Marco (The Men of Indecent Exposure #1) (12 page)

“Cover up for what?” he asked, chuckling a bit when the words came out. Next, his eyes did a not-so-discreet scan of my body before adding, “What do you have to hide?”

The way he looked at me after those words left his mouth made my face hot—hotter than the blazing sun already had it. I didn’t answer and I was sure my silence said enough.

Marco turned to face me, casually resting his arm against the side of my car when he leaned against it. Standing there, under his heavy stare, I couldn’t breathe right. Each puff of air that left my lungs came out choppy and forced.

“What is it? You shy or something?” he asked, that hint of amusement still heavy in his tone.

I returned a nervous smile and replied with a shrug. “…Or something.”

He stared at me for a moment. I still couldn’t look at him, though. When he finished assessing me,
reading
me, he drew in a deep breath. “Okay, let’s just get something out of the way right now—before you have another appointment, before the next ultrasound,” he said, laughing a little. “You listening?”

All I did was nod, planning to keep my stare trained on the ground like it had been; however, a light touch from Marco’s finger lifted my chin, forcing me to look into his dark eyes, eyes that always made me think I was a breath away from trouble.

Yep… dirty, satisfyingly sweet, trouble.

“You don’t have to be like that with me,” he said, forcing me to focus on his actual words now instead of just his mouth. From what I could tell, he was being genuine. “I get that you’re shy, I get that you don’t really know me all that well, but we’re gonna be spending a lot of time together over the next few months, so you may as well get comfortable.”

Basically, what he meant was, he wasn’t going anywhere and I’d be better off just getting used to it. I heard him, but it didn’t sink in so easily. I’m not now, nor have I ever been, ashamed of my body. My mother made sure I saw the beauty in
myself
regardless of what the outside world thought. However, I
also
know that not everyone appreciates a curvy figure like mine. So, yeah, I guess I was feeling a little insecure today.

A little.

Marco flashed that half-smile again and I was still very much aware of his finger touching my chin. His eyes narrowed, apparently sensing my doubt. “It doesn’t look like you fully understand what I’m trying to say.”

I stared at him, mostly because he had me in some sort of… I don’t know… a daze, one I couldn’t break as easily as I would’ve liked.

He stepped closer, the toes of his shoes almost right to mine. Staring down on me, he tilted his head to the side and my eyes followed. His tongue wet his lips and I caught that, too.  I caught it all; every single move he made, down to the slight flare of his nostrils before he spoke again, sending a surge of heat creeping up my spine.

“Maybe I need to be clearer…” he started, holding my attention with that deep rasp of his as I hung on every word that left his mouth. “When I look at you,” he went on, “I like everything I see, Brynn. You’re beautiful if you ask me.
All
of you. Every single inch from head to toe.”

This man was going to think I was mute if I didn’t open my mouth, but he stole my words, my thoughts, my breath.

“And I may have had quite a bit to drink the night we hooked up,” he said with a laugh, knowing how bad that sounded, “but I approached you for a reason.” He licked his lips again, a subconscious action that kept me gawking, but there was just something so incredibly sexy about him. From his mild accent, to the way his fitted cap kept his eyes shadowed, to how his sleeves tightly hugged those well-defined arms.

“I was sober enough to know that I liked what I saw,” he added, making me very uncomfortable. These were just compliments, I knew, but he just spoke with such resolve. A girl could get confused, you know?

Inching back a tad, Marco’s finger slipped away from my skin. The movement was natural enough that he wouldn’t have known it was intentional, but it definitely was. Us touching? Me letting his words affect me the way they were? It would be easy to skew things considering our circumstances and I didn’t want that. I wanted the lines drawn between us to stay clear.

“Thank you,” was all I could think to say.

He let out a breath beside me and changed the subject, as if the idea just hit him. “I’d like for you to come meet my family.”

My heart raced at his suggestion. The thought crossed my mind that this introduction needed to happen before I went in to deliver, but I tried not to think about it. Hell, I hadn’t even gotten up the nerve to tell my
own
brother yet. And having him meet Marco? I couldn’t even stomach it right now.

In my head I imagined this all very differently—I’d date a guy for a while before deciding to have him meet Ced and Mona, then we’d get married,
then
start a family. Clearly, I was nowhere in the vicinity of that plan, but… I suppose there was no sense in dwelling on it now. Things were the way they were and they wouldn’t be changing.

“Is that a no?” Marco asked with a lighthearted smile when I didn’t answer right away.

