Page 45 of Stowaway Whirlwind
Not for the first time, I’m glad the universe sent me to Goldie. I’m sure her dad wouldn’t have been able to stop the woman if she’d found her at his apartment.
Actually, that reminds me—we haven’t had that discussion yet, and I feel like I’m failing Goldie all over again. What the hell was she doing in Dallas in the first place? I bet my bottom dollar her piece-of-shit father had something to do with it.
Sheriff Gibson shakes his head, and his dark brown eyes drift to my Goldie. “I take it you’re Marigold?”
She nods, and he shakes Goldie’s hand, which is white from the cold. I hurry into the house and drape the afghan from the couch over her. Once I have Goldie and Lily warmed up, Sheriff asks for Goldie’s side of things before he deals with the psychotic chihuahua again.
I cock my head while Goldie spills everything about being abused at the restaurant by her dead-beat ex’s mother, who—she stresses—tried to coerce her into getting an abortion. I hadn’t known until now the lengths Mrs. Fitzroy had gone to, going so far as to drive Goldie to a clinic herself and even offering to pay Goldie to go through with the procedure, then punishing Goldie by kicking her out of the car and leaving her there among protesters when she refused to do so.
I know it’s her choice to make regarding her pregnancy, no matter what lawmakers or anyone else might think, but physically and emotionally, I want to vomit thinking about Lily having never been born…and then hire someone toabortMrs. Fitzroy and Colton, so to speak.
I cup the back of Lily’s head and lift Goldie’s chin to lay a long, hard kiss on her lips right in front of Sheriff Gibson. “Thank you,” I whisper.
“For what?” she asks, equally as low.
“For choosing to keep our daughter.” Goldie parts her lips, and I can’t help but kiss her again, then remain by her side,squatting with my arms around my family as Goldie tells the Sheriff about Wyatt and what must have been Dolly helping her at the restaurant yesterday. I’m grateful they were there just in time to help her, but I hate that I wasn’t the one to do it because I wasn’t with her like I should have been.
Goldie’s voice gets real small, and she darts her gaze to Sheriff and away a few times when he asks why she hadn’t called 9-1-1. “I was scared. Mrs. Fitzroy…she said I was unfit to raise Lily. That I was trash for ‘shacking up’ with Davis. She has the money to hire a lawyer, and I thought Lily might be taken away if the cops showed up and saw the papers she had.”
I hand Sheriff the crumpled documents. Sheriff reassures her that wouldn’t have happened, but we all know money can buy people’s way into all kinds of things that aren’t right or legal.
Mrs. Fitzroy has worn herself out and slumps low in her seat by the time Goldie finishes. Sheriff huffs as he looks over the documents. “Hell, these aren’t even from a real lawyer. Probably downloaded off the internet and poorly edited to make them look real and scare you into signing.”
Goldie leans forward. “How do you know?”
“See here?” He points to the 555-555-5555 phone number on the letter included with the documents, signed by a supposed lawyer namedDr. Mr. Colson Royal. “She might have money, but she ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed, I take it,” Sheriff says, then folds up the papers to push them into his back pocket.
Goldie slips inside the house with Lily after Sheriff finishes taking our statements, and I follow him to his cruiser. “You need to take her down to the courthouse on Monday and file a restraining order,” he tells me, raising his left hand and thumbing his wedding ring. “And if you’re serious about her, while you’re there, you might consider—”
“Already part of my plan.” It’s the one I came up with while cleaning the house last night. I know what I need to do.
“Good. Might strengthen your case if Fitzroy does hire a real lawyer to come after y’all for custody of Lily, though I can’t imagine a judge would grant her so much as visitation rights after the stunts she’s pulled.” I nod. “Well, alright then. I’ll keep y’all updated on the situation.” He nods to the white sedan. “I’ll send a tow truck to get the car. You take good care of your girls,” he says, tipping his hat toward the house.
I clap him on the shoulder. “Will do, Sheriff.”
Always.
Chapter 18
Goldie
I stare at the wall, unable to fall asleep as easily as Davis did after we both cried when he’d gone through all of the pictures I’d taken of Lily on my phone while he’d been gone. His favorite was the last one, with Lily in the pink ball cap, which he said he wanted to get printed and framed to hang on the wall by the front door so it’d be the first and last thing he’d see whenever he comes and goes.
Apparently, he’s actually not all that interested in football, like I assumed he was. It was his dad who was obsessed, and most of the ball caps and memorabilia around the house belonged to him. What Davis is most interested in are the memories of growing up watching football with his dad, which is why he still wears the caps and watches all the games, even after his dad passed.
It makes my heart sore that I don’t have any memories like that with my dad. Lily won’t either, at least not with Colton. If Davis truly means what he said about loving us—if this is the real deal—then Lily will have the opportunity to make sweet memories with him—her dad. He’s already promised to take her to as many games as he can when she’s older. He talked about doing so with any future children we may have as well, whichwas a stark reminder that I need to get on birth control when I go to my six-week checkup so I’ll be protected whenever I do get my period back.
Davis shifts in his sleep and drapes an arm over my waist, and I’m all too aware that he’s hard, his erection pressed against my ass, though he goes right back to snoring lightly. His warm exhalations on my neck make me shiver in delight after a brutal two days of one scare after another regarding Mrs. Fitzroy.
I inch backward into his hold, hoping his body heat will lull me to sleep, but if anything, I’m more awake now that I can feel the firm length of him more closely, making my heart beat faster. Rolling my hips experimentally, I wonder how long it would take for him to wake up if I keep this up.Could I make him cum in his sleep?It’s an intriguing thought.
Other than moaning softly a few times, Davis doesn’t stir. Doesn’t tighten his arm or grind against me, though his cock has grown more rigid. If I roll my hips just right, I can feel the mushroom head of him poking me in the back. Now that I’m all hot and bothered, there’s even less of a chance of falling asleep until I get this out of my system.
God, how I’ve missed sex. It wasn’t that much of a surprise when I got pregnant with Lily, though Colton and I always used condoms—another reason why I want to start birth control since at least one of our condoms failed. The only thing that surprised us was how often I wanted it after I finally gave in and gave him my virginity a year after he asked me to be his girlfriend. Men, as society tells us, are the ones who are always supposed to have sex on the brain, but I was the one who initiated things most often. It’s been a lonely eight months with just my hands to keep me company after Colton left.
Closing my eyes and bringing up the memory of riding Davis on the couch, I slip my hand into my panties and find my clit, rolling it with my middle finger until my hips jerk with thefirst sparks of pleasure. They jerk again when Davis mumbles something too low for me to hear and yanks on my waistband, working my panties down over my ass with short, uncoordinated movements.
I arch my back and bite my lip to contain my gasp when he enters me…and then stops. I frown and rock my hips back to take an inch more than just his crown, but still, he doesn’t move. Doesn’t slide his hand under my shirt, grip my hips, or thrust forward.
