“Shit,” I hissed, swiping down my face. “How bad?”
“Depends how you look at it. All juvenile charges but one.”
“How old is she?”
“Twenty-four. She has three theft charges. All misdemeanors. But get this. The things she stole? Diapers, baby food, formula and one charge she fled after being confronted. Wanna guess for what?”
I huffed out a breath of sarcastic laughter. “Something for her siblings, no doubt.”
“Yep. Liquid Amoxicillin.”
“Jesus. And the state still pressed charges?”
“Diversion, it was an adult case. Three months’ probation on another. A child in need of care petition was filed twice.”
My neck fell slack as my head rested against the headrest. “Christ.”
“Who is she, man?”
“A business associate.” I stretched the truth a wee bit. What was I going to say, a girl I was paying to pretend to date me?
“Well, just so you know, the mother is incarcerated serving two more years of a five-year sentence.”
“Charge?”
“There’s a list. Child endangerment, sexual negligence of a child, negligence enabling sexual assault of a child.”
A hard swallow stuck midway down my esophagus. Phoebe was her child. Had her mother hurt her or allowed others to hurt her? What the hell had I gotten myself into? As I turned into my gated neighborhood, in my Tesla, I parked next to my convertible Porsche and hoped Phoebe never knew where I lived. For whatever reason, I suddenly felt shitty for the life I’d been blessed with.
“Given that this is business, I’ll tell you. The girl and a sister were listed as victims in a case against Bernard Coffman.”
My chin cocked sideways. “Offense?”
“Sexual battery.”
For my entire life, my father had drilled composure into my head. As the butt of my fist collided with the steering wheel, I yelled. “Fuck!”
“Sure you wanna do business with her?”
“Yeah,” I said, disconnecting the phone. “I do.”
Mostly, I worried about living a life I didn’t think she’d ever understand.
Chapter 2
PHOEBE
Contracts, Flashcards and a Check
“HI, HANNAH,” I called from the other room as she closed the door behind her.
“Hi! Thank you so much for choosing me. The money is very good. I’m excited to figure out the routines and to get to know them.”
She came into the living room, and I grinned. “It’s not my money. It’s part of the Austin wedding fund,” I giggled.
“What?”
“Kind of a long story. But he’s the one paying you. Not me. So, here’s a list of the chores they need to do before I get home tonight.” I wrote them down like a dork. “Here is the shower schedule. Heather and Claire prefer baths, but if you run outta time, it’s fine.” I tried to act like it wasn’t a big deal and that I wasn’t completely OCD. “They have to read for 30 minutes a day. There are no practices tonight, so you don’t have to go anywhere. Which is good because Sloan has the car with the car seats.”
“You have a car?” Austin asked from behind us. I stared at him for a short minute in his short-sleeved golf shirt. The brown in his eyes didn’t seem as dark tonight. I heard Hannah sigh when she looked at him. I fought the smile I felt. He was so perfectly gorgeous; I didn’t blame Hannah. I remembered two nights ago and all the sighs I refused to let come out while we rode home in his Tesla. Getting fired from that lousy job was the best thing that had happened to me in a long time.
“Pretty dress,” he said with that killer smile that had captured my attention at Braums. “How are you, Hannah?”
“I’m dandy. Ready to take care of these kids.”
The dress was a feminine flora little number, and I smiled at his compliment, feeling pretty. I hadn’t heard those words in a while.
“Call my phone if you need me. Don’t text. OK?” I was so nervous leaving them.
Austin’s hand rested at the small of my back briefly before I pulled away, trying to remember that this was a business deal not a date. “If she doesn’t answer, then you call mine. Understood?” he clarified.
Hannah saluted him, and we were out the door.
The Tesla was already running when we got in. Escaping the Texas heat inside the car was refreshing. A yellow legal envelope sat in my seat. Freebie was written on the front. I grinned.
“What is this?” I asked. The a/c blasted relief through my hair all the way to my neck.
“Our contract. And payment.”
