by Claire Adams
Chapter 19
Liza
I had left a message with my dad, but he’d been pulled into a meeting with the owners. I needed to explain the whole story. I didn’t like how we had left things, and the whole situation had left a pit in my stomach that was making me ill.
I pulled into the parking lot of my apartment complex and groaned.
“What’s wrong, Mommy?” Ainsley asked from the backseat.
“Nothing.”
The guy was turning into a stalker. I knew we needed to get some kind of custody agreement on paper or this was going to keep happening. My brain couldn’t handle all these run-ins with him. I hadn’t been able to sleep well since I first saw him. The sex dreams were ridiculous. One night with the man had turned me into a groupie. I hated that I was so damn attracted to him.
“What do you want,” I hissed, shutting the door, so Ainsley wouldn’t hear me.
“You told your dad, so now I get to hang out with her,” he said, matter-of-factly.
It was dusk out, and the sun was almost gone, but he was still wearing his sunglasses.
“Take off your glasses,” I ordered.
He hesitated but did as I requested. “Want to tell me why you told your dad some bullshit story?”
I gasped when I saw his face. “Oh no. Did you two fight? Did you hurt my dad?” I asked in horror.
“Seriously?” he asked with disgust. “I didn’t lay a hand on him. He hit me, and I let him. He is my coach after all, and I wasn’t about to risk my entire career because you gave your dad some sob story.”
“I did no such thing!” I shot back.
He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms across his chest. Dammit! Why was he so damn good looking!
Flustered, I try to explain.
“Okay, well, I didn’t get the chance to explain the situation. We were at dinner and needless to say, he wasn’t happy and didn’t want to talk about the details in the restaurant where someone could hear. I tried calling him today, but he was in a meeting. I’ll tell him the truth,” I explained.
“It doesn’t matter.”
I walked around the car and opened the door to let Ainsley out. She was grinning from ear to ear when she saw Milo.
“Hey, Red,” he greeted her.
She squealed with delight at the use of the nickname. I groaned, knowing she was going to demand I call her that from now on.
“Mom, did you hear that? My name is Red.”
Milo laughed. “That was my nickname when I was younger.”
Ainsley was beaming. “Now, I’m Red.”
“Yep, you sure are.”
We awkwardly stood there by my car. He wasn’t going anywhere.
“Let’s go in. I need to get started making dinner,” I mumbled, knowing he would only push his way in if I didn’t invite him.
“What’s for dinner?” Ainsley asked.
“Fish.”
She looked at Milo right away to judge his reaction. He wrinkled his nose, and I shot him a look. He smiled and winked at Ainsley before leaning down to get close to her face.
“I love fish.”
“Me too!” she exclaimed.
I didn’t say anything, but I knew Ainsley was not fond of fish. She would eat fish sticks, but generally protested and complained when I made fish any other way. It was already beginning. The two were going to become close and gang up on me.
“You two can watch TV or play or do whatever while I make dinner. Be good,” I said, pointing my finger at both of them.
It was a little surreal to be looking at both of them standing side by side in my living room. Ainsley looked so much like him. The resemblance was uncanny.
I sliced a lemon and was standing in front of the stove when I felt him behind me. All my senses were on high alert.
“Can I help with anything?” he asked.
He was standing too close. I knew he was doing it on purpose. This thing we had between us was all fire and ice. We were hot and cold, and it was wreaking havoc on my nerves. I wanted him and hated him at the same time.
“Nope. I got it.”
He reached an arm around me, grabbing a slice of cucumber off the cutting board and popped it in his mouth.
“I can help. Come on, let me,” he insisted.
His words were brushing over the back of my neck, causing goosebumps to spring up all over my body. I fought back the shiver of delight I could feel coming. I couldn’t let him know he got to me.
“You’re here to get to know Ainsley, not me.”
“Why can’t I do both?” he said, in a husky voice that reminded me of that night. I knew he was doing it on purpose, but I couldn’t stop the shudder from sneaking over my body.
“Because I hate you,” I spat out with very little actual venom.
“No, you don’t.”
I spun around, the knife still in my hand, and leveled a gaze at him. “I suggest you get out of my kitchen before I kick you out of my apartment. I only let you in because I knew you wouldn’t give up. You’re in. Use your time wisely.”
He grinned, and I knew I had just let him see how he could get to me. He walked out of the kitchen, glanced back and gave me a very slow perusal with his eyes. He knew exactly what he was doing, and that really pissed me off.
Turning my attention back to slicing the vegetables for the salad, I inhaled the freshly cut lemon and let the scent wash over me. Once dinner was ready, I quickly set the table. It felt strange to cook for a man that wasn’t my dad. I had been listening to Ainsley and Milo in the other room. They were getting along well, which didn’t surprise me all that much. They were so much alike.
“Dinner’s ready,” I called out. “Go wash up.”
“Come on,” I heard Ainsley say. “I’ll show you where the bathroom is. You won’t need the stool like me. You’re big.”
“You’re right. One day you’ll be big, too,” he answered.
