With a miraculous recovery she springs up and wipes her eyes. I don’t see any tears, but she wipes at her eyes like there were some. “I’ll help out around here, Randy. I can cook and clean.”
I hold up my hand. “I have an excellent chef and staff to keep this place looking like it does. I will not be employing you. So you said all your things burned so I assume you only have what you’re wearing.”
She nods and keeps on wiping at her eyes which have no tears and are not red rimmed from any crying. “It’d be real nice if you maybe could get me a few things from the Goodwill store.”
I roll my eyes. “I can do better than that. Come with me. I’ll show you to a room you can sleep in tonight and I’ll grab a dress and some undergarments from Hilda, she’s my chef, and she runs this place. Don’t ever talk down to her.”
“I’d never talk down to anyone, Randy.” As I walk past her she grabs hold of my arm and walks next to me. “I don’t have a snotty bone in my body, son. I’ll show you, I’ll fit right in and I won’t give you no reason to throw me out, I promise.”
Pain stabs at my heart at how I’m reacting to her. “We’ll see.”
Alexis
I wait for Max to come to the bedroom and get me. He told me to wait here, he’d decide if he would let me meet his mother or not. He’s acting so odd. His face is almost void of expression and he’s distant. Not at all like himself.
The door opens and in he comes. Straight to me he almost runs and wraps his arms around me, burying his face in my neck. “I told her she could stay the night, but I didn’t want to.”
I push him back to look at him. “Is it that horrible, Max?”
He nods and his face goes back to being buried in my neck. “She brings out this awful person in me.”
I laugh. “You have nothing bad in you. You’re practically a saint!”
He kisses my neck and trails more of them up until his lips land on mine. Finally he stops and leans his forehead on mine. “Promise me you’ll help me not to lose who I’ve become.”
“Max, you’re being silly,” I say as I run my hands over his dark waves. “Take me to meet her, please.”
“She’s shocking to look at,” he says as he picks me up and carries me to my wheelchair. “A total drug addict look to her. She fidgets oddly and I don’t remember this woman. My mother had soft blonde hair and dark blue eyes. Her hair and eye color have faded to almost nothing.”
“I’m sure she isn’t that bad.” I say as he pushes me in my wheelchair to the door. “You were a little boy, your memory of her is probably more than a little off.”
“You’ll see, Lexi.” He says and out of the room we go and into a small sitting room. “I’m going to get Hilda to bring in something to eat and drink. I need a stiff drink, but I can’t do that in front of Sissy.”
“Nonsense,” I say. “Max, be yourself, baby. Do as you would whether she’s here or not.”
“Lexi, I don’t even feel like myself. It’s crazy.”
How bad can she really be?
Max
Hilda hands me a shot of something and instructs me to drink it. “It’ll calm your nerves, Mijo. I swear I’ve never seen you like this. This woman can no longer hurt you, remember that.”
I nod and find myself holding out the shot glass for a refill. “Uno mass.”
Hilda squints her eyes at me and refills the little glass. “Okay, that’s it. Now go get your mother and take her to meet Lexi. I’ll bring in a tray of snacks.”
Making my way to where I left my mother with a change of clothes, I try to think about how I would treat anyone else with the same problems she has. I think I’d be a lot more compassionate. People have all kinds of demons, and for most of them I’d think I’d have some understanding, but where Sissy Lawton is concerned I have no compassion.
Why is that?
I knock on the bedroom door and she opens it right up. As if she was standing right by it, waiting for me to come get her. Just like I used to wait for her to come home when I was little. She’d leave me home alone for hours, even overnight at times with no food in the house, and sometimes not even light as the electricity was shut off quite regularly.
“Oh, I knew you’d come get me, son,” she says with a giggle.
She grabs my arm and walks with me to the small living area I left Lexi in. “My girlfriend’s in a wheelchair and is quite skinny from an ordeal she was in. I’d thank you not to say anything about it.”
“Oh, then I won’t.” she says as she squeezes my arm. “This girl’s gonna be my daughter-in-law someday. I’d never want to hurt her feelings. What happened to her?”
