by Anya Summers
This was just one of the joys of single parenthood. In desperation, she’d even called Sally at Teton Tykes and left her a message to see if she could babysit. But no one was answering her call.
Her best course of action would be to contact Matt, cancel her classes for today, and then maybe they needed to rework the schedule so that she only worked when the daycare was open.
At least Milo was feeling loads better now that he was on medicine. She could count on that little small miracle.
Cora had her cell phone in hand and was in the process of dialing Matt when there was a knock on the door. Spencer. She raced over to the front door. Spencer must have gotten her messages and was coming to her rescue.
Unlocking the deadbolt, she wrenched open the door with a smile on her face. That smile froze as if it had been carved into her skin, and then her body simpered. It wasn’t Spencer.
It was Garrett, and that intense gaze of his that made her feel like he was stripping her down and imagining all the naughty, decadent things he wanted to do to her.
This was the first time he was seeing her as she normally looked, not put together at work—or, hell, even with her hair brushed—but an overworked, frazzled mommy who still hadn’t gotten in a shower today.
“Something wrong?” he asked, stepping inside before she had even invited him in. His big body crowded hers in the foyer.
Great, and he could see the panic in her eyes. What she wouldn’t give for a day to sleep in and pull the covers back up over her head. To have someone else do all the worrying for her for a change.
“Yes, my sitter canceled, the daycare isn’t open on the weekends, and I have two classes I have to teach at the gym. I have no idea how I’m going to be able to do a relaxing yoga class having to take Milo.”
Garrett’s gazed traveled the length of her form in what she liked to call her I’m a mommy, ask me how daily wear—aka leggings and a tee shirt sans makeup with her hair in a messy bun. She had snot on the bottom edge of her shirt where Milo had wiped his nose, and there was a stain of indiscriminate origin on her shoulder. She knew it just screamed sex appeal.
“I can watch him if you need me to.”
“You?” She eyed him, rather bemused by his suggestion. He couldn’t be serious.
“Why not me?” He looked at her with an expression she could only think of as offended, a disgruntled alpha who had never had his talents called into question.
Cora sighed internally. She didn’t want to step on his feelings but her son could be a handful. Hell, just the last two nights she’d barely gotten any sleep, and that was the norm. Her idea of a good time would be getting to go to the bathroom for five minutes, alone. “Look, don’t take this the wrong way, I know you’re a Dom and all, but have you ever babysat a toddler before?”
“Well, no, but I fought insurgents in Iraq so I think I can handle a toddler.”
Oh, he was precious. “Yeah, well, we’ll see about that. If you’re game, I won’t say no to the help.”
Cora was too tired to want to fight him, not when he clearly wanted to make himself useful. Then she went through everything he needed to know, where the snacks were located in the kitchen, what Milo could eat and what he couldn’t. Then she made sure he had the pediatrician’s on call number, her own number, and the number for the gym. And she made sure she actually had his number programmed into her cell phone.
She left him in the living room with Milo and Elmo while she got dressed. Not that her wardrobe for teaching yoga classes was all that complicated or exotic. Bright blue sports bra and gray capri yoga pants she’d found on sale a while back. She added a tank top in soft pink with Namaste in a scrawling script across the chest. Fixing her hair—actually running a brush through it—she ended up styling it into a French braid. That way she wouldn’t be constantly pushing it out of the way. She added some makeup, just a few swipes of waterproof mascara and a nude lip gloss.
She grabbed her gym bag from her closet, and did a double check that everything she would need was inside, including her yoga mat, towel, and her easy slip-on walking sneakers. She put the shoes on, then grabbed her wallet and cell phone and slipped them into the bag.
Certain she was ready, and not forgetting anything, she headed back downstairs. Garrett and Milo were in the center of the living room, sitting on the floor with Milo’s toys. Grabbing her keys and sunglasses from the kitchen counter, she asked, “Are you sure about this?”
“Yep, absolutely. We should be fine, won’t we, squirt?” Garrett said and tousled Milo’s hair. It did something to her, seeing them together, and Milo was just in heaven at the male attention. Even the big, bad Garrett looked, she hated to say it, sweet.
