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If there were a woman here, I wouldn’t be.
My brother always drops me a warning text if he’s bringing a woman home. It’s not because I keep close tabs on him, but we live in the same building, three floors apart.
I stop by unannounced just as often as he does at my place. We share keys, and meals and Matt helps me out whenever I need it.
“I’m awake,” he calls from behind his closed bedroom door. “I’m looking for pants.”
Tugging one of the coffees free from the cupboard tray, I laugh. “I’ll wait.”
As soon as the words leave my mouth, I hear his bare feet on the hardwood in the hallway.
He rounds the corner in gray sweatpants.
“You look like you haven’t slept a wink.”
Raking a hand through his hair, he heads straight for the coffee. “Eye surgery on a poodle last night. I got home two, maybe three hours ago.”
“Shit.” I pop open the pastry box. “I can take off.”
He glances at the cupcakes. “Which one is mine?”
I point at one with rich chocolate icing and a candy heart on top. “That one.”
“True love,” he reads the words etched on the heart. “I thought that was Bianca.”
Our eyes lock. “You didn’t tell her, did you?”
He goes in for a bite of the cupcake, taking half of it in his mouth. Chewing, he studies my face. Once he’s swallowed, he smiles. “What? That you’re falling in love with her?”
That’s a confession I made to him the night I walked home from Bianca’s apartment. Matt was on his way in after a long day at work. I was floating on cloud nine. He noticed.
I let everything spill out, including the fact that I’m crazy about her.
“You kept that to yourself,” I say.
“Why do I get the impression that you’re keeping a lot to yourself?” he counters. “She didn’t know about me. I doubt like hell she knows about Callum or Delia.”
I shake my head at the mention of our siblings. “I talked briefly about Delia.”
Matt cracks a grin. “She’s your favorite, so that makes sense.”
“No comment.”
He finishes the cupcake in one bite. “Bianca doesn’t know anything else?”
Hanging my head, I sigh. “It’s moving fast, Matt. We’ve gone from having fun to me falling for her.”
“Judging by what happened last night, she’s head over heels for you.”
I glance at him. “Why would you say that?”
He scoops up his coffee cup. “The look in her eyes cut straight through me. There was so much pain there, Rome. She saw me kissing the woman I met at the bar, and it broke her.”
“Because she thought it was me,” I whisper.
“She didn’t know I exist, so yeah.” He takes a sip of coffee. “She walked in, saw that, and tossed a glass of water at me.”
I shouldn’t take comfort in that, but I do. Bianca’s reaction wouldn’t have been so swift and strong if what she felt for me wasn’t serious.
“You need to tell her everything, Rome.”
“I’ve never…”
“I know,” he interrupts. “You’ve never let a woman get this close to you before. I get it, but this is different.”
“It’s a lot to throw at her,” I say quietly.
“It’s two adorable little girls.” He jerks his thumb toward a picture hanging on the wall of me with my daughters. “You’re a package deal, so clue Bianca into that before she stumbles on the fact that you’re a dad.”
I look at the image of Dora and Georgie, my two beautiful girls.
“I’ll tell her tonight.”
“Good.” He moves to stand. “Take these cupcakes home before I eat them all. We both know there will be hell to pay if I do that.”
I chuckle. “Your nieces will be down here in a flash if I come home without a cupcake for each of them and one for Morena.”
Morena Bevins has been helping me with the girls since the day I became a dad. She’s more than a nanny. She’s a part of our family.
I rented a two-bedroom apartment in the building next door for her. My girls love it because they get to have a sleepover at least a couple of times a month. It works well for Morena too, since her daughter lives two blocks away.
He slams the lid on the box shut. “I’m going to shower, and then it’s back to the clinic for me.”
“You’re working hard.”
“Always.” He perks a brow. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“I’ll bring the girls by the clinic later.”
“Good.” He pats my shoulder as he rounds me on his way toward the hallway. “There’s a poodle with an eye patch they’ll want to meet.”
I pick up the box of cupcakes and start toward the door. I’ll spend the day with my daughters and the evening with Bianca.
My two worlds are about to collide, and I know that wherever the pieces of my life fall after this, tomorrow, I’ll still wake up as the luckiest father on this planet.
