“Are you okay? Do you feel all right?”
“Yeah, yeah,” I say, shaking the thoughts from my head. “Just trying to get my head around selling all this lot.”
“Take your time; we’ve still a few months before we really need this room.” He seems all too happy about me continuing to occupy his bed. I can’t help feeling like I’m holding him back. He was clearly dating before. I really shouldn’t be getting in the way.
“I’d rather just get it sorted as soon as possible.”
“Okay, well, if you need any help, I’ll be out in the garage. I’ve got a coffee table to finish off.”
“Okay,” I whisper, emotion burning at my throat.
“What?”
“It’s nothing. I’m just being silly.” He raises an eyebrow for me to tell him anyway and after sucking in a big breath of courage I do. “I don’t want to do this alone,” I confess. “What are you doing?” I ask, when he kicks his shoes off and walks into the room.
“Keeping you company.”
“But... But you’ve got a coffee table to—”
“I’ll do it later. I can’t bear the look on your face right now.”
“What look?”
“The one that tells me you’ll burst into tears if I walk away.” His eyes soften and the tears he’s talking about pool in my eyes at his thoughtfulness.
“No, I wasn’t,” I argue. His head tilts to the side and a smile twitches his lips.
“Where do you want me?”
My eyes drop down his body. Naked and laid on the floor waiting for me to ride you, I think, but I manage to keep my thoughts to myself. When I find Brandon’s eyes once again, I swear there’s fire burning within them.
Neither of us acts on the tension crackling between us as I get back to work.
“You done in here now?”
I nod.
“Come on then, I’ll make us a drink.”
He starts the coffee machine while I sit myself at the table and start writing up descriptions for everything I’ve photographed.
“I dread to think how much that lot must have cost you,” he muses as he crashes about in the kitchen.
“I’d rather not think about it right now. It would probably keep a roof over my head for longer than I want to admit.”
“You don’t need to worry about that now, Reese. You’re more than welcome to stay here for as long as you need.”
“Why are you being so nice to me? I’ve been nothing but a complete bitch to you most of the time.”
“You’re growing our baby, cupcake. It’s the least I can do.” I open my mouth to respond but no words come out. Because I like him being nice to me and I’m not ready to face up to why that might be yet. “Are you okay now if I…” He trails off, nodding down towards his garage.
“Yeah, thank you. I’ll make some lunch soon and bring it down for you.”
“I didn’t think you could cook?”
“I’m not sure fixing a sandwich constitutes as cooking.”
“Hmm, I’m going to need to teach you before bean arrives.”
“You’ve never struck me as the domesticated type either, Brandon.” I arch a brow at him.
“I can cook. I just got myself in a rut where I couldn’t be bothered with anything. Cooking, cleaning, life, really. But I can actually cook quite well and I’ll give you a few lessons if you like.”
“We’ll see,” I mutter, feeling inadequate to become a mother but afraid of allowing him to see it.
“Don’t worry, cupcake. I’ve got you. There’s nothing to worry about.” As if he can sense exactly how I’m feeling and what I need, he walks over, threads his fingers through my hair and drops his lips to my forehead. His heat settles whatever it was inside me that was starting to panic. It feels... nice, that is until he stands back and leaves the room. Then I’m just alone and cold once again.
I list a few items before my stomach starts rumbling. So placing my phone down on the table, I head over to see what I can knock up for lunch.
His fridge is full of fresh ingredients. It reminds me of my mother’s and has a shiver of terror running down my spine.
Ignoring some of the more obscure items, I reach for a tub of butter and cheese. I can’t go wrong with a cheese sandwich, right?
I eventually find the bread and sigh in frustration when I don’t find it already sliced. I grab a knife and attempt to cut off what I need.
With two plates of questionable looking sandwiches in my hands, I manage to balance them while I open the back door and head down to Brandon.
Music sounds out long before I get to the door and I can’t help the beat perking me up a little.
Pushing the door open, I peer inside. My eyes run over a few stunning pieces of furniture that he’s ready to ship to their new home and I’m shown once again just how wrong I was about him. I thought he was a lazy arse with a bullshit job. I had no idea that he was capable of something as incredible as this. I feel a little sick as I think about the fact I probably would have treated him differently if I’d known he could do this. He was right. I really was a judgemental arsehole.
A grunt makes me take another step into the garage. I look up and my eyes widen. Brandon’s standing over a stunning looking coffee table. His shirt’s off and his skin is covered in a sheen of sweat as he lovingly sands the top of the table.
I’ve no idea how long I stand there staring as his muscles ripple and flex, but I do know that by the time he realises he has company and looks up at me, I’m about three seconds from stripping my clothes off and demanding he takes me on the damn table.
No wonder he’s so good with his hands...
“Oh, hey. I didn’t hear you come in. I’m starved. What did you make?”
“It’s... uh... it’s a sex—” Fuck my life. “A cheese sandwich.”
“Jesus, Reese. What did you cut the bread with, my saw?” My cheeks heat and a sick feeling settles in my belly. I fucking hate feeling inadequate. “It’s perfect, Reese. I’m only winding you up.” I know he’s only trying to make me feel better. I have eyes, I can see what a car crash my sandwiches are.
