Shit, I was so all over the place, I didn’t know what the fuck I was concentrating on.
“It’s all good.” I gave Ben’s head another kiss. “I’ve got to make a phone call. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
As I was making my way out of the kitchen, Ben said, “Daddy, hurry, you need to have a cupcake, and we need to finish the puzzle we started last night before it’s bath time and you make me go to sleep.”
“I won’t be long.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket and walked into my office, shutting the door behind me. As I took a seat at my desk, I found the number I was looking for and held my phone to my ear, listening to it ring.
“My darling grandson, how are you?”
I rocked in the chair, staring at the framed NFL jerseys on the opposite wall. None were mine. They belonged to the players I grew up watching, ones who served as role models for my career as I tried to play even a tenth of how well they did. “Grandma, how are you?”
“I’m hanging in there quite well. I can’t complain. The rehab center is doing everything they possibly can to keep me happy.”
“And your recovery?”
“I miss walking around my townhome, boogying to the beat, and making cookies for my boys. I have faith that I’ll be dancing in no time. But speaking of my boys, how’s my Ben?”
I released some air. “Grandma, he’s trying to give me a heart attack.”
“You know, you and your brother did the same to your mother. My phone would ring almost every day with her telling me the trouble you two got into. Little menaces, that’s what you were. It’s only fitting you’re getting a taste of your own medicine.”
I chuckled. “I think Jordan and I were worse than Ben.”
“Probably so.” She paused. “Is Ben all right?”
I picked up a pen, constantly pressing the top to extend and retract the tip. “He put a button up his nose last night. He wouldn’t let me take it out, so I called Dr. Kaplan, and he sent over a nurse.”
“I see.”
“Ironically, the nurse was Emily, who’s also your nurse.”
“Oh yes. Lovely, lovely gal.”
My thumb paused on the button, and as the room turned silent, the back of my head rested against the seat, my eyes closing. “She isn’t working right now, is she? I want to ... thank her. For ... everything.”
“No, darling. Emily only works during the day.”
I looked at my watch. It was almost seven.
That explained the timing of the cupcakes. She probably left work, came here, and went home.
“You should come visit your grandmother, and then whatever you have to say to Emily, you can say it to her in person.”
“I was just there a few evenings ago to visit you.”
“If it were up to me, you’d visit every day.”
Emily, in nursing scrubs, smiling at me as I thanked her for the cupcakes.
Those gorgeous eyes.
Lips.
That goddamn body.
Fuck.
But if Maya and Jordan went on the path I suspected, making Maya my soon-to-be sister-in-law, then I would be seeing more of Emily. And each time, I’d just have to control myself. I’d have to keep my dick in my pants. I’d have to keep my thoughts tame.
