Page 25 of Karma
They’ve never had an issue coming together like this, and he continues until her emotions shift from upset with fear to overcome with pleasure. Watching her reach her climax makes him smile, and he kisses her neck. And the moment she comes around him, he knows exactly what he wants.
I want to marry her.
Chapter Nine
Griffin’s Beach
Lex
“Oh, she did, did she?” Lex asks, her smile turning evil.
Hailey sniffles and nods from the other side of the kitchen table, her eyes watery and staring at the soda in front of her. “She said she might try to take Gavin, too. Just depends on how she feels.”
Tilting her head, Lex laughs loudly despite how pissed off she is. “Oh, she needs another talking to. This time, I think Felicity and I both need to share the dangers that accompany these kinds of threats.”
“She already told the waitress that threatening an old lady is a bad idea.”
“It’s bad for her fucking health. She threatened my family. My daughter. My granddaughter. Considering she didn’t want to be a mom, she has no idea what happens when you enrage a mama bear.”
Just like Everlee said. Emme may not have taken a gun to Hailey, but she’s threatening the life she’s built. The love she has with a child she views as her own.
“What if Gavin doesn’t want me to adopt her? I mean, I kind of ambushed him.”
“Oh, sweetie, he does.”
“Then why hasn’t he brought it up before?”
Giving her a smile, she reaches across to take Hailey’s hand. “Do you want my honest, unfiltered opinion?” When she nods, Lex sighs. “I think he still expects you to walk away again. If he pushed something he wasn’t completely positive you were ready for and wanted, he could lose you.”
“I’m not leaving, Lex. This is my home and my family. Will I ever outlive my past?”
“You will,” she assures. “It just takes time for people who have been hurt to realize the pattern has broken. But he loves you.”
“What if it’s not enough?”
“What if it is?”
Lucas runs into the kitchen and takes up post by the knife block as he peers out the window. He’s under six feet, and he’s nearly as tall as Colt, but he’s still a lanky teenage boy. “I think we have a problem, Mom.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I can’t see Ty outside,” he says. “I’ve looked out every window, and he’s gone.”
Standing, Lex joins him at the kitchen window where Tyson Reeves had been sitting reading a book—something she wasn’t entirely certain he knew how to do—and gasps when she sees Phillip coming out from the tree line.
“Hailey, take the kids outside. Go into the wooded area where Colt and Lucas built the treehouse. Hurry.”
“Come on, Luke,” Hailey says.
He shakes his head. “No, I can’t leave her alone with him.”
The protective nature of such a sensitive boy melts Lex’s heart, and Hailey gives Lex a worried look before calling the younger two.”
“Noah knows where it’s at,” Lex says. “And call Colt. Tell him Phillip’s here, and we can’t see Ty from the house.”
She runs out the sliding door with Noah and Calla just as the front door opens. “Alexis!”
“Phillip?” Lex asks, pretending to be surprised even though she knows they saw each other through the window. “What are you doing here?”
