Chapter 4
Chapter Four
“What’s wrong?” Carson asked when he noticed that Cresley seemed anxious all of a sudden.
“I’m thinking about Marlon and the custody hearing.”
“He doesn’t have a chance in hell of getting access to Ty.”
“If only that were true. Anything can happen, and you know that as well as I do.”
“Anything can happen, but Julian will make sure it doesn’t. He’s the best lawyer you could have on your side for this. Between his legal skills and my surveillance reports, Marlon will be burnt toast.”
Cresley laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“I’m picturing Marlon’s pretty face turned to burnt toast.”
“You think his face is pretty?” Carson asked, curling his lip.
“Not as pretty as your face, but he’s not hideous, and I have to say that because Ty resembles him.”
“No way. Ty is all you. He’s got none of that guy in him.”
“If you’d seen pictures of Marlon as a kid, you’d see the resemblance.”
“I’ve seen every picture I could find of him, and I see no resemblance whatsoever.”
“You’ve seen all his photos?”
“Hell yes. My job is to gather as much information about a subject as I can find, and there was a lot out there on him because of the public nature of his work.”
“He’s a social media whore.”
“That proved helpful to me.”
“I had to get a court order to prohibit him from posting pictures of Ty and to take down the ones he’d already posted.”
“I’m sorry he’s put you through hell.”
“You don’t know the half of it.”
“Is there other stuff I should know to help keep you guys safe?”
“He’s insidious. Just when I think we’ve seen the last of him, he resurfaces with some outrageous demand and threatens to take me back to court to see ‘his son,’ as if he’s had anything to do with raising him or paying the bills.”
“He doesn’t pay support?”
“I didn’t want it. That would’ve kept me tied to him, and we don’t need his money. We just want him to leave us alone.”
“He should have to pay for his kid.”
“Yes, he should have to, but there would be so many strings attached that it wasn’t worth it to me. I got full custody. That was all I cared about.”
“He’s such a spectacular kid.”
She flashed that million-dollar smile. “Isn’t he?”
“I had the best time with him when we hung out.”
“He’s talked about you constantly since then. Mr. Carson said this, and Mr. Carson said that.”
“Oh jeez… That’s kind of scary.”
She laughed again, and this time, the sound penetrated the wall he’d built around his heart to keep people out, like a shot of adrenaline that coursed through his system, leaving him unsettled by his reaction.
Funny thing, though… Despite the boundaries he’d set earlier, he wished she could stay, that he could sleep next to her and the comfort he felt in her presence. The family blowup had been easier to navigate with her by his side.
Enough, he thought. You’re tired, emotionally drained and not thinking clearly. Time to call it a night before you do something stupid.
“I suppose I ought to get you home so I can function tomorrow.” He stood and offered her a hand up.
The minute her hand connected with his, he realized his mistake in touching her, because he had to resist a powerful urge to draw her closer, to kiss her perfect lips, to make her sigh.
As his gaze connected with hers, he understood that she was fighting the same battle.
Great…
He released her hand, stepped back and led the way to the kitchen and then to the garage, where he held the car door for her.
All at once, it seemed imperative to get her and her sexy scent and mysterious aura out of his house and vehicle before he did something that couldn’t be undone.
It became clear to him, as he drove her home, that he needed to be careful around her.
She posed a threat to his well-ordered life. When she was around, he didn’t think as clearly as he usually did. He’d never been with a woman who had him talking to himself about how to maintain control. Keeping his distance was ingrained so deeply, he never had to actively think about it.
Except with her.
He would continue to protect her and Ty until the matter with Marlon was resolved, he would teach Ty how to surf and attend one of his hockey games as promised, and then he’d get the hell away from her before he made a huge mistake.
As he navigated the twisting turns that led to her home on Mulholland Drive, she sang along to “Stairway to Heaven,” and he tried to reset his emotions to the usual calm, cool, collected setting that powered him through his days.