“We’re going to build a fort, Mama,” Milo said excitedly. His eyes danced in merriment while Elmo stood guard, curled on her sofa, watching both boy and man with interest. She wondered how Elmo had gotten up there. But that was a worry for another day.
“Well, thank you. I should be back in about three hours. Milo, please listen to everything Garrett asks you to do, all right? If you’re good, we’ll bake some cookies this afternoon.”
“Yay!” Milo danced around. Then Elmo jumped down from the couch and got in on the action, yapping at his heels. Garrett in her living room looked so out of his element that she wanted to hug him.
And that wasn’t all she wanted to do with him.
Chapter 15
Within a single hour, Milo managed to have an accident. The dog had an accident. While Garrett was cleaning up that mess, Milo got into the peanut butter and was hand-feeding it to the puppy. In that hour, Garrett decided he’d much rather face down enemy insurgents than an overactive toddler. The kid didn’t stop, ever. He looked sweet and innocent, and that was part of the con. Garrett had come to the conclusion that kids were demon spawn from some hellfire dimension.
And the dog was in on it. The two of them were evil cohorts. Their master plan? Drive him out of his ever-loving mind. He just prayed he could get things under some semblance of control here before Cora made it back home from work.
Speaking of Cora, it had taken damn near every ounce of control he possessed not to fuck her on the spot when she’d appeared with her tee shirt slipping off one delicate shoulder, her hair mussed. He’d wanted to muss it up some more.
He set Milo in his room to play while he cleaned puppy pee and Cheerios from the kitchen floor. Garrett found a mop, broom and dust pan, and had just finished cleaning when there was a knock on the door.
With mop in hand, he headed for the door and opened to find Spencer in jeans and a tee shirt. Spencer pulled his aviator sunglasses off and stared, brow raised at finding Garrett there.
“This is the second day in a row I’ve found you at my cousin’s house. Cora called, needing me to watch Milo but she’s not answering her phone. Where’s she at?”
“She’s at the gym already and I’m watching him. Shit, it’s quiet again. That’s not a good sign. Come in and help me the fuck out,” Garrett snapped. He set the mop down, leaning it against the kitchen counter. Then he headed up the stairs with Spencer on his heels.
He sighed when he entered the room; the kid and dog were sitting on the floor, reading. And then Milo lifted his head up to reveal, instead of his pale golden skin so similar to his mother’s, he had colored his face a bright, fire engine red.
“Sweet Jesus,” Garrett mumbled. Cora was going to kill him. He was a dead man walking. He spied the offending marker and prayed it wasn’t permanent.
Spencer barked out a laugh. “Dude, what have you gotten yourself into?”
“Me and Elmo, we’re twins,” Milo said, beaming, and held up the Sesame Street book he was reading. And yep, that was a rather apt description. The kid currently did have a similar complexion to the staring character.
“That’s really cool, bud, but how about you and me head into the bathroom and clean you up? That way you can look more like me,” Spencer offered, like he was a genie out to grant Milo’s deare
st wishes.
At that Milo squealed and jumped up, causing the puppy to bark and pee on the floor—again.
“I’ve got this, if you’ve got Milo,” Garrett said, wanting to beat his head against the wall. How many times did a puppy need to pee? It wasn’t natural.
“Yeah, I’ve got him,” Spencer said, scooping up Milo. Elmo trailed behind the duo, leaving Garrett to clean up the potty accident. Again.
Garrett cleaned up the carpeting as best he could without a steam cleaner, making a mental note to have carpet cleaners sent this week to clean everything up more thoroughly. That was one thing he’d always been skilled at: paying other people to clean up the mess. That didn’t mean he didn’t work his ass off or get his hands dirty. But there were times when paying other people was easier.
Spencer was able to get most of the marker removed from Milo’s face, which had actually been Garrett’s bigger concern. Once everything was clean, they took the puppy outside to do his business and then headed back in for some lunch. Milo plowed through his noodles, apple slices and peanut butter crackers as if the whole thing had been a fun adventure.
