Until Lilly (22 page)

“My dick is officially rubbed raw
,” he groans, sliding out of me.

“What are you doing?” I yell as he picks me up
, walking towards the bedroom.

“Going to shower
,” he says, and I wiggle until I'm out of his arms.

“No
! No way,” I say, and I don’t even look at him as I run to the room, slamming the bedroom door. I then run to the bathroom, shutting and locking that door as well.

“Babe
.” I can hear the laughter in his voice as he knocks on the door.

“Naked house day is over
!” I yell before I jump into the shower, trying to wash as quickly as possible before he finds a way to break down the door. Once I’m done showering, I wrap myself in a robe, making sure to tie it tightly around my waist. I’m surprised to see Cash sitting on the side of the bed fully clothed, his hair still wet from his shower he must’ve taken in the kids’ bathroom.

“What are you doing?” I ask
, backing up when I see him stand and start prowling towards me.

“I’m going to kiss you and leave the room
,” he says, his arm encircling my waist. My hands go to his chest, trying to warn him off. “Just a kiss, baby, and then I want you to get dressed so I can take you out to dinner.”

“We
’re still going to dinner?”

“I promised you I would feed you
,” he says, his lips moving softly over mine. I smile against his mouth. His face moves back, his eyes looking me over. “Unless you feel up to getting back into bed.” He smiles when I growl. “Get dressed. I’ll be in the living room.” He turns me around, pushing me towards the closet. I jump when he smacks my ass. I look over my shoulder to see him smiling. “You have a beautiful ass, baby.” He shrugs, walking out of the room. I walk into the closet smiling.

Chapter 10

Cash

“One more flight,” I hear Lilly tell Jax as we board the small plane. I don’t mind flying, but this day has been exhausting. We woke up at five this morning, got both the kids up and ready, then drove the forty minutes to the airport where we caught our first flight. That one took us from Tennessee to Seattle, and once in Seattle, we boarded another flight to Anchorage, Alaska. Once we arrived in Anchorage, we made our way quickly from the terminal to our gate in order to head outside and board another plane to the small town that her parents lived in.

“I want to sit with
Daddy,” Ashlyn says when we all file onto the plane. The seats are all two-by-two, so we have to split up into pairs.

“That’s fine
,” Lilly says as she helps Jax buckle into the seat next to her across the aisle from Ashlyn and me.

“How much longer?” Ashlyn ask
s, and I can tell she’s getting tired. Lucky for us, both kids are pretty well behaved, so we haven’t had any real drama or breakdowns today, but it has been a long day and it’s starting to wear on all of us.

“Forty-five minutes
,” Lilly answers. Once all the other passengers are on the plane and the door is closed, the sound of the engines fills the plane. It’s so loud I look nervously over to Lilly who smiles. “They call these planes pond hoppers.” Lilly laughs when she sees the look on my face. “Don’t worry, we’re up then back down on the ground before you know it,” she says with a smile as Jax takes her hand. The plane starts to speed up, and I know we’re off the ground when the plane shakes and the sound of the engine gets even louder than before. This has got to be the scariest flight I have ever been on; I feel like the plane is going to rattle apart. About twenty minutes into the flight, Ashlyn has curled up in her seat with her head against my ribs. I look over at Lilly and Jax, seeing that they are both asleep. Lilly’s head is back against her headrest, and Jax is in much the same position as Ashlyn. The stewardess doesn’t even come through the cabin for drink service; she just stays strapped into her seat. Before I know it, the captain makes an announcement that we will be landing soon. Once I feel the plane touch down, I reach across the small aisle and run my fingers down Lilly’s cheek. Her eyes open and meet mine before looking down at Jax, who is now awake, then over at Ashlyn. We wait until most of the passengers are off the plane before we stand and get our carry-ons out of the bins; it’s easier than trying to fight everyone to get off.

We step off the plane
, and I have never been happier in my life to have my feet on solid ground. All I want to do is eat, shower, and sleep.

“Do you want me to take her?” Lilly ask
s, looking at Ashlyn, who is still asleep.

“No
, baby, I got her,” I say, grabbing her hand as we make our way into the terminal.

“Mommy
…I mean…Lilly,” Jax says, and I look over at Lilly, who is smiling down at Jax.

