Finally Read online

  Devin looked up from the drawer that could really use some more Reese’s peanut butter cups as he reached over and-

  Click.

  “Okay, those might be mine,” she reluctantly admitted when he found the bag of M&M cookies that she picked up from Dixon’s Bakery yesterday.

  Keeping his gaze locked on her, he pulled out the bottom drawer that she used for extra wires and-

  Click.

  “I have no idea how those got there,” Charlie said, rubbing the bridge of her nose as she tried to fight back a wince when Devin slowly turned his head and took in the office supplies that she’d been hoarding.

  “I’ll have T.J. bring up a new desk,” he said, sighing heavily as he closed the drawers.

  “Why is he bringing up a new desk?” Charlie asked, trying to figure out what he was talking about.

  “To replace this one,” Devin said, gesturing to her desk.

  “What’s wrong with my desk?” she asked, unable to help but frown as she tried to figure out how they’d ended up talking about her desk in the first place.

  “Too many flaws,” Devin said, shaking his head as he gestured towards the desk that she loved and planned on buying when she left.

  “I don’t want a new desk,” she said, but he wasn’t listening.

  “I should have thrown this thing out years ago,” Devin said, moving around her desk as he continued his inspection, shaking his head in disgust as he took in all the imperfections that covered her desk.

  “Umm, you’re not throwing out my desk,” Charlie said because this was her desk.

  “If you can’t find anything that you like downstairs, I can make you a new one. It might take a little time, but I should be able to finish it by Halloween,” he said as he moved back around her desk so that he could finish his inspection.

  “No, that’s okay. I don’t want-”

  “In the meantime, I’ll have T.J. put this out front to see if anyone wants it,” Devin said, cutting her off as Charlie looked from the desk that she loved more than anything to the man that had just suggested throwing it in the trash and back again and…

  This just wasn’t going to work for her.

  Chapter 3

  “I wasn’t done talking to you,” Devin bit out as he glared at the door that had just been slammed in his face.

  “And you can tell me what you needed from out there,” the ungrateful brat said, making him narrow his eyes on the door as he grabbed a donut from the small paper bag that he didn’t remember grabbing and took a bite of the delicious jelly donut as he narrowed his eyes on her door.

  Since he didn’t actually have anything that he needed to tell her, Devin considered bringing up all that shit that she had in her office, the movie posters lining the walls, the flat-screen television, mini-fridge, microwave, and sound system that he would have fired anyone else over, but…

  Fuck it, Devin thought as he finished off the rest of the donut and headed back the way that he came. He didn’t give a damn what she had in her office because he knew that she worked her ass off. He just…

  He just wanted to see her.

  After this morning, he just wanted to see her and get his mind off things for a while. He hadn’t realized what he was doing until he found himself standing in front of her door. They weren’t friends, never really talked before, but she was the only one that he wanted to talk to after the twins’ teacher broke the news that his son was probably going to have to repeat the first grade.

  He had no fucking clue what he was going to do and he had no idea why he wanted to see her. The only thing that he knew was that when he sat in the chair that she’d helped herself to from his waiting room, watching her work, he’d felt himself relax. There was just something about her that…

  Made him realize that he was a fucking idiot, Devin thought, shaking his head in disgust as he headed towards the back stairs only to bite back a curse when the woman that had taken his decision not to date as a personal challenge, headed towards him. When he’d hired her a few years ago, he’d barely managed to get the words out that the job was hers when she’d offered to thank him with a home-cooked meal and a look that told him exactly what he could expect for dessert.

  “There you are! I was hoping to talk to you about something,” Kelly said with a huge smile as though she hadn’t been waiting for him.

  “What did you need?” Devin asked, helping himself to the other jelly donut and-

  Found himself watching as the vicious woman that had shoved him out of her office, plucked the donut out of his hand, took a bite with a sad shake of her head and a mumbled, “You owe me a donut,” as she turned around and walked away, leaving him standing there, unable to help but run his eyes over her, noting the way that her ass swayed gently back and forth as she walked away.

  “Did…did you just growl?”

  “No,” Devin said absently as he watched until Charlie disappeared around the corner only to find himself moving to go after her and-

  “So, I was thinking,” Kelly said, stepping in front of him and cutting him off before he did something stupid.

  “What’s that?” he asked, biting back a curse as he forced his attention back on the woman smiling sweetly up at him.

  “Well, it’s about the website. I have a few ideas that I thought would really help Bradford Creations. I was thinking that we should change the color scheme to something more welcoming like pink and that maybe we should integrate some pictures of puppies and kittens on the homepage to give the page a more personal touch,” Kelly said with a warm smile and a shrug as he stood there, trying to figure out what puppies, kittens, and a pink color scheme had to do with Bradford Creations.

  “Charlie’s in charge of the website,” Devin said, deciding that he’d wasted enough time up here and headed for the stairs.

  “Well, I know that, but I thought that I would talk to you about it since she really doesn’t seem to know what she’s do-”

  “Charlie’s in charge of the website,” he repeated, cutting her off as he made his way downstairs and headed towards the glass wall that cut across the back. It had been the first thing that he’d installed when he bought the building so that his children would have a safe place to play while he worked. He’d divided the large room in half, using one side for his office and the other half for the kids’ playroom so that he could keep an eye on them.