Okay, he thought, kids weren’t the spawn of the devil. In fact, Milo was pretty great—when he wasn’t getting into a million things. But he definitely made Garrett regard Cora with a bit of awe. She did this every day, by herself, and had done since Milo’s birth. She wasn’t just a potential submissive, she was a goddamn superhero.
When lunch was finished, he put Thomas the Tank Engine on the television and sat next to Milo on the couch. Spencer sat on the opposite side of the kid. Not fifteen minutes into the show, which was causing his brain to want to bleed out into his toes, both boy and dog were sound asleep.
“How the hell do you know all this?” Garrett indicated with a nod toward the sleeping Milo.
Spencer shrugged. “I’ve dated a few women with kids.”
Wait, what? “But you never date,” Garrett sputtered, trying to keep his voice quiet.
Spencer smirked. “Says who? Just because I don’t parade my choices around at the club, doesn’t mean I don’t have them. There’s a reason I have my own private dungeon. Because if I didn’t then all you little bitches would trash talk and I wouldn’t want the blood on my hands after I wiped the floor with you. Not to mention, trying to get blood stains out of Armani is tricky business.”
“You’re such a girl sometimes. Yeah, well, in this, today, you saved my butt.”
“Not the first time. Sure as shit won’t be the last.”
“I owe you one.”
Spencer shrugged. “You get used to it. And once you figure out that most kids are driven by their id, it’s pretty simple to anticipate what to do.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Because he was beginning to believe that his feelings toward Cora weren’t as simple as what he’d originally thought, or he would have already run for the hills. He didn’t want to claim her in front of the club just because he had the hots for her—which he did. She was fucking gorgeous and had proceeded to rock his fucking mind, and body, both times they’d been together. But he was beginning to suspect it went far deeper than that.
And that scared the holy hell out of him.
Chapter 16
Cora finished her second class of the day at Mountain Top Fitness. Each of them had had roughly fifteen attendees, which pleased her. She’d made enough today to pay her electric bill. It was the small victories that she counted, when she could get them. And paying a bill, knowing that she was supporting herself and her son without having to lean on someone else, made her feel empowered.
Cora liked the set up at Mountain Top Fitness. The layout, the staff—she could see herself making it work here. At least until Matt walked into the studio, shutting the door behind him.
“You were late on your first day,” Matt said.
“I know, sorry, my sitter backed out on me at the last minute.” Guilt was eating her alive that she’d been late—on her first day, no less. It didn’t make her look good or bode well for her future here.
“If the schedule is too much for you, let me know and we can figure something out. Perhaps re-arrange it,” Matt said with his hands on his lean hips.
“Matt, I’ll figure it out. It may just mean I need to make sure Spencer is my on-call back up babysitter. Since the daycare isn’t open on the weekends, that makes it difficult but not impossible. I’m sorry that my sitter canceled last minute. I’m still new to town and don’t know that many people. Especially not many I know enough to trust with my son,” she explained as she stored her mat in her gym bag.
“I do understand. It’s good that you were able to get Spencer to watch your boy. We’ll just have to play it by ear.”
“It’s only the weekends that may be an issue. And Spencer isn’t watching him today, Garrett is,” she said.
“Garrett Brooks is watching Milo? Really?” Matt’s face broke out in a huge smile.
“Why? Is there something wrong with Garrett?”
Matt shook his head, chuckling. “No, not like you’re meaning. It’s just… picturing Garrett babysitting is rather priceless.”
Oh, well, was that all? “Way to inspire confidence, Matt.”
“I’m sure your kid is fine. And we’ll figure something out for the weekends. Why don’t you get on out of here and go relieve Garrett of his babysitting duties.” He chortled.
“Thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow then,” she said, grabbing her gym bag, and left.
