Filed to story: Falling for My Ex's Mafia Dad Novel Free PDF (Fay Alden & Kent Lippert)
“Okay,” I agree, closing my eyes and finding myself yawning a little bit, realizing that he’s right. Even if my mind is on fire to begin strategizing, my body is ready to sleep.
A few minutes pass and I feel Kent’s breathing soften, hear his heartbeat slow.
But I can’t help myself as my mind continues to turn.
“Kent,” I whisper, nuzzling my face a little against his warm chest. “Can I ask you something?”
“No,” he murmurs, laughing a tired little laugh. “You get six thousand questions each day, Fay, and today, as usual, you’ve used them all up.”
But I smile and press on anyway, ignoring him. “Kent,” I ask, “if Natalia was light and fire, and Lenai was cool distain…what am I?”
“Irritating,” he grumbles. “Loud. Awake, when you should be asleep.”
I laugh, shaking my head, but not really bothered. It wasn’t a fair question anyway. I know that I’ll never be on Lenai’s level can never be. She was his first and only love. As I think it, something twists low in me but I push the feeling away, not letting myself address it.
And then I close my eyes, ready for sleep, and am surprised when Kent raises a hand, bringing it up to gently stroke his fingers down the length of my hair.
“My refuge, Fay,” Kent answers, his words hardly more than a whisper. “You’re peace.”
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The next morning I’m not startled awake as I was before, but instead slowly awoken to the feeling of Kent’s warm hand sliding up my stomach to cup my breast. And, as I stretch a little and turn curiously towards him, I feel Kent’s mouth on mine, gentle and sweet.
“Hey,” I murmur, smiling and turning my body towards him. “No horrible shrieking today?”
“We’ve got about two minutes before that,” Kent replies, his voice still rough with sleep as he takes a deep breath, sliding his hand back down my belly and using the pressure of it to pull me tight against him.
“What?” I ask, confused, still blinking awake.
“It’s 5:58. Alarm’s set for six.”
“What!?” I cry, and then I tilt my head back and groan. “Seriously, Kent? You wake up before your alarm? After five hours of sleep?”
“I almost always wake up before my alarm,” Kent murmurs, burying his face against my neck, dragging kisses along the length of it. “Complete diligence. Like a hawk.”
“You’re more like a bat,” I sigh in response, not making much sense in my half-asleep state as I look anxiously towards the alarm, “I’m starting to suspect that you don’t sleep at all and you just wait for me to fall asleep and then you hang from the ceiling ”
“What?” Kent asks, picking up his head and laughing at me.
“And stare at me all night, obsession in your eyes ”
“You wish,” he mutters, shaking his head at me as he brings his lips back to my shoulder.
“Kent, please,” I beg, still looking anxiously towards the clock, “turn it off before it goes I’m still half asleep ”
“Up!” Kent commands, giving me a smack on my ass that makes me yelp as he obligingly leans over to grab the clock before it goes off. It starts to ring against his hand just as he grabs it and I give a little shriek and cover my ears. Kent just laughs at me, though, tossing the clock aside and pulling me back to him as I turn away from the racket.
“Seriously, Kent,” I moan, tucking my head against him and sighing. “Can’t I sleep? It’s only been five hours…”
“No,” he replies, and I can feel him shake his head even if I can’t see it. “You have to go back to your room before someone notices that you’re missing.”
I groan and wrap my arms around him, defiant and determined not to move. I even lock my legs around his like a little sloth clinging to a tree, which makes him laugh again.
“Come on, Fay,” Kent coaxes gently, nudging me with his nose. “If it were up to me, we’d stay in bed all day. But we have things to do.”
“Yes, but mine are way worse,” I murmur. “I have to go shopping with Natalia.”
Kent chuckles at me, a low and pleasant sound, and I glare at him a little bitterly, my expression clearly communicating glad you’re getting such enjoyment out of this, Kent. He just laughs harder and nudges me with his nose.
“If you’re good,” he whispers, “I’ll send you through the passage with a coffee.”
“Really?” I ask, perking up. Then I blink and sit up all the way. “You have coffee here?”
“I have everything here,” Kent murmurs in reply, sitting up with me and pulling me back against his chest like he doesn’t want to get me go. And I let him, for a moment, trying to decide what I want more…
Coffee? Or a little bit of Kent for breakfast?
“Hey,” I protest, smiling up at Kent as he brushes a thumb against the underside of my breast. “I thought you wanted me to get up?”
“I wanted you to wake up,” he replies, sighing a little contented breath through his nose. “Out of bed is…harder.”
“Fine by me,” I murmur, turning my face up towards his, but Kent sighs and loosens his grip around me.
“No,” he says, shaking his head and groaning as he moves away from me. “I’m already two hours late. If I get started doing what I actually want to do this morning, we won’t make it to breakfast until eight.”
“Fine,” I sigh, watching him get up with a little pout. “But then I demand coffee,” I quip, looking around again for this miraculous coffee machine while I wrap the sheets around my chest, a little cold and not wanting to be quite as naked as I am right now if nothing is going to come of it. “Where is it?”
Kent stands up from the bed and I bite my lip and grin a little as I watch him cross the room in nothing but his tight little boxer briefs. Then, to my surprise, he presses against a little section of the wall that, like the back of my wardrobe, has a hidden magnetic clasp that clicks and then
My mouth drops open a little as the wall spins, revealing a perfect little Italian coffee bar hidden on the other side, complete with an espresso machine, and a tiny fridge with cream, and perfect little white cups
“Oh!” I say, my eyes going wide, completely charmed by it. Before I can think I’m up and moving towards it, clutching Kent’s sheets to my chest and dragging them with me as I hurry over.
“Fay,” Kent sighs, “you’re messing up the whole bed ”
I flick a lightning-fast eye roll his way and then reach out towards the machine, wanting to press all of the little buttons, my mouth watering a little at the thought of a nice espresso to start the morning
“Don’t touch,” Kent scolds, slapping my hand away territorially. I gasp and glare at him but he just laughs, putting a hand on my lower back and nudging me towards the closet. “Go put on something warm, Fay, so you can go back through the tunnel. I’ll make you something for your trip.”
A little chagrined, but not really minding Kent and Daniel’s coffees are always better than mine I do as Kent says and head over to the closet, dropping the sheets on the floor along the way because I know it will both piss Kent off to have his linens on the ground and to give him a look at what he passed up in the name of responsibility. As I pass into the closet and glimpse over my shoulder, I’m rewarded by the sight of Kent groaning and passing a hand down over his face, shaking his head both at my sloppiness and my cute butt.
When I come out a minute or two later, dressed in a Kent-approved pajama set with matching slippers, I’m rewarded by the sight of my delicious coffee waiting in the hands of my very handsome…what? I look up at him consideringly as I walk over to him. My boss? My boyfriend? My lover? I smirk at the thought of the last word, feeling like that’s…too dramatic a term, even though it’s probably the most accurate.
Kent looks at me curiously as he hands me the coffee before shaking his head and looking away. “I don’t even want to know, Fay,” he says, fighting the smile I bring to his face.
“Probably not,” I quip, taking a sip and making a pleased little noise. As I lower the tiny cup to its tiny saucer, Kent puts an arm around my waist and pulls me close, making me tilt my face up to look into his.
“I’ll see you tonight?” he murmurs, his voice soft and dark with promise in a way that makes my stomach twist in anticipation.
“Okay,” I whisper, pleased. “Are you going to be mean to me all day before then?” I ask, tilting my head to the side.