Holy fucking shite.
“Colly, you got something you want to share, brother mine?” I asked then looked down at his hand. His jaw clenched, and he put his arm around London. The irritation in my voice could not be cooled. The entire table went dead silent. Forks and knives were set down and all eyes were on the conspicuous couple across the table.
“Wanker,” Collier gritted through his teeth then grinned. “I guess now’s as good a time as any. You all remember a couple weeks ago when London and I went to Atlantic City?” Most the heads around the table nodded back to taking bites of food, sipping their beverages as they paid attention. “You see, London and I had a wild hair--”
“Spit it out already, my food’s gettin’ cold,” Hank encouraged, then placed an arm around his wife. She leaned into his side automatically.
“Hmm, how do I say this…,” Collier faltered.
“Oh honey, come on. Men!” She shook her head and rolled her eyes. “We got married!” London squealed then held up her hand. The simple gold band gleamed in the sunlight.
Collective gasps ricocheted through the group. Tripp stood, walked around the table and tapped Collier on the shoulder. He looked up at Tripp then stood once he saw the menacing look on the man’s puss.
“How could you, Bond!” He shoved Collier. London stood and got between the two. “I can’t believe you’d do that. Not fucking cool!” He roared. Tripp, London, and Collier had a weird dynamic, especially after Tripp donated his kidney to save my brother’s life. For the past few months though, they’d been the three amigos. I would never have expected him to have a violent reaction. My hackles rose ready to get up and defend my brother.
“Tripp, sweetie, really it’s not his fault. It was my idea!” London yelled. He stared at her, his eyes showing a world of hurt.
“You fucking eloped, Bridge?” Tripp locked his jaw, then turned around.
I hugged Camille to my side and watched the show. Standing behind Tripp, Aspen did not look pleased. With her hands on her hips, her giant pregnant belly protruded in front of her like a shield. She flicked her hair behind her and narrowed her eyes at London and Collier.
“What in the world would make you think it was okay to run off and elope?” The couple looked at one another, mouths opening and closing like fish out of water. “How could you not think about how that would make the rest of us feel?” The waterworks started. “That was incredibly selfish. Every single person here would have been honored to watch two people that we love bind themselves to one another. But no! You took the easy way out.” She shook her head back and forth, then clutched at her stomach and keeled over. Her expression turned pained.
Camille jumped up and ran to Aspen’s side. “Where do you feel it? Back? Abdomen?”
“All over.” Aspen gritted her teeth.
“No, no, no. It’s too fuckin’ early,” Hank growled, then escorted his wife back to her seat. “Deep breaths, Darlin’.”
Camille stood in front of Aspen, talking quietly. She asked if she could touch her belly and Aspen nodded. Then she looked at Hank, waiting for his approval. He nodded and looked at her as if she was the sweetest woman in the whole world. Probably because she was.
She laid a hand on Aspen’s belly. “Hold my hand Aspen. When you feel a contraction squeeze my hand, okay?” Camille was all business. I loved watching her. The issue with my brother and London’s untimely nuptials were forgotten in Aspen’s obvious condition.
London was around the other side of Aspen, whispering in her ear, apologizing, kissing and nuzzling her hair. Aspen focused on her baby and squeezed Camille’s hand when warranted. Camille looked at her watch. “Was it stronger, the same, or lighter.”
“It was lighter. It didn’t hurt all over.” Aspen took a deep breath. Hank watched, his sharp eyes flicking to Aspen then to Camille. Oliver stood behind them pacing back and forth, his ear to a phone.
“Yes, contractions. We don’t know!” he roared into the phone.
“Buddy, keep it down. You talking to the doctor?”
“Yeah,” Oliver said, phone plastered to his ear. Camille shared some specifics with Oliver which he reiterated into the phone.
After thirty nail-biting minutes, it was determined that Aspen had been having Braxton Hicks contractions, also known as false labor. Her breathing returned to normal, the baby settled down, and Hank hovered near his wife like a lion protecting his cubs.
“When’s he ready?” Hank asked Oliver.
“Half an hour. Let’s jet.”
