“You have a theater up there too?” Brielle asked me.
I had a lot of things I wanted to show her. Starting with the sauna. Naked. But that had been before … before I knew all this about her. She was a single mom. A young single mom. She needed a future, and I wasn’t a future for her.
“Yes, I do,” I replied.
“Oh my God. Mom, please! Can we?” Cam grabbed her arm with a pleading look.
It was clear on her face she wanted to say no. She knew I wasn’t good for them.
“But I bought it on our Amazon Prime account,” she told him.
“You can sign in to your account on my system,” I told her, but she already knew that. I needed to shut the fuck up. I wasn’t making this easier for myself.
She cut her eyes up at me, and just like that, I wanted to laugh at her frustrated expression. I liked making her eyes flash with anger. Since I would no longer allow myself to let them flash with passion or lust.
“See! We can do that. Let’s do it, Mom,” he encouraged.
I could see her give in before she finally nodded. “Okay, fine.”
“We have microwave popcorn,” Cam said to me.
“We could use that or use my movie theater popcorn machine,” I told him.
I’d never actually used it yet. Maegan had bought it for the theater for when my grandkids visited.
“Hell yeah!” Cam replied.
“Camden Dace McGinnis,” Brielle said in a stern voice. She was even sexy in mom mode.
Cam looked sheepish. “Sorry, Mom.”
She gave a nod. “Go get your shoes on,” she said.
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied.
When he was out of earshot, I leaned down to her. “You realize he probably says worse than that when you’re not around. He’s a boy. He’ll be a teenager before you know it.”
She glared at me. “Maybe so, but in my presence, I’ll correct him.”
Because she cared. I knew Blaire wouldn’t allow that from Nate or the girls either when they got a little older and tried it. Rush had cursed like a sailor by the time he was eight. His mother didn’t notice or care. I wasn’t much better. Raising him in my world had been screwed up.
“If he wants to put on his pajamas or whatever he sleeps in so he can be comfortable, we are just going up the elevator. He doesn’t really even need shoes.”
She looked back in the direction Cam had gone. “That would be better. That way, he can just go to bed when we get back. I’ll go tell him,” she said.
I watched her walk away, wishing like hell I could turn off my attraction to her. It was worse now that I knew about her past. There was a respect I held for her after hearing her son talk about her and all she’d sacrificed for him. It had changed everything. Including my plans to get her in my bed. That would no longer be happening. I wasn’t going to be the man in Cam’s life, and that was what he needed. Someone who could stand beside Brielle and help her raise her son. A man who wanted a family. That was not me.
When Brielle came from Cam’s room, there was a smile on her face I hadn’t seen before. It was a happy, content, maybe even hopeful smile. I didn’t need to be the one making her smile like that. Tonight would be a one and done. Cam was a fan, and I would do this for him. Then, I’d leave for a few weeks. Go back to Beverly Hills until Kiro annoyed me. Give us all a break.
“You planning a second date with the construction worker?” I asked her.
She looked surprised by my question before shrugging. “We never made it on our first date. Things kept coming up.”
Damn. I needed obstacles in my way. It would make it harder for me to cave in and take what I wanted.
“I’m ready!” Cam said with excitement as he came bounding out of his room.
I was doing this for the kid. Nothing more. He’d have something to tell his friends. This had nothing to do with his mother.