The Hot Daddy Box Set

by Lexi Wilson

  “The more they know, the easier it’s going to be whenever you suddenly have to leave,” I had insisted. Though he’d argued with me at first, he eventually came to see things from my point of view and agreed.

  “I just wanted to let you all know that Kellie, Anthony’s daughter, is back in the hospital. As many of you know, she’s been struggling with leukemia for years, and right now, it looks like it’s back. They are, of course, doing everything possible to get rid of it once again. But as many of you also know, there is only so much they can do at this point.” I took a deep breath. I didn’t want to get emotional in front of the office, but sharing about Kellie somehow made it hit home for me, too.

  “Is she okay?” Molly asked when I stood silently for a moment. I took another deep breath before letting it out slowly.

  “At the moment, things are just fine. But, Anthony is going to be at the hospital with her as long as she’s there. Of course, we wouldn’t expect him to do anything different. With that being said, we are all going to have to step up here to make sure things continue as they should. I am going to act as the mediator between Anthony and what’s going on here, keeping him informed with what we are doing and making sure we are staying on top of things on our end.” I smiled, though my heart was racing in my chest.

  There were several glances exchanged among those in the room, but I wasn’t going to call anyone out specifically. Though this wasn’t anything new to them, this was the first time Anthony had someone who could stand in for him fully. He had told me before he had to come down to the office, along with staying at the hospital to make sure things went smoothly.

  I assured him I would be able to handle it, and I wanted him to stay with Kellie as much as he possibly could. Though he had been reluctant at first, I didn’t let him argue the point. I knew what I wanted, and I was going to insist that we do things my way. He was already shouldering much of the burden; it was only fair that someone finally step in and tell him it was time to share with someone else.

  “So, do we come to you when we have a question then?” one of the editors raised her hand and asked.

  I nodded. “I’m going to do what I can to answer anything and everything, but this is going to be a learning process for everyone. We are going to have to be patient with each other and help each other. There isn’t going to be any room for anyone to shirk — not that you do, anyway.” I smiled around the room, and to my surprise, many of them chuckled.

  “Does anyone else have a question?” I waited, but no one said anything. I was surprised at how well it had gone, and I dismissed them. “Remember that my door is always open if any of you need anything. I might be in Anthony’s office, but I’m here to help!”

  I took a step back inside as soon as I could, closing the door behind me. My heart was still pounding in my chest, but I was proud of myself. I felt that I had done a great thing out there, and I knew with the help of Jace and Molly, we would be able to keep the company going just as well as if Anthony himself were here.

  Once work was done, I headed straight for the parking lot. I wanted to get over to the hospital as soon as I could, both to give Anthony the good news about how it had gone that day as well as see both of them. Since he and I had had our talk Saturday morning, I hadn’t been able to get him or Kellie out of my mind. I wanted to spend every second I had with him and his daughter, and I looked forward to the moment I was free and able to.

  I had decided not to tell my mother about my new relationship. Not yet, anyway. I didn’t want to say anything and have her get mad at me or have her do anything that would make it harder for me to spend time with Anthony. Yes, I was an adult, but I still didn’t want to deal with the fights or the trouble she could cause because she felt I should be at home with her, rather than out with the man I was so quickly falling in love with.

  When I got to the hospital, I walked quickly through the hall, lightly knocking on the door as I stepped into Kellie’s room. She was awake and smiling, having some sort of conversation with her dad. “Stella!”

  “How’d it go today?” Anthony asked, looking over his shoulder at me.

  I smiled as I walked over and took a seat at the end of the bed. I wanted to kiss him, but I wasn’t sure if he had told Kellie that he and I were dating yet, and I didn’t want to do anything that made him feel uncomfortable. We discussed that we were going to take our time with the relationship, not rushing anything and keeping Kellie as the focus.

  “Things couldn’t have gone better, if you ask me,” I said with a beaming grin. He smiled and rubbed my back with his hand, but I changed the subject. “How’s my favorite Kellie?”

  “The new medication seems to be doing its job,” Anthony said.

  “How are you feeling?” I asked, turning to Kellie herself. She looked better than I had seen her in a while, and she nodded.

  “I feel much better. I like this stuff. It doesn’t make me sick like chemo.” I cringed. It was hard to hear a girl her age talk about the pain of chemo so matter-of-factly, but there was little I could do about it. I turned to Anthony.

  “And, how do you feel?” I asked.

  I could see in his face he was still worried, and I knew he didn’t want to let himself get his hopes up. Of course, he wanted his daughter to be feeling better, but he also knew that with her disease, things could change in a heartbeat.

  “It’s been a good day,” he said. I could hear in his tone something wasn’t quite right, but I didn’t know how to ask. He reached forward and patted Kellie’s hand.

  “I’m going to talk to Stella in the hall for a moment, okay?” he said. She nodded, leaning back on the bed and looking out the window. Confused, I rose and followed him to the hallway.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked once we were alone. I feared he had some bad news he didn’t want to say in front of Kellie, but I relaxed when he started explaining how the day had really gone.

