by Nikki Ash
“It’s been unseasonably dry, so the amount of fires have been higher than usual. Hopefully it rains soon.”
We spend our meal flitting from one subject to the next. I love how well we click and how our conversations are comfortable and flow easily. I don’t have to think about what to say, it all just comes naturally.
When dinner is over, Chase declines dessert, telling me he knows a place that has the best homemade ice cream sandwiches. When he was little and he and his sister would get good grades, his mom would take them here. It was a bit of a drive, but worth it.
It’s within walking distance from the restaurant, so with his hand in mine, we walk there. There’s a bit of a line, but it moves quickly.
“One chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream sandwich,” he tells the woman.
“We’re sharing?”
“Trust me, they’re huge.”
After he pays, she hands him the dessert. He’s right. It’s more than big enough for two people. The cookie is gigantic and is bent in half like a taco, with the ice cream in the middle.
“It’s not a sandwich. It’s a taco!”
“Yeah, a delicious taco.”
We walk away from the ice cream place until we arrive at a more secluded spot. There’s a small pond with benches surrounding the area. Instead of sitting on the bench, Chase and I sit on the grass near the water.
“How are we supposed to eat this monster-sized ice cream taco?”
“Like this.” He lifts the taco and brings it to my lips, so I can take a bite. It’s sweet and cold and delicious.
“Mmm… So good.” I go to take another bite, but he pulls it back over his head, reminding me of when he stole my laptop and did the same thing.
“Uh-uh, you have to share,” he says with a smirk.
Unlike last time, he’s on the ground with me, and within reach. Before he realizes what I’m doing, I climb into his lap, straddling his thighs. Out of shock, he falls back slightly, just barely holding on to the ice cream.
I reach for the ice cream and pluck it out of his hand. “You share,” I tell him, taking a big bite.
He laughs, then his arms go around my waist. He lifts his upper body up, colliding with my own, and his mouth crashes against mine. His tongue delves between my lips, swirling against mine. “Mmm… you taste delicious,” he murmurs against my mouth.
My center grinds against his pelvis, and I feel the hard bulge in his pants. I glance around and it’s dark, not a person in sight. It would be so easy… too easy…
I drop the ice cream into the grass and Chase groans, as if he knows what I’m about to do. “Baby, someone might see,” he starts, but I shut him up with my mouth.
I quickly undo his zipper and pull his dick out of its confines. Since I’m in a dress, I simply pull my panties to the side and then guide myself onto Chase. To anyone walking by, it would look like I’m just sitting in his lap.
“Fuck, butterfly,” he grunts, when I lift up slightly and then slam down. Without any foreplay, I’m tight around him, to the point it’s almost painful.
His mouth latches onto my neck, sucking and licking my sensitive flesh. His fingers pinch my nipple, tweaking and pulling on the erect nub through the thin material of my dress and bra. His other hand finds its way under my dress and lands on my clit, massaging gentle circles across it. Soon, I’m soaking wet, sliding up and down his shaft. And then I’m coming. Hard. His mouth connects with mine, muffling my sounds of pleasure, as he chases and finds his own orgasm.
When we’ve both come down from our highs, out of breath and spent, he chuckles softly, his eyes meeting mine. “You never cease to amaze me,” he says softly, kissing me hard on the mouth. “It’s the most beautiful thing, to watch you spread your wings and fly.”
Georgia
Me: You guys up for some lunch?
I’ve been working all morning on designing a new website for a huge internet-based company and when I finally came up for air, I realized I hadn’t eaten all day and I’m starving… and missing Chase. He’s been busy at the station the last several days because one of the guys on another shift moved and they need to hire someone to replace him. Since they’re short a man, he and a few other guys have been covering the guy’s shift, which means, aside from the couple nights he slips into my bed and makes love to me before disappearing before I wake up, we’ve barely seen each other.
Chase: Made by you? Always. We’re just getting back from a house call, so we’re all starved.
