Page 49 of Scandalous Contract

“I’ll text you in a bit.”

“Alright. Bye, Ronnie,” I ended the call and wiped my eyes again.

India was safe. Hungry. But safe. I took a deep breath and released it slowly. The guilt was still there. It wouldn’t be going anywhere soon. The mere fact that I was sending my child away to enjoy time with a man felt wrong.

But she’s safe, I reminded myself. That only made more tears spring to my eyes. I blinked them back. My phone dinged. I glanced down at the screen and saw a message from Ronnie.

Ronnie:It’s done. She’s about to leave and go out to eat for breakfast. She says she wants some of the money you won at the casino to buy new clothes. And she wants to have a movie night and sleepover with you on Friday and Saturday night. You have the week to yourself. Enjoy it. Call me later, friend.

I reread the part about the sleepover and sighed.My sweet girl really did want to spend time with me.I couldn’t help but smile. The crisis was avoided. I was just waiting for my damn heart to stop racing.

I was acting like I was the teenager and she was the mom or something. Placing the phone back on the nightstand, I headed toward the front door, needing to see if India and her little breakfast club had left already.

As I passed the kitchen, Julian stepped out, still shirtless and unbothered, like he hadn’t just watched me spiral into a full-blown panic a few minutes ago.

“You stayed and ate your breakfast while I was having a panic attack, huh? Didn’t even try to hide, did you?” I asked, shooting him a glare as I kept walking.

He didn’t say a word. Luckily for him, I had more pressing things to worry about. I reached the front door, pressed the side panel button, and watched the outdoor camera feed come to life on the screen.

India and her friends were heading back to a cute little blue Jeep. I stood there, holding my breath until they pulled out of the parking space and drove off. Only then did I exhale and slide down against the door until my butt hit the floor.My bare butt. I’d forgotten to put on panties. Julian appeared in front of me and crouched low, eyes on mine.

“Do I still need to hide, Ms. Adams?” he asked.

This motherfucker got jokes.

Unable to help myself, I burst out laughing, shoulders shaking as the ridiculousness of what just went down hit me. Julian joined in, his deep laugh filling the air. I couldn’t believe I just acted like that in front of him.

More importantly, I couldn’t believe I’d just turned India away.Ugh!I was the worst. I dropped my face into my hands, embarrassed.

“I’m a horrible mother, aren’t I?”

He pulled my hands away from my face and held them. “You’re a great mother. And you deserve to enjoy your spring break. Both of those things can be true at the same time.”

“You think so?” I asked, needing to hear those words.

Sometimes, moms needed to hear that they were doing a good job. Sometimes, we needed to hear that it was okay to have a life outside of our children.

“When I told my parents that my sister wasn’t coming home and was spending the break with her friends instead, they were pissed at first,” Julian told me. “But once I told them I was staying in town in case she needed anything, they calmed down and decided to go to Florida and enjoy themselves. They haven’t called me once to check on their precious daughter.”

I chuckled. “So... the fact that I want to have some fun on my own doesn’t make me a bad mom?”

“Not even close. You’re a great mom. But you’ve been a very bad girl,” he told me, voice becoming deeper.

My eyes widened as he continued.

“You deserve a spanking for trying to hide me.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Me? A spanking? I’m too grown for that. But I do admit that I was kind of a jerk for telling you to hide. I’ll accept my punishment. But it can’t be a spanking.”

“The person who committed the crime doesn’t get to choose their punishment. And just so you know, you’re never too grown for a spanking,” he shot back, then lifted me off the floor like it was nothing.

I yelped, arms flying around his neck as he stood up with me in his arms.

“Julian, don’t drop me!”

“Woman, haven’t you figured it out yet?” His eyes locked on mine. “I’m never letting you go.”

I stared up at him, his words shocking me silent for a few seconds.