Can't Walk Away (The Thomas Family Chronicles #1)

by Ashlee Taylor

  Slipping her comfortably in her floating seat, she started to splash around in the water, moving herself. She waded in further and further until I was just head and shoulders above the water. We’d been out for a while when I heard the sliding door open and Layla got excited.

  Looking over, I saw Nicholas standing with two guys. He introduced us properly before he walked back inside to show them their rooms and to change. I started playing a game with Layla, going under water and popping up in different spots to her amusement.

  The next time I popped up, I noticed that Layla was trying to scoot in the opposite direction. There, standing at the top of the stairs, was perfection personified. Nicholas stood in black shorts, shirtless, his tan skin glistening with colorful tattoos scattering his body. He was beautiful. I didn’t remember these tattoos, but they were so crisp they could have been after we were together.

  Helping Layla over to him, I showed him how she likes to play. He swam out a little into the middle of the pool, which caused Layla to follow. She loved this, her little legs just kicking away.

  “She’s been moving her feet so much, I think it’s time I got her a walker. She may walk early.”

  “You think?”

  “Yeah, my mom said I started walking around nine months, but in the crib or with help. About ten months I was able to take a running start before falling.”

  Nicholas chuckled. “Well, we’ll make sure we get her a good one then.” He held onto her and floated with her around the pool.

  After a while, her eyes started drooping. Her head tipped as she began to fall asleep right there.

  “I think she’s ready for her nap. Can you hold her here so I can grab a towel?”

  “Of course.”

  I got out of the pool, not caring about how I was dressed or how I looked to him. I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around me. Picking up another, I walked back to the steps.

  “If you can slide her out, I’ll take her with me.”

  Nicholas did everything perfectly. Layla laid her head right on my shoulder and was out before I got the “thank you” out of my mouth. She was snoring lightly as I made it up the stairs to her room. I was able to change her and get her into her bed without waking her up. I took the wet clothes into the bathroom and took a quick shower to wash out all the chlorine, trying desperately not to think of Nicholas’ half naked body downstairs

  ***

  Nicholas

  God, she was beautiful, I didn’t mean to stare at her when she got out of the pool. I remember flashes of her, but with the birth of our daughter, her body had changed in so many ways it was brand new to me. I even caught a little glimpse of ink on her left side, but she covered it up so quickly I didn’t get to see it fully.

  I helped get Layla out of her floaty and stood up, handing her to Christianna. Even asleep, Layla was clingy.

  Waiting until they were safely inside, I climbed out of the pool. I didn’t want her to see the embarrassing situation happening in my pants. Placing Layla’s flat on the table, letting it dry, I grabbed a towel to dry myself off.

  Once back inside, I found Bobby and Luke having a conversation in one of the rooms we’d chosen on the main floor.

  “What’s going on?”

  “We’ve got a situation.”

  “Jeffery called, he’d been monitoring Christianna’s house and cameras. Someone’s been at her house every night since she’s been gone. They’ve been parking their car at the top of the hill and coming down. They haven’t seen the cameras, but they’re trying to see inside the house.”

  “What the hell is going on?

  “We don’t know, we’re going to put some guys on it. If he comes back we’ll get him.”

  “Maybe you should ask her. I mean, maybe she has a boyfriend.”

  My eyes shot to Bobby’s. Could she? I don’t know how I’d react to that if it was true.

  “I’ll ask her. I’m going to shower and ask her when I get out. She said she usually writes after she puts Layla down for a nap.”

  Excusing myself, I’d gone into the bathroom and hung up my shorts and the towel I used. I turned on the nozzles and stepped into the shower spray. I closed my eyes and washed the chlorine off my body. My mind began to shift to Christianna and our night together flooded back all at once. I took a step forward, bracing my hand on the tiled wall.

  The missing night’s events started coming back, neither of us drunk as we attacked each other as soon as we entered the hotel room. I remember undressing her and worshiping her with my tongue until she pushed me away. When she tried to return the favor, I didn’t let her. Instead, I kissed her with so much passion that I lost myself in her. Wanting to take this slow didn’t help the situation. She rolled me over and slipped on top of me. With that feeling alone, I lost it.

  I had her in the bed, every way, against the wall, we even made love on the floor. She had passed out in my arms, I scooped her up and laid her in the bed. The old me would have left her on the floor, gotten dressed, and left. I picked her up, laid her on the bed, and slid in next to her. She rolled over, tucking herself into my side. We lay there in extreme bliss until something happened. Blurs of people in that room, she still asleep next to me. I was drug off the bed, fighting as hard as I could against these people before I was held down with a towel covering my face. The next morning I woke up, dressed and in my bed. I didn’t understand.

  Who were they? Why didn’t they hurt me or her or did they and she doesn’t remember? I needed to find out the answer to these questions.

  Finishing up in the shower, I got out and got dressed. As soon as I opened my bedroom door I heard her laughter. I followed the sound and found Luke and Bobby sitting at the kitchen island with plates of food in front of them. When I saw her it felt like the breath was knocked out of my chest, she looked so beautiful there smiling at me and plating up food.