“That Ashley woman who told you to come see me kidnapped her and nearly starved her to death. We found her in the nick of time, but she’s suffered from what the damn woman did to her.”
She stops and looks up at me. “You told me she was dead. Did you kill her for what she did to your girlfriend?”
“I probably would have, but no, she killed herself once she knew she was caught,” I say and start walking again.
As we enter the room, Lexi smiles and stands up. I move quickly to her. “You shouldn’t get up until I’m close enough to catch you if you fall.”
She waves her hand at me. “Oh, poopy smoopy, I’m fine! This beautiful lady must be Sissy.”
“Me, beautiful?” my mother says. “Look at you, well you’re gorgeous, dear.”
Lexi grabs my mother up and hugs her. “It’s so nice to meet you,” Lexi says then lets her go and sits back down.
I can tell from the sweat which sprung up on Lexi’s forehead it was hard for her to stand up on her own, but she’s stubborn and does things too quickly. I gesture for my mother to sit and I pick Lexi up and carry her to sit next to me on the small sofa.
“How gallant you are, Randy.”
Lexi smiles. “He is, isn’t he?” She runs her hand over my cheek and I smile back at her.
I take her hand and leave a kiss on it then hold our clasped hands on my leg. “So, here we are,” I say then ask my mother what I’ve wanted to for ages. “Tell me, do I have any brothers or sisters?”
Sissy looks away and blinks rapidly. “I got pregnant from being raped twice and I had abortions both times.”
“How awful,” Lexi gasps.
I, on the other hand, notice Sissy didn’t look at all upset the way someone who just said what she did should. “So no then. Well, that’s all I really wanted to know.”
Lexi leans up against me, making me look at her. Her eyes tell me to be nice. “So, Sissy, where have you been living?” she asks.
“California,” she says and I find I’m skeptical again.
“How’d you make it all the way to Texas?” I ask.
“The bus,” she says and I see her fiddling with her shirt and the package of cigarettes comes out. She pulls one from the pack and puts it in her mouth.
“Don’t you remember what I said about no smoking?” I ask.
“I’m not, I’m just putting it in my mouth,” she says then stands up and walks around, looking at every little thing in the room. “Where’d you get all this stuff? I never seen so much stuff.”
“Your son has done very well for himself,” Lexi says as she pats my hand. “He’s been all over the world and bought things from everywhere. Aren’t you proud of how well he turned out?”
I smile at Lexi and she gives me a crooked grin back and a little kiss on the cheek.
Man, I love this girl!
“Well, of course I’m proud of him! Who wouldn’t be?” Sissy keeps walking around and I see her chewing on the butt of the cigarette and it makes me sick.
Hilda comes in and diverts my attention, thankfully. “Hilda this is Sissy Lawton,” I say.
Hilda smiles. “I know, Mijo. I’m the one who let her in and took her to your office.”
“Oh, yeah,” I say.
She sets the tray of meats and cheeses on the table in front of us. A carafe of red wine she puts down and three glasses. I think
alcohol is a terrible idea, and once I see my mother’s expression I know it is. “Oh! Wine!” She sits down quickly and rubs her palms together as Hilda pours the red liquid into the glasses.
Hilda smiles at me and I give her a frown. “Wine is good for the blood and I think Lexi needs it, so that’s why I brought it, Mijo.” She hands a glass to my mother then leaves the room, shooting me a glare, telling me to be nice.
I almost want to stick my tongue out at her, but manage to stop myself. Instead, I pick up a cracker and place some meat and cheese on it and hold it to Lexi’s lips. She opens her mouth and allows me to pop it in. I smile as I love to see her eating and getting healthier. I hand her a glass and she sips the wine from it.
My mother on the other hand has downed hers and is pouring another. “It’s been so long since I’ve had wine, and this is delicious.”
“Tell me, Sissy, what type of work do you do?” Lexi asks and I pop another beef topped cracker into her mouth.
Sissy shakes her head. “I’m on disability on account of my back.”
“What state pays you that?” I ask.
