“Fannie and Freddie are great. I love them.”
“They’re not too much?” he asks, his brows raised.
I laugh.
“No, of course not too much. They’re active, that’s all. But that’s how kids are. I love children, and Fan and Fred are especially adorable.”
Brent looks very satisfied, but I can tell it’s not just because they’re his grandkids.
“You ever think of having your own children?” he asks in a low voice. “You’d look beautiful pregnant, Jane.”
I hesitate for a moment, my cheeks flushing.
“You think?”
He nods, and those hazel eyes gleam.
“I definitely think so. And I’m not sure I’m done having kids yet either. I’d like to give Harlow a sibling or two.”
I giggle.
“So you’d be a father and a grandfather at once? Wouldn’t that be awkward?”
Brent merely shrugs and grins.
“It happens. Weirder things have gone down in the world. Now come here, honey. You have some frosting on your chin.”
With that, I cuddle next to him on the couch, reveling in the warmth of his big form. But what was he hinting at? Does Brent want more children with me? The thought makes my heart race and my insides go liquid, because that’s what I want too.
8
Jane
* * *
The following Saturday morning, I’m stretching in Brent’s bed. His bedroom is dark and lovely, due to his blackout curtains. Right now, I can hear him banging around downstairs because my man is cooking me breakfast after a night of passionate fun.
I stretch luxuriously. Could life get any better? I sigh with satisfaction and almost purr like a kitten. Being with Brent Marshall is amazing.
I lay back against the soft pillows and sink deeply into the silk before drifting away once more. His smooth sheets feel cool on my naked skin. I close my eyes and a lazy smile crosses my face. I’m in paradise. But then, there are voices in the hallway and I bolt upright. Oh shit, it must be Harlow! Another surprise visit? Why?
I sprint nude to his closet and take shelter just as the door flies wide open.
I see them through the slats. There’s a tall, thin blond woman, and it’s not Harlow. It’s her mother, Catherine. What is she doing here? I almost gasp audibly but manage to keep my mouth shut.
“I miss this room, Brent,” she purrs.
“Catherine, I told you not to come in here,” he growls. He looks around the room with desperation, and relaxes a tiny bit when he sees I’m not there.
“I miss us, Brent.”
“Catherine, we’ve been divorced for years. This is not the time to backtrack. Did Dr. Jones change your medication again?”
She pouts.
“I see a new therapist now. Dr. Love.”
He laughs dryly.
“Dr. Love? His name is really Dr. Love?”
“It’s a her, and you don’t have to be all snitty about it. Besides, that’s not the point. The point is that she tells me that I need to go for what I want, and Brent, what I want is you. I know you’ve been seeing someone, but we can figure that out.”
I squint in the darkness. What the hell? This is such a confusing situation. But my man handles it calmly.
“What makes you think I’m seeing someone?”
She bends over and grabs my bra from the floor.
“This, for one. Unless you have a secret hobby of cross-dressing? Which would explain some things about the divorce....”
He yanks it from her hand and demands, “How did you know I was seeing someone before you got here today?”
Catherine waves one skinny hand in the air.
“Margaret Keener says you were at the movies last week with some girl young enough to be your daughter.”
I gulp audibly, but then try to stay silent once more.
His jaw tightens.
“And what if I am?”
Catherine makes a pffft noise with her lips.
“Please. You need a real woman in your life. You always have. You’re not the type of guy who’s good on his own, and no little hoochie who knows nothing about life is going to satisfy you. That’s why I never understood why you threw me out.”
He growls, his eyes suddenly fierce.
“Fucking other guys is grounds for divorce, Catherine.”
I am blown away. Harlow never said her mom cheated on her dad! Does my friend even know?
But Catherine takes it in a stride.
“Fucking other guys is not a big deal. It was just a passing whim, Brent, and I’m over it. Plus, you’re fucking someone right now, and look at me. Do I look disturbed? No. We’ll figure it out. Besides, I know you know you want me. Remember how I could make you feel?”
He literally shudders.
“Yes, I do. That’s exactly why I want you to leave.”
She licks her lips.
“No, you don’t. You want me to—”
“You need to go, Catherine.”
“No, I don’t,” she saunters closer to him. “I need you to tell me you want me.”
The knots in my stomach have their own knots. This is a total nightmare: my boyfriend’s ex has shown up out of nowhere to seduce him and I have a unwitting front row seat to the show.
Brent slowly but clearly says, “The only thing I want from you is for you to leave.”
She pouts, “This is my home, too.”
His expression is grim.
“Not in over a decade.”
“Who is the whore who’s keeping you from me?”
He snaps, “Excuse you?”
She crosses her bony arms and demands, “Who is she? Some cow, by the size of that bra. I could parachute in that giant thing. What’s wrong, Brent, you couldn’t get a fit woman who takes care of herself?”
“Catherine,” his voice drops to an angry place and it frightens me. “My love is half your age and twice the woman you could ever be, and if you so much as say another negative word about her again, I will go to the judge and tell him about your trespassing. I will also manufacture anything else I need to about our past to get him to adjust your alimony. You can be sure of that. You’ve been living off of me for more than ten years now, and it’s time that stopped.”