  “Are you hungry? It’s just bacon grilled cheese, something easy,” she asked.

  “That sounds good, thank you.” I took the last seat at the bar and the plate she slid me with two thick sandwiches on it.

  Luke looked at me and motioned with his head toward Christianna, who was cleaning up the pan and spatula.

  “Christianna, do you mind if I ask you a question?”

  “Oh, sure.” She dried off her hands and turned to me.

  “It’s not really my business, but are you seeing anyone? Do you have a boyfriend?”

  “Um, no, neither. Why do you ask?”

  “Well, there’s been someone at your house since you’ve been gone. Sneaking around and trying to look in windows and doors,” Luke interjected.

  “What?”

  “It’s okay, nothing’s going to happen. I’ve had your house fitted with an extensive security system that includes flood lights and cameras. This person was caught on camera. He doesn’t know they’re there.”

  “Wait, why did you put cameras on my house?”

  “For your protection, also for our daughter’s protection.”

  “But why? I don’t understand.”

  I took a deep breath and began to explain, leaving some stuff out. “Christianna, my family is very rich. We hold a level of power I can’t explain right now. With that power comes responsibilities, not everyone is receptive of those things. The moment I found out about Layla, my first instinct was to protect her and you.”

  “How does anyone know about Layla or me? It wasn’t like we made a huge announcement. You said it yourself that you just found out for sure and you said that this person has been at my house the whole time I’ve been gone. Something doesn’t make sense.”

  “I know, and we’re working on it. The guy will be back. He’s been parking at the top of the hill. We’ll get him the next time. I’ve sent two guys to sit on your house.”

  “Sitting on the top of the hill?” she questioned.

  “Yeah, do you know who it is?”

  “No, it’s just, I thought someone was lost.”

  “What did yo
u see, Christianna?” This time Luke asked.

  “The night of the event, when my brother dropped me off. There was a black sedan idling at the top of the hill. I didn’t think much of it because it happens. People get lost in the neighborhood all the time.”

  “Okay.”

  “But…” She trailed off. “Well, the day I left to go to my parents’ house. There was a black car behind me. I couldn’t see who was inside it. They followed me turn for turn, I just assumed they were trying to get out of the neighborhood too.”

  “Did you see the car afterwards, while you were driving?”

  “For a while, then I looked in my rearview and it was gone. I didn’t think anything of it.”

  “Have you seen anyone around? Have you noticed anyone outside or the same person multiple times since you’ve been here?”

  “No, we only go outside to the pool or we’re in the house. We haven’t been out of the house since we’ve gotten here.”

  “Okay, I know that you’re not going to like this, so please humor me.”

  “All right.”

  “I need you to always have one of us around you at all times. This means if you go outside to swim or to the beach, even if it’s just to stand outside and watch the sunset. Until we can figure out who’s been around your house, I don’t want you to trust anyone. That includes people you know.”

  “What do you mean, including people I know? You’re saying it could be a friend of mine? My family?”

  “Christianna, I don’t know who it is. All I know is that Layla’s safety and yours are my responsibility, and whether someone you know has a problem or someone I do does, I’m going to make sure you’re safe. You can fight me on this if you like, but trust me when I say I have no problem contacting your father and letting him know. If he’s anything like mine, he’ll have you under lock and key with more security than I’m saying that you have to have right now.”

  “Are you sure all of this is really necessary? I mean I really feel like you’re overreacting,” she said and I was growing madder by the second.

  “Do you know what happened to either of us the night that we were together?” I asked.

  “Other than the obvious?” she countered.

  “Well, yeah, other than that. I wouldn’t have left you. That night you fell asleep next to me, in my arms. I woke up to people in our room. I was grabbed, taken off the bed, and then I had a cloth placed over my face but I fought for a while until I passed out. The next morning I woke up in my bed, in the clothes I had worn the night before with the worst hangover in my life. It wasn’t until months later that I began to dream of this beautiful dark haired woman, I didn’t know if it was real or not. I didn’t know who she was and every so often more would come and it felt so real, then I saw you. I had no recollection of meeting you before, but a connection was there all the same,” I confessed.

  “I swore I would find out more, if anything had happened between us. It was that night I saw you, the first flashes of someone else in the room with us came to me. I thought because of who I am, you had set me up, especially after learning who your father was. So, as to the question if I think it’s necessary. Hell yeah I do, because if anything ever happened to our daughter or you, I’d hunt down every person involved and I’d kill everyone they know until I got to them. That is how necessary it is.” I picked up my plate and stalked off to my room.

  I heard Luke off in the distance apologizing for me. He didn’t need to apologize for me. I was right. I’d murder anyone who tried to hurt my family. That was engrained in my soul ever since I was a little kid. I didn’t need anyone to doubt the lengths I would go.

  Sitting in the quiet of my room, I finished the sandwiches Christianna had made for me. They were the best sandwiches I’d ever eaten in my life, they reminded me of my childhood. They were better than the finest, overpriced food I’ve ever eaten.

  Needing to apologize to her, I found myself trying to work up the courage to go back in there when there was a knock at the door.

