Unexpected Love (Timid Souls Book 3) (9 page)

I smirked and ripped the sheet away from his lower body. My eyes flicked down to his morning wood before going back up to rest on his face, which now looked a little more alert.

“Sneakin’ around could be fun,” I told him.

His eyes heated and he moved to grab me but I scooted away and off the bed. I laughed when he flopped back onto the bed with a grunt as I searched for my jeans. “We should probably hold off on that while Penny is wide awake and can hear every noise we make.”

He raised his head and quirked an eyebrow at me. “What if I make you breakfast?”

I acted as if I was considering it. “Then, I might be inclined to reward you.”

He looked at me expectantly. “With…?”

I chuckled under my breath as I fastened my bra. “Use your imagination. Just know that I’m feelin’ particularly flexible this mornin’.”

I knew that would get him going. He hopped up and quickly found some shorts and a t-shirt. When he reached the door, he stopped and turned back to me. “You’d better be ready later. You have no idea the things I’m imagining right now.” Then, he pulled me to him and crushed his lips to mine before leaving the room without another word.

If his intent had been to get me as worked up as he had been, mission accomplished.

Instead of putting on my tank top from yesterday, I found one of Gabe’s button-up shirts and slipped it on, carefully buttoning it all the way down. I glanced in the bathroom mirror and tried to straighten my messy hair somewhat, just so Penny wouldn’t immediately wonder what in the world we had been doing behind that closed door.

I came out of the bedroom a few minutes later to find Gabe already in the kitchen, gathering up a skillet and spatula and Penny watching some cartoon on the television, a stuffed horse sitting in her lap. Gabe’s eyes flared with need when he saw me in his shirt, but quickly turned back to the stove before those eyes could consume any more of me.

“Good mornin’, Penny,” I said.

Her dark head snapped around to me for a second before returning to the TV. “Hi. Daddy’s making breakfast.” She spoke distractedly, her eyes never leaving the screen.

“I see that,” I said, though I knew she wasn’t paying attention to me.

I walked over to the kitchen where Gabe was cracking eggs and whisking them into a bowl. I was about to ask how I could help when there was a loud knock on the front door. His head whipped around at the sound but I put up my hand, stopping him.

“I’ll get it.”

When I opened the door, I saw a tall, unhealthily skinny woman with black hair standing in the doorway, the smell of cigarettes wafting off of her. She was wearing mostly black attire, had about fifty thousand bracelets on both arms, and had a deep plum lipstick on her lips.
Who wears lipstick like that at eight in the morning?
And there was definitely something familiar about her face, but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. I felt like I had seen her before, though I was sure we had never met. I would remember someone like her.

Her eyes narrowed the second she saw me and traveled the length of my body, taking in my appearance with a condescending smirk. She huffed when she met my eyes again as if she had categorized me as unimportant, someone she felt like she could step on. My spine immediately straightened.

Whoever this woman was, I already didn’t like her.

“Can I help you?” I asked, my tone anything but friendly.

Before she could answer, I heard Penny’s voice behind me. “Mommy?”

The woman before me sneered at my shocked expression. The look contorted her seemingly beautiful face into an ugly representation of what I imagined her personality to be:
evil.

Oh, no.

This was the ex.

##

Gabe

You’ve got to be kidding me.

Of course, Vanessa had to pick the morning after the first time Felicity stayed over to make some random appearance. I dropped the spatula in my hands when I heard Penny’s voice and saw Felicity’s tense body.

Before I could reach the door I heard Vanessa say to Penny, “Hey, sweetie!”

I scoffed. The term of endearment was so fake, the woman never having used them toward me when we were married, let alone her own daughter. Which was sad when you thought about it. No, she was putting on a show in front of Felicity since it was evident that she had spent the night. Whether the farce was one of her spiteful attempts to play a good mother—something she’d had practice with at all of our court appearances—or if it was her way of asserting her role in mine and Penny’s lives in front of Felicity, I didn’t know.

Either way, she was already pissing me off and I didn’t want her spewing her crazy shit at Felicity.

She needed to go.

I approached the door and gently moved Felicity aside so I could face off against my ex-wife. Not wanting Penny to hear whatever we were about to say, I looked over my shoulder and plastered on my most re-assuring smile for her.

“Why don’t you go watch TV, Peanut, and I’ll have your chocolate chip pancakes ready soon, okay?”

I hated the nervous look she had in her eyes, but she obeyed and sat back down in her kid-size princess chair I bought for her birthday last year. I turned my attention back to the two women in front of me and, keeping my voice low, asked Vanessa in a stern tone, “What are you doing here?”

She lifted an eyebrow at me and gestured toward Felicity. “What? You’re not going to introduce me to your friend here?”