Garrett’s willingness to watch Milo, that he had stepped up and come through for her, altered Cora’s perception of him. She had firmly believed that first night that he wanted nothing more than a simple lay, yet he was proving her wrong. And his actions made her want more of him. He was proud and stubborn but was proving to be warm and generous, and the way he made love to her—even the mere memory of it caused a low burn to ignite in her belly. The handsome charmer was an enigma and she wanted to peel back all his layers.
Plus he made her feel attractive and wanted, the single mom who was frazzled and overworked. Could there be more to this than just a simple one-night stand? He was proving that there was nothing simple about him. Could she be a full-blown submissive? He was a Dom, after all. A Dom who loved restraining a submissive. Thinking back on that first night with him, she knew it had been the most erotic night of her life. She craved another taste of his wicked lovemaking.
Cora pulled her minivan into the driveway and parked. She did love her little condo with the backdrop of the Teton mountains in all their glory. She hadn’t realized how much she had missed this place. Moving to Seattle had been such a culture shock to her at first. Then again, it’s never easy to start at a new school in your freshman year of high school.
With her gym bag in hand, she headed up the short concrete walkway, and used her key to get inside. Opening the front door, she didn’t realize she had been holding her breath until she let it out in a rush. Milo and Elmo were on her couch, cuddled up against the big sexy Garrett in his jeans and long-sleeved Henley. His hat rested on the coffee table and his arm was around her son.
And then Garrett looked at her, with his potently intense gaze that she felt clear down to her core. Her heart dropped into her toes because she knew in that instant that she could fall for him. And it terrified her, how swiftly he was coming to matter, because she knew it would crush her if he didn’t return her affections.
“Hey, how was work?” Garrett asked. It was homey and, she realized, the first time anyone had asked her that question since Jeff died. That thought didn’t make her as sad as it once had. She had loved Jeff with her whole heart, and if he had lived, she was certain they would have gone the distance. But life had other plans for her.
“Fine. Interesting being the new person,” she said, setting her gym bag on the kitchen table hopefully up high enough for Elmo not to get into. She didn’t want to lose her yoga mat in addition to her shoes.
Garrett’s brow furrowed as he stared at her. “Wh
y don’t I buy that? What aren’t you saying?”
“Perceptive. No, with everything this morning, I was late to the first class and you know what a task master Matt tends to be at the bar. Well, triple that at his gym. He wasn’t happy even when I explained what happened. So, I may need to hire your babysitting services in the future since it looks like everything is fine here.”
Garrett laughed, scratching his head and giving her a sheepish glance. “Yeah, about that, there’s still a bit of pink on his face. It should come out since it was a washable marker, and I’ll be sending someone to clean your carpets since the newest addition decided to go right on the carpet.”
“Welcome to my world. At least Milo didn’t put anything up his nose or his bottom,” she said drolly, and felt the tension drain from her shoulders.
“Excuse me?” Garrett’s gaze widened in shock.
She chortled. “Oh yeah, he’s stuck noodles, gummy bears, an M&M, all right up his nose. And he’s stuck crayons in his butt more than once.”
“Now you’re pulling my leg,” Garrett said.
“Not even a little bit.” She chuckled.
Garrett carefully shifted her sleeping son so that he was lying down on the couch and then stood up. The intent in his gaze as he approached made her shiver. Grasping her hand, he tugged her past the kitchen into the hall, just out of sight of the couch. Then he backed her up against the wall and kissed her. He didn’t even give her time to think before he was kissing her brainless. She moaned in the back of her throat. God, the man could kiss.
He imprisoned her arms up against the wall, pressing his body flush against hers so that she could feel every solid inch. He plundered. He ravaged. And she returned his passionate, carnal kiss. Every ounce of need and desire she had for him clawed its way to the surface. It was a melding; their lips and bodies fused together. She wanted to sink into him and stay. She wanted to lean on him, his strength, his fortitude, and give him her troubles. As independent as she had always been, she was beyond tired. Cora didn’t remember a time when she wasn’t exhausted and near the end of her badly fraying rope. The way Garrett had come through for her today made her trust him to be there when she needed him. And she showed him with her kiss how much it meant to her.