Chapter Four- Stipulations

Brooks' POV 

I was just supposed to be going for pizza. Extra pepperoni and cheese. Instead, I turned the corner from Landon's favorite pizzeria and found her. Dressed like…it was hard to pin just what exactly she was wearing as my attention came to the way she clutched at her chest and rested against the wall in complete distress. Similar to how Landon could look in the beginning of his attacks, I couldn't help but zero in on her, no matter how badly my feet may have wanted to just slip back into my car and finish the distance home. But I owed it to her to return the favor for what she had done for my son. Maybe after paying that debt I could stop thinking about her. 

“Miss Valentine?” The surname escaped before I could stop it, her porcelain doll eyes were harboring a sea of emotion behind her damp lashes. It twisted my insides all up into an uncomfortable barbed wire. 

“Mister Callahan.” She spoke my name as a parting, picking up her bag, before beginning to walk a distance away from me. The words she spoke to the man ridiculing her ran through my mind in repetition, forcing my soles to cement to the floor. 

She needed this job or she'd be homeless. 

It was wrong that my pulse picked up in pace at the fact she was desperate for a job. Maybe it was enough to make her consider my offer. But not until she was of sound mind. 

I followed her in my car until she had no choice but to stop at a crosswalk. Leaving the pizza in the passenger side of the car, I came back into the evening drizzle. She turned just long enough to become aware of who was behind her as I caught the beginning of her eyes rolling in annoyance. 

It was a first. 

She was a first. 

Every reaction I'd ever had on a woman since the first who ever showed me interest had been the sheepish and shameless batting of lashes and slipping of phone numbers. But Virginia Valentine detested my very existence. It was proving as intriguing as it was infuriating. 

“Let me give you a ride home.”

“No.” She was curt and then still despite the fact that the weather had already swept away the top layer of hairspray from her thick locks and weighed it down to her natural length. 

“I heard what you said to him.” Her body tensed. Every little muscle in her curvaceous frame tightened to my confession. I took another step closer, tempted to guide my jacket over her arms. But I wanted her desperate and cold so she would consider my offer. 

“So you want to rub it in? As if it wasn't bad enough it happened, now I have to deal with you?” 

Deal with me? I almost chuffed. This girl and her bold little attitude was a goddamn game I shouldn't have been interested in humoring and yet I threw my piece in faster than I could read the rules or care about the price. 

“I don't know why you hate me, I'm only trying to help you.”

“Help me?! Not unless I'm in Louis Vuitton and spend all my trust fund on plastic surgery to make you look twice at me. Or maybe have a master's in business despite the fact you'll only look at how good I'd be on my knees for you.” She continued her rant while she stepped away, first off the curb, and then into traffic. She had become so invested in her tirade that she didn't see the headlights. 

“Virgina!” I scolded, tearing her away from the edge of traffic and into my chest. It was the second time she caught herself against me and it wasn't any less unnerving. Even more so as she shook in my hands. 

“Let me take you home.” My own words were an echo of lost confidence as she followed me without an argument. I saw the dazed realization in her eyes that she had only followed me because she was in shock. 

We rode in silence as I couldn't help but think about how she took up space in my passenger seat, the pizza held on her lap. Jasmine and pepperoni filled my car in a way it shouldn't have made my mouth water. I told myself it was the fact I hasn't eaten, but in truth I knew it was because I hadn't indulged in anything in far too long. And her innocence and vulnerability topped with her naivety and circumstance made me hopelessly affected by her. It made me white knuckle the steering wheel as my mind thought of her. 

Her and pizza. 

I was relieved when we finally came to the driveway of my condominium, her eyes snapping around as she must have been too invested in her own thoughts to only notice the incorrect part of town now. 

“This isn't where I live…” 

It could be. 

Stop it! 

“I am not going to let the pizza get cold taking you home.” I came out onto the driveway, heart annoyingly quick knowing I was going to have to look at her again, before she was already holding out the pizza. 

“How is he?” This wasn't the first time someone had asked about Landon. But it was the first time they meant it. This had only happened in thrice. The first was a doctor who had done so with exhaustion after Landon and I spent the night in her office from back-to-back asthma attacks. The second was from a former nanny who asked while running her hand up my thigh. And the third was his mother who couldn't have been any less involved or committed to anything if she tried. 

“Do you want to see him?” The question left my mouth before I could take it back. But I wanted her to say yes. I wanted to have her in my house, for her scent to be left on every surface. F-for Landon, of course. 

“Is that…is that okay?”

“He'd like that.” She followed me inside, beyond two sets of security cameras and two separate locks, not questioning me once for being overbearing. Instead, she waited patiently until we came over the threshold. 

This was one of three properties I had in real estate and by far the smallest. My house in the Hamptons was at least four times this size with a private library and a pool the size of this living room alone. Meanwhile my penthouse in New York was over Central Park with its own home gym and private security vetted by me. I only mention it because she looked at it as if it had been one of the others. 