I sighed. It was too early in the day for this. “Felicity Paxton, this is Vanessa Bradshaw. Penny’s mother.” I no longer wanted to refer to her as my ex-wife.

I glimpsed a slight widening in Felicity’s eyes, a spark of recognition in them and I was guessing that she had figured out who this vile woman was to the rest of the world. That bothered me for some reason.

“Hello,” Felicity responded, not smiling.

Vanessa chuckled, a heavy note of derision in the sound. “I can see that Gabe must have told you all about me, what a monster I am. How everything has always been my fault.”

I was impressed with the way Felicity squared her shoulders and didn’t back down an inch against Vanessa’s lethal malice. “Oh, I can make up my own mind about someone. I don’t need him to sway me one way or the other.”

This time, Vanessa outright laughed. “Where the hell did you come from with that accent, pipsqueak? Podunk, USA?”

My temper started to really rise, but before I could utter a sound, Felicity spoke again. “Actually, I came from Gabe’s bed.”

That shut Vanessa right the hell up, her smile instantly vanishing.

I swear, Felicity just wouldn’t stop surprising me. Everything she ever did or said made my admiration for her grow, but her standing her ground against my ex-wife? My respect for her sky-rocketed. I wanted to laugh in Vanessa’s face, but I also wanted to drag Felicity back into my bedroom and kiss the hell out of her, maybe take her against the door.

There was just something about your woman defending you that turned us men on like you wouldn’t believe. Fun fact, for all women everywhere.

“Is that supposed to upset me or something?” Vanessa asked Felicity and then hitched her thumb at me. “I dumped his ass years ago. I don’t give a shit what he does.”

Felicity just shrugged nonchalantly, like she couldn’t care less what this woman said. “You seem upset to me.”

Vanessa’s nostrils flared and when she took one small step in Felicity’s direction, I stepped between them. My bitch of an ex-wife would never lay one fucking finger on Felicity.

“Felicity, would you mind giving us a minute here?” I asked.

She took her eyes off of Vanessa and replied, “Sure.” I gave her a look that I hoped was reassuring, a way of telling her that this woman meant nothing to me anymore and that she was now my whole world. Her and Penny.

Felicity left us alone and then I turned to stare down the woman I once thought I was head-over-heels in love with, one I once upon a time would have done anything for. Seemed like it had happened a million years ago.
More like in another dimension.

“Why are you here, Vanessa? What couldn’t have been said over the phone?”

She looked pissed, not that I cared. “Now, why is it that I get shit for having guys over with Penny around, yet you’re here playing house with a sixteen-year-old around our daughter? I mean,
I
don’t know her. She’s a stranger as far as I’m concerned.”

I ground my back teeth together, fighting the urge to scream at her. “Well for one thing, Felicity is never high or drunk around Penny. And she’s not blowing secondhand smoke in her face like some people.”

She lifted her chin. “I’ve never done drugs around Penny.”

I shook my head at her. “You and I both know that’s a lie. And I don’t have the patience for this shit right now, so tell me what you want and leave.”

Vanessa looked like she wanted to say more but instead reached into her humongous purse and pulled something out, handing it over to me. “Penny left her allergy medicine at my place. Just wanted to bring it by in case they started bothering her again.”

I took it, momentarily grateful because Penny’s allergies did get pretty bad this time of year. Then, that gratitude disappeared as soon as I looked back up and saw her shooting the most hateful of faces over my shoulder at Felicity.

I stepped in front of her, blocking her view into the apartment, bringing her eyes back to my face. She smirked and nodded in Felicity’s direction. “Not your usual type, Gabe.”

“Which is a good thing,” I said. “My last
type
fucked some other guy and came home to sleep on
my
500-thread-count sheets.” I started to close the door in her face before I became any more incensed but paused and added, “And don’t ever come to my home and insult my girlfriend again. You’re not welcome here and you’ll never talk to her that way again.”

I shut the door in her fuming face.

The first thing I saw when I turned around to my girls was Felicity’s smiling face, standing only a few feet behind me. That look told me she heard every word I’d said. I waited for her reaction, not having discussed any labels with her or defining what we were up to that point.

“So, I’m your girlfriend now?” she asked in a hesitant voice.

Nerves wanted to attack me but I pushed them back down. “If you want to be.”

She launched herself in my arms, wrapping her arms tightly around my neck. Then, she was kissing my neck, my cheek, making her way to my lips. I quickly took control, my hand on the back of her head, guiding her movements, angling our faces to deepen the kiss.

She pulled away with a dreamy expression as she gazed up at me. “I think you definitely deserve that reward now.”

##

I spent the rest of the day with my girl…the girl, not the woman, though I would have preferred both. But Felicity had to go to some craft show thing with her sister, and I figured I could use the opportunity while I was alone with Penny to take her over to the new house and show her the bedroom Felicity had created for her.

