11. Flint
Stress prevents me from noticing everyone’s odd behavior at first, my mind on the minor disaster that continues to brew in New York as I saunter into the house. The smell of Cypress Gardens always puts me at ease, the distinction between the New York bustle and the small-town quaintness never escaping my notice.
“Hello?” I call out.
“Flint! You’re home!” Aspen stumbles, hurrying toward me, almost spilling out of her black and white bikini. I stare at her, bewildered for a moment to see her so scantily dressed, but when Caden appears beside her in his swimsuit, I brush off my confusion.
It’s late. Lily’s in bed. Aspen is free to do what she wants with herself, as long as she’s monitoring our girl. And I know she has been.
“Finally, yes,” I concede, flashing her a taut smile and dropping my keys on the kitchen island.
Zoe appears out of nowhere, like always, and Aspen takes a physical step back, her complexion waning at the sight of our housekeeper. She looks as if she’s forgotten Zoe lives there.
Zoe grins at me. “Hey, Flint. You hungry?”
“No,” I sigh. “I ate on the jet. I just want to take a hot shower and go to sleep. How’s everything here?”
I direct my question at Caden. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Pike slinking through the back door and heading toward the front of the house. “Hi, Pike!”
He freezes but doesn’t turn as he gives me a half-wave before hurrying out of the kitchen and out of sight.
“All right. I’m signing off then,” Zoe announces, looking at Aspen and Caden. “Unless you need anything.”
“Nope,” Caden snickers and covers the guffaw with a cough.
Aspen pales more, and suddenly, I smell it in the air. The unmistakable scent of sex lingers between Aspen and Caden.
That’s why Pike hightailed it out of here.
Swallowing a smile of my own, I turn away. Missing out on more fun again, it seems. The damn company is going to be the death of me. Allister is going to kill me if he doesn’t learn to run things on his end.
“Okay, goodnight, gents, lady,” Zoe chirps, disappearing into the garden apartment she shares with Ryan.
“Does that apartment face the pool?” Aspen mumbles to Caden, but I hear the question loud and clear.
I turn around, too tired for her embarrassment right now. “I’m going to bed,” I tell them. “But Aspen, you and I will need to have a discussion in the morning.”
“Okay.” Her eyes widen with worry, like she’s in trouble. “Good night.”
Leaving them on the main floor, I head upstairs, my mental and physical exhaustion wearing me down. But I can’t go to my room until I’ve seen Lily.
As always, she’s kicked off all the covers and lays starfish over the top of her unicorn and frog comforter, tiny toes dangling off the bed.
I collect all her little limbs and put her back under the covers, careful not to wake her as I tuck her in and brush a soft kiss over her forehead.
A part of me wants to collapse in the armchair in the corner of her room, one I’ve passed out in many a night reading to her already. I’ve been gone too long, and I miss her. But she’s asleep, and I don’t want to risk waking her.
Instead, I make it the last few feet to my room and throw open the double doors to my front room. To my utter amazement, Aspen sits there, still in her bikini, blinking innocently at me.
“What are you doing in here?” I growl lightly. “You can’t just come into my room without permission.”
She appears properly reprimanded and rises from the tan armchair, modestly covering herself as she looks away.
“I just wanted to talk to you alone for a minute,” she mumbles. “Never mind.”
“No, wait.” I stop her. She doesn’t deserve to be treated like that. The sight of her, knowing what she has just done with my housemates, ignites a flicker of arousal. And the more I think about it, the harder I get, despite my exhaustion. “What do you want to talk about?”
She stands uncertainly, and I close the doors behind me, gesturing for her to sit again. Perching on the edge of the chair, she cocks her head toward me and peers worriedly at my face. “We’ve barely seen you around since I got here,” she says quietly. “Is that normal?”
“I’m running a business,” I say flatly, removing my jacket. I stride past her in the sitting room toward the bedroom, flicking on the lights. “But I’ve heard from Pike and Caden that things are going well with Lily.”
