Involuntary Daddy

By Tressie Lockwood

Author's Note: This interracial romance is steamy, but it is also CLEAN.

Gabriel Reiss' business is home improvement, but when his twin asks him to work in his Daddy Day Care for one day, that's the last thing Gabe wants to do. He's steered clear of kids ever since the tragedy of five years ago when his heart was destroyed. Now Gabriel keeps his distance from women with kids, and he lets anyone he meets know it will never be serious between them. He doesn't want a family--ever. Then Gabe meets Neeka and her three-year-old daughter Monnie.

Unique "Neeka" Desmond is only interested in helping her daughter overcome her social anxiety. She refuses to repeat the mistakes of the past like getting involved with a man who's rough around the edges, who's arrogant and thinks only of himself and what he wants. That's what Monnie's dad was like, and she won't fall for a man like that again. That is, until she meets Gabriel. He's angry, outspoken, opinionated, mean, and smoking hot. Worse, he makes friends with Monnie in one day then has the nerve to ask Neeka out on a date.

There can't be anything between them, but trouble from the past comes knocking, and Neeka needs a stand-in daddy--even if it's an involuntary one.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tressie Lockwood
• Release date: Jul 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9781536588804

Book preview

Chapter 1

N o .

Come on, Gabe, Caleb urged him. I need you, man. I can’t do this without you.

Gabriel shoved his chair back from the table and stood. He flexed his shoulders and rolled his head on his neck. A sigh escaped his lips when he heard the pops and cracks. You’re going to be in serious trouble because I don’t do kids. Period. It was your bonehead idea to open that daddy daycare, so you can deal with the fallout.

Caleb groaned. I can’t believe you’re going to leave your favorite brother high and dry like this.

Favorite? Gabriel scoffed. You’re my twin. I’ve been stuck with you all my life.

And you wouldn’t have it any other way.

Gabriel sneered. Whatever. I have to go. There’s a job I’ve got to finish, and the bricks just came in. I’m going to pick them up.

Gabriel started to walk off when Caleb’s heavy hand landed on his shoulder. He looked back, a warning in his gaze. Caleb as usual ignored it.

Dude, whatever you want. Caleb must be desperate to pull out the big guns in his negotiations. He knew better than to dangle something as open-ended as that before Gabriel.

Caleb was what Gabriel called the goody-two shoes of the three Reiss brothers. Gabriel was the oldest at thirty-two with Caleb just nine minutes younger. Then there was Jason, the youngest, who had just turned thirty a few months ago.

Gabriel tended to do what he wanted no matter what anyone else thought. The only priority he gave to any other person was his brothers and that was true if they were in big trouble. He’d always be there for them, but he would never admit it out loud. Not until Caleb was on his knees and begging—like he was close to doing right then—did Gabriel give in to a request that inconvenienced him. Even when he did, it came with a price—to his brother.

Gabriel shifted his shoulders so Caleb’s hand fell away. He faced Caleb. What are you offering?

Anything you want. Any favor. Today, tomorrow, whenever. I just need you to come to the center and work for a while until I get a cover.

Gabriel ran a hand over the back of his head. He pictured those little snot-nosed kids and cringed. Some of them had parents who never disciplined them. They ran wild, screamed, threw fits, and refused to obey. Caleb must want him to go to jail for teaching one of them a lesson.

You realize I work with my hands, right? His stomach churned, making his mood plummet because he knew it was more fear than loathing that he felt. He was a big guy who had never lost his muscle after quitting college ball. Yet, the thought of facing off against a two-year-old intimidated him. If he was honest, it wasn’t about his size either, but he didn’t want to think about the real reason he avoided kids. "I’m used to handling tools not babies. I doubt I can be all warm and fuzzy like you. I know I can’t!"

Caleb grinned. Don’t worry. I just need a body to stay in compliance. I’ll handle the kids along with one of my guys. You won’t have to do much other than sit there. Maybe wipe a nose or two.

Gabriel looked at him horrified, and Caleb burst out laughing. That’s how his twin was, always light-hearted, easygoing, and ready to joke around. Funny how they had almost the same face even though they weren’t identical. When people met them for the first time, they could only tell them apart by the fact that Caleb had dyed his hair blond, while Gabriel stuck with their natural raven’s wing locks. They were as different as night and day in temperament.

You’re going to pay for this, Gabriel warned him. You know that, right?

Caleb slapped him on the back. Come on, bro. You’ll love it. When was the last time you were at the center?

Too recently.

A year ago.

