Brother’s Best Friend

by Kaylee, Katy

  “Everyone needs a goal,” I quipped.

  “Are you happy, baby?”

  “Ah, Jake, no one is as happy as me.”

  “That’s not true.” He leaned down and sucked my nipple, nearly making me forget that we were having a discussion.

  “I’m as happy,” he said, gently biting the other nipple.

  I smiled. “Did you think when I handed you my virginity at the lake that we’d end up here?”

  He lifted his head to look at me. “Did you?”

  “I wished it,” I admitted.

  “I wasn’t as smart as you back then. I do know that you rocked my world and I never forgot it. Perhaps this dream was there the whole time after all.”

  “Dreams do come true, don’t they?”

  “Mine did, baby. With you and J.J., I live my dream every day.”

  There was a saying that went, “be careful what you wish for,” that had a negative connotation. It suggested that achieving a goal may not yield happiness. But I was living proof that the dream wasn’t money or a business. No, the real dream people needed to pursue was love. I could lose my bakery tomorrow, but I’d still be the happiest person in the world with Jake and J.J.

  I opened my body and heart to Jake, taking him inside me. “You’re my dream, Jake. Always.”

  ***The End***

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  Come with Me (Excerpt)

  DESCRIPTION

  Walk into your office to meet your new boss (you already hate him because he’s been hired for a position YOU deserved), and guess what?

  He turns out to be your ex!

  No…get yourself together girl, you don’t need an office romance to complicate your already complicated life!

  And certainly not with the man who broke your heart five years ago.

  I am trying hard to fight my heart, it still does a somersault in my chest.

  And suddenly, ‘boss’ begins to feel too formal.

  The intensity of his eyes makes me want to squirm,

  Not in a scary way, but in a god-I-need-you-to-touch-me way.

  Being with him feels so right.

  And his playing with my four year old feels just perfect.

  I should be the happiest woman alive.

  Wasn’t this how I wanted it to be? How it was supposed to be?

  The problem?

  Well, let’s say that he’s been so completely honest and open with me and I?

  I’ve acted like the biggest jerk, keeping the biggest secret of my life.

  A secret that would probably rock his world, hopefully for the better.

  But would he be able to forgive me and take a chance with me once again?

  Or would this ruin my so perfect happily ever after?

  Michaela

  Although I’ve always been a perky person, I’d never been a morning person until I became a mom. I wasn’t as organized either. But now I’ve got the morning routine down to a science. Today was no different. I was out of bed by six a.m., and my coffee was already hot and waiting for me when I headed straight to kitchen for my morning caffeine jolt. I took my first sip admiring my handiwork. The kitchen was the first project I completed when I set up the lease purchase of the home from my sister and brother-in-law. The early twentieth century home had wonderful bones, but needed a little…or a lot, of TLC. Not unlike me sometimes.

  But I didn’t have time to contemplate my home or my fixit needs. With my extra-large mug of hot coffee made from beans from a local Berkeley roaster, I headed to my one bathroom to shower. The black and white floor tiles were original, as was the tub. The room was gorgeous, or would be as soon as I painted, fixed the cracks in the wall tiles, and changed the light fixture.

  I was in and out of the shower quickly to save time and water, which is expensive in California because it didn’t rain much. In my fuzzy robe, my long auburn hair wrapped in a towel, and my coffee mug in one hand, I went to my son AJ’s bedroom.

  For a minute I watched him sleep, my heart filling with love and gratitude. The vastness of my love for him was always able to overcome the sadness that I felt over his father. To this day, I don’t know why Alex ended things with a text message. The end of the relationship was so unexpected and abrupt, it made my head spin.

  At the time, I hadn’t had time to process what had happened, because a week before that, my parents died in a car accident, and a week after I learned I was pregnant. I did make an attempt to tell Alex about the baby, but by then he’d blocked my phone number.

  Even after five years, I hadn’t been able to come up with a suitable explanation. I was left with simply he either lied about how much he loved me, or once away from me, the feelings dissipated. Fast. Or maybe it was the lure of the beautiful woman he’d gotten together with.

  Terrified but determined, I put my life back together, finishing graduate school earning my MBA, and having a baby. My sweet, sweet baby was now four years old, and would be heading to pre-school in the fall. As difficult as my life had been when he was born, today, I couldn’t imagine a life without him. For that, I had to be grateful to Alex.

  For a second, I wondered what he was doing. Did he stay in New York after graduate school? Was he married? Did he have other children…ones he knew about, and loved and cared for?

  I pushed those thoughts aside and brushed my hand over AJ’s dark hair. “Good morning, good morning, it’s time to start the day…” I sang the song from the movie Singing in the Rain, just as my mother had done for me and my sister when we were growing up.

  He moaned and rolled over. His green eyes, his father’s eyes, opened and he smiled. “Mommy.”

  I smiled back. “Good morning, sweetie. It’s time to get up.”

  He nodded, and at this point, he was good about getting up and starting to get himself ready for the day. I wondered how long it would be before morning times would get hard, as I’d heard it often did from other moms. He and I had already set out his clothes last night, and packed a backpack of his favorite things to take to my sister, who watched him for me while I worked.

  Another wave of gratitude washed over me to have such a wonderful sister and brother-in-law. Without them, I don’t know if I’d ever be able to get a master’s degree or become the VP of marketing at a wine import business. They let me and AJ live with them until I finished school and was able to get a full-time job. They watched AJ for free during that time too.

