by Natalie Ann
“Brody,” she said.
“Yes.”
“It can’t be more than this right now. So if you need to stop, say it.”
Shit. He forgot about Sidney. How could he have forgotten? Just because she didn’t talk about her daughter, it didn’t mean she wasn’t a good mother.
He’d seen all of that today. The way she held Sidney’s hand and let her walk when it might have been better to carry her. Instead, Aimee let Sidney have some independence. Then there was the way Sidney looked at her mother for reassurance when she needed something and how Aimee was the first one to make sure Sidney wasn’t scared of anything.
How she let Sidney pick her own food, then Aimee cut it up in tiny bites. It was probably normal mother things, but to him it was putting someone else first. The whole day had been about Sidney and what Sidney needed and wanted. Him taking the backseat, herself in the third row.
But now it felt like Aimee was moving forward in the vehicle. She was moving at least to the backseat with him.
“I don’t need to. I probably should though.”
“Okay. Just one more kiss before you go,” she said.
He’d made no mention of leaving, but guessed he’d used up all his time with her for the day. So he made that last kiss count. He made sure that when he walked out the door she wouldn’t forget about him.
Pass the Time
Aimee opened the door on Monday morning to see that she was the first one at Fierce. Rather than try to figure out any motive, she got right to work setting up.
When Aiden walked in and handed her the bar specials for the next few days, she asked, “Do you know where Brody is?”
“He said he’d be in later. Looks like you’re better for him than we all hoped.”
“What does that mean?” she asked. Didn’t Brody say he wanted to keep this a secret?
“We did good picking you. He took yesterday off and said he was coming in at three today. When Felix was here, Brody normally started his days at three. He’d take one day off a week, too. Maybe now whatever bug has been up his butt can find a new cave to live in.”
Aimee laughed at that reference. “Brody seems fine to me. Not really grouchy.”
“Not since that one day, right?”
So his brother knew about that. “No. Maybe there was more than one bug up his butt that day.”
Aiden laughed. “There have been plenty for months now. Seems like they’re all finding a new place, or dying at least.”
“This is the most disgusting conversation,” Aimee said, her eyes crinkling at the corners.
“Sorry,” Aiden said. “Four boys and Ella, we always talk like this. You’ve made me forget, though.”
“That’s okay. I’ll take it as a compliment that you feel comfortable enough around me. As comfortable as you do with your siblings.”
“I guess I do,” Aiden said, walking back to his kitchen.
It wasn’t just Aiden though, she realized, in the past weeks that felt comfortable around her. Mason had asked her opinion on a few brews he was working on. He even had her come over and explained some of the brewing process. She loved learning that, loved being able to talk about it with the diehards that came in looking to try new things on tap.
Cade was coming around more, too. Not when Brody was working, it seemed, but early in the morning along with Cade’s assistant. Some college intern that he spent more time flirting with than doing his job.
Even Ella was popping in and out of the bar, running around and asking her thoughts on things. Grabbing a quick lunch with her, chatting like they were long-lost friends rather than boss and employee.
Aimee hated to say she felt like she was part of the family, but deep down she did. She would have thought it had to do with her and Brody’s budding romance, except they hadn’t been alone together much at all.
Two more times he’d stopped in on her day off and taken her and Sidney out to lunch. She thought it was sweet that he was making an effort with her daughter. Sweet enough that she started to think that maybe Brody wasn’t just looking for some quick fling, but something more. Why put in all this effort otherwise?
The problem was, the more he came around and the closer he got to Sidney, the harder it was to keep things separate. To tell herself that he was only looking for a good time. Because if that was all he wanted, then he was selfish bringing her daughter into this.
She hated having mixed feelings, so she’d asked him point blank the second time he came around. “What are your thoughts on us, this thing right now?”
“What thing is that?” he asked, smiling back at her.
“You coming into my daughter’s life,” she said seriously.
“Would you prefer I didn’t?” he asked, dropping the smile.
“Not if it’s just something to pass your time.”
“I don’t know what it is, but it’s not that. If you want me to promise you more, I can’t.”
“That’s fair, and good enough for now. But if you decide at any point it is a passing thing, you need to let me know right away. Sidney has to come first.”
“I’d never do that to her. Or to you. I don’t make promises lightly, and if I make them I don’t break them. So I’ll promise you now, if for some reason this is getting messy, or it’s not working, or I’m not interested, you’ll be the first to know and I’ll handle it any way you tell me to so that it’s best for Sidney.”
It was more than she’d gotten from any other guy in her life, so she was good with it. Maybe it was stupid, or maybe she just wanted to find something that always seemed to slip through her grasp.
Either way, she was going to take it slow and steady…one day at a time. And she really couldn’t get much slower than the pace they were at.
Kissing. That’s it. That was all they’d done. In almost a month they’d flirted, they’d teased, they’d touched as innocently at work as they could with the underlying sexual charge that had you craving for more. Sparking to life, flickering for more energy, then dying away unsatisfied.
