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After a while, he makes his way back over to me. “How you doin?”
He asks.

“I’m doing wonderfully.  Everyone seems to be enjoying it. Even
Luke is in a good mood tonight.”

He looks over to the dance floor where Luke and his girlfriend are
pawing each other, borderline inappropriately. “Of course, he is. He gets to
touch his girl anytime he wants.”
Yeah, that part does suck.

I shake my head, "Just remember that it won’t be secret
forever.”

"Yeah, I keep that mantra in my head on repeat. I can’t wait
to tell the world how I feel about you.”

I want to take this conversation further, but Jax saunters up to
us, "No Alex? I talked to her yesterday, and she said she would be
here?"

Part of me wonders if he's just looking for another night with her
or not, but again none of my business. "She's finishing up at the salon
and should be here soon."

He barely acknowledges me and nods his head toward the redhead
Dylan was dancing with earlier. "You already have dibs on her?"

Dylan stays cool as can be, "Nah, go for it."

He shakes his head, "I already have my eye on a tall blonde
at the bar. She's all yours, man. I am so fucking glad you are back in the
game."

He gives Dylan a fist bump before heading to a group of men closer
to the bar, no doubt just to get in better proximity to the tall blonde. I hate
that Dylan can't just straight out tell him he's not interested. It’s just a small
downside of our secret relationship, so I don’t need to overthink.

Dylan looks into my eyes, "I'm not going to do anything. That
dance was just for show because he was ragging on me earlier about all the women
here tonight and all that bullshit.  I’ve known her a long time and knew she
was safe to dance with. Her boyfriend is in the Marines and currently in
Afghanistan. I knew him in high school, so we talked about him while we danced.
I may let Jax think I'm in the game, but it won't ever go too far."

I nod, "I know. I trust you. I'm sure he is going to test you,
though."

"I can handle Jax." Our voices are low, and the music is
loud, so I'm certain no one can hear our conversation. Dylan leans a little
closer, "The kids are going to Science City tomorrow. Michael has been
begging to go, and Luke actually offered to take them. They’re heading out
pretty early. You want to come over tonight?"

I smile, try to keep calm, Brooke. "You serious about me
sneaking in your window?"

"It’s the French doors that go into my room, but hey, they
look like a window. You think Alex will notice if you’re gone?”

I shake my head, "Probably not, she gets up early to run and
then goes straight to work. She never wakes me up on Sundays."

"Good, I'll text you when they are all asleep?"

I bite my lip while I think about it. It won't be the first time
I've snuck in a window, but it's definitely the most exciting time. I simply
nod my head and return his sexy grin with my own.

Alex finally shows up in time to eat and visit with a few people
she knows who come into the salon as well as Cassie and her friend.  She hangs
with me and catches me up on today’s beauty shop gossip as I like to call it.
After cutting the cake at nine, some people begin drifting toward the exit
because it’s getting close to 10, which is the time Dylan has the room booked
to.

Alex and Jax talk and laugh together like old friends, but show no
interest in leaving together, and this only makes me wonder if maybe Alex was
serious about not hooking up with him again. Which I undoubtedly think is a
very smart decision on her part. At ten, she informs me she needs to leave
because she’s meeting a friend early for breakfast after a run, plus she’s
tired from having to work all day. Her leaving just gives me the perfect excuse
to stay and help clean up.

Dylan tells Jax and Luke to round up all the kids to go home, and
this leaves Dylan and me to stay behind. In the mayhem of rounding them all up,
nobody seems to notice or question anything.  Really, all this sneaking around
is turning out to be way too easy.

Dylan
and I have nothing to do
since the employees are taking care of anything.  They wrap up all the leftover
food and offer it to us, but we tell them to send it to the homeless shelter
that Dylan and the kids volunteered at on Christmas. We do split up the cake to
take home because it was a delicious cake. That little part of the party plans
came from Cassie, Michael, and Gabby’s planning. It was evidently ordered from
Sylvia’s favorite bakery and turned out beautifully with a picture of all five
kids.

Dylan finally walks me to my car and leaves me with a kiss. I
smile all the way home to wait for his text giving me the all clear to sneak
inside his ‘window’ which I’m thanking the gods is a French door since he told
me to leave the dress on. The man has a very dirty mind.

