Limitless Love (Lotus House #4)(51)
I nodded. “Yes. Whatever it takes.”
“Then I’ll be with you. And if it’s not me there it will be Atlas, Dash, Trent, Nicholas, or a hired guard.”
“Seriously, Clay…”
He lifted his hand and curled it around my nape. His hand chakras were fire-hot against my skin. “No way in hell I’m taking a chance with your safety. Not now. Not ever. You mean too much.”
I pressed forward until our foreheads met. “For now, I’ll accept your terms. In the meantime, I’ll pray that they catch Kyle quickly so we can all move on with our lives.”
“God willing,” he growled in a surly timber.
Coree, the strawberry-blond owner, popped over and delivered our food. A hot cup of minestrone soup and a turkey on rye for me, a full turkey cranberry chock-full of sprouts and a side salad for the big guy. My mouth watered as the steam from the soup reached my nose.
“Let me know if you need anything else.” Coree put a hand to my shoulder. “Glad to see you’re doing well, Moe. We were all worried.”
“I’m good. Thank you. Tell your sister I said hello.”
She smiled and left us alone with our food.
Clayton tucked in right away, taking a huge monster bite. I snickered and blew on my soup.
“What’s so funny?”
“You.”
“Me?” He grinned and took another bite.
“Yeah you. It’s always interesting to watch you eat.” I sampled the first bite of my soup. The veggies were perfectly cooked and the broth a pure delight. The addition of Parmesan on top of the soup gave it an earthy, rich quality I adored.
Clay finished his mouthful and wiped his lips with a napkin. “Why’s that?”
I twisted and then winced. The stitches were no longer there, but the subtle move still tugged on the butterflies that now secured my wound.
“You okay?” He placed his hand on my forearm.
“Fine. Anyway, what I was saying was that you’re fun to watch when you eat because you eat like it could disappear at any moment.”
He chuckled, and the sound banged around in my chest happily. His laugh was deep and full. A real manly man laugh.
“Growing up, we didn’t have much in the way of money. If you didn’t eat fast, you didn’t get seconds.” His eyes gleamed with a hint of mirth. “Survival of the fittest and all.”
“Everything good now?” I asked, taking a bite of my sandwich. It tasted like heaven on a plate. The turkey, mayo, mustard, and rye combination with the fresh thick lettuce chunks and tomato coalesced together to hit the spot. So good.
He swatted at the air. “Water under the bridge. With school I scored scholarships and paid my own way. When I made it big in sports medicine and fitness, I started making a mint. Took care of paying off my parents’ home, and now my mom putters around reading and volunteering while my dad is an accountant working from home. They have money in their retirement plans and a stable, good life. No complaints.”
“Sounds fantastic. It’s really good that you could do that for your parents.”
He focused all his attention on me. “I take care of my own.”
I felt my cheeks heat as his eyes zeroed in on my mouth followed by the rest of my face. He lifted a hand and stroked the apple of my cheek with his thumb. “You blush so pretty, Monet. You’re like living art.”
I rolled my eyes and let my hair fall in front of my face and focused on my soup. He took the hint to leave it alone and continued our conversation by asking some questions of his own.
“Where are your parents and grandparents? All you’ve mentioned is Kyle and your sister, Matisse.”
Talking about my family was never easy, but if we were going to continue down a more serious path—and Clayton gave me every indication we were—I needed to lay out all my demons.
I took a heavy breath and put my elbows on the table so I could rest my head in my hand. “You know my father cheated on my mother and kept another family on the side.”
He nodded.
“Well, eventually my mother found out that not only did he keep Matisse’s mother a secret, he was having extramarital relations with anything in a skirt all across the globe. He worked for my grandparents’ import-export business. Ran the customer development and business relationships department. That had him going all over the world. Apparently, he didn’t keep his indiscretions secret.” I fiddled with my napkin, forcing myself to stay the course. “On one trip, my mother followed him. First to Paris, then Italy, and last to New York. He had a different woman on his arm and in his hotel room in each city. She was devastated.”
Clayton completely stopped eating. He put down his sandwich as if he was disgusted with it. “How could he do that?”
A choking sound left my throat on instinct. “Why would my husband cheat on me with my sister?”
Because men couldn’t be trusted. At least that’s what my mother always told me. I pursed my lips, glanced down at my soup, and took a few slow breaths. Clayton wasn’t like Kyle or my father. He was the exact opposite.
Don’t compare them, Moe.
“I’m sorry, beautiful.” He cleared his throat and took a sip of his water. “What happened after she found out?”
Bolstering my courage to finish the story, I kept going. “Left his sorry ass. I’m not even sure where he is now. He’d always cared more for himself than either of his daughters, and he definitely didn’t respect his wife.” I pushed a kidney bean around in my soup with my spoon. “My grandfather fired him from the company, but he’d made so many contacts he had the pick of where he wanted to go. He was always a stellar businessman. Just a crappy husband and father.”