She nodded against him and said, “Like I have time to date, anyway.”
“Yeah,” he agreed, letting his hands roam down her back. “I’m going to be busy for the foreseeable future.” He had a championship to win, a kid to father and Brooke...
Yeah, he was going to have his hands full. “If you want sex to be a part of this whatever it is we’re going to do, then I’m okay with that.” That was the freaking understatement of the century. Just having this conversation was making him hard for her all over again. “If you don’t want to be physical, that’s okay, too. I still won’t sleep with anyone else.”
She sighed. “I think...no, I know that if we’re going to be around each other, we’re going to wind up just like this, whether we plan on it or not.”
She pulled away and Flash managed not to groan in frustration, so score one for maturity. Damned maturity.
“If we’re engaged,” she went on, finality in her voice. “I wouldn’t want to say it’s fake, because I like you, and this,” she said, motioning between their bodies, “is very, very good.”
“Happy to hear,” he replied, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.
Was she agreeing?
She was.
Taking a deep breath, she squared her shoulders and held out her left hand, palm down. “Okay,” she said, sounding for all the world like she was gearing up for battle, not accepting his ring. “Let’s do this. For Bean.”
“For us.” Flash didn’t realize his own hands were shaking until he slid the diamond onto her finger. “Whatever happens,” he told her, his voice low and serious, “we’re in this together. Trust me.”
The ring fit.
A part of his mind wanted to say it was fate, that she was meant to be his and he would always be hers.
She stared at his ring on her finger. “Trust...” She sighed heavily. A little too heavily. “Because nothing says trustworthy like an only sort-of-real engagement, right?”
“It’s a challenge,” he told her. One that involved working together as a team, developing a physical connection and, far down the line, the chance to win it all.
Being almost really engaged to Brooke Bonner was not unlike riding in a rodeo, frankly.
This was Flash’s year, and Brooke Bonner was the biggest challenge of his life.
Fourteen
Things happened very quickly after Brooke managed to pull herself out of Flash’s arms and out of his bed.
First, she called Alex and updated her friend on the new plan. Not unsurprisingly, Alex wasn’t a huge fan of the plan. Or of Flash. “Engaged? Seriously? I’m not sure this is the best idea.”
“You got a better one?” Brooke shot back. “I can’t keep hiding, Alex. You know I can’t. It’s not right. And, yes, it’s going to suck for a while, but it was always going to suck. We just delayed the suckiness.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Another longish pause. “You going to marry him?”
“We’re engaged.” Which wasn’t really an answer to that question, but it was the only one she was going to give to Alex, to her mother, to the press. They were engaged. Period. End of discussion.
“I’ll break him if he hurts you,” she growled into the phone.
Brooke laughed it off because how else was she supposed to respond to what was probably a serious threat?
“I’ll fill you in on all the details later.” Alex made what sounded a lot like a retching noise. “But the main thing right now is that we’re going to bring Bean to the All-Stars Rodeo Friday night and I hope you’ll be able to be there. It’d mean a lot to me.” Flash gave her a thumbs-up. “To both of us.”
Alex, however, was in no mood to be charmed. “I’m not gonna like him, so quit trying,” she snapped, but, in true Alex form, she softened immediately. “Okay, fine. We’re all going to the rodeo. Have you told your mom yet?”
“No, that’s next. We’re going out to the house after this,” Brooke said.
“Well, good luck with that.” She hung up.
Some of Flash’s good humor faded. “That didn’t sound good.”
“It’s not.” There were no words to describe how little Brooke was looking forward to this introduction.
Flash kissed her forehead before saying, “However you want to handle it is how we’ll handle it. I’m here to back you up.”
She couldn’t help the sigh of relief that escaped her. This was the Flash she wanted. Perfect and charming and thoughtful and beside her. Not out in front, not trying to take over, but supporting her. “Just...maybe focus on demonstrating you’re a good father? For all our issues, she does love Bean.”