“Yeah
, honey?” she says quietly, running her hand down the back of his head. My stomach drops as I watch the woman I love and plan on asking to marry me interact with my son, who has gotten so close to her that he slipped and called her Mom. I wish his mother was normal and sane and had a relationship with him, but she doesn’t. I don’t even think she cares one way or another what happens with Jax. The more time that goes by, I’m convinced that the only reason she is involved in Jax’s life at all is to hold him over my head or fuck with me.

“Can we go fishing like
Grandpa talked about?”  Jax asks.

“
Yes, I’m sure Grandpa will take you fishing, just not today.”

“Okay,” he sighs
, grabbing Lilly’s other hand. “Can we go look for beers?”

“Yes
, honey, but not today.” She laughs softly. I drop her hand so I can shift Ashlyn, and I feel Lilly’s hand go into my back pocket.

“Can we go out on the boat and see
otters, like Grandpa said?” Jax asks and I chuckle. He and Ashlyn have been having Skype sessions with Lilly’s parents every few days since our first time a few months ago. Every time the kids talked to Lilly’s parents, her dad told Jax about all the cool things that they were going to do when we came to visit.

“I'm sure we will go out on the boat
at some point while we’re here, honey.”

“Can we go to McDonald
’s?”

“There is no McDonald
’s here.” Lilly laughs when Jax’s eyes get huge, and he looks around the airport—if you can even call it that; it’s more like a large metal building with a check-in counter and two doors, one where you enter, and one where you go out onto the tarmac.  Every plane that lands has to be boarded from outside. 

“Oh
, my babies!” is cried loudly and echoes through the metal building. Ashlyn startles in my arms, and Lilly and Jax are plowed into. Both of them are hugged and rocked back and forth. 

“Hey
, Mom,” Lilly says, smiling and untangling herself and Jax from her mom. Once her mom steps back, she looks down at Jax. “This guy here that you just scared the crap out of is Jax,” she says, putting her hand on Jax’s shoulder, “and this is Cash.” She slides her arm around my waist, looking up at me. And I don’t know what it is about that exact moment, but the look on her face and her introducing us to her mom as a family makes me shift Ashlyn so that I can kiss her. When I take my mouth from hers, her eyes are soft and so full of emotion that my heart beat kicks up a notch.

“Uuuummm
,” I hear Lilly’s mom clear her throat and I smile, my face still near Lil’s. She grins before going back to flat-footed.

“They do that a lot
,” Jax says, and I pull completely away from Lil and meet her mom’s eyes.

“Nice to meet you
, Mrs. Donovan.” I lean forward slightly, kissing her cheek and giving her a one-handed hug, trying not to wake Ashlyn. She shakes her head and rolls her eyes.

“Call me
Mom. Obviously, you’re not going anywhere.”  I chuckle and look at Lilly when I hear her laugh. She shakes her head before looking back at Mom.

“So where’s
Dad?” She looks around, and I do as well. I can’t see her dad anywhere.

“Oh
, well, he had to help Austin put his boat in the water,” she says, and Lilly’s posture changes slightly. I don’t know why, but it starts to set off alarm bells. I want to ask who Austin is, but a loud buzz fills the room. I look over to the side to see bags being tossed in through a little hole in the wall.

“Our bags
,” Lilly says making her way to the conveyor belt.

“Here
, baby, take Ashlyn and I’ll get our bags.” I make sure Ashlyn is settled before I go about collecting our bags. Once I’ve gotten them all, we make our way outside to a large SUV and load everything in before getting the kids settled. Ashlyn is still asleep, and Jax’s little head has started to bob to the side.

“How was the
flight?”  Lilly’s mom asks.

“Good
, both the kids were well behaved, so we didn’t really have any problems,” Lil tells her. We talk on the way to her parents’ house, Lil catching her mom up on the kids and telling her about what she hopes will be her new job at the school in town. She still hasn’t told her parents about leaving the other school or what happened. I have tried to tell her that she should, but the damn woman is stubborn and won’t listen. She only told her parents about living with me a few weeks ago. I wasn’t around for that Skype session, but she said it went okay. My guess is they were not happy. But I honestly couldn’t find it in myself to care. I had both my girls and my son under one roof; that’s all that mattered to me. It takes about thirty minutes to get from the airport, which is in the middle of nowhere, to town. Well, if you can call it a town. We drive through it in about one minute. I swear, if I would have blinked, I would have missed the whole thing. There is a bank, a few stores, and about three bars that I can spot. We turn off the main street, heading down to what I can tell is the water; the closer we get, the more boats and men in fishing gear I see.

