CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Hank
“THREE, TWO, ONE, bubble war.” I hear Colby and Nora scream from the upstairs bathroom, taking my focus away from my work. Their screams and squeals carry through the whole house. I close my laptop and head upstairs to investigate.
Bubbles fly out the bathroom as I make my way down the hallway. I peek my head through the doorway to find Colby, Nora, and the bathroom coated in bubbles. It looks like Mister Bubble exploded in here. “What is going on in here?” I chuckle.
“We’re having a bubble war, Daddy,” Colby replies behind her mask of bubbles.
“You’re having a bubble war without me.” I pout.
“I could use your help, Colby is kicking my butt. I think the two of us can take her.” Nora waves her hand for me to come join them.
I step carefully across the bubble and water covered floor and kneel next to Nora in front of the tub. “You’re going down kid,” I say loading my hands up with bubbles.
“No way Daddy, you’re going down,” she threatens, scooping up a huge mound of bubbles.
“Thems fightin’ words. Let’s get her Hank. Three, two, one, bubble fight.” Nora sounds the call for war and bubbles fly everywhere.
I’m not going easy on Colby by any means, but damn, she is one fierce bubble blower. Both Nora and I are drenched in bubbles and water. Colby scoops up a big mound of bubbles in her hands. With a mischievous grin, she sits up on her knees and rubs the soap in my hair and down my face. She lets out a victorious cackle. Colby definitely inherited my competitive side.
“She has us by the ropes, Hank. I don’t see any way out but to surrender. Her forces are just too strong.” Nora waves the white flag of defeat.
“Colby kicked our asses.” I laugh and grab a couple towels off the rack and toss one to Nora.
“Daddy, you’re not supposed to say that word,” Colby scolds.
“I’d say we should wash your mouth out with soap, but Colby already took care of that.” Nora snorts and wipes the bubbles off my face.
“I’m going to be burping bubbles for the next week.”
“Burping bubbles. Daddy, you’re silly.” Colby snickers.
“Daddy is very silly.” This is the first-time Nora hasn’t said “your daddy” when talking about me with Colby. This gives me a glimmer of hope that she sees us as a family too. I know, without a doubt, that Colby and I are Nora’s home. I’m going to do everything in my power to destroy any doubt that she has.
“All right my little feisty Princess, let’s get you ready for bed.” I hold open her bathrobe for her.
“Okay, Daddy.” She sighs and climbs out of the tub.
“Goodnight, Colby, sweet dreams.”
“Goodnight, Miss Nora.” Colby slings her arms around Nora’s neck then gives her a big kiss on the cheek.
* * *
Three bedtime stories later, Colby is finally out. I return to the bathroom to help Nora clean up the mess, but the bathroom is empty and sparkling clean. This room was an absolute disaster, and now it’s so clean you could eat off the floors. I swear Nora was Mary Poppins in a former life.
The sound of singing shifts my attention to Nora’s room. I find her standing in front of the mirror that hangs above her dresser, drying her hair, and singing to herself. Her black, furry robe is cinched around her waist and open just enough to give me a glimpse of the curve of her breasts, making my dick twitch inside my pants. “Down boy. You’ll get yours after I talk with Nora.”
“Enjoying the show?” she asks, flashing me a smile through the mirror.
“Just admiring my girl,” I reply.
“Well, why don’t you come over here and give your girl a kiss.” The seductive tone in her voice, mixed with how fucking sexy she looks, is making it hard for me to want to have our talk. I have to stay strong and find out what is causing this hesitation with Nora.
Just one kiss can’t hurt, right? I saunter across the room, slowly closing the space between us. The sound of the blood rushing down through my body is deafening in my ears. She looks so fucking delectable. I slip my fingers under the sash of her robe and pull her to my chest. “Just one kiss. Just one,” I whisper to myself.
Our lips meet and I’m a fucking goner. Her lips are just too sweet and plump to keep the beast at bay. I need more. To devour every part of her. I’m finding it difficult to regain control. The pull of my lip between Nora’s teeth catapults me back into reality. I break from our kiss and take a couple steps back. “Nora, we have to talk.”
“We can talk after.” Nora invades my space and looks up at me with dark, seductive eyes as her hands gently glide up my chest. She is not making this fucking easy.
I grab her wrists, stopping her from going down to the top of my shorts. “There is no way, once my dick is inside you, we will be doing any talking. The only thing happening is me fucking you until neither one of us can walk. No, we have to talk now.”
“You are a man with great restraint, Hank Ross,” she says.
“I’m just as surprised as you are. The fact that I didn’t grab you by the hair and drag you up to my bedroom and handcuff you to my bed that first day amazes me.” I chuckle to myself.
“MMmm handcuffs.” Her eyes widen with curiosity. “You may have to handcuff me to the bed, Detective, if you don’t want me to try and mount you,” she says with a devious tone in her voice.
“I think the only way we are going to be able to have a real conversation is if you get dressed and we stay away from any room that has a bed.” I tighten my grip around her wrists and move her hands around her back, pressing her against my body, grinding my hard-on against her mound. “Then, if you are a good girl, we can play with my handcuffs,” I growl in her ear.
* * *
Nora walks into the kitchen dressed in a parka, flannel pajama bottoms, black, furry boots, and a floppy, gray knit hat. Little does she know I’d still fuck her in that get-up. She takes a seat across from me at the table.
“You look fucking adorable.” I chuckle.
“Don’t try to sweet talk me, Mr. Ross, we’re supposed to be having the big talk,” she scolds.
“My apologies, Miss Cunningham.” I clear my throat and sit up straight in my chair. “I’m just going to get right to it. What has you scared about us?” I ask.
She squirms nervously in her seat. “I guess what I am most afraid of is that you might cheat on me.” Her words cut through my heart like a knife. “You’ve told me you aren’t the same man you were before Colby was born, and I believe you, but a tiny voice in the back of my head keeps telling me that it could happen. My ex, Charlie, told me he was a changed man, and he was for a little while, but then he cheated on me every chance he could get. In my heart, I know you aren’t the same, I just can’t seem to shake this feeling.”
The anger burns through me like a volcano. I want to rip that asshole’s head off for treating Nora so cruelly. Nora deserves to be treated like a fucking queen and have a man who is strong enough to worship her at her alter. I get up from my chair, walk around the table, and kneel before her. “I could tell you how I’m not Charlie, and that I’ve changed until I’m blue in the face, but it still won’t ease the fears you have. The only thing I can do is to show you through my actions that you are the only woman I want. You will never go a day without me telling you how much I love you. I will whisper it in your ear when I’m buried inside you. It will be the first thing you hear when you wake up every morning, and the last thing before you go to sleep at night. It’s my goal, until my dying breath, to make you smile and laugh every single day. I will be your shoulder to lean on when the world gets too tough, and I will walk by your side through the good and the bad.”
The tears begin to stream down her face. “You will always come first.” I give her a cheeky grin, which makes her laugh. “You’re my partner in crime, Nora. You take all the time you need. I’ve waited four years. Scratch that, I’ve waited all my life for you, I can wait a little longer. I don’t want there to be any doubt in your mind about us.”
Nora’s chair screeches across the floor as she launches herself into my arms. She wraps her body around me. “I love you so much, Hank.” Her hands cup my cheeks, and she rains kisses all over my face. “I love you, I love you, I love you,” she mumbles between kisses.
“I love you too, Nora.”