Page 29 of Boss with Benefits (Boss of Seduction #6)

She ran through the airport as fast as her long legs could carry her.

It was crowded, but she didn’t care. Nobody could keep her from reaching the man she loved.

When her heels became a problem, she stopped to take them off.

She hopped on one foot while removing the opposite shoe.

Passing people stared at her as if they had never seen anyone take off a shoe before.

She sprinted down the never-ending terminal with both shoes dangling from one hand.

Someone as tall as Brady should be easy to spot.

She darted around every obstacle and raced down the escalator instead of waiting for it to descend.

Someone yelled for her to stop, but she kept running.

Maybe they thought she looked suspicious, or maybe they were afraid she might break her neck. She didn’t care.

Fear she would miss the flight and Brady would be gone forever spurred her to sprint faster than should have been possible.

And there he was, about to go through the security checkpoint.

“Brady!” she shouted. “Brady, stop!”

He turned, eyes narrowed, and looked for the owner of the frantic voice.

Didn’t he know it was her? She raised her arms high over her head and waved them around.

Recognition came to his features when his gaze landed on her face.

Instead of going through the metal detector, he approached her with a quick and steady gait.

For a blissful moment, it reminded her of a scene from a romantic movie. Two lovers racing to each other in the middle of the airport. Hopefully, she would get the same happy ending those people always managed to achieve.

They embraced. He lifted her off the ground and turned in a circle with her in his arms. He seemed happy to see her. That was a good sign.

Then they were kissing.

He lifted his mouth long enough to ask, “What are you doing here?”

“You can’t leave me,” she said between kisses. “I won’t let you.”

“Jessica—”

“Axl and I are going with you.” At his stunned expression, she said, “We’re your family. Now and forever. Where you go, we go.”

“Are you out of your mind?” he asked.

She locked her gaze with his. “I don’t care if we live a vagabond lifestyle or stay here in Seattle with the agency. What we do doesn’t matter. Where we live doesn’t matter. I want to be with you.”

Brady shook his head. “You’re just grateful I saved you from losing your son. That’s no reason to stay married. I don’t want your gratitude.”

Hands on hips, she glared at him. “If this was about being grateful, I would have sent you a Hallmark card, idiot. I wouldn’t invite you to spend the rest of your life with me… and my son.”

He stared at her through narrowed eyes as if searching her face for some sort of truth he thought was missing from her words. Was he searching for love?

She added, “You know how protective I am of my son, and you know I would never put him in a dangerous situation. You are a good man, Brady. Why can’t you see what Deacon and I both see?”

He glanced behind her. “Where is he? Where is Axl?”

“Bridget is bringing him. They’ll be here any minute.” She looked past him at the security checkpoint. “Can you get us on your flight? Or do we wait for another?”

“Jess—”

“You can’t talk me out of this.” She dug her passport out of her purse.

“We both love you more than we could ever love anyone. If you leave us, you’ll be condemning us to a lifetime without a strong man to love us and protect us from the Randy-types of this world.

You are Axl’s father, whether you want to be or not, and you are the love of my life. ”

He groaned. “Jess, be realistic and—”

She placed two fingers over his lips to stop the flow of words.

“Before you start arguing, let me finish. I know you think this is about gratitude, but it isn’t.

I swear. I want to be with you, because you make me laugh when my world is falling apart.

” Her eyes filled with tears. “You make me feel like the most beautiful woman in any room we enter. You look out for me even when I don’t want you to, and do you know what I love the most about you? ”

His lips twitched. “Did you just say you love me? Wow. You’re not even drunk.”

She ignored his attempt at humor and finished what she wanted to say. On the too-long drive to the airport she had memorized her little speech. “The thing I love the most about you is how you love my son.”

“I do.” His eyes grew suspiciously damp. “I love Axl, and I love his mother. More than anything in this world. But that doesn’t mean we should stay married.”

He hugged her so tightly she could barely breathe, but she didn’t complain. It felt wonderful to have his arms around her. A brief flash of hope lit up her soul, and she was positive she had gotten through to him.

Then he shook his head hard. “I can’t stay. This isn’t right. It won’t work.”

“Do you love me?” When he started to walk away, she grabbed his arm. Her voice rose in volume, demanding. “Do you love me as much as I love you? Just answer me. Say it Do you love me?”

“It’s not that simple.”

“The hell it isn’t!” People were starting to stare, and she noticed a guard giving them a quizzical eye.

She lowered her voice. “It’s simple, Brady.

It’s very simple. You either love me or you don’t.

” She folded her arms in defiance. “And if you don’t, you have to convince me, or I’ll never stop coming after you.

No matter where you go, Axl and I will be there.

We will follow you from continent to continent until you realize how lucky you are to have us. ”

A muscle jumped in his cheek as his jaw tightened, and he blinked back tears.

“If you love me that much, I really am the luckiest man alive. But it doesn’t change who I am deep down.

How can I be certain I won’t go down the same dark path as my father?

How do I know I won’t become controlling and abusive to you someday?

I would rather end my own life than risk hurting you. ”

“You are not your father, and I am not your mother. If you ever got physical with me, I would drop you on the spot. Then I would take my son and leave forever, never to return no matter how much I love you.”

He nodded. “I believe you.”

“And we have your good friend Deacon watching out for us.”

Brady’s arms slid around her waist, and he chuckled. “That’s right. Forgot about Deacon. I feel the need to warn you he can be intrusive, and he will probably put his nose into every aspect of our lives.”

“Good.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Good?”

“He can be your safety net, so you can stay with us and be happy.” She jerked her chin in the direction of the security checkpoint. “Although, it might be hard for Deacon to watch over us if we’re in another country.”