If he tried to charm Mom outright, it’d be a disaster. But if he could convince Crissy Bonner that he’d take good care of her grandson, then maybe it wouldn’t be too bad.
“That I can do,” he promised, pulling her to her feet and brushing a kiss over her lips, then her cheek. “And then afterwards?”
The next kiss was anything but soft or sweet, and maybe it wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but Brooke let herself be swept away by his heat, his taste.
“Will you stay tonight?” she whispered against his mouth. She could sleep in his arms and maybe he could at least get up with Bean, even if she’d still have to nurse him. And if they were already sharing a bed... “Will you stay with me?”
He touched his forehead to hers, his thumbs stroking over her cheeks. “For as long as you’ll let me, babe.”
She chose not to think about what he was really saying.
* * *
Forty minutes later, Brooke was pretty sure she’d made a tactical error bringing Flash home with her unannounced.
“Who is this?” Mom demanded, clutching Bean to her chest as she eyed Flash suspiciously. The look in her eyes promised a storm was about to be unleashed.
But Brooke wasn’t going to back down. Not this time. Not ever again.
Mother might know best, but Brooke was a mother now, too. And she knew what was best for her family.
She glanced at Flash. He was family now, especially when he gave her hand an encouraging squeeze and shot her a little wink. Then he turned the full power of his charming smile back to her mother and said, “Mrs. Bonner, I’m Frasier Lawrence. My family owns Lawrence Energies in Dallas.” Then, because he was Flash, he threw in a little bow. “I’m Bean’s father and,” he continued smoothly over Mom’s gasp of horror, “I’ve asked your daughter to marry me.” He lifted Brooke’s hand and kissed her knuckle, right above the simply huge diamond engagement ring.
She noted that Flash carefully avoided the lie that Brooke had agreed to be his wife. He simply let the jewelry and his real name do the talking for him.
The noise Mom made was barely human. “You what? Who the hell is this?”
She startled poor Bean, who definitely hadn’t recovered from all the excitement the night before. He promptly melted down.
“Now look what you’ve done!” Mom yelled at Flash over the baby’s wails. Bean cried louder.
Brooke tensed because if Flash was going to lose his temper, this would be the moment when it happened.
He didn’t. Instead, Flash simply squeezed Brooke’s hand and focused on Mom. “Ma’am, I think my son is hungry. Let me check his diaper before I give him to Brooke.” He plucked the baby out of Mom’s stunned arms. “Hey, honey. I heard you let Mommy sleep a little last night,” he cooed to the baby as he headed for the stairs. He shifted so Bean was tucked against his shoulder. “Maybe we’ll let her get some more sleep tonight. Won’t that be great? Yeah, that’s my good boy.”
Bean, bless his heart, managed a wobbly grin, even as he gave Brooke a worried look. But he let Flash carry him upstairs.
Brooke’s heart clenched with a fierce need because, yeah, he was putting on a show for Mom, but, God, the sight of him cuddling his son, of Bean responding to him�
��that was what she needed from him. She needed to know he’d be a good father.
“You’re getting married?” Mom asked, not bothering to wait until Flash and Bean were out of earshot.
“Not today,” Brooke replied. “But Flash—that’s Frasier’s nickname—and I are going to—”
“Wait—that’s Flash Lawrence?” Mom interrupted, the blood draining from her face. “The criminal?”
“Actually, he’s a rodeo rider.” Brooke took a cue from Flash and counted her breaths for a moment until she was sure she had her temper under control. “I don’t expect you to understand or approve, Mom.”
“You’re damn right I don’t,” she fired back. “Do you have any idea what he’s capable of? He will destroy your career.” With great physical effort, Mom attempted to look caring. She didn’t come close. “Honey, let’s think about this. I’m just not sure this marriage,” she said, like the word tasted bad in her mouth, “is for the best, you know? We’ve kept his...contribution quiet for this long. There’s no reason to break that silence right now.” She shot Brooke the look that normally had her dropping her gaze, unwilling to risk further angering Crissy Bonner. But then her mother added, “You know I just want what’s best for your career,” in what was probably supposed to be a gentle voice, except it came out as an order.
