Accidental Daddy (The Single Brothers 3)

“It’s afternoon already. I made so me lunch, Kylie and Ivy ate, then they left. There’s some left over for you if you’d like.”

“Ah,” I murmured.

She moved with Makas to the rocking chair that sat in the corner, another present from the guys. I got up as she was lifting up her top, going to get some food. I served some for myself, and went right back. She looked up, smiling at me, as I walked into the room.

“I thought you had a rule about eating in the bedroom?” she said, arching an eyebrow.

“I’ll overlook it for this one time,” I said, winking, and she giggled.

I watched her nurse the baby as I ate, then she got up to burp him, before putting him back in his crib. The baby slept a lot. He was usually up for some hours in the evening, getting to sleep late, and waking up in the course of the night wanting attention for hours at a time. The guys had told me about it, too, and how it got better as time passed. I hoped it would happen soon.

Scarlett, though, looked like she was having the time of her life.

“How do you do that?” I asked, curious. “The baby kept you up, but you’re awake and smiling and acting like it’s nothing at all…”

She shrugged. “To be fair, I did have him for some time before I met you again. I’m kinda used to it. And… I like it, having someone to look after. I’ve done it all my life, now it’s just a baby.”

I snorted. I could never see it so simply.

“You know, when you said you only wanted to be a mom for the time being, I’d worried a little.”

She sighed. “I know working to get a job would help out…”

“You don’t have to get one,” I reassured her. “The more time I spend with the two of you, the more I realize that…it suits you. You’re a natural, Scarlett.”

Her eyes widened in surprise, and I realized I hadn't been complimenting her enough. There was a flush on her cheeks, and looking at her, I could feel the spark that had attracted me to her before. I got up, leaving my empty plate on the nightstand. Then I walked over to her, taking one of her hands in mine.

“Dan?” she whispered, her breath starting to pick up as she stared up at me.

I smirked. “The baby’s asleep,” I murmured. “I know it’s still pretty early, but the baby will want some attention later. I want to take you to bed.”

She sucked in a breath. “I’m going to assume it’s not to sleep, because it is really early.”

I just hummed, leaning down to slant my mouth over hers in a kiss. She was still for a second, then she moaned and stepped closer, pressing her body against mine.

“Please,” she breathed out when we pulled back from the kiss. “I’ve wanted you since I saw you at the clinic,” she admitted. “But I didn’t think you still…”

I sighed, nuzzling my cheek in her hair. “I don’t think I can stop wanting you, if that’s what has you so worried.”

She snaked her arms around my neck, kissing my neck. Only to freeze.

“We are not doing this with the baby in the room,” she said, frowning up at me.

“Of course not. We’re going to the room I’ve been using.”

She pulled away from me. “I’ll get the baby monitor, I left it in the kitchen.”

Scarlett went running, and I would have laughed at her eagerness, except I was just as much if not more eager. I left the door open and waited for her in the hall, before leading her to the room I’d been sleeping in since she moved in. I would be going back to sleeping in my bed that night.

“I’m here,” Scarlett said, sounding breathless as she came into the room.

She left the speaker by the nightstand, where we’d be sure to hear, and stood fidgeting by the bed. Her eyes jumped from it to me, and I laughed.

“Come here,” I called, opening my arms for her.

She stepped toward me immediately. I wrapped my arms around her, and dropped us both onto the bed. She yelped, before breaking out in giggled. It was a lovely sound, but I cut it off as I pressed my lips against hers in another kiss, rolling her so she lay beneath me. We squirmed until we were in the center of the bed, Scarlett with her legs wrapped around my hips, and her fingers digging into my back as I ravaged her mouth.

We’d get to the main event, but I planned to take my time. I wasn’t going to make the mistake I’d made the first time; I was going to take my time making love to her, and it would be the first of many times to come. I knew that I had a good thing with Scarlett. So different to Laila. She made me feel like the man that I wanted to be, rather than I needed to be. She was happy to take my good points and my crappy ones too. I wasn´t perfect. Far from it, but with Scarlett I felt it and with that feeling, I knew that it was going to be a beautiful relationship. We just had to get to know each other better and that would all happen in good time.

Epilogue

Scarlett

I heard him crying, so I rushed from the kitchen, leaving the fire low on the food I was making for lunch. A minute later, I was picking Makas up and rocking him gently, quieting him.