And talk to her about the woman’s sudden presence in our lives.

“Where are we going, Daddy?” Penny asked from the backseat.

“We’re going to the new house, remember? Where we’re going to be living soon.”

“Okay,” was all she said before she went back to playing with her stuffed horse.
The attention span of a six-year-old.

As I drove over to the house to the sounds of Elsa singing about letting it go—ah, the era of
Frozen
—I contemplated how this was going to go. Showing Penny her new home, assessing whether or not she was going to be happy there, asking about her feelings toward Felicity.

I was pleased to see that the mess from the landscaping crew had been cleaned up in the front yard and everything else looked blissfully quiet.
Just how I want it.
I could see Penny leaning forward through the rearview mirror, her face plastered against the glass, eyes wide. I had waited to bring her here until everything was done, particularly her room.

“What do you think, Peanut?”

Her grin spread from ear to ear. “It’s pretty!”

By the time I parked the car and got out to open her door, she had already unbuckled herself and leapt out as soon as I had my hand on the door. She ran across the yard, up the pathway and straight to the front door, frowning when the door wouldn’t open as she relentlessly turned it back and forth.

I was standing there, grinning like a goofball at my girl’s excitement when she looked back me, exasperated. “Come on, Daddy! Come open it!”

Everything was as Felicity and I had left it the last time I was here, which thanks to Felicity, meant it was all immaculate. Penny sprinted from room to room, taking everything in with an eagerness I loved so much about her.

“Where is my room?” she asked, finally taking a breath as she stopped in front of me in the foyer.

“Upstairs,” I said as I pointed. She immediately took off and I followed with a chuckle. Her little feet pounded up those stairs and I could hear doors opening and closing before I even made it to the top landing.

The last room she had to check was the one I met her at. Her eyes ran across the letters on the door, making her jump in delight. “That’s my name, Daddy!”

“It sure is, Peanut. You can open the door.”

There was no denying that this tiny little girl had stolen my heart six years ago. She had become the center of my entire world that day and had held that position every day since. But the magnitude of the love I felt for her impossibly quadrupled as I witnessed her take in her room for the very first time. I wanted Felicity here with me, but she had insisted it was something I should do with Penny alone.

I was thankful to her in that moment.

Because I was always greedy for moments like this with my daughter, wanting more of them, wishing they would always last longer. I knew I wouldn’t always have them, knew that she would one day grow up and probably be too cool to hang out with her dad. So, I soaked in every second, every facial expression, every laugh. She was always going to be my little girl—my heart—but these were the times that she wanted to spend time with me just as much as I wanted time with her and I wouldn’t take them for granted.

She bounded from toy to toy, giggling and squealing in excitement with everything she touched. “Look, Daddy! I can put my makeup on here, just like Felicity,” she said when she got to her plastic vanity.

I groaned inwardly.
I’m not ready for those years yet
. The makeup, the hair appointments, the attitude, the
dating
.

God help the poor bastard who eventually married her because he would have to first get through me and all of my threats to make him wish he were never born if he so much as made her cry. But he would also have to deal with that sweet face, the one that made you want to give her the world and never tell her no. The one that was almost painful to see because your heart squeezed every time she flashed it at you. Whenever the day came that I would have to give her away, I would make him promise to always take care of her and then I would wish him good luck.

I can’t think about her getting married.
If that didn’t happen until she was somewhere in her forties, I would be happy.

How she hadn’t noticed the four giant horses on the wall the second she entered the room, I had no idea. But she was seeing them now and she was awestruck. I walked forward to stand next to her, switching my gaze from her to the horses and back to her again. Her expression was something I would never forget for the rest of my life.

“Do you like your room?” I asked her softly.

She nodded, her eyes still not leaving the horses. “Yeah. A whole lot. I like all my toys and my bed.” She reached forward and ran her hand along the baby blue-painted wall. “That’s my favorite color.” I smiled and she lifted her head up to me while pointing at the wall. “Can I have a horse like that here? So I can ride it in the yard?”

I laughed. “Maybe. Our yard might not be big enough.” But the stables I was currently inquiring about a pony at were. I would save that surprise for another day, though.

I squatted down to bring my face eye level to hers. “Hey, Peanut. I want to ask you something.” She reluctantly turned her head to look at me—she really didn’t want to take her eyes off those horses. “Do you like Felicity?”

She tilted her head to the side and I got a startling glimpse of an older Penny, one who was much older than six years old. She was still a child in many ways. But in some ways, Penny had to grow up a lot faster than other kids her age. There was a certain wisdom in her eyes at times that surprised even me.

“Yeah, I like her,” she said, nodding her head. “She’s really nice and she plays horsies and dress up with me. She even said that maybe we could go ride horsies together some time.”