Page 20 of Boss with Benefits (Boss of Seduction #6)

Four days later, Brady stepped off the elevator with a big bouquet of flowers for Jessica.

He had bought them on a whim from a vendor down the street for two reasons.

One: He wanted to do something sweet for her, something that would put her beautiful smile back in place.

Two: It would be a romantic thing for his employees to see and possibly testify to later.

He headed for her office. Before his hand reached the knob, the door swung open, and she leaped into his arms. He managed to move the flowers half a second before she plastered her body against his. Her arms made a tight loop around his neck, and tears fell on his shirt.

“Hey,” he whispered in her ear to keep the employees from hearing. “Why are you crying?”

“I just got off the phone with Mr. Haverdash.” She barely managed to get the words out between sobs. “Randy’s lawyer has filed for custody. They’re really doing it. It’s happening. They want to take my son away from me.”

“It’s okay. We’ve got this.”

She sniffed. “I called the lawyer, but he didn’t make me feel any better.”

Brady’s blood began to boil. He gently pushed her away, handed her the flowers, and ducked into her office. Before she had a chance to ask what he was doing, he used her land-line phone to call the law firm. He was ready to fire them all.

When the receptionist answered, he said, “This is Brady. I want you to tell Ms. Crawford to get the entire team together and meet me in your conference room in thirty minutes. If she does not comply, I will be looking for a new law firm.”

As he spoke, he watched Jessica’s eyes grow wide. At least she wasn’t crying anymore. He hung up and sat in her chair without thinking. She didn’t seem to mind. A hopeful smile tilted her mouth, and she took a moment to smell her flowers.

“Thank you,” she said. “They’re lovely.”

“I should have done this sooner,” he said. “I keep the firm on retainer for a reason, and them giving you the low man on the totem pole was not acceptable.”

“You are sexy when you take charge.”

He grinned, and the tension in the room eased. “Remember that later when the kid is in bed and we’re doing the dishes.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll remember.”

For a moment, he lost the romantic feeling they were creating.

It was quickly replaced by the old fear he would turn out like his father.

Once again, they were getting too comfortable in their new roles as a married couple.

The worst thing to him was that the homey picture they created—two people washing dishes before bed—didn’t freak him out the way it had at the start of their marriage.

It bothered him that being married to her didn’t bother him anymore.

He hit the intercom button. “Katherine, Jess and I need to go out for a while. Move our appointments to tomorrow. We might not be back today.”

“Gotcha, boss.” Katherine didn’t stop there. “Where will you be, you know, in case I need to get in touch with you?”

He rolled his eyes. “Call my cell. You don’t need to know where we’re going.”

After pushing the intercom button to turn it off, he crossed the room to stand with Jessica. “Are you ready? They’ll be expecting us soon.”

Her damp blue eyes locked with his. “I have never been this scared in my entire life.”

“Don’t be scared,” he said while lacing his fingers with hers. “We can handle this. We are going to win.”

“It isn’t enough to win full custody, Brady. I don’t want Randy to have any legal hold on my son. If the judge gives him visitation, he’ll do something to hurt Axl. I know he will, and I won’t be there to stop him.”

Brady’s jaw tightened at the thought of her ex being mean to the kid.

What if this Randy guy was like his father?

Abusive. The thought of someone hitting Axl made him crazy mad.

He understood exactly how Jessica felt. No matter what he had to do, he would make sure Randy left them alone. That guy could not get visitation.

“You’re right,” he said. “We’ll find a way to push Randy out of the picture.”

Maybe if he offered the guy a million dollars, he would walk away.

She grabbed her purse, and they left the office together. The ride in the elevator was long and uneventful. People got on and off. Neither of them said a word to each other. They weren’t in the mood to play the elevator game.

He made a mental note to call his private detective for an update.

How long was it going to take him to find out why this Randy character all of a sudden wanted to be a part of his son’s life?

Failing that, maybe they could discover his Achilles heel.

More than anything, Brady needed to know what Randy wanted from life. What was his dream? His lifelong goal?

