Brooklyn Monroe Wants It All by Karen Booth

Chapter Four

Alec could hardly believethat Brooklyn was thinking about a future that went beyond work and career. It was everything he’d always hoped for from her. And now that his hand was on her shoulder, their bodies exchanging warmth, he wanted more. So much more. “Is it weird if I ask to kiss you?” He didn’t bother second-guessing his words. They felt and sounded right.

A jaw-dropping flush crossed her lightly freckled cheeks. “I was going to ask you the same thing.”

“Really?” His voice hit an octave so low he wasn’t entirely sure it was his.

“Yes, Alec. Really.”

There in that crowded noodle house, with conversation and music and kitchen commotion all around them, all that existed was Brooklyn. He gently cupped her jaw and drank in her beauty as they drifted closer and finally her luscious lips met his. There was only an instant of hesitation before they both gave into it. At the same time. In the same way. It was enough to make his heart stop. He’d missed her so much. He’d been lying to himself for an entire year. He wasn’t over her. Not even close.

His lips parted and Brooklyn teased his tongue with hers. Alec didn’t care if everyone in the restaurant was looking, or worse, taking pictures with their phones. He curled his other hand around her waist and she planted her hand on his upper thigh. She pressed into him, sending shockwaves through his entire body, but the strongest ones were aimed straight at his groin.

“Maybe we should get out of here.” Her voice was hopeful and breathless.

“Uh, yes.” Disoriented and dizzy, he frantically flagged their server. “I’d like to pay the check, please. We’re in a bit of a hurry.” Alec nearly flung his credit card at the waiter. A minute later, he was leaving a ridiculously good tip and scribbling his signature.

“Ready?” Brooklyn was borderline giddy, more evidence that things were moving in the right direction. They rushed down the street like teenagers stealing away into the night. The sidewalks were busy with people, but Alec navigated them through the crowd, looking down to avoid being spotted by a fan, Brooklyn trailing behind him. Finally, they broke free and turned the corner to the quieter side of the street where the car was parked.

“Your place?” he asked.

She shook her head. “No. Yours. I’ve always loved Chelsea.”

Alec scrambled to open the car for Brooklyn then quickly hopped in. His mind was racing as he made a few questionable moves, zipping around taxis and cutting it close with yellow lights. Was this really happening? Just like that? Brooklyn and him. Together again? Would it work this time? Had the first time been a false start? A few darker questions tried to encroach, but he acknowledged them and let them go. He wouldn’t get in the way of his own happiness.

They got to his house and a raindrop hit his nose the second he ducked his head out of the car. Brooklyn was already on the sidewalk, making her way for the door.

“Hold up, Brook,” he said.

“What? Is something wrong?”

He looked skyward, allowing the cool drops to dot his face. “It’s raining.”

When he looked back at her, the sweetest smile he’d ever seen crossed her lips. “So it is.” She drifted right into him and popped up on to her toes, gripping his shoulders and kissing him so softly he thought she might melt into him. “Let’s get inside.”

Her words shook him right out of the bliss of that kiss. That had not been Brooklyn’s usual prompted-by-precipitation make-out session. But Alec didn’t care. There was plenty of time for that in his bed. He grabbed her hand and they stormed up the stairs to his brownstone. His fingers decided to behave like rubber when he arrived at the door, fumbling with his keys while Brooklyn drove him to distraction by combing his scalp with her nails.

“Hurry,” she said.

“Got it.” They stumbled into the entry and he slammed the door behind them, the glass rattling in the frame. Brooklyn nearly flattened him against the wall. He yanked her closer, needing her in a way he’d forgotten about. She was already untucking his shirt and undoing the buttons, the air soft and cool on his overheated skin. Her lips molded perfectly to his. Like he and Brooklyn were meant to do this.

“I want you so bad, Brooklyn.” He couldn’t disguise the rumble in his voice, the way it came out like a growl. There was too much pent up need inside him.

“I want you, too.” She went right back to kissing him, wrapping her hands around his biceps and pressing her hips into his.

Everything below his waist went tight. He thought his legs might snap at the knees if they weren’t so pleasantly warm right now, the blood coursing through his veins and making him feel alive in a way he hadn’t felt in quite some time.

“Our conversation at the restaurant. It just… it meant a lot to me that you’re so supportive.” Her lips were slack and beckoning, her eyes bright in the dim light. “I was really nervous to go out with you tonight. To talk to you about everything.”

“Don’t be nervous. It’s just me.” He kissed her neck, wishing for a little less talking.

“But it’s not always easy to tell you things. I sometimes worry what you’ll think of me. I’m just so glad that you’re excited about me wanting to become a mom. I was sure you were going to say that I’m off my rocker. Tell me that I work too much.”

Alec found it peculiar that she chose to zero in on that particular point in their conversation. He raised his head and looked her square in the eye. “You mean you’re thinking about motherhood. That’s what you said. Thinking.”

