Page 12 of Boss with Benefits

A smile stretched her mouth. “Hey, what if I take you to the zoo? How does that sound?”

“Daddy and Mindy took me to the zoo.”

Her smile faltered. “I know, but you went to the one in San Francisco. Ours is better. The Woodland Park Zoo has the Zoomazium. Remember?”

It was an indoor place for little kids to run, climb, jump, and yell as loud as they wanted.

“Oh, yeah!” Axl cheered and climbed down off the chair. Strange animal sounds came from his mouth as he raced around the condo, full of energy. Giving him a sugary cereal probably wasn’t the best idea.

A knock on the door returned the smile to her face. “That must be Bridget. She can come with us and help me corral you.”

“What does corral mean, Mommy?”

Instead of answering him, she opened the door to find the most gorgeous man on the planet on her doorstep. Lucky her. Brady was wearing faded jeans and a snug t-shirt that showed the bottom of his tattoos. Since he appreciated all sorts of artwork, it wasn’t surprising for him to have some on his upper arms. Although they were partially covered, they were burnedinto her memory: one was a design resembling twisted thorny vines that wrapped around his bicep and the other was a mean looking skull with a wicked smile on its face. At the moment, only the bony jaw was visible.

Brady grinned, and his dimples appeared like magic. “Uh-oh. You’re dressed for work, but that’s not where we’re going.”

She blinked. “We’re not?”

“I knew you wouldn’t take my advice to stay home, so I decided to play hooky with you. Let’s take Axl somewhere fun.”

“Great minds think alike.” She laughed at how easily he read her these days. “We were just talking about taking a trip to the zoo.”

“Brady!” Axl suddenly shouted and launched himself at her handsome partner. Good thing Brady’s reflexes were up to par. He easily caught her son and lifted him high off the ground. Axl asked, “Are you coming to the zoo with us?”

Brady smiled at her. “If it’s okay with your mother.”

Axl squirmed, obviously wanting down. As soon as he was on his feet, he tugged on her arm. “Please, Mommy. Make Brady come with us.”

“If we’re going to the zoo, I need to change out of my work clothes.” Jessica raced for her bedroom, calling back over her shoulder, “Can you watch Axl for a sec?”

Brady scooped her son up and flew him around the room like a human airplane, no indication from either of them that they’d heard her. By the sound of her son’s delighted squeals, he wouldn’t even notice she left the room.

She hurried. After changing in record time to jeans and a pretty white blouse, she returned to the spacious living area. Axl was introducing Brady to his collection of toy hot rods. Forty-five and growing at her last count.

“Are we ready to go?” she asked.

Brady set her son back on his feet and saluted him. “What do you say, Captain? Are we prepared to ship out?”

Axl giggled as he tried to return the salute, but turned his hand the wrong way. “Yes!”

“Let me grab a few things from the fridge,” she said. “Do you want some juice?”

“No, thanks,” Brady said.

Axl giggled. “She was askingme.”

“Oh, yeah?” Brady flipped her son upside-down and tickled him. “Well, maybe I want some juice.”

Her son giggled incessantly, and Brady laughed with him.

She hadn’t heard Brady sound that carefree in years. It was nice. Since he rarely took any time off, maybe he needed today more than she did. She spoke to them from the kitchen. “I’ll bring a juice for all of us and some healthy snacks, because I’m sure we’ll eat enough junk once we get there.”

“Great,” Brady said. He opened the door to the shared hallway before hunching over to talk to her son. “Race you to the elevator.”

Axl took off running.

Brady gave him a short head start.

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