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“It’s okay. Is Syd all right?” she asks, and I love how she is always thinking of my daughter.
“She’s good. It’s you I’m worried about.”
“You really don’t need to be. It’s just a headache.”
I don’t see a point of beating around the bush. “Syd said you argued with Warren.”
“Shit,” she mutters. “I was hoping she was out of earshot.”
“You’d be surprised the things kids can pick up on,” I say dryly. “What happened, Ellie? I need to know. I would never be mad at you or anything like that.”
She blows out a breath. It’s hard to focus knowing she’s naked in that bath, but I also owe her my undivided attention.
“Warren hit on me,” she says. “I planned on telling you, Connor. I wasn’t going to keep it a secret. I just needed time to process.”
“I understand. I’m not mad. I do want to beat the shit out of that asshole,” I spout.
Ellie gives me a warm smile. It’s small and filled with the pain of the day, but it’s still there and it hits me in the middle of my chest.
“Warren liked the way I look. He said he had a lot to offer someone like me,” she begins, and I hiss and curse under my breath.
“Dammit.”
“He began to rub my shoulder and I let him because I knew Nana’s security detail was following us, and I knew they would be taking pictures. I figured it would help your case if your ex’s fiancé was hitting on your current one. So I played dumb for a bit, letting him think he could buy me because that is exactly what he was insinuating.”
“Fucking hell.” I pace and grip the ends of my hair. “That asshole. If I ever see him, I’ll wring his neck for touching you.”
“Calm down. I don’t want you beating anyone. If there is anything I did learn from my family it’s you need to know your opponent inside and out, so you can outsmart them. Losing your shit will look bad in front of a judge. You need to be the stable parent because Sybil is clearly not stable, and Warren thinks he can buy people with his money. He put hands on me without my permission.”
“So what did you do?” Connor asks.
“I waited a good amount of time and told him I would never be with a man like him, and I didn’t care how much money he had,” I reply. “I made it clear he should also never touch me again.”
“What did he do?” Connor asks.
“He called me a bitch and then Sybil walked up to us. That was it. We went on a carriage ride in Central Park and Sybil asked me not to ride with them, which I already told you, and that was it. She brought us home after but she glared at me the entire way back here,” she explains.
I lower myself by the bath and sit on my knees.
“What are you doing?” Ellie asks, her voice filled with concern. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”
“I went to the doctor today. Everything is healing well. He said I should be like new in approximately three weeks,” I explain.
“Not if you kneel like that. It can’t be good for your hip,” she says.
“I’m good,” I assure and lift the loofa sponge sitting on the edge of the bath. I dip it in the bath and watch Ellie’s green eyes turn to flames. Then I start to sponge her back.
“Connor. . .”
“You took really good care of me. Let me take care of you. It sounds like you had one heck of a day. It’s all my fault,” I say as I sponge her back and her shoulders. She rolls her head and I drop the sponge in the bath and massage her neck and shoulders.
“That feels really good, mmm.”
“Woman, you’re making it very hard for me to resist you.”
“Keep doing what you’re doing. Don’t stop,” she says. Her voice is all breathy and it’s a heady feeling. I’m also turning rock-hard. “Gosh, I don’t think anyone has ever really bothered to take care of me before.”
Her words cause my stomach to sink. “I’m sorry. That sounds very lonely.”
