Live-In Position (27 page)

I ignored the random knocks on my door over the next three hours until he finally got tired of waiting for me to respond and let himself in the room. Quickly, I wiped my face with my sleeve and groaned.

“I really can’t do this right now.” My voice was thick from lack of use and crying. He sighed heavily and left my room. I thanked every star that he actually backed off. The last thing I needed was to be
his
emotional outlet.

It was probably about two and a half hours later when I heard Dr. Bishop’s voice downstairs.

“It will be alright. You aren’t going back.” I sat up quickly and flung my door open. Once I stepped out, I saw Dr. Bishop at the top of the stairs with Victoria in his arms, her hands around his neck.

“Victoria?” I breathed out and headed for her.

“Sophia,” she croaked. I reached for her and took her in my arms.

“Are you… Is she okay?” I looked at Dr. Bishop. He nodded, but extreme anger was written across his face.

“Let’s get you to bed.” I carried Victoria to her room and lay her down. I climbed in next to her. “Are you sure you’re okay?” I whispered to her.

“Yes,” she said softly and looked around to my face. “Daddy came to get me.” She smiled widely.

“Do you know why?”

She shrugged.

“Grace left me alone again,” she sighed. I fought the frown that wanted to spread on my face.

“Get some rest.” I rubbed her head. “We will have pancakes in the morning, okay?” She smiled, nodded, and then yawned.

An hour later, Victoria was completely passed out, and my mind was reeling at Dr. Bishop bringing Victoria home. I couldn’t take it any longer so I got out of her bed, tucked her in, and headed toward Dr. Bishop’s office.

I stood outside of his door for almost five minutes before I found the nerve to knock. No answer. I waited a few more minutes and knocked again, but still nothing. On my way back to my room, it occurred to me that he may be in his room. It was late.

Standing in front of his door for another five minutes, I almost lost the nerve to knock, but somehow I managed.

He answered the door in a pair of pajama pants and a white t-shirt, a look I had never seen on him before. It was intriguing.

“Miss Ashwood?” He furrowed his brow and ran his hand through his hair.

“What happened?” I asked quietly.

He sighed and motioned for me to enter. I hesitated, and he noticed. He grabbed my arm and pulled me in. I stumbled for a minute, but his grip kept me balanced.

“After last weekend, I decided to have Grace followed when Victoria was with her.” He walked toward a small bar to the right side of his room. I heard the clink of glass as he poured a drink. “She left her again,” he shrugged, ‘so I retrieved her.” He turned back to me.

“But she didn’t do anything harmful, right?” I needed to be reassured by him.

He shrugged.

“Not directly.” He cleared his throat.

“Who hurt her?” I gasped and felt myself get nauseous at the thought. “Was it that babysitter?” My fists clenched at my sides.

He shook his head.

“No. Victoria is fine, but the intent of the visit is for Victoria and Grace to spend time together, not for Grace to leave her with a babysitter.”

I looked at him in confusion.

“So how was she hurt?”

“Not her.” He set his glass down and stepped in front of me. “It was you who was hurt. Seeing the way you looked on that couch, knowing Victoria was probably miserable, it killed me.” I opened my mouth, but he spoke before I could say anything. “I hated sending Victoria to begin with, but my legal counsel said I needed to stick with the agreement. So instead, I had a private investigator follow Grace. He is getting statements for me so I can present them to the judge.” He walked back to the bar, picked his glass up and drained it before setting it back down.

His back was still to me so he didn’t see me approach. I wrapped my arms around his waist. He stiffened for a brief second before placing his arms over mine.

“Thank you,” I spoke into his back.

Dr. Bishop turned around. I let go, but he quickly pulled me back to him. My head buried in his chest, I felt his lips on the top of my head.

“There is nothing to thank me for.”

We stayed like this until my legs started to ache and I pulled away. He grabbed my hand and pulled me toward his bed. I resisted and started to argue.

“Nothing is going to happen,” he said as he pulled me into his bed next to him. I sat looking down at him. “I promise,” he stated firmly, drawing me down to him. We lay next to each other in silence until, eventually, I fell asleep in the arms of Dr. Bishop.

When the brightness of the next day roused me from sleep, it took me a couple of minutes to recall the previous night and where I was sleeping. I looked around me and saw Dr. Bishop fast asleep to my left, his back to me.

I slid out of his bed and out of his room. After taking a deep breath, I turned around.

“Shit!” I exclaimed and caused Juliet to jump.

She smirked at me.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered and held my chest.

“Don’t worry about it.” Her smirk remained in place.

Then it registered what she must be thinking. I started shaking my head.

“No, no, no. It’s not what you think.”

