Chapter 5 #2
Not that she could really blame the women.
He was fucking hot. What she remembered of him from six years ago, he’d been good looking.
But that beard? The way he was filled out now?
Her eyes stared at his broad back as the leather of his cut stretched over his shoulders, and damn her, if her ovaries didn’t just quake at his nearness.
Dosia had no idea why she was following him to his table. It wasn’t like he was pulling or dragging her behind himself. No, he was walking and she was following. Like her feet had a mind of their own.
Vodka brought her right up to the table. “This is Frankie, my nanny, and my son, Seth Jr, though we call him SJ.”
S J? Dosia’s stomach sank, and she was starting to get a really bad feeling about tonight and what Calliope had really seen. What had she said tonight, just before leaving Dosia to her fate? Something about the man who buys her dinner…?
Her eyes flew to Vodka’s profile as he tickled his son’s tummy, making the little boy laugh. Fuck, there went her ovaries again. No, no, no! Bad, ovaries! Dosia scolded herself. Under no circumstances could she allow this man to buy her dinner.
Wait, there was an easy way to stop that. She was going to call an Uber before to take her back to Mount Grove. She could do it now.
Dosia went to pull her hand back from Vodka’s grip when the nanny, Frankie, stood. Though she seemed shy, she had a pleasant smile on her face as she held her hand out to Dosia. “Since Mr. Rude didn’t finish the introductions,” she half scolded. “It’s nice to meet you…?”
It took Dosia a second to realize Frankie left the end of that sentence hanging because Vodka hadn’t said Dosia’s name.
He hadn’t introduced her. Did that mean he’d forgotten?
Didn’t remember? This was good. Really good.
All she had to do was slip away, call an Uber, and…
what? Live in hiding for the rest of her life in Mount Grove?
Crap. She was being a pessimist again. But she had good reason!
This man could not figure out he had two children.
She couldn’t risk J— Dosia cursed Calliope with warts.
Fucking hell, she’d insisted on calling Juniper ‘JJ’.
The rest of the family had caught on quickly.
Dosia hadn’t minded, and she’d planned on letting JJ choose when she was older, like once she entered middle school, if she wanted to be JJ or Juniper.
Realizing she was letting the woman’s hand just hang there, Dosia pulled her right hand from Vodka’s grip to shake it. At least she had an excuse to break contact with him without being rude.
“It’s nice to meet you too,” Dosia said, purposefully not giving her name. “Look, I don’t want to interrupt your evening. I don’t know why Vodka insisted I join you guys.”
“Vodka?” Frankie asked just as there was a big crash towards the front of the restaurant.
Everyone, including Vodka and Dosia, turned to see what had happened.
Several babies and kids in the place made startled sounds, but Dosia saw SJ look over with keen interest, much like his father.
It was eerie how much Vodka’s baby boy looked like JJ when she’d been that age.
It was very evident now where JJ had gotten her darker tones from.
Bart ley the Banker was back. Part of his face was red and his left eye looked like it was on its way to being swollen shut from when he’d fallen into the rounded ear of the chair.
His face was pissed and his fists were clenched. Completely ignoring the waitress he’d bumped into on his way back inside, causing her to drop her full tray of food and dishes, Bart ley stormed over to them like a determined child, so sure he was going to get his way.
Vodka stepped forward, making his body a physical barrier between Bart ley and Dosia, Frankie, and SJ.
Dosia’s breath caught, and it had nothing to do with her shock or unease at seeing Bart ley again. It was the scent of cool leather mixed with something minty and the immediate take-charge attitude of the man directly in front of her.
Dosia considered herself a strong and independent woman. She’d raised her daughter on her own, lived without the financial, physical, and emotional assistance of a partner. She was not helpless. But there was something…reassuring, almost relaxing, about not having to take care of a problem.
Not to mention arousing. Dosia was suddenly very grateful she was wearing a padded bra, or her hard nipples might have each poked a hole through her dress.
She cursed Aphrodite and any other gods who were listening, because she was not aroused by this man.
No, nada, never. She could excuse six years ago and the instant attraction she’d felt towards him then because she’d been drunk.
But now? Sure, she’d had a glass of wine on an empty stomach, but she was nowhere near drunk. Yet her panties went from damp at his proximity to soaked at his protectiveness. Fuck, fuck, fuck! She had to get out of here. She had to get away from him.
Dosia made to step around Vodka and Bart ley , who was stopping short at the sight of Vodka in all his protective glory, when she felt a small hand around her wrist. Pausing, she looked down to see Frankie had grabbed her.
