From One Night to Forever (7 page)

Maybe he had been, but not playing baseball wasn’t on his list of regrets. “I didn’t need a contract to pull in the ladies. Still don’t,” Aaron said with a grin. He glanced around. “You’ve got a nice office, and I like the layout of your place. Hard to believe you only got this place a year ago.”

Reggie nodded. “Yes, sir, it is hard to believe. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to think my following you on a whim led to all this.” Reggie encompassed the room with a broad sweep of his large hand. “I hate to admit it, but seeing your setup was what convinced me to make my trucking business more official. Not just randomly hiring extra guys to haul for me.”

Aaron popped up from the seat and separated a section of blinds on the window to look out over the spacious loading bay. “But you’ve got more room to grow. My space in Columbia is limited. Honestly, if you hadn’t mentioned a merger, I wouldn’t have even considered going larger than I am now.”

“Maybe not right off hand, but eventually. You always had big ideas, they just come spur of the moment and then you dive in. I have to plan things out.”

“You’re right about that.” Aaron turned back to Reggie. “Before we get down into details, why don’t you show me around the place?”

“Not much else to see, but come on.”

Reggie’s “not much else” was an understatement. Not only did the warehouse have room to expand for loading and unloading, but there was also a decent amount of storage space that would allow Reggie to provide temporary storage between hauls. The drivers who came in and out wore blue golf shirts with
R.H. Transportation
on the right breast pocket and khaki shorts or pants—the same outfit Reggie wore. Aaron felt underdressed in his jeans and casual blue button-up shirt. Even the company logo and mission statement were emblazoned in the unloading bay.

The attention to detail and coordination impressed Aaron. He would be the first to admit that he wasn’t the guy to come to with long-range, big-picture ideas. He lived in the moment and went with his gut instincts. Buying his first truck, and later hiring drivers to handle hauls for him, were all spur-of-the-moment ideas that came with necessity, not from an overall master plan to grow his business. But now he was thirty, and the time for spur-of-the-moment decisions was over. Hell, his brothers were all settled down, and even his baby sister had turned her part-time job into a thriving business. It was time for Aaron to make some type of long-term plans.

“This is nice, Reggie,” Aaron said as they made their way back into Reggie’s office. “You’ve gotten things laid out perfectly.”

“Maybe too perfectly. You know me, I spend so much time planning it makes me hesitant to take a step. I need a guy like you to push me when I’m toeing the line too much.”

“You need me to be your wingman.”

“More or less. I can plan it out, but you’re the action guy. That’s the way things always worked with us. If I put the plan in place, I know you’ll make it happen. If we merge our companies together, we’ll go far.”

“I can’t argue with you on that, but I haven’t changed much. I’m still not the guy who sits around waiting for things to happen. I’ll drag you along kicking and screaming. Are you sure you’re ready for me to be your partner?”

Reggie laughed, but some of the old concern he’d once shown whenever Aaron dragged him into things in college shadowed the sound. “I’m not saying I’m going into this partnership lightly either. I’d like for us to work together for a few weeks. See if we can do it without killing each other. Running a business is a lot different than partying and sharing classwork.”

Aaron nodded. “A hell of a lot different.”

“How long can you stay in town?” Reggie asked.

“I let the drivers know I wouldn’t be in Columbia for at least two weeks. I can handle arranging things from here. Go home and check in, then come back while we work things out. So if you need me to stay longer, I can.”

Reggie’s broad grin returned. “Good deal. Hey, where are you staying?”

“At the Hampton Inn.”

Reggie shook his head. “No way am I going to let you stay at a hotel. I’ve got a rental house. My sister’s living there, but the apartment over the garage is empty. You can stay there.”

Aaron raised a brow. “A rental house?”

“Yeah, man, got it right after I started the business when it came up for sale in the neighborhood. Camila pretty much manages that, which is easy since my sister’s in the main house.”

“How is Camila?” Aaron had never met Reggie’s wife, only heard about her through his conversations with Reggie and seen a few pictures on social media when Camila tagged Reggie, who rarely posted anything. From the pictures, he’d discovered his friend’s wife was a knockout.

“Man, she’s great. Pregnant, seven months.”

“Wow, pregnant. That’s great.” The third person he knew who was thrilled to be having kids. First his older brother David, then his baby sister, and now Reggie. Aaron shuddered at the thought. Wife, kids, houses, all things that would tie him down to one place and turn his spur-of-the-moment lifestyle into a daily monotonous grind.