“No, no. It’s not,” I clarified. I considered his suggestion again and forced a smile of my own when I nodded. “Sure! I’d love to meet them,” I lied. It wasn’t that I didn’t think they’d be nice people; this was just a lot to handle.

“Cool. I’ll set something up. Maybe you can come to one of our Sunday dinners,” he suggested. “I told them about you a few weeks ago, so, of course, now they’re all blowing up my phone asking when I’m gonna bring you around.”

My heart raced as I experienced a mild freak out, but I hid it. “That sounds great.”

Another crooked smile came my way. “Good.”

I tried not to be nervous about what was to come.

“And I know you said your brother doesn’t live in the state, but I figured he’d still want to talk to me, feel me out.” He paused to laugh. “At least I know that’s how I’d be with one of
my
sisters, so just let me know when. The only nights that are bad for me are Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Any other day is cool.”

I didn’t move; didn’t say a word.

Marco read my silence as something it wasn’t. “Unless… you didn’t want me to talk to him,” he said casually, playing it cool.

“No, no! It’s not that,” I assured him. “It’s just that…”

A short laugh puffed from between his lips as he reached his own conclusion. “You haven’t told him yet, have you?”

Aimlessly scratching the side of my neck when my nerves got the best of me again, I shook my head. “Not yet. I haven’t quite figured out how.”

Marco was silent beside me, thinking. “I told my family face to face, but you should be fine since you can do it by phone.”

He was right. Cedric wasn’t terribly judgmental, but this was still hard. There was no telling what he’d think. It had to be done, though.

“Maybe I’ll give him a call later tonight.”

“You’ll probably feel better after you do,” Marco added.

I turned to glance at a car that entered the parking lot, tearing my eyes away from him as I laughed a little to myself. “Well, fair warning: if it doesn’t go well, expect a phone call from me, sobbing, later tonight.”

He laughed, too. “I wouldn’t mind. I already told you to call whenever you need to.”

He
had
said that and I hadn’t forgotten.

Feeling that awkward tension returning, I clutched my keys in my hand. “Well, I should take off. I only have a sub for the morning, so...”

“Yeah, cool. I uh… I have stuff I need to get done, too,” Marco replied, seeming a bit off kilter himself when his eyes shifted away from me.

I unlatched my door and set my purse inside on the seat, on top of a folder with resumes in it, reminding me I had a couple to fax on my way back to work.

“Well… have a good day.”
Oh gosh… Have a good day? You couldn’t think of anything better to say than that, Brynn?

Marco chuckled a bit at the face I made after that statement. “You, too.”

I hurried to hop inside my car and took off, needing a break from our conversation, maybe needing a break from being in his presence altogether.

Being around him made me hyperaware of
everything
, including the physical attraction that got us in this situation in the first place. I couldn’t remember the first time we met, but I imagined he probably made me feel similarly to how I did as we stood talking today. He’s just one of those guys who could melt the panties right off a woman just by casting the right look her way.

Hell… I should know.

He’d done it to me before.

Brynn

‘Are you up for an evening walk?’

The text from Naseem came in just as I started the dishwasher. Resting my hip against the edge of the counter, I responded.
‘Sure, when will you be here?’

In the time it took him to respond, my eyes shifted to the black and white images Marco and I were just given at my appointment earlier in the day. I mounted them on the fridge as soon as I got home and now, staring at them, I smiled. Today had been a good day. One of the best I had in a while. Mostly, it was because the appointment went so well, but that wasn’t all. At the thought, I still felt the lingering sensation of his skin touching mine, of those eyes penetrating deep. When his words fluttered back into my conscious thoughts, I couldn’t help it—I was cheesing pretty hard.

‘In a minute, actually. I’m in the area,’
Naseem finally answered.

I laughed and went to the door to throw on a pair of shoes after letting him know I was game.

Lately, he and I felt a lot more like ourselves; like who we were before things became complicated. We were talking a little more since the Saturday he stopped by to clear the air, but we hadn’t hung out. This would be the first time.

I was hopeful that time seemed to be restoring our friendship. That didn’t mean I wasn’t cautious, though. I made it a point not to bring up Marco’s name in Naseem’s presence, just out of consideration. Because he’d made his feelings so clear, the least I could do was respect them.

There never seemed to be a right time to discuss the kiss; or maybe there
had
been a right time and I just didn’t know what to say. The timing of it was what stumped me. That and the way it teetered on the border of innocent and…
not
so innocent. I didn’t want to make a bigger deal out of it than necessary. It wasn’t like he tongued me down or anything like that, but it was definitely beyond a friendly peck. So, unless it became too hard to ignore, I decided not to bring it up.

