“You all right with him for a little while?”
I nodded, but needn’t have bothered. She was already walking out of the room by the time my head started to nod an affirmative.
“Can I have some bacon?”
I looked over to see both girls staring at me.
“Didn’t y’all just eat?” I queried, eyeing their trash.
Reggie nodded. “We did, but we’re still hungry.”
Of course, they were.
I added six more pieces of bacon to the skillet before transferring TJ over to the other arm.
He was heavy for two months old, but I guess that was my fault, too.
I was a big kid growing up, and it was more likely than not that TJ would be, too.
The paci came out of TJ’s mouth when I moved him, causing him to start winding up for a good scream. Luckily, I was able to bend down, pick it up, and pop it back into his mouth.
“Mommy doesn’t like when I give that to him when it hit the floor,” Reggie pointed out.
“What Mommy doesn’t know won’t hurt her,” I told her.
“I heard that.”
I winced and looked over my shoulder to see Hannah striding into the room.
She was now dressed in loose wide-legged pants, a gray ribbed tank top, and white socks.
She wasn’t wearing a bra, and I instantly felt my reaction to her in the way my jeans fit.
“Over easy or scrambled?” I asked her.
She didn’t answer. What she did do was take TJ out of my arms, and then go sit in the recliner on the other side of the counter in the living room, and pulled her shirt down to expose her breast.
I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes, counting to ten.
Yeah, I’d fucked up. She was pissed. It didn’t take a genius to figure that out.
Fuck.
The silent treatment was answer enough.
Dinner went like this.
The girls spoke.
They ate my bacon.
Hannah ate her food in the living room—as far away from me as she could get.
I washed up, put the dishes in the dishwasher, and cleaned up my mess.
All the while she said not one single word to me.
Alex and Reggie chattered like nothing was wrong, and I guess, in their little world, that there wasn’t anything wrong. Which meant I was doing my job correctly as a parent, and so was Hannah.
That was something that Allegra never really got in control of.
If she was pissed, everyone within a square mile of her would fucking know it.
It was like a breath of fresh air not having Hannah light into me with the kids around.
“Daddy, can we get into your shower?”
I looked over at Hannah, who had her back to me.
She subtly nodded, and I looked back toward Alex.
“Yes, y’all can,” I said. “But make sure you hang your towels up, and if I find all those Barbie dolls in the shower again, you won’t take another one in there again, got it?”
Both girls nodded eagerly and ran toward Hannah’s bedroom.
“You want anything to drink?”
She shook her head no.
Goddammit.
“Daddy, I can’t get it hot!”
I sighed and made my way to the bathroom, turned it ‘hot’ for them, and sat down on the bed and waited for them to finish.
They did, twenty minutes later, and I still was no closer to figuring out what to do or say to Hannah than I had been when I walked to their room and sat down on Reggie’s bed to wait for them.
When they came in fully dressed, I pointed to their beds.
They hopped in them and situated themselves, but continued to carry on as if it were midday instead of nearing two hours past their bedtime.
“G’night, girls,” I drawled to the two giggling hyenas. “Don’t make me come in here and turn this TV off because y’all are talking, okay?”
Both girls nodded enthusiastically, and I gave them each a kiss before leaving the room.
When I came out from saying goodnight to them, Hannah was just coming out of TJ’s room.
We both stilled in the hallway, staring at each other.
She much more warily than I was.
“Wanna take this to our room?”
She didn’t say anything but headed in the direction of the bedroom. The moment we both crossed the threshold, I closed the door and locked it for good measure before turning around to study her.
She was sitting in a chair that usually had clothes in it in the corner of the room.
I didn’t know where to begin. There was so much that I needed to apologize for, that I went with my gut.
“I don’t understand why me not celebrating Valentine’s Day is a cause for you to go off on me,” I blurted.
I mean, nobody could ever say that I wasn’t good at words. Right?
She tilted her head.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She crossed her arms angrily over her chest. “I went off on you today because you made Reggie cry.”
My heart thudded against my rib cage.
“I never meant to make her cry, Han,” I told her. “But Joshua isn’t going to be a part of her life. I’ve been in her life for a year now, and not once have I seen him. If he were going to be around, he’d be here by now. I would’ve seen him.” I hesitated in what I had to say next, knowing that it wasn’t going to be nice to hear. “You’re doing her a disservice by not telling her that he’s a piece of shit.”
“I can’t tell my daughter that her father is a piece of shit,” she shot back.
I waved my hand in the air to clear it. “That’s not what I mean, and you know it. You need to stop telling her you’ll call. You need to tell her that it’s a possibility that he’s not going to come, and stop giving her false hope that today will be the day that he actually shows.”
She looked away.
I knew that I’d hit home with that one.
