Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 54055 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 270(@200wpm)___ 216(@250wpm)___ 180(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54055 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 270(@200wpm)___ 216(@250wpm)___ 180(@300wpm)
“So Lucy, tell us about yourself.” Cheryl’s question pulled me not just from my reminders to stop thinking about her son, but from my role as silent observer. “Where’re you from?”
I put a smile on my face and turned to Cheryl. “I’m from Georgia, a town just outside Atlanta.”
“A southern girl,” Sam said with a smile. “That explains why you’re both sweet and sassy, just like my Cheryl.” He looked at his wife with such affection my heart lurched a little and I had to look away.
“Are you single?”
“Mom,” Dante growled. “That’s Lucy’s personal business.”
I frowned. Why did he care? “I am. Very single and no plans to change it anytime soon.” I smiled at the slight frown on Dante’s face at my words.
Cheryl leaned forward with sympathy in her eyes. “A recent bad break up?”
“Sadly, no. It’s hard to meet people in my line of work. Most of the people I spend time with are parents and small children, so no dating prospects, and when I’m free on the weekend I run errands, clean or just chill out.”
“You don’t go out in the evenings?”
The more I talked, the more pathetic I felt. “Not lately. This assignment is a little farther away from the city, so it doesn’t make sense to drive so far and return too late to get a good night’s sleep.” Yep, sad and pathetic about summed it up. “What about you two, how long have you been married? You seem like newlyweds.”
It was the perfect question, because it allowed me to slink back into oblivion while hearing all about the love story of Cheryl and Sam. The retelling of which had the added benefit of making Dante uncomfortable.
“It was lust at first sight, but I held on long enough to get her to fall in love with me.” Sam concluded with a chuckle.
“What a wonderful story!” It gave me hope that I would someday find what they had together, even if that day was so far into the future that it wasn’t on any calendar yet.
“Daddy doesn’t have a girlfriend,” Lena said completely out of the blue.
Dante’s brows dipped into a frown. “What do you know about girlfriends?”
She giggled. “All princesses have a boyfriend before they become princesses, Daddy.”
I smiled to myself as conversation swung from me to Dante and his nonexistent love life. Mr. Unflappable was in the hot seat and I enjoyed every single moment of his discomfort.
Until talk turned to him finding a wife.
Talk about swift karma.
Chapter 30
Dante
“You can’t avoid me forever Lucy.”
A midnight trip to the kitchen for a bottle of water brought me face to face with the woman who’d gone out of her way to avoid me. My parents had been in town for the past four days and Lucy had used their presence to keep a wide gulf between us.
Lucy turned with an arched brow and stared at me, an amused smile curled up her one side of her mouth. She folded her arms, the cotton tank top did fuck all to cover her the way her tits nearly spilled over the top.
“Good because I’m not avoiding you.”
“Really? Because it sure feels like you’re going out of your way to avoid me.” She made sure we were never alone, and if we came close to being alone, Lucy found a reason to get gone.
She shrugged like it was no big deal. “Believe what you want, but I’m not avoiding you. I have no reason to avoid you since we have no reason to talk.” She licked her lips and let out a long, slow exhale. “Is there something I need to know regarding my care of Lena?”
I wanted to growl my frustration loud enough to wake the far-flung neighbors, but there was no point, because Lucy had decided we had no reason to interact if it wasn’t about my daughter. She wasn’t wrong. Weeks ago, that exact sentiment would have been music to my ears. Today it just pissed me off.
“You know there isn’t,” I growled. “You’re doing a fantastic job with her.”
Her blond brows dipped in confusion. “Then what is the problem?” She was clearly oblivious to the way her gorgeous breasts spilled over and made my mouth water.
I took a few steps closer. “You know damn well what the problem is!” The truth was I didn’t even know what the hell the problem was. I had been less than definitive with what I wanted where Lucy was concerned, and unlike most women who were content to go along to get along, she’d called me out and refused to budge an inch.
“No, I don’t.” She sighed and shook her head. “What does it matter, and more to the point, why do you even care? I am doing exactly what you—and men like you—want me to do. I’m pretending it didn’t happen to make both our lives easier.”