The Ceo's Contracted Mistress
The Ceo’s Contracted Mistress Chapter 38

Olivier was quiet as he gently washed Ollie’s face and admitted he felt terribly guilty for not listening to Bobbie when she had said pizza should not have been on the menu. His poor little girl had taken one whiff of the greasy pies and had instantly started heaving. Then she’d cried because she’d vomited on him.

Bobbie had rubbed the child’s back and had put her window down but had glared furiously at him. All he could do was repeatedly apologize to poor Ollie. As it was, he was now shirtless in a pair of shorts, both his and Ollie’s clothes in a smelly pile on the floor and Ollie was whimpering her head hurt and he felt the worst parent in the entire world.

He helped her into the nightdress Bobbie had passed to him when she suggested he get her cleaned up while she dealt with Max, gave Everly and Grady an update next door and figured out a light meal for Ollie to eat.

He studied the pale face of his little girl. Her brown eyes were tired looking, her eyelids puffy from all the crying she’d been doing, dark half-moons under her eyes and trails of yellow from whatever the cleaning agent the nurse had used on her head streaking through her hair, on her ear and along her jaw. He gently washed her up pausing to k**s her little nose when she gave a loud sigh. “We’re almost done, ma chère,” he rinsed the cloth one last time. “Maman said tomorrow you can have a bath but for tonight we’ll just get you cleaned up a bit.”

“Daddy,” she sniffed as he gently washed her neck and her hands, “my tummy hurts.”

“It’s probably the medicine, my little love.” He spoke softly. “You have an empty stomach, a concussion and with the medicine in your system it’s making you a bit nauseous. You can get something to eat soon, and it will help with the tummy ache.”

Max poked his head into the bathroom chewing a slice of pepperoni pizza. “Maman asked me to come collect your puked on clothes into this laundry basket. She said she didn’t want it to stink up the bathroom.” He looked at Ollie, “she made you toast and tea. She said you can eat in bed.” He shoved the last bite of his pizza in his mouth before, with little regard for how nasty the clothing was, he began piling them in the basket. “You’re lucky. I never get to eat in bed.” He lifted Olivier’s b***d covered shirt and stared at with interest before dropping it into the basket. He pulled Ollie’s shorts up and sniffed the vomit.

“Max, they have my puke on them,” Ollie watched him with a turned-up nose. “You shouldn’t touch my puke.”

“It’s just puke. Papa’s shirt has b***d all over it too.” He shrugged, “at least it’s not poop.”

“Max, wash your hands very well before leaving this bathroom please. I’ll carry the basket down to the laundry myself in a minute.” Olivier made a face as the kid reluctantly moved to the sink in the master bathroom and washed his hands. “It is way past your bedtimes my loves. Let’s get you into bed and settled.”

“Daddy, you said you would sleep with me,” Ollie reminded him of his promise he’d made her in the hospital.

“And I will but I need a shower, a bite of dinner and then I will come and cuddle you.”

“Can’t we just all sleep with you and maman?” Max asked curiously. “I don’t want to leave Ollie. She just got home.”

“Yes!” Ollie clapped her hands in a burst of energy. “Can we daddy?”

“I don’t know,” he shook his head. “Maman might not want all of us in her bed.” Considering the death glares, she’d been shooting him since he’d vetoed her on the pizza, he was worried he was treading deep water with her, and she was about to loop an anvil around his neck. Even Riggs and Henri had bailed quick. They gave the excuse of getting the car detailed but even Bobbie had seen through their excuse given the time of night and had called them out. Neither man had been brave enough to argue with her and had slipped away quietly into the darkness of the summer night. He rubbed his head in frustration. She was going to give him hell when they were alone, and he deserved every ounce of it.

He had been so keen to just give Ollie the world to ease her suffering he hadn’t thought it through. He’d put Ollie in harm’s way by ignoring the doctor’s instructions. All he’s wanted was to make her bright smile reappear and instead she’d projectile vomited all over him and her. The force of which had given her a tremendous headache, has reduced her to tears and pissed Bobbie off.

Asking her if the three of them could share her bed with them felt like asking for too much. He also considered she might possibly put a pillow over his face while he slept. He sighed loudly.

