Brazen Bossman: A Hero Club Novel, стр. 36
I let my shoulders relax at his touch and I nod in agreement. “I’m sorry. I’d love to do this again.”
“I don’t know what’s going on, and you don’t have to tell me, but you are going to let me drive you wherever you need to go. It’ll be faster in my car, no matter where that is.”
I immediately shake my head. “No, you don’t have to do that. It’s a family issue, and I don’t want to take your weekend over with it.
He stops my words with a kiss to my lips. That single kiss tells me everything I need to know in that moment. He wants to be with me because he can see I’m upset. He doesn’t want to leave me yet.
“I’ll take you then head to the office. It’s nice to work when it’s empty anyway.”
“Do you ever stop?” I ask again, just as I did earlier.
“It’s who I am.” He shrugs, sliding his thumbs across my jawline.
“You’ll have to meet my crazy family. That’s a little fast isn’t it?” I ask against his lips.
“I think I can handle it.”
But can I? Nothing about this arrangement is normal.
Fuck it.
“All right. Let’s go.”
***
I filled Nathanial in on the restaurant issues as best I could on the drive to Brooklyn. I told him about the restaurant itself, and how my father took out multiple mortgages to feed a gambling addiction, and how he left us with a mountain of debt when he died that my mother knew nothing about, and now… we may be losing the last piece of him we have left.
His hand lay on my thigh the entire time. He never interrupted me, and he didn’t ask too many questions. He just drove and listened to me, which is shocking because I can’t remember a time a man, who had a shot in hell of sleeping with me, listening to me in any way. They usually smile, nod, pretend to listen, and then try to shove their hand down my pants.
He has this ease about him outside of the office. He’s lighter, less on edge and snappy. It’s a breath of fresh air, and the more I grow accustomed to this side of him, the more fucked I’m going to be in the end, because… I don’t know which Nathanial is the real one.
The closer we get to Brooklyn, the more on edge I become. I’ve only introduced one man to my family, and that didn’t quite go the way I wanted, and it certainly wasn’t in the midst of a family crisis.
He must sense the tension because he gives my thigh a squeeze then puts both hands on the wheel, giving me a bit of space, should I need it. I appreciate that, actually. Even if I didn’t want the space, not assuming I need him is a nice gesture. Refreshing even.
“Just take a breath. There’s no need to be nervous. Everything can be fixed.”
“I just want to apologize for my family ahead of time. My brothers will absolutely grill you and probably try to scare you off, and my mother is literally timing my biological clock to the second. She will definitely ask you when and if you plan on giving her grandchildren. I’ll have to break it to her at some point that this isn’t like… a thing.” I motion between us.
“Isn’t it, though? A thing, that is.” He looks at me briefly then back at the road.
Is it? Before I stepped through his door last night, I would have said absolutely not, no way in hell. This can’t be a thing. It’s just a physical attraction. An itch that needs to be scratched.
But now, right here in this car while he drives me to meet my family, and I can still feel him inside of me after giving me the best sex of my life, I can’t definitively say it’s not a thing.
I just don’t know what kind of thing it could even be.
“I can’t even process that right now, Nathanial. Let me get through this stuff with my family first, then you and I can sit down and discuss whatever… thing… this is,” I tell him while I worry my hands in my lap.
He doesn’t press the issue any further because the navigation system that is housed on the screen in the center of his dashboard announces that we have arrived.
He rolls to a stop at a meter about a block away, but before we get out of the car, he turns in his seat, facing me.
“Piper, look at me.” I angle my body toward him and he cups my face in his hand. “I wouldn’t mind this being a thing.” He strokes his thumb over my lips then drops his hand away and climbs from the car.
Nathanial
The outside of Kingston’s Italian Eatery looks like any other restaurant in this area. Clean brick, a large, brightly lit sign hanging above the doorway, and a gated patio area with black iron tables and chairs.
I know the area well. Hell, every real estate developer in the greater North Eastern area knows this block well, and knows the potential it holds.
It’s a fucking gold star, a never to be matched stretch of Brooklyn for business of every kind.
It would take a truly fucked situation for this to be going south.
Piper slides a key from her purse and twists it into the lock, pushing the door open, sending a bell chiming above our heads.
“Mom?” she says loudly.
The interior is just as quaint at the exterior with its classic, homey feel. Booths and tables are perfectly positioned to serve a large number of guests but not so large that everyone is packed in like sardines. The aroma of the food being prepped for the day wafts into my nose.
“Something smells absolutely amazing,”