Fallen Ink: A Montgomery Ink: Colorado Springs Novel

by Carrie Ann Ryan

  * * *

  “Aunt Addi!” Daisy ran into her legs, and Adrienne laughed, this time far more prepared for the little torpedo of energy and love. “You’re here!”

  “Why don’t we go down a decibel or two, Daisy. I think the neighbors can hear you from here.” Mace had let Adrienne into the house and now stood beside her, a smile on his face behind his growing beard. He hadn’t been shaving daily like he used to, and Adrienne figured this was his winter beard. And since he put coconut oil in it every night, it felt like Heaven when he was between her legs, the scruff of it rubbing along the inner silk of her thighs.

  And that was enough of that train of thought.

  “Okay, Daddy.” Daisy bounced on her feet instead and pulled Adrienne into the living room. “Daddy made chicken bake for dinner. And he bought the crusty bread. You get to eat with us tonight.”

  Adrienne glanced over at Mace and smiled. “Chicken bake?”

  “It’s chicken and mushrooms with broccoli all mixed together with like a homemade chicken gravy thing and breadcrumbs on top. It was in my mom’s heart-healthy cookbook when I was growing up and was one of her favorite things to make. We don’t have a cookbook anymore but we have that recipe. I didn’t ask you what you wanted for dinner, but I figured since this is what I was making anyway, and I know what you like, this would be fine.”

  She smiled. “I remember this recipe. Your mom made it for us one day when we went over there for dinner and neither of us had any food in the house other than canned green beans. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some canned green beans with a little salt and pepper cooked a microwave, but I’m also not nineteen anymore.”

  “Thank heavens for that,” Mace said with a laugh. “You want something to drink?”

  “I can get it.”

  Mace shook his head and looked down to where Daisy was holding Adrienne’s hand. “I’ve got it. White wine okay?”

  “Perfect.”

  Mace went off to get her drink, and she went to sit next to Daisy on the couch. The little girl proceeded to tell her everything about her day and how she’d spent the afternoon with her grandma and grandpa and how she loved spending time with them. After everything the Knights had gone through when it came to getting custody of Daisy, Adrienne would forever be grateful that they all had this time with their precious little girl. She’d even had more time to get to know Daisy, and she had already fallen in love with her even more than she had when she had first held the screaming little infant in the soft blanket. Jeaniene had never been truly happy with Adrienne in Daisy’s life, but since the woman had practically abandoned her daughter for a so-called promotion that would apparently help them all in the end, Adrienne didn’t truly give a rat’s ass about what the other woman thought. That probably wasn’t the best way to think about Mace’s ex, but with everything else going on, she didn’t really care. She’d care the next day when she wasn’t sitting in her best-friend-slash-lover’s living room, talking with his sweet baby girl, about to eat what had to be some truly scrumptious food.

  By the time they had eaten and were piled on the couch to watch the latest viewing of Tangled, she was full, warm, happy, and once again comparing Mace to Flynn Ryder. She couldn’t help it, she had a crush on the Disney character something fierce, and that was just how Mace would have to take her. Imaginary characters and all.

  “Stay,” Mace whispered, a sleeping Daisy between them.

  Her eyes widened, and she looked over at him. Though they had been together for over a month now and were already discussing what to do for Thanksgiving and the rest of the holidays, because of Daisy, they hadn’t actually slept a full night together in the same bed. Let alone having her stay over at his place when his daughter was under the same roof. She wasn’t sure what it would mean in the long run, but once again, she knew it was the step.

  So when she nodded, and he smiled, she leaned over his sleeping daughter and kissed him full on the mouth.

  Later that night, they slept tangled under cool sheets and a warm, flannel comforter. They didn’t have sex, and he slept in his normal pajamas with her in an old T-shirt of his. But it had been singularly the most romantic and intimate night of her life.

  In his arms, she could see a future, even with so many other things going on in her head.

  In his arms, she could hope.

