Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 74730 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 374(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74730 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 374(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
“I like it too,” I whispered back. Some things were easier to share in a whisper, like a secret. Yeah, we liked each other, but maybe we didn’t have to talk about it. I pulled him in for another long kiss, moving against him, cocks sliding past each other as we thrust harder and faster.
“We’ve…got…a good thing…here,” Sean panted against my lips. I was way, way too far gone to argue. Not that I would. We did have something good here. I didn’t want to hurt him, but I couldn’t deny how good this felt. How good it was, full stop.
“Gonna.” Sean moved franticly, losing control in the way most guaranteed to take me with him. I held him tightly, thrusting against his abs, letting his moans take me higher and higher until we were both coming.
“Denver.” He said my name like a final prayer, head falling back, hands braced on my chest. I’d never seen anything so magnificent in my life. It was a cheesy name from a father I had no memory of, but it had never sounded better than that moment. “Denver.”
He collapsed on me, and we lay together in a sticky heap. I was beyond blissed out and almost asleep as Sean fetched a towel and cleaned us. But instead of returning to my embrace, he sat next to me on the edge of the bed.
“Guess I should leave you to your sleep.”
“Nap with me a while.” I tugged his arm. “Unless Eric or the kids need you?”
“Nah. He wanted some one-on-one time with the kids. I could stay awhile.” Sean smiled shyly.
“Then lie your ass back down.” I gave him a fake glare until he stretched out, head on my chest.
“Yes, sir.” Sean gave a sleepy sigh as his hand found mine and held tight. Well, maybe this dating thing wasn’t all bad. And yeah, apparently, I’d agreed to dinner with a bunch of teen chaperones, but if it meant getting to hold Sean like this, I could deal.
Chapter Seventeen
Sean
“What’s with the goggles?” I asked Wren as I came into the kitchen. Denver was due any second for our long-awaited cooking lesson date. It had taken longer than expected for our schedules to align. In the meantime, the rotating chart of meal duty had brought a lot more order to the household. But Wren was still Wren, as evidenced by the white lab coat and goggles with a graphing notebook and tablet at the ready on the kitchen island.
“Safety first.” Wren waved a hand dismissively as if everyone sported lab wear for weeknight dinner prep. “Burgers are notorious for splattering. And I want to experiment—”
“No experimenting.” I groaned. “Patty melts. Home fries. A salad. Let’s stick to the basics.”
“Do you know where the world would be without science?” Wren’s tone turned scornful. “My dad always said—sorry. My other dad.” Wren sucked their lips in, then pushed them out in a pout, eyes going from mocking to sad. “Guess it doesn’t matter now.”
“Of course it matters.” I stepped closer to the island. Wren could be funny about touch, so I didn’t offer a pat, but I tried to pitch my voice as sympathetic as possible. “Wren, it’s okay to say your dad’s name. You kids called him Dr. Dad, right?”
“Yeah.” Wren’s pouting expression made them look far younger than thirteen. Because they were so smart, it was all too easy to forget they were still a kid. A kid grieving an enormous loss. In my opinion, Wren needed a hug, but their stiff body language said otherwise.
Instead, I leaned into Wren’s favorite subject. “Dr. Dad would be proud of your commitment to scientific inquiry.”
“Then why isn’t he here?” Wren practically spit out the words, the most emotion I’d seen from them. “Why’d he have to die?”
“I don’t know. I don’t have all the answers.” In my own parenting experience, I’d learned that admitting when I didn’t know something was even more important than sharing things I did know or having the perfect explanation. I kept my voice soothing, hoping that helped. “All I know is that it’s okay to miss Dr. Dad. It’s okay to be sad and angry and upset all at the same time. And it’s okay to talk about him, to remember things he said.”
“I don’t want to make my other dad any more sad,” Wren whispered, their guilty tone breaking my heart. “And I keep screwing up my experiments, which isn’t helping, but it’s like…I’m missing something, and I can’t find it.”
Oh. I’d felt exactly like that for years and years. I’d lived with that feeling for so long that I hadn’t noticed its absence until that second. Or, more accurately, until Denver. I’d been missing something, and now, I’d found it, but whether I’d get to keep it was the real question. However, Wren needed me to be focused on them, not my personal life.