EIGHTEEN
HOLLY’S MOOD wasn’t so high.
In the limo at the end of the night, it would be an understatement to say Holly wasn’t pleased.
Marlin, her cousin’s date, got out of the car to head home. The moment the door closed behind him, Holly dropped into the vertical seat running the length of the vehicle.
They, being her and Baer, were in the shorter, horizontal seat at the back of the car. Tucked under Baer’s arm with her head on his chest and arm resting between his thighs, her eyes were heavy. For some reason, Marlin picked a bar miles outside the city for drinks. During the considerable drive back, she’d fought to stay awake. It was just so… cozy back there with her guy.
Baer messed with his phone, writing messages to his dad and playing games, which had given Marlin and Holly time to talk and bond. That was the idea, though, honestly? Wow. Listening to their attempts was excruciating.
“I’m so sick,” Holly huffed.
“It’s not so bad.” Freya closed her eyes, snuggling closer to Baer. “You still have another date.”
“One shot?” Holly asked. “You think I can hit it with one shot?” She grumbled again. “We’re not all as lucky as you.”
“Are you cold?” Baer asked, his mouth in her hair.
“No,” she said, turning her face toward him, pulling the lapel of his jacket to her nose. “You smell good.”
“You want to wear it?”
“I want to take it home.”
His mouth touched her scalp. “It’s a company tux, babe.”
“Are you taking it back to the office tonight?”
“Unless the alternative is it ends up on your bedroom floor, yes.”
Still with her eyes closed, she smiled and twisted further toward him, opening a hand on his abs. “Complimentary dates don’t come with sex.”
Inhaling through his nose, he slouched a little. “Oh yeah, don’t know why I keep forgetting that.”
Wearing her satisfied smile, she could sleep right there in the car all night if it meant spending more time with Baer.
“How come it can’t work like this for me?” her cousin whined.
Shifting again, she rolled her head on Baer to look over her shoulder at Holly. “What do you mean?”
“All the guys I go out with are duds… That’s four guys and none my family would believe I’m with.”
“You got along with Donoghue.”
Holly moaned. “Yeah, I’d definitely screw him, but do you think my father would like him?”
“That’s what you’re looking for? Someone the family will like? Why?”
“We have to spend two weeks with them,” Holly said. “I have to put up with them and I don’t want my family to think I’m dating an idiot.”
“No, you don’t,” she said, sensing a time to play. “I didn’t think of that before I signed my paperwork… maybe I should’ve thought less about eye candy and more about picking a guy who could hold a conversation.”
Baer pinched her hip. She recoiled but gave his thigh a squeeze. He knew she was teasing. How did she know? He got her. And she loved that about him.
Holly sighed. “See, you guys are great together! I need someone I can play with and joke with and talk with.”
Baer made a noise that was part laugh, part scoff, part grunt, but it was so brief, she couldn’t quite figure it out.
Raising her chin, she didn’t relieve him of her weight but did let him know he had her attention. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“No, if you have something to add…”
“Yes,” Holly said. “What is it?”
“Nothing.”
Digging her elbow into him, she sat up to meet his eye. “Hound?”
“Nothing. Forget it.” She poked his ribs. Coiling his fingers around her extended one, he looked from her to Holly and back. “Can I be blunt?”
“With me?” she asked. “Always. Talk.”
He exhaled. “Holly’s prep sheet reads like a want ad,” he said and her cousin’s mouth fell open. “It’s okay. You’re not unique. A lot of women use Squires thinking it’s a dating service, that they’ll find true love.”
“The idiots.” She scoffed out mock ridicule. “Imagine falling for a gigolo.”
“Desperate women, I guess,” he said. “Nut jobs.”
“Pathetic,” she murmured, boosting up to join their lips for a flicker before sinking back down to snuggle at his side.
“I can’t believe this,” Holly said. “What about Freya’s? Is it a want ad?”
His finger-combing of her hair was so soothing, her eyelids sank again.
“I don’t know,” Baer said. “I haven’t read it.”
“Why not?” Holly asked. “Isn’t it like the law that you have to read it?”
“It’s the law that I not sell sexual favors, and we all know what’s going on here.”
Freya patted his stomach. “Why don’t you recommend someone? Someone Holly will like.”
“I could,” he said. “If you’re interested… but he might be less than your ideal match.”
Holly snorted. “Clearly even I don’t know what that is.”
“Okay,” he said. “Then you want Lyon, Mathieson, Berwick, or Dirk.”
Holly was dubious. “Dirk sounds like he’s from a seventies romance novel.”
“He’s got a ten-inch cock.”
Holly’s eyes lit. “Really?”
Her cousin’s quick turnaround provoked a laugh. “Tackle aside, you should pick personality.”
“Personality, yes,” Baer said, the arm he had around her slid higher. “Why does that sound like I have a micro situation?”
Ha! Laughable.
She patted him again. “We’re not going to pretend you’re insecure about the size of your cock, Hound. Your ego needs no stroking on that front.”