  Today, I was in a better situation, doing a lease purchase on the home that they’d had as an investment property. And I paid for AJs care, although I know it was nowhere near what I’d be paying if I had to find childcare somewhere else.

  I went into my small plain bedroom that also needed some work, and got dressed. I didn’t normally worry too much about what I wore to work, but today, the new head of Altieri Wine Imports was coming in. I let out a growl of frustration. I had wanted that position badly. I knew I was capable, but Giorgio Altieri, the owner, decided to bring in someone else. Someone from the outside.

  I pleaded my case, which he was sympathetic to, but in the end, he stuck by his plan. I couldn’t argue too much, because like my sister, Giorgio had been so good to me as well. I’d interned for him in college, and when I was pregnant and trying to get through grad school, he hired me part-time. Then when I finished with grad school, he hired me full time.

  So, I’d suck it up. Maybe this outsider from New York would hate it on the west coast. San Francisco, where the business was located, was a differ
ent city from most. I loved it, but for some, it was too eclectic or progressive. I laughed. If they thought San Francisco was liberal, they’d think Berkeley, where I lived across the bay, was downright socialist.

  I considered wearing black or gray, as I understand they do a lot in New York, but instead, opted for a teal business dress that accentuated my auburn hair. It clung to my curves, but being a bigger girl, most things did. It wasn’t overdone or risqué.

  I put on makeup, not too much, but enough to highlight my clear fair skin and blue eyes, and brushed out my hair, letting it dry in it’s natural wavy state.

  I set AJ’s breakfast on the table just as he entered the room. “Did you brush your teeth?”

  “Yep.” He climbed up into his chair.

  “All of them? Or at least the ones you want to keep?”

  He rolled his eyes at me as he picked up his spoon and dug into his cereal. I poured another cup of coffee, as my bread toasted. When it popped up from the toaster, I added peanut butter and then sat with AJ at the table.

  “What are your plans today, little man?”

  He shrugged. “Dunno.”

  “Ah come on, are you and Kyle going to build a Lego metropolis?” I asked, referring to my nephew Kyle who was only a few months older than AJ. Of course, unlike me, my sister had been happily married when she conceived. Today she was still happily married, and now had two kids, Kyle and a two-year old daughter, Sacha. Had my plans gone right, I might have two kids too.

  “Maybe.” His eyes lit up. “Did you know they have Legos to make dinosaurs?”

  “I didn’t.”

  He nodded as he worked to keep the too large bite of cereal in his mouth. He succeeded with the cereal, but some milk escaped. “I want it.”

  “I don’t blame you.” I wiped his mouth with a napkin and made a mental note to add his request to the present list I kept on my phone. Being a mom meant writing down everything because there was too much to memorize otherwise.

  We finished our breakfast and then made the short walk around the block to my sister’s home, where I dropped him off with a kiss. Then I trekked to the corner bus stop to take the bus to the BART station for the train under the bay to San Francisco. I had a car, but I didn’t like dealing with commuting and parking. Since BART was convenient, and I could read or work during the commute, it was a better option.

  I arrived five minutes early, as usual. A few staff were already there. Most were friendly, but a few were a bit cold. They seemed to think I got my job and promotions because of my close friendship with Giorgio. I know I got the job because my family had a long history with him starting with my father working for him, and then Giorgio and his wife becoming surrogate parents when mine died. But I earned my promotions. I was very good at my job.

  “Hey Michaela.” Clara, Giorgio’s former assistant, said as I passed her desk.

  “Good morning Clara. Is the new guy in?” I nodded toward Giorgio’s old office.

  “Not yet. But here are some things Mr. Altieri left for you to help him get settled.” She gave me a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry it’s not you. I think you would have been great.”

  “Thank you.” She was one of very few who thought so, which was probably why Giorgio hired someone else. The job was demanding enough, employees who didn’t think I deserved it could make it impossible. “I’ll be in my office. Let me know when he arrives.”

  “Will do.”

  I went into my office, and only took a cursory glance at what Giorgio wanted me to review with the new guy. I set it aside and turned on my computer to check on the social media that had gone out over the last 12 hours to review the response. It was interesting how popular wine memes and posts could be.

  “Michaela?”

  I looked up at Clara standing in my doorway. She had an interesting look on her face.

  “Yes.”

  “He’s here.”

  “Are you okay?” I stood up and straightened my dress.

  “I think I just had an orgasm.”

  I barked out a laugh. It was a funny statement in general, but Clara was in her sixties so for some reason it was funnier.

  “It’s been awhile, so I’m not sure.”

  “That’s sad,” I said as I joined her at the door. Although it had been years since I’d one, at least one given by a man.

  “He’s …he’s …he’s just wow.”

  I hadn’t been with a man since Alex. Not that there hadn’t been opportunities, at least in the last few years. But I didn’t have to be interested in anyone to appreciate a good looking man. Based on Clara’s reaction, I was really curious about the boss.

  “I can’t wait to meet him.” I walked over to Giorgio’s old office and looked in. The man had his back to me as he looked out the window. Something about him had the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end.

  He turned around, and I stared into green eyes that matched my son’s. I stared into the face of my son’s father, Alex Landon.

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  Also by Katy Kaylee

  Saving Her

  Just Faking It

  Misbehaved

  Second Chances Forever: A Contemporary Romance Collection

  Misunderstood

  Just Another Chance

  Saving Beth

  Best Friend’s Li’l Sis

  Forbidden Desires: A 6 Book Romance Boxset

  Make You Mine

  Love You Forever

  Come With Me

  Daddy

  Say Yes

  Playing Pretend