Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 57188 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57188 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
In the distance I vaguely heard a door open followed by the sound of little girl footsteps. Thankfully ice cream was on the line, and the sound of her voice pulled us both out of the fog of lust before she appeared.
“I’m coming, I’m coming! Don’t eat my ice cream!”
I took a step back, my gaze fixed on Toni’s kiss-swollen lips and then up to the I told you so expression on her face.
“Works every time,” she whispered and stepped around me with the tub of ice cream in hand as if she’d been eating it and not kissing me senseless. “I guess there’s some left after all,” she said and shoved the tub back into the freezer.
“Toni,” Layla whined. “You didn’t.”
She shrugged. “Does this mean you’re ready for dinner?”
Layla nodded and I took that as my cue to get back to the stove and assembled the lasagna before putting it in the oven. Behind me, they chatted while setting the table. “Why do we have two forks?”
“Because one fork is for the salad and the other is for dinner.” Toni’s tone was patient and knowledgeable. “Since we’re eating salad first, we put it closest to the plate.”
It was another bit of information that reinforced my belief that Toni had come from some type of wealth or privilege, which intensified my guilt over shielding my true identity from her. She could know this because she works around wealthy families, the cynical part of my brain added.
I shook off thoughts of secrets and focused on the food and then on my dinner companions. We sat around the table laughing and talking like a real family. I hadn’t thought about work since I left the office, which was a first for me. Not one thought of the game or fixing bugs or the marketing strategy invaded my mind, because it was so full of Toni and Layla.
Had it only been a few weeks ago that I thought I was content to live inside a near silent home while I worked through all the daylight hours? It felt like a lifetime ago.
“Layla, I want to talk to you for a minute.”
Talking stopped and her eyes widened, but she nodded. “Okay, Uncle Brady. What’s up?”
I smiled at the question. “I’m sorry that I haven’t been as good a parent as I should have been since you arrived. It’s not that I don’t want you here, because I do. We’re family and I love you, but I’m not used to having other people around and I’m not used to having to think about other people needing to eat and all that stuff. But I’m going to do better, I promise. You deserve that. And most of all, I want to take care of you.”
She stared at me for a long time and I would’ve given up millions just to know what she was thinking. Her eyes, just like mine and her mother’s, studied my face. “I believe you, Uncle Brady. And I love you too.”
“Good,” I smiled. “Now eat your salad.”
“Do I have to?” She asked with a cheeky smile.
“Yes,” Toni and I said at the same time as laughter erupted around the table.
It felt good, the noise and the chaos and the laughter. For too long this place had been quiet and lifeless, and with the arrival of a fiery beauty, everything in my life had been turned upside down.
And I couldn’t find it in myself to be upset about it.
Sure there were secrets between me and Toni that prevented us from becoming more than whatever we were right now, but that was a worry for another day.
Tonight, everything was perfect.
Just fucking perfect.
Chapter 14
Toni
It was late enough in the evening that Layla was already asleep, but early enough that I wasn’t. Brady was holed up in his office doing his mystery work that he didn’t want me to know about, so when the phone rang and Lucy’s face lit up, I answered with a smile.
“Well, well, if it isn’t Mrs. Rush who’s forgotten the little people.”
Lucy’s laugh sounded down the line, putting a smile on my face. “You’re hardly the little people, Toni. You’ve got more personality in your pinky finger than most of us have altogether. How’s the new placement?”
I rolled my eyes with a heavy sigh. “It’s great. Layla’s a wonderful little girl. She’s wicked smart, and she’s so spunky she could’ve been me in an alternate universe.”
Lucy shared my laughter. “That’s great. And how are things with Mister Hot, Neryd and Mysterious?”
“Complicated.” That was the simplest answer for a situation that was anything but simple. “Very fucking complicated and not in the good, he makes me feel all torn up inside kind of way either. Just plain complicated.”
Lucy laughed again. “Does he make you feel all torn up inside?”
Yes. “Maybe.”
“Liar,” she shot back, her tone good-natured. “You slept together.”