Men in Charge
A Contemporary Romance Box Set
Natasha L. Black
Copyright © 2019 by Natasha L. Black
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Contents
Introduction
Book One - Forbidden Daddy
Book Two - Redemption
Book Three - Protecting Her
Book Four - Saving Sky
Book Five - Protecting Sasha
Pretend You’re Mine (Sample)
A Note from the Author
Also By Natasha L. Black
About the Author and Mailing List
Introduction
Book One - Forbidden Daddy
It’s been years since I last saw her.
And, boy is she all grown up.
Breathtaking eyes that can see right through me…
And luscious curves for days.
I can’t help but think about her putting my son to bed…
Only to sneak into my room after…
For one WILD night.
Book Two - Redemption
Now I’m back.
Older. Stronger. Ruthless.
She needs my help.
And she’s got secrets.
I’ll destroy those that want to hurt her.
And take my revenge.
This time I’m claiming what’s mine, once and for all.
Book Three - Protecting Her
Strike one: He’s my brother’s rival.
Strike two: We met in the most unfortunate circumstances. Let’s just say I broke a bottle on this head in the middle of a bar fight.
Strike three: For the first time ever, I’m finding it difficult to control myself around a man.
Book Four - Saving Sky
I'm not really a strip club kinda guy.
I like my lady all to myself.
But a lap dance from Sky at my captain's party started it all.
And now I can't get her out of my head.
Book Five - Protecting Sasha
Her exotic beauty and delicious curves make me want to share not only my last name but also my bed with her.
I need to taste her, touch her and make her mine. When the mob comes after us, I have a real reason to teach them a lesson.
They have no idea who the h*ll they’re messing with.
Book One - Forbidden Daddy
1
Blake
I stared at the papers on my desk, tapping my fingers. The days seemed to be getting longer and longer, and the last place I wanted to be was in my office not giving a crap about what was going on. I turned toward the computer and looked at the time, rolling my eyes. It was early, too early, which only meant it wasn’t time to leave yet. I knew it was a terrible state I was in, but it was what it was. I’d worked so hard for my company, but with everything that had happened over the past year, nothing seemed to matter anymore. I had turned into the guy I always pitied and never understood, and while that should have made me angry, it only made me more depressed.
I sighed, looking up at the open door, catching Inez, my assistant, staring at me from her desk. She raised an eyebrow and rubbed her face. She was staring at me again, something that had become a regular occurrence, especially since everything I didn’t do fell on her shoulders. I should have cared about that, but unfortunately I didn’t, which made it even more difficult for her to deal with. She tried to be understanding. She really did, but after a year, I couldn’t blame her for getting impatient.
A year—sheesh, I still couldn’t believe it had been that long since my lust for life had died out along with my deceased wife. The moment I’d heard the words that my wife was dead, everything inside of me had come to a screeching halt. There were too many surprises wrapped up in that one big event, and after that, I settled for going through the motions. The craziest part about it all? I was completely and totally aware it was happening, but I didn’t know how to stop doing it. I had even gotten to where my responses to my eight-year-old son, Cooper, were generic, by the book, and plain as day. We muddled through the evenings with the same robotic motions, pushing through the hours until I could finally lay my head in the bed, take a sleeping pill, and pass out, only to start completely over the next day. It was like a gray fog that followed me everywhere, sucking the color and shine from my existence.
Inez wasn’t the only one to notice. It was noticeable to everyone who knew me, especially Cooper. Every day, he watched me walk out of the bedroom in silence, grab my coffee, take a sip, fix something for breakfast for him, and then disappear until I was ready for work. Every day Cooper would sit there, waiting for me to say anything, do anything that would show I was still in there, but it never happened. He would leave for school in the same silence that we started the day with, and that would pick up when I got him from school that afternoon. I loved my son, but I didn’t see the point in being that wild and crazy, happy man anymore. And I knew that made me a shitty father.
Cooper was his mother’s son. He loved everything about her, acted like her, thought like her, and to be honest, had very little in common with me besides being the little boy I loved. We had done things as a family and it was always great, but once his mother was gone, there was no bridge for us, especially since I couldn’t seem to get my head screwed on straight to save my own life. I was starting to think this was just how it was going to be from here on out.
My thoughts were disrupted by the sound of Inez clearing her throat. I looked up, realizing she had come into the office, and I hadn’t even seen her do it. She had one eyebrow raised and my cell phone in her hand, offering it to me. I didn’t want to talk to anyone, but I took it, knowing there was no way she was going to let it go. I glanced down at the screen and sighed. It was my best friend, Hollis. We had grown up together, been inseparable for years, and despite that I’d moved all the way across the country to Boston, he remained a staple in my life. He had been a huge influence in my relationship with my wife and was the best man at my wedding. Hit pretty hard by the news of her death as well, he’d been trying to get me back on my feet ever since. The grief and the heartbreak coupled together, though, were almost too much to bear, even with his constant support.
