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My cheeks heated as I explained, “She’s a stay-at-home mom. My dad is almost ten years older than her, and they had me when she was nineteen. He was already settled into his career, so it made sense for her to take care of me instead of paying for daycare, which was awesome for me because I got so much one-on-one time with her growing up.”
“And you want to give that to your children, too,” he guessed.
I nodded, tucking a lock of hair behind my ear. “Yeah, I know that you don’t hear many girls my age say that they’re ready to start building a family and want that over a career or furthering their education, but for me, that’s what I really want. So working at the daycare for now made sense to me because at least I get to spend my day with children.”
“It sounds as though you made the right call.”
I would’ve expected a professional football player in his late twenties to run screaming from me when I brought up wanting kids on our first date, so his reaction was a pleasant surprise. The approving smile he aimed at me had butterflies swirling in my belly.
“I’ve only been there for two days, and I’ve already had so much fun.”
I shared some funny stories as we made our way back to the restaurant, and the server came out with two dishes and set them on the table. “The rest of your meal will be out when you’re done with the starters.”
Brady waited until he was gone to say, “I hope you don’t mind that I went heavy on the vegetables and lean meats for dinner. I have to eat healthy in season.”
“As long as we’re watching your weight and not mine, we’re good,” I teased.
His gaze dropped to my breasts for a moment before his heated blue eyes met mine again. “I haven’t seen a single thing you need to change, so we’re definitely good.”
A shiver raced up my spine as the chemistry between us sparked to new levels. Unsure of how to feel about that when this wasn’t a real date, I just flashed him a quick smile before focusing on the appetizers. The food was as delicious as it looked, and we demolished both dishes in no time.
Demonstrating that he was keeping a close eye on us, the server quickly returned and set down two salads—one with beets topped by grilled chicken and the other with couscous, cauliflower, and salmon—and two entrées. Chicken and salmon again. Plus, two extra plates.
“This looks delicious,” I murmured as the server hurried away.
Brady’s shirt pulled taut against his broad shoulders as he shrugged. “I wasn’t sure if you liked fish, and chicken seemed to be a safe option.”
“Since I do, how about we split everything?” I suggested, loving how much thought he’d put into what he ordered when making the arrangements for our private dinner. I could easily get used to this kind of thoughtfulness…if only we were dating for real.
He beamed an approving smile at me. “Sounds like the perfect plan.”
We dished portions of the salads onto the extra plates, and I hummed in pleasure when I took my first bite of the beet salad. “Mmm, delicious.”
“Yeah,” he groaned.
I looked up and noticed that he hadn’t taken a bite yet, and his gaze was locked on my lips. The heat in his eyes had me wondering about our deal again and hoping that maybe something would happen to turn our fake relationship into a real one. Sitting across from him on what had to be one of the most romantic first dates ever, I decided to go with whatever happened between us and see what developed. I might end up hurt in the end, but I couldn’t pass up the chance to explore my attraction to Brady.
5
BRADY
By the time we left the arboretum, Talia was relaxed and seemed to have forgotten this relationship was supposed to be fake. I was even more obsessed with her than I had been when we met. She was so damn gorgeous, funny, sweet—and I’d definitely seen some sass, which had made my dick hard as fuck.
Our conversation about how she wanted a big family didn’t help that situation any. I pictured her with a big, round belly—knowing the kid inside was mine…and imagined how I’d knocked her up. There was no relief from the throbbing of my cock after that.
I probably should have asked if she wanted to go to my place, but I didn’t want to take the chance of her saying no. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye, so I just drove straight to my house, and when I pulled into the driveway, she looked at me with confusion.
“Where are we?”
“My house, baby. I thought we could have dessert and watch a movie.”
She lit up, but her smile was shy as she nodded. “Sure, that sounds great.”
Pressing the button on my steering wheel, I watched silently as one of the four garage doors lifted, then drove in and parked. As the door slid back down into place, I felt a little thrill of triumph. Finally, she was here, in my space, inourhome.Son of a bitch.That did not help the situation in my pants.
I took a deep, calming breath as I shut off the engine and exited the car. When I opened her door, she was looking up at me with a mixture of hesitation and excitement. Holding out my hand, I waited for her to make the final decision. If she asked me to take her home now, I would. But if she reached for me, all bets were off. I didn’t care how fast it was, I needed to be buried inside her pussy more than I needed to breathe.
Talia placed her palm in mine and sealed her fate. I smiled, and she returned it as she swung her legs out and let me pull her onto her feet. She glanced around, then her blue orbs twinkled when they landed back on my face. “This is pretty nice.”
