Free For Her Son's Sake by Katherine Garbera - Baby Business 03 - For Her Son's Sake Page B

the night seemed more of an emotional risk than sex had.
    But she had slept alone snuggled up with a pillow for too many nights to resist his tempting offer. He’d never have to know how much she needed this. As she slid down next to him, putting her head on his shoulder and wrapping one arm over his stomach, she felt surrounded by his warmth and the scent of his aftershave. Tears burned the back of her eyes as she was forced to confront the fact that she wanted this to be real. Wanted this to be forever. Wanted him to stay in her bed and hold her for the rest of her nights.
    She knew it had nothing to do with love. It was motivated by loneliness, which made her face the truth behind why she’d been so willing to invite him to spend the night in the first place. Admitting to herself that it could be motivated by the fact that she was single while her sisters were nicely paired up and finding a kind of happily ever after was hard.
    But there it was.
    “Settle down,” he said.
    “What?”
    “I can practically hear you thinking,” he said. “Let’s just call this a one-off. For tonight you aren’t a Chandler and I’m not a Montrose. We’re not scarred by our pasts, we’re just Emma and Kell and we wanted each other so we took a chance.”
    She nodded against his chest and he rubbed her back. She let her fears and worries slip away, and the first fingers of sleep wrapped themselves around her consciousness. She drifted off to the thought that denying the real world was a dumb thing to do.
    But she had a solid night’s sleep until the alarm went off and she woke to find Kell gone. He’d left a note on her nightstand saying he left early to avoid traffic. A decent excuse, and he’d saved her from having to explain to Mrs. Hawking about her overnight guest.
    She turned off her alarm just as Sammy came running into her bedroom and jumped up on the bed.
    “Morning!” he yelled before launching himself at her. She wrapped her arms around him and held him close, understanding for the first time that her life was never going to be easy or uncomplicated but she’d always have this sweet little guy by her side. They snuggled under the covers for ten minutes and talked about the fun things Sammy would do at day care today and how she had a big meeting at work. Sammy hugged her and said, “I love you.” And then she put on
Arthur,
one of his favorite shows on PBS Kids, while she went and got ready for her day.
    It felt like a normal morning. She was able to pretend that nothing extraordinary had happened right up until the moment she got in her Land Rover to head downtown to her meeting with the board. She felt a tingling in the pit of her stomach at the thought of seeing Kell again.
    She knew his cousins and the rest of the board would be there and she had to be on her A game but she felt far away from that. She had changed. In twenty-four hours her entire world had shifted and suddenly she wondered if bowing out gracefully wasn’t the only solution left to her.
    * * *
    “Where were you last night?” Allan asked as he entered Kell’s office. His cousin had a grande Americano in one hand and a latte in the other. He handed the Americano to Kell and then sat down in the leather guest chair facing Kell’s desk.
    Allan draped his ankle over his knee as he sprawled in the chair. He looked different. It wasn’t the clothing—he still dressed like a hipster accountant. But something was different. Then it hit Kell: Allan was content, relaxed...happy.
    Not that his cousin had ever been truly miserable. As the son of Thomas Montrose’s only daughter, Allan had been raised away from the bitterness of their grandfather and as far as Kell could tell had had a fairly normal upbringing. Of course, losing his best friend, John McCoy, in a car accident less than six months ago had shaken Allan. It had also brought him closer to Jessi Chandler—her best friend, Patti, had been married to John and died with him in the accident.