Chapter 15 #2
Beck looked heavenward, likely asking for patience. “She’s right, and I’m sorry.” When Abby gave a smile of accepting his apology, he turned back to Clay. “What I was going to say was, did you want to join us?”
Basketball night was sacred among the Henley men.
Seth, Beck’s best friend, was the only non-Henley ever invited to play.
Until right now. The invitation stunned me.
Even Ava’s one long-term boyfriend had never gotten an invite.
They must be really trying to impress Clay.
Turning, I looked at Clay and sensed his surprise at being asked, without even knowing the importance.
“No,” Abby’s shout startled all of us. She leaned closer and whispered to her father, who promptly closed his eyes. Yup, patience—a whole lot—was currently being sought. While he nodded her way, I noticed him slide his phone out of his pocket.
“Mr. Clay, can you help Aunt ReeRee babysit me tonight?” Four years old and Abigail Henley amped up the cuteness and charm like she’d been born that way.
That bitch. I’m going to kill Ever. Date my ass; this was all some stupid ploy.
Clay looked at me, then back at Abby. “I’d love to help your aunt watch you tonight.”
“Yay,” she screamed. “See you later. Byeeeeeeee.” Her voice carried as Beck carried her away.
“Looks like we’re spending some time together tonight, Aunt ReeRee.” Clay hooked a finger into the belt of my dress and pulled me closer. “I think this is going to be quite an exciting night.”
“You don’t have to come over. Abby will understand.” Then I’ll tell Ever to stop meddling in my love life. Love life, huh? I shut that line of thought down. “I’m sure you have work or maybe you’d rather join the guys. I can let Beck know you changed your mind.”
Clay licked his lips, making it really difficult for me to concentrate. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world, Reese. A chance to spend time with you…” His pause lingered as his hands drifted to my hips and pressed me even closer to his body. “And Abby of course.”
His nearness made it hard to breathe. Every part of my body responded to him, to how he felt pressed against me, how he dropped his voice even though no one was around, how his gaze bore through me, heating me from within and making my skin tingle.
“Not your usual, I’m sure, but don’t discount a princess movie and pizza for a good time. Maybe we’ll show you New York elite something.”
Leaning down, he brushed a light kiss over my mouth. I wanted to grab his head and hold him in place, but I didn’t move. “Little Trouble, I’m ready for anything you want to send my way.” With a quick lick of my lips, he strode away as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
While I could only ask myself, what the fuck was I doing?
Shutting the door on Beck and a passed out four-year-old, I turned to Clay, who’d made himself comfortable on my couch. Leaning back against the door, I spoke the words that had played around in my mind for hours. “You were fantastic with Abby.”
A few minutes after Beck had exchanged her for Logan, Clay showed up with pizza and ice cream, which absolutely made her night.
Hell, I think he made her whole life. She proudly exclaimed that Mr. Clay was her favoritist person in the world, though I didn’t have the heart to tell him she’d have a new one tomorrow.
Abby didn’t let him out of her sight all night, demanding he sit next to her while we watched Frozen and then read to her when she got tired.
The pièce de résistance occurred when I’d come back from the bathroom and she’d fallen asleep on his lap.
The urge to kick her out and climb in that space myself was downright embarrassing, but most definitely present.
Now I had to deal with him. Alone. Because my brother had crashed at Owen’s. Chicken. I was going to have a bit of a talking-to with him tomorrow. If he’d come home, I'd have had a good reason to kick Clay out.
Now I had no reason and “good-with-a-little-girl” Clay on my sofa.
Fuck my life.
“It was sort of easy. She’s a good kid. The last little girl I was around was Sofia when she was a baby, but I was only a kid myself.” He leaned back, bracing his arm along the back of the sofa, looking for all the world like a king in his kingdom. “I have heard no mention of her mother.”
“That’s ‘cause she doesn’t have one.” Moving to the kitchen area, I opened the cupboard and pulled out two different wine glasses, holding them up as I spoke. “Red or white?” At his nod to the red wine glass, I pulled out a second for myself and poured us each a glass.
Is this a good idea?
Probably not, but for one night, I didn’t want to think. I wanted to enjoy some time with Clay and get to know him a little more. I simply had to hope I didn’t let myself get carried away, and if I did, that I could right the runaway train tomorrow morning.
“Thank you,” he offered as I handed him a glass and then gestured to the sofa. I sat, but far enough away that I couldn’t get into any trouble. Yet. “She doesn’t have one? Did she die?”
I shrugged. “No idea. Abby’s mom and Beck were together for a while when she got pregnant.
It’s long and convoluted, but she had Abby and dropped her on Beck’s doorstep a few days after she got out of the hospital.
Something about ‘not being able to do this’ or something.
That was the last we ever saw or heard from her. ”
“She just abandoned her? Did Beckett try to find her?”
I’d noticed he asked Beck if that was his full name and then automatically started using Beckett.
Clay had an air of formality about him I reveled in messing with.
It’s why I still called him Clay. At this point, Logan and my cousins called him Clay too.