Right. If Mom was truly worried about Flash’s “criminal” history, she’d be worried about Brooke or about Bean. But it always came back to the career with Crissy Bonner.
Brooke ignored the sting of rejection layered within her mother’s words. “He can’t be any worse for my career than your brother was when he stole all my money and disappeared to Mexico,” Brooke shot back. “But you convinced me that hiring Uncle Brantley was ‘for the best’ because it kept my career in the family, right?”
“He’s my brother,” Mom snapped. “I trusted him, too. It’s not my fault he made poor choices. Just like it’s not my fault you made poor choices!”
“Do not call my child a poor choice,” Brooke seethed.
“All I’m trying to do is contain the damage,” Mom went on. “And until we know what that man’s motivations are, it’s for the best to keep him out of the picture. That doesn’t make me the bad guy here!”
“Oh? Just like you kept my father out of the picture?”
Mom had already opened her mouth to fire back another excuse, but at Brooke’s words, her jaw snapped shut. “You have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said in a dangerous whisper.
“Of course I don’t—because you won’t tell me!” Brooke was shouting now, but she didn’t care. Years of resentments bubbled up and poured out. “For God’s sake, Mom, I’m not a little girl anymore! I’m a woman, and I’m more than capable of deciding what I need to be protected from. Or were you just protecting yourself?” The words came flying out of her mouth before she could stop them. “Maybe you were just afraid that, if I knew my father, I’d choose him over you!”
True hurt flashed over her mother’s face, but it was gone in an instant. “After all I’ve done for you, this is how you repay me?”
That line might’ve worked on Brooke when she was a teenager, but she wasn’t about to fall for that guilt trip now. “Who was he, Mom?”
Everything about Crissy Bonner screamed, Not telling, from the tight line of her mouth to the way she’d crossed her arms in front of her.
“Don’t you think I deserve to know? At least for Bean’s sake. What if there are medical issues we should know about?”
“This discussion is over,” Mom snapped. She made a move toward the door.
Brooke blocked her. Somehow, she knew that if Mom walked out that door, she’d never get answers. “I’ve let you keep your secrets for years, but you owe me this. You made sure I grew up without knowing anything about my father. If you think I’m going to let you do the exact same thing to Bean, then you’ve underestimated how far I’ll go to protect him!”
“You foolish girl—did you ever consider the fact that maybe he didn’t want you to know who he was?”
“Of course I did.” It didn’t take a big mental leap to figure that her father simply didn’t want her, because if he did, he’d have found a way to be with her. “But does that justify lying to me my entire life?”
Mom tried to push past her, but Brooke wasn’t having any of it. She grabbed her mom by her shoulders and demanded, “Who was he?”
“This is a mistake,” Mom hissed. She twisted out of Brooke’s grasp and made a turn, probably heading for the back door.
Brooke snatched her hand and held tight. “Mom, please. It won’t make me love you any less.” Who knew, maybe it’d help her understand her mother’s unique kind of love even more. “Promise.”
“You really think I haven’t told you just because I’m embarrassed or something? Fine. But you take this up with him. I wash my hands of this whole mess.”
“Fine?” Was Crissy Bonner actually going to tell the truth? And Brooke wasn’t entirely sure what Mom meant with that mess comment. “Who?”
“Kyle Morgan,” she snapped. “There. Happy?”
“Kyle? Kyle?” Brooke’s old friend? The man who’d taught her how to write a song, who’d given her a guitar for her eleventh birthday? Who’d been there the night of her first show at the Bluebird and helped her land her record deal? The man who’d threatened Flash behind the Bluebird?
Kyle Morgan was her father.
