Secret Baby For My Best Friend's Brother

My best friend's brother took my V card four years ago and left a bun in the oven.

One night of passion was all it took to change my life forever.
He doesn’t remember, but I can’t forget it.

When I’m given the job opportunity of a lifetime I can’t turn it down.
Even if it means coming face-to-face with him.
All I have to do is not fall for him…again.
And keep the biggest secret of my life under wraps.

When I see Jackson again, I am melted in his sea-green eyes.
It takes everything in me to not pull him in for a kiss…or more.
Watching him play with my son sparks emotions I thought I dealt with long ago.
They are like two peas in a pod, my son even has his green eyes.

I’m so close to having everything I ever wanted, but at what cost?

Fuck. My sister is inviting the girl I had a fling with on tour, her best friend from high school, into my studio to work closely with me.

On second thought, that isn't such a bad idea. Zoe does have a wonderful voice, and I can be alone with her this way, ask her why the hell she hadn’t told me who she was.

“Shouldn’t say such things about your best friend,” I crack, and Gemma groans.

“Don’t be a jerk, Jackson. What have you got against Zoe, anyway? You ran out of there like the garage was on fire yesterday.”

“Nothing,” I insist. ”I just don't remember her much, that's all."

That much was true. The blue-haired beauty that I’d met in Albuquerque was far from the mousy girl that I’d barely been around while Gemma was in high school. She might have had a crush on me, but I’d barely known her, after all.

I know Zoe more from just a fling on tour than the whole time we spent together when she was a teen, which wasn’t very much.

“Well, be nice. She’s helping you out as a favor to me,” Gemma says, and my jaw tightens.

Of course she is. Because God forbid she want to be alone with me after rejecting me back in Albuquerque. I’m pissed off about it, if I’m honest with myself. It’s like she wants to pretend that none of that ever happened, that it’s some dirty little secret since she’s friends with Gemma.

I wanted to really build something with her, and she just turned me down flat. It felt like a betrayal that she didn’t tell me who she really was, either, that she was my little sister’s best friend. That seems like lying, and I hate to be lied to. It’s one of the worst things I can think of in a relationship. My parents used to lie to us all the time to make up for their lack of parenting skills, or for the lack of food or a clean house or anything, really.

“Try these on,” Gemma says and scurries out the door with the rest of the clothes, presumably to take to Axel, Locke, and Samuel, who were working in the room next to me on a melody for a new song. I’d join them soon, but for now, I need the peace and quiet to finish some stuff.

When Locke and then Axel decided to take several weeks off for paternity leave, I was left with nothing much to do, so I decided to write music instead.
The music I have been writing lately can take the Spades into a different direction and there are a few songs I’m working on that will require a female voice along with mine. It won’t work with any of the guys’ voices. But it needs to be the right voice. So, I’m surprised that Gemma hired Zoe, but I guess since she’s already on the payroll, it’s cheaper than hiring someone else.

Zoe shows up in half an hour and knocks quietly on the door despite the door being unlocked. I stand with a sigh and open it, standing in the doorway.

“Hey, stranger,” I drawl, and she flushes prettily. She’s so petite even though she’s got dangerous curves. She’s wearing a blouse and a denim skirt, and the sight of all that skin is already making my mouth water.

“Hey,” she says quietly, sneaking under my arm to come into the studio. “So, what are we working on?”

I shut the door, turning to her and leaning back against it, crossing my arms.

“Straight to business, huh? You don’t want to tell me why you didn’t tell me who you were?”