The Freeman Brothers: A Secret Baby Romance Collection

by Natasha L. Black

  I went home and took the doctor’s advice to try to eat while I had the chance. Nick had sent me home with a lot of the leftovers from the lunch I had at his office, but I couldn’t bring myself to heat them up. The idea of the smell already made me feel nauseated. Instead, I picked out the dishes with the least amount of spice and sauce, grabbed a fork, and headed into the living room to eat them cold.

  I managed to eat a fairly decent amount before starting to feel tired again. Work deadlines were looming over me, so I knew I couldn’t just curl up on the couch and go to sleep. As much as that sounded like the greatest thing in the world right now. Instead, I got my laptop and dragged it to bed with me so I could work from there.

  Setting up my computer, I went back into the kitchen and grabbed an armful of electrolyte drinks and bottled water. I climbed into bed and tuned out the world for a while as I worked. The project I was working on that week wasn’t especially interesting. That made it more difficult to keep myself awake while I fought against the exhaustion pulling down on me.

  As I worked, I forced myself to keep up with my hydration. It felt exceedingly silly to set the alarm on my phone and take a few sips every time it went off, but eventually it became like a game. I was hoping my dedication to getting enough fluids would convince my body to not be sick anymore.

  That wasn’t the way it worked out. I had gotten a couple of hours’ worth of work behind me when the telltale rippling started in my stomach. I closed my eyes and drew a couple of breaths to try to get rid of the feeling. It didn’t go away, and I pushed my computer aside and repeated my morning scramble to the bathroom.

  The wave of sickness was a rough one, and I ended up sprawled on the bathroom floor for almost an hour before I could move again. When I got up the energy and stability to go back into my bedroom, it was only for long enough to grab a pillow and a blanket. I made myself a little nest on the floor and stayed there, clutching a bottle of water, until I fell asleep.

  When I woke up, it was two hours later, and my entire body felt like it was permanently stiff. The tile was not forgiving, even with the pillow and blanket, and it hurt to try to pull myself up to sitting. I started to call out for help. I stopped myself, realizing even if I did, there wouldn’t be anyone there who would come for me.

  It made me wish there was someone there to be with me through all this. I wanted someone to help me back into the bedroom and tuck me into bed. To sit with me and pat me to comfort me. To talk to me as I tried to keep my stomach settled. I just wanted someone to see me through it.

  But, then again, I didn’t miss Justin at all. Maybe it wasn’t him I was wishing was here.

  14

  Nick

  I tried really hard not to notice that I hadn’t heard from Bryn all week. It really didn’t need to be on my mind, and the fact that I hadn’t heard from her was actually a good thing. At least, that’s what I told myself. If I didn’t hear from her, that meant I was focusing on my other clients. While she was technically a client because I was going to be doing investments for her, she wasn’t one who would be paying an invoice, and I didn’t know if I could look ahead into the future and have her doing any repeat investing.

  She’d seemed interested in the idea of the investments when we spoke, but only so far as to possibly replace the money Justin stole from her. It didn’t seem like she was all fueled up to make investments a regular part of her life. That was the thing about financial management and planning. Everybody came about it in a different way. While I was firm in the belief that investment was a good idea for anybody and that everybody had just as much chance at success as everyone else, not everybody had the motivation.

  Whatever the reason, Bryn wasn’t one of my regular clients, and I needed to keep them happy so I could keep my firm afloat. That meant actually getting my work done rather than sitting around thinking about her all the time. Knowing that and doing that were two very different things, but I was doing my best to focus more on work and just know she would get back to me when she was ready.

  I convinced myself this was probably the new normal for us. We were just doing business together now, as opposed to the quest for revenge or justice that started this whole thing to begin with. When she thought there was a possibility that we could somehow get her money back from the investor, it would be legal recourse for Justin and the investor, so it made sense to talk to her on a regular basis.

  She wanted to keep up with this situation and find out anything that might be happening. Now that we were starting out on a plan for investment of her money, it was different. There really wasn’t anything for us to talk about from day to day. She was still working on saving up the seed money to start her investments. Once she was done with that, we would be working more closely together and would probably communicate more. But up until then, she really didn’t have a need to call me.

  No matter how many times I told myself that, it didn’t make me feel any better. But I just kept on doing it. Eventually, maybe it would sink in and I wouldn’t keep checking my phone to make sure where the ringer volume was up loud enough for me to hear it or looking up hopefully every time I heard footsteps outside my office door.

  I really needed to get myself together. The last thing I needed at this point was for any of my brothers to notice something different about me. If they got even the hint that Bryn had gotten herself in my mind and didn’t seem to be leaving anytime soon, I would never hear the end of it.

  Quentin called me on Thursday to remind me about family dinner night. At least that week he wasn’t trying to change up the schedule and was reminding me to come over to his house on Sunday like usual. With no other plans on the docket and the chances of any spontaneously popping up exceedingly slim, I didn’t have to turn him down that time.

