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

by Ashlee Taylor

  “Okay,” I said, knowing they never asked me if it was okay. I always wanted to personalize my books because they had a habit of being resold on auction sites under false pretenses.

  “I got a list of questions for you to answer for the magazine we were talking about last week, they also want to set up a photo shoot. We can work around that once you get back, but they need the answers as soon as you can, then the picture by the end of the month.”

  “What kind of picture?”

  “I don’t know, I guess something other than your stock photo.”

  “Their photographer or can I use you?”

  “Well, I never thought of that. Let me ask them and I could do it while we’re here. There are plenty of spaces. This is exciting!” she squealed, causing Layla to jump.

  “Easy,” Nicholas said as he held her and rubbed her back again.

  “Sorry, I’ll just take this into the other room.”

  Nicholas had solidified himself as protective Daddy. He sat there and held her for another forty-five minutes before she woke up fully. He was talking to her and she was giggling, then when she started to suck on his face, finally nipping him, he called me in.

  “She bit me.”

  “Well, Daddy, she woke up from a nap and probably wants a bottle. Follow me and I’ll show you how to make one.”

  I went through step by step, grabbing one of the bottles that were already made up, showing him how to stick it in the warmer, and when it was ready, to shake it up and she’d be happy. As soon as he had the bottle in his hand, she lunged forward and snatched it. He held her as she drank her bottle, one hand holding it, the other going through his hair. I couldn’t help but laugh at what I was seeing. When Alex joined us again, she had her camera out and was snapping photos of the two of them together.

  “So what are the plans for tonight?”

  “I was thinking about taking Layla out on the beach to see the ocean…” I had to give a legitimate reason why I couldn’t do that now. “But I think she’ll try to eat the sand or be afraid of the loud noises of the crashing surf.”

  “Yeah, I saw a show once that TV doctor said the kid ate sand and it had parasites in it that were in his eyes. Yuck. Anyway, so what did you decide?”

  “Well, I was thinking about taking her down the boardwalk, let her see the flashing lights and go to one of the restaurants down there for dinner.”

  “Oooooh yeah, she’ll love that. We can get some of those airbrushed shirts and that fudge we used to get when we were kids. And of course fresh seafood.”

  “Then it’s settled. Nicholas, does that sound good to you and the guys?”

  “We can do that, I’ll just have to make arrangements before we go. What time did you want to head down?”

  “Six?” Alex asked and I nodded.

  “Six is good,” I commented.

  “I’ll go find Luke and Bobby and let them know.” And off he went holding Layla proudly.

  “How fucking beautiful is he holding her. I think my ovaries exploded.”

  I laughed at her and busied myself by cleaning up a little bit.

  “So, have any of the feelings come rushing back yet?”

  Throwing the rag into the sink, I turned to her. “I had the worst lapse of judgment, I hurt his feelings earlier. I went into his room to apologize and then one thing led to another and I ended up climbing onto his lap and dry humping him.”

  “Just dry humping? Why not the real thing? Jeeze, Chris, I mean give yourself something. He’s fucking hot.”

  “He’s beautiful, but that’s not the point. Alex, he flipped me over, he lost his shirt. He was rubbing against me and I was seconds from coming and minutes from demanding that he fuck me.”

  “Oh shit, then what happened?”

  “Layla, she started to cry. It was like a sign.”

  “Don’t forget horniness.”

  “Yes, and horniness. I realized what I had started, I apologized, and got out of there as fast as I could.”

  “Did you regret what happened?”

  “Regret, no. I have no regrets when it comes to him.”

  “Then what is the problem?”

  I sat back and thought about it. I needed to find the right words to explain.

  “Alex, this situation with him isn’t normal. It isn’t ideal. I’m not saying that I have any regrets about anything that happened. That includes Layla, but the night we were together was meant to be one night. I didn’t know that one night would change my life.