I find a recipe I have all the ingredients for, and once I’m done making it, I package it up in a container and drive over to the station. I park my truck and grab the dish, and am walking up the drive, when I hear something. I stop and listen. Crying.
I glance around but don’t see anyone. Setting the food down on a bench in the garage, I walk slowly toward where the crying is coming from, until I find a stroller with a baby in it near the front door. I rush over to it and look around for the owner of the baby. Who in the hell would leave a crying baby here?
Unable to handle the sound of the baby crying, I pick her up to try to soothe her. Luckily, it’s fall in October and in the seventies. Even with the temperature on the cooler side, she’s still warm. Her face is red and splotchy from crying and when she looks up at me with her beautiful, tear-filled hazel eyes, my heart is physically removed from my chest.
“Shh, it’s okay, pretty girl.” I hold her close, hoping to slow her crying down, and thankfully it works.
“Mamamamma,” she stammers through her cries.
I wipe the tears from under her eyes. “I don’t know where she is,” I tell her. “But we’ll figure it out.”
“Georgia,” Alec says, walking around the corner. “What are you— Is that a baby? What are you doing with a baby?”
“I found her here,” I tell him, holding her close to my chest. Most likely exhausted from all the crying, she lays her head on my shoulder and snuggles into me.
“Let’s bring her inside and see if there’s a note or something in her stroller,” Alec suggests.
He grabs the stroller and I follow him in, rubbing the baby’s back. Her cries have finally stopped and she’s quiet, twirling a piece of my hair with her finger.
We walk inside and the guys all swing their heads my way, each sporting a different look of confusion.
“That’s not Abigail, is it?” Luke asks.
“No,” I tell him. This baby is bigger, probably several months older than my niece. “I found her at the front door.”
“What the fuck?” Thomas says. “Nobody rang the doorbell.”
Chase walks in, taking in the sight in front of him, and says, “What’s going on?”
“I heard a baby crying, so I went to check it out and found her in a stroller by the front door.”
“What the hell?” Chase says.
“Maybe she thought she could leave the baby because of the SafePlace sign,” I point out.
“It’s for the youth, not for parents abandoning their children,” Chase says in disgust.
“Well, she obviously cared enough to leave her somewhere safe,” I tell him, sitting in a chair. “It’s better than harming her or leaving her somewhere she could be hurt.”
“I found a note,” Alec says. His eyes meet Chase’s and something about the expression on his face has my belly doing a flip-flop. “It’s addressed to you.”
“Me?” Chase walks over and takes the envelope from Alec. He takes one look at it and curses under his breath.
He rips it open and unfolds the note inside. While he reads it, everyone is quiet, but when the little girl in my arms lifts her head to look at me, and her hazel eyes meet mine, I already know what the note says.
“She’s mine,” Chase murmurs. “According to my fucking bitch of an ex-wife she’s mine.” His eyes meet mine before they land on the baby. “Her name is Hazel.”
I find myself holding her tighter now that I know she’s Chase’s daughter. I don’t want to judge Victo
ria, but that doesn’t stop me from wondering how she could do this to him.
“Her birth certificate lists a Raymond Forrester as the dad,” Alec says, “and based on this, she was born January first, making her ten months old.”
“That’s the guy she was cheating on me with,” Chase says. “She was pregnant while we were still married and didn’t say a damn word.”
“What does the letter say?” I ask.
“She wanted her to be Raymond’s but when she was born and had my hazel eyes she knew she wasn’t. She didn’t want to lose him, so she lied. Hazel had a herniated belly button and when they brought her in to have the surgery they asked for the parent with her matching blood type to donate blood in case there’s an emergency since she has a rare blood type. Neither parent matched and he threatened to leave her, saying he won’t raise another man’s baby.” Chase tosses the letter to me. “She chose him over her daughter.”
I shake my head and place the letter on the table. I don’t need to read it. All I want to do right now is hold this precious little girl.
