Curvy Nanny for the Nerd

34. Toni

Chapter 34

Toni

“ A re you sure this is the right course of action?” Lucy’s question was well-meaning and I knew she wanted me to get the same happy ending that she’d gotten with Rush, but she was just in her own little love bubble.

“No Luce, I’m not sure at all. But this is the path laid before me which means that it’s what needs to be done. House hunting because the idea of a living space without a green space for my baby is just horrific.”

“Horrific? Hyperbole, much?” Lucy laughed and when she rolled her eyes I regretted the video call.

“It’s not hyperbole. I’m pregnant and what happens if the elevator breaks down? I’m not dealing with that shit. And I want my kid to have somewhere to run and play and get dirty. Is that so wrong?”

“No,” Lucy sighed. “It’s not wrong. But if I recall, Brady’s place has plenty of green space that would be perfect for a growing kid.”

“It would be. In fact, it is perfect for the kid he already has and wants. Layla.” He’d given no indication that he wanted anything to do with this baby. “I can’t force him to want something else, Lucy. I won’t.”

She sighed, exasperated. “Men are stupid, Toni. How many times have you said that to me?”

“Enough times,” I grunted.

“Exactly. Brady might not have said what he meant in the most eloquent way, but did you really give him a chance?”

“Yeah, I did. I gave him multiple chances to tell me what he felt, what was in his heart and he couldn’t do it.” That was just as bad as if he’d rejected me outright. “No matter how he feels, his fear is greater than his feelings.”

“Ugh,” she rolled her eyes and shook her head. “See? Stupid. They may be strong and brooding and sexy, but above all else they are incredibly stupid. Remember that.”

Her words made me smile. “I will never forget again,” I promised just as a knock sounded at the door.

“Oh! Did you order birria tacos? Please say yes and let me watch you eat them!”

I laughed. “I wish, but morning sickness is kicking my ass. It’s probably a relator who somehow sensed I was putting my condo on the market and wants to take a peek .”

“Good luck,” she called out with air kisses before she ended the call.

The knock sounded again and I frowned at the door, wondering who had the audacity to show up at my place without an invitation. Annoyed and heartbroken and angry, I marched to the door and pulled it open with a scowl “What the hell do you want?” My heart caught in my throat because it wasn’t a pushy realtor and it wasn’t Molly who was supposed to stop by today. “Brady.”

He flashed a shy smile and nodded as he shoved his hands deep into the pockets of jeans that hugged his thighs and hung low on his hips. “Toni, hey.”

I folded my arms and did my best to look uninterested and intimidating. “What are you doing here?”

“A few years ago I dated a woman, Nina Katarova. She was beautiful and just a little bit geeky, the perfect woman for me. Or so I thought.” Brady sucked in a deep breath and scrubbed a hand over her face. “She liked a lot of the things I liked so I was eager to learn about some of the things she liked that were foreign to me. I tried Russian cuisine and even attended Fashion Week. I thought we were in love, moving towards the bigger picture, you know? Engagement and marriage and family.” He laughed bitterly. “Until I heard her saying that she could put up with a lot for a seven figure bank account. It gutted me, at first. And then it made me angry.”

My heart ached for Brady. He was a good man with a lot of positive traits that had nothing at all to do with his wealth. He was gorgeous and funny, slightly grumpy and so damn sexy even now my body responded to him. “She sounds like a total bitch.”

His lips kicked into a lopsided smile. “She was,” he agreed. “But it took me a long time to realize that she was the problem and not me.”

“Sounds like low self-esteem,” I diagnosed and stepped back, motioning for him to come inside.

“That was part of it,” he admitted easily. “Mostly it was that I was so blind, possibly willfully so that I ignored the signs. The suggestions of where to go for dinner or an impromptu vacation, what kinds of clothes I should wear and events we needed to attend. So I closed myself off. Shuttered my heart and stole my faith in women, and in myself.”

My arms folded protectively over my chest and I stared back at him, ignoring the desire that welled up inside of me to forgive him and jump into his arms to make us both feel better. “I never asked you for anything,” I said for what felt like the thousandth time.

“You didn’t, but still I waited for the other shoe to drop. You were too beautiful and sassy, too lively and confident to actually want someone like me.”

“But I did, Brady. I wanted you. I wanted to know you, but that’s not what you wanted so tell me why you showed up here on my doorstep?” I needed to know and I was desperate for answers.

“You want to know why I’m here?”

I nodded.

“I thought it would be obvious but since it’s not, let me be clear that I’m here for you Toni. I love you. I am madly in love with you and I fucked it up so bad that I came here to see if I could make it right.”

My heart stopped and did a backflip inside my chest at his words. No, they weren’t simple words, they were a declaration. “Pretty words.”

