“I’d bet our house on it,” Dad grumbled. “I was pretty set on not liking him at the start, but he’s trying. I talked to him a little while after seeing the finished cradle. He confessed he’d been feeling like he was pushed into the deep end and no one was willing to throw him a life preserver. So I gave him one.”
My breathing had shallowed as he spoke. “How so?”
“Talked to him like I would if he was my own kid. I guess he is now, technically.” Sentimentality slipped easily into his tone. “It’s hard to be the only dissenting voice in a group, especiallywhen you’re worried about people you love leaving you behind. He might’ve been dissenting for stupid reasons to us, but I understand him better now, and I get why he was worried about his pack.Weknow you’re trustworthy. He doesn’t, and he loves the others enough to cause friction trying to protect them.”
“I think I should go talk to him too,” I said, still trying to process.
“I would say that’s a good idea,” Poppy said gently. “We support you, whatever you decide.”
“I appreciate that. I’ll talk to you later. Love you.”
“Love you, too, peanut,” they chorused.
Parker and I needed to have a serious conversation, and ready or not, that was happening now.
Chapter 46
Parker
“Parkerwhatever the fuck your middle name isAshcroft!” a sweet voice rang out as the door to my office opened.
I glanced up from my paperwork and Clover entered my office with a frown. She was unhappy with me, which was pretty par for the course at this point. I’d really been trying to make things right, and for the life of me, I couldn’t place what my latest mistake might be.
“What did I do?”
I was still learning Clover, so the options were endless. If the last few months had taught me anything, it was that I wasverygood at upsetting our beautiful omega.
Clover glared at me.
I sighed, thoroughly abandoning the paperwork, and met her eyes, my stomach sinking. “How much do I need to grovel in apology?”
The corner of Clover’s mouth turned up as she slunk toward me, poking me in the chest with surprising force. Her glare had a playful edge to it now that she was close, and my brow furrowed. So, she was only partly upset? That was good, wasn’t it?
“Why didn’t you tell me”—she poked me again—“that youpaid offmy fathers’ mortgage?”
Ah. So she’d found out about that.
I knew she would eventually, but her fathers had seemed almost embarrassed to accept my help, so I’d incorrectly assumed they would keep the information to themselves. I shouldn’t have been so surprised. Clover was good at finding out about everything going on in our lives.
“I wanted to make things easier on them.” I shrugged, knowing I had no other motivation behind it. They were important to Clover, which meant they had to be important to me. We were paying Logan’s horrible family a monthly stipend to leave him alone, so literally the least I could do for actually loving relatives was make sure they were comfortable and without financial worry. Clover had taught me that you help people in your life when you can. Plain and simple. At least I was finally learning something. “It’s not a big deal. This way, they can come to visit you a lot more, and they aren’t so stressed.”
Clover teared up, and a bolt of panic hit me. Had I done something else wrong? Dammit. Maybe I’d overstepped? She and her dads were independent, and I didn’t want her to take this as an offense.
“That’s…”
“I didn’t do it because I wanted to throw my money around. I did it because I love you, Clover, and I wa?—”
She planted her fingertips against my lips, halting my words and sending desire like lightning through me.
“Youwhat?”
Fuck. That was probably an unhinged thing to say after everything. But…it was true.
I tugged down her hands and planted them on my chest. “When I was faced with the potential of losing you, it all hit me at once. No one else challenges me like you do. No one has ever swept me into their thrall and kept me there.” Here I was, practically salivating for a scrap of her attention, and somehow Iwas okay with that. “You’re a firebrand, and if laying myself bare for you to destroy at will is how I get to keep you, then I’ll do it.
“I love you. I’m learning what you need and how I can provide it while also keeping a leash on all the bullshit I need to unlearn. I don’t expect you to forgive me. Frankly, I don’t deserve it, and I’ll admit I’m not perfect, even though I tried my whole life to be…” I sucked in a deep, desperate breath. “But you make me want to try, and I’ll spend my whole life making sure I never make you feel the way you did when I gave you that fucking contract.”
Clover curled her fingers into my shirt. “Parker…that’sreallysweet. I?—”