What he was packing could give Dirk a run for his money, she wasn’t about to simper like it was otherwise.
Holly’s dubious eye turned suspicious. “I thought there was no sex on complimentary dates.”
Baer jumped in to support her cousin. “Yeah, Little Skit, I thought there was no sex.”
“It’s not my fault you’re so boastful,” she said to him, then addressed Holly. “Sometimes he just won’t shut up about it.”
Her cousin’s suspicion wasn’t convinced. “His penis?”
“Yes,” she said. “Shocking, right? It’s my penis this, my penis that… all the time. Women go ga-ga for it apparently. I keep telling him that I’m more of a tongue girl, you know? All that incessant rutting and banging and thrusting—”
“Incessant?” Baer interjected and followed it with a cough of laughter. “Oh, this is going to be fun.”
Skimming her hand over his, she opened his fingers to link them. “Will you set us up?” When he didn’t respond, she pushed up enough to flutter her eyelashes. “Please, baby.”
“Usually I get a bonus for personal recommendations,” he said, his static expression giving little away.
Boosting higher, her lips grazed the shell of his ear. “I’ll come cook steak and eggs for you and Abel at breakfast.”
The boys would be at school, but she could bake something for them to enjoy when they got home.
Leaning back, she was proud of her suggestion.
He didn’t look impressed. “That’s not even in the ballpark of what I was thinking.”
Giving his thigh a sympathetic rub, her smile mirrored that mood. “You know the rules, Hound Dog.” It wasn’t a negotiation; she tipped her head to the side. “Would you like me to be grateful… or not?”
Grumbling something, he handed the phone he’d been messing with to her and took another from his pocket to type and swipe.
“Why does he have two phones?” Holly asked.
Shifting to give him space, Freya relaxed against the backrest. “That one’s work,” she said, bobbing her chin toward the one in his hand while she frowned at the game he’d been playing.
Unpausing it, she tried to complete the level.
“But that means… that’s personal,” Holly said. “Why are you on his personal phone?”
Uh… had she misstepped? She got no prompt from Baer, he didn’t even register Holly had spoken.
Turning the phone, she flashed a view of the screen at her cousin. “It’s a game.”
“Yeah, but you could… you know?”
She smiled. “Call his wife?” she asked. “Yeah, I guess I could.”
As though on cue, the phone in her hand rang. The word “Fam” appeared on the screen; she turned it Baer’s way. He bobbed his brows at it before returning to what he was doing on his other phone.
“Answer it,” he said. “I have to show Holly these profiles.”
Leaving his seat, he moved over to the other side of the limo to scroll through something with Holly.
Pressing receive, Freya did as requested. “Hello? Baer’s phone.”
There was a moment of silence.
“Freya?” came a child’s voice. “Is that Freya?”
Concern creased her brow. “Yes, honey. What’s up? Are you okay?”
Baer glanced up for just a moment, though his mouth kept moving, explaining whatever Holly was looking at.
“Oh, man,” the young voice whined. “I’m gonna get in so much trouble.”
“For what? Honey? Are you hurt? Is everyone safe?”
“Yeah, I… Is Baer at your house?”
“We’re out,” she said. “Do you need him to come over?”
“Well, I… yeah… I got homework I didn’t do, and I can’t figure it out. Pres won’t help, and if I wake Abel he’ll go nuts, ‘cause he said we could only go for burgers with you if we had no homework.”
“You lied,” she said because it seemed appropriate to chastise him, but his call to Baer for help with a screw up was adorable.
“I know,” Charlie whined. “I know. I just wanted to get burgers with you.”
The sincerity of that was so cute that her smile broadened. This guy was a little charmer already.
“Are you sweet talking me, cutie?” Baer looked up again. Holly was engrossed, so Freya didn’t mind mouthing, “I love him.”
Rolling his eyes, he went back to the profiles with Holly.
Charlie spoke again, faster this time. “No! No, I… I mean it, Freya, I do… You’re so pretty and you’re so nice to us and—”
“Okay,” she said on a laugh. “Don’t belabor it… You can have him. Give Baer time to take me home and then he’ll come over and help you, okay?”
“Really?” Charlie asked, both amazed and thankful. There was a moment of silence before he followed it with, “Won’t he want sex?”
These kids just said it like they saw it; she loved that about them. “Yes. I don’t doubt that he will,” she said. “Doesn’t mean he’ll get it. Leave your books on the dinner table and go back to bed. He’ll wake you when he gets there.”
“Wow, Freya, you’re like the best girlfriend ever,” Charlie said. “Not like Claire at all.” She squinted. Was that a compliment to her or an insult to his brother? “Are you going to marry Baer? It would be cool if you moved in.”
Although they lived in separate spaces, the family did all live in the same building. The question was so optimistic. Baer was watching her; she couldn’t bring herself to smile.
“I don’t know, honey. We haven’t talked about that.”
“I hope you do,” Charlie said. “I’m sorry I said I’d tell Presley about you having sex today.”
