I lifted my head, staring down at her.
"Pack your things. We are leaving."
"Char doesn't like changes."
I grinned at her.
"She'll like this one."
Lexi
I stood at the enormous kitchen island, watching Char outside playing with Trent's dogs. Our dogs in fact. He'd insisted that we were one big family. As of today.
Just like that.
Just like snapping his fingers.
And Char seemed totally okay with it. Especially when he'd spontaneously played a song for her about it.
"You'll come and live with the dogs, The dogs will try to eat your toes.
But not really eat your toes.
They will probably just lick your toes."
She'd been giggling nonstop, making him play it again and again. I smiled, still not sure what to think. Yes, we'd been in trouble money wise. Yes, I was pregnant. And yes, I was pretty sure I was in love with Trent.
But him in love with me?
It seemed laughable.
Then again, the way he acted... he had been hurt. He had been trying to prove something to me on the ride back from Hawaii.
It had worked. Maybe too well.
I jumped as he came up behind me, kissing my neck.
"What do you think?"
I looked around his beautiful home. It was mid-century, renovated perfectly. The lawn was manicured. There was a beautiful, inviting pool in the yard. It even had a guesthouse.
Maybe Mrs. Keeley would come and visit once in a while. She could spend the night. Maybe someday if Char kept making progress, she could live there.
I shook my head. It was crazy, thinking about that far ahead.
"It's beautiful Trent."
He squeezed me.
"You are beautiful."
I turned to look at him. His face was kind. Smiling. He looked happier than I'd ever seen him. He looked like he was at peace.
"You really want us to move in here?"
"Want? That doesn't begin to cover it. It's happening."
His arms pulled me closer and he kissed me.
"I need you to be here. I have been out of my mind without you. I just didn't know how to ask."
I laughed.
"You pretty much dragged me into your cave by the hair."
He grinned at me, looking like a little boy on Christmas morning.
"Unga bunga."
He kissed me again. Behind him, Joss cleared his throat.
"It looks like my work is done here."
Trent turned, not letting go of me for an instant.
"Stay bro'. Celebrate with us."
The tall quiet man shook his head.
"My client is arriving tonight. I've done all the security for her house but now I need to be there to greet her. It's a 24/7 job."
He looked at me. I could detect a very, very small smile at the corner of his lips and icy pale blue eyes.
"Will you look after him?"
I nodded, suddenly sure that I would.
His smile grew. I could actually see it now.
"Good. I worry about this one. Now, I won't have to."
He leaned in and kissed my hand.
"He's a good guy, despite his best efforts to prove otherwise."
I smiled. He loved Trent, that much was obvious. Hell, I did too.
Why fight it?
Because of some stupid jealously or judgment over what he had done before he met me?
None of that mattered.
The only thing that mattered was how he treated Char and I. How he made me feel. Treasured. Cherished. Loved.
He was a good person. He just didn't know it yet.
I smiled, suddenly feeling that everything was going to be alright after all.
I was going to take care of him.
And I'd let him take care of me.
Chapter Twenty Trent
I flipped a tiny flapjack into the air, watching as Jezebel leapt up in the air to catch it. She gobbled it up greedily as Hendrix and Sally watched. They both had short legs and couldn't jump as high.
Jez always caught the pancakes.
"Again!"
Char was giggling maniacally as I tossed another flapjack in the air.
"Don't get her too excited."
I looked up to see my sleepy headed girlfriend walk into the kitchen. She was wearing an old pair of flannel pajama bottoms and one of my shirts. Her outfit was almost as shapeless as those scrubs.
She still looked good enough to eat.
I nodded, winking at Char. I was coming to understand her moods. Sometimes her emotions tipped out of balance. She didn't have the tools to right herself.
It was a delicate balancing act.
I was starting to learn how much responsibility Lexi had had, almost her entire life. It was in stark contrast to my freewheeling life. Even as a kid, I hadn't been tied down. Even if I'd wanted to be. And I had wanted the rules and boundaries that parents would have given me. And the love.
Now I was getting a second chance. I wasn't going to mess that up. Not for anything.
I craved the responsibility of taking care of these two ladies.
And whoever was growing in Lexi's belly. I couldn't wait to meet the little one. And take care of him or her. All three of them in fact.
I would take some of that pressure off Lexi. She wouldn't be alone anymore.
Neither would I.
"We're having a little pancake party."
Char clapped her hands gleefully.
"Pancake party! Pancake party!"
I smiled and handed her two small flapjacks.