. It was a slippery slope I was on, and I had to be careful.
“Well.” Parker cleared his throat. “I’ll see you later tonight then?”
“Yeah, tonight.”
There was another moment of awkward silence, and then I hung up, before I could make this even more uncomfortable.
Hopefully this whole thing with Nolan wouldn’t take long. I stood up, smoothed out my skirt, and went over to his office. The door was open so I knocked on it as I entered. “Hey, I can bring the presentation up on your computer—”
Nolan was already springing up out of his chair. “No, no, let’s talk about it over dinner, I’m starving.”
I glanced at the clock. “It’s a little early for dinner, but you’re welcome to order takeout…”
“Ah, why do that when we can get out of this damn office and actually relax in a restaurant?” Nolan replied. He grabbed his jacket and smiled at me. “C’mon, grab your coat.”
I wasn’t sure how to politely say no. This was my boss, the owner of the company, and if he wanted to indulge himself and eat in a restaurant than I couldn’t really refuse. Or at least, I didn’t know how to. And it wouldn’t be so bad, so long as we kept the dinner quick.
“That’s fine,” I replied. “But it can’t take long. I have to get back home to my daughter. She’s only four.”
Nolan waved it off. “No worries, I won’t take too much of your time. But no reason we can’t combine business and pleasure.”
He winked at me as if we were sharing a private joke. I looked away, ignoring it. I wasn’t going to relax and let him think it was okay to just whimsically decide to keep me for hours if he felt like it. I had obligations, and Ally was always going to come before anything else.
Nolan took us to this place right around the corner, an expensive American-Indian fusion place. The food looked delicious but also way out of my price range—Nolan told me not to worry, that it was his idea and he’d be paying for it, and… I mean, well. He was my boss, he could afford it, but it made my stomach go tight a little.
“I don’t want to take advantage of your generosity,” I said, scanning over the menu and trying to find what was least expensive. I had food at home, it wasn’t like I had to eat a lot here.
“You won’t be,” Nolan promised. “Gotta take care of my employees, right? You’ve been working hard, you deserve this.”
It sounded a little condescending, but I told myself he didn’t mean it like that. He was clearly trying to be friendly.
Maybe too friendly. We ordered and then I tried to steer our conversation onto the project, but Nolan shook his head. “You’re so focused on your job. You should relax a little.”
“Technically I’m on the clock,” I pointed out. “And we’re here to talk about business.”
“Can’t a boss also want to learn a little more about his employee?” Nolan asked. “I’d love to know what makes you tick. How you’ve been enjoying your time here, what it’s been like. What drove you to apply to the company.”
Well, it could be that he did this kind of thing with all his employees. It seemed like something he would do, honestly. Take them out, charm them, and find out more about them. Nolan struck me as the kind of man who would schmooze, the kind who wanted to impress people rather than just have an honest talk with them in the office.
“I’ve been enjoying it fine,” I said, politely answering his questions. I was going to get through this, and it would be just an annoying delay before I could get home to my daughter. It wasn’t any different, really, than being in the home office at the apartment and working while Parker read to Ally.
Nolan ordered a bottle of wine when our food arrived, and I frowned. “I can’t drink a lot,” I told him. I had to be in a state to walk home, and I wasn’t going to be tipsy around my daughter.
“Don’t worry, you’re not driving, are you? I’ll make sure to get you home. I can walk you if that’ll help you feel better.”
“You really don’t have to,” I said, instead of no, I don’t want you walking me home, you’re my boss.
“No, it’s no problem.” Nolan waved me off. “It’s the least I can do after you’ve been giving me the pleasure of your company.”
I’m not supposed to be giving you the pleasure of my company, I’m supposed to be talking to you about work. I bit my tongue and started eating instead of saying what I really wanted to. This wasn’t like with Parker where I could be honest when he was annoying me. This was my boss.
Nolan launched into some anecdote or another that he probably thought was charming, and I smiled and nodded along. I kept trying to steer the conversation back onto work, but Nolan would wave it off with a smile.
“You can’t think about work all the time, you know, Emma,” he told me.
I refrained from saying what I really wanted to in response to that and let him go on with a funny story about pranking one of the board members.
Personally, I didn’t think it was very professional for him to be pranking people like that. It was one thing if you were pranking a coworker but if you were the boss? How could you ever know that your workers actually liked your pranks and weren’t lying to keep their jobs? And why on earth would you prank one of the people in charge of investing in your company and who could fire you if you pissed them off?
Looked like Julie had been right to warn me about Nolan and his work ethic, or lack thereof. I knew I was more hardworking than most. I’d been a massive bookworm and straight-A student. Parker would lovingly tease me about it while we were dating. But even though I knew most people didn’t have their nose to the grindstone the way that I did, surely it wasn’t too much to expect that my boss actually care about his job?
After all, I cared about this damn job. Why should I care if he didn’t? Ugh.