“So, what do we do?” I ask.
Chase’s hard expression softens. “Fuck, I love you.”
“What?” I ask, confused.
“You said ‘we’.”
“Of course I did…” Because we’re a we and I’ll be by his side every step of the way.
“Mamamama,” Hazel murmurs, taking my face in her hands. “Mama.”
My eyes meet Chase’s and he shakes his head. “I can’t believe she did this.”
“Do you want to hold her?” I ask, standing.
His eyes go wide. “I…”
“You hold Abigail all the time,” Alec jumps in. “You got this.”
I notice everyone else has left the room, obviously wanting to give Chase some privacy and space. “Hazel,” I say, stepping over to Chase. “This is your daddy.”
Slowly, I hand her off to Chase, but as we’re making the exchange, she grasps ahold of my shirt. “Mamamamama,” she screams, her eyes filling with tears.
“You found her, so she feels safe with you,” Alec says.
I glance at Chase, who looks completely heartbroken. “Hey, she’ll get to know you,” I tell him. “She’s just scared.”
“And she knows how good you are,” he says, cupping the side of my face. “I don’t blame her for wanting to remain close to you. I feel the same way.” He kisses the corner of my mouth.
“I think we should call DCFS,” Alec suggests. “Make sure you do it the right way so she can’t take her away from you since you’re not legally the father yet.”
“I agree.” Chase pulls out his phone. “But first, I’m hiring an attorney.”
He calls several attorneys, including the ones my dad and Alec’s mom recommends, but at the end of each call, instead of hiring them, he keeps thanking them and hanging up.
“What’s going on?” I ask him, concerned. After rocking Hazel, she fell asleep, so I laid her down on the couch, creating a barrier so she’s safe. Since Carter was in the room watching TV, he said he’d keep an eye on her.
When Chase doesn’t answer right away, I take his hand in mine. “Don’t shut me out. What’s wrong with all these attorneys?”
He sighs. “I can’t afford them. LA is expensive as hell. I have some money in savings, but it won’t be enough if we run into any problems, and then I’ll have to switch attorneys. I have a couple credit cards, but I need to buy her stuff…” He sounds so damn defeated, and my heart aches for him.
“Who do you want to hire?”
He eyes the list he’s made. “The guy Mila recommended sounded good. He’s a little older, but handled her divorce.”
“Then hire him,” I tell him.
“Georgia, I can’t let you—”
“Yes, you can, and you will. We’re in this together. I have more money than I’ll ever spend in my lifetime. Money I received from a man who hurt my mom and neglected me.” Tears fill my eyes, but I force them back. “There’s nothing I would rather spend that money on than to help a father get custody of his little girl.”
Three hours later, Chase has hired attorney Ben Schneider. Ben has filed for emergency custody based on Victoria’s note and has an appointment scheduled for Chase to take a court-appointed paternity test tomorrow, as well as a court date scheduled for next week.
Hazel has woken up, and after looking through her bag and finding some baby food but no bottles, and speaking to Abigail’s pediatrician who assures me at this point it’s okay to feed her regular soft food, I heat up some sweet potatoes I brought that was part of the lunch for the guys and feed them to her. I also shred some of the chicken and feed her that as well. She eats while sitting in my lap, the entire time banging on the table and giggling at Chase and Alec, who make faces at her.
“Chief said I can use the personal days and vacation time I’ve accumulated to take some time off and get Hazel situated,” Chase says a little while later.
“Good. We can go by the store and order her stuff and have it delivered. While we’re there, we can get anything else she needs like clothes and diapers and wipes…” I start making a mental list of everything she’ll need.
“What about a car seat?” he asks.
“It’s attached to her stroller.”
After installing her car seat into my truck, since she doesn’t want to leave my side, Chase and I head home to drop off his car and then go to the baby store.
