Page 14 of Finding Home (Willow Valley #1)
FOURTEEN
EVERETT
I ’m a fucking idiot.
How the hell did I think I could move the gorgeous and sexy Chloe Maxwell into my house and not spend every second wanting to feel her wrapped around my cock again?
My hand can’t compare to the way it felt to have her mouth wrapped around my cock as she sucked me off, or the way her pussy convulsed around me as she came.
I’ve fucked my fist nearly every night since then, but it’s not the same.
It barely takes the edge off, and I know one of these day’s I’m going to snap.
Seeing her come out of the bathroom in those little pyjamas that left little to the imagination after I swore I heard her call my name during an orgasm and then watching that water droplet trail down her chest, I nearly lost it then.
I went downstairs to say goodnight, and I couldn’t even manage a grunt at her before hauling ass upstairs to jerk off in the shower.
After my shower, I climb into bed and grab my book, knowing it’s going to be some time before I can finally fall asleep.
I’m up before my alarm in the morning and head downstairs to make coffee before I need to wake up Lila and make her breakfast before school.
The pot is going and I’m grabbing a glass when I hear Chloe’s sharp intake of breath and look over my shoulder.
Her eyes are wide as she stares at me, an arm wrapped around her middle as she uses the other to rub at her eyes.
“Morning,” I grunt.
“Morning,” she whispers.
The coffee finishes, and I pour some into the cup in my hand before passing it to her and grabbing another cup and pouring one for myself. I lean against the counter, sipping my coffee as I watch Chloe make her way around my kitchen, grabbing the sugar and milk and pouring it into her coffee.
She looks good in my kitchen, and I hate that I think that. As much as I can acknowledge Chloe is gorgeous and we had an amazing night together, I know I don’t have the space or time in my life for a relationship.
“I’m going to make Lila breakfast, would you like some?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “I’m just going to have some toast and head in.”
I nod and pull a loaf of bread out of the cupboard for her.
She smiles at me as she pops a couple pieces in the toaster and quickly heads back to her room, leaving her coffee on the counter.
When the toaster pops, I add some butter to it for her and plate it, topping her coffee up and adding milk and sugar the way she did.
She comes out dressed in a pair of jeans that hug her perfect legs and ass and a T-shirt that reads I love books .
I hand her the plate of toast, and she smiles at me, saying, “Thank you,” before taking it and her coffee cup to the table.
When she looks down at the coffee, I see the way she hides her grin and something about it has my chest warming.
I push the feeling aside and head upstairs to wake Lila up. She wakes up easily, excitedly asking if Miss M is here. She rushes downstairs and into the kitchen calling, “Good morning.”
Chloe responds in her chipper voice, “Good morning, Miss Lila. How’d you sleep? ”
“Super good. Daddy’s really good at tucking me in and telling me a story.”
I hear Chloe’s smile rather than see it as she says, “Is he? My daddy was really good at that, too.”
“Really?” Lila asks.
“Yup. Tucked me in every night.”
I step into the kitchen at that moment, and Chloe looks at me over Lila’s head, her eyes quickly darting away before they return to Lila.
“I should head into work. I’ll see you in a bit,” she says, leaving the table and heading down the hall.
“We doing cereal or pancakes this morning, Peanut?” I ask Lila, needing to move on from Chloe and Lila’s interaction that had parts of my heart warming.
“Pancakes,” Lila cheers, and I get to work. She sits at the table, colouring as she fully wakes up. I’ve learned she needs some time before I feed her in the morning to fully wake up. She’ll sit at the table and colour or play with a toy, sometimes talking to me as I cook breakfast.
I place a plate of pancakes with a scrambled egg and bacon in front of her, and she digs in. I join her, and we eat breakfast before I help her get ready for school.
Dropping her off this morning is weird. It’s not like it’s the first time I’m seeing Chloe this morning, in fact, I got to see her first thing in the morning, still wearing pyjamas, and trying to reconcile that with the professional her is harder than I thought it would be.
When she spots Lila and me, she smiles and walks over to us. Lila hugs her before running to join her friends.
“I forgot to mention before I left that I won’t be home for dinner,” she says.
I’m not sure what about that has a pit forming in my stomach. The way she calls my place home or the fact she won’t be there for dinner tonight.
“All good,” I grunt, and her smile fades slightly.
“I just had plans with my parents,” she says, and I stare at her.
“Chloe, you don’t have to explain yourself to me. I’m not your keeper. I appreciate the heads up. You have a key to get in when you come home.”
She nods, holding my gaze for a few seconds. “I’ve got to get these kids ready for class, I’ll see you when you pick up Lila.”
I nod and turn to leave the classroom. I head straight to Grandma’s place. I need to let her know I have a solution for when she has her surgery and starts treatment. I also have the instinct that I need to spend as much time with her as I can.
I pull up in front of her place and let myself in, finding her sitting in her chair with her most recent knitting project as one of her soap operas plays on the TV.
She smiles up at me, and I place a kiss on her cheek as she asks, “What are you doing here?”
I sit on the couch and say, “I wanted to let you know I found someone to watch Lila starting when you go for surgery.”
She raises her brow and opens her mouth to argue with me, likely going to say that she’ll be perfectly capable of watching Lila, but I shake my head.
“No, don’t even try it,” I say. “You’re going to need help, and I’m here to do as much as I can for you, and I appreciate that you’ve been helping with Lila.
She’s grown attached to you, and I’m glad you two are getting that relationship, because God knows Mom won’t even try.
Chloe Maxwell is going to start watching Lila when I’m on shift.
She’s agreed to bring Lila over here to spend time with you and help out where needed, but she’s going to be making sure she gets to and from school. ”
Grandma raises a brow in intrigue. “Chloe Maxwell?”
I nod. Grandma knows me and knows that asking questions won’t get anything out of me, but if she stares me down the right way, I’ll crack. She’s the only person who can, or she was, until Chloe.
I grip the back of my neck. “She’s moved into the spare room in my place. She needed a place to stay now that the son of the owner of her place has moved back to town.”
“Beau Thomas,” she says. “That boy’s been gone for a long time, it’s about time he got his ass back. That poor girl and his mom. ”
The idea that “that poor girl” could be Chloe is like stab to the gut. “Girl?” I ask, needing to know.
Grandma just waves me off. “I know he felt like he needed to enlist, but he left people who care about him behind.”
I immediately think about the way Chloe hugged him outside Incahoots that day.
“Chloe Maxwell’s a good girl,” Grandma says before my thoughts can wander down that path any more. “Don’t go being an asshole to her.”
I stare at her slack-jawed.
“Don’t try and fool your grandmother. I know you, I know how you can be. You probably grunt at her more than you use words. That girl is pure sunshine, don’t you go dampening that.”
“I know,” I practically growl. I don’t need to be fucking told that Chloe is everything good in this world.
I know I should probably not be grunting at her as much as I do, but I’m not sure I can let her in.
If I let my walls down and let her in, I think she could actually destroy me from the inside out.
Grandma points at me. “You may be a grown man, Everett Lawson, but watch yourself.”
“Sorry,” I mumble, and she smiles.
“Why don’t you stay and watch some TV with me,” she says, and I settle deeper into the couch. I have no idea what’s happening in her show, but I stay and watch even as a new one comes on afterwards. I make us lunch and spend the day with her until it’s time to pick up Lila.