Nolan probably thought he was endearing himself to me, talking about pranks he’d pulled and casually dropping the fact that he vacationed regularly in the Caribbean. I could understand, honestly, why he thought it would impress me. I was young, I was new to the city and to this job. He’d probably impressed a lot of women this way.
But I wasn’t your typical twenty-three-year-old. I had a daughter already. I had lost my parents. I had lost out on the chance for a normal college experience, at an Ivy League school, and I’d fought for my degree and earned it anyway. I wasn’t going to go all dewy-eyed over my new boss, no matter how rich or funny or handsome he was.
“Would you like some dessert?” Nolan asked, smiling at me over the rim of his wine glass, his eyes dark.
“No, thank you. I have to get home to my daughter.” This was the… fifth? Sixth? Time I’d had to bring up Ally.
Most of the time, telling people I had a daughter put a stop to any flirtations going on. Nobody wanted to take on that added complication. The fact that Nolan seemed dismissive of it… it made me suspect he didn’t want anything serious with me. Why bother worrying about a woman’s daughter when you were only going to sleep with that woman once, right?
Ugh.
“You sure? They have this divine…”
“I’m sure,” I told him firmly.
Nolan’s foot was near mine under the table—I could feel him trying to move it closer and so I quickly pulled my own foot back, out of his reach. He had long leg
s, of course, he was taller than I was, but he’d still have to make it obvious to reach my foot now, stretching under the table. It would make him look like an idiot.
Small victories, I told myself.
“All right.” Nolan shrugged, still smiling, and asked the server for the check.
I breathed a sigh of relief. It had been over two hours. Most of which had been Nolan talking. I had a child to get home to, for crying out loud.
Nolan offered me his arm as he stood up. “I’ll walk you home.”
“You’re very generous, but you really don’t have to, I’m fine.”
“Ah, c’mon, it’s late, better safe than sorry, right?”
I didn’t know if I should refute that it wasn’t late or not. If I did, then he might use it against me when I then protested that I had stayed out too late for my daughter.
Probably best that I just kept quiet, then.
I wasn’t sure how to ignore the arm he was offering me without looking like an absolute asshole, so I took it, and tried to maintain some distance between us as we left the restaurant and walked down the street.
He’ll know where you live after this, I thought to myself. I was suddenly insanely grateful that Parker lived with me. Parker was as tall as Nolan, but he was also broader in the shoulders. I was sure that if for some reason something went wrong, Parker could handle Nolan. Having a strong man living with me had been a better idea than I’d realized.
You’ll be home soon, I told myself, as Nolan cracked another joke and I smiled politely. You’ll be home soon, with Ally and Parker, and it’ll all be over.
17
Parker
I glanced at the clock. It had been two hours. Where was Emma?
Staying late wasn’t like her. She wasn’t an irresponsible mother. If anything she was a little too responsible, a little overprotective of Ally. I could attest to that.
But I’d picked up Ally from daycare, and brought her home, played games with her, even ordered pizza for the two of us. And Emma still wasn’t home.
“Pizza’s my favorite,” Ally told me as she dug into her slice of pepperoni.
“Good thing we got it, then,” I replied, grinning. “Alley-Cats eat a lot, don’t they?”
“Yes they do!” Ally replied. She meowed at me and I stroked her nose like she was a real cat, making her giggle. “What’s your favorite food?”
“Oh man, that’s a good one.” I settled back in my chair. I’d gotten used to just eating on the couch with Ash or by myself, but Emma was firm about Ally eating at the dinner table, properly, and I was finding I actually liked it. It made mealtime feel like something special. “I’ve tried a lot of food in my travels.”
“Crazy food?” Ally asked.
“Oh yeah, the craziest. I’ve had squid…”
“Ew!” Ally made a face. “You can’t eat squid! It’s all slimy!”
“Yes you can, they do it in Asia all the time. I’ve eaten snails in France…”
“No, no, no!” Ally looked both horrified and delighted, shrieking the word. “You’re not supposed to eat snails!”
“Well, the French do. It’s what makes them so crazy.” I waggled my eyebrows and leaned in. “Maybe someday you’ll go to France and eat snails.”
“No!” Ally laughed harder, shaking her head. “Never! I’ll never eat snails!”
“Then you’d better eat up your pizza, or I’ll have to make you some snails instead!”
“Ew!” Ally dove into her pizza again, scarfing it down.
After dinner, I had her wash up her face and hands. I wasn’t sure that Emma would be comfortable with letting me give Ally a bath, so I figured better safe than sorry. After the whole bursting-out-in-boxers incident I didn’t want to give Emma another excuse to yell at me for being inappropriate.
By that time, Ally was starting to look a little anxious. Her face was getting pinched, her eyes dark, and I suspected she was noticing that her mom wasn’t home when she should be.
“Hey, you wanna do something different for reading tonight?” I asked her.
“Like what?”
“Like making a fort out of the couch cushions. C’mon!”
Ally beamed and meowed, rushing over to the cushions to get started. Once the fort was set up, we could read Goodnight Moon and the next chapter of The Hobbit.