He put the car in reverse and started driving. Odd, how much I trusted someone I’d only met a couple of days ago. Trust didn’t come easy to me. I opened the envelope. A $10,000 check was on top. I stared at the four zeros knowing I’d never seen or would probably ever see again a check for that much money.
“You really must trust that I’ll follow through with this deal.”
I couldn’t see his eyes. They were hidden by a pair of fancy mirrored Ray Bans, but he nodded just once. “I do.”
The paper was a single page, formal…contract.
“If you aren’t comfortable signing it, I’d be happy to hire you an attorney to look it over.”
I laughed out loud. “Are you kidding me? Come on now. Do I look like an attorney sort of girl? I know one attorney, and he drew up this contract.”
Austin grinned. “I just want to make sure you understand it.”
“It can’t be that complicated.” I started reading the document. Everything was very self-explanatory. Flying, yikes. “I’ve never flown. Any chance of driving?”
His brows popped high on his forehead. “That’s a bit of a game changer, Phoebe. That would mean being away from the kids a lot longer than planned.”
I stared out the window, letting his words soak in. I’d never spent a night away from them. My chest tightened with the thought. “How long of a drive?”
“Comfortably? We could do it in 3-4 days. On a plane, 3-4 hours.” He winked.
“I’ll think about it.”
“Deal. Think fast though. Driving means we leave sooner.”
“I know. Um. This clause F. You can’t tell me I can’t have sex. That’s not fair.”
His eyes left the road, colliding with mine. “I meant with me.” He glanced back at the road. “You seemed hell bent on making it clear that first night that you don’t do sex for money. In order to make you comfortable, I wanted to make sure I took that off the table as a concern.”
I hadn’t slept with anyone in over a year. I closed my eyes for just a moment remembering this was about the money. Not about the relationship. I’d have slept with him without being paid a dime, but the money changed everything, and I needed to keep in the forefront of my brain that sex wasn’t on the table. I was pretty confident he didn’t have a girlfriend or there would be no need for me. “You sure cover all your bases, don’t you?”
Austin’s mouth twitched to the side. “Was that a compliment?”
“We are so completely cut from a different cloth. You know that right,” I explained.
“Phoebe, I think you’ll find that even people cut from different cloths can have similar souls.”
I stared at him. His words stirred a tingling in my chest, unsettling me. What he said was so true. But people like him, people with money, didn’t generally see it that way.
“What are these?” I asked, holding up some rubber banded index cards.
“Flashcards.” He grinned, but his olive complexion cheeks tinged red.
“I know my multiplication tables, Austin.”
I hadn’t been paying attention to where we were headed, but he parked the Tesla at a restaurant. A fancy one. One I’d never been to before.
“Is my sundress ok for here?”
“Anything is ok here. Your dress is perfect. This place looks fancier than it is. And for the dorkiness record, I did the flashcards when I thought we were going t
o cram before a flight. It looks like we may have more face time if we drive.”
“I still haven’t decided.”
Before we got to the entrance of the restaurant, a man opened the door for us.
“Welcome to Spaldono’s, Mr. Falsone.”
I glanced at Austin, who patted the guy’s shoulder when we walked past.
“Mr. Falsone?” I giggled. “Who are you and why were you shopping at Braums?”
He smiled. A murderous I-spent-ten-grand- on-my-teeth smile. I noticed his habit of looking down whenever he smiled. As if he was embarrassed. The man should never be embarrassed. Ever. He was perfect.
“I know,” he chuckled. “It’s pretty formal, and you should address me that way too.”
“Mr. Corleone is the closest I will ever get.” I rolled my eyes.
Austin led us into a private room.
“You aren’t helping that serial killer vibe, you know, what with the private room and all. Tell me again. Why are you single?” I asked, spinning around the room making my dress twirl. The candlelight flickered with the breeze I stirred up.
He watched me with a cute little twinkle in his eye and then motioned toward the chair. “Sit down,” he laughed ignoring my question.
