Flynn's In (Lexi Frost Series)

by Tori Brooks

  Nicholas looked at her from behind his desk. “I couldn’t say.”

  “Flynn admitted before he was a lot like Jess. He’s been through women, and now he decides to play it safe because of Dev? Really? I get him all turned on, and the thought of my son makes him keep it in his pants?”

  “Just to throw a thought out there, did you consider it’s not Dev that’s making him be a gentleman, just a bit of information that Dev happened to provide?”

  “Whatever,” Teri threw her hands in the air and sat on Nicholas’s desk.

  He leaned back in his chair and shook his head. “Don’t take that stance, I’m serious. Paul won you despite Dev’s disapproval, so I have no doubt Flynn could do the same. Easily. Let me say that again because you’re not getting it, eas-i-ly.”

  Teri glared at him.

  “He doesn’t have to listen to Dev, he’s choosing to. And it doesn’t sound like you’re making it easy for him either.”

  “Yeah, Nicholas, he’s dating me, not Dev, but he’s choosing to listen to my naïve teenage son.” Teri stood and started pacing again, then stopped cold. “Why the hell am I talking to you about this?”

  “I’ve been asking myself the same question. You should be talking to him,” Nicholas answered.

  “Exactly,” Teri left and stormed into the house a short time later, slamming the door behind her. The girls were in the living room painting their nails.

  “What’s wrong?” Cassie asked, looking up from painting Tiffany’s toes.

  “Flynn’s in the basement,” Tiffany said.

  “Thank you.”

  Teri dropped her purse on the bench by the front door and headed downstairs. Dev and Kenny sat side by side with their guitars in front of Flynn while he demonstrated something on his own. Only Jess looked up from his magazine and noticed her arrival.

  “Flynn, this one’s for you,” Jess gestured at Teri standing in the stairwell. Flynn glanced at Jess and followed his gesture to see Teri.

  “You —” Teri pointed an accusatory finger at Flynn and stopped cold as she noticed Dev’s wide green eyes staring at her. Telling him off here wasn’t the best option. She dropped her finger stiffly to her side, spun on her heel, and went back upstairs, Jess’s laughter ringing in her ears.

  She strode past the girls and upstairs to her room. He’d follow, she just had to wait. She wasn’t wrong, a minute later Flynn’s footsteps preceded him up the stairs. Flynn hesitated only briefly at the door before he walked in and closed it behind him.

  “If you didn’t talk to Dev —”

  “Things would be different, but I did so that line of reasoning is null and void,” Flynn finished as he came to stand in front of her. He picked her hands up from her lap and pulled her up into his arms.

  Teri tried to push him away. “You do not get to sweet talk your way out of this. You say you’re doing this for me but it’s driving me crazy. I think you’re just unwilling to risk disrupting the little boy band downstairs.”

  Flynn dragged her, struggling and fighting, to the wall and pinned her with his body. He kissed her, but she still struggled against him.

  “Is that all you can think of? You want me to fuck you? Satisfy an immediate physical need, but that’s it. No emotion or thought of what happens next. Is that really what you want?”

  Teri went limp under his body and he eased the pressure off her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned against his chest to cry.

  “It’s not like that,” she whispered between sobs. Flynn held her gently and stepped away from the wall. He led her back to the bed and sat, cradling Teri on his lap.

  “I know, love.”

  “I just . . . it’s being closer to you. We see a lot of each other, we have for a long time. And now things have changed. I see you differently.”

  “We should be able to express that attraction.”

  “Maybe if I explained to Dev —”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Flynn laughed. “For starters, it’s not his business. He brought up a concern, a valid point, and I accepted it. I’m starting to rethink that.”

  “But it’ll break up the band.”

  “No it won’t, where did you get that idea?”

  “Well they all trust you. They’re looking to you to help them, and it’ll ruin your relationship with Dev, won’t it?” Teri asked, fearing the answer.

  “It might, yeah. It means he’ll look to Bryan and Kenny more than he does now. I’ve diminished some of his dependence on them, he’ll lose that little bit of adult influence, but he survived without it before.”

