Sweet and Sassy Daddies

by Natalie Ann

  I spun on him. “God, you didn’t know anything about her, did you? She grew up in foster care, Trevor. No, she didn’t have a family. Her family died when she was like seven. Of course, if you had gotten to know her instead of just using her body, you might have known that.” I rubbed my hands over my face as I tried to calm down. This man made me lose my shit so easily. “I’m going to take a few special items and give the rest of her stuff away to charity.”

  He frowned at me as he leaned back against the wall near the kitchen, crossing his arms. “You really have a problem with the fact that I spent the weekend with Carol and then didn’t see her again, don’t you?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Why is that?” he asked as he stared at me hard.

  “Because you’re what, forty or so? I would think by this time in your life, you would have grown up and stopped living the frat-boy kind of life.”

  “Frat boy?” He pushed off the wall and stalked toward me. “I’ve never been a frat boy, Davina. I graduated from high school and did twenty years in the military. You have no right to talk down at the way I live my life.”

  “Yeah, well, so what. You did twenty years in the military, and I bet you had a different girl in every port.”

  “That’s a sailor reference, Davina. I was in the Marines.”

  I threw my hands up in the air. “Who cares. You know what I mean.”

  He stepped closer to me, glaring down at me, and I got lost in his serious blue eyes for a moment. “I didn’t get involved in relationships, Davina, because I never knew if I was coming home. To be honest, I think that is a pretty mature decision. I never once got involved with someone and made them believe for one moment that I was in for the long haul. I was always honest with the women I dated and told them that our time together then was all there ever would be. Don’t get your panties in a bunch because I don’t measure up to your standards.”

  “My standards!” I blurted. “You couldn’t possibly measure up to my standards! You’d have to have some for yourself first.”

  For a moment, the two of us stared at one another, and I had this sudden urge to go up on tiptoe and kiss his sexy mouth. I held myself back, but I noticed his gaze drifted down to my mouth, and I knew that if he leaned forward, I probably would have kissed him. I hated myself for that.

  Trevor didn’t lean forward though; instead, he did something else that surprised the hell out of me. He ran a finger down the side of my face. “I like your feisty nature, Davina. It makes me want to put you over my shoulder and take you to my bed.”

  I jerked back from his hand and took two steps away from him. “It will be a cold day in hell before that day ever arrives.”

  The side of his mouth tipped up. “We’ll see about that.”

  Before I could pick my jaw up off the floor, he was walking back to the kitchen, and Devon began to cry.

  Chapter 9 – Trevor

  What in the world made me say that to her? Maybe it was because her whiskey eyes snapped with energy or that she said whatever came to mind. I knew that she didn’t like me, not really. Maybe she was slightly attracted to me, but she sure as hell didn’t want to be. And to be honest, that was the last thing that I wanted either.

  I had enough to deal with now that I had a kid. The last thing I needed was to get entangled in a relationship on top of that. I frowned as I pulled the container out of the microwave and stirred it. There would never be a relationship with Davina, and I wasn’t sure why I even suggested that there might be.

  Maybe it was because when I’d gone to check on her after she’d broken down, I’d found her curled up in my bed, and I’d watched her for a moment. She was the first woman to ever sleep in my bed, and I had to admit that I liked seeing her there. I also appreciated the fact that she had come over to help me last night and allow me to get some rest. I felt much more human today, and even though my life had changed so drastically, I felt like I could now navigate the waters and figure it out.

  I’d re-read the letter from Carol, and then the other notes she had left. Devon’s middle name was Michael, and she said that she was going to have my last name put on his birth certificate. So my son’s proper name was Devon Michael Vaughn. I liked it. I’m not sure that I would have named him Devon Michael, but I did like it.

  When Davina’s phone had kept ringing, I’d finally answered it. “Hello?”

  There had been a long pause, and I wondered if the name that was on the screen calling her was her boyfriend. “Who is this?”

  “Who is this?” I parroted back.

  “Where is Davina?”

  “Sleeping, who is this?”

  “This is her boss, Scott. I didn’t know she had a boyfriend; can you wake her up?”

  “I’m not her boyfriend, and no, I’m not going to wake her up. She was up all night working on a project that I will assume was for you.”

  “She was up all night? Why didn’t she finish that before? She’s never waited until the last minute to finish a project.”

  “Maybe because she’s been a little busy.”

  “Doing what? Davina has no life. Her job is her life.”

  “You sure don’t know your employee very well. Are you aware that for the last ten days, she’s been taking care of a newborn?”

  “What?”

  “Yes, her best friend passed away in childbirth, and she has been taking care of the infant until she could get in touch with me. She’s been taking care of my child while I was working overseas. Now she’s sleeping.”

  He was quiet for a moment. “I had no idea.”

  “No, I assumed that you didn’t. Davina’s exhausted and in mourning right now. She needs some time off.”

  “Yeah, well, she’s got work to do. Her program works, but I have changes that I need made. I’m sorry for her loss, but I do have a business to run.”

  “What is the name of your company?”

  “Treemont Industries, why?”

  I chuckled. “The software program that she was working on is for a new tracking ability, right?”

