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“Come on,” she told Emmie. “It’s time for bed.”
“But Grandma Ivy isn’t home yet,” Emmie protested. “I like it when she tucks me in.”
“Grandma Ivy-Mae is busy right now so you’ll have to settle for me or Grandpa Bud,” Brandi told her. In all probability, her mother was in a bar somewhere getting drunk and flirting with men who were half her age but there was no need for Emmie to know that.
Emmie sighed. “Okay Mommy—I choose Grandpa Bud. I wish I could have Daddy-man, though.”
“I know you do, sweetpea. But we can’t always get what we want.” Brandi tried to keep her voice even but she wished—so damn much—that Emmie would stop talking about Slade. Hearing her daughter harp on the big Kindred only made being separated from him harder.
She called her stepfather in—Bud was a quiet, patient man with a gray beard and kind eyes who had put up with her mother’s messing around for years.
“Hey, Emmie-bear,” he said, when Emmie announced that he would get the honor of tucking her in for the night. “I’m so glad you picked me because I have just the right story to read to you tonight!”
Brandi watched as the two of them, followed by Charlie, wagging his tail, went off to Emmie’s bedroom. She couldn’t help smiling a little at the sight of her daughter holding Bud’s wrinkled hand. Her stepfather was the only man in her life who had never let Brandi down. It made her happy that Emmie had at least one stable man in her life she could look up to.
With a sigh, she drifted to the bathroom and started drawing a bath. The tub was old and rusted but it still held hot water and that was all Brandi needed at the moment.
She usually made the water as hot as she could stand it but when she went to adjust the temperature this time, something made her turn the hot tap on low instead of high. Why was she doing that? Her bath would be barely tepid.
Her hand went for the hot knob again…then crept to her belly. Emmie’s words still rang in her ears.
“The baby brother you have in your tummy.”
That was ridiculous, right? But still…A bath that’s too hot might hurt the baby, whispered a voice in her head. Better safe than sorry!
It was silly but Brandi couldn’t bring herself to make the bathwater more than lukewarm. As she soaked in it, she tried not to think about Slade…or the fact that her period was late by almost a week now.
It’s been late before, she argued with herself. Sure—by a day here or there. Never by a whole week—not since she was pregnant with Emmie.
Closing her eyes, she remembered the intense look in Slade’s gold and green eyes when he told her he wanted to take care of her.
“Listen to me sweetheart: if I put a baby in you—if your belly swells with my child—I want to be there. To support and protect you and the baby—and Emmie too. No male of worth would ever even consider doing anything else.”
A male of worth. Emmie sighed. He had seemed like a male of worth—and then he’d admitted to being incarcerated for years before escaping from a maximum security space prison. And that awful memory in his head…
I can’t do it—I just can’t give him another chance. It’s not fair to Emmie or safe for her either, no matter how much she loves Slade.
What about how much you love him? whispered a little voice in her head. Admit it, Brandi—you were starting to care for him. The way he rescued you from Grabbar… the way he fixed your car…the easy way the conversation flowed with him…not to mention that incredible bonding scent of his…
Even now just the memory of his warm, masculine scent was enough to make her nipples tight and her pussy wet.
Brandi tried to push the desire away, tried not to remember the way he had gone down on her and made her come again and again…
That’s over now, she told herself firmly. Think about something else—like the settlement.
The settlement was a large chunk of cash that was currently coming her way from her ex-employer, the Bank of Tampa. After Brandi had shared her story with Josh, the man who wrote the Bay in Review blog, many other women had come forward too. Abuses and sexual harassment were brought to light—as well as the way the HR department had covered it up. The head of the Board of Directors was forced to resign and several other people—Harold Grabbar included—had lost their jobs and were now facing criminal charges.
The bank had also promised to pay a good bit of money to the women who had been harassed. It was going to be enough for Brandi to either move out and find her own apartment or go back to college. Not both, unfortunately but it was certainly better than nothing.
