I have never gotten off as fast and as hard as I did pressed against the door in that bathroom. I ended up spending the rest of the night riding a high from the fast-paced orgasm he gave me. The way he controlled the situation—commanded me. His kiss—His touch provoked so many feelings and caused so many sensations to flood my senses.

When I first noticed him tonight, I was taken aback by his appearance… In a good way. He looked extraordinarily sexy, yet so different with his head shaved exposing that beautiful tattoo. The look suits him. He looked like a new man. He seemed happy.

Lying here in bed hours later, my body is still on fire from our encounter and craving his touch. If he can do what he did in a matter of minutes, what can he do with more time?

* * *

I feel lighter than I've felt in a long time walking to the kitchen to brew some coffee this morning. That is until I notice the contestment papers sitting on the kitchen table, reminding me that nothing is as perfect as it seems to be. Talk about a mood buster. All I can do is wait until the end of the month to stand in the courtroom in front of the judge to defend my case. For the life of me, I can't understand why they would contest Power of Attorney. I've been the only one to take care of any of Grams' needs since before she was even diagnosed, and I pay what isn't covered by insurance as well. I've never asked anything of them since I left years ago. Sure, she had papers done giving me Power of Attorney after the fact, but she was still of sound mind, enough to understand what she was doing. None of it adds up. Pushing myself off of the table, I start the coffee pot and go about my routine and get Ava up and ready so that I can drop her off at preschool. Walking into her room, I sit down on her bed and rub the top of her nose like I always do to wake her up. She opens her bright blue eyes and smiles up at me. "Morning, sleepyhead. You want cereal or oatmeal for breakfast?" I ask her as she sits up and climbs into my lap.

"Cereal."

I get her dressed, and fix her hair into a ponytail before sitting her down to eat and get myself ready for work.

Kate, my former boss, had a job lined up for me after taking care of Reid. Her friend who works at a local nursing home on the other side of town happened to be looking for someone because they recently had one of their staff leave them. I wasn’t sure being in the home care field was right for me. So, she put in some calls and a couple of days later boom; I was interviewing and getting hired the same day. That and what I made taking care of Reid was starting to run low… too low.

After dropping Ava off, I go to the nursing home Grams resides. I've made it a point to swing by even if it's only for a few minutes every day to check on her to make sure my parents haven’t been causing any problems. Pulling up to the nursing home, I do my best to push all thoughts of my parents in the back of my mind. I run into Joni, her nurse as I'm walking down the hall. "Hey, Joni," I give her a small wave before stopping."

"Oh, hey, sweetie. How you are doing today?" she greets me.

"I'm good. How's Grams doing today? Any signs of my parents?"

"Today has been a good day," she smiles, "and no sign of your parents. I promise if they come around again I'll be sure to let you know, honey." She assures me.

After thanking her, I head to Grams room and find her sitting in her chair soaking up the late afternoon sun coming through the window. I set my purse down on her bed and walk in front of her and kneel. "Hey Grams, how are you feeling today?" I ask.

"Mila, my sweet girl. I was just thinking about you. Come, sit and visit for a minute." She pats the arm of a chair adjacent to hers. I take a seat, and we both sit in silence for a minute while she reaches out and places her hand over mine.

"You look tired, dear. Are you alright?"

"I'm good, Grams."

"You'll tell me in time. You always do. Where's my great-grandbaby?"

"She's at preschool. I brought her for a visit the other day. Do you remember? She drew you that picture hanging on your wall right over there," I point in the direction I'm speaking. She studies the picture for a moment before a tear rolls down her cheek and it breaks my heart.

"I'm sorry. I don’t remember," She lightly squeezes my hand.

"That’s okay," I try to comfort her. So far, she gets easily confused, forgets whole days sometimes or even simple tasks like how to use a fork. Things most people do daily without thinking. And she also gets stuck in the past every now and again. All things most everyone takes for granted I now see in a different light. Every day she smiles and says my name when I walk in the room is more special to me than the next because I know one day I will step in here and she won't know who I am.

I stay and visit another five minutes before heading to work.

When lunchtime rolls around, I get a text from Reid.

Reid: Hey babe. How's your day?

Me: Good so far.

Reid: Wanted you to know I'm thinking about you. I'm thinking about what I want to do to you.

The last text makes me melt into my seat.

Me: I'm thinking of you too.

Reid: Later, Kitten.

I don’t reply. The ache between my legs stays with me the rest of the day as I replay his words.

At the end of the day I pick Ava up, and she asks me on the way home, "Momma, when can we visit Reid?"

"We saw him yesterday, sweetie, at the party."

"But I wanna see hims today," She pleads.

