Live-In Position

by V. S. Tice

Victoria and I continued to flip pancakes and stack them on a plate. Connor made more coffee and then helped Juliet with the orange juice.

  “What’s going on in here?” I looked over my shoulder and saw Larissa, Max, Ryan, and MJ walk into the kitchen.

  “We’re all making breakfast,” Victoria announced.

  “Got enough for us?” Max asked with a broad smile.

  “Max!” Larissa scolded.

  “I’m sure we have plenty,” Juliet spoke softly, and turned back to the bacon, adding some more.

  Victoria and I mixed up more pancake batter. Max began scrambling eggs. I caught myself gawking at him as he cooked. He smirked and then shrugged.

  “The least I can do is help.”

  “Any word from Ilene?” Larissa sneered when she enunciated her name.

  Connor cleared his throat.

  “Nothing but the return of the signed divorce papers,” he shrugged. “I haven’t heard anything from her since the night she showed up here.”

  “What’s this?” The sound of Dr. Bishop’s voice caused inappropriate warmth in private places. I couldn’t look at him, not with Juliet in the room. I took a deep breath and focused on the pancakes.

  “This would be breakfast,” Max said very slowly. Larissa and Juliet chuckled. “I mean, I realize you have everything taken care of for you, but do you really need a person to tell you what breakfast is?” Max couldn’t fight his chuckle by the end of his fake rant.

  “I don’t know how you deal with him,” Dr. Bishop said aloud.

  “What can I say? I love the goof,” Larissa replied.

  I grinned

  “Is there something amusing, Miss Ashwood?” he whispered. His breath caressed my neck, and I swore I felt his lips barely touch me. He brushed past me toward the coffee.

  Goddamn him!

  Sitting around the large dining room table, filled with easy-going conversation, I didn’t expect Connor to be the one to bring everything to a standstill.

  He cleared his throat.

  “Could I have your attention, all of you?” We looked toward him when he rose from his seat.

  “Connor,” Juliet hissed, “now is not the time.”

  He waved off her objections.

  “I would like to let you all in on some wonderful news.”

  I glanced to Juliet who had her head in her hands.

  “Connor…” she warned so quietly I think only I could hear her. I looked back to Connor, already guessing what he was about to say.

  “Juliet has agreed to marry me.”

  I heard the clatter of a fork dropping on to someone’s plate and a glass fall over on the table with a whispered “shit” following it. Then there was a loud smash from behind us. Everyone looked toward the noise, and there was a collective gasp in the room. Juliet groaned.

  “Oh god, Connor.”

  Silence, like a vacuum, sucked all sound from the room. Then it exploded.

  “I cannot believe this!”

  Chapter Seventeen

  “ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?” Allison took two large strides toward her father.

  Juliet stood quickly. “Allison, please, we –”

  “Save it!” She pushed Juliet aside so she could stand before Connor.

  “You just finalized your divorce, and you’re already planning to marry her?” Allison shoved her thumb over her shoulder toward Juliet.

  “Princess, I want to be with Juliet. She is who I have…”

  “Enough.” Allison put her hands up to her father. “I think I entered the damn Twilight Zone.” She turned her wild eyes on us all. “Or are you all trying to ensure that I completely lose my damn mind?”

  “Allison, calm down,” Dr. Bishop stated coolly.

  “Like I’m going to listen to you,” she cackled. “Like father, like son, huh, Mister Golden Boy?” Her eyes narrowed.

  “Everyone needs to relax. The kids are here.” Max picked Ryan up from his seat. Larissa picked MJ up into her arms.

  Allison and Collin were trapped in a battle of wills, neither wanting to succumb to the other by looking away first.

  “I think you should worry about your own issues and stay out of mine,” Dr. Bishop’s chilled voice warned.

  Did he just refer to me as an issue?

  Allison snorted and crossed her arms over her chest.

  “You think I haven’t noticed things or that Juliet’s the only one to see her,” she motioned to me, “sneaking out of your room early this morning?”

