Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 71768 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71768 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Things were looking up!
All moms should be sainted, I mean really.
Suddenly tears sprang to my eyes. I was living Monica’s life, and while I was making it work, part of me felt—guilty.
I was cooking dinner in the kitchen she should have been cooking dinner in. I was waiting for the guy I’d always loved to walk through that door with a smile or possible scowl on his face.
I was getting ready in her bathroom because it had the best lighting.
I was kissing her children and tucking them into bed.
A tear slid down before I could wipe it away.
“I’m trying, Monica… I am…” More tears joined the first as I whispered into the stupid chili. “I’m so sorry.”
I suddenly felt tiny arms wrap around my waist from behind. I turned around and looked down as Viera looked up at me, her curly hair shoved out of her face with a red headband that she’d refused to take off for ten days and counting. “I love you, Aunt Colby.”
I sniffled. “I love you too, squirt.”
“I no squirt! I big!”
“So big,” I agreed. “You’re right.” I bopped her nose. “Can you show me your pretty picture?”
“Yay!” She sprinted back toward the counter and after two minutes finally managed to climb Everest aka her chair and sit comfortably. “Look! It’s you, Aunt Colby.” My eyes were x’s, and I wondered if that meant I was actually dead. “And Uncle Rip.” He looked worse, with teeth that were pointed and painted red. But we were holding hands—I mean, if you can call two lines crossing holding hands. “And Ben.” He looked halfway normal, though he was missing an eye. “And Stu!” The cat was on its back with its legs in the air. No guess there; she’d killed the cat. “And Mommy and Daddy!” She pointed to two suns in the sky with eyes and what looked like wings. “My family,” she announced proudly. “It pretty?”
My emotions were all over the place as I took the drawing from her chubby little hands. “It’s the prettiest picture I’ve ever seen. We should put it on the fridge next to the others!”
“Yes!” She took ten more years to climb down from her chair, and then we were in front of the fridge arranging the alphabet magnets to hold the picture. It was perfect.
It was my family.
The door suddenly jerked open, and in walked Rip.
My heart nearly stopped as I rose to my feet and watched him walk toward me in slow motion. OK, maybe not slow motion, but it felt like it. He wasn’t smiling, but he wasn’t scowling either.
Did I hug him?
Did I shake his hand?
There was no manual for this, was there?
Just like there was no manual for losing your best friend and inheriting two perfect children while living with the one guy you’d loved forever but who was so out of reach you wondered if the sex was even real.
Because it was so unreal.
Rip stopped right in front of me while Viera made the long journey back up to her chair.
“You did your hair.” He reached out, and I batted his hand away. “It looks nice.” And then that gorgeous man flashed me such a perfect smile that my heart nearly stopped. “You look”—he leaned in and kissed my cheek, whispering, “beautiful.”
My knees turned to jelly as I reached for his biceps and held on for dear life. I don’t know how long we stood like that, me within inches of kissing him, holding on to him, begging him to lock the kids in the family room with a movie, then take me upstairs so I could kiss him, taste him, tell him about our day, ask him about his.
Get naked.
Viera sighed and threw her head back, smacking her hand against her face. “You guys are cuddling again!”
“Nah, we cuddled a lot last night, though,” Rip said under his breath. I swatted him across the stomach. He caught my hand and then kissed my wrist. “Viera, I have a surprise for Aunt Colby. I’ll be right back…”
I quickly turned off the burner as he dragged me toward the downstairs bathroom and shut the door.
And then his hands were on mine, mine were on him, frantically pulling at his neck, bringing him close, tugging at clothes and wondering how fast we could do this with two kids under the age of six mere feet away.
“Missed you,” he said between kisses. “So fucking much.”
“Missed…” Our tongues fought for dominance. “Too.”
“Need you.” He tugged at my leggings, and within moments he had a condom on and me on the countertop. Rip surged into me with one big thrilling movement, filling me to the hilt.
He wasted no time in moving.
I wasted no time in holding on for dear life as he continued kissing me. Our mouths met, attacked. Pleasure flooded through my body with each violent thrust, and then I was there, gripping both him and the counter as I rode out wave after wave of my orgasm. He slammed into me one last time, my name the only word on his lips, and then he was resting his forehead against my shoulder.