Part of me wanted to just keep reading to Ally until Emma came home, to keep her awake, but I’d had Ally fall asleep on me before so I supposed that if she was really determined to pass out, she’d do it no matter how much I read. And if I messed up her sleep schedule and she was cranky tomorrow, Emma would kill me.
“Okay, Alley-Cat,” I told her once we finished up the chapter. “Time for bed.”
Ally yawned. “But I’m not tired!”
“That’s okay, you don’t have to go to sleep. You just have to lie in bed. I’m sure your stuffed animals are sleepy and will need cuddling.”
That seemed to convince her. Ally raised her arms up, and I realized, my heart hammering, that she expected me to pick her up and carry her to bed.
Dammit. This kid had me wrapped around her little finger.
I picked her up, and Ally rested her head on my shoulder as I carried her to her bedroom. Fuck, she was so grown up and so young and tiny all at the same time. I wanted to cuddle her for hours, just keeping her safe. I had never felt so goddamn protective of anyone before. I felt like if someone even tried to make her unhappy I’d tear the world apart in vengeance.
Ally settled into bed, and I fetched her stuffed animals for her—she had a lot of them, so she wasn’t allowed to sleep with all of her animals, but we picked out about five for her and I had each of them kiss her goodnight before snuggling them in with her.
Ash, and Lucas too, would laugh their asses off if they could see me. I’d once gotten in a bar fight in Germany and had smashed a bar stool over a guy’s head. I wasn’t scared to be intimidating and get physical. And here I was, making stuffed animals cuddle with a kid so that she’d smile. I guess I was more of a softie inside than I’d realized.
With Ally snuggled safely into bed, I closed the door behind her and took a quick shower, settling into the chair by the window in my pajamas to read a book. It was still early by the standards of most people, only seven pm, but Ally was in bed and I wasn’t going anywhere else for the evening so why not get comfy, right?
I left the couch-cushion-fort up for Emma to see it. Let her find out what she’d been missing—and let her see that I could take care of Ally and be a good babysitter.
I was just getting into the chapter when I heard voices down below, stopping in front of the front door to the apartment lobby, and peered down.
That one person I’d recognize anywhere, and I kind of hated myself for knowing who she was instantly. Emma.
I didn’t recognize the other person, but it was definitely a man. I watched as Emma pulled away, and then the man stepped closer. It looked like he was leaning in for a kiss, but then Emma stepped away again, quickly retreating to the front door. I could hear voices, but not exact words, and then Emma was stepping inside and the man was leaving.
What the hell? Emma had said she was working late. That looked like the end of a date.
Why the fuck was she lying to me?
18
Emma
“You want to explain what that was?”
I paused in the doorway to the apartment, surprised to hear anger in Parker’s voice. I took off my coat and set down my purse. “What are you talking about?”
“You and that guy. Out on what looked like a fun time.” Parker shook his head. “If you wanted to go on a date why didn’t you just tell me? Why the fuck did you lie?”
Surprise and anger boiled up in me. “Maybe because I didn’t want you to be jealous?” I countered. “Besides, it wasn’t a date. That was my boss.”
“He seemed a lot friendlier than a boss should be.”
“Trust me, I’m aware.” I folded my arms. “Do I loo
k stupid to you? Do you still think I’m only eighteen? I can handle myself. I knew what he was up to, and I took care of it.”
“You should’ve said no.”
“Not all of us are wealthy and can afford to say no to our bosses about everything point blank!” I shook my head. “I can’t believe you, Parker, honestly. It’s not your business.”
“It’s my business when your daughter’s wondering where you are.” Parker stood up, setting his book aside.
My stomach twisted with guilt, my heart feeling heavy in my chest. I had always been home to have dinner with Ally and to put her to bed. Now for the first time, I wasn’t. And that had… maybe been my fault? Could I have stuck up to Nolan more strongly?
The idea just made me angry and there was only one person around to direct that anger at: Parker.
“Are you telling me that you don’t want to spend time with her?”
“That’s not what I’m saying and you know it.” Parker stormed over, glaring at me. I hated to admit it but I got a little thrill at seeing him so in command, at being reminded what an alpha male he really was.
Parker could be so gentle, especially the last couple of weeks with Ally, that I had almost forgotten that he was the kind of guy that everyone in town had known would stand his ground. Nobody ever dared to bully me outright for being a nerd, or for my weight, because Parker and Lucas would’ve destroyed them.
I really wished it wasn’t turning me on. After being with someone all evening where I couldn’t really speak my mind, getting to stand in front of Parker and give him what for was so fucking refreshing I wanted to scream with relief.
“I don’t have to justify myself to you,” I snapped at him. “I can deal with my problems on my own, without having to explain them to you. My work issues are none of your business.”
“You’re my roommate. I’m helping look after your daughter. Of course, it’s going to be my business!”
Roomies with Brother's Best Friend Page 10