He’s since lost the teeth-clenching reaction and now seemed to roll with the flow.
In fact, the only person he hadn’t used Clayton on was Abby.
Maybe that was because she’s a little kid, but it had warmed my heart.
Of course, he’d given me a nickname, so he had little room to speak.
Little Trouble. I still wasn’t sure whether I liked it, or what it meant coming from him. Even with all that, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to the thrill that traveled through me when I heard it. It felt like our own secret. One I probably shouldn’t have with him, but wanted anyway.
“Yes, to both. He had no luck, but the good thing is, Abby has all of us. I know that can’t compare to losing a parent, but we’d do anything for her.
” I chuckled and sipped the merlot. “Unfortunately, she knows it. We call her the little hostage taker because when she turns those blue eyes on any of us, she can get us to do exactly what she wants.”
Clay sipped his wine, and I watched, mesmerized, as he bit his lip after. “Sort of like her aunt.” His slowly murmured words sent shivers down my body. “I lost my father when I was in my teens, and that was hard. I couldn’t even imagine never knowing him.”
I watched him as he spoke, but he didn’t look at me. I’m not sure he even realized he’d said the words. Something told me Clayton Montgomery didn’t talk about his past or his feelings all that much.
“I don’t know. Maybe in some ways, she doesn’t know what she’s missing.
I think that may change when she heads to school next year.
” The thought of Abby going off to kindergarten brought a smile to my face.
She was going to set Rockford Elementary on its heels, much like Ever and I did.
“Right now, she’s the only kid in a family of adults and spends most of her time with us.
” Sometimes I worried she was older than her age, given her environment, then she’d throw herself into talking with other kids at the library or park and all concerns vanished.
“Well, I have to say, I enjoyed spending the evening with her. She has a bit of your charm.”
“I have charm?” I teased him as I took another sip.
“More than your fair share, Little Trouble.” He leaned forward, putting his glass on the coffee table, before shifting toward me. “I find I enjoy spending time with you too.”
God, if this were any other man, I’d be all over him, but he was Clay, and it wasn’t a good idea.
It could be a brilliant idea. Just one night.
The mantra could play in my head all it wanted, but I had a feeling one night wouldn’t cut it. The two weeks he was here, less than that now, likely wouldn’t either. Then what?
Why think of that now? Forget not getting carried away and go for it.
While my mind warred with itself, Clay sat silently, watching my face intently, as if he knew what was going on.
Rising abruptly, he extended one hand to me, picked up his glass with the other, and inclined his head to the full wall of glass on one side of the apartment.
“How about we go out on that deck I see? Take in the view.”
With only the moonlight to illuminate the mountains, I wasn’t sure what view he thought he’d have.
The minute I placed my hand in his, I knew that every good intention I had for the night, for keeping this relationship professional, had just flown out the window. The simplest of touches did that.
I couldn’t imagine what others, ones far more intimate and strong, would do.
Crossing to the door, I pushed it open and stepped outside, the air warm and muggy, typical for a June night.
I led him over to the lounge chairs. Releasing his hand, I moved to step away after he sat, only to have my wrist snagged.
With a simple tug, he pulled me down, somehow maneuvering my leg over his lap so I straddled him.
“I thought you wanted to see the view?”
“I did.” He plucked the wineglass from my hand and placed it next to his on the side table. His hands found my hips and guided me closer until I could feel with no question what our proximity did to the man. “This view. I don’t think it can get more perfect.”
I rolled my eyes. “Now who’s laying on the charm?”
“You told me the other day I had no charm.”
“Oh, no. Not this again. I never said that. I may, may, have implied it, but my mouth never actually said it.”
It was really hard to concentrate on talking, on having a conversation with his hands flexing on my hips, subtly rocking me against his steely length.
My hands flew to his shoulders, trying to gain some purchase and keep myself from falling onto his chest and rubbing against him like a cat in heat.
Except my own hands were following his lead.
The muscles of his shoulders bunched under my palms, wanting to feel his skin like I had the other day.
God damn clothes.
No. Don’t curse the clothes. They were there for a reason, and that was to stop me from doing something dumb. Speaking of…
“This isn’t a good idea.”
“What isn’t?” Clay’s gaze bore into mine, the want clear as day even in the dark of night. “We’re talking. Didn’t you say you wanted to talk?”
“Did I?”
“Sure, at some point you did.” The confounding man was a menace to my sanity and my panties. “I can’t think of a better way to talk.”
His words snapped me out of my Clay-induced fog, causing me to drop my hands and lean back, pushing a little away from him.
“You talk like this often? Conduct business like this often? With your counterpart on your lap?”
Swinging my leg over his, I stood, grabbed my wineglass, and made my way to the balcony. I was more upset than I should have been.
More jealous.
More confused.
Leaning on the railing, I looked out over our mountains. Sure, they belonged to nature, and we had small parcels of land actually on the mountainside, but I still thought of them as ours. They were where I could escape to when I was upset, or confused, or worried.
Right now, I was all three, and for once in my life, I didn’t feel as if they had the answers I was hoping to find.