Finally (Neighbor from Hell 12)

She was all his.

They’d learned pretty early on that this wasn’t going to be easy because of the kids, but they’d figured out a way to make it work. They were usually able to get a sitter at least once a week and when they couldn’t, they turned it into a family date night. They ended their nights together, making love late into the night until it was time for him to leave.

He hated that part.

Just once, he wanted to know what it was like to wake up with her in his arms, but that wasn’t a choice. At least, not yet. While he was ready to spend the rest of his life with Charlie, she…wasn’t. They’d been dating for a little over four months now and she still hadn’t told him that she loved him yet.

He didn’t want to rush her, but god, it was fucking killing him. She told his children at least a hundred times a day that she loved them. She’d also told her best friend, the bunny, the kitten, the dog, and on a few occasions, a fucking jelly donut, but she’d never said it to him. He knew that she cared about him, but he wanted more.

He wanted Charlie.

“Daddy, I have to go to the bathroom,” Dustin said, reminding him that they needed to move their asses if they had any hope of getting to school on time.

“Sorry, buddy,” Devin said as he helped his son off the counter.

“Thanks, Daddy!” Dustin said, carefully stepping over a puddle of batter before quickly making his way to the kitchen door.

“We’ll be up in a minute,” Devin said, trying to figure out how he was going to get a six-year-old and a hundred-and-fifteen-pound dog covered in batter upstairs without making a mess.

Maybe he should try the sink, he thought, glancing at the sink in question. It worked for Charlie, he thought, only to frown as he watched his son who should be upstairs getting ready for school, carefully make his way back into the kitchen and head to the refrigerator where he helped himself to a stick of butter. Once he had what he needed, Dustin turned around and walked back out, leaving Devin to follow him, really fucking hoping that his son wasn’t going to do something to make this worse.

“Dustin, what are you doing, buddy?” Devin said, quickly making his way into the living room in time to see his son walk into Charlie’s apartment.

Shit!

Whenever Charlie was away, Dustin liked to go in Charlie’s apartment and watch television so that he could snuggle on her side of the bed. He missed Charlie. Not that Devin could blame him.

“Summer vacation is coming soon,” he heard his son explain as he walked into the apartment and-

“I know. I’m very excited about spending the summer with you,” Charlie said, smiling warmly as she handed Dustin a plate stacked with pancakes, home fries, and sausages, a Charlie special as the kids liked to call it, to Dustin who happily took it and placed it on the breakfast tray that Charlie bought for him.

“What are you doing here?” Devin asked, unable to take his eyes off her as he walked around the bed.

“Why wouldn’t I be here?” Charlie asked, blinking up at him as she speared a breakfast sausage on her fork.

“Because you’re supposed to be in Boston at a convention,” Devin said, sitting down on the bed so that he could kiss her.

“I am at the convention. They had to move a few things around because one of the presenters had a family emergency. So, I thought I’d get a few things done today,” she said when he forced himself to pull away as she held up the sausage for him to steal.

“It looks like you’re sitting in bed eating breakfast with my son,” he said as he stole the sausage off her plate, not bothering to point out that it was a three-hour drive back to Boston since he’d missed her.

“Well, I mean technically he’s my baby boy,” Charlie said with a pitying look that had him narrowing his eyes on her as he finished off her sausage.

“I really am,” the little traitor happily agreed around a forkful of pancake.

“And Abbi?” Devin asked, narrowing his eyes on the beautiful woman that enjoyed tormenting him.

“Is also mine,” Charlie said as she pointed towards the bathroom just as Abbi walked in with Bradford by her side. “Go take a shower. Your food’s waiting for you in the oven.”

Without a word, Abbi obediently walked into the bathroom as Bradford walked over to the bed to inspect their breakfast. “You, too,” Charlie said, tossing the dog a sausage. Tail wagging, he happily followed Abbi into the bathroom.

“Your food’s waiting in the oven, too,” Charlie said, gesturing for him to move his ass.

“It’s your turn,” Devin said, helping himself to a piece of potato.

“I cleaned up the lime Jell-O mess last week,” she pointed out as she dug into the pancakes that looked really good.

“That was two weeks ago. Last week was Elmer’s glue,” he reminded her as he leaned down and stole the pancake off her fork.

“And I cleaned that up, too. This is all you, big guy,” Charlie said, gesturing with her fork for him to move his ass.

Sighing, Devin stole another bite before reluctantly heading into the bathroom, telling himself that she’d be back in a couple of days and then they could-

“Daddy, what’s this?” Abbi asked, drawing his attention to a small round pink plastic box.

“Those are Charlie’s, sweetheart,” Devin said, plucking Charlie’s birth control pills out of his daughter’s hands and closing it before placing it back in the medicine cabinet.

“What are they for, Daddy?” Abbi asked as she pulled her batter-splattered nightgown off and tossed it on the dog, who seemed more than happy to have something to play with.

“Nothing,” Devin said, sighing as he turned on the shower, still wondering how he was going to tell Charlie that she didn’t need them.

Chapter 34

Boston, MA

“Oh, come on! Just five more minutes,” Charlie said, making sure to look appropriately pathetic as she looked down at her iPad.

“No,” came the grumbled response from the man that had propped his phone against his headboard so that he could curl up with his pillow and ignore her.

“But I miss you,” she mumbled sadly, making sure to add a sniffle at the end there.

When Ben cracked one eye open so that he could glare at her, she allowed her bottom lip to tremble ever so slightly. “No, you don’t. You’re just using me because Devin’s busy.”

“How could you say that?” Charlie asked even as she couldn’t help but notice that Devin hadn’t called her back yet.

“Did you tell him yet?”

“Not yet, but I have a plan,” Charlie promised him as she reached over and grabbed her drink off the nightstand, careful not to disturb th

e stack of brochures, pamphlets, and business cards that she’d collected from information booths, lectures, and her attempts to network over the past couple of days.

“I sure hope so since you’re supposed to be quitting in six months,” he said, earning a glare.

“I’ve still got time,” she reminded him only to continue when he opened his mouth to argue. “But I won’t need it because I have a plan.”

“Are you going to tell me about this wonderful plan of yours or just keep telling me that you have one?” the smartass grumbled.

“It’s very simple,” she started only to glare down at her phone when he said, “It sounds it.”

“This right here is why I don’t like you,” Charlie said absently as she grabbed her phone off the bed and realized that it was after ten o’clock. The kids were probably already in bed, she thought, debating calling Devin only to dismiss the idea since he was probably trying to work.

“I’m still waiting,” came the grumpily muttered reply that dragged her attention back to the problem at hand.

Telling Devin that she was quitting without things ending badly.

“I’m going to set up Bradford Creations social media accounts so that Devin can handle it on his own,” Charlie said with a firm nod because this was actually a really good plan.

Thanks to all the changes that she’d made over the past few months, mostly adding pictures of the kids helping Devin and quite a few that showcased how incredibly hot the men working at Bradford Creations were, Bradford Creations had a very large following eager for Devin to interact with them. They loved hearing from him, seeing the videos that she’d talked him into doing and all he had to do at this point was to keep it up.

It was simple.

“And what if he can’t?”

“Then I’ll still be there to help him,” Charlie said, shrugging because she honestly didn’t see what the big deal was.

“And the reason that you haven’t told him yet…”

“I want to keep him in suspense?” Charlie said, only to drop onto her side with a groan because she was pathetic, she decided, following up that personal revelation with a nod.