I sat in the fancy chair, rubbing my hands flat on the white linen tablecloth. “I’m serious,” I said, hoping to catch his eye. “Tell me why.”
“Would you like some wine?”
I shook my head. “I don’t really drink much.”
“A glass?” he asked with the bottle teetering on the edge of pouring above my glass.
“No thank you. I have to hear the kids and be able to drive to the ER for a worst-case scenario. I know it sounds silly, but I have to be alert. I barely sleep as it is. Does that make sense?”
He didn’t say anything for a brief moment. The layers of depth in his chocolate eyes scared me. Suddenly, I wondered if I could do this without falling for this guy. My eyes closed, as I pictured the check that he’d given me. All those 0’s. The check that I wouldn’t cash until the wedding was over. I wanted him to know I was good for the money. When I opened my eyes, he was swishing some wine around in his glass. I watched as he smelled it, tasted it, set his glass down and looked at me with heated eyes.
“Her name was Emma.”
AUSTIN
I fought to keep in mind that Phoebe was a business arrangement. She was here because I was paying her to go through the training. I was paying her to be with me. Jesus, her devilish, green eyes were tempting as hell. And watching her twirl in her sundress. Damn. She had to think I was the most desperate man on earth. There I was, picking a random stranger to go lie to my entire crew of friends. There was no way I was going to pull this off. They were going to see right through me.
“Ok,” Phoebe said. “Emma from Oregon.”
“Our families have been friends for a long time. I’ve known her since she was a little girl. Then, all of sudden, when she turned 17, I began seeing her in a little different light.”
“You mean an, I’d like to get into your britches light?” she winked.
I held up my wine glass, tapped Phoebe’s water glass, indicating she was right and said, “Something like that.” I took a sip. “I was in college; she was in high school. She was crazy about another guy. They broke up. I was there.”
Phoebe was more proper than I expected her to be. Napkin in her lap. Chose the salad fork when the salad arrived. No elbows on the table. Actually, not even sure what I expected, but she managed to surprise me.
“Why did they break up?”
Thinking about what had happened to Emma all those years ago was still difficult. Paul attacking her had happened beneath every one of our noses. Right in our backyard.
“Em was sexually assaulted.”
Phoebe’s hand reached over and touched my hand in the kindest of gestures. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s weird. She was ok. Scared. A mess. In the end, it sort of tore them apart. And I tried to help her pick up the pieces. We didn’t get together right away. I think part of me knew she was too young and honestly, would always be Zach’s. In the end, she was.”
“But you are still invited to the wedding?”
I laughed out loud. “I’m a bridesmaid,” I chuckled, almost embarrassed.
Phoebe dropped her fork. “Excuse me?” Her red tinted eyebrows arched perfectly above her breathtaking eyes.
“I think the flashcards will help. There were…are a lot of us. Emma’s brother, Ryan is Zach’s best man. Then Zach has some friends from Cali that finish out his wedding party. But Emma, her bridesmaids are all guys except for two. Ali is her maid of honor, then me, a guy named Grant, Sam—a girl that she met in Cali.”
“That’s different but kind of cool too. Certainly nontraditional. Will that be hard? I mean watching them?”
“No. Not anymore. I moved away. That was my way of dealing with it. But we talk. And, we had a good conversation about what happened. I’m really glad she’s happy.”
When they slid the plate of lasagna in front of Phoebe, I caught the sigh and the way she placed her hand on her tummy as if she were full. Her thoughts were written on her face.
“We can get a box,” I suggested.
Phoebe’s shoulders fell just slightly. “Then everyone will eat it tomorrow when I’m at work. And even though I haven’t tasted it, I know it’s going to be the best thing in the world to eat.”
Looking at things through Phoebe’s eyes gave me a very different perspective. A fresh, new perspective. To me, it was lasagna I’d eaten too many times to count. To her, it was the best meal ever.
“You like Italian?”
She crinkled up her nose and the fifteen little flecks of brown freckles pulled together bringing a grin to my face. “I pretty much like any food. We don’t go out very often. Stouffers Lasagna is pretty good. We buy these frozen breadsticks sometimes too and the kids love them. I usually don’t get one because they devour them,” she giggled.