  He opened his office door and sighed when he stepped on a pile of Legos. After a glance at his watch, he made quick work of picking up all the toys that had found their way onto his side and tossed them back into the playroom before he grabbed his toolbelt and headed to the computer Charlie set up for them so that he could check which orders needed to go out today.

  “How did the meeting go?” T.J. asked as he joined him by the back table.

  “They want to hold Dustin back,” Devin said, still trying to figure out how he was going to fix this. Dustin was insanely bright. His teacher kept stressing it over and over again even as she told him that they would have no choice but to keep him back.

  Dustin couldn’t read and wasn’t learning his ABCs like the rest of the children and Abbi…

  God, he didn’t know what he was going to do about his baby girl. She was determined to make sure that her brother wasn’t left behind, which apparently meant refusing to do her classwork as long as Dustin struggled with his. They wanted to split the twins up and put them in different classrooms, but he didn’t think that would go over well.

  He had until May to get Dustin caught up with the rest of the children or they were going to have to talk about other options, including the possibility of putting Dustin in a remedial class. Devin was already doing all the things they’d recommended to help Dustin catch up with the rest of the class. Every day, he worked with Dustin on his homework, went over the alphabet with him, used flashcards, and read a story to him every night. He had no idea what else he was supposed to do to fix this.

  “It’s only October and they’re already t
alking about keeping him behind?” T.J. asked, frowning as he pulled out his phone and-

  “What did you do?” T.J. asked, lips twitching as he read something on his phone.

  “What are you talking about?” Devin asked as he pulled up today’s orders.

  “Just wondering if there was a reason why Charlie was threatening to commit violence if I touched her desk,” his best friend said, looking amused as he slid his phone back in his pocket.

  “It’s flawed,” Devin bit out as he angrily scrolled through their orders, wondering why she was being so goddamn stubborn about this. He’d offered to build her a new desk, a better desk, but instead of thanking him, the ungrateful woman had pushed him out of her office and told him to keep his damn hands off her desk.

  “She loves that desk,” T.J. murmured absently as he pointed at something on the screen. “That went fast.”

  “What went fast?” Devin asked, still debating making her another fucking desk just to piss her off for banning him from her office.

  “Charlie barely had a chance to put it online before someone grabbed it,” T.J. said, pointing towards the order for the armoire that he’d finished yesterday.

  “You priced it for ten?” he asked, noting that it was an international order.

  “Probably could have got fifteen for it,” T.J. said, sighing as he glanced over his shoulder at the armoire that they were going to have to put in a crate. “Charlie’s going to be heartbroken.”

  “Why’s that?” Devin absently asked as he clicked on the order to make sure that everything was right before he accepted the offer.

  “I think it was love at first sight. She asked how much it was and looked torn when I told her that you’d probably sell it to her for five,” T.J. said as Devin looked over his shoulder at the armoire that had taken him a month to build and would make him a small fortune.

  “She liked it?” Devin asked as he stepped away from the computer.

  “More like loved it,” T.J. said, chuckling as he took over Devin’s spot to make sure that the order was correct before they accepted it.

  Nodding absently, Devin said, “Cancel the order,” as he pulled his phone out of his back pocket and ordered a dozen jelly donuts from Dixon’s Bakery for the ungrateful brat.

  *-*-*-*

  “Ow! Why are you hitting me?” Ben asked, pulling back his hand before she was forced to slap it again.

  “You’re supposed to be working,” Charlie said with a sad shake of her head, wondering why it was so difficult to find good help these days as she took her time selecting a blue crayon.

  “I’m not working until you give me a donut,” Ben said, folding his arms over his chest as he narrowed his dark brown eyes on her.

  “Sorry, but donuts are for workers,” she said, sending her best friend a pitying look as she gave up her search for the perfect blue crayon and helped herself to one of the oversized jelly donuts that had been delivered to her office earlier.

  “Then why does he get one?” Ben asked, gesturing to the cute little boy helping himself to a donut.

  “Because he’s cute?” Charlie asked, blinking up at her best friend.

  “I really am,” Dustin said, nodding solemnly as he settled back on the chair next to her as she returned her attention to finding the perfect blue crayon to help emphasize her turtle’s cuteness.

  “Why do I have to unpack while you get to color?” Ben demanded as he gestured to the stack of coloring books that Dustin brought down so that they could color after she worked on his letters with him.

  “Because moving was your idea,” Charlie reminded him, giving up her search for the perfect blue and started looking for a brown crayon to color her turtle’s eyes.

  “Speaking of ideas,” Ben said, pulling a chair out so that he could join them. “Do you really think this was a good one?” he asked with a pointed look around her new apartment.

  “Probably not,” she said as she debated making her turtle’s eyes green instead.

  “It’s going to make things awkward,” Ben said, sighing heavily as he reached over to steal a donut only to glare when she pulled the box out of his reach.