Carson Remington didn’t get wound up about anything.
Ever. And he wasn’t going to start now, when there was far too much at stake for both of them.
Protecting her and her sweet son was his only mission where she was concerned, and he’d make sure he stayed focused on that and not her dazzling smile or gorgeous blue eyes or the sweet little dimple that appeared in her cheek when she flashed the dirty grin that made him want to moan every time it was directed his way.
He’d realized over the course of this eventful evening that being near her was like juggling dynamite, and as a practical kind of guy, he tended to stay away from things that could blow up his entire existence.
“What’s that car doing there?” she asked of the black SUV parked across from her house. “I don’t recognize it.”
It pained him to realize she was so on alert that she kept track of the cars on her street. “One of my guys. I asked him to keep an eye on the house while we were gone.”
“Oh. You did?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Why?”
“Because Ty and the nanny would be there alone, and I wanted someone here.”
“The security system is on.”
“Which is good, but I don’t take chances in situations like this one.”
“And what, exactly, is this situation?”
“Well, you’ve got a guy stalking you and your son who’s looking to extract his pound of flesh, and frankly, that’s not going to happen on my watch.”
She fanned her face.
“What?”
“You’re sexy when you’re protective.”
Cresley Dane thinks I’m sexy. Thank God it was dark, because he felt his face flush with heat that might appear as a blush, and that wouldn’t do. “Stop.”
“And you’re cute when you’re embarrassed.”
“I’m never cute.”
“Hate to break it to you…”
“Enough of this nonsense.” He got out of the car and went around to help her out, determined to walk her to the door and end this unsettling evening with his pride intact.
She took hold of his hand and gave a squeeze that shot sensation straight to his cock.
What the hell? He wanted to release her and run away while he still could, but that wasn’t an option at the moment. Instead, he kept his gaze focused on the front-door destination, where an overhead light cast a warm glow.
“Thank you for an eventful evening,” she said when they reached the stoop.
He grunted out a laugh. “Sorry for the extra drama.”
“It was fine. Don’t think a thing of it. I enjoyed meeting the other Remingtons. If you ever need to talk about it with an impartial friend, you know where I am.”
“I do. Thank you for all the support. It means a lot.” He leaned in, intending to kiss her cheek, but she turned to the left and…
fuck. When his lips connected with hers, the impact was immediate and overwhelming.
As if operating outside of his control, his arms ended up around her, and the kiss went from lips touching lips to tongues twisting and scorching desire in about two seconds flat.
In the far, far, far recesses of his mind, an alarm sounded that reminded him of teenage mornings when he actively slept through his alarm every day. Like then, he heard it but ignored it because he had something better to do. Then, it’d been sleep, and now…
He needed to put a stop to this, if for no other reason than his employee was probably watching him make out with Cresley Dane, and he’d never hear the end of that. What do you mean “if for no other reason”? There are ten thousand bigger reasons why this should absolutely not be happening.
So stop it, then.
I will. In a second…
They finally broke apart, gasping and wide-eyed.
Her lips were slightly swollen and parted in surprise, which only made her sexier than she already was, and how was that even possible?
“Cres…”
“It’s okay, Carson.”
Was it, though? Would anything ever be okay for him again now that he knew what it was like to kiss her? How could he have been so stupid as to let that happen?
“I’ll, ah… Um, talk to you soon.”
“Sounds good.” She keyed in the code to her front door and disappeared inside while he was still trying to get his head to stop spinning and his dick to calm the fuck down before he had to face his spying colleague. If that mother-effer had taken video, Carson would kill him.
As he walked back to the street, Perry put down the SUV’s window. “Hey, boss. What’s new?”
“Shut up and stay that way permanently.”
Perry cracked up. “Tell me the truth… Is it different when you’re kissing a supermodel?”
“I’m going to say this only once. Shut the fuck up and do not tell anyone about this.”
Perry made the zipped-lips gesture. “I am the very picture of discretion.”