“You don’t have the right –”
He cuts her off.
“You remember Judge Buckner, the guy who did our divorce?”
“Yes.”
“These days, I call him Rudy and he enjoys our tennis matches at the club. I definitely have access, you can count on that.”
She steams for a minute, and then says, “I will ruin you, Brent Marshall.”
His lips are pressed tightly together as his eyes glow with anger.
“You can try. But what does that get you? Catherine, you don’t work. Even now, I’m still paying you alimony. And I will keep doing that out of respect and love for our daughter and the grandchildren you see once a year on their birthdays. It would break their hearts to wonder why their grandmother is living in a slum. Don’t make me change the terms of that agreement because you won’t like the new terms I come up with while I’m in this mood. I can guarantee you that.”
The coldness of his voice sends chills over my skin.
“I hate you,” she hisses, the viper within finally showing itself.
“Good. Then you should want to leave my house.”
“You will rue the day –”
He turns away, his expression cold.
“Get Dr. Love to adjust your medications, Catherine, and leave now. Don’t make me embarrass the mother of my child by calling the police.”
But the blonde woman can’t be reasoned with.
“I’m going to find out who your whore is, and I’m going to—”
He whips out his phone and hits the emergency button.
“Yeah, hi, my ex-wife has invaded my home, and she won’t leave. No, I don’t have a restraining order yet, but I would like the police to come and remove
her from my property. Yes, I have told her several times to leave. No, I haven’t laid a hand on her. She keeps threatening all sorts of things.”
“Fine!” Catherine screams before stomping out of his bedroom. He looks around quickly and then follows her, probably to ensure she doesn’t leave destruction in her wake. I wait to hear solitary footsteps, but the blood is throbbing in my ears and I can’t hear much of anything. Suddenly the door opens and it’s just Brent. His handsome face is torn into so many emotions that I can’t read him. To the empty space he says, “I am so sorry for everything you just heard.”
I bolt out of the closet, rush into his arms and cry. I just want him to hold me and I sniffle against that broad chest. “I’m sorry, too.”
He pulls away for a moment, his expression tender.
“What on earth are you sorry for, Jane?”
I shake my head.
“I understand if you change your mind about me and want to go back to her. I know she said some mean things, but Catherine is very beautiful.”
There’s a stunned pause.
“Are you crazy?”
“And she’s the mother of your daughter, Brent. I know a child can bond people more than a new relationship can. I don’t expect anything.”
He shakes his head.
“If anything, sweetheart, it’s me who’s worried about you taking off. I don’t want to let you go, but if you need an off-ramp out of the highway of ex-wife hell, I understand.”
We look at each other and I smile tearfully at him.
“So you’re not going back to her and you’re not through with me?”
He lets out a low growl in my ear, pulling me closer.
“So long as you can deal with life not exactly being peaches and cream,” he says. “This is my reality, honey. I’m so sorry, but I’d rather you see me in broad daylight, than to hide the bad behind all sorts of shitty lies.”
I nod and sniffle again.
“No, I get it. And I don’t want us to be apart, Brent. Crazy ex-wife or not.”
He laughs.
“Catherine tries to ruin everything good in my life, but she didn’t ruin our breakfast. I got everything into the oven in time, and it should still be warm.”
I giggle.
“Maybe you could throw her in there, too. I wouldn’t mind.”
He guffaws.
“I think my oven can’t handle something that cold being thrown into it. It might explode.”
I giggle. “Is that how ovens work? But yes, Harlow never speaks about the divorce and why you guys split.”
Brent shakes his head, his expression somber again.
“She doesn’t know, Jane, and I hope you can keep it that way. It would break her heart to know that Catherine cheated on me. She still loves her mother after all this time, and I don’t want to poison her view even now.”
I nod. “She’ll never hear it from me. My lips are sealed.”
He presses a tender kiss to my forehead.
“That’s why I love you,” he whispers throatily. “Your discretion is amazing.”
My heart leaps because did the CEO just say he loves me? Happiness flows through my veins, and I beam as he takes my hand to lead me downstairs. Once again, peace is restored, and I adore being at Brent’s side.
9
Brent
* * *
“I have to see Jane,” I think to myself. My office seems dim without her around. It’s lifeless. Grays are grayer and my lunch is bland, no matter how much hot sauce I pour on it. I need a hit of the curvy girl’s energy.
I text her for a date tomorrow and wait. And wait. My foot taps impatiently. I know she’s a phone addict like many girls of her generation, so why is it taking so long? Then, my cell pings. I read her message. She’s in. My body relaxes and I can breathe again.
This is not good. I’m so in love with Jane, and yet we haven’t figured things out. My daughter still doesn’t know. Her parents have no idea, and would probably freak out if they found out she was dating a man nearing fifty. Even my ex-wife suspects. Yet being with Jane is exactly what I want. She’s someone I can’t stop thinking about. Someone I can obsess over in a healthy way. Someone I could have more children with, and who would be an excellent mother to our kids.
