Pretend I'm YoursA Single Dad Romance

by Vivian Wood

  Getting rid of it had never been an option, she knew that. But when that little life inside her had been threatened by the fire, something within her blossomed. She’d grown into fierce protective mode in seconds.

  Most women, it takes them months. But I guess I’ve never been like most.

  “It’s a little too early to know about that,” she said. “Who knows? Maybe it’s a little version of you. Honestly, I was completely freaked out. I still am.”

  “I told you. We’ll work through anything, as long as you’ll have me.” Cade reached up and tucked a wild lock behind her ear. “And I meant what I said after the fire. You’d better damn well be willing to marry me. I’ve already got an appointment at the jewelry store. I just figured you’d like to walk in and choose your ring, rather than be carried.”

  She blushed and looked down at her ankle. “Cade—”

  “This, right here? This is forever,” he said. “And so what if the baby is a little earlier than we might have planned?”

  “Early? You mean like years earlier than I would have chosen?”

  “I never had a family growing up,” Cade said quietly. “Now here you are, and here it is.” He placed his hand on her stomach. “The perfect family.”

  “And what about Elijah?” she asked quietly.

  He gave a short laugh. “He was surprisingly easy to win over.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yeah. I didn’t get a chance to tell you, but they’re both on board.”

  “I guess when it comes down to it, you always have been part of the family,” she said. “And it wouldn’t have mattered, you know. If Elijah or Aiden didn’t approve. But, to be honest, I’m glad they do.”

  “Now I just have to break the news to them that they’ll be sharing best man duties,” he said.

  She gave a laugh. “And from what I saw at the kickball game, my maid of honor just might be Aiden’s date.”

  Cade raised a brow. “You really think—”

  “Who knows?” she said with a smile. “And really, who cares? Right now, in this moment, this is about us. All three of us.”

  “The three of us,” Cade echoed. “I like the sound of that. A place to put all my love.”

  Lily began to tear up. She looked away and tried to discreetly wipe at her eyes.

  “Are we going to blame this on pregnancy hormones?” he asked. “Because if we are, you better milk it for all it’s worth. You only have a few more months of it, Mrs. Future Hammond.”

  She laughed and leaned into him. “I’m good with that. But you promise?” she asked. Lily gazed up at him. “Forever?”

  “Forever,” he said. Cade kissed her on the head as she settled into the crook of his chest. “I promise.”

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  His Brother’s Fiancée

  To Christina — this book LITERALLY might not have happened if it weren’t for you. Thanks for being such a good beta reader, and such a great friend.

  — V

  1

  Effie

  Life isn’t fair, is it? Effie thought as she ran her fingers through the rabbit-like fur of the senior ragdoll cat. Certainly not for this cat, anyway.

  Effie was stretched out on the machine’s cool plastic as she watched Dr. Yung stare at the screen. In most aspects of her job as a vet tech, Effie played it cool, but she felt nervous as Dr. Yung finished up the MRI.

  “Still the same?” Effie asked.

  “Unfortunately. He’s not in heart failure yet, though the arrhythmia is about the same. But at least we can tell his family he’s stable.”

  Dr. Yung pulled off her gloves while Effie hoisted the languid cat up. The old cat peered into Effie’s eyes, searching.

  “He has the most amazing eyes. Like a galaxy.”

  “Actually, I think his eyes are quite like yours,” Dr. Yung said.

  Effie glanced up at the older woman. “You mean my eyes are like a cat’s, or the other way around?”

  “Both, I suppose. Go ahead and clock out once you’ve crated him back up, and I’ll go talk to the family. The next client canceled, so we’re done for the day.”

  Effie encouraged the big cat into the crate built for small dogs. He seemed happy to return to barred security.

  She pulled the band from the end of her braid as soon as she slid into her Explorer. Both the second and third rows were reclined, and there was evidence of various animal fur all over the taupe interior. Effie sighed as she combed out her loose braid and shook out her thick mahogany locks.