“Texas, silly,” she says and takes a long drink. My head spins around the fact she just told us she was living in California. I’m not sure if her mind is addled from the drug abuse or if she’s just a big, fat liar.
“So you’re unable to work, that’s too bad,” Lexi says and taps my hand as if I’m supposed to offer something. I shake my head at her, slightly. Her hand squeezes mine. “What’s your plan then, Sissy?”
My mother looks away and wipes at her eyes again as if they have tears in them, which they don’t. “I tell you, child, I just don’t know. It’d be real nice if Randy could see fit to allow me to stay with him. I’ve missed him all these years, you know. I never wanted to give him away, but the state threatened to put him in foster care and I didn’t want that.”
Lexi leans her head on my shoulder and I know she’s falling for this sad little tale my mother is weaving. “Well, it is important not to leave a child alone when they’re little. I wouldn’t exactly put the blame on the state,” I say and stroke Lexi’s cheek.
Her dark blue eyes look up at me. I know what she thinks I should do and I don’t want to do it. She gives me a nod and I shake my head. She pulls her head up and looks at Sissy. “What will you do if Max refuses to let you stay?”
And here we go with the melting thing again, only this time it’s the chair she melts into as she whimpers, “I’ll probably give up on life. With no family to care for me, why live?”
Lexi’s eyes go wide, and she looks at me. “Perhaps you and I should talk alone, Max,” she says.
I take in a deep breath. “Lexi, there’s nothing to talk about. I told her she could stay one night, and that’s it.”
“This isn’t like you,” she whispers to me.
I know it isn’t, but there’s just something telling me I can’t fall for this. “What would you have me do?”
Lexi tries to stand up and I stand and pick her up and take her to the wheelchair. She looks at my mother. “We’ll be back in a little while, Sissy. Just relax and feel free to turn on the television if you’d like to.”
I wheel her out and off to another room where I’m pretty sure she’s going to attempt to talk me into letting my mother stay.
Alexis
Max picks me up and sets me on his lap as he sits on a sofa in his office. I run my hand over his cheek and bring a smile to his lips. “There’s that smile I love to see,” I say.
I bring my lips to his and kiss him. His arms wrap around me and our bodies seem to pull together like magnets. My heart swells with the love I have for him. After my experience, I’ve let the fear of loving him so fiercely go and cling to it for every moment I can experience it. I pull my mouth from his, finding I feel weak, so I lay my head on his wide chest.
“I don’t want to do it, Lex.” He kisses the top of my head.
“This place is huge, and she’d not be in your way,” I say as I run my fingers over his stomach.
“She makes me hate myself,” he says as he runs his hand along my back.
I gaze up into his dark green eyes. “She doesn’t have the power to do that, Max.”
He bites at his bottom lip and moves his hand to my neck and pulls me into him and drops his lips on mine again. They quiver as he pushes his tongue past my lips and runs it over mine. I turn on his lap, sitting facing him and feel him getting aroused. I run my arms around his neck and tangle my hands in his hair. His hands tangle in mine as his kiss grows hungrier.
With a quick yank on my hair, he pulls my lips from his and moves his mouth to bite at my neck. I groan as his teeth nip at my flesh and feel heat flow through me. “Oh, Max, you’re driving me crazy.”
His teeth rake me as he moves his mouth down to my chest. His hand pulls my shirt down along with my bra, exposing my breast. I arch up to meet his hot mouth as he takes in my breast. My hands run over his back and my stomach twitches as he nips and sucks it.
Slowly, he softens his mouth and trails gentle kisses up over my chest, up my throat and lands softly on my lips. “Damn it, I love you so much, Lexi.” His eyes search mine and I smile at him.
“No one can change you into something you’re not.” I place a kiss on his lips. “You’re a good man and I have faith you’ll do the right thing by that woman.” I kiss his earlobe and pull it into my mouth to nibble at it.
His arms tighten around me as he makes a low groan. “What you do to me is unbelievable.”
Trailing kisses down his neck, my lips move over his warm skin as I say, “You know what I want you to do to me, Max?”
