Filed to story: Falling for My Ex's Mafia Dad Novel Free PDF (Fay Alden & Kent Lippert)
My mind flicks to Ivan, suddenly, and how much emotional energy I’ve been putting his way, at how split I’ve been between the two of them…
While all the while, Kent’s been…making space for me. Here. In his super cozy secret lair.
I bite my lip as my smile fades from my lips, as I look seriously at him and consider…well, what that means.
Kent gives me a brash little smile and leans forward, planting a quick kiss on my lips. “Don’t overthink it, Fay,” he says softly when he pulls away, giving me a swift little smack on the ass. I yelp, but it doesn’t hurt luckily, it was the fresh side. “Time to get up.”
He does just that, then, leaving me to sit up and watch him as he moves, naked, to the closet to get dressed. I sigh as he opens the doors and disappears through them. I glance at the clock, then, and blanche at what I see.
“Four!?” I shout towards the closet. “You got me up at four in the morning!?”
Kent’s face, incredibly handsome under his rumpled hair, appears through the doorway again as he frowns at me. “What time did you think I got up?”
“I didn’t think about when you got up, Kent,” I say, glaring at him. “Because this,” I say, gesturing towards the clock, “is unthinkable.”
Kent laughs at me, shaking his head. “I have to get up early, Fay,” he calls to me as he goes back into the closet, “if I have to pick out your wardrobe as well as mine.”
My mouth falls open at that little dig and I’m about to protest that I never asked him to pick out my clothes that he just did it for me
But then I snap my mouth shut. Let him pick out my clothes, I think, giving a little shrug. More sleep for me.
Then, I quickly climb out of the bed and move to the closet, leaning against the door. “Um, Kent?” I ask, watching him button up a white shirt over his undershirt, his boxer briefs curving prettily around the muscled swell of his ass.
“You don’t have to say ‘um, Kent,’ every time you have a question, Fay,” Kent says, turning to glare at me a little. Not glare in a mean way, I realize, and I smile at him. Just a very precise, efficient, Kent sort of glare. “You can just ask without a preamble.”
“Ummmmm,” I say, dragging out the word and leaning more languidly against the door, “Kennnnnnt,” I continue, and he laughs at me, turning away and shaking his head. “Do you mind, actually, if I go up to my room?” I ask. “All my…stuff is there.”
“Sure, Fay,” he says, finishing with his shirt and coming over to me, pulling me close for a second. “I understand. Just, breakfast at 6:30, as usual, yes?”
“Mmhmm,” I say, standing on my tiptoes and lifting my face to his for a kiss. He obliges me, wrapping an arm firmly around my waist and pulling me up against him so tightly that I feel my toes start to lift off the ground. The kiss is a deep, good one, but I’m getting a little squished
So I laugh, and pound my little fists against him, and yell for him to put me down. He does, laughing with me, and then I smile at him and plant a little passing kiss on his shoulder and flit towards the secret door to the office.
“Put your robe on before you go into the house, Fay!” Kent calls after me as I pull open the bookcase door. “I don’t want anyone seeing you as the indecent minx you are.”
“Yes, daddy,” I call back, my voice bored and annoyed like a petulant teenager, knowing that he’ll hate it. Kent’s little snarl in response has me laughing as I pull the bookcase closed behind me. But I stop to pick up my little pink underwear from last night and pull my robe over my shoulders anyway, shoving the panties into the robe’s pocket.
If Kent wants me wrapped up, then wrapped up I’ll be.
Smiling, I untwist the lock and pull the door open, spinning happily through it.
And then, as I turn into the hall, I slam directly into Jerome.
Jerome and I each give a little shout of surprise as I smack bodily into him.I stumble back a few steps, wheeling my arms a little to find my balance. Jerome is there, luckily, catching me by the shoulders and holding me steady.
“Well, Miss Fay,” he says, his voice hardly more than a whisper as he glances towards the office door. “And where were you last night?”
“Nowhere,” I say, smug, shaking my hair back from my shoulders and gathering up my dignity as I find my balance. Jerome releases me, crossing his arms smugly over his chest as he grins at me. “I was just…getting a pen. From the office.”
