Page 36 of Almost Paradise

“So, this is what you think of me?”

“It doesn’t matter what I think. You know what I know. I showed you the letters. I showed you the text messages and emails. Did you look into your father?” I ask him. When he remains quiet, I say, “You can’t believe us both.”

“Forget that for now,” he says. “I told my family about Carter, and I want to introduce him to them.”

“Absolutely not,” I tell him. “He’s only known love and acceptance his entire life. He’s too young to be around—”

I swallow the rest of the words when I hear little feet running, but that doesn’t stop me from noticing the rage on Drake’s face. He masks it when Carter runs to him and tries to climb him. Drake picks him up and Carter puts both hands on his face as he stares at his dad.

“Let’s play Piderman.” He whispers it as if it’s a big secret. It would be funny and cute if his father wasn’t a deceptive snake.

Drake puts him down and says, “I’ll be right there. Go set up for me.” He runs out of the kitchen so full of excitement he can barely contain it.

“It’s unfair. My family is not like that.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I told you I don’t want to take you to court, but you’re not giving me much of a choice.”

“I knew your apology was hollow,” I say to him.

“I don’t want to take him from you. I just want to be able to be a father without—“

“Daddy, come on!”

“I’m coming!” he yells back. Then he addresses me. “I want time with him.”

“You’re here, aren’t you? I’ve had to look at your stupid face practically every day since you barged back into my life.” I take a deep breath and lower my voice. “He’s not ready to go off on his own with you. He’ll love the idea. He’ll be excited about it, but when the time comes, he’s going to get nervous. Trust me on that.”

He huffs and runs a hand through his thick hair. I know he’s close to rolling his eyes at me. “He’s comfortable with me.”

“He’s comfortable with youhere,” I maintain. He’s fine if he knows I’m around, but I don’t tell him that. The last thing I want him to do is suggest I join them on some family outing. Maybe I’ll luck out and his fiancée will join us.

It’s at that moment that Carter comes running into the kitchen. He snatches Drake’s hand and drags him out of my sight.

Chapter 23

Drake

“Imissed you.” I lift her off her feet and drag her into the penthouse. My lips are on hers before she can utter a word. The only time we break the kiss is to lift her shirt over her head.

She wraps her legs around me. I love when she does that. We leave our clothes a scattered mess, and I take the stairs two at a time. I sprint to the master bedroom and finally drop her on the bed. I dive on top of her, and she spreads her legs. I grab one of her breasts and position myself at her opening.

“Oh, Drake,” she sighs right as I sink into her.

“Mr. Paradise.” Wyatt saunters into my office and closes the door. I clear my throat and push my chair closer to my desk, hiding the erection that has suddenly popped up. That’s been happening a lot lately. “You rang, milord?” He does an awkward bow and takes a seat. “I thought there would be lunch,” he says as he looks around my office.

“You get paid enough to buy your own lunch,” I mutter. I sigh and throw my head back. “I need you to go to Alaska and talk to Howard about those allegations,” I say to him. I’d go myself but I don’t want to be away from Carter for too long.

“Okay,” he says. “Listen, you need to start preparing yourself for what I’m going to find out.”

I scoff and toss a pen across my desk. “I know what you’ll find. You’ll find that Nia is a liar, and she fabricated all this so-called evidence.” Only she never lied to me the entire time we were together. She was open and honest. But my father never lied to me either. “I know the man who raised me, Wyatt. You know him too.”

Wyatt went to Dartmouth on a full academic scholarship, but his law school tuition was paid for by my father. It wasn’t a scholarship. Paradise scholarships are reserved for engineering, architecture, or math majors, but my father took a liking to Wyatt and decided to help him. He’s spent most of his school breaks with my family. My parents treated him like another son.

“I know there are often many different sides to people but fret no more. I’m on top of it. How’s your mom and Scarlett?”

Mother showed a glimpse of normalcy after learning about Carter, but she’s since retreated to her delusional world. She spends most of her time in her room crying. Hannah assures me it’s a good sign, and that she might finally be grieving. Langley is still drunk most of the time and hasn’t been to work in months. Scarlett has perfected the silent treatment.

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