  “Maisie still hasn’t come down to see her. I’ve left the woman several voicemails telling her what’s going on with her daughter, but she doesn’t respond to any of them. I really don’t know what to do with her. I want to go to the judge and talk about the custody agreement again. I want to get full custody.” He looked over his shoulder toward the room as he spoke, and I nodded.

  “If you need me to do anything, at all, I would be happy to,” I said. Now that we were alone, I stepped forward and kissed him, closing my eyes and enjoying the smell of him, the feel of his lips on mine. When he finally pulled back, he looked down into my eyes, brushing my hair back.

  “I don’t know what’s going to happen yet, but I would appreciate any support you are able to give. The judge seems to think she is the one who should get full custody since she’s the mother, and I’ve had to fight for the little that I have. Something has to change,” he said with a sigh. I nodded. “Anyway. Are you hungry? I was thinking of going down to the cafeteria to see what I could get.”

  “I’ll take whatever the special is,” I said with a smile. He nodded and left.

  I stood in the hall for a moment before going back into the room with Kellie. She was sitting up on the bed watching something on her TV, and she scooted over when I walked back into the room. I smiled as I took a seat next to her, and we both settled into what the cartoon she was enjoying. I put my arm around her and pulled her close, once more unable to imagine what kind of mother could just abandon her child like that.

  I knew I was a terrible person for thinking it, but there was a part of me that was glad she hadn’t come in to see Kellie. I knew the more she was absent, the more likely it was for Anthony to get full custody of his daughter. I was falling in love with Kellie, and I wanted to have her to myself. I could be the mother this girl needed, and I didn’t want to think of Maisie being in the picture at all.

  I knew it was her right to be in her daughter’s life, but I wasn’t happy about it. I didn’t want her to come anywhere near this girl. She didn’t deserve it, whether it was her right or not. But, the
re was nothing I could do about it. That was something between Anthony and her — not me.

  All I could do was hope for the best and pray that he did manage to get full custody somehow. It wouldn’t be easy, but I would fight for him if I had to. I would do anything and everything to help him.

  It wasn’t just for him, and it certainly wasn’t just for me.

  It was for Kellie — and I would do whatever it took to make sure she was happy and taken care of.

  I would make a stellar mother.

  Chapter 19

  I shook my head, amazed at how well things were going with the publishing house. Though I was running it mostly from the hospital, I was looking at some of the highest numbers I had seen in ages as I skimmed over the financial report on my laptop. Kellie was sitting on the bed watching her cartoons, content to entertain herself while I worked.

  I felt bad that I was working so much, but I justified it to myself saying that it was better to be here with her on the laptop than it would be to be down at the office. Before I met Stella, I had to spend hours a day down there, even with my little girl in the hospital. I knew she was being taken care of by the staff, but it had killed me not to be with her.

  I still hadn’t heard from Maisie, and I was beginning to wonder what was going on. There was a part of me that almost hoped she had decided to finally skip out on us altogether. It would be difficult, and I knew it would be a hard hill to climb with the judge, but it would be one of the best things to happen to me in a while.

  If that’s what she had done, anyway. Knowing Maisie, I knew it was just as likely for her to show up at the worst possible time, asking me for money or something else. I shook my head. I didn’t want to even think about having to deal with that woman.

  “How are you guys doing in here?” the nurse asked as she wheeled a cart over.

  “I’m starving!” Kellie replied enthusiastically, taking the Jell-O from the woman with a large smile. She grabbed her spoon and dug in, and I declined to take anything from the cart.

  “Thank you, but I think I’m okay until dinner,” I said with a smile. She left, and Kellie was silent for a few minutes, eating her Jell-O and watching the cartoons. I always let her turn up the volume as loud as she wanted, though there were times she was watching things that made it difficult for me to concentrate.

  “So, when are we going to get a dog?” she asked suddenly. I had just heard the sound of a dog barking on the show she was watching, and I grimaced. Kellie had been bothering me to get her a dog since she had met Bella, but I didn’t know if it would be such a good idea. I knew I could make a small dog work in my apartment complex, but I didn’t know what I would do with it when we were dealing with things like this.

  The more I had going on outside of the hospital, the more I would have to worry about if Kellie were to be admitted. And though I didn’t like to admit it to myself, I knew that it was likely for this to happen again.

  “What about Bella? Don’t you think she’d be jealous if she were to come visit you and you were to have another dog?” I asked, hoping to give her reason to give up on the idea.

  She shrugged. “I think Bella would be happy to have someone to play with, actually.”

  “But dogs aren’t like people. They like to have their owners to themselves,” I argued. She gave me a look.

  “Sam’s family has two dogs. And, I’ve seen lots of people who have more than one. Even the Queen of England has like five or six.” She crossed her arms as she looked at me, and I shook my head as I chuckled.

  “I don’t think you need five or six dogs,” I teased.

  “That’s not the point!” she argued. Before she had the chance to say anything else, Stella walked in with her purse tucked up under her arm.