  “How did you know that? That’s classified. She’s not supposed to talk about her work.”

  “She didn’t. I work for Safety Zone Security. I’m one of the guys that tested your last program, and it sucked.”

  “What did you say your name was?”

  “I didn’t. It’s Trevor Vaughn.”

  He grew quiet. “Would you be willing to test it again?”

  “I’ll test it again after you give her a week off to mourn for her friend.”

  “Done.”

  “Paid.”

  “I can’t do that. I don’t know if she has any vacation time left.”

  “Call it bereavement, and you will pay her. If you don’t, your program will not pass our test, which means you won’t have our endorsement.”

  “And if I give her the time off, with pay, you’ll see that it passes.”

  “I’ll give it a fair try as I do with everything that we test.”

  “Fine, she can have a week, paid.”

  “And another week to get the program finished. She needs a week of relaxing, not stressing over her job.”

  “Fine. Two weeks to get the fixes made, but after that, she better be back to herself.”

  I grinned. “I’ll let her know.” I didn’t let him say anything else as I’d hung up. Maybe it had been wrong for me to answer her phone, and yeah, maybe I’d stepped over the line by telling him we wouldn’t approve his software, but it had turned out all right. She had been helping me; it seemed only right that I help her out, too.

  I put the container back into the microwave to finish cooking. Devon was fussing behind me, and I turned to see Davina bend over and pick him up. I stared at her ass; it was nicer than I had expected. That was actually the first time I’d noticed it because of the heavy sweater that she wore hung down past her butt cheeks. I frowned to myself. Stop thinking of her like that.

  “So, after lunch, we can go get his other
stuff?”

  “Yeah, I can help you get it.”

  “Thank you.”

  She kept Devon’s attention while I got our food ready. After putting the bowls on the table, I held my hands out to take Devon.

  “What?” she asked, staring at my hands.

  “I’ll take him so you can eat.”

  “I can hold him,” she said and sat down.

  “Yes, I know you can hold him, but so can I.”

  She stared at Devon, then looked up at me. “He’s your son; you’ll have him forever. I’m only going to have him a little bit.”

  Her voice sounded sad, but it was the look in her eyes that did me in. “You know, you can be part of his life.”

  She picked up her spoon and stirred her food. “I appreciate you saying that, but he is your son.”

  “And he’s your best friend’s child, too. She wanted you to be part of his life. You read the letter from her.”

  She took a small spoonful and blew on it before putting it into her mouth. I was mesmerized by the way her lips curled around the spoon, and I jerked my gaze away and took a seat.

  “Yes, Carol did say that, but I don’t want to impose. Besides, I have a really crazy schedule right now.”

  “Tell me about it,” I said as I dug into my chili.

  As we ate, Davina told me about her work at Treemont Industries and her classes to get her master’s degree. I didn’t mention that I’d probably tested some of her projects, but instead, I listened to her. She was a very intelligent woman, and I found myself rather intrigued by her analytical mind.

  When she grew quiet, I found myself missing her voice. “Tell me about Carol. You said you had known her for a long time.” I paused. “You were right when you said that I didn’t know her that well, but I think you can help me to know her better.”

  “Why would you want to know her better? She’s not here anymore.”

  “Because I want to be able to tell Devon about his mother.”

  She watched me for a few seconds. “You’re really going to keep him?”

  “Yes, I’m going to keep him. He’s my son. You said she grew up in foster care; I don’t want Devon to grow up like that. I might not be much of a father, but I’ll try to do the best that I can for him.”

  She smiled, her eyes brightening for the first time since she’d gotten up. “I’m happy to hear that. Carol would be too.”

  “So, tell me about Carol.”

  Davina laughed. “She called me Vina. I met her in high school, and we became instant friends. She had been in four or five foster homes by that time, and she didn’t make friends easily. I didn’t either; I was a total geek in school with my head wrapped around mathematics and computer equations. Somehow we clicked.” She paused, smiling to herself. “She called me Vina the nerd, but always with a smile.”

  I listened to her continue to tell me about their friendship and a few things they had done in high school. Davina had gone away to college, and Carol had followed her a semester later. The two of them had been inseparable, and I envied that.

  For a long time, they’d been roommates, and then Carol landed a big job at a marketing firm and moved into her own place, but it was in the same building as hers. They were never far apart and shared just about everything.

  Our food was long gone, and Devon was sleeping in her arms as she finally stopped and hung her head for a moment. “I’m really going to miss her.”

  I reached out and put my hand on her arm, and she lifted her sad eyes to me. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry that she’s gone, and I’m sorry that you feel I’m to blame for it.”

  She wiped at her cheek where a tear had slipped down. “I needed someone to blame; you were the easiest one. I know that’s not fair.”

  “You can blame me, Davina. I’ll let you.”

  We stared at each other, and her whiskey eyes seemed to drink me in. Finally, I slipped my hand off her arm and glanced away, breaking the moment.

  “Let me clean up the kitchen and get dressed, and then we can go.”

  “I’ll get a bottle ready for Devon while you get dressed. He’ll want to eat soon, I’m sure.”

  I was almost done cleaning up the kitchen when there was a knock at my front door. I hadn’t heard from anyone today, but I had to assume that was someone checking up on me.

