Filed to story: Falling for My Ex's Mafia Dad Novel Free PDF (Fay Alden & Kent Lippert)
I glance back at the box then and marvel again at the last gift a pair of the most delicate white moccasins I’ve seen with fur lining the inside and the most incredible beadwork on the top. I line these treasures up on the bed and take a moment to stare at them, a finger curled on my chin, curious.
This was…well, it was still lingerie, I supposed. But it was not anything like the lace teddy he sent me the first night, or the corset he made me wear yesterday, which were each designed to intimidate me. This collection, alternately…
Well, it seems like Kent really wants me to be comfortable. I feel a little twinge inside me at the…well, the sweetness of that sentiment. I have to admit myself shocked and surprised.
I turn this all over as I carry my new clothes into the bathroom, tying my hair into a knot so that I can take a quick shower without getting my hair wet. What did it all mean? Was he…not going to ask me to go to the third floor with him tonight? Did he want something…different?
As I step out of the shower and towel myself off, I wonder what new challenge Kent is setting up for me. How are we supposed to play cat and mouse when the cat is…being really cute? And perhaps even trying to romance the mouse?
I admit I feel some anxiety at this change as I slip the silky pajamas onto my body and pull the chillingly-soft robe over my arms. I’m still marveling at the luxurious comfort when a knock comes at the door.
I pull the moccasins onto my feet and move slowly towards the sound, not really knowing how to feel about it all. The cruel, controlled Kent I know how to handle. But this Kent…
I pull the door open, curious to face him, but then blink in surprise when I see Daniel standing there.
“Oh,” I say, my eyes wide as I look up at him. “Daniel.”
He smirks, leaning against my doorframe with a basket full of supplies in his arms. “What. Expecting someone else?”
I laugh a little and look down at the basket, filled with popcorn and movie supplies. “What are you doing here?”
“Movie night,” he reminds me, perhaps a little too cheerfully. Then he looks beyond me, expectant. “Can I come in?”
I bite my lip, not really knowing how to say “no, thank you, please go away, your dad I think wants to take my virginity tonight and be quite nice about it.” But Daniel doesn’t wait for my reply anyway, pushing past me.
“I was thinking some 90’s classics tonight,” he says, looking at me with a grin as he settles onto my bed. “Start with Clueless?”
“Sure,” I say, giving him a smile and leaning on the wall as I watch him pull his laptop from the basket and open it so that we can watch the movie in here. After a few moments, Daniel notices me watching him from the open doorway, and pauses his action.
“I’m trying, Fay,” he says quietly, looking at me gently. “I still want this.”
“Why?” I breathe, shaking my head, not understanding him. “Daniel, you don’t even like me and what about Jerome, shouldn’t you be on this date with him?”
Daniel purses his lip and looks at the door, as if Jerome will show up in the hallway at any moment. “I have to marry someone, Fay. And in this world, it can’t be a man.” He shifts his gaze to mine. “I want it to be you I care about you in my own way. Won’t you please let me try to convince you that this could be good?”
“Daniel,” I sigh, looking down at the floor. “I just don’t know…”
“Please, Fay,” he begs, and I look up at him when I hear his voice catch. God damn it, but I can’t let my friend cry. “Just…can we please just do this? Can you please let me try?”
“Okay,” I whisper, pushing the door shut and coming over to the bed. I climb in next to my friend, leaning against the pillows and putting my head on his shoulder. “But you have to rank each of the guys on screen on a scale from 1 to 10, and you have to be honest about it.”
“Paul Rudd is the only ten,” Daniel murmurs, pressing play on the computer and then grabbing a bag of popcorn from the basket, offering it to me. I laugh as I accept it, and then, comfortable, begin to watch the film.
About an hour in, a knock comes at the door. I go still when I hear it, cursing myself for stupidly letting Daniel’s drama make me forget that, duh, Kent sent all of these clothes for a reason.
“I’ll get it,” Daniel says, hopping out of bed before I can even move. As if he was…waiting for it.
“Daniel, no ” I call, trying to grab the edge of his shirt as he moves towards the door. But he’s too fast for me.
Daniel pulls the door open and leans casually against the wall when he sees his dad standing there. “Hey dad,” Daniel says, arrogant. “What’s up.”
I groan and put my hand over my face. As if he didn’t know.
“Well,” Kent says. “Isn’t this a surprise.”
I drag my hand down my face and force myself to look at Kent. He’s looking right at me, of course, from his place outside the room. Looking at me as I sit in the clothes he sent, having a movie night with his son.
“Is it a surprise?” Daniel asks, working hard to pull Kent’s attention back to him. It doesn’t work. Kent keeps his eyes fixed on me. “I’m just having a nice evening in with my fiancé, after all,” Daniel continues. “What’s so surprising about that.”
Kent ignores his son. I shift uncomfortably under his gaze, looking down at the popcorn in my lap. I look up when I hear Kent speak again.
“Well,” he says, his voice conclusive. “I wouldn’t want to interrupt. You two have fun.” He pauses, looking me straight in the eye for a good ten seconds before turning slowly and striding away, perfectly in control. Daniel rudely slams the door after him.
“Daniel,” I sigh. “Do you have to be such a dick?”
“He’s being a dick, Fay!” Daniel explodes, throwing his hands in the air. “What he’s doing to you how he’s treating you! I’m saving you from that!”
“Daniel,” I hesitate, looking at him with sorrow on my face. “Did you ever think that maybe…”
He goes still, staring at me with his mouth open. I trace the design on my duvet, awkward.
“Seriously?” Daniel breathes. “He got to you too?”
I look up at him, a little rueful. He did.
“Can we just…enjoy the night?” I sigh, gesturing towards the empty side of the bed. “You scared him away isn’t that what you wanted?”
Daniel sighs too, putting his forehead in his hand and closing his eyes to think it through.
“Just come watch the movie with me” I plead softly. It breaks my heart to see my friend so upset, even though…well, even though I know that this isn’t going to end well for us. That if I start sleeping with his dad, things are forever going to be changed between Daniel and me.
And suddenly I decide that what I actually want really is one last real night with my best friend. While he’s my best friend.
Daniel nods then, perhaps coming to the same conclusion, and climbs back into the bed with me. I rest my head on his shoulder and he gives me a chaste little kiss on the forehead, both of us apparently deciding not to talk about it. Perhaps, in this case, silence is best.
We finish Clueless, and a couple more movies, before I eventually drift off to sleep with my head still on my friend’s shoulder.
But I swear, my last waking thought is to wonder what the hell would have happened, really, if I made Daniel go away. And called Kent back.
And let him peel this little fur robe from my shoulders and drop it to the floor.
______________
I wake up the next morning to the sound of a knock on the door at six AM. I groan, blinking awake, and look sideways to see Daniel doing the same in the bed next to me.
“Mornin’,” he murmurs to me, rubbing his eyes. When I get up, Daniel turns over onto this stomach, burrowing back into the pillows.
“Lazy,” I chide, smiling at him and heading for the door. “What, you don’t get up to receive your own clothes deliveries in the morning?”
“Clothes deliveries?” Daniel asks, peering at me. “Your clothes are delivered?”