Page 72 of Undeniably Corrupt
No. I don’t…
What else would you call it?
Obsession. I almost smile, but it’s only to compensate for the way my heart is hammering. My issues are my own, and even though I know Liora likes to push my buttons and see just how much she can rile me up—newsflash, it’s a lot—I don’t want to be another thing in her life she has to survive. I glance down at my arm, at the tattoo hidden beneath my shirt. She deserves better than that.
And yet, I’ve never wanted anyone else but her.
More than that, I don’t think there’s anything in this world I wouldn’t do for her… and for Hazel. So maybe… maybe it’s okay that I love her. I keep them safe, and now they have nice clothes, and Liora can save money. I still have no clue what’s going on between her and her father, and any searching I do into him is slow, controlled, and isn’t revealing a whole lot. Then again, I’m trying to be the mouse nibbling at crumbs instead of the lion chasing its prey and eating the whole carcass at once.
By the end of the fourth episode, Hazel’s eyelids begin to droop. I check my watch and see that nearly an hour has passed since we got home. I go in search of a blanket from the hall closet, but when I put it over her, she shocks me by climbing on top of me and resting her head on my chest. Myhands run down the back of her head, and I shift so I’m supine with her over me.
“Will you watch too?” she asks, her voice small and her blue eyes large and hopeful. She looks so much like Liora, it makes my chest clench.
Something weird and foreign pulls at my insides.
“I’ll be right here,” I promise.
I intend to work, but that’s impossible with her on me like this, so instead I find myself watching her drift into sleep, her breaths becoming deeper and more even. This child and her mother have been living in my house, yet I’ve engineered my schedule to avoid them both. At first, it was simple self-preservation. Liora as my assistant was one thing. Liora in my home with her sweet smell, smart mouth, and sexy body was dangerous territory. So I retreated, working late, leaving early if I came home at all, and dining out.
And now here I sit, voluntarily in the company of the smaller James girl, and wondering how my life has changed so much in such a short amount of time.Strangely, I don’t hate it, and Stone’s words from earlier ring through my head. Am I there? Has it always been her? What would that mean for my life if that’s true?
A weird sound rouses me from the half-dream I was having. My eyes slowly open to find Liora crouched on the floor beside me with her phone raised in her hand as she takes a picture of me with Hazel fast asleep on my chest.
“Hi,” I whisper, feeling a little bad that I fell asleep when I was supposed to be watching Hazel.
“Dude!” She smacks my shoulder playfully. “Learn to pick up your phone or answer texts. I had about ten thousand heart attacks on the T ride home.”
Oh, shit.
I wince. “Sorry. I didn’t hear it. Maybe I left it on vibrate by mistake.”
“Clearly, since you fell asleep.” I get an eye roll.
“You took the T?” I frown. I should have sent a car for her. Crap.
“Yes. It’s only a couple of stops on the red line out here from the hospital.” She drags her hand over the back of Hazel’s sleeping head. “Is she okay? You said she has boo-boo ears?” Her lips bounce, and yeah, I knew that would come back to bite me in the ass.
“That’s what she told me. I was simply relaying a message.”
“Uh-huh. Sure. I get it.” She winks at me and I melt a little too much at that. “I made an appointment at her pediatrician for two.”
“Good. I didn’t hear from you, so I didn’t give her medicine yet, but it’s on the counter along with some other things. Stone recommended alternating ibuprofen and Tylenol if you’re comfortable with that.”
“You called Stone?” Her eyes go round and flicker around my face.
“Yeah. Why are you staring at me like that?”
“No reason.” She shakes her head as her shoulders drop, tension visibly leaving her body.“I came home as soon as I got your messages,” she whispers. “I was so worried. I feel terrible I wasn’t there to get her and that you had to.”
“It’s fine. I didn’t have that much going on today anyway.” I smirk and glance down at a sleeping Hazel on my chest. “Clearly I needed a nap too.”
She looks at me, eyes shining with something I can’t identify. She shifts closer to me and cups my face. The feel of her soft hand on my skin is better than anything.
“Thank you, Vander. You didn’t have to do any of this, but I’m so grateful. Once again, you’ve saved us.” With her eyes on mine and then down at my lips, she leans in and gives me the softest, sweetest kiss of my life. Softer than the one I gave her that first time all those years ago.
And fuck. Because, yeah. I love Liora. With the way I’m feeling right now, I’m not sure I ever stopped.
“It’s fine.” I brush her touch off before I do something stupid like kiss her back. It’s the one thing I’ve resisted. The one thing I knew that would push me over the edge. “I learned a lot about animated Australian dogs.”
