104. Planning Through
The next morning Harley woke up all excited to explore Keegan’s place. He had been sitting on the leather sofa, practically bouncing while he waited for Keegan to get out of his room.
Until the man finally did, when the smell of bacon being fried entered his room.
“Okay, this is totally my new favorite way to wake up. Lexie, I am going to keep you forever if you put bacon on the menu for our breakfast. Everyday.” He went to her side and instinctively kissed her forehead. He couldn’t help himself when he saw her in his kitchen, cooking in her cute pajama attire with pink bunny prints and her hair up in a messy bun.
She laughed nervously, but then got sidetracked when her little brother ran up to him with the biggest smile on his face. “Can I please watch cartoons on your humongous tv?”
That got Keegan to ruffle Harley’s hair and picked him up by his waist and carried him sideways. “Humongous, huh?” Her little brother giggled all the way to the living room sofa where Keegan picked up the remote and fumbled with the setting before he set up Netflix kids profile for Harley. Keegan even put his name on the screen and her brother beamed as he recognized it, smiling from ear to ear.
“Enjoy, little guy,” he left Harley to his cartoons when he picked the one with dragons and boys training them. “I’ll let you know when breakfast is done.” Keegan pressed a kiss on his forehead, just because he was the perfect little guy and he looked so damn happy. And that just made Keegan start his day in a very good mood.
Harley nodded but his attention was on the movie already. Keegan was back in the kitchen and quick to steal a strip of bacon while he made his coffee. He laughed when Lexie smacked his hand away when he reached for a second.
“Keegan, if you kept on doing this, I will not make you bacon again.”
They both laughed, but bacon was the last thing on his mind when his brain caught up with her words.
“So you’ll still be here tomorrow?” He asked with the biggest grin on his face.
“I… I mean…” Lexie was nervous, she was laughing when she saw his goofy smile. She was also conflicted about not wanting to depend on anyone ever again. But she was too goddamn tired to process everything.
“Stay, Lexie, I want you to stay for as long as you like. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about your dad. But later yeah? There’s nothing to worry about. You’re safe here.”
“Okay,” she smiled back at him when they heard Harley giggling in the background. Too happy from watching his morning cartoons.
When breakfast was ready, they all sat at the dining table. Harley was having difficulties because of his lack of height. But then, the door buzzed and Keegan was up and headed for the door. But not before putting his hand on hers when he saw her tensed. “Relax, I’m waiting for someone.”
Keegan greeted the man with two big boxes on his front door. “Right on time. If you could put those here.” Keegan signed the overnight deliveries that he ordered before he went to bed. He was pleased with their service and will surely give them the perfect rating later.
“Your booster seats are here little guy. Come on, help me set this up for you.” He half yelled to the dining room, then closed and locked the door after the delivery guy.
“That’s for me?!” He almost shrieked in excitement when he ran up to Keegan and sat on his ass, his legs crossed while he waited for Keegan to unpack the biggest box Harley ever saw.
“Keegan you shouldn’t have, we can easily eat in front of the tv,” Lexie said when she joined them in the foyer.
“Yes, we can do that too on our dinner-movie marathon. But now, I have a dining table I barely use, now that I have guests I can finally have people eating at the table.” He grinned the ruffle Harley’s hair again, this time Harley went up to him and threw his arms around Keegan’s neck, and hugged him.
“Thank you! I never fit in big people’s chairs before.”
“Well, you will be able to with this booster seat. We have one for the car too so you’d be safe when your sister decided it’s time for you to get back to school. Come on, let’s try it out.” Keegan held the booster seat on his left arm and grabbed Harley by his waist and carried him sideways again making him burst with the most adorable laughing sound Lexie had ever heard. Her little brother was happy. Keegan had made him so happy.
Breakfast went great, Lexie said that Harley never had that much appetite for breakfast. He was even fast asleep while watching more cartoons a couple of hours later. Keegan carefully moves Harley to the guest bedroom letting him sleep it off, thinking he needed his rest after yesterday.
