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

The next morning, Jessica dressed in a rush and quickly gathered her stuff for work.

She slid her phone into her purse and glanced at the clock over the mantle.

Bridget would be arriving in ten to fifteen minutes.

If for some reason their nanny couldn’t make it, Jessica would take Axl into the office with her.

She considered herself fortunate to have a boss like Brady.

Whenever she was forced to bring Axl to work, Brady wasn’t just tolerant of the situation.

He took advantage of it. If his schedule permitted, he entertained her little boy for hours.

Their rapport was understandable, considering Brady could be a child at times, like most of the men she’d encountered.

He was an adult... until he came into contact with a video game.

Then he instantly became a ten-year-old.

Jessica mentally bounced from one option to the other concerning work. Should she go? Or should she say home with Axl?

She hesitated, and her gaze drifted to her son.

He sat at the glass kitchen table on a booster seat eating his breakfast. It was a bad-for-you sugary cereal she usually didn’t allow, but today was special. His first morning home deserved a celebratory meal. Tomorrow she would cook up something nutritious.

Perhaps she should stay home with him for one day.

For the first time in years, she didn’t want to go to work.

She’d come too close to losing him yesterday.

Brady had offered her a free day at home, so maybe she should take him up on it.

If she lost custody, she would wish she had spent every available second with her baby.

Did staying home from work make her a good mother? Or a bad one? She considered calling Brady’s lawyer to ask him and realized she should put Haverdash on speed dial.

“Are you going to work, Mommy?”

She gazed at Axl’s adorable face, her mind a total blank. Was she going to work? That was the sixty-four-million-dollar question. “Do you want me to go?” she asked.

“No. I want you to stay home and play with me.”

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 burned into 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 asking me .”

“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.

Jessica hesitated for a moment. She wasn’t sure how she would survive a whole day at the zoo with them.

It was impossible to look at Brady without remembering all those incredible nights spent in his arms, passionate and earthshaking, never to be forgotten.

With her son there, she would have to be on her best behavior.

Especially when Randy probably had a private eye watching her every move.

She took a deep breath before grabbing her purse and heading out to the elevator.

Her two partners-in-fun were already gone.

When she reached the parking lot, it didn’t surprise her to see Brady behind the steering wheel in his sports car rather than in her minivan.

Since she didn’t feel like arguing, she slid into the passenger seat without a word of protest after checking to make sure he had retrieved Axl’s booster seat from her van.

Letting him drive would make it easier for her to call Bridget. The girl was getting an extra day off.

∞∞∞

It was the perfect day for a trip to the zoo, sunny and warm without a hint of white fluff in the sky. Bluer than blue, the great expanse above their heads didn’t look real to her. Today, the sky reminded her of the opening of The Simpsons cartoon. It was that blue.

For hours she and Brady chased Axl from exhibit to exhibit until they were nearly too exhausted to continue.

Then Brady got smart. He swept her son up in his arms before Axl took off running again.

She expected her little boy to throw a tantrum, but he seemed to enjoy seeing the world from Brady’s strong shoulders.

Who could blame him? She was tall, but Brady was a skyscraper.

Brady grinned and gave her a wink. “I thought I was in good shape, but this kid is proving me wrong. How do you keep up with him?”

“I have a twenty-three-year-old nanny,” she said in a dry tone.

“She’s not with you every day,” Brady said. “What do you do when you have to take care of the kid alone?”

“It’s not that hard. He loves to play with his cars and building blocks. Sometimes he watches a kid friendly DVD. He also has a nap every afternoon, and he’s really good about leaving me alone when I have work to do at home.”

Brady flashed her a smile. “I’m glad you don’t have to chase him around non-stop all day. That would suck.”

It bothered her to hear Brady talk about her son as though he wasn’t a bundle of pure joy. “When it’s your kid, it’s fun. He keeps life interesting. This little boy can make me laugh like no one else. I don’t know what I’d do without him.”

She looked up at Axl to see if Brady’s remark had hurt his feelings, but he seemed oblivious to the conversation. His eyes were on their next animal attraction.

Brady gave her an odd look. “You don’t have to get defensive. I worry about you sometimes with you being a single mom.”

“Elephants!” Axl pointed. “I want to see the elephants.”

Jessica smiled up at her son. “We’re headed there now, honey. Relax.”

“You need to have pity on old people,” Brady said.

Axl frowned. “What is pity?”

Brady went on to explain, while Jessica’s thoughts drifted in another direction.

She was hot, tired, and her throat was dry as a desert.

Cool water, that was what she wanted most at the moment.

Or something sweet with ice. Lots of ice.

She wondered if she could convince her little boy to take a break so Mommy could get a refreshing drink.

Maybe if they tempted him with a burger or chicken nuggets.

When Axl was enjoying himself, he could be extra stubborn.

She hoped he wouldn’t throw a fit in front of Brady.

In the past, her partner had enjoyed playing with Axl on his occasional visit to their office, but he didn’t have to deal with a child every day.

Maybe she should fix it so he spent more time with Axl, enough time for him to understand how wonderful it was to have a little boy around on a daily basis.