My bell rang and I answered quickly because I was standing right beside the door. Naseem smiled and so did I as I stepped out onto the porch. It was still pretty warm out, so I didn’t put anything over the t-shirt I’d been wearing around the house. My stomach was slightly rounded underneath the gray cotton and I was trying to get used to not being able to hide it as well as I could in the beginning. A loose-fitting blouse or dress still did the trick when I had to dress for work, but when I wore things like this, I could count on people noticing.

It had gotten to the point where I could no longer hold my stomach in like I was accustomed to doing—a self-conscious habit I picked up when I first started putting on weight in my mid-teens. Naseem glanced down and I was very much aware of his eyes on my bump. He quickly averted them back to my face, but I believe he knew he was caught.

I smiled at him to break up some of the tension. “No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you,” I teased.

He smiled back, but it was a dim one that seemed to fade quickly. “I um… I just didn’t realize you’d be able to tell so soon.”

I stepped down from the porch and onto the walkway as I responded. “Just depends on what I wear.”

For now, anyway.
Soon, it wouldn’t matter
what
I had on.

Naseem was quiet, keeping his hands tucked inside the pockets of his jeans as we took slow steps, side by side.

“I’m glad you called,” I admitted, cutting into the silence. “This is much better than grading papers.”

He lightened up a bit and I watched the corners of his mouth curve into a smile as we distanced ourselves from my house.

“This won’t be too much for you, will it? Is it a bad idea with the dizziness you’ve had?”

I shook my head. “No, I feel fine today. Walking is good for me.”

He gave a slow nod. “You had an appointment today, didn’t you?”

I glanced over, surprised he remembered. “Uh…
yeah,
actually; an ultrasound.”

Once again, I recalled how things went earlier that morning and my natural train of thought led me back to Marco. I didn’t expect him to be excited, but there was no other word for it. He was really starting to embrace this situation and, honestly? It made things a whole lot less stressful on me—knowing he planned to be supportive, knowing he planned to co-parent.

“I know you were on the fence about finding out the sex,” Naseem commented, bringing me out of my thoughts. “Did you decide to wait until the delivery, or…”

A warm rush flooded my cheeks at the thought of all the pink I’d be able to buy soon. “Actually, no,” I said with a smile. “…It’s a girl.”

The corner of his mouth tugged up again. It was a smile, but…
not
. There was sadness behind the expression and it transferred to me.

“That’s awesome,” he said thoughtfully, doing a good job of faking excitement, but I still saw through it and it made me uncomfortable.

“Yeah, I was pretty stoked,” was all I said back.

We took several steps in silence before Naseem spoke again. “I hate the idea of you having to go to these appointments alone. If you ever, you know, need someone to take you,” he said, stammering just a little. “I’d be more than happy to get you there.”

His offer was sweet, a true testament to the kind of guy he was. However, his offer
also
meant that I now had to turn him down because Marco had plans to be at all future appointments. Naseem wouldn’t have known this because, like I said, I never brought Marco up to him, which meant he had no clue how much progress Marco and I had made in our friendship over the last month.

I took a breath and weighed my words very carefully before speaking. “I really umm… I appreciate that,” I said with a smile. “But…” The words got stuck; more specifically, Marco’s
name
got stuck.

Naseem’s eyes drifted toward me when I stopped midsentence. We turned the corner onto a street that was just as quiet as my own. It only took a few seconds, but he figured it out, figured out what it was I couldn’t bring myself to say. The moment it dawned on him was punctuated by his gaze shifting to the pavement beneath our feet.

“The guy… he goes to appointments with you,” he finally said. It wasn’t worded as a question, but rather a statement as the pieces fell into place for him. “I apologize. I… It didn’t dawn on me that he was even in the picture.”

I took a breath and focused ahead. “His name’s Marco, and he’s not…
in the picture
, in the picture,” I explained, making it clear that he and I were merely moving toward friendship and nothing more. “But he does plan to be present for all baby-related things.”

Naseem nodded casually, soaking in the details I divulged. “So… he’s a nice guy?” he asked next, glancing over as his hands slipped inside his pockets.

I thought back on the last few encounters I had with Marco, all of which were pleasant. He was always polite, very considerate, so I nodded to answer Naseem’s question. “Yeah, from what I can tell.”

Another vague nod.

