Chapter 9 #2
“What?” One thing was sure—she had his full attention.
“She stopped by the store. She just wants to rattle my cage, Kyle. There’s nothing she can do to me or the kids.” No way was she going to mention the feeling she’d had of being followed as she’d driven there.
“Did you tell her to stay away?”
“I told her. My dad told her. My sister told her. Nobody wants her there, but she already knows that. Why she insists on popping up over and over I don’t know.”
“Over and over? When was the last time she did that?”
“Um, about a month ago?”
“Oh, no. You need to get a restraining order to keep her away from you and the kids.”
Gina shook her head. “No. I mean, she’s not going to do anything. What could she do?”
His face had darkened and she knew he was seething under the surface.
It was the first time she’d seen him actually looking angry.
“Pick at you. Keep your emotions in an upheaval. Interfere with your peace of mind. Leave you feeling threatened and sad. You don’t need that shit, Gina.
Nobody does. You’re done with that part of your life.
Make what’s left of it leave you alone.”
When he put it like that, it made the whole situation look different. “I never thought of it that way.”
“You need to. You got rid of your ex. Having his family hanging around isn’t going to help anybody, not you or your kids. It’s also not going to help us because it’s going to cause tension in your life, and that seeps over into everything else.”
“But it’s a public place, the store. I can’t just—”
“It’s not a public place. It’s your property and your place of business. You should have one of those signs that says you reserve the right to—”
“We do. Dad pointed it out to her.”
“Then I don’t understand why you’d even hesitate to get a restraining order. Make it fifteen hundred feet from you. Tell them she came into your place of business and caused a scene. That’ll do it.”
She sighed and stared at her hands. “I don’t know. I just—”
He took her chin in his hand and tipped her face up to his.
“Gina, I’m not saying any of this to be mean or to put more of a strain on you than you already have.
Get rid of that. You owe her nothing. You gave more to someone in her family than you ever should’ve had to, and you’re free of that now.
Make a clean break. Make her leave you alone.
” There was a pleading in his voice that made her chest ache.
“Okay. I’ll call the sheriff’s department on Monday morning.”
“No. Call your county attorney and let them tell you what to do. They can take care of it. You shouldn’t have to.
” When he loosened his grip on her chin, she dropped her head again and he pulled her to him, her forehead resting on his chest. His arms tightened around her, and she let hers wrap around his waist. “I love you, babe. I don’t want to see you hurt or upset.
And I can promise you, if she turns up out here at any time while you’re here, I’ll run her off the property with my thirty-aught-six and get a restraining order for myself and Myla. I won’t tolerate that.”
“Thank you,” she mumbled into his shirt.
“What?”
Leaning back, she looked up into his eyes. “I said thank you. For caring. For being here. Kyle, I …” She could feel the tears coming, and she didn’t want to cry, but the feeling his mere presence forced to the surface in her made her tender in ways she’d forgotten she could be.
“What is it, sweetie?”
“I just can’t believe it. I mean, most guys would’ve insisted on going away for the weekend to be alone, not wanted to deal with the kids, had an all-or-nothing attitude.
But you … You’ve welcomed my kids, you’ve done dishes and laundry, you’ve kept them occupied and provided a place for them to stay while they’re here.
I don’t really know what to think except that I’m just blown away.
Why? Why are you being so accommodating? And loving? To my kids?”
Kyle laughed. “First off, Briley reminds me a lot of you, kinda easy-going and laid back. Very friendly, very honest. And Hadley … I have this sneaky feeling you were just like that when you were her age.”
She giggled. “Actually, that was Sabrina, not me!”
“I knew it! I knew it was one of you. But I can see that she’s going to test the limits every chance she gets.
Yeah, I suppose I could see her as a bad influence on Myla, but I’d rather think Myla will get to watch and see exactly what we do when Hadley’s being Hadley, and she’ll get the picture real quick.
But I love you, baby. And because I love you, I love them.
I know it sounds crazy, since we don’t really know each other that well, but—”
“Hey, I love Myla. She’s a precious little girl, and god, Kyle, she’s so much like you!
Thoughtful, kind, generous, loving. She’s crazy about Hadley, even though Had treats her more like a puppy dog sometimes and less like a person.
But Myla doesn’t care. She’s just thrilled to be around a big girl.
And she was so cute the other night when we were in such an uproar!
I know you said she has your sister and mom and all the other women in both families, but I’d really like to be close to her. ”
“You know who I’d really like to be close to?”
