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It broke my heart when she confessed her secret. For so long she’s been fighting alone, trying to protect Luna above all else. In her fight to make sure her sister never felt abandoned, Lexi had armored herself against any kind of threat. Especially ones to her heart. The way she spoke about making sure Luna never felt the sting of loneliness, spoke volumes about her own pain. She’d been left to fend for herself, to take care of others at a young age, left alone over and over.
It showed me just how strong the woman I’m growing to love is. Through all of that pain, through all of that hardship, she still loves with her whole heart. Shows kindness first and treats others with respect. She laughs Brings color and wonderment to the world. God, she is incredible.
I am a lucky sonofabitch to have even gotten a second glance from her. I’d won the goddamn lottery when she said yes to a date with me and gave our relationship the chance to develop. Her trust wasn’t something I would fuck around with. It’s an honor to call her mine and I never want her to doubt that.
Pulling into my underground parking, we get out of the car silently and make our way to the elevator. She still holds her breath as we climb each floor, but her hand is steady in mine.
“The sofa came.” She breaks the silence. Dropping her bag beside the door and kicking off her shoes, she pads over to the new sectional she helped me pick out.
“Yeah, came yesterday.”
She says something under her breath that I don’t catch. I watch as she spreads she arms wide and falls onto the plush cushions. Concerned that there’s more to her afternoon confession that she’s holding back from me, I head towards her. A small grin spreads across her face when I sit down beside her. Needing the connection, I grab a leg and pull it onto my lap.
“You okay?”
Her smile doesn’t dim but her eyes don’t have the usual sparkle.
“I’m okay. I guess…I guess it didn’t really occur to me how famous you are until today.” I make a noise. “I mean,” she starts again, rubbing her sweaty palms on her shirt, “Iknewyou were famous but it hit different when I saw our image on a public site. That was weird.” A long sigh follows. “And everything with my mom.” Her voice is horse with frustration.
“Lexi,” I begin, tapping her foot so she’ll look at me. “First, we’ll deal with your mom if it does come up. I wouldn’t be the first time someone tried to use me for a pay day and it won’t be the last.” She opens her mouth to protest but I cut her off. “All I care about is you. All I want is you.”
She pulls her leg off my lap, twisting her body so she can crawl closer to me. Gathering her into my arms, I lift her onto my lap, her side pressed to my chest.
“I need you to promise me something Lex.”
I feel her stiffen. “Okay.”
“Promise me that you’ll come to me first. That if you see or hear gossip about me or our relationship in the media, you’ll come to me first so we can figure it out together.”
Her thumb is rubbing back and forth on the hem of my shirt. For a long moment she’s quiet and I can hear my nervous heartbeat banging through the room. Finally, her head tilts up and she gives me her brightest smile.
“I can do that.”
Kissing her forehead, I pull her in for a tight hug. Her arms go around my neck, not letting go as I lightly release her.
“You know,” she says slyly, twisting herself so she’s straddling my legs. “we should really christen this sofa. It was the final piece to make this room complete. Ahh!” Her sentence ends on a cry as I push us down. With her back on the plush leather, I crawl over her until we’re face to face. Her chest is rising and falling with excited breathes as she watches me. I can’t believe all this beauty and light is mine. I delightfully spend the rest of the afternoon worshiping her body.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Life of the Rich and the Plus One
Lexi
The screams were deafening. I already knew that my ears would be ringing for the rest of the day, but I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face. This was awesome.
I run around and around, little munchkin feet following me as we all pretended to fly over a forest as magical dragons. When we hit Pillow Mountain, I make a sweeping motion to gently land on the fluffy cushions. Small bodies pile on top of me and my laughter turns into surprised grunts of pain. Oh, there goes my left boob. Squished to death.
“Okay everyone. Play time is over. Off to lunch!” The lead caregiver calls into the room. Some of the bodies crawl off me at the announcement of lunch, while others don’t move. Christof, who’s laying under my left arm, pokes his head up. With a twinkle in his eye that is so endearing, he pushes up so we’re face-to-face. His chubby hands squeeze my cheeks together, as he giggles. Then he coughs, right in my mouth, twice. I pinch my mouth closed too slow and feel the moisture hit every side of my face. He finds my disgusted reaction hilarious, throwing himself back in an explosion of giggles. Catching him before he hits the floor or the bone of my knee, I stand him upright and he runs off in search of his friends.
I gag. Oh my God, that was so gross. Pulling myself up, I wipe my face as best I can before letting one of the other caregivers know I’m heading to the washroom. Not wanting to use the hand soap as face wash, I do the best I can with just water. I’ve enjoyed my time temping at Sunshine Meadows Daycare. I’m only allowed to be here four hours at a time since I don’t have an early childhood education background but I’ve loved being able to interact with the kids. They’re adorable when they’re not spraying some kind of bodily liquid on you.
Drying off, I head to the front office to clock out, saying goodbye to everyone I’ve worked with today and possibly working with again tomorrow. I’ve been scheduled for the week. With one last glance at the kids eating their packed lunched on the tiny picnic tables that are set up in the back room, I grab my bag and head out.
The sun is beating down on me the instant I step on to the street. Digging through my bag, I grab my folded sunglasses and phone. I see I have another half-dozen calls from an unknown number. The same one that keeps calling me. I dismiss them all. Pulling the items out, a metallic wrapper is attached in one of the side gears of my glasses. I’d almost forgotten one of the kids had given me this ring-shaped sucker! The wrapper is off in a second and the cherry flavor treat looks spectacular on my ring finger. Laughing at how bizarre the giant red ring looks, I snap a picture and send it to Luna.
Knowing Grant will be done with his daily workouts at this time, I hit his name on my cell. It only rings a couple of times before he picks up.
“Hey Pix! How’d the babysitting go?”
