Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
TRICK
The warmth that had bloomed in my chest when Nona handled my girl with such care hadn’t lessened one goddamn bit during dessert. If anything, it burned hotter and brighter as the evening progressed.
In a matter of minutes, she’d succeeded in doing what I’d been trying to do for months. She’d made those clouds in my baby girl’s eyes fade away, and as far as I was concerned, she’d just worked a miracle.
Grabbing the last of the dishes from the table, I stacked them up and carried them into the kitchen.
Shawn had taken off to Nona’s basement with Tristan to play video games, and Hannah and Blythe were somewhere talking makeup or hair or boys—whatever shit teenage girls talked about that turned their dads’ hair gray.
Nona was alone in the kitchen, elbows deep in sudsy water when I deposited the rest of the dishes on the counter beside her. “You know that thing you got right there is supposed to take all the work outta washing dishes, right?” I teased, tilting my chin to the dishwasher just to her left.
Her gorgeous smile was a shot to the gut. Christ, she really was beautiful. “I don’t trust it.”
My head cocked to the side in bewilderment. “You don’t trust the dishwasher?” I asked in a strangled voice as I fought back a laugh.
She shrugged. “It’s my one weird thing. Everyone has one weird thing, and the dishwasher’s mine. Don’t make fun, just let me have it.”
“All right, beautiful,” I said with a chuckle, grabbing a hand towel so I could dry the dishes she’d just finished scrubbing. “I’ll let you have it.” Her laugh was one of the most beautiful sounds I’d ever heard, and I suddenly had the urge to do whatever I could to hear more of it.
We washed and dried side by side in silence for a couple of minutes before I spoke again. “What you did for my girl in there, I’ll never forget that, Nona.”
She looked up at me with those blue eyes as clear and warm as the Mediterranean. “It was nothing.”
“You’re wrong. It was everything. The split was rough on her, and she’s been different since I moved out. I’ve tried talkin’ to her in the hopes of pullin’ her out of it, but for months, not a damn thing’s broken through. Until tonight.”
Nona finished rinsing the last plate and passed it to me while using another towel to dry her hands.
When she finished, she laid it on the counter and turned toward me, propping a curvy hip against the edge of the sink.
“She’s a great girl. A lot of what she’s struggling with has to do with her age, but…
.” She hesitated on what she was going to say next while she bit down on her bottom lip.
“But what, Nona?” I asked, taking a step closer.
“It’s not my place.”
“Sweetheart.” My hand came up of its own accord, and I did what I’d been dying to do all goddamn night.
I slid several strands of that deep red, silky hair between my fingertips before tucking it behind her ear.
“After what you did back there, I think it’s safe to say it is.
You care about her, so I wanna know what’s on your mind. ”
“I just…” She chewed on her bottom lip in indecision. “If her mom’s feeding into those insecurities… well, it’s not gonna be good.”
My molars ground together while my hands balled into fists. “You caught that, huh?” I asked on a hiss. I couldn’t believe Emma was actually measuring our daughter so she could keep track of her size, something no fifteen-year-old girl should ever do.
“I’m not judging,” Nona added quickly, holding her hands up in surrender. “I don’t really know her, and from what I’ve seen, she’s a good mom. But that’s—”
“Completely fucked?” She winced before nodding in agreement.
“Christ,” I grunted, raking a hand through my hair in frustration.
“She used to do little shit like that, but at least I was there to—” I swallowed past the painful lump taking up residence in my throat.
There was nothing worse in the world than feeling like you’d failed your own child. “Now I’m not.”
Seeing the direction my thoughts were headed in, Nona’s hand came up, those delicate fingers wrapping around my bicep.
“She’s gonna be just fine,” she said quickly to appease my worry.
“You might not be there to run interference, but you aren’t gone.
She still has you when she needs you, and as long as that’s the case, she’ll be just fine. ”
Something came over me at that very moment, an intense feeling I’d only experienced once before.
When Nona and I were on the dance floor at Hayes and Temperance’s wedding.
Her smile, all that insanely gorgeous hair, those curves.
All of that was enough to bring the strongest of men to their knees.
But when she smiled, it was like feeling the sun on your skin.
When she spoke in that melodic voice, speaking her brand of wisdom, it was all too much; the pull was impossible to fight.
Moving purely on instinct, I closed the last few inches and pulled her against me, slamming my mouth down on hers.
Her lips parted on a surprised gasp and I took full advantage, driving my tongue inside Nona’s mouth.