Gina smiled. “I know who I hope you’re going to say!”
“Yeah. You. As soon as these kids are all in bed. Right now, I’ve got burgers and buns and chips and all that stuff, so we can eat in about fifteen minutes. How does that sound?”
“Sounds great. Want me to finish this up so you can go ahead and start grilling? That way we—”
“Daddy!” she heard Myla yell.
“Yeah, cookie? What’s up?”
Myla appeared in the doorway, panting. “We ran all the way from the pond here! And I won!”
“Good! That’s awesome!”
“Can I please, please, please sleep in the big bus tonight with Hadley and Briley?”
“I don’t know how they’ll feel about—”
“Hadley wants me to! She said we’ll paint fingernails! I wanna paint fingernails. Please, Daddy?”
“We’ll talk about it while we eat, okay? You three need to wash up because I’m grilling burgers in a few minutes.”
Myla hopped around the room and squealed. “Yay! Burgers! I love burgers!”
“Good. Go get cleaned up. Scoot!” Kyle barked toward her and she jetted out of the room. “I guess I’m just going to have to break down and let her stay out there if the big kids don’t mind. If that’s okay with you?”
Gina shrugged. “Sure. I don’t care.”
“Hadley and I will have to have a talk.”
“About?”
Kyle snorted. “I don’t want to have to try to explain to my brother why there’s nail polish in the carpet of his insanely expensive RV. They’ll have to be super careful.”
“Ohhhhh, yeah. That would be bad.”
“Yeah. But otherwise, I think it could be good for Myla. They’re all going to have to get along. Might as well start now.”
Myla would be spending the night in the RV with Briley and Hadley. She’d be alone in the house with Kyle. Damn, that idea sounded better and better all the time!
“Can we use the walkie-talkies, Daddy?” Myla had asked, so Kyle had handed her one.
Then he sent her off with Hadley and Briley and watched as she went, the plush frog, Webster, under her arm.
His walkie went on the bedside table, turned on.
Of course, he knew the batteries would die before morning, but he could honestly say he’d put it there just as she’d asked.
Kyle checked out the back door and saw the lights still on in the RV. It occurred to him to tell the kids to go to bed, but what the hell. They were having fun, they were perfectly safe, and they weren’t bothering him or Gina. Let them have a good time, he thought.
But at ten forty-five, as he and Gina were slipping into bed, the walkie-talkie static broke through and a little voice said, “Daddy?”
He grabbed his. “Yeah, baby?”
“I’m tired. I’m going to sleep. But Briley won’t let me have the top bunk. He says it’s too dangerous and I might fall out.”
“Then you listen to him. He’s older and he’s looking out for you, okay?”
There was silence for a few seconds before she said, “Okay. I love you, Daddy. Nitey-nite.”
“Nitey-nite to you too, cupcake. I’ll see you in the morning. Behave.”
“I will. Webster says nite too.”
Kyle smiled as silence returned to the bedroom. When he turned to look toward Gina, he found her smiling too. “Sure you don’t want her to come back inside?” she asked with a grin.
“Nah. She’ll be fine. Now, as for you, missy,” he said as he crawled under the covers, “I want you all to myself. I don’t care if the RV was my idea, it’s getting better all the time.” All he wanted was to hold her, kiss her, make her his all over again.
And he did—over and over. When his hardness pierced her, Gina clung to him like a dying man to a life raft, and he moved inside her with ease.
Everything about her was made for him, and he knew it.
It was right, being with her. Nothing else in his world was as right as that.
Every moment was sacred as they moved together.
They made love like they’d always known each other, and after they’d dozed a bit, they fucked like horny teenagers.
“Am I giving you what you need, babe?” he whispered down to her as he pounded into her.
“All that and more. God, Kyle, you’re so good.
Please, don’t stop,” she murmured back, knees drawn up to her chest to make herself totally available to him.
He loved it, the rawness of their coupling, and he took advantage of it to claim her mightily.
The ecstasy on her face and the way her channel gripped his manhood told him she wanted him in every way, and Kyle was as enthralled with her body as he was with her heart.
“Oh my god, that was good,” she panted out as she finger-combed her hair off her face and lay beside him, his essence still inside her.
“Yeah, it was. We’re good together, don’t you think?”
“No. We’re great together, babe.” She snuggled up beside him and he wrapped an arm around her. “Are you happy?”