“Rhett, what is it?”
“She’s taking her to Paris.” I sit down in the chair, that my dad used to have in the office. I don’t remember it, but I’ve seen pictures of it. I was sitting in it with Tucker, after the funeral. “I called Quinn, and she’s on her way here. We’re going to file an injunction or temporary stay on her, and hopefully, stop them from taking Emma out of the country.”
“I’m so sorry. I thought that she had agreed to it?”
“She did, but I’m sure she told her daddy, and he won’t stand for it.” Charlie sits on the bed opposite of me, sitting Indian style.
“Why does he have such control over her?” she asks me, and I shrug. “Is it the money? The name? The respect of the name in this town?”
“What do I do? I can’t be without her,” I tell her, as I let out a breath. “I got you something, when you were away. Do you think that I could show it to you?” She smiles and nods. I smile at her and walk over to the walk-in closet. I open it with her on my heels. She gasps, as she sees the other side of the closet free for her stuff. She walks in touching everything in awe.
“This is for me?” I nod.
“I didn’t buy it for you. I had this done, when I came back from San Francisco. This is what I bought for you.” I hand her a small box. She gasps, as she sees a silver, ankle bracelet with a chef’s hat on it.
“This is beautiful. I don’t know if I deserve it. I’ve been putting you through hell this week.” She kisses me quickly on the lips.
“I deserved a lot more than what you’ve been giving me. I bought this, before the training, and it was supposed to be here, before you left, but it wasn’t.”
“Did Maddie keep my clothes at the house?” she asks me, giving me some sort of hope.
“She took everything of yours back to the house, but I did keep your perfume. I sprayed your pillows with it, so I could cuddle with it. I needed to breathe you in.” I move one of her blonde hairs out her face. “I’m sorry. I’ll do whatever it takes to fix us, but it might have to take a backseat to Emma right now.”
“And I wouldn’t have it any other way.” She smiles. “I’m going to leave now, so you can get some rest.” She walks away. “Rhett, I’m not ready to sleep with you. We’ll go back into old habits with nothing but resentment. I love you, I really do. Besides, I bet that little one crawls into bed with Daddy.”
“She does. Thank you for loving me, transgressions and all.” Charlie leaves and heads back to the house, where her and girls are staying. I lay in my bed, staring up at the ceiling. I close my eyes to drift off to sleep, but it doesn’t come quickly. I toss and turn, until I feel a small hand on my face.
My alarm starts to go off, and it’s four -hirty. “Ugh, I don’t want to get up,” I groan.
“Daddy, I’ll help.”
“You need to get some more sleep. It’s too early for princesses to be awake.” I kiss her nose, as she yawns big and says okay. I get up and dress for my workday. Eric’s not here yet, so I start making coffee. It’s going to be a long day. The front door opens, and Quinn walks in.
“Hey, baby brother. Make me a cup of coffee.” She flops onto the chair. “I’m exhausted. I was able to start some work on the plane.”
“Emma’s sleeping upstairs. We can talk about it later. You know where all the paperwork is from my anger management, graduation, the check stubs from Stillman paying off people, and their emails. I also have a video of Katy grabbing Emma really hard last night and agreeing to let her stay here. I have all my text messages from her as well.”
“I know that you have everything. We also have where her dad was controlling the visits to one hour a day, too. So, you offered child support, and she denied it?” Quinn asks.
“Yeah, because that meant going to lawyers and getting a schedule. She even says that in a text. I’ll take whatever time I can get to visit with my girl.”
“How has this changed your relationship with Charlie?” I look away. I didn’t tell Quinn about my cheating. I’m ashamed. “What happened? Is Charlie gone?” Just then Eric walks in.
“Good morning, Mr. Livingston.”
“Morning, Eric. This is my sister, Quinn.” I introduce them to each other. “Eric is the chef that took over for Charlie, while she was at a training. Actually, she got back last night, but she still needs you to cover for her. She has a lot of things to do for the summer program.”
“Oh, I’m glad that she’s here. I’d love to pick her brain about some of her recipes. She’s a culinary genius,” Eric raves. I think he might have a crush on her.