  “You’ve been fantasizing about him for almost two years. I think it felt like more than one night to your psyche.

  “Perhaps, but none of that means he wants me the same way.”

  ***

  Nicholas

  I stood in the hallway listening to Christianna and her sister.

  “You’ve been fantasizing about him for almost two years. I think it felt like more than one night to your psyche,” Alex said and it shocked the hell out of me.

  Christianna has been fantasizing about me? I wonder if she felt the same way about me as I did about her.

  “Perhaps, but none of that means he wants me the same way,” Christianna said, her voice sad.

  Oh no my dear, I do want you the same way. I want to explore this whole thing with you and have been struggling on how to do it. You’ve given me an “in.” Before they could say anything else, Layla started up her baby talk and I couldn’t eavesdrop any longer. I came around the corner holding Layla and her empty bottle.

  “Everything is set,” I said. “We’ll be ready to go by six, I just have a few things I need to do. Do you mind taking her for me?” I gestured toward Layla.

  “Of course. I might as well take her upstairs and get her dressed.”

  Trying to hand Layla over to her mom wasn’t easy, she clung to me as if she were attached. It took some coaxing and baby talk from Alex to get her to calm down. I exited the room as quickly as I could to avoid her seeing me standing there and wanting me to hold her again. Not that I had a problem with holding her, it was quickly becoming one of my favorite things to do. I just needed to make sure all was safe tonight. Bobby had called in a couple other guys to watch over the house, they’d blend in and stay hidden. Most of all they’d be here to keep them safe.

  I went over the plans with the two of them again but on a grander scale now that I wasn’t holding Layla.

  “I want this to seem as normal as possible, she knows that you two are here, so we’re going to hang out, the six of us. We’ll go and play the part of people on vacation. We will keep eyes on everything, but enough not to have them freaking out.”

  “Understood,” Bobby said.

  “We’ll pretend it’s like when we were at the shore and went on dates, except no making out in the haunted house.” Luke laughed.

  “I have the guys watching the house. If the guy comes back tonight we’ll get him. It won’t be a problem whatsoever. I’m ready to end this, this shit isn’t sitting well with me,” Bobby commented.

  “Me either, what could she have done? Killed someone off in a book? She’s the sweetest woman. I don’t know who’d want to hurt her.”

  “Neither do I, but I’m prepared to do whatever is necessary to make sure they never get close.”

  “Don’t worry, they won’t. You have my word,” Bobby stated.

  “Okay, enough about this, we’re leaving at six. So go and get yourselves together and be ready to go by then.”

  With a couple of nods we parted. I headed to my room and went through my clothes. I chose a pair of jeans and a dress shirt. Nothing too fancy, as I wanted to blend in. I didn’t think there would be extravagant outfits worn by the ladies, I just wanted to be in the crowd and watch who stood out.

  After I dressed I went out into the living area. Luke and Bobby were already there and dressed just as casually as I was, although they had tshirts on. Alex, on the other hand was wearing a low cut top and short shorts. If Christianna came down wearing a similar outfit
I would have to prepare myself to kick the living shit out of any man who looked her way. Yeah, I didn’t need to lose my shit in front of the girls and I didn’t need to lose it in front of my daughter.

  Alex was asking Luke if he could go into the garage and help her get out Layla’s stroller; when I offered, Luke shooed me away, saying he’d take care of it, no problem. They wheeled in this contraption bigger than anything I’d ever seen, and then Alex stepped in from behind him locking in what looked like a car seat thing. I couldn’t help but check it out. I even found myself looking for the levers to open and close the stroller but didn’t see anything.

  Crazy.

  Hearing footsteps hitting the wooden stairs, I turned to see them. Christianna took my breath away as she descended the stairs holding our daughter. She was in a white dress with a pink sweater over it and matching pink Converse. I couldn’t help but chuckle as I looked at Layla, who was wearing almost the exact same outfit except that her dress was pink and the sweater and little teeny tiny Converse were white.