“Darlin’, we’re going to go to the doctor.” Hank stopped his wife from speaking with a finger to her lips. “Angel, I swear by all that’s holy, we’re going, you’re not arguing and once we get a clean bill of health for you and our daughter, we’re going home for the day.”
“But…”
“No buts about it. I’m taking care of my girls and that’s that. Oliver, you know what to do.”
“Already done. Canceled everything. Nothing’s more important than Pen,” Oliver said to Hank while in the arms of Dean, Oliver’s significant other.
Dean held Oliver’s face and wiped his eyes with both thumbs. Oliver shoved his head in Dean’s chest. Oliver truly loved Aspen, maybe even as much as Hank, only in an entirely different way. The same way the angered brooding Tripp Devereux felt right now about London and Collier’s eloping. Emma spoke quietly to Tripp as he stood in the corner. She whispered in his ear and slid her hand up and down his bicep in a soothing gesture. Made me wonder for the millionth time what the two had going. They claimed that they were just friends but I wasn’t so sure. Mentally I noted I needed to have a chat with my baby sister.
Hank nodded at Oliver then addressed Camille. “Cancel everything for the rest of the day, Cami. And…,”He took a strained breath. “You proved yourself. I’m waiving the six months trial period. You’re official starting Monday; benefits for you and your son start first of the month. And a raise. A big one!” He pulled her into an allover hug; one only a man of his size could do without me want to take him out. As it was, it took extreme patience watching another man put his hands on my girlfriend.
“Really, Mr. Jensen…”
His eyes warned her.
“Hank,” she corrected. He smiled. “I didn’t expect anything. I’ve experienced Braxton Hicks before. They tend to start around thirty weeks and are often caused by unnecessary stress and strain.”
Hank looked at London and Collier.
“Hank, mate,” Collier started.
“Nothin’ out of you. I’m pissed at both of you. You were selfish, and can wallow in that guilt for the next few days. I don’t care. The stress you caused my wife…unacceptable!” His words cut the tension raging through the group. Emma gasped, Tripp sneered, Dean and Oliver hugged and London and Collier looked like puppies that had been kicked, left to starve and shoved over the side of a bridge. As they should look for the stunt they pulled. Getting married, none being the wiser. Bollocks.
Hank and Aspen left with Oliver and Dean. I paid the bill and came back for Camille. “Let me walk you back to work.” She nodded then excused herself.
Collier came over and clasped my shoulder. “You brassed off, too?”
“Yeah, but I get why you did it. You didn’t want to share her in that moment.” And I did get it. If given the chance to whisk Camille away and make her mine for eternity, I’m not sure I’d make a different decision. Shite. I was getting way ahead of myself.
Collier pulled me into a tight embrace, the likes of which men didn’t often do in public. “Brother mine, you know me too well. It’s our second marriage. We didn’t want to go through the rigmarole.”
“I get it.” I smiled and clasped his shoulder. “Plan a party. Let the rest of us celebrate with you. It will go a long way towards re-establishing the peace, mate. ‘Sides, you still haven’t told Mum. You think I‘m brassed off? You’re the nitwit that’s never going to hear the end of it.”
Emma chimed in as she hooked C
ollier in a hug. “You are so dead, brother mine! D-E-A-D. I can’t wait to see the fireworks. Can I tell Mum? Please….” She drew out the word and I laughed.
“Come on Precious, let’s go. You have some engagements to cancel.”
Camille held my hand in comfortable silence as we walked back to the AIR Bright building, both lost in our thoughts. “I can’t believe all that happened. And you know what the best part was?”
I pulled her into my side and hooked a hand around her waist. “What’s that, love?”
“None of your friends grilled us about our relationship or the fact that I have a son!” She laughed. Leave it to my sweet girl to find the silver lining.
After I escorted her to her building, I tugged her to the side of the glass doors and twirled her around, planting her up against the wall. Then I laid my lips over hers. She yelped then moaned into my kiss. She was wet, sweet and tasted of summer, all lemon and iced tea. Her tongue dipped into my mouth and swept alongside mine, taking as much as she was giving. I tunneled a hand in her hair and one on her hip, gripping her tightly, holding her just where I wanted her. She couldn’t get away and I’d never let her.
