Page 13 of Finding Home (Willow Valley #1)

THIRTEEN

CHLOE

A s Lila shows me her room, my eyes keep wandering to Everett.

When he opened the door earlier, I could have sworn he was crying.

The man doesn’t seem to be one to show emotion, so whatever caused it must have been big.

But of course, the big macho man pushed it aside and insisted on showing me around his place.

He stands in the doorway to Lila’s room watching us as she shows me toy after toy and her collection of books.

The whole situation is awkward as hell. Lila is my student and I’ve had sex, and not boring sex but out-of-this-world hot sex, with Everett, and now I’m going to be moving into their place.

I still haven’t wrapped my head around it.

When my phone goes off, I use it as my excuse to leave. I need something to drink as I try to comprehend this all.

As we leave Lila’s room, I catch a peek in the room across the hall with the door cracked.

It looks like Everett’s. The large king-size bed sits in the middle.

Black sheets and a comforter make the bed.

Nothing clutters the night tables, and the room looks clean.

Everett seems like the type of person who hates mess, so it doesn’t surprise me.

When we reach the front door, Lila hugs me and I tell her I’ll see her tomorrow. She runs back inside the house while Everett hovers by the door. He doesn’t say anything, and it has me clearing my throat to break the tension .

“So, I’ll see you tomorrow?” It comes out as more of a question than the statement I had intended, and I think it’s because I want him to confirm that I’ll in fact see him tomorrow.

He nods and takes a step forward. “Yeah. Are you wanting to bring your things over tomorrow after work?”

I’m not sure how quickly I want to move in. Do I wait until closer to when he needs me, or do I move in as soon as possible to get the awkwardness over with?

“Yeah, that sounds good,” I say, not allowing myself to dwell on the thought.

The sooner this weirdness goes away, the better.

I take a step backwards, nodding, and he steps closer.

Being this close to him has my skin feeling electric.

He takes another step closer, and I lean in.

The air is full of some magnet pull, pulling me to Everett, and it takes everything to fight it.

My eyes close for a second, and I swear I feel him inch closer, and my heart flutters at the thought.

Not okay, Chloe. You are not allowed to have this man again. He’s your student’s father and you’re going to be living with him. This would be fraught with small town drama.

I quickly say goodnight before turning on my heel and rushing down the stairs to my car.

After school the following day, I head home and grab my suitcase and packed boxes, loading them into my car before heading over to Everett’s. Pulling up outside his place, I sit in the car and give myself a pep talk.

You’ve got this. You can act like a normal adult and take care of this very hot man’s daughter and live with him and NOT sleep with him again.

You are a strong independent woman who won’t give into temptation.

One last deep breath and then I get out of the car, grabbing my first suitcase and making my way to the front door.

Everett pulls it open before I even have a chance to knock, and my breath freezes in my lungs.

He’s wearing a pair of gym shorts that hang perfectly off his hips with a deep-blue Willow Valley Fire T-shirt that hugs his every muscle and a kitchen towel slung over his shoulder.

My mouth dries as I continue to stare at him, and he smirks and clears his throat.

“Hi,” I finally breath out.

He doesn’t say anything, just reaches for my suitcase and turns into the house, heading towards my room.

“Do you have any more bags?” he asks.

“Yeah. I have a couple suitcases and boxes in my car.”

He nods and leaves the room.

I quickly follow on his heels as he heads to my car.

“I’ve got it,” I call after him, but he ignores me, opening the trunk when he gets there and grabbing my two big suitcases.

Fuck me, the way his muscles move as he hefts them out has me squeezing my thighs.

I immediately think about having him throw me around and how much I enjoyed him taking charge that night.

I shuffle to the back seat and pull out a box before heading back inside and to my new room.

When everything is in my room, Everett says, “Dinner will be done in a few minutes,” before leaving me to get settled.

I keep myself busy, unpacking my favourite bedding and remaking the bed, trying to not think about what Everett looks like as he moves around his kitchen making dinner.

After a few minutes, there’s a knock on my bedroom door, and I pull it open to find Lila on the other side grinning up at me. “Daddy said I could get you for dinner,” she says, and I grin down at her.

“Well, thank you, Miss Lila.”

She turns on her heels and runs into the kitchen. “Daddy, I got Miss M.”

The excitement in her voice has my smile growing.

The smell of garlic and butter fills the house as I follow Lila into the kitchen.

