Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 103918 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 520(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103918 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 520(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
Although Emma continued to live with Maria and Javier, she'd started spending more and more time with me and Lex. To say that she’d been startled to discover I had a boyfriend was an understatement. But it had helped her to believe that I had absolutely no issues with her dating girls. My acceptance had helped lay the foundation of trust that we were slowly building on.
I couldn't have done any of it without Lex. Not only had he dealt with all the logistics when it had come to getting us down to and set up in Argentina, he'd been my sounding board every night as the guilt and self-doubt had tried to eat away at me. Every new revelation with Emma was something that I always talked through with Lex.
When it had become clear that we wouldn't be leaving Argentina anytime soon, Lex had made arrangements for us to rent a house in the same neighborhood Emma lived in. It meant I could walk her to and from school every day and we spent several nights during the week having dinner with Maria and Javier and their daughter. In addition to being grateful to the couple, Lex and I had grown quite fond of them. We'd ended up spending weekends with their family at their vacation home along the coast. They were as accepting of my relationship with Lex as they were of Emma and her girlfriend's.
While it was strange to be so far away from home, admittedly, I hadn't really missed Fisher Cove all that much. But I had felt guilty for leaving some of my responsibilities behind. Despite my protests, Lex ended up buying the town a brand-new plowing truck and he’d made sure there would be someone there to help out the residents of Fisher Cove in my place.
The only thing that had been left to deal with back home had been Brewer.
But Lex had taken care of that too because about a week after we'd arrived in Argentina, King had brought Brewer to us on Lex’s private jet. Not only did the husky adore Emma, he’d become an avid fan of the water.
The necessities hadn’t been all that Lex had taken care of. When he’d learned that the Mick who wasn’t the mouse was performing a concert in Florida, he’d surprised me with tickets. He’d called it a very belated and very well-earned birthday present. It had been one of the best nights of my life.
As grateful as I was to Lex for taking care of everything, it was difficult for me to accept that he was paying all our bills, but when I'd brought the issue up with him and told him I'd pay him back for everything, he’d pretty much lost his shit. But not in a freak-out kind of way.
I found myself smiling as I remembered Lex's response when I'd suggested he keep track of the expenses so I could reimburse him.
"For future reference, Gideon," Lex had snapped as he'd pointed at his face. His very pissed-off face. "This is my are-you-fucking-kidding-me face." After he'd thrown my own words back at me, he’d stormed off to our bedroom and locked the door. I'd been forced to video call King to ask him how to pick the lock, since just shoving a paperclip into the doorknob hadn't worked. The man who would someday be my future brother-in-law had enjoyed himself just a bit too much as I’d explained my predicament to him. But the spy shit had worked and I’d managed to get myself back in the bedroom where it had taken a lot of apologies and several rounds of vigorous make-up sex to get back in Lex's good graces.
Lex had been so focused on taking care of me and Emma that things with his own family had fallen by the wayside. He'd kept tabs on Gio’s progress through King, but the longer it had taken us to get settled, the more nervous Lex had gotten about seeing his brothers and telling them the truth about his condition. He’d also felt extremely guilty for having disappeared for so long, especially during a time when he felt like his family had needed him the most.
I held some guilt for that myself because I knew part of the reason Lex hadn’t gone home any sooner was because he hadn’t wanted to leave me. And for that, I was extremely grateful. There was no doubt in my mind that I wouldn't have been able to handle my reunion with Emma on my own. Hell, without Lex and his brother, I never even would've known that Emma needed me.
I hadn't been in touch with Emma's grandparents at all, other than through my lawyer who'd informed them that I would be seeking full custody of my daughter. The fact that they hadn’t responded in any kind of way had only served to piss me off even more. The mere idea that they’d placed more importance on my daughter’s sexuality than her safety had made me want to punch something repeatedly.