I place Hazel into the shopping cart and she looks around curiously while I wheel it through the store. Noticing that Chase is completely out of his element, I take over, grabbing everything we might need. On occasion I ask him for his opinion and he gives it to me, but for the most part, he lets me do my thing. I’m not a mom, obviously, but I was there with Lexi while she was buying everything for Abigail, and my cousin Micaela also has two babies—RJ, who’s two and a half, and Dustin, who’s six months old.
While we’re walking through the clothing section, Hazel reaches out and grabs a onesie, making us both laugh.
“Do you want this, pretty girl?” I ask, finding her size and handing it to her.
Her face lights up as she brings it to her mouth, munching on the fabric. “I think she likes it,” Chase says with a soft smile aimed at his daughter.
After ordering a complete nursery and paying extra for next day delivery, we check out with the cashier and then head home. We’re both exhausted, so we go through a Starbucks drive-thru to get caffeinated, and once we’re home, I play with Hazel while Chase brings everything in and then sets up the portable crib-slash-play pen, so she has somewhere to sleep tonight.
“Where should we put it?” he asks.
“Either my room or yours…”
“About that,” he says, gripping the curves of my hips. “I know we have an extra room, but I was thinking, what if we kept the spare room as is and cleaned out my room for her nursery?”
I tilt my head to the side, pretending like I have no idea where he’s going with this, and he laughs.
“Fine, I’ll spell it out for you.” He tugs me closer, glancing over at Hazel, who’s on a blanket on the floor, happily banging on her new toys.
“Will you officially move in with me?” His brows dip. “Or I guess, can I officially move in with you?”
I laugh at his silliness. “Yes, I would love for you to move in with me.” I wink saucily, making him chuckle.
“So, we put her crib thing in my room?” he asks.
“I think since this is a new place and we’re pretty much strangers to her, we should put it in our room.”
“I agree,” he says with a grin.
Once it’s set up, we feed her and then give her a bath. By eight o’clock, she’s half-yawning, half-whining, telling us it’s time for her to go to bed.
“You want to try to put her to bed?” I ask Chase, handing him Hazel. In the last few hours she’s really warmed up to him.
He’s hesitant at first but nods in agreement, taking
her from me. I hold my breath, praying she won’t cry, and release it when she lays her head down on his shoulder.
I watch as he rocks her to sleep, and when he’s not looking, I pull out my phone and take a picture. It’s the first one of him and his daughter. Tomorrow, I’ll print and frame it.
Since neither of us is ready to go to bed yet, after Chase lays her down in her temporary bed, while I click on the baby monitor, we tiptoe out to the living room, both of us dropping onto the couch in exhaustion.
“I couldn’t have done this today without you,” Chase says, pulling me into his lap. I straddle his thighs and run my fingers through his hair. “I was so damn shocked and scared… I didn’t know which way was up.”
“Yes, you could’ve. And you would’ve. Because you’re an amazing man and her father, and I can already tell you love her.”
“I do,” he admits. “I’m so damn mad at Victoria, but I’m also so grateful that she gave me that precious little girl.” He shakes his head. “It’s so fucked up.”
“You can’t change what happened, but you can control how you handle it, and you’re handling it.” I kiss the corner of his mouth. “And I must admit, watching you rock her to sleep was the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Georgia
“What are we doing with this dresser?” Chase asks.
I glance at it. It’s Lexi’s old bedroom set. It’s in perfect condition, but we don’t need it, and I doubt she’ll want it. “Let’s put it out front and call one of those donation places to pick it up.”
Hazel cries from her crib, letting us know she’s awake. “I’ll grab her,” Chase says.
I step over to the dresser and pull the top drawer out. It’s filled with Chase’s shirts. I pull them out and place them on the bed, then open the next drawer. Each one is filled with clothes. I’ll need to make room in my dresser for all of this stuff.
“Hey, butterfly, do you remember how much—” Chase’s words are cut off when I open the bottom drawer, finding what looks like an entire sex toy shop in there, and gasp in shock.
