Only One Kiss Read online

  “We did that last night,” I remind him.

  “Fine, we need to do it a lot then.” He kisses me one more time.

  “We did it a lot yesterday, bud,” I say as he walks away from me, and I get off the counter. “That’s the second time my ass has been on this counter.” His laughter fills the room.

  “Shit, I need something in the garage,” he says, walking to the door, and I follow him. “I need to give them a shirt,” he says as he moves boxes around.

  “Why are your boxes in the garage?” I ask him as I lean against the doorjamb and watch him walk around the twenty or so cardboard boxes that he has in there.

  “I didn’t know if I wanted to unpack,” he says, tossing one box to the side while he opens another one.

  “You didn’t know if you wanted to unpack?” I laugh now. “What does that mean?”

  “It means I hate this house,” he says to me, and then he just looks at me. “It’s a monster of a house with seven bedrooms and ten bathrooms. Who needs all this space?” I don’t answer him as he just continues talking while he opens boxes. “It’s so cold.”

  “Well, maybe if you unpack, it will feel more like home,” I try to tell him, and he shakes his head.

  “I never liked the house,” he says when he opens the fifth box and looks through it. “I just got it because Cassie wanted it.” He closes the box and then opens the next one. “I figured she’d spend most of the time in it, so I got it for her.”

  “So why don’t you move?” He looks up at me at the same time that I hear Ari start to talk from her bedroom. “If you don’t want to live in this house, move.”

  “But,” he says, and I don’t want to push it.

  “I’m going to go get Ari,” I say, turning to walk into the house, and I finally take a second to look around and see that nothing is personal here, nothing on the walls, nothing on a table. There are baby toys scattered around, and baby stuff in the kitchen. You know that a baby lives here, but that is all. I walk down the hallway, looking at the white walls, and finally see that it’s bleak. Even Ari’s bedroom is decorated and filled up, but there aren’t little touches that say I live here. There are just things that say a child lives here. Their only pictures are the ones that are professionally taken, and it’s only of Cassie. Ari sits up in the middle of her bed. “Good morning, sweet girl.” I pick her up and kiss her neck. “Are we ready to slay the day, pretty girl?”

  Walking over to the changing table, I put her down and unsnap her out of her pajamas, then change her diaper while pretending to eat her toes. “Okay, I’m out.” I look over my shoulder at Ralph as he walks in and kisses my cheek and then bends to kiss Ari. “I’ll be back soon. Be a good girl for Candace.”

  “Drive safe,” I say, and he just waits there, looking at me.

  “What?” I ask him.

  “Give me a kiss,” he orders. I laugh, but he comes forward and kisses my lips. “Tonight, we have to go over the rules.”

  “The rules?” I ask him, confused.

  “Yeah, rule one, always kiss before one of us leaves,” he says, and I lean forward and kiss his neck, smelling his soap.

  “Is that so?” I ask him, shaking my head. “I can’t wait to hear rule two.”

  “Oh, that is for another time,” he says. “I’m going to be late.”

  “Get out of here,” I say and dress Ariella in another pajama and start the day with her. “Do you want to take a walk?” I ask her while I sit down with her and her bottle. I take her on a two-hour walk, and get back at the same time as Ralph pulls up in the driveway. I can tell just with the way his hair curls around the front of his head that he didn’t shower.

  He smiles at the both of us, coming closer, and I hold up my hand. “Shower, then kisses.”

  “Rule number two.” He laughs at me, stopping beside me. “Always kiss when arrives regardless.” He bends, and I kiss him even though he smells.

  “I would like to counter on rule two,” I say, and he laughs.

  “Got to go shower. The photographer will be here soon,” he says, and I just shake my head.

  I walk in the house with Ari still in the stroller, grabbing some water and then sitting on the stool to go through my emails. I’m answering an email when the doorbell rings, and I look over to see if Ari wakes up. She doesn’t, so I slip off the stool and walk over to the door. Opening it, I see Monroe, the photographer.

  “Well, there she is.” He walks in with two bags, and air kisses my cheeks. “I came a bit early to set up,” he says, and I just smile at him.