  Max and Larissa both jerked their heads between Dr. Bishop and me. Juliet groaned from behind me. I kept my eyes on the table in front of me.

  “Again, my business is my own,” Dr. Bishop stated calmly.

  I pushed away from the table and grabbed Victoria. As we left the room, I could hear Connor and Allison pick up where they left off.

  “Sophia?” Victoria spoke quietly as I collapsed onto her bed.

  “Hmm?”

  “Is Grandma no longer my grandma?” Her face twisted in confusion. “Is Juliet going to be my grandma now?”

  I sighed. “Come sit here with me.” I patted the mattress next to me, cleared my throat, and tried to clear my head. “Do you know what a divorce is?” I eyed her carefully.

  She nodded. “Yes, Marcy’s parents are divorced. They live in separate houses. She has two bedrooms.”

  “Okay, well, your grandma and grandpa are like that now. They separated and now live in separate houses.”

  Victoria pursed her lips.

  “Grandpa is going to marry Juliet?”

  I nodded with a small shrug. “It seems they are planning to do that, yes.”

  “Oh.” Her hands fidgeted in her lap and she kept her eyes on them.

  “You okay?” I rubbed circles against her back.

  She nodded. “Do you think they will let me be in the wedding?”

  When she looked up at me, I couldn’t help but snort. “What?” I thought she would get upset over her grandparents’ divorce, but here she was – more concerned about being in a wedding! My snort grew to a giggle. A quick knock stopped my laughter.

  “Victoria?” At the sound of his voice, I swallowed hard and sat up straight.

  “Daddy?” Dr. Bishop was entering her room when Victoria hopped from the bed and hurried toward him.

  “Are you okay?” It was nice to hear sincere concern in his voice.

  She nodded.

  “I didn’t want you to find out about Grandpa and Grandma that way.” He knelt down to her.

  “It’s okay, Daddy. Sophia talked to me about it.”

  His eyes flickered to me. “She did, did she?”

  “Yeah,” she nodded. He looked back to her. “Daddy, can I be in Grandpa and Juliet’s wedding?”

  A flash of amusement crossed his face. “I don’t see why not, but we will have to talk to Juliet about it.”

  “Okay.” She bounced back toward me.

  “Miss Ashwood?” I looked away from Victoria to him, surprised he called for me. “Can I speak with you for a moment?”

  “Of course.” Butterflies assaulted my stomach. Was he angry that I’d discussed his parents’ divorce with Victoria? I looked back to Victoria on my way out of her room. “I will be right back.”

  He pulled her door shut behind us, causing me to jump. His long fingers wrapped around my arm and tugged me toward his office, sealing us in with the close of the door. My eyes widened at his urgency.

  “What’s the matter?”

  The words barely left my mouth before he pressed me against his desk with his body and brought his lips to mine. For a brief moment, I melted into him and savored the taste of his tongue. Then, once again, rational thinking pushed passed the lusty fog. I pushed him back.

  “Dr. Bishop,” I panted. “Stop.”

  His lips caressed the skin along my neck.

  “Dr. Bishop.” I pushed harder against his shoulders.

  He pulled back and looked at me with those damn intense pools of emerald lust.
/>
  “I apologize.” His breathless words made my knees wobbly. After he stepped back, I took a deep breath and exhaled loudly.

  “I need to get back to Victoria.” I stepped around him and grabbed the doorknob.

  He was quickly at my back. I closed my eyes and bit my lip. His hands lightly caressed my hips, and my body tingled.

  “Stop,” I choked out. “This isn’t –”

  “Don’t.” His voice was stern. Leaning fully into my back, I could hear him inhale against the back of my neck. “There is no more line, Sophia. I want you.”

  “I’m your employee,” I blurted out.

  He chuckled. “I thought I fired you?” His arms wound around my waist.

  “I seem to still be receiving a check,” I retorted, leaning back into the comfort of his chest. I was getting carried away again.

  “Hmm…” His lips grazed the back of my neck.