  “Bella!” Kellie cried before she had the chance to take it down. Kellie had learned when she was holding the purse that way, it was so the dog wouldn’t jump out when she was sneaking through the halls of the hospital. Of course, the nurses had long since caught on that she was smuggling the dog in to visit, but pretended not to notice. They were all rooting for Kellie, and they knew the more reason she had to fight the cancer, the better the chances she had to finally beat it once and for all.

  The dog’s head popped out of the purse, and she wrestled her way onto the bed, running up to Kellie and wagging her short little tail. Kellie let her finish the Jell-O out of her cup, and I took the opportunity to plant a kiss on Stella’s cheek. I hadn’t said anything about it yet to Kellie. I was waiting for the right time to bring it up to her.

  I didn’t want her to feel like I was replacing her mother, even if she did want me to find someone else. It was a tough call, and I knew taking my time with things would be the best way to go about it. Stella looked at me with a mischievous grin, but turned her focus back to Kellie as she began asking about the dog.

  “Do you think Bella would like to have a friend?” she asked. I shook my head. My daughter was too smart for her own good.

  “I don’t know. I’ve never really had her around other dogs. I think she likes to have you for a friend, though,” Stella said with a laugh. She knew Kellie had been asking me for a dog, and I admired her ability to stay on the fence. She didn’t want to go against what I had to say, but at the same time, she didn’t want to do anything that would upset Kellie. It was a tough place to be, but I was always surprised at her ability to keep everyone happy.

  “I like having her as a friend, too. I think she would like to have a dog friend, though,” Kellie continued. We both laughed. She wasn’t going to let up on the subject until I finally caved, but I didn’t know when that was going to happen. I wanted my daughter to have everything in life, but I knew I had to keep things practical.

  Kellie laughed as Bella crawled up her, doing everything in her power to lick her face.

  “See? I told you she wanted to be your friend,” Stella said with a giggle. Kellie giggled, as well, and the two of them almost looked like family as they sat together on the bed. I shook my head in disbelief. It was hard to believe they had grown so close to each other already, and I couldn’t imagine life without her. I had to admit, though it was hard for me to say that I was wrong, but Stella was right.

  Kellie clearly did love her, and they got along so well. If I were to try to find another woman to bring into my daughter’s life, I didn’t think she would get along with her nearly as well as Stella. It was beautiful to watch, and it almost made me believe we could possibly be a family one day.

  I was happy Stella had talked me into a relationship with her. It was hard to imagine it working between us at first, but now that I saw her here, in the hospital with my daughter and me, I couldn’t imagine it not working between us. There were too many good things about Stella for this not to work. She cared about my daughter and me too much to be selfish.

  I tried to imagine how my life would be different if this is how it was going to be all the time, and I found it nearly impossible. It was too wonderful to think of things being this way without a storm cloud in the sky, and I hardly dared to do it.

  I didn’t want to jinx myself.

  I felt a little twinge in my pants, and I realized seeing her with my daughter was enough to get me aroused. There was something about the way this woman did everything in life that made me want to fuck her. I had to be inside her. I had to know her in ways no one else had the privilege to. It was hard for me to control myself with her in the room, and I hated how many times I had to hold back how I felt about her in front of other people.

  I looked forward to the moment when I would have her alone once more, and we could turn up the heat in the bed. I would show her all over again what I was able to do, and I would take the passion to a whole new level.

  “Well, I was only coming in to say hi. There are a few things we need to get to yet today, and I’m going to take Bella with me to do it,” Stella was saying. She rose from the bed and grabbed her dog, but Kellie groaned.

  “Are you sure you have
to go? Can you leave Bella?” she asked. Stella laughed and shook her head.

  “What do you think the nurses would say if they knew there was a dog in here?” she asked.

  “I would tell them that she is making me feel better,” Kellie replied with a shrug. Stella laughed once more as she put her dog back in her purse.

  “I wish she could stay with you, but I’ve got to take her home and give her dinner. She would get cranky if she didn’t get her dinner,” she explained. Kellie groaned once more.

  “Kind of like what happens to you when you don’t get your dinner,” I said with a laugh. “I’m going to walk Stella down to her car, but I’ll be back up here shortly, okay, kiddo?”

  “Okay. See you tomorrow!” Kellie cried out as the two of us walked toward the door. Stella bid her goodnight, and the two of us held hands as we walked down the hall toward the parking lot. Once we were outside, however, I couldn’t control myself another second. I pulled Stella close, pressing my lips to hers with a passion.

  We didn’t care we were in the middle of the parking lot. I knew Kellie wouldn’t be able to see us from her window, and she was the only one I wanted to ease into this situation. Stella’s lips parted, and she slid her tongue into my mouth, giving me a light tease before she pulled back.

  “I hope you have a good night,” I said, catching my breath. My pants were growing even tighter now, and I wished there was a way I could take her at that very moment. She was also breathing hard, and she nodded.

  “I hope you do, too,” she said with a grin. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  She winked at me, and I stood by her car as she got inside and started it. We said goodbye once more, though I couldn’t help but stand and watch as she drove out of her parking space and out of the parking lot. It was hard for me to admit it — even to myself — but I knew I was falling in love with that woman.