Every single time they’d felt they were alone, or not being watched, their lips found each other.
It was like being in junior high and waiting and wondering when you could do more. Would you get caught if you snuck behind the bleachers? How about in the locker room? Maybe the dimly lit hallway?
Anywhere they could go to sneak a kiss, they did. Unfortunately, due to the cameras in and around Fierce, their places were limited there, too.
So that left her house and the few times he’d visited that Sidney wasn’t looking. Not much in the grand scheme of things.
But here it was, Tuesday night, and the comedian was getting ready for her show.
Cade had been working his butt off promoting the event. Mason had done brewery tours the past week, giving people a chance to win tickets to the show. Aiden also ran a few specials for the night. Aimee and Brody and the other three bartenders on for the night were ready and raring to go.
One hour in and the crowd was roaring with laughter. The staff were moving as briskly and quietly as they could, everyone at the bar keeping a nice steady pace.
There was worry about serving food during the show, but it was working out just fine. The more people ate, the more they wanted to drink. Even Dolly, the comedian, had beer and nachos on stage. The staff were almost invisible as they served.
“That was a huge hit,” Cade said, pacing around the bar after they closed. They were barely able to push the last person out at midnight, even though the show ended at ten.
“I didn’t believe it could be like that,” Brody said.
“I knew it,” Cade said. “I knew it’d be a big hit. I’ve got more lined up.”
“Hang on there,” Ella said. “Family meeting for that. I agree it was a success, but like anything in life, one time doesn’t mean every time. We have to discuss it like we do everything.”
Aimee liked that about Ella. How she could harness the brothers in and calmly get them to liste
n.
“Ella’s right,” Aiden said. “Still, we can look at the numbers and the responses for the night and talk it over next week when we meet.”
“We’re meeting tomorrow,” Cade said.
“Yep, and its midnight and we’re all tired and no one is going to have final numbers by tomorrow. Next week,” Ella said. “I’m going home now to sleep.”
“Me too,” Mason said, walking out with Ella.
“I don’t know about you,” Aiden said, “but I’m leaving before Brody puts me to work. I’m dead on my feet. Let’s go, Cade.”
Just like that, everyone deserted them. “Do they always do that?” she asked Brody as the two of them started to restock the bar while other staff cleaned up. There had been no way to keep up tonight, even with the extra hands.
“They do. As far back as I can remember, we’ve always left the person whose job it was to finish something alone.”
“That kind of sucks.”
“It does. But we do it to everyone. Though I have to say, it seems I get stuck the most. It makes sense since I’m responsible for the part of the business that is the last to close. Thankfully the staff know better than to leave until I say.”
She always thought it would be helpful having siblings, but now she decided otherwise.
Brody turned on the music while the bar was being cleaned up. Chairs put on tables, floors swept, the rest of the bar stocked, and the next thing Aimee knew the place had emptied of employees with the exception of Brody and her.
“Would you look at that?” he said, laughing. “I didn’t even plan it.”
He didn’t need to say what it was, as she was thinking the same thing. “Cameras,” she said, nodding her head.
“Yep. Bummer. But there aren’t cameras in the safe room.”
She was very thankful she learned that after the fact. There were cameras in the halls, but not the room where the safe was hidden, which was actually a storage room that was fairly empty.
“Do you need help carrying the money upstairs?” she asked, her pulse picking up some speed.
“The till was pretty heavy tonight…”
“Let me get my purse and we can close up here and lock away the money.”
Accept His Presence
Brody followed Aimee up the stairs, not making any attempt to tear his eyes away from her rear that was swishing in front of him. If he didn’t know better he’d think she was doing it on purpose. Just torturing him in a way he didn’t ever remember feeling before.
The urge to reach out and lay his hand on it was massive, but he didn’t push his luck.
Kissing was one thing, grabbing her ass another. At least without her looking so he could see her reaction.
The last few weeks he’d been biding his time. This from a guy who took a woman’s number and then shared a night of pleasure for most of his adult life. He hadn’t done that in more than six months, though.
No, those days were long gone. Things change, you realize you aren’t the person you thought you were, and you can’t trust your own judgment. That who you were your whole life might not be who you want to be anymore.
So instead of taking the many women up on offers, he found himself fantasizing about an employee that was more independent than all the women in his family together.
Of long curly hair, wild even when it was supposed to be tamed, just like her personality. Dark brown eyes that could glow when she was flirting…and when she was aroused. Soft lips that he was hoping to have on other parts of his body besides his mouth.
And every time he thought about going to her house and pushing her into her room and having his way with her, he saw the miniature version of her quietly playing with dolls on the floor. Those doe-like eyes warming up to him, starting to accept his presence in their life, but still wary and a bit scared.