  As soon as she started the car, her phone buzzed.

  “Hi, Yaya,” she said with a smile as she turned on the speaker phone and pulled out of the veterinary clinic’s parking lot.

  “Hi, baby. Pós eísai? Good?”

  “Eímai kalá,” Effie said, aware of how stiff and off her Greek was.

  “Ah! You have been practicing!” her grandmother said in her thick Greek accent.

  “Don’t ask me anything else, that’s about all I have,” Effie said with a laugh.

  “Okay, okay. I wasn’t sure if I’d catch you, I couldn’t remember what time you were off.”

  “I got done a little early, a client canceled.”

  “I see. So what are you doing? Going to Thorne’s?”

  “How’d you guess?”

  “χρυσό μου, where else would you be going? The boyfriend’s or work, that is all. And that is good, as it should be. I’m sure King will be happy.”

  “Tho—nevermind,” Effie said.

  She bit her lip. She still felt a stab at her heart whenever someone mentioned King’s name. It didn’t help that it happened all the time.

  Even if Yaya wasn’t heading into dementia territory, being engaged to your ex’s brother doesn’t exactly mean you’ll never hear his name, she reminded herself.

  “How are you, Yaya?”

  “Oh, fine. Just fine. Remember we need more thyme. Will you pick it up? Clem, don’t forget this time, yes?”

  “Yaya, this is … okay, yes. I will pick it up.”

  She swallowed the protests that bubbled to the surface when Yaya called her Clem. It wasn’t the first time that Effie had been called her mother’s name, and it wouldn’t be the last.

  Effie flew past the WELCOME TO GLENCO, ILLINOIS sign and reached blindly into the console for a scrap of paper. As she took Thorne’s exit and pulled up to the stop sign, she scribbled a note to herself.

  Buy thyme.

  Effie had no idea if they were actually out of thyme, but if Yaya got into a cooking mood, missing thyme was a full-fledged disaster. She tried to rack her brain for what the spice rack looked like the last time she’d seen it, but couldn’t remember.

  “And the oregano. The one in the glass bottle this time. Plastic and glass, it makes a difference, you know.”

  “Yes, Yaya, I know,” Effie said.

  “Effie?”

  “Yes?”

  “What is it?” She heard the worry in Yaya’s voice, the hint of clarity that told her Yaya was—at least for the moment—lucid.

  “Nothing. What do you mean?”

  “You sound… I don’t know. Sad, maybe. What is wrong?”

  “Nothing, Yaya, really.”

  “Effie, I know you. What is there to be sad about? You have perfect fiancé, so polite. Good job—”

  “Yaya, I’m fine. Really. I’m just tired. It was a long day at work.”

  Yaya sighed. “Sadness, it is not pretty.”

  Effie almost pulled directly into the rear end of a little Mercedes coupe parked in Thorne’s driveway. “Crap!”

  “Effie!”

  “Sorry, Yaya, I have to go. I just got to Thorne’s.”

  “Only if you promise you are not sad.”

  “I’m not. Promise. I love you.”

  Effie slid the cal
l off as she ran over the curb trying to squeeze the SUV into the limited space for street parking. As soon as she turned off the engine, the gray skies opened up and the downpour began.

  “The sun will come out… eventually, right?” she muttered to herself.

  The storm was sudden and intense. She could barely get the door open with the strong gusts of rain. Effie pulled up the hood of her jacket, a dark maroon trench coat covered in white cat hair.

  She sprinted up the custom stone steps of Thorne’s brand-new condo built in mid-century fashion with floor-to-ceiling windows. Even in the North Shore affluent suburb of Chicago, Thorne’s building was a standout architectural gem. And he— well, it would be them soon enough— had the entire penthouse floor and exclusive elevator.

  Effie checked her reflection in the elevator mirror as it hoisted her towards the heavens. She hated that she cared, but Thorne had made it clear more than once that he, or really his parents, expected certain things from her.