  I was looking forward to getting together with my family on Sunday, and when I pulled up to Quentin’s house, it made me smile to see all the cars lined up in the driveway. I walked inside and the first person I saw was Lindsey. She had a giant platter of raw steaks in her hands and was headed for the doors to the back deck.

  “Hey, Linds,” I said.

  She turned around and grinned at me. “There you are! I was wondering if you were going to come tonight.”

  I threw my hands up and let out a sigh of exasperation. “One family night. I missed one family night and now everybody’s acting like I have completely shunned everyone.”

  “Well, you know how everybody is,” she said.

  With a smile, she headed to the doors again. I was still trying to get used to having her at these dinners not as my buddy coming along with me. There were plenty of dinners over the years when she would come to hang out, and my entire family embraced her as one of our own. Now that had shifted over. She was here with Vince and most likely her son, Remy, was outside with everybody else.

  I stepped outside with her and immediately heard Remy’s cheerful giggle followed by another from Darren and Kelly’s daughter, Willa. The children were very close in age and had both taken a strong liking to Quentin’s dog, Rosie. Being blind didn’t hold Remy back from developing into a rough-and-tumble boy, the kind who needed a dog companion in his life. Since Vince only had a spoiled and very opinionated cat named Frankie, Rosie was his chance to roll around with and get his face licked by a dog.

  It wasn’t Lindsey’s very favorite of his newfound favorite activities, but she would deal with it. She was just so happy to see her son blossoming as a welcome and loved part of a real family.

  I walked to the edge of the upper level of the elaborate, several-level deck and looked out over the lawn. The gathering of our family for dinner on Sunday used to just be the four of us brothers and our parents. Then we started adding in friends like Lindsey, or Quentin’s and Darren’s best friends. Then it started to get elaborate. Merry joined up followed by Kelly and Willa. Then we added Remy. Then Merry and Quentin added their little girl to the mix.

  When we had everybody there, it felt more like a sprawling r
eunion than just a simple dinner. And that’s just the way I liked it. It was good to have everybody there together being able to enjoy hanging out and relaxing. I liked watching the little ones play with the dogs. Sometimes my brothers would get in on the action, and my parents would just shake their head as two generations tumbled around in the grass.

  Sometimes I caught them looking at each other and smiling in a soft, misty way that seemed filled with so many memories and so much love. There was an unspoken longing in that smile. Both were hoping they were young enough that they might have the chance to see another generation spring up and join in on the fun. But until then, I was going to take every opportunity I got to pick at my brothers who were sturdily domesticated.

  Of course, that came with a price. I couldn’t just get away with teasing them. As soon as she noticed me there, Mom hopped up from her lawn chair sitting beside my father and rushed to meet me as I walked down the steps into the yard.

  “It’s so good to see you,” she said like she hadn’t just seen me a few days before when I stopped by her house after dinner to snag a slice of her famous lemon meringue pie.

  She threw her arms around me in a tight hug, and I squeezed her back. Mom held my face between her hands and smiled at me.

  “How are you doing, Mom?” I asked.

  “I’m doing wonderfully. How are you?”

  “Um. Well…” I started, and she realized she was still holding on to me. Her hands dropped, and I smiled. “I’m fine. Glad to be here. I’m starving.”

  She did what I was sure she thought was a subtle look around. “You’re here alone?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “No one else coming?”

  “No. Who else would be coming?” I asked, though I had a sneaking suspicion I already knew the answer to that question.

  “I was hoping we’d get a chance to see that nice girl you brought to the picnic again,” she said.

  And there it was.

  “Technically, I didn’t bring Bryn to the picnic. You invited her and she drove herself.”

  “You certainly spent a lot of time together there though,” she said.

  “Yes. Because I’m the only person she knew there,” I said.

  “And that’s the only reason? She’s a beautiful girl. And the two of you seemed to get along well. There was chemistry. You don’t see any possibility there at all?” she asked.

  “Bryn is one of my clients, Mom. She’s very nice, we do get along, and, yes, she’s beautiful. But she is still my client. And even if she wasn’t, I am still not ready to settle down. Not to mention she just got out of a relationship with a not so trustworthy guy,” I said.

  I braced myself for an argument, but Mom just nodded. “Alright. I guess I have to accept that.”

  “Good,” I said, leaning down to kiss her cheek. “Now, I’m going to go hold my niece and then stuff myself.”

  By the time I got home that night, I was exhausted. I stripped down and toppled into bed, then rolled around a bit to get comfortable. But no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t make myself relax. Bryn’s image kept showing up in my mind, and it was waking my body up.

  There was no relaxing as long as I was thinking about her. My cock was hard, straining against my boxers, and I slid my hand down to wrap around it. Pretending the touch was Bryn’s, I ran my hand in long strokes up and down my shaft. It didn’t take long for the intensity of the sensation to build up until it was all but unbearable. Finally, I exploded. The tension and energy drained out of me, and as soon as I was cleaned up, I fell asleep.