  “I’m sorry. I don’t want to do that. I can’t. Dev needs a role model. He never looked up to Nicholas or anyone since Allen died, not until you came along. I can’t ruin it for him.”

  “This isn’t about Dev, it’s about what you need. You’ve made it pretty clear that you need more in this relationship.” Flynn paused, stroking her hair as he thought. “Cassie and Tiffany are moving to New York the end of August to start college.”

  “The house will seem empty without them.” Teri wondered where Flynn was going with this. “Are you proposing to take their place?”

  Flynn laughed. “One step at a time, love. Naturally you’ll go with them to help get them set up.”

  “Not much to do, Tim’s got it already arranged from what I understand. NYU will never be graced with a pair so organized and fussed over again.”

  “Still, you’ll go to New York. I’m coming too.”

  “Really? Why? As my moral support?”

  “Not exactly.” Flynn lifted Teri closer and kissed her suggestively.

  “Don’t tease.”

  “I’m not.” Flynn kissed her again, letting a hand come to rest on her breast, squeezing it gently. Teri never found that move particularly erotic before, but this time it promised something more and her heart raced.

  “It’s a matter of timing,” Flynn explained, letting his hand slide down to her bare thigh.

  “You know, you taking off to New York with me is going to be a giveaway to the boys.”

  “I have no intention of keeping anything a secret, although let me handle Dev, will you?”

  “You’re going to get him to rethink his position?”

  “Hell no. I can’t walk up to the kid and tell him I want to bang his mum. He’d deck me and rightfully so. Let’s just say I have a plan.”

  “A plan. Are you going to let me in on it?”

  “Not just yet.” Flynn teased her, running his fingers up the inside of her thigh. Teri closed her eyes and sucked in her breath in anticipation. Flynn laughed again.

  “Teri, do you trust me?”

  She looked at him, wondering what the joke was now. Flynn was gazing at her, but his face was serious again. He was actually asking how much she trusted him. After all he’d been through with her since Paul died, pulling her back from the brink of despair, putting her life back together, so carefully hiding what he felt when it must have been killing him inside. How could she not trust him? How did he not realize that?

  “I do trust you. I don’t understand you sometimes, but I trust you.”

  Flynn nodded, apparently satisfied. “That’ll do for now.”

  “For now?”

  Flynn nodded and kissed her again. She was just getting into it, his lips against hers, his hand warm under her dress on her lower back, when a soft knock at the door sounded like a bucket of icy water over them. Flynn hurried to withdraw his hand and pull her skirt down over her legs again.

  “Come,” he called.

  The door opened and Dev’s head looked around carefully.

  “It’s all right, Dev, you’re safe,” Teri said. He looked dubious. Teri considered how he must feel as he saw her reclined on Flynn’s lap, his arms around her, on her bed. The same bed Dev caught her asleep with Paul in only a year ago. The thought sobered her and Flynn shifted her in his arms to let her hide her face from her son.

  “Then why’s the door clos
ed?”

  “Conversation that didn’t need to be overheard,” Flynn answered. “Just checking or something going on?”

  “Just checking. Jess said —”

  “Ignore Jess.”

  “But you said before . . .” Dev trailed off, his eyes watching his mother anxiously.

  “Yeah, I know. I’m starting to wonder if that was such a bright idea. I’ll be back in a bit, nearly done here.”

  Dev hesitated, then closed the door again.

  “He expected . . . I don’t think I could have done that again.”

  “Yeah, I know. Don’t worry, I’ll handle Dev. Is that what you were thinking about? When he walked in on you and Paul?”

  “We were asleep actually, but the state of undress . . . Dev might not be observant, but he’s not stupid.”

  “Teri, you loved Paul, I know that. For a while you had a hard time with him being gone and me being here instead.”

  “I’m over that.”

  “Good, that’s a start.” Flynn seemed nervous, Teri couldn’t see why and she sat up more to face him. He was about to ask her something else, but stopped.

  “What?”

  “I’m not sure how to ask this.”