“Who is a genius?” Charlie comes into the door with her trademark long hair in a ponytail with her jean shorts and Livingston t-shirt on.
“Apparently, you are a culinary genius, which I can second,” Quinn speaks up.
“Quinn! I’m so happy to see you.” Charlie rushes to give her a hug. “I didn’t know you were coming into town.” She looks back at me, “But I should’ve realized.” She hands Quinn her phone and tells her to look at the last video. Quinn watches the video, while Charlie and Eric talk.
“We have an appointment with my friend Tara at ten. She’s already at the courthouse, filing for joint custody. She’s also explaining some of the situation to see where we go from here,” Quinn says, taking a drink of her black coffee.
“Do we take Emma with us? I don’t want to subject her to a battle of her mom and dad.”
“No, I wouldn’t take her. She’s not old enough to tell the judge who she wants to live with, but he or she may want to talk to her at some point. The judge could take her needs and wants into account. It’s going to be tough. You need to think long and hard about this decision,” Quinn tells me. “Charlie, this is going to be a battle for you, too.”
“Ummm, there’s something that you need to know,” I start to tell Quinn about Charlie and me, when I feel a hand on my shoulder.
“I’m ready for a battle. Rhett deserves to have a relationship with Emma, and I’m not going to come between that. I’ll stand by him through this all.”
“Charlie, it’s okay. I don’t expect you to do anything,” I tell her, as I get up and head into my home office. I hear Quinn ask what the fuck that was.
“What the fuck was that?” Charlie slams the door. “I don’t expect you to do anything,” she mocks me.
“Leave me alone,” I tell her.
“You’re such a baby.” Charlie leaves the room but comes back a couple seconds later. “Grow the fuck up and be the man that I fell in love with.” Then she slams the door. I start looking at the financials, while my anger is boiling. I’m angry at myself for being a horse’s ass.
Charlie
I walk back into the kitchen, trying not to go back into that room and punch that man in his face.
“Did I miss something?” Quinn asks, when I walk into the kitchen.
“Let me get my coffee first.” I go over to make a cup, as Eric grabs a plate of fruit for Quinn and me to share. I explain Rhett cheating on me with Katy and fill her in on how things are shaky with us right now. “I love him. I do, but I don’t want to jump back in too quickly.”
“I can understand that. I never figured he’d be the one to cheat. I’m sorry.” Quinn grabs my hand.
“It’s okay. We’ve been talking and getting down to really raw details of who we are. It was great. I feel closer to him than before. I’m going to stand by this man and fight for his daughter with him.”
“Okay, we need to plan a great strategy to do this today.” Quinn’s phone starts to ring, and it she tells me it’s Tara that she’s going to go into the office.
“So, Eric, how does it feel running your own kitchen?” I tease him.
“It’s surreal. I keep looking around to see what is going to break, or when am I going to wake up.” We laugh.
“I love it here, too. The garden is my favorite place. I love being able to have fresh veggies,” I tell him, and he smiles.
“Maddie’s been helping
me a lot, since you were gone.” Eric blushes, when he talks about her.
“Is there anything that I can help with for breakfast prep?”
“I’m good. The breakfast is done for the Livingstons, and now, I’m headed out to the mess hall to cook breakfast. I’m just doing eggs, bacon, and toast,” Eric tells me.
“Sounds good. I’m going to head into my office here in a little bit, so I’ll be there.” I smile at him, as I head into the main house. I start cleaning up the game room. We kind of just all left last night. The pillows and cushions from the living room couches are in here, too, so I throw them on the pool table. I fold the blankets up one by one. As I stand here, I sigh with a smile on my face, remembering a date that Rhett and I had here.
“Now, close your eyes.” Rhett’s standing in front of me, as he guides me.
“My eyes are closed, but if you make me fall, I’m kicking your ass.” I laugh. He tells me to stop, and I feel warmth hitting my face.
“Open them.” He whispers. I open them and gasp. The room is filled with white candles, vases of red roses, and rose petals on the floor. On the floor, near the fireplace that’s not on, is a silver bucket with ice, and I’m assuming champagne in it and two champagne flutes.