“She’s hoping for a girl, I’m praying for a boy. We’re trying to wait it out, but I don’t know if I’ll make it till her due date.”

Aaron leaned back on the small round conference table in the office and crossed his arms. He studied his friend, the one women always called sweet but who was just as much of a commitment-phobe as Aaron was. “I don’t get it, Reggie. You were quiet about it, but you had a woman in every town. Now you’re married. Not one but two houses. What changed?”

Reggie shrugged. “Nothing. I still love the ladies; just now I have to look without touching.”

“But what made you settle down with just one?”

Reggie sat in the chair behind his desk and leaned back. “It just happened. We were just fooling around. I made it clear that was all I wanted. Camila was cool with that. It worked for a few months, then one day while I was out on a date with someone else, I saw
her
out on a date. Right then it hit me, I didn’t want to be out with that other woman, and I didn’t want Camila to be out with that guy. I called the next day and told her I wanted us to be exclusive. Two months later I proposed.” He shrugged. “Love snuck up on me.”

“I’m happy for you.” Aaron meant it. Though he had no immediate plans, wants, or desire to get married and have kids, he was truly happy to see other people in love.

“One day it’ll hit you too.”

“I doubt it. I haven’t met a woman yet who made me want her bed to be the only one I sleep in forever.”

“Liar,” Reggie said. He leaned forward and pointed at Aaron. “You thought about it with Denise.”

Aaron shrugged, when he really wanted to flinch. He’d wondered what would have happened if he’d followed up on what he’d felt for Denise back then. Then he’d see some post online from a friend who’d married young announcing a divorce and got his answer. “Thought about it, then broke things off. I liked her, a lot, but I wasn’t ready to marry her.”

Denise was the one woman he didn’t regularly keep in contact with. Most of the women he hooked up with he’d call and check in on when he was in town. After hurting Denise when he’d walked away with a “Sorry, I can’t do this” excuse, he couldn’t toy with her like that. They were connected via social media, but he didn’t check her updates, and if she checked his he had no clue because he never got a like, comment, or anything. Often he’d wondered why they’d even bothered with that.

“You were young. When you’re older that feeling is harder to ignore.”

Aaron smirked and scratched the back of his head. “It’s hard to ignore other beautiful women.”

“It’s not just about the sex. It’s more than that.”

Aaron chuckled. “Spoken like a married man.”

“Maybe if you saw Denise again you’d feel differently. Or maybe it’ll be someone new.”

He thought of Kacey. Definitely the best one-night stand of his life. No matter that her walking away without giving him her number was for the best. He knew he’d be right back at Momma’s Kitchen tonight to try to bring her back to the hotel again. And Reggie’s words were very close to what Aaron was thinking: Seeing her was about more than just the sex. He wanted the sex, but he’d also enjoyed her company, the conversation, the sound of her laugh, those eyes. But forever? Eventually the early infatuation would wear off the way it always did.

“Who are you thinking about?”

Aaron blinked and focused on Reggie. “What?”

“That look, you’re thinking about a woman. One I’d say is likely to snare you based on the smile on your face.”

Aaron shook his head. “Not likely. It’s just this woman I hooked up with last night.”

Reggie’s eyes went wide. “You hooked up with someone already? Damn, Aaron, you’ve still got the touch.”

“It wasn’t even like that. I wasn’t trying to hook up with someone. It just happened.”

“Funny how sex with beautiful women always just happens with you.” Reggie leaned in. “How was it?”

“I thought it wasn’t about the sex, married man.”

Reggie frowned and waved a hand. “Don’t give me that. Every man I hang out with now is married. You’re my only single friend, so indulge me a little.”

“Fine, I went to the restaurant across from the hotel. Momma’s Kitchen. You been there?”

Reggie’s eager smile quickly hardened into an angry scowl. “My momma owns that place, and my sisters and my wife work there, along with half of my female cousins.”

Motherfu— Aaron worked to keep the easy smile on his face. If there was anything that fired up his otherwise gentle friend, it was the thought of someone screwing around with the females in his family. All through college Reggie had told Aaron stories about the men who’d played his mom and tried to seduce his sisters. He vaguely remembered Reggie going home to confront some older guy who’d slept with his baby sister. Having a little sister of his own, Aaron understood Reggie’s protectiveness. But sometimes Reggie was nearly medieval when it came to the women in his family.

