Grinder

“For three days. You haven’t so much as called her since you walked out.”

“She was two!” she snapped. “What do you say on the phone to a two-year-old?”

I rubbed the bridge of my nose with my uninjured hand and tried to ignore its insistent throbbing. “You know what? I don’t want to fight.”

She sighed and walked over to me, swinging her hips. Her fingers trailed over my chest, and I swallowed back the urge to vomit. “Me, either, Gage. I know walking out on you was horrid, but it really was for the best. And I have missed you, I promise.”

“Right.” I stepped out of her range.

“I want to see Scarlett.”

“It’s always about you, isn’t it?” I snapped. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Mom’s advice swirled in my head and I did my best to cool my temper. Besides, we each had something the other wanted. Leverage was never bad. “Look, I’ll let you come tomorrow on one condition.”

“What’s that?” she asked, putting on a fake, sexy pout that held no allure. Not after I’d spent an entire night listening to Bailey’s genuine, breathless sighs in my ear.

I stood a little straighter, realizing that for all the charms she’d had, Helen really had no hold on me anymore. “You sign these.” I handed the papers to her.

She opened the envelope and her eyebrows rose. “You want me to sign over all my rights to Scarlett?”

“It’s just the legal form of what you’ve already done. Let her move on. You already have.”

“How about I think it over?” she asked, batting her eyes at me.

Nope, not fucking working.

“How about you get those notarized and then hand them over before you walk in the door tomorrow, or I don’t let you near my daughter.”

“Our daughter,” she corrected.

Hell no. “She ceased being your daughter the moment you walked out on her. Now, if you want to come say goodbye, I’ll give you that. It will be good for Lettie to not spend her life wondering. But those are my conditions.”

We had a wordless battle, staring each other down. But I was stronger than I’d ever been with her—and I thought I’d loved her for being the mother of my child, any trace of that love was gone.

“Fine,” she snapped. “What time?”

“One,” I answered, my chest tight with every emotion it could fit.

“One it is,” she said. “See you then, lover.”

She walked out of the house, and I immediately breathed a little easier. I’d been waiting a year to give her those papers. The process server had tried twice and failed. All I had to do was play it cool and Lettie could be free.

She wouldn’t have to pay for my mistake.

I flexed my hand again, wincing at the pain, and went back out to the yard.

The guys had continued working. We would be done in another hour. But even watching the construction unfold, and Bailey paint her dragon, I couldn’t help but feel like I’d just handed Helen the key to my destruction. Before she was harmless—now, she knew that she had something I desperately wanted.

I walked over to Bailey and tugged her to her feet. “Everything okay?” she asked. I hated the fear in her voice. She was already apprehensive about starting anything with me, and I’d just gone and shoved Helen at her.

“Come with me,” I said, leading her to the sliding glass door of the downstairs level.

I closed it behind us once she was inside and found her wringing her hands. “Look...about last night, and what just happened, I would never stand in the way of Lettie’s happiness—”

I shut her up with a kiss, pressing her against the wall. She melted under me, and I took her mouth the way I wanted to take her body at this moment, with long, powerful strokes that had her whimpering. Fuck, I loved that sound.

I kissed her until she grasped at my shirt, until her leg raised so she could rub that insanely perfect pussy against my already hard cock, until her little sounds turned to moans and my hands filled with her ass and one tightly budded breast.

My lips lingered against hers for a moment as I caught my breath and went through the fifteen reasons in my yard that I couldn’t take Bailey upstairs right now and make love to her.

“Don’t ever say that again,” I warned her, making sure she looked straight in my eyes. “You are Lettie’s happiness. You’re my happiness.”

“But Helen…”

“Is nothing. I gave her the papers to sign over her rights to Lettie and told her if she’d sign them, she could come tomorrow. It seemed like a little price to pay.”

Fear ran through her eyes. “What if she won’t?”

I shrugged. “I’ll eventually have to take her to court. But I also don’t want Lettie to always wonder. She’s probably too young to remember this, but at least I’ll know that I did the best I could to give her a goodbye.”

She nodded, “You’re an amazing father.”

I shook my head. “No. An amazing father would have chosen a better mother for her in the first place. I’m just a guy who lucked out getting two of the best girls in the world in my life.” My thumb traced the soft skin of her cheekbone.

“And...us?” she asked, holding her breath.

“That’s up to us,” I answered. “To me, we’re together. I’m not hiding that from anyone unless you tell me I have to. I know since you work for me, it’s kind of a tangled situation, but if that’s an issue, then you’re fired. You can have a one-million-dollar severance package if you want it.”

She laughed with a watery smile. “Gage, I don’t want your money. I don’t care about it, or the hockey, or the fame. I just want you.”

I kissed her softly. “Then you have me.”

The party was in full swing, complete with local actors who had been hired to play the entire Von Trapp family. Except Gretl, of course. That role was played by Lettie.

“I’m so proud of you,” Mom said after we toured Lettie’s castle.

“It’s just a swing set,” I argued.

“No, Gage. I’m proud of you for what you’ve done. What you’ve made of yourself. Look how happy she is,” Mom nodded toward where Lettie ran with the other kids we’d invited, her face lit with unfettered joy.