Page 40 of Fallen Ink

Adrienne leaned into his hold as he slowly trailed his hand up under the shirt she wore and cupped her bare breast.

“Mace,” she gasped.

He leaned forward and kissed her neck. “Need to be quiet, Addi. I’m going to fuck you, slide my cock between your checks, and pump into you from behind, but I’m going to need you to keep your voice down so you don’t wake Daisy up. Think you can do that for me?”

She nodded and pressed her plump backside into his raging erection.

“Fuck me,” she whispered. And he bit down on her shoulder.

She wiggled into him, and he slid his hand around to gently brush her clit. Her legs immediately parted for him, and his cock slid between them easily, greedily.

“In me.”

In answer, he lifted her leg slightly, one hand on her throat, the other on her thigh as he slid into her hot, wet heat. They both moaned, and he took her lips to drown out the sound. They were loud if they wanted to be, and more often than not that was their desire. This morning, however, they had to be quiet. He thrust in and out of her, shallow at first, teasing them both, then full and deep until she was rocking into him as he moved, and they were both panting quietly. She’d reached around and grabbed his ass, forcing him even deeper, and soon, they were moving as one, practically shaking with need.

She came first, her pussy clenching around him, and he soon followed, fully awake now and sated.

He waited until their breathing had slowed down a bit before kissing her shoulder and patting her mound. “I’m going to slide out. Stay there, and I’ll go get a washcloth to clean you up.”

She smiled lazily at him, and his heart did that twisting thing he’d been so afraid of. “Okay.”

He left her then, in his bed, sticky from his orgasm, and knew if he weren’t careful, he’d fall right in love with her.

And the scariest part…he was afraid he already had.

* * *

Mace had the morning off while Adrienne had to go into the shop and open with Ryan. He didn’t mind since it gave him time to think about what they’d done the night before and that morning, and to get his house in order after a long week of getting into the groove of things with Daisy living there full-time. He needed to start getting better at cleaning up after both of them and teaching Daisy to do some more chores. Sure, she was still a baby in his eyes, but his parents had taught him responsibility early on, and he wanted to make sure that his daughter learned the same things. When Daisy had first moved in, he had been lax in thinking about what she needed to do regarding chores and other things. She was a decently tidy little girl, but her toys had started to spread over the house. Jeaniene’s parents had reluctantly packed up—or had hired someone to pack up—Daisy’s things at her house, and now her room and the living room were overflowing with little-girl things. And while he loved the fact that she now felt as if she were home rather than just visiting her daddy for the weekend, finding balance wasn’t easy.

Daisy was currently organizing her dolls by size so they could be placed on the shelf he had put in that morning once Adrienne left for work. She had already picked up the rest of her toys from her floor and put them in the large trunk that one of Adrienne’s cousins had built by hand for her. There were apparently so many Montgomerys being born within a small timeframe that they had made a couple of extras, and Adrienne’s parents had shown up with it the day before. They had smiled and had been sure to come when Daisy wasn’t around so there wouldn’t be any weird questions, but the fact that they had brought a toy chest for his daughter meant something to him. And he knew even if he weren’t seeing their daughter, they probably would’ve brought it anyway. That was just the kind people they were—the kind he wanted Daisy to know. But again, finding that balance where she didn’t have to rely on them being the parents of someone he was seeing rather than just amazing people who could be a part of her life was a whole other hurdle.

Mace ran his hand over his face and sighed. He was making everything way too fucking complicated, but the thing was, life was convoluted, and his situation was more than most.

His phone rang at that moment, pulling him out of this thoughts, and he quickly answered it, recognizing the number as that of his lawyer. He held back a wince, remembering the amount of the check he had just signed over to the man, but he answered politely anyway. The guy was making sure Daisy could stay in Mace’s life beyond the six months his ex was out of the country. He was worth any money it took to make that happen.

“Mace, did I catch you at work?”

“I’m going in later. This morning, Daisy and I are just cleaning up the house.”

“Good, good.” The man let out a sigh, and Mace stiffened. His lawyer was never one to show any emotion other than the determination to do what was right and necessary to win.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong. Or rather, I don’t think you’re going to think anything is wrong once I tell you what I’m looking at. But, Mace? You’re probably going to want to sit down while I explain it.”

Mace sat down on the coffee table since he wasn’t sure he could physically make it to the couch based on the tone of the other man’s voice. “What is it?”

“She signed over custody, Mace.”

He blinked, the roaring in his ears intensifying as each moment passed. He couldn’t quite comprehend the meaning of those particular words. His mouth went dry, and he tried to speak, only to find himself unable to say anything.

“Mace? Okay, I’m going to guess you’re speechless, so let me explain to you exactly what this means. She is signing over full parental rights to you. She’s not even asking for visitation or putting in any addendums for when she moves back to the country. According to her lawyer, who is an ass, by the way, the job is going so well over there, that they are already talking about extending her stay. I don’t know what this means for her, and frankly, I don’t care other than the fact that she is throwing in the towel and giving Daisy to you full-time, all the time. I don’t know if she ever wants to see that little girl again.”

Instead of the massive relief he probably should have been feeling to know that the fight was over for him and he would have Daisy in his life the way he’d wanted this whole time, he only felt monumental anger towards the woman who had taken so much from him at the beginning and was now abandoning their daughter as if she were nothing.

“That’s not what we went for. We wanted full custody for when she was gone and then talk about partial custody or some form of heavy visitation rights for when she was back. She wasn’t supposed to give up everything. She wasn’t supposed to abandon her daughter as if she was in the way of her professional aspirations. What the hell am I supposed to tell Daisy?” He had been keeping his voice down, aware that his daughter was in her bedroom with the door open. But she had on music, and he just hoped to hell that she hadn’t heard anything he had just said.

What was he supposed to tell her when she asked when was she going to see her mom again? What was he supposed to tell her when two years passed and she was still in his home under his full-time care, and her mom was nowhere to be seen? Why had his ex given up? Was her work so important that she could honestly forget everything she had supposedly fought for at the beginning of Daisy’s life?

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