It wasn’t until then, that Keegan talked to Lexie about his finding regarding her stepdad. He spread it all on the coffee table. Everything that he had discovered last night was laid out for Lexie, showing her how her stepdad managed to get out of jail so damn quickly.
“I will talk things out with my boss. I’ll take a couple of weeks off and help you with this matter. I know people who owe me some favors and now it’s time for me to collect them.”
“I don’t know Keegan, it seemed easier for me to skip town and just start over.” She said looking nervously at the printed papers. Seeing her stepdad in one of the papers made her visibly shudder. Keegan didn’t waste time as he put his arm around her shoulder and caressed her, telling her everything will be just okay.
“I don’t want you to have to watch your back for the rest of your life. Wondering when he’s going to pop up on your door.” Keegan explained and Lexie didn’t respond. He knows that he was right. If she runs it’ll be only time until her stepdad finds her and then takes Harley with him, most likely hurting her in the process.
“How long do you think…”
“I’m going to try to get it done as soon as I can,” he shrugged not wanting to promise her anything that he couldn’t keep. “But this I can confidently promise you, if you stay with me you’ll be safe. You know I work for your friend Charlotte’s fiance, right?”
“You’re on her security team. I still don’t know why she needs security.”
He chuckled and told her that Seamus Braddock is a very important person. “His work demanded that he needs security, along with his family. And I am his right-hand man. Charlotte was that important to him. Now, today I’ll stay here and arrange for everything because I need to get back to work tomorrow.”
She went stiff when he told her that he was leaving her and Harley alone at his place tomorrow.
“Hey, I told you I’m taking a couple of weeks off right? But I need to delegate some stuff first before I can do that.” What Keegan need was to talk to his boss and ask if he could use a couple of their men when he needed them. He was going to tell Seamus everything and needed him to understand that he needed to do this. For years he has been working for Seamus Braddock and his father Keegan knows that they would help their crew. This was how the Braddocks earned their people’s loyalty.
“Okay,” she pressed closer to his side when he rested back in his seat, Keegan had never felt at home in forever until he feels her under his arms. And when her eyes were on his and they were both drawn into each other for the first time, he didn’t hesitate when he inched forward and kissed her.
Her arms moved to his shoulder holding on to him while they kept on kissing. It was sweet at first, but it didn’t take long before their kiss went heavy and they were both panting for air when Lexie break their kiss.
“I… I’m sorry, that was…” Keegan felt guilty for kissing her, he felt like he was taking advantage of her vulnerable situation.
But then she interrupted and told him otherwise. “That was perfect, I’ve missed you.” He felt her hand caressing his jaw and he couldn’t help but to lean into her touch. They kissed again, this time longer. Sweet passionate kisses, just like he’d dream of every time he misses her.
The rest of the afternoon they go about their own thing. Lexie prepared lunch and fussed over her brother, while Keegan called Seamus and informed him of the situation. Then he arranged for two of their men to get the rest of Lexie’s belongings from her apartment. It wasn’t much, so it didn’t take long.
Lunch and dinner flew by and they didn’t discuss their kiss further until she had Harley tucked in for bed. Lexie took her time in reading his bedtime story. Keegan saw that he had fallen asleep after a couple of pages while Lexie decided to continue and he didn’t want to interrupt so he leave her be.
He went back to his kitchen to pour himself a glass of wine, leaving the bottle on the counter hoping that Lexie would join him later.
“I don’t want to think about my stepdad. Honestly, I’m not looking forward to leaving town. I’ve made friends here, have a job, and Harley loves his school.” Lexie confessed when she did join him for a glass of wine.
“Then, don’t… stay here, for as long as you like.” Keegan put their glass down and he cupped her cheek before kissing her. “I mean it, Mara, I’ll help you. I shouldn’t have left you years ago.”
He loved calling her by her real name, it was a beautiful name. It reminded him of the young teen that she was and the fierce woman she had become. He wanted her. Her wanted her to be his, but first, he needed her to be free of her problems.NôvelDrama.Org is the owner.