CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Mandy
I leaned against the building and waited for Stephen. Being assigned to a new project with him turned my world upside down, and I needed to clear the air between us. It was my job, and I wanted to keep it, so any tension between us needed to be dealt with.
His jeep pulled into the lot, and I stared at him as he got out and walked toward me. Jesus, but Stephen was handsome. My heart jumped in my chest even with all the stress and the clear set of his chiseled jaw.
He raised his eyes to meet my face and pain flashed through them. Did I hurt him? What did I do?
Stephen unlocked the door, and we walked to his office in a cold silence. He opened his door and let me go in first before following me and sitting at his desk as I stared at him. “Why are we here?” His voice was cold, and I walked toward him, trying to find his eyes as he stared at his desk.
“We are going to be working closely together, Stephen. I want to clear the air between us. I want things to be normal,” I said as he raised his eyes and glared at me.
“Normal? This is far from normal, Mandy.” Stephen was sarcastic and cold, leaving me to feel empty inside.
“What is normal? I have never had normal, Stephen. My mom wants me to be something I’m not and every guy I have ever been with leaves me. You’re the first man that I’ve ever felt this way for, and I hate that we’re not talking.” My voice rose with every word, and he clenched his fists. “I don’t know what we are. I don’t know if we were anything at all, but I need to know. Seriously.”
“I was doing fine, Mandy. I was a dad and doing everything to provide for my son. I didn’t get attached to anybody.” He looked at me and ran a hand through his already messy hair. “What the fuck have you done to me?”
“What have you done to me? Why do I keep thinking about you?” I cried out to him as he stepped around the desk and stalked toward me.
“It seems like you’re thinking about a lot of men here.” His voice was so cold.
My eyes widened. “What the hell are you talking about?” I never thought about anybody else at all. My mind raced as I tried to sort out where he was coming from before I realized that he was in front of me.
“You’re sleeping with other men in the office. You have been the entire time. You slept with Paul!” he yelled as stepped back.
“What?” I asked in shock, anger rushing through me. “Did he tell you that?”
“In so many words, yes. That little moment in your office cemented my suspicions,” he confirmed.
“Nothing was happening that day between us. He’d been hitting on me since the day we met, but Paul was different that day. He was hard and cold, almost like he knew that you would be walking in just then.” I surmised as he narrowed his eyes in thought.
“He’d told me about you earlier. I suppose that he would expect me to confront you and that would be perfect timing.” Stephen shook his head.
“He told you about me that day?” I asked as he nodded. “He’s playing us against each other. He told me a lot about you in that visit to my office.” Stephen stared at me. “Are you back with Lacy?”
“Fuck me. He mentioned her?” Stephen groaned as he pressed on the bridge of his nose. “She is back, but I suspect that he made it sound much worse than it is.”
“If you mean that telling me how much better she is than I am and so hot, then yes. Are you back with her?” I knew that my voice was shrill and out of control, but I was hurt.
Stephen stared at me as he grabbed my shoulders. “No,” his voice roared through the office, making me jump. “I’m not! She showed up the morning after you were over, wanting to push her way back into our lives. She went as far as to tell Brandon who she was before I had the chance to explain anything. I was fucking livid and told her that I would contact her when I was ready to talk. Imagine my week with all of Brandon’s questions, Mandy. Imagine the hell that I’ve been in with that, knowing that I’d fallen for you and I didn’t even have you. I thought that you were playing me. I was so pissed at myself.”
I crossed my arms over my chest as relief flooded me. He wasn’t upset with me, and he wasn’t seeing Lacy. Paul was a fucking liar. “Unbelievable. What an asshole.”
“Agreed.” He reached out and touched my shoulder lightly. “Look at me. I’m sorry. I feel for Paul’s shit because I couldn’t imagine a beautiful, young woman like you seeing anything in a man like me.”
“Well, you were wrong.” I dropped my arms to the side, feeling incredibly tired all of a sudden. “I was falling in love with you.”
“Was?” He dropped his hand from me and stepped back. “Not anymore, hmm?”
“I don’t know.” I glanced down to the ground. “I’m a little confused right now.”
“Then take some time.” His voice was soft, sweet. I could almost feel his pain rolling off him. We’d both been taken for a fucked up ride. I needed to try and remember that all of the shit that had happened wasn’t his fault. Nor was it mine.
“I don’t want time. I just want to have open communication between us.” I reached out and ran my hands down his thick chest, loving the feel of him under my fingers. My words moments before came back to haunt me. I was falling in love with him.
“We can do that. And what about Brandon?” Stephen asked as I let out a trembling breath. “How do you feel about the fact that I have a son?”
“I love the fact that you have a son. I think he’s a great kid.”
He slid his strong hands over my hips and pulled me closer. “He likes you a lot. He’s brought you up several times since the tennis camp, even with all of this shit going on.” There was a hint of hope in his eyes. “Can you live in a world where the man that you’re with has a son with a woman that will in part be in his life? I am going to let her get to know him in supervised visits for a while.”
“Of course.” I leaned closer, wanting to take away his pain.
“She told me that she was an addict and it took some time to get help. She swears that she’s sober now and she wants to know Brandon again. I don’t think I should deny him of that, but I also know that the three of us don’t have to be a family.” Stephen wrapped me into a tight hug. “We were dealing with too much at once. We didn’t talk through any of that, and I’m sorry. I am sorry that I didn’t reach out and ask you about all of this. I was just so fucked up.” He stared at me. “Forgive me?”
I lifted up and pressed my chest against his before kissing him softly. “Yes. Will you forgive me for not reaching out as well?”
Stephen breathed in before nodding. He brushed his lips against mine gently as I let out a soft moan. I didn’t know how addicted to his touch I was until then. I smiled as he kissed me harder, deepening the kiss.
Everything about us being together felt right. Good.
Time melted as he claimed my mouth in slow kisses. I felt the heat between us, undeniable as our lips parted and tongues met hungrily. I knew that I didn’t want to live in a world where this wasn’t a part of my life. I knew that I’d fallen hard for Stephen and was well on the way to doing the same with his son.
“You’re not going to regret this. I promise.” He kissed me again and slid his hand into my hair, holding me in place while he made love to my mouth, and helped to heal my soul.