God, I love the game!
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Lauren
THE HUM IN my body corresponded with the ridiculous curve of my lips that I couldn’t ignore as I packed.
Was this really happening?
I grinned as I bypassed my everyday, functional underwear and deliberately grabbed my pretty, rarely worn and uncomfortable panties that I always avoided in favor of comfort.
Yep, I thought as I stuffed the panties into my suitcase, this was totally happening.
Okay, so time to get real. Nico was hot. Nico wanted to have sex with me. Forget all that bullshit he tried to feed me about this “being business.” I could see in his eyes that he wanted me.
Felt good to be wanted.
The thing about single motherhood, sometimes you forgot that you were sexy at one time.
But when Nico looked at me—I remembered.
A shiver danced down my skin.
And I missed that feeling.
So yeah, I was packing my suitcase to go work for Nico. I could pretend to hold the line and say I wasn’t going to sleep with him because I had more integrity than that, but let’s get real, I was only human—and I missed sex.
And I’m not talking about good sex, I meant sex, period. At this point, I might settle for a quick grope and poke, but I knew in my gut that Nico would make a night out of whatever sexual circus he had planned in his head.
My toes curled at the thought.
The other part of this equation was the reality I didn’t have time to wait out this hiring freeze. Publishing was in a total state of ever-tightening budgets, and it was going to take more time than I had to find a new job.
And fifty thousand dollars—I still couldn’t quite believe that offer was real—would allow me to find a quality job rather than a hurried one.
But I would make it clear that Grady wasn’t part of the negotiation. I didn’t need Nico messing with his head. As far as Grady was concerned, Mama was just doing a job and that’s all he needed to know—even though Grady had been suspiciously happy to toss me into Nico’s lap. I would’ve thought Grady might be more resistant to the idea of another man coming into my life.
Go figure.
Finished, I went to Grady’s room to find him sitting on his overstuffed suitcase in order to zip it.
“What did you pack?” I asked, laughing. “Let me take a look.” My eyes widened as I saw the contents of every drawer and an assortment of toys jammed in the suitcase. I looked at Grady, shaking my head. “Honey, we’re not staying forever. I don’t think you need all of this.”
“Nico said to pack everything that mattered to me,” Grady said, lifting his chin. “He also said we’re not coming back to this dump.”
Of course Nico said that to my impressionable son. First order of business...set Nico straight on the boundaries. However, I needed to get Grady to understand, too. “There’s nothing wrong with our little apartment. We’ve made a lot of great memories here,” I said, pulling things to prioritize spring clothing so the suitcase could close. “Think of this as a vacation. It’s nice to visit someplace fun and different, but all things—even fun things—come to an end and then we return home.”
Nico appeared in the doorjamb and said, “Don’t worry, little man. I’ll work on your mom. In the meantime, let’s shake a leg. This place gives me hives.”
“It would do you some good to live like a normal person,” I said to Nico, thrusting Grady’s luggage at him. “Make yourself useful and carry this, please.”
Nico grunted at the impact but chuckled at my ire. “So sassy,” he murmured, amused. He grasped Grady’s hand and said, “The car is here. Let’s get you loaded in while your mama finishes up her own packing.”
Protests died on my lips when I saw how Grady gripped Nico’s hand with total trust, as if they weren’t practically strangers. How did Nico have this hold on my kid? I was baffled at how easily the man had Grady twisted around his finger. It also worried me. I wasn’t going to let my son fall in love with Nico only to have Nico disappear when it no longer amused him to play house.
Sex was one thing; messing with my kid’s head was another thing entirely.
A few moments later Nico returned just as I was locking the apartment. He relieved me of my luggage, his smile bright and engaging, but I stopped him with a warning. “Don’t you dare break my son’s heart, do you hear me?” I said, my tone low. “He’s just a little boy. He won’t understand when you lose interest and ditch him. Whatever this arrangement means in your head, just know that Grady is off-limits.”
“You worry too much. I’d never hurt a kid.”
Even if he believed that, I didn’t think he understood how his actions could affect a vulnerable six-year-old. “For whatever reasons, Grady seems to like you. Don’t make me regret taking this deal. If you break my son’s heart, no amount of money will make his pain worth it.”
“Down, Mama Bear,” he said, that dimple popping as he grinned. “C’mon, the car is waiting.”
The Donato name on my résumé could put me in front of the right people. He had a spacious two-bedroom apartment (it was bigger than some houses in the city) and it was, admittedly, in a nicer stretch of the city than my own apartment.
I was going to treat this unorthodox situation as a working vacation with superfancy amenities—and possibly fringe benefits.
“This is going to be fun,” Nico said, handing the luggage to the driver. “I’ve never had roommates before.”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “Famous last words,” I retorted as I stepped inside the car to join Grady.
Nico joined us seconds later. From the outside looking in, we appeared a family. I tried not to give the pinch that followed much thought. I’d long given up the idea that I might find someone to fill in the role of daddy and husband. I prided myself on being self-sufficient, and to this point, I had been.
But I wasn’t going to lie...a part of me wished life had dealt me a different hand. I hadn’t realized what a douche nozzle Houston was until it’d been too late.
I wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.
And, to date, I hadn’t.
But then, I hadn’t actually dated either. The idea of allowing someone into my life for anything more than superficial gave me anxiety. Breakups were messy, and I couldn’t take the chance that Grady might get hurt in the crossfire.
The easiest solution was to avoid dating.
Which meant no sex.
No companionship.
No one to snuggle with
and watch corny television shows.
At this point, I feared my vagina might have cobwebs.
And to add a little more anxiety to the mix, I recently read an article that said without regular sex, a woman’s vaginal walls atrophied! I might have an old-lady vag by now!
I searched but the article didn’t state how quickly this process happened. Hopefully, the process hadn’t already begun for me.
I snuck a quick look Nico’s way, my breath catching. Damn, the man was hot. I’m talking hotter than a New York sidewalk in July. Throwing pride and whatnot aside, I couldn’t imagine a better candidate for the job of reintroducing me to orgasms without the aid of a vibrator than Nico Donato.
The question was...should I make the first move or wait and see what Nico put into play first?
Maybe I’d have to play it by ear.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Nico
I COULDN’T BELIEVE my good fortune. I truly didn’t believe that Lauren would cave so easily. I thought for sure I was going to have to add a little more spice to the pot, but Lauren was a terrible negotiator and I’d gotten off easy.
Fifty thousand was chump change. I could spend that in a weekend with the right motivation.
It felt good to spend it on Lauren knowing that she needed it so desperately. I’d never played the hero before, and it was almost addictive.
Generally speaking, I steered clear of women in financial straits because, well, they became needy and clingy within a heartbeat, and that irritated the fuck out of me.
But Lauren didn’t act like a desperate woman. She acted like a boss with her own agenda, and that fired me up. We were two predators circling each other, looking for the weak spot. Except she had a banging body and when I was around her, I sprang boners at the most inopportune moments.
Which only made our exchanges even more entertaining.
Ha! I know, crazy.
“Mama made me put back some of my toys,” Grady said, looking to me.