“I do and don’t think you’re strong enough to do that twice in one day, not yet anyway,” he says, but he runs his hands over my back and through my hair until he pulls my head up and puts his lips back on mine, making the fire in me burn twice as hot.
I unbutton his shirt as his mouth consumes mine, taking it as his own. With a quick movement he has me on my back on the sofa and pulls his mouth from mine just long enough to undress me then himself as I smile up at him. “I think this is better physical therapy for me anyway.”
He laughs then moves his body over mine. The hard length of his erection finding its way right to where I crave it the most, making me arch up to meet his first thrust as he looks into my eyes. “Just so you know, Lexi, this may cause you to have my baby. I don’t want any misunderstandings like we had before.”
“I get it,” I say and pull him close so I can whisper in his ear. “I want to have your baby, Max.”
He pulls his head back and gives me the widest smile. “You don’t know how much I’ve wanted to hear those words come out of your mouth, princess.”
“I kinda do know. You haven’t exactly made that a secret, babe.”
He chuckles and his deep laugh shakes my entire body. Then he kisses me and moves himself deeper into me before pulling his hard cock all the way out and thrusting it in as deep as it’ll go. I pull my legs up and he grabs one and pulls it up higher and I feel him go even deeper into me. I moan and he pulls his mouth off mine to graze his teeth over my neck.
I’m already pulsing inside as I rake my fingernails over his back and arch up to meet every thrust. “Harder, Max!”
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he mumbles as he kisses my neck.
“You aren’t,” I say and grab his hair, pulling him to look at me. “Fuck me hard, like you used to. I ache to feel that power you have again.”
His lips curve into a grin and his eyes go dark with desire. “You think you can handle it?”
“I can, give me all you got, please.”
His mouth comes down hard on my breast as he bites at my nipple, igniting a yelp from me. He slams his cock hard into me. My breath is pushed out of my lungs with every stroke as he pushes himself deeper and deeper with each one. My insides start to quiver as he sucks hard on my breast.
My body arches up as I come undone and find myself screaming, �
�Oh, fuck, Max, God!”
He hasn’t come yet, and he pulls out of me and flips me over on my knees. His hands grab my hips and he slams into me as he pulls me back to him. “Tell me you want this, Lexi,” he says through gritted teeth and rams his swollen cock even deeper into me.
My hands are gripping the sofa cushion and I’m moaning into it to try to stifle the noise I’m making. I lift my head and say, “I want this! I want to have your baby, Max!”
I feel him stiffen and hot fluid rushes into me as he shouts, “Oh, fuck me!” A moan follows quickly after. He eases his strokes as I pulse around him until we both pulse no more.
He eases his body down on mine and moves to the side to face me. “I love you, Lexi.”
I smile. “I love you, too, Max.”
Max
Just as life’s getting to the good part. Lexi loves me and wants to have my children, so that’s getting to where I wanted things to be. Then my mother has to show up and want to be a mother to me.
She’s never been one so this is new. Lexi and I told her she could stay, and I set her up in a suite in the other wing of the mansion. We took her shopping and at Lexi’s coaxing, I bought her a car. Nothing fancy or expensive, but a nice one and she loves it.
Somehow, me doing this for my mother has Lexi looking at me with more stars in her eyes than she had before, and there were already a lot of them. A month has passed since my mother came and Lexi and I began working together on having a baby. I bought a pregnancy test and am about to see if Lexi wants to check it out.
To say I’m impatient is an understatement. Lexi comes out of the bedroom just as I get to the door. “Hey, baby,” she says with a smile. Her eyes go to the bag I’m holding. “What ya got there?”
I hold up the bag and lift my eyebrows. “Wanna see if I knocked you up yet?”
“Already?” she asks with a smile and grabs the bag out of my hand. She turns back to go into the bedroom and I pick her up and carry her in. “I can walk now, Max.”
“I know,” I say and drop a kiss on her cheek. “But I kinda like carrying you around.”
Quartet Complete Series: Billionaire Romance Box Set (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) Page 186