  Like not coming home covered in animal fur, she thought.

  When the elevator doors slid open, she reached her hand out automatically for the familiar bronze knob, but the condo was wide open.

  “Thorne?” she called out. In one of the back rooms, she could hear the thump of music. Dua Lipa moaned from one of Thorne’s stereo systems. The stupid things that came with price tags so rich Effie could hardly bear to hear the about costs. Especially when Thorne bragged about his latest purchases to friends or posted over-filtered shots on Instagram.

  “Thorne!” she called out again.

  She made her way down the hall, one side adorned in mirrors and the other a mish-mash of photographs in sterling silver and crystal frames. She knew each of the photos by heart, including exactly where not to look.

  In two of the photos, King was there. One of those photos was taken when they were still together, but of course she wasn’t in that photo. It was a family Easter brunch at Alinea in the city. But King had been wearing that shirt she had bought him, just before they’d broken up.

  That’s what happens when you date two men from the same family, she thought idly. It makes family photos awkward, to say the least.

  Effie let her eyes slip past the formal engagement photos of her and Thorne. Her mom and Yaya had the same ones in their little tucked away house. They were beautiful photos, but she could swear the couple in them was foreign to her. Their matching fake smiles looked picture perfect, though.

  The music got louder as she approached the master bedroom with its door slightly ajar.

  “Thorne?” she asked as she pushed the door open. She saw his broad, naked back perched on the edge of the bed. “What are you—”

  He turned sharply just as a girl raised her head from between his legs. The girl wiped her mouth with the back of her hand as Thorne released the girl’s hair from his fist.

  “Effie! What the hell— why aren’t you at work?”

  “Me?” she asked, surprised by how small and tight her voice was. “What are you… who is she?”

  “What’s going on?” the girl asked as she scrambled for something to cover herself with. Effie couldn’t tear her eyes off her. It was like looking in a mirror. The same thick, reddish brown hair. The striking blue eyes. The same full breasts.

  “Thorne, what the fuck?” the girl screamed. “You said you broke up!”

  “I— I never said that,” Thorne said. He looked between the two of them. “Effie, you have to believe me, I never said that—”

  “I don’t care what you said,” Effie said. She wanted to scream, to cry, but everything just felt stuck in her chest. “I don’t care what you told her! Why are you… how long… never mind,” she said. “Forget it.”

  Effie turned and slammed the door. As she barreled down the hallway, she could hear the girl screaming and glass shattering.

  Get him, she thought to herself. If she couldn’t bring herself to show the rage he deserved, let her look-alike do it.

  She locked herself into the library and grabbed one of the leather duffel bags out of the closet. Effie hadn’t realized until that moment that the things that were really hers, what she adored the most, Thorne had designated to the smallest spare room in the condo. It was basically a closet, albeit a beautiful one. She shoved her USB sticks and laptop into the bag, the bottle of perfume her Yaya had brought back from Greece years ago, and the stack of her favorite romance books.

  Forget the clothes and the makeup, she thought. Just get out.

  As she zipped the bag and left the library, she could still hear the two of them going at it in the bedroom. She couldn’t tell whether they were fighting or fucking, but she didn’t care. She needed to get away, as soon as possible.

  Effie pounded her thumb against the elevator button. Tears started to prick at her eyes, but she’d be damned if she would cry until she made it to the car.

  “Effie!” she heard Thorne yell as he started down the hall after her, his footsteps heavy. “Effie, stop! Let’s talk about this, this is being taken way out of context—”

  Please close, she prayed as she watched him turn the corner towards the elevator, naked and still half-hard. Please close.

  As if it were in a perfectly timed movie, the elevator slid shut when he was inches away.

  Effie ran to the car, hood down, and let the demanding Illinois rain pound at her head. She locked the door immediately and pulled away from the curb without looking. Behind her, a horn blared and she saw a white Escalade veer to the left to avoid hitting her.

