Attached to You (Carolina Rebels 4)

I find him a spare toothbrush, still in the packaging, that he can use and leave him to crawl into bed. Otis jumps up behind me. I rub him while I watch Brayden brush his teeth and then shed his clothes until he’s only wearing his boxer-briefs. He slides in next to me, pulls me against him, and wraps his arms around me.

“Get some sleep.”

“Yes, sir,” I mumble, already dozing off.

***

A loud groan wakes me up. Sounds like Deanna regrets yesterday right about now. My phone rings and she groans louder.

“Make it stop!”

I chuckle as I reach for it. It’s EJ, which concerns me because he doesn’t normally call me and if he does, it’s never this early in the morning. “Hey,” I answer.

“Hey, I didn’t wake you, did I?”

“N

o. What’s up? Everything okay with Bree?”

“Oh, yeah. It’s just that Mom’s sick and I feel like she should be quarantined so Bree won’t get sick. Do you mind if we hang with you today?”

Shit.

“Who are you talking to?” Deanna crankily asks.

“Fuck, man,” EJ starts.

“It’s fine; hold on a second, will you?”

“Yeah, sure.” He doesn’t sound so sure, however.

I press mute and glance down at her. “It’s a friend of mine. He’s a single dad and his mom helps him take care of the baby because his work keeps him busy. His mom is sick and he wants to hang with me today to keep the baby away from the house.”

Deanna props up on an elbow. “Oh.” Then she shocks the hell out of me. “He can come here.”

“What?”

“I want to meet your friend. Plus, babies are fun.”

“Brayden?” I hear EJ say.

I unmute the phone and hope like hell this doesn’t blow up in my face. “Um, so my friend here says you can come here and hang out with us. I’ll warn you though, she has a dog. He’s mostly well-behaved.”

“Are you sure?”

“No, but come anyway. I’ll text you the address.”

“Thanks.”

After I do that, I send another text.

Me: Do NOT mention hockey. You’re a financial analyst/my co-worker. She won’t ask questions.

EJ: Wtf.

Yeah, I need to tell Deanna about my actual job and it needs to be sooner rather than later. I feel comfortable enough with her that I’m not worried about telling her, aside from not being sure how she’ll feel about me lying. We get out of bed and get ready for a day with company, me having no choice but to wear my suit get-up from yesterday, when I get another text, this time from Scott. It looks like a mass text to the team.

Scott: Come to my house tonight at six. Bring your family if you want. I have an announcement and yes, there will be food and alcohol.