Page 44 of Bratty Badboys

Without thinking, I took my phone and was about to text Kyle when the screen flashed with Alice’s babysitter’s name. I picked it up and asked, “Hi, is everything okay?”

“Hi, Anna. Sorry to disturb you, but there’s a man waiting for you outside the door,” Valeria said. She was a professional babysitter who often took care of Alice when Jem was busy. “Alice told me she knows him from Aaron’s wedding, so I asked him to sit inside, but he said he’ll wait for you.”

Who was it?

I checked the time. It was half-past five in the evening and June had one-on-one classes before she worked on her own set of exercises.

“Okay, thanks for calling, Valeria. I’ll reach home soon!” I ended the call, wondering if it was Kyle. But why would he wait outside my house when he lived right beside me?

Caleb

I whistled, checking for weeds in front of Anna’s porch. She had a small garden with flowers and plants, but her lawn wasn’t kept up.

When the kid’s face popped up in the window, I waved at her and she waved back. We had been playing the waving game for the past ten minutes while I waited patiently for her mom.

I leaned back on my motorcycle, running a hand through my hair. I should have known Anna would be busy, but I had to see her after being MIA for the past couple of days. One of my clients had a serious bug in his trillion-dollar company website and almost faced a security vulnerability in the entire system. Thanks to me, I saved his ass and his customer’s database by applying the same malicious method the group of hackers had tried to use.

Working indoors for the past forty-eight hours and a few hours of sleep, I looked forward to spending time with my childhood crush and one of the most beautiful women I knew.

I saw the lights of her Toyota first and tilted my head as she parked it in the garage. I could feel my heartbeat increasing with anticipation to see her, touch her, taste her.

When she stepped out of the car and towards me, I almost fell out on my knees.

Almost.

“Goddamn pretty,” I whispered to myself, seeing her in tight lavender leggings and some sort of sports top of same color with a white jacket. Her hair was in a sleek ponytail, with a few wisps of hair framing her structured face.

She looked fucking beautiful.

I swallowed, hoping my palms weren’t clammy.

“You wear this all day?” I asked as a way of greeting, checking her out again and trying not to get jealous of her clients who get to see her in such fuckable clothes. They were her workout gear, but even if she wore a trash bag, she’d make it fuckable. She was too sexy.

“Hello to you too, Caleb,” she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “What are you doing here?”

She looked over at my bike and raised her brows.

“I wanted to see you,” I said and remembered why I drove up to her house. I was glad she didn’t ask me how I knew where she lived. “I’m taking you out on a date.”

Her arms went lax as she looked up at me with conflicting eyes. Of course, she would not dump her priorities and come out with me. If it was anyone but her, they might have hopped on my bike, ready to come with me anywhere. But this was Anna. Anna Martinez, my crush and… my ex’s mom.

“I can get on my knees right here and beg if that’d please you,” I said in a deeper voice, leaning closer to her. I wanted to wrap my arms around her and kiss her, but not when her kid was watching us with wide eyes… and obviously not without her consent.

Anna pressed her teeth on her bottom lip, making me take a sharp breath.

Hold still Caleb. Don’t fuck this up.

“I need to?—”

“I already paid the babysitter for the night,” I said.

“Caleb, you didn’t have to do that.” I shrugged when she shook her head. “What if I said no and had dinner with Alice?”

“Good thing I also brought groceries so I can cook with you.” I winked.

She parted her lips, blinking at me. “You’re crazy.”

“Come on, mama, come out with me. You know I’ll show you a good time.”

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