I want to talk to her about it all, but what will she say? Is the curvy girl ready to settle down? Or is she still young and wants to play the field? Only Jane would know the answers to these questions.
In the morning, we meet at a coffeeshop near the Cube. The curvy girl walks in wearing boots, jeans, and a flannel, and I swear to God, I’m getting hard already. What the hell? I look her over and she smiles.
“What?”
“I know we need to behave ourselves here, but you are a sexy lumberjack.”
She giggles and I know I am successful in my goal of keeping her happy. “Come on, I need a peppermint mocha,” she says.
“Not a pumpkin spice latte?”
She shakes her head.
“I’m not a basic bitch, so no.”
We get to the counter and she orders. Then the barista asks, “And for you, sir?”
“Pumpkin spice latte.”
Jane looks up at me and blushes.
“Oh my god, really Brent? I didn’t even know that guys got that drink.”
I quirk an eyebrow at her.
“Didn’t you know you’re dating a basic bitch?”
She giggles again. “Nope.”
“Well, now you know,” I wink. We get our drinks and load into my luxury SUV for our date. I’m taking her on a trip, and she’s going to love it.
“Buckle up because it’s a bit of a drive to Bear Woods.”
She sighs, leaning back in the seat with satisfaction.
“I know. I’m so happy because I haven’t been out to Bear Woods since Girl Scouts with Harlow.”
“Oh, right, that week-long trip, right?”
She nods.
“It’s beautiful out there. I hope when I have kids, they get to have the same experience.”
I smile, desperate to keep my mouth shut on the matter, but it’s a challenge. Things just seem to be getting more and more urgent, and it’s increasingly hard to keep using protection when I want to fill her up with my babies. I try to take my mind off of it.
“Put on whatever music you like, sweetheart.”
She arches an eyebrow.
“What if you hate my music?”
Dammit, she sees it coming. I smile.
“I’ll love it. Come on, honey, put some tunes on.”
She grins and fiddles with the satellite radio. Jane settles on Mercury, my favorite 90’s grunge channel and bops her head to Nirvana. I find myself nodding along with her. At the drum break in Smells Like Teen Spirit, she plays air drums and gets into it.
She’s hysterical, emotive, and so sexy too as she pretends to clash the cymbals really hard. I am in her thrall. I can’t help myself, and I have to ask, “How do you know this music? Isn’t this before your time?”
She throws me an innocent look.
“The 90’s were a golden age when it comes to music, Brent.”
“Yes, I know that, but how do you know that?”
She laughs. “I told you, I listen to a little bit of everything. I try to give it all a shot. You never know what you might like until you give it a try, so I like sampling new things when I can. Or, in this case, old things.”
I throw her a wry look.
“Is there any subtext to your statement?”
“Maybe,” she grins and gets back to air guitaring.
We ride along and jam to my generation’s angst for a while until we pull up to the park. It’s beautiful day. The sun is shining, the bright blue sky is cloudless, and the grass is still green, despite the impending fall. September in Denver is perfect for Bear Woods, and not for offices. Then again, I feel no guilt for taking the day off. Kombuchaid is making money hand over fist, and they won’t miss me at all.
We start hik
ing, and the sun beats on our backs. Pretty soon, we stop for a rest break at a craggy outlook overlooking the valley below.
“Do you miss the office?” Harlow asks while taking a swig of water.
I almost choke.
“No. Gray’s there today, so I know I can count on him to pick up the slack. That is, if anyone even notices my absence.”
She smiles.
“I’m sure they notice your nonappearance. You’re the Co-CEO!”
I shrug and take a swig of my water too.
“Yes, but Gray’s really been hitting it hard, and in a shorter amount of time too. With Harlow and the kids, he’s someone else now. He’s a machine who’s three times as efficient.”
“You don’t sound happy about it.”
I pause for a moment.
“No, I am. I’m happy for my business partner, and I’m happy for my daughter too because he’s a good guy. But the truth is that it took a while before I approved their relationship.”
She stares at me a bit.
“Really? Harlow never talks about it. She mentioned a little something, but never got into the details.”
I laugh.
“That’s not exactly a surprise because it’s a pretty scandalous story. Let’s just say there’s video tape of them going at it in Kombuchaid’s basement bathroom. And I saw it
Jane belly laughs and says, “God, no! Are you kidding me?”
“No,” I shake my head, “During her summer internship.”
“Oh, wow!”
“I know, right?” I laugh at the memory. “It’s something no father wants to see, and I admit that I lost it. Completely lost all control and screamed at them.”
Jane nods.
“Of course, because any father would. But things are good with you guys now, so I guess it’s all blown over? Still, little miss thing has nothing to judge me for then, given her history.”
I smile.
“I don’t think she would anyway, Jane. She loves you.”
“And I love her. I just…well, I always thought that Harlow was very innocent when it comes to these things. But wow, boy was I wrong. Naïve little Harlow, public sex, and on videotape too! No wonder she never speaks about it. Damn.”
My Bestie’s Dad: A Forbidden Romance Page 6
