Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“I’m sorry!” Cara cried from her perch on the counter, goopy pancake batter dripping from the spatula onto her lap. The measuring cup that had been next to the bowl was shattered on the floor under her dangling feet. “It was an accident.”
“It’s okay, sweetheart. Just stay—”
“Lolo!”
I lunged as Cara started to push off the counter.
Thankfully, I got to her before her bare feet could hit the glass-covered floor and swung her up into my arms. The fortunate part about this was Cara wouldn’t be getting a visit from Dr. Spenser to pull shards of glass from the bottoms of her feet.
The unfortunate part was when I turned, Stella was right there and Cara was eye level with the angry, unmistakable handprint around Stella’s neck.
Fuck.
Cara went solid for half a second before her little body started to tremble.
Jesus fuck.
“You’re hurt!” Care shouted and struggled to throw herself out of my arms into Stella’s.
That couldn’t happen.
“Sweetheart—”
“You lied!” I felt Cara’s accusation slice through me. The fullness of it had yet to penetrate when she chanted, “You lied, lied, lied.”
“Cara—”
She cut Stella off and once again proclaimed, “You lied.” This time the claim was accompanied with a tiny fist to my chest.
My eyes tipped down and tears were swimming in her big, innocent blue eyes. Christ, that seared through me down to my soul.
“Cara!”
This time it was me who interrupted Stella. “You’re right, sweetheart I did.”
I glanced up at Stella long enough to issue a warning. “Don’t clean that up. I’ll do it in a second.”
Her response was nonverbal, but her eyes spoke volumes about how she felt about me ordering her around.
I would’ve smiled at the ‘eat shit and die’ glare Stella was aiming my way if I didn’t have a ticking time bomb in my arms in the form of a little girl, with no understanding of how to defuse the situation and repair the damage I’d already done.
But it was good to know Stella wasn’t going to let her asshole of a brother best her nor was she going to let yesterday dim that fiery attitude of hers.
I left Stella in the kitchen, part of me hoping she disobeyed so I could give her shit, push her limits, and watch her light up. But the other part, the sane piece of me, hoped she followed me into the living room with a head full of good ideas to smooth things over with Cara.
I got part of my wish when I sat on the couch, adjusted Cara so she was next to me, and found Stella had followed. Though she kept her feet and her distance and her silence.
Fucking perfect, leave the idiot who was abandoned in an alley who has zero emotional intelligence in charge of emotional fallout.
“Okay, Cara, I’m gonna give it to you straight,” I started. “You’re right; last night I lied to you. That wasn’t cool. But sweetheart, I did it to protect you.”
Her little-girl face scrunched. It was cute as fuck and I vaguely wondered if she gave that face to Stella, and if she did if Stella caved and gave her what she wanted.
“From Lolo?”
“No, not from Lolo. From what happened to her. Yesterday was scary and I didn’t want to make it worse by scaring you more. So I lied and told you she was sick because the truth is, she’s hurt and I didn’t want you scared and upset about that.”
Cara’s eyes darted to Stella.
Stella gave Cara a weak smile. “I’m okay, Care Bear.”
“Now you’re lying!”
“Hey,” I called and waited for Cara to look at me. “I lied to you, Cara. Me. Not Stella. I know you’re angry and that’s okay. But you’re mad at me, not Stella, so be mad at me, sweetheart, and don’t take it out on her.”
“But—”
“Look at her, Cara.” As soon as her gaze moved to Stella, I went on. “Your Lolo might be hurt, but she’s strong and she’s telling you the truth. She’s okay and you wanna know how I know?”
“How?”
“Because the cunning Queen is no match for evil trolls.”
Cara’s attention came back to me. Her frown coupled with her narrowed eyes was seriously fucking cute.
“Trolls are small and wimpy, Cashy,” she told me with a note of authority that dared me to argue.
I was just happy I had ‘Cashy’ back.
“Not all trolls.”
With a dramatic eye roll that I hoped meant I hadn’t fucked up too badly, Cara announced, “Lolo is strong enough to take on all the dragons.”
No truer words had ever been spoken.
“True that, warrior princess. Now, are you ready to say good morning to Lolo and I’ll clean up the kitchen so we can start breakfast?”
Without further encouragement, Cara jumped off the couch and ran full speed at Stella. My hands itched to pull her back or at least warn her to be gentle, but I’d done enough damage. It was time for me to keep my mouth shut and let Stella handle the situation.
I pushed off the couch just as Stella reached for Cara and picked her up.
Cara’s little legs wrapped around Stella’s waist, taking with them the fabric of the tee, bunching up the cotton, exposing the toned expanse of her upper thighs.