  “Come in.”

  The door opened slowly and Christianna stepped in. She looked apprehensive when she looked around the room, and then her eyes landed on me. Closing the door behind her, she took several steps forward until she was within arm’s reach.

  “Nicholas,” she said, running her hands together, with her gaze on the floor. “I’m sorry I overreacted, Luke and Bobby explained. I promise that I will let you protect us until you find out what’s going on.”

  The tiny pink of her tongue slipped out between her lips and I couldn’t take it, I had to know. Pulling her to me in one motion, I ran my hand through her hair and kissed her with the same intensity I had the night we were together.

  Chapter Six

  Christianna

  The shock of what Nicholas said disappeared the second his lips touched mine. I found myself climbing his lap as if he were a tree. He tasted like minty toothpaste with the saltiness of bacon as I continued to assault his mouth with my own. I straddled his lap, his hands holding my hips down on him as I tried to grind myself onto him for some friction.

  When he thrust up against me, my mouth disengaged with his and my head fell backwards. Sending up a moan that vibrated through me, it was like I was thanking the heavens for this man and what he could do. Before I knew what was happening, I was flipped onto my back and slid up the bed. My hands were working on their own as I started to tear at his shirt and he flicked it off. My fingers were fumbling with the button of his pants when I heard Layla.

  She never cried when she woke up from her nap, this had to be a sign. Looking up at him, I removed my hands and covered my face.

  “I’m sorry,” I said through my hand.

  “I’m not,” he replied as his hand ran down the side of my face.

  “I have to go.”

  The instant he rolled off to the side, I jumped up off the bed and adjusted my clothes. Saying sorry again as I left the room, I didn’t even look back to check on him. I ran upstairs to Layla. She had pulled herself up in her crib and was blubbering until she saw me. Picking her up out of the crib, I noticed why she was so upset. I cleaned her up and changed her diaper, kissing her forehead as I washed my hands.

  “Is she okay?” the voice asked.

  “Yeah, she just had a messy diaper. She’s clean now.”

  “I was worried, the way she was screaming as if she was hurt. Does that happen often?”

  “Not really, but it was worse than usual. So you’d get why she was upset.”

  Layla did something I’d never seen her do, she reached her hands out and started to clench her little fists, opening and closing them rapidly.

  “She wants you to hold her,” I said.

  Nicholas opened his arms and took Layla from me. She snuggled into his chest and began to close her eyes. He slowly comforted her as he held her, waiting for her to fall back to sleep. We both thought she was down for the count again, that was until he tried to lay her in her crib. She jostled awake and then gave him this look like ‘don’t you dare.’

  I couldn’t help but laugh as he looked at me and held her to himself again. I couldn’t stop giggling so I left the room. I decided to go downstairs and write for a little while. I sat down on the couch, laptop on my lap, and started writing. I was on a roll when I felt the couch dip and I looked over. There was Nicholas with Layla on his chest just closing her eyes again.

  “It was a lost cause thinking I could put her down.

  “I would have put her down and let her cry. She’s going to get spoiled like this and expect you to hold her from now on.”

  “As long as I’m there and she wants me to hold her like this, I’ll do it.”

  Closing my laptop, I turned to him. “I just want to say thank you for taking this the way you have. Most guys would have probably freaked out and walked away, not even taking a second glance.”

  “Well, as much as this came as a complete shock to me, I knew I had to do the right thing before I even knew that s
he was biologically mine. Luke said she looked like me and when I saw her again, I saw it. I mean, yeah, I would have loved to have been there from day one. I wish that hadn’t been taken from us. However, I’m here now, and there is no one or nothing that can keep me away. I already love her, I can’t imagine my life without her.”

  “I can see that.”

  “I hope you know that, Christianna. She’s my life, I’ll do everything in my power to keep her safe. To keep you both safe.”

  I couldn’t even respond before the front door opened up and in walked my sister in all her glory.

  “So, here you are, all hugged up with baby daddy.”

  “Alex, don’t.”

  “Alex don’t, nothing. You aren’t answering any calls, you aren’t returning messages. I drive all the way out here to find two huge guys out front, and you’re in here with a god. And my niece is asleep on the god’s shoulder like one big happy family.”

  “Alex, if you don’t mind. Your niece is trying to finish her nap, so if you could keep it down. And the god has a name, it’s Nicholas.”

  “Yeah, Nico, I know. Luke filled me in. I’m Alexandra. I’m the sister ready to kick your ass if you fuck up. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Crystal. I’m sorry I can’t properly shake your hand hello as I can’t jostle her or she’ll wake up.”

  “I understand, we’ll rectify this later. Lil sister and I have to go over a few details, so if it’s okay, I’ll keep it down.”

  “No problem.”

  I gave Alex my full attention as she pulled out her laptop and opened it.

  “Your publisher sent an email. They wanted to know how you saw the cover. They want to know what your characters look like so they can book models that look similar to them. You got a bunch of copies of the newest they want you to sign and then send back, they want to donate them to blogs for giveaways and thought this was easier.”