Page 10 of Daring Wicked Love (Wicked Dade #2)

Despite the fact that I knew it was coming, the court summons letter was still a punch to the gut.

Both Penelope and Orla were fast asleep upstairs when I’d gotten home after midnight. The house was completely silent, and, unable to go straight to bed, I found the court letter sitting on the kitchen island, buried beneath a couple of unimportant pieces of mail.

This was it. Now or never.

In two weeks, I was going to have to stand before a judge and fight as if my life depended on it.

Correction — my life did depend on it.

Yanking the tie from around my neck, I grabbed a bottle of scotch and poured myself a hearty glass.

Putain, I needed to win because I refused to even entertain the thought of my life without my daughter.

Sitting at the kitchen island, I grabbed my laptop and opened every piece of document my lawyer had sent me regarding the hearing.

I narrowly avoided doing this a year ago when Maura threatened me with the same fight. Except Maura’s motive for threatening me with court was solely financial, as it always was.

Handing my ex-wife an extra five thousand a month for child support stopped her from taking me to court. It was easier to hand over the money than fight her tooth and nail, especially when the voice inside my head kept telling me that the risk of fighting her was too much.

Not anymore.

This time, it was different.

This time, I wasn’t willing to compromise with her.

Maura was always going to take and take until she was ready to burst like the blood-sucking parasite she was, and it was about time I squashed her for good.

Knocking back the scotch, I read over the latest information regarding Maura’s change in lawyer. It would seem her new living, breathing bank machine had put her in contact with Nathan Hawthorne.

He was the crème de la crème of lawyers, considering the price tag that came attached to him, he needed to be. He was infamously known to be ruthless, a tyrant in the courtroom who rarely lost a case. However, he was a criminal defense lawyer, not exactly what was needed for a civil family case.

Although my own lawyer assured me it was not a concern, the pinching unease settling between my ribs said otherwise.

I was so focused on emailing Stefan Ryans, another blood-sucking parasite who had his uses, I didn’t notice I was no longer alone until the aroma of daisies chased away the heaviness of my scotch.

“Oh shit, I didn’t realize you were in here,” Orla said.

This woman, this little pixie, was seriously testing my physical restraint. She stood barefoot in the kitchen doorway in nothing but an oversized, paint-stained Vibe Killers band T-shirt.

Her silhouette against the backdrop of the light was heart-stopping.

Blood rushed violently to places it shouldn’t, while my mind took a detour down a path it didn’t belong. Was she wearing shorts or underwear beneath her top? Or was she completely bare? Her soft, warm cunt just waiting to be touched, to be kissed and licked.

My headache pulsed in time with my aching cock.

First the swimming pool, now this — I needed to find a way to blow off some steam, maybe renew my gym membership because my own hand wasn’t cutting it anymore.

I grasped my glass tighter and willed myself to think of anything other than my daughter’s nanny and what délices lay under her minimal clothing.

Orla cleared her throat. “I’m going back to bed. Sorry I disturbed you.”

“Did I wake you?”

She shook her head. “I couldn’t sleep. I’ve been tossing and turning for hours. I thought I’d come down and make myself some hot chocolate to help.”

“Hot chocolate?” I cocked a brow. “Surely something so full of sugar would have the opposite desired effect?”

“Not the way I make them.” She tapped the side of her nose. “Super-secret ingredient that works every time.”

I turned to focus back on my laptop, staring at the blaring words on the screen. Whatever it took to stop myself from gawking at the blonde and her full, curvy naked legs hovering in the doorway.

Skimming over the files my lawyer attached, I noticed one containing the results from the paternity test I forced Maura into. It wasn’t the proudest moment of my life, but a necessary evil given Maura’s record of fucking anything with a pulse and cock while married to me.

Not that the test was really needed. Penelope was physically the perfect blend of me and her mother.

Though I hoped to God she didn’t take on much else from Maura other than her looks.

I didn’t need to look up to know Orla’s eyes were fixated on me. My skin itched as I felt her studying me, her grey hues tracking every movement as if she were analyzing a lab rat trapped in a maze.

“Are you waiting for permission to come in, or are you simply enjoying the view?”

Orla froze like a deer caught in the headlights, her cheeks flushing deep scarlet. “That’s not what… Maybe it’s better if I leave you alone. Goodnight.”

“Wait.”

There was no logical reason why I stood, draining the dregs from my glass, and walked to the cabinets near the fridge. Grabbing the tub of hot chocolate powder, I didn’t bother trying to avert my eyes as I walked toward her.

My fingertips tingled from the memory of her soft wet skin, and the way her hips slotted into my hands so damn perfectly.

Her spine straightened, and her throat bobbed as I handed the tub to her. “Thank you.”

“Am I allowed to stay here while you make it?” I asked. “Or am I not trusted enough to see what your secret ingredient is?”

A smile that seized my lungs lit up her face. “I guess I can trust you.”

“ Merci. ”

“But if you so much as tell another soul, then I will be forced to kill you.”

Not bothering to swallow my chuckle, I went back to my laptop. “My lips are sealed.”

Orla practically skipped around the kitchen, humming under her breath as she gathered milk, mini marshmallows, whipped cream, and her no longer secret ingredient from the drinks cabinet — Irish cream liqueur.