After a few more slow pecks, her lips moved away and I chased them. “Nate, honey, I need to go to work. Hank has several things I need to cancel.” She breathed into my mouth as I took her lips once more. She didn’t seem in a hurry to get away. When we touched, I knew I held a power over her, the same power she held over me. It was all-encompassing and could make the grandest of plans disappear with one touch of her lips to mine.
“Two days and you and the little one are mine. All day. Maybe even all night.”
“Nate, don’t push it…” she warned.
“I make no promises.” I grinned. She rolled her eyes and pushed off me. She went back into work, and I watched her through the glass. Her yellow blouse moved with her body like a flag blowing delicately in the wind.
She settled at her desk, and then looked up at me through the glass. Her smile stretched wide and the apples of her cheeks pinked prettily. I waved and entered the elevator. Our gazes held until the very last moment when the doors closed. Bliss. She was my bliss, and I couldn’t wait to take her and her son out for the day.
If only I knew where I was going to take them. I’d call Mum. She’d have some ideas. Maybe I could get a call in before Collier’s news broke.
That was not going to be fun. At least it would take the heat off me and my love life. Poor bastard. When Eleanor Walker got wind that her son eloped, she’d be more than angry. None of us would be safe. She’d likely get on a plane just to smack some sense into the bloke. When it came to her babies, you did not mess with Eleanor Walker. Collier was going to be in a world of hurt. I snickered.
“Better him than me.”
Chapter 12
“Mommy, why isn’t he here yet?” Tanner looked through the blinds of our second story apartment.
“He’ll be here soon, honey. Relax.” I mentally did a check list. One change of clothes. An extra shirt, because you never know when he was going to spill an entire drink or fall in the mud. Food and toys...
“I’m gonna die if I don’t find out where we’re going.” He slumped away from the window and into the thick cushions of our couch. “Do you think he’ll like me?”
I stopped pulling things together. Snacks, sunblock, the extra clothes for Tanner and me for tomorrow just in case. I set the Capri Sun Roaring Waters pouch in my hand down and watched my son worry his lip. His little fingers twisted together and his brow was knitted in concentration.
“Baby, what’s wrong?” I sat down next to him and pulled my guy into my lap. “Tell Mommy.”
Tanner rubbed his face into my chest and clung to my arms. “What if he doesn’t like me?”
“Why wouldn’t he like you?” I asked, surprised. Tanner had always been confident and outspoken. What was it about Nate that had him acting so strange?
He shrugged. “Maybe if he likes me he could do big boy stuff with me. You know, play baseball and stuff.”
In moments like these I wanted to murder Tyler Thornton for leaving my son a fatherless boy. Every boy deserved to have their parents. Both of them. Like me, Tanner wished he had a complete family. My biggest worry about raising him alone was knowing he’d need a man in his life.
I didn’t want to get my hopes up about Nate. He’d seemed okay with Tanner and was making an effort to get to know him. That could change in a moment. He may not want to be tied down by a child…and they tie you down. As in boat to a dock, anchor to the ocean floor. It’s their world and you live in it kind of tied down.
Three hard raps came at the door and Tanner’s face lit up like he’d been handed a huge ice-cream sundae. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and said a silent prayer that today went well, that the man I adored would have space in his life and heart for my son.
“Hey there, sport.” Nate entered, laid a large palm on Tanner’s small head and shuffled his hair. I needed to take him to get it cut. It was a bit shaggier than usual.
Tanner beamed at the bit of affection Nate bestowed.
I scoped out my boyfriend from head to toe. Nate was the epitome of male perfection. He wore a long sleeved Henley-style shirt in dark grey. It looked soft and well worn, something I’d love to snuggle into when I laid my head on his chest. The Henley sculpted perfectly to the incredible body I knew lay hidden beneath. His shirt went well with the dark designer jeans and trendy brown suede shoes. His slicked back hair was still wet from the shower.
Nate was doing his own perusal. “Like what you see?” I attempted to be coy.
“More than I should right now.” He nodded down to Tanner, and a sexy grin stole across his face.