“In the year or so that I’ve been in her life, I’ve watched her cry over the fact that he’s not around, and it fucking hurts to see. I know it does. The problem is that I’m a better father than he ever has been, or will be.”
“Yeah, right,” she snorted. “You forgot my kids today. I noticed how you didn’t forget yours.”
I clenched and unclenched my jaw.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I never, not ever, would’ve forgotten Reggie or TJ on purpose. I was in the garage, I’d left my phone in the house, and I had to take my watch off to work on the pistons in the motor,” I told her. “I’m not used to picking them up, Han.”
She shot me a glare.
“Well, that’s the truth.”
My stomach tightened. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that you don’t have anything to do with picking them up. I have to pay for the daycare. I’m the one that lost my job because of your ex-wife. I’m the one that had to scramble to find something, and take it even though I really didn’t want to do that job.”
“Every time I give you money for the daycare bill, you leave it on the counter.”
She looked away.
“Why?”
She took a deep breath, and then let it out.
“Joshua tried to control our marriage with money,” she said, finally giving me her eyes for the first time since this discussion started. “It started out with help with nursing school, then morphed into him paying for Reggie’s daycare, my car note, the house note. It all spiraled, and when he left, I was financially dependent on him for everything. It nearly broke me.”
I fucking hated Joshua. He was a jerk and a half. As if I didn’t hate him enough for what he’d done to Reggie each time that she waited outside for a man that was never going to show up, now I had to hear this.
“TJ is half my child, Han,” I told her gently. “And my mother would love to watch them for free. Wh
ich she offered to you from the beginning.” I held my hand up when she went to argue with me. “And I know that you don’t want to put her out, but my mother would absolutely adore watching him.”
She blew out a breath.
“She can watch him.”
“As for what Allegra did, I can’t change that now. I’ve already spoken with my lawyer on the matter. He says that in all actuality, the clinic didn’t need to give you any explanation to why they fired you at all. I know that it was Allegra. You know that it was Allegra. And honestly, I know that the family you told that you’d work for is nice, but that’s not your passion. You could’ve just as easily applied at the hospital the next town over. You could also work for me, but I didn’t want to offer that and you think that I’m offering my fiancée a handout when it’s just the opposite. I need someone there that I can trust. Someone that can take care of all the shit that I don’t have time for. Stuff that Dante used to take care of before he left.”
That’s when tears hit her eyes.
“Fiancée?” She laughed even as tears started to stream down her cheeks. “That’s rich after what I heard today.”
I frowned. “That’s the second time you’ve mentioned that now. What exactly do you think you heard?”
“I’m not doing it again. I’m glad that I didn’t do it because then she’d probably expect it,” she said with so much derision that it nearly gutted me.
I frowned as I thought back to what I’d said earlier.
“If you didn’t want to marry me, you should’ve just told me. I would’ve understood. It would’ve hurt, but not anywhere near as much as hearing you say that to your brother when you thought I was gone.”
That’s when I finally understood. She’d overheard my conversation earlier about Valentine’s Day and had then thought that I was talking about not marrying her. That I wouldn’t do it again.
I got up and crossed the room in half a second, and was leaning over her chair, my fists on either side of her, as I bent over and gave her my eyes. My angry eyes.
“I’m going to tell you this once, and once only.” I leaned further forward until our faces were only inches apart. “I am marrying you. I don’t care what Allegra says. I don’t care what you say. I don’t care what the fuckin’ Pope says. You. Are. Mine.”
Chapter 23
Who cares if girls look different without makeup? Your dick looks different soft.
-Text from Hannah to Travis
Hannah
“You. Are. Mine.”
Those words were like a balm to my broken soul.
My heart was thundering in my chest, and I was staring at the man that made my belly flutter with nerves, as I tried to find something to say to that three-word statement.
Three words that changed my entire demeanor.
If Joshua had said that when we were together, I would’ve told him that I wasn’t anybody’s—not even his. If somebody asked me that same question right now, I would have no problem saying that I was Travis’.
I really was his.
I was his, and nobody else’s.
Even as pissed as I’d been at him, I’d never once considered leaving him.
Now, when he was pissed and in my face, with his beard tickling my chin, I realized two things.
One, I’d never leave him. He could be scary Travis all he wanted, and I’d never leave. Which was scary in and of itself.
Number two? The man really got my motor revving.
I’d felt like shit all day. I was fairly sure my period would begin any second, and I’d gone most of the day thinking that my man didn’t want to marry me after all.
I’d changed into the shittiest pajamas that I could find thinking Travis wouldn’t get anywhere near me in them.
I was wrong.
He got near me.
He was in my face. His mouth was inches from mine. And he was angry.
So angry, in fact, that I knew that I might’ve pushed him just a little too far.
“I’ve never, not once in my life, had something as good as you.”
Those words. God. They really hit home.