“You’d better be.”
“But, dude, you kissed Cresley Dane.”
“Stay put for the night. Make sure no one bothers them.”
“Wait. What? You said this was just until she got back.”
“Then you pissed me off. Have a good night.”
“Carson, come on! I’ve got to pee.”
“Should’ve thought of that before you ran your mouth, and if you got a big idea to video anything that happened here, you better be deleting it off the phone my company pays for if you want to keep your job.”
“You’re awfully bitchy for a guy who just kissed a freaking supermodel.”
Carson let him have the last word because he couldn’t argue with the fact that he was, in fact, bitchy after kissing Cresley.
That never should’ve happened. Why’d he lean in?
He could’ve left her with a friendly handshake and called it a night.
Now he knew what it was like to kiss her.
Hell, he could still taste her on his lips.
If it was possible to beat the shit out of yourself, he’d be punching himself senseless for crossing a line that could never be uncrossed.
“What the fuck were you thinking?”
He blasted Classic Vinyl on SiriusXM, but even Deep Purple and “Smoke on the Water” at the loudest possible volume couldn’t drown out that electrified moment on her stoop. He’d probably still be thinking about that when he drew his final breath.
“Son of a bitch.” Carson slammed his hand against the steering wheel until it hurt.
If this was what Jules had experienced with Isla, no wonder he’d gone stark raving nuts over her.
Carson continued to relive those charged seconds or minutes or perhaps an entire lifetime over and over, until he was fucking hard again.
If kissing her had blown him away, what would it be like to—
“Nope. We’re not thinking about that.”
By the time he got back to the house, he was as unsettled and aroused—fucking hell—as he’d ever been.
That was not how he rolled.
Control was key to everything in his life, and he’d be damned if he’d let a gorgeous woman who also happened to be kind, funny and sweet destroy the one thing he depended upon to get through his days.
It was the thing that kept him clean and sober, and the fact that he’d wanted whiskey earlier was a massive red flag, not that he could blame that on Cresley. His parents owned that one.
He went upstairs, stripped out of the tux and tossed the parts and pieces on a chair in the corner to be dealt with later.
Then he took the coldest shower he could stand and shaved so he wouldn’t have to do it in the morning.
His father loved to bust their balls about shaving and belts and tattoos and piercings.
Jackson’s soul patch drove him insane. While he normally couldn’t care less about his father’s antiquated rules, he didn’t want to draw any unnecessary attention from him at the office.
Can’t wait to get there and wallow in the drama up close and personal. If Corbin had a shred of decency, he wouldn’t bring it up at work where his sons were a captive audience, but Carson knew that was far too much to hope for from his father.
There’d probably be a meeting.
Fucking hell. No way. He’d stay out on surveillance all day before he’d attend a meeting about his parents’ relationship or whatever it might be called at this point. Toxic waste dump would be a more appropriate term.
They wanted to explain.
They could go straight to hell with explanations.
Their children didn’t need to know what went on between the two of them.
None of them wanted anything to do with it.
If he ever was forced to discuss it with either of them, he’d probably ask what they were hoping to gain from the nine children who’d been put through hell for ten freaking years by their first rodeo.
He’d tell them about the vow their children had taken to stay single because they never wanted to end up in a situation like the one their parents demonstrated for them.
He might even tell them that the reason eight out of nine of them were lawyers wasn’t because it was a family tradition.
No, it was because none of them ever again wanted to find themselves in a situation like the one their parents thrust them into against their will.
As lawyers, they got to control their own destinies, and no one could screw with them without consequences.
Even their own parents.
Especially them.
Carson lay awake for a long time, staring up at the ceiling, reliving that bloody kiss and wishing there was a way to undo something he’d never meant to do in the first place. He had not intended to kiss her. Maybe if he told her that, it would break the spell she’d cast on him.
Tomorrow, he’d tell her it had all been a big mistake.