A sinking feeling started in Aaron’s midsection. The bartender, Monique, and Kacey were sisters. What would be the chances that he’d come into town and slept with his friend’s sister?
Son of a bitch!
This partnership would be over before it started if that was the case.

Aaron straightened. “No one working there. I’m just saying, I started out there.”

Reggie relaxed. “Good. Sorry, Aaron, it’s just that truckers always go through and try to get in the pants of every woman in my family. As if my momma’s reputation belongs to all of them.”

Aaron looked away from Reggie’s tight expression. Aaron knew Reggie loved his mom, but he also knew her reputation was a sore spot. Four kids by four different men in less than five years. Aaron knew it embarrassed Reggie more than he’d admit. And it was the reason Reggie was so
medieval
when it came to his sisters.

“But, hey, finish your story,” Reggie said, with renewed enthusiasm. “What happened last night?”

“I don’t want to get into all the details.” And he wouldn’t until he verified that there was still some slim chance he hadn’t spent the night having sex with one of Reggie’s sisters.

“Just give me the good details.”

“The good details are all the details. Nothing about this woman wasn’t good.”

Reggie rubbed his hands together. “Aww, damn. Now I really want to hear the details.”

Aaron’s laughter caught and his throat constricted. He covered it with a cough and tight chuckle. He always gave Reggie every single dirty detail. Usually with precise clarity. But he couldn’t this time, not if he was talking about the guy’s sister.

Reggie’s eager eyes met Aaron’s. The desperate look of a married guy waiting to hear about the type of wild one-night stands he could no longer have. “What did she look like?”

“Umm, she was cute.”

Reggie frowned. “Cute?”

“Yeah…and sexy.” Aaron thought about Kacey’s slim figure with its perfect curves. “Definitely sexy.”

“Was she wild? I mean, did she do
everything
or did she hold back?”

She’d made him come twice before he was ready to, and ridden him like an expert. Aaron’s dick twitched at the memory.

Reggie chuckled. “You’re grinning again. She must have been good.”

Aaron rubbed his chest and nodded. “She was great.”

“Whoa, wait, hey!” A frantic female voice came from the door. “Umm, my bad, didn’t know you had company.”

Aaron recognized the voice and inwardly cursed.
Why, fate, why!
He and Reggie both turned, and Aaron’s heart plummeted to his feet. Kacey stood at the door, looking even more beautiful and desirable—in a green tank top and black shorts that stopped mid-thigh—than she had naked and in the bed with him that morning.

She smiled at Reggie. A stiff, brittle smile that meant she’d probably overheard some of their conversation. Damn! Now she’d think he’d spilled all her sexual secrets to her brother.

She held up a white plastic bag. “I brought you lunch.”

“Just in time.” Reggie stood and crossed the room.

Aaron coughed again and her dark eyes turned to him. Her eyes were cold.
Ah, damn, why does this shit happen to me?

“Kacey, come in and meet my friend Aaron Henderson.” Reggie pulled her into the office.

“Aaron, this is my sister, Peanut.”

“This is Peanut?” Aaron pointed to Kacey.

“Yep, all grown up, and she doesn’t like to go by Peanut anymore.”

Kacey grunted. “I never liked that nickname.”

“
Kacey
, this is my homeboy, Aaron.”

Aaron met her gaze. Her eyes widened slightly. A clear indication to keep his mouth shut. No problem there.
Kacey is Peanut?
The little sister Reggie was so proud of. The one in college, the one who was the polar opposite of his momma, the one Reggie bragged about constantly. Reggie’s favorite. The sister Reggie would break Aaron’s arms and legs over if he learned Aaron had spent the night before making love to her over and over again.

With a quick flip of her wrist, Kacey snapped the blue cotton sheet over the bed in the above garage apartment. The force of the snap caused a notepad to fly off the nightstand on the opposite side. If only she could snap the sheet and make her brother fly away. Somewhere far, far away. How could he offer up the apartment without saying anything to her? And to his panties-collecting, got-a-girl-in-every-city, eyes-are-too-sexy-for-words college friend! Oh, she’d heard the stories of Aaron Henderson, in all their debauched details.