Filed to story: Falling for My Ex's Mafia Dad Novel Free PDF (Fay Alden & Kent Lippert)
Jerome opens his mouth to answer, but I interrupt, grabbing Ivan’s hand.
“Come on,” I say, tugging him inward towards the stalls. “Come meet Heathcliff.”
Ivan grins at me and lets himself be lead along. When we arrive at Heathcliff’s stall I drop Ivan’s hand to unlock the bolt, but when I turn to invite Ivan to come in I am surprised to see him standing right where I left him about five feet away, in the middle of the aisle.
“Come inside,” I say, gesturing for him to come forward.
“I’m good,” Ivan says, grinning at me and holding up a hand. “I am…close enough out here.”
“What?” I breathe, and then I laugh as I figure out that Ivan is afraid. My eyes flick to Jerome, who stops about ten feet behind Ivan and he realizes it at the same moment that I do. “Oh my god,” I laugh, coming out of the stall towards Ivan. “You ”
“Um,” Ivan says, taking a step back and watching the dark stall warily. “Do you want to shut that door ”
“Ivan!” I laugh, grabbing his hand. “It’s fine! He’s a big softie ”
Ivan shifts his weight back into his heels and grimaces, actively resisting my pull. “Seriously, Fay,” he says, all pretense dropping. “I am amazing out there I can see him, he’s so pretty! But I am…good, admiring from afar.”
“Oh my god,” I laugh, rolling my eyes and tugging harder until Ivan gives in and stumbles forward a few steps. “Big mafia boss,” I murmur, looking at him with a little vicious glee as I lead him to the entrance to the stall door, “afraid of the world’s nicest horse.”
And then I drop his hand as I go in to pet Heathcliff, who nickers and nudges me eagerly with his nose, knowing I’ve got sugar cubes in my pocket. “Come in,” I say to Ivan, rubbing a hand up and down Heathcliff’s nose to give him a little scratch and then moving to stand at his side, idly stroking his soft neck. “Seriously, he’s very gentle.”
Ivan sighs and then warily steps into the stall, looking at Heathcliff like he’s a bomb about to explode. “He’s just a very large animal, Fay,” Ivan mutters, crossing his arms and looking intensely uncomfortable. “The biggest animals I’m used to are…cats. Maybe squirrels. Chipmunks.”
“Brunettes,” I murmur, my eyes a little cruel as I smirk at him. His eyes flash from the horse to me, and I see a smirk come back on his face a little bit.
“Sure,” he says, quiet. “I can handle a Brunette or two. Though I prefer a redhead.”
I can’t help the little smile that curls my lips. “Heathcliff’s a redhead,” I say, nodding to my horse. “And you’ve only been rude to him, when the whole point of today was for you to come and meet him.”
“Really, Fay,” Ivan says, his voice dry. “That was the whole point of today? To meet Heathcliff?”
“Sure,” I answer, taking a step closer to him, holding his gaze. And then there’s just a long moment of silence where we just…look at each other.
And the tension between us builds and builds.
My smile grows a little when Ivan’s the one to break it.
“Fay,” he breathes, taking a step closer to me, his mouth falling open with my name on his lips.
But before he can do anything else, I hold up a finger between us, making him go still.
“Jerome?” I call, and there’s a silent pause before I hear Jerome sigh and see him step into sight right outside the stall door. He was lurking there, I knew. Spying. Making sure I behaved.
“What, Fay,” Jerome answers, his arms crossed over his chest as he stares at me from the door to the stall.
“Can you go get my phone?” I ask, blinking innocently at him. “I think I left it in the car.”
“Fay,” he growls, shaking his head at me.
“Go get my phone, Jerome,” I snap, returning his glare. And then he sighs and, muttering something about trouble, stalks away from the stall and back towards the parking lot.
I’m smiling then as I turn back to Ivan, who instantly closes the distance between us. “Look at you, Fay,” he says, standing over me now, so close that I can feel the warmth his body gives off. “Coming into your own little mafia wife status, aren’t you?”
“It looks good on me, doesn’t it?” I whisper, earning a little laugh, which makes me smile.
And then I see Ivan’s hands twitch, as if he wants to put them on me, but he doesn’t, and I bite my lip, wondering if I want him to.
“Why am I here, Fay?” he asks, his voice softer than I usually hear it.
“Why do you want to be here, Ivan?” I whisper back.
“Stop fucking with me, Fay,” he snaps, his voice still low as he looks back towards the door, back towards where Jerome disappeared. “Do you want me to take you out of here? Get you away from them?”
“No,” I answer softly, instantly, blinking as I realize that that’s why Ivan thought I called him here today. And it’s the truth I do not want to be taken away. I just I just wanted to talk
“Fuck,” Ivan snaps, turning away from me, frustrated. “Fuck, Fay! Why are you being so stupid?!”
“I’m being stupid?!” I gasp, honestly a little hurt by it.
“Yes!” he hisses, coming back and grabbing me by the shoulders, leaning down to look directly in my eyes. “Yes, Fay, you’re being a real god damn idiot by not getting out of there now! This is going down! How many times do I have to tell you you could be killed!”
“What?” I gasp, shocked by it. I mean I knew he told me to get out of the house but he never said killed
“Are you hearing me now?!” he asks, almost shouting now as he shakes me again. “Why are you even staying there? What’s holding you back?”
“Daniel,” I say, the rehearsed answer instantly on my lips. “He’s my fiancé. I I love him!” But my words fade away at the end, because I can see in Ivan’s face that the lie isn’t working.
Ivan just stares at me for a moment in disbelief and then he drops his hands from my shoulders, standing up straight to tower over me again, shaking his head from side to side. “Seriously, Fay?” he says, his words rich with irony. “You seriously want me to believe that it’s Daniel, you’re in love with? Daniel keeping you in that house?”
And then, as I stare up at Ivan, my mouth falls open because…
I don’t know how I know it, or he knows it, but Ivan knows.
He knows that it’s not my affection for Daniel keeping me in the house.
And he knows that it’s Kent.
“How,” I whisper, frozen, staring up at Ivan. “How did you know…”
And then his face falls as I basically admit it this thing that he’s thinking, that he’s figured out. And I can see that I’ve really, really hurt him.
“Fuck you, Fay,” Ivan whispers, his voice harsh with hate. “Fuck you for picking that old, dead man over me. He’s fucked, Fay,” he shakes his head now as he stares at me like his heart is broken. “And I told you that, and offered you everything. And you picked him anyway.”
And I reach out for him, desperately unhappy at his words and to see him so hurt and at first he swats my hand away but then
Then Ivan grabs me.
And he wraps one hand around my waist, and buries the other in my hair, and pulls me against him, and kisses me like a drowning man. Like I’m the gasp of air he’ll ever breathe.
I’m completely surprised by it, and swept away, and confused