Page 29 of Boss with Benefits

He turned his upper body so he was facing her, and she saw a touch of fear in his eyes. That scared her; she’d never known Brady to be afraid of anything. He had a reckless heart and an impulsive nature she envied. Before Axl’s birth she had enjoyed throwing caution out the door on occasion. Now she focused on her little boy and tried to do right by him. He was all that mattered.

“I know how you can win this custody battle,” Brady said.

“How?”

“Marry me and live here.”

Her eyes narrowed as she waited for the punchline. There was no way Brady had just proposed to her. Even a marriage of convenience was out of the realm of possibilities. Brady was a confirmed bachelor and would rather die than give up his freedom.

“What did you say?” she asked, shaking her head. “I must have water in my ears from the shower I took this morning. There is no way you are suggesting we exchange vows.”

“Marry me,” he repeated. He took one of her hands between his. “You don’t want to lose your son, and I don’t want to stop having sex with you. Yet. It’s a win-win.”

She shot to her feet. “You are out of your freaking mind! Think about what you’re saying. We work together. We’re partners. If we get married, we’ll kill each other within the first week.”

His jaw tightened. “Do you want to keep your son or not?”

She glared at him. “There has to be another way.”

“There isn’t. Randy is married, soyouneed to be married.”

“His lawyer will point out I got married to keep custody. It won’t work.”

Brady stood. “It will work, because it’s going to look like we got married before Randy made his move.”

“How is that possible? Do you have a time machine?”

“No. I have a judge who owes me. He’ll marry us and backdate the paperwork.”

“Isn’t that illegal?” she asked. The last thing she needed was to get involved with criminal activity. “Isn’t it fraud?”

“We aren’t hurting anybody.” Brady explained, “My judge friend will simply say he forgot to turn in the paperwork. I think he would normally have a week or so. Maybe it got lost on his desk. He’s a busy man.”

“There is nothing more important to me than my child.”

He nodded. “I get that.”

“When Axl was born and they handed him to me, I looked down at his precious face and fell in love. You don’t know what it’s like. You’ve never had children. This incredible feeling made my heart swell, and I knew I would do anything for him.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that can happen.”

His tone barely held an ounce of interest, but she didn’t let it deter her. She had to make him understand so he wouldn’t do anything to ruin her life. Or his. Of course, he wouldn’t meanto hurt her. Guys like Brady didn’t do damage on purpose. They were just... thoughtless.

She stared deep into his eyes. “I made a vow to my son the first time I held him. I promised to always take care of him to the best of my ability. My days of dancing on bars and hooking up with strange men ended the moment he was born.”

Brady made a face. “That’s a shame.”

He still didn’t understand, so she tried to put it another way to help him relate. “Remember when you told me how much you love photography? It’s your passion? Your reason for living?”

He nodded. “Yeah. So?”

“How would you feel if something happened and you couldn’t create your art anymore? What if it was taken from you?”

Although Brady owned the majority of their advertising agency and took hundreds of shots of models every month, his heart didn’t seem to be in it anymore. He could do things with a camera most photographers couldn’t imagine. They called his work ‘cutting edge.’

“I’d be lost,” he admitted. “If I couldn’t see the world through a camera lens and show people what I see, I’d be lost.”

“You love it, and you would do anything to keep it going.”

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