Limitless Love (Lotus House #4)(47)
She nodded, her chin trembling as she bit into her bottom lip. I rubbed along that lip with the pad of my thumb and then kissed it.
“Time to go. Lily’s eaten, I’ve made her lunch, and we’re set. Car’s in the garage so we don’t have to go out the front door. We’ll take my SUV, yeah?”
She nodded again but didn’t say anything. Her silence worried me. Still, she needed to deal with her thoughts in her own way.
Before I moved away, she wrapped her arms around my waist and rested her forehead against my chest. I hugged her and propped my cheek on the crown of her head. “Monet…”
“Thank you for being there for me…for us.” Her words broke as she took a calming breath. “I don’t know what I’d do if we didn’t have you here…” She stopped there.
“Good thing you’re never going to have to worry about that. I’m here, Monet, and I’m not going anywhere. Not now. Not ever.” I made the statement, and more than anything, I meant it. Believed it with my whole heart. Shit like this didn’t happen to me. Feeling for a woman the way I felt for Monet, for Lily… The only thing that had ever come close was Stacey. What I had with them was so much more. It didn’t even fucking compare, and at one time I had thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with that woman.
Lily slammed into our legs, hugging us both. “Love you, Mommy. Love you, Clay.”
Monet stiffened in my arms.
“I love you too, Lily,” I declared loud and fucking proud, because I did. And if I wasn’t such a pussy, I’d admit that I was falling for her mother too. Far faster than I thought possible.
Only problem was that I’d been in this position before and I wasn’t going to spill my guts if Monet wasn’t right there with me. No, we needed more time. Time to just be together as a couple without the threat of her ex hurting her or her daughter.
“How’s about you grab your backpack, sweetie, and we’ll head out, okay?”
“Pack pack. Got it.”
I chuckled and so did her mother, breaking the tension of the moment.
“Back. Pack, sweetie. Backpack,” I corrected.
She grabbed her backpack off the couch and twirled, fire in her eyes. “’S’wat I said. Pack pack! You didn’t listen to me!”
“Go get in the car, Your Majesty.” I grinned, wrapping an arm around Monet.
She stomped toward the garage. “No one listens me,” she continued to grumble on her way out of the room.
“Seriously, Monet, I love that kid,” I admitted, holding her close.
“She loves you too. Really loves you.” She frowned and then pursed her lips.
“And that’s a bad thing?” I wanted her to really think about it.
Monet lifted up on her toes, wrapped her arms around my neck, and kissed me softly. “No, it’s a very good thing, provided you’re staying around.”
I tunneled my hand into her silky tresses. Fuck, I loved her hair. “I’m here, aren’t I? I told you, I’m not going anywhere.”
She looked down and let her arms fall. “Yeah, that’s what Kyle said when he promised to love me forever. Now he wants me dead.”
Man, I wanted to hurt the bastard. Smash his jaw with my bare fists as many times as I could until the anger at the torment he’d put Monet under abated in my mind. Letting those thoughts simmer for now, I reached for her hand and squeezed. “I’m not Kyle.”
Her gaze lifted to mine. Worry and fear were coating the happiness I’d seen the past couple days since we’d taken our relationship to a more physical level.
“No, you’re not. You’re better. But you leaving Lily—leaving me—after the past two weeks would destroy us. Please think about that. Really think about that before you commit to me, to what we have started.” She let go of my neck and helped her daughter get settled in the car.
Instead of a witty comeback or a quick retort, I held my tongue. I would think about it, long and hard, but I didn’t see anything changing. I wanted this. A family. Monet and Lily. Wanted it more than I wanted my next breath. I’d just have to show her, prove it to her, to Lily, to every-fucking-body. I was in it to win it, and they were my grand prize.
* * *
Dropping off Lily was easy. I met her teacher and the principal, and Monet signed some forms and confirmed the instructions they’d discussed late last week. They knew about the threat and would keep an extra eye on Lily and the classroom. The teacher promised she’d never leave her sight, though I didn’t think it would be an issue. Kyle hopefully wasn’t stupid enough to kidnap a child from her school. Moreover, the day after Kyle’s call, we met with the detectives about what had happened. They promised they’d have a patrol car circling the school and Monet’s house for additional protection, as well as make it known they were on the lookout for Kyle. It gave Monet and me some semblance of peace. It would have to be enough until he was caught.
Monet was quiet as we waited for the doctor to come into the room and remove her stitches. She was instructed to lie on her belly in a flimsy gown that left the back open. I sat next to her, petting her back up and down where there wasn’t an injury, to hopefully soothe her.
Next to the bed were a couple pairs of surgical scissors, tweezers, a bottle of hospital-grade alcohol, cotton balls, gauze, medical tape, and a few other things. I’d been stitched up before when I’d cut open my arm pretty good mountain biking at New Melones Lake a couple years back, but I only received twelve stitches, not eighty.