Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 103033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
I shrugged out of my jacket and stepped out of my shoes, then veered left into the kitchen.
Joshua had put on music, and Gael was bobbing his head to the beat of something that sounded like Santana.
The kitchen was, as far as I could see, the only room in the house that had Joshua’s personality painted on the walls. At least, he was getting there. A few paintings were stacked on the kitchen table, the island had several clay pots in rich colors that were filled with whisks, ladles, and spatulas, and it was clear he’d let his mother pick the tiles for the backsplash. They ranged from blues to turquoises and blended in with the rustic green cupboards.
At the risk of fetishizing an entire continent, Joshua was indescribably sexy when he brought out the side of him he’d inherited from his mother. When he spoke Spanish, when he talked about cooking, when he described the importance of family and how he liked to unite his loved ones around a dinner table… That was the Joshua I’d gotten hooked on. The side he sadly only revealed after a few drinks. But maybe that was changing.
“Okay, I’m done!” Gael declared. “Is this okay, Sir?”
Joshua joined him and inspected the chopped carrots, and he pressed a kiss to the boy’s hair. “They’re perfect. Kinda like you.”
Oh, for heaven’s sake.
If this was Joshua standing down, I didn’t want to experience him at full steam ahead.
Gael snickered and blushed, shaking his head. “I’m far from perfect. You, on the other hand…”
I cleared my throat to alert them to my approach—and to break up the foreplay. “Third wheel reporting for kitchen duty. What can I do to help?”
Gael gasped. “You’re not a third wheel, Sir! Unless you mean on a car because they are essential.”
Joshua and I chuckled.
The boy was coming out of his shell, wasn’t he? It wasn’t until now that I noticed his dark blue pajamas were covered in little books falling from a night sky.
While I sat down on a stool across from them, Gael started tossing handfuls of chopped carrots into a big pot on the island, and Joshua added spices—curry, turmeric, and black pepper.
“What are you making?” I wondered. The island top had plenty of ingredients, from ginger and lemon to white cabbage and broccoli, all fresh and flawless, making me think he shopped at farmers markets rather than a grocery store.
“My comfort soup.” He sent me a quick grin before measuring a teaspoon of chili powder. “Did you work things out with Macklin?”
“It’s in the making, I guess you could say,” I answered. “Walker said I was free to punish the boy.”
“Nice. He’s fun to play with.”
He was certainly something.
Gael scrunched his nose. “Has everyone in Mclean played with Macklin?”
I rumbled a laugh.
Joshua was just as amused. “Probably even more outside the community.”
No doubt.
“Macklin and Walker recently ended a four-year break from each other because they were fools,” I explained. “Walker buried himself in work and a few subs, and Macklin searched all over DC for someone who could never measure up.”
I’d watched their marriage fall apart from afar, and it’d been a horrible experience, especially when they’d refused to listen. But thankfully, it was over now. They were back together, where they belonged, as my next-door neighbors who were happily in love.
“Macklin was my first crush when I joined,” Gael confessed, nibbling on a piece of carrot. “When I heard about the orgies he used to host, it was like a whole new universe opening up to me.”
I grinned faintly. “Is that something you’re interested in?”
He flushed. “Yeah.”
Joshua was observing him and trying to be subtle about it. “What else are you interested in?”
Gael’s general discomfort and awkwardness returned slowly, causing him to fidget and bite his nails, and he struggled to fix his gaze somewhere.
“What most people want, I guess.” He shrugged slightly and busied himself by wiping down his cutting board. “I’d like to meet someone who doesn’t try to change me by being a bully.”
Hell. That one came straight from his past. In a quick second, he looked up and met my gaze, and his pale blue eyes were filled with so much trepidation that it felt like a kick to my stomach. That piece-of-shit ex had done this to him. Seeing all his insecurities and fears brought forth a razor-sharp bolt of rage within me, and in that very moment, I understood why Joshua was so invested.
Joshua picked up his phone and turned off the music, then closed the distance between himself and Gael and cupped the boy’s face in his hands.
“He’s never going to hurt you again—you hear me? And I know at least one man who’d love to remind you however many times it takes that you’re so fucking special.”
It suddenly felt like I was intruding on their slow dance of getting closer to each other, and I averted my gaze. A heavy unease settled in my gut, and it wasn’t the first time. It happened whenever I watched someone close to me finally find their way.