  “Spit it out.”

  “Not always the best option,” Flynn shook his head. “On the plane, you were angry with Paul. I understand why but, looking back, if he hadn’t been there, if we’d spent the flight together and I asked you to dinner, would you have gone?”

  “I wasn’t staying in town for dinner. Just a meeting, in and out. And you were married.”

  “You didn’t know that. I wasn’t going to be much longer, you talked me into giving it another shot but it was over. You know I was head over heels for you even then.”

  Teri smiled, “I figured that out. If Paul hadn’t let slip you were married, I probably would have taken you up on a date. I would have been pretty mad when I found out you were married.”

  “I suppose I should be grateful he didn’t let me mess it up then,” Flynn sighed.

  “You’re not though, are you?”

  “I’m more grateful I got another chance. I never got over you. I didn’t even get to talk to you at the photo-shoot in Miami, barely spoke to you at the gallery the next day, but I wanted to meet you so much. Drew thought I was insane, but I felt like you were different. Like we could have something special. It was intangible, indefinable . . .”

  “That’s my edge over models and actresses? Something indefinable?”

  “Call it fate.”

  “It’d have to be to make you wait until I was already hopelessly in love with you to drop that line on me. Fate? Really? That’s a terrible pick up line you know.”

  “Do you?”

  “Think it’s a bad line? You’re kidding right?”

  “No, do you love me?”

  Teri sobered instantly; this is what he was looking for. He said it before and she didn’t catch it. She took love as a given since they were both so driven to climb all over each other. In Flynn’s world making love and being in love weren’t the same. She forgot his past sometimes. Who he was to the rest of the world. To her he was just . . . hers.

  She smiled, leaning over to kiss him softly.

  “Yes, I love you.”

  • • •

  Flynn suppressed the buoyancy he felt inside as he went downstairs to face the boys. He passed Cassie and Tiff with only a thumbs up, and got knowing nods in return. The girls were just too perceptive. He wondered what Cassie thought of Jess and his new girlfriend. The thought left Flynn’s mind immediately when he was faced with Dev pacing in the basement, and Jess watched him, actually moving his head back and forth wearily. Kenny was on the phone, to Alicia no doubt.

  “Stop pacing, you’re wearing Jess out,” Flynn told Dev, and the spindly teen dropped down on the sofa with resignation.

  “Mom looked upset when I came in. After I came in I mean. She was mad before.”

  “Your timely appearance recalled to mind a certain memory where Paul was there instead of me.”

  “You walked in on Paul and Teri?” Jess chortled. “No way! You never said anything!”

  “Well she handcuffed me to the railing and —”

  “Teri handcuffed you to the railing?” Jess laughed. “No wonder you didn’t tell.”

  “I didn’t hear that bit, sounds like an interesting story. Another time maybe.” Flynn waved Jess into silence. “Anyway, she just had a reminder of another time, she’s fine.”

  “Is that why she was crying?”

  “No, she’s much better about discussing Paul. Why do you think she was crying?”

  “Your shirt was wet.”

  “Oh. She was upset with me earlier, I’m sure you picked up on that.”

  “Did you sleep with her?” Dev asked pointedly.

  “Gotta go.” Kenny hung up on Alicia and simultaneously smacked Dev across the back of his head. “You can’t expect him to answer that,” Kenny snapped.

  Jess shook his head and laughed quietly, but Dev kept his gaze fixed on Flynn.

  “I’m glad I was expecting that,” Flynn said. “No, Dev, I’m not sleeping with Teri, although I did have to explain to her why.”

  “Whoa, wait, you’re not? Seriously?” Jess turned his attention to Flynn, his eyes wide in disbelief.

  “No,” Flynn answered Jess and turned his attention back to Dev. But Jess wasn’t ready to give up.

  “I bet Teri’s surprised you’re holding out. That’s why she’s mad, isn’t it? Thinks you’re having an affair?”

  “When would I have time? She doesn’t think I’m having an affair.”

  “But she wants it,” Jess grinned.

