Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 79197 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79197 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
“Tammy said they’ve been hoping she would open up as well in their ladies’ group.”
My hand rubbed the back of my neck. “I guess she will when she’s ready.”
He nodded as a knock at the door had me jumping up and quickly answering.
“Emma is the master at French toast, and if you don’t get out there, the girls are going to eat it all,” Tammy stated.
Dalton shoved me out of the way to get to the kitchen. As I walked by Tammy, she reached for my arm to stop me.
Looking around almost nervously, she lowered her voice. “I have to know her secret ingredient for that French toast.”
Laughing, I replied, “I’ll try my best, Tammy.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
EMMA - SNOW DAY
“Emma! Daddy! It’s snowing!”
Hadley flew past me in the kitchen and ran straight out the door.
“You don’t have a coat on!” I cried out, grabbing her coat and gloves as I rushed out after her.
“It’s snowing!” Hadley shouted.
Stopping, I was caught by the sight in front of me. One little girl, spinning in a circle, letting the snowflakes fall on her face. The sight moved me to tears. Hadley looked blissfully happy. I wondered if there was ever a time in my life when I’d felt that joyful. That free.
I walked over to her. “Hadley, sweetheart, at least put your coat on.”
She stopped only long enough to slip her coat and gloves on before she started spinning again.
“Do it, Emma! Spin!”
Peeking back toward the door, I smiled and shrugged. Then I leaned my head back and laughed when I felt the snowflakes landing on my face.
Hadley took my hands, and before I knew it, we were spinning and laughing. I’d never felt so carefree in my entire life. It was a moment I knew I’d never forget.
“Emma.”
His voice warmed my chilled body. Hadley dropped my hands and ran to her father while I attempted to keep myself upright when I realized how dizzy I was.
My eyes met Aiden’s. He smiled, and a rush of tingles ran down my neck and back. A wonderful feeling of warmth settled in my stomach.
With a single brow raised on his handsome face, he said, “You’ll catch a cold out here with no coat.”
I wrapped my arms around my body and followed them back into the house. “It’s normally still warm in Texas in early November.”
Aiden chuckled. “I bet. You’re in Colorado now.”
Smiling at him, I nodded.
Aiden cleared his throat before he and Hadley walked through the kitchen and into the family room.
“After church, you can play in the snow. There will be a lot more on the ground by then. Right now, you need to go up and change,” Aiden said to Hadley.
She nodded. “Yes, Daddy.”
She took off like a bolt of lightning and raced through the house and up to her room. Aiden looked over and saw me standing there, smiling at the retreating little girl.
“Thank you for coming over for breakfast,” he said, making his way over to me.
I chewed on my lower lip. The crackle in the air was even more obvious now every time we were in the same room.
I leaned against the wall as he stopped within inches of me. The look in his eyes made my lower stomach clench with a delicious desire I longed to ease.
“I couldn’t sleep last night.”
“Me either,” I whispered.
His mouth twitched slightly. “Maybe we should make sleeping upstairs in the loft a normal thing.”
I chuckled. “Hadley would be all for that.”
His eyes turned dark. “So would I.”
Drawing in a deep breath, I started to speak, but Aiden kissed me before I could. He leaned his hands on the wall, dipped his head, and kissed me like he needed that connection, that intimacy, to survive.
My mind went blank. Knees weak. Stomach in knots.
The man could kiss. I’d never been kissed with such passion. I could certainly get used to being greeted like this every single morning.
His arm wrapped around my back, and he pulled me flush against his body. I felt exactly how much he wanted me, and a low moan escaped my throat.
The stomps upstairs brought me back to reality. Then Hadley’s steps coming down the stairs brought Aiden back. He took a step away just in time, before Hadley came rushing into the room. I was breathing like I’d ran up the steps and back down myself.
“Emma, will you please put my hair up?” Hadley asked, holding up a hair tie and ribbon that matched her dress.
“Of course, I will,” I managed to say in a normal voice. Even though I felt far from normal. I peeked at Aiden.
He winked, and that nearly sent me into a full-on meltdown. Was it possible to swoon any harder?
Swoon. God, I’d never swooned before. Not even with Ben when we were dating. He’d never made me feel so…wanted.