Like I said…

A lot of things have changed. We’ve got a great set of kids this year, and the bonus is you get to see your favorite nephew.

Gabriel folded his arms over his chest. "Dorian is my only nephew."

And you’ll get to see him. See? Bonus.

Jeez, you’re thick. Gabriel grumbled, but his insult rolled right off Caleb’s back. His brother spouted a bunch of information Gabriel let go in one ear and out the other. All he was interested in hearing was the time he needed to show up.

When Caleb was done, Gabriel shoved him out the door of his house and figured he’d better change his clothes. The paint-stained work pants and work boots probably wouldn’t go over too well with the kids. He glanced at his toolbox that he had set by the garage door when his brother arrived. A sigh escaped him. Getting his hands dirty and listening to the soothing tune of his buzz saw wasn’t going to happen today.

After he changed his clothes, he jumped into his pickup. No sense taking the jaguar because who knew if he would survive the day without one of those mini-people throwing up on him. The mere thought shook him, but he wasn’t one to back down even if the enemy had a snotty nose, a drooling lip, and sticky fingers.

Gabriel arrived at the center in time to cut Caleb off and take his parking spot marked Director. He climbed out of his truck just as Caleb stepped from his SUV.

Caleb smirked. You’re early. I like that in an employee.

Gabriel ground his teeth. He should have known he wouldn’t get to his brother. Did you forget you invaded my house before the crack of dawn?

I had to be sure you wouldn’t disappear on me. Calling wouldn’t have worked. You don’t answer.

Exactly!

Caleb threw an arm about Gabriel’s shoulders. Come on, bro. You’re perfect for this job. None of my substitutes have the kind of training you have. You’re certified in CPR, you’re—

I don’t need a rundown. I know about my training, and I’ve forgotten everything. Gabriel interrupted because he knew where the conversation was going. Caleb was right. Once upon a time he’d taken every course he could on caring for children with special needs. He’d done it all because of Caleb’s daughter, the daughter who had died five years ago. When she died it destroyed Gabriel, and he knew it impacted Caleb more than him. Yet, Caleb had Dorian as a reason to keep moving forward.

I know I can count on you, bro.

Gabriel let a choice word drop from his lips and slipped away from his brother’s hug. Caleb was a pain in his backside, but what could he do about family?

The door on the other side of the SUV opened, and out popped Dorian, Caleb’s seven-year-old son. He left the door standing open to run around the vehicle to Gabriel. Uncle Gabe!

A small body leaped through the air and landed in Gabriel’s grip. Gabriel whipped Dorian around to his back in one deft movement while Dorian giggled and nearly choked him with his arms around Gabriel’s neck.

What’s up, bud? You got a job yet? Gabriel demanded in deep tone.

Dorian laughed harder. No, Uncle Gabe. I’m just a kid. I can’t get a job.

Too bad. I hear you’re eating your dad out of house and home.

I ate a regular size burger yesterday when Daddy and me went to dinner, not a kids’ meal. I’m almost grown up now. I have to eat like a man.

Gabriel cocked an eyebrow at his brother, and Caleb grinned, shaking his head. He ate the burger but left most of the fries.

First you’re just a kid who can’t work, and then you’re almost grown up and have to eat like a man? Which is it?

Dorian launched into an explanation of how his advanced years of seven worked, and Gabriel listened with rapt attention until they entered the daycare center. Gabriel liked to keep his real feelings to himself as far as how destroyed he’d been over the loss of his niece, but he didn’t hide his affection for Dorian. He might dislike dealing with kids in the general sense, but Dorian meant a lot to him. The fact that Dorian wasn’t his helped.

Gabriel had no wish to open his heart to any other kid after what happened in the past, so he kept his relationships casual. When a woman he was dating started acting like she wanted to take it to the next level, he dropped her. He had a sixth sense for knowing when a woman was starting to think about the L word, and he always headed it off.

Inside the center, he set Dorian down and strode along the short hallway with two classrooms, each with girl and boy bathrooms inside them and a larger area at the back where the entire center could come together for meals or for entertainment for the kids.

Gabriel cringed internally at the all the hand drawn pictures on the walls, the alphabet with faces, arms, and legs over chalkboards in the classrooms, and the stacks of books and toys in their various places. All of it reminded him that soon the place would buzz with young voices clamoring to be heard over one another. He questioned whether he should swallow a few pills now or wait until later.

Where am I working, Caleb? he called to his brother, who had stopped in his own office.

Caleb’s head popped out from his office doorway. "Rec room for now. We’ve got to serve the early birds