Brady took her hand and pulled her over to a row of blue plastic chairs. They sat next to each other. Her stomach muscles tightened as she worried he might tell her he still wanted a divorce. He gently separated her fingers with his.

“If we’re being honest, I have a confession to make,” he said.

She tried to swallow the lump in her throat. “Confession?”

“I started picturing a future with you weeks ago.”

“You did?” Nervous, she tucked stray strands of hair behind her ear. “Exactly what did you picture? Tell me.”

A cute slightly red tint came to his cheeks, and he gave her a sheepish smile. “We were happy. You, me, and Axl. But I saw us with another two or three kids, too. What do you think about growing our family?”

She couldn’t keep the huge smile off her face. “I would love that.”

“You would?”

“Yes! After Axl was born, I decided to keep to myself and just concentrate on him. If you and I hadn’t been forced to get married to keep him safe from Randy, I never would have gotten into another relationship.

At least not until Axl went away to college.

I never thought I’d have the opportunity to have more children. ”

Brady bent forward and placed a quick kiss on her lips. “That would have been a shame. You are such a great mom. You should have a dozen kids.”

“A dozen?”

“Two dozen.”

Her eyes widened, and a nervous laugh burst from her mouth. “Hold on there, stud. I’m okay with another kid or two, but let’s not get crazy.”

“We’ll have as many or as few as you want. As long as you are my wife, I don’t care about the details. Whatever you want, I will spend the rest of my life giving it to you.”

She kissed him, a long and lingering kiss. “You might be sorry you made that promise. I can be demanding.”

“Whatever you want,” he repeated. “Anything.”

“Hmm. Well, I want another wedding. A small one in a church with all our friends in attendance.”

“Done. Anything else?”

She kissed him again. “I want to have your last name.”

He chuckled. “Done. I will change it to Michael Brady so we can share a last name.” He quirked an eyebrow at her. “Or Brady Michaels. Your choice. Anything else?”

“Yeah. As a matter of fact, there is one more thing I want.”

“Name it.”

She playfully punched him in the arm. “I want half the business. Fifty-fifty.”

They stood and began the long walk back through the terminal, retracing her earlier steps. His arm went around her waist. “Technically, it’s half yours already. As my wife, what is mine is yours.”

“Not good enough.” She shook her head. “I want you to let me buy another twenty percent, and I want the agency in both our names.”

He rolled his eyes. “I don’t think that’s necessary, but if you want it, it’s yours. Anything else?”

“Yes. Stop calling yourself my boss. You are not my boss.”

He started laughing deep in his throat, the sexiest laugh she’d ever heard. If she could bottle it, she’d make a fortune. “I think that’s obvious,” he said. “How about if you are my boss? You can handle the majority of the business, and I’ll just snap pictures.”

They both laughed before falling silent for a while. Jessica tried to savor every second, memorizing the details of this perfect moment. She wanted to memorize every second they shared together from now to the end of their lives.

They didn’t speak again until they were in her minivan, buckled in and ready to go. She went to insert the key into the ignition and hesitated. There was one more thing she wanted to know.

“Why did you leave that picture for me in your office?” she asked. “And why did you single out that one to have blown up?”

“You opened the crate?” he asked. “You saw it?”

She nodded. “It’s so obvious in the photograph that I am a woman deeply in love with the man of my dreams. How could you see that and not stay with me?”

His buckled himself into the passenger seat, and he admitted, “That photograph is the reason I decided to leave you.”

“What? Why?”

“ Because you were a woman in love. You’re right. It was obvious and out there for anyone to see, and that’s what scared me.”

She shook her head. “I don’t get it.”

“My mother used to look at my father just like that, like he was her reason for breathing. He used those misguided feelings to keep her in line. Her misplaced love put a blindfold on her she couldn’t remove, so she believed him every time he told her he was sorry, every time he swore he’d stop drinking. ”

Jessica sighed. “You saw how much I loved you and were afraid I would let you hurt me? Or hurt my son? That will never happen. I promise to always call you on your BS and never let you get away with anything. If you so much as push me or shake me during an argument, I will be gone, and I will never return. You won’t get a second chance. ”

He smiled. “I believe you.”

“Good. Now I just have one more pressing question.”

Warily, he asked, “What?”

“What do we do with that big ass picture of me?” They both laughed, but she was only halfway kidding. “Seriously, why did you have to blow it up so big?”

“I couldn’t resist showing the world how much you love me.”

“Good answer.” She inserted the key and started the engine.

“Maybe we should put the photograph in an art gallery. I want you to follow your dream and take pictures around the world. We can all travel during the summer, or you can go by yourself and we’ll wait for you to come home.

I won’t be one of those complaining wives who want their husbands with them night and day. ”

“Bummer. That’s the kind of wife I want.” He paused before adding, “I don’t want to leave you or Axl for a single day. Where I go, you go.”

“That’s a deal I can keep.”

“As for the photograph of you, I don’t want to share that with anyone. Let’s hang it above the bed.”

She hoped he was kidding. The picture made her look like a stunning movie star, but she didn’t want her giant face hanging over her every night. “What about the nude ones? What did you do with them?”

He grinned but didn’t say a word.

“I’m serious, Brady. I want a guarantee my naked body won’t show up in an art gallery or online somewhere.”

“Don’t worry, babe. Those pics are for my eyes only. I’ll keep them in the safe at work. Or at home, if you prefer.”

She wanted to argue with him, but his use of the word ‘home’ filled her with a sweet heat.

She couldn’t wait to get him back to the house.

Bridget had taken Axl to her place for the night.

Jessica had lied to Brady about Axl being on his way to the airport so she could make a point.

Her little boy would be spending the night with his nanny, and his parents would be enjoying some special alone time.

They needed it.

She couldn’t wait to get home and start her new life with the man she loved.