She grabbed his hand and led him down the hall and into the bathroom. I smiled as I listened to my little girl chatting away with the man she’d only known a few minutes but already had a strong rapport with. It warmed my heart, but also made me a little afraid that he would be the new love of her life.
We all sat down and once again, I couldn’t shake the feeling of everything being right. I had never shared a meal with the man before, but it felt completely casual to have him at my table. Well, casual if one could ignore the sexual undercurrents in the room.
Ainsley was behaving herself, which made me very happy. I didn’t want Milo to think I had raised a heathen. He would question my parenting skills and then I would have to kill him. He would eventually see the real Ainsley, but for now, I was perfectly content with the well-behaved little girl at my table.
Just as I thought things were going pretty damn well, my lovely daughter opened her mouth. “Can you be my daddy?”
I nearly choked on the cherry tomato I had popped into my mouth. I reached for my water and debated pouring it over the top of my head to cool down my burning cheeks.
Milo looked at me and then Ainsley.
I waved my hand and gulped the tomato down my throat, nearly choking to death.
“Sorry,” I croaked. “I don’t know where that came from,” scolding Ainsley with my tone of voice.
“Well, Jimmy and Megan just got a new daddy. They said their mom let them pick one. I want one too,” she pouted.
I opened my mouth to explain to her that things didn’t work that way but stopped when I saw Milo lean over close to her.
“I am your daddy, Red,” he winked.
Ainsley screamed, jumped out of her booster chair and jumped in Milo’s lap with her arms thrown around his neck. Watching the scene, two thoughts immediately went through my mind. One, I really needed to have a talk with the girl about hugging men and calling them daddy. Two, that was not exactly the way I wanted to break the news to her.
I supposed it was too late to turn back now. The cat was out of the bag. Ainsley had a daddy. I already knew t
he first thing she would do when she got to school tomorrow was tell anyone that listened. My once quiet, boring life was about to get anything but mundane. Once the teachers figured it out, it wouldn’t be long before the press knew.
“Get back in your chair, please. You need to finish your dinner,” I ordered.
She ignored me and picked a tomato off Milo’s salad and popped it in her mouth. He was laughing but stopped when I gave him the look.
“How about you sit in your chair, and I’ll give you my tomatoes, okay?”
At first, I thought she would say no, but she must have decided that since her new daddy asked her, she could comply. I could already see a future of similar episodes, but with things like new cars or going out to parties.
She sat in her chair and looked to Milo.
“Are you going to give me those tomatoes now?”
He chuckled and started plucking them one by one out of his salad and putting them on her plate.
“Eat your fish, too,” I ordered.
She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t like it this way.”
“It’s good for you. Eat it.”
Of course, she looked at Milo. “Eat the fish, please,” he ordered and she of course took several bites.
“I think the fish tastes delicious. Thank you very much for dinner. I know I wasn’t officially invited,” he said, looking a little embarrassed. “Maybe next time I can take us all out for dinner.”
“Oh, you’re not going to cook for us?”
“I live in a hotel at the moment. I guess you could come over and I could order room service,” he looked at Ainsley and then back at me. “I hear they have an excellent breakfast menu,” he said in that same, husky voice that was full of innuendo.
I coughed and felt myself blushing furiously. I wasn’t sure what he wanted, but I was not about to get tangled up in another one-night-stand situation. I learned my lesson the first time.
After dinner, I cleared the table while they read a book together. It warmed my heart to hear him reading one of her favorite bedtime books. This was the life I could have had, I thought to myself. No, it wasn’t. He would have cheated on me if we had tried the relationship thing back then. In no plausible scenario would this ever be a regular thing.
Even if he would have known about her, it would be her at his house and me at my house with her. There would never have been be this sweet, happy-family setting. Milo and I had great sexual chemistry, but that’s where it ended.
He looked at me and smiled. His blue eyes were usually always so serious, but right then, at that moment, he looked happy. His eyes were dancing, and despite my best intentions, I found myself smiling back at him.
Chapter 20
Milo
I never wanted the moment to end. Sitting here with my daughter was an experience I’d never even dreamed about. I hadn’t ever wanted kids, but now, after tonight, I wanted lots of them. They were so full of love and joy. It was a very strange experience to have this connection with someone who shared your DNA. It was a bond I never understood before. I never had it with my parents and didn’t even know it was possible.
Putting the book down, I looked into my daughter’s eyes. She was looking at me expectantly, as if she wanted me to give her a review of the book.
“I think that monkey is a bad influence on you,” I told her in complete seriousness.
She stared at me. “But Curious George is only a baby. He’s curious,” she stressed the word. “I’m not going to do what he does.”
I laughed. “I’m kidding. I know you would never be so silly.”
She started giggling and jumped up to pull another book from the shelf. I didn’t know much about kids, but I knew early reading was promoted a lot. As part of my charity work, I had gone to plenty of elementary schools and read to kids. Ainsley seemed to love reading without some celebrity telling her it was a good thing.
“You’re a smart girl, Ainsley,” I told her, rubbing her head.
“I know.”
That made me laugh. The girl had no filter. She called them like she saw them. “You get that from your mom. You got the red hair from me, but you got your brains from your mom. I bet you’re going to be tall like me, too.”