“Papa needs to take a shower. Can you both give me five minutes and I’ll be with you? Max let maman know I’ll bring the laundry down myself. I don’t want you handling it again.” The kid had been too enthralled with the bodily fluids on the clothing, and he was worried he’d try to snag something for the microscope in his room. He knew he had chosen wisely when Max looked to the basket longingly and then gave a half-pout before reaching for Ollie and tugging her hand.

“Come on Ollie,” Max pulled her out of the bathroom as Olivier closed the door behind them.

He stripped down and stood in the shower and rested his head against the cool tiles and let the stress of the day sluice down the drain. He reached for the soap he’d brought into the shower the night before and quickly washed himself down, but he wasn’t ready to rejoin the family yet. He was on edge and stressed and his heart was in his throat as he remembered the events of the last several hours.

As he closed his eyes, he could still see the dark crimson of Ollie’s b***d on his hands as they raced to the hospital. Never in his life had he been more terrified than to see the little thug throw his daughter several feet and her head bounce on the hard ground. He’d been shocked and hadn’t moved for several seconds and then he’d been racing two steps behind Bobbie. His legs were far longer than hers, yet she’d outpaced him easily. Riggs had beat him to Ollie by a split second. He’d wanted to throw Riggs off but his friend of the two of them was far more experienced in first aid and he’d allowed him to take control. He’d read his body language easily and Riggs too had been terrified at how long she’d remained unconscious.

He knew he had tears on his face as he stood under the hot spray of the water, but he recognized he had to get his s**t together before being around the kids or Bobbie would have his balls for yet another solid reason and deservedly so. He could cry here but crying out there with them watching him and needing him to be strong wasn’t an option. He was so lost in his thoughts he jumped in terror as arms wrapped around his middle in the shower before giving a small, embarrassed laugh at his actions.

He leaned his head back resting it on the top of her head, feeling her cheek pressed to his back.

“Are you okay?” Her voice was soft in the enclosure.

He gave a slow shake of his head and kept his eyes closed. “Today was bar none the scariest f*****g day of my life.”

She nodded her head, “the only thing scarier than today was the time Max caught a viral infection and his fevers were so high he was having seizures.” She hugged him tighter as his hands gripped hers tightly as she revealed a memory he hadn’t not yet known. “I’m glad you were here with me this time.”

“Bobbie, I made her sick,” he whispered.

“Yes, you did. You also held her and comforted her and made her feel safe and better. You’re ten days in on parenting Olivier. Cut yourself some slack.”

Her words soothed his soul and he turned in the shower to hug her back. He noted she was fully dressed, soaked to the skin, and smiling softly. He kissed her forehead and sighed, “I keep bungling everything. I thought you’d be ripping me a new a*****e.”

“Olivier, I f**k up every single day. Parenting is hard. I yell too much. My patience is short. I let them get away with things they shouldn’t get away with, and I lose it over issues I shouldn’t. We’re going to mess it up.” She touched his cheek gently, “I have a hard and fast rule about no food in the bedrooms, yet Ollie is currently eating toast in bed.”

He studied her, taking in the softness of her blue eyes and the gentle smile on her face. She was so beautiful on a regular day but when she was doing this, being kind and loving and forgiving he could get lost in her. He didn’t deserve her, but he wanted and needed her so much. He leaned his cheek into her palm. “Thank you. I needed to hear this. I really believed you’d be strangling me, not hugging me.”

She chuckled at his words, “Olivier, the pleasure I got from you being covered in vomit far outweighs anything I could possibly glean from yelling at you.”

He stared at her before giving a bark of laughter at her words.

“I didn’t know that much vomit could come out of a tiny body which hadn’t eaten in hours.”

She made a face, “I’m just glad all she had before the game was a small snack.”

“Max was too curious about the dirty clothing,” he made a face, “especially the b***d on my shirt.”

“Jesus,” she swore and closed her eyes. “He’s so f*****g weird.”

“You’re easily at ten for today,” he laughed pushing the wet hair off her forehead.

“Ditto,” she grinned back. “If ever we get kids out of the bed, we’re going to have an oily sticky mess.”

He couldn’t help laughing at her words as he lifted her clean off her feet and hugged her tight to his chest, nuzzling her neck. He then lowered his head to k**s her. He slid his mouth gently over hers and she sighed against him. He pulled away at the sound of laughter in the other room.