  The moment she saw me, she thrust her hands out and started to open and close her fists for me. I walked forward and took my girl from her arms, giving her a smile and telling her how beautiful she looked. Christianna thought I was talking to Layla, but I was actually speaking to her. She looked beyond words to me.

  “I’ve just got to grab some bottles and we’ll be good to go,” she said as she excused herself to the kitchen.

  I heard the refrigerator opening and closing and then a jostle, the water ran and then she was back. I didn’t notice the oversized bag she had on her hip until she placed it in the storage bin underneath the stroller. Grabbing her purse and the keys, she let us know she was ready to go.

  Luke took the keys from her and told her he’d lock up. I knew what he was doing, he wanted to do a perimeter scan of the place when we were all separate from the pack. We left out the back door and proceeded through the back gate and onto the wooden boardwalk.

  Being on the residential side of the boardwalk, it was very quiet and not many people were around. It made it that much easier to spot people that shouldn’t be around. When we got into the bigger crowds near the commercial sections, it was easier for them to hide in plain sight. However, we were smarter than they thought they were. We had the ability to spot the proverbial needle in the haystack.

  I walked a few feet behind Alex and Christianna as she pushed Layla in her stroller. I stood off to the side of them purposefully so she could see me during our adventure. Bobby was close to my left and watching, and so was I. When Luke caught up with us, we walked closer to the girls and got even closer when we made it to the more crowded sections of the boardwalk.

  Every so often Christianna stopped to look at something, smiled, and put it back. I watched her doing this several times before I started walking behind her and buying the things she liked. The girls walked off to what looked like a chocolate stand and Christianna had a cup filled with what I believed to be lemonade. The girls were laughing at something I didn’t hear. I slipped my purchases in the bottom of the stroller in the side pocket of the diaper bag.

  When she turned back to see me standing there, she smiled.

  “Would you like some lemonade?” she asked me.

  “No thank you, I’m not a big fan.”

  “Neither am I, however, this stuff is so good. It’s not too tart and it’s not too sweet. It’s perfect, have a taste.” She thrust the cup to my face and smiled.

  Looking at the straw, I debated.

  “It’s okay, I promise I don’t have cooties,” she said with a laugh and a wink.

  Not that I thought she could have cooties, I wanted my lips somewhere else on her. Leaning in, I opened my mouth slightly and wrapped my lips around the end of the straw. She let out a little gasp and a couple of panting breaths before I released it.

  “You’re right, it is perfect.”

  She didn’t say a word, she just nodded.

  Once we got to the more crowded part where the attractions and games were, I stayed close to her. I even put my arm around her waist to steady her to me when we stopped so Alex could try to win a prize. I saw the way men eyed Christianna, they were so brazen standing there with their own women and checking them out. One even mumbled that she was “fucking beautiful” and I in turn told him to watch his mouth around the baby, which caused him and his friends to run off.

  Bobby, Luke, and I decided to play one of the shooting games. Of course they were rigged, but we each did better than we anticipated. Each of us won a stuffed animal. I gave mine to Layla and Luke gave his to Alex. She jumped on him, which earned him a look from me. Bobby ended up handing his prize to Christianna, who in turn gave it to Layla, because Luke and I made fun of him for holding a rainbow colored unicorn.

  We found a local restaurant close by and got a table near the front on the deck. I learned so much more about Christianna, her likes and dislikes when it came to food was simple. She loved seafood, but hated sushi, and she loved pizza and cheese. She didn’t drink anymore because of certain situations when she couldn’t remember anything about the night she was with me. So she’d have water, the occasional soda or tea, which Alex said she was addicted to.

  On our walk back, I ended up having to hold Layla all the way to the house. She got restless when we were at the restaurant, she didn’t want the bottle. The only thing that calmed her was me. Not that I minded, it just made things a little harder to watch our surroundings with her against my chest.