“They are,” she agrees quickly. “I’m just wondering how things are going with the adoption.”
“I told you we’d talk about that tomorrow,” I remind her, unbuttoning my shirt, a wall between us now as we continue our conversation. “Is something else on your mind?”
She falls silent for a moment, and I finish undressing, slipping into a robe. Every muscle in my body is aching, and I long for that shower.
“Aspen?” My head pokes out around the corner, and she’s risen from her chair, her slender figure standing awkwardly, as if she’s about to flee my bedroom. I stalk back into the sitting room to face her. “What’s really going on?”
“I don’t know,” she breathes, meeting my eyes. “I’m worried about you. You’re gone so much, and you’re supposed to be the face of this adoption.”
All her words rush out, and I place my hands on her shoulders, cutting her off mid-sentence.
“I know I’ve been gone a lot, but I promise tomorrow morning, first thing, we’re going to talk about this—all of it. Okay?”
She exhales. “Are you sure you’re okay? You seem really stressed out. I mean, you’ve been gone for half a month, and when you come back, you barely say two words to us? Something has to be on your mind.”
Is she always this astute?
I force a smile. “It’s just work,” I reassure her. “Nothing I can’t handle.”
“Can I help?”
A wave of affection rushes over me. “It will come to pass like it always does,” I promise.
For a moment, we merely stare at one another, her lips so close, so accessible, but I turn my head away first. There’s just no energy tonight. I sense her disappointment as my arms fall away from her shoulders.
“I’ll see you at breakfast?”
“Sure.”
“Sweet dreams.” She smiles tautly and heads toward the door, casting me a last look as if she expects me to call her back, but I don’t. Not tonight.
* * *
“Papa Flint! You’re home!”
Lily flies out of her chair to embrace me when I enter the kitchen. The comingling of bacon and pancakes reaches my nose, and I scoop up the little girl and rain kisses on her cheeks, making her giggle.
“Of course I’m home, darling,” I tell her, my eyes falling on the rest of my makeshift family. “Don’t I always come home?”
Caden is conspicuously absent, but that’s not surprising for the early hour of the morning. He’s a plastic surgeon focusing mainly on cosmetic procedures, so he maintains a good work-life balance, often setting his own hours. His trust fund not only funded the opening of his own practice but also set him up financially for life. He has a team at his medical practice that handles most of the day-to-day tasks.
Pike sketches furiously, a cup of coffee still steaming in front of him as he sits detached from the table on the island. Zoe zooms around the kitchen, flipping the pancakes on the stove and checking on the bacon, pausing only to give me a welcoming grin as I deposit Lily back onto her feet.
The girl runs back to Aspen’s side, and my gaze lingers on her, even though she is busying herself with cutting up Lily’s food.
“Good morning, Aspen,” I say.
“Morning,” she chirps without looking up. I take a seat directly in front of her.
“Are you ready to talk now?”
Her head jerks up at the unexpected question, and she blinks once, glancing over at Lily.
“I mean after breakfast,” I add. “Pike, you can entertain Lily for half an hour, can’t you?”
He doesn’t answer, his hands still working wildly, and I realize he hasn’t heard me, his mind fully consumed in his work. “Hey! Pike!”
He stops and frowns slightly. “Hm?”
“Can you watch Lily for thirty minutes after breakfast? I need to discuss some business with Aspen.”
Pike’s eyes narrow, but he doesn’t refuse.
“I’ll fill you in later,” I add, watching his eyes return to their normal blue orbs. For all his hermit-like characteristics, Pike doesn’t enjoy being kept in the dark.
“Pancakes, Flint?” Zoe asks pleasantly, setting a cup of coffee in front of me.
I shake my head. “Coffee will do.”
“You should eat something,” Aspen blurts out. “You look like you’ve been losing weight.”