Thankfully Alex is already asleep. So I quickly freshen up, change
my panties, and sit on the couch to occupy my time until Dylan text me the all
clear which finally comes about 11:30. When I arrive on his block, I park a
couple of houses down on the opposite side of the street,
so James Bond
,
so that the kids won’t notice my car when they leave in the morning. Thank God
the thing is boring and totally unrecognizable.

I send Dylan a text to let him know I’m walking almost to his
‘window’, and yes, I know this seems very juvenile, but if this is the sort of
thing we have to do to have some time together then it’s totally worth it. We
can do this.

Besides, it’s really kind of fun.

Dylan

I wake feeling on top of the world; really I’m just laying half
way on top of Brooke’s warm body.  Looking at the clock I see that it’s still
early, and we’ve only been asleep for a couple of hours. I could stay like this
forever, Brooke naked in my arms and in my bed. I’ve never woken up next to a
woman unless I had passed out drunk after we fucked, and then it was always,
get the hell out before she woke up. Now, I want to roll back time every time I
look at the clock knowing that the minutes I have left with her are getting
closer.  This is the hardest part about keeping us a secret. That we can’t just
wake up and walk out of this room together before kissing each other bye at the
door before going to work.  That thought is fucking terrifying for so many
reasons. We've only been dating for a couple of weeks, and I already I want her
invading my space and my life. I just want to be with her all the time because
she brings me peace. I don't know how I lived without her.

Brooke shifts her body underneath mine enough to meet my gaze.
“What are you thinking about?"

I lean down to kiss the corner of her swollen lips, the same lips
that I ravaged over and over just hours ago.  The same lips that brought me
more pleasure in just a short time than all the women I’ve slept with combined.
"How nice it is to wake with you like this. And really how surprised I am
that you snuck in.”

I wasn't sure if she was going to go through with it and wasn't
convinced until she walked through the doors of my bedroom.  She was as excited
as I was about it, and we didn't waste any time ripping at clothes before
falling into bed.  We had to be quiet with the kids being home, but it was
still incredible. I wonder if any time with Brooke could be anything but
incredible.

She laughs, "It was exciting. Lying to our friends and family
is hard, but this is kind of hot."

I grin, "You like living a little on the dangerous side,
huh?”

"Mmm, only with you.”

I know exactly what she means. I hate lying to everyone, but the
thrill of being caught is a turn on. Of course, if we were caught together it
would screw up so many things in our lives. "Thanks for all your help with
the party.  Everyone had a lot of fun and had a lot of compliments for you when
I told them you helped plan it.”

"It was fun, and from what I can tell Sylvia deserved the
very best."

"Yeah, she did. I can't believe she didn't make it 40."

Brooke snuggles up to my side a little closer, "Their friends
talked very fondly of them."

It was a really good to see their friends. Sylvia was a social
butterfly and always dragged my dad along, but I know he was very close to his
co-worker John. He was there tonight and told me how proud my father was of me
and how much he talked about me all of the time. That had to be just something
you say because I don't picture my dad gushing about me. "Yeah. It was
nice to see them all. Sylvia was really good at making and keeping good
friends."

"I talked to a nice guy named John."

I nod. "If my father had a best friend it was him."

She laughed, "Yeah, he said your father was a gruff son of a
bitch and then laughed and said he missed him.”

"Yeah, sounds like John. He's such a happy guy, so how he
ended up being friends with my dad, I will never know."

"Well, opposites attract."

I laugh, "Yeah no kidding, must be how he ended up with
Sylvia."

Brooke traces the tattoo on my neck lazily. She does that often
when we are lying together. "How did they end up together?"

"Well, after my mom had died my dad went to a dark place. He
spent a lot of time in a Jack Daniels bottle. I eventually ended up spending
about a month with my mom's brother, Rick and his wife. I lived with them and
their four kids until my dad got his shit together enough to pick me up. But he
was never the same after that.”

Brooke is listening to every word, “Did he still drink?”

"No, he was just absent. He didn’t say a word. When I came home,
I noticed that there was nothing left of my mother. Her clothes, her stuff in
the bathroom, her photos, everything, was gone. When I asked where it all went
he just said that it was all gone like her, and then said I was not never
mention her again.”

She stops tracing the tattoo and moves her hand to my cheek,
"That must have been so confusing for you."

I shrug, "I tried asking a few more times but soon learned
not to. After that, we lived in silence except for a few grunts here and
there.  He would bark orders when he wanted me to do something. I actually
loved going to school and turned into the class clown, probably to get the
attention I wasn’t getting at home. I remember when I was around ten my dad had
gone to the grocery store and met Sylvia. I never actually knew this until she
told me.”