“I’m so ‘cited, Mr. Nate. Where are we gonna go?” Tanner hopped from one foot to the other. He looked adorable in his blue overalls, yellow striped shirt and red hooded sweatshirt. Slung over his shoulders was a little backpack with black and white checkers mimicking a race flag with a couple of red and blue racecars on the pockets.
Nate leaned down to eye level with Tanner. “I have a full day of fun planned, but first, I’ve got something for you.” Tanner’s eyes widened. Nate pulled a shiny gold circle from his pocket. Next time I see you I’ll have a shiny gold coin for you he had said. He followed through. It was official. Nate was perfect.
“Oh my gosh! A gold coin. I’m rich!”
Nate chuckled and held up the coin. “It’s not just any gold coin. It’s a chocolate coin!”
Tanner’s mouth opened as wide as his eyes. “I can eat it too?”
“If you want to. Sure. And, just in case you want to, sport, I’ve got a few more. You can share with your best mate. Zach, is it?” Nate looked at me for verification and I nodded.
My son jumped up and down holding his loot. “Where we going today, huh, Mr. Nate?”
“I thought we’d start with the Brooklyn Children’s Museum.”
Tanner tilted his head to the side and scrunched up his face. “What’s a moz-u-liam?”
“That’s where dead people rest.” Nate said plain as day. I smacked my forehead with my hand while Tanner shrieked with laughter.
“We’re gonna see dead people?”
“No, that’s what a mausoleum is,” Nate said very matter-of-fact. “We’re going to the Children’s Museum,” he drew out the word so Tanner would hear the difference. “At the museum, we’ll get to experience a variety of fun things including live performances, exhibits, pet some furry friends, and make our own pizzas!”
“I love pizza, and I love animals. Mom, can we go, can we go right now?” Tanner squealed.
“Let me say hi to your mum first. Then we’ll shove off, yeah?” Nate held his hand up and Tanner smacked it in a high five.
“Go put your coins away, and go to the bathroom before we leave, baby. I don’t want you having to go the second we get into Mr. Nate’s car. Okay?” Translation: I don’t want Tanner having an accident on Nate’s pristine
leather seats in his very expensive car.
Tanner scurried off hollering and jumping down the hall to the bathroom.
I looked up as Nate stalked toward me. His blue eyes were the brightest I’d seen them, matching the color of the sky. His hands cupped my neck, his thumbs lifted my chin before his lips covered mine. He tasted of mint and English breakfast tea, two flavors that were quickly becoming my addiction. Nate pulled my body flush against him as he kissed me. I felt the kiss through every inch of my body, wanting more, but knowing I couldn’t have it. Not right now. One of his hands sifted through my hair. Thank God I wore it down, or it would be a ratty mess the way he liked to maneuver my head this way and that. He took my mouth in long deep sweeps of his tongue and sharp tiny bites of his teeth. The man could kiss. He brought me right to the pinnacle of excitement in the time it took to light a match. He ignited desire just by saying my name in that gravelly ’just woken up from a long sleep’ tone of voice. Sexy as hell, and all mine.
He pulled back until our mouths were an inch apart. “Morning, Precious. You look ravishing.”
Really? I didn’t agree with his sentiment only wearing a simple light blue sweater, jeans and ankle boots, but I felt good. He made me feel as though I was dressed to the nines and about to walk the red carpet.
“Morning. Thank you,” I whispered against his lips. He licked them, which I took as my queue to lay one on him. Long sips from his lips would never be enough. I’d always want more; need to have more of him. His hand palmed my ass, and brought me flush against his body. I moaned into his mouth feeling the ever present thickness pressed against my belly.
“Isn’t that gross?” a quiet small voice said not far behind us, followed by a giggle. My ears perked, knowing we had an audience.
“Girl cooties are sick,” another voice said. Nate pulled away from my mouth and grinned like a loon, rubbing my nose with his.
“Looks like we got caught.” Nate waggled his eyebrows.
“Guess so.” Without warning Nate yanked himself back, clutched his chest and pretended to clumsily fall back on shaky legs.
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