Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 22752 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 114(@200wpm)___ 91(@250wpm)___ 76(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22752 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 114(@200wpm)___ 91(@250wpm)___ 76(@300wpm)
A wave of homesickness overwhelms me at the memories. I remind myself that I’m happy here with Abby and Micah.
I love her. I love her fussiness and the way it frustrates Micah that he can’t find a way to comfort her. I love the way he tries to make funny faces to entertain her and that he gets up every night to sit with her when she cries. Even when it’s my night, he won’t leave her alone. I think maybe he’s one of those men who’s meant to be a father. Unlike my own.
“He’s nice, Mama,” I tell her, trying not to think of the Christmas dance that’s happening tonight. It’s all anyone was talking about when I went into town. I kept wondering what it would be like if Micah asked me. It’s a silly fantasy.
Something in my tone must have tipped off Mama because she sighs. The sound is long-suffering. “Don’t go getting ideas about him.”
“I won’t,” I answer as I unbuckle Abby from her seat. I give her a quick diaper change while we continue to talk. “He’s an amazing father though.”
“Yeah, well, you start thinking like that and next thing you know you’ve got eight little mouths to feed,” she says. It’s hard to fault her for being bitter. She’s had a hard life. Her first husband, my dad, abandoned her. Number two was abusive. Number three cheated on her. Each man took a little more of her light until she was only left with a pile of bills and a lot of hungry kids.
I won’t make that mistake, I promise myself. To distract my mom, I start telling her about the online college courses I’m taking. Right now, I’m getting the basics out of the way. But eventually, I plan to go to nursing school. I’ll make a nice hourly rate when I graduate. My mama won’t have to struggle anymore. There will finally be enough groceries and the light bill will be paid on time.
Once my call with my mom is over, I breathe a sigh of relief. The small crush I have on Micah isn’t a big deal. He’s hardly ever around me. In fact, he seems to go out of his way to limit the amount of time we spend together. I shouldn’t take it personally, but it hurts a little bit.
Abby coos. I can’t tell if she’s cooing at me, but I echo the noise anyway. Mama always said it’s their first conversations.
“Are you ready to decorate for Christmas with me, sweet girl?” I ask as I reach for my shopping bags. I found a few items at the craft store that would be perfect for Micah’s office. It’s strange to me. His house is decorated for the holiday, but his work area isn’t. Seems like he could use some Christmas cheer in here.
For the next twenty minutes, I narrate every decorating decision to Abby. Whenever she makes a noise, I respond and agree with her.
“And I think we’re done,” I tell her as I step back and admire my work. There’s a tiny Christmas tree that sparkles and shimmers on Micah’s desk, and I hung some garland around the front of it. Plus, there are twinkle lights around the door now. And yeah, maybe I hung a little bit of mistletoe.
Abby looks around in wonder, and I point to the mistletoe. “See? This is what you do with mistletoe.”
I press a quick kiss to her cheek just as the door swings open.
Micah stomps his boots on the rug and stumbles in with a blast of cold air. He glances around the office and for the first time since I started my little decorating spree, I wonder if it was a bad idea. “I thought Abby would like it. I can take it all down.”
He doesn’t answer. Instead, he stalks across the floor until he’s standing in front of me, boot to boot. His gaze searches my face, but I don’t know what he’s hoping to find there.
My heart rate speeds up, and I lick my suddenly dry lips. “Do you hate it?”
“I can’t hate anything you do,” he murmurs before he lowers his head and presses his lips to mine.
The kiss is sweet and gentle. At least until I open my mouth to his tongue, then everything changes. His hand goes to my hip, the other cradles my head. He presses his body as close to mine as he can, making little growls in the back of his throat. His noises break my trance and bring me back to the present. That’s when I realize what I’m doing. I’m kissing my boss. My much older, very sexy boss.
4
MICAH
Chloe’s pupils are blown wide, and she’s breathing hard. The cutest blush is covering her cheeks right now, and all I want to do is grab her and keep kissing her. Then I want to take her back to my house and spend the rest of my life making love to her. They don’t really need me here to run the ranch. Surely, one of my brothers would figure things out eventually.