“I’m going on a date tonight with Ben! I’m so nervous, Elle.”
“That’s great, Cass. Don’t be nervous. You’ll have fun.”
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been on a date.”
“Just relax and be yourself. Call me tomorrow and let me know how it went.”
Just as I hit the send button, Connor came walking into the kitchen and took Julia from me.
“Let me finish feeding her. I missed her today.”
Connor sat down in the chair and couldn’t stop smiling at Julia as he held the bottle in her mouth.
“Cassidy just texted me, and she’s going on a date with Ben tonight.”
“What? Are you serious?” he growled.
“Yes, I’m serious, and what’s your problem? Your sister deserves to be happy.”
He sighed. “Don’t get me wrong. I want nothing more than for Cassidy to find the man of her dreams that will come in and sweep her off her feet and make her happy, but I’m afraid she’ll get hurt because of Camden.”
“Because of Camden? Why?” I asked.
“Because of his autism. It’s going to take a pretty special guy to get involved with my sister under those circumstances. Not a lot of guys want to jump into a relationship like that.”
“Maybe Ben is that special guy.” I smiled as I got up from the chair and grabbed the diaper bag.
“Doubt it.”
I sighed as I looked over at Connor. “Are you still being pissy because I said he was hot?”
He wouldn’t look at me and he had a smirk on his face. “You’re lucky you’re holding Julia, because if you weren’t—”
“If I weren’t, then what, Ellery?”
“Oh, nothing.” I smiled as I walked out of the kitchen and into the living room to get Julia’s blanket.
Before I knew it, Connor had followed me. He laid Julia down on her blanket, which was on the floor and looked at me.
“If I weren’t ... what?” He smiled as he began moving towards me.
I started to back up as I bit down on my bottom lip. Once again, his look, his walk, his whole demeanor—I knew all too well. I ran up the stairs, but before I could make it, Connor grabbed me from behind and carried me back down.
“Now, tell me again what you were going to do to me if I wasn’t holding Julia?” he whispered in a sexy voice that sent shivers down my spine.
His grip on me was tight, and he wouldn’t let me go. I didn’t want him to let me go. When he held me, I felt safe from the world and all my worries disappeared. He put me down, but continued to hold me from behind. I could tell he didn’t want to let go as he buried his face into my neck. Finally, I broke the silence.
“Everything’s going to be okay, baby,” I whispered as I freed my arm and brought my hand to the back of his head.
Chapter 15
Connor
I held onto Ellery, and Julia started to fuss on the floor. I removed her hand from the back of my head and placed her palm against my lips.
“Let’s get Julia packed up and ready to go,” I said.
As I walked over and picked her up, Ellery got the diaper bag ready. I put Julia in the car seat and we stepped onto the elevator. We dropped Julia off with Mason and Landon and headed out for dinner.
“Where do you want to go for dinner?” I asked.
“The Shake Shack,” she replied.
I looked at her as I twisted my face. “The what, what?”
“The Shake Shack, silly! We can get burgers and shakes, plus it’s right by Jack’s Tattoo Parlor.”
“It sounds dirty and greasy.”
Ellery laughed as she cocked her head at me. “You’re so adorable. Now, let’s go. I’m hungry.”
I sighed and we headed to the Shake Shack. As I sat there, eating my grilled chicken sandwich, Ellery shoved her burger in my face.
“Here, taste this. It’s the best burger in the world.”
“No thanks. It looks greasy and disgusting,” I said.
“Suit yourself, Mr. Black. I remember a time when you would taste anything I shoved in your face.”
I sat there and stared at her as she ate her burger and fries. I was mesmerized by how adorable she was, eating that burger full of grease. I couldn’t resist her, so I gave in.
“Bring it here, and let me taste it,” I said as I held out my hand.
A smile spread across her face. The one thing that I loved most about her was that the littlest things made her happy. I took a bite as she held it up to me and was pleasantly surprised that it was good.
“Well?” She smiled.
“It’s not bad.”
“I knew it! I knew you’d like it.”
We finished up dinner, if that’s what you wanted to call it, and headed out the door. The tattoo parlor was a couple of blocks over, and Ellery wanted to walk. I took her hand in mine and we headed to the parlor. We were walking down the street and looking in the various shop windows as we passed by, when Ellery suddenly stopped.
“Hi, Elle.”
“Hi, Kyle,” she replied.
“Connor.” He nodded his head.
“Kyle.” I nodded back.
He introduced us to his girlfriend and asked Ellery how she was doing. She pulled out her phone and showed him pictures of Julia. I was uncomfortable and just wanted to get the hell out of there. I could see by the way he looked at her that he still had feelings for her. We said our goodbyes and continued walking down the street.
“That was awkward,” I said.
“Not really. I’ve run into him before.”
“You have? You’ve never mentioned it.”
“It was no big deal. Just a quick ‘hi’ in passing.”
“I can tell he still has feelings for you.”
“Oh well. His loss, right?” She smiled.
“That’s right, baby, his loss and my gain. If he never would’ve left you, I never would’ve met you, and who knows where I’d be right now?”