  Flynn shook his head, reminding himself Jess was only so blatantly honest because he was in a safe environment. He’d be fine in the real world. He was pretty sure. Kenny was already in motion, so Flynn waited while Kenny walked around the sofa, got Jess in a headlock with minimal struggle, and dragged him off to their room. Then the door closed and Flynn and Dev were left alone.

  “Mom’s mad at you because you won’t . . . you know.”

  “It was just a surprise. We’ve talked about the way she raised you, and the situation with Paul, and how my situation is different. She got used to making an exception, and just assumed she’d need to do that again. We’ve sorted it out for now. Don’t worry about it. You were right to tell me. I don’t want to put her in a position that compromises what she believes, and I would have if you hadn’t warned me.”

  “What do you mean ‘for now’?”

  “Things are moving faster than I expected. Partially it’s that I was around daily for months before we started dating, and we were seeing each other socially quite a bit before adding a bit of romance, so it seems like we’ve been dating longer than we really have.”

  “So? That doesn’t mean anything.”

  Flynn reminded himself of Dev’s point of view. “Listen, we’re talking about your mum here, and I know you’re worried. For now, she’s good. I have an idea, but I’m going to hold off discussing it with you just yet, okay?”

  “But you’re not . . . I mean —”

  “No, we’re not. Not that it’s really any of your business so I wouldn’t go talking to her about it.”

  Flynn decided because Dev wasn’t picking up relationships and sex 101 on his own or from his peers, beyond the basic biology lesson he received in school, he should give the kid a crash course. At worst it would raise more questions. Even that would hopefully get him caught up so he knew what to ignore and what to listen to when Jess opened his mouth. And maybe taking some of the mystery out of it would take some of the fear out as well so he’d start to relax around girls.

  “Now, about Jess . . .” Flynn began.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The last week of August came quickly and Nicholas moved back in to watch the boys while Teri and Flynn escorted Cassie and Tiffany to New York. Tim already had their apartment set up and their boxes
were shipped and waiting for them. He even had their text books.

  Flynn and Teri sat together on the flight, but away from the girls who persisted in putting their heads together in excited whispers and giggles.

  “You know they’re probably whispering about you coming along,” Teri told Flynn about an hour into the flight.

  “I know. Don’t tell me you didn’t see it coming.”

  “I suppose I should have. I was more worried about whispers and giggles from the boys than Cassie and Tiff. Tell me, how did you get Dev to go along with this? He seemed unusually at ease with you coming, and didn’t react at all when you said I was staying at your apartment.”

  “I warned him in advance so nothing was a surprise.”

  “So he already threw a tantrum.”

  “No.”

  “What did you tell him?”

  “Ask me again later. Maybe on the flight home.”

  Teri knew a losing battle when it was sitting next to her looking smug, she let it go and returned to her Sudoku puzzle. It was hard to ignore the girls whispering in the seats behind her. Not that she could hear them really, just that she could sense the unwanted attention.

  “You know,” Teri turned back to Flynn after a few minutes. He put down his book to look at her. “The girls really seem to be reading a lot into this. You coming along I mean.”

  “Do you think it’s me coming or you staying at my apartment? I can’t see why they’d get any ideas. Nothing suggestive there at all.”

  “You’re teasing me.”

  “Later.”

  Teri returned to her Sudoku again. She filled in a couple of spaces, then turned around to give the girls a look to quiet them. They giggled. Turning back around, Flynn ambushed her and put earbuds in her ears and she was surprised to hear Jess’s voice singing a mournful ballad. Closing her book, she leaned against Flynn and closed her eyes to listen.

  Despite living in the same house, Teri realized she never actually listened to the boys’ songs. She heard them practice, heard them fight, tip over drums, drop guitars, and play the same part repeatedly until she heard it in her dreams at night. Even when Zane came she was too busy watching them to pay attention to what they were playing. This though . . . it was polished and professional. They were good. She worried briefly when Flynn first came that his influence would change them, that they’d become a younger version of In Like Flynn, but she couldn’t hear any evidence of Flynn in the lyrics or style of the songs she listened to.