Who was I to judge as I poured myself another scotch?

Attempting and failing to ignore Orla, my attention was reluctantly drawn away from the pixie lighting up my kitchen by a new email from my lawyer.

It was nearly one in the morning, which meant it was going to be anything but good news.

Twisting the ring on my finger, I mulled over Maura’s latest bullshit and willed myself to stay calm.

Going to court, fighting her was always going to be painful. My main priority was and always was going to be Penelope. As much as I wanted full custody and to never look at or speak to Maura again, I knew it wasn’t fair to our child.

She needed her mother, no matter how much that killed me to admit.

I simply wanted a judge on my side to ensure I had rightful access to my daughter.

Fifty percent custody, no less than that.

Maura , on the other hand, wanted one hundred percent. She was fighting back with venom and wanted to rip Penelope from my life completely.

And the real kick in the fucking balls? She was going to use my absence for the first two years of Penelope’s life to argue in her favor.

I slammed my laptop shut, unable to read anymore.

If she wins…

Orla slid onto the stool beside me, placing two hot chocolates on the table. “You look like you need one too.”

Silence filled the room as all I could focus on was the tightness coiling around my ribcage and setting my lungs on fire.

The ring on my finger rubbed against my flesh again and again, the scotch coming back tenfold into my mouth, and the unwelcome voice slithered its way between my ears and started to work its evil.

She’s going to leave you, just like everyone else. You’ll be utterly and entirely alone, and it’s all your fault.

“When I was a child, someone once told me that hot chocolate could cure anything.” Orla’s voice fought through my inner demons. “She said that no matter how bumpy the path seemed to be, a cup of this stuff had a way to smooth it all out.”

Inhaling slowly, I forced myself to focus on Orla’s words.

“Whenever I used to have a nightmare or I couldn’t sleep, I would sneak down to the kitchen. Had to be really quiet not to wake the others. But once I was down there, we’d have a cup of hot chocolate together and everything during that moment was…peaceful.”

“I doubt it’s going to be able to help me right now.”

“Maybe not, but you won’t know until you give it a try.”

I slowly reached for the cup. “You were drinking this stuff when you were a kid?”

“Not the alcohol part, obviously. I added that super-secret ingredient later when I didn’t have any milk one night and used the liqueur as a substitute.”

“I see.”

“Did you really think an adult would have given a child one of these?” She popped a mini marshmallow into her mouth. “Pretty sure that goes against every parenting textbook out there. Rule number one, don’t get children drunk.”

“Considering how much you talk now, I can only imagine you as a child. Perhaps your mother learned that slipping you some alcohol was the only way to shut you up.”

I meant for my tone to be teasing and light. But as Orla stilled, her fingers hovering over the obscene dollop of whipped cream trickling over the side of her mug, I silently wished I had kept my mouth shut.

No matter how hard I tried, my demons always found a way to slither out and hurt those around me.

Silence around Orla was something I wasn’t accustomed to. Strange to think that her never-ending talking made me uncomfortable, because right now, sitting beside her in utter silence was a new level of hell.

Taking a mouthful of the hot chocolate, I tried not to wretch at the taste.

“I never met my mother,” Orla said suddenly, causing the drink to catch in my throat. “Wow, are you okay?”

I waved her off, despite my lungs filling with the warm drink, trying to drown me.

“The hot chocolate in the middle of the night was in my last foster home,” she said slowly after I stopped coughing up a lung. “The woman fostering me, Grainne, was the one who used to make it for me when I was having a tough night.”

“Ah, I see.”

“We’d sit up, just the two of us, after all the other children went to sleep and drink it while trying to count the stars in the sky.

Sounds easy, right? Wrong. Ireland always rains, even in the summer.

Trying to see stars is difficult most nights, but it didn’t stop us because on a clear night it was worth it. ”

I was at a loss for words.

“They were good nights.” She smiled to herself. “I think that’s why the hot chocolate always stuck with me. It reminds me of those long, sleepless nights. It helps me find some comfort and lulls me to sleep.”

The sheer raw honesty pouring out from her was too much for me to process.

Watching her take a sip, there was no hiding away from the hint of pink on her cheeks, the hum gathering in her throat, and the way her very body relaxed.

“I’m sorry,” I finally spoke. “About your mother, that mustn’t have been easy.”

“Honestly, I never really thought what my life would have been like if she’d have been part of it. I guess you can’t miss what you never really had.”

Was she right? Because if she were, taking Penelope away from either me or Maura was going to destroy her.

No matter how petty our feelings were, no matter how much we hated each other, Penelope needed us both.

I lifted the mug to my lips.

“What do you think?” Orla turned, her bare knees grazing my thigh. “I know it isn’t going to solve all your problems, but at least it tastes freaking amazing, right?”

Maybe it was the scotch mixing with the Irish liqueur, or maybe it was catching a glimpse of her vulnerability beneath her sunny exterior. Whatever it was made me take another mouthful of hot chocolate and nod.

“It’s good,” I lied.

Truthfully, I loathed chocolate.

But I didn’t dislike the way my mind emptied itself of everything when Orla smiled up at me as if we were the only two people awake in the whole world drinking a couple of hot chocolates.