She squeezed my hand lightly as we stood in front of Jack’s Tattoo Parlor.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” she asked.
“Of course I’m sure. I’ve never been surer about anything in my life, except for you.” I winked at her.
As we walked through the door of the parlor, Jack looked up from behind the counter.
“Well, look who decided to drop by; my girl, Ellery.” He smiled as he stepped out from behind the counter.
“Hi, Jack,” Ellery said as she gave him a hug. “I want you to meet my husband, Connor. He wants to get a tattoo.”
“Hey, Connor, nice to meet you, bro,” Jack said as we shook hands. “Take a seat right over here and tell me what you’re thinking.”
“I was thinking about the double infinity symbol in thick black ink, with Ellery’s name at the top and Julia’s name at the bottom. I want it on my right bicep.”
Ellery looked at me, grabbed my hand, and I could see the tears swell in her eyes. I shook my head at her lightly.
“Sounds good, buddy. Are you ready? Jack asked.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
As Jack was halfway into the infinity design, I asked Ellery how she handled getting the tattoos on both wrists.
“I was in a very bad place and nothing could hurt worse than the pain I’d felt from losing you.”
I took in a sharp breath because my heart ached when she said that.
“Ellery was a good sport. She didn’t even flinch,” Jack said.
“She’s a strong woman.” I smiled.
Two hours later, and my tat was finished. I looked at it through the mirror and it was exactly what I wanted.
“Connor, it looks great! I love it!” Ellery exclaimed.
“Thank you, Jack. You did a great job,” I said as I pulled out my wallet and Ellery grabbed it out of my hand.
“Here, Jack. Thank you for everything.” She smiled as she handed him the money, plus a hundred-dollar tip.
I looked at her as she looped h
er arm in mine and we walked out the door. “What is with you giving people such large tips?” I asked.
“He deserved it. Look at the wonderful job he did on your tattoo. I must say that I’m very turned on by it,” she said as a wide grin graced her face.
“Well, then, it was worth it.”
We walked down the streets of the city and back to the Range Rover. Ellery pulled out her phone and sent a text message to Mason, telling him that we were on our way to get Julia. As we reached the garage where the Range Rover was parked, I opened the door for Ellery and kissed her passionately before letting her get in.
“What was that for?” she asked with a smile.
“Just because I love you, and I want to have sex right here and right now.”
“Here? In the parking garage?” she asked as her teeth slid across her bottom lip.
“Yep, right here, in our SUV, in the parking garage.”
“You’re a kinky man, Connor, but what if someone sees us?”
I leaned closer into her and traced her jaw line with my finger. “No one’s going to see us, baby; the windows are tinted.”
She reached her hand down and felt my erection through the fabric of my pants as I reached for her breasts from underneath her shirt. She moaned and closed her eyes when my bare fingers touched her nipples.
“Wouldn’t you rather do it here, without the risk of Julia disturbing us?” I whispered as my tongue softly licked the tender spot behind her ear.
“Backseat, and I’m on top,” she whispered back.
“I’m not going to argue with you,” I said as I opened the back passenger’s door and we both climbed in.
Chapter 16
Ellery
A couple of days later, as I was getting Julia dressed, my phone rang. I reached over, grabbed it from the bed, and saw it was Sal from the art gallery.
“Hi Sal,” I answered.
“Hey, Ellery. My brother is opening up a large art gallery in Chicago, and he wants you to be a part of it. He was going to call you, but I told him to hold off until I talked to you first. His art show is going to be big, and he has a lot of influential people and critics attending. This could be a big break for you as an artist. He said he wants at least five of your new paintings to showcase.”
My heart began beating with excitement as I said yes right away. The thought of painting again thrilled me.
“Thank you, Sal. Tell your brother to call me and that I’m very excited.”
“I will, Ellery, and congratulations. I know you’ll do fantastic,” he said as he hung up.
I picked up Julia and did a little happy dance with her. I hadn’t painted since before she was born, and I missed it. Connor had already left for the office, and I was dying to tell him about the phone call from Sal, so I decided that we’d stop by his office after we picked up Camden’s birthday gift. When I took Julia downstairs, Claire took her from me.
“Good morning, Ellery.” She smiled.
“Good morning, Claire. Can you keep an eye on Julia for me while I finish getting ready? We’re going to go shopping today for Camden’s birthday and then we’re going to pay a surprise visit to Connor.”
Claire smiled as she looked down at Julia. “Of course I can keep an eye on this little doll.”
“Thank you, Claire. I won’t be too long.”
***
As Denny was driving Julia and me to FAO Schwarz to meet Cassidy, his phone rang. He looked at it and then at me through the rearview mirror. I found it odd that he didn’t answer it. A few seconds later, his phone rang again.
“You better get that. It may be important,” I said.
He picked up his phone and answered it. He kept watching me through the mirror. He didn’t offer much to the conversation except a few “Okays.” This was the second time he had behaved strangely with a phone call while I was around. I was beginning to think that something was going on that he didn’t want me to know about. I decided not to ask him about it just yet.
Denny pulled up to the curb and Cassidy was waiting outside the store for us. She walked around, opened the door, and took Julia from her car seat. After I thanked Denny for his help, he said goodbye and drove away.