“Fay,” Jerome says, his face breaking out into a wicked smile. “If you think I don’t know whose bedroom is through the bookcase in that office ”
“What!” I hiss, my face dropping. “Does everyone know the secrets of his house except me!?”
Jerome just laughs, shaking his head. “So, how was he, Fay? Come on. I’m dying to know.”
“Ew,” I say, wrinkling my nose at him. “You’re seriously asking this about your boss?”
“My hot boss,” Jerome whispers, raising his eyebrow at me. “And I’m just asking you’re the one taking action with your maybe-father-in-law ”
My mouth drops open at Jerome’s gall and then I realize something, glancing at the stairs. Jerome he was coming down them. At four in the morning. I don’t actually know where Jerome sleeps, but it’s certainly not in one of Kent’s guest rooms.
“And where were you, Jerome?” I ask, crossing my arms and blinking up innocently at him. “Speaking of taking action within the Lippert family did you happen to see my maybe-fiancé last night?”
“Actually,” Jerome replies, hesitating, his whole demeanor changing as he glances around to make sure we’re alone. Then, making a quick decision, Jerome grabs my hand and pulls me towards the kitchen. Confused but curious, I follow without protest as Jerome pushes open the door and leads me towards the fridge in the empty kitchen.
“What are we doing here?” I whisper.
“Getting orange juice,” Jerome murmurs in reply, dropping my hand to pull the juice out of the fridge and grabbing two clean glasses off of the rack next to the sink. “So that we have a reason why we’re talking, if anyone comes across us. We both just came down here, independently, and happened to be thirsty at the same time. Okay?”
“Ooooookay,” I say, agreeing to it even though I think this story is a little unnecessarily elaborate. Jerome pours me a glass and hands it to me and then begins to whisper to me as he pours his own.
“Actually,” he says, picking up where he left off, “Daniel is really pissed at you.”
“What?” I breathe, looking up at Jerome with wide eyes. “Why?”
“That’s why he called me up to his room last night,” Jerome continues. “He usually doesn’t…I mean, he doesn’t let me come up to his room with him unless he’s feeling a little reckless. He knows we’d both be fucked if we got caught. We usually go to my place, or ”
“Really?” I ask, my eyes still wide, tilting my head to the side. “Where’s your place?”
“Seriously, Fay?” Jerome asks, twisting his lips at me a little. “All of this and that’s what you ask?”
I shrug, still wanting to know. He just rolls his eyes and moves on.
“Listen,” he continues, taking a brisk drink of his juice, “apparently Kent said something to Daniel last night about about knowing. That Daniel is…” Jerome hesitates and looks around the empty room, not even wanting to say it aloud even though it’s just us.
“Really?” I breathe, shocked. Kent hadn’t said anything to me last night about a fight hadn’t even given a hint that there was any discord “Oh my god. I thought he…he hadn’t guessed.”
“I think Kent’s known for a while,” Jerome sighs, shaking his head and looking down at his juice. “But he either didn’t want to face it, or…who knows, Fay. Actually, you probably know him now better than most of us.”
I frown at this, shaking my head a little and thinking that Kent is still an enigma to me. Jerome, oddly, has the most connections in this house that feed him information. I consider this for a moment, realizing that despite Jerome’s boyish, almost golden-retriever personality…that he’s actually kind of a great spy. People trust him without thinking twice about it I mean, I do. Daniel does. And Kent hasn’t kicked him out yet.
I take a deep breath in through my nose, realizing suddenly that even though I’ve written him off a bit, Jerome is kind of a player in this game. Young, not with a lot of power yet, but that he could make moves, if he wanted to.
“What?” Jerome asks, seeing me study him. “What are you thinking?”
“Nothing,” I say, blinking and coming back to the present moment, folding my arms and tucking my glass of orange juice tightly in the crease of my elbow. “So, why are you telling me this? That Daniel called you up because he was pissed, or upset?”
“Because, Fay,” Jerome says, shaking his head a little. “He went to you first.”
My mouth falls open at this news and my stomach sinks with guilt. “He he went to my room?”