  “I don’t know what you were thinking,” I say as we walk into the house. “I was thinking of some shots of him working out. A couple of shots of him doing dad things.”

  “Yes,” Monroe says, putting down his bag, and Ariella wakes up screaming.

  Walking over to her, I pick her up, and she lays her head on my shoulder as I rub her back. “It’s okay, baby girl,” I say. “Are you going to say hello to Monroe?” I ask her, and she turns her head but still leaves her head buried in the nook of my neck.

  “She is a beautiful girl,” he says. “And those eyes. Those eyes are like a beautiful blue sky.” I smile at him and then look over his shoulder at Ralph who comes out wearing a shirt and shorts, his hair wet from the shower.

  “Hey,” he says, smiling at Monroe and then walks toward me. “There is my girl,” he says. Ari lifts her head as soon as she hears his voice, and she smiles around her pacifier. “I missed you.” He grabs her out of my arms, and I smile at them.

  “He is much better looking than I thought,” Monroe says and winks at Ralph, making me roll my lips. “Definitely want some shirtless shots. Maybe of him running on the treadmill.”

  “I can get you some baby oil,” I say, trying not to laugh as Monroe’s eyes widen, and Ralph side-eyes me. “We should rent a wind machine.”

  “That would be amazing,” Monroe says, and I can’t help but laugh now. Ralph shakes his head, and I throw my head back and laugh. “Okay, I’m going to get set up. I have a list of things that Becca sent me and also a couple of things that Candace suggested.”

  “Do I have time to eat before we start?” Ralph asks, and Monroe shakes his head no. “If you want, we can start in the gym. You can go set up; it’s down that hallway.” Monroe nods his head, grabs his bags, and walks down the hallway.

  “I have your lunch in the fridge,” I say, walking over and taking it out of the fridge.

  “I can do that,” he says, and I shake my head at him.

  “Spend some quality time with Ari,” I say, heating his food and then bringing it to him as he talks to Ari about his day. “Here you go,” I say, placing the food at the side of him. “I was wondering,” I start to ask him, and he looks up at me. “If it would be okay to bring Ari to my house while you do the whole photo shoot thing.”

  “You don’t want to stay here?” he asks, taking a piece of chicken and chewing.

  “I was thinking I could take her in the pool, and we can be out of the way,” I say, and he smiles at me.

  “Rule number three,” he starts, and I groan and roll my eyes. “You are only allowed to wear a bikini in your backyard when there is no one else but me there.”

  “You’re kidding, right?” I lean on the counter. “I don’t own anything other than bikinis,” I say, laughing. “I have cheeky or thong.” I wink at him, and now it’s his turn to groan.

  “Parka,” he says to me. “Okay, why don’t you go, and then I can come over and cook you dinner.”

  “You’re going to cook me dinner?” I look over at him and then walk to his side just to be next to him. “You don’t have to do that.”

  “I know,” he says, grabbing another piece of chicken. “I know that I don’t have to.” He smiles at me, leaning forward to kiss my lips. “I want to.”

  “Then that sounds like an amazing plan,” I say. “Maybe, well, if you stay late enough, and Miss Ariella is sleeping, we could, I don’t know.” I wrap my arms around
his shoulders and lean in to whisper in his ear. “We could go skinny-dipping.” His fork falls onto the plate, and he puts his head back.

  “If you don’t step away from me, I’m going to go meet Monroe with tentage, and it’s going to be awkward for both of us.”

  “What do you say, baby girl?” I look at Ari. “Want to go in the water?” She hits Ralph in the chest and calls his name. “Yeah, I get it. He’s yours.” I smile at her and then look back at Ralph, who just looks at me. He leans in and kisses me softly. “She’s going to have to share,” I whisper in his ear, making him laugh.

  Chapter 26

  Ralph

  “I just need one more shot,” Monroe says of me holding the coffee cup while sitting on the couch with a pair of skates on the floor beside me and a diaper bag beside me. “Look here,” he says, and I look over at him. “That is going to get all the women.” He smirks at me, looking through the shots that he got.