  15

  Bryn

  As much as I thought it was a little ridiculous how much the doctor emphasized hydrating help me get over my stomach virus, it definitely seemed to work. I woke up Monday morning feeling like a brand-new woman. Just the fact that I woke up because my alarm was going off and not because my stomach was doing backflips was already a step in the right direction.

  I swung my legs over the side of the bed and sat up. Still no nausea. I stood up and took a couple of cautious steps toward the bathroom. I was in the clear, and that felt fantastic. I celebrated my recovery by taking a long, luxurious shower and getting dressed in actual clothing. I even topped it off by putting on a full face of makeup and styling my hair.

  I had no intention of going anywhere that day. Now that I was back to normal, I needed to throw myself headlong into work. I was still keeping up with my usual clients, but it had become more of a struggle over the last week. I had even managed to slip behind on two of them, just barely getting my work in by the deadline.

  That definitely wasn’t acceptable. My clients might not have noticed the difference, but I did. I couldn’t stand feeling like I wasn’t on top of my work. Especially now that I had officially delayed the start of building up my savings by more than a week. I was going to have to work extra hard to catch up and get ahead the way I wanted to.

  Getting dressed and putting on my makeup was my equivalent of war paint. It made me feel professional and put together, which made me work harder. And, as I had learned recently, it made sure I was prepared just in case one of my clients suddenly decided we needed to do a video call.

  Glad I was back to normal and feeling pretty good about myself, I checked my work queue and pulled out my notebook so I could start my list.

  Once my list was made, I started another list of non-work activities that needed to be done now that I had climbed out of the pit of stomach virus despair. That also finished, I jumped right into the first item on that list. Researching lawyers. I had been considering getting a lawyer all weekend while I thought about the situation.

  Nick had already told me we couldn’t go after Justin for anything as of right then. But I still felt the compulsion to educate myself about my legal options and find out what lawyers were around in the area. Not necessarily for the issue of my money going missing, but because it might be helpful in other circumstances. It was nothing like realizing you’re the person you thought of as your life partner was a lying thief and that leading you to consider a whole new approach to finances to make you think about the importance of an attorney.

  I researched lawyers in the area for a little while, jotting down contact information and basic notes about the ones who stood out to me. That finished, I threw myself into work. A few of my projects had gotten to a point when all I needed to do was add a couple of finishing touches and it would be complete. I got a deep sense of satisfaction and accomplishment out of finishing up an assignment and finally turning it in.

  It felt like I was on a roll that morning. I finished up three of my projects and was making good progress on a couple more. When I got to a good stopping point for work, I pulled up my email and drafted a message to my regular clients. In it, I explained I was available for a bigger workload than normal and offered my reassurances I could manage the extra work at the same level of quality.

  Taking a break from my work, I pulled the file from Nick over toward me and flipped it open. I read through all the papers again, impressed by how much he had put into putting this together for me. I got to the section where he had printed out investment planning worksheets and took them out. Setting them on the desk in front of me, I read through the questions and did my best to answer them.

  Nick had already gone through the trouble of creating an investment plan for me but had also encouraged me to try to make some decisions myself. Including just how much my initial seed money was going to be. He offered suggestions and guidance, of course, but I wanted this to be about me.

  I evaluated the different options and came up with what I thought was a good choice for how much I wanted to start with. It was right in the range he had suggested, though possibly not as aggressive as he might have wanted me to be. With the models he gave me, I should be able to take that level of investment and turn it around at a decent pace. It wouldn’t be instant, but it also wouldn’t take decades for me to get my mother’s money back.

  When I felt settled
with my figure, I pulled up an email and addressed it to Nick. I told him about thinking everything through and the amount of money I was going to aim to make as my seed investment. My thoughts went back to my contemplating a lawyer, and I added into the email that I wanted to talk about getting some contracts signed.

  Only a few minutes after sending the email, I heard somebody knocking at my front door. I figured it was Nick, having gotten the email from me while he was in the area. He struck me as the kind of guy who would just stop by to talk about my email rather than messaging me back.

  I had gone back into full-on work mode by the time I heard the knocks, and I took a second to finish up a small section before heading for the door. I threw it open, ready to make a teasing comment about him certainly being there for me, but as soon as the door opened, my heart dropped.

  It wasn’t Nick standing on the porch.

  “Why the hell did you change the locks?” Justin demanded.

  I was so shocked by his sudden appearance, I couldn’t even respond. Standing at the door with my mouth open, I stared out at him like I thought he was a mirage.

  “I changed the locks because I’m the only one who lives here now,” I said. “When somebody moves out of a house, it’s a good idea to have new locks put in. I wouldn’t want extra keys floating around so they might fall into the wrong hands. It would be disastrous to have somebody steal from me.”

  Justin glared at me, his eyes narrowing and his shoulders squaring off toward me. “I didn’t steal anything from you.”

  “Oh, is that your defense now? Considering you admitted it to me openly the day I found those papers, I don’t think that’s going to hold up,” I said.

  He shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Our relationship ended because of your suspicions and accusations. You kicked me out of my home without any notice, and now you’ve changed the locks on the doors I still have the majority of my stuff in there.”