Everett looks at me over his shoulder as he pours a glass of milk and lifts the jug in question, and I nod.

Lila’s sitting at the table in the same spot as last time, swinging her feet.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” I ask, and Everett shakes his head .

I pull out the chair across from Lila and take a seat as Everett drops off glasses for Lila and me before returning with plates of food.

Everett’s plated everything. Chicken breast with barbeque sauce, mashed potatoes, and asparagus.

Lila immediately dives in, and I’m surprised at how she seems to enjoy the asparagus.

My parents fought me tooth and nail to get me to eat it until I was almost a teenager, but Lila seems to love it.

I take a bite of mashed potatoes and immediately moan around my fork. They’re so buttery and have the perfect amount of salt with a little bite from the tiny pieces of green onion chopped into them.

“These are soooo good,” I say, already digging in for another bite.

“Daddy cooks good food,” Lila says.

I nod. “Did you get your cheesy chicken this weekend?”

She shakes her head. “No, I told Daddy I wanted to wait for you.”

My hand pauses with fork half way to my mouth. I feel a little more guilty about not coming for dinner this weekend now. I just needed space before I threw myself into Everett’s proximity every day.

“Thank you,” I finally say, breaking the silence.

“You’re welcome,” she says, as if wanting me to share her favourite meal with her is nothing.

Lila holds most of the chatter as we have dinner, filling her dad in on the day at school. It’s interesting to see how she views our days in class and her interactions with her classmates. This is a view I don’t really get to experience, and it’s nice.

When we finish, Lila carries her plate to the kitchen counter, placing it beside the sink before coming back to the table and bringing her glass to the counter. I follow her lead, clearing my plate and glass, and she clears Everett’s as well.

“Thank you, Peanut,” Everett says, and she smiles at her dad before bounding out of the kitchen.

Lila seems like such an adjusted child for having her life completely uprooted and moved to a new town and now spending so much time with new people.

I can see that Everett strives to provide her with some consistency in all this change, including little things like chores as part of her daily routine. I can respect that.

I rinse the dishes before loading them into the dishwasher and turning to face the dining table where Everett is watching me.

“Thanks for dinner,” I say, drying my hands with a dish towel.

“Of course,” he half grunts.

“I, uh…” I start, not sure where I’m going with my thought but hating the silence.

I’m not feeling like myself right now. I have no idea how I’ve gone from the woman who was getting this man to open up to me a few weeks ago, to now being an awkward ball of nerves around him.

I think I need a good night’s sleep and to act like everything is normal. Fake it till you make it, as they say.

“I should shower and get some sleep,” I say, and he nods. I quickly scurry from the kitchen, heading into my room to pull out my toiletries, towel, and pyjamas before heading into the bathroom down the hall from my room.

As I close the door, I hear Everett tell Lila it’s time to get ready for bed and them make their way up the stairs.

Stepping into the shower, I allow the water to run over me, letting it slowly wash the tension from me.

I’m still tense and need to relax more before I go to bed.

I let my hand snake down my stomach, slowly dragging over my skin until I reach the apex of my thighs.

I bite my lip as my finger grazes over my clit.

I circle it again, stifling my moan as my fingers dip lower to gather my wetness and rub my clit in gentle circles.

I take my time, allowing my orgasm to build, not wanting to rush myself over the edge.

As I feel myself get close and my toes start to curl, I use my free hand to brace myself on the wall of the shower as my teeth dig into my bottom lip.

I’m so close, I feel myself on the edge and I can’t hold back anymore. I release my bottom lip and whisper Everett’s name. It’s soft, barely audible even to me, but as my orgasm takes me over the edge, I call it louder, feeling the shock of my orgasm tear through me.

I sit on the bottom of the shower, working to catch my breath, relaxing as the water washes over me before I finally get up and wash myself off.

I quickly towel off and change into pyjamas before exiting the bathroom where I almost run into Everett.

My cheeks immediately heat as his eyes bore into me, and I worry about if he heard me.

He remains his normal grumpy self and doesn’t say anything, just continues to stare.

I feel a drop of water land from my hair on my chest and slowly fall down my skin, making its way between my breasts, and Everett’s eyes are tracking it.

As it disappears between my breasts, he grunts and turns on his heels, heading back upstairs, and I rush into my room, closing the door behind me and leaning against it.

Holy hell. If it’s already like this after a few hours, how am I supposed to survive months of this? I think I may have gotten myself in over my head when it comes to Everett Lawson.