If they could find that out, Brady could deal with the guy. With his money and connections, there wasn’t much out of his reach.

∞∞∞

“I pay you people an insane amount of money each month so you’ll be available when I need you.” Brady gestured to Jessica. “I sent my partner here to you for help, and what do you do? You hand her off to an associate when she should have been talking to at least one of the senior partners.”

Jessica stood off to the side and watched Brady tear into them. She’d never wanted him more. He was in his element, speaking calmly even though he was obviously angry.

Everyone except for Jessica and Brady were seated at the long conference table. Jillian Crawford, the senior attorney, sat at the far end. With pursed lips, Ms. Crawford listened to Brady berate her firm. She kept her mouth shut until he was finished.

Then the forty-something woman stood. “Please, accept my humble apology for the misunderstanding, Brady. No one thought to mention your partner was here for legal advice. Now that I know, I will personally take over the case, of course.”

Relief washed over Jessica. In an instant, she had gone from a distracted lawyer who couldn’t care less about her situation to the attorney Brady referred to as a hungry shark. Ms. Crawford had already won several lawsuits for him. What was one more?

“Jessica and I are married now,” Brady said. “She and her son are living with me in my beautiful home. Our beautiful home. The backyard is huge, and I’m thinking about getting him a dog. Is there anything else we need to do before this jerk takes us to court?”

Us? The word filled Jessica with a sweet warmth she hadn’t experienced before. She turned her head to the side and blinked back tears. The thought of losing him once this was over almost made her unravel right there in the law firm’s conference room.

She pushed the bad thought to the side, intent on dealing with it later.

“Married?” Ms. Crawford grinned. “It’s a good start. Clever.” She addressed her partners and associates. “Do any of you have any suggestions for the newlyweds?”

Several of them spoke in turn, giving advice. It happened so quickly Jessica couldn’t keep up. She didn’t have time to write anything down. She tried to remember the best suggestions and hoped Brady had a better memory than she did.

“Brady should get involved with her son’s school,” one lawyer said.

Another said, “Do family stuff together.”

“Start making a list of character witnesses,” Haverdash said. “You’ll need people who’ve seen you interact as a loving couple.”

Jessica glared at him, noting the change once his boss gave them the order to be helpful. Now he seemed happy to be of service.

There were several other suggestions, but most of them went over her head.

Her mind was occupied with making the list of character witnesses.

Other than the people at work, no one had seen them together.

She wondered if Deacon would lie for his buddy.

Her friends definitely would not lie under oath, so they needed to be romantic in front of as many people as possible.

Maybe they could start doing things at school in front of teachers and other parents. A little PDA never hurt.

“Hey,” she said, latching onto Brady’s arm to get his attention. “What about the pictures we took at the zoo? The three of us were together, and people saw us there.”

Ms. Crawford chimed in. “We can probably get video footage from the zoo. Think hard. Did the three of you ever do anything together before your ex threatened to take your son?”

Jessica and Brady looked at each other. He raised his eyebrows, and she shrugged at him. Had the three of them ever attended the same event? In all her years working with Brady, they must have done something together.

Brady was anti-social, unless it had something to do with his photography. She’d invited him to birthdays, Thanksgiving, and even Christmas. He hadn’t shown up once. The two of them attended networking events connected to their agency, but Axl stayed home with his nanny since it was business.

Ms. Crawford sighed. “If you think of anything, let us know. If you don’t, you may still have time to build a reputation as happy newlyweds. Go places together. Be romantic. Be seen. Bonus points for every family thing you can squeeze in between now and our court date.”

Jessica’s heart dropped to her stomach. “W-when is the c-court date?”

“Usually, it takes a while,” Ms. Crawford said. “But they had a sudden opening, so your court date has been set for two weeks from now. I’ll text you the exact day and time, both of you.”

The blood drained from Jessica’s face, and Brady’s arm went around her as though he thought she might faint. “Two weeks,” she said with numb lips. “That’s too soon.”

