“Don’t beat yourself up over it,” Declan said. “You couldn’t have known what he was capable of, Ariella never told you. Right?”
With my lips tight, I glanced up at Declan. That didn’t make me feel the least bit better. “Right.”
I should have seen it coming.
It was my job to anticipate the unexpected, and it was no surprise that Benjamin Ryan had intended to show up looking for Ariella.
I had thought he’d come to win her back.
“I was going to head out, but maybe you should go and check on Ariella first,” Declan said.
If I did that, we might never leave the bedroom. He had no idea that we were more than friends. “You go ahead. I can manage around here.”
“Are you sure?” Declan asked.
“Yeah. Thanks for your offer.” The last thing I needed was for him to witness something transpiring between the two of us, not that I figured Ariella and I would have sex tonight. But to say that was the last thing on my mind would have been a lie.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.” Declan opened the front door and stepped outside.
I watched and waited until he got into his car to shut the door and lock it.
I armed the alarm.
Skylar still wasn’t home yet, but she had her own code to shut it off.
“Daddy!” Izzie waved to get my attention, her fingers covered in bright orange goop.
“How about we take you upstairs and get you cleaned up?” I wasn’t sure if Ariella was in the bathroom upstairs or not, but at the very least, I could wash up Izzie in the master bath.
“Where’s Ariella?” Izzie asked. It was the first time that I’d heard Izzie say her name correctly. She was growing up so fast.
“She’s upstairs. Ariella had a busy day today.” I didn’t want to worry Izzie or scare her. She didn’t need to know what Ariella had been through. However, she was likely to have questions once she saw Ariella’s bruises and abrasions on her face.
Izzie playfully stomped up the stairs, each step louder than the previous. I shook my head, smiling at how nice it was to be oblivious to the dangers of the outside world.
That wasn’t entirely true, though. Izzie had been held hostage with Ariella in my home. It hadn’t been a good day, and there had been nightmares that followed, another reason Ariella and I had to be careful about sharing a bed together.
I hated the distance that I’d been forced to put between us, hiding our relationship from Izzie, but how could I explain to my daughter that Ariella wasn’t her mother and may never be a mom to her, but was a girl who I liked a lot, including intimately? That wasn’t a conversation to be held with a three-year-old.
I didn’t know what the future held for Ariella and me. The fact we worked together and lived under the same roof complicated matters. More so Ariella’s past complicated matters. She’d lost a son.
Did she even want to be a mother to Izzie full-time?
“Ariella!” Izzie squealed, clomping up the last few steps before running down the hallway. The bathroom door was open, the light off.
I walked past my bedroom, and farther down the hallway was the guest bedroom where Ariella slept. Both doors were shut with no sign of her.
“Come on,” I said and lifted Izzie into my arms, zooming her forward like an airplane, making sounds of a propeller with my lips before putting her down on the bathroom rug. I flipped on the light switch, and she stripped down while I ran the bathwater.
I gave Izzie a bath, cleaning the cheesy disaster that had managed to cake on her arms, fingers, and even in her hair.
Afterward, I dried her off, put her into her pajamas, fed her a healthy snack, and then read her a very short story before tucking her into bed. I turned on her nightlight and quietly exited her bedroom, my back to the hallway.
I bumped into Ariella.
“Sorry,” she said, quick to apologize.
I reached for her hands as they dangled at her sides. “You have nothing to apologize for. How about we head downstairs and find something to eat?”