“I’m the tallest girl in my class,” she said proudly.
“I bet you are. You’re going to be pretty like your mom, though,” I told her, looking at the delicate features that resembled Liza.
She shrugged her little shoulder. “Can you read me another story?”
“Of course.”
She obviously didn’t care about her genes and handed me the next book. It was one I remembered from my childhood.
“This is my favorite book,” she told me.
“Good. It was my favorite when I was little too,” I said, opening the first page of Where the Wild Things Are.
“Did you know they made it a movie?” she asked.
I bit back another laugh. She sounded like she was an adult talking to another adult about the new movie they saw over the weekend.
“I did not know that. Have you seen it?”
“Nope. Mom says I can’t. She thinks it’s too scary.”
I nodded my head, agreeing with Liza. “I think your mom is right. Seeing monsters in a book is different than seeing them in a movie. Besides, I like the book better. You get to use your imagination more.”
“You don’t know because you haven’t seen the movie,” she pointed out.
I bit back another laugh. “You’re right. I don’t. Please forgive me for speaking out of turn.
She looked at me like I was crazy. “What?”
“Never mind. How about we read the book?”
“Fine.”
She crawled into my lap, and I began to read. I wanted to hug her and hold her close forever. I couldn’t believe I had a kid. A little girl who was super smart and witty. I had a feeling she was probably going to make my red hair turn gray before long. I could see she loved to challenge Liza quite a bit. I was the shiny new penny. Once I had to be her dad and discipline her, I would also get those dirty looks, too.
I didn’t care. I liked her stubbornness. I wanted to brag to the world about her. I wanted to share my joy, but I didn’t have anyone to tell. I knew Stan was going to flip out when he found out. He would demand all kinds of confidentiality agreements in order to protect my reputation.
I’d put him in his place if he tried to stick his nose in. This was my business. I didn’t need his advice nor did I want it. I had a very high-priced lawyer that could take care of that. Stan had a way of meddling in my personal life. He claimed it was to better my image while taking care of me, but I knew it was more about creating a false image in order to make me more valuable.
“Ainsley, it’s time to brush your teeth and get your jammies on. It’s almost bedtime,” Liza said, walking into the living room.
I knew she’d been hovering. She was giving us time alone together, though, which I truly appreciated. We had been on very rocky ground the past couple of weeks, but I hoped she was softening towards me. I kept flipflopping between being crazy pissed at her for keeping Ainsley from me and wanting to slam her against a wall and fuck the shit out of her.
“Mommy,” Ainsley protested.
“Don’t Mommy me, young lady. You have school in the morning, and the teacher doesn’t want a grumpy girl. Neither does Mommy,” she added.
Ainsley groaned. “I’m not tired. I don’t want to go to bed.”
I lifted her off my lap and told her to do as her mother asked. Hopefully, that would win me some brownie points with Liza.
“Thank you,” she mumbled, sending Ainsley moaning and groaning down the hall.
We were alone in the room together, which gave me an opportunity to talk to her without our little eavesdropper.
“Thank you. Really. Thank you so much for tonight. It means a lot,” I told her, standing and walking towards her.
“It was fine,” she mumbled, not looking at me.
“It wasn’t fine. It was amazing. She is a good kid, a smart kid. You’ve done a really great job with her, Liza.”
“Thank you, that means a lot. Just wait until you get to see the other side of her. She can be a naughty little girl at times.”
I chuckled, believing every word of that statement.
Ainsley came back into the room, and I knew it was time to say goodbye. I didn’t want to push my luck.
“I’ll see you later, Ainsley,” I said, bending down to give her a hug.
“I don’t want you to go.”
I smiled and felt a little tug at my heart. “I have to go to my house. I’ll see you again real soon, okay?”
She looked up, and I kissed her on the forehead. “Not on my head, on my cheek,” she pointed.
“Oh, my bad.” I quickly kissed her cheek and waited for her approval.
“Now, Mommy!” she squealed.
I winked at her before I stood up to look at Liza’s stunned expression. I didn’t think twice about what I was going to do. I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close. I pressed my lips against hers and felt her stiffen for a brief second before she relaxed and fell into the kiss. Her hands went to my biceps and held on while I continued to kiss her.
I could hear Ainsley below me, clapping and giggling. I didn’t care about our little witness. Having Liza in my arms with her lips against mine stirred up feelings I had locked away after that first night. I wanted her, but this was not the right time or place. I reluctantly pulled my lips from hers, took a few seconds to catch my breath and opened my eyes.
Liza was still standing there, frozen. Her eyes were closed and her lips still moist from my kiss.
“You kissed Mommy!” Ainsley was yelling while jumping up and down clapping her hands.
I winked at her. “I did.”
Liza opened her eyes and looked at me, then her daughter. I had kissed her speechless, though it wasn’t something I would soon forget either. Despite all her bluster, she liked me. I knew she did. There was more between us than she wanted to admit. Our interlude may have been five years ago, but she wanted me, and I wanted her.
“You should go,” she said, clearly a little perturbed.