“Rhett, is this for me?” I hug him.
“Yes, it is. Tucker and Wes are gone, so I booked them a suite at the hotel. The girls are away for the night at a spa treatment. It’s just us tonight.” I kiss him tenderly, trying to show him how much I love him.
“Thank you for all of this. I’m completely blown away by it. I don’t know what I did to deserve any of it.” I open my arms, motioning around the room.
“You love me, so that’s why.” Rhett taps my nose. He grabs my hand, taking me over to the champagne. We sit down, and he pours us drinks. Rhett also pulls out the cooler of chocolate-covered strawberries. He holds one to my lips, and I open up. I bite down on the strawberry, feeling the juice dribble out the corners of my lips. Rhett finishes the strawberry, as he comes over to lick the corners of my lips, and then kisses me.
“This is wonderful.” I take a sip of my drink. “I didn’t see you much today. I missed you.”
“I know it was busy. We have new horses, cabins need to get painted so they can be ready for summer camp, and we had a couple of workers quit.”
“Sounds crazy. Karen and I started working on meals for the kids. We also started looking up how to teach gardening to beginners. I’m learning so much.” I take another sip, as I look around the room not believing all of this. Rhett is not usually this romantic. “What are you thinking?”
“How lucky I am that you are mine.” Rhett pulls out a guitar, and he strums a few times, before he starts humming.
He starts to play “I Cross My Heart” by George Strait, and I often refer this song to be about us. “Our love is unconditional. We knew it from the start. I can see it in your eyes. You can feel it from my heart.” He continues to sing the song for me. I sit there listening to him, and when he finishes, I clap.
“Oh, baby. That was wonderful. I love it, when you sing to me. Your voice is so deep and sexy, when you sing, especially when it’s that song.” He sets the guitar aside, and I climb into his lap. “What else does this evening have in store for me?”
“Oh, I’m going to make love to you right here, feed you chocolate-covered strawberries naked on the blankets, and worship you until the sun comes up.”
“I’m liking this already. When do you want to start?” I remove my Livingston Ranch t-shirt, showing only my white lace bra. Rhett pulls me closer to him and removes it. He starts to lick the top of my breasts, being very intimate, as he pushes my breasts together. I straddle him, so he’s closer to me, as I feel his hot breath on my body. Rhett roughly tugs on my nipple, as I scream out in pain, grabbing onto his shoulders. He sucks on them so hard and fast, that if there’s not bruise, I’d be surprised. He removes his mouth from nipple and blows on it, before swirling his tongue on it, and I shiver from his breath on me.
Rhett lays me on my back and undoes my shorts, revealing my black and white, lace underwear. He removes my shorts, but he leaves the underwear. He lifts my left leg and starts to slowly kiss my ankle, calf muscle, knee, and then he moves up to my thigh, as he starts to nibble it. He comes to my pussy, and he blows on it. It’s already wet from the little foreplay we started with my breasts, and oh how I want him to just fuck me. I need him inside me.
He repeats the same action to my right leg, but this time, it’s thigh to ankle.
His devilish smile reveals his dimples, letting me know that I’m going to be seeing stars soon. Rhett finds himself face to face with my lace underwear still on, as he licks the wetness, and I moan. God gave Rhett the gift of fucking not just with his cock, but with his tongue, too. The orgasms he gives, hello stars and blacking out. I feel myself floating into ecstasy, when my hips are lifted, and my underwear comes off. My legs stay straight up on his shoulders, as I raise my hips to reach his mouth.
“This is my dessert.” He begins running his tongue up and down my pussy. He nibbles on my clit, while sliding his finger into my pussy, moving in and out in sync with the nibbling. As Rhett has my ass up in the air, with my legs on his shoulder, he pushes on my hips, pushing me back further to make his tongue go in deeper.
