Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75616 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75616 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“For the love of God, please don’t finish that sentence,” he cut me off, flushed.
“I’ll just get a subscription sent to your dorm,” I said, getting a pained grumble out of him as he dragged his bags out of the kitchen to get away from my teasing.
“He looks good,” Aurelio said, helping me put the groceries away.
He knew how much I’d been worrying since we’d left him in his dorm room and driven home without him.
College had been a demand Aurelio and I had made of him.
I knew that, given the choice, he would have gone straight from high school into the Family business. But we’d followed suit with the rest of the family members in insisting the kids get an education, go see the world, have some adventures, get some experiences that would allow for them to make decisions based on experience.
Did I believe that Judah was going to become an accountant? No. But I was happy to see him being a young adult for a while. Before he slapped on a suit, and followed in the footsteps of Aurelio.
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“Dad, can I take the car?” our daughter asked, coming into the kitchen wearing an outfit that was a little tight and just a tad shorter than I would have liked that I knew had to be making Aurelio wish he was the kind of dad who could do the whole ‘Not until you put some pants on’ speech.
It was hard for me to watch our boys grow up into little men. But it was harder for Aurelio to accept his little girls becoming women.
“Where are you going?” I asked, okay with being the annoying parent, so Aurelio didn’t have to be the bad guy. “And with who?”
At that, I got a pretty epic eye roll.
“I’m going to the recording studio with Ella and Becca,” she said.
“Sure,” Aurelio said, going to give his keys to her.
“Thanks, Daddy,” she said, going up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek before rushing out.
“What?” Aurelio asked as I folded our reusable bags. “What’s that look for?”
“Oh, my sweet, naive husband,” I said, shaking my head at him.
“Fuck. What’d I miss?”
“A recording studio?” I asked. “In an outfit like that? Seems like our girl has a crush on a musician.”
“Would I look insane if I chased her down the street?” he asked, glancing out the window as she backed out of the driveway, stereo blasting enough to shake the windows in their frames.
“A bit,” I said. “Oh, it’s okay. She has to learn the hard way,” I assured him.
“Did you have a crush on a musician at her age?”
“It was a footballer,” I said. “I used to show up to every practice and game. God, it was all so pathetic looking back. But each girl has to do it.”
“Why’d she have to grow up to look just like you?” he asked, exhaling hard.
“Oh, don’t be silly,” I said. “She’s much prettier,” I said.
“Not helping,” he said, narrowing his eyes at me. “I thought you were doing laundry,” he said as Judah came out with his three younger siblings.
“They want to go get some ice cream,” Judah said, shrugging.
They might not be willing to admit it, save for our youngest, but everyone missed having Judah around.
Aurelio reached into his pocket, grabbing a stack of cash, and handing it to our oldest. “Get them some pizza or something after too.”
Then we watched as the last four of our kids headed out the door.
As soon as the doors slammed, and the car backed out of the drive, there was something I don’t think I’d heard in nineteen years.
Silence.
“I have a feeling we’re going to be doing all of Judah’s laundry, if we ever want to walk into the—“ he was saying as I walked across the kitchen, grabbing him by the tie, and pulling him with me.
“When’s the last time we had a house with no kids in it?” I asked as I pulled him up the stairs with me.
“Years,” he said, reaching for me at the top landing, spinning me, pinning me to the wall, and sealing his lips over mine.
“We have a lot of time to make up for then,” I said, my hands already yanking at his suit jacket, tossing it to the floor right there in the hallway. Then getting to work on his buttons as he walked me backward into the bedroom, kicking the door closed behind him.
You’d think, when we were given the house to ourselves, we would slow it down, take our time.
But our hands were clawing at clothing, desperate to feel each other.
Aurelio’s fingers teased down my spine to sink into my ass, using it to push me against his hardness.
He walked me back toward the bed, but couldn’t quite make it, slamming me against the wall instead, yanking up my leg, and surging inside me.