But it was the black scrap of lace between those thighs covering what I knew was the sweetest pussy I’d ever tasted that snagged my attention.
Now was not the time for my dick to remind me it had been six very long months since he’d gotten anything other than my hand.
Six months of jacking off to the memory of a woman who had walked away and made it clear she wanted nothing to do with me.
Last night it had been easy to ignore that lace. It had been easy to sleep next to her, something I hadn’t done with another woman in going on two decades. It had been easy to forget all of the reasons I hadn’t fucked another woman since I’d had her.
Now, not so much.
Kitchen clean-up.
Pancakes.
Then the office.
I tore my eyes off of Stella and Cara, and since I decided overlooking a whole host of shit this morning was the way to go, I shoved the way my chest got tight at seeing Cara wrapped around Stella to the back of my mind. But more, I locked away how I felt watching Stella hug Cara protectively.
Clean up.
Food.
Office.
Thank God for chatty little girls.
Never in my life did I think I’d be grateful to have a seven-year-old run interference, but having Stella deposit Cara on the counter after I’d cleaned up the glass so she could go get changed while I made breakfast was the only thing that had stopped me from following her into my bedroom.
And over pancakes listening to Cara fill Stella in on yesterday’s adventure—and, yes, that’s what Cara had called it—while Stella was sneaking glances at me with her eyes soft, appreciation I’d taken care of her girl clear on her pretty face.
Which in turn had me fighting the urge to pluck her out of her chair so she could show her appreciation a different kind of way that would begin and end with my cock buried deep and Stella crying out my name.
But none of that had been possible under the watchful eye of a chatty little girl.
Which was damn good because the longer I sat at the table with Stella and Cara, listening and watching their interaction, the faster the poison leeched out.
And it kept leaking when we finished breakfast and Stella loaded the dishwasher.
And it continued after we piled into my truck, making the trip into the office silent on my part, but not uncomfortable for my two female passengers.
Cara I found had a lot to say and Stella had all the patience in the world to listen to her prattle on.
For some reason that made it worse—an unnecessary reminder I had no business being around Stella now that Cara was in her life.
So, yeah, fuck yeah, I was grateful a seven-year-old had a lot to say and in doing so reminded me I needed to stay the hell away from her before I could do more damage than I’d already done.
The last thing sweet little Cara needed was a piece of shit like me polluting her life.
Silence seemed to be the theme, and I didn’t break it on the way up to the office and only did when the elevator doors opened and Cara started to run out.
“Hold on…” I caught the word sweetheart just in time to make the correction. “…Cara.”
She glanced back and it hit me; with Stella standing there I had no right to tell Cara what to do.
Truth be told, I never should’ve been the one in charge of her in Stella’s absence.
What I should’ve done was put a fair amount of effort into getting Cara to go with Nebraska or Zane and Ivy.
Hell, any one of my teammates would’ve been a better option.
But it was too late, I’d called her name and now she was staring at me. “Don’t go far without telling Stella where you’re going.”
Cara’s gaze swung to Stella, shot her an adorable smile, and declared, “I’m just going to Cashy’s desk to get my coloring books.”
Cashy.
Serious as fuck, hearing that felt like a dagger to the heart. Knowing I was going to lose it, felt worse.
Cara skipped off leaving me with Stella.
She immediately whirled on me and true to form launched right in, “What’s wrong with you?”
So much.
Everything.
“Nothing’s wrong with me,” I lied.
Stella leaned closer, and with a shake of her head she muttered, “You’re full of shit.”
She pulled back, squared her shoulders, and yanked her Lore mask firmly in place. I instantly wanted to tear it off.
“I appreciate you taking care of Cara yesterday,” she rapped out like she was anything but appreciative. “But you don’t have to worry, we’ll be out of your hair today.”
Before I could explain that she and Cara wouldn’t be out of my sight until I could track down her brother and rip his goddamned throat out, Zane came down the hall and announced, “We’re in the conference room.
” His gaze swept through the office, paused on Cara, then gave me his attention.
“You good with her going downstairs with the other kids?”
“Not my call,” I told him and looked over at Stella.
No, the set of her shoulders, the clench of her jaw, and the glittering in those fantastic blue eyes meant Lore was still firmly in place.
“There’s a daycare downstairs for the little kids, and Asher, Robbie, and Eric are homeschooled so their teacher, Amy’s down there along with Molly. ”
There was an angry beat of silence that matched the annoyed waves of hostility rolling off Lore. I’d barely beaten back the urge to rage against the mask of indifference with demands she drop the bullshit when Zane grunted, “Not your call?”
“Hey, Mr. Snake,” Cara chirped, running back to our huddle, coloring books in hand.
Yeah, thank fuck for chatty little girls.