Brother's Best Friend (Contemporary Romance Box Set)

by Katy Kaylee

  The next item was to get my career track set. For the next few days, I was on the phone and having lunch and drinks with many of my clients and prospects, with a special emphasis on Pete Madigan and his foundation board.

  By Friday, I was ready, so I hiked over to Val’s office.

  She looked up at me with an expression that suggested she knew I was up to something. “He’s back. The old I’m-gonna-get-what-I-want-no-matter-what Jake is back.”

  “That’s right and you’re going to help me.”

  “What’s your plan?” She must have known it was a doozy, as she got herself a shot of whiskey. I declined a drink. I had to be clear and focused.

  “First, the firm needs to put in a childcare center in the building.”

  Her brow quirked up. “Taking over childrearing responsibilities from Sofia?”

  “I’m going to share equally.”

  Val’s looked disappointed. “Joint custody.”

  I shook my head. “I’m going to ask her to be with me. Be my real wife. But I’m still going to be an involved dad. If I need childcare, I want to be able to take a break and visit my kid whenever I want.” Or I’d get a nanny, but I wanted the option and I knew there were other lawyers and support staff that would appreciate on-site childcare.

  She perked up at my news, although she still seemed unsure about a daycare center.

  “What else?” She hadn’t agreed to it. I knew she wanted to hear my list of demands and then we’d negotiate.

  “Institute a telecommuting program. Much of my work could be done at home. In fact, I’d probably get more done at home since I wouldn’t be drinking with you.”

  She laughed. “You can’t work at home and raise a kid at the same time.”

  “I’ll have help. But I want to be available. I want to stay connected to Sofia and for my kid to know me. That won’t happen if I’m away sixteen hours a day.”

  She nodded. “What else?”

  “I want a ten percent raise.” With a baby and the need for a home office, Sofia and I would need a bigger place to live. Since I liked my location overlooking Central Park, that would require more money. I’d already committed much of my inheritance to Sofia’s bakery, so I needed a bigger salary until she was well in the black.

  Val barked out a laugh. “Jesus, you have balls.”

  “I do. Big ones that bring this firm a lot of money.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t see Wallace going for any of this.”

  “You’ll help me convince him. There are other partners who’ll like the option of working at home and childcare.”

  “How will we know people are working?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Billed hours. The telecommuting and childcare will be a perk that will attract lawyers, giving you the pick of the best.”

  She smirked at me. “You’ve thought this through.”

  “I have.”

  “And the raise?”

  “I brought in George Lipman,” I reminded her.

  “That’s one bigwig, Jake.”

  “You gave me Pete Madigan.”

  “He’s a good client, but not on George Lipman’s level.”

  “Actually, he is.” I leaned forward. “Did you know he’s CEO of Go Mad Apps, one of the largest app development companies in the country?”

  Her eyes narrowed as she studied me.

  “Like the entertainment industry, app companies need intellectual property rights and contracts.”

  “Did you sign him for that?”

  I sat back. “I did.” I paused. “And then I signed one of his board members, Larkin Pierce.”

  Val’s jaw dropped. “As in Big Lark Entertainment?”

  I nodded, trying not to look smug, but it was hard.

  “Holy fuck, Jake.”

  Okay, now I was grinning like a smug fuck. But I deserved it.

  She laughed. “I’ll talk with the executive partners.”

  “Be forceful, Val. I can walk with these guys if I want to.” I’d have to pay a penalty but I was sure the partners would rather these clients than my penalty.

  “I know, I know.” She studied me. “Any wiggle room on any of these demands?”

  I shook my head. Sure, I might negotiate, but I wasn’t going to admit to it now.

  Later that day, I was called into the conference room, where Wallace and the other partners were meeting.

  “You know, Jake. What I like about you is your drive and determination,” Wallace said. “But you know I can’t do all this.”

  “I don’t know that,” I said. “Casper, Jones, Abbott and Seymore have onsite childcare and flexible work options. Tipton and Cade have flexible work and there’s a daycare around the corner they contract with. Both are closer to where me and Sofia live,” I said, wanting to remind him of my stability. “Less commute.” That was to remind him that I could take my whale of clients with me.

  Wallace’s jaw tightened. “The childcare will take time.”

  “Yes, sir.” I handed him some paperwork. “In the meantime, here is a telecommuting policy I drew up for your review. Oh, and my raise.”

  “You’re a cocky son-of-a-bitch,” Wallace snapped.

  “Not unlike his uncle,” Val said, winking at me.

  “Five percent,” Wallace said.

  I only stared at him.

  “Seven, and that’s firm.”

  I did the mental math and seven percent would be about fifty thousand extra a year. “Seven this year, and three percent next year.”

  “Only if you meet or exceed your highest month yet of billable hours,” Wallace said.

  That would require a lot of work. I nodded my agreement though. If didn’t meet it because I was focused on Sofia or the baby, that was okay. I still had seven percent and flexible work.

  I walked out of the firm that day feeling like the king of the world. Almost. I still had to get the woman, but the minute I walked into the bakery the next day and looked into Sofia’s hopeful eyes, my world righted.

  And now, she was back in my place.

