Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 88841 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88841 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
“Oh, yay!” Violet exclaims. “I love babies!”
“Oh, you decided to join us after all?” Ryder asks with a smirk.
“You know exactly what happened,” I mutter.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he says nonchalantly.
“Oh, yeah? Well, it looks like I have no idea how to make you any more brownies,” I volley.
“You wouldn’t dare.” He glares.
“We’ll see.” I shrug, sauntering past him.
Because my back is to him, I don’t see him come up behind me and grab me by my waist. I shriek in surprise when he lifts me off my feet and drops me onto the couch, and then I start to half scream, half giggle when he proceeds to tickle me. Of course, the girls think it’s hilarious and immediately join, helping him to tickle me.
“Stop!” I beg through my peals of laughter.
“Take it back,” he says, tickling me under my armpit. “Tell me you’ll make me all the brownies I want, and we’ll stop.”
“Yes!” Violet agrees. “I want brownies.”
“No,” I hiss defiantly. “No brownies for you!”
The tickling doesn’t stop.
“That’s the wrong answer,” Ryder says with a smirk. “Agree to make us brownies, or it’s only going to get worse.”
He glides his fingers down my body and then squeezes my knee, eliciting a loud shriek from me, which only makes the girls laugh harder.
And because I’m damn close to peeing my pants, instead of telling him to go fuck himself, like I want to, I nod in agreement.
“Fine! I promise, I’ll make you brownies.”
“Pinky swear?” he replies.
“Yeah!” Violet, the damn traitor, agrees. “Pinky swear!”
“Okay!” I breathe. “I pinky swear I’ll make you all the brownies.”
Ryder stops tickling me, and the girls thankfully follow suit.
While they’re running around, chanting, “Brownies,” repeatedly, Ryder extends his hand to help me up.
I take it, allowing him to pull me into a sitting position, and when our faces are only inches apart, our lips only just not touching, I murmur, “Just remember, payback’s a bitch.”
His eyes widen in shock, and for a moment, I wonder if I took it too far. Until his hazel eyes shimmer with mirth and he throws his head back with laughter, exposing his throat—which I shouldn’t imagine running my nose along and inhaling his scent, but I do.
Once he’s calmed himself, he shoots me a flirty wink and then says, “I can’t wait to see you try.”
Game on.
chapter twelve
KIRA
“Where are we going?”
I’ve never been to Ana’s place, but I can’t imagine they live in the middle of downtown.
“Coffee.” Ryder glances over at me and grins. “You haven’t been over here?”
“Nope. With me not driving and there being no public transportation, we tended to stick to the places near Kingston.”
Ryder nods in understanding. “Well, over there”—he points to the left—“is a nice park. And over there”—he points to the right, just across the street—“is the public library. It’s three stories, and it has an entire floor for children.”
“I wanna go to the library!” Violet squeals. “Can we go?”
“Not today,” I tell her, “but I’m sure we can go one day.”
My little girl loves reading. Before we had to leave our old house, we used to spend a lot of time at the library. We pull up to a cute coffee shop with a pink-and-white awning in the front and the name Coffee Addict written across the top.
“They make the best coffee,” Ryder explains. “Only downside is, they don’t have a drive-through.” He parks and then turns to me and asks, “You want your usual?”
My usual is an iced caramel latte that I make using his Nespresso machine, but since we’re here …
“I want to see what else they have.”
“Can I see too?” Violet asks.
“Me!” Addie adds, making Ryder shake his head.
“Okay,” he says, unbuckling. “I guess we’re all going in.”
“Yay!” Violet exclaims, undoing her seat belt.
I end up ordering an iced salted caramel latte, to which Ryder playfully rolls his eyes. We get the girls each a chocolate milk with whipped cream, and Ryder gets his usual boring coffee—strong with a drop of milk. We’re walking back to the car when Ryder stops short, and I almost run into him.
“You okay?” I ask when I notice he looks like he just saw a ghost.
“Yeah,” he chokes out. “Just thought I saw someone.”
“Who?”
“Nora,” he whispers.
I follow his line of vision, curious to see what Addie’s egg donor looks like, but there’s so many people that I don’t know who he’s referring to.
“I doubt it was her,” he says with a shake of his head. “I was probably just seeing shit.”
The drive to Ana’s is quiet, and I can tell Ryder’s stuck in his own head. I’m not sure if he’s upset that he saw her or if maybe seeing her made him realize he misses her, but I don’t ask, not wanting to open a can of worms in front of the girls. Addie might be too young to understand, but I don’t want to chance upsetting Ryder in front of her.