  “Three years,” she said aloud as she wiped at the tears that streamed down her cheeks. “Three goddamned years.”

  It was a long time to spend, to waste, on anyone. And that was after dating King all of high school!

  Oh, the years I have thrown away on the Smith brothers. Damn them both.

  “I’m a freaking moron,” she said, thinking that she needed a drink.

  Effie searched the little artisanal boutiques in Thorne’s neighborhood for some kind of bar. Anything that didn’t have twenty dollar cocktails and entrees that cost an entire day’s pay would do. But there was nothing in Thorne’s hoity-toity neighborhood that even came close to what she needed right now.

  Actually, what she needed most was just somewhere to disappear.

  Finally, she pulled into a little tapas place advertising happy hour. Effie parked in the far back of the lot and watched as impeccable couples squealed as the valet opened doors with expansive black umbrellas.

  She couldn’t get the image of that cheater out of her mind. The thought of her lookalike peering over the top of Thorne’s thigh made her eyes well up. She felt rage building in her chest, scraping at the lining of her throat, desperate to escape.

  “How could you do this to me?” she screamed into the empty cabin of the car. Finally, her voice had arrived.

  She hadn’t been stupid. She knew that when Thorne first approached her it was to get under King’s skin. After all, she and King had only broken up the month before.

  There she was, sitting at a Starbuck’s, staring into her drink. Thinking of how King had never even called or wrote in the month since he’d left.

  He’d forgotten all about her, even though he’d called her the love of his life. So when she saw his big frame that day…

  She could admit to being more than a little crushed to realize that it was Thorne. And he’d come looking for her with a proposition.

  Effie had to admit, part of her liked the idea. She’d reveled in it a little. If she and Thorne could both piss off King, why not?

  It’s not like King was standing around waiting for them. He was long gone.

  They hadn’t ever said anything about it aloud, but it was a kind of unspoken agreement. Then things got more complicated. Messier.

  When Thorne said he loved her three months in, she said it back because they were already in the thick of it. Plus, her mom pushed her insistently in his direction.

  “But he’s King’s brother!” she
’d argued. She remembered the night clearly. Effie was still in her high school graduation robe.

  “So what?” her mom asked. “You and King, it was nothing. Puppy love. Thorne is the respectable one. The mature one. And his family already loves you!”

  “Mom—”

  “Relationships aren’t just about two people,” her mom said, which made Effie clamp her mouth shut.

  Three years later Thorne proposed to her. Thorne had taken her, her mom, and Yaya out to a posh restaurant where he ordered for everyone. Before the appetizers even arrived, Thorne leaned across the table and took her mom’s hand.

  “I want you to know, Effie and I getting married? It means I’m committed to you, too. And Yaya. You don’t need to worry about a thing anymore. I’ll take care of you.”

  When her mom’s eyes had welled up with tears, Effie knew she was doing the right thing. Besides, Thorne was a nice enough guy. At least she’d thought so.

  “Is this how you’re taking care of me? Of us?” she asked, but the empty car gave no answers. “Motherfucker!”

  The word, rare coming from her lips, made her shiver.

  Don’t you dare cry over him, she scolded herself. Not a single tear!

  Effie sniffed and gazed at the restaurant through the cascade of rainfall. As much as it sounded right, she couldn’t bring herself to drink now. Least of all in a public place surrounded by happy couples.

  Instead, she picked up the phone and scrolled to MOM.

  “Mom?” she asked when her mom slurred a sleepy “Hello?” into the phone. “Where are you?”

  “A debutante ball, where do you think?”

  Effie heard the agitation in her mom’s voice.

  “Mom, I have to go on a work trip for a conference. It’s really sudden, I just found out today. Can you take care of Yaya? We’re… we’re out of thyme. And maybe oregano.”

  “Effie, seriously? Now isn’t a good time. You don’t live with Thorne yet, you know. You live here. With us. Where you have responsibilities.”

  What the hell else are you doing besides locking yourself up in the house all day and watching television?