Filed to story: Falling for My Ex's Mafia Dad Novel Free PDF (Fay Alden & Kent Lippert)
“God damn it,” he murmurs, his own voice strangled. “You were supposed to let me say that first. And in person, not over a damn phone -“
I burst into laughter at this. “Well, we don’t have a lot of options now, do we?”
A beep comes on the phone. What does that mean?
“Times up,” he murmurs, and I can almost feel him smiling.
“Well!?” I say, a little frantic.
“Don’t worry,” he says, serious. “I love you. Of course I do. And ”
But he can’t finish his sentence. The line goes blank.
Time really is up.
I lower the phone to my lap and just stare at it for a long few moments, a stupid smile on my face.
Because Kent loves me.
I mean, I knew. I think I’ve known since that last night, since he climbed through the wardrobe and slept with me in my little bed.
But…hearing him say it? It’s…absolutely everything to me.
And this plan?
God damn it, this plan is going to work I’m going to make it work.
Because Kent’s right the next time I say that? It’s going to be to his face.
When I take a deep breath and look over at my family, I burst into laughter because they’re all watching me with wide, anxious eyes.
So, I hang up the phone and walk over to them, shaking my head and wiping at the slight dampness beneath my eyes.
“Well, that looked suitably intense,” Daniel murmurs, opening his arm to me and inviting me to come in for a good cuddle, which I accept.
“You could have told me,” I murmur, wanting to sound angry but feeling far too happy for that. “Then I could have had something to say. We talked about…bananas…”
“What!?” Daniel exclaims, laughing. Fiona and Jerome join in.
“I don’t know!” I reply, breaking into laughter myself. “It all happened really fast!”
“Aww, poor baby,” Fiona murmurs, leaning across the bar and smiling at me as she wipes a thumb across my cheek, getting the last of my tears away. “You’ve got it bad, don’t you?”
“She suuuure does,” Jerome says, grinning at me. “I just hope Kent knows how lucky he is.”
“Well,” Fiona says with a sigh, looking around at us. “I have a feeling he’s going to find out in a few short days.”
Before I can ask her if what she says means what I think it means that she’s going to agree to my plan and help us Fiona’s face breaks into a big grin and she waves at someone at the door.
“I want you guys to meet someone,” she says, leaning eagerly forward.
We all turn to see who it is and my mouth drops open a little bit as I take in the man who comes forward and eagerly reaches for my cousin across the bar, instantly claiming her mouth with his own for a good long kiss.
“Um,” I say quietly, glancing over at Daniel and Jerome. “Am I imagining things here or…”
“Nope…” Jerome says, his face just as shocked. “Fiona…clearly has a type.”
Fiona laughs when she hears this, pulling her face away from the man but keeping a hand on his arm as they both turn towards us. “Yeah,” she agrees, wrinkling her nose. “Kinda. Everyone, I want you to meet my boyfriend, Donnie.”
And then she introduces the rest of us around to Donnie, but none of us can peel our eyes off him, except to look back and forth between him and Daniel.
Because this guy? With his dark hair, and his diamond-cut jaw, and his broad, muscled shoulders?
He’s a dead ringer for a Lippert.
“This,” I murmur, catching Jerome’s eye, “…could come in useful.”
“Oh, I can think of many uses for this one,” he murmurs, grinning up into Donnie’s confused face and reaching out a hand. “Hi, I’m Jerome. It is an absolute pleasure to meet you ”
But Daniel just scowls and swats Jerome’s hand away before Donnie can take it. “Enough of that,” he growls, “we’re out of here.” Everyone but Daniel bursts into laughter at his obvious jealousy, except for Donnie, of course, who looks around at us in confusion.
“What did I miss?” Donnie asks, but Fiona just pats him on the arm and tells him not to worry about it.
______________
To my surprise, Daniel sits in the back of the car with me on the way home, letting me rest my head on his shoulder as I close my eyes. He pretends that he’s sitting back here so he can hold a barf bag for me if I need to throw up, but we all know that he’s just being sweet.
Because frankly, I need him close right now, and he’s intuited that. As much as I’d never give up the short minutes I spent talking to Kent today, it certainly took its toll on me emotionally.
I’ve been so good at being focused these past few weeks, at being strict and disciplined and keeping all of my anxieties neatly tucked away. But, as I feared it would, even a short conversation with Kent has me feeling vulnerable, and missing him terribly, and just wanting to crawl into a little ball of fear and grief.
“It’ll be all right, kid,” Daniel murmurs, kissing me on the head.
“I know,” I sigh. “Just a few more days.”
“Just a few more days,” he confirms.
We continue to sit in silence until I feel the car make the final turns which I know signal our approach to the beach house. I open my eyes and then moan a little when I see Ivan’s car in the driveway.
“Do you want me to tell him to go?” Daniel asks, maybe a little too eager. This is an unscheduled visit, after all or at least I think it is. I didn’t bring my phone with me today, so I don’t know if Ivan texted me earlier to ask if he could stop by, which he usually does.
“No,” I sigh, sitting up straight and patting at my dress and hair and turning my face up to Daniel’s. “I can do it. Do I have mascara all under my eyes? Do I look like I’ve been crying?”
“Nope,” he says, taking my chin between his thumb and forefinger and turning it a little in the light of the setting sun to make sure he gets a good look. “You look beautiful, as always.” And then he leans in and gives me a little peck on the lips.
I glare at him as he pulls away, knowing that he waited to do that until we were close enough for Ivan to see.
“What,” Daniel says, glancing out the window as Jerome pulls our car into the driveway and we can both see an angry Ivan waiting there for us. “You’re my wife! I can kiss you if I want.”
I roll my eyes at him. “Don’t mess with the plan, Daniel,” I murmur, reaching for my door. “Your job is to be jealous, not infatuated.”