Sheesh, that was that same day? It felt like so long ago she’d been ensconced in Baer’s bed, maybe because she was so eager to be back there.
“That’s okay, honey.”
“No, seriously, after this, I’ll be like… I’ll be your best friend forever, Freya… Baer won’t tell dad, right?”
Tucking her hair behind her ear, she lowered her chin and volume. “I’ll ask him not to… but you can’t lie anymore, okay? Not to anyone.”
“Not even to Pres about you and Baer doing it?”
“Baer will talk to him about that.”
“He will? ‘Cause I think he’ll be mad.”
“If he’s mad at anyone, he should be mad at me,” she said. “Want me to walk you home tomorrow?”
“You could talk to him then,” Charlie said, then a sneer touched his voice. “But do it at home, okay? ‘Cause I don’t wanna be there.”
“Okay, honey.”
“And will you make steak for dinner?”
If she made it for Abel and Baer in the morning, Abel might not want more for dinner. She could throw something else together for him. Baer would be out on his dinner date.
“We’ll see,” she said. “I’ll rustle up something.”
“You’re the best, Freya.”
Getting close to this family hadn’t been her plan, but she was falling for all of them. Dangerous. Her and Baer’s relationship wasn’t exactly defined… or secure.
“Get some rest, honey. Baer will be there soon. Goodnight.”
Hanging up his phone, her gaze drifted toward Baer again. There was something curious about his intense look. Holly interrupted it with a question. Just a minute or two later, the car stopped. They said goodbye and Holly slipped off home, more optimistic than earlier. That was something.
Baer came to sit beside her when the car started moving again.
“We only have a few minutes,” she said when he tried to kiss her. “You have to go home.”
“Everything okay?” he asked, leaning back, keeping his hand under her chin to raise it. “Thought it was your boyfriend, scenting you or something.”
Twisting toward him, she slid down in the seat, resting her head against the back. “It was my boyfriend’s brother,” she said, smoothing his shirt. “He needs help with the homework he didn’t tell his dad about…” She peeked at him. “I said you’d go over and help him…” Cringing, she braced for a potentially negative reaction. “He doesn’t want you to tell Abel.”
“Hey, at least the kid’s trying to do the homework. I’d have fed my teacher a line.”
“I believe that,” she said, smiling when he slouched to lay his head on the back of the seat by hers. “I told him I’d talk to Presley too… He thinks we’re cheating on him.”
“I’ll talk to the kid—”
“No, it’s okay. I’ll do it,” she said. “I should’ve known better than to play brothers off each other.”
“Can’t help yourself around me, that’s all,” he said, edging closer until their mouths met.
The back of a car wasn’t a bad place to live. First, she’d been happy to sleep there, now she’d be happy to reside there forevermore, basking in the mouth of the man pampering her.
His fingertips crept onto her knee, higher, higher, under the hem of her dress.
She caught them under the fabric and broke the kiss. “Baer—”
“Relax, baby. I’ll make you come. That’s all. I can make you feel good.”
She didn’t doubt that but didn’t want him going over to his family’s apartment with… her all over him. Leaving him in the car would be hard enough, him pleasuring her wouldn’t make it any easier.
“You know the rules… And we’re only a couple of blocks from mine.”
His hand left her skirt to skim over her waist. “You could invite me in.”
Though the privacy screen was up, she glanced toward the front like the driver might hear them. “You know we can’t do that. I told you no sex while you’re being paid to be with me.”
“I’ll pay you,” he said, an unfamiliar edge of desperation in his voice. She crooked a brow. “You know what I mean, baby. This isn’t about the money, Lil’.”
“It doesn’t matter anyway.” Righting her skirt, she sat straighter. “You have to go and help Charlie.”
“You could come back to mine.”
Though appreciated, she had to be wary of his enthusiasm. “Are you like this with all your reluctant dates, Mr. Claymore?”
“Clayton,” he said, sitting up, abandoning his seduction.
Uh… “What?”
“I use my real first name, though I spell it differently when I’m with dates. I try not to use any last name. But, if I have to, it’s Clayton.”
A fake name. Of course he needed a fake name in his line of work.
“And you didn’t think to tell me that? I’ll need to introduce you to my family. What if I’d used the wrong name?”
“Holly’s last date is Tuesday. After she picks a guy, we’ll have a meeting with Conrad, get our stories straight.”
“I thought we weren’t using prep sheets.”
“We’ll have our own private prep session after, Lil’ Skit,” he said, running a hand up her leg.
She stroked his face to guide their mouths together. “God, this is complicated,” she whispered on their kiss.
All she wanted was to be with this man. Life was never as simple as that. She’d have to introduce him to her family but mislead them about his true identity. If it worked out between them, then what? She’d confess what he did for a living? What if Baer didn’t want that? His family didn’t know, why would he want her family to know?
Kissing him felt so right, so good, giving this up, whether in a week or a year, wouldn’t be easy.