“Rhett, I really want you inside me. Please just fuck me. You can have your dessert later,” I beg. He removes his tongue from me. “Please!” He laughs, as he releases my legs. He removes his t-shirt and jeans, and I can see that he’s semi hard, so he pumps his cock a few times, before sliding on the condom that he got out of the back pocket of his jeans.
The first time we have sex is always fast, hard, and rough, and then we take our time, exploring each other. I often joke about why he insists on delaying the inevitable, but he likes to time how long it takes me to get frustrated enough for me to beg.
"I wonder if we could ever get back to having that connection again?" I say out loud.
Rhett
"Before you lecture me, I want to win this without the help of Charlie," I tell Quinn, who is standing in the office door with her arms crossed.
"Why? Because you fucked Katy and need to prove a point?" She sits down in the chair across from me. Oh boy, here comes the lecture. I knew it was only a matter of time, before she found out.
"I want to marry Charlie more than I want to take my next breath, but Emma is my daughter, and I want Mr. Stillman to know that I'm not going away this time."
"We need to be at the courthouse at nine, and Emma needs to be there," Quinn tells me, as I take a deep breath.
"I don’t want her there. Can you figure out how to do this without her having to be in the middle?” Quinn shakes her head. “Do I bring Charlie or one of our brothers to keep an eye on her, while we do the court thing?" I know her answer already.
"If I were you, I'd take Wes and Tucker." I'm completely shocked. "This will show the court that you have a support system. Oh, bring Karen, too." She smiles, and I know she's waiting for it, but I’m going to ignore her.
“Okay, I’m gonna find them and let them know. I know that Karen isn’t here yet, so I’ll call her on the way.” I get out of the chair.
“She’s in the game room, cleaning up from movie night,” Quinn mentions. “I’m going up to my room to shower off the airport.” I decide to walk to the game room to see Charlie first.
“Hey,” I tentatively say. She has a smile on her face, looking at the fireplace. I remember that night. It was one of the nights that we connected on a night that I never knew two people could.
“Hi, baby. You look a little relieved. Get good news from Quinn?” she asks, as she tosses the pillows onto the couch. The blankets are in a pile on the floor. I bet she’s going to wash them.
“She has a game plan apparently, but I’m still worried. Tucker, Wes, and Karen are going to be with me to show support that I’m not alone in raising her.”
“Good because you’re not. I understand me n
ot being there with our relationship not being etched in stone. Plus, we’re not blood” Charlie seems to be saying the right words, but I can’t tell if she truly means it.
“Can you please be honest with me?” I snap at her.
“I am being honest with you. Rhett, I love you. We’re at a bump in the road, and I know that we can get over it. It just takes time. I need you to see that.” She picks up the blankets into her arms and comes over to kiss me. “Trust in us.”
“Charlie,” Emma’s standing at the bottom of the steps, rubbing her eyes. “I’m hungry. Will you make me breakfast?”
“Sure thing, baby girl. Let me put this in the laundry room first.” Emma says okay, as she runs to me, giving me a hug.
“Hi, Daddy.” She hugs my neck.
“Hi, princess. Did you sleep okay?” She gets down from my arms and starts to walk over to the couch to fix the pillows the way they were, before movie night. She’s got Charlie’s sense of OCD with that.
“Okay, baby girl. What do you want for breakfast?” Charlie comes in.
“Pancakes with chocolate chips.” Emma jumps up and down.
“With whip cream on top?” Charlie asks, as Emma runs to her arms. “Let’s go helper.” It makes my heart melt that she loves my daughter, as much as I do.
I run upstairs to talk to Wes and Tucker about court, but I stand at the top, listening to Emma and Charlie giggle, while they cook.
“How can you deny her being at the courthouse with you? She loves that little girl just as much as you do,” Quinn tells me, while she’s drying her hair with a towel. I know she’s right because I literally just thought the same thing.
I walk away from her to wake up Tucker and Wes to talk to them.
“Tucker, you awake?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“I’m going to need you to come to the courthouse with me today.” I explain it, and he agrees, as I hear Emma yelling for us. We go downstairs to a family breakfast. “Wow, this looks amazing. Did you cook it all by yourself?” I ask Emma, who giggles.
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