  “Probably,” Charlie said absently as she glanced from the sea turtle that she was coloring to the stack of Disney coloring books and couldn’t help but regret her decision not to color Eeyore when she had the chance.

  God, she loved Eeyore.

  “And you really think you’ll be able to pull this off?”

  “Absolutely,” Charlie said with absolutely no hesitation because she was more than ready to finally see this thing through.

  Chapter 4

  “Not again,” Devin mumbled weakly as he rubbed his hands roughly down his face while he stood in front of Charlie’s apartment door, listening to the sounds of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse coming from the other side of that door, praying that this wasn’t happening because he honestly wasn’t sure how much more of this he could take.

  “Morning, Daddy,” his baby girl said around a yawn as she walked past him, opened the door and left him with no other choice but to follow her.

  “Abbi,” he said, sighing her name heavily as he went after her, praying that his children took fucking pity on him today only to find himself biting back a groan when he walked into the small apartment and found Charlie lying on her stomach with her chin resting on her folded arms, wearing a small tee-shirt and a pair of boxer shorts. Before he could stop himself, he found himself running his eyes over her, taking in the delicate slope of her back hidden by the soft baby pink tee-shirt, the generous curve of her ass, short tan legs, and…sighed when Abbi climbed on the bed.

  “Why must you do this to me, Daddy?” Abbi asked, sighing heavily as Devin threw her over his shoulder and reached for Dustin, who was currently nibbling on a Hostess Cupcake.

  “We need to get ready for school. Let’s go,” he said, reaching over to pick Dustin up only to end up sighing when his son shoved the rest of the cupcake in his mouth, grabbed the other cupcake off the small tray between them, crawled off the bed, and made a run for it.

  Resigning himself to giving Dustin another bath, Devin turned around and-

  “The desk stays,” came the announcement that had his lips twitching as he headed for the door.

  *-*-*-*

  “How exactly is this staying on a budget?”

  “Because you’re buying me lunch,” Charlie said as she perused today’s menu as she stood in line, waiting to order.

  “Why exactly am I doing this?” Ben asked as he continued playing Scrabble on his phone.

  “Because I spent most of the night cleaning up the mess that you made of your company’s website,” she reminded him as she bit back a yawn, wishing that she could call it an early night tonight but that wasn’t possible with the hectic schedule that she’d set for herself.

  After she put in nine hours at work, she had to go home and work on her new business, setting up her website, researching, watching videos, and working on her social media presence so that she was established by the time the company that she really needed to figure out a name for was ready to go. God, there was just so much to do and she was starting to wonder if a year was going to be enough time to get it done.

  “That was last night. What have you done for me today?” Ben asked as he glanced up from his phone to throw her a questioning look.

  “Let you live?” she said, blinking up at him even as she pointed towards the large glass display where today’s selection of pastries, cookies, brownies, cakes, and other delicious-looking baked goods awaited her. “You’re also buying me dessert.”

  “I’m really not,” Ben said with a sad shake of his head as he returned his attention to his phone.

  “Make that two desserts,” Charlie murmured absently as she found her attention drawn to the incredibly handsome man that better think twice before going near her desk again as he walked into Dixon’s Bakery.

  She watched as Devin walked up to the counter and-

  Did
he just gesture to her? Charlie couldn’t help but wonder as her eyes narrowed on the man that had sent his henchmen to her office this morning to do his dirty work. As she stood there, admittedly glaring at him, she found herself running an appreciative eye over him, taking in the tight fit of his Bradford Creation’s black tee-shirt, his large biceps, cargo pants and couldn’t help but wonder if he’d be willing to work topless…to help with morale, of course.

  “Why hasn’t he fired you yet?”

  “I honestly don’t know,” Charlie said, because she’d been wondering about that for a while now.

  It was clear that he didn’t like her, which made her wonder why he’d hired her in the first place. When she’d showed up to her interview five years ago, she’d been nervous but hopeful that this would work out only to wonder why the incredibly handsome man interviewing her wouldn’t stop glaring at her. Really hoping that he didn’t end up being one of those serial killers that Grandma Bea used to warn her about when she watched Dateline, Charlie had given him her best smile, prayed that she made it out of there alive, and did her best to get through the rest of the interview without making any sudden movements.

  When it was over, or rather when she ran out of things to say, she’d cleared her throat, thanked him for the chance, and after another awkward moment when he didn’t say anything, she nodded, cleared her throat again, smiled, and hoped for the best as she stood up and headed for the door, resigned to keep looking. Before she reached the door, he’d texted her, letting her know that the job was hers if she wanted it. Since it meant that she no longer had to crash on Ben’s couch, she’d accepted the job only to end up wondering if she should keep looking the next morning when she showed up for work bright and early to find out that her new boss expected her to leave him alone.

  That had been fine with her, more than fine in fact, since it reduced the chances of him trying to lure her to a secondary location, something that Grandma Bea had warned her about after watching America’s Most Wanted. It also allowed her to do her job without having to worry about having a boss that tried to micromanage her. To be honest, she’d actually expected him to fire her within the first year, only he never did and she had no idea why.