  Chapter 14

  Mace curled into the woman in front of him and held back a groan. He had to be quiet since his daughter was sleeping down the hall. But since he knew her door was closed as well as his, he may be able to take advantage of exactly what he’d been thinking about when it came to having his best friend in his bed.

  Adrienne leaned into his hold as he slowly trailed his hand up under the shirt she wore and cupped her bare breast.

  “Mace,” she gasped.

  He leaned forward and kissed her neck. “Need to be quiet, Addi. I’m going to fuck you, slide my cock between your checks, and pump into you from behind, but I’m going to need you to keep your voice down so you don’t wake Daisy up. Think you can do that for me?”

  She nodded and pressed her plump backside into his raging erection.

  “Fuck me,” she whispered. And he bit down on her shoulder.

  She wiggled into him, and he slid his hand around to gently brush her clit. Her legs immediately parted for him, and his cock slid between them easily, greedily.

  “In me.”

  In answer, he lifted her leg slightly, one hand on her throat, the other on her thigh as he slid into her hot, wet heat. They both moaned, and he took her lips to drown out the sound. They were loud if they wanted to be, and more often than not that was their desire. This morning, however, they had to be quiet. He thrust in and out of her, shallow at first, teasing them both, then full and deep until she was rocking into him as he moved, and they were both panting quietly. She’d reached around and grabbed his ass, forcing him even deeper, and soon, they were moving as one, practically shaking with need.

  She came first, her pussy clenching around him, and he soon followed, fully awake now and sated.

  He waited until their breathing had slowed down a bit before kissing her shoulder and patting her mound. “I’m going to slide out. Stay there, and I’ll go get a washcloth to clean you up.”

  She smiled lazily at him, and his heart did that twisting thing he’d been so afraid of. “Okay.”

  He left her then, in his bed, sticky from his orgasm, and knew if he weren’t careful, he’d fall right in love with her.

  And the scariest part…he was afraid he already had.

  * * *

  Mace had the morning off while Adrienne had to go into the shop and open with Ryan. He didn’t mind since it gave him time to think about what they’d done the night before and that morning, and to get his house in order after a long week of getting into the groove of things with Daisy living there full-time. He needed to start getting better at cleaning up after both of them and teaching Daisy to do some more chores. Sure, she was still a baby in his eyes, but his parents had taught him responsibility early on, and he wanted to make sure that his daughter learned the same things. When Daisy had first moved in, he had been lax in thinking about what she needed to do regarding chores and other things. She was a decently tidy little girl, but her toys had started to spread over the house. Jeaniene’s parents had reluctantly packed up—or had hired someone to pack up—Daisy’s things at her house, and now her room and the living room were overflowing with little-girl things. And while he loved the fact that she now felt as if she were home rather than just visiting her daddy for the weekend, finding balance wasn’t easy.

  Daisy was currently organizing her dolls by size so they could be placed on the shelf he had put in that morning once Adrienne left for work. She had already picked up the rest of her toys from her floor and put them in the large trunk that one of Adrienne’s cousins had built by hand for her. There were apparently so many Montgomerys being born within a small timeframe that they had made a cou
ple of extras, and Adrienne’s parents had shown up with it the day before. They had smiled and had been sure to come when Daisy wasn’t around so there wouldn’t be any weird questions, but the fact that they had brought a toy chest for his daughter meant something to him. And he knew even if he weren’t seeing their daughter, they probably would’ve brought it anyway. That was just the kind people they were—the kind he wanted Daisy to know. But again, finding that balance where she didn’t have to rely on them being the parents of someone he was seeing rather than just amazing people who could be a part of her life was a whole other hurdle.

  Mace ran his hand over his face and sighed. He was making everything way too fucking complicated, but the thing was, life was convoluted, and his situation was more than most.