  “Sophia?” Victoria’s voice rang out loudly.

  Dr. Bishop hesitated for a moment, possessively tightening his hold before releasing me. “We will finish this conversation,” he whispered into my ear before stepping away from me.

  I didn’t dare look at him as I spoke. “I didn’t realize any conversation transpired here.” I closed the door behind me. My hand was still on the knob when I was assaulted with shouting.

  “Where are you going?” Larissa sounded distraught. “Max!” she yelled desperately.

  “I need to get away from here, from all of this.” Allison’s voice was sharp and decisive. “It’s all too much. The boys and I are going away for a while.” The front door slammed shut.

  “Collin! Max!” Larissa screamed and then I heard her stomping up the stairs, grumbling the entire way. “Damn men are never around when they are needed.”

  I hurried to Victoria’s room and closed the door.

  “What’s wrong?” She looked at me worried.

  “Nothing, honey,” I smiled at her and sat on the bed. “Aunt Allison just decided to take a vacation for a while, that’s all.”

  “Oh. Why is everyone yelling about that?” She sat on the floor in front of me, adding Silver Star stickers to my toenails.

  I shrugged.

  “I just don’t get grownups sometimes.” She shook her head and went back to the stickers. I bit the side of my mouth to keep from laughing.

  We spent the rest of the day doing at-home manicures and pedicures. By night, we were both surprisingly tired. Victoria fell asleep minutes into our bedtime story. I slid from her side and headed to my room to get ready for bed as well.

  Late the following morning, while Victoria cleaned her room, my cell phone rang. I saw Miranda’s name on the Caller ID.

  “Hey, you!” I answered excitedly.

  “Hey!” I could hear relief in her voice. “How are things going?”

  “It’s fine. What’s the matter?”

  “Okay, um, did you get your invitation to the wedding?” She sounded nervous now.

  “I didn’t check my mail yesterday. Hold on.” I quickly moved to the pile of mail Mrs. Baker had placed on the small table in the living area. “Yep, it’s right here.” I figured she was afraid she had forgotten to send it.

  “Great.” She still sounded worried.

  “Rand, what’s going on?”

  “Uh, Sophia, you know how much I love you, right?”

  “What do you want?”

  “Okay, listen, my cousin in North Carolina can’t make it to the wedding, and she was supposed to be one of my bridesmaids. She’s a size five, just like someone else I know, so I was wondering if you could help a freaking-out bride? What do you say?”

  “I say that was a lot of words in one breath,” I laughed.

  “Sophia, come on. Please?”

  I sighed. “What color are the dresses?”

  “Sophia!”

  I giggled. “Okay, okay. I’m in.”

  “Oh my god, thank you! Thank you so much!” The tension melted from her voice.

  “You know I would do anything for you. How’s everything else going?”

  Miranda quickly went into all the stress and craziness involved with wedding planning. We talked about Victoria and briefly about Dr. Bishop. I didn’t dare tell her about my little secret. She would kill me, and, hell, I didn’t even know how to answer the questions she would surely ask. She picked up on my mood, but I played it off as being tired.

  The next morning, I awoke to a knock on my half-shut bedroom door.

  “Victoria?” I groaned and pulled my face out of my pillow.

  “Afraid not.”

  I pulled myself out of my groggy state faster than I ever thought possible. Dr. Bishop hovered in my doorway, appraising me.

  “Um...” I didn’t know what to say to him. “What time is it?” I glanced to my clock.

  “Six.” My body tensed with every step he took into my bedroom. “I have a meeting with the lawyers in two hours in regards to Grace’s visitations.”

  “Oh!” I sat up quickly and kicked the blankets off of me. “Do you need me to get Victoria ready?”

  He shook his head and walked closer, his eyes never leaving me.

  “Dr. Bishop…” My tone was hesitant and cautious, “this,” I motioned between the two of us, “isn’t a good idea.”

  “Sophia –” His eyes increased in intensity. He came to the side of my bed. I scooted away from him. His presence was drawing me like a moth to a flame and distracting me from my more rational thoughts.

