Filed to story: Falling for My Ex's Mafia Dad Novel Free PDF (Fay Alden & Kent Lippert)
“I’m starting to get that impression,” Ivan mutters, still staring at me. “It’s really good to see you Fay,” he continues quietly, sincerity all over his face.
I take a deep breath, suddenly relaxed, more relaxed maybe than I’ve been all day, which is weird considering…well. I push that thought from my mind and give Ivan a real smile. Not the fake ones I’ve been pasting onto my face since he came into Kent’s house. “It’s good to see you too,” I sigh, taking his hand. “Really good.”
“Good,” he says, grinning at the redundancy in our conversation. Then, he turns his attention to the road. “You want to go eat some seafood?”
“Always!” I reply, suddenly eager. “Are we going to the beach?”
“Mountains, actually,” he says as he pulls out of the driveway, Kent’s guards following behind us in a black SUV.
“Seafood in the mountains?” I ask, wrinkling at my nose. “When we live so close to the shore?”
Ivan just gives me a little wink. “Trust me,” he says. “You won’t regret it.”
Two hours later, we pull up to the most gorgeous mountain house I’ve ever seen. I’m gaping as I step out, taking in the amazing vista behind the house as well as the fantastic architecture of the home itself, which looks like it has about a dozen decks and balconies.
“Oh my god,” I whisper, staring up at it. “Is this…is this your place?” I ask, glancing at Ivan as he comes to stand next to me.
“Yours, actually,” he relies, slipping his hands into his pockets and staring at the house.
I frown at him. “What?”
“This is your dad’s place,” Ivan explains, turning to me with a smile. “He loaned it to me for the night. Told me to take you up here, enjoy ourselves.”
“Oh,” I say, shrinking away from him a little, surprised. “I thought that you…”
Ivan turns his head a little, waiting for me to continue.
“Well…” I hesitate, “my dad and I, the last time we met, we didn’t…end things on very good terms. And he was mad that I was seeing you. And I kind of thought that you brought me up here because you wanted to see me…”
“Fay,” Ivan says gently, taking my hand. “Nothing’s changed. I’m still on your side. Your dad loaned me the house because I flipped out on him I heard what he said to you ”
My mouth drops open, wanting to ask how, but he just smirks at me and puts a hand up, asking me to let him finish.
“I have my sources, Fay,” he continues, “and I went to your dad’s house, demanding that he apologize to you. This,” Ivan says, shrugging and looking towards the house again, “is his apology. As well as his blessing, I guess. For us to see each other.” He turns to look me in the eye then. “Though none of that matters to me, though. I’d have come for you tonight whether he’d loaned me this house or not.”
“Oh really?” I ask, finding myself drawing closer to him unconsciously. “And without this house, where would you have taken me?”
“Cheap motel on the boardwalk,” he says, shrugging with a smirk. “I would have treated you to the finest fries that a five dollar bill could buy taken you fishing on the pier with nothing but a piece of corn as bait”
I find myself laughing, suddenly, charmed by him again. He wraps an arm around my waist, pulling me close, and I let him. “Seriously, Fay,” he says. “Forget your dad he’s a jerk. I brought you here because I thought you’d want to know that he was sorry. But if you don’t like it we can go right now.”
“No,” I murmur, smiling at him, our faces close. “Let’s stay. I want to check out my property, after all.”
Ivan nudges my nose with his, sending a little flutter through my stomach, and then pulls me towards the house.
“Oh my god,” I mutter, my mouth full of crab cake, my eyes almost rolling back into my head with how delicious it is. “This is…seriously, how do they get such good seafood up in the mountains? This tastes like it was caught this morning!”
“I think it was,” Ivan replies, equally intent on a lobster tail. “I think they’ve got a guy whose whole job is to drive up from the shore in the mornings with the freshest catch. Then he goes back at night.”
“A lot of lonely hours on the road,” I murmur, nodding seriously, “but he’s doing God’s work.”
I take a final bite and then, groaning, lean on the backrest of the queen-sized lounge positioned on my father’s third-floor deck, looking out over the scenery. We’re eating al fresco tonight and the view is…amazing. Just treetops and mountain peaks as far as the eye can see.
As much as I resent my father my cheek still carries the phantom sting of his slap I have to admit…his taste in vacation property is flawless.
Ivan leans back next to me on the lounge, our shoulders brushing. He holds out a beer to me, fresh from the cooler at his side. Smiling, I take it, twisting off the top and taking a swig.
“So,” I say, leaning into Ivan and giving him a little nudge with my shoulder. “What do we do now?”
Ivan pauses and then turns his head slowly to me, his eyebrow suggestively raised, and I swat at him, cackling with laughter. “Seriously, a couple of crab cakes and you think you’re going to get me in bed!?”
“Crab cakes!” he insists, laughing with me, “and a multi-million-dollar property!”
“Which is more mine than yours!”
“Details,” Ivan mutters, flicking a hand to dismiss my point as he brings his beer bottle to his lips, “semantics. Not important.”
“It is pretty here, though,” I sigh, my laughter fading to a happy hum in my chest. “Thank you for bringing me.”
We sit there for a long time, chatting about nothing, as the sun fades over the horizon and stars take the sky. I smile when I see a few early fireflies flitting their way through the treetops, the swoop of bats and owls as they start their nighttime prowl. I shiver, a little, as the evening grows colder, and Ivan wraps a warm arm around me.
I lean into him and then feel a twist of discomfort in my stomach when I remember…well, that someone else was keeping me warm with their body heat just a couple of hours ago.
God, I wonder suddenly, am I a slut?
My mind starts to race, my body going tense as I consider the fact that I’m letting Ivan hold me on the deck of my father’s house when only a few hours ago, his enemy my boss, and maybe… my boyfriend? was…
God. Maybe I am a slut.
Is it a bad thing to be a slut? I wonder frantically. Should I be sitting here, slut-shaming myself, or should I like Janeen says just give in to the impulses of my body and not bother with puritanical questions of shame
“Are you all right, Fay?” Ivan asks gently.
I blink back to myself and realize that I’m panicked a little bit breathing harder than I should be when I’m just relaxing on a deck drinking a beer. My body is tense against Ivan’s. No wonder he noticed how could he not?
“I’m okay,” I reply after a moment, deliberately making my muscles unwind. I give Ivan a wan little smile.
He studies me carefully, sweetly, frowning a little. “Can I hazard a guess?” he asks.
I tense again can he know, like Jerome did? Can he tell that this morning
“This world is getting to you a little bit, isn’t it?” Ivan speculates softly. “It’s not an easy place.”
My breath leaves me in one big relieved exhale. “Yes,” I say, relieved that Ivan is not as perceptive as Jerome. “Yeah it’s…it’s been a lot, lately.” I work to give him a smile and fail a bit. Ivan raises a hand to my face, his fingertips cool and a little damp from the condensation of his beer.
“Well then,” he says, smirking at me. “Forget about it. For a little bit. For just one night.”
“Forget about it?” I echo, disbelieving. “Fat chance there ”
“Seriously, though,” Ivan says, grinning at me. “We’ll just forget about our lives for a couple of hours. Be two totally different people. Leave it all behind. Hi, my name is Rodrigo,” he says, his smile growing as he holds out his hand to shake mine. “Pleasure to meet you.”