"What do you say we pick up a pizza and have a picnic on the living room floor for dinner tonight?" I look in my rear-view mirror and glance at my daughter who's watching cartoons on my phone. Her head jerks up, and she smiles with excitement, "Weally?! And a movie and ice cweam too?"

I nod my head in approval, "Yep, movie and ice cream too." Hopefully, I can take her mind off Reid for a little while and maybe mine too.

"Yay! Jama party!" she claps her hands, and her giggles fill the air.

I spend the rest of my evening sitting on the floor in the center of a pillow fort, eating junk food while watching a movie with my daughter.

* * *

After the usual paperwork in the mornings, I grab my first chart of the day. For now, I have a shift that will allow me to have the evenings and nights off, but will need to rotate some weekends and holidays now and then. The hours are a lot better than the shifts I worked at the hospital. I worked wherever they needed me and when they needed.

After lunch, I make my way to the nursing station to update my patient's files in the computer when I hear a gruff man's voice call my name. "Mila Vaughn?" I raise my head from looking at the computer screen to see an officer standing in front of me.

"Yes?" in his outreached hand is a white envelope. "I'm here to serve you papers."

Looking around, I notice a couple of people briefly look at me. Shrugging my shoulders in embarrassment, I ask him, "What for?" I take it from him and tuck the envelope into the shirt pocket of my scrubs.

"I don’t know ma'am. I only deliver them. Have a good day," he says, giving me a sympathetic look before turning to walk away.

My parents come to mind as I finish up my updates and quietly apologize to those around me for the disruption before walking down the hall and stepping outside for some fresh air. Retrieving the envelope out of my pocket, I open it. Notice of Eviction? I thought Grams owned her home? I don’t understand any of this and I need to get to the bottom it. I don’t have much money, but I happen to know a lawyer, and maybe he will be willing to at least give me some advice. The door beside me starts to open, so I stuff the papers back into my pocket and move to the side.

"Mila, I thought I saw you come out here. Is everything okay?" Tracie, my supervisor asks as she steps outside.

"Everything's okay, Tracie. Just a little unexpected news, but it's nothing I can't handle."

She gives me an understanding nod, "Listen, we need you to stay until 7:00 pm today. I know you have a daughter in preschool, so I wanted to give you a heads up."

I guess I can call Bella to pick Ava up for me and see if she would keep her until I get off work. I hate to ask her, but she is the only person besides myself on the approved pick up list at Ava's preschool. "I'm going to call someone who can pick up my daughter," I tell Tracie.

"Sure. Come find me when you get finished." She says and walks back inside. Digging my phone out of my pocket, I bring up Bella's number and dial.

"Hey, girl. What up?" she answers.

"Hey. I need a big favor."

"Sure," she says

I let out a heavy sigh, "Could you pick up Ava for me? They need me to work a few hours over my normal time today."

"I can do that. I was going to visit Alba after work, so Ava can play with Gabe," Bella happily tells me.

I hate asking and burdening people, but sometimes I don’t have a choice. "Thank you. Listen I need to get back to work. I'll let you know when I'm on my way. Do I need to pick her up at your place or Alba's?

"I'll probably be at Alba's since the guys have something going on out at the clubhouse this evening," she tells me.

"Okay. Thanks again, Bella."

"You’re welcome. We'll see you later," she says before we hang up and I head back into the building.

By the time I leave work, I'm dragging and ready to pick up Ava and head home. It's not a long drive to Alba's home from work, so it doesn’t take me long to pull into her driveway. I don’t even reach the door before it opens, and a pregnant Alba greets me. I think Gabriel's goal is to keep that woman pregnant. "Hey, Alba," I greet her.

"Come in, we already had something to eat, and I just finished giving the kids baths and putting Gabe down."

"You're the best. Thank you. As tired as I am I was going to get fast food and put us straight to bed tonight," I say following her into the kitchen.

"While Bella is upstairs putting some clean clothes on Ava, I'm going to grab you a plate of food. We had plenty of lasagna leftover from dinner. You can eat before you go."

I take a seat at her kitchen island as she sets a plate of warm food in front of me. It smells so good. I put the first bite in my mouth and savor the flavors. I'm always so busy that I don't get a lot of home cooked meals like this. The kind that tastes like they’ve been simmering all day.

Alba laughs, "You hungry?"

"Starving," I tell her taking another bite.

"Momma!" my little girl bounds into the kitchen still full of energy. Scooping her up I place her on my knee and continue to eat. "Did you have fun today?" I engage her. Her little eyes light up with enthusiasm.

"I want a baby brother, Momma," She says with certainty causing me to swallow my food the wrong way and cough. "A brother?" I spit out as Alba hands me a glass of water with an amused look on her face.

"Yep, I want a baby like Gabe. Aunt Alba has a baby in her tummy. Can you put a baby in your tummy for me too, Momma?"