She shook her head with so much conviction that it made him freeze. “No. I’m actively pursuing it. I don’t have a lot of time.”

“Don’t have a lot of time? Are you sick?”

“No, not that. It’s just that my doctor said it’s now or never. I’m losing eggs at an alarming rate. I can’t put it off anymore.”

“So, right now. As in immediately?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Yes. The clock is ticking. I thought that was what you wanted from me. To take things more seriously. Wasn’t that your big complaint when we were together?”

“It was. But that’s not what I’m fixated on right now.” The gears of Alec’s brain were all gummed up with Brooklyn’s words, and that made the rest of his body tense up in a way that was no longer erotic.

“It’s very simple. I want to have a baby. I’m probably going to have to find a sperm bank to make that happen.” She set her sights on the ceiling. “Or maybe I’ll manage to get pregnant the old-fashioned way. If that’s in the cards.”

He was starting to put this together. His apartment. His well-known enthusiasm for sex with her. His neighborhood and her family’s crazy way of naming children. “Is that why you wanted to come to my place? You want to get pregnant and name the baby Chelsea?”

“I hadn’t even thought about that. I guess it was shortsighted of me to get an apartment in Tribeca.” She grimaced. “Do you seriously think I would try to trick you into getting me pregnant?”

“I wouldn’t use the word ‘trick’, but I do think you get carried away. And that you might assume I’m on the same page as you, and I am definitely not. At all. I don’t think fatherhood is for me. Not anymore. I’m pretty sure that ship has sailed.”

“Hold on. Mr. Serious doesn’t want to have a family? When did this happen?”

“I thought I did, but everything changed when it didn’t work out with you.”

“Because of our breakup?”

Alec had hoped to put this entire chapter behind him. To never speak of it again. It was the only time in his life he’d completely fallen apart. And it had taken therapy to put himself back together. But part of moving on was owning up to his own shortcomings, and recognizing that we all make mistakes. “I need to tell you something. I was going to propose to you that weekend you were supposed to meet me in Bermuda. I had a ring and a whole romantic weekend planned. And you didn’t show up. And I was crushed. Destroyed.”

“Propose? Alec, we’d only been dating for four months…”

“I realize that. Hold on one sec. Just let me finish.” This was why he hadn’t wanted to talk about this. He hated having to explain himself, especially when it was a rehashing of an instance in which he’d not been thinking straight. “After we talked, and I learned that you hadn’t missed your flight but had actually forgotten completely about when the trip was, I was devastated. But I had a lot of time to think about it in that hotel room over several days, and I came to realize that we weren’t on the same wavelength at all. We never had been. I’d built our relationship into something that it wasn’t, all because it was something that I wanted. I knew then that I really needed to reassess where my life was. I’d made a big mistake in planning it at all.”

“So why didn’t you call me later? Once you’d realized all of this?”

“I just told you. We weren’t on the same page. And we’re clearly not now, either. Life is all about timing, Brooklyn. And you can’t force it. Either you have it right or you don’t.”

“I can’t believe you never told me.”

“Well, I’m telling you now.”

“You broke my heart that night and dinged my entire sense of self.”

“I’m sorry. It’s not like I came out of the whole thing unscathed, either.” His mouth went dry, knowing what he had to say next. “So this probably isn’t a good idea. Not unless we talk about things. A lot of things.”

“There’s not much to talk about. I want a baby and you don’t. Even if we had sex, which could be fun, it’s just going to mess with my head. And probably yours.” Brooklyn grumbled and grabbed her handbag from the floor, hitching it up on her shoulder and shooting him a piercing look. “It’s probably best if you just forget everything I said. Forget that I told you what I want for my life, or that after all of that, you still wanted to kiss me. Forget that I asked you to leave the restaurant with me. I need to go.” She fished her phone out of her bag and pulled up a ride app.

“I really don’t think it’s fair for you to be mad at me. You sprung that baby thing on me with no warning.”

“I’m not mad at you, I’m mad at the situation. And for the record, I didn’t spring anything on you. I told you what I wanted. A baby. Then I told you the other thing I wanted. To have sex with you. Just because one can potentially lead to the other, doesn’t mean they were related. At least not tonight.” She opened the door and started down the stairs.

“Hold up, Brooklyn. Can we at least say goodbye? Can we be friends?”

She turned back and confronted him with her big, beautiful eyes. “Right now, I don’t know. You’re the one who said that life is all about timing. And our timing clearly sucks. So maybe it’s better if we just call it a day.”

The emotional side of Alec wanted to reach for her and try to sort this out. But his rational side knew that this was exactly like every other argument they’d had during their relationship. He and Brooklyn simply weren’t meant to be. “Okay.”

Brooklyn raised both eyebrows. “Bye, Alec. Let’s not do this again. Okay?” She enunciated each word with such clarity there was no ignoring her intent. Only the speed of her exit down the stairs made a greater impression.

He and Brooklyn were done.

This time, for good.