“So…” I start, looking around his garage, trying to distract myself from his still shirtless body. “Sweaty work that coffee table, huh?”
“Oh, shit. Sorry.” Putting his plate down, he drags his shirt over his head and covers up, making me regret saying anything. “Better?”
I mumble some kind of agreement and attempt to get my doorstop of a sandwich into my mouth.
The silence gets a little awkward between us. Every movement and noise he makes has me on the edge of suggesting we do something stupid. That is until his phone lights up on his workbench.
Lauren: Fancy hooking up tonight?
We both stare down at the little preview. Dread sits heavy in my stomach, but I can’t help thinking that this is a sign. A sign that I shouldn’t be getting too comfortable here. Or getting too used to having Brandon to lean on.
“You should go. On the date I mean.”
“I should? I thought we were going to be friends with benefits?”
“I’ve changed my mind. That would complicate things. Anyway, you don’t want to be stuck here, with me in my pyjamas with a tub of ice cream. You should still be able to go out and have some fun.”
“But—”
“Yeah. I think it would be better all round if we just stay friends, with no other complications. It’d be better for our co-parenting future.” I lie, all but running from the garage.
Brandon calls out for me, but I don’t stop. This thing between us is starting to freak me out. I know I just told him to agree to his hook up later, but really, it’s the last thing I want. I’d much rather he was with me on the sofa as we watched a movie together. And there lies the problem. He’s my brother’s best friend. He’s supposed to be JUST my baby daddy. Anything else is too complicated.
I lock myself in the spare room claiming that I’m still going through all my stuff when he eventu
ally comes in from the garage and starts getting ready for his night out.
“Are you sure you’re all right with me going out?”
“I’m more than all right, I’m looking forward to an evening to myself. A relax. You need me to help you choose an outfit or anything?”
He stares at me for a few seconds as if he’s waiting for me to confess that I’m lying, before saying he’s fine and heading towards the bathroom.
I focus on what I’m doing and don’t allow any other thoughts to enter my head until I hear the front door shut behind him. It’s only then I allow myself to surrender to the emotions running rampant around my body.
It’s right that he’s out with someone else. It’s how it needs to be. The thought of the two of us being together is laughable at best. We’re polar opposites and he’s everything I always said I never wanted. So why do you want him more than anyone you’ve ever met?
Fed up of talking myself in circles, I grab my phone and pull up Sarah’s name.
“Hey, how’s the baby?”
“Good. Growing nicely and thankfully making me throw up less.”
“And how’s the daddy?”
“I moved in with him,” I blurt.
“Fuck. I thought you hated him?”
“So did I, but…”
“But...” she encourages.
“I lost my job and can’t afford to stay in my place. He offered for me to move in.”
“Wow.”
“And now he’s out on a date that I made him go on and I kind of hate myself,” I admit in a rush, just needing to get the words out of my mouth.
“Wow,” she repeats, making me fall down onto the sofa and drop my head into my hands. What the hell am I doing right now?
“So let me get this straight. You moved in with the baby daddy who you described to me as a hobo? Reese ‘immaculate’ Connors is living with the great unwashed and untidy?”
“He cleaned up his act. Big time.”
“What aren’t you telling me, Reese?”
“I think I might be having feelings for the hobo, but then again it could just be my hormones. I’m a mess, Sarah, and I don’t know what to do.”
“Well, maybe encouraging him to date someone else wasn’t your best move,” she suggests.
“I know.” I sigh. “Tell me about what’s going on in your world right now. I need distracting.” I urge and I curl up on the sofa while I hear about life in the Lake District.
13
Brandon
I don’t know what to do.
There’s no way I want to hook up with another woman tonight, but Reese wouldn’t take no for an answer. Maybe it’s hormones, or maybe she’s freaking out. It seemed easier for me to agree to go out in the end, so I pretended to go on a date. In reality, I actually called my old housemate, Aiden, and asked him to meet me for a beer.
“Missing me, mate?” he announces loudly as he walks towards me. I’m sat at a table nursing a pint and I’m sure I look as fed up as I feel.
“Life was a lot less fucking complicated when I lived with you.” I take another sip.
“Jesus, who died?”
“No one. Just got a lot on my plate and I know it’s not really a man thing, but I actually do need to talk to someone.”
“Isn’t Jack free?”
“Jack’s not all that keen on me right now.”
“Oh?”
I sighed.
“I may have got his sister pregnant.”
There’s a stunned silence. “You could have waited until I’d got myself a pint and a seat. Fucking hell, Brandon. Sit tight. I’ll get you another pint while I’m there.”
The pub’s half full. Enough for my conversation to be lost amongst the hum of the rest of the patrons. Aiden would normally sit opposite me but on this occasion takes the stool at the side of me instead.
“Start from the beginning and tell me everything.”
“Everything?”
“Well, without intimate details of your, shall we call it, dalliances with Jack’s sister.”