  His phone rang at that moment, pulling him out of this thoughts, and he quickly answered it, recognizing the number as that of his lawyer. He held back a wince, remembering the amount of the check he had just signed over to the man, but he answered politely anyway. The guy was making sure Daisy could stay in Mace’s life beyond the six months his ex was out of the country. He was worth any money it took to make that happen.

  “Mace, did I catch you at work?”

  “I’m going in later. This morning, Daisy and I are just cleaning up the house.”

  “Good, good.” The man let out a sigh, and Mace stiffened. His lawyer was never one to show any emotion other than the determination to do what was right and necessary to win.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s wrong. Or rather, I don’t think you’re going to think anything is wrong once I tell you what I’m looking at. But, Mace? You’re probably going to want to sit down while I explain it.”

  Mace sat down on the coffee table since he wasn’t sure he could physically make it to the couch based on the tone of the other man’s voice. “What is it?”

  “She signed over custody, Mace.”

  He blinked, the roaring in his ears intensifying as each moment passed. He couldn’t quite comprehend the meaning of those particular words. His mouth went dry, and he tried to speak, only to find himself unable to say anything.

  “Mace? Okay, I’m going to guess you’re speechless, so let me explain to you exactly what this means. She is signing over full parental rights to you. She’s not even asking for visitation or putting in any addendums for when she moves back to the country. According to her lawyer, who is an ass, by the way, the job is going so well over there, that they are already talking about extending her stay. I don’t know what this means for her, and frankly, I don’t care other than the fact that she is throwing in the towel and giving Daisy to you full-time, all the time. I don’t know if she ever wants to see that little girl again.”

  Instead of the massive relief he probably should have been feeling to know that the fight was over for him and he would have Daisy in his life the way he’d wanted this whole time, he only felt monumental anger towards the woman who had taken so much from him at the beginning and was now abandoning their daughter as if she were nothing.

  “That’s not what we went for. We wanted full custody for when she was gone and then talk about partial custody or some form of heavy visitation rights for when she was back. She wasn’t supposed to give up everything. She wasn’t supposed to abandon her daughter as if she was in the way of her professional aspirations. What the hell am I supposed to tell Daisy?” He had been keeping his voice down, aware that his daughter was in her bedroom with the door open. But she had on music, and he just hoped to hell that she hadn’t heard anything he had just said.

  What was he supposed to tell her when she asked when was she going to see her mom again? What was he supposed to tell her when two years passed and she was still in his home under his full-time care, and her mom was nowhere to be seen? Why had his ex given up? Was her work so important that she could honestly forget everything she had supposedly fought for at the beginning of Daisy’s life?

  He couldn’t understand it at all, and every time he asked himself another question, he just got angrier. It was all he could do not to throw his phone across the room and scream at the world for the situation Jeaniene had put him in. He’d spent the past month trying to figure out how to be a full-time dad to a little girl who looked at him as if he could carry the world on his shoulders, and now he would have to tell her that everything she’d thought was true was wrong.

  He hadn’t hated Jeaniene when the first custody agreement had been put into place. He hadn’t even hated her when she left Daisy on his doorstep with no warning. But now that he knew she would inevitably break their daughter’s heart, yeah, he hated her. And he hated himself for ever being with a woman who could do that.

  Adrienne popped into his mind and how he knew she would never do that to someone she loved, or hell, anyone at all, but he quickly pushed those thoughts to the side. He couldn’t put her in the same sphere as the thoughts that were currently swirling around in his brain. It wasn’t fair to anyone, and frankly, the more he added on to his shoulders right then, the more he knew he might just break and not be the man he needed to be for his daughter.

  Jeaniene had done this to him. And he was going to find out why.

  “Mace? You still there?”

  He let out a curse, remembering that he was still on the phone with the lawyer. He gruffly said, “Yeah.”

