Paige swallows and looks out the windshield for a second before turning to me and biting her poor abused bottom lip. “I love you, too.”
The urge to turn the truck around and go home to celebrate runs through me, and I reach for the ignition as I see my mother standing on the front porch out the corner of my eye. Fuck, I’ll never hear the end of it if we leave now. “This is going to be the longest dinner of my life,” I mumble and get out of the truck.
My dad walks out onto the large wraparound porch and stands next to my mom as I walk around and open Paige’s door. He waits until Paige is standing next to me, then calls out, “I was wondering if you were planning to make out all evening in the truck.”
The man lives to embarrass me. Ignoring him, I wrap my arm around Paige. “Come on and meet my parents.”
When we step up onto the porch, my mom grabs Paige in a hug then leans back and smiles. “Aren’t you a doll? I’m Alice Remington, but you can call me Mom. This funny guy is my husband, Owen Remington.”
My dad looks over at the two women. “You can call me Dad if you’d like. Now, let’s take this inside. I’m ready to eat.” I see the relief pass through Paige’s eyes before the tension leaves her body.
Dad and I set the table while Paige helps Mom in the kitchen. Rory comes slamming through the front door. My dad grabs my brother by the back of the collar and drags him back to the front door. “Good Lord, son. We enter the house like civilized humans.” He shoves Rory out the door and points his finger at him. “Try it again like a grown man.” Then he slams the door in Rory’s face and stomps back into the dining room.
Mom and Paige walk back into the room, carrying bowls. Mom frowns and looks around. “I thought I heard the front door. Is somebody here?”
My dad shrugs as he walks over to help her with the dishes. “It depends on whether or not your youngest learns how to enter a house correctly.”
Mom rolls her eyes and turns for the kitchen. “Set a place for our youngest son.”
Rory comes back through the door and sheepishly looks at our dad. “May I please come in?”
My dad looks at me and smirks, then shrugs at Rory. “Sure, just remember your manners.”
The women return with the rest of dinner, and Rory kisses my mom’s cheek then greets Paige. Whatever happened in the kitchen seems to have put my girl at ease with my mom. I breathe a sigh of relief as my family does their best to make my girl feel welcome. I’d warned them earlier that Paige is going to be a permanent part of my life, so they were prepared.
Before we leave at the end of the night, my parents make us promise to come over for weekly family dinners, and Paige seems excited about the idea. My mom and Paige even make plans to go on a girls-only shopping trip the next week.
We’re about halfway home, and I glance out of the corner of my eye and see Paige is sound asleep with her head pressed up against the passenger door window. My poor girl doesn’t even wake up when I carry her in and carefully remove her clothes. She finally stirs a little and helps me with her bra before rolling over and falling right back asleep. I call on all my control to snuggle up to her warm, soft body, willing my cock to behave for the night. Paige needs her sleep.
Chapter 9
Paige
The room is barely starting to glow from the early morning sunlight when I open my eyes. I’m sprawled on my back with my legs spread open. As Trace runs his tongue over my clit, goosebumps break out all over my body, and I moan, “I love the way you say good morning.”
After he slides two fingers into my wet center, he wraps his lips around my throbbing clit and sucks while thrusting his fingers. As an orgasm rushes over me, I grab the back of his head and pull him tighter to my core. I’m still pulsing with aftershocks when he climbs up my body and kisses me. I’m about to reach down and wish him a good morning, but the phone begins to shriek on the bedside table. He drops his head to my chest and growls, “Whoever it is better be dying.”
He barks, “I hope this is an emergency, or I’m killing you.” He listens for a second, then his body stiffens, and he utters a string of swear words that leaves my ears ringing.
After Trace hangs up the phone, he tosses it on the bedside table and kisses my neck before sighing. “We need to get dressed and head to your place. That was Sheriff Donaldson. They caught the intruder trying to break into your house, and we need to go over there.”
While Trace throws on jeans and a t-shirt, I run to the bathroom and try to straighten out my crazy hair, then grab sweats and a t-shirt. The cats will have to deal with plain old cat food until we get back from this catastrophe.
We’re in Trace’s truck, racing to my house when I realize something. “Why didn’t the alarm company call either of our phones when the alarm was triggered?”
Trace glances at me. “Donaldson had them reroute the alarm directly to the undercover car sitting right around the block. He didn’t want us to show up and get involved if something went bad, so he asked the alarm company to keep us out of the loop. He apologized this morning, but he had a hunch he knew who it was, and he was right.”
Before I can question him further, we turn onto my road, and it looks like a carnival with all the flashing lights. We’re forced to park several houses down and walk down. “All this for an intruder?”
I look up, and Trace has a grim look on his face. He closes his eyes and rubs the bridge of his nose for a second when we see Sheriff Donaldson walking over. The sheriff shakes Trace’s hand and shakes his head. “I hate being right, especially about one of my employees.”
Trace isn’t quite so nice. “I knew the dumbass was fucked up in high school, so I’m not shocked at all.”
Oh my God, it was Deputy Burton. My mouth opens and closes, but no sound comes out.
Trace wraps an arm around my shoulder and leans down to whisper in my ear, “You okay, baby? You’re awfully pale.”
I’m still trying to find the words to express myself when they march Deputy Burton out of my house in handcuffs. He looks completely different, dressed in an all-black sweatsuit. His reddish-blond hair is slicked back, and there’s an evil, almost blank stare in his creepy, lifeless eyes. Trace stiffens as they walk past, and I squeeze him tight and whisper, “He isn’t worth it.”
Trace leans down and kisses me, then turns me away from the state police placing Deputy Burton in the back of the police car. Sheriff Donaldson looks over at Trace and me. “Ms. Reilly’s home will be taped off for the rest of the day while we finish up the investigation. It wasn’t a robbery attempt. He was fixated on the two of you, and he was, uh, well…”
The sheriff rubs the back of his neck and looks up at the sky before groaning. “Why do I have to deal with the weirdos? Why me? He was using your underwear to masturbate.”
Trace swears again before turning to the sheriff. “You know what? We don’t need to know anymore right now. You know that little fucker has had it in for me since high school. I knew he was a dumb fuck, but I never realized he was fucking insane, too. Just call me when we can get back into Paige’s house.”
He takes my hand and pulls me back toward his truck before I can respond. I’m so shocked by the entire situation.