“It’s true,” he said and took a few steps towards me. “I understand why it might be hard for you to believe, but it’s true. I fell in love with you and I tried to keep us in a little bubble forever so that I could keep you.” Ge barked out a bitter laugh and shook his head. “I loved you so much that I couldn’t risk learning that you were like all the others because I knew I was too weak to walk away from you, so I kept us frozen in amber.”

“You didn’t’ give me a chance,” I argued.

“I know! It was stupid and I will forever be sorry for the hurt I caused you, but I was so damn scared of losing you that I lost you anyway.” He took a few steps forward so he was just close enough to brush his fingertips along my bare shoulders and arms. “But I’m here now because I love you, Toni. I love you and I can’t live without you but more than that, I don’t want to live without you. Life is boring as fuck when you’re not around.”

His words were music to my ears but like Brady, I still had my doubts. “Is this about the baby? Because I won’t keep you from the child.”

“No, it’s not about the baby. At least not how you think. Let’s just say that the news of the baby was a wake up call for me to get my head out of my ass before I lost you forever.”

“Talented baby,” I joked and absently rubbed my still—mostly—flat belly.

“How could it not be with you and me contributing DNA?” He smiled and I couldn’t help but smile in return because he was handsome and charming and he owned my heart. But I wasn’t an easy sell.

“And the next time doubts creep in? Am I going to find a stack of one hundred dollar bills on the nightstand?”

“No, never,” he promised and gathered my hands in his. “Doubts won’t creep in, not ever again. I love you Toni and if you want a trip to Paris or Milan, Tokyo or anywhere else on this plant or another, it’s yours. What I have is yours, including or most especially, my heart.”

I folded my arms and ignored the rapid beating of my heart. “And if I say that I don’t want any of that? That your money and status don’t impress me?”

He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me close. “Then I hope like hell that you find me impressive enough on my own to deal with those things.”

His words yanked a laugh from me and my forehead fell against his shoulder. “Oh, Brady. I love you too.”

“You do?”

I nodded. “I’m impressed by what you’ve built and how you’re still so passionate about it, but that’s not what I love about you.” I sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I love that despite being out of your comfort zone, you took Layla in and tried to make her feel at home. I love that you’re this beautiful, powerful man and you have no idea just how appealing that is. You’re this big insecure nerd with the world at your feet and that is so incredibly sexy.”

He laughed. “You’re a weirdo, you know that?”

“It’s been mentioned a time or two,” I shot back with a smile as my heart hammered against my chest. “But I’m a weirdo who loves you.”

“And I’m the luckiest damn man on the planet because I love you too and I want to build a life with you Toni. Me and you and Layla and our new baby too. More if that’s what you want. Tel me you want that too.”

My lips parted into a grin I was powerless to stop. “I want that too and I want it all with you, Brady Winsome.”

“Brady Lionel Jessop Winsome,” he shot back with a sheepish smile.

My brows shot up in surprise. “That’s a mouthful, but I like it.”

“Yeah?”

I nodded. “Almost as much as I like you.”

He frowned. “You said you love me.”

“I do, but I also happen to like you. It’s important for a healthy, long-lasting relationship.”

His breath caught and his gaze heated. “I like you too, Toni. A whole hell of a lot.”

“Good. Kiss me.”

Brady leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine and then I was lost completely to the soul deep kiss that stole my breath and held my attention. Brady was a powerful man with the world at his feet, but he was also just a man with his own fears and insecurities. It made him more human, more beautiful, and that vulnerability took up a bigger spot in my heart than I expected.

Who knew the man of my dreams would be wrapped up in a sexy, nerdy package with as many issues as me? As much as he didn’t expect me, I hadn’t expected Brady either but I am damn glad our paths crossed.

He was my future. My next step.

My chance to make the family I always wanted.

He pulled back with a smile and scooped me in his arms. “Bedroom?”

“Right here is good,” I panted. “Right here. Right now.”

In just a few quick moves, Brady’s pants were around his ankles, my panties were shoved to the side and he entered in one long, powerful stroke. “Ah, so fucking perfect.” His hips began to move in long, deliberate strokes that made my vision blur and yanked me closer and closer to the edge. “I missed you and I missed this.”

“Me. Too.” I grabbed his ass and pulled him deeper and harder, so hungry for him I could taste it.

A rapid knock sounded on the door and we both groaned. “Who is it?”

“Realtor,” I panted. “I’m putting the condo on the market to get a bigger place for me and the baby.”

“Fuck that,” he growled, pulling out slowly before he surged forward in another long, powerful stroke. “You belong with me. Rent this place out,” he demanded.

“You sure?”

His hips never stopped moving. “Positive.”

I smiled. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

I nodded again. “Okay.”

“Go away,” he shouted. “Not for sale.” With a predatory smile, he gripped my thighs and took us both to the top of the mountain where we jumped.

Together.