“I want to stop by the p
ier and see if your dad wants to go out to dinner, or if he wants to cook at home,” Mom says as we continue our drive, until we reach a dead end. Jax’s head comes up, and when we stop, he looks around before yelling, “Yay, we’re going fishing!”

“No
, little dude, we’re going to see Lil’s dad before we go to the house.”

“Oh.” He slumps in his seat and I look to my other side when I feel Ashlyn grab my arm.

“Did you have a good nap, baby?” She nods then looks around, and I can tell exactly when she notices where we are by the smile that lights up her face.

“Memaw
,” Ashlyn says quietly, and I can see Lil’s mom smile at her in the rearview mirror before hopping out of the truck and opening the back door on Ashlyn’s side.

“How’s my girl?”
she asks Ashlyn, helping her out of her car seat. Once she’s free, she’s picked up and smothered in kisses.

“Stop
, Memaw! Stop!” Ashlyn squeals, trying to get free.

“I need my sugar. I haven’t had any in a long time
, so I need to make up for lost time,” Lil’s mom says between kisses. Ashlyn finally squirms out of her arms and runs to stand behind Jax. “I guess your big brother is going to protect you,” Mom says, laughing. “What do you say we go find Papa?” she asks, starting to walk towards a large boat with the name Wolf on the side in large black letters. I grab Lilly’s hand, and we follow along behind her. Once we reach the boat that is tied to the dock, she steps onboard then leans over, grabbing Jax first and bringing him over before grabbing Ashlyn and pulling her on. I can see Jax’s face is completely lit up with excitement as he looks around the deck of the boat.

“Papa
!” Ashlyn yells. I follow her with my eyes just as Lilly’s dad bends down to pick her up.

“
Hey, angel girl,” he says, hugging her and tucking her head into his chest before pulling her face away and looking her over.

“Look
! My brother,” Ashlyn says, pointing down at Jax.

“Hey
, buddy,” Mr. Donovan says, bending to set Ashlyn down before rubbing the top of Jax’s head.

“Are we gonna go fishin
’?” Jax asks, making Lil’s dad laugh.

“Not today. But before you go back home
, we will be going out on the boat to fish for halibut.”

“Cool
,” Jax breathes, looking around again. Mr. Donovan stands back up, his eyes coming to us before Lilly lets go of my hand and takes off running into her dad’s open arms.

“Hey
, Dad,” I can hear her say before she leans away, placing her hand on his cheek.

“How’s my girl?”
he asks her, pulling her back in for another hug.

“Really good
,” she says, and then looks over her shoulder at me. I step forward as he tucks Lil under his arm and sticks out his hand for me to take.

“Sir
,” I say, giving his hand a shake.

“Nice to have you here
, son,” he says, and a little bit of the knot that I didn’t even notice before loosens.

“Nice to be here.” I step back and look over Lil’s dad
’s shoulder as a giant guy comes out of nowhere. He is tall, way taller than my 6’1. I would guess that he is closer to 6’6; his hair is blond and is overgrown, matching his beard. He is huge; his arms look as big as my thighs. His whole body is large, and I’m taken slightly aback. I start to step towards Lilly, wanting her near me while this guy is around, then I hear him speak and want her near me for a different reason.

“Lilly?”
he says, and she turns around. Her face lights up and she runs to the guy, throwing her arms around his neck as his hands slide around her waist, pulling her in for a hug.

“Austin
,” she says low, but I still catch it and it sounds intimate, or maybe it’s my own personal jealousy taking over. “How have you been?” she asks stepping back, but his hands are still on her hips and it’s taking everything in me not to walk over to him, rip his hands off her, and toss his ass overboard.

“Good, better now I have seen your face
,” he says, and his eyes are soft while looking at her. My jaw clenches. Lilly steps back out of his touch, then turns to look at me.

“Cash
, this is Austin. Austin, this is Cash.” I take a few steps in their direction, putting my hand out to meet his.

“Nice to meet you
,” I say, but it sounds more like a growl. My hand slides around the back of Lilly’s waist, pulling her tight against me. Jax comes up, grabbing Lilly’s hand, and I wonder if my son senses the same threat I do.

“Cash. Cash?” Austin repeats
, his eyes get big before narrowing. “You’re Cash, as in Ashlyn’s father, Cash?” he asks, his eyes going to Lil before coming back to me.

“It’s a long story
, Austin,” Lilly says quickly, then pulls his attention back to her. “Maybe while were here, we can meet up for lunch and I can tell you everything.”