“You have to promise not to breathe a word about any of this because I’ve not got my own head around what’s going on in my brain yet. I just feel like I need to talk it out with someone.”
“Okay. Scout’s honour.”
I tell him about how we got together at the wedding. How Reese was pregnant. That she’d lost her job and had moved in. How we’d told Jack and his parents that we were dating and seeing how things went.
“Okay, well that all seems perfectly reasonable and sensible.”
I sigh. “Yes, except I think I might be developing feelings for her and I don’t want them.”
He looks down his nose at me. “You’re speaking of love like it’s some kind of fungus, Brandon.”
Mention of the L-word almost causes me to have a full-blown panic attack. I gulp down the remainder of my first pint and make a dint in the second.
“Now steady on, Brandon. Come on, mate, I’ve never seen you like this. What’s going on?”
“That’s just it. I don’t know. I’m overwhelmed by everything. I’m going to be a dad. That’s one thing. I have this new career that’s exploding. That’s another. I’m trying to keep up with all this appearance and clean house thing, and now I have a woman living in my home who is encouraging me to date while carrying my baby.”
“Oh.” Aiden’s face falls. “She’s encouraging you to date?”
“Yes. So picture this. The woman pregnant with your baby wants you to give her sex whenever she’s rampant for it, but she also wants you to date other women.”
“Mate, that’s what most men’s fantasies are made of.”
“Yes, well the reality is a lot different. My life was so much easier when I went to work, came home and fell asleep on the sofa.”
“Except that wasn’t life. It was like a living death. I was worried for you, mate.”
I mull over his words for a minute or two.
“I need you to come out with me for drinks or let me go around yours while I’m supposed to be on dates with other women. Just for now, until I can work out what I want. The last thing I need to be doing is dating other women, my life is complicated enough.”
“You’re insane. Just go and tell her about everything that’s going on with you.”
“No. She just lost her job, had to move into a strange home, and is pregnant. She’s enough on her mind without my confused feelings.”
Aiden sighs. “I’ll do it for a month. Then you need to have talked to her or calmed yourself down.”
“Thanks, pal. Another pint?”
“Yes, and this time we can use it to celebrate the fact that you’re not the only one set to be a father.”
My eyes widen. “Kaylie is pregnant?”
He nods, but where my expression is one of confusion, he beams with happiness. And therein lies the difference in our situations. Aiden is settled and in love.
“Almost four months. We’ve only told close family so far.”
I get up to go to the bar and grab my friend in a bear hug. “Congrats, dude.”
“Likewise.”
I return with our pints, sit down, and blow out a huge breath.
“I’m going to be a part-time single dad. It’s only a few months ago I could barely look after myself and now I’ll be responsible for a baby.”
“Hey, if it doesn’t work out with Reese, think of the benefits. You’ll be a hot single dad. One of those who walks around the place with his cute baby in a papoose with all the women drooling right along with the baby.”
There definitely is something wrong with me because this doesn’t excite me at all.
“What happened with Naomi…”
I take a sharp intake of breath.
“You were so young, Brandon. You can’t let that define your future.”
“I made her my whole world.” I stare into space. “There was no one but her, and then I found out it was all lies on her part. She never loved me at all. I w
as the nice guy her father wanted for her, when she was in love with someone else all along.”
“And she’s no doubt got on with her life. She’s probably married with kids and you’re what? Letting her still affect you now? That’s some power you’ve given her.”
“The hurt was excruciating.”
“Look, Brandon. How long did it take me and Kaylie to get together? We’re so happy but we can’t help but regret all those years we maybe could have been more. Don’t waste any more of your life. Start living it.”
We spend the rest of the evening chatting sports, but my head is still thinking about Reese.
On my way home I call in at the 24-hour supermarket and spray myself with a woman’s body spray. I pick the lipstick tester off the display and smudge a bit on my collar. There we go. Proof of a date.
I walk into the house but it’s quiet and the upstairs lights are off. Discarding my own clothes, I make my way upstairs and into my bedroom. Reese is asleep on the bed and the moonlight from the window lights up her face enough for me to be able to see how peaceful she looks right now.
I climb in at the side of her and watch her for a moment, wondering if I should pull her into my arms. Then as my eyes start to close while my mind wars with itself, I turn over to face the other way and fall asleep.
April
Another month has passed. Reese thinks I’ve continued to date and she hasn’t asked me for sex once. I have blue balls. She’s taken to selling shoes and bags like a duck to water and now she’s feeling better and less sick she’s running it as a small business, buying and selling pieces online and even going out to charity shops some days. She’s like a different woman to the Ice Queen I knew. That tautness about her has gone. She’s relaxed. I even left a glass out yesterday and she didn’t move it. Today is the day of our meal at the house. Jack and Rhian are coming. Me and Jack have been talking tentatively of late via text messages, but we’ve not been out for a pint or anything. Today we’re showing them how well our dating and living together is going. In other words, we’re about to lie.
The Daddy Dilemma: A Brother's Best Friend Enemies To Lovers Romance (Hot Daddy Book 3) Page 9