“I know it seems fast,” Ms. Crawford said. “Don’t be alarmed. They will simply assign an evaluator to you on that day, and his lawyer might try to get him weekly visitation or something.”

“I don’t want him anywhere near my son,” Jessica said.

Crawford sighed. “I wish you hadn’t allowed him to see the child at all, and I really wish you hadn’t put his name on the birth certificate.

Those were two huge mistakes.” The attorney smiled.

“Don’t worry. Since it was a one-night stand, there is no way he’ll get custody.

Not even joint custody. Unless he can prove you are the worst mother in the world, and I don’t see that happening. ”

That made Jessica feel better. She relaxed a bit while wondering why Haverdash hadn’t told her something similar. But then Crawford added to her statement, and Jessica’s heart dropped to her stomach.

“However, it’s reasonable to think he’ll get visitation, especially since you already let him see the boy.”

“No!” Jessica clenched her hands. “Axl doesn’t want to see him, and I promised he won’t have to ever go back there again.”

Crawford repeated what Brady had already told her. “You shouldn’t have promised that. Your ex had his DNA tested and his name is on the birth certificate. The judge will give him visitation unless you can prove he’s abusive or neglectful.”

“He yelled at my son.”

Crawford shrugged. “Parents yell all the time. The judge won’t care unless he abused your child in some way.”

Brady took her hand and squeezed it.

Jessica suddenly remembered his earlier gift and that she hadn’t acknowledged it. She turned to Brady. “Sorry I forgot to thank you for the flowers. They’re beautiful.”

“Not as beautiful as you,” he said.

Her cheeks warmed.

Ms. Crawford came around the table to stand directly in front of them. “Hold on a second. You gave her flowers?”

Brady shrugged. “I saw a stand on my way into work today.”

“You brilliant devil.” Crawford grinned. “Keep the receipt, and I’ll find out if there was a video camera in the area. You did it before Jessica was served, so it will mean more to the judge. Think of other things you’ve done. Document everything.”

The irony wasn’t lost on Jessica. For two weeks, they had done everything in their power to keep people from knowing they were hooking up after work.

“Wait a second!” She stared up at Brady with wide eyes. “The motel. We were there almost every night for two weeks.”

Brady shrugged. “We used fake names, and I always paid in cash.”

Crawford spoke up. “We’ll check video cameras in the surrounding area, just in case. Hopefully, you were caught together.”

Jessica’s heart plummeted, and she whispered to Brady. “We were supposed to be married before then. Why would we be sneaking around to a motel?”

“Honeymoon.” He shrugged. “We didn’t want to be bothered.”

She swallowed, hoping the judge would believe them.

Crawford dismissed her people, and they filed out of the room while chattering amongst themselves. Brady turned to Jessica. He smoothed a hand up and down her arm. “That wasn’t why I brought you flowers.”

She blinked. “What?”

“I want you to know I didn’t bring you flowers because I was trying to prove we’re a real couple.”

“Why did you bring me flowers?”

His Adam’s apple bobbed. “I... uh, saw the stand and thought of you. It’s no big deal. It’s not like I can’t afford it.”

She smiled at his nervous shifting from foot to foot. Brady had the habit of boiling everything down to financial gain or loss, especially when he felt cornered. She decided not to put him on the spot about the flowers.

Instead, she hooked his arm with hers as they walked out the door. “Thank you so much for everything you’ve done for us. For the first time since getting Bridget’s frantic call in your office, I feel like we’re winning this fight. I feel like I may not lose my son.”

“You won’t lose him,” Brady said. “No matter what I have to do, I’ll make sure you don’t lose him. You can take that promise to the bank.”

“What do you think we should do now? How do we convince the world we are a normal, happy couple?”

He placed a kiss on the side of her head through her long curtain of hair. She barely felt the brush of his lips. It was too quick and over too soon. Then he whispered close to her ear. “The trick is in not pretending. Let’s just be a happy couple.”

Her heart soared, and for a moment she allowed herself to believe Brady could change and could get over his allergic reaction to commitment.

Then he ruined it with a little addition to his bold statement.

“For now.”