“They want to sleep in here. Your mom has already turned in. Max is reading Ollie jokes from his joke book in our bed.” She smiled at him with a shrug, “they seem to be taking cockblocking to a whole new level.”

He chuckled, “it’s my fault. She asked me at the hospital to sleep with her and I’d have given her a kidney if she’d asked me for it while laying in her hospital bed.”

“Well, we’re having a sleepover in the big bed, as Max calls it,” she smiled at him as she lifted her wet top over her head and tossed it into the laundry basket just outside the shower walls. She kicked her shorts in as well and then moved to get back under the spray of the shower.

“Are you sure you don’t mind us hijacking the bed?” he asked curiously, watching her cover her body in a fruity smelling body wash. He was getting hard watching her and even the sound of two kids giggling on the other side of the door were not dissuading his body from responding to her. He grabbed an oversized towel and wrapped it around his h**s.

“No,” she spoke as she quickly washed her hair out. “Olivier?”

He brushed his teeth avoiding looking at her naked body in the shower, desperate to regain his self-control considering their children were mere feet away. “Yes, chérie?”

“I meant what I said earlier,” she turned the shower off and reached for a towel. “I’m glad you were here with me today. As scary as it was, it was less scary with you there.”

He swallowed the lump in his throat at her words. “I’m glad I was with you as well.”

“I don’t want you to go.”

He watched her through the mirror as she averted her gaze from his and wrapped a towel around her hair. His heart thundered at her words. He stood perfectly still as she found her robe and shrugged into it. His eyes never left her in the mirror, but she wasn’t looking anywhere in his direction.

“What do you mean?” He barely got the words out from the way his b***d was rushing through his veins. His heart was racing far too fast to be healthy.

“I mean, today, I needed you. I needed the father of my children right where he was. At the sidelines cheering them on when they were playing their game and things were good and fun and then when s**t hit the fan and it went sideways and you were there to hold our hands. I needed you. They needed you. I know you’ll travel for work and stuff but at the end of the day, I need to know you’ll come home.”

“Bobbie,” his voice was a croak as he listened to her voice break at the end of her spiel.

“All I know Olivier is I’m holding you to your words.” She finally met his gaze as a single tear streaked down her cheek, “if you sleep in this bed with us tonight, you don’t leave us. Ever. Don’t make me reliant on you for your support and for me to get used to you being here and then you decide this isn’t what you want.”

He turned then and reached for her, tugging her close to him, leaning backwards against the counter and lifting her hands to his chest, holding them against his heartbeat, “Bobbie, do not ask me to stay if you are going to ask me to leave in a few days. My heart,” he tapped his pectoral muscle with her hands, “will not survive losing you again.”

She shook her head at him twisting her lips sadly, “Olivier, all I know is today I realized how much I really want you to stay. For them, for me. I can’t promise I’m not going to get pissed off and lose my mind with you. I mean, as you said when your mother asked for the house across the street, it’s inevitable you’ll piss me off, but today, when it counted, you were there, and I know you will be.” She met his gaze seriously, “but can you promise to not let your family hurt them again.” She looked towards the closed bathroom door in the direction of the kids giggling in her bed. “I’m not like you Olivier. I don’t believe b***d is family. I don’t believe it makes family. I have no problem cutting anyone out of my life if I think they’re going to be detrimental to my children’s wellbeing and it includes your father and your brother-in-law. I know I have to give them a chance to apologize when we’re ready but if they ever pull s**t like they did again, I’ll cut ties so fast not even your legal team will be able to stop it.”

“If they ever pull s**t like it again, you won’t need to worry about cutting them off because I will personally destroy them, family or not.” He vowed. He had already made the promise to his father and his father had blustered and cursed him, but he’d made it clear he’d choose Bobbie over the older man a thousand times, and he’d better heed his warning. As she blinked at the ferocity of his words he didn’t look away, “chérie, my promise to you is simple. You, Max, and Ollie come before anything and anyone else in the world. The rest of the world can burn. I am not a man to be trifled with and not even b***d I share with my parents will stop me from protecting you. I f****d up once. You will learn, I rarely make the same mistake twice.”

“Okay,” she nodded at his words. “Then, I’ll leave you to get into something you can sleep in.”

