“Okay,” I agree, untangling my fingers from his shirt and running my palms up his stomach to rest against his hard chest. “I’m sorry for making you worry.”
“It’s all right as long as it doesn’t happen again.” He lowers his head, and his lips touch mine softly. “You okay now?”
“Yes.” I slide my hands up to his shoulders, then ask, “Is Maddi happy that her mom’s here?”
“She was a little freaked when she woke up this morning and Eva was there. She brought you up when Eva told her about dinner tonight. She asked if you would be coming, then got upset when I told her no.”
My sweet girl. God, I love her.
“She’s upset that she hasn’t seen you or Merida for two nights.”
“Maybe we can have dinner tomorrow?” I suggest hopefully.
“Yeah, and I’m going to hold you to your promise of cooking for us.”
“I didn’t promise I would cook.”
“Your last message said you’d cook.”
“That was before.”
“So you’re telling me that you won’t cook for me and my girl?”
“I’ll cook for me and Maddi. You can order a pizza or something,” I tease.
He grins. “I miss you. Even here, with you in my arms, I miss you because I know I have to go and I can’t take you with me.”
His words make my heart turn over in my chest and my stomach melt.
“I feel the same way,” I tell him.
His eyes run over my face. “I’ll see you tomorrow evening, but I expect you to answer when I call you tonight.”
“I’ll answer,” I agree, getting on my tiptoes and pressing my mouth to his.
I start the kiss but he takes over, sliding his arm around my waist and twisting his hand in my hair to move my head from side to side as his tongue slips between my lips. When he pulls his mouth away, I’m panting and my whole body is buzzing from head to toe.
“I’m really looking forward to this weekend,” he growls, nipping my bottom lip.
I whimper in response.
When his hold on me loosens, I let him lead me to the door with his arm around my waist. He opens the door and kisses me one more time before leaving. I lean against the doorjamb in a daze, watching him go. He turns to look at me over his shoulder, and his eyes roam over me.
“By the way, I really like your nightie.” He winks, and I feel my eyes widen.
I look down and feel myself blush. I forgot that I’d put on one of my new nighties before I got into bed. This one is baby blue, with dark-blue lace at the edges of my breasts and thighs.
I shut the door most of the way, and he laughs. I poke just my head out. “If you like this, wait until you see what I bought especially for you . . .”
I can’t believe I just said that.
My face heats.
He turns to face me but continues walking backward. “Baby, believe me when I say I won’t give a fuck what you have on, because I’m really fucking looking forward to seeing all of you.”
His words cause my legs to shake and my body to tingle in places it hasn’t ever tingled before. Even though he says he won’t care, I guarantee that he will when he sees me in the bodysuit.
With that thought in my head, I smile and shut the door.
Chapter 11
UNEXPECTED COMPANY
LUCAS
“Hey,” Eva says with a smile when she spots Maddi and me.
I lift my chin in greeting, and Maddi’s hand tightens around mine. A second later, my stomach clenches—not in the way it does when I’m with Courtney, but like I’m going to be sick.
Eva closes the distance between us. Instead of greeting her daughter like she should, she rests her hand against my chest and tries to kiss my cheek.
What the actual fuck?
I lean back before she can make contact and send her a warning look. Her happy expression falters for a second, then she schools her features and leans down, touching her lips to the top of Maddi’s head and saying a soft hello.
When she stands to her full height again, she says, “I put our name on the waiting list. They said it will be about ten minutes before we have a table.”
“That’s fine,” I say, wishing I didn’t have to be here. I wish that she weren’t the mother of my child and that I could write her out of my life. Unfortunately, that’s not possible. Until Maddi is eighteen, I will have to deal with Eva on some level. Last night, when she showed up at the apartment and said she couldn’t get ahold of her best friend, Heather, and needed a place to stay for the night, I wanted to turn her away. As much as I wanted to slam the door in her face, I couldn’t. Even if she’s not really a mother to Maddi, she’s still her mom.
“How was school, Madeline?” she asks.
I look down at Maddi and notice that her face is lowered toward the ground and her shoulders are tight with tension.
“It was okay.” She shrugs, keeping her head down.
“You should look at the person you’re speaking to,” Eva scolds.
My free hand clenches into a fist. “Eva . . .” I growl her name, and she looks up at me.
“What?”
“Don’t.” That one word rumbles out of me in warning.
“She should—”
I cut her off. “I said don’t.”
Her eyes narrow. I put up with her bullshit when we were married because I didn’t want to rock our boat any more than it was already rocking, but that was then and this is now. I hate how she talks to Maddi. I hate the way she makes my baby’s shoulders slump and her eyes fill with sadness. I know it’s because she thinks she will never be able to please her mother.
“Fine,” she huffs out.
My jaw tightens. Our name is called—or rather, my last name is called. A name that Eva stopped using when we got divorced. Why she might have used it on the list is something I try not to think about.
At the booth we’re led to, I place Maddi next to me and leave Eva on the other side, alone. When the waiter comes over a few minutes later to take our orders, I ask for a burger and fries for myself and a grilled cheese and fries for Maddi—something that I can tell Eva doesn’t like, because the look on her face makes it clear. Thankfully, she keeps her mouth closed about me not forcing Maddi to eat some kind of vegetable with her meal.
“Are you excited for your birthday?” Eva asks halfway through what turns out to be a mostly silent dinner.
Maddi’s face lights up with excitement for the first time, and she nods. “Yes. Aunt Libby told me that she is going to decorate with unicorns, and Daddy ordered me a unicorn cake for the party.”
“I can’t wait to see it,” Eva says.
I feel my muscles bunch.
“Me either,” Maddi nods. Then, looking up at me, she asks, “Is Courtney coming?”
Looking at my baby girl, I smile and nod. I haven’t asked Courtney, but I have no doubt that she will want to be there for the party.
“Yay!” Maddi grins, and I touch my lips to her head while wrapping my arm around her shoulder.
“Your new girlfriend is coming to our daughter’s birthday party?” Eva asks.
“Yeah.”
“Do you think that’s smart? Didn’t you just start seeing her?” I can hear the annoyance in her voice and see it in her eyes.
“Don’t go there, Eva.”
“I just don’t think it’s smart to have a person in her life that you hardly know.”
“Do not go there,” I repeat.
She sits back, crossing her arms over her chest. “She’s my daughter, too. I have the right to know who you have around her.”
“We are not doing this right now,” I state, my voice hard. No way is she going to tell me whom I can and can’t see or whom I can and can’t have around our daughter, not when she’s barely been around the last couple of years.
“I want Courtney at my party.” Maddi cuts into my stare-down with Eva, and I look at my girl.
“She’ll be there, honey.”
“Do you think Merida can come, too?”
“Merida?” Eva asks.
“The dog we adopted last weekend,” Maddi answers.