“Is he hungry again?” Dan said from behind me. “I can feed him, if you’d like.”

I glanced over my shoulder at him, giving him a smile.

“It’s fine. You can head back to your office and I’ll take care of this. Lunch will be ready soon.”

Dan shrugged. “I don’t have much left to do right now.”

He pushed off the doorjamb, walking over to me with his arms held out. I passed Makas over to him, pouting. He smiled down at our baby, bigger now though no less fragile at one year and a few months old.

“Working from home has a lot of perks. I can help you out when I’m bored.”

I snorted. “As long as you’re actually working.”

He shot me a grin. Makas had calmed down. He’d had plenty of time to get used to Dan and calmed down pretty quickly when it was Dan holding him. I would have been a little bit jealous, but I loved seeing Dan with the baby.

“I found someone for you, by the way,” he said, looking up at me as he played with one of the baby’s hands, holding him on one arm.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I found someone that knows a hotel manager currently looking for a job someplace nice and quiet. I sent him an invite and he said he would like to look into the job. I got his number for you. Your brother might want to talk to him, too.”

I hummed. It had been a surprise when Ben suddenly showed up at home. He’d found the hotel closed, because I was still in the middle of opening it back up, but he’d been told how to get ahold of me by the neighbor, and we’d talked.

I’d told him about Dad’s situation. Then, we’d met up, and I realized he’d been injured away at sea. It was probably why he’d decided to come back. He’d tracked Dad down, too, and the two of them talked every now and then. Dad knew about Makas, but I was a little angry at him, so I refused to talk to him.

Ben didn’t have anything else he wanted to do, so he’d told me he would help out, and he became a part of the business. Because he could give more time than I did, and he lived over there, moving back into his old room even before we could get furniture into it, the whole process went faster, and so much easier for me when I didn’t have to move back and forth.

“Having a hotel manager would help him out. He didn’t do as much work for the hotel as I did, and he’s been gone for a while.”

“He has someone helping him out, doesn’t he?”

I nodded. “Yeah, this girl in town. I kind of remember her from high school, she was a freshman the year I graduated. She’s only taking a year off college, though, so we’d need to hire more people, too. Especially once it’s summer and more people start showing up…”

It had been a busy year. Because I’d sold nearly everything in the hotel already, Dan helped me get capital when I decided to reopen, so I would still be bringing in some income, even as I stayed at home with the baby. It was a little difficult, since neither of us could go there very often, but we made it work, with Dan doing the bulk of the business side

of things. I was grateful he’d decided to help, especially with him building up his own home practice at the time.

We’d remodeled the hotel, so it hardly looked anything like it had before, though the outside hadn't changed much. Dan, with all his connections, even pulling his friends into it, had dealt with a lot of it, while I’d only talked with the people he’d hired and made a few decisions here and there.

The whole thing was possible, because Dan had helped me out. So, I usually did my best to have the house and the baby taken care of so he would have time to do his own work. I’d fallen easily into the role of housewife, though we weren’t married. I glanced down at the ring on my finger and giggled to myself.

Not yet, anyway.

“I think your brother´s okay,” Dan said, bringing me out of my thoughts. “He’s a lot like you, you know. Not willing to give up.”

“I almost gave up on the hotel,” I reminded him. “And I even left Makas with you without telling you anything.”

He chuckled, letting go of Makas’ hand to run his fingers through my hair.

“True, but you weren’t giving up. You were backed into a corner and you were trying to make the right decisions on your own. You’re just a lot less stressed having somewhere for you and the baby to stay, and when you took your time to come to a decision, you still kept the hotel even after I found you a buyer.”

I sighed. “I just didn’t want to sell it. My parents bought the place together when Mom was pregnant with Ben. Going up and down the mountain just to get to school, then to get to town, was annoying when I was a kid. But it was my home for years.”

And now, my home was here, with Dan and Makas, but I wasn’t willing to let go, either. Ben felt the same way as I did.

“I think I can take a lunch break now.”

“You should be getting back to work, though,” I murmured, only a little reluctant. His business had taken a while to stabilize, and in those earlier months, he’d hardly spent that much time with me or the baby.

Dan just smiled, his arm going around my neck and pulling me in for a kiss, then pressing his forehead against mine. I put my own arms around him, with Makas held between us.