Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76006 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76006 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Emerson pushed at his shoulder playfully.
“Did you know a group of ladybugs is called a loveliness?” Sam asked, pushing his glasses up his face as he carefully removed the habitat from the box.
“Seriously?” Emerson asked with a raised eyebrow.
“No way,” Audrey scoffed.
Rhys lifted his phone to ask Siri the question. When the device repeated the information, Audrey gasped. “That’s pretty cool. What does it mean?”
“It means that something is…” Rhys shrugged. “Lovely. Charming. Pretty. Hell, I don’t know.”
Audrey scrunched her nose. “But they’re just gross bugs with too many little legs.”
“Are not!” Sam blathered on about the color of their shell and how their spots formed to ward off predators until Audrey’s eyes glazed over and she told him he was talking too much.
But Rhys thought the kid’s brain was amazing, and he hoped both kids would prosper despite losing their parents.
“Audrey,” Emerson warned. “Don’t rain on his parade.”
“In about three weeks, Sam will have to decide where to let the ladybugs go.” Rhys thought of the pretty views he’d seen on hikes. “I know a couple of cool places.”
“Hopefully not at the top of Otter Cliff,” Emerson muttered, referring to the popular seaside structure Rhys hoped to climb one day in Maine’s Acadia National Park. Any mention of Rhys partaking in anything adventurous was a source of worry for Emerson, especially after his parents’ death, so he definitely wouldn’t push it.
Sam’s finger tapped his chin. “Ladybugs love geraniums, and we have those in our backyard.”
“We do?” Emerson asked, his gaze darting to the window.
“Uh-huh. Mommy and I planted them—” He stopped abruptly and blinked fast, as if to ward off any stray tears.
When the room grew silent, Emerson shut his eyes and sighed heavily, like someone had just laid heavy armor on his shoulders.
“We can plant them every year. For Mom,” Audrey said thickly as she patted her brother’s shoulder and stepped soundly into her big-sister shoes. “And the ladybugs.”
They still fought bitterly like any siblings did—not that Rhys would know—but he always noticed the softness in her eyes if she ever pushed too far and hurt her brother’s feelings.
Emerson kissed the top of her head and then began clearing dishes from the table. When his eyes met Rhys’s, the melancholy in his smile cut way too deep.
Another Three Years Has Passed
Emerson
The kids had gone to bed, so Emerson headed out to the porch to take a couple of hits of a joint because it sometimes helped him sleep. He stared at the quiet neighborhood from his obscured corner, his gaze continually returning to the darkened windows of the modest Cape Cod dwelling across the street.
Rhys had stayed put in his childhood home after his mother got engaged and ran off to Florida with her boyfriend last fall. Mrs. Lancaster easily found another office-manager job, while her fiancé, Carl, started a new sales position in his company’s Florida office. Rhys hadn’t exactly warmed to the man his mother had chosen to move out of state for—he’d heard Carl belittle her once—but she looked happy enough, and Emerson wished her the best.
Rhys didn’t have any better luck with relationships, but he also didn’t seem to mind staying single. He still worked at the adventure shop, and his newest passion was rock climbing at some of Maine’s national parks. In fact, Emerson found himself admiring the man he had become and wished he could be as charismatic and carefree. Rhys was tall and lean, with muscles in places only scaling tall structures could create, and cognac-colored irises. His dark bangs continually flopped over his eyebrow, and his crooked smile still made Emerson feel instantly better.
He noticed headlights illuminating the driveway across the street, and he watched curiously. Rhys climbed out of the passenger side of the car and waved goodbye to his friend. But the guy stepped out too, then obviously said something funny because Rhys laughed. Emerson nearly rolled his eyes. He knew that flirtatious sound by now, but he’d never been witness to what happened next.
The guy gripped Rhys’s hand and pinned him to the driver’s-side door. His lips devoured Rhys’s neck, and damn, the way Rhys’s fingers clutched the meaty part of the guy’s ass made Emerson’s cock spring to life.
Maybe it was because he hadn’t gotten laid in forever, but something about the scene playing out in front of him was pretty freaking hot.
He zeroed in on the corded muscles in Rhys’s forearms, making his sleeve of tattoos dance, and then his gaze drifted upward to how the guy was attacking his mouth. Fuck. It wasn’t like he hadn’t witnessed Rhys kiss another man over the years, but not quite like this. Rhys’s first crush from the carnival sprang to mind again. How Rhys had blushed, and how upset and confused Emerson had felt. He’d already determined he’d been jealous back then, but this…this was wholly different. This was him getting hard watching his best friend rub up against some guy. His reaction was fucking concerning as hell.