Brooke smiles sweetly, "They met at a grocery store?"

"Yep, according to her there was only one tomato left, so he
let her have it.  And then she asked him out."

"Well damn, he must have been either a charmer or a looker.
Do you get it from him?"

I laugh. “My dad had women falling all over themselves to get to
him, but he never noticed or cared. He was a big guy. Luke and I look like
him.”

“Well, that explains everything then.”

“After he met Sylvia everything became all about her. She was
really beautiful. Even at 10, I could see that.  She was a lot younger than
him. She had just graduated from college, and I guess was looking to settle
down. It didn't take long for her to move in with us, and then she got pregnant
with Luke.  Right after that, they got married.”

"Wow, instant love."

"He definitely adored her."

"That's sweet."

We hear footsteps down the hall and a little bit later hear a
toilet flushing before a bedroom door is closed. Brooke goes rigid in my arms.
It’s a reminder that we aren’t alone. Man, I need to get Brooke away where we
don't have to worry.

An idea comes to mind, and I’m praying she’ll go for it.
"Hey, I know you just had a conference, but do you think you could have
another one in a couple of weeks?"

"I’m assuming conference is code for me telling Alex I’ll be
gone a couple of days. I think that's doable. The same hotel?"

I shake my head, "No, I want to take you somewhere special.
March first I'm meeting a client in Osage Beach, Mo. It's down by the Lake of
the Ozarks. Do you think you can get a day or two off?"

"I’ll have to ask, but I should be able to work it out. I'm
excited already, but what about the kids?"

"Jax will stay with them. He loves the kids, and he will be
happy about this new client."

She lays her head on my chest and closes her eyes. “That sounds
perfect.”  I cannot wait to spend a few days in a town where no one knows us,
and we don't have to hide. I drift back to sleep planning our getaway.

A few hours later I wake up to Toby barking; then he stops after
the kitchen door closes. I look at the clock and see that it’s 11, so I’m sure
the kids are already gone. Brooke is still sleeping soundly next to me. It was
nice not to have to set the alarm and help her get out of here before the kids
wake up.

The peace is quickly interrupted when I hear Jax’s voice boom
through my house, “Dylan? Are you here?”

“Shit.”

Brooke sits up and whispers, “Is that Jackson.”

I nod, kiss her on her cheek, and hop up, “I’ll be right back,
don’t worry.”

She looks freaked out, and I put pants on and go out into the
hallway closing the door behind me to find Jax in the living room, “Hey, what
are you doing here?”

“I was looking for the kids? Are they not home?”

I shake my head, “No, they all went to Science City.”

“What is Science City?”

“It’s an interactive science place that Michael’s been wanting to
go to.”

He raises an eyebrow, “Even Luke went?”

I laugh, both of us still standing in the living room, “Yeah, he
drove them. Why were you looking for the kids?”

“I was going to see if they wanted to go to a movie or something.”

“Thought you had a girl last night at the party.”

“Yeah, that was nice before I sent her on her way. It’s a pretty
decent Sunday, and I just wanted to get out.”

Jackson, the toughest guy I know, wants to spend his Sunday with a
bunch of kids. I’m not the only one who has been softened by this experience.
“Nice.”

He grunts, “I know, it’s a hell of a lot different from last year
at this time, but what can I say, they’re cool kids.”

“True, you could try Luke’s cell and see about meeting them
there.  I think you would find it kind of fun.”

“I will, you want to go?”

“I would, but I have to use today to set up some meetings. I need
to call Mr. Callahan to make sure he’s still good to meet up on the first.”

“Mr. Callahan? Shit, now that would be fucking awesome. He knows
everyone in Missouri. That would bring in a ton of business.”

“I know.  With his connections, we could pretty much get all the
business out of Missouri and probably Arkansas. We just have to do a good job
for him. I know he’s got four sweet beasts we’ll have to prove ourselves with. 
I’m going to go to him, so I was hoping you could stay with the kids for a
couple of days. I want to impress him, and maybe take a look at the cars. Break
out all my business savvy on him.”

He nods, “No problem man. You do what you gotta do for him.” He
calls Luke to finds out where the kids are and then goes to meet them.

Back in bed, I give Brooke a preview of our upcoming weekend
together.