Page 80 of Enemy Daddy Next Door

I thought I’d be begging for him to be patient as I got my body ready to have sex for the first time. But that happened much faster than anticipated. Now, I’m begging him to wait for me to trust him fully again.

“I know you haven’t been sleeping, Amy,” he says softly, gripping the revelation from thin air.

I withdraw, wide-eyed. Who told him? A classic grapevine of Solace sisters?

Hunter eyes roll over to mine. “I can’t have you losing sleep over me.”

“How do I stop this thing?!” Jessica yelps as she rides the air back and forth.

I leap up and rush over, a smile plastered on my face for her. “Stop pumping your legs first!”

In one smile for Jessica, I can push down every fear I have about what Hunter’s just said. At least until later, in bed, when inevitably I will toss and turn for an hour before sneaking into Kira’s room so that someone can comfort me back to sleep.

22

HUNTER

“That’s a lot of books,” Veronica remarks, looking at Jessica’s bookcase across from her bed.

“I love books,” Jessica says better than a docent in a museum. “They’re in alphabetical order. By last name.”

“I bet your daddy helped you with that, huh?” Veronica replies.

I have to give it to Veronica; she could be a helluva lot worse with her daughter than she is. That being said, I can tell Jessica is playing coy. She’s not as shy as she usually is, just withheld. I didn’t even have to coach her to do that. She can just tell that things are off.

“Yes, he calls it my library.”

Veronica eyes the hand painted sign I ordered from someone off Etsy that indeed says, “Jessica’s Library” in light pink cursive. “Yes, I see that.”

This visit wasn’t my idea. Obviously. However, given the original custody agreement that came about in our divorce, Veronica is legally allowed visitation. She of course never took advantage of that until now, and my lawyers and I were foolish enough not to seek out a no-contact order. So, with her lawyers and the court involved, Veronica has been granted limited visitation with Jessica leading up to the trial. All my lawyers could do to fight it was stipulate that I must be there to supervise.

No issue with that, of course.

“Would you like a tour?” Jessica asks, gesturing to the shelf.

“Of your…of your bookshelf?” Veronica asks.

Jessica nods.

“Um. Sure.”

I resist snorting. She has no idea what kind of patience you have to have with children and their hyper fixations. I predict Jessica will be talking about her books for the better part of the hour, leaving Veronica in a tumult of yawns.

That’s my girl.

As she starts at the top at Aesop, I’m distracted by my phone buzzing in my pocket. I pull it out, set to immediately hang up on the caller. However, the name makes me take pause. Hank Turpin.

As per the advice of my custody lawyer, Sam Serty, I’ve hired a private investigator to look into Veronica’s background. Where she’s been the past few years, where she is now, who the hell this guy is that she’s supposedly getting married to. So far, he hasn’t come up with much, other than a stint in rehab about a year after Jess was born.

This could be important. In fact, if it’s juicy enough, I probably have grounds to ask Veronica to leave my house right this second.

“Take it.”

I look up to find Veronica staring at me.

“I know the business always comes first. We’ll be fine. She’s just showing me her books, Hunter,” she says with a smirk.

I glance at Jessica who is fiddling with her step stool in order to reach the top shelf. “Just one minute.”

---