  “I know you think there isn’t anything wrong with…this, but –” My argument was abruptly cut off. Silenced by the knee he placed on my bed, in two quick movements, he had me on my back, his body hovering over mine.

  “Stop fighting it.” His eyes left mine and wandered around my face. He lay against my right side with his head lying above my right breast, right hand on my left hip, and his right leg entwined with mine – just as he was on that first drunken night.

  “Dr. Bishop –?”

  His hand moved from my hip to cover my mouth.

  “I have an hour before I need to get ready to leave, and frankly I missed your presence last night.” His words sounded more like an order, but I was growing accustomed to the many sides of his voice. I believed this was his soft side. We lay there next to each other, across my bed, for an hour until I realized the time. I nudged the arm he had stretched over my stomach.

  “Dr. Bishop, it’s seven,” I whispered.

  Why the hell am I whispering if I want to wake him up? I shook my head and tried again.

  “Dr. Bishop, it’s seven.”

  He buried further into my side. Groaning loudly, he stretched onto his back. I began to move onto my left side, trying roll out of bed. His arm wrapped around me and pulled me back to him, burying his face in my neck.

  “Mmm…you smell so good.” He breathed heavily against my skin.

  “It’s seven.” I squeezed my eyes closed and willed myself not to launch a full-scale attack on his body.

  He growled quietly against my neck before rolling away from me and slipping off my bed. As he walked toward my door, I placed my hand on my chest, my heart pounding, and took a deep breath.

  “Until next time.”

  I raised my head at his goodbye, but he was already gone.

  THE HOUSE WAS eerily quiet when Victoria and I headed downstairs later in the morning. Having grown accustomed to the daily chaos of the Bishop family, it was odd. I wondered where Allison had gone and if both Connor and Juliet had joined her. Shaking off my thoughts, I started breakfast for the both of us.

  We ate quietly at the breakfast bar and then headed back up to her room to go through her clothes. She was in the middle of trying on her third uniform, twirling in a pleated skirt that was way too short for her.

  “I’d say you’ve definitely grown over the summer,” I giggled.

  “I have to agree.”

  Victoria and I both looked toward the door, surprised to see Dr. Bishop leaning against the door
frame.

  “We are going to buy new school clothes tomorrow.” Victoria beamed.

  “That sounds fun,” he grinned.

  “I can’t wait,” she exclaimed and ran into her bathroom to remove the too small uniform.

  I shook my head and watched her disappear behind the door. The intensity of him fell upon me. My body could feel his every breath and movement without one glance in his direction. I knew he was standing behind me before he spoke.

  “You’ve been busy today.” The coolness of his voice was in drastic conflict to the heat radiating within me.

  “A little,” I managed to squeak out from the floor.

  After exhaling a deep breath, I continued to fold the clothes piled around me. Victoria emerged from her bathroom in another uniform and tossed her skirt at me.

  “Hey, how about handing it to me next time?”

  “Sorry,” she smiled sweetly. “Look, these are too short too.” She pointed to her ankles.

  I raised one eyebrow at her and crooked my pointer finger. She walked over so I could examine her waist. Her pants were pulled up way too high. Laughing, I adjusted them.

  “I think these will be okay for a couple of months.” I tapped her butt gently.

  Victoria gave me a sly grin before running back to the bathroom. I folded the skirt.

  “Can I ask about how things went?” I slowly placed the skirt onto a pile.

  “You can.” Without looking, I could hear the smirk that was surely on his face.

  “Well, um –”

  “She still has to visit with Grace.”

  “What?” I finally looked up at him.

  “It will be supervised visitations. Since she is her mother, they are giving her another chance.” He cleared his throat. “It didn’t help when I stormed over there and removed her from Grace’s home without contacting my lawyer or hers before doing so.”

  My eyes narrowed. “When does she have to go?”

  “I will be driving her to Grace’s on Saturday. The court appointed chaperone will arrive when I do and will stay until I pick her up that evening.”