So instead, he’d talk to Sidney in a low voice, trying to win over acceptance as if it were the last morsel of food on the face of the earth. As if he were starving and crawling toward it, hoping and praying it could be his. That it wasn’t an illusion that would vanish if he rubbed his eyes.
That this little twenty-pound wonder would hand it over and say, “You can share with me.”
But that hadn’t happened and he wasn’t sure it ever would.
When Aimee turned the corner to the storage room, Brody walked in ahead of her, moved the framed poster of a Fierce promotion out of the way, and exposed the wall safe.
“Only managers know the combination and every month it’s changed,” he said.
“So just you, your siblings, and the night manager in the restaurant?” she asked.
“Right now, yes. You won’t close often, but we’ll give it to you once everyone agrees.”
She looked at him funny. “Meaning?”
“Meaning, as you can see, it’s a lot of cash and receipts from the bar and the restaurant. Normally that code goes to someone after a six-month period. Since you don’t close, it’s not an issue.”
“Makes sense. If you aren’t working, then who puts the money up here if the restaurant manager isn’t working?”
“One of us five will come in and do it if we aren’t already here. We have a lot of security measures in place now.”
“Now?” she asked.
“Long story.”
She nodded and waited while he did what he needed to do. It was a little after twelve thirty right now. They’d managed to clean up pretty quickly considering the crowd tonight, but there were more staff on hand than normal to help.
He locked the safe and put the poster back in place, then turned to look at her. “You can come in a little later tomorrow if you want,” he said.
“Why?” she asked.
“Because you aren’t used to closing and then coming to work the next day. I am.”
She laughed at him. “Really, Brody. Sidney gets up the same time whether I get out of work at seven or get out at one in the morning.”
“Oh.” Why hadn’t he thought of that?
“So the last time, when you had the day off afterward, it didn’t make a difference?”
She grinned, one that shot heat in places of his body that he was trying to forget hadn’t seen much action lately. A smirk that was part humor, part something else. Something wicked. Something teasing. Something on the edge of “You better hold on because tonight isn’t going to end the way you think it will, but rather the way you’ve been wishing for.”
“No. It doesn’t make a difference,” she said. “And it’s all good, because I’m used to working nights and only getting a few hours of sleep. It’s probably not much different than you. Half the time I wake up in the middle of the night and just lie there thinking of what I need to do the next day.”
Her lying in bed, looking up at the ceiling—not where his mind needed to go to right now. “I’ve had nights like that.”
“Have you?” she said. Now it wasn’t just the smile, but that glint in her eye. “And what do you think about when you’re lying in bed at night?”
He threaded his fingers through hers, then ran his thumb over the top of her hand and the base of her wrist. Her pulse was beating almost as rapidly as his.
“Lately, it seems all I can think about is you. And this,” he said, holding up their joined hands. “And wondering if I’m the only one feeling it. Wondering if you’re some witch come here to torture me and make me work harder than I’ve ever worked before.”
“I’m no witch. And I’ve got to imagine we’re both feeling the same amount of torture right now.”
That seemed promising. “How’s that?”
“Why don’t I show you instead?” she said, moving closer to him. Her chest touching his, her body pressing and pulsating and radiating heat. Electrodes of it shocking him right to his core, the hair on his arms standing at attention.
She lifted up on her toes, touching her mouth to his ever so softly. It was the first time she’d made the first move. The first time she started the little bit of
sexual contact they’d had.
It didn’t take long though for her to turn from soft to hot. To go from innocent to “take me where I need to be.” And then to “take me now and take me before I change my mind.”
“Cameras everywhere up here?” she asked.
He looked around the room they were in; no place to do much more than stand there and kiss. “Conference room,” he said, pulling her out into the hallway and down to the conference room.
She laughed again. Sexy and throaty and telling him he was in for a treat.
“Would anyone have seen us entering this room with you pulling me along?” she asked.
“Only if they looked, and I don’t think anyone would. Why would anyone go through and look at the cameras at this time of night on a Tuesday?”
“Just checking,” she said, running her hands boldly up his chest once he closed the door.
“If it makes you feel better, Ella will get a report that I opened the safe and locked it back up. It traces back to my code.”
“Don’t care. What would make me feel better is if your hands were on me.”
“Well, we want you to feel good,” he said, lowering his head and kissing her hard. Kissing her fast and making her squirm against him.
“I’d feel better if we did something more than kissing for a change.”
He leaned back and looked into her eyes. “How much more?”
“Are you really that thick, Brody?”
He was thick in a lot of places right now, but didn’t want to say that. “No, not at all.”
She turned and backed up a few feet until her rear end hit the table; then she hopped up and sat on it, opened her legs, and pulled him between them. Between her black shorts she’d worn tonight.
He had a hand on each of her thighs, just at the hem, then sliding up and under them, exposing more of her legs with each movement.
“Brody,” she said, her head back, his lips on her neck. “We’d get further if you just got rid of my shorts.”
“We would. We could. Only if you give me the green light.”