  When we finally made it back, I let Luke get a look around before we went in. I handed sleeping Layla over to Christianna, who said good night to us and took Layla upstairs. Bobby said he was going to check with the other guys just to make sure everything was fine. Luke asked if he could get away and accompany Alex to a bar that was a couple streets up. I let him. I knew he needed to get out and didn’t need to be cooped up in the house when we had plenty of other people looking after the place.

  I went into my room and changed into sleep pants and a t-shirt. I made sure to lock up and set the alarm. Standing at the bottom of the steps, I debated whether or not to go upstairs and check on them. At the very least I could say good night to Layla.

  “Fuck it,” I mumbled before taking the stairs two at a time.

  Opening Layla’s door slowly, I crept in to see her sound asleep in her bed, smiling sweetly as she slept. My heart warmed at the sight. Who knew something so small and precious could change my life in such a short time? I was careful to lean in and kiss her forehead before leaving her room.

  I walked to Christianna’s door, prepared to knock when I noticed it was open an inch. I could see through the small opening that she had just taken off her dress and was in the process of putting on a tank top when I pushed the door open to fully see her. She was wearing a pair of plain white cotton panties, just the mere sight of them told me they were going to be the bane of my existence.

  She stopped moving as if she knew that I was standing there. Reaching out the tips of my fingers, I touched the bare skin of her shoulder. She let out a sigh as I ran my hand down the length of her arm.

  My mouth was angled down to her ear close so I could whisper to her. “I’ve dreamt about touching you for over a year, wanting nothing more than to be here close to you.”

  Her breathing increased, I watched her breasts move up and down as I spoke to her. Moving my crotch, I pressed against her ass. I wanted her to see how serious I was.

  “Can you feel me? Do you feel how much just touching your skin has turned me on?”

  When she nodded, I used my free hand to brush her hair off her neck so I could press a kiss to the soft spot behind her ear.

  Chapter Seven

  Christianna

  The instant Nicholas’ lips hit my neck I was gone. My panties were soaked, my nipples were hard enough to cut glass. The feeling of his rock hard cock against the cheeks of my ass was enough to drive me crazy.

  I knew that if I didn’t take the initi
ative right here and right now, I’d have to find out a way to take care of myself without screaming like a banshee in heat because I was so turned on.

  Reaching around behind me with my right hand, my hand found his hard cock and I began to stroke it up and down. His body shivered at my touch, his teeth grazed against the sensitive skin of my neck which caused me to stroke him, faster and harder.

  His hand wound up in my hair, gently pulling my head back toward his. He leaned in and kissed me with as much passion as I’d ever felt. I turned in his arms, winding my hands in his hair and held him to me. Slipping a hand around me, along with one under my ass, he pulled me up; as if on instinct my legs wrapped around his hips and I let out a moan that was muffled by his tongue as it assaulted my mouth.

  Laying me gently on the bed, he stood over my half naked body just staring at me. Pulling off his shirt, I finally got a chance to see his impressive chest without feeling like an intruder. His tattoos seemed to pop in the light of the bedroom. He was chiseled in every way possible; his abs were cut in a perfect six pack, he had the v that every one of my readers lusted after. Here I was being presented with perfection. He lifted my leg by the ankle, pressing a kiss to the instep. His other hand ran the length of my leg. When his palm hit the inside of my thigh, my whole body arched off the bed, aching for him to touch in other places.

  I had to get him interested in something else, so I pulled off the tank I was wearing and threw it off the bed. I wasn’t wearing a bra, so my breasts were on display for him.

  Smiling, he let go of my leg and leaned forward with his other hand. His fingers touched the left side of my ribs where one of my tattoos was located. I had Layla’s name written along my ribcage.

  “Why here?” he asked.

  “It just seemed like the best place at the time.”

  “It is perfect here. Although I don’t like the idea of a man seeing this.”

  “Good thing it was a woman who tattooed me then?”