Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 142783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
A home filled with smiling faces, warm welcomes, and genuine embraces.
People were crammed into the small space, although no one seemed to mind the close quarters.
The entry room was a tiny square with a couch and a loveseat in the middle facing a TV against one wall. Bookshelves filled with pictures and trinkets and at least a gazillion pieces of artwork that clearly had come from Gage’s precious little hands were proudly displayed on every other flat surface.
An archway on the left opened to a kitchen with a breakfast nook where a ton of people were hanging out, and there was a hall on the opposite far side of the room that I assumed led to the bedrooms.
It was simple and modest and felt like falling into my favorite dream. A dream I’d cached away, where I’d buried it beneath my family name and my father’s expectations. A dream I craved to slip into but was terrified to take the first step.
Logan did it for me.
He grabbed my hand again and, with a gentle tug, he pulled me deeper into the fray.
Juni and Gage came streaking through the crowd. “You’re here! You’re here! You’re here!”
Gage got there first, and Logan picked him up the way he had earlier, his smile so free as he hugged the child to his chest. He scooped up Juni in his other arm. His joy became profound, all the rigid hardness that seeped from his pores giving way to an easiness I’d almost forgotten existed.
Close to how it was that first night at the recital.
But different.
Not so reserved. The man turning over the top as he tussled with Gage and Juni, swinging them around like rag dolls.
“Now who’s your strongest uncle?” he demanded to know, his tone playful.
“Uncle Jud!” Gage cackled when he said it, clearly knowing he’d given the wrong answer, and Juni giggled adorably when she shouted, “Uncle Trent!” at the same time.
Logan feigned the biggest gasp.
“What? How dare you? And it’s my birthday? What is this madness? You know I’m the strongest of the Lawson brothers. Trent and Jud just look big. But your uncle Logan is pure muscle.”
He squeezed them tighter as if to prove it.
In it was care. Every movement done with caution so neither of them would be hurt.
“You’d better watch it, or Uncle Jud is gonna take you down!” Gage shouted as he scrambled around, trying to get his little arms around Logan.
From where Jud was leaned against the back of the couch next to his wife halfway across the room, the giant man lifted a beer in the air and shouted over the din of voices and the music that played at a low volume. “That’s right, Gage in the Cage. You pin him for me, then I’ll be over to take care of the rest.”
“Wow. Just wow. Why do you always gotta be so violent?” Logan taunted just as Gage was climbing over his shoulder and jumping onto his back.
Jud cracked a grin and tucked Salem closer. “Someone has to take care of punks like you.”
Horrified offense took over every line of Logan’s face, clearly faked, all while he was being climbed like he was a jungle gym in the middle of a playground.
“I’m wounded.”
Jud scoffed with a smile. “I’ll show you wounded.”
I tried to hold a laugh, not to get too comfortable, but it was really hard to do when it felt as if I’d stumbled into a safe space. Where it was joy and light and life. Different than anything I’d ever experienced. Better than anything I’d ever imagined.
Logan tossed a soft smile my way and slowly set the kids onto their feet. “All right, all right, everyone off, Uncle Logan needs to make the rounds.”
“I’ll destroy you later.” Gage giggled the words as Logan flipped him around onto his feet.
“I’m sure you will.” Logan laughed, ruffling his fingers through the child’s hair before he turned to me and stretched out his hand. “Come on. Let me introduce you to everyone.”
Uneasiness climbed through my consciousness, that reminder that I didn’t belong, that I shouldn’t get too comfortable, that this was absolutely reckless, coming here like this. But it felt too good to let Logan slip his fingers through mine, to act as if I were his and he were mine.
Casually, he led me to Jud who stood and gave me a bear hug the second we approached.
Welcome.
Salem, whose blue eyes twinkled and danced with this mischief that was still somehow kind, pushed up from where she had been leaned against the couch. She reached for my hand and squeezed. She was different than Eden, a little harder around the edges, I guessed, as if she’d been through more than any one person should be expected to.
Her hair was black and pin-straight where it brushed around her shoulders, and she gave off a naturally sexy vibe that somehow came off sweet.