She put her hands up toward me, palms forward.

“Who am I to judge?” she winked.

“No, Juliet, it really isn’t like that at all. I swear to you that it’s—” Dr. Bishop’s door opened behind me.

“There you are,” he yawned. “What happened?” He stopped when he saw Juliet. “Good morning, Juliet.”

“Good morning, Collin.” She continued toward the stairs.

Mortified, I covered my face as she walked away from us. I shot Dr. Bishop a look.

“What?” He scrunched his face at me.

“You couldn’t just stay in your room for ten more minutes?” I shook my head and walked down the hall.

“What are you talking about?” The familiar demand in his voice didn’t seem to have the same effect as before.

I turned around.

“Juliet,” I exclaimed and motioned in the direction she disappeared.

He shrugged and grinned. “I don’t care what my family thinks, Sophia.”

I stood with my mouth hanging open. He went back into his room. I growled out loud and trudged to my own room to get showered and dressed.

“Sophia!” Victoria’s voice bellowed from within my suite.

She skipped into my bedroom still in the pajamas Dr. Bishop carried her home in.

“Good morning!” She hopped onto my bed with a large smile.

“Good morning,” I shouted back from the bathroom where I was finishing drying off from my shower. After I was dressed, I pulled open the door and noticed Victoria sitting Indian style in the middle of my bed. “Did you sleep well?”

She nodded. “Daddy came to get me last night.” Her excitement was intoxicating.

“I know.” I twisted my hair into a braid and leaned against the bathroom doorframe.

“He said I don’t have to go back.” Her face beamed.

“Let’s go get you some breakfast.”

“Pancakes?” she asked as she hurried to my side.

“That’s what I promised.” I tickled her sides as she rushed passed me toward the stairs.

We were making our first batch of pancakes when we heard Juliet and Connor enter from the back patio. I wanted to cringe from embarrassment.

“Good morning, my lovely.” Connor kissed the top of Victoria’s head. “Are you making breakfast?”

“Yep,” she nodded excitedly.

“Well then, I should make some fresh squeezed orange juice and start some bacon to go with it,” Juliet offered as she pulled a few large oranges out of the refrigerator.

Victoria and I continued to flip pancakes and stack them on a plate. Connor made more coffee and then helped Juliet with the orange juice.

“What’s going on in here?” I looked over my shoulder and saw Larissa, Max, Ryan, and MJ walk into the kitchen.

“We’re all making breakfast,” Victoria announced.

“Got enough for us?” Max asked with a broad smile.

“Max!” Larissa scolded.

“I’m sure we have plenty,” Juliet spoke softly, and turned back to the bacon, adding some more.

Victoria and I mixed up more pancake batter. Max began scrambling eggs. I caught myself gawking at him as he cooked. He smirked and then shrugged.

“The least I can do is help.”

“Any word from Ilene?” Larissa sneered when she enunciated her name.

Connor cleared his throat.

“Nothing but the return of the signed divorce papers,” he shrugged. “I haven’t heard anything from her since the night she showed up here.”

“What’s this?” The sound of Dr. Bishop’s voice caused inappropriate warmth in private places. I couldn’t look at him, not with Juliet in the room. I took a deep breath and focused on the pancakes.

“This would be breakfast,” Max said very slowly. Larissa and Juliet chuckled. “I mean, I realize you have everything taken care of for you, but do you really need a person to tell you what breakfast is?” Max couldn’t fight his chuckle by the end of his fake rant.

“I don’t know how you deal with him,” Dr. Bishop said aloud.

“What can I say? I love the goof,” Larissa replied.

I grinned

“Is there something amusing, Miss Ashwood?” he whispered. His breath caressed my neck, and I swore I felt his lips barely touch me. He brushed past me toward the coffee.

Goddamn him!

Sitting around the large dining room table, filled with easy-going conversation, I didn’t expect Connor to be the one to bring everything to a standstill.

He cleared his throat.

“Could I have your attention, all of you?” We looked toward him when he rose from his seat.

“Connor,” Juliet hissed, “now is not the time.”

He waved off her objections.

“I would like to let you all in on some wonderful news.”

I glanced to Juliet who had her head in her hands.

“Connor…” she warned so quietly I think only I could hear her. I looked back to Connor, already guessing what he was about to say.

“Juliet has agreed to marry me.”

I heard the clatter of a fork dropping on to someone’s plate and a glass fall over on the table with a whispered “shit” following it. Then there was a loud smash from behind us. Everyone looked toward the noise, and there was a collective gasp in the room. Juliet groaned.

“Oh god, Connor.”

Silence, like a vacuum, sucked all sound from the room. Then it exploded.

“I cannot believe this!”