The woman couldn’t be that much younger than Dosia and Calliope. Maybe early twenties? It was hard to tell with her shy demeanor. Except now, she didn’t look shy. She looked weary. “Let Pumpkin handle this,” she told Dosia, almost like a warning.
“Pumpkin?” Dosia questioned. She looked between Frankie and the man she had thought was named Vodka. His broad shoulders blocked Bart ley from her view, but she could hear him.
“…taking Dosia home!”
Dosia winced as Bart ley revealed her name. Shit, so much for slipping out of here with Vodka/Pumpkin hopefully not knowing her name. If he looked her up, he’d find JJ. Clearly, he hadn’t given up his womanizing ways. He had a son with no mother and was likely sleeping with his nanny.
Dosia winced internally. That judgement seemed harsh, but she couldn’t risk that sort of influence in her daughter’s life. Who knew what else he was into?
Frankie’s eyes flicked between them before her lids narrowed. “I thought you knew each other? ”
Dosia opened her mouth to say that they didn’t, but then Vodka/Pumpkin threw over his shoulder, “We do,” like Bart ley wasn’t there shouting at him.
A waitress slipped up beside their table. Dosia automatically realized that she too was keeping herself back, using Vodka/Pumpkin for protection. “Um, everything okay here, Pumpkin?”
“All good, Piper,” he answered.
Shit, maybe his name was Pumpkin. Had Dosia remembered it wrong all these years? She didn’t think so. She’d seen his cut when she’d gotten dressed the morning after they’d slept together. With his back to her, she couldn’t look to see what the patch over his left breast said now.
Piper? He knew the waitress too? The way he said her name didn’t sound like he’d just read it off her name tag.
“Everything is not ‘all good’!” Bart ley shouted, trying to step around Pumpkin. “I am taking Dosia home!”
Pumpkin snorted, crossing his arms over his chest. The movement caused him to sway slightly, an act that made Dosia wonder if he wasn’t entirely sober.
“Sir, if you don’t want to leave here with more than a black eye, I suggest you back off .
Call the date a bust, whatever strokes your ego, and go home .
Dosia is no longer your concern. She’s mine . ”
Dosia’s heart stuttered as her breath gasped.
His ? No, she hadn’t heard that right. Or, she’d misconstrued it.
That was better. He wasn’t saying that she was his , as in his possession, but just his concern .
Yes, that was it. That had to be it. He certainly wasn’t…
No, he couldn’t. But the way he said her name.
It was like a fucking caress to her ears.
She wanted to hear him whisper it in the dead of night, like a vow that sealed their fates and twined their souls.
Fuck, what was happening to her?
“Dosia,” Bart ley sneered out her name, snapping his fingers at her like she was a disobedient dog. “Come here?—”
Bart ley never finished his sentence. Pumpkin moved so fast, he was like a blur of motion. He grabbed the hand Bart ley held out at her, twisted, and there was an audible snap as Bart ley ’s hand hung uselessly from his wrist. Dosia’s eyes widened as Bart ley screamed in pain, falling to his knees.
“I told you,” Pumpkin growled, “she’s not going anywhere with you. She’s mine .”
Holy fuck. Dosia was fairly certain that sound coming from his mouth had caused her to start ovulating. She wasn’t sure a sexier sound existed, and if there was, she doubted she wanted to find it.
Piper cursed and ran back into the kitchen area.
Pumpkin swayed slightly on his feet again. Frankie let go of Dosia’s hand as if to go to him. But Dosia moved first. She wasn’t certain of much right now, but the one thing she did know, was that she never wanted to see Frankie’s hands on him again.
Fuck, maybe she was just as drunk as he was.
Dosia looped his arm over her shoulders, steadying him, and realized his body was trembling more than swaying.
Piper came running back out with an ice pack, holding it out to Bart ley as she said to Pumpkin, “You better go!” Her eyes looked around, as if just noticing the witnesses.
“No need,” a young man with a badge stepped forward. He wasn’t in uniform, and likely off-duty. “I saw the whole thing. A little excessive, Pumpkin. I’ll try to talk him down from pressing charges.”
Pumpkin nodded, “Thanks, Danny.”
Shit. Charges? As much as she didn’t want to be involved any more than she already was, Dosia knew she could not let Pumpkin get in trouble for defending her. Just because she didn’t want this man in her or her daughter’s life did not mean that she wanted him to go to jail for her.