Page 1 of No Regrets

Chapter One

When it rained in December, the cool drops of moisture felt like ice abrading her skin. Although they hadn’t seen a white Christmas in a long time, this would be Shiloh’s first, and Brianna intended to make it perfect for her little girl. Well, as perfect as one person could.

Brianna sat at her dining room table going over her finances, wondering where she’d get the extra money to buy presents. With her mother’s medical bills, Shiloh’s daycare, and the usual monthly expenses, little remained in the bank account for luxurious items. Working as a waitress at Heavenly Hosts only paid minimum wage, but the tips kept her from having to find another part-time job. Trying to support her family, she worked whenever she could and still came up with three dollars in her checking account. She didn’t even want to think about the money she took from the account she started while pregnant for Shiloh’s education.

She took a deep breath wondering if, aside from the double shifts she was already pulling, she could get a part-time job for Christmas. Her daughter deserved the best. Even at one, she deserved to have presents just like other children.

“Honey, stop fretting over it.” Regina came downstairs with Shiloh in her arms. “It’ll all work out some way or another.”

“Yeah.” She looked up to see a toothy grin on her daughter’s pudgy face. “Come and see Momma before I go into work.”

She held out her arms, and Shiloh went happily into her mother embrace and settled in against her. Somehow, holding Shiloh made the world right. She kissed her baby’s curly brown hair, almost long enough to pin back in a barrette. Just from her bath Grandma had given her, she smelled fresh.

“Don’t work yourself to death tonight, Bree.” Regina grabbed a cup of coffee and settled in the seat across from her daughter at the table. “Money’s only money.”

“Yeah, but when you have none, it becomes a necessity.” Shiloh looked up at her, her dark emerald eyes shining bright. “Will you be a good little girl while mommy’s working?”

Shiloh giggled, and Brianna couldn’t help but smile. She looked so much like her father it nearly hurt to think about it. With Shiloh on her hip, Brianna finished getting ready for work and finally started toward the front door of their townhouse.

Shiloh, being the smart little girl she was, knew her mommy was getting ready to leave and starting putting up a fight, not wanting to let her go. Brianna dealt with this every time she left for work. Aside from feeling guilty about her mother raising her daughter while she worked, she felt guilty for making her little girl cry.

“Sweetheart, please don’t do this tonight.” She pecked Shiloh’s chubby cheek, hating that she was so weak when it came to her daughter.

Shiloh cried, and reluctantly, Brianna handed her over to Regina and headed out the front door. Once the door closed, she took a deep breath and leaned against the door. Each tear shed from her little girl’s eyes cut through her, but she forced herself to remember working was to put food on the table and to pay the bills. She had to do it, and if there were any way around it, she’d go that route. But there wasn’t. She had to work, since her mother was disabled, and provide for her family. She wished fate would ease up on her a bit, because all she could do was the best she can.

Finally inside her car, a beat-up Mazda that threatened to die on her any time she turned the engine off, she fixed her makeup and headed to work. She couldn’t think about her daughter or Kaden. Thinking of those two was strictly forbidden while working, and somehow the time passed faster.

* * * *

“Oh, come on, Kaden. Look at the ass on that one. Don’t tell me you don’t want to tap that thing all night long.”

Kaden sat with his buddies at Heavenly Hosts, staring at a waitress with a behind the size of a watermelon. “No, Derek, I think I’ll give that one to you.” Laughing, Kaden shook his head at his buddy.

“No, that girl is more Kaden’s flavor.” Mark pointed to a well-stacked waitress dressed in a plain button down white top and short black shorts who flirted with two business men. He stared a little longer than necessary, then shook his head. “Air for brains. Been there done that. Not really my style anymore.”

Mark chuckled. “Since when do you care whether or not she has brains? I thought you just worried about how fast you could get them to spread their legs and get off?”

“Nope, not our Kaden. Not anymore.” Tony shook his head, mocking his friend. “He wants to be attracted to her mind instead of her behind.”

The three men started laughing at Tony’s remark, and Kaden tried his best to ignore them. Truth be told, he didn’t want anything more than a fun time. Although he’d had his share of fun times, only one had come back to bite him in the behind.

He thought about Brianna a lot lately, wondering how she was and what she was doing. He even thought about looking her up and going to see her while he was in town but knew that’d be stupid. After walking out on her nearly two years ago, he doubt she could face him without her swinging a fist.

“Oh, look at that one.” Mark pointed to another waitress wearing the same getup as the flirt still standing at the table with the businessmen. “Damn, I’d tap that ass. I’m getting hard just thinking about it.”

Kaden turned, letting his gaze wonder from her long, tanned legs to her tight, firm butt and on up to her chocolate brown hair. Hair pulled up the exact way—He leaned out of the booth, trying to get a better view vaguely hearing Derek’s comment of this being the one for him. Surely that waitress wasn’t Brianna. Surely she didn’t still work for—

She turned around, and his heart stopped dead in his chest. Brianna stood before him as beautiful as ever, with her midriff showing. The white shirt the others wore matched hers, though she tied hers above her navel. And damn if she didn’t make his blood hot.

“Dude, stop gawking. It’s pathetic.” Tony punched him, nearly knocking him out in the floor.

She sure as hell didn’t look pregnant, or like she ever been pregnant. If anything, she looked trimmer now than she had be the night they—

The blonde with no brains came up to their table, and her eyes locked on Kaden as she swept her tongue across her pink glossed lips. “Hello, gentlemen. My name’s Lindsay, and I’ll be your waitress this evening. Are you ready to order?”

The three men gave their orders, leaving Kaden last. “I just want a steak, medium well, and a glass of Coke.”

She nodded, seeming to take her time writing down his simple order. “Oh, um, do you know that waitress’s name?”

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