I’d never been someone’s best. I’d always been second. Third. Last.
“I’ve said I love you to you,” he said. “But I’ve never told you why.”
“Why?” I squeaked.
“Yeah, why,” he confirmed.
I licked my lips, and if he’d just been a little bit closer, I might’ve gotten his, too.
“Okay,” I whispered.
“You ready?”
I nodded.
“First Abby died.”
My heart stuttered in my chest.
His first sister, Abby. She’d passed almost four years ago now.
“My second sister, Amy.”
I closed my eyes as his pain washed over me.
“Dante’s family.”
Tears choked my throat.
“Allegra pulling her bullshit.”
I opened my eyes.
“If you hadn’t been there with me through all of that, to listen to me bitch. God,” he shook his head and took a deep breath, “I can’t tell you what it did to me to hear my little girl tell me she hated me. Over. And over. And over again.”
I lifted my hand up and touched his face.
“God, it hurt so bad.” His voice cracked. “But you were there to talk me down. You were there to tell me that it was all going to be okay. You were there when I needed someone to talk to when my own family was too broken to listen.”
I was.
“I’d listen to you talk about just about anything,” I whispered. “Anything.”
His smile was heartbreaking.
“You, with your pretty blonde curls and your soft-spoken voice…you were there when I needed you the most. But that’s not the only reason why I love you,” he whispered. “I love you because you’re willing to do anything for my girl. I love you because you brought my son into this world. I love you even though you almost died doing it. Your stupid stubborn pride. I love you because when I hear your voice, I know that today is going to be a good day, no matter what happens beginning, middle, or end.”
Tears were now actively leaking out of my eyes.
“You’re good with words,” I said hoarsely. “I was ready to throw down with you. Now I don’t know whether to kiss you or rip your clothes off.”
His grin was wicked. “Do I get a choice in what you choose?”
I nodded. “Absolutely.”
He lowered his mouth to mine and pressed those beautiful, soft lips against my tear-stained ones.
“Then I choose both.”
Then I was up and out of the chair, lifted by both of his large hands on my hips.
I went with him, wrapping my hands around his neck as I continued kissing him. Even with him slowly pushing my pants down my hips.
He didn’t stop and question me about my granny panties. Didn’t stop to do much of anything but break the kiss when he lifted the shirt up and over my head.
But he was back, even hungrier than before the moment that I was standing bare in front of him.
“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered against my lips, skimming his way down the length of my jaw. Then further down to the shell of my ear.
His hands smoothed down my naked sides, fingernails dragging deliciously against my curves.
I didn’t feel beautiful. In fact, I was sure that he’d not had a good chance to actually look at the underwear he’d pulled off of me.
They were my ‘I’m expecting my period’ panties. The ones that you put on that you don’t care about. The ones that are stained and ripped.
I was fairly positive that they had a hole somewhere near my left ass cheek.
That was the way it was with Travis, though. He didn’t care about what I wore, or that I had stretch marks. He didn’t care that some days I was a bitchy person. He loved me for me, and I was doing him a disservice
by not loving him for him.
And I would change that. Right fucking now.
My hands on his abs, I moved my hands down to skirt underneath the tail of his shirt, and then pushed up.
He got the hint and raised his arms high above his head, grinning wickedly when I was only able to get it up to his elbows.
“Help me,” I ordered softly, my eyes hooded with barely contained passion.
He did by bending at the waist and allowing me to pull the t-shirt the rest of the way off him.
He stood and started unbuckling his own belt and pants, then pushed them down to his ankles.
That’s when I realized that sometime between him lifting me from the chair, and taking my clothes off, he’d discarded his boots.
Oh, and let’s not forget that he wasn’t wearing underwear.
That I realized right off the bat when he stood up, and his erection nudged me on the hip.
“You don’t have any underwear on.” I pointed out the obvious.
He grinned and dropped to his knees.
“No, I sure the hell don’t.”
I licked my lips.
“Why?”
He lazily stroked his hand over my belly and then down to my thighs.
“There was this woman who came in the house really mad earlier, and instead of asking her where my underwear was that she washed, I chose to freeball it instead so she didn’t release the dragon on me.”
I laughed, throwing my head back, and belting one out.
Then I felt the bite of his teeth on my belly, and I grinned down at him.
“They’re in your drawer…where they belong.”
He rolled his eyes. “Of course, they are.”
I sifted my fingers through his hair, letting my nails drag along the base of his scalp the way he liked.
He growled like a content cat and nuzzled my belly.
The move made my pussy clench.
He was so close, yet so far away.
“Travis.”
That one word, leaving my lips like it did, was enough for him to laugh like the ass he was.
“You’re not nice,” I whimpered.
His eyes changed, becoming hot.
“Turn around.”
Go to Hail (The Hail Raisers Book 2) Page 15