“I want to hear all about your date with Ben,” I said as the man dressed as a toy soldier held the door open for us.
“It was a lot of fun. Not only is he hot, but he’s funny too.”
“I think I remember him being on the funny side.” I smiled. “Connor was upset that I said he was hot.” I laughed.
“Tell Connor he has nothing to worry about.”
“I already did, but he wants to be the only hot man in my life.”
“Of course he does. He’s madly in love with you. But the weird thing is, I didn’t think he was the jealous type.”
“I quickly put his fears to rest.” I winked.
Cassidy and I walked around the store for over two hours. Julia had just woken up and she was starting to get fussy. When I stopped the stroller and took her out of it, Cassidy lightly touched my arm. I looked over at her as she stared ahead. My eyes diverted over to where she was looking, and I saw my husband standing there, next to the big piano, with a wide smile on his face.
“What are you doing here?” I smiled as I walked over to him and he took Julia from my arms.
“I was hoping to take my three favorite girls to lunch.”
“Oh, so, now I’m one of your favorite girls?” Cassidy asked him as she kissed his cheek.
“You’ve always been my favorite sister.” He winked.
“Julia and I were going to surprise you and come to the office.”
“Well, it looks like I surprised you first,” Connor said as he kissed my lips.
Cassidy walked over and stepped onto the big piano with one foot. “Connor, do you remember when we were kids?” she asked with a smile.
“I sure do. Mom and Dad used to bring us here, and the both of us would try to play a song on that.”
“Come play with me; just for fun. Like we used to,” she said as she held out her hand.
There was nothing I wanted more than to see Connor playing on the big piano, but there was no way he was going to do it. As he handed Julia to me, he took Cassidy’s hand and stepped onto the toy with her. I stood there in shock. He took two steps to the left as she took two steps to the right. I put Julia in her stroller and pulled out my phone. This was something that I never wanted to forget, I thought as I hit the video record button. As Cassidy stepped off the piano, Connor stepped a little tune. When he was finished, Cassidy stepped on and played the same tune. Both of them were smiling and laughing. It was so good to see Connor having fun and relax a bit. They were both out of breath when they finished. Cassidy walked past me and I high-fived her. As Connor walked up to me, he wrapped his arms around me tightly and swayed me back and forth.
“You looked really sexy doing that.” I smiled.
“We used to come here all the time. Sometimes when Cassidy and I would be playing on it, one of the other keys would light up that we didn’t step on, and I’d tell her that Collin was here playing with us. It sort of freaked her out.”
I broke our embrace and put my hand on his chest. “I bet he was here. He’s always with you in spirit.”
Connor smiled and kissed my head. “Come on; let’s go eat. I’m starving.”
While we stood in line, waiting to make our purchases, Connor took Julia from the stroller and held her up while making funny faces at her.
“Well, look at Daddy Connor,” I heard a voice from behind say.
Connor and I turned around and we saw Sarah standing there. Instantly, Connor became nervous.
“Sarah. How are you?” he asked politely.
“I’m good, Connor. It’s nice to see you again.” She smiled. “Ellery, you look wonderful.”
“Thank you, Sarah,” I replied as I watched her move closer to Julia.
Seeing her always put a sick feeling in my stomach. Just knowing how she and Con
nor had used each other for years, and the things they did, made me irritated, but not as bad as when I looked at Ashlyn.
“Ellery, she’s adorable, and she looks just like you.”
I smiled politely as she backed away. “It was good seeing both of you again. You’re a perfect little family, and I would be lying if I didn’t say that I was jealous. Have a good day,” she said as she walked away.
Cassidy looked at me and then looked at Connor. She didn’t say a word and neither did he. Suddenly, I blurted out, “Well, that was awkward.”
Connor put Julia in her stroller, stood behind me, and whispered in my ear, “Like it was awkward running into Kyle.”
I looked around and saw that Cassidy was making her purchase. I discreetly reached my hand back and placed it on Connor’s crotch, giving it a light squeeze. I leaned my head back and whispered, “He was my boyfriend, not my fuck buddy. There’s a difference.”
Connor placed his hand on mine as I released my light grip. “Baby, that’s not nice, and we’ll discuss it when we get home.”
“You bet we’ll discuss it when we get home; just not with words.”
“Oh God,” he whispered.
I paid for Camden’s birthday gifts and the four of us walked out of the store. As Connor pushed the stroller, I looped my arm around his and smiled.
***
While we were waiting for our food to be served, I asked Connor how he knew we were at FAO Schwarz.
“Babe, you told me last night you were going there, and when I talked to Denny, he said he’d just dropped you and Julia off.”
“But we had already been in there for over two hours. How did you know we were still in there?”
“I took my chances, Ellery. What’s with the million questions?”
I shook my head and apologized. Something wasn’t sitting right with me, and I couldn’t put my finger on it.
“Oh my God! I completely forgot to tell you, Connor!” I exclaimed.
“What?”
“The reason Julia and I were coming to see you at the office. Sal called me and his brother is opening an art gallery in Chicago, and he wants me to do a showing with five of my paintings.”