  He’s been here for two hours, and I’m over this whole thing. I swear he must have taken a million pictures. We started with me on the treadmill and then moved over to the bike. He got me to pose with my hockey equipment and then shirtless for a couple of them. I felt so uncomfortable, but I did it because he knew what he was doing. I also did it because Becca was now here telling me I had no choice.

  “That was the best one,” Becca says, standing behind Monroe. “That shot is going to get you onto billboards.”

  “Whatever,” I say, leaning forward and picking up my skates and bringing them to the garage. I clean up the mess that I made while shooting as Monroe starts to pack up his stuff. He shakes my hand when he leaves, then turns to mention to Becca that he will be sending her the proofs in the next couple of days.

  “Thank you so much, Monroe,” he says. When he leaves, I’m itching to leave with him. “I have a feeling a couple of those shots are going to be the signing point,” she says to me, sitting on the couch when she hears the front door slam shut. “Where is your sitter?”

  “I fired her.” I walk to the fridge and grab a water bottle. “A couple of days ago.”

  “I’m sorry, what?” Becca says, leaning forward in her chair and looking at me. “Where the hell is Ari?”

  “Candace took her over to her house,” I say, sitting on the couch, and I watch the way Becca is processing all of this.

  “Why the fuck did you fire your babysitter? It took forever to find her,” Becca asks, ignoring the beeping phone in her hand.

  “I know,” I say. “But she showed up here out of the blue ready to cook me dinner while dressed like a hooker.”

  “Oh my God.” Becca puts her hand to her mouth. “Did you have the locks changed?”

  “Yesterday,” I say. “Candace did that, and she has a meeting with a new babysitter today. So I have to get over there.”

  “So you fire your babysitter and call in Candace?” She just eyes me as she asks me the questions.

  “She was here when it happened.” I am not hiding it from her. “I’m dating her.”

  “I’m sorry.” She shakes her head. “What?”

  I watch her as I say the words. “We are dating.”

  “I don’t think that is a good idea,” Becca says softly.

  “I don’t care,” I say. “It’s a great idea to me. She’s amazing, and she’s smart, and she’s beautiful.”

  “Yes to all of those things along with other things, but you dating her.”

  “I’m not going to lie. It took me by surprise also.” I lean forward. “I mean, it’s not like I was on Grinder looking for chicks.”

  “You’ll have a hard time finding chicks on Grinder, Ralph, since that’s for gay men,” she says, and my eyes open wide while she laughs. “Jesus, can you imagine?”

  “I can’t.” I shake my head. “I want to sell the house,” I say, and she stops laughing.

  “But . . .” She looks around.

  “You know I hate this house,” I say. “You know I’ve hated this house from the beginning.”

  “Yeah, but I figured with Cassie gone and with her being here,” she starts to say, and I shake my head.

  “I want a house, a home. I want a smaller house with three bedrooms and normal amount of bathrooms. I don’t need a cinema room or a fucking rock wall swimming pool that I haven’t ever been in.”

  “If you’re sure, I actually know someone who is looking for this exact style house,” she says.

  “I don’t even want to make money from the sale.”

  “Well, now, I’m going to stop you right there.” She holds up her hands. “I know you might not want it, but I want it, so I’m going to have someone come and appraise the house, and then I’ll talk to my client.”

  “Is he an NHL player?” I ask, and she shakes her head.

  “New up-and-coming golfer,” she says. “Wife is a debutante who loves big and bigger.”

  “Gross,” I say, getting up. “And grosser.”

  “Meanwhile, I’ll get you with a realtor, and you and she can chat,” she says. “I’m still in a little bit of shock over you and Candace.” She smiles now. “You know that she doesn’t date her clients, right?” I nod my head. “The rookie,” she says. “Vincent, he chased her hard last year at the NHL awards, like hard. Like roses to her room, waiting in the lobby for her.”

  “Really?” I ask, shocked but not surprised.

  “Yeah, it was funny watching Evan glare at him.” She laughs. “Then the whole Stone family followed suit.”

  “Oh, Jesus, he never stood a chance.” I shake my head happy that he didn’t and suddenly wanting to slash his stick for even thinking about her like that.

