Page 256 of Tormented Billionaire Romance Series

“You’ve turned into such a strong young woman,” he said. “Your mother would be proud of you. I know I am.”

Tears jumped into my eyes. I bit my lip and didn’t say a thing, even though there was so much I could have.

Dad went back to the front door, opened it, and walked out with another word.

Crystal flicked her indignant glare all around, a trapped animal looking for another avenue. Finding none, she rushed over to the door. She twisted and looked over her shoulder. “You haven’t seen the last of us!” she spat. Then, she took off, catching up to Dad, overtaking him, almost knocking him down as she passed him by in her hurry to get to the Porsche.

Carter pushed the door shut and locked it. He turned to me and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me in against his chest. “If they come back, we’ll call the cops. And then we’ll go watch a movie so we can’t hear Crystal shrieking threats.”

His deadpan attitude made me smile a little, despite the ache in my heart. I pressed my face to his chest and clung to him tightly. “I love you, Carter. Promise me we won’t end up like them?”

Carter stroked my back in a soothing motion, one hand over the other. He brought his lips to my ear and murmured, “I promise you we will always be happy and deeply in love.”

I found it in me to smile a little more. “Okay.”

“Okay,” he agreed. “Back to the kitchen for our omelets?”

“Last one there is a rotten egg.” I took off running, sliding onto the kitchen tiles in my socks.

Carter muttered, “I hope there’s no rotten eggs in there or I’ll have to have a talk with Antonio.”

I pulled our still-warm plates out of the oven and handed his over. “That was a pretty lame joke.”

“And you loved it.”

“Yeah,” I said, and smiled.

CHAPTER37

CARTER

Though everything returned to normal after Megyn’s parents left, I still had questions which nagged at me. I came home the next day after work with the intent to work through those queries.

Megyn was in the kitchen again, stirring flour into a bowl. I lingered in the doorway, watching her, just taking in the way her breasts bounced. The muscles in her back and arms rippled as she stirred and stirred, adding more flour and stirring again.

“You think I can’t hear you drooling back there?” she called.

I came up behind her and wrapped my arms around her middle. I peered into her bowl and saw a nice gooey cookie dough coming together. “Am I drooling over you or the cookies?”

Megyn giggled and rubbed her butt on me, taking my breath away. “I guess that’s up to you to decide. What’s more important to you?”

I rested my chin on her shoulder and pretended to think about it, humming deep in the back of my throat. “Considering that you have a tendency to burn the cookies…”

“Oh, he’s a funny man. Well, funny man, maybe if you want the cookies to come out properly, you should help me.”

I rubbed my cheek on hers and she giggled again as my beard hairs tickled her. “I’m all for it.”

“Can you get the chocolate chips out of the cupboard?”

I went and found an opened bag of semi-sweet chips and brought them over. “Is this a bad time to talk about what happened yesterday?”

Megyn poured chocolate chips into a measuring cup, added them to the dough, and then added in more with a shrug. She picked up a spatula and started folding the chips into the dough. “No, it’s okay. I have something to tell you about it, too.”

She had my interest piqued. I went to a drawer and rummaged around for a cookie scooper. “It’s just that I can’t get over how awful Crystal was to you. I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt at first, but it’s clear to me at this point that she’s just a terrible person. How on earth does your father stay with her?”

“Can you get a baking tray?” Megyn murmured. “I think it’s what we talked about before. He wanted a change. She certainly gave him one. Now… Now, I don’t know if he knows how to get out. If he can get out. You heard the way she talked, right? As if it wasDad’smoney, not hers.”

“I did. And that was what I really wanted to ask about. Do you think they’re really in trouble or were they trying to manipulate us?”

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