Her eyes took in the all around white color scheme that deviated with chrome in the kitchen and oak accents in the living room. It was manicured in such a way that you couldn't tell a kid, if anybody, lived here. It looked consistently like a show home for a realtor but it was where I was the most comfortable. Keeping Landon safe while also being able to get work done without having a lengthy commute. 

“Is he…”

“Upstairs.” I jerked my head in the direction of the stairs, a set of thirty two that climbed to the second floor. Each step made it more difficult to not appreciate her form. Even if we were at odds, it didn't mean I couldn't appreciate the female before me. Even if it belonged to her. Even if she was too young with thighs I wanted to-

“Virginia?!” Landon practically bounced into her arms as she was on her knees to receive him in a second. 

“Manners.” I corrected him as he stood and held out his hand to shake hers. She looked at me with disbelief before taking him back into a hug. 

“Virginia is fine..How are you feeling?” 

“Embarrassed.”

“Why?!” She was truly insulted. 

“Because my dad's work friend and the doctors and everyone had to deal with me…” He was shy but more open with her then he had been with anyone aside from me. It was because I was standing here…right?

“You aren't something to deal with, Landon. You have something you need help with sometimes. There's nothing wrong with that. It just means you need a little more attention.” He blushed. 

“I don't want attention.”

“That's okay, I'll keep an eye on ya and you won't even notice.” She smiled the kind of grin that could make you forget the reality of her lie. He was a kid and didn't know she wouldn't be around, but for tonight, it was enough to make him relax and agree with a nod. 

“Can Miss-uh Virginia play video games with me? Please dad? I promise I got all my homework done and did my laundry…please please…” I didn't even allow her a chance to respond before I cut in for her. 

“I'm sure she has things she has to do…” 

“If it's okay with your dad I'd love to.”

“Can she?!” I looked at both of them. Landon's puppy dog eyes, her on her knees looking up at me-

Not a thought I was willing to entertain with my son directly beside her. 

“Fine. But for one hour and then I'm driving her home.” Landon pulled her into his room. 

“What do we have? Fortnite?” She began to list off characters and details of the game I couldn't repeat if I tried. But it was enough to settle my guilt for her. I felt I owed her since yesterday and I was trying to figure out a way to make it up to her. Flowers were too romantic and a card was too personal. Even after having her in my condo with my son I knew asking her to come work for me was a mistake as it meant I'd be too distracted by her. Her attitude. So this was enough to satisfy that debt. 

“Dad! Ginny completely wrecked those guys! You should see her play!” She blushed as they came down the steps after about half an hour, the pizza needing to be reheated by now. I placed it in the oven so it didn't get soggy as I watched them continue to interact at the table as it cooked. 

I couldn't help but study her, my mind begging to find a flaw that meant she was a horrible candidate for the nanny position. But the way she illuminated in the same way Landon did only pulled more in her benefit. 

After pizza, talking about Fortnite, and talking about why Virginia was wearing my suit jacket as I couldn't have her coming inside looking as she did in front of Landon, the table went silent to Landon's question. 

“Are you dating my dad?” I choked on my drink as she vehemently rejected the idea. I observed her as she quickly denied any involvement with me. I mean we weren't but why was the idea so goddamn offensive to her?

“Oh…so you won't be around again?” She cocked her mouth to the side before sighing. 

“Maybe if your dad is okay with it I can see you at the children's center downtown. There's games and stuff, more kids your age.”

“You don't wanna play with me?” 

“Of course, I do. But I'm not sure if I'm going to be staying in town for long and you should still have a place to go and play.” She didn't say this for guilt. She said it because it was the complete truth. It seemed to be a flaw of hers that she couldn't really lie. 

“Can you at least read me a story? Dad can't do the girl's voices and when he tries his face gets all red and-” I wanted to strangle him. I loved him but he was also honest to a fault. 

“Maybe one?” She asked me as I was too in awe to do anything but nod. Once again she followed him upstairs as he began his bedtime routine. For the first time in a decade it had been without me-with another woman. But as I heard them laugh and traipse into his room, I stood outside his door as she finished his favorite book. 

“Maybe you can just come here and play with me again?”

“You never know.” She was careful to not break his heart and it made me hate her for it. 

“I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”

“You didn't. Why would you think that?”

“Asking that about you and my dad…it's just…I like having you here and was kinda hoping you'd stay.” His next words were heartbreaking and tear-jerking. “Nobody stays for me...”

“You're somebody worth staying for, Landon. If anybody doesn't it is because they don't understand just how amazing you are yet. They'll regret it because you're an unforgettable kid…but you've gotta let up on your trigger finger if you want me to play with ya again. You need to give me a chance.” She laughed. 

“Deal.” They shook on it if the sounds were anything to go off of. I watched her leave the room, close the door quietly before jumping to my presence. 

There were too many emotions I had about her. Not once in his ten years of life had anyone made Landon feel valued or important aside from me. I wasn't enough, especially when his own mother wasn't among the list. To know she cared about him so effortlessly made it difficult to say anything to her that wasn't spoken with confidence or indifference. Instead, I could only speak three words that were anything but the warmth she deserved. 

“My office, now.”