I hesitated for a second to see if she was serious about the frozen lasagna comment. I take it she was because her eyes focused on the hot feast in front of her. I didn’t even want to take a single bite of mine. I’d box it up for her too. With her fork in hand, she poked through the melted cheese, made an ‘Mmm” sound as she lifted the bite to her mouth.
Right before she took the bite, she asked, “Are you wanting to make Emma jealous?”
I froze momentarily with the blunt question she asked. “No. Not at all.” I sat back in my chair, staring at Phoebe’s beautiful face. Undoubtedly, Emma might very well be a wee bit jealous. I hadn’t even considered that before Phoebe suggested it. “Please don’t think that. I honestly just didn’t want to go alone.”
“And you truly have no one else you could have asked?” she asked, swallowing. “This is so, so good, Austin.”
I crossed my legs and watched her take another bite. Her red curls fell dangerously close to her dish, but with practiced ease she held the tendrils back with her other hand. I’d always thought of myself as a conversationalist, but Phoebe was uniquely intriguing and didn’t seem afraid to ask anything.
“I work with several women that I’m sure would have come with me but that only brings additional complications.” I sipped my wine, hoping that didn’t come across as hurtful.
“And, with me, it’s simple.”
It wasn’t a question she threw out there. More of a statement.
She continued. “I do this. You pay me. You don’t have to see me at work. No romantic entanglements. I get it.”
My mind lingered on the ‘no romantic entanglements’ comment. The more I got to know her the more I wasn’t sure what I wanted from her.
“I mean, it’s not like we are going to run into each other at the neighborhood block party,” she giggled.
“Yes, that’s unlikely.” I grinned.
Placing her hand over her tummy again, she whispered, “I can’t eat another bite.”
Without thinking, I stood, walked over to the wait staff, put in an order, requested a box and then returned to Phoebe.
I handed her the pictures I’d printed off, almost with regret. Talking to her about her was more interesting than flipping through flash cards of the crew, but we needed to do it.
“You can look over them on your own. Basically, it just puts a face with a name.” I shrugged. The only picture I didn’t include was Emma’s. I was going to have to face the music eventually when she saw Emma. I’d wait.
“Sure you don’t want to go through these now? I don’t mind doing it with you. I know that’s why you brought me to dinner.”
I nodded because I felt like I should. Truth was, I enjoyed spending time with her. It was fun to expose her to a world she wasn’t familiar with. I hadn’t spoiled someone in a while—I needed this. Maybe she did too.
“All right. Let’s flip through them while we’re here and then you can take them.” I unwound the rubber band.
“It’s important to you that I know them all?”
My cheeks heated. “I think it’s important that they think I’ve talked about them to the girl I’m supposedly dating.” My lips pulled into an embarrassed grin.
Her jade eyes latched onto mine, and I forced myself to uncomfortably glance away. I picked up my wine glass and finished what was left.
“Why don’t you want to date anyone?”
Tapping my fingers on the white tablecloth, I weighed her question. “I don’t necessarily think that I don’t want to date anyone. After the break-up, I knew that I needed time before jumping into something. I work a lot of hours, and an office romance is off the table, so work kind of left me not being super social.”
“No Bumble. Tinder. Match.com?” she scrunched up her nose again. God that was adorable.
“Just swipe left?” I joked. “The You’ve got Mail of the millennials.”
“You’ve seen that movie?”
“Your grandmother is not the only grandmother that watched movies.” I winked at her. “And, no. I’ve never been on a dating site or app or whatever they are.” But I sure as hell suddenly wanted to know if she had. “You?”
“No,” she laughed. “I date four kids at home. That’s pretty much it and pretty much all I can handle. Plus, my iPhone 6 barely functions.” She glanced at her phone. “It’s getting late Austin,” she whispered.
Finally...My Forever (Just One of the Guys Book 4) Page 3