Page 29 of Balance

I nod and smile at her over my shoulder. “I’m glad. Thank you so much for helping out. Would you like breakfast?”

She shakes her head and grabs water from the fridge. “No, I’ll get out of your hair. They’re great kids, I see a huge difference since you’ve come around.” She winks and leaves the room in a flash, leaving me with two of my favorite girls.

I smile as I finish making breakfast, setting everything out before we sit down to gorge on the food. “Are you excited for STEM today, Ave?”

She nods and sips her orange juice. “Yep! We’re working on coding this week. It’s so cool.” She starts talking about the program they’ve been working on and I feel my eyes glazing over. I’m not a techy person… whatsoever. It all goes over my head.

I brush out her hair and do dutch braids, letting out a sigh of relief when they actually turn out okay. Thank goodness for tutorials. “All right, grab your bag and let's head out.” I grab Tilly and set her down, guiding her and Nessa to the garage so that we can get ready to leave.

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After a busy day with the girls, I’m dead on my feet by the time we step into the house with Avery after we picked her up afterschool. I glance up from talking to Tilly to find Morgan standing in the hall with his arms crossed over his chest. He sends me a dark look and I tell the girls to go wash up and we’ll finish up dinner.

I follow Morgan to the backyard and when he slams the door I jump. “I had to call Bianca to make sure you made it home… only to learn you arrived late last night. I was so fucking worried, Lillian. I didn’t know if you were coming home or not, if you were hurt. If your fucking plane crashed.” He’s so close to my body now that I feel the waves of his heat rolling off of him.

I’m actually surprised I don’t see his eyes lit up with flames.

“I’m sorry… Betty passed away yesterday… I was there for it and I… I just needed to get out of there. I haven’t even looked at my phone all day.”

He sighs and steps away, rubbing his hands down his face. “Just… you need to communicate. Not just to let me know the girls are okay and that you were with them… I care about you, too.”

I slowly nod and feel my walls crumbling. I may be all cried out but I feel my chest caving in. His shoulders drop and he wraps his arms around me, pressing me into his chest. “I care about you, too. I’m so sorry… I didn’t even think. I’m a shit nanny and friend, aren’t I?”

He laughs out loud and presses his lips against the top of my head. “You’re perfect, Lillian. You may be shit at communicating with me, but I know you were great with the girls, especially after such a hard weekend and an even worse day yesterday. I wish you knew that I was here for you. I would have helped you, talked to you.”

I sigh and try to leaf through all of the emotions I’m feeling. I feel so awful. “I’ll do better.”

He leans back and moves his hands around my neck, tilting my head back so that he can stare into my eyes. “You will…andI’m going to kiss you now.” He murmurs and presses his lips to mine. I feel so alive, so complete when he touches me.

His tongue tentatively presses against my lips, slipping into my mouth to move against mine. I moan and press my palm to his torso, feeling each ridge and dip of his hard muscles. I go lower, pressing harder against him, feeling his hard, swollen cock against my palm.

God… He’s so hard, how is it even able to be contained in those tight jeans?

He steps back and smiles at me. “Just hold out for me, please? The court date is in two days and I’ll have more information. You’re incredible.” He blows out a slow breath and pulls me into another hug. “I want to know everything about you… I want to take you out, do things you would love. I want to watch you grow and flourish here, I want to hold your hand and kiss you whenever I want. I want to have you in my bed, naked in between my sheets. I want to have dinner with you and watch movies with the girls. I feel like I have a real family with you here… and I’m terrified that you’re going to wake up and not want anything to do with this old man.”

I snort and kiss his chest. “I can’t wait to get to know you better, too. And your body, I want to watch at least one of your games in person. I want to breathe in the atmosphere, the cold air… watch you be a badass on the ice. I want to see you out on the town, out with your friends. I love watching you with your girls, how protective and loving you are. I want to know your favorite foods… and maybe your favorite sex positions.”

He chuckles and he kisses my forehead, rubbing his thumb down my cheek. “I look forward to the future… If you ever want to go back to teaching, if you want a break… we’ll figure something out. I just can’t imagine you leaving my house. It’s too soon to want you to stay forever but I just can’t imagine you not here with me.”

I wink at him and turn to head back inside before the chicken in the crockpot gets dried out. “I’m happy here… Who knows what the future will bring? I am way too attached to those little girls to go anywhere, anyway.”

After dinner we help Avery with her homework and spend the rest of the evening sitting around in the living room watching movies. Morgan stays right beside me, touching me every chance he gets. His hand on my leg, playing with my hair, wrapping his arm around me.

The smell of his soap and cologne burrows inside of me and warms me. I feel like my panties are just going to be drenched for weeks on end living in this damn house with him.

I just hope that I’m not some sort of rebound to him.

Even if I barely know him, I feel this connection with him, too.

Fuck, maybe we’re too messed up for this to work.

Chapter 10

Morgan

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Istare down at my watch as Andy and I get settled in the courtroom. The judge isn’t seated yet, just us, the bailiff, and the rest of the staff required in the room.

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