The sun began to disappear behind the one and two-story houses lining my neighborhood.

“What’s he do for a living?” came another question out the blue. Here I was, trying not to talk too much about Marco in Naseem’s presence, but he couldn’t seem to stop asking questions.

“He’s a tattoo artist. Well… he
owns
the shop, rather,” I corrected. “And he has a few rental properties around Houston, too.”

There was surprisingly no animosity lacing these inquiries. In the past, when I dated guys and Naseem knew about it, he’d grill me just like this. The memory made me smile when it came to mind. He always cared about me.

Always.

“Does he have other kids?”

Now I laughed out loud. “You know what?” I cut in. “My father, God rest his soul, would be very pleased with what you’re doing right now.”

He smiled more easily now than when our conversation first began. “There’s a thorough screening process,” Naseem teased. “
Someone
has to make sure this guy’s decent.”

As difficult as I knew this must’ve been for him, I appreciated the effort to be the friend I needed right now. Stepping closer, I bumped Naseem with my elbow and he nudged me back gently.

It was so typical of him to be perfect even in a less than perfect situation.

A protective arm went around my shoulder and I leaned into his side. For the first time since our initial talk, I had hope that we could find our way back to normal. The simplistic friendship we carved out years ago was still buried somewhere beneath all the distractions.

We finished our walk and the awkwardness eventually melted away completely. I answered the last few questions he had about Marco as we made our way back to my porch.

I smiled at him. “This was nice. We’ll have to do it again soon.”

“We should,” Naseem said, nodding in agreement. “I miss hanging out like we used to”.

That statement brought with it a flare of guilt that quickly spread throughout my entire body. I knew he didn’t mean to make me feel that way, but hearing the longing in his voice had done it—longing for the simplicity we used to enjoy when it came to us, longing for whatever future we might’ve had.

“Well… I guess I should be getting inside,” I announced, motioning toward the house.

Naseem’s chin dipped once as he acknowledged my words, but there was a vacancy behind his eyes as he stared at my stomach instead of meeting my gaze.

Just as I turned to head in, he called my name. “Brynn, I…” He stopped there, still staring at my midsection. When his eyes finally did find mine, there was concern in his.

“I need to say something and I—” He paused, seemingly unsure as to whether or not he should continue. “I don’t want you to take it the wrong way or question my intentions. However, at the risk of that, I feel like I’d be less than a friend if I didn’t speak up,” he added.

Tilting my head to the side, I came down a step to listen. “Go ahead,” I encouraged, sounding nothing but welcoming in my tone. Whatever he wanted to say, I was open to hearing it.

He took a deep breath and then glanced down at the pavement. “I suppose this is more of a question than a statement,” he started. “But I’m only asking it because I’m concerned.”

I raised an eyebrow. “About…”

Another heavy sigh from Naseem alerted me that he was flustered.

“I know you and I are not… we’re no longer moving toward a romantic relationship,” were the words he chose to explain his point. “But, I’m curious. Does that mean you’re closing yourself off to dating
completely
due to your… your circumstances
?”
he asked.
“Or… is it just me you’re keeping at arm’s length?”

The question confused me at first, but I slowly began to put the pieces into place. At least I
thought
I figured it out. It sounded to me like he was asking about Marco. If I had to guess, finding out how involved he’d been, and after the slew of questions Naseem had asked about him, he now felt threatened by Marco’s presence in my life.

My hand went to the back of my neck and I scratched there lightly, feeling uncomfortable having been called in on the carpet. The question was bold, straightforward, and I definitely didn’t see it coming.

“I mean… what made you ask that?” I inquired, wondering if Naseem would even say.

He cleared his throat, maybe not knowing how to answer. His eyes darted back and forth for a second, as if he was literally searching for an explanation, but then he spoke and I listened. “Our conversation,” he concluded. “Listening to you talk about him, I’m just concerned you’re going to let your guard down and—”

He trailed off there and I imagined he was trying to choose his words carefully. However, he confirmed what I suspected his motives were.

“I just don’t want to see you hurt,” he said to sum it all up. “The truth is; if you’re being honest with yourself, you don’t know a whole lot more about this guy than
I
do and I don’t want him to take advantage of you.”

“If I’m being honest with myself?” I didn’t like how he implied that I didn’t have my eyes wide open. At what point did I give him the impression that I was lying to myself about my circumstances? In fact, I was pretty sure I saw it in its entirety and had made some pretty sound decisions thus far, considering how unfamiliar this all was for me.