  “Are you sure about this?” she asks, standing. “I mean, you know I love you, and I will be behind you whatever you decide, but—”

  “It’s fucking nuts.” I run my hand through my hair. “But I tell her things.” I look at her. “Things that I don’t tell anyone, and with her, all I want to do is tell her more things, tell her everything.”

  “I’m happy for you.” She smiles and comes over, giving me a hug. “If anyone deserves even a little happy, it’s you.”

  “Thank you.” I hug her back, and the minute she leaves, I’m jumping into my truck, and I’m on my way over to Candace. I pull up, seeing that there is a car there, and I wonder if it’s the nanny. I knock on the door, and two seconds later, the door swings open, and I stand here with my mouth open.

  Candace is in front of me with a white bikini top and a bottom that looks like it’s too small with pineapples all over it. She wears a long white button-down shirt over her, but it’s open, so you see all her skin. “What the hell are you doing?” I say, pushing her into the house and then looking around now to see if anyone saw her. “You can’t answer the door naked.”

  “Oh, for the love.” She rolls her eyes, and I see that her hair is tied up on top of her head, and she has a little bit of a tan. “I was with Bernadette,” she says, turning to walk into her house, and I see her ass cheeks through the white shirt.

  “Baby,” I call her name, and she looks over her shoulder at me. “You need to go get dressed.”

  “I’ll button the front if it makes you feel better,” she says, not stopping to walk and not walking to her bedroom as she walks into the living room and I see an older lady sitting on the floor with Ari as she sings to her and claps her hands together as Ari gives her the biggest smile. “Bernadette,” Candace says. “This is Ralph, Ari’s dad.”

  I walk over, and Ari sees me. She whines a bit until I pick her up, and then she smiles. “Hello there, pretty girl,” I say and see that she is in a one-piece blue swimsuit with white polka dots. “Did you go in the pool?”

  “No, we didn’t,” Candace says. “We took a nap, and then we watched some Baby Einstein.” I look over at her. “I wanted the sun to go down a bit.” I don’t think my heart can get anymore full at the moment.

  I look at Bernadette. “So Candace tells me that you’ve been watching kids for a while.”
/>   She fills me in about all the work that she’s done, and who she’s worked for, and I’m shocked to find out she worked with Manning’s children. We make a plan for her to try it tomorrow during the day with Candace there. I smile at her and walk her to the front door and close the door behind her, then turn to Candace. “Rule number four.”

  “Rule number four, don’t bug me about my swimsuits.” She walks up to me and gets up on her tippy toes and kisses my lips. “Let’s go into the pool, baby girl.” She grabs Ari from me and then turns to walk away from me. “You need to get the pole down before you come outside.”

  I look down, seeing my cock hard. “You showed boobage. What did you expect?” She throws her head back and laughs, and I watch her walk away. I follow her outside where she has everything set up for Ari. She puts a hat on her head and then grabs the green and yellow blow-up pool chair for Ari, with its own umbrella to stop the sun. She unbuttons the shirt and shrugs it off, and all I can do is look at her. Her tits are pressed together with her bikini top, and it looks like it’s tied in the middle of them. Her stomach flat with her long tanned legs, she turns around and walks to the pool, and I see the thong bottom piece where it shows her perfect fucking ass. An ass that I want to put my hands all over. “You coming in with us?”

  “Oh, I want to come all right,” I mumble, and she laughs at me as she walks in the pool. I pull off my shirt and walk into the pool with her. “This water is like a bath.”

  “I know.” She looks at me as she puts Ari’s toes in the water. “I turned up the heater when I got home.” She takes her hand and pours water on Ari to make sure she likes the water, but Ari’s feet are already going a mile a minute as she splashes. She puts Ari in the chair, and she splashes the water all over herself.

  I walk over to them, getting into the water on my knees in front of Ari. “Are you having fun?” I ask and then look over at Candace, who also sinks down in the water. “I missed you,” I say to her as I pull her closer to me. I put her in front of me, boxing her in with my arms while holding on to Ari’s chair while she splashes her hand in the water.