Zoe pauses, her blonde eyebrow rising in bemusement as she waits for me to react.
Once again, Aspen’s attention to detail surprises me, and I’m touched. The chaos in New York caused me to lose a few pounds, my days comprising managing builders and appeasing investors. The meetings and phone calls hardly left any time for meals, many of which I’ve regrettably skipped. But I wouldn’t expect the nanny to have noticed that.
“Fine,” I agree, shocking the housekeeper, who wisely says nothing. “Maybe a pancake.”
“You should have two pancakes, Papa Flint. Then you can have a pancake sandwich,” Lily suggests.
“That’s a great idea, sweetheart!” Aspen agrees. “A pancake sandwich.”
Pike snorts lightly, but I insist on one, and I tell Zoe to bring it into my study as I rise from the table with my coffee.
“Shall we?” I ask Aspen, glancing toward the hallway.
“Now?” she sounds surprised.
“I have work to do,” I remind her gently. “Yes, now.”
Her beautiful face darkens, but she stands, ruffling Lily’s loose waves as she steps away from the table.
“I’ll be back soon, Lil Bear,” she promises.
“I’ll be Big Bear until you come back,” Lily responds.
“Then take it easy on Papa Pike,” Aspen teases, following me out into the hallway.
“Big Bear?” I question when we’re out of earshot.
Aspen shrugs. “It’s just a game we play. She’s Lil Bear, and I’m Big Bear. We go on bear adventures.” A smile quirks at my lips, and Aspen sees it. “It’s no different from the teddy bear picnics, really.”
I snicker and open the door to my office. “The things we do to amuse that kid.”
“She’s worth it.”
I eye her over my shoulder as I make my way around the desk and sit, chucking my chin in agreement. “Yes. She is.”
Aspen sits in one of the overstuffed chairs in front of me and waits. I can’t see her hands, but I can tell she is fiddling with them as she does when she’s nervous.
“You don’t have to be nervous, Aspen. It’s just me,” I assure her. “Are you this uneasy around Pike and Caden?”
She scowls lightly. “I see Caden and Pike every day, Flint. I’ve barely seen you three full days since I got here,” she asserts. There’s that fire I remember. It’s already turning me on, energizing me more than coffee ever could.
I sit back in my chair and grin at her. “Well, if you can tolerate them, you’ll have no issue with me,” I joke. Her shoulders relax. “You asked about the adoption last night.”
She nods. “Caden said that there’s been some movement, but he’s been vague.”
I don’t know how I feel about Caden being so open with the details I’ve given him. “Julian has put the adoption application through, and we’ll be getting a visit from the state, eventually. But knowing the bureaucracy, it could take weeks, if not months.”
“Okay, but what am I supposed to say, exactly?” she asks nervously.
I sit forward and log into the computer. “I’ve been working on some of the finer details, some things they might touch on that you should know, inside and out.”
She stares at me blankly. “Like what?”
“I’ll email you what I’ve come up with, but they’re mostly pertaining to Lily. Her likes and dislikes. Her bedtime—things of that nature. They’ll want to know how well you really know her.”
“I don’t need an email for that—” she argues, but I hold up a hand.
“As good as you are with her, you don’t know everything yet, Aspen.”
“Understood,” she breathes, relenting, and I’m glad she’s not fighting me on this. “What about Caden and Pike?”
My brow creases. “What about them?”
“Will it matter that they live here, too?”
“They were named guardians on Ryker and Alexandra’s will, too,” he reminds me. “The state already knows they live here.”
“Ah, that makes sense,” Aspen agrees. “But will the state make them give up their rights to her?”
I ponder the idea for a moment. I hadn’t thought of it, honestly, but she’s right.
“We’ve already established that I’m going to be the one adopting Lily,” I say firmly. “They will do anything to keep that child happy, safe, and with us. When I adopt her, they both know that they will still be in her life as much as they want to be, and will have an equal say in raising her.”