I found myself wanting to ask her but buried the sensation.
“At least I won’t lose you in traffic,” Emma said.
“I’ll wait for you to pull around,” I said.
Emma looked over at me with her stormy blue eyes before she walked Zoey across the street. She helped all of the kids get into the car, then she hurried off towards the end of the parking lot. She made no mention of my car or whether or not she liked it, and I leaned against the hood as I watched her hips sway. To and fro, side to side. Deep and salacious as her heels found their way along the pavement.
If I didn’t have the kids with me, that woman would’ve been in trouble tonight.
Hell, maybe she still was if I could get the kids to go to bed early enough.
Four
Emma
I was familiar with the reputation that preceded Ryan Aaron. How much of a party boy he was and how his antics had gotten his company into hot water. He specialized in fetish hotels. At least, that was what I called them. His company called them personalized luxury hotels, which was code for ‘we can set this room up anyway you want without any questions asked’. He was a womanizer. A man who thought that throwing his money around meant he was automatically entitled to the first woman he set his eyes on. I avoided San Francisco’s dating scene specifically to avoid men like him. They were everywhere. And I wanted nothing to do with them.
Which was why I didn’t like it when I stepped foot into Ryan’s apartment.
It wasn’t just any apartment. It was a penthouse apartment. With a beautiful view of San Francisco that gazed out over the ocean. The white and gray marble floors underneath my feet accented the plush black-and-silver furniture that filled the place, and it was decked out with everything someone could possibly want. Smart Home features. The most expensive crystal for his minibar in the corner. Gourmet chocolates sitting in a crystal bowl on a hand-carved blond mahogany coffee table.
And that was just the living room.
The first impression of the place.
“Like what you see?” Ryan asked with a grin.
“It’s decent enough,” I said.
He chuckled and shook his head as the kids flopped down onto the couch.
“Okay, you guys. What does homework look like tonight?” Ryan asked.
“But I thought we were gonna watch a movie?” Zoey asked.
“Once your homework is finished. I’ve got dinner coming in the form of pizza, but you have to have your work done before a movie goes on,” he said.
“Come on, Uncle Ryan,” Benjamin said.
“Don’t you ‘come on Uncle Ryan’ me. You know the rules. They don’t deviate from the rules at your own home.”
“Mom doesn’t have any rules,” Hunter said.
I sighed and closed my eyes and I felt Ryan’s eyes fall onto me. My heart ached for these children. No structure. No father. No mother in the picture for whatever reason. I wanted to cry for them. To gather them up in my arms and kiss their heads and tell them everything was going to be okay.
“Well, the rule here is you do your homework while dinner gets made, then after homework is food and a movie,” Ryan said.
It was shocking to me, how gently commanding he was with the kids. They weren’t happy about the rule, but they did obey. They unzipped their backpacks and pulled out their work, then sprawled everything out on the couches and got to work. I peeked over at Ryan and saw him leaning against the wall. His arms were crossed over his chest and his hip was cocked out and his eyes were totally trained on the kids.
In some alternate universe, I would’ve admitted that he wasn’t doing too bad of a job with them.
“Care for a drink?” Ryan asked.
His voice ripped me from my trance and I found him staring at me with a grin on his face.
“No,” I said.
“Doesn’t have to be alcoholic.”