  After picking her up from the bakery once it closed, I brought her to my place. I scooped her up to carry her over the threshold.

  “This time, I’m doing everything right,” I said as I carried her in.

  She looked at me with such love and happiness it took my breath away. Had she always looked at me like that and I’d missed it?

  “Me too. I can’t believe you did all this,” she said as I set her down in the living room.

  I cradled her face in my palms. “I did it for us, Sofia. I should have asked you to stay before. I wanted to.”

  Val had been right that Sofia had wanted to know I loved her and wanted her, and wasn’t just doing the right thing by her. I wanted to make sure Sofia understood that was exactly the case.

  “I loved you before the baby,” I said.

  “I loved you too.”

  I nodded. “Our being together would have happened with or without Junior, assuming I got my shit together.”

  “Yes.” Her hands pressed against my chest, giving me a sense of peace and calm.

  “Good. Now, are you hungry?”

  “A little.”

  Thirty minutes later, I’d whipped her up a healthy meal and we sat at the kitchen table like a real family. I told her about all I’d done over the course of the week to secure our future and our dream.

  “Oh and, about your apartment, we can sublet it. Maybe someone who works for you now wants it, or I think you should hire one or two more people. As the pregnancy goes on, you’ll need more rest. Plus, do you think you’ll want some time off when the baby comes?” It was important to me that she consider these things, but I didn’t want her to think I was telling her what to do. She was a strong woman with her own business and needed to make her own choices.

  “Yes. You’ve thought of everything.”

  “Well, there’s one more thing.” I reached over to where another envelope sat on the counter. “I tore up the divorc
e papers today.”

  “I hoped that was what it was.”

  “This,” I said holding up the new envelope. “Is the prenup. We can keep it if you feel more secure with it. Or we can give each other total and complete trust in our love and tear it up.”

  “I trust you, Jake.” She hadn’t hesitated and said it with conviction.

  “I trust you, baby.” I tore the prenup up and tossed it over my shoulder. “It’s just you and me, and baby makes three now.”

  “You’re amazing,” she said with awe in her voice.

  “Did you have any doubts?”

  “No. I always knew you were amazing. That’s why I stripped at the lake five years ago.”

  I shifted uncomfortably. “I told Tony about that.”

  Her eyes widened in shock. “Oh God, what did he say?”

  “He didn’t like it, but by the time the call was done, he knew I loved you and wanted to make you happy.”

  She reached over and took my hand. “I am happy, Jake. So happy.”

  I pulled her hand to my lips and kissed it. “Good.”

  She shot me a flirty smile. “I’ve got something for you too.”

  “Oh?”

  She stood. “You need to wait here for a minute.”

  I sat back. “Okay.”

  She rushed from the room. I took the time to clear our plates and put them in the dishwasher.

  “Jake?”

  I turned to her voice. She was standing in a provocative stance wearing her chef’s coat. Her sexy legs were bare.

  “Are you wearing anything under that?” My voice was rough as arousal shot immediately to my dick.

  She shook her head. “Nope.”

  I moved to her. “Is it weird to want to fuck you while you’re pregnant?”

  “I’m pretty horny at the moment. A lot actually. I’m hoping you’ll help me with that.”

  I wrapped my arm around her and hugged her close. “You have so many needs. How will I be able to keep you happy?”

  “Just touch me, Jake.”

  I leaned down and drank in the sweet taste of her lips.

  “I didn’t have time to make frosting,” she said.

  I swooped her up in my arms again. “You’re all the sweetness I need.” I carried her to our bedroom and laid her on the bed. “You’re the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen,” I said as I studied her in her chef’s coat and long bare legs.

  “You’re the sexy one.”

  I stripped and stood by the bed admiring my wife. My dick was admiring her too. She knelt in front of me and took him in her mouth.

  “I think you’re my favorite treat,” she said between sucks.

  I ran my hand through her hair. “Jesus, your mouth, Sof. I fucking love your mouth.” I let her suck my dick until I felt the end closing in. Then I pushed her back on the bed and slowly undid her chef’s coat, kissing her skin inch by inch as it was exposed.

  “Jake,” she sighed.

  “Right here, baby.” I undid the final button, pushing the coat open to show off her beautiful body. “Are your tits still sore?”

  “Not too much.”

  I licked one nipple and then the other, loving how she arched like she was offering them to me. I used my mouth and hands to touch every part of her body, wanting to get intimately reacquainted with the woman I loved.

  I sat back on my heels, pulling her over me so she straddled my thighs, her sweet pussy perched over my throbbing cock.

  “Take me in, Sofia. Be mine.”

  Her brown eyes filled with emotion as she gripped my shoulders and slowly sank over me, taking me inside her body.

  “Mine.” She said when I was fully inside her.

  “Yours.” I kissed her, deeply, hungrily. I was desperate for her to know how much I wanted her and only her.

  She rocked against me, and nature took over. I gripped her hips, helping her ride my cock until I thought I might die from the pressure.

  “Oh God, Jake,” she cried out. “I love you, I love you, I love you,” she chanted as her body went taut and her release took her over.