  “I know this is a shock, but it’s a win. When and if she comes back to the country, she will have no rights when it comes to Daisy. If she changes her mind and wants to see her daughter, it will be up to you and how you want to handle her entering Daisy’s life again. It’s all up to you. Come in tomorrow, and we’ll go through all the paperwork. But I have to say, Mace, though I know it’s going to hurt Daisy, and I don’t know how you’re going to handle actually telling her, you are not going to lose her because of anything having to do with papers and lawyers. She’s your daughter through thick and thin, and now the papers say that, too.”

  Mace nodded and listened as his lawyer went through more of the legalities that honestly went over his head. He would go through every single paper and ask questions about anything he didn’t understand before he signed anything. And, frankly, he was going to make sure his ex did not want to change her mind. Because as much as he wanted Daisy in his life full-time, he didn’t want to be the one who stripped away her mother from her life. But, really, Jeaniene was the one doing it to herself. Jeaniene was the one giving up without a fight. It wasn’t as if he were fighting to keep her out of Daisy’s life completely. No, she was doing that.

  By the time he’d hung up with his lawyer, his stomach ached, and his head pounded. He knew he needed to tell Daisy soon, or he would let the conversation rot and fester in his mind and in the space between them. But how the hell did he tell her? He figured by now there had to be a few parenting guides on it, but honestly, all he wanted to do was call Addi and ask for her advice. And because that was the first thing that came to mind, he didn’t do it. She had so much on her plate, and he was afraid that the more he tangled her up in every aspect of his life, the harder it would be to go back to the way things were when she realized his drama was too much.

  That his life was too much for her.

  Before he could truly ponder what those thoughts meant, Daisy walked out of her room and came up to where he still sat on the edge of the coffee table.

  “What’s wrong, Daddy?”

  He swallowed hard and knew he needed to do this like it was a bandage. Quick and fast, yet so not painless. His daughter was so bright and caring, she could sometimes get pulled into herself as she thought long and hard about what she needed to do or say in order to work through what she was feeling.

  Because he knew he just needed to start and that hiding everything would only hurt them both in the end, he stood up from the coffee table and went to pick her up and hold her close to his chest. She wrapped her little arms around his neck and kissed him softly on the tip of his nose.

  His heart melted fo
r her even as it broke. His little girl was everything and so damn strong. So, he would be strong for her. He went to sit on the couch and rested her on his lap so he could meet her eyes as he told her some of what was going on.

  “Is it about Mommy?”

  He froze, wondering again how he had been part of creating this insightful and wonderful little girl. “Yes, how did you guess that?”

  She patted his cheek. “You always get really sad right here when you think about Mommy.”

  Jesus, he needed to do a better job of hiding that. It didn’t matter what else was going on around him, Jeaniene was still Daisy’s mom, and he needed to keep from being an ass about it.

  He kissed the top of her head so he could gather his thoughts. “Your mom might be staying in Japan for longer than we planned.” Why he’d said we then he didn’t know. There had been no planning when it came to what Jeaniene had done for her job. And he’d had no say when it came to how everything was handled. And now he was going to have to figure out how not to break his daughter’s spirit even as he raised her to be a strong, independent woman. Being a single father wasn’t easy at the best of times, it wasn’t going to get any easier now.

  “How long?”

  “I don’t know, baby. I really don’t. But no matter what, it’s you and me. We’re going to be okay. This is going to be your home from now on, sort of just like we talked about when you first came. You’re still going to the same school, and you’ll still have the same friends, but you can stay with me for a lot longer. I love you, Daisy, and I love that you’re here with me. But it’s just the two of us. I know your mommy loves you, but right now she has some adult things for work to do, and that means you and I get more time together.”

  He knew he was just blowing smoke now, but his daughter wasn’t old enough to understand exactly what was going on, and frankly, he wasn’t exactly sure himself. How was he supposed to explain the intricacies of whatever the hell was going on in his ex’s mind when he had no idea how to even put it into words? He hoped he was doing enough, but in the end, he wouldn’t know until something was wrong, and that thought worried him more than he cared to admit.