As she moved to step away, he pulled her back and kissed her mouth softly, “I promise you won’t regret this, Bobbie. I know you don’t love me yet. I know in the past you believed,” he swallowed against the burn of his throat, “I was your employer, but it never was this way, and I will spend forever making you understand how much you meant to me then and how much the three of you mean to me now.”

She stood on tiptoes and pressed a soft k**s to his lips, “good. I’m trusting you Olivier and it’s hard for me but I’m going to. Now, get dressed because I can’t be having dirty thoughts with an injured kid and a morbidly curious one tucked between us.”

He gave a grin at her words as she pulled the bathroom door open. He grinned wider when he heard Ollie’s questions.

“Mom, did you take a shower with my dad? Did you see his p***s?”

“He was done and, in a towel, and he was a gentleman and didn’t look while I got rinsed off,” she grumbled as she made her way to the shower.

Olivier kicked the laundry basket into the bedroom after slipping into a pair of cotton shorts. He lifted up Bobbie’s wet t-shirt, “mom was in a t-shirt and shorts in the shower.” He walked to Ollie and pressed a k**s to her forehead, “enough talk of people’s bodies, nosy girl. Its impolite.” He took her empty plate and grimaced at the crumbs in the bed and swiped them off onto the floor. He looked at Bobbie when she came into the room wearing a pair of pyjama shorts and a top with a sleeping cat on it. “Nice kitty,” he winked at her.

She shook her head, “only one you’ll see tonight.” She gave a look to the kids. “It’s time for bed. I need you to get in.”

“There’s crumbs everywhere,” Olivier grumbled as he looked at the floor.

“I’ll vacuum tomorrow,” she made a face at him

Olivier looked at her and grimaced. Her skin was pale, almost as pale as Ollie and her eyes were bruised from the day. “No.”

“No?” she pursed her lips as he lifted the basket of laundry. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to go throw the clothes in the laundry before Doctor Max decides to take snips of my clothes for his microscope,” he saw Max inhale as if surprised his father had read him so easily. He pointed at him, “I’m getting better, Max. Bobbie, I’ll have my admin assistant replace us a housekeeper in the morning.”

“I don’t need a housekeeper! What’s wrong with the way I keep house?”

He gave a laugh, “not a damn thing. In fact, you do it too well. You can eat off the floors in most rooms of the house, though I’m not sure I’d touch anything in their bathroom.” He gave the twins a shake of his head, “However, you work full time, and you have a pair of twins and their cousin who create chaos in their every waking breath. Having someone come in a few times a week to take pressure off will be helpful. Don’t argue with me on this.”

“Papa, you are bossy,” Max said with his eyes rounded.

“Because I’m the boss,” he winked at Max, “unless maman says I can’t be the boss.” The kids wailed with laughter at his joke and he looked to her, “are we good?”

She gave a shrug, “Everly’s going to be jealous. We’ve been saying for years we both wanted to hire someone but haven’t.”

“I’ll set it up. If she’s really in the condition we think she is, she’ll need the help anyway. The person we hire can do our place in the mornings and hers in the afternoon. Melisandre will make sure they pass all the security requirements before they step foot through the gates of the community. I’ll have another chat with the HOA president.”

She made a face, “I’m sure Grady will be most amenable.”

He laughed at her scowl, “chérie, you have only yourself to blame. You let me in. Now I’m never leaving and I’m going to take care you, like it or not.” As her cheeks blushed, he smiled and he walked to her and kissed her cheek softly, “get into bed with the kids. I’ll be up in a few minutes. I’ll get the laundry on and grab a couple slices of pizza and then I’ll be up.”

“I can do this,” she touched the basket.

“I’m perfectly capable of doing a load of laundry.” He jutted his chin to where the kids were watching them with interest, “bed. Now.”

Olivier waited until she flicked a bedside lamp on and crawled onto the bed with the kids. He stood in the doorway after turning the overhead light off and watched them his heart full as the kids fought over who was going to sleep closer to her. He met her eyes over Max’s dark head as he argued with Ollie over who got to sleep in the middle.

“You sure you’re ready for this?” she asked with a grin.

Never had he been more certain of an answer when he smiled at her, “definitely.”

Later when he was tucked up in bed with two kids sleeping soundly between them and Bobbie snoring, he realized this, this feeling of peace, was worth more than anything else he possessed and he drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face.