  I growled and bucked up, shooting my load inside her. “Yes, baby, yes…” I yelled as intense pleasure and love and happiness shot through my body.

  It took a moment to catch my breath. When I did, I gently laid us back, pulling her into my arms.

  “We’re not a secret anymore,” she whispered as she kissed my chest. “The first time was a secret too.”

  I kissed her forehead. “No more secrets, baby. This time, it’s for real.”

  Epilogue

  Sofia

  “Happy birthday dear J.J., happy birthday to you.”

  My precious little boy, Jake Anthony Dunne, or J.J. for Jake Junior, was turning one, and all of us; Jake, me, my family, Jake’s family and my staff were celebrating. Like my parents used to do with our family celebrations in the restaurant, we were celebrating in my shop. We had to wait until it was closed because we were too busy during the day to host a party.

  J.J. looked around the gathering of people a little confused, but when I put the cupcake with the single unlit candle in front of him, he knew exactly what to do. He buried his fingers in the frosting and then sucked his fingers.

  “Just like his father,” I quipped to Jake who stood next to me with his arm around me.

  “Tell me there’s more frosting for me later,” he said low in my ear.

  “Of course.” I grinned up at him, then I looked again over the scene. Nearly two years ago, if someone had told me I’d be happily married to the sexiest man alive, have a beautiful son and a successful bakery, I’d have thought they were nuts. My only dream had been the bakery. But I got the frosting and cherry on top.

  After our reconciliation, Jake and I took a trip home and came clean with our families about our earlier wedding. The following month, we had a second one, also back home, so that our families could share in our love. I was glad we did it because while the first one was lovely, it was part of a business deal. Plus, the honeymoon wasn’t perfect.

  This time, when Jake and I said the vows we’d each written, I felt the love from him and from our family and friends that were in attendance. We took a week instead of a weekend for our honeymoon, and every time we made love, it was perfection. Before heading back to New York City to restart our lives together, we stopped by our homes again and told our families about the baby. Yes, we were married when J.J. was conceived, but they didn’t know that, so we waited until after the second wedding to tell them.

  Since then, life was like a dream come true. Jake’s career was soaring, with the firm’s new childcare opening six months ago. He took advantage of the flexible schedule working at home a few times a week in the home office in our new larger, three-bedroom-with-separate office apartment, still overlooking the park.

  The bakery was doing well enough that I was able to hire a manager, who sublet the studio above the bakery, and extra staff, which gave me more time to be a mom and bake. J.J. came to the bakery a few times a week when I prepped or baked. He was a big hit with the staff and my regular customers.

  Yes, life was perfect, I thought as I looked at the group of people here to celebrate my son’s birthday.

  Jake moved to clean J.J.’s face of blue frosting.

  “Hey sis, you look good.” Tony came to stand next to me, putting his arm around me.

  “I am good.” I turned my head to look up at him. “You look good too, Tony.”

  He grinned and looked over at Vera who was burping their six-month-old baby girl. “I am good. Real good.”

  I was proud of how Tony got his life together. Instead of coasting in his life, he did things with purpose. As it turned out, he was suited to and enjoyed running my parents’ restaurant. In fact, he added on to the restaurant and was looking at opening a second location. The big change was in his marriage. He and Vera learned to communicate and started using grandparents to babysit more, which I supposed was why they now had a third child. But they
also had their own interests and each supported the other in their hobbies and dreams.

  It took a little time, but eventually, Jake and Tony’s friendship was back on track.

  “I just have to not think about you and him naked together,” he’d told me when I asked about it.

  “Why would you ever think of me or Jake naked?”

  “I don’t.”

  By the time we got home after the party, J.J. was fast asleep, so Jake put him in his crib. Watching Jake with J.J. was one of the most beautiful, poignant experiences of my life. He turned from the crib and grinned at me.

  “He’s sacked out.” He shut the door and then pulled me into his arms. “How about you?”

  “Am I sacked?”

  He nodded.

  “I think I might have a little more life in me.”

  His eyes flashed with hungry desire. “My favorite words.”

  I looped my arms around his neck. “I thought ‘I’m coming, Jake’ were your favorite words.”

  “I like those too. I’d like to hear them tonight.”

  “Would you like frosting with that?”

  He groaned. “I think I just came in my pants.”

  I laughed as I led him to the kitchen.

  Later, we were laying in bed after having sex in the kitchen and then in the shower to wash off the frosting.

  “Are you happy, Jake?”

  “Are you kidding? My life is fucking perfect. In fact,” he started as he rolled me under him. “Wallace has announced his retirement.”

  “Are you taking over the firm?” I ran my fingers through his hair, loving how Jake always set his sights high in his career achievement.

  “Not yet. But I’ve got my eye on becoming an executive partner.”

  “Everyone needs a goal,” I quipped.

  “Are you happy, baby?”

  “Ah, Jake, no one is as happy as me.”

  “That’s not true.” He leaned down and sucked my nipple, nearly making me forget that we were having a discussion.

  “I’m as happy,” he said, gently biting the other nipple.

  I smiled. “Did you think when I handed you my virginity at the lake that we’d end up here?”

  He lifted his head to look at me. “Did you?”

  “I wished it,” I admitted.