And he’d never told her.
“Does he...does he know? Who I am?”
“Of course he does, not that it ever mattered to him. But just because Kyle cut and ran doesn’t mean you have to marry that man,” Mom went on, wrenching her hand away from Brooke and pointing to the second floor. “You’ve already made one mistake. Two wrongs don’t make a right. Trust me on that, Brooke.”
Numbly, Brooke looked up to see Flash standing at the top of the stairs, Bean in his arms. “Brooke?” he said softly into the eerie silence that settled in the space between Brooke and her mother. “We’re ready for you.”
She was not going to cry in front of her mother. She was not going to rant and rave and demand to know what the hell Mom and Kyle had been thinking. She was not going to lose it completely. She simply wasn’t.
Suddenly she understood why Flash had been punching couch cushions.
“I will cut you out of Bean’s life if you ever refer to him as a mistake again,” Brooke said, her voice unnaturally calm. “Flash and I are engaged. He’s Bean’s father and we’re together now. And I think it’d be best if I found a manager who understood the difference between managing my career and managing me. I love you, Mom, but I don’t know how I’m going to forgive you for this. Or Kyle.”
A muscle twitched on Mom’s forehead. “Fine. You’re on your own.”
“Fine.” Actually, it was a relief. She was zero-for-two with family members as managers. “Thank you for watching Bean today.”
“His name is Jimmy,” Mom shot back. “I hate that nickname.”
“His name is James,” Brooke replied, stepping to the side. “James Frasier Lawrence.”
Mom stormed past her, slamming the door with all her might.
Brooke stood there for a long moment—okay, several long moments—trying to process everything that had just happened. She’d expected a fight about Flash. She’d considered Mom quitting as her manager a possibility, maybe.
But... Kyle Morgan was her father?
“Babe?” Flash called down softly.
Right.
“Did...” Brooke’s voice broke. “Did you hear?”
Flash practically flew down the stairs to stand next to her, close enough to bump her shoulder with his. “Impossible not to.”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah,” he agreed.
The silence stretched but it didn’t feel painful. She realized Flash had laced
his fingers with hers.
“I...” She cleared her throat and tried again. “I need you to stay. With me. Tonight. I...” Tears began to drip off her chin. “I don’t want to be alone right now.”
“You won’t be.”
Fifteen
“Everyone, this is Brooke Bonner, my fiancée, and our son, James Frasier,” Flash announced.
Brooke cringed, although she tried not to show it. After so many months of holding her secrets close to her heart, it felt really weird to just announce Bean to four people in this room. She wasn’t ready for this. She might never be ready.
But then, she’d be just as bad as her mother and she wasn’t having that. So Brooke straightened her spine and lifted her chin. Really, this was no different than walking out onto a stage. Except this wasn’t a stage—it was a private luxury suite in the Bridgestone Arena, where the All-Stars Rodeo would happen in a few hours. She was here to put on a show, except instead of singing her heart out, she was putting herself out there as Flash’s bride-to-be.
“And this is Alex Andrews, a close friend of Brooke’s,” Flash went on, launching that charming grin around the room. Thank God, Alex was here. Between her oldest friend’s unwavering support and Flash’s dogged protectiveness, Brooke was sure she could do this.
Reasonably sure. She still had to give a convincing performance, one that had nothing to do with the last two days of Flash basically living with her, making her dinner and rocking Bean to sleep at naptime so she could lie down, too, and holding her when she cried about her mom and Kyle and the whole mess.
No, this evening had nothing to do with that glimpse into what married life could be like with Flash. It had everything to do with damage control and redemption arcs.
From a far corner, Chloe Lawrence looked up and smiled in welcome. Brooke and Flash had agreed that, for the time being, Kyle’s contribution to her life was completely off-limits to anyone outside of the two of them and Alex because Brooke wasn’t ready to have that part of her life implode, too.
His for One Night Page 13