She tasted like wine and chocolate, sweet and rich.
It was heaven, and that initial taste sucked me in and refused to let me go.
I was drowning, completely consumed by her, and I couldn’t get enough.
Her nails scored my chest, fisting the material of my shirt as a tiny whimper bubbled up her throat, and that was enough to push me over the edge.
I pinned her ass against the edge of the counter, rubbing my hard dick against her as our tongues tangled together.
I sifted the fingers of one hand in all that soft, thick hair and slid the other up her hip, along the defined dip in her waist, and across her ribs until I got to her full, round breast.
I felt her nipple pucker at my touch beneath her clothes and let out a low growl. I’d have given everything I had at that very moment for the chance to strip her naked and feel her skin against mine.
The memories of our one night together were still as fresh in my mind, as if they’d only happened an hour ago, and I wanted all of that.
Again and again and again. I wanted her over and over until I eased at least some of the ache that came from desiring everything there was to Nona.
But deep down to my bones, I knew it was useless.
This kind of craving was never-ending. I craved her body and mind. I wanted every single piece of her.
Just as quickly as the moment happened, it was shattered by the boys’ shouts carrying up from the basement and penetrating the bubble we’d been surrounded by.
Nona wrenched herself from my grasp, bringing a trembling hand to her lips with a stunned expression on her face like she’d just been slapped.
When I reached for her, she stepped back, the shock wearing off as anger twisted her gorgeous face.
“Don’t,” she clipped on a harsh whisper when I tried to move closer, making me freeze in my tracks.
“Nona—”
“No.” The emotion in that one word cracked through the air like a gunshot blast, even though it was spoken so quietly.
“You don’t get to do that,” she continued, the anger in her expression and words cutting into me like a razor-sharp knife.
“I’m not a piece of ass you can play with whenever you’re in the mood to get off. ”
My stomach began to churn as my own anger built. “I’d never treat you like a piece of ass.”
“You just did,” she hissed. “You made the decision about how things were going to be between us when you didn’t even do me the courtesy of staying the whole night after you fucked me. You don’t get to change the game because you’re a nice guy and feel guilty for what happened that night.”
“It’s not like that, Nona, and you know it.”
“What I know is I put myself out there for a man I had feelings for, and that came back to bite me in the ass.”
Fuck me, but I felt that like a dull blade slicing through me. “Sweetheart.” I took a step closer, needing to touch her, to comfort her, only to have her take one back. “I care about you.”
Nona slammed her eyes closed and shook her head before looking at me again. “You drew the line between us, Trick, so stay on your side, or whatever we are is done.”
My lips parted to speak. I didn’t have a goddamn clue what I was going to say, but I knew I needed to fix this somehow, because there was no shaking the feeling clawing at my gut. The feeling that I was about to lose something incredibly important.
But before I could get the words out that could possibly undo the damage I’d just caused, the clatter of footsteps on Nona’s hardwood floors interrupted me, and Shawn and Tris came running into the kitchen.
“Hey Mom, can we have another piece of cake?” Tris asked.
Wiping her expression clear of everything she’d been feeling just moments ago, Nona turned toward the boys with a look only a mother could pull off. “Yeah, not a chance.”
“Aw, come on.”
“You got my answer, kid,” she said, moving to him and ruffling his hair. “It’s already pretty late and you still have homework.”
With that statement, she effectively ended the evening, letting me know without actually saying it that I’d worn out my welcome.
“Shawn, you have homework too, bud, so we need to get goin’. Do me a favor and go get your sister, yeah?”
My boy’s shoulders sank at having his fun cut short, but he did as asked with Tristan following closely behind him. As soon as we were alone again, I turned back to Nona. “I’m sorry,” I said in a quiet voice. “You have to believe me, beautiful, I never meant to hurt you.”
Those extraordinary blue eyes landed on me, and the sorrow in them nearly stole my breath. “Not meaning to do something doesn’t make it hurt any less, Trick.”
I was such a fucking asshole. If there was ever a woman who deserved nothing but the best, it was Nona, and I just kept fucking up and hurting her.
We said our goodbyes a couple minutes later, and as I crossed the street with my kids running ahead of me, I looked back over my shoulder to watch as Nona, in all her beauty, disappeared behind her front door.
And that same gnawing feeling I’d had as I walked out of her house in the dark hours of the early morning after our night together came roaring back with a vengeance.
That feeling that I was making a huge mistake by walking away.