Fall For My Ex’s Mafia Dad
Chapter 111

"What!" I shriek, shocked, a noise that makes Kent laugh.

"Kent!" I hiss in a whisper, remembering that this is apparently a secret and that I should be quiet, "put me down! I need my pants!"

"No, you don't," he replies, laughing a little with derision as he climbs. "Those ugly shorts - where did you get those anyway?" "They're comfortable!" I protest.

Kent shocks me then by delivering a punishing little smack on my a*s, making me yelp. He laughs again and I can feel his head moving against my hip, shaking from side to side in frustration. "All the resources in the world," he mutters, "and you order polyester pajamas - honestly Fay -"

"They're cute!" I retort, shocked and a little offended as he continues to carry me up the steps slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"They're horrible," he mutters, pushing open a door and passing through it. As Kent turns to close the door behind him, I look around and am mildly surprised to see that we're in his bedroom. "I'm going to put those clothes in the incinerator first thing in the morning," Kent informs me, pulling me off his shoulder and lowering me down to my place in his bed.

"Rude," I retort, laying back against Kent's pillows and narrowing my eyes at him. A little smile grows on my face when I see him pause, looking over my naked body. "If you burn my clothes, what will I wear?"

"Nothing," he drawls, sliding his hands into his pockets and looking hungrily down at me. "Ever again, if I have anything to say about it."

I laugh, then, and am pleased when I see him smile. "I'll get cold," I protest, giving a little pout.

"We'll wrap you up," he retorts, bending down to pull back the comforter and sheets and tuck me into them, his hands lingering unnecessarily long on my a*s as he does. Then, that done, Kent picks a book up from the nightstand - my nightstand, apparently, and a book I didn't place there - and tosses it to me to keep me occupied while he turns and heads to the closet.

As Kent pulls the closet door open and disappears inside, I cock my head, considering...does Kent Lippert have pajamas?

What do they look like?

Biting my lip in anticipation of finding out, I look down at the book, a well-loved hardcover with a gilt title that reads Control and Manipulation. I flip it open, wondering if Kent just tossed me the first book he found to keep me occupied, or if he picked this for me... I look up, distracted, when Kent comes out of the closet again wearing nothing but his underwear. I can't help the way my eyes follow him as he crosses the room, as I admire his well-muscled form, his eight-pack abs, his strong legs and his round a*s. I'm still watching him, unable to tear my eyes away, as he moves to his side of the bed, picking up his alarm clock. "Kent?" I ask quietly.

"Hmm?" he replies, only paying half attention to me as he sets his alarm.

"When do you work out? And like...where?"

Kent snaps his head to me, baffled, and I grin. I like him like this - when I can see the always-controlled Kent thrown off by something I say that he wasn't expecting. "What?" he breathes, frowning at me in confusion.

"Well, this," I say, waving a general hand at his physique, "this isn't genetics. And I don't think you go to like, the community center to make it happen. So? Where's your gym?"

Kent smirks and shakes his head, finishing with the clock and placing it on his bedside table before he sits on the bed, sliding close to me.

"Why?" he asks, putting an arm around my shoulders and tugging me close. "Are you going to start working out with me? Want me to put you through your paces, Fay?"

"God no," I say, hastily sticking out my tongue to let him know precisely what I think about that idea. "Just," I tilt my head, considering. "This house is gigantic, and I haven't seen half of it - and I just found out that there's a secret passage to the dungeons in the back of my wardrobe, so," I shrug. "I just want to know what else is in the Lippert House of Mysteries. To begin, do you have a gym where you spend many hours lifting weights? Or is this physique the result of...I don't know. Beating people up in back allies?" Kent laughs at me, shaking his head. But then he surprises me by pulling my body close so that I'm pressed tight against him, as if he doesn't want any space between us at all. "I have a gym, Fay," he tells me quietly. "No back alley beat-downs. I'm past that part of my life. The gym is private - just mine. It's in that corridor that you just passed through, behind one of those grey doors. It can only be accessed through the door in this room, and well, the door in the back of your wardrobe. Which I suppose counts as an entrance, now that you know about it."

"You know that's weird, right," I ask, looking up into his face, my eyebrows raised. "That it's weird that you had a secret entrance to my room this whole time and never told me? What, did you like, sneak in and..."

Kent laughs then, shaking his head at me. "No, Fay," he scolds, but I can tell he's amused more than offended. "I never snuck in and watched you sleep. I'm not a pervert."

I raise one eyebrow at him, skeptical, and he laughs harder, but moves in to kiss me.

Before he can, though, I swat him away.

"Wha-" he says, surprised when I scootch away from him, brandishing my book like a defensive weapon.

"No way, Kent!" I protest. "You don't just get to wipe away all of my anger with really good s*x, and then throw books at me to distract me, and expect all of the reasons for that anger to go away as well!"

I see a smirk form on his lips, telling me that was indeed what he was hoping would happen. I hold up a scolding finger and point it at his face. "I admit," I continue, "it was a good plan. It almost worked. But we have to talk."

"Fine, Fay," Kent murmurs, grabbing the offending finger in his gigantic hand and bringing my hand close to his face to kiss it before releasing me. "We'll talk. I know why I was pissed off tonight," he says, his habitual glower coming back to his face as he and I remember - perhaps simultaneously - my little stolen moment with Ivan. "Why are you?"

"Because, Kent," I say, my bravado collapsing a little bit as I remember everything I've been feeling these past two days. My anger wiped it away for a moment - or perhaps focused it into a burning thing rather than a nagging, sad one but...it's been a difficult couple of days.

"Right before Natalia and Alessi came," I begin, raising a hand to twist in the ends of my hair, "you basically told me that I'm your dirty little secret, and that this -" I point between us - "can never be more than this," I finish, waving around at Kent's secret lair, where he's hidden me away.

"Do you want it to be more than this, Fay?" Kent asks quietly, and I sense, somehow, that the question is not a trap. He genuinely wants to know.