Chapter 17 #2
It took him a second, but he managed to lose the smile, though his eyes were still alight with humor. “Nona,” he said softly, running his hands along the silk of my nightie, “let’s go to bed.”
“But—”
“First of all, I sleep like a log, always have, so if you snore, I seriously doubt it’ll bother me.
When it comes to you moving around, ditto on the heavy sleeping.
If, by any chance, you wake me up in the middle of the night with your thrashing, all I have to do to make you stop is hold on to you.
Simple fix, baby. And last, I already knew your ex was a fuckin’ moron, but this just goes to show there’s no limit to his stupidity.
You have a woman like you in your bed, the last thing you do is leave her there alone.
It’d be different if he had insomnia or trouble sleeping on his own, but that wasn’t the case.
” He cupped my cheeks. “I’m not him, Nona.
I already told you, I know what’s right in front of me, and no way in hell I’m leaving a bed you’re in. No matter what.”
That ball unfurled instantly, and all my anxiety melted away.
“You feel better now?” he asked when I didn’t say anything.
“Yes,” I answered softly. “I feel a lot better.”
“Good. Then let’s go to bed, yeah?”
I nodded and broke from his hold, bending to grab Diva from where she’d been conked out on a folded towel I’d placed in the corner of the room for her.
She let out an unhappy grunt at being disturbed, then plunked down where I put her on the foot of the bed, passing right back out.
I climbed on all fours to the very center of my king-size bed, putting myself in the optimal position to be held by Trick.
Climbing beneath the covers and looked up at the smiling man, I patted the space beside me for him to enter.
He quickly flipped off the lights. The bed dipped, and a second later Trick’s long, solid arm slid around me, pulling me against him. He situated himself on his back so my cheek was resting on his chest, my arm draped over his rigid stomach and my thigh tucked between both of his.
I snuggled into him and gave his waist a squeeze, letting out a content sigh as I prepared for sleep.
“Baby,” Trick said a minute later, his deep voice cutting through the silent dark.
“Hmm?”
“Was Chris really the only man you’ve ever spent the night with?”
“Yeah,” I answered quietly. “I met Chris when I was nineteen. I was only twenty when I got pregnant with Blythe, and I had her when I was twenty-one. There had only been one other guy before Chris, and that was back in high school. We had to sneak around to have sex, so we couldn’t exactly spend the night together. ”
“So I’m only, what, the third man you’ve slept with?”
Lifting my head, I folded my hands on his chest and rested my chin on top of them so I could see the outline of his features through the darkness. “I wouldn’t exactly call that first one a man,” I giggled. “But yes. And you’re also the best I’ve ever had. You know, just in case you were wondering.”
He let out a growl and fisted a hand in my hair, tipping his head so he could give me a rough kiss. “I probably shouldn’t love hearing that, ’cause it means you’ve spent all this time missing out on something good, but I do. I really fuckin’ do.”
“Such a caveman,” I teased, lying back down.
We lapsed into silence once more, and I was the one to break it this time. “Trick?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m sorry you didn’t get the bad guy you were wanting to get.”
His arm gave me a squeeze while his deep inhale made his chest rise. “Thanks, beautiful.”
“Welcome, handsome. And I know you’ll eventually get him one day.”
That got me another squeeze.
“Honey?”
His chest shook with laughter. “Yeah, baby.”
“Something’s wrong with Blythe.”
His laughter stopped in an instant, and I felt his body go tense. “What do you mean?”
“I’m not sure. She’s just been different, ever since she got home from her dad’s.”
“And she hasn’t told you what’s wrong?”
Concern crept in and burrowed beneath my skin. “She says it’s nothing, but I know she’s not telling me the truth. I’m her mom. I can tell.”
“I’m sure everything’s all right,” he said after several seconds. “She’s a teenage girl. They’re notoriously moody. Maybe something’s happening at school she’s tryin’ to work through on her own. But if she can’t, she’ll come to you eventually.”
It all sounded completely reasonable, but that mom instinct, the voice in the back of my head that spoke loudest when it came to my kids wouldn’t shut up. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
As if Trick could hear the uncertainty in my voice and held me even tighter. “It’ll be okay,” he insisted.
“You can’t know that for sure.”
He began rubbing my arm in long, soothing strokes. “Yeah, I can, darlin’. I know because you’d die before you ever let anything happen to either of those kids. It’ll be okay because you’ll make it okay, whatever it is. You’re just that terrific of a mother.”
I was quickly coming to discover that Trick had an uncanny gift for making me feel better in most every situation. Lifting my head to look up at him, I stated, “You know, you saying stuff like that is a huge turn-on. You better stop if you want to get any sleep tonight.”
His voice was laced with humor as he replied, “All right, baby, I’ll stop. For now.”