Bella and Alba stand there looking on waiting to see how I handle the situation. I don’t even know how to handle the situation, so I ignore it all together and kiss the top of her head instead. "Thanks so much for watching her tonight," I tell them as I scrape my partially eaten dinner in the trash and place the plate in the sink.

"Anytime," Bella replies.

"You ready to go home, sweetie?" I ask a very sleepy looking Ava.

They both walk us out, and we say our goodbyes before I load up and head home. Even my little girl seems to have had a long day because she fell asleep a couple of minutes ago. As I'm making the turn towards my neighborhood, I notice a lot of traffic and up ahead a couple of police cars and fire trucks with their lights flashing. I hope everything is okay. The closer I get I can see the officers standing outside their cars talking to people and several residents turning around. Rolling up to what looks like a checkpoint, I roll my car window down. "Hi, Officer. What's going on?" I inquire as I observe the frustrated faces of a few of my neighbors as they drive by in their cars.

"There's a gas leak, and we have to evacuate several blocks for everyone's safety. Do you live here?"

"Yes, over on Crowne Circle. Please don’t tell me that I can't go home," I slump back in my seat.

"I'm afraid I can't let any residents in until the gas company has fixed the issue and the area is deemed safe to re-enter."

Perfect, this was just what I need after today. "How will we know when we can return home?" I ask him.

"The gas company usually will inform you by a phone call that it's safe to return."

I turn and look back at Ava who is still sleeping in her car seat and think about what I do now. I don't want to burden anyone or put them out with me suddenly needing a place to stay, so I opt to spend the money and find a hotel room for the night. I thank the officer for his patience and turn my car around and head towards town. I decide on a hotel about two blocks from downtown main street or my money situation chooses it for me because it happens to be the cheapest. With Ava in my arms, I walk in and make way to the check-in counter pay for a room and receive my key card for room 68. At least it's floor level and I don't have to climb the stairs. As soon as the door clicks open after I insert the card Ava pops her eyes open, raises her head and look around while rubbing her sleepy eyes. "What’s dis place, Momma?"

"This is where we get to sleep tonight, sweetie."

"Why?" she asks as I inspect the bed before laying her down on it.

"It's okay, baby. Go back to sleep." I tell her. There's no need for me to explain a gas leak to a sleepy four-year-old. Closing her eyes, she curls up to hold her dolly, and I tuck the covers around her. Needing to unwind a little, I turn on the TV hoping to find something to take my tired mind off everything.

I don’t know when it happened, but after I kicked off my shoes and propped myself up next to Ava on the bed I fell asleep, but banging on the hotel door is what startles me. Whoever it is, they are being persistent, and have started jiggling the door handle. I walk over to the curtains and carefully peak through the window to see who it is. A large guy wearing all black is standing outside the door. He spots me looking at him then steps back and starts kicking in the door. Complete panic sets in. I run and grab Ava who has already woken at this point and looks scared to death. I take her to the bathroom and sit her in the tub while she starts to cry. "Momma," she says through terrified sobs.

"Sweetie, listen to me," Looking back over my shoulder as the pounding continues, "You stay here. Momma has to call the policeman. No matter what, you leave the door locked. Don’t open for anyone. Do you understand?" I rush out in urgency, knowing any moment that door is going to give. She clings to her dolly with tear-filled eyes as I close the shower curtain, lock the bathroom door and close it behind me. Once I know my daughter is safe, I dart over to the phone on the nightstand to dial 911. As soon as I have the receiver in my hand, the door bursts open and a guy wearing a face mask charges me. My reaction time isn’t quick enough. The only place I have to go is over the bed. The stranger grabs me, slapping my face hard enough I taste blood and then he throws my body across the room. I hit my head on the corner of the dresser, causing my vision to blur, and I lose my footing and stumble to the floor. While I'm down, his booted foot hits my side with so much force the wind gets knocked out of me. Coughing from the pain, I suck air in trying to catch my breath as he yanks me by my hair, pulling me to my feet. I struggle trying to break free from his hold, but he quickly overpowers me and rears back, punching me in the face then tosses me atop the bed. Still dazed from the blow, I roll over to try and reach the base of the phone still sitting on the table beside the bed as blood drips from my nose. I have it in my grasp as he pulls me, rolling my body over. Using the momentum, I knock him upside his head with it. He climbs on the bed and straddles me. Hovering over the top of my body, looking down at me unfazed by the blow, he backhands me one more time. His dark, cold eyes are the only physical feature I can see behind the mask he's wearing. His large hands suddenly wrap around my neck, slowly applying pressure. I punch, kick, and scratch at his arms with everything I've got to free myself, but he only tightens the stranglehold he has on my throat constricting my airway further. My vision starts to cloud around the edges as I fight to breathe—fight for my life.