  Davina was digging around in the baby bag for something as I took the stairs down to my door. “Alex, Lexi, I’m surprised to see you two.” I held the door open.

  “Are you kidding?” Lexi said as she slipped quickly past me. “I was dying to see that little guy again. Where is he?”

  I pointed up the stairs. “He’s with Davina.”

  Alex paused beside me, an eyebrow raised. “Davina is here?”

  I laughed momentarily. “Yeah, I about lost my mind last night when he wouldn’t stop crying and practically begged her to come over and help me.”

  “Oh, is that why?” he said so softly that I didn’t think Lexi had heard him as she reached the top of the stairs.

  I glanced at Alex before I closed the door. “Why would there be any other reason?”

  He laughed softly and shook his head but didn’t reply as he took the steps two at a time. In the living room, Lexi had taken Devon from Davina, and I quickly introduced everyone officially.

  “He’s such a handsome boy,” Lexi cooed as she touched his face and then leaned down and inhaled deeply. “God, I love the smell of babies.”

  Alex glanced at me and rolled his eyes, and I slapped him on the back as I stepped past him and stood next to Davina.

  “What are you guys doing here?”

  “We wanted to make sure you were both alive,” Lexi said. “Sorry we couldn’t stay last night, but we had other plans.”

  “That’s okay. Davina was able to help me out.” As I’d spoken, I’d put my hand on her shoulder, and she’d glanced up at me. For a moment, the two of us locked eyes again, and then as if in mutual consent, we quickly looked away. I let my hand drop as I stepped away. “Can you guys give me a minute? I was about to get changed.”

  “Take your time,” Lexi said as she bounced Devon in her arms. I heard her saying something to Davina about being sorry for her loss as I went into my room. I had barely closed the door when a knock sounded and it opened. Alex stepped in and closed the door behind him.

  “How are you holding up?”

  “Well, thanks to Davina, I was able to get six hours of sleep.”

  “Did she stay all night?”

  “She did. She was working, so she watched him while I slept. After I got up, she took a nap. We just ate, and now we were going to head over to Carol’s, and I was going to pick up the rest of the things that she had for Devon.”

  “You’re going to keep him?” he asked, surprise in his voice that irked me.

  “Yeah, he’s my son.”

  Alex laughed. “Man, I never expected you to ever have a kid. How are you going to handle traveling?”

  I tossed a pair of jeans down on the bed from the closet. “I have no clue. I guess I’ll have to get a nanny for him.”

  “A nanny? You with a nanny?” He barked out a laugh.

  “Hey, it’s not funny. I’m not sure what the hell I’m going to do, but I know that Carol wanted me to raise our son, and that’s what I’m going to do. This might be the only chance I ever have at being a father, so I might as well make the best of it.”

  “Trev, no offense, but I never pictured you as a father.”

  “Yeah, well, neither did I, but I am.”

  “You know that Lexi and I will help any way that we can.”

  “I appreciate that, but to be honest, I think I need to figure most of this out on my own.”

  “You think you can do that?”

  “Do I have a choice?”

  “No, probably not, but you do have Davina. Will she help you?”

  “I hope so. I know this isn’t her kid, but she was really close to Carol. I hope that she is willing to remain in De
von’s life.”

  “Is that the only reason?”

  I stared at him, confused. “What other reason would there be?”

  Alex started to laugh. “You are really clueless sometimes, you know that, Trev?”

  Chapter 10 – Davina

  As Trevor went down to get the door, I fretted. I didn’t want to like him, but I did. Over lunch, I’d enjoyed telling him about my job and my friendship with Carol. On both subjects, he had seemed genuinely interested, and when he had reached out to me and told me how sorry he was about Carol and that I could blame him, I realized that I didn’t want to.

  I didn’t want to blame anyone, least of all him.

  I remember when Carol had told me that she had met someone. She said he was sweet, funny, intelligent, and very masculine. She’d told me that even I would have liked him, but I’d laughed it off. I had never been a fan of who she dated; it was the one thing we never agreed on, but this was different. For once, I did agree, well, mostly. I hadn’t seen the funny side of him, but he could be sweet, and he was very smart. As for masculine, well, my hormones had been in overdrive since I’d walked in the door.

  What would it be like to kiss him?

  That thought quickly departed my brain as a woman stepped up on the landing. I held Devon a little tighter, wondering if this was one of Trevor’s lady friends. Was this his current weekend retreat woman?

  “Hi, I’m Lexi. I think you met my fiancé yesterday at the office, Alex?” She smiled kindly at me, and I was more relieved than I should be that she was engaged to someone else.

  “Davina,” I responded.

  “Can I hold him, please?” she asked softly and clasped her hands to her chest as if begging me to say yes.

  “Of course.” I held him out to her, and she quickly curled him to her breast as the men came up the stairs.

  I was surprised when Trevor came to my side and even more surprised when he put his hand on my shoulder. I turned to look at him and found myself staring into bright-blue eyes that looked much more relaxed than they had a few minutes ago. Man, he had gorgeous eyes.

  No, no, no! I told myself as I turned away. You are not going there, Davina!