“Hey, Hollis,” I said, trying to sound like I was busy.
“Don’t act like you were busy,” he chastised. “You know you were sitting there staring off into space, drumming your fingers on your desk.”
“Inez needs to remember not to tell everyone my every motion.” I looked up at her.
She smiled and shrugged her shoulders, walking away from the desk and back to hers. I shook my head and swiveled the mouse on the screen, hoping something would happen other than the constant count of unread emails popping up. But no, it was the same old thing. Maybe one day, I’d actually open them.
“Okay. We have something to talk about,” Hollis said.
“Please, don’t lecture me again,” I said.
“Nope, not in the plans,” he replied. “I realize now that no matter what words I say, you’re going to keep fighting me on being a human being. So instead, I’m sending you something that’ll help.”
“A new soul?” I groaned.
“Better than that,” Hollis said. “I’m sending my youngest sister, Aly, out there, and I don’t want one single argument to come from you. You need this, and so does she.”
“Okay, I’m con
fused,” I said. “I mean, your sister can’t be any older than twenty at this point. Why in the world would you send her out here to me? This isn’t some weird mail order bride thing, is it?”
“No, you creepy bastard.” He laughed. “Look, Aly is a smart, bright girl who’s killing herself to get through college, and she needs a steady, full-time job so she can stop working twenty jobs at once. And you need a nanny for Cooper because, let’s face it, the last time I was there, it looked like you were two steps away from feeding the kid frozen meals three times a day. You can afford to pay Aly and pay her well because taking care of your son is a very important job. Cooper probably misses having a woman around, someone he can at least rely on to smile at him, play with him, help him with school work, wash his clothes, and make sure his life is as fluent and happy as possible.”
“I don’t think I’m doing a terrible job under the circumstances,” I said, slightly annoyed.
“I’m not saying you are but let me ask you a question. What circumstances?” Hollis said. “It’s been an entire year, dude, and though I know the whole situation was screwed up, there still isn’t any reason you can’t at least try to pull your shit together. Cooper isn’t the only one who needs that.”
“Who else needs that?” I asked. “My assistant?”
“To be honest, probably.” Hollis laughed. “You’ve put the company on her shoulders. With Aly there, though, you can take that back from her. You can start working again, and I don’t mean just showing up. That doesn’t freaking count. You need to work on your company, man, get your freaking head out of the sand. This company is running off dreams and hopes at this point, and if you don’t start making moves, you’re going to lose it all.”
“It’s not doing that bad,” I said.
“At the moment,” Hollis replied. “You have a relatively capable assistant, but eventually, her zest will run dry. You need to run your own damn company, bro.”
I thought about what he was saying, trying to create some sort of argument to counterbalance the whole idea of a stranger moving into my home, but the strength it took to argue was more than I had. I pulled out a piece of paper and grabbed a pen, feeling like I had been defeated. Hollis meant the best, and maybe he was right, but that didn’t break the trance I was in.
“Fine,” I finally said. “When do I pick her up?”
“Yes!” Hollis celebrated. “I’m telling you, man, this is a great way to start moving forward. When the newness of it wears off, I bet you’ll see how much of a good idea it is.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I grumbled. “What’s the information?”
“You’re going to pick her up on Friday from Logan Airport,” Hollis said. “She’s on flight 932 coming from San Francisco, arriving at ten in the morning, so don’t be late picking her up. And I want you to pick her up, not some chauffeur. You need to get to know each other. It’s been many years since you’ve seen her, and she’s not a kid anymore.”
“I’ll be there,” I sighed.
“Perfect, man. Well, look, I gotta run. I’ll send you a text on Thursday to remind you, and cheer up, things are going to get better.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Thanks.”
When I hung up the phone, I looked down at my screen where a message from Inez reminded me it was time to pick up Cooper. I looked up and nodded at her before standing and grabbing my jacket. I didn’t want to think about it anymore, but I had to let Cooper know there’d be someone new coming into the house. It would probably be good for him, but the idea of a change from the mundane didn’t sound appetizing to me at all. When I got to Cooper’s school, he was waiting on the curb like usual, looking down at the ground, his coat hanging off his shoulders, and his uniform looking worse for wear after a long day at school.
“Hey man.” I forced a smile as he climbed in.
“Hey,” he mumbled.
“So, I have some news,” I said, driving off. “I got you a nanny. She’ll be here on Friday. She’s going to help out around the house, get you to and from school, and whatever else nannies do.”
Cooper didn’t say anything, just nodded his head, looking out the front windshield. He’d turned into a small version of me, slumping through the days, not saying much, not smiling ever. He and I had very little in common and didn’t talk that much. He knew I loved him, that was never a question, but between my mood and him losing his mom, he’d become a different kid. Part of that was my fault, so maybe having a nanny coming wasn’t that bad of an idea after all. At least the kid would get to have a more normal existence and someone to talk to who wasn’t riddled with depression and guilt.
“What are we having for dinner?” Cooper asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I was thinking about that. I think I’ll make something, I’m getting tired of pizza.”
“Can we not do frozen chicken nuggets, please?” Cooper begged.
I smiled slightly and nodded. I needed to pick my ass up because this kid was getting the full brunt of my incurable lassitude.
2
Aly
It was Wednesday, the only day of the week when I worked only one of my jobs and was off by the afternoon. I really wanted to sleep, but I had a ton of school work to catch up on. There was also laundry overflowing from the baskets, and my head was not in the right place for either task. My brother, Hollis, had called earlier and told me he had something to tell me. It always made me nervous when he had some sort of surprise in store. It was never something simple. Just then, I heard him walk into my parents’ house, his voice bellowing through the empty halls.
“Hello?” he said.
“I’m back here, folding laundry,” I yelled out.
He popped his head around the corner. “Oh, there you are. Where is everyone?”
“Work,” I said. “I gotta get dinner started so Mom doesn’t have to worry about it.”
“You’re a regular Mary Poppins.” He chuckled. “For middle-aged people.”
I snorted. “Yeah, it’s the least I can do for them letting me stay here while I get through school.”
“Since you brought it up,” Hollis said, sitting down in the chair next to the bed. “I’ve set something up for you.”
“Oh God.” I rolled my eyes. “What?”
“You're going to fly out to Boston and become Blake’s son’s nanny,” Hollis said with a big grin.
“What?” I said, looking at him with wide eyes. “That seems a little random. I don’t get it. Why would you want to ship me off to Blake’s?”
“Don’t be hurt. It’s not like that. I’m not trying to get rid of you,” he said. “It’s just that he’ll pay you really well, and I mean twice the amount you make at both your jobs combined.”
“That’s a lot of money,” I said, pondering.
“Well, it’s worth it,” Hollis replied. “And while you’re there, you can do some of your online courses for college while his son Cooper is at school. I know you’ve been struggling to catch up on your degree with how much you work.”
“I have to work that much. You know Mom and Dad can’t afford college for me,” I sighed. “That’s the blessing of being the youngest of five. I was kind of left to the mercy of you guys.”
I laughed, showing I wasn’t bitter about it but letting him know I was serious. I couldn’t run off to a job if it wasn’t going to be long-term. I had worked hard to get the two jobs I had, not that they were glamorous or enjoyable in the least, but they paid for my school, and that was important to me. It was all so sudden, though, and I wasn’t used to sudden changes like that. My life had been relatively simple since I was a kid with two working parents and a house full of kids.
“Look, I know you’ve been working two full-time jobs,” Hollis said, “and trying to do school work at the same time. This is actually the first time I’ve seen you doing something other than that,” he said, motioning to where I sat.
“Well, I should be working on schoolwork, but Mom asked me to fold the laundry she put in this morning
,” I said. “You know she needs the help. They’ve always been hard-core in their work ethic, which is the only reason I’m surviving this routine as it is. They taught me well.”
“They did.” Hollis smiled. “You’re one of the hardest-working people I know, but you shouldn’t have to kill yourself if there’s another option. I know you’ve been struggling to keep up with school.”
I sighed. “Yeah, I had to drop another class.”
“See?” Hollis said. “If you took this job with Blake, it would give you time to spend on your studies. Like, eight hours a day you could commit to it or maybe five or six if you have nanny duties to do during the day. Still, that’s a hell of a lot more than you have now. On top of that, you’d be helping Blake out too. He needs something like this and so does Cooper.”
“He’s still not doing well since his wife died?” I asked, feeling sympathy for Hollis’ best friend.
Hollis shook his head. “No, he isn’t. Cooper struggles, but Blake was thrown for a loop. He can’t seem to get his head back in the game, and I know his son could use someone like you in his life. The kid is lost.”
I looked down at the towel I was folding, thinking about the opportunity in front of me. I felt for Blake. I couldn’t imagine how it would feel to lose the love of your life. His son had to be in a